It has been a while since I’ve been to the city, and every time I have, it has always been a slow, sneaking slog. The first time, I was stalking my future best friends and then helping them get back to base after all hell broke loose at the airport. After that it was missions to scout the city with teams of soldiers and then the retaking of the airport. The point is, that every single time I have come here, I had to be sneaky and move slowly to accommodate the people I was with.

Now, it is just me and my Demons here, and we don’t need to move slowly or avoid any fights.

Almost as if to prove it, we are making a straight dash for the airport, moving at top speed as we make our way through the woods, past grown over houses and businesses, and over the corpse of any monstrosity that gets in our way.

Plowing through a big eight-legged fluffy elephant looking things home, it angrily toots at us with weird trunk-like mouth that splits open into an elongated maw full of sharp teeth, justifiably angry about having five Demons barging through its home. It tries to get in our way as it gets up from its hibernation, swinging its mouth-trunk around as it charges us with a toot-te-toot.

With Frank and Xander in the back, carrying the delicate radio packs, Nathaniel bolts to the front and jumps to deliver a straight punch to its face, knocking it on its side as it lets out a pained trumpeting noise at us.

The rest of us jump over it as we keep moving, as I vault over it, I strike out with my shadows and spear it through the head. I have no idea if it was an actual threat or not, but I don’t want to risk it following us or trying to attack someone.

Leaving yet another corpse behind, it doesn’t take long for us to reach the train yard. To pass under the covers of the trail that was made between the trains, the layers of snow having turned the place into a series of snowy tunnels.

Before we leave the train yard, I have us stop before we end up with a repeat of one of us getting shot again. Last thing I need is one of my guys catching a bullet from a startled sniper.

Pulling out my personal radio, I change its frequency to the FOB’s channel.

“This is Lain and the four Amigos, requesting permission to approach the FOB. Please make sure the snipers don’t give us a scare.”

…

It takes a little while to get a response, because radio contact has to be held to a minimum and they probably have to send someone up to the roof to talk to the snipers. Eventually, I get a call back.

“You are clear to approach, welcome back Lain.”

Turning off the radio, I stow it away and then wave everyone forward.

Stepping out onto the runway of the airport, I notice the glint of a sniper’s scope. Reaching up, I give them a wave hello as we walk our way towards the fortified entrance. Scattered around the runway is still a number of those Kobold totems that I made a while back. Looking at them, the monster heads that I mounted on them are looking rather aged and withered now. Notably, I find two newer totems that I didn’t make, standing side by side. On them is the heads of the two doppelgangers that I hunted. The very monsters that had pushed me into turning my very first Demon.

Looking towards Nathaniel, he definitely recognizes them as well, his fists clenched as we walk past them.

Walking at a casual pace, we reach the FOB’s main fortified entrance at the shipping bay. From the outside, the airport looks hardly different from the last time I was here, and it isn’t until we are inside that it quickly becomes apparent that this is a military facility now.

Entering the building through the warehouse on the ground floor, we are greeted by soldiers manning machine gun nests built from layers of sandbags and reinforced by sharpened spears and barbed wire. With two guns covering the entrance and turning the warehouse into a kill box, any intruders trying to get through here are going to have a hell of a bad time if they can’t shrug off a hail of .50 BMG.

We quickly get waved through by a soldier, leading us past the defenses and into the back-tunnels of the airport that most people never get to see.

“The Lieutenant Colonel has called for you and is waiting in his office for you, ma’am. It’s good to have you back.”

“Thanks.”

I look at his face, and while I do recognize him, I don’t remember his name.

“So, anymore Doppelgangers attack since I’ve left?”

“No ma’am, thankfully not. Lot of us like to believe that those totems of yours are keeping them away. That they don’t want to end up like the first two, hahaha!”

“Ahh, that’s good to hear. You guys handling the cold well?”

“Mrr, we’ve got plenty of warm gear and the living areas are being kept heated, but the rest of this place is fucking freezing most of the time, freezing our nuts off during patrols. Parden the language, ma’am.”

“Meh, I don’t give a shit, curse as much as you like. You ain’t going to offend me.”

“Hahaha, thanks.”

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“So, how the snipers doing then? They sleeping in the snow or something?”

“Ah, those crazy bastards. They made some snow hides or whatever that they can lay in. Surprisingly warm inside those. From the outside, it’s like they aren’t even there.”

“It’s good to hear that things are fine here.”

“Yes ma’am. But I have to say… I heard about the super soldiers, or well, the Demons…” He says as he looks back at my buddies. His eyes looking over Sam’s perfect body for a second until she gives him a flirty smile full of sharp teeth, clinking her teeth at him with a playful bite. He quickly looks forward like a mouse that just found a snake following it.

He quickly clears his throat, “Mhrm… Uhm, they really are tall…”

…

Our walk through the FOB concludes once we arrive at the airport’s old security zone, which now acts as the core of this operation. Directed to the Lieutenant Colonel’s office, we are immediately let in.

The guide shows us in, with me following, and my Demons following in right after. “Sir, I have brought them just as ordered.”

“Good, you're dismissed.”

The guide pops a salute, and then makes a prompt exit. Sam makes a playful bite at the air as he passes, and his pace noticeably increases.

Once he is gone, LC Roberts nods towards me, a small smile showing through his perpetually serious expression that he always wears.

“Welcome back, Lain. You seem to be doing much better than the last time we met. Private Smith, I hope that everything is going well for you, last time I saw you, you were being carried away on a stretcher.”

Nathaniel nods, “I’m doing quite well sir, thank you.”

I just give my old boss a smile, “I’m doing much better now too. Surprising, therapy and spending time with your loved ones does wonders for the psyche. I still have my issues, but I am much better at controlling them now.”

He gives me another small smile of his and nods. “That’s good to hear. And I am glad that we will be able to work together again. Things were getting boring around here without you.”

I can’t help but blush as I let out a laugh and scratch at the back of my head. “Hehehehe~”

His smile drops as he scans over Xander, Frank, and then finally stops on Sam.

“Corporal Lopneir, it is a… pleasure… to see you again…”

Sam just gives a smile and salutes, “Yes sir, it’s great to see you again too! I have a new Boss now, and I got my eye back, isn’t that great?”

“Right… Lain, my condolences…”

“Ehh?!”

“Moving on-“

“Wait, please explain!”

“- I would like the full plan from central, and what our role is in what is to come. Miss Lain, if you will.”

Ok, I guess we are just going to glaze over the Sam subject… What the hell did she do?

“Yes sir... I was given this before we left, for you sir.” I pull out a file from my pack and pass it over to him. “My Demons and I will be heading into enemy territory to target, and if necessary, assassinate priority targets within the enemy’s forces. Our priority target is the one responsible for nuking the city.”

“I see, and you will be calling in precision strikes from artillery after the base fortifies its defenses. Hmm, once the attack happens, it is predicted that the enemy will go on the attack, when that happens, the FOB will have to become a fortified defensive position to help hold back as much of the enemy forces as we can, I see… How certain are we that the enemy will go on the attack, is it not more likely that they will scatter?”

“I would like that, but these Goblins have been on a warpath for weeks, if not months now and are heading straight for us... I don’t know why, but they are clearly targeting us, or we are just in their way to wherever they are going.”

“That is unfortunate, how do you believe our fortifications would hold from an assault?”

I wet my lips and think about it, “You guys finished closing everything off, right?”

“We did, the only ways in or out is through three entrances or the roof now. Every part of the building that we didn’t need, has now been blocked off and welded shut.”

“Hmm, in that case, you should be fine no matter how many Goblins swarm through here, but I am worried about the ones that can use magic. So far, we have only seen the one, and it can drop nukes. Out of the tens of thousands of them, I don’t think it would weird if there are more magic users amongst them. Those are the ones that you would have to watch out for the most.”

“Considering what I know about your own abilities, I will keep that advice close to heart. I will have the snipers prioritize eliminating any enemies that appear to be using magic.”

“Mhm, thank you sir.”

“Now, when will you be heading out?”

“We could go now, we're still fresh. But considering that stealthy infiltration is the mission, I am going to have us rest here for the rest of the day and leave before night, let them catch up on some sleep.”

“Good, is there anything that we can help you with before you leave?”

“Yes, could you help ensure that our maps are up to date on the nearby nests? I would like to avoid having to waste time dealing with any that are in our way.”

“Of course, I will have Lieutenant Kendr-“

An interruption comes as a soldier comes noisily pounding on the door. He lets himself in in a hurry and doesn’t stop despite everyone looking his way.

“Private, we are in the middle of an important meeting, what is it?”

“Sir! We have a situation! Reports of monsters running through the airfield in a hurry. All of them are coming from the north!”

I turn to look to the LC, and he returns a nod. Standing up from behind his desk, we all follow him out as he leads us to the northern section. Arriving at an old terminal that has been transformed into a bunker with machine guns aimed out the windows, we look outside past the confused gunners and find herds of monsters streaming out of the woods in a panic.

They range from the smallest of nuisance to the biggest of stomping terrors that can plow through trees and shove aside commercial aircrafts. Amongst them is any number of horrors and disfigured things. Some of them looking like monsters pulled straight from nightmares, creatures born from nature itself as if they are animated plants, and even a giant tentacle monster of all things that is running as fast as its gangly and slimy limbs can carry it through the snow.

Further back, the woods are burning.

“Well shit… that isn’t a good sign…”

Before one of the lumbering giants can run face first into the airport, the gunners start to open fire on it, ripping bloody marks into its face as it screams. Instead of dying, it picks up speed and begins to charge even faster.

“Haaaaaaaaahh…” Letting out a long breath, I unleash my Field as far out as I can spread it and flood it with killing intent, pushing out an image of the monsters being torn limb from limb by shadowed claws and teeth born from the void.

The fleeing monster all panic and scatter to get the hell away from me as fast as they can, their courses shifting away from the airport as fast as their various limbs can carry them. The charging behemoth trips and falls over as it tries to turn away in its fright. As it is falling to the ground, I materialize a dozen large spikes and skewer it as it hits the ground with a large crash.

Out in the woods, more monsters come pouring out, these ones covered in burns, or screaming as they try to shake the off dozens of clamoring Goblins that cling to their bodies, hooting and hollering as they attack the panicked beasts with makeshift weapons.

LC Roberts looks to me as I shrug off my pack and draw the heavy-duty hand axes that I brought from home; my Demons are following suit behind me, readying their LMGs. “Lain, you know what to do right?”

“Yes sir. It’s a bit early but… let’s go Goblin slaying.”