Chapter 14: A Second Champion

Spencer led the way over to the stairwell. Before he could sprint down the square staircase Sarah surprised Spencer by lifting him up over her shoulder.

“If you’ll excuse me, commander.” She placed one hand on the back of his head and tucked it against her back as she leapt over the railing.

Spencer cried out in surprise. His stomach lurched into his throat as gravity carried them swiftly down. The room shook when Sarah’s boots connected with the cement floor. She bent her knees to absorb a bit of the impact and rose seemingly without an injury at all. Spencer settled back onto his feet and swallowed his stomach back down.

“That was…” Spencer wanted to say unnecessary, but it did save them a bit of time. “Thanks.”

Sarah paused and fiddled with the pommel of her sword.

“I didn’t just want to hold you again. That would be childish.” Sarah said stiffly before she sped off back into the main part of the mall.

Spencer took a second to process the confusing statement from the stoic sword wielder before blushing and following after her.

‘The more they love you, the more romantic encounters you succeed in, the stronger your overall team will become… Particularly the first kiss.’

Chris’ words floated through Spencer’s mind as the pair entered the outdoor store once more. They walked towards the front entrance as it was the closest path outside. Spencer’s mind mulled over his thoughts from the night before about the morality of his powers. Seeing the military get driven back by that huge monster had convinced him of one thing. Conventional weaponry will not save humanity from this apocalypse. 

Spencer had the potential to change something. To be more than just another body to be consumed by monsters.

Right. So before we leave the store I should… kiss…

Spencer’s face burned brightly. Fortunately Sarah was still a few paces ahead of him and didn’t notice his silent embarrassment. 

Don’t be a child. Man up. It’s just a first kiss.

Despite his inner monologue Spencer knew it wasn’t a small detail. Not to him. Deep down inside he was a romantic at heart. Things like a first kiss were a big deal. Unfortunately he no longer lived in a world where he could afford to wait for the right place and time.

“Commander, do you know how to ride one of those?” Sarah’s sudden question surprised Spencer.

He followed her pointed finger to see a bike rack with a series of mountain bikes, kids bikes, and a few racing bikes on display.

“Yeah, of course I know how to ride a bike.” He raised an eyebrow at Sarah. “Are bikes not common in your world?”

Sarah approached the rack and pulled down a purple mountain bike. The fact that she had chosen purple to match her outfit made the corner of Spencer’s mouth twitch upwards. Sarah was a hardened warrior, yet even she would pick her favorite color given the option.

“Not anymore. I was fortunate to learn before my hometown was destroyed.” Her gaze grew distant and longing as she inspected the bicycle.

Spencer fidgeted but forced his feet forward. It’s now or never dude.

“Hey, um, Sarah.” He started.

“Yes, commander?” Sarah’s eyes focused back on him as he stepped up close to her.

“I…” He felt sweat form on the back of his neck as he forced words out of his mouth. “I want to give us the greatest chance of survival, and as your commander the best way I can do that is to help you grow stronger. And to do that…”

Sarah tilted her head curiously to one side. “Yes?”

Spencer lifted two shaky hands and placed them on her shoulders. Sarah let out a small gasp but didn’t pull away. She was breathtaking. There had been so much happening that Spencer hadn’t had a chance to fully appreciate what a beautiful person Sarah truly was. Her athletic grace, shining eyes, and soft lips entranced him and made his heart leap in his chest. Spencer brushed a lock of silky blond hair off of her forehead. His fingers trailing across her smooth skin. His voice grew softer, nerves burning bright, but he forced himself to keep going.

“Lore wise it’s probably because engies don’t receive enough recognition or care. So building a proper bond probably gives engies a reason to fight and makes them more effective in combat.” Spencer reasoned aloud. “Otherwise it doesn’t make sense that relationships would do more than improved equipment or more training.”

He was rambling, stalling. His face felt red hot.

“But if it saves your life… and if you don’t object to it… you know cause I wouldn’t want to force you into anything… I…”

He leaned his face towards Sarah’s. He couldn’t feel her breath from her slightly parted lips. She must have started holding her breath. Spencer hadn’t realized that he was holding his own as well. Sarah’s eyes fluttered shut and she leaned towards Spencer. 

Their lips met.

It was brief. Awkward. Inexperienced. Yet it left a fire on Spencer’s lips that made his head spin. Their lips broke apart but Sarah kept her forehead pressed against Spencer’s own. Spencer risked a glance at Sarah’s face to see how she was reacting.

She was glowing.

‘Bonding Event successfully passed, Milestone successfully passed, First Kiss: 

• Ten store credits awarded.

• Team member, Sarah, stats vastly improved.’

******

He loves me! He loves me! He loves me!

Sarah thought she was going to explode with pure and unending happiness. Not since her hometown had been destroyed had anyone truly cared for her, seen her as more than a poor orphan girl, more than a number on a spreadsheet, more than a weapon of war whose only purpose was to kill. It didn’t matter that she had been summoned from her own world to fight a new enemy on a foreign planet. She didn’t care. Her own world could vanish completely and it wouldn’t make a single ounce of difference in her heart.

She had a new purpose, she had a new commander, and she would do whatever it took to preserve this perfect happiness. Sarah reached up and pulled the commander into a second kiss.

*******

“Wha-”

Spencer’s exclamation was cut short by Sarah pressing herself in for a second kiss. This time felt less awkward, more purposeful, and lasted far longer. Sarah’s body leaned needfully into his own. Her curves caused his thoughts to run wild while his breathing grew rapid and shallow. They might have continued kissing had the colossal monster in the distance let loose a fierce victorious below that caused both of them to jump and break apart.

“We should… get going then.” Spencer coughed and selected a bike of his own off of the rack while Sarah carried hers to the front door to avoid rolling the tires over broken glass.

Spencer’s face was bright red. Sarah’s face probably was as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to check. It only took them a minute to get their bikes outside and start their ride eastward out of the large parking lot. 

******

Just as they hoped the destroyed city streets were empty of monsters. The mountain bikes proved exceptionally useful as they rode on streets, up onto sidewalks, off into grassy or rocky areas, all while they dipped and weaved through rubble, abandoned cars, and general destruction.

The next pillar of light shone bright somewhere past the Sierra Highway near the big recycling center on the east side. It would have taken the better part of the day to carefully navigate out to it, but with most of the monsters drawn northward by the military’s failed attack Spencer and Sarah were racing towards their next team member in a fraction of the time. A few blocks from the shopping mall Sarah slowed ahead of Spencer and lifted a warning hand back towards him.

“What is it?” Spencer stood on his pedals as he craned his neck to see over the burned out cars on the road.

There were people. Living people. A group of around ten scrambled down the road towards them. They were still a ways off and had yet to notice they were being watched.

“What do you want to do?” Sarah asked Spencer as she calmly removed her sword from her back.

Before he could properly think through the situation there was a shout of alarm from the group. A reverberating scream echoed loudly and something large crashed through a Mexican restaurant right in front of the crowd of strangers.

“Faceless one.” Spencer identified the lanky beast as it slid out onto the road.

Without a second thought Spencer slammed his feet down on the pedals and shot forward towards the danger. A few members of the crowd had handguns and loud pops rattled off as they tried to shoot the oncoming monstrosity. Spencer cursed and awkwardly tried to unsling his hunting rifle while pedaling at full speed.

A strange sound cut through the fighting. A train whistle blew two commanding blasts before a boy around Spencer’s age emerged from the crowd chewing on something that turned his lips black. The other members of the group fell back behind the young man as he lifted his hands and took up a boxing stance. The young man had a train conductor hat and a pair of overalls that were two sizes too big over his plain white shirt. He wore simple grey tennis shoes, one of which was untied. His arms were lanky, his torso rather thin, and his eyes didn’t quite seem to focus on the enemy that was rumbling directly towards him. Spencer stopped and unslung his weapon, but knew he wouldn’t make it in time.

He shouldn’t have been worried.

A hiss of steam escaped the strange boy’s lips. He drew back one of his fists and threw it straight into the stomach of the faceless one. That same mysterious train whistle sounded off from an unknown location and the strangest thing happened. The faceless one was sent reeling. Not only did the boy’s punch force the towering monster back, but Spencer could see a bloody fist print where the boy had struck his foe.

The boy removed something from his pocket and popped it into his mouth while he continued to chew constantly. A red light emanated from the boy’s chest, like something inside his body had caught fire and was illuminating his skin from within. The faceless one flexed out its menacing claws and swiped at the boy again. This time he raised a forearm and blocked the appendage outright. Miraculously the claws failed to destroy the boy’s arm. Instead, the boy cocked back his free hand and rocketed a punch straight at the creature’s skull. A railway spike materialized out of thin air a few inches away from the boy’s upper body. His fist struck the railway spike and sent it shooting up through the creature’s exposed chin, piercing its mouth from below.

The creature reeled back once more, screaming its agony as it attempted to remove the projectile clumsily with its claws. Spencer blinked and only then realized that Sarah had already sped past him towards the fighting. Her sword perched gracefully in one hand Sarah swept the blade horizontally across the creature’s body and severed its spinal cord from behind as she zipped past on her bike. The creature twitched for a moment before collapsing dead to the pavement.

The crowd cheered and rushed forward to congratulate the boy who had protected them. Spencer got back onto his bike and rode over to meet them.

“Nice work Sarah.” He nodded his gratitude to the engie as she fell in beside him.

Praise after a fight was something that Andrea had responded well to, so Spencer wanted to continue that trend with Sarah. Though she was still less expressive, Spencer could tell the sword wielder was pleased with herself and nodded back in response.

“It’s good to see someone else alive out here.” A middle aged man approached Spencer with an extended hand.

He was thin with glasses and had a revolver holstered under his arm. The man shook Sarah’s hand first and then Spencer's.

“Likewise.” Spencer nodded to him. “Where are you heading?”

“Shopping mall.” The man gestured over Spencer’s shoulder. “Most of our homes were destroyed yesterday and we’re hoping to find weapons and supplies there.”

“We just came from there actually.” Spencer glanced at Sarah. “The hunting section has been picked through already, but there’s still some smaller calibers that are still in stock.”

A woman stepped forward. She was holding the hand of the boy around Spencer’s age and keeping him directly behind her so that neither Spencer nor Sarah could get a good look at him.

“Did you happen to see if there was any charcoal left? Perhaps by the grills or camping section?” Her eyes flicked rapidly between Spencer and Sarah.

Spencer bit the inside of his cheek. Honestly he hadn’t been paying attention, but Sarah unexpectedly came to his rescue.

“I saw a few bags.” Sarah reported flatly. “They were near the front.”

Gauging from the sighs of relief, the crowd was more excited by the charcoal than they had been by the guns.

Spencer raised an eyebrow. “Is the charcoal important for something?”

The man in glasses hesitated and shared a look with the woman beside him.

“Well, you see-”

The boy behind the woman interrupted her with a gentle tug of his hand.

“I know him.”

The adults turned around. As their shoulders turned Spencer got his first up close look at the mysterious young man. It took a moment, but Spencer recognized the guy too.

“You’re Nick Caloon, we went to the same middle school.” Spencer laughed as the recognition hit him.

Nick nodded but his eyes never met Spencer’s own.

“We were buddies on a few school field trips.” Nick noted in a slow deliberate tone. “You shared your smarties with me.”

The lack of eye contact and odd way of speaking were just like Spencer remembered. Nick had autism. In one of his classes in middle school Spencer had been assigned a few times to accompany Nick on school field trips. They never really interacted before or after those field trips, but Nick was a nice enough guy. Spencer remembered two things about him. Nick knew everything there was to know about trains and he loved the candy smarties.

The two adults in front of Nick, who Spencer assumed were his parents, visibly relaxed.

“Out of everyone we could have run into out here I’m glad it was an old friend of Nick’s.” His dad wiped his brow and chuckled. “As for the reason we need the charcoal…”

Spencer noticed that there was black dust all over Nick’s face and around the pocket of his overalls.

“You see… Well… Ever since yesterday Nick has been…” His dad tried to find the right words to explain.

A lightbulb went on in Spencer’s head.

“You were chosen as a champion.”

Nick’s eyes met his for the first time and he nodded.

“I can see floating boxes that tell me how to do new things. I had to choose a developmental track and decided to work my way up to the Union Pacific Big Boy. It was manufactured by the American Locomotive Company in nineteen forty one and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad until nineteen sixty two. It’s claimed to be one of the largest and most powerful locomotives ever put into service, but if you-”

“We’re still not sure what’s exactly going on with him.” Nick’s mother cut her son’s train monologue short. “But when he eats charcoal, coal, or other combustibles he heats up like he’s got a train boiler inside of him and then he's able to fight off those… things that have been running around destroying everything.”

“You know what happened to him then?” Nick’s dad stepped forward, concern etched clearly on his tired features.

“Not exactly.” Spencer sighed.

A howl echoed in the distance and somewhere a glass window shattered. The group fidgeted nervously as the reality of where they were settled back in on the group.

“You should come with us.” Nick’s mom pressed as the group filtered past them in the direction of the mall. “We’re planning on getting enough supplies for ourselves and enough fuel for Nick before we make a break for Edwards Air Force Base. It didn’t look like the monsters fell that far out. It should be safe there.”

It was tempting. Moving with a group, especially with another champion, would give Spencer good odds at making it out to the air base. That and it would feel good to be protecting someone. Spencer's eyes drifted to the three beams of light still lingering in the sky.

Spencer shook his head. “There are things I need to do. I can’t leave yet.”

Nick’s parents looked conflicted, but didn’t object.

“You two look more capable than most of us. Stay safe. I hope we meet again.” Nick’s dad patted Spencer on the shoulder before jogging after the group.

Nick took a half step forward after his dad, but instead fished into his charcoal dusted pocket and removed a half empty roll of smarties. He pushed the candy into Spencer’s hand.

“I wanted to pay you back from the last time you shared with me.”

Spencer grinned and accepted the offering.

“Thanks man. We'll split more later.” Spencer assured him.

Sarah dipped her head to Nick. “You fight well. Stay strong and you will prevail.”

Nick smirked at that and awkwardly shuffled after his father. Nick’s mom gave both of them a quick hug and a wish for luck before the two groups parted ways.