Chapter 15
Reunited
Alexander North
I stare at the man's back for a few seconds before turning to look at the others, none of which seem to have noticed our interaction.
Did I just lose the guy's respect because he thinks I got my dad to get me a symbiont?
I turn back to look at the captain again, only to find him talking to the other two captains while glancing at me.
Huh.
Well, as much as I hate misunderstandings, this one might just be for the best. Considering that I don't really know what they'd do if they knew I wasn't human anymore.
Although I doubt I'll be able to keep this misunderstanding up for long. Especially not once we eventually meet up with my own squad again. Because the last thing they remember was seeing me get skewered by a shard.
I look at the frozen patches left on the ground by the spider's deaths for a few more minutes before hearing the captain declaring, "Alright, let's get moving."
When I look up again, I find him and the other captains walking over to the far back part of the room, only for all three of them to grab onto a book, each at a different bookcase.
What are they...
My thoughts trail off as all three pull on the books, causing the sounds of a bunch of gears starting to turn behind the walls to reach my ears, followed by the wall lowering into the ground to reveal a combination and key locked door. The three captains then walk over to the door and enter a key, unlocking it before pulling it open to reveal a staircase.
"I thought so," the captain of my temporary squad says, "since the power went out, the magnetic lock unlocked itself."
He walks through the doorway into the stairway, followed shortly after by the other captains.
The soldiers and I walk through ourselves after that, with about five of the soldiers needing help getting through due to the minor frostbite given to them by the suicide bombing spiders. We all then begin to climb down the stairs to BF6.
The first thing we find after entering floor BF6 is a completely empty hallway without any monsters or shards in sight. At most, there is a lot of mist floating about. But there isn't a single shard, unlike the higher up floors.
"If the lieutenant colonel is on this floor, then he'd be at the housing area meant for the colonel," one of the captains explains as we walk before adding, "although I'd put my money on him being on floor BF7, in the real command room."
We all follow along behind the captains in silence until we eventually find a large, circular room with several doors.
"This is the central area of the floor," my temporary captain explains before pointing at the hallway directly opposite to the one we just exited and saying, "while that is the way to the other entrance to this floor, which leads up to BF1." He then turns to point at three of the doors in particular and says, "Those three doors lead separately to the colonel and the two major's living spaces."
They really have their living spaces on a hidden floor? Seriously?
The captain just starts walking towards the center of the three, only for it to open right as he is about to reach for the doorknob.
"Get ready!" he shouts while backing up and pulling out his sword as we all do the same. However, the door continues to open to reveal one of the two majors working in this base. If I remember correctly, I believe his name was Arnold Vaugns – a member of the Vaugns marquis family.
"Captain Ruthers?" the major asks while taking off his helmet. And once the captain takes his helmet off in kind, the major nods his head and says, "Good to see that you made it down here." He then surveys his gaze across each of us before adding, "And with so many soldiers still alive at that."
I'm kind of surprised the major is down here. Shouldn't he have been on duty up above to-
My thoughts come to a halt as I see my own squad following him through the doorway, along with two first lieutenants.
Shit. There goes my act.
I slowly inch towards the back of the room, but the moment Captain Ruthers sees Captain Andrew, he exclaims, "Captain Andrew!" and turns to look at me, only to frown slightly as he realizes I'm not standing where I was before. He then turns to look through the soldiers in the room until his eyes land on me and he says, "I seem to have found a lost lamb of yours."
Everyone turns to look at me, and with that, everyone has a different reaction towards seeing me. Or more accurately, considering that I still have my helmet on, seeing the crest on my shoulder.
The major seems very happy – likely because it means that he won't get on the general's bad side for being one of the ones in charge when his son died – whereas everyone on my squad looks shocked and everyone that I traveled with looks happy and laughs, likely proud that they were able to reunite me with my squad or something.
"How are you..." Captain Andrew begins, only for the major to cut him off as he exclaims, "Why didn't you tell me that you had Second Lieutenant North in your squad!"
I raise an eyebrow at that.
How did the major not know that?
Actually, never mind. I almost forgot that he had just transferred here. The captain opens his mouth to speak, but this time Michelle just
bursts forwards, physically knocking him out of the way as she charges towards me and pulls me into a hug while crying and muttering, "You're okay..." over and over again.
This for some reason gets applause from the squad members of the groups I came with, and especially from Phillip, who has a broad grin on his face as if he had won the lottery. But it all comes crashing down when the captain finally regains his composure and exclaims, "How are you still alive and human? We saw you get pierced in the gut by a shard!"
Chapter 16
Exposed
Alexander North
Absolute silence fills the central area of BF6 after my captain's rather loud exclamation.
After several seconds of this silence, I hear Phillip mutter, "His gut? So that's where the damage to his armor there came from..."
I glare at him – although not that he can tell considering my helmet – before whispers start to spread through the gathered soldiers. Meanwhile my squad continues to stare at me with a mixture of hope and fear.
Well, good to see that they care about me.
"Stop it! All of you!" Michelle suddenly shouts while letting go of me and looking at them while pointing at me. "He's standing right here and is obviously still human, otherwise he'd be roaming around outside as a damned monster!" She then turns to look at me and asks, "Right?"
I purse my lips at that, but before I can answer, the major's voice suddenly fills the newfound silence, "Second Lieutenant North, would you please take your helmet off?"
My mouth shuts again at that as everyone begins to stare at me in silence, waiting for me to take it off.
And so, I do. I slowly raise my hands up to my helmet, undo the clasps, and pull it off. With my eyes and mouth closed.
"See?" I hear Michelle's voice. "He's still human!"
More whispering follows this, just for Captain Ruthers to cut it off by stating, "Open your eyes, second lieutenant."
Guess there's no hiding from it now.
I open my eyes, revealing my clearly inhuman eyes to all of the soldiers and officers present.
Several of the soldiers swear while backing away from me and pulling out their swords, meanwhile my own squad members seem to look frightened, albeit also a little curious and relieved at the same time.
And surprisingly, Captain Ruthers actually looks even more relieved than any of them.
I guess he's happy to know that I didn't use nepotism to get a symbiont after all?
When I turn my gaze to the major, I find him seemingly lost in thought while staring at me, so I turn to Michelle, who is staring directly at me as well. But she has tears in her eyes, unlike the major.
She then reaches out to touch my face with her gloved hand, insulating her from my little 'freezing people and creatures on contact' thing, and asks, "Alex? Is that really still you?"
I nod my head at that and answer, "Yes. It is."
The instant the soldiers wielding swords hear my voice despite seeing my eyes, they begin to grow confused. Especially the two first lieutenants who came with the major and had never met me before.
"I would like some questions answered, if you don't mind, second lieutenant," the major suddenly says, drawing my eyes back to him again. Once he sees me nod my head, he continues, "Do you feel any strange desires? Such as a desire to eat humans or kill us?"
This question immediately makes the others back further away from me, but I shake my head and quickly answer, "No. Outside of a desire to absorb the energy left in the monsters' corpses, which I've learned makes me grow stronger, I don't feel any urges like that."
The major's eyebrows raise at the extended answer I gave but they lower again as he continues, "Do the other monsters still attack you?"
"I can answer that one," Captain Ruthers suddenly says, drawing everyone's eyes to him. "He was attacked plenty of times by the monsters while we were coming down here."
"Okay," the major states in a neutral tone that leaves me guessing as to what he's thinking. He then turns to look at me again as he asks, "Will you be willing to let the scientists downstairs in BF7 do some tests on you and ask you questions? Particularly about this energy you spoke of?"
This time my eyebrows raise at his question, but I answer it nonetheless since I had already expected that this would happen, "Yes. But I feel I need to mention that I have a 100% artificial heart. And I believe that might have something to do with why I didn't fully turn."
The major crosses his arms while still looking at me for a few seconds before nodding his head and turning to the captains to say, "Captains
Andrew and Ruthers, I would like you two to keep an eye on the young heir to the archduchy until we meet with the lieutenant colonel. If he seems like he's losing control, then restrain him." He then turns and starts walking towards the door on the opposite side of the central area while adding, "We'll be going to BF7 now to meet up with the base commander."
I let out a sigh of relief at seeing that the man isn't just gonna have me killed – which would get him in major trouble – or abandoned on one of the upper floors.
After sending me a few wary glances, most of the soldiers follow the major to the door, leaving behind me, the two captains that were just designated as my babysitters, Phillip, and my actual team.
"I don't care if you're not a human anymore, you're still you," Michelle says with a smile after not having said anything for a while before quickly hugging me again and then stepping back. Meanwhile Michael and Victoria both nod their heads in agreement with smiles on their faces.
Even Captain Andrew seems extremely relieved to have me here and nods his head with them. Almost a little too relieved to be honest, considering the fact that I'm pretty sure he's crying for some reason. Which is very much unlike him to do.
Robert on the other hand...
"I... I don't know," he suddenly exclaims before quickly walking away to join the others going to BF7.
I frown at his retreating back, but Phillip suddenly speaks up next with his thumbs pointing upwards as he says, "He'll come around, don't you worry!"
When I look at him, I raise an eyebrow and ask, "You're not mad that I didn't tell you?"
He just walks up to me and puts his arm around my shoulder before saying, "Nah, but you really should have! After all, you're not human anymore! Isn't that co- OOF!"
The man suddenly falls down to the ground while holding his side as Michelle scolds, "Don't be insensitive!" obviously having kicked him in the back.
I can't help but chuckle at that, which seems to surprise Michelle. But Captain Ruthers stops us from messing around by saying, "We should catch up with the others before they lock us on BF6."
The others all mutter agreements with his statement before walking over to the now-open door along with Captain Andrew, who hasn't stopped smiling since he heard the major's decision. However, when I try to join them, I feel Captain Ruthers put a hand on my shoulder.
I look back at him to find him smiling as he says, "I'm glad to see I wasn't wrong about you when we first met, Second Lieutenant North."
He then pats my shoulder again and starts walking towards the door, leaving me to catch up after a few seconds.
I raise an eyebrow at his departing back.
Leaving me behind isn't exactly doing a good job at babysitting, ya know.
Chapter 17
Unlocked
The Terran Empire's nobility structure dates all the way back to the year 1085, when the Empire was first founded by the lost Emperor, Jarx Inverno
the First. However, the nobility structure eventually became a more honorary structure in the late 4th millennia, when the governing Triad of The Terran Empire was founded.
The Triad includes the Military branch, headed by the General of the Military, the Economic branch, headed by a council of merchants – nowadays known as CEOs – and the Legislative branch, headed by a council of governors.
Each branch has a limited amount of power over the Empire, and each has their own control. However, the nobility still have some power within the system.
Not only are there some restrictions for certain special positions in the military requiring one to be a noble to reach them, but the Economic branch is controlled almost entirely by the nobles, who have amassed the greatest amount of wealth over the years out of all of the parties within the Empire.
Additionally, the current Royal Family of the Empire has a say in the Empire's Triad decisions.
~Article written by Terran Research Union historian, Arnold Hallord
Alexander North
We catch up with the others at the staircase down to BF7, but it's pretty damn obvious that everyone outside of my own team, Phillip, and Captain Ruthers is avoiding me. Some of them are even openly keeping their eyes on me with their weapons in hand, as if they're afraid I'm about to attack them.
In fact, if it weren't for our military training, then I wouldn't be surprised if they did attack me.
Once we reach the bottom of the stairs, we arrive at a secure door that is completely unlocked when the major tries to open it.
Did someone unlock it? Or does it just have purely magnetic locks and unlocked itself?
Either way, the door opens to reveal a very short hallway on the other side. Within the hallway, there are only three simple doors.
"This floor is meant for top secret level discussions and as a fallback during emergencies, so it only has the command center, a bunker, and a small research area for top secret research," the major explains while ignoring the doors on the sides of the hall to walk towards the one at the end of the hall.
We all follow him into the floor while looking around at the mostly frostless hallway. Meanwhile, a small amount of frost leaks onto the floor from the staircase behind us.
And I can tell that the floor is actually a little warm. Which instantly makes me uncomfortable for some reason.
I grimace slightly as I walk at the back of the group.
It doesn't help that the others all seem to enjoy the heat that's currently making my skin crawl.
The major stops at the door at the end of the hall before glancing back at us and opening the door, almost instantly making a conversation that we couldn't hear before stop on the other side of the door.
"Major Vaugns!" I hear the familiar voice of the base commander – Lieutenant Colonel Artorius val Ruth – shout as the sight of him standing next to another man, whom I quickly recognize as the other major stationed in this base, Major Carter, is revealed once the door is fully opened. "I was wondering when you would show up!"
Major Vaugns doesn't seem to be pleased with the lieutenant colonel's chipper attitude, but he simply salutes him and states, "Major Arnold Vaugns reporting with squads AR27, AH22, AR21, and A1," as the base commander and Major Carter walk through the door to enter the hallway.
The lieutenant colonel smiles at that while Major Carter frowns and says, "That makes ten squads that've survived and made it here out of the twenty squads. Do we know whether the other ten squads made it?"
I look back at Major Vaugns as he shakes his head and says, "No. I do know that there were six squads that were on an op when this started, with at least one of them making it back here, but the other five squads were sent out to locations a lot further away than squad AR27."
This report makes the smile drop from the lieutenant colonel's face before he asks, "And what about the other soldiers running the base? The ones not in any squads?"
The major just shakes his head again and regretfully says, "Judging by the uniforms the monsters had on throughout the base, the majority of the unassigned soldiers and the few civilians on base were turned into monsters."
My eyes widen slightly as I realize that I'd never really paid attention to what the monsters were wearing. Just that they were monsters trying to kill me.
Before I can put any thought into that though, the lieutenant colonel finally looks at the back of the hall and notices me.
"And what happened to Second Lieutenant North?" he asks with a mixed look on his face. One both confused, regretful, and slightly alert.
At his words, practically everyone in the hall turns to look at me that wasn't already looking, and I quickly find the other major growing tense and grabbing for his sword, only to pause as he mutters, "Wait, Second Lieutenant North? Isn't that..."
"Right," Major Vaugns says with a nod, "Alexander North is the son of the current general of the military, and he was infected by one of the shards. But it didn't fully turn him. And since he seems to have kept his intelligence despite the changes he's undergone, I thought it would be wiser to bring him here for the scientists to run some tests than leave him to fend for himself on the off chance he does end up fully turning at some point."
The lieutenant colonel continues to examine me with his eyes without saying a word as the major turns to look at me and continues speaking, "I also think you should know that he has an artificial heart, which might be what's keeping him from turning."
Despite the major's added explanation, the lieutenant colonel just continues to examine me before walking up to me and circling me, still without saying a word.
Uh... this is awkward.
No one says a word as we all watch the lieutenant colonel walk around in circles around me until he eventually stops right in front of me and asks, "Do you think you'll fully turn or lose control in any way?"
I shake my head immediately and answer, "No sir."
He stares at me for a few more seconds before asking, "Does your terminal think there are any further changes that you might go through? Ones that could affect your mental state?"
I close my eyes at that and repeat the question to my terminal's AI, making it flash a calculating notice to me.
After a few seconds pass, another notice appears, answering my question. So, I hold out my hand to the lieutenant colonel and he takes it before starting the sharing process to share the notice.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – Energy within body is stable. No further changes detected unless more energy is absorbed by the user, in which
case the changes will be limited to physical changes with no changes to his mental state outside of a minor desire for more energy to grow stronger.
\End of Notice/
Several seconds pass in silence as he reads the notice before he lets go of my arm and nods his head with a smile. He then states, "Terminal, share this answer to the soldiers and officers gathered here."
I then watch as most of the soldiers and officers begin to relax just the slightest bit. Meanwhile, Phillip seems like he is about to explode out of excitement.
The lieutenant colonel pats me on the shoulder and says, "You should be good, but I'd still like our scientists to take a look at you. Nothing too intrusive, but we could really use the data your body might be able to give us about the monsters."
I nod my head in agreement at that, making his smile grow slightly before he reaches for my neck, closes his eyes, and says, "Unlock the North direct port."
/ Alert \
Direct port connection designated 'North' between users General Edward North and Second Lieutenant Alexander North has been opened
by user Lieutenant Colonel Artorius val Ruth.
\End of Alert/
A smile stretches across my face at the sight of the alert before I nod my head at the lieutenant colonel and say, "Thanks, sir!"
He just pats my shoulder and starts walking away while calling over his shoulder, "When you talk to your dad, tell him hi for me! The rest of us will head to the bunker."
Not even a second later, I hear a ringing noise in my head, followed by another notice.
/ Notice \
User General Edward North has attempted to use direct port 'North'. Would you like to give them permission?
\End of Notice/
Chapter 18
Catching Up and Science
Alexander North
I nod towards him at that before watching the others slowly file into the bunker, with only a few of them still looking back at me with wary glances.
Looks like my terminal and the lieutenant colonel have both cleared me of a lot of trouble. Even if there are still a few who are afraid.
Once everyone has cleared out, I turn my attention back to my terminal and quickly say, "Give user General Edward North permission to use direct port 'North'."
Almost immediately after I finish speaking, a static-covered video screen appears in the corner of my vision that should have dad's face showing on it live but instead shows nothing but interrupted static. However, he quickly asks me, "Are you okay?" in the same way that he always does whenever seeing me for the first time in a while.
And when I don't respond right away due to not really knowing just what to say to that, he quickly says, "Tell me everything."
So I explain everything that's happened since the apocalypse to him.
"-and that's when the lieutenant colonel unlocked the port, leading to this conversation," I finish explaining to him from my place seated on the top step of the staircase. I had moved out here at some point because BF7 was just too warm for my liking.
Which is another change. It looks like whatever I am now prefers colder locations than humans.
That aside, it looks like this is happening throughout the entire universe and not just on this planet. To the point that most of space is
somehow filled with an endless blizzard that's moving without any wind or atmosphere.
I shiver slightly at the thought of the millions or even billions of people who must've been trapped on a spaceship out in space when the apocalypse struck and disabled their ship. Not to mention that the shards would still dig their way into the ship, which while they would probably still seal up the hull behind them somehow, they'd end up turning the spaceship into a home for the monsters and a hell for the humans inside of it.
Dad just stares downwards off camera for a few minutes as I lean up against the wall. Eventually though, he looks up again and says, "The military headquarters is in much better shape than your base thanks to the vast number of symbiont hosts here, so we've been able to capture some of the monsters and run tests on them."
I sit up straighter at that as he continues, "One of the officers here has already shared this information with the lieutenant colonel at your base, so you don't have to repeat this to him, but we've learned that the energy located within the shards has a similar composition to Cocytus – the ice super planet located next to the capital of the Arctic Empire. But this is only a similar composition, meaning they are not the exact same, so it doesn't prove anything."
So The Arctic Empire might be behind this? But if it's happening there too and hurting them, then I doubt it was on purpose even if it was their doing...
"We've also learned-" dad continues, sounding slightly disgruntled for some reason, "-through a rogue scientist who was visiting from the Terran Researcher Union that the mutation caused by the energy has two different phases. The first phase has the energy spread out throughout the body, changing it in the process without touching the brain. Whereas the second phase is changing the heart, followed immediately after by changing the brain, which is also the point where a person or animal will lose all of its intelligence and begin to react only on the new instincts given to them by their mutation."
Looks like my guess was correct. I didn't fully turn because I have a 100% artificial heart.
But wait...
"How did the scientist..." I trail off as I realize that the only possible way that he could have learned that is... "...did the scientist purposefully turn someone?"
Dad doesn't say anything for a few seconds before answering rather tersely, "Yes. Without our permission."
My mouth parts slightly at that before closing again.
I knew a lot of the scientists at the union were a little screwed in the head, but purposefully turning someone into a monster?
That's screwed up.
And this is coming from a monster. Or part monster, I guess.
"Were you at least able to punish them?" I ask despite already knowing
the answer.
"No," dad answers, "because, and I quote, 'The Research Union is not
under your jurisdiction.'" I then hear dad shout at someone at his location, likely venting his anger before he continues talking to me, "In reality, the Legislative branch likely saw the benefit that scientist could give us and decided that it was worth it, considering the findings the bastard's already gotten."
I lie back on the floor while looking up at the ceiling.
Yeah. The universe really isn't a nice place, is it?
Eventually, after a few minutes of silence, I ask, "Do you know why
our guns and technology don't work?"
Dad answers right away, as if latching onto a change in the topic, "Yes,
actually."
I sit up at that answer, a little surprised by how fast they've learned this
stuff.
"The scientists said that the 'Eternal Winter', as they seem to like
calling it, has somehow caused physics itself to change. To put it simply – since most of the technical crap goes over my head – certain molecules in the universe have all somehow been capped at how quickly they can move, so we can't make fire or explosions anymore. And that also means that – outside of biological creatures and stuff they're in direct contact with for some reason that they're still trying to figure out – everything is also limited in how fast it can move," dad explains, sounding rather confused. "As for the electrical technology not working? It's because the Eternal Winter has messed with the electrons in the universe as well, making the creation of
electricity rather complicated. To the degree that I didn't understand a word that they were saying after that point."
I blink in confusion at his explanations, which were rather bad to put it lightly, but then again, dad was never very good at science.
How is the universe still existing in the first place if there were such drastic changes to physics...? It doesn't really make much sense.
Although, I guess the scientists there can probably answer that. At the very least, they'd be able to answer it much better than dad can.
Also, the no fire or explosions answers why our guns don't work at all. Why they don't even make any noise outside of the bullet falling out lifelessly.
"Suffice it to say, we're not completely sure yet, but we might never be able to use technology on the level that we had ever again," dad concludes. "Or at least not until this storm ends, or if and when the scientists can find a way to clear an area completely of the storm. It's just that the storm seems to have a very wide radius on what it affects, with that being larger than just where it is."
"Huh," I mutter while looking down and scratching my chin. "Sounds like they were able to clear the storm of a small area, but it didn't do anything."
Dad hums in agreement before silence befalls the staircase again. "Sooo," I mutter after several more minutes, "how are you doing?"
Chapter 19
Bunker
Alexander North
We talk for nearly an hour to catch up, but I eventually have to end it when a monster shows up. I take care of it rather quickly though and absorb its energy. It was more like a good reason to stop the call, since I know he's busy. And I am as well.
Once I make it back down to the hallway from the stairs, I realize that it's no longer as warm down here as it was when we first arrived. Which makes sense. The heat from the floor is probably just gonna continue being sapped away as more time passes. Which is nice for me but not so nice for the others.
I look back and forth between the three doors before walking towards the one that the others entered when I was about to accept dad's call – which is also the one that I can faintly see heat signatures in.
This infra-red vision is nice, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as strong as it seems for the monsters. Not considering how they can track like bloody hounds.
Although my sense of smell is also a little bit stronger than it was as a human, so they might just be using their noses.
After opening the door, I find myself staring at a very large room filled to the brim with different living areas, each cordoned off by a wall between the areas, and each with soldiers and some civilians – the few who were rescued throughout the base – chatting in them. The rest areas seem to have refrigerators full of food and drinks, along with boxes of non-refrigerated food and plenty of areas to rest including chairs and pillows.
Not that the refrigerators are working or even needed anymore.
Most of the eyes in the room turn to me almost immediately after I step through the door, and many of the owners of said eyes actually rush over to me – both people that I do know and those that I don't – before quickly battering me with questions.
I blink in confusion before looking around and managing to find the lieutenant colonel, who has a grin on his face and a... is that a beer? A beer in his hand.
Why he has a beer in the middle of an apocalypse as the commander of our base is beyond me. But then again, he's probably unable to get drunk due to his symbiont anyways. What with him being a Tier 3 host and all.
"I'm guessing he told you about the scientist's findings?" I ask the group of soldiers and officers gathered around me. There are at least eight of them, but surprisingly, none of them are from my squad.
Although I guess they probably wouldn't want to be pushed around by these idiots just to chat with me right after I enter the room. Since they know I'll be heading over to them once I can.
"Yes, sir!" one of them – probably the youngest recruit here – says before quickly recapping what I had just heard from dad about how the energy turns people. Although in a slightly easier to understand manner. But still not very well.
I internally groan at the thought of listening to these people go on and on for however long they're planning on doing it, but fortunately, the lieutenant colonel shouts, "Second Lieutenant North! Come over here!"
And so, I do, quickly making my escape from the eager recruits in the process. But as I do so, I also notice several nasty looks from some of the other soldiers.
Guess not everyone is happy with me being here, even after being assured that I wouldn't be a danger.
Once I make it over to the lieutenant colonel, he just smirks at me and says, "For someone so tough, you don't seem to be able to handle being the center of attention very well."
I glare at him, uncaring at this point that he's my superior officer as I say, "I just can't deal with kids, sir."
This makes both him and Major Vaugns next to him raise one eyebrow each before the commander says, "But they're not much younger than you."
I just shrug in response.
They certainly feel a lot younger when we talk.
But I guess that was probably due to the sheltered life I had while
being raised. Or maybe just the fact that I was very close to death for a large majority of my life.
"Dad didn't let me have much of a childhood, so I feel older than them," I answer him before ignoring his surprise to say, "Also, a monster tried coming down here, but I killed it. So we should probably start posting a guard out there."
Why he's not already doing that is beyond me.
The lieutenant colonel raises an eyebrow again – which he really seems to like doing a lot, just like dad – likely deciding to take my offhanded offer of a change of subject as he says, "But we did have a guard out there."
This time my mouth parts open in surprise, just to close again as I understand what he means.
I was the guard.
Which at least shows that he has trust in me. Despite my current condition.
The man smirks before looking off to the side and shouting, "Hey, Captain Hart! It's your turn to stand guard!"
I turn to find the captain of the AZ14 squad saluting and getting up from his place seated on a comfortable office chair, where he was eating chips.
Which is an odd sight to see right now for some reason.
I turn back to the lieutenant colonel to find him looking serious again before saying, "You're dismissed, officer. Get some rest. And thanks to the base's research, you won't be put under the care of our scientists. Although I get the feeling if and when we get to HQ – assuming we can even leave the planet – their scientists will probably go nuts about you."
A grimace finds its way onto my face at the thought, but I quickly salute the man and turn around before walking over towards where my own squad is sitting. And when I reach them, I find them laughing at some joke. But the moment Robert sees me, he immediately stops laughing and says, "Excuse me, I had too much to drink," and walks away.
I watch him go for a few seconds before feeling a hand on my shoulder followed by Michelle's voice saying, "He'll come around."
The man continues walking all the way to the door before leaving the bunker. But I see his heat signature stop moving after closing the door and instead just moving next to the door.
"He's just sitting next to the door," I mutter just loud enough for her to hear before shaking my head and turning around to look at the others. "So
how have you all been since we got separated?"
"Well," Captain Andrew begins while putting down his drink, "you
know most of it already. We searched through the building for a bit before running into the major, and he led us to the hangar for the hidden stairs located there. Which is also where we found the massive monster eating the ships."
I blink twice at that before tilting my head and asking, "A monster was eating the ships?"
The captain purses his lips and nods at that. "Yeah, and anything in them. Including the people."
That makes more sense.
"It had a body similar to an enormous worm, except with two legs and the mouth of a lamprey," he continues. "But the strangest thing about it was that the other monsters were afraid of it. To the point that even when we made a bunch of noise, none of them would get anywhere near us. Or near it."
I look down at that while scratching my chin.
The other monsters were afraid of it to that extent?
My only guess for why is that it's probably been chowing down on a
lot of the monsters before they ran into it. But why was it eating metal?
I try to remember each of the other monsters and what I've seen them eat, but the only one that comes to mind are the wendigos that basically eat
anything meat.
So maybe the monsters each have their own food source outside of the
energy?
But wouldn't that-
My thoughts cut off as a shout echoes from a couple of rest areas away from me, "A shard!"
I quickly rush out of our rest area towards the shout before finding several soldiers backing away from the wall, where a shard is slowly digging its way out.
A faint grin stretches across my face as I reach out and grab the shard, stopping it in its tracks and absorbing the energy into myself with a sigh at the pleasurable feeling that comes along with it, followed by what's become a regular notice from my terminal about my stats increasing.
Out of curiosity, and as a way to help me ignore the many people here staring at me for what I just did, I open my terminal to check my current
analysis.
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 1.59 Agility: 1.63
Reflexes: 1.44 Constitution: 2.01 Immunity: ? Senses: 1.72
Body Malfunctions: ?
Error: Cannot determine Immunity or Body Malfunctions of user's
current species.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats.
\End of Analysis/
Huh. Did that one just raise my constitution? Or was it a different monster I absorbed the energy from that did it?
I stare at it for a few seconds out of curiosity before the lieutenant colonel's voice snaps me back out of it.
"So that's what it looks like when you absorb the energy of a shard," he mutters before asking, "would you mind if our scientists took a look at that shard?"
I look between him and the shard before shrugging and answering, "Sure."
Chapter 20
New Orders
Alexander North
Over the course of the next few hours, we all take a break from the whole 'Eternal Winter' thing to chat and eat and drink. But eventually, the lieutenant colonel brings us back to reality as he walks up to the center of the room and shouts, "Attention!"
Almost as one, all of the soldiers and officers – including myself – shoot to our feet at attention and salute.
"Now that we've had a short break and another squad has joined us," he pauses while pointing at the door, where another squad enters the room from, "It's time for us to start taking back the base!"
A roar of cheers follows his announcement.
I smirk in his direction, only to raise an eyebrow as I hear his next statement.
"To start things off, I will only be sending out the symbiont hosts and Second Lieutenant North, but after a couple of days, I'll be sending the captains' squads along with them," he says, surprising me quite a bit in the process.
He trusts me enough to send me with the captains? Or is it that he doesn't trust me enough to keep me here at base while the majority of the symbiont hosts aren't here?
Considering his treatment of me so far, I'd say it's the first option. But it doesn't hurt to consider every option.
The commander doesn't say anything about it to me and just nods towards me and each of the captains before nodding towards the door, signaling us to head out.
Actually, now that I think about it, what time is it?
I open my terminal to see if that function still works, since some of them don't work despite the device still working – after all, some of the
functions require a connection to basic locations to work, like the public internet.
Fortunately, it works, and the time quickly appears in the corner of my vision.
My brows furrow once I read it though.
It's already 0700? So the sun should be rising past the horizon right about now?
I wonder if we can even see it through the blizzard...
After bidding farewell to my team members, I walk over with Captain Andrew through the room and then the hall into the staircase to meet up with the other captains. Just to end up finding them already talking with Major Vaugns.
"-first check the symbiont storage on BF2 before you do anything else," I hear the man say before he turns to see me and the captain entering the staircase. "Did you hear what I told them?"
We nod, understanding what he said as we stop in front of him and the other five captains around him. The major then turns to look behind us as the remaining four captains approach the stairs.
"I'll repeat it anyways," he says before waiting a second for the last of the captains to enter the stairwell and then saying, "I'll be going with you on this mission while Major Carter will be staying behind with the lieutenant colonel. Our priority is to get to the symbiont storage on BF2 and secure the symbionts for emergency use according to Section 8, article 51 of the Military Manual of Regulations, Military Emergencies. We would normally send the regular soldiers as well, just to have as many people as we can on the mission, but they won't be all that much help, and we need them here to protect the civilians."
"How many symbionts are in the storage if you don't mind me asking, sir?" Captain Ruthers asks while gripping his sword and looking up at the staircase.
The major turns to acknowledge him with a nod as he answers, "There should be enough for just a third of the current soldiers in the bunker."
I wince at that.
There's absolutely going to be some infighting over those things. Which makes me glad that I don't need one anymore. In fact, I doubt I
would even be able to use one considering how they're artificially created to link with a human's DNA.
And I'm not exactly human anymore.
A smile sneaks its way across my face at the thought of not having to get a symbiont anymore. Not to mention not having to go through that incredibly painful surgery. Because who in their right mind would enjoy having a foreign entity surgically planted inside of them while they're still awake? Not to mention that I don't have to worry about fighting with the others over getting a symbiont either.
Although it would probably be best to make myself scarce when they start picking who gets them. Because it won't be a pretty sight.
The other captains seem to share my sentiment considering the looks they're sharing with each other before the major grimaces and says, "I understand how you feel about that, but we need the extra symbiont hosts. Otherwise we'll be overwhelmed. Unless you think the others can take the monsters with nothing but human strength and a blade?"
No one says anything.
"Thought so," he grunts with a nod before continuing, "Once we get each of the symbionts here – assuming they're still there and haven't been eaten by monsters themselves, which would be... unfortunate – we will then start splitting off into groups to clear each floor one by one of monsters until we get rid of them all. Meanwhile, the soldiers who don't have a symbiont at that point will be in charge of defending the already-cleared floors."
I hold myself back from raising an eyebrow as I put my helmet back on while ignoring the looks sent my way by two of the captains that I hadn't seen yet since the apocalypse started.
It would be a lot worse than simply 'unfortunate'.
I glance at the captains out of the corner of my eye now that I have my helmet on.
They don't look particularly friendly, and I especially don't like the way they're staring at me.
Both of them are straight up glaring at me behind the major's back. At least until Captains Andrew and Ruthers notice them and glare back, making them focus on the major again.
Those two might become a problem later on... I just hope I don't get stuck alone with them at some point. Because while I'm pretty sure that I'm stronger than a Tier 1 symbiont host now, I would rather not test my luck against two at once.
Although I at least know that, if they try anything, they won't try anything while we're with the others. After all, they should know not to rock the boat in the middle of an emergency... right?
Yeah. Right.
I put my palm on the pommel of my sword just in case as I listen to the major finish speaking, "For our first trip, we'll stay together in one group and move through the base to the restricted storage area. But after we get back, we'll start moving in four groups, with two of them always being out hunting the monsters and clearing the base, one of them standing on guard, and one of them on break."
"Everyone understand?" he asks while looking at each of us, just to get a series of "Yes, sirs!" in response.
The major then turns around and begins walking up the stairs while stating, "Then put your helmets on. We're heading out."