Wasteland Survivor - Acquisition - ch25
#26 of Wasteland Survivor
"So why do we have to patrol all of a sudden? I thought this was soldier work?" Lylianna muttered, tightening her combat gear.
I sighed, "We have a lot of groups out doing things for other races, building diplomatic ties and stuff, not enough soldiers around at the moment to keep the camp safe AND run patrols." I replied, checking Ryst's gear.
"I understand that" The Kitsune joined in, "but why did I need to learn how to fire these damn rifles? Its not like I can't use my magic Bri."
"Remember the golems? Would you rather just have your magic then or a loaded styer and the knowledge to use it?" That got him, he started taking more diligence in loading clips of ammunition into the various pouches on his tack. "Plus" I said, lowering my voice and stepping up close to him, "you look hot in a uniform."
He smiled and drew me closer still looking deep into my eyes.
"Get a room you two!" Lyl cried, throwing her swag at us.
Laughing we completed getting our gear and our packs together.
It was well into the wetter season of the year, so we made sure to have some dry-as-a-bones just in case. This was a planned four week patrol, we had radios to keep in contact with the camp, an adequate supply of ammo as well as rations that would, if we were very careful, last us two weeks the rest we were expected to forage for food. While Ryst and myself could eat pretty much anything, Lyl would need a mainly meat diet, she could tolerate vegetable matter but it wouldn't give her much in the way of energy and would definitely leave her sick if she ate it too often.
We were just hoisting the packs onto our backs when a thought struck me, "Ryst, couldn't you use a spell to make these packs lighter?" I asked.
"I could but the drain it would put on me would be more than the extra effort it would save. Magics just magic, you can't get something for nothing." His explanation made sense, it just seemed odd though that amazing as magic is, its not 'magic'.
We took our bearing with the compass and made off to the first contact point, it would be a five day hike.
Things went well, we found no trace of anything encroaching on our land but on the fourth day we came across what should have been a deserted town. Thing was, the whole place was not just empty, it was not even there.
"I don't get it." Lylianna said, "It should be right here, I have even been by here once myself. Ryst, see if there's any trace of magic here."
The four tailed Kitsune murmured something then looked up. "No nothing magical done here, ever. But... I can't pick up trace of anything EVER being done here, its like there was never anything here at all."
"Ok, well, we continue on past the town limits, if something is happening here, undetectably" I put in for Ryst's ego, "we don't want to be caught in it." I sounded bossy, even to myself, but the Captain had said I was to be the 'leader' out here.
"Good thinking, lets get to it then." Lyl said, making to move past the site.
At our first destination, we called in to camp, "Aus Camp, this is Long Ears, come in." I know I flushed a little, the patrols always got designated something to do with the leader.
"Long Ears, this is Aus Camp, please report, over."
"Aus Camp, so far nothing out of the ordinary at this point, we did pass the site of a town on the way but... the town wasn't there, it was like it never has been, over."
"Long Ears, roger that, proceed with mission as assigned, Aus base out."
I sighed, "Looks like we keep going. I will set the traps for dusk tonight, Lyl, you want to get the ones in the morning?" At her nod I left the camp to start setting the little snare traps we used to catch things to supplement our diet.
It was supposed to be four days to the next point but on the third, as we were walking along, Lyl made a hand movement to drop and be wary. I fell to the ground nearly on top of Ryst, who thankfully had been studying what would be asked of him as a member of 'the pack'.
"I don't know what, but I can feel something watching us." Lylianna said, "It doesn't seem malevolent, but it feels deadly as hell."
I tried to stretch my own senses, but since I hadn't had any training in the elfin magics yet, nor had any mind powers, I was stuck to 'just above human normal'. Ryst however was casting small spells, muttering "Not that way." every now and again, he was obviously searching.
"I, I don't think they will hurt us if we don't show any aggression." And with that, she clicked the releases for her combat tack, lowering her weapons and pack to the ground.
"Don't do it Lyl, don't take a risk." I said.
She just looked over to me, "Don't worry Bri, I got this." And she stood up strait.
I don't know what I expected, a bolt of magic, a glowing arrow from the distance. There was no action. I began to undo my kit as well and soon was standing beside her. "Can either of you tell me a direction yet?" I asked, keeping my voice level.
"Not behind us, not on our flanks..." muttered Ryst, casting furiously, working himself into quite a frenzy. Suddenly, he made to stand up saying, "Behind the tree over there, in its shade." I dove on him before he got above waist height.
A loud crack thundered around us and I swear I felt the movement of something pass over the space where Ryst had just occupied.
"SNIPER!" Lyl yelled, dropping herself. It was a moment later, over Ryst's cursing that she continued, "Wait, he is badly wounded, he can't even get the hammer back on his rifle he is so weak." and with that, she got up and ran.
Most people know, leopards run fast, but seeing one dashing for its 'prey' like Lyl was now was a whole other story.
I picked up my bow and was about to jog over behind her, she was already standing over whatever it was at the tree, but she wasn't acting threateningly. ~"Get the med kit and some water!"~ I felt her say in my head.
Grabbing what she asked I made for her, sure enough, at her feet was a man in a snipers ghillie suit, all but impossible to see unless you could see minds of course. I crouched down beside him just as Lyl was trying to roll him to his back. All of a sudden there was a knife in the man's hand and he made to swing it upwards but between his weakness and Lyls lightning reflexes, honed even further at this point due to adrenalin, he never got close enough to make a strike.
"Its ok." I said, "We're not going to hurt you." I raised the open water bottle to his mouth and his eyes lit all of a sudden, letting go of the knife and reaching to put his hand over mine on the bottle.
He tipped only a little water into his mouth, waited a moment, tipped a little more in and continued this for a while. Lyl had brought over our cloaks and pitched a rough tent around him to keep the sun off.
He fell asleep within about ten minutes. It was a strong sleep pattern though, strong heartbeat and deep breathing.
Lyl reached out to take Ryst's hand, I would have objected but I knew what she planned. She had been working on using mind-speak with the Kitsune, but it took either a lot out of her or she had to be in physical contact.
~"Ok, conference call time."~ She said into both of us at once, not just reaching out to us, but pulling each of us together. ~"Right then, by the look of his gear and uniform, I think he may be a US soldier, definitely a trained sniper."~ Her foot tapped the rifle he had been all but leaning on for support, ~"These were not allowed in Australia before all this and I am sure the military wouldn't give him a sniper rifle if he wasn't fully trained to use it. Question is, what is a US soldier doing here?"~
I nodded, "Yeah, we need to radio this in, get us a pick up out here."
I saw to that and was told they were sending our 'First Airborne unit' out to pick up, that was Drath and now Brath. "We got transport in an hour, maybe two. Get all our gear packed, and his too."
It was then the reason for the man's position became obvious, the wind turned and even my untrained nose picked up the scent of a predator, or several of them.
"Shit Bri, we got incoming dingos." Lyl shouted.
I quickly trotted back to where our gear was and grabbed my bow and quiver. Looking at our other weapons, I doubted anything would be useful but just then Ryst yelled, "Grab the styers, I got an idea.". Shrugging I picked up their guns and tack as well, carrying the load back to the tree. The rest of the gear could be retrieved if we lived, it was unimportant at the moment.
Handing the rifles to the Kitsune, he quickly removed the clips and started a small chant over them, hands still glowing he handed them back and took another pair from the tack I dumped to him. In short order there was the twelve clips we had brought with us arrayed, a slight shimmer seemed to be evident on the bullets. "What did you do to them?" I asked him.
"Gave the bullets a bit more kick. They wont go off till they hit something, the point hits something that is." He grinned but I could see strain around his eyes, magic always cost the user, nothing was free, "Boom!" He then grinned even wider, picking up the rifle just as a human hand tapped him on the shoulder.
"If'n you don't mind son, can I use one of those?" The sniper asked.
"Sure." He said, handing the soldier one of the rifles and a clip, "You know how to use it...." He trailed off, as the soldier quickly half broke-down the rifle, checking it for cleanliness, just like Nicols had.
"You kept this in good order son, damn good order." He quickly removed the rail attached short-range scope and fitted the one from his own rifle to it. "May not have the accuracy of my old M24, but if what you say is right, it might have enough stopping power. Took me six rounds to drop one of those things last time I saw one."
Six! This man had killed one of those horrid beasts with just six rounds, holy shit.
He finished checking over the firearm and raised it to his shoulder, sighting it in, "How hot do you have it?" He asked.
"Uh, about forty three out here." I replied dumbly, not understanding.
"Ok, so we just add a bit more here and... ok, where are these things?" He asked, having finished adjusting the scope on the gun.
It was then that the cloud from them became visible, ~"Theres at least twelve of them, coming in from the south-south west."~ Lyl sent to us all, sacrificing her voice to speed things up.
The soldier didn't question how he got the information, he simply turned that direction, raised the rifle to his shoulder and, after a very short pause, fired.
In the distance a huge explosion rocked the grassland, "Shit, these do have some stopping power, scopes out a bit..." He was adjusting the scope for a moment, then raised the gun again and fired, this time the explosion was duller, and we could see a huge red plume in the direction the monsters were coming from.
Suddenly, he began a rhythmic firing, shot, wait for explosion, breath, shot, over and over again.
"Next clip!" He yelled suddenly, I had it in his waiting hand quickly, its empty mate on the ground at our feet.
Shortly he handed the rifle back to Ryst, "You don't mind if I pass on cleaning it son, I just don't feel too good at the-" and he crumpled into the quick arms of Lyl.
"Did..." I started, stammering a little, "Did he just kill nearly forty dingos with just one shot per?" I was in shock.
"Yeah, I think he did, hey, here comes the cavalry." Lylianna said, pointing to the sky.
Fox vaulted over Drathnial's neck about fifty feet up, landing in a tight crouch that sent a thud through the ground. "I see you lot had a little dust up?" She was gesturing in the direction of the carrion off to the south.
"Yeah, we found this guy out here, he doesn't look like he has had anything to eat or drink in a while. Long story short, he just saved our arses." I told her.
"Damn it girl, don't say that in front of the guy for gods sake, you can't let men think they have an advantage" She said grinning consiprationally at me.
"No Fox, I ain't joking, with the bullets Ryst magicked up for us, he was killing them with one shot per dingo, it was unbelievable shooting." I replied.
"Ok then, if you want to have another puppy following you around, I guess we can keep him. Drath! We have an extra passenger, one who is not awake, can you carry him please?" Fox called.
~"If he protected our little whelps here, of course he can have a ride."~ I heard the dragon reply.
Back at the camp, one full debriefing, about two hours worth, later and we had some time to relax. The first order was, of course, a shower. It was wonderful to get all the dirt out of my long hair, I had tried to cut it short, but something inside me, something with magic, wanted long hair and it would always grow it back out to the full length again overnight.
Clean and in a soft dressing-gown I wandered out into the family room of the four-bedroom flat I shared with Kevin, Lylianna and Ryst. We had made a deal with the adults, if anything did happen here, we would be careful, hence the large box of condoms, opened and often raided, in the corner on a little table.
I wandered in front of one length of couch and fell backwards into it, letting the soft cushion and Ryst catch me.
"Feeling better?" He asked, laying small kisses around the back of my neck.
"Mmm Hrmm." I affirmed wordlessly, happy to just relax, doing it in his arms was a huge bonus.
"You know, I officially take back what I said about learning to use and maintain rifles, without knowing how those damn things operate I would not have been able to do that with the bullets." He confessed, replacing his lips with his paws, slowly massaging my shoulders.
"So you prefer this way better?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" He said.
"I mean, being nice to females, treating them as equals, not being an arse-hole. That kind of thing." I clarified.
"Yeah, nice is good." He said, running one hand down the side of me and around the front to continue its massage, "Being nice means I get treated nice back."
I encouraged him to continue with a soft sigh. Although which activity I wanted to continue was still up for debate.
"As for being equals, I have seen one woman arm wrestle a god and almost win." he said, bringing the other hand down as well now, I assisted by turning and laying back into him, "I just can't compete with someone who can bench-press a small building."
His left hand now strayed down lower, tracing circles on my belly.
"And as for no arse-hole, well." the hand dropped lower still, I moaned out loud. "Only if you ask me nice."
I couldn't take it any more, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and, walking past the little table, filling my other hand from the box, strode to my room, matters well in hand.
My fox and my protector....
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