“Alright, paperwork and IDs, please. Let’s go! Hold ‘em up.”

Jenna stared for a second as the guard gave his command. She shuffled through what she had in her hands already to ensure that everything was ready and held them in the air. She knew she’d be going to the Military Entrance and Processing Station today and her recruiter had warned her repeatedly to have it ready beforehand.

She was due for a few last parts of processing and swearing-in. And then she’d be sitting around waiting for the bus to the airport in the afternoon. By sundown, she’d be at basic training in Fort Leonardwood. Only a few last steps, starting with getting on base.

Jenna watched the guard… no a Sergeant? Staff Sergeant? She was an Army brat going Army National Guard so she didn’t really know Air Force ranks that well.

The NCO! Good enough! Had a short conversation with another guard in a foot brace and with a sigh started making his way down the aisle, idly pointing at each document held up. One person at a time. Slowly… Jenna couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about basic training now that she was hours away from being there and entering a military base with an armed soldier… er Airman… in front of her only made it more real.

She told herself it was just jitters, a bit of anticipation for what she knew was coming. It wasn’t like she was unprepared. Her recruiter was good at her job and of course, her dad had explained a bit of what to expect, though some of his information was a couple of decades old.

The gate guard was nearing her seat and she double checked the documents in her hand once again. She really hoped he didn’t pay too much attention to her picture. She hadn’t exactly been fat but she was… ‘less fit’ when she got her license renewed. The odds that he’d think it was a fake was basically zero but she’d spent two years in college before deciding to enlist.

The ‘freshman 15’ was a real thing and it was embarrassing to look back on. She wasn’t sure why she was embarrassed. It wasn’t like she’d ever see him again and it hadn’t been a full 15 either, some time with her dad in the gym had taken care of that!

A glance told her it was close to her time to show what she was holding but there was a delay ahead of her. She glanced outside the window and saw a few more Air Force personnel wearing the same dark berets talking outside of the gate shack, a glint of metal on one showed it was an officer… She wondered what he was doing at the gate shack but at least it explained why the bus was being checked by a Non-Commissioned Officer. It looked like-

“Outstanding!”

The NCO’s sarcastic voice drew her attention to him again as he held a driver’s license and stared at a young man who had been digging through a backpack shuffling papers around before finally holding up the right one. He looked them over more carefully than any other he’d had up till that point and thrust it back to her fellow recruit before offering some unsolicited advice.

“Better get yourself squared away, it’ll only get wor-”

Had things been different, he would have moved onto the next row and then her row, and soon they’d be at the Military Entrance and Processing Station. Or closer to the reality of the modern world, Jenna could have seen nearly half of the people on the bus suddenly disappear. She would have seen the looks of confusion on those who were left or the yells of those that were frightened, the calls for help from those that realized what happened. The other military cops outside running onboard to figure out what was happening before they were all whisked away by some three-letter agency to be interviewed. She would have seen more people had joined the Lost Generation firsthand… Instead, the people back home would see that, see her picture on the news along with others. All she saw was gravel and sand 5 feet in front of her face, like the ground had become a wall.

She stayed suspended in the air for half a moment before there was a rush of wind. The ground quickly came up to meet her and she landed with a thud on her bag that had been in her lap. Jenna exhaled sharply as the air was forced out of her lungs and then a delayed groan from the impact of her knees hitting the ground. She would have yelped but she had to catch her breath first.

“Aaagh, what the fuck was-?”

Jenna lifted her gaze and looked around her. The old stuffy coach bus she’d been on had disappeared and the air base gate on a chilly morning was replaced with sweltering heat and a nearly barren landscape. Only a few scraggly bushes showed that there was any kind of life at all.

“Wha-”

Jenna jumped to her feet, completely forgetting about the pain in her knees, and spun. Then did it again more slowly to take in her surroundings…

It was a desert, plain and simple. Not the great deserts of the world like the Sahara… or the Zeikhal, that she hadn’t heard the name of yet. There were no mountainous sand dunes for as far as the eye can see.

It was a more hospitable kind of desert, if still inhospitable in its own right. If she had to compare it to anything it was closer to the Mojave or Chihuahuan deserts of the American southwest. Maybe in line with some pictures of the Australian Outback she’d seen.

There were no trees in sight and only dried out bushes and small hardy plants adapted to the arid climate. Other than that, the only thing she could see was rock outcroppings spread across the landscape. All too small to be landmarks, they weren’t buttes or mesas. In fact, the only landmark was a mountain range in the distance, rocky hills turned to small rocky mountains, turned to larger snowcapped ones, turned to towering snowcapped ones that reminded her of the Rockies. Maybe a bit bigger and steeper.

“Okay? Okay? This is norm- no this is wrong!”

Her first thought process led to her being in one of the deserts she’d compared it to, that she’d seen before but the realization that she had arrived in the blink of an eye led her to a different option. A terrifying option.

“No, no! This isn’t suppose-”

She quickly pulled out her phone and a tear dripped from her eye as she noticed that it had no service. She opened her GPS… and still no signal. That was nearly impossible! Phone GPS worked off the satellites, not cell towers. GPS covered the entire world! Sure she could be in a remote region that gave her problems connecting and it could be highly inaccurate at times but it should have at least worked! She sat back down and stared at her largely worthless phone in a state of shock.

How else would someone handle what had just happened? Being thrown somewhere completely unexpected and not only realizing your lifeline wasn’t working. But that it was indicating the worst possible scenario. She would have rather been drugged and kidnapped.

The phone glowed in her hand and she continued to look at it like ti was wrong. She closed the failing GPS app and a yellow icon with 3 letters caught her attention. She stared at it for a solid minute, just thinking of what the three letters stood for.

Finally, she opened it. One that she’d gotten as a joke but her dad saw it and made her keep it… just in case. One that she never expected to have to use.

TLG SURVIVAL

The Lost Generation Survival app. It was an app that required no connection, took up a good amount of memory on her phone, and had information for people if they disappeared and joined the others that had gone missing in years past.

It explained how to adjust to being an alien prisoner… ‘when they pull out the probe, and relax. some people like it’ or “the grays are weak but watch out for their giant worm-mechs”… Another for escaping her new lizard people overlords and tips to help her find a way to the surface such as ‘if you find lava, you’re going the wrong way! Or you found a volcano and it’s the right way…’ and, unhelpful, as it was ‘if desperate, remember they taste like chicken! Strange fact: they think pork tastes like human”. If she selected Rapture, it just came up as ‘Yeah. That’s beyond us. Start praying and good luck!’ and ‘ God dammit, whatever you do, don’t take his name in vain’… It was a joke!

Literally.

It was a joke.

The company that had made it was making light of the situation. The only reason why her dad told her to keep it was the developers decided to make their joke app useful as it became more popular. Either that or they decided to make it useful because of how much hate they got for making fun of the disappearances. Either case, she had it.

Besides the questionable advice for scenarios involving aliens, lizard people, judgment day, parallel universes, time travel, being shrunk to the size of an ant, and time accelerating… Jenna had been a fan of the alien theory. Time travel, shrinking, or speeding up to the point no one could even see the person were just lazy and lame theories. The rapture was too big to think about and not everyone that had gone missing was exactly a saint. And lizard people abductions? Only nutjobs and morons thought that.

On top of all that, all the developers included an advanced menu that had tips on how to find water, food, build shelters, start fires, simple first aid, primitive weapons, ideas for communication up to building a simple radio, agriculture techniques for long term survival, how to defend yourself from people or animals, how to cook or preserve the meat- it didn’t specify if it meant the animals or the people… they still had a bit of fun with it.

It even had a few basic bits of raw science. Math formulas, basics in biology, simplified physics equations, a little bit about geology, and chemistry, including a couple of key chemical processes.

She clicked on the last one, it was from the latest update and she had no idea what was in it. She clicked through a few options and sighed.

Great if I can get a hold of some Sali-cyclic acid and acetic acid then I can make aspirin for this damn headache. Ugh!

She moaned at how worthless it was and scrolled through the rest. It wasn’t hard to notice that recipes for black powder, nitroglycerin, and other dangerous concoctions were left out. Probably for liability reasons, also likely why they left out how to get the acid too. Besides that things like advanced medicines were also gone, likely due to patent law.

Instead, it was all simple medicinal products like aspirin, burn ointment, and ethanol… she could have gone for that too… with some simple metallurgy, like how to make basic steel, brass, and bronze. It was all very case specific though. Even the burn ointment she’d have to find an aleo vera plant and it wasn’t even a chemistry thing!

Feeling dejected Jenna glanced at her battery and realized it was at 91%. She gave an eep and shut it off before putting it back in her bag. She knew the basics of surviving already and once she found water, food, and shelter she could go over it again and maybe copy some of it down in a notebook or something. She wasn’t sure if her new alien overlords had a place to plug in her charger.

“Okay, what first… dad would tell me to… to??? To take stock in what I have first!”

Jenna opened up her bag and double checked what she had. Which didn’t amount to much. She had a few changes of clothing, including workout clothes and a pair of running shoes, all very modest and bland. Her dad had helped her pack and warned her that the best thing she could do in basic was stay unnoticed.

To her horror, he told her that, then grabbed her thongs and tossed them on the bed before telling her she could buy more of her ‘ass strings’ after basic before handing her an unopened pack of boyshorts style underwear. She cringed just thinking about it and then felt a pang of fear at the thought of her dad. She might not see him again!

She watched a tear drop into her bag and shook her head while rubbing her eyes. After a few deep breaths, she looked back into her bag. She could cry later. Or now…

“Important paperwork, a notebook, envelopes, stamps, pens, a week’s worth of toiletries, tablet… Now shut off in case I need it later. Phone charger, and half- no, eh? We’ll call that three quarters of a powerade. Plus the bag itself and what I’m wearing.”

When she got to that point she realized she was still wearing a winter coat and took it off to stuff in her bag. Besides that, she had on a polo, khakis pants, a pair of ankle high boots, and undergarments. What she didn’t have on her was her knife, multi-tool, or gun.

She was 20, so technically wasn’t old enough to carry a pistol but enforcement on the issue of underage concealed carrying had dropped drastically. It was still against the law but a lot of cops looked the other way, especially where she lived, an area where gun crime was almost unheard of already. They knew why the younger generation was carrying and it didn’t have to do with committing crimes.

She of course didn’t have any of that because she had been going onto a military base. But it couldn’t be helped, even if she would have felt better holding her .38, so she focused on what she needed to do next.

In an arid environment? The app, her dad, and common sense all dictated water and shelter from the sun came first. She looked around again and her eyes went wide as she took a more detailed survey of the area around her. Further down the mountain range was a storm. It was just on the other side of the mountains which was understandable, she knew of the rain shadow effect. She didn’t need an app to tell her about something most 7^th graders learn about.

The thing that made her gasp was the size of the storm. Not how far it spread across the horizon but its height. It didn’t look real and even where it finally topped off it still had white billowy clouds floating along above it and more above that. It was like the sky was taller and the clouds did what they wanted. Plus for some reason even though the clouds towered over the mountains they didn’t pass them.

It was a bad sign but after looking for a minute more she blinked and realized it had a silver lining. If it was raining on the other side of the mountains that meant they had water there. With higher ground, she might even spot a river or something from the bit of water that poured down into the desert.

Jenna looked around again but saw a severe lack of high ground to go for… So, with no other obvious options, she set out towards the mountains. It was hard to place how far away they were from her but the other option was wandering through the desert hoping to stumble on an oasis.

Possible? Sure!

But it was also possible that she’d been smacked in the head and was still on the bus, dreaming… Jenna could hope for one or the other but she couldn’t rely on that hope.

Mountains it is.

She marched quietly through the desert but as her focus drained, tears started to form again. They didn’t fall but she couldn’t keep her eyes from growing misty at the full realization of her predicament, she had joined the Lost Generation.

“I wish you were here, dad.”

She took another deep breath and decided she needed a distraction. She nearly reached for her phone to listen to music but stopped herself. She didn’t have any saved on her phone and although she had some on her tablet she didn’t want to waste the battery.

After a moment she opened her mouth and began to sing… kinda.

“She had a… yellow… hmmm. Her hair… had-”

She had to go over it for a while in her head and thought she had is straight when she tried again. It’d been a while since she’d heard it. It was something her dad sang when they were working out together among other things. Just something to keep her going.

“In her hair, she wore a yellow ribbon!”

“… He kept it in the springtime, in the merry month of May. He kept it in the springtime, in the merry month of May… If you asked him, why the hell he kept it. If you asked-”

Jenna abruptly stopped singing to rub the sweat off her brow. It’d been the fourth or fifth time she’d sung it and that was with humming or singing other things in between, she had more or less been just saying the words, changing her voice slightly the second time she said the line… It was meant to be used with other people.

She looked around again but it was just more of the same. The only good thing was that the mountains did look a little closer, or at least the foothills did. She’d changed her heading when she noticed what looked like a valley cutting through the distant foothills in the hopes it was a river valley. She took a sip of her Gatorade and kept walking.

“If I hadn’t worked out with dad, I’d probably be dying right now… fuck that, I’m still dying. Why couldn’t the aliens drop me off someplace cooler? Maybe the same spot they dropped off everyone else? Or better! They could have dropped me off next to them! Would have that been too much to ask?!”

The heat was getting to Jenna. She had no idea what the temperature was but she knew it was triple digits. Jenna figured the night would be far more bearable but she didn’t trust herself to walk at night without getting lost, tripping, or even worse. Walking into a snake or whatever the alien equivalent was.

No, she had to keep moving but another half hour later, Jenna stopped. It wasn’t to give up but her path had changed. She’d come across a wide, shallow crater in the desert. She wondered if it was a dried lake bed of some kind. It was certainly big enough to be at least the bed of a small one, maybe a half mile across.

She looked around the outer rim as she played with her braid of strawberry blonde hair that was coming over her right shoulder. After a minute, she put it up into a bun again and draped a t-shirt over her head again. Ready to move.

Within sight, there were a few places where the otherwise steep slope of the rim had been eroded away, possibly by water. But Jenna couldn’t actually see any water and there were only a few places of the large, relatively flat depression she couldn’t make out.

No matter, it was in her path and she’d have to go through or around. She quickly decided on through. If nothing else she could dig a bit and with luck, there would be a little groundwater there. She didn’t like the idea of drinking mud but she could try to filter it through a shirt or stick her head in it to cool off. The nearest eroded portion of the rim would be her path down and she’d just have to find one on the other side for her path up.

“Please be some water…”

She whispered to herself as she set to her new task but-

“Don’t go that way! Hey! Stop!”

The voice startled Jenna and she flinched. Only slightly but just enough for her to lose her footing and slide the rest of the way down into the lakebed.

“You go that way and you’ll get eaten! Get out of there!”

Her eyes looked around for the owner of the voice as she stood up and dusted off her backside. She didn’t see anyone…

Wait? Did they say get eaten?

A quick check of the shallow, wide pit she’d found herself in didn’t highlight any obvious dangers. It wasn’t completely flat but there weren’t many places something could hide either. At least not anything big enough to eat a person… She wasn’t sure what sort of desert wildlife could eat a human anyways. Maybe coyotes if you were already half dead. Maybe a different dessert, Dingoes?

While she contemplated and glanced from dirt pile to dirt pile her attempted savior had closed the distance.

“Come on, climb up!”

Jenna looked up to find the source of the voice but it was still elusive. She turned back to the dried lake bed and had to double take. Something was there that hadn’t been a minute ago. Or rather something had been there a minute ago, in a slightly different spot.

It was 30 yards away and was a mound of loose dirt. Whatever it was only stood a foot above the area around it, a few feet wide and maybe 20 feet long. Calling it a mound was probably wrong. It was more like a bump or little ridge.

Nearly as soon as she saw it, Jenna turned and made a mad dash up the embankment. Realizing that she’d been thinking of predators from Earth’s deserts because she knew damn well that nothing on Earth had what she’d seen! The short stubby spines that were sticking up out of the loose soil, twitching, and swaying. A few longer with insect-like joints…

“Nope! Nope! Nope!”

She glanced over her shoulder as she scurried on all fours to the top. The ridge thing had moved again! It slid back and forth almost like a snake with more rigid movements. Wherever it went it left freshly loosened soil and even some mud. All leaving a trail from where it had been towards her!

Jenna turned back forward and saw a hand in her face. Without thinking she grabbed it and made it to the rim with some help. She jogged away from the lake bed a few paces but realized her rescuer hadn’t moved much. Still, she turned her eyes to the pit, half expecting to see something nasty and crawly pushing its way up the embankment.

Jenna peeked then stared as a flat head with four mandibles lifted out of the ground. The monster didn’t have eyes she could see but it opened its mouth to reveal teeth like a lamprey mixed with a nightmarish flatworm before being scaled up to a size way too big for any bug. As she watched it moved its mandibles in front of its head and pushed its way back into the soil. A brown body covered in what looked like giant hairs arced out of the soil as it got back under the earth.

“Pit Crawler. Nasty creatures. Can always tell where their nests are, they create pits like that to store water when it rains. That and to make it harder for poor animals to get away. I heard there are some oases that were formed from really big ones. Don’t worry, it’ll probably stay down there. You’re lucky.”

“Ahhh… um thank you. I’m- You’re a lizard person.”

It wasn’t a question. Jenna had found herself face to face with a real, honest to god lizard person. The depictions were completely wrong but it was a damn lizard person! How could it be a lizard person? Those people were supposed to be crazy! Not like her fellow, well respected alien abduction theorists. Still, she had to admit-

The bastards were right… But she doesn’t look like the pictures- She?

“Yes… Lizard person, lizardfolk… Have you never seen one of us before? I’m Dess.”

“Ah, sorry… I’m Jenna.”

Yes, a she.

The Lizardgirl’s body was largely covered by a thin tan dress and an off white shawl that kept the sun off her but her voice was decidedly feminine. Once Jenna really looked at the parts she could see, the sight just reinforced that idea. To the point, Jenna decided Dess was kind of pretty… In an alien Lizardgirl kind of way. Mainly because of the beautiful coloring she had.

Bright yellow and gold slitted eyes adorned her face and Dess’ body was covered in tiny, colorful scales. Or at least her face was. The bulk of which was a lovely jade color but accented with different shades of blue and purple, with flecks of red and orange mixed in. That wasn’t including the yellowish-orange scales on the underside of her chin and front of her neck, running down into her dress. Or the bright red, orange, and purple frills on her neck. She was very colorful and her scales gleamed in the light.

Besides giving a feminine appearance. Dess looked nothing like the depictions of what a lizard person was supposed to look like. She had claws on her hand and sharp teeth but she didn’t look like a humanoid dinosaur with a mouth full of long, sharp teeth and razor sharp claws on her hands. Nor was she naked, nor below ground, and although she had never smelt it, she doubted the Lizardgirl’s scent was one of rotting human, and from what Jenna could see she wasn’t a hulking mass of muscle, she was rather lithe. Even a little shorter than Jenna… She amended her earlier thought. The nutjobs were only partially right and only in that she identified as a lizard person. She was a Lizardperson just not THAT kind of lizard person.

“Nice to meet you, now let’s get back to the wagons. It should stay down there but I’ve never actually seen one before and that’s just what I heard. So, just in case!”

“Just in case…”

A good policy to have at a time like that. When dealing with giant people eating worms, it wasn’t a good idea to go any other way.

“So, what are you doing out here? And how haven’t you seen a lizardfolk before? We’re kind of hard to Miss on Baleros. We’re everywhere except way up north… well, there too just not as many I think. If you’re not from here, you’d have to at least see some in the port… Unless? Oh, oh! Did you come through Verington up along the north side of the crescent? I heard that was a new town. Terrandrians built it. Well, it’s not really that new, it’s older than I am but my father said it wasn’t there when he was young. It mainly had halfelves and humans there. So… Did you get lost?”

“Er… yeah, you could say I’m lost.”

Jenna was at a near complete loss of words due to how quickly Dess had spoken, leading to a reply that didn’t really answer any of Dess’ questions. But that might have been a good thing Jenna realized.

“I kinda figured. Not sure how you got here without seeing one of us in the port, were kinda everywhere on Baleros… Wait I said that already…. Hmmm, oh well. I’m guessing you’re from Terrandria? No! Izril? Terrandria? You’re not dark enough for Chandrar… Wait! Let me guess you’re from Chandrar? Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. I guess there’s probably some pale humans in Chandrar… Are you from Chandrar? Please tell me you’re not from Chandrar.”

The talkative lizard girl in front of her turned back with a bit of awkwardness in her eyes. Even with different species, it was an obvious look of someone who thought they put their foot in their mouth. Dess wasn’t human but it did humanize her in a way. Jenna focused on that and tried to give a comforting smile hoping a little effort would help.

Jenna was immediately taken aback by two facts. One Dess had just mentioned humans and two, she was speaking English for some reason. It hadn’t dawned on Jenna up until that point and she wasn’t sure what that meant but it was a good sign. Or at least better than nothing.

Jenna was also taken aback by how quickly the lizard girl spoke, even faster than before. Dess didn’t even slur her words together at all while she rambled coherently at a very quick pace. She was so taken aback that Jenna inadvertently copied Dess’ pace, but for her part, it was because of nerves. Meeting an alien would do that to you. Especially a hyper one.

“Ah, no. I’m originally from Nebraska but I moved around a lot. My dad’s military, or was. He recently retired.”

“I’ve never heard of Nebraska, but I get it. Lots of moving around for people in the companies too. Good your old man got to retire, many don’t get there. I’ve only met a few [Soldiers] from the companies but that’s what my father, the old grump told me. I just think he’s afraid I’ll join a Company. Maybe if I trained something to fight for me but I don’t think I’d like it.”

Dess began to look contemplative and kept walking. As it turned out the distance to the wagon wasn’t far, Jenna had missed the road by only a few hundred feet and only missed seeing the wagon as it sat on the far side of a hill. As they crested it, she saw it being pulled by a pair of ordinary mules, she expected dinosaurs or giant bugs for some reason. It didn’t’ sit alone, on the wagon sat a second lizard person. When it spoke Jenna assumed a he because of the deeper voice and much larger build.

“Bout time you’re back! Took you- The Nagas?! Dess! Who’s this now? Why do you have a- Ugh! you step off the road to relieve yourself and you come back with a stray human! Why?”

“Don’t mind him, he’s Lizardfolk but everyone’s pretty sure someone swapped his brain with a Drake. I’ve never met a Drake before so I don’t know. I hear they’re difficult and angry all the time. So it makes sense.”

Jenna wasn’t sure if a Drake was a person or an animal. She decided person, people met people, after all, the wording gave her a clue. Although she wasn’t sure if he was really angry but he was 100% flustered at the situation. He impatiently waved his hands at the two of them to climb into the wagon.

“Nevermind! Get on the wagon, let’s go.”

“Aha, Ummm, speaking of going…. Be right back!”

“Dess! Dead gods! Hurry up. It’ll be dark soon!”

Dess turned and ran up the slight hill they’d just crossed once again, leaving Jenna to stand awkwardly as the Lizardman ran his hand over his face and shook his head. He had the same color of scales as Dess did but the blue was different and purple wasn’t as common. They also weren’t as vibrant. They were dull and she could see a few places where scars cut across them on his forearm arm. Jenna had no idea but with the coloring alone she assumed it meant they were related and he was older. So the dad Dess mentioned.

“Introduce yourself old man! Now shut up I’m busy!”

“Dead gods, she’s going to be the death of me… Zosk.”

Yup, that sounded like a dad. Or a parent in general.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Zosk, it’s my name. You getting on the wagon or not?”

Jenna looked at the cargo area of the mostly empty wagon and murmured her name and a thanks before she crawled into the back, careful not to sit on his long tail. Meanwhile, Zosk muttered to himself in the front. It was nearly under his breath but she could still hear him once she was settled.

“… dogs, stray cats, stray lizards. Tried to tell her that it was a wild animal, not some creler damned stray but no, she needed to try to find it a home, now stray humans in strange clothes. And the damn birds…”

He noticed she could hear him and stopped making a sound but she was pretty sure that she was more embarrassed by the situation. They sat awkwardly in silence until Dess’ head poked up over the hill and she came running to the wagon. Zosk scooted over in the seat at the front but she climbed over the side to sit next to Jenna.

“Find anything else? Stray Dullahans? No? An injured Centaur? Maybe there’s some lesser paisa around you can take in? Hmmm, probably not this far away from the mountains. A salt scorpion? Nah, not near enough to the wastes. You know, if we wander long enough we could probably find some an amaru with a broken wing you can save? Maybe go kick a few boulders till you find a traveling stone.”

Dess rolled her eyes as she looked at the back of his head. Obviously not impressed by his list of creatures. She didn’t say anything and Zosk gave a light tap on the reins and the mules began to pull.

“Leave it you old grump, you know what would happen to her if she stayed out here alone?”

“Yeah, eaten! Something would have made her a snack eventually.”

“Or worse!”

Jenna blinked at the ‘or worse’, she really hoped it was hyperbole and there wasn’t actually a fate worse than death out in the desert. Maybe Dess had just meant a slow death was worse than being eaten. Or eaten alive. Was slowly dying of thirst worse than being ripped apart by an animal?

Zosk glanced back at Dess with a raised eyebrow. Or well, a raised eye ridge. He seemed to be wondering what she meant too.

“She could have ended up a [Slave] you big dummy.”

Oh, that’s just great.

Jenna’s face fell at the thought that slavery existed in… wherever she was. Dess had said, Baleros? She had no idea where that was but let it go. She was in a place Lizardfolk drove wagons pulled by mules, with giant nightmare bugs below the dirt, and distant storms that would have made meteorologists on Earth either drool or up and quit rather than figure out how it could exist. In comparison, slavery existing was almost normal, just far from ideal.

“Not this again, they don’t enslave people for no reason. You know that! Unless she’s a criminal… are you a criminal?”

He looked back at Jenna and she quickly shook her head before verbally replying too.

“Er, no.”

She held still as his gaze met her eyes, it was kinda scary but he broke eye contact to look her up and down before continuing. Seemingly satisfied with her answer despite his grumpy demeanor.

“As I was saying, you need to commit a crime, be born a [Slave], or go into debt to end up a [Slave]. Maybe end up one if you’re in a rival company and captured but they’d rather take the ransom.”

“Or bandits kidnap you and bring you to a different city to sell you into slavery in back alleys and crime dens. Then they ship you off to a different part of Baleros or Chandrar and you’re never seen again.”

Zosk groaned from the front but apparently decided it wasn’t worth getting into after having said his piece. But Jenna was of a different mind.

“That’s horrible! Does anyone do anything about it?”

“No one.”

“She’s right, no one does a creler damned thing about it because bandits don’t kidnap people and sell them into slavery on the black market. There are no back alley slave markets and no one’s getting thrown on a ship to chandrar… It’s nonsense, Dess. Whoever’s telling you these things? I don’t want you talking with them anymore… Back alleys and crime dens… What a load of manure that is.”

Jenna had actually meant that slavery, in general, was the atrocity at hand. Although it was a relief that Zosk didn’t believe in black market conspiracies.

“No, I mean the slaves, does anyone… I don’t know, try to free them? Sneak them away-”

Zosk pulled the reins sharply and spun in his seat before the wagon had even come to a full stop. He grabbed her sleeve and pulled her in towards him. Jenna froze at the sudden change of situation. He stared straight into her eyes and she involuntarily held her breath.

“Don’t talk about freeing [Slaves]. Dead gods, do you have no sense?! You’re lucky we’re in the middle of nowhere! The wrong person hears you and they’ll accuse you of sedition and sell you off yourself. Me and Dess too if they see us talking to you… This isn’t Terrandria or Izril or wherever you’re from. This is Crimson Sands territory! I don’t want to hear that again. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes. Yes, sir. I’m… I’m sorry… I was just curious.”

It was terrifying looking into his eyes and Jenna felt a pit in her stomach during the entire ordeal but Zosk let go and returned to driving the wagon while Dess put her hand on Jenna’s knee.

“Slavery isn’t that common around here, This isn’t Chandrar but the Crimson Sand Company keeps slaves, so it’s legal in their territory. They’re not the only company around but they are the biggest, at least on this side of the mountains… Probably half the companies around here keep slaves in one way or another. But they don’t keep many… Besides not all slave owners are evil.”

Jenna could only give her a disbelieving look at that. Owning a person wasn’t evil? Dess gave her a sympathetic look in return.

“I heard a [Rower] say that some people buy debt slaves and have them work till the debts paid off and then a little more to earn a profit before they free them.”

“Dess, those aren’t [Slaves] they’re called [Indentured Servants], at least I’m pretty sure basic [Slaves] get that class after they sign the contract. Not sure what [Enslaved Farmers] and the like get. Works for the buyer too, it keeps them from getting offered a [Slaver] class. All they have to do is work, level, and work off their contract… Oh and Dess? Is that who’s filling your head with nonsense? Are they the ones that are talking about bandits and black market slaves? …Stay away from [Rowers].”

The idea of indentured servitude at least sounded better than slavery to Jenna’s ears and she understood what Dess meant. She was pretty sure people used to do the same thing when the US was just starting out. She was also pretty sure the servants would do it willfully though. Sign a contract in exchange for a ship ride to the new world and a plot of farmland after they worked for a decade.

A few words did stand out though. She decided to go for the new conversation. Slavery was just as charged a topic as it was back home.

“Classes? Level?”

Dess gave her a dubious look before she answered.

“Duh, someone with a better class or higher levels would pay back the debt and earn their freedom faster. Would you expect a level 10 [Field Hand] to earn as much as a level 10 [Farmer] or a level 10 [Farmer] to earn as much as a level 20 [Farmer]? Or someone with a generic Class earns as much as someone with one more unique?”

After a moment of silence, Dess began to explain the differences in the classes and more importantly the Skills. Like how a farmer with a [Pest Control] skill or an [Increased Yield] skill would have it a lot easier than someone without them. She also let it slip that her dad was a level 18 [Arid Farmer] that specialized in crops that grew well in arid climates like dates, avocados, axomammas, and yellats, mainly yellats, much to Zosk’s annoyance. Both the yellats and Dess giving away his levels.

“So what do you do? Are you an adventurer? Lose your party?”

“Ah, no. I was on my way to join the-”

Jenna realized they probably had no idea what the National Guard was, especially with the fact they were lizard people from who knows where that hadn’t even heard of Nebraska. It wasn’t the most popular state but still.

“-Join a militia, I guess. I was going off for training to join a Civil Engineering company near home. I’m not sure how I ended up in the desert.”

That admission earned her a critical look from Zosk. He gave her the once over again before a glance at Dess then back to his mules.

“Ah, joining the companies. Suppose there’s not much else to do for work. What’s a civil engineer?”

Dess pronounced the last two words slowly like she had a complete lack of familiarity with them. Like Jenna saying Salicyclic acid. She also seemed to miss Jenna saying the last part as she stared off at some circling birds. Jenna looked at the birds too for a second as Dess shielded her eyes from the sun to get a better look. All three were swooping down on what looked like a very large grasshopper… extremely large. A small child could ride it but neither Zosk nor Dess seemed that worried about it. So instead Jenna kept talking.

“They build and repair structures, roads, sewers, drains, water treatment plants…”

She wasn’t 100% sure what she would be doing had she gone through basic and AIT but she knew that was the general idea of it. Well, the national guard did a lot of disaster relief too. So, there was that.

“Oh so, a [Builder], sort of.”

“Kinda.”

“Huh, hey grump. Maybe she can look at the goat shed? Not sure if we can pay but we can give you a place to sleep. Oh, and I’m sure you could earn a little bit of coin around Patli or at least some food.”

“Patli?”

“Home.”

Jenna had figured out already it was the name of the place and stared at Zosk, she’d hoped for a more elaborate answer. She grinned when she realized Dess was giving him the same look. Jenna wouldn’t have dared if he was in a position to actually see her though.

“Ugh, he means we’re going to Patli. It’s a village on the Itli river. Not far from here. See, we’re [Farmers], well dads a [Farmer]… I said that already… I’m a [Farmer] too but not as high leveled and a [Beast Tamer]. We just had a decent harvest… he did… but dad thought the price in Sa’liquen would be worth the trip to the mountains rather than just selling them to the [Barge Merchant] that comes down from Port Zaniya.”

“And it was.”

“It was. Plus it was lucky otherwise you’d be in that Pit Crawler’s gullet right now! They swallow you whole but they’ve got teeth in their throat that grind you up. So they can chew and swallow at the same time!”

Jenna was taken aback by how nonchalant, no… how cheerful, Dess could make getting eaten by a monster sound. Zosk turned slowly in his seat and stared at his daughter. Dess caught the look and made a face that Jenna guessed meant oh did I forget to mention that?

“Quiet down. You’re giving your old man a headache.”

“You’ll like it in Patli. It’s small but-”

“I mean it, Dess. Bite your teeth.”

Dess seemed affronted at her dad’s tone but crossed her arms and stopped talking. Zosk seemed at ease with the lack of conversation but after only a few minutes Dess seemed agitated. She’d open her mouth to say something, look at her dad, and then shut her mouth. Or bite her teeth as he said. Jenna kinda liked that honestly. She had no idea what would happen if Dess did speak and hoped it wouldn’t be abusive. The wagon wheeled down the road with the only sound coming occasionally from the donkeys.

But Jenna was with Dess after a while. The silence had become grating. Besides the conversation was interesting, she learned things, and best of all she didn’t sit and dwell on her current situation much. Her thoughts started to betray her after only ten minutes of quiet. She resorted to watching Dess, the landscape not being that interesting to her. She did avoid actually staring though.

After twenty minutes Dess’ leg was shaking with boredom and by the time Jenna spotted a few patches of trees in the distance that looked like palms and a large tan structure of some sort, Dess was full body twitching on occasion. Jenna decided to risk it at that moment. Zosk had only told Dess to be quiet after all. Or at least she hoped he’d take it that way. If he told her to shut up too, she would but it was worth the shot.

“So, what needs to be done to your goat shed?”

Jenna grinned as Dess’ head snapped around with a wild smile and sparkle in her eyes. There was also a simultaneous groan emitted from the front.

“Well, we have an alpaca too. It’s not just for the goats…Not important. What do you know about mudbrick? See the problem is….”

———-

“-se when you get… to… what the hell?”

Staff Sergeant John Chaplin looked around in confusion, blinking at the suddenly bright sun overhead. His eyes took a moment to adjust. He looked around at the tan landscape with bits of red in front of him, growing more and more confused.

“Hey, Sarge, what the fuck is this?”

Sergeant Chaplin, known as Chap to his friends, peers, occasionally superiors, and subordinates… basically everyone, turned around to see two people staring at him with a look of surprise bordering fear on their faces. He recognized one as the dipshit that had stuffed his documents in the bottom of his bag immediately and the other was a blonde he didn’t recognize but judging from the license and papers still in her hands, she had been on the bus but he hadn’t gotten to her yet.

Damn, I just got here dude! How the hell would I know?

“No frickin’ clue,” He saw their looks get even closer to fear before reaching for his radio, “Give me a moment. BDOC, Police three… This is Police three, anyone there… Any US Forces, we need assistance…”

Tsshhk “Police three, police three alpha. That you Chap?”

“Names Police three alpha… Yes, it’s me, what’s your location?”

Chap looked around the area but didn’t see anyone except the two recruits standing beside him looking to the horizon as well.

“Sir, if I had to judge? The desert. All I can see is rocks and scrub… There’s mountains to the… I don’t know, south? North? Your location sir?”

“Same, although I think I can see some trees in the distance. If the mountains are south, they’re to my west…. Towards that storm. Are you alone?”

That was a really big storm.

“No, I’ve got two Foxtrot-November-Gulfs with me.”

“Two here, also…. Stand by one mike.”

Chap bit his lip as he thought of his next move. His two were checking their phones and he took a moment to pull his out and check as well, there was no signal. He tried opening up the GPS app, but It didn’t have a signal either. He tinkered with it a moment and nothing.

He moved on to his next option but other than the trees and the mountains there weren’t any decent landmarks to use and those two were worthless. Senior Airman Mendoza didn’t mention seeing the former while the latter was too far away to use without a reliable compass. After trying the one on his phone it came up as uncalibrated. He tried to calibrate it but it failed. He turned to the two standing around. They were both watching him expectantly.

“Do you guys have a compass?”

“No.”

“Were we supposed to bring one? Sarge, what is this?”

He ignored the dipshit as the young man gestured to the desert around them.

What the hell, they literally stared at me as I tried my phone.

Chap stared at the devices in their hands. A deep breath in and out and a quick reminder was needed before he continued. The reminder was that he was trained to handle screwed up situations, they weren’t. Not as screwed up as the one he found himself in but there was at least some training. His two companions had probably only high school under their belts, maybe college for the girl. Dipshit looked like he hadn’t started shaving yet.

“Your phones?”

They both jumped like it was a surprise that the hundreds of dollars of electronics in their hands could be used as a compass with the right app. After they checked, it turned out dipshit didn’t have one and the blondes was suffering the same issue as his. After a moment though the girl held up her iPhone, a working compass on the screen. She’d managed to calibrate it.

“Police three alpha, do you have a compass? Check your phones.”

“Stand by…”

He took the moment to take off his beret and run his hand across his short hair. It had been a bad couple of months already and for the first time in a year, he wished he had a cigarette. Instead, he took out a piece of gum and popped a piece into his mouth, then reluctantly offered his last two pieces to the two recruits as the radio sounded again.

“Yeah, we’ve got one. What the fuck are we doing with this?”

“Language Police Three Alpha… Do you see…”

The next few minutes were busy trying to pick one of the mountains they could both see and positively identify to get an azimuth. They eventually chose one that had a flat top like a snow capped volcano, surrounded by two that were shorter mountains with wide bases. After a moment longer with the compasses, they managed to figure out that his group was to the west of hers. There was no way to determine the exact distance at least not with the information they had but they at least knew a little more. Chap silently thought about the fact that for the first time in his 5 years in the military, he actually needed to use skills from LandNav.

“Sir? How do ya know how far to go north or south? We don’t want you to walk right past us.”

Chap sighed as the next issue came up. He looked around and ended up groaning at his own stupidity after a minute. An act that earned him a look from the recruits. He ignored the looks, it was obvious and he’d already taken note of it.

“Start heading west until that mountain is at 150 degrees, we’ll figure it out from there.”

“Sir, my foot.”

“I know but there’s trees here. A line of them. That might mean water. Plus these things only have a range of five miles or something, it’s not far, get moving.”

There was a brief pause and he knew she was probably cussing him out but he knew her well enough to know she could handle it. If not he wouldn’t have bumped into her dancing at a bar the weekend prior. She was far from crippled.

“Copy that, Ricardo here just offered to carry me if I need it. You should see him, I might let him. He’s perrdy…”

Chap shook his head at the blatant lack of radio discipline, but more the annoyance. He knew that joking was how Mendoza handled stress, he was annoyed because her two recruits were probably looking at her the same way his two were looking at him. A look that said their confidence in the uniform-wearing, full-fledged members of the US military was waning with every sentence. It also proved how new they were.

He was about to tell them to move out, give them something to do but he looked at the two and around the immediate area again, spotting a heavy hikers type backpack laying on the ground nearby. Although they both had bags with them there wasn’t another person in sight.

“Yours?”

They both shook their heads, so he walked over and threw it over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure where it came from but a quick glance inside confirmed it was a recruit’s. He looked around for another person again but there was nothing. There was no way for him to know that it only got brought along because the owner had placed it on the floor and Lindsey had inadvertently put her foot through the strap under the seat. Taking it along for the ride. Not seeing anyone and not seeing any reason to stay he turned towards the trees and started walking.

“Okay, let’s move.”

“Sergeant, that was the other Sec-fo on the bus, right? Should she be walking at all on that foot?”

“Okay, first off. Miss…”

“Lindsey. Don’t call me miss.”

She crossed her arms and he couldn’t tell if she was angry or if that was just how she looked. He did notice a bit of unease but he ignored her attitude and continued walking and talking. He didn’t look back but spoke loud enough for them to hear him and held up his fingers while counting off. He did pay attention to the noise they made to make sure they were following, he wasn’t about to abandon them.

“Okay, Lindsey. First off, it’s Security Forces, not Sec-Fo. Only dirtbags who want others to confuse Security Forces and Special Forces say that. Second. ‘Doza, that’s Senior Airman Mendoza to you… She’ll probably just tell you to call her ‘Doza… She’s due to get out of that thing in two days, she can take it. She’s just milking her light duty while she can. I can’t blame her, everyone does it. And most importantly, three. I wasn’t lying about the water thing. Besides that, we also have to think about shelter and food. Those trees might be good for all three. Any better suggestions? Or should we walk to her and camp out with rocks and scrub?”

There was only silence behind him. He knew she didn’t have a better idea because there was none. They were in the middle of the fricken desert! Chap spared a glance behind him and she looked away from eye contact, arms still crossed. Dipshit looked a bit calmer.

“So Lindsey… and dipshit, your name?”

“Dipshit? Me? I’m Aydin, I’m from-”

“Okay, Aydin. Didn’t ask for more.”

Aydin rolled his eyes but didn’t say a word. He still looked fairly calm. The three of them walked in silence the mile or so to the trees. Chap envied them as he noticed them taking off their winter coats, his was a liner under his uniform and plate carrier, so not as easily removed. But as they got closer Chap smiled despite the sweat and heat.

It hadn’t been visible at first, hidden behind tall grasses and gently sloping embankments but it was there… water. Then realizing the line of trees marked the path of a river made it even better. He knew he could have used his estimated mile to the trees, Lindsey’s compass, and a bit of trig to figure out how far he was from the mountains, maybe? It would have been a pain and inaccurate due to the extremely small difference between the two readings. But it wasn’t like it’d help matters much anyways.

Chap pulled out his radio and gave the other group a quick update and instructions to head west till they hit the river flowing north. They’d link up after that.

While his group waited, he approached the river, looking up and downriver for any signs of roads, boats, or towns but there was nothing in sight. Instead, he focused on the water as he stepped into the moist soil.

“Don’t drink it.”

It was solid advice and should be common sense that shouldn’t have to be said but he said it anyways. There was no telling if it was safe to drink but he still took off his beret and dunked it in the water before putting it back on his head. The feeling of the cool water dripping down all sides of his head was refreshing. His two tagalongs followed suit, using shirts from their bags to soak and cool themselves off.

They’d have to figure out a way to filter and boil some, plus something to store it in but he would wait a minute before getting to that. When his two followers were done, they all moved back up the embankment to the trees and enjoyed the shade.

“So Sarge? What’d you do?”

“Huh?”

Chap hadn’t been paying attention, so the question caught him off guard. He still heard what was asked.

“What’d you do to end up working at the gate? When I first went to MEPS it was an Airman.”

“Both gate guards were with the flight chief doing a bag drop… Is that really important now?”

Chap answered a little too harshly and watched Aydin’s carefree look fade a little. Lindsey still scowled but it seemed more and more likely that was just her face. She pursed her lips to the side for a moment before asking the obvious.

“We were taken, weren’t we?”

“Taken? Like the military took us? You ever heard of that before, Sarge?”

Chap was already nodding to Lindsey, it’d crossed his mind too but switched to shaking his head and giving dipshit an incredulous look. The fact they’d suddenly appeared in the desert meant they suddenly disappeared from the bus. They’d all seen footage of that happening before and it wasn’t a good thing. Thankfully Lindsey decided to step up with dipshit.

“I mean we’re the lost generation now. We disappeared.”

Aydin blinked at Lindsey with a mild state of shock growing on his face. Chap felt sorry for the young man, he’d thought about it the entire time they walked to the river and it was only now dawning on Aydin.

“Wait, wait! That can’t be right. Sarge is too old! Everyone that goes missing is-”

“How fricken old do you think I am?!”

“Well, you’re a Sergeant…”

Aydin gestured to the rank displayed on the patch on his chest like that was all the proof he needed. It may have seemed to someone outside the military that Chap didn’t fit the criteria. It’s just a misconception thanks to NCO’s often played by older actors in Hollywood but the truth was, it wasn’t hard to get promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant in the Air Force. Technically you could make it with only 3 years in service. Even faster in the Army, two years. So most junior NCOs like himself were in their early to mid twenties. After changes to how long you could stay in at each rank, there wasn’t such a thing as a 40 year old Staff Sergeant in the Air Force anymore. As for Chap, he looked his age. Which annoyed him even more.

“I’m 23… 14 to 29, that’s the age range. I’m right in the middle of it.”

“Fuck!”

Chap watched as the state of shock grew to a climax and quickly descended into fear. He reached over and patted Aydin on the shoulder awkwardly, shrugging at the questioning look from Lindsey.

“Do you… Did they teach you… about any of it? Tell you what to do?”

Chap shook his head at Aydin. There was nothing he could tell him.

He had of course been given some orders on what to do, a briefing passed down from Generals up top in the form of a boring powerpoint. But that boiled down to protecting civilians and doing whatever was necessary to get back and report but not to go as far as bringing harm to the US or US interests. Don’t shoot the aliens and start a war basically.

The whole presentation was extremely vague but it had to be, they had nothing to go on but someone had decided the obvious needed to be said. So when it came to Aydin having a meltdown, Chap had no idea what to do about it.

As for his second companion, she was stoic for the most part now but he guessed she was just better at hiding her emotions or it hadn’t ‘hit’ yet. Stressors could be a pain like that and take a while to fully process, then it hit like a ton of bricks. Chap knew it but had a bit of his own experience ignoring it. So he switched to lightly squeezing Aydin’s shoulder as the kid stared at the ground with misty eyes… Chap knew his time would come too but at least he could force himself to put it off for the sake of the ‘mission’. Embrace the suck and all that.

“We’ll just have to find the others… A simple plan. We’ll meet up with ‘Doza, follow the river, and come up to a town… Then find someone who’s been here for a while. So, Aydin, you remember hearing anything about the ones that went missing?”

He didn’t even know if there was a town but he was trying to get Aydin thinking. If Chap could use the mission to keep himself from breaking down, he decided it would be a good distraction for the others too. Plus it wouldn’t be bad to go over all they knew and compare notes.

“Ummmm….. Yeah, there was a family that went missing, from Canada. Two girls and two boys. The girls were Sidney and Mamy, the boys were…”

They quietly began discussing their various knowledge of the disappearances. All of it amounted to was random facts about those that had gone missing because no one knew anything else about why or how they disappeared. Olympic hopefuls to gaggles of high school kids. There wasn’t much connecting them outside of a rough age range and most came from English speaking countries. They had nothing. It seemed to work well as a distraction though. As they debated some facts that each had remembered differently, Aydin’s previously calm, laid back demeanor began to return.

They also discussed a recently proven theory that not all had gone missing. Chap couldn’t help but feel a little grateful that he’d just been teleported to a desert. It wasn’t a good situation but it beat being murdered and his sudden disappearance being blamed on the Lost Generation stuff. A serial killer had taken the opportunity to increase their body count but they’d found the bodies if not the killer… Then they made it back to the missing again.

“Actually I heard they were investigating a new group. A documentary crew claimed a number of Maasai teens vanished into thin air a couple of days ago. It was on the news this morning in the lobby.”

Maasai?

Chap knew he’d heard the word before but couldn’t remember from what. Lindsey, perhaps seeing the looks, not just from himself but Aydin as well, cut off the question on Chap’s lips before he could ask it.

“It’s a tribal people in Africa in Kenya and Tanzania. They wear a lot of red. Raise cattle.”

Still barely rang a bell. He kept thinking about a teen looking for his dad and getting caught up with elephant poachers. Probably some news story he’d read at some point.

“Well, they’re going to be investigating us now. Maybe we’ll run into them first.”

They drifted off into silence again. Chap checked his watch to see it was 0800, though judging by the sun it was nearly noon. He adjusted his watch as best he could and made a point to sync with ‘Doza later.

“So, Sarge… what’s in the backpack?”

The backpack? Crap.

Chap had nearly forgotten about it. He pulled it over, opened the bag, and shifted around inside. Carl Lumny… no idea who it was.

The contents, of course, were all the first parts of the introduction to a standardized military lifestyle that would have only gotten stricter for them until it became the norm.

That was to say, it had the basic things for people shipping out to basic. Every recruit packed from the same list of required items while taking note of the list of prohibited things. So most of it was exactly what he expected it to be.

A sly grin spread on Chap’s face when he spotted a godsend. Two objects of clear plastic filled with liquid. One bright yellow, the other green.

“Thank you Carl.”

One hour and one shared bottle of gatorade later, Chap heard a slight crackle just before ‘Doza broke radio silence.

“Police three, police three alpha, Status?”

“We’re all secure.”

He pulled his radio from its pouch rather than just yelling at his hip where he kept it. It wasn’t normal for ‘Doza to ask for a status, not to mention he thought he could hear a bit of unease in her voice. She sounded sick.

“Copy, Sir. We just hit the river. Are you still with your two? We have a body.”

Chap looked up at Lindsey and Aydin. They obviously hadn’t wandered off anywhere but the three shared a glance.

It wasn’t a good sign. There was no telling how many others on the bus disappeared with them or if they were even nearby.

“Affirm. ’Doza, one of ours?”

“I think… yeah. It’s one of ours.”

She thinks? That wasn’t a good sign. Then again finding a body never really was, was it?

“Location?”

“Next to the river…”

Chap was hoping for a landmark he could tell or at least another azimuth. A few more minutes of azimuth fuckery and they were able to determine ‘Doza was downriver from them. Chap picked up the spare bag and waved the others to follow.

“Be advised, we’re heading to yours. Hang tight.”

“Copy.”

Chap took a moment to adjust the straps of the pack and looked the other two up and down to make sure they were ready. He had to give them props, they were at least quick to move. Also quick to ask stupid questions.

“What happened to them?”

Chap gave his resident dipshit a look of disbelief and sighed. He didn’t have a super-cop earpiece like some government agent he could have used to listen privately, he wasn’t a geardo. Aydin had heard everything that ‘Doza had said. But when he spoke he did his best not to sound annoyed. The kid was in shock after all and the thought of someone dying may have gotten to him. It didn’t sit well with Chap either.

“I don’t know… what were you going for?”

It called for another distraction. Also, Chap was curious.

“Army Infantry.”

Chap nodded as Aydin looked slightly proud of himself, it explained some things. Chap of course knew it was a stereotype, he’d met plenty of bright infantrymen but he also knew that they attracted a lot of dumb and reckless. He made eye contact with Lindsey and she got what he was asking before he opened his mouth.

“Marines, open enlistment.”

Chap gave Lindsey a nod and they started moving downriver. The journey was pretty quick and uneventful. They saw some strange birds that they couldn’t identify and small critters ran from shade to shade. And a very suspicious log drifting against the current. But there wasn’t much bad about the trip, much…

The worst was when they passed an area that was dead quiet, not even the river seemed to dare make a noise.

And where the feeling was most intense? There was an area without even the sparse brush and hardy plants, not even the random boulders sitting about. It didn’t feel right as they got close to it… Not just like they should stay away but that there was something wrong with that particular spot. Chap could place it.

Rather than go against his instincts, the three of them passed it quickly and quietly, with a small detour into the desert. He realized it wasn’t just him. Aydin and Lindsey had already veered off towards the desert before he signaled them to. It made him feel a little better but he still looked back at the barren spot in the distance after they’d moved beyond it, closer to ‘Doza.

But that was the only real issue, thirty minutes and two miles later they spotted ‘Doza sitting with two other people. A shorter girl and a tall tan man.

Chap frowned when he realized none of them were really paying attention to their surroundings. Well ‘Doza could have been, she was sitting on a rock with her back to him but the other two were facing each other and talking. Chap keyed the radio to get their attention.

“’Doza, we see you.”

All three jumped as they heard the radio and looked around. It only took a moment for them to spot him and his group approaching through the barren landscape. He noted that ‘Doza didn’t seem to care in the slightest when she hopped down from her perch. Chap gave Lindsey a glance too and felt a little bit of joy in the fact that she’d noticed too but didn’t say anything as their groups merged.

“How you feeling? Good walk?”

“Fuck you Chap.”

He let a moment pass greeting his friend in their traditional manner. With a joke of some sort followed by a glare/smirk combo. After that, he got back down to business.

“You guys found a body?”

“Yup, over here. That’s Ricardo and Karli.”

“Lindsey and Aydin.”

Chap followed his partner as she walked past the two recruits she’d arrived with. One was a square jawed gym rat that was slightly shorter than Chap. He had stripped down to this undershirt and judging by the devil dog on his shirt, Chap knew exactly what branch Ricardo was going in. The one that was obviously Karli by process of elimination was a short brunette that looked like she’d dived face first into a makeup aisle. Not that she wore a lot of it, she did, but because it was smeared all around her face. It looked like it was from wiping off sweat and tears. Both of them waved a greeting as he passed and fell in with his two, the four keeping distance behind him as he followed ‘Doza.

They made their way downriver then out into the desert a little ways as Chap followed her. It wasn’t very far and when he saw what they’d found he recoiled at the sight. It wasn’t actually a body. At least not all of one. The dirt was stained with coagulated but still wet blood and mixed with chunks of clothes and person. He spotted a severed hand in the middle of it and what looked like a bloody drag mark heading towards the river.

“Amber Theil… Her backpack was right over there.”

Chap was wondering how ‘Doza could speak so calmly, it wasn’t like either one of them had ever seen combat. She had sounded sick over the radio but he realized she was looking up and away as she spoke and had intentionally led them in upwind of the crime scene. Chap took a deep breath and started to walk around the scene, forcing himself to take it all in. He heard a retch and looked back to see the others had come to stand behind ‘Doza, the sound of Lindsey mixed with the sight and smell made bile try to rush out of his throat but he managed to keep it down.

He made it to the drag marks, tactfully trying to ignore what looked very much like an eyeball, and drew his weapon. He stalked through the brush that got more green and vibrant as it got closer to the river until he was under the trees again. The others took a more roundabout way to avoid the worst but they followed at a distance. When they reached the river, he clearly noticed more chunks of fabric and flesh but also prints in the saturated soil. He had half expected to see a croc’s prints but it wasn’t croc that had left them.

“Looks like a dog… well… Probably a wolf, judging by the size.”

“Bro, we’re in the desert. It could be a lion or something.”

Chap ignored the bro comment from the tan wanna be jersey shore cast member.

“No, cats have lumpy oval shaped pads. Dogs and wolves are more triangle shaped.”

“How do you know that?”

“Cause he’s a dork.”

“Cause I’m a dork.”

Chap decided to repeat ‘Doza’s insult. It kept her from continuing on like he knew she would and he also knew it was true. He liked learning new things and had been down the wiki rabbit hole more times than he could count.

“It looks like they drug her into the river. Do we…”

“Nope, that much blood? She’s dead. If ya wanna go swimming to find what’s left, you go for it.”

‘Doza was being crude but she was right. It also looked like wolf tracks came up from the side as well and where they met the tracks would slide around in the softer soil. A sign of struggle before they turned around and ran away again. There were even chunks of reddish-orange fur nearby. They had been fighting over her.

“We can keep an eye out for her but we need to think of us first, she’s gone. Did anyone know her?”

Chap looked at the shaking heads, that was a relief. He sighed and looked around the area a bit more but didn’t find anything. When he looked back at the group he realized everyone but ‘Doza watching him intently. It took him a second to realize they were expecting him to tell them what to do or the fact he had an M9 in his hand and something was eating people. Probably the second to be honest.

“Alright, let’s try downriver. See if we can find shelter.”

“Why down river?”

“Because we just walked from up river and there was nothing there.”

“Fair enough.”

‘Doza moved to take the lead but they’d only made it a few minutes before they stopped. Something had to change. He had Ricardo and Karli following ‘Doza, Lindsey following him, and Aydin being stubborn and trying to blaze his own trail. It wasn’t hard brush to move through but it was still sloppy and a lot noisier than it needed to be.

“This isn’t working…. You realize there’s something out there right? We need to be… nevermind just line up. ‘Doza rear, I’ll take point, everyone else between us, walk where I walk. I’m looking forward. Whoever’s behind me looks right, behind them looks left. Right, left, ‘Doza watches the rear. If you see something, say something, otherwise quiet.”

After getting them into position Chap handed out his baton and a small knife while ‘Doza took out a knife of her own, a multi-tool really. He really wished she hadn’t been on meds and could have armed but there was nothing to do about it. Chap was actually more mad that this M4 was locked up in his patrol car and the 120 rounds strapped to his armor may as well have been movie props.

“Ricardo, grab a rock or something.”

“Yes Sergeant… my name’s not Ricardo, it’s Rick.”

“Not worried about name preference right now.”

“No, I mean it’s Richard Acker… not Ricardo.”

Chap looked back at ‘Doza for an explanation but she only shrugged with a smile. He wasn’t sure if it was a racist joke on her part or not. Rick was a tan white guy, so it probably wasn’t a racist thing. He couldn’t help but feel it was something she thought was funny. The name had already dawned on him and she was Cuban. Well half Cuban, her mom was Korean. But in any case, he didn’t doubt it had something to do with a certain 1950s tv show.

“First thing he says to me is ‘you got some ‘splainin to do’. So…”

Chap couldn’t help but shoot air out his nose in mild amusement before looking at Rick. She of course said it in a very recognizable accent.

“I didn’t say it like that! I thought she knew what was going on.”

He looked back and forth between the two of them and decided it wasn’t worth prolonging. Though it did perk everyone up a bit. Even if the chuckles were a little forced.

“Whatever. Rick, it is. Now let’s get moving.”

He had no idea where he was going to lead them to but downriver was as good as upriver. Probably better, considering rivers tended to go till they met the coast, and coasts were usually more densely populated, so they could find civilization at some point. He had no idea how long the river was and hoped he wasn’t walking them into a which way to go dilemma. Like the stories of people who survived a plane crash deep in the wilderness before they found a train track. They walked east not realizing there was a town just around the bend to the west. A gamble that cost them dearly. He doubted it actually happened and expected it was a metaphor for making rash decisions.

But that was their decision now, at least they knew there wasn’t anything just up river. In either case, the group trudged on. Making their way through scrub brush and scarcely a small grove of trees, their only source of shade. They spoke only a little as the temperature started to beat them down, with the only thing they could do was dunk berets and spare clothing into the river and drape it over their heads. Their second drink passed off to ‘Doza and her two. After two hours Chap noticed something new in the distance and stopped with his hand held up. He felt Karli bump into his back.

“Sorry.”

Maybe it was a little too gung-ho trying to use hand signals like that but besides muttering his apology he put his finger to his lips for the rest of them. He pointed out his findings and started moving more cautiously to the small gathering of buildings in the distance.

They hadn’t made it far by the time they realized the place looked abandoned. Rather than going right in, they moved to a large rock outcropping a hundred yards away and crawled up its back side. The village was in a break in the already sparse trees along the river and nature was well on its way to reclaiming it.

Chap could see a dozen structures in various states of disrepair but he couldn’t see the entire village so he assumed there were more. Actually, once he realized they almost all seemed to face the center of the village and had similar spacing, he guessed there were at least two more that had collapsed completely. They all had similar construction in a style of architecture that he hadn’t seen before. From the buildings that were still standing, it looked like someone had built a three-point arch and just continued back with it, threw a wall on either end, and called it a house. The back corners of the houses were connected by a collapsing rock wall. Collapsing as in Chap watched as another section of it crumbled. There were a few buildings outside the inner ring as well, all but one virtually gone. It was larger than the others but of the same general design.

“What are we doin’ Sarge?”

“Watching.”

“For what?”

“Frickin’ leprechauns.”

“Dirty ‘Squatch. They’ll getcha”

Chap glanced over at ‘Doza who met his gaze with a smirk. Great minds think alike… especially when confronted by dumb questions from dipshits.

“People, threats, whatever attacked that girl. We don’t know yet.”

He’d placed them in a circle on top of the rock, each watching a different direction with some overlap. It didn’t matter as everyone was more preoccupied with the village. He couldn’t blame them, there was nothing he could see in the desert except maybe a big pit in the ground.

“Anyone see anything? Looks abandoned.”

He got a series of answers that all said they all saw what he did, notta. He looked at the village for a minute longer before gathering them on his side of the rock.

“Here’s the plan, no arguing, this is how it works… We’re going to get about halfway to the buildings near those rocks to the left. We’ll announce ourselves and see what happens. If someone comes out, no one talks except me. If nothing happens, do you see that building outside the rest that’s still standing, we’re going to move there and clear it? We move quietly and peek in. If we see wolves or anything else? I shoot them as they come out the door. If not we go in and secure it and move on from there. I can’t tell if it has windows on the far side but we might be able to see more. Questions?”

There didn’t seem to be any but everyone looked nervous. Hell, Chap was too, he’d just put on his NCO face and spoke like he knew what he was doing. His training said that they needed to be able to trust him and they wouldn’t if he wasn’t confident.

“Move quiet, stick together, and watch to make sure nothing sneaks up on us. Something does, don’t try to take them with the batons unless you have to.”

“What do we do after? What if things go wrong?”

“We all go for the same building, get inside, and control the entrance right? We’ll figure out our next step from there. If we have to run, we either fall back here or the river depending on what side of the village we’re on. Can everyone swim?”

Everyone nodded.

There were no more questions. So at that, they began to move. They made it ten steps from the rock before he stopped them. Half of them were crouched. He gestured for them to rise and to keep a lookout. If the buildings were occupied he would prefer to talk with them and not freak them out because a bunch of weirdos were crouched down trying to sneak up to their homes.

He had to remind himself they didn’t know shit and most of what they knew about the military was probably from movies. Hard to move fast, silent, and maintaining a lookout while trying to hide in a bush. To their credit, they moved back into the previous formation and they moved quickly to the rocks in question.

“I’m Staff Sergeant Chaplin, USAF! Identify yourselves!”

Nothing.

“Security Forces, anyone in the village? Identify yourselves!”

“We come in peace!”

Chap looked at ‘Doza.

“What, you sound pissed off.”

They waited a few more seconds but the sound of something moving rapidly behind them caught his attention. He turned and spotted what looked like a big fox with long legs. Really big.. like a fox mixed with a wolf. The others rushed behind him as the fox-wolf came to a stop and paced back and forth. It was keeping its distance while he kept his aim on it. It yapped and barked at him but didn’t advance.

“Back up to the building, I’ve got re-”

“There’s more coming from the village!”

Chap looked towards the buildings and the beast lunged at him, knocking him to his back as it tried to get at his throat.

“Go, just fucking go! Get to the house- He’s got the gun, stupid!”

Chap heard the yelling as he squeezed off two rounds into the animals. It didn’t drop dead immediately but yelped and someone pushed it off him. He looked up at a hand in his face and saw Lindsey’s blue eyes staring at him. He took her hand and hopped up as Rick bashed the wolf’s skull in with a rock. He looked around for the others just in time to see them disappear into a building and an old wooden door slam shut. Three of the fox-wolves charged after them and were quickly pawing at the door. With only one real option, he pointed and the three of them took off towards the village without a word.

They ran for a section of wall, fence, whatever it was supposed to be, and darted between the buildings. Chap looked but knew he couldn’t get a shot at the one at the door but two more had turned and were running at them. He took a shot and missed before turning around.

He spared a quick glance for cover but saw nothing. It seemed like the small triangles that the two houses and rock wall enclosed were used as storage areas. There were a couple rotted barrels and some rusted and broken tools. The walls of the houses didn’t fully meet and ahead of them was a roughly door sized opening. Lindsey and Rick were already making it through the opening but Lindsey looked to her left and screamed before bolting to the right.

Chap ran after them and barreled right into the side of a fox-wolf. They both went sprawling, Chap with a groan and the wolf with a surprised yelp. It was starting to get up and he somehow managed to keep his weapon and fired wildly, hitting the wolf in the upper chest. It didn’t drop dead instantly but it cried out and dropped to the ground, struggling against the pain. He looked around for the others as they called out for him.

“This way!”

“Sarge!”

Chap spun and spotted Rick in the doorway of a building. He shot two more times at two different fox-wolves that had rounded a collapsed building before getting up and sprinting for the door. He didn’t even look to see if he’d hit them but heard another yelp and ran for the door. Rick went in before him and as soon as he was through a heavy wood door slammed shut with Rick leaning into it to keep it closed as it shuddered with a yelp from one of the wolves hitting it. It was only then that he realized the radio was squawking at him. Or rather ‘Doza was.

“Chap! Status?”

He looked Lindsey and Rick over for a second.

“Code 10. We’re good. One of the bastards is as good as dead, I think at least one wounded and two or three? I don’t know there’s more out there. Your status?”

“Code 10. It stopped trying to get through the door and were bracing it with crap.”

“Copy. Make sure that door stays closed… any ideas?”

He’d unkeyed his radio and directed his last question at the two with him.

“I open the door a little?”

There was a fox-wolf growling and clawing at the exterior of the door. Chap looked at Rick and sized him up before stepping to the side and taking aim at about the level of a grown man’s stomach, or roughly where he expected a furry head to be. Chap nodded and as soon as it was open a couple of inches the muzzle of a very angry wolf tried to push its way in the door. Chap shot it point blank and Rick slammed the door shut.

“Two dead”

He didn’t say that over the radio. He’d prefer if the wolves didn’t go anywhere near the others. They were insanely aggressive and he worried about rabies or something like it. He knew wolves could be aggressive but not vengeful. The one that had tried to get in the door actually looked mad.

“Three dead.”

Chap looked up at Lindsey, she was standing next to Rick peaking through a crack between the boards of the door. He walked over and patted her on the shoulder lightly, she was shaking. He peaked through.

“The first one, another, either the one you tackled or the other one, and this one.”

A lucky shot had taken out one right before he ran. As he watched, he could only see one other, and as he watched it collapsed to the ground. It only stayed there for a few seconds before struggling to its feet. His best guess was the one he’d shot in the chest. There would be four down before too long.

“Hey sarge, hold this for a sec.”

Chap looked up from the peephole and took over holding the door shut while Rick walked towards the back of the building. Around the room were various tools on the walls, and a couple of work benches. Only a single small rotting bed, a fireplace, and above were several ventilation holes. The final key to where they were was a big chunk of iron laying in the middle of the room. It was an anvil.

Rick dug around for a minute and came up with what looked like a sledgehammer. He smacked the handle against the ground a few times and seemed content. He then grabbed a blue sword off the anvil and after looking at it shrugged and brought it with him. He handed it to Lindsey. She held it up and scratched at the blue parts with her fingernail before wrapping the grip in a bit of cloth to protect her hands.

It wasn’t a piece of art, nor was it made of legendary metals like mithril, and it wasn’t blue because it was enchanted. The last two options they had no idea even existed. No, it was far simpler than that. It was blue because that’s the color bronze turned when it oxidized. But it was a short sword and even if the blade wasn’t that sharp the end was still pointy. With the added benefit of being far more dangerous than a baton.

“Any other ideas?”

“HEY, YOU STUPID WOLVES. WE’RE IN HERE!”

Lindsey and Chap jumped at Rick’s sudden change in volume.

“Draw them in and do the door thing again.”

Best idea they had.

“HEY!”

“Come get us!”

They yelled like idiots for a minute before they heard something at the door. Chap was already braced so he reluctantly handed Rick his M9 and let off on the door when he was ready. It had been a mistake but only a minor one as the young man fired four times! He looked happy until he looked over at Chap.

“We only had 30 rounds to start with.”

Now they had 19. Chap took his weapon back and began yelling again but after a few minutes of it, nothing happened. The only conclusion was they’d gotten them all or they’d fled.

“Ready to finish this?”

Lindsey looked up from her new weapon at both him and Rick and peeked through the door.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Let’s just get it done.”

“Alright.”

Chap drew his M9 and counted down with his fingers. Rick tightened his grip on the hammer ready to swing down if anything tried to push its way in and Lindsey moved from the door. As his last finger dropped, Chap grabbed the door and swung it open but nothing tried to get in. Rick lowered his hammer and then looked down at the dead fox-wolf by the door. He turned and swung like a golfer with the world’s heaviest club teeing off and cracked it’s skull for good measure. Like the hole in its head wasn’t enough. He stomped on the other one’s head like four rounds weren’t enough too but then again, double-tap.

They moved out and Chap pushed Rick to the left. They moved to the alcove, then the next building, then an alcove, then around a collapsed building. Each one they cleared quickly but didn’t see any other fox-wolves until the second to last building. A flash of fur came jumping out of the doorway and Rick didn’t hesitate to slam his hammer down on the animal’s back. It hadn’t even seen him there as it focused on Chap who was lining up square with the door. Lindsey jumped in and put it out of its misery with a thrust to the eye.

Chap moved in with his flashlight and spotted another in the center of the room. He shot it in the head and looked around.

“Well, that explains why they’re so pissed. It’s their den.”

Chap looked at the small wolf pup as it crawled to its mother. Two more lay motionless on the floor behind it, he wasn’t sure if they were sleeping but he couldn’t see them breathing. He felt kind of bad but that wouldn’t last long. They left the pups alone for the moment and finished clearing the buildings. Where they found the remains of two more people. After a quick check around the outside of the village, Chap sounded the all clear.

In the light of the setting sun, they piled up the wolves. Broke apart some old furniture to start a fire and dined on chewy, tough wolf meat, and discussed how to smoke the rest. While wondering what to feed the wolf pup now that its mother was gone and the only food was said mother. No one actually wanted to kill it, especially after realizing it was the only surviving pup but there was no telling how its two smaller siblings died. In the end, they ended up naming it Cerberus. A little on point considering what its parents had done but Chap didn’t question it.

Their water issue also resolved itself thanks to the well at the center of the village. They had to boil it in two pop cans they’d found in bags dropped by the wolves’ final two victims just on the outskirts of the village and stored it in the sports drink bottles that Chap had. But now they could check off water, shelter, and food. It was a good start… if you ignored the three that didn’t make it.

Feeling a little better hydrated and with full stomachs, they spent the night in the blacksmith after they made a pen for the pup. Chap had finally taken off his plate carrier and used his liner as a pillow while ‘Doza stood guard with the M9. He’d take the last shift. It’d been a long day and he frowned as he lay there and quickly drifted off to sleep.

[Sergeant Class Obtained!]

[Sergeant Level 1]

[Skill- Project voice obtained!]

“What the?”

Before he had the chance to even ask, an alarmed yell came from outside.

“Fuck! Fuck!”

Chap shot up from his spot on the floor and rushed outside to where ‘Doza was still swearing. He didn’t know what to expect but when she pointed at the sky, he knew that what he saw wouldn’t have even made the list. His eyebrows tried to merge with his hairline as he looked at two partial orbs in the sky.

“Hey, Sarge? Why are there two moons?”

That wasn’t a dumb question.

—

Jenna laid down on a mattress stuffed with straw on the floor of her host’s main room. It was far from what she was used to but she was so tired that it didn’t matter. Dess, who also slept in the room, had said it got better as you wore it in and broke the fibers. Thinking of Dess, Jenna looked over and in the faint embers of the firelight, she could see the lizard girl already dozing off to sleep.

The two of them had a productive day after they got to Patli. Fixing the goat shed turned out to be simpler than she expected. She hadn’t really understood why they didn’t already do it themselves but with Dess’ help, they disassembled a damaged section of wall, reset the mudbricks with wet clay as mortar, and left it to dry. After supper, they coated it with a clay mixture to seal it and it was done. The patch on the roof of the shed was as easy as bundling some reeds from the river, and the door latch took a few nails and scrap wood to rebuild. She had even set up a system with ropes and a make shift pulley so they could lock themselves inside while they tended the goats. The idea was to keep them from running and unlock it without the goats being able to follow suit. They’d apparently figured out how to open a latch on the inside of the door, so the rope to release the latch was high up. None of it was perfect but it worked.

She didn’t understand why they thought they needed someone with the class to do any of it but she wasn’t complaining. It had earned her a night with a roof over her head and a warm meal. After a short while of watching Dess twitch and kick in her sleep, Jenna drifted off.

[Builder Class Obtained!]

[Builder Level 1]

[Skill- Accurate Measurement obtained!]

Jenna shot up as the words were projected into her head. She had managed to get enough information on Classes and Skills through the course of the day but she didn’t really know what Classes and Skills were. Now that she actually had a class it made a lot more sense. She was in a world with magic, classes, and lizard people. Jenna smiled and slowly drifted off to sleep.