Chapter 45 Fort Carson

We are running down the road, finally approaching Fort Carson, It took 11 hours to get here. By Car it would have taken a little over 5 hours. We had to stop to regain our stamina and mana several times. Ki'Diera had to use mana to enhance her body to keep up, but her stamina was beginning to run out.

It was approaching early evening and I wanted to be in Fort Carson by nightfall. So with that in mind the last few kilometers, I carried her on my back, at first with great protest from her, but eventually she quieted down. She was light, lighter than some backpacks I was used to carrying.

I am finding my enhanced strength, vitality, stamina and dexterity are all boosting me in ways that before I did not understand. I have greater speed, If you think about traveling 534Km in 11 hours on foot, it simply defies logic.

Then there was me bending steel with my hands. So I did become a superman of sorts. Now to stop a speeding bullet hehe

I reflect on the past two weeks and the changes to me, each time I fought a creature, their slashes had almost no effect on me, however their pierce attacks went thru. I need to find someway to counter that.

Then a thought hits me, Julie and Cindy are going to be pissed about now. They are probably screaming at me in my mind, but for now I will leave the crown on and block them, if they can even reach me this far that is, but I really do not want to deal with it right now.

“You know Scott you will eventually have to tell Cindy and Julie what you are doing,” says Ki'Diera as if reading my mind.” In fact you have yet to tell me why you ran away.”

“I did not run away princess, I am going to our military bases to grab some stuff to deal with those Were-beasts. One thing we do have that you do not is is firepower. A good mortar or C4 will do as much, if not more damage than a fireball.” I say to her, ignoring the first part of her comment,” Plus I want to see what mana enhanced grenade can do.” I add.

“I knew you did not run away, but it seemed strange you leaving like that. In any case I am here now and I can protect you.” She says her nobility is starting to show.

“And who is the one being carried princess?” I say and have to laugh.

"Yes, there is that, but I am still developing and will be of great use to you” She says defiantly.

I can not read her mind as she is behind me and I need eye contact for it to work I found out recently and I can only read one person at a time, the person I focus on.

"And just how old are you princess?" I ask after that comment she made.

"I have seen 19 cycles, I am past the age to find a mate" She says with her tone again.

“So princess what is for dinner tonight?” I ask knowing the answer already.

“I assume you have that prepared Scott, I did not bring any food with me.” she says reluctantly.

"Yes princess I do and was just checking on how helpful you will be to me “, I say with a chuckle.

She must be seething right now at herself hehe oh well might as well make the best of it, I will not be able to get rid of her and I can not leave her alone now, She does know how to use that sword, so she can be of help.

As the sun dips we arrive at Fort Carson. It looks deserted. No lights, no generators are running and not a sound can be heard except the crickets that are about. I motion to Ki'Diera to remain silent and to follow me. We head into the compound and I get my bearings, it has been a long time since I was here and am looking for the 10th Special Forces group building.

With my bearings now in order, I head for the building and come to a door, it is locked. Slowly I turn the handle forcefully, breaking it. Due to the slow action almost no sound is heard, the door opens. I cautiously enter and look around and see no movement. I motion Ki'Diera inside and close the door.

I pull out a flashlight I had taken from our weapons cache and begin to look around. I am not detecting any creatures or people within 61 meters of me, as I now have detection on and active, it does use up mana. Feeling secure for now I turn it off.

“No one is here”. I say out loud .

“What is this pace?” Ki'Diera ask looking about.

"This is a military installation, we keep weapons and other hardware here. Including tanks, And other vehicles." i ay to her while searching.

“Tanks?” She asks.

“Yeah mobile artillery platforms that can blow stuff up while moving.” I say with a grin.

I search the buildings opening locked doors and grabbing anything not nailed down. Mostly looking for military high grade night vision goggles. Once my search is over I leave the building using my detection ability, and move towards he armory area. Getting in was no issue. And a gold mine we found. I grabbed it all, M32 grenade launchers, M224 and M252 mortars, M16's, AR-15's, M27's, M82 Sniper rifles, M2 Tripod mounted 50 cals, and more. I wiped the place clean, and the big prize, several crates of C4 and detonators.

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I then head for the motor-pool. I grab all the keys from the lock-box then grab all the Hum-Vees. I take one Hum-Vee and place extra fuel in the back and prep it for immediate use. I head over and find the heavy stuff, Artillery. That goes into my inventory as well, just as I am loading the last into my inventory I hear a sound and quickly turn on detection again.

I can detect one person close by, observing me. I go about my business making my way slowly to where they are. As I determine they are in range, I make my move and use my speed to surprise them, sword drawn and have it at their throat before they can blink. Or so I thought. Instead my sword is crossed by a crowbar and a young 18 year old man is staring me in the face with a grin. He also has a gun pointed at me.

“Not bad at all”, he says.

Hmm he has on a Marine uniform can I trust him? I read the mans mind.

“Not bad yourself” I say back to him and see his uniform, it is a marine. I lower my sword and put it in it's scabbard as Ki'Diera appraoches her sword drawn. “He is a friend" I say to her.

“You know him?” she asks.

“No, but he is a marine”, I say with a smile to her.

With that he puts his gun away and lowers his crowbar too, then extends his hand to me” Eddie Banks”

“Eddie? Eddie the Howler Banks?” I ask in surprise “It is me Scott, Scott Smith”

“Gunny? Really, you look uhh so young!” He says surprised too.

“What about you, you look young yourself even got hair now haha, did not even recognize you.” I reply.

“Wow gunny it has been what 5 or 6 years now huh?” He says now smiling.

“Yeah after you got out, things were not the same in the unit, each time a full moon came out, we would reminisce about how you used to howl at the moon every time. I missed that bald head of yours.” I reply to him happy to see him.

“So what in the hell are you doing here gunny?” he asks curiously then he sees Ki'Diera tails” Holy Shit gunny she's got a tail, is that thing real?” He goes to grab it, but a sword is now pointed at his throat..

“I would advise you as a friend of Scott Smith to refrain from touching me, I only belong to Scott!” she says defiantly.

“Belong? What do you mean belong?” He asks now curious and cautiously looking at the sword at his throat.

“I, Ki'Diera, First Princess of the Ny'Har'en Tribe am betrothed to become Scott's third wife.” she says proudly.

“Thir....third wife, gunny is she fucking with me here?”, he say now dumbfounded.

“It is a long long story Eddie” I say to with a grimace

“I got time...” he smiles seeing there is a story to be heard.

“Well as to why I am here, I am going to clean the place out and use in defense against some monsters,” I say to him.” and you Eddie?”

“After shit hit the fan, I hang out here every so often to see if anyone comes, hoping to hook up with a unit.” he replies staring at Ki'Diera.”gunnie she has ears too, cat ear, holy shit!”

“Yeah and so do all her people” I grin now, seeing he just swallowed hook line and sinker.

“People? As in there are more of her kind?” he asks in awe now.

“Yes, several hundred of them in fact, care to see them?” I ask him grinning.

“If I had not seen it with my own Eyes I would call you a liar to your face, but hell yeah I want to see them.” He says now full of excitement.

“Then get your gear, we have a lot to do marine” I say to him smiling

“You got it gunny, give a few, my stuff is not far” he says runnig off.

I grab everything in sight, even if we have no one qualified to use it yet, as most stack with one another and I can carry 99 of the same items in a single stack.

After a few moments Eddie comes running back carrying a M82 sniper rifle, M32 grenade launcher and a M27 Automatic Rifle. Plus he has a duffle bag as well, with gear.

“I am ready Gunny!” He says with a big smile.

“Eddie you got any family with you?” I ask curious

“No gunny, just me, no one else” he says his face taking on a saddened look.

Not gonna tell him my wife left me a few years back and I hung out here all the time, man I miss the old days with gunny and the gang. I turn off the mind reading ability after hearing that, feeling guilty for intruding on him.

“Alright lets hit the tanks then get some rest and head out at first light” I say to him.

“What do you mean by tanks gunny? You want to take a tank?” He asks now confused.

“Not just one tank Eddie, all of them.......” I say to him with a big grin.