Restless
Now the remaining Salt King stilled on its rampage. Logan’s reinforced presence had triggered an instinctual fear response, and the bus sized lizard froze. The Beast's eyes were locked onto Logan’s and for almost thirty seconds no one moved.
Then Logan took a step forward, and the spell was broken. The Salt King pushed away, using its body and writhing to get away as fast as its short legs could take it. The Frear Squadron watched on as the crocodile made it out to sea, where it was nothing more than a suspicious ripple on the surface.
“Good job, recruits! I wasn’t expecting to make it through that one without casualties. Maybe you fragile flowers actually have what it takes.”
The Captain herself was standing on the crest they had walked over to get to the shore. Her black hair whipped about in the sea breeze, cutting an impressive silhouette. Her Squadron gradually turned their collective attention on her as she continued talking.
“Now, collect yourselves, and give me a second to collect our spoils. Everyone takes five and then we hit the road again!”
Logan slumped down into the sand at her words. The raw adrenaline leaving his system was enough to make him collapse, but knowing he had to march all the way back to camp…
Amar offered him a hand back to his feet. He wasn’t sure when she had made it out of the Salt King’s corpse, but the proof of her exploits were covering her armor in a thick layer of viscera.
“Thanks, I probably shouldn’t be sitting down if we are going back right away.”
“Yeah, likely not. That was some good work back there with the Salt King.”
“You too, great idea to turn me into a rocket.”
“What’s a… ‘rocket’.”
Uh oh, that was a faux pas. Logan knew that he should avoid talking about Earth stuff, but the release from after the battle dropped his guard.
“Uh, it’s something that shoots really fast in a straight line. Kinda like a bomb mixed with an arrow, at least a little.”
Amar just gave Logan a strange look.
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It turned out when Captain Frear said collect their spoils, she meant that she would carry the whole Salt King. Over her shoulder. The Captain still led the line, and by the time they were back in camp, was the only person who didn’t look winded at all.
The Squadron’s procession back to camp was met with some awed looks, and a few cheers along the way. The thirty foot lizard made an impressive and daunting trophy, and Logan saw more than a few soldiers turn away in fear at the corpse.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Seeing those reactions made Logan proud, because he hadn’t frozen up even when the thing was alive and hungry. He didn’t think he was better than anyone else, but Logan felt confident in his ability to at least affect the outcome of a fight at this point. Thinking more on it, Logan realized that was probably the purpose of this initial mission, to send recruits through the crucible to harden them on the other side.
If that was the point, it had definitely succeeded. Although Logan’s body was sore and tired, he still felt ready if another fight was necessary. Which it was not, as the Squadron was released for the night as they returned to the barracks.
After promising to cuddle with Remy to make up for his absence once he was clean, Logan ended up in the shower. The lukewarm water wasn’t great, but it was still enough to get Logan to relax even further. By the time he was out Logan was feeling nice and sleepy, ready to hit the sack.
Cuddling up with his Rizzel companion, Logan spread out in his cot. The hay wasn’t that comfortable, but at this point Logan had acclimated and it felt great after a long day of killing giant crocodiles.
As Logan felt himself drifting off to sleep, the only thoughts in his head were warm and fuzzy.
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As Logan’s consciousness drifted to the other side, his mind met the cold ambivalence of the Void. Instantly he jolted back awake with a gasp, awaking Larry in the process.
“You ok, man?”
“Yeah, I-I just need some fresh air, is all. I’ll be back.”
Logan squeezed his way around the rodent who somehow ended up monopolizing most of the space on the cot. Standing, he walked out the front door, for the second night in a row.
Unlike previously, Arasaka didn’t have her little hut setup tonight. She must have been too tired from the day’s mission to pursue her craft through the wee hours of the night. Logan couldn't help but think that she had the right idea, sleeping the night away. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to be on the cards for Logan.
He was dead tired, but he didn’t have much else to do, so Logan ran a repeat of the night before. Doing laps around the camp, Logan moved a reduced pace from his previous efforts, but that was expected. The fact that he managed to keep moving was impressive enough.
Logan soon found himself in a similar trance to the previous night, where all the man could hear were the sounds of his own footfalls, and breath. Everything else seemed to fade into the background, leaving Logan’s mind refreshingly clear.
Instead, Logan recalled the Squad’s efforts against the Salt Kings. They had managed to fend for themselves, but if the Beasts had taken them seriously immediately Logan had no doubt they would have perished. Their cohesion needed a lot of work if they wanted to have a chance to actually end up in the Legion.
Thoughts on how to work together and improve their camaraderie filled Logan’s mind as he endlessly ran in loops. As others slept, he would improve.
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By the time the sun was about to come up the next morning, Logan wasn’t as tired as he thought he would be. For some reason, he even felt a bit more alert than he had the previous night.
The sound of trumpets blaring filled the morning air, and as Logan made his way back to the barracks he heard the noises of people stirring inside. The first person to make it outside to join him was Aerie, the woman with cyan hair. Extending a hand, Logan offered an introduction.
“Hi, I know we fought together yesterday, but it's nice to officially meet you. I’m Logan Brewer.”
Aerie just looked at the proffered hand for a second, before ignoring it and responding with, “I remember.”
“Ah, well, good work yesterday, I guess. Glad everyone made it out mostly fine.”
“Hmmmm, yes.” Aerie said.
Then she proceeded to line up for roll call, and ignore Logan. It looked like at least some of the people in this squad were here for good reasons. Luckily, next out was Jerry, who never passed up an opportunity to fill the silence.
“Good morning you two! Sleep well after your first mission?”
“Uhhhhh…” Logan didn’t have the heart to tell him that he hadn’t slept at all.
Aerie didn’t have such compunctions.
“I don’t think Mr. Brewer slept at all, as he was already out here and sweaty by the time I emerged. As for me, you should be aware of my answer.”
Logan looked between the two of his new Squadmates. The words Aerie had said would normally lead Logan to think they had the sort of relationship that involved rendezvous in the night. However, the animosity Aerie spoke with convinced Logan that was not the case.
“Ah yes, well, it was more of a social formality than a serious query…”
Before the conversation could continue further, the rest of the Frear Squadron emerged from their barracks, and the Captain herself appeared with impeccable timing.
“Attention!”
All thoughts of his Squadmates vanished, as Logan began another grueling day with the Legion.