Chapter 18: Slow and Steady

The howls and shrieks of the new monstrosities loosed upon his hometown echoed through the streets as the trio worked their way directly south of the school. The abominations appeared smaller in number than the faceless ones, which was slightly comforting to Spencer, but he didn’t know how much stronger these new threats were. 

Sarah had grown steadily to the point where Spencer was confident allowing her to solo multiple faceless ones on her own. Until they knew how strong this newest threat was Spencer felt it was best to avoid them.

Beatrice turned out to be a fantastic pickup. Though she fell incredibly short of Sarah’s damage output, Beatrice could defend like you wouldn’t believe. She was never more than a few steps away from Spencer at any given time. What she couldn’t block with her lightning quick shield she would throw herself in front of without hesitation. Despite his initial concern for her safety Beatrice absorbed multiple hits that would have sent Spencer flying across the street. In part thanks to her passive skill, immovable, which prevented enemy attacks from displacing her. 

No one’s passive healing surpassed Andrea’s, but it appeared that all engies had some level of regeneration. Beatrice bounced back from wounds quickly. Sarah had yet to be scratched.

Throughout the rest of the day the trio ran into multiple dog packs and even a faceless one that ambushed them in an alleyway. Thanks to Beatrice, Spencer was able to make it out without a scratch.

The team was already starting to come together.

An interesting note that Spencer made during their travels was how the pair of engies constantly needed guidance in combat. He didn’t have to direct their actions down to the fighting moves they made, but the pair would wait to be told where to position themselves and would follow orders to the best of their abilities until he gave them new ones. Spencer thought back to how Andrea fought in the mall parking lot. He told her to avoid getting surrounded before they parted and she tried to do that until the moment she…

Spencer shook his head to clear his mind of the guilt that threatened to fill him. He still wasn’t giving up on Andrea, but reflecting on her loss made him appreciate his role as these girls’ commander even more. If they were truly only as effective as the orders he provided then the mantle of responsibility still rested squarely on his shoulders.

“Now we just need some range damage and a healer.” Spencer muttered softly as the trio hid out in a garage to wait for an abomination to pass down the residential street they were on.

Whoever had lived here hadn’t been home when the apocalypse kicked off. The car was gone, a simple oil splotch indicating where it would have been if anyone was home. They were probably like most people caught out in transit when the pillar appeared. The garage door had a large gash where a hellhound had ripped its way inside, but given that the inner door to the house was intact it doesn’t look like the monster found anything. The air was heavy with the smell of varnish thanks to a few small wood carving statues off to the side next to a toolbench. The lights remained off, but the torn garage door provided plenty of light for Spencer to observe their surroundings.

Beatrice heard his quiet voice and signed out, ‘Problem commander?’

He smiled and shook his head. “Just thinking out loud.”

The next pod was only a few blocks away, but Spencer was sticking true to his goals and not pushing them too quickly despite being so close. They could wait for a clear street to continue. Sarah walked over to the door leading into the main part of the house and silently opened it. She glanced back at Spencer.

“Commander, permission to secure the rest of the house in case we need to spend the night here.” She asked in her usual flat professional tone.

Spencer nodded. “Sounds like a good idea. Go ahead. I’ll be here with Beatrice watching the street.”

Sarah paused for a moment, fingers twitching along the pommel of her sword. Something flickered across her face before she strode across the empty space in the center of the room and parked herself directly in front of Spencer.

“What?” He asked with a nervous smile.

Sarah shifted in place. “As I understand it, when people who are…”

She blushed. “Important to one another part ways… it is customary to give a… goodbye kiss…”

“You’re adorable.” Spencer said aloud before he could stop himself.

Neither could meet each other’s eyes while Spencer’s own face turned as red as Sarah’s.

“I mean… you’re only going to the next couple of rooms. It’s not like you’ll be very far away.” Spencer reasoned yet put his hands gently on her shoulders to bring her closer.

To the side, Beatrice gave him a teasing wink and returned to the slightly torn garage door to keep watch while Spencer pulled Sarah close. There was a part of Spencer that still felt strange about all of this. Death and destruction surrounded them yet here he was pulling a beautiful girl’s lips to his while they both held their breath. He was over letting it stop him though.

Sarah’s lips were beginning to feel familiar against his as they pressed firmly together. That was not to say that it was any less exciting. On the contrary, it felt like they were both growing more familiar with what the other enjoyed in the activity. There were less awkward moments of them turning their heads in the same direction, clinking teeth together when someone pressed forward too eagerly, or losing balance as the world spun around them.

They broke apart with a familiar hunger still unfilled between them. Sarah’s eyes held Spencer’s for a few moments before she cleared her throat and hurried away.

“I’ll return shortly.”

Beatrice watched Sarah’s departure and turned her white board around so Spencer could read it.

‘There’s probably a bedroom inside. I can keep watch, commander, while you and older sister… you know.’

 An odd thing happened. Spencer’s initial reaction died in his throat before he could spurt out something hasty. Instead, a new line of thinking pressed itself insistently inside his mind. Similar to what spurred him to kiss the engies to calm them down earlier, Spencer decided to trust this instinctual feeling.

“You don’t want it to be you and I?” He asked in a calm tone that defied his embarrassed heart.

Now the shoe was on the other foot as Beatrice blushed fiercely and let her gaze fall to the garage floor. The white board disappeared under her arm as she began to sign her response. Spencer had to look up a few words in his book, but Beatrice waited patiently and re-signed what he didn’t catch the first time.

‘I would never dare to make such a selfish request.’

Spencer frowned. “Selfish?”

Beatrice nodded without meeting his eyes. 'Older sister Sarah is clearly smitten with the commander. It wouldn’t be right for me to demand anything.’

“You’re not demanding anything.” Spencer stepped forward but Beatrice matched his movement to stay apart. “Surely the kiss we shared meant something to you.”

The shorter girl’s shoulders trembled but her hands remained steady as she signed.

‘Of course… but I’m not strong. Not beautiful. Imperfect. When our team grows I’ll naturally fall further and further away from you.’

She sniffed quietly.

‘I’ll forever treasure the kiss we shared, but you don’t have to concern yourself with me more than you have to, commander. It will be easier for both of us this way.’

Spencer inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. He had hoped that their interaction back in the school library would have been enough to overcome Beatrice’s inferiority complex, but it was clear now that something so ingrained into Beatrice’s soul would take longer to completely rout out.

Thanks mysterious instinct. Spencer thought as he rubbed his head and thought how to best help his newest engie.

On a disorganized tool shelf on the side of the garage Spencer spotted a set of metal wrenches. He snagged two of them and tossed one to Beatrice. The engie caught it purely by instinct and inspected it with a bewildered expression.

‘What’s this for?’ She signed.

“Fold it in half.” Spencer instructed her as he held his own wrench between his hands.

Beatrice bent the tool like it was made of rubber. Spencer flexed as hard as he could but barely managed to bend the wrench a little.

“I guess you’re better than me.” Spencer let out an exaggerated sigh.

Beatrice’s eyes went wide. ‘Commander this is stupid. I’m a genetically modified human.’

“So I shouldn’t compare myself to you because you’re built differently than I am?” Spencer asked pointedly.

She immediately recognized the point he was making and narrowed her eyes.

‘That’s different commander and you know it.’ Her hands moved firmly. ‘I can’t fight off monsters like Sarah-’

“So what?” Spencer cut in. “We’re a team. A team doesn’t need every member doing everything. We would have been in trouble multiple times today if you weren’t here to shield us.”

Beatrice stamped her foot. ‘You say that now, but when you recruit better engies-’

“Then we’ll be a stronger team overall.” Spencer throws up his hands. “I’m not going to be pushing anyone out just because a new member joins. That’s not how I operate.”

He could see her doubt wavering.

“And another thing.” Spencer crossed his arms over his chest and leaned down to meet her eyes directly. “Never refer to yourself as ‘not beautiful’ ever again. Sure Sarah is gorgeous, but that doesn’t make you any less attractive. It’s like trying to compare sunsets on different days. Each is unique and breathtaking.”

Beatrice giggled and broke eye contact.

‘Not fair, commander… If you praise me like that… I’ll never let you go.’

Spencer gently turned her chin with his fingers and kissed her softly.

“It’s a promise then.”

******

Sarah watched silently from the cracked doorway while the commander held Beatrice close. Engies were creations of war. Monsters built to fight monsters. Stripped of their humanity and designed to live, fight, and die on the battlefield with nothing in the way of friends, family, or love. 

It was natural that they all grew to crave what they couldn’t have. 

The commander was an unstoppable force. His fierce determination to speak with them, learn about them, and love them for who they were fed perfectly into what all of them craved at a primal level. Thanks to his boon Sarah was already attracted to him when they first met, but Spencer simply being who he was made Sarah fall for him harder than she ever thought possible. 

Beatrice didn’t stand a chance.

Sarah could see the hearts blazing in the shorter girl’s eyes as she clung tightly to her commander’s shirt. The commander had bulldozed the pathetic walls Beatrice had attempted to build between them to save herself from future disappointment. An act that unknowingly made her fall even more dramatic when he won her over with his pure honesty. Her self doubt would probably take a while to overcome completely, but that girl would do anything to stay by the commander’s side now. That fire behind her gaze would die and kill for him without hesitation.

Just like me. Sarah smirked. You’re so perfect, commander…

Something metallic clicked off of the door near Sarah’s waist. She glanced down and felt a spike of alarm when she found herself holding her sword in a deathgrip.

When did I? Sarah’s bewilderment grew into panic as a mysterious dark liquid dripped from the blade’s razor sharp edge.

The dark liquid dripped faster. Sarah blinked and drew back with a gasp when Beatrice appeared at the end of the sword. Shadowthorn’s tip lodged deep within the shorter girl’s chest. Sarah blinked again and the image vanished. The dim hallway leading back to the garage lay empty. No more blood, no more blade in her hands, and no more dying Beatrice.

Sarah swallowed a lump in her throat and pushed the frightening images away from her mind.

The commander needs all of us. Sarah reminded herself. The commander is safer with more engies like me around…

The commander needed to survive. 

Spencer needed to survive. 

That’s all that mattered in the end and Sarah was willing to put aside everything to make sure that happened.

Sarah settled her emotions and reentered the room. “Announcing my return commander. Premises clear of hostiles.”

The commander nodded to Sarah before stepping back from Beatrice. He didn’t see the flicker of annoyance cross Beatrice’s face, but Sarah did.

“Okay.” Spencer leaned out the torn garage door and picked up his backpack from the floor in one motion. “Streets clear. We’ll come back here if we need to, but I want to pick up our next teammate before it gets dark.”

Sarah shared a look with Beatrice and an understanding passed between them. That fierce jealousy threatening to take them over had to be set aside. The idea of a third engie around the commander bothered them both, but the extra strength and protection far outweighed their personal desires. Hopefully the next engie falls in line with the shaky understanding growing in the commander’s ranks. 

If the newcomer refuses to play nice…

Beatrice’s shield spun around her head and the shorter girl nodded. Her blue eyes still locked onto Sarah’s with the same fierce determination.

Well at least I won’t be fighting alone.

“Very well, commander.”