As Erik walked through the gate to Bridgefort, a massive burst of cheers blasted all over the camp. Everyone ran down the narrow stairs from the wall, pushing and nudging each other as they did.

  Erik was amazed at the amount of hugs he got from the weeping men and women in uniforms. He didn’t know what to feel. He sort of understood what this meant for them; they had been fighting not only a losing war, but a hopeless one, for months on end. The beasts had spread further and further, even taking to swimming across the sea to invade more land, and they couldn't be stopped. All over the world, these beasts were winning. Until now.

  The crowd separated to let the general pass. Mathisen walked closer to Erik than she had ever been, and the crowd fell silent in suspense. The older general squeezed the man between her arms in the biggest hug he’d ever been on the receiving end of. Even she was crying by the time she let him go.

  She stood straight, turning to her people, who all stared at her, not knowing how to react. After a few seconds, they all stood at attention, except former Colonel Ashleigh and former Major Svensson. They weren’t military any more, and that decision was now visible with pride on their faces. The general noticed, and smiled.

  “Tonight,” the general started, her voice empowered by her authority. “- drinks aren’t limited by rationing.”

  The general said this as she had already started walking away, having passed through half the staring crowd already. As she finished her sentence, the uniformed crowd went absolutely nuts. Erik noticed Emma’s reaction being especially wild.

  The rambunctious celebration lasted well into the night. Erik got the chance to get to know both Angela and Emma better, as the three randomly met among the scuffling crowds several times during the night.

  Angela, whose name Erik didn’t feel was the most scandi of names, was actually British. She had requested a transfer to Mathisen’s command as soon as she heard that Bridgefort was holding. The general was her role model, and she knew that if the world was about to end, she wanted to stand beside General Mathisen as it did.

  Emma was from the Swedish region of the Empire, and she had grown up in the military from when she was a young girl. Her father was an officer, and her mother died a few months after Emma was born. Her father died some years later, and Emma had from then on been raised by her godfather and his wife.It just so happened that her godfather was also a general in the SEMP.

  She had also requested a transfer to Mathisen’s command, though that was when Operation Bridgefort was still in the planning phase. Both Angela and Emma could be counted as military elites, especially considering their age. Angela was the same age as Erik, twenty-four, while Emma was two years younger.

  Erik also got to know a few of the others, feeling like the main attraction that night. He wasn’t used to, nor did he really appreciate the attention, but he was happy for them. They had reason to let loose for a night.

  He learned a bit more about the invasion, and how far it had progressed. The rest of the continent was much better off than the northern part of the Empire. As Erik had guessed, they had found the invasion’s starting point from somewhere near Erik’s home, and the monsters seemed to spread out from there in most directions.

  They had gone south towards the rest of Europe and east towards Asia first, but soon took to the sea, the first ones to reach the western colonies only getting ashore a week ago.

  And so, the war had spread even across the Atlantic. Some had even reached Africa, having gotten through Europe in its entirety. Why the beasts spread out and seemed to be gunning for infrastructure rather than food was a mystery, though humanity had pondered whether they were controlled by someone or something.

  An alien invasion was in fact the top theory for quite a few people, and the governments of the world couldn’t ignore that possibility either.

  Erik decided not to share all the details with everyone. Angela, Emma and Mathisen were enough for now. He hadn’t even shared everything he knew with them yet, but would probably talk about it more with his new companions.

  Mathisen didn’t need to know everything, but those who would be with him might need to know. If everything hit the fan and he could’ve avoided that situation by sharing some information beforehand…

  Before Erik went to bed that night, he checked in on Command, and found Mathisen by her desk, all alone. She told him to come in and he sat down in front of her desk. She looked thoughtful and it took a few seconds of silence before she said anything more.

  Despite her contemplating demeanour, she didn’t want to talk shop. She asked Erik details about his life, what he enjoyed doing, his hobbies and so on. Small talk was likely something she didn’t get a chance to do often, so he kept them chatting a while longer, before eventually turning in for the night.

  Despite the thin, rolled out mattress and all the noise that went on until morning, Erik felt like he’d slept better than ever. Yesterday was a win in more ways than one. He’d finally found people, and he learned more about his father and the state of the world. He’d also been promised help, both in the form of transportation and manpower. He had additionally been promised resources, but that was currently too abstract to really consider.

  “Morning, sir.”

  “Morning, boss.”

  Angela and Emma sat down on the other side of Erik’s table, each with their own tray filled with various breakfast foods. Angela had lots of beans, sausages and bacon, while Emma had loaded up with bread, ham, cheese and a side of orange and apple slices.

  “Please don’t call me that,” Erik said, putting a spoonful of cereal and milk in his mouth.

  “Sir or boss?” Angela asked jokingly.

  “Either. You know I’m not going to order you around, right?”

  “We figured as much,” Emma said. “That doesn’t mean we should just do as we want, though. Don’t worry, we’ll be ready to follow orders when you give them, otherwise we’ll do what we can, when we can, and try our best to advise you as we go along,” Emma finished with something resembling a smile, and Angela nodded in agreement.

  “What’s got you in such a good mood? Never seen you smile before. You’re not a morning person, are you?” Erik asked. Emma giggled, as if trying to prove a point.

  “Not at all. I’m sorry about yesterday. It’s been a rough couple of months. You killing those things yesterday… It made me hopeful, I guess. Just don’t push it,” she finished, pointing her butter knife at Erik’s face with a smile.

  “Morning, girls, Mr Fried.” Mathisen sat down next to Erik.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Morning, General,” the three said in unison.

  “The pilot will be ready in an hour. We’ll have you all in Leicester this afternoon. He will take you to the air base set up around there, from which you will be based until you feel ready to take on this invasion with full force,” Mathisen said, obviously not knowing how to relax a little before work.

  “Relax, General. We talked about all this yesterday. Nothing’s changed, right?” Erik asked.

  “No, I suppose not, Mr Fried. I’m just a bit excited, I think.”

  If anything, the general’s demeanour suggested the opposite.

  “Don’t worry, Mathisen. Look around. Everyone’s all jittery and excited. Some of them have barely slept after last night’s party, and they don’t look half as miserable as they did yesterday. Even Emma smiled and apologised!” Erik said, grinning at Emma who responded with a huff.

  All around them were tired and haggard-looking soldiers and other personnel, barely sitting upright as they tried putting some food into their mouths. Even so, all of them were smiling, joking around with each other, laughing at every bad joke they heard in the vicinity.

  Hope. In reality, the only thing that had changed from the moment Erik found these people.

  He couldn’t imagine how they had even managed to keep fighting the past few months without any hope. What would he have done if he lived when the invasion started? Most likely, he’d just die the first day or two. A lot of people had, and he wouldn’t be any different.

  Some had made it out. The evacuation was assisted by the government, the SEMP and even a bunch of other countries that had available air units. Still, most of the death toll from the invasion could be linked to that first week alone, and the dead were mostly from the Empire.

  If he’d been alive, then, he would likely just be another statistic right now. Instead, he could try to fix all this.

  “It’s pretty amazing. I wonder if we’ll be famous or something!” Emma said with wide eyes.

  “No!” Mathisen and Erik both exclaimed, and looked at each other.

  “What I mean is that the last thing you will want to do is draw attention to yourselves. If someone is behind this invasion, you would instantly become their primary target,” Mathisen said.

  “I just want to be able to live my life by the time we get the invasion beat,” Erik explained. “Being famous is not on my agenda, trust me.”

  “Think about it, Emma. It’s fine for us, it’ll likely even be good for our careers in the long run. But for Erik, it’ll be different. He’ll be famous for being different, for being able to do magic. The real thing… supposedly. He will just be treated as a dance monkey. I get why he doesn’t want that,” Angela said.

  “Fine, we’ll do it covertly, I guess,” Emma said, crossing her arms and leaning back on her seat. “But I’m pretty sure he’s the one who’ll screw that up.”

  “I have to agree to that assessment. I hope you realise this, young man, but you are a bit flashy. I mean, how you acted yesterday…”

  “Oh, I agree,” Erik agreed.

  The three stepped on board the helicopter after saying their goodbyes to the Bridgefort outfit. As soon as they got out of the hurricane-force winds from the rotors, a masculine shout greeted them.

  “Hi there!” The man from the front of the helicopter had long, black and curly hair, tied into a bun on the back of his head. He also had a thick beard, with two mirrors installed in front of his eyes and under his large headset. He pointed to another set of headsets and gestured that they should wear them.

  Angela, who had been the first one into the helicopter, had already grabbed one, and was in the midst of putting it on. She grabbed two more, handing them out to Erik and Emma.

  The brown-skinned man in the front gave a thumbs up and turned forwards, looking at his dashboard full of lights, buttons and dials. As Erik fumbled to put the headset on, Angela looked on, which was a bit awkward. After Erik gave her a thumbs up, she placed her hand on his cheek.

  Suddenly, a slight static could be heard from the device around his ears, but most notably was the white noise-like silence. Angela removed her hand and smiled.

  “Better?” she asked in a normal voice, which Erik could hear through the radio in the headset.

  “Yeah, sorry. New to this,” he explained before turning to Emma, who had also put the device on her head and turned it on. She gave a thumbs up to the pilot.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you. Mr Fried, was it?” the pilot said, flipping a small lever or switch in the dash.

  “Call me Erik. Hope you don’t believe everything you hear,” Erik responded. The pilot then muttered something unrecognisable into the radio, then proceeded to lift the helicopter from the ground. After a short hover, they went further up, clearing any and all nearby obstacles.

  “What I believe is that this garrison had one hell of a party last night, all in your honour. That’s all I care about,” the pilot said as the helicopter started to move forwards.

  “Your name?” Erik asked.

  “Amir. We’ll be arriving in seven hours, give or take. I trust you’ll tell me if any of you start feeling ill?” he asked.

  “Of course,” the three said in response.

  “Good, good. AC only works in front, it can get hot back there,” Amir said, looking behind him to his three passengers quickly before turning back ahead. “I’d love to see the blonde one button down a bit,” he said, as if there was nothing wrong in saying that on the radio.

  “Amir?” Erik said after a second or two of awkward silence later.

  “Yessir?”

  “You should keep those things to yourself,” he said, and Amir looked panicked as he turned around to face Erik. Angela and Emma both looked at Erik with surprise in their eyes. Was he in the wrong here? People weren’t supposed to talk like that freely, normally.

  “You speak Arabic?” Emma asked.

  At that moment, Erikrealised what had happened. He thought back, and realised Amir had said that last part in Arabic.

  “Sorry, sir. I would never do anything too untoward,” the pilot explained, his expressions showing that he really meant it. Erik figured he wouldn’t. He probably wouldn’t still have his job if he wasn’t professional most of the time.

  “Anyway,” Erik said, sitting back in his seat. “- are we there yet?”

  “We just left, sir…” Amir said.

  “Let me know if something interesting happens, then!” the man responded, closing his eyes to relax.

  A kick in his left leg woke him up a while later. Emma pointed towards the shut door, and Erik got up from his seat, looking out the window of said door. A couple of hellbeasts were swimming beneath them, fighting the large waves that attempted to push them away. Erik sat back down after he couldn’t find any more than two of the beasts.

  “Where are they headed?” Erik asked.

  “Somewhere between the States and the Coalition. Antwerp or Rotterdam, most likely. We’re nearing the shores near Norwich, UB. You’ll want to pay attention,” Amir said, his voice a bit tense. “We’re entering the warzone in a few minutes.”

  Intrigued, Erik sat up front in the seat next to Amir, getting a good view from the front of the helicopter. As the shore grew visible, so did all the choppers, the barricades and ground vehicles on and around the shoreside.

  A few hellbeasts were blown away while attacking the barricades, but were otherwise unharmed. As Erik’s helicopter flew above them, a couple of dogs ran back to sea in a rain of gunfire and explosions, but new beasts arrived on shore seconds later.

  “Why are they giving up?” Erik asked, having thought about that earlier at Bridgefort, but hadn’t asked.

  “We don’t know,” Angela answered, looking out her own little window just as a British soldier got caught between a monster and a barricade. “They’ve done this from the get-go. If we can hold them for a little while, they retreat for a while, only to try again later. That’s why Bridgefort wasn’t constantly besieged. It’s a bit worse by the sea, as there are instead multiple groups making landfall at different times at different places.

  All attempts at marking them have failed, as even paint gets washed off in the sea. We don’t know if the same beast attacks the same place several times, or if they alter their course, but we think they keep going for the same target. GPS tags on the ones attacking Bridgefort has determined the same ones attacking multiple times, but the data set is small.”

  Erik considered this in silence for the next while. In less than an hour, they would reach the airbase outside Leicester. The helicopter passed by several smaller villages and farms where people seemed to live just like normal. Like the world wasn’t at war against monsters. It warmed Erik’s chest.

  The feeling only lasted a mere second before his heart turned cold and hard.

  “Drop me off there,” Erik said, his voice as cold as his eyes as he pointed at a Hellbeast that had somehow gotten through the barricades by the shore and gotten inland.

  “Yessir!” Amir said, turning the helicopter slightly to alter its course.

  “You two head to the airbase and deliver the message. Meet me at the address I gave you later tonight.”

  The two women nodded, but didn’t confirm his order by vocal response. Already he was giving them orders, something he had said he wouldn’t do. They didn’t seem to mind and they had even said they would follow his orders if he gave them.

  Erik opened the door, letting a rushing storm of air inside the helicopter, and removed his headset. He picked up his Backpack of Stuff, which had become the official name for the stolen backpack filled with a collection of unusual items, and dropped down to the ground.