Chapter 8: Performing For The Crowd

  As he landed, he cushioned himself by bending his knees, a frisbee already in his hand.

  “Soldiers! Fire up all the generators and get those floodlights on!” the general said, causing everyone to stop firing.

  A few on top of the wall had panicked when Erik dropped, especially the officers right next to where Erik had jumped from, but the general had motioned their worries away. That she had to believe he was telling the truth, didn’t mean she did. If he died down there, she would sign the paperwork herself, telling the SEMP he was an unstable civilian with suicidal tendencies and that they had failed to keep him contained when the alarm sounded.

  The floodlights were off during most hours as they drew much more power. They were turned on to do a quick search a few times a night, but she had now ordered them all on. One after the other, people manned the large torches and aimed them at Erik and the beasts on the bridge ahead.

  Murmurs had replaced the gunfire, though even that turned to complete silence when the civilian that had knocked on their door earlier that day threw a small plastic frisbee towards the Hellbeast pair and the frisbee stopped in mid-air.

  The sprinting dogs stopped right in front of the frisbee as if met by a wall. Except they didn’t stop as much as they… collided? They seemed to smash into something. There was nothing to crash into, yet somehow, by the help of the floodlights, they saw blood trickle out of the frontmost beast’s mouth. Actual blood. They had never seen them bleed.

  The civilian then searched his bag before he darted toward the confused monster dogs. He was fast! A few soldiers shouted to keep away from the dogs, or maybe they meant the frisbee? The man rushed straight past it, unhindered, and ran past the closest dog. Something audibly clinked on the bridge ahead, but no one saw what as they all focused intently on Erik.

  Angela observed the scene play out below with a deadpan stare. Major Svensson bumped into her to let her know she was there as well, having inched herself towards the general and the colonel from the other side of the catwalk atop the wall.

  “How is he doing this?” the major asked in a hushed whisper that just barely penetrated the musings of everyone around.

  Angela didn’t respond as she was engrossed in the fight.

  The stupid man rush-kicked the farthest dog in its face, which somehow seemed effective. The dog recoiled from the blow, and the man then punched it before seizing its massive snout with one hand. He stuck his other hand down the beast’s throat for a quick second before pulling it out again, finishing with a sucker punch to its throat.

  What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t run around and use the monsters like punching bags. Grenades couldn’t do anything, much less… A bright light below caught Angela’s attention.

  The man retreated backwards, keeping his eye on both of his enemies. Some had noticed the bright lights around the dog nearest the wall by now, but when Erik retreated past it, everyone else noticed as well.

  A blue light strobed all around the beast and it kicked its legs with abandon until the light show stopped. It moved little after that and the few sporadic movements it did after that seemed more like convulsing than anything else. Erik closed back in with a knife in his hand.

  The choir atop the wall agreed in their stirring: A knife wouldn’t work. They knew that, yet as they whispered amongst themselves, the civilian stabbed the metal into the beast’s neck.

  “Impossible,” Angela uttered through a barely open mouth as she said her first words since the start of the fight.

  The general turned away from the battle and unceremoniously left the momentous occasion after Erik had dealt the first killing blow. Angela heard and saw this through her periphery, but that wasn’t important. Surprisingly, what struck her as the most important thing right then wasn’t even the blood pooling between the man and his monstrous prey. Her previous interactions with him flashed through her mind. The most important thing… was the bet that General Mathisen had made. The bet that man had allowed her to get in on even after seeing… this.

  A squelch sounded as he retracted the knife. It was audible to everyone on top of the wall because of the almost eerie silence. Erik wiped the knife clean on the dirty fur of the beast before he turned back towards the wall, picking up his frisbee which was now lying on the ground on his way over.

  “The other one,” people murmured.

  Angela looked towards the second beast, finding it melting from the inside. A yellowish goo trickled out from increasingly large holes all over the beast’s body. Never before had she seen anything like this. She looked back at Erik’s stride back towards the wall. What was he?

  “If you had the opportunity to do something important, even if that cost your career… Your future, maybe even your life… Would you do it?” The colonel asked no one in particular. It was only a second later that Angela turned to the major beside her, acknowledging her for the first time since she arrived with questioning eyes.

  “I-I… What do you mean?” Emma asked.

  The colonel smiled. “Take care of everyone,” she said as she rushed down the wall.

  The man below looked up at the large gathering of uniforms atop the wall.

  “Mind opening the door again?” he asked.

  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.

  It was impossible not to smile from the sheer amount of hugs and shoulder grabs 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 by the day, 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.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The resounding chorus didn’t let up until the general came walking towards him. The crowd split to let her through as the base fell into silence. Upon reaching him she reached her hand to her chest, fumbling the stars that were either sewn or pinned there. Erik stopped her before she did anything she’d regret for the rest of her life.

  “General. Let’s head into Command. I think we need to talk.”

  “Are you sure, Mr. Fried?” she asked, her hand stopping but not moving away. Erik nodded once.

  The general mimicked his gesture and finally removed her hand from her stars as she turned to the festive crowd.

  “Communication out of Bridgefort has been temporarily cut and internet privileges revoked. I am certain many of you recognise the reason why, but for the rest of you; none of this leaves this base without my say-so. Is that understood?”

  The silent crowd hesitated whilst looking around at each other before the first murmuring ‘yes, sirs’ started coming.

  “Is that understood?” she asked again, this time accepting the sonorous response. She turned and walked away along with Erik.

  Back inside the Command building, the general was a bit more courteous in her treatment of him, though it was barely noticeable. She waited for him to sit before sitting down herself, though with fewer nerves slowing him down, he also sat down faster than last time.

  “I appreciate you stopping me from removing my stars in front of my men and women,” she said as she sat down after him.

  “I’m guessing they’re an important symbol. You giving that up isn’t what I wanted to accomplish.”

  “Do you mind if I ask… That performance out there… What was that, exactly?”

  Erik’s smile was wistful. “Not something I can share, unfortunately.”

  “I see. And your intentions regarding our deal?”

  “You tell me. Will I have to grow a second set of eyes in the back of my eyes?”

  “Not if I can help it. As promised, I will do my utmost to help you on your way. I’ll have a helicopter fly you wherever you want to go tomorrow morning, and-”

  “General, sir,” said the now familiar Colonel Ashleigh as she stepped through the door without so much as a single knock.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” asked the general with a crass tone, eyeing her colonel as if she had just stepped on her toe.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I’ve decided to hand in my resignation.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’ve decided to take Mr. Fried-… Uh, Erik, up on his offer. To make a difference. I know I can provide him support, support that he’ll need if he’s taking up arms against these monsters. So, if you’ll allow me…”

  “Allow you?” asked the general, her face red.

  “N-no, sir. If he’ll let me.”

  Angela then eyed Erik unapologetically, a stark contrast to her shivering tone.

  “Uh… Not what I expected. General?” Erik said confusedly.

  It was several seconds before the general spoke, having spent the time eyeing her former colonel. “Col-… Angela Ashleigh is a valuable asset to any company. Her key skills lie in strategy, logistics and, hell, she’s one of the best CQC officers I’ve seen in my entire career. If you want my recommendation, I’d say you’d be a fool not to take her up on her offer.”

  The former colonel smiled in response to her words.

  “I guess I’m hiring, then. I’d love your help, Angela. Though, I should tell you that I can’t win this war. Not how I am now, and certainly not alone. I have a… plan, of sorts.”

  There was a knock on the door that interrupted Erik’s next words. Angela opened the door after confirming with the general and the hazel-haired major from earlier stepped inside with a nervous expression plastered on her face for all to see.

  “Umm… General, sir. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your guidance up until now. It has been an honour to-”

  “Another one?” the general interrupted.

  “S-something Colonel Ashleigh said earlier burrowed its way inside my mind. I think I need to help his efforts any way I can. It might not be much, but…”

  “Former colonel”, the general said with a slight smile.

  “I’m sorry?” Major Svensson asked, eyeing her former fellow officer.

  “Two of my most promising girls on the same day. I’d say you somehow got some of my stars after all, Mr. Fried,” Mathisen said as she leaned back in her more comfortable chair and smiled widely.

  As Angela smiled at the shorter girl, Emma looked around some more, still as confused as earlier.

  “What’s happening?”

  The rest of the night was about as restful as Erik’s trip across the Empire, meaning not at all. Erik took the opportunity to study up on the war until that point. Considering he had two assistants, if you could call them that, and a highly decorated general with an IOU, he found the answers he was seeking.

  He learned a bit more about the monster invasion and how far it had progressed. The rest of the European continent was much better off than the northern part of the Empire. Having read the brief article about the first monster sightings, Erik wasn’t surprised when they found the invasion’s starting point from somewhere near his home. The monsters seemed to spread outwards from there even now.

  They had found their way south towards the rest of Europe and east towards Asia first, but soon also 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 got through Europe in its entirety. Why the beasts spread out and seemed to be gunning for far-flung infrastructure rather than food was a mystery, though humanity had pondered whether they were controlled by something… or someone.

  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 he was sitting on with everyone. Angela, Emma, and Mathisen were enough for now. He hadn’t even shared everything he knew with those three yet, though he would 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…

  With that said, Mathisen hadn’t idled the remainder of the day she’d kept Erik under watch. Her small team of analysts, or data-scroungers or whatever they were called now, had been digging up what dirt they could find about their mysterious guest. Being of a similar mind to Erik, she felt the women that had joined his cause had to know the facts. She was also quite curious herself.

  She had slammed the print of a rather recent news article onto the desk in front of Erik with curious eyes that wouldn’t let him go even as he read the thing. He noticed, yet he cared little as he read about the fire that had taken his own, and the lives of his parents. While he understood the general’s unasked question regarding it, Erik had to first admit that he found some comfort in knowing that both had died along with him. He wasn’t a firm believer in it, but he had considered the thought that his father might’ve been behind the fire. Instead, it seemed his father had died in the entrance of the house, just out of sight.

  “I realise what this looks like,” Erik said, pointing out the picture of the crisp remains of the house. “But I am Erik Fried.”

  “I found enough evidence of that fact as well. Somehow, you are Erik Fried, yet you’re also three months dead. A saner woman would suspect that these two things are related to how you can somehow kill the enemy,” said Mathisen. Erik didn’t miss the fact that she hadn’t asked him anything yet.

  “How is that possible?” Angela asked, stealing the article from under Erik’s hand.

  “That’s a bit of a story,” he said. “But if you’re up for it…”

  “Do tell,” said Angela and sat back down beside him. Emma leaned back in her own chair with excited eyes, yet somehow not as silently curious as the general’s own two eyes.