Chapter 58: Reclaiming The Bridge

  The next morning, Erik felt groggier than he’d felt since before Afterlife—he felt human again. He found himself all alone in the room, with all the other cots vacated, even their duvets and pillows gone. He got dressed and left the room, seeing most of the others sleeping in a rough circle downstairs, despite the glacial ground. Most slept on top of their duvets, not under, and were instead sleeping within sleeping bags.

  Sophie and Jessie shared a zipped-open bag while everyone else slept alone. The sound of his feet hitting every step of the staircase woke Jessie and Emma, but none of the others as far as Erik could tell. He grabbed a paper cup and filled it with what he thought was cold coffee, finding the liquid piping hot instead. Angela must’ve taken care of it. He left the hangar as soundlessly as he could.

  On the airfield, between and to the side of several similar hangars, he saw Angela with a clipboard and pen, checking their helicopter and marking her findings on the clipboard. Erik looked around some more, finding nothing of any interest, except for four other helicopters being prepped.

  He strolled over to Angela, taking his time to breathe in the fresh morning air. Four months ago, he would’ve called this nighttime, yet here he was, up and at’em earlier than five in the morning, drinking coffee even without feeling the need for it.

  As he approached, Angela noticed him, waved in greeting and got back to her list. Erik walked up to the helicopter, then stood there, loitering.

  Before Angela was done, Emma joined him, her face darkened with poor sleep. She didn’t mention it, just greeted him and Angela with a ‘good morning’. Another few minutes went by with no more communication between the three until Angela had finished her check. She leaned back against the side of the helicopter, closing her eyes and seeming to enjoy the crisp morning air just like Erik did.

  “Are you feeling okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Just the dreams I keep having. I’m sorry for keeping you up,” Erik apologised, not meeting her gaze.

  “You didn’t. Once we realised, we woke the others and moved before you could do anything. You didn’t wake, or hurt, anyone. Jessie kept an eye on that aura-thing of yours, and it was a good thing we moved—she said she hadn’t sensed anything like it in the time since she started sensing auras herself.”

  “It was the worst one yet. I don’t know if it’s even real or not. It keeps changing. The more details I seem to remember about it, the more I start to doubt what I remember. I saw a man this time. It was only a glimpse, but I know him. But why would he be there? Why would he do this? Is it even a genuine memory? How can I tell?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll find out soon enough, I suppose.”

  “What do you mean?” Erik raised his head, looking up at Angela.

  “You and your family were killed in a mysterious fire. One of the first things you remembered about it was the black flames, right? And you’re certain about them being real?” she asked.

  “I am.”

  “A month later, a small army of Hellbeasts attacks the next town over from yours, followed by your own hometown and spreading like wildfire from there on, their numbers growing day by day, am I right?”

  “Yes.” He figured it was a rhetorical line of questioning, but he might as well take part. He’d been dead by that point and only learned about the events after resurrecting another two months after the Hellbeasts attacked.

  “Knowing magic is a real thing, it shouldn’t be too hard to tie these events together. You were killed by magical black fire, and a month later an army of magical beasts attacked as if they had spawned just a dozen kilometres away from where you were killed.”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “So let me ask you a few more questions,” Angela said, stepping away from the helicopter and walking over to Erik and Emma, positioning herself in front of the man.

  Emma had perked up, interested in the conversation, yet she didn’t interrupt.

  “Shoot,” Erik said, meeting Angela’s gaze again.

  “That figure you saw in your dreams last night…was he family?”

  “He was.”

  “Did he live in either of those towns?”

  “He did.”

  “When did he die?”

  “Three years ago.”

  As Erik’s group was packing up their stuff and readying themselves for take-off, the entire air base was flush with activity, with the other choppers being prepped and several men filling their cargos with arms and munitions. Bumley, followed by MacLeod, came to talk with Angela and Erik, pulling them away from all the hubbub. It was still early morning, but it seemed Bumley hadn’t slept during the night.

  “The Office of Infrastructure and Defence wants to offer its apologies for the unsanctioned behaviour of Mr Harvey yesterday. They wish to assure you they had no intention of trying to weasel out of the deal in any way, shape, or form, and that measures will be taken that it won’t happen again,” he said, getting straight to the point.

  “So, when everything turned to shit, they’re pretending not to be involved and are using Harvey as a scapegoat?” Angela asked, stealing the accusation right out of Erik’s mouth.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Possibly. Probably. Still, they seem intent on honouring their part of the deal, despite Harvey’s threats of pulling the forces promised. Three helicopters besides your own will join you to rebuild Bridgefort, with an airdrop of additional personnel coming as soon as the mission is reported successful. All officers in the helis are handpicked by me, and they are somewhat aware of your and Miss Callum’s…attributes. The ones dropping in when the base is ready are all OID, just so you’re aware.”

  “Remind me again why we aren’t just airdropping into my hometown or somewhere close?” Erik asked.

  “Other than that we really don’t know what we’re facing—or even the number of Hellbeasts—fighting through rather than jumping into the middle of, will be crucial if we have to retreat. Considering our last discussion, we can’t be certain what other kinds of dangers we’ll face over there. Can we be certain the plane or helicopter won’t be taken down?” Angela said.

  Bumley looked at Angela and Erik with confusion. His thoughts were clear as day.

  “We have some…suspicions regarding what we’re facing, but it isn’t important. The plan doesn’t change,” Angela dodged.

  “If you say so,” he responded with a slight gesture of his head.

  “Still, the deal was airdropping personnel and land cruisers for us. Are they reneging on that?”

  “Not as far as I’m aware. Even if they are, there should still be vehicles and fuel at Bridgefort. The Hellbeasts have only shown interest in people and infrastructure, so empty vehicles should still be mostly safe. Consider that a fallback, though. A hangar plane is standing by, though at another airfield. Sorry, I can’t be more certain about this.”

  “No worries, General. You’re not part of ‘Oink’ or whatever they call themselves,” Erik said, slapping the older man’s shoulder in a friendly manner.

  “Actually, he is. The entire UB military is, as a matter of fact. The Office of Infrastructure and Defence and the Office of Farmland and Trade are two of the three governing bodies of the UB along with the Office of Enterprise and Law. Only the president is technically above any of them,” said Angela.

  “I was never one for politics. Why haven’t I heard of them before?”

  “There are multiple branches under every Office, like the military being split into the Army, the Air Force, and the Marine Force.”

  “I see. Well, here’s hoping we can trust the Oinks this time around,” Erik said, nodding a farewell to General Bumley.

  The Remnant party’s helicopter was the first one up in the air, the rest not scheduled to leave until an hour later than theirs. They said their thanks and goodbyes to their allies Bumley, MacLeod, and Colson, as well as their new friend Roger, who was still on base that morning, though was just about to leave himself.

  The mood in the helicopter was pregnant with anticipation, most fearing that their goodbyes would be permanent. Sophie and Jessie were arguing yet again about Sophie’s involvement in the coming fights. Jessie let Sophie do as she pleased, for the most part, though she always tried to change her sister’s mind. Their discussion always devolved from ‘not coming’ to ‘stay where it’s safe’ to ‘fine, let’s go’.

  “You are staying behind at Bridgefort!” Jessie argued.

  “I most certainly am not! I’m part of the team, which means I’m going with you!”

  “So is Amir, and he’s staying behind!”

  “He’s a glorified chauffeur, so why would he go along?”

  “You do know you are speaking over the radio, right?” Amir interjected.

  “He has his uses, and his uses won’t be needed after Bridgefort,” Jessie argued, ignoring the pilot’s voice.

  “Are you saying I’m not useful?”

  “No, I’ve tried really hard not to say that, in fact!”

  Erik winced, as did Jessie. He wondered how many times this exact discussion had run its course without Jessie or Sophie even nearing the term ‘useless’. Now, Jessia had mentioned it. There was no ill intent behind it, but Erik was certain all of them—including him—had thought this exact thing for most of the journey they had travelled together until now. He was even sure Sophie thought the same thing yet wouldn’t surrender to that fact.

  She had been training with them every morning while in Africa, but a week meant nothing in the long run. She was far from ready to fight along with them. In the coming days, Sophie was…useless.

  The golden-haired girl reeled back after Jessie’s last statement but quickly got back up.

  “I’m not useless! I can help Dunham! If anyone gets hurt, he’ll be needing another set of hands, right? All of you can’t be around all the time, right?”

  Jessie stared at her sister, while the rest of the cabin stared at Jessie.

  “Fine,” was all Jessie said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat, looking up into the corner of the cabin.

  Sophie squealed with joy and wrapped an arm around her older sister.

  Upon nearing their destination, Erik and Jessie released their seatbelts and prepared themselves. They opened the side door, letting a massive whoosh of air in. Looking down on the bridge, they saw just two monster dogs patrolling the ruined military base. The bridge connected Sweden’s mainland at one end to a small island before the road connected to an underwater tunnel the rest of the way to Denmark.

  Bridgefort had specifically not been set up on that island, as they would then have to defend themselves on all sides, rather than just the two directions up on the bridge. This was likely the reason Bridgefort had held so long.

  The Hellbeasts being here wasn’t a total surprise, but why they were here was uncertain. As far as anyone knew, they specifically targeted infrastructure, and seldom patrolled the open road between population hubs, unless there were factories or similar infrastructure. This was just a bridge. Part of important infrastructure, sure, but it didn’t lead any critical amount of power anywhere, nor did it do anything. It wasn’t much more than a normal road, but in the end, it didn’t matter.

  Erik and Jessie were prepared for this and ready to assault however many beasts there were to clear a landing site for the helicopter. Sharing a nod with each other, the Remnants leapt out, falling towards the ground from high up.

  Erik smashed into the ground with his Unleash ability active, his arms and legs more monstrous and dangerous than the Hellbeasts themselves. Jessie, in a show of her new power, Jet, shot forward through the air moments before landing. Her downward momentum reduced to zero, and ten metres ahead of her would-be landing zone, her feet touched the ground with a light tap only inches away from an unsuspecting hound—which caught fire and was swallowed by a raging inferno by a casting of her ‘Scorch’ spell.

  A large amount of blood splattered into the magical inferno as Erik appeared, slicing open the second hound with long, deadly claws.

  They split up, going their separate ways down the bridge to make sure no other monsters were lurking, and to dispose of any new arrivals as fast as possible. The helicopter then started its descent now that the surrounding area was clear, having plenty of empty tarmac to land.

  Minutes later, Amir shut the helicopter down, as both Erik and Jessie signalled that the location was safe for the moment—each with their own spells. Jessie shot up several flame scythes, the fire being less visible in the daylight than Erik’s dazzling beam of light.

  As the engine shut down and the rotors slowed, the rest of the party left the vehicle and started preparing the base for another several people and helicopters. They cleared the road of debris as best they could, but the wall and the barriers, wrecked when Bridgefort fell, were beyond their ability to repair. That would require replacements, welding or more manpower, so it had to be put on hold.

  Erik returned closer to base later, greeting the rest while keeping his distance from them, watching for monsters on his side of the bridge. Jessie, being the more mobile of the two, had a much larger part of the bridge to clear, along with the small island the Hellhounds could swim onto and attack the bridge from.

  She cleared the area, but didn’t proceed into the underwater tunnel, as that would leave the bridge open to swimmers again. Instead, she sat down and practised her aura technique as her senses kept her alert.