Chapter 6: Strays

The commander’s sleeping face is so adorable. Andrea hummed quietly as she gently brushed the front of his hair with her fingers.

It was strange being here. Andrea remembered who she was, a hopeful police recruit protecting the citizens within some of the last human strongholds left at the end of the world. She remembered volunteering to become an engie. The horrible surgeries, endless needles, and rigorous tests that dominated a year of her life, combat against monstrous horrors. Yet suddenly everything was different. This wasn’t the world she knew, but that was okay as long as the commander was here.

Andrea felt their connection immediately when she left her pod. Like a moth who’d never known sunlight before, she was drawn to him with reckless abandonment. He wasn’t like other commanders she’d known in her own world. They were cold, heartless, and calculating, but this one…

Her hand carded through his messy hair softly.

“Everything makes sense when you’re here, commander.” Andrea whispered excitedly.

He was so vulnerable at the moment. Andrea let her hand drift from the commander’s hair down to his cheek. A gentle, trailing finger that mapped the edge of his cheek and a vein softly pulsating in his neck. She could feel his nervousness bleeding through his skin even while he slept.

Perhaps I can find ways to help-

A noise paused her gentle ministrations. Andrea slipped into a careful state of alertness. Her visor snapped into place with a quiet click.

Footsteps. Bipedal. Andrea identified the gentle crunch of glass and debris faintly echoing up the stairs.

She could make out two distinct people creeping into the house from the broken front entrance. There was a soft curse as whoever it was spotted the monster corpses piled up in the corner of the living room.

Probably not creatures then. Andrea carefully lifted the commander’s head just enough to slip off the bed before laying him gently down again. That doesn’t mean they’re not hostile.

Andrea’s hand snagged her nightstick and riot shield from where she had left them and quietly snuck out of the commander’s bedroom door. Faint whispers could be heard downstairs as Andrea crept closer to the out of sight intruders. Andrea strained her ears to catch what was being said.

“- else do we go? That thing destroyed our car!” A girl’s voice hissed at the second person around the corner.

“Yeah and a few of those things are right there! This house obviously isn’t safe either.” An older girl responded.

Sisters maybe? Andrea relaxed a little.

“Hey!” She called down to the pair.

There were two thumps as both girls threw themselves against the wall with a yelp.

Andrea stepped around the corner with her hands held out in a peaceful gesture.

“Don’t scream.” She ordered the intruders. “I cleared out the immediate threats but the monsters seem to be drawn to loud noises. If you scream you’ll bring more this way and I can’t let that happen.”

Andrea nodded up the stairs. “The commander is still getting his much needed rest.”

The girls let out shaky breaths. The younger of the two slid down the wall and placed her head in between her own knees as she attempted to steady her shaky limbs. Both girls had blonde hair, dirtied colorful blouses, and torn skinny jeans. The younger girl had a school bag while the older one had a laptop case slung over one shoulder.

“Sorry we didn’t know anyone was in here.” The older girl stumbled forward. “I was dropping my sister off at school when those… things fell from the sky and started attacking everything. My car was flipped over and there was so much screaming… we ran randomly and I just saw the broken door and wanted to get off of the street before-”

Andrea held up a hand to stop the girl’s tearful explanation. The older girl glanced at the riot shield before leaning around the corner to look up the staircase.

“You mentioned something about a commander? Are you with the police?”

Her question gave Andrea some pause. Her commander mentioned wanting to save people from this apocalypse and here were two people in need of saving… And yet…

Her fingers tightened around her weapons. An odd reaction, Andrea had to admit to herself, and she wasn’t sure why she felt this way out of the blue.

Too pretty. Andrea’s face darkened as she analyzed the face and body of both girls in front of her. Far too pretty.

By the time the older girl looked back Andrea forced her expression back to normal.

“No. We’re not the police. This is just something I picked up to defend myself with.” A cold edge now sharpened her words as Andrea allowed her hostile attitude to leak out. “The commander and I killed the residence of this house to secure it for ourselves.”

The two girls’ eyes widened. The switch up in attitude was jarring and both recoiled from Andrea’s sinister words.

“I suggest you find shelter elsewhere.”

The sisters scrambled back out the broken entrance and sprinted away from the house as fast as their feet could carry them. Andrea watched them go with apprehension. She technically wasn’t supposed to act without the commander's permission. If they were to run into a similar situation when the commander was awake and not in dire need of rest, Andrea would follow the commander’s orders without question.

This is what’s best for the commander right now. Andrea assured her uneasy heart with carefully sculpted words. The commander’s wellbeing is my highest priority. That’s right. If… he doesn’t know anyone else was here then he won’t feel bad about not helping them…. He doesn’t have to know…

******

A monstrous shriek, the smell of burning brakes, and a slumped body filled Spencer’s mind as he tossed back and forth in his sleep. Blood pooled on the slanted bus floor filled by two separate rivers of crimson. One from the motionless body of his friend crushed against the dashboard and a second from the back of the bus where the broken roof exposed a beam of light onto the dripping empty seats.

A frantic thumping on Spencer’s chest made it feel like a hammer was mercilessly beating him, but it was only his own heart. He wanted so desperately to look away yet his body refused to move. Steven’s body shifted. Without warning his deceased friend rolled over. Steven’s head remained at an odd angle as his lifeless eyes fixed themselves directly onto Spencer’s own.  He wanted to scream, he wanted to apologize, he wanted to throw himself out of the driver’s window and escape those empty hollow eyes, but he couldn’t.

“Shhhh… I’m here commander.”

A soft feminine voice broke through the sound of Spencer’s own heartbeat. Cool hands gently pressed themselves on either side of Spencer’s head and the nightmare was gone. No more bus, no more blood, no more hollow eyes. Spencer blinked as his consciousness rose out of a fitful slumber and back into his bedroom.

Andrea’s face hovered above his own. She watched him carefully as he rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“You were muttering and shaking in your sleep.” Andrea noted calmly.

“Sorry.” Spencer sat at the edge of his bed and shook his head to clear it. “It was… just a bad dream.”

Andrea bit her lower lip remorsefully. “I shouldn’t have left. You were sleeping so well in my lap. I just heard a noise and thought you’d be fine for a few minutes on your own…”

The fact that Spencer had fallen asleep against Andrea’s thighs returned to him like a freight train. He blushed fiercely and looked away.

“Um. Yeah, that’s okay. What noises did you hear?” He shifted quickly away from that topic.

Andrea looked towards the door and shrugged.

“Just some ugly stray mutts. Not monsters. Nothing to be worried about.” She said with a half smile.

Spencer frowned. It felt strange that she felt the need to call the dogs ugly.

Maybe she just doesn’t like animals. He reasoned.

Spencer stood and stretched out his stiff limbs. His leg ached, but it felt significantly better now than it had been before his nap. Which didn’t make much sense. A leg wound like that should take a few weeks to heal up. Spencer turned to find Andrea continuing to watch him with rapt attention.

Maybe she’s accelerating my natural healing somehow? I don’t know what she can do… Actually I don’t really know anything about her.

Images from the nightmare he just woke up from flashed through Spencer’s mind. That need to keep moving, to stay busy, muscled its way back into his thoughts.

“Right.” Spencer retrieved his twelve gauge and ammunition from where he had set them down. “There’s a few things that need to be done.”

At that moment Spencer noticed a small grey icon pulsing in the bottom right corner of his vision. He reached a hand out and pushed it. A notification box appeared in the air in front of him.

‘Reward for, First five pulls purchased, quest is still pending claim. Would you like to navigate to the shop to receive: Class three personal protective gear?’

Spencer pressed the ‘yes’ button and watched the notification vanish and a shop window appear. The shop was split into a variety of tabs; weapons, head, chest, pants, boots, and trinkets. Spencer clicked through each tab and noticed that almost all of the shop options were locked behind grey walls that obscured what they were offering. He pressed one and a new notification box appeared in front of him.

‘Error: Team member not on current roster. Add new members and check back later.’

“Shop items are unique to each engie.” Spencer muttered as he closed the error box.

Andrea cocked her head. “What are you talking about commander?”

Spencer glanced her way and raised an eyebrow. “Can you see what I’m interacting with?”

The red haired young woman shook her head.

Spencer frowned. “And the large beams of light outside that guide me to our future engie squad mates… You can’t see those either?”

Andrea walked over to the window and peered between the blinds.

“No commander.” She sounded pained at the admission, like she was disappointing him somehow.

“That’s okay.” Spencer rushed to assure her. “I’m still learning how to be… your commander.”

She blushed at the words and smiled bashfully.

Spencer cleared his throat and continued. “So… yeah there are things that only I can see and interact with apparently. It’s how I’m able to be your commander. Hopefully this invisible system can help us survive this apocalypse.”

Andrea saluted eagerly. “Sounds good to me, commander.”

So trusting… Spencer marveled.

If he were in Andrea’s shoes he’d have far more questions about the sanity of his companion.

Spencer turned his attention back to the shop. The options that were available for purchase looked to be unique to Andrea. He saw a few stronger looking nightsticks, some riot helmets, a few tactical looking vests, but all of it started from a few hundred store credits at the cheaper end. Spencer checked his empty balance and shook his head.

Hopefully future quests provide larger payouts.

Spencer navigated to the quest reward screen. He pressed a checkmark on the screen and a bright light flooded the room. Both of them lifted a hand up to shield their eyes, but just as quickly as it had come the light faded. A weight suddenly appeared in Spencer’s hands. He blinked and looked down to find a military grade armored rig hanging from his once empty hand.

Wordlessly, Spencer lifted the vest up over his head and strapped it onto his chest. The plate carrier was significantly lighter than expected. Spencer opened the velcro pocket that contained the armored plates and confirmed they were there. The plates themselves felt strong and durable to the touch, but Spencer had no way of knowing if their light weight was due to being made from futuristic strong material or incredibly weak and cheap material. He didn’t really want to pull one out and test it since he had no way of replacing these generated plates.

It did occur to Spencer that it was odd to be given a bullet proof rig when he would be fighting monsters that had teeth and claws, but hey, he figured it was better than the t-shirt and torn pants he had worn earlier.

A quick browse through the shop confirmed that it offered no personal gear he could purchase, which meant that whatever Spencer was given as part of quest rewards should not be thrown away lightly.

“Let’s just plan on not getting hit.” Spencer said aloud as he velcroed back up the plates and tightened the shoulder straps slightly.

The protective gear fit him very well and didn’t limit his mobility as much as he initially feared it might. The mixture of soft and hard armor covered his chest, abdomen, and back. Spencer’s head, arms, and legs were still vulnerable, but there wasn’t much he could do about that at the moment.

“You said there were a few things that needed to get done?” Andrea reminded him as he finished getting his stuff together.

She picked her own gear back up and bounced in place like a boxer warming up for a fight.

Spencer nodded. “First, we gather up supplies around my home. Load up some backpacks just in case we can’t return here for the night. Second…”

He felt a demanding ball of vile rise in his throat at the thought of what he’d need to do at the wrecked bus down the road. He swallowed it down forcibly and cleared his throat before continuing.

“Second, I have a promise to keep. After that we’ll work on picking up the remaining members of our team.”

Andrea nodded her understanding and they both walked out of his bedroom door back out into the hellscape Spencer once called home.