Gavin woke up to the sun rays streaming into the cockpit. Ivy or he should say Lucy was busily working away at her console. He stretched and said good morning to her. She paused and he heard a soft good morning in return. It felt good to seemingly be no longer on her bad side. He was shocked when she allowed him to use the cot and even told him her first name. Gavin wasn’t sure what brought it on but he would count it as a win.
Alexis, Margaret, and Suzanne arrived not too long after. Alexis said that Tara had reported during the night that they had ambushed and killed a scouting party. The plan now was to relocate the surviving civilians to the intact town. The remaining soldiers would escort them and guard the town. Half the civilians had been killed in the battle and most of the town had burned or been destroyed during the fight.
Alexis wanted to go to the capital in the Talon to report to her superiors. Since she was a general, he figured it must be royalty of some sort. Gavin didn’t particularly care since it would at least get them away from the fighting. The main problem was it would take several days to get there. Lucy didn’t seem to care either. It wasn’t like they had any better place to go. Gavin was also interested in seeing what the capital looked like. It would be nice to get out of the mech and see the sights for a change. He needed to convince Lucy to do the same.
He still wanted to call her Ivy but maybe he would just call her that when they were alone. She did say that he could still call her Ivy if he wanted. It was too bad that Suzanne and Tara would be staying in the intact town for now and wouldn’t be traveling with them. Gavin wouldn’t mind getting to know the two cute beast girls better but hopefully he would see them again. Margaret would be accompanying Alexis.
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There wasn’t enough soldiers left for an escort so it would just be them in the Talon. It would be a tight fit inside the mech since it was only designed for two people, especially on a several day journey. They would camp out at night and travel during the day so Margaret was going to gather supplies. Gavin said goodbye to Suzanne and asked her to tell Tara goodbye for him. Before leaving she gave him a tight hug which caught him off guard.
Why did cute girls he barely knew keep hugging him? It was one of the mysteries of this new world. Alexis, Margaret, and even Lucy seemed shocked as well and gave Suzanne a dirty look. Suzanne ignored them and waved at him as she left. Margaret followed her out while Alexis grabbed his arm for some reason. She let go after the other girls left and grabbed the package she had brought. Alexis took out the breakfast and passed it to Gavin and Lucy.
He gratefully accepted and they started eating. Gavin asked about the route but it seemed easy enough. They just had to follow the road leaving the town. There were a few other towns to pass through which got steadily larger before reaching the capital. Margaret returned with the supplies and they began their journey. The mech’s limp was nearly unnoticeable and the mech was able to travel swiftly.
They traveled until dark and then made camp. He and Lucy would take turns in the cockpit to keep watch. She didn’t trust Alexis or Margaret yet it seemed. They had an uneventful night and reached the next town by the middle of the day. The town was pretty much a carbon copy of the other two towns he had seen. The townsfolk were scared at first but Alexis went out to talk with them. They didn’t stay long before continuing on their way and stopped again at dark. Gavin was already tired of traveling in the mech and couldn’t wait to reach the capital.