The energy in city hall was less hectic than the last time he was here. Everyone had a smile on their face, and a hopeful energy about them. Many were discussing plans on how to celebrate later, and as Damian looked for someone to point him to where the Colonel was, he received quite a few slaps on the back. As he was being led to a conference room that the Colonel was apparently still at, Damian swore he could feel a malicious gaze on him. He whipped his head around just in time to notice one of the mayor’s aides quickly turn and rush down a hall.
Entering the conference room, he saw that the Colonel was on a conference call with HQ. The conversation stopped mid-sentence as they all noticed his intrusion.
“I can wait if I’m interrupting.” Damian offered, he always felt so awkward walking in on a call.
General Krueger shook her head, “No, your timing couldn’t be better. We were going to have the Colonel track you and your friend down soon anyway, but before that thank you for securing our reinforcements. I haven’t seen casualties this low in a long time.”
Damian just nodded his head, “No problem, I’m just glad it worked. What do you need me and Lu for?”
“We located three of the nine portals on the North American continent, and we are sending you out to close them.” One of the other Generals, Wilson if he remembered right, said, “You will be heading to the portal just outside the New York base and Lu will be heading to one in Nevada. The last one, in the British Columbia region of Canada, is being handled by the three Inducted native to the country. Lu Bufeng will be working with two Inducted from Central America and as for yourself, we are flying out two others to help you. You will leave tomorrow morning.”
Damian just nodded in acceptance, “I’ll go track down Lu and let him know. Colonel we’ll catch up another time I need to go prepare.”
Colonel Johnson got up and approached Damian. Once in range he clasped the younger man’s shoulders and gave him a respectful nod, “Thank you for getting us some help, son. It saved the lives of many good men and women today and I can’t tell you how happy I am to not have to write any letters of condolence tonight. For once I can sit back and get proper drunk with peace of mind.”
Damian laughed along with some of the generals and bureaucrats on screen, then bid them farewell again and left. As he was leaving, he noticed a strange scent just outside the door to the conference room. A mix of stale sweat and nerves, mixed with too much cologne, assaulted his nostrils. It lingered like a fog near the doors as if someone was waiting on the other side for quite a while, almost like they were eavesdropping. Why anyone would eavesdrop on a simple debriefing Damian couldn’t hazard a guess, but he started to follow the trail and investigate. The scent was still warm and thick making it easy to track. Damian stalked down hallways pausing only for the briefest of instants at intersecting halls to asses direction. The smell eventually led him out back near the water department offices.
The scent looped around to the left towards the fire department building. Just as Damian reached the corner, he heard the end of a conversation.
“No, sir. The Inducted,” The man seemed to spit the title rather than say it, “are being sent out of the city to go close portals. Nothing else of note was discussed so I left to update you. Yes. Yes. I will keep watching the Colonel closely, I’m certain he is hiding something we can use.”
Damian peeked around the corner to see the back of the same aid that was mean mugging him earlier, speaking on the phone. Damian shook his head and turned back, whatever this stupidity was it could wait. He’ll send a note to the Colonel that he was being observed and let him deal with it. No doubt it was some petty power play from the mayor’s side, it seemed as if the man couldn’t relax if he didn’t have some kind of dirt on his rivals. Damian gave the wall a good thwack as he left, and smirked when he heard the aide’s high-pitched shriek. Say what you will but Damian could be a damn petty bastard when he wanted to be.
It didn’t take long to track Lu down; Damian just had to follow the chanting to the nearby block party. The crowd was chanting ‘Lu! Lu! Lu!’ as the big man chugged down drink after drink while balancing two ladies on his shoulders. Damian cracked a grin as he noticed that the two ladies were the same ones teasing him earlier in the day. Damian was never going to let him live this down. He joined the chanting and let Lu enjoy himself for a few more minutes before making his way through the crowd. The crowd gave another cheer when they recognized Damian and one of them shoved a drink in his hands and offered a toast. Lu caught sight of him a moment later and wandered over.
“Damian! Glad you could finally make it. What took you so long?” The big man drunkenly slurred.
“Got distracted on my way to see the Colonel, but that’s not important right now. What is important is whether or not I need to find somewhere else to sleep tonight or are you going to stay with the two pretty ladies on your shoulders?” Damian cracked a grin.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Huh?” Lu seemed to just remember that they were there, “No! It’s not……I didn’t…..shut up! His face grew crimson as the two women just giggled.
The one on his left shoulder barely managed to speak through her giggling, “Don’t worry, you can go home in peace tonight. The big man will be staying with us.”
If possible Big Lu’s face got even redder. Damian snorted out a laugh, “Sounds good just make sure you don’t keep him up too late.” He turned his attention back to Lu and became serious, “We are being sent to close some portals tomorrow and knowing the Colonel we will probably be leaving early.”
Lu seemed to regain some calm and sobriety at that, “I’ll be ready don’t worry. I’ll have to do a rush job on your jacket so you have some armor ready but it will be better than nothing.”
Damian just nodded and clapped his friend on the back, then gained a devious smirk and turned to the ladies again. “You two should take him back now to ensure he gets his rest.”
Damian and the two ladies laughed as Big Lu spluttered in embarrassment. Bidding farewell to the trio Damian headed back home, after entering he pulled out the dusty tome from Maladus for a quick refresher. When he finished reading, he decided to make a quick, cliff notes version of the rune book. He would pass it along in the morning for others to make copies of and distribute later. Damian gathered everything he believed he would need for the portal scenario in his inventory. He also may have happened to grab a bunch of books, movies, and board games, as potential trade fodder with the Nine Hells Merchant Company. After a second sweep of the house to make sure he didn’t forget anything, Damian settled down to sleep.
Startled awake at five in the morning, Damian flops out of bed and onto the floor. With a curse, Damian stumbled his way to the door and threw it open.
“What?” Damian growled out at the soldier standing outside.
“Colonel Cambel, sir! I am here to bring you to the convoy that will take you to New York.” The soldier saluted.
“Right, that was happening today.” Damian muttered as he shook the remains of sleep from his head, he could have sworn he set an alarm before going to bed. He waved the soldier in and had him wait while Damian rushed to get ready. After a quick fifteen minutes Damian followed the soldier to the convoy of vehicles that would be departing. There were two armored personal carriers, three cargo trucks, ten buses that were refitted with armor, and various other escort vehicles with mounted weaponry. Damian looked at the buses in confusion and turned to the soldier next to him.
“What’s with the buses?” Damian asked.
The soldier gives him a confused look for a second before he seems to realize something. “Right! I forgot that it’s not common knowledge. When we go on scouting and supply runs, we have occasionally come across a few holdout communities of survivors. They are mostly located around doomsday prepper bunkers or a few of the larger high schools. The monsters seem to gravitate towards the largest settlements of people in their vicinity, it’s one of the reasons that the base cities were made in the first place. As long as those in smaller communities keep their heads down during the waves and don’t provoke the monsters that pass by, they are mostly left alone. We try to send them supplies when we can, now that we have the Einherjar to help out with defenses while we are away, we are going to try to evacuate anyone who is willing to move here or to any of the base cities on our way. It will increase travel time, but we owe it to them to try.”
Damian just nodded his acceptance and tucked his Tlanuwa egg under his arm, patted the soldier on the shoulder and made his way to the head of the convoy where a Staff Sergeant was organizing everyone. The man gave a few last orders before turning to Damian and giving him a quick salute.
“Sir. Glad to have you with us, you will be in the front most APC for this trip. It should in total take us four days to reach the New York base. We have a few stops scheduled along the way, but we will keep the excess time to a minimum.”
“No problem, Sergeant. The portal isn’t going anywhere, and you’ve got people to help.” Damian replied.
The Sergeant gave him a tight smile, “Glad you agree sir, the other escortee wasn’t as accommodating.”
“Other?” Damian asked in confusion. Before the Sergeant could say anything an obnoxious and annoying voice bellowed out from one of the buses.
“This is completely unacceptable! I will not be riding a bus all the way to D.C.! Do you know who I am! I demand a better mode of transport!” Mayor Collins stormed his way over and was about to continue berating the Staff Sergeant, before he noticed Damian standing to the side. “Ah, Damian Campbell, how…….nice….to see you again.”
Damian could feel a headache coming on, this was going to be a long trip. With any luck he could just ignore the little toad and not have to deal with him, something told him that wasn’t going to be the case.
