- Excerpt of an Interview with an anonymous Professor of Philosophy
We walked in silence, with the woman up front and me a couple of steps behind. The atmosphere was tense, although that might’ve also just been me. I wasn’t about to trust a stranger with my safety, and I equally didn’t want to let my eyes off of her, in case she was planning to do something stupid. And that just meant that I had to be extra careful. It ended with me focusing mainly on sound and smell to keep an eye on my surroundings, while my eyes were mostly focused on her, just in case.
From this angle, I also noticed a few other details that I’d missed before. The most obvious one being the weapon she had concealed in her boot. Most likely a knife of some sort, and the only weapon I could infer. A firearm would be too unwieldy and obvious, and the cut of her shirt made it unlikely, if not impossible, for her to hide a weapon in the rim of her pants without me noticing.
There was something else that caught my attention, though. Between the grime and dirt it was hard to see, but I was almost certain that she had some alien goo splattered on her pants and her arms. At least, I had no idea what else it could be.
Human blood looked very different, and it also didn’t seem like she was injured either. Not majorly anyway, she had some scrapes and bruises reminiscent of someone running through underbrush.
If it was alien goo, then that meant that she had a run in with aliens before. I doubted that she killed any, although I couldn’t entirely discount the possibility either. She was dangerous, that much was clear, so maybe she managed to snipe a lone M3 or something.
I followed her along the same pathway that I’d walked with Zuri twice before, leading towards the big open field where I had killed some xenos earlier. Knowing the route already, I noticed yet another thing that I found curious. In specific, the exact route along the walkway that this woman was leading me along.
It very much followed the same tactics I typically used, keeping close enough to the underbrush so that she could use it as cover in case of emergency, but also not so close as to make it impossible to react to anything jumping out of it. There was a slight difference, though. Likely due to the difference in training. I would’ve kept a little bit closer, but I was also used to working alone. If my guess wasn’t entirely incorrect, it felt like she had been trained to work in small teams, covering each other’s backs.
Arriving at the edge of the open space where the path opened up, she stopped, stepping behind a tree for cover. I did likewise, keeping close enough for conversation, but not so close as to invite sudden jumps. We both let our senses wander, trying to find any indication of aliens. I focused mostly on sound and the scent on the wind, while she focused more traditionally on her eyes. Not really surprising, to be honest.
“It shouldn’t be too far from here,” she said in a low voice, barely more than a whisper. “We have to keep close to the south edge of the field, then head eastward. Past the diner there’s a small bridge that leads onto one of the islands in the lake. That’s where I saw him last.”
I nodded at that. From the map I had memorised, that island only had two exits. One was the bridge we would be taking, the other a small tunnel that led under the water and towards the east. It was the direction of the second shelter, although the way there wasn’t a direct route.
“Any chance he ran to the second shelter?” I muttered, trying to gauge her reaction. If I recalled the map correctly, the second shelter would be slightly further away from the little island, but only by a little bit. Depending on what went down at the time of the incursion, heading there was not a completely stupid idea.
“Possible. It’s not a direct way, and he is not much of a fan of being underground, but he’s also a bit of a dunce with too big a heart. If he wanted to help others, he might very well have gone that way.”
With a small nod she got back up and continued leading me towards the diner, now that we could be reasonably certain nothing was about to jump us.
I followed, nodding at her words. “And you were at the diner getting snacks?”
“No, there are some vending machines not that far away from the bridge. Herold loves Skittles, and I wanted to grab some. When the chaos went down, I rushed back as quickly as I could, but by the time I got to the bridge a lot of folk had already ran off. He might’ve been part of that group. I did a quick check to make sure I didn’t leave him behind when I followed the group, but he wasn’t on the island anymore. And by the time I got back to the diner…” She trailed off, expression falling into a grimace. I knew exactly what she meant.
“The diner’s toast,” I agreed with a small nod. “We did visit to try and see if we couldn’t help anyone, but by the time we got there they were already all dead. We cleared the xenos and some of the bodies, but we didn’t do a completely thorough check.”
“There were so many… I have to hope that he wasn’t in there,” the woman said with a shake of her head. “I scouted out the surroundings, in case he got lost. As I said, he’s a bit of a dunce and he can be a bit airheaded. But I couldn’t find him anywhere. At this point my hope is that he made his way over to the other shelter.”
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We continued in silence, following along the large field before she took the turn towards the diner. I couldn’t pick up on any activity, although that changed when we got closer. From our current vantage point, I was almost certain that the aliens hadn’t reached the building yet, but it was clear that there was a group that was on the way there. Probably to pick through the remains Zuri and I left behind. I cursed inwardly at myself, we should’ve been a bit more thorough with our clean up after all.
Well, whatever, no use crying over spilled milk. The woman did seem to notice the activity not long after I did, leading us along a slightly longer path to make sure we could keep behind some of the bushes not far from the diner. It made sense, and I did approve of the idea, but I still kept a little bit of a distance. Me ‘vanishing’ around here would make perfect sense, if her goal was to kill me. Could just say I went to kill the xenos and died. She wouldn’t even have to worry about corpse removal.
Despite my worries, she didn’t show any indication of wanting to muerc me. Once we were past the diner, she quickened the pace a little. Probably wanted to put some distance between her and the aliens, which made sense. I kept one hand on the handle of my pistol, in case we found any surprises. By this point we were in unknown territory, so anything could happen at any time. I wanted to be sure that I had time to react.
Even from a distance I could see the bridge. The woman slowed down the moment we got it came into sight, and it took me only a moment to realise why. The bridge was one of these new modern constructions, basically made up entirely of steel cables and metal rods. It made it very easy to see what was going on around and on the walkway.
The first indication that something was wrong was the weapons that lay scattered on the bridge. Not far from them were bits of uniform and a damaged helmet. Blood splatters were all around, a trail of red giving a pretty good indication what happened to the bodies. It led roughly into the direction of the diner, although with a more southerly route than we had taken to get here.
“Fuck…” Her voice was quiet, but the tension in the word was clear.
From the look of things, I’d guess that a group of PMC’s got surprised by aliens and overrun in short order. The weapons didn’t look overly high tech, but better than any mall or park cop would ever get their hands on, and the helmet, while damaged, also wasn’t some trash tier gear.
I couldn’t see any aliens, but that didn’t mean that there were none. The battlefield didn’t seem too old, so that meant the aliens couldn’t have gotten too far. Not to mention that the island was full of biomass, and the drag marks certainly didn’t lead toward it. That meant they’d return eventually.
Talking about the island, it was pretty thickly grown, secluding much of the area on it from view. That might be cause for concern, if she truly wanted me dead, although by this point I found it less likely than before. Mostly because we’ve already been far enough away from the shelter for her to kill me unnoticed for a long time now, and also because there wasn’t much of a point trying to lure me here specifically for the deed. Too much risk to her. I certainly wouldn’t if I were in her shoes.
The main reason I didn’t fully discount the possibility yet, was the fact that it was nigh on impossible to see any xeno activity on the island through the thickly grown bushes and trees. If she wanted to throw me to the xenos, hoping they’d do the trick, this was probably the perfect set up, as long as there were aliens on that island. Which wasn’t exactly unlikely.
I pondered, for a moment, trying to come up with a plan. Really, going onto the island was a pretty damn stupid idea, but I also couldn’t discount the possibility of her speaking the truth. And if her husband was out there and in need of help… Thoughts of Zuri went through my head. What would I do if it was here in this position?
I had decided that I wanted to do something good with my life. To help people, to save them. If I were to run at the first sign of trouble every time… I’ve sworn to never kill an innocent person again. Would leaving them to die without even attempting to help them not be the same as to kill them myself?
Sure, I wasn’t about to just throw caution to the wind and ignore any dangers, but this wasn’t outside of my capabilities either. It would be a hard mission, maybe, but it wouldn’t be impossible. And that meant that I owed it to this woman to honour my agreement to help her, even if there was only a chance that Herold was still alive.
“Stryx, I need Necromancy Rounds,” I muttered quietly, the beginning of a plan slowly forming.
The woman gave me a glance at my words. “Necromancy Rounds?”
I just shrugged, “It’s how I deal with groups. I think it’s best for you to stay here while I try to figure out how many aliens there are. If it’s just a small group, I can deal with it. But if it’s too large a group then I’m gonna call the search off. Too risky.”
I met her gaze. Unsurprisingly she wasn’t happy about it. “Just like that?”
Again, I shrugged. “I can’t keep an eye on you, fight aliens, and look for your husband. I might be good, but I’m just one girl. And I’m not about to risk both of our necks for the chance of saving someone else, if I’d have to go through a mountain of angry bushes first. Saving one life isn’t worth sacrificing two others.”
“I can handle myself, thank you very much.” She almost spat those words.
“With just a knife? I’m not going to give you any weapons unless I can be sure you won’t just try to kill me with them.” My words lacked the confidence I really wanted them to have. Despite my suspicions, I couldn’t discount the possibility of her being truthful, and I didn't want to get her killed either, unless she truly was guilty. Which I couldn’t be sure about yet.
On the other hand, her only having access to a lonely knife was my biggest trump card in the worst case.
A box appeared next to me before she could reply, and I quickly opened it, finding two magazines with green tipped rounds. With a well trained motion, I shoved them into the rim of my pants. Really, for the next set of armor I’d need some more ammunition storage.
“Is that why you’ve been staring at me the entire time? You think I’d be suicidal enough to try and go after a Samurai?” Her voice held a hint of confused amusement in her voice.
“I’ve seen folk do far dumber shit. Honestly, it wouldn’t even be in the top 100 of things I’d be surprised about.”
There was a short moment of silence, during which the examined me. Eventually she sighed. “Look, I’m not going to try and eighty-six you. Nor do I have any plans to piss off some Samurai. But I’m also not just going to sit here and twiddle my thumbs and wait for you to get the job done while my husband is in danger.”
“As long as you keep out of my way.” I got up, slowly moving along the underbrush towards the bridge.
She kept quiet, just watching me. That suited me just fine.
Once I got some distance between us, I finally turned my attention mostly to the bridge. First order of business: Get the weapons out of her reach, and figure out just how many aliens want to make a meal out of me. Afterwards, it was time to look for her wayward husband.
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