-Chapter III-

Home Sweet Home?

Leaving the city is thankfully much easier than going deeper. The number of monsters goes down, being replaced with smaller and weaker variants. Still incredibly dangerous for a human, but far less frightening than some of the monstrosities that I was seeing near the airport.

Part of me imagines that the Fluffy not Dragon, Dragon must have come from further in, potentially near downtown, closer to the center of the city.

With two injured soldiers having to be carried, our pace is slow. Thomas lending a shoulder to Sgt. Lenz, while Sanders and Rookie carry Sandy in a stretcher. She had initially wanted to simply borrow someone’s shoulder like the Sergeant in order to free up an extra pair of hands. She was firmly shot down on that and ordered to lay on the stretcher to keep from ruining her leg.

As a result, guard duty for the team is almost entirely on me. The only person besides myself that has their hands free to hold a weapon reliably is Sandy and she is on her back, wincing every time that the stretcher jostles her injured leg.

I take my job of getting them out safely very seriously as we travel. Anything that we stumble across that I can kill in one hit; I take down immediately. Anything that would be too dangerous to fight or would take too long to kill, I call for us to hide. Occasionally, I will scout ahead while they stay hidden under the brush and wait for me to come back with the all-clear.

We continue like this as we move from camp to camp. Taking our time and tending to the wounded each time we stop at a camp to let everyone rest and to ensure that no injuries are getting infected.

Most of the day passes in this manner until we finally reach what the Sergeant calls Forward Operations. The small base is built inside of an old office building on the top floor. Earlier, when I was following them out here, I had seen them enter the building, but I wasn’t aware of what was going on inside. From outside it is difficult to tell that anyone is even living in there.

Moving into the building, the rest of us stay down on the ground floor while Sanders and Rookie head upstairs to give a report on their recon mission and to help update the maps.

Down on the ground floor, we all relax as we wait for them to get back. Sandy isn’t looking great, laying on her stretcher on the ground. I can imagine that the painkillers are only doing so much to offset the discomfort of having a foreign object speared through your leg. The Sergeant isn’t looking much better, actually having walked all this distance with bites taken out of his legs and riddled with cuts on his arms and back.

Dudes a freaking trooper…

About an hour later, Sanders and Rookie finally return back downstairs and rejoin us. A couple of other people and some soldiers come down with them and freeze when they see me. I give them a little wave and smile.

Yes, yes there is a freaky little Imp in the building. Feel free to gape and stare.

Some of the men in uniform move the rest of the way downstairs before heading over to Sgt. Lenz. They share a quiet conversation, occasionally looking over at me. The other strangers at the stairs simply continue to look at me and whisper amongst themselves.

I don’t let it bother me; I much preferring being ogled at like an animal at the zoo than having rifles pointed at me. Looks don’t hurt as much as bullets do after all.

Rookie comes over and sits down next to me on my bench. I lean over and whisper to her, “What’s with them, they never seen an Imp before or something?”

“Ha ha, yes very funny. I don’t think that anyone has ever seen an Imp before. Who knows, maybe you’re an endangered species?”

“Oh! Well, that’s not good, I better hurry up and find myself a mate so I can save my species from extinction! Oh wait… I’m a lesbian. Guess I’m screwed then.” I joke sarcastically.

She joins in on the joke.

“And like that, the majestic race of Lain Homoimpus disappeared, its sole member failing to reproduce…”

“Ah, truly a mistake of God, biologists everywhere mourn for her loss…” I finish.

Sandy from down on the floor, “If you are in such a need for a mate, why don’t you and Rookie get together? You two are looking pretty close already, hahaha, ouch. Laughing hurts…”

“Hmm, as tempting as that sounds, I’m afraid that she has already turned me down. We’ve decided to just be friends.”

“No shit?”

“Ya, you should have been there. It was tragic. I was on my hand and knees pleading for her to love me, reading her poetry and swearing to be her slave of love. She rejected my every advances and tore my heart to pieces. By the end of it I was crying tears of blood, but she rejected me with cold eyes. In the end she said, “I won’t date you, but I’ll at least be your friend.””

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Sandy mimes holding her heart in pain, “Oof, that is a painful one, you got friend zoned hard! Ouch! Rookie, I didn’t know you could be so cold blooded. And here I was thinking you were just a meek little mouse.”

She looks unamused by our jokes, and is blushing a bit, “Even mice can bite.”

Sandy and I break out laughing, only for her to start wincing more.

“Ouch… okay. No more making me laugh, that’s an order. It hurts too much...”

Across the room, the men in uniform finish up their conversation with Sgt. Lenz.

Walking over, they stop a short distance from us, standing at attention. The seriousness of their actions has me drop my joking attitude and straighten up in my seat. In the center of the group a man steps forward and addresses me.

“Elizabeth Dixon, or Lain as Sgt. Lenz has told me?”

“Yes, I am Lain…”

“Lain, on behalf of everyone here at Forward Operations Point Bravo, I would like to thank you for your heroic acts of bravery in saving the lives of our soldiers. For putting yourself in the line of danger and helping to bring these brave men and women back home alive and mostly whole.”

The group snaps to a salute, the ones on the stairs hurrying to salute as well.

I am shocked to silence as I stare at them, watching as they drop the salute. The others behind him head back and leave for the stairs, shooing the onlookers away as they ascend back upstairs.

The man in uniform, who I am now assuming is in charge of this place, bends forward and offers me his hand. Still being a bit flustered, I nervously reach out and accept it, shaking hands with the man.

After letting go of my hand, he takes a step back and speaks, “I am Lieutenant Colonel, Nolan Roberts, again I would like to thank you for your actions. Sgt. Lenz over there is a good friend of mine and I would have been remorseful to lose him. It’s a shame that you couldn’t save all of him, but maybe now he won’t be as much of an ass.” He cracks his joke while barely changing his expression.

“Fuck you, Nolan!” Sgt. Lenz curses.

He cracks a smile, “Hmm, it seems I stand corrected.”

He continues, “Lain, if you are willing to wait a bit longer, I will return upstairs and write out a letter addressed to the Major, requesting that you be permitted safe passage into the base. I will also be sending some of my men with you to help carry the wounded and escort them back to base.”

“Ah, thank you. I would really appreciate that. Uhm… If it’s not too much trouble, could you include in that letter a request for my Kobold friend to come with me? I can’t just leave her living out on her own while I get to go in.”

“You saved my friends life. Putting in an extra request for you to be able to keep your pet is no trouble. Just know that if the General allows it, you will be held responsible for any injuries or damages caused by it.”

I don’t like having Sky treated in the same vein as a pet dog, but I’m not going to argue if it means getting that letter. Now if I can just figure out why the idea of keeping her as my pet is making me feel excited in weird ways…

Deciding to push aside my weird thoughts for now, I give him a smile and thank him. We shake hands one last time and then he turns to leave back upstairs.

“Well, that was stressful… I’m not terribly familiar with army ranks, but I take it that he is important?”

Sandy, still on the ground like a pile of sand, answers me, “Sweetie, Lain darling, he oversees the entire operation for the southern section of the city while the operations to the east and west, their branches answer to him, before then being funneled back to base and to the general. Everything for the operation to retake the city goes through him. He is very important.”

“Oh, I see…” My nervousness rising a notch.

It doesn’t take much longer until four soldiers descend the stairs. One of them is holding a stretcher which he unfolds before the Sergeant while another soldier takes out a folded and sealed letter which is then given to Sgt. Lenz.

He tucks the letter into a pouch and give the stretcher a look. “And what is this about?”

“Sir, Lieutenant Colonel Roberts ordered for you to be carried back to base. We are to carry you.”

“I don’t want to be carried; I’m injured but I can still walk.”

“I apologies Sir, but we are under orders. We were informed that if you continue to refuse, we are to have you use this donut when sitting so that you do not, and I am repeating his words here, “Damage his ass further like the stubborn mule he is.””

I can see his eyes twitch as he rips the donut from the soldier's hand and tosses it. “Oh, that bastard is asking for it! Next poker night I am going to bleed him dry!” He declares as he lays down on the stretcher with a pained grunt.

We all fight to keep ourselves from laughing at him, even the soldiers that are getting ready to pick up his stretcher are fighting to keep a straight face.

“Anyone that laughs will be running laps until they pass out! That goes for you too Lain, don’t think I can’t make you run even if you’re not a soldier. Do I make myself clear!?”

“”Yes sir!””

I am not even a soldier, but I end up snapping to attention and sounding out along with the rest of them.

“Alright then, we're heading out. Lain you lead the way. Bring us to where you are living so we can know where to pick you up from, if you receive your permissions."

Hopping up from my chair, I snap him a salute, “Yes sir! Follow me soldiers!”

Marching out the door, the four new members of our group carry the Sergeant and Sandy on their stretchers, while Thomas, Sanders, and Rookie cover them from the sides. I lead from the front and point us south.

The trip to the home that Sky and I claimed takes about a couple of hours of walking. Along the way there, I make it abundantly clear that if anyone so much as points a gun at Sky when we get there, that I will rip their arms off. The four new soldiers seem to think that I am exaggerating when I make those threats, but their opinions quickly change when I kill a mutated boar as large as a grizzly bear with an excessive number of tusks growing from it face.

I don’t even use my hammer. I just stop it’s charge by catching its tusks and forcing it to a stop. With a twist, I throw it to the ground and then spear it through the eye with my hand, piercing its brain.

Looking at the men, I use my claws and slit the beast’s throat and then open it up from chest to crotch before removing all of it organs and leaving them in a pile.

Washing my hands with some bottled water, I say, “There, now I have some fresh meat for Sky. Hopefully she will forgive me for being gone for so long.” I say with a smile.

The new soldiers make a point of being very quiet as they follow us, myself dragging the 400 – 600ib carcass with one hand, holding it by a tusk.