Book 2 Ch. 20

With Robert coordinating scouting efforts with Sanctuary’s new allies, an accurate picture of the surrounding areas were slowly being put together, piece by piece. The results thus far had been less than Drew had hoped for, but better than he’d imagined. Most of the smaller towns, with populations under several thousand people, were simply gone. Wiped off the map by hordes of beasts and monsters.

Signs of struggle and violence were in each town, and very few survivors had been found, most of which were in critical care from malnourishment, trauma, and physical injuries. That was the bleak part of the news. The good part was several of the larger towns and cities seemed to still have a sizable human presence. Likewise, many rural areas managed fairly well. The small, tight-knit communities of rural farmers and ranchers had come together, and set up compounds and makeshift defenses, relying solely on firearms and farming equipment as weapons.

Drew sighed in relief, a weight dropping from his shoulders, knowing that there were still people alive after all this time. Surviving so many weeks without perishable food would have been challenging for many people, even if the monsters had left them alone. So the stress that had been building while he was in the dungeon slowly lessened and began to melt away.

“This is the most up to date map we have.” Robert said, passing the parchment over to Drew.

Many smaller towns all had red “x” marks indicating that they’d been wiped out and searched for survivors. Several towns and cities had large blue circles drawn around them, showing that human life had been spotted there. Drew continued to examine the map closely.

“Has contact been made with any of the blue circles?” Drew asked.

“No. I didn’t think it wise for our allies to be the ones to make first contact. I suggest we send teams of human scouts out, backed up by undead minions when available, and allies in other situations. The extra security to protect our people and pull them back if they're attacked, but to remain hidden otherwise. Dark elves, Undead, and Goblins will be too much for most people to accept at face value without resorting to violence in fear, but we also don’t have enough human teams to go to each place either…” Robert stated, starting to ramble on a bit as he vocally thought out the problems.

“I’ll take a city, and you should send Amber and Freya out to another.” Drew said, thinking over the options.

“What about Spock?” Robert asked, his eyebrows raised at the man’s absence.

“I trust him, like a brother. But he wasn’t born here, and he’s still lacking some bits of common sense. I think if we put him out there, there’s a chance trouble could brew due to miscommunication. Plus, I’d personally feel better knowing a C Grade I trust is here in Sanctuary. The Valkyries can only protect the settlement itself, if our people run into serious trouble, Spock should be sufficient to get them out of shit.” Drew replied.

The decision would mean it would take more time to check in on other human areas, and more people may die in the meantime, but Drew wasn’t willing to risk an avoidable confrontation due to simple miscommunication, plus he really would be put at ease knowing the citizens in sanctuary had backup in case shit hit the fan.

“Understood, you should bring a couple of those crows with you. Having a bird's eye view in a city will be helpful, and you and I can communicate with them like two-way radios if need be.”

Drew nodded, Robert’s suggestion made a lot of sense. Drew also thought about bringing Scolder, but the coyote wouldn’t be able to keep up with his movement speed any longer, and would bog down trips. Drew would be faster on his own, especially if the crows stayed on his shoulders while running.

“I think I’ll check out Wichita Falls. There was a big medical community there due to the college, and there’s also Sheppard Airforce Base. The military guys have more training than an average civilian, and there’s a good chance people would flock there for safety.” Drew said, after pondering over which city to check out first.

“I wouldn’t be so hopeful. Remember, the Airforce focused strongly on technology, they aren’t grunts on the front lines digging trenches and reinforcing barriers.” Robert cautioned, writing several notes on a pad of paper in front of him.

“True, but they’re still the US military. We spend more than eight hundred billion dollars a year on our military alone, which is more than the next ten highest countries combined. Hell, I think that’s like almost thirteen percent of our total spending as a country. That money had to go somewhere, and I’m hoping it gave our servicemen and women a fighting chance.” Drew reasoned.

“That’s fair, I’m just partial to the Army.” Robert smiled, likely thinking of his time spent active in the military.

Drew finished up his conversation with Robert, grabbed three of his flying minions and set off towards Wichita Falls. He stuck to the highways, quickly navigating across the remains of the bridge that went across the Red River. There were many routes he could have chosen, but for ease of travel, he decided that using the US Highway system would be far quicker than running through nature, even if there were several broken down vehicles in his way.

The Descent had hit at night, or rather early morning, and many people weren’t on the roads at that time, so Drew was hoping the way would be relatively clear of man-made obstacles. He was C Grade now, nearing the peak of what a mortal could become. The beings in B rank and above evolved into something “more”, from his understanding. It was a crazy thought to him, as he was already racing down the highway far faster than a sports motorcycle.

There was no way to truly measure his speed, but if Drew had to guess, he’d say he was as fast as the slower and smaller commercial airplanes. Which was ridiculous on its own, and he was doubly thankful that his class and profession invested so heavily into Vitality and Toughness, especially after a deer jumped in front of him while he was going full speed. The animal’s midsection was torn apart as the deer split in half from the impact, with both halves flying off into the distance until Drew couldn’t even see them on the horizon anymore.

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Blasting off again! Drew chuckled at the immature reference as he continued racing down the highway. All those fancy Italian supercars costing as much as the mid six figures, and I’m faster than them all.

Ten minutes, that’s all it took for Drew to reach the very outskirts of the city once he’d gotten on the highway. That’s just fucking stupid… people would kill for this short of a commute… Drew shook his head.

Even from the outskirts, Drew could tell something bad had happened here. Whole blocks of suburban areas were leveled, smoke could be seen rising into the sky deeper in town from his vantage point on an overpass. Debris littered the areas with regular streets, and the scent of old, dried blood and iron wafted through the air. It wasn’t a hellscape, but it looked like the entire city had been hit by several extremely powerful tornadoes all at the same time.

Drew continued on for a short while, taking a slight detour and exiting off the highway. He slowed down and approached a massive building, taking in the damage to it. The Harley Dealership… The windows were all broken in, the floors looked to be covered in spilled paperwork and bloodstains, one corner of the building was simply gone. Gone, gone. No rubble, no debris, just… no longer existed. The roof had collapsed or half of it had. Surprisingly, there were still a few bikes on the showroom floor and in the backlot. I guess folks haven’t figured out that old shit still runs.

Old engines without electronics still ran, at least most of them did, and that specific brand was known for never really changing much, so Drew wouldn’t be surprised if some of the bikes still ran. He was much faster than a bike now, especially an old hog like those, but maybe his scouts could get some good use out of them. Food for thought, I’ll come back later.

Drew took the regular roads to the Airforce base, running every stop sign along the way. What are they going to do? Give me a ticket? Can’t catch me suckers! Drew thought, laughing like a child.

Parts of the chain-link fence surrounding the military base still stood, but there were several spots of it that were bent inwards as if something heavy had climbed them, other parts were missing. Luckily, humans did seem to be present here, which was a big relief. People were walking and running throughout the base, drill sergeants chasing what looked to be new recruits around and screaming at them, and two guards were posted at the entrance, with large plastic barrier fences closing the road off. Likely to funnel bad things into one way that’s easier to deal with…

Drew approached the guard station casually, and without weapons in hand. He of course kept his armor on. He was certain he could take whatever these people could throw at him, but he’d learned to never truly let your guard down while out in the field, regardless of his expectations.

“Halt! State your business!” An airman yelled, an old as fuck rifle held in his hands, pointed directly towards Drew. I guess they’ve seen some action recently to be this tense… Seconds later, five more airmen popped up from behind the barrier, all aiming antique rifles in his direction.

Drew held out his hands slowly to his sides, to show that his hands were free of any weapons.

“I came from across the border in Oklahoma to check on the people in this city. We have a secure settlement there with defenses. Many of the small towns have been demolished. I’d like to speak with a commanding officer to determine the situation here, and see if I can help out the people at all.” Drew yelled back slowly.

One of the airmen quickly spoke in a hushed whisper to another one, before he went running off, the one that seemed to be in charge turned back to Drew.

“We’re not taking anymore refugees at this time. If you leave us your name and location, we will try to contact you when more space opens up.” The airman yelled. Drew cocked his head in question, trying to figure out what part of his statement the airman hadn’t understood.

“Uhhh… I’m not a refugee. I don’t want to live here or anything. I only came to check up on people and see if they needed help. Ya know, monsters that need killing, people that need rescuing, folks who need food and shelter, that sort of thing.” Drew answered, scratching the back of his head.

“You want to sign up as a recruit for the Air Force then?” The man shouted back.

Oh boy… seems like times must be hard if these are our cream of the crop…

“No. Can you please just get your commanding officer?” Drew asked, exasperated.

“If you’re not here to join, you should go home and play knight in shining armor somewhere else!” The airman shouted back. Several of his buddies snickered under their breath while trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism. They failed miserably.

Drew sighed, and took a step forward. Completely disappearing from the airmen’s sight. He opened up his inventory, and removed a collapsible chair that he carefully unfolded and set on the ground before plopping into it.

“What the…”

“Where’d he go!?”

The airmen were frantically looking back and forth, and even above them for Drew, but Drew was already well behind the men, a good fifteen feet away, legs kicked up and casually hanging out in a red chair from Texas’ favorite gas station.

“Youuu whoo, over here boys…” Drew called out playfully while twiddling his fingers in greeting. The men turned around, only to find the man they had been searching for was behind their security line, and sat down.

“Leave! Now!” The dumb airman yelled, pointing the gun at Drew.

“Nah, I already asked you nicely. I want to see your commanding officer. Also, I’d suggest putting that tinker toy down before you end up getting hurt.” Drew said, pointing his finger at the man’s antique rifle and then gesturing to him that he should drop it. Drew could hear the veins popping in the man’s face, practically bursting to the surface as he turned a bright red.

“Last warning! We will shoot!” The man yelled back, anger clear in his voice this time.

“You pull that trigger son, and you’re going to have a very bad day.” Drew said casually.

Several bangs rang out, and the bullets shredded the chair that Drew had been sitting in so relaxed. Before the airmen could process Drew not being in the chair, the armored man held all five antique rifles in his hand, directly in front of the men, and brought them over his knee, snapping them in half like cute little sticks.

Three bodies hit the ground shortly after, the airmen completely unconscious and knocked the fuck out. The two remaining airmen looked to their hands, only to find them empty, and then to the pile of broken steel and wood before them, what was left of their weapons. The idiot airman pulled a knife strapped to the side of his thigh, but before he had a chance to do anything with it, Drew had the knife in his hand.

Drew quickly went to work, de-robing the man in front of him, leaving him in only the standard issue tighty-whities, Drew quickly slung him over his shoulder and appeared next to the flagpole with the American flag nearby. Before the man even realized what was happening, Drew was already in the process of hoisting the now hog-tied airman up the pole while singing.

“Yankie doodle went to town, riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.”

The man struggled, but it was no use. He was tied together like something out of a S&M film. Soon he hung right under the American flag, in nothing but the most embarrassing set of underwear save a banana hammock, screaming at the top of his lungs. Drew was already back to his now shredded chair, throwing it to the side, as he popped out another one from his inventory. He summoned a tall glass of cold lemonade in his hand, complete with a blue bendy straw, and took a sip through his helmet.

The last airman looked to his compatriot, then back to Drew, and then repeated the process several times, mouth at the open and catching all the nearby flies.

“So, are you going to go get your commanding officer for me, or should I go poking around the base until I find him myself?” Drew asked in a relaxed manner as he took a long and very noisy sip of his drink, clattering the ice cubes and glass together.

The airman quickly nodded, running off in the direction further in the base.

Clever lad.