I woke up in a panic, something was smothering me and gripping my face, surrounding me was a restrictive cover that I could feel over all of my body except my right arm. Before I could rip it all away and see what was holding me down, I faded back to nothing.

The next time I woke, I was able to pry my eyes open and see. I was wearing some sort of mask that was forcing me to breathe and through the dark blue tint of the eye-cover I saw Yurnel and Carrie looking at me. Before I could ask what was happening, I felt pain like nothing before grip me and I was almost happy to go back to sleep.

Voices, distant and muffled, reached me when I opened my eyes. There, looking at me, was Roberts and her squad, Johnson was there with his. Greg, I noticed, had some sort of wrap around his head. I tried to give them all a thumbs up but, for some reason, my right hand wouldn't move. Confused, I looked toward it and saw a mangled mess until about halfway down my bicep, after that there was nothing.

I didn't have time to ask what had happened before I surrendered to sleep again.

It's been about six days since the ship they've told me. I killed the second-tier Hellhound, but I had used an explosive hatchet on it and it was gripping my right arm in its mouth before I'd killed it. The explosion had ripped my arm away from my shoulder and it had absolutely shredded my armor. I was lucky to have gotten away with such little injury according to Dr. Yurnel. Third-degree burns covered my body, and I had more than a few pieces of shrapnel stuck in me when I'd been rushed back to the Phoenix and her medical bay.

The good doctor and her team had halted my nanite healing to place me in a nutrient bath that would soothe my burns and allow the team to pull the pieces of shrapnel out. After they'd finished that, I had been put in a much larger, denser nutrient bath and my nanites were guided by Cai's considerable processing power to begin healing the burns that covered me and rebuilding my arm. I was still in that nutrient bath.

"Rickshaw, are you certain that you do not wish for further pain relief?" Cai asked.

"I'm sure," I told him. The mask that allowed me to breathe afforded me enough room to move my jaw and speak.

"I ask because according to all biometric data I have access to, you seem to be in considerable pain," he said. "Dr. Yurnel and her assistants have tasked me with monitoring you at all times and to alert them to any changes in your condition."

"Yeah, I know they did," I said. "But these drugs are great and I don't like how they make me sleepy after they're injected."

"All other options cause much the same or they cause you to acquire an addiction," Cai said. "Principality Applewood was very clear that you were to only be given the medications that would not allow you to become dependent on them."

"And I love Carrie for looking out for me like that, but I can't spend all my time in here sleeping," I argued. "I'm supposed to be in command and we're working on clearing out the Scourge. It looks kind of bad if I'm stuck in the sickbay all the time."

Before Cai could continue his talk with me, Carrie walked in. I waved at her with my left arm and she smiled to me. She'd made sure to visit me once a day and give me an update on what was happening and to ask for my advice on what to do. Most of the advice she wanted was on dealing with the governments of the world.

"Hey Rickshaw," she said, "still giving Cai trouble?"

I nodded.

"He keeps trying to push drugs on me," I said, my voice distorting through the speakers. "It's getting annoying."

"If he's offering, then you must be in pain," Carrie said. "Just let him do his job. He's worried too, you know."

"I know he is, but it's still not cool to have a literal voice in my head urging me to take drugs," I joked.

"Tell me about it," she laughed. "Touka keeps telling me to eat my favorite ice cream; she says I'm stressed and that it'll make me happy and less stressed. I just don't want to spend more time at the track working it off."

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"You should have some later," I told her. "Some mint chocolate chip or maybe rocky road. Those are my favorites."

"Well, if my commanding officer is telling me, then I guess I should have some ice cream," she smiled.

"Are you doing alright in there, Rickshaw?" she asked, her tone turning more serious even as her smile faded and her voice became quieter. "I know everyone tries to visit you and keep you company, but I can't help but wonder how bad it really is in there."

"It's not great," I admitted. "I have to stay here or risk being one-armed for more than a year. I have to watch everyone come in and try to cheer me up, or make small talk while hiding how much they don't want to be here. Like they're just visiting to say they did. I did that with my grandfather and I hated myself for it. I like to remember him the way I knew him; funny, strong, and stubborn as he could be. Seeing him laying on that hospital bed, fading, it made me want to make sure I never went out that way. Clinging on and forcing everyone else around me to watch; I couldn't do that. Now, because I was stupid, I get to have my own parade of worried people go by and all of them give me those same looks my grandfather got, the ones that say they wish they weren't there and that they regretted coming to see me."

"It's different for you though," Carrie insisted. "Soon enough you'll be back on your feet and swinging your sword like nothing happened. Yurnel said that after you spend a bit of time getting used to having your arm in good condition, it's going to feel like nothing happened."

"I know she says that," I said, "but what if she's wrong? I lost my arm. I know I did, I see it everytime I look down. I feel it whenever I try to wave, it should move and it doesn't. There's something missing and I can't find it. That's what it feels like."

"It doesn't move because Cai's using your nanites to keep it from moving," she said. "Besides, look at it. It's past your elbow now! You'll be able to move it good as new before you know it."

"Thanks, Carrie," I said. I didn't want to talk about this anymore. "How's it all going with cleaning up the southwest of the States and the northwest of Central?"

I could see she knew I was deliberately changing the subject but she still answered.

"Southwest States is going great, the fact that most of it is more desert than forset or plains means that the Scourge can't hide very well even if they're doing really well at it. Northwest Central is totally clear, which means that now we're focusing more on rebuilding what we can for them. Farms, hospitals, schools, housing, there's a lot, but the people there are all coming together and helping a lot with it. Plus with nearly a million workers on the way from Rallypoint, we've got no shortage of volunteers. It's materials that are an issue. The Americas were where a lot of lumber production came from, so Europe and Asia really can't help out. Australia's sending things like bricks and cement but it's not enough. Africa can't help out, after we showed up and cleared most of the Scourge, they started another war. This one's more religion or something. Their shamans and priests for the native religions say that we're gods and we should be worshipped but the other religions are all in agreement; we're not gods and worshipping us is blasphemy."

"That sucks," I said. "Don't get involved in that. I know it's not right, but if we let ourselves worry about policing Earth, then we're never going to be able to leave. This won't be the last time we pull a planet's population out of the fire, and it won't be the only time native religions clash because of us. Best to reiterate that we're not gods and move on in my opinion. If they're smart, they'll see that we don't care and most of the people that started to worship us will realize that they shouldn't and things will die down on their own."

"We're still going to have to deal with it somehow," Carrie said. "We need a Nephilim presence on Earth so that we can keep recruiting. That's the plan."

"I'd forgotten about that," I admitted. "Then reach out to them and tell them the whole thing about us not being gods and that we need recruits willing to leave Earth behind forever and help in the fight against the Scourge. How's what's left of the US government holding together?"

"Not great. There's some govenor or something in Montana that's claiming to be the president and there's a senator in New York that says the same thing. The whole time the actual president survived the whole thing and is trying to hold everything together from some secret bunker in Virginia. It's all a big mess and I'm looking forward to giving it up."

"I hear that," I agreed. "Who's holding Central America together? You keep saying that they're more stable than anywhere else the Scourge hit."

"The Cartels," she answered. "They all banded together and kept as many of the people safe as they could. They did such a great job, apparently, that the actual governments down there joined with them."

"That's a powderkeg of trouble," I said. "As soon as one group starts eyeing the other's profits, it's going to be war and there's no telling who's going to side with who. It might end up as a free-for-all."

"Yep," Carrie agreed. "Canada is up in the air right now. All the people evacuated south and were sort of absorbed by the States. Anyone left was hunted by the Scourge and now it's all pretty empty."

"Contact their head of state," I said. "See if we can secure as much of it as we can. If we can control our own area on Earth and maybe make something like our own nation, then we'll have an easy place to gather recruits together before shipping them to Rallypoint or wherever we make our main base."

"I'll get on that," Carrie said turning and walking toward the door. "And Rickshaw, take some pain killers. It'll help a little."

Maybe I'll take that advice this time.