Full Frontal Fantasy-: BIG COMIC WEEK- Stephen Wilds

Me doing a comic book guest blog: Full Frontal Fantasy-: BIG COMIC WEEK- Stephen Wilds

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 7

               Leaves fell in broad strokes and branches struck Bronson as he pushed through the trees in a full run. Hands by his side as he ran, his knife and pistol were already drawn, his mind playing out the different scenario of what could have happened. Nyx was behind him, following close. Her words in the conversation they had just had were replaying in his mind, perhaps she had been right. It looked like leaving those Dine and Pierce alone had been a horrible idea. One of them was most likely dead, the other standing over their body waiting to dispatch of he and Nyx, or fled into the woods.

               It was to his surprise as he broke through the tree line, back near the gravel road with the building in sight and pistol drawn and readied, that he saw Dine standing at the ready and Pierce almost cowering behind him with the handle of his automatic clenched tightly. Bronson lowered the gun away from them as he saw his suspicions were wrong. He had let Nyx’ comments cause him to second guess himself. Captain Dine’s eyes were not on Pierce at all but one of the doorways to the large building they had not yet entered.

               Dine glanced over his shoulder at the returning patrollers.

               “Pierce went in there to get firewood,” Pistol still pointed at the doorway, “said he saw ghouls.”

               “It was dark,” Jonah Pierce said from behind his human shield, “But I know what I saw. I saw it’s eyes; damn soulless eyes!”  

               Nyx shook her head and knew what her partner’s response would be. She unsheathed her machete as he put his pistol away.

               “If it’s walkers you let me handle it.” Bronson spoke as he moved past them, towards the building with his knife readied, “quietly and without wasting ammo if we can help it.” He had to remind himself they were technically amateurs here. From one of the many small pockets on his pants he produced a small LED flashlight and held it in his free hand with the bulb out, wrists locked in a cross pattern with the knife blade sticking out.

               His back pressed to the wall. Nyx got into position across from him, ready to follow him if she needed to. The metal of her blade rested with a cool touch against her arm. From the corner of her eye she realized that Dine was an unmoving wall, just in case the enemy got past both of them and Pierce was still behind the captain with his pistol automatic raised.

               The sun was so low now that when Bronson went into the doorway of the old structure she had to squint to make out his outline. He hadn’t turned the light on yet, if it was a nest of them that would just paint a larger target and do more harm than good. Moments passed that were silent and everyone was still and almost breathless as they waited for the bloodlust of combat, adrenaline beginning to pump inside them. Nyx couldn’t see Bronson at all anymore and that worried her. Instinctively, her training took over and she began to move towards the doorway about to enter when she saw a bright blue light finally come on. She froze.

               The light snapped back off with a click. She moved away from the door, hearing him come closer.

               “Pierce,” Bronson called out, still enveloped in shadow.

               Pierce stepped out from behind Dine with a grunt that almost sounded like a question. His curiosity was soon sated as an object flew from the darkened doorway that Bronson was stepping out of and hit Jonah square in the chest. Pierce flailed with his free arm, struggling to catch it until he got a second glance and saw what it was. A severed human head with rotting flesh and glossed over eyes fell to the ground and made a thump against the browning grass.

               The other three looked down at it, the first really good look anyone had gotten of whoever this used to be. It was a ghoul from what they could tell, at least for a short time. There was a large gaping hole at the top of the skull though that looked like it went pretty deep if not all the way through. The cut at the base of the neck was far from clean and there were cuts that looked like they could have been from machetes or smaller knives.

               “There were three of these on pikes back there in the back of that building, just the heads.” Bronson motioned as he spoke, “looked like some kind of work bench had been set up also but nothing there anymore.”

               Pierce let out a sigh of relief before realizing the truth of what was inside the abandoned building made him look even worse.

               “Are you sure you didn’t see anything else in there?” He questioned Bronson, trying to rebuild his base for his actions. “I know I saw something move in there.”

               Bronson shook his head. “I searched the whole bottom floor and most of the walls have been removed, so I’m not sure where anything could have been hiding. The top floor doesn’t look too structurally sound with the metal catwalks so warped and rusted but I looked around up there as much as I could. I think the heads were what you saw.”

               Pierce looked as if he were trying to think of something else to bring up. Dine stepped up and pushed the head over with his boot to get a better look at the cuts on the base of the neck.

               “So someone killed a couple of walkers and put their heads up on spikes, did God knows what with the bodies,” Dine looked up at Bronson, “for what, display?”

               “Not much of a display. Just the part they didn’t want I guess.”

               “Any ideas? If not, speculate.”

               Bronson paused for a moment and looked around them, knowing there were probably more answers out there. Nyx was curious too, she knew Bron had encountered a lot but he wasn’t sure of the answer this time and she could tell.

               “No.”

               Dine nodded and followed Bronson’s gaze, looking around the tree line.

               “Are we good here for tonight?”

               “We should be. We’ll rotate a watch, keep the fire low and we’ll know if anything comes up at us early enough that it won’t give them any sort of advantage.”

               “Agreed,” Dine pulled his pack from his shoulder and began unpacking the essential supplies he had on him, neither of which was a sleeping bag. He did however have the materials to make a fire, water, and three emergency ration packs. “I’ll take the first watch, Pierce the second, Nyx then you.” He gave out the orders as he looked at the lack of firewood Pierce had failed to get. He hid his annoyance behind a forced smile and stood. “Let’s get camp made with what we’ve got and not waste anymore time, alright?”

               Bronson went with Pierce this time to gather the firewood and finish having a look around. Nyx volunteered to finish searching the two buildings and set a sleeping area and place for the fire between the two buildings. Dine had said he was going to go check the map and plan their path for tomorrow, he had walked off glancing at the three-dimensional projection. Nyx was moving some of the straw and rocks around to make sure the fire would be easy to start when the other two came back. She noticed Dine seemed to be doing something off in the distance. She wasn’t sure if he knew that she could see him from there but she moved a bit closer. The captain had removed a metal object, circular it looked like. He took something out of it and put it up to his mouth.

               Squinting, she was about to move closer when she heard Pierce and Bronson coming back up through the clearing without speaking to each other. Nyx quickly turned away. Dine would turn any moment now for sure. She looked at the two approaching men and the sticks they carried; surprised if they had exchanged any words the whole time they had been out. They began the fire wordlessly as well until Dine came back up to the rest of the group.

               “Let’s eat up and get some sleep.”

               An hour later Dine was sitting with his back against the wall of the smaller structure, his head leaning back with his eyes barely closed, looking as if he were resting more than trying to sleep. His hands were in his lap holding onto the handle of the platinum plated colt .45 with the safety off and the barrel pointing down at the ground, but it was there if he needed it. The weapon held sixteen bullets total. That was sixteen chances, he reminded himself.

               There were no sleeping bags or tents. They were at the bottom of the ocean somewhere with the equipment pod that had sunk. Bronson was okay with that. He lay next to the dying fire on his back with his arms crisscrossed behind his head. The small bits of water still resting on the hairs of his goatee glistened in the dim light of the fire beside him as he gazed up to the sky. The view from Elysium City was amazing, but something about being down on Earth and looking up at the stars caught his attention more, it was the perspective.

               It was almost silent at the camp other than the crackling of the fire and the occasional howl from a distant animal in the woods. Bronson liked it that way so that even though it wasn’t his turn to watch he liked being able to listen and stay somewhat alert. His mind was wandering though, thinking about tomorrow and how they would soon need to find more water than what they had in their packs and in another day their rations would be gone. He hadn’t been this far up North in almost twenty years. That was just another complication stacked on for them. The heads left behind were still nagging at him as well and he wasn’t sure why. Sleep was coming though and he needed to allow it, the next few days were going to be hard.

               Pierce had already fallen fast asleep, using his pack as a pillow and curling up with his legs under him. He had stayed quiet while they were setting up the area to rest for the night, little to say and not wanting to give anyone an open opportunity to bring up his mistakes. He almost messed up when they were eating the emergency rations. They tasted horrible, worse than the food on Elysium City if you could believe that. Pierce didn’t enjoy his meal or the company at this point. He wanted to forget about the day and had tried to go to sleep early.

Nyx had also passed out, the day had been exhausting and she wasn’t about to look like she couldn’t keep up. She had fought too hard to prove these things to Bronson, and now that the group had grown to four she felt as if she had more to prove. She was shivering now though, the warmth of the flames fading. Her hand shook as it gripped her wrap. Her lip quivered. Bronson took the cloth he wore over his gear that he was using as a blanket and laid it across her. Dine, the only one awake to see this rare soft approach the hunter gave to his partner. Soon afterwards Bronson embraced sleep, knowing they wouldn’t be on great speaking terms over the next few days.

               Minutes passed, two people slept uneasily and Pierce was snoring. The hour was passing the agreed upon time to switch out the guard. Dine wanted to let Pierce sleep a little longer though. He felt protective over them, watching them sleep. The sound of metal tightening against the leather as he slid it into the holster was a pause between the crickets. Captain Dine listened to the dull near-lifeless sounds of the woods around him before finally nudging Pierce with his boot.

               “Wake up, your shift starts.”

               Pierce made an odd noise that could have been words if his lips weren’t pushed up against the folds of his pack.

               “You’re up for two hours,” Dine instructed, “then you wake up Nyx for her shift.”

               There was another noise and Pierce slowly stood before rubbing his eyes. Moving in an almost drunk motion he nearly tripped over his own pack. Reaching down, his hand fumbled in the pack for the now half empty bottle of water and he took half of what was left.

               “You good,” Dine asked.

               “Yeah, yeah just should have offered to go first.”

               Dine nodded and gave him one last look before moving off back to the side of the building where he was. He resumed his seated position, leaning his head back against the wall. There was a moment that he tried to shut off his mind and fall asleep but something didn’t let him. He reached down and removed the .45 from the holster and pressed the barrel back to the ground, hands wrapped tightly around the grip again. Now he could sleep.

               Nys was having trouble sleeping. It was cold. She had awoken for a moment, long enough to realize that someone had put something over her, Bronson. It was uncommon enough that when he did show some kind of hint of caring or sympathy she found it surprising. She had fallen back asleep not long after that though. Now there was something nagging at her, that feeling that she had something to do and knew that she’d need to be soon. These kinds of thoughts pushed sleep further away, causing her to toss and turn, fidgeting. In her fragile state between sleep and consciousness she realized that it would be any moment now, Pierce would come and wake her for her shift.

               It was cold, but now there was something colder pressing against her cheek. Nyx’ eyes fluttered open. Even in the darkness of the dead fire she could make out the piece of metal that was pressed against her cheek as a warning not to move. Her eyes followed it up the thick wooden shaft that it was attached to. The individual holding the spear to her face was large with long nappy hair. She couldn’t make out his face. She looked down to the MP5 and her pistol that lay beside where she was sleeping. Nyx considered going for it, but she knew the chance was too good that he had already seen it also, knew what she was thinking.

               This was an awkward moment. She wasn’t really sure what to say, a witty bit of sarcasm had come to mind but there was just enough fear that she had decided against it. She sat up slightly but stopped when she felt the metal, rough and crude, pierce her cheek just slightly. She could now see that her suspicion was right. Dine and Bronson were both already on their knees with their hands being tied behind them. Another man with an old rusted shotgun stood over Pierce, who was still fast asleep against the tree he had set against. The taller man with the shotgun crouched down in front of Pierce with a devilish grin stretching across his face amidst the graying beard.

               “Wakey-up now friend” the man said with a soft voice that didn’t match his exterior, “high time for introductions.”

               Pierce woke up at the words, his hand reached for the rifle at the end of the strap around his shoulder but there was already a shotgun being buried in his crotch. The bearded smiling man shook his head slightly to let Pierce know that it wasn’t going to happen.

               “Oh fuck me,” Jonah Pierce had dropped the ball again.

               “Is that your name or a request?”

               The other men laughed at their leaders joke. This finally gave Nyx the opportunity to sit up, but do little else without feeling the sharp embrace of the spear again.

               “My names’ Dwight Griffin, you can call me Griff.” He smiled and his free hand that wasn’t holding the shotgun reached for the strap on Pierce’s shoulder. There was no struggle, Pierce released the handle and now Griff had a shotgun and a high powered rifle. “I don’t like to stand on ceremony or anything but I don’t want to be just referring to you as ‘those trespassers’ all day either, so how about some names and a good old fashioned explanation as to why you folks are on our land.”

               “P-Pierce.”

               “Calm down now son, I don’t think you’ll be losing your balls today.”

               Griffin stood and removed the shotgun from between Pierce’s legs; it was still trained on him though. He looked over to Dine and Bronson who were side-by-side on their knees, bound. He nodded to one of the other blade wielding men and they switched places. Pulling rope from his belt the henchman began picked Pierce up from his seated position and forced him down to his knees. His hands were soon tied behind him as well while Griff looked over the other two men in the group, sizing them up. He pointed to Dine.

               “How about you,” he asked with a tone that didn’t quite relay the severity of the situation. This man seemed to enjoy his work.

               “Dine,” the soldier paused, he had almost followed up his name with his rank and serial number, but that would give too much away at this point.

               “That a first name or a last?”

               “Surname.”

               “I know we caught you people trespassing and what-not but that is no reason not to get to know one another better.”

               “Price.”

               “Ha! They do anything simple where you’re from?” There was a hearty laugh that followed his rhetorical question, the other men joined in.

               Nyx was using the time that the attention wasn’t on her to look at the others. The only one with any real weapons was Griff, the others had each a machete, knife, or spear, but nothing else. They all looked healthy and well fed, which was a bit surprising to her. She was trying to think of a way out, a weakness. It was four on four though and any second now they would have the rest of their weapons.

               Griff pointed with his shotgun towards Bronson.

               “What about you big fella?”

               “Bronson, and I’ll be your friend if you’ll break his jaw for me.” Bronson motioned with a nod of his head to Pierce who for some reason looked a bit shocked at this response. “We didn’t know we were trespassing on your land.”

               Bronson was angry, probably at himself as well as Pierce but Nyx knew that was strike two in Bronson’s book. She didn’t want to see what strike three meant. Whether he knew it or not though Bronson had helped her out. The cloth that he had covered Nyx up with was still over the bottom half of her body and had kept hidden the machete on her belt. If she could get to the right position, she could grab it and lunge at Griffin. His throat would be slit before the others could act and that would put the odds in their favor, except for Dine and Bronson still having their hands tied. She wasn’t worried about Pierce. At this point she figured the best thing he could do was to fall on one of their blades for them, keep a man distracted that way.

               Griff laughed, “I guess you’re right, we don’t advertise like we used to. Still, I need to know why you’re here and what your intentions are.” He pressed the barrel of the shotgun to Bronson’s chest. “And I’d ask you kindly not to lie, we hate liars.”

               Dine was about to speak up but he realized that any lie he would have told had a chance of being seen through. His eyes cut to Bronson.

               “We’re from the Boulder City colony, in Nevada. We’ve been looking for food, supplies, anything really.”

               Griff nodded, thinking about what Bronson had told him. He looked to Dine to test the story.

               “Nevada, that’s a good ways away isn’t it?”

               “Oh yeah,” Dine said, knowing that whatever he answered needed to flow. “We’ve been traveling for months, thinking about not going back.”

               “Why’s that?”

               “Have you ever been to Nevada? It’s shit.”

               Griffin laughed again, that deep laugh that the others joined him with.

               “Well alright!” Griff finally lowered the shotgun, pointing it at the ground for the first time since they had met him. “We can’t really give you anything in the way of supplies, not that anyone would, but we have a camp near here that you’re welcome to come and share a small meal, long as you don’t mind following a few rules.”

               Nyx knew now was her best shot, Griffin was as relaxed and off-guard as he was ever going to be for them. Under the thick cloth she felt the leather handle as she pulled. Her thumb soon ran over the metal of the blade. Her free hand would push the spear up and she’d have one shot at this. One fluid motion was all she needed. Her body shifted slightly as her eyes focused on Griffin’s throat.

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 6

                Nyx was wondering why she had let them do this to her. There was some trouble thinking about  it though with the banging and shaking around her head. It sounded like two robots having violent sex, at least to her it did in that moment. Were her hands shaking or was everything moving and she was imagining the extra nervousness? The feeling in her stomach built as she felt the metal pod she had been put in, against her better judgment, reach terminal velocity. Though the shielded window plate on the front of her less-than-desired mode of transportation black had turned into dark blue then lighter shades as she descended at alarming speeds. The pressure was enormous, they hadn’t warned her about that part. When the thrusters sputtered to slow her decent she felt the abrupt pushing in her gut, glad she hadn’t eaten. There was a moment where she wanted to scream. Deciding on a piercing yell instead, her profanity resounded in the small shell.

               Splashdown greeted her with resentment. The small shell did in fact pierce the ocean without breaking apart, it’s passenger beat around by the impact. The black straps cut into her shoulders roughly. Hands flailing, she tried hard to stabilize herself. Through the disorientation she thought that her pod had turned upside down but couldn’t tell as the daylight from the surface faded, the screen to the outside world going dark again. The sinking feeling was palpable. The sound of loud thumps came from all around her as the metal plates shot off the sections of the bottoms. Gel packs leveled the shell back out and gave it a push back up that slowed. There was another series of thumps, one after the other, as the blue-yellow gel packs erupted and popped.

               The color outside was returning to a normal blue as she ascended. There was a sigh of relief that she was enjoying when a red light up above the hatch came on, an obtrusive noise followed it as the door of the pod popped off with a hiss as the four bolts shot out to the sides. Water poured into the pod and struck Nyx’ boots, quickly soaking them. It was cold.

               “Shit,” she cursed, her hands feeling around for the releases of the straps that held her in.

               Water had flooded in up to her shins. The pod would soon sink back to the depths again, hiding the evidence of their arrival. Remembering to grab the MP5 machine gun before she bailed, she slung the strap over her shoulder. There was a small pop as she heard the Mithras make its escape back out of the atmosphere. This was certainly an unconventional way down.

               Hand raised to shield her eyes, she looked around for the others. Seeing the beach to her left she swam. There was a figure making it there ahead of her. Bronson was already climbing on to the beach gear in hand. Over her shoulder in the distance she could see the other pods: Dine’s, Pierce’s, and the one holding the gear. Her arms pushed hard, pulling her towards the shore.

               “You know,” Nyx said as her knees hit the sand and she took several long breaths, giving her body a moment. “That,” she paused again to make sure she would be able to get it all out and wasn’t going to throw up from the salt water she had swallowed. “That was the worst ride ever.”

               Bronson shook his head in reply, as if he hadn’t noticed. He was watching the other pods as Dine and Pierce were trying to swim towards the container that had brought all of the equipment down with them. Nyx stood and brushed herself off, looking to her partner and then back out at the two other men.

               “What’s going on?”

               “My guess,” he said shaking his head, “they’re having problems already.”

               There was a moment of silence as the two watched and the expression on Nyx’ face sank.

               “You really don’t think this,” she waved a hand around them, “all of this is going to end well do you?” She looked up at him, partially wanting a comforting answer.

               “Nope,” Bronson said re-adjusting his hat.

               Captain Dine and Pierce were swimming for the shore now. Bronson had taken a few steps closer to the water, not sure if they were going to make it. Dine had one small case in his hand, one out of the almost twenty in the pod that they had left out in the middle of the ocean. Pierce only had his gun in his hands and Bronson was pretty sure what the yelling he had heard was about now.

               “Mark this as problem number two,” Bronson said in a low tone.

               “Wait,” Nyx looked at him. “What was problem number one?”

               “He’s following behind the Captain as we speak.”

               There was a moment where no one spoke but the wind had picked up. Both men, fresh off of their swim, needed to catch their breath. Dine had thus far shown nothing but a friendly demeanor with a slight tinge of seriousness to it, making sure everyone still knew he was in charge. The Captain Dine that emerged from the water was angry.

               “Dammit,” he said dropping the case he was able to retrieve. “All of our gear went too far off, we lost almost all of it.” Dine turned to Pierce with his finger pointed accusingly.

               “And you didn’t even try to grab any of it.”

               “You’re insane,” Pierce shot back. “Those boxes are heavy, I would have drowned.”

               “You didn’t even try,” Captain Dine yelled.

               There was a flash of anger, pure uncontrolled anger that actually caused Nyx to pause. She knew he was about to hit Pierce if he said anything else. He deserved it, he was smarmy and out for himself, but she knew it didn’t help anything.

               “It’s done,” Bronson broke in and walked over to the metal box Dine had rescued.

               Dine sneered, one last glare at Pierce before turning away to cool off. There was a very real anger that stained the lines of his face. His boots left prints in the soft sand of the beach as he stepped away to hide his quick transformation back into the cool and calm Captain. Nyx couldn’t help but wonder why he had lost his cool so easily as she watched his shadow against the bright sun.

               Bronson had begun looking through the metal crate that Dine had managed to bring ashore. There were a bunch of digital pads and surveillance equipment. Useful things like binoculars, night scopes, and long range listening devices. Probably most important were the small black boxes they would use as communicators, but there were no weapons, no rations, nothing to help make this job any easier. Most likely they wouldn’t have taken everything from the crates with them, but this felt like almost nothing. He understood why Dine was pissed, or at least why he would be, but it wasn’t his fault really. Bronson thought for a first run the pods actually worked pretty well.

               He took the small black boxes in hand and checked them to make sure they still worked. Multiple blue lights and the small green one that was the most important one showed him they were. He tossed one to Nyx and paused before doing the same with Pierce who had been silent since his scolding. Placing the third on his belt, he left the last one for Dine. At least if they got split up they’d be able to find each other. The weapons they had on them would have to do. They would need to find food and water before too long though.

               Looking around at the beach and the overgrown grass around the old buildings in the distance Bronson took it all in. A few more generations and you would hardly be able to tell anything about the civilization that used to run this place.

               Rustling was faint in the distance. Shielding his eyes and looking further out to the trees he considered their tactical standing. There usually weren’t many corpses near the large bodies of water like this but their splashdown had probably made some noise and then there was Dine’s screaming to consider.

               “We should go,” he said to the group as he picked up his gear. “We’ve made a lot of noise even if we don’t count the yelling. Walkers don’t usually congregate near the water but they’ll come.”

               Dine nodded as he turned back to them. “Agreed,” he bit his lower lip. “A rough start, but we’ll make it work.”

               The rest gathered their gear quietly. Dine referenced the data pad on his arm and he pointed down the short.

               “We’ve got forty miles to go before nightfall then we need to make camp.”

               Bronson and Nyx exchanged a look as they began to walk side-by-side.

               “Now that we’re here, where exactly is this thing being kept?” Bronson asked as Dine lead the way towards the tree line and Pierce pulled up the rear, which Bronson didn’t like. “And what does it look like, or what kind of data storage device is it on?”

               “You let me worry about that,” Dine said stopping and tapping two buttons on his wrist. The small touchpad computer lit up and a hologram of a terrain map shot up in green and blue lines. “We’re headed to Fairchild Air Force Base. It’s about ten miles South West of Spokane Washington, a place we need to be at in forty-eight hours to stay on schedule.” The hologram generated a dot to show where they were on the map and then drew a line towards just outside of Spokane.

               “If they were so worried about our time they should have dropped us closer.”

               Pierce instantly regretted his sarcastic complaint. He had taken a step to make sure that Bronson was in between he and Captain Dine as the military officer stared him down.

               “I’ll spell it out. No one can know we are here or what we’re after.” Dine pointed a finger at Pierce. “This is too important and there is a long list of people who would slit a lot of throats to have this kind of power over everyone else.” His voice was rose again. “Think of the possibilities or a cure, of ridding the world of the dead once and for all. History will be re-shaped once we accomplish our mission, for the better.”

               Pierce choked on the silence.

               “Are we clear now as to the importance of this and why your opinions aren’t needed?”

               He nodded to answer Dine and continued to walk. Nyx realized that this was about to be a very long two days.

              

               Forty miles is a long way to walk no matter how many breaks you take. The sun doesn’t help. Ever since the world began to end the weather conditions had become much worse, but the heat was an aggressive killer these days. It was hot, all of the trees looked the same, and everyone was being quiet just to be safe. Bronson and Nyx were used to not talking to each other much when they were on planet. The noise could attract walkers and even a small distraction could be risking your life. Dine wasn’t saying much either other than the occasional mumble to himself as he checked his map. It was Pierce that seemed to be the most bothered by the hours of silence and constant walking.

               There were many times where he would make a noise as if he were about to say something or ask a question, he rarely got past that point. When he did say something it was always a question that he knew the answer to or could have figured out on his own, like he just wanted to hear a response. Pierce was not out of shape as much as he was just lazy and uncomfortable. He didn’t have to say much share his unsatisfied disposition with the others though.

               The sun was no longer beating down over them though and it would soon be time to camp. The group had walked more than Dine had asked them to. They were all pleasantly surprised at the lack of attention they had brought upon themselves, no humans or ghouls to speak of yet. So far so good, hunger and exhaustion were well set in though.

               “Good place to break for the night,” Bronson said pointing to a building up ahead though a clearing in the trees.

               Dine squinted, realizing they were closer to the roads than he realized. “We should try to make it a few more miles, there is still some daylight.”

               “Dine,” Bronson said glancing over his shoulder at Nyx who was sitting on a large rock, lips wrapped around the plastic bottle in her hand. Pierce was leaning up against a tree trying to catch his breath, drenched in sweat. “If you want to do the same tomorrow, I suggest we break.”

               “Okay, fine.” Dine checked his map one last time before motioning with two fingers for the group to approach the site in formation.

               There was an old one story building that looked like it had seen pretty bad days before the world ended. The roof was cracked and broken across the first half and several plants and weeds had grown up around the entryways. They moved behind it, away from what looked like the main part of some old lumber facility. Two smaller storage building with old tin roofs would make part of their cover; help obfuscate the fire for the night.

               Bronson looked to Nyx. “Let’s make a perimeter. The laser fences were in one of the crates that got left in the water, so we’ll need to take shifts on guard.”

               Captain Dine nodded, the smile was back and he wasn’t cursing under his breath about the missing equipment like Nyx thought he would be.

               “Right, Pierce while they’re doing that you go look for some wood that isn’t damp so we can make a small fire, and some extra drinking water if there is any near-by.”

               “Um,” Jonah Pierce looked up from his position he had already taken up on the ground to rest some more. “Right,” he said pushing himself up with a groan.

               Bronson motioned with his hand the directions the two would travel. They were moving together but several yards apart so that they could keep each other in eye sight. Getting further away they began to circle to the left at Bronson’s signal, the buildings would need to be checked also but the first order was to make sure there were no hostiles in the immediate area. This was common practice for them, even though Bronson wasn’t a fan of closed in spaces like buildings, even if they were large. He was always thinking tactically and encouraging Nyx to do the same thing. She had benefited greatly from his training and precise instruction. He was quick to point out her mistakes and she was a fast learner. This also gave them a moment to speak alone, which Nyx had wanted.

               “Bron,” She said moving closer, breaking their normal pattern. “I think Dine is a bit crazy.”

               “Why,” he whispered back, not looking at her.

               “Dude, he almost went nuts on Pierce. I know he’s a dick but it wasn’t his fault the tech boys didn’t do their calculations right.” She shook her head. “His outburst, then the mumbling in the woods.”

               “He is under a lot of stress,” Bronson was being sincere. “If he fails this he isn’t just losing a mission or disappointing the General, and he’s young.”

               “I don’t know Bron, come on. Something doesn’t feel right.”

               “It hasn’t since the start,” he said, “but I don’t think you have anything to worry about from Dine at the moment.”

               Nyx shook her head. The hand holding the MP5 let it rest at her side as she walked, thinking it all over and continuing the conversation.

               “Are you sure you just aren’t too focused on Pierce, I mean I know-“

               Bronson cut her off by placing a hand on her weapon and bringing it back up, barrel at the poper level, a reminder of being ready.

               “Right, you don’t let yourself get distracted,” she said almost annoyed with him. “Sorry I brought it up.”

               “No,” he corrected her. “I’m glad you’re staying alert and observing,” he paused as if he was looking for the words, about to say something else when he heard a yell.

               “No! Oh, fuck!”

               A male voice called out back from where they had left Dine and Pierce alone.