Jeric held his rifle close as he stalked through the bushes, ahead of the rest of the team. Nora was only a few paces behind him, and after her came the other three members of his team: Sergeant Jones, Corporal Gaet, and Private Wells.

  He paused and held his fist up as he caught a strong scent of Unhuman, several species. That meant they were close to the facility. Nora recognized this and contacted command, letting them know that their squad was in position. Staff Sergeant Caldez led the other team—which included Private F’ira—that made up the rest of Squad Alpha thirty feet to his left.

  The world around him was silent as all the soldiers waited for their opening while the radio chattered in his ear. Less than a minute later, the [Skill]-shield activated, and the once-disguised entrance to the facility appeared a quarter of a mile in the distance alongside half a dozen targets.

  [Sniff: Inactive]

  [Mana Consumed: 2]

  “Ready to breach on your mark, Colonel,” Nora said. As Captain, she was technically running point on the whole operation from this side.

  There was a brief pause during which Jeric called up his status screen to confirm he knew his [Mana] level. While he couldn’t use his [Skills] out here, lower in the facility he would regain access to them.

  [Species: Bloodhound]

  [Conversion Percentage: 42%]

  [Available Mana: 40/42]

  [Skills:]

  [Toughened, Level 5]

  [Dark Vision, Level 10]

  [Sniff, Level 27]

  Plenty of [Mana] left to use for his most important [Skill], [Sniff], and enough that he could use [Dark Vision] if he needed. He didn’t anticipate there’d be very much hand-to-hand combat, so he’d have no need of [Toughened] on this mission.

  Jeric dismissed the text and repositioned his gun just as Colonel White gave them their go-ahead.

  Chaos exploded with bullets flying out from the bushes as the entire Alpha Squad simultaneously gunned down the few guards. Jeric stood up and ran from his hiding spot as the last body collapsed to the ground. They had limited time to get everyone out of here before the Unhumans brought the full force down, and he intended to see every Hexed Human go free this time around.

  Jeric was the first one in the door, followed closely by Gaet—a part-[Ogre] who specialized in [Frenzy]. Cement made up the floor, walls, and ceiling, with only bare bulbs providing light, a style used by every conversion facility he’d ever seen. It’s not like decorations served a purpose in a facility designed to mutilate and kill the innocent.

  As usual, they didn’t run into any resistance in the entryway, and when they reached the stairwell, Jeric waited for the whole squad to group together.

  “Jordan’s team, keep at the head,” Nora said. “The [Skill]-shield won’t be active below until we get another node set up so play it safe.”

  He nodded back to her and then opened the door to the stairs. Jones—a slightly Hexed woman who had the start of [Orc] tusks—ensured it was clear before he entered. Jeric went down the stairs quickly but not quite running as he kept his gun at the ready. They would run into resistance on the next floor. That’s how it always went.

  At the next door, Sergeant Jones opened it while Jeric did the check to see if any rogue Unhumans waited. Two enemies were there, but he downed both before anyone else could react. After confirming the rest of the area was clear, he stepped into the hallway which held several branching corridors. He went only to the first intersection and then stopped to allow the squad to regroup.

  “Jordan, take your team straight. Caldez, your team will go down this first hallway and leave the others for the Beta Squad. I’ll stay here to direct the rest of the squads as they come in. Our top priority is finding the security office and shutting it down before the freaks can organize,” Nora said. “Keep radios open. Ask for backup when you need it. We want heroes who come home.”

  Everyone agreed and then split off to follow her orders. Jeric remained at the head of his team as Private Wells trailed just two steps behind. He was also a Mixhuman, a preference Jeric had for all his team members, but his Hexing was greater than the others, looking more [Undine] than Human with the number of scales along his body. His hair was the fiery red of all of the [Undine], but his brown eyes remained clear and intense.

  At the end of the hallway, they hit a T-intersection.

  “Wells, Jones, take the left. Gaet and I will handle the right side,” Jeric said.

  Everyone agreed, as Jeric and the half-[Ogre] started down their assigned corridor. It was the same cement as the rest of the base, and while they didn’t have an up-to-date map of the facility, Jeric trusted his gut that he was headed the right way.

  Still, separated from half his team, he thought it best to be on the safe side, so with a thought and a deep scrunch of his nose, he activated his highest level [Skill]. The nose scrunch was a stupid requirement since the [Skill] was a passive, and it’d taken years of specialized training to get it to only activate when he wanted it instead of all the time as was the norm with that specific [Skill].

  [Sniff: Active]

  His nose twitched as a dozen different scents flooded into it. The mixture of Human and [Ogre] behind him was hard to ignore, but beyond that Jeric picked up the faint scent of [Diwata], [Vampire], and [Werewolf] coming from up ahead. The Unhumans tended to favor the [Physical] species for guards at these facilities so it wasn’t that surprising of a mix.

  The radio crackled in his ear as the squads which had arrived at the main corridor were given their directions, but Jeric ignored it to focus on his task and stay alert to danger.

  Even though [Sniff] was a cheap [Skill] to use, he did have to be careful using it so he could conserve [Mana] incase he needed other [Skills] and he didn’t have all that much [Mana] to use at forty-two-percent Hexing.

  Forty-two-percent too much.

  Memories teetered at the edge of his conscious mind, days locked in a cell screaming as his adolescent body underwent inconceivable changes. Hunger, agony, nightmares…

  Stop that.

  Jeric shook his head slightly, ending the reminiscing before it could begin. He was too good to fall back into that trap now, but seeing Fletcher again, especially with the conversation the night before where the man casually brought up Jeric’s most poignant trauma, made it especially hard to fight off the memories now that he was back in the facility of his greatest fears.

  The Unhuman scents he’d been following increased in intensity, and he shifted his gun to a more ready position. Gaet noticed and followed suit. They stopped outside a door where Jeric was certain the three Unhumans waited. He nodded to his teammate who gave a quick duck of his own head, shaking the dark mane which had started to sprout around his neck.

  With a thought and another scrunch of his nose, Jeric turned off his [Skill] to save what remained of his [Mana].

  [Sniff: Inactive]

  [Mana Consumed: 1]

  Jeric held up three fingers and counted down. Once it finished, Gaet opened the door, and Jeric sprung inside. He had both the [Vampire] and [Werewolf] down before either could reach for their weapons.

  The [Diwata], however, was a smaller target since he was only four feet tall. He was a mixture between Human and snake, with the flat nose of the reptile and, instead of two legs, a single snake tail formed his lower torso. His scaly hands were on his gun—curse the Humans for ever giving that knowledge away—but Gaet was in the room as well, and the [Diwata] noticed the new opponent too late.

  He fell to the floor as both Gaet’s and Jeric’s bullets found their homes, plastering his chest with bleeding holes.

  “This isn’t security,” Gaet said with a sigh, his voice taking on a certain rumbly feature that was uncharacteristic of Humans.

  “When are we ever that lucky?” Jeric looked around at what appeared to be an armory. If those three were already in here, that meant the alarm had already been raised.

  The radio sounded in his ear. “This is Jones. We’ve breached security, but we’re having trouble with the lockdown protocols.”

  Maybe they were lucky this time around.

  “I’m sending Echo Squad to your position. They have a tech to assist. FYI to all teams, the [Skill]-shield is active on this level now,” Nora said back.

  “This is Jordan. We found an armory with Unhumans already gearing up.”

  “Understood. Lock it down before continuing forward. The last thing we need is more armed freaks walking around,” Nora said.

  Gaet laughed, but Jeric barely huffed as he set to work digging out the proper supplies from his pockets. Gaet took notice and scanned the equipment as he was supposed to, a serious look on his face.

  “All clear, Sergeant,” the corporal declared.

  “Alright. Let’s blow it.” Jeric tossed him some of the charges, and together they spread them throughout the racks of equipment. Assuming the Unhumans didn’t store any of their own explosives in here, the explosion would be just enough to render the armory useless without killing themselves or doing anything else dramatic. Gaet’s job was to ensure that it was safe to use their own charges, and he’d given Jeric the go ahead.

  Once they finished, they both exited and closed the door behind them. Jeric motioned Gaet down the hall to where they’d originally come from, and, after they got a safe distance away, he used the detonator to blow the whole thing.

  The ground rocked and trails of smoke came from the bent door, but the corridor remained structurally intact.

  “Armory taken care of, Captain Anders,” Jeric said into his radio. “Continuing with search.”

  Nora acknowledged him amidst the commotion of also directing the rescue efforts for the first set of prisoners. With security down, the other squads could safely free the Hexed Humans locked away and get them above ground for medical care. But they were only dealing with the initial cellblock, the prisoners who didn’t put up enough fight to warrant intense security or harsh punishment.

  Jeric had his mind set on getting to the inner cells, where the Mixhumans who might actually provide something to the cause were being kept. Where he’d been kept.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  More memories assaulted him, from being taken deeper into the base while shouting and hitting his captors; to the dark, freezing cell, and finally to the rescue. That door opening and revealing a woman who might as well have been an angel from heaven.

  Hazel Anders.

  Enough, Jeric chided to himself as he and Corporal Gaet walked back down the hallway.

  “We’ve reached a dead end on our side. Coming to join you, Sergeant,” Jones reported back.

  “Roger that,” Jeric said.

  Based on the chatter on the radio, all the other squads were running into a whole lot more resistance than him and his team which did not bode well for their chances of breaking through in the lower levels.

  He and Gaet pressed onwards, trusting the other two to catch up when they could. As they turned the next corner in the hallway, Jeric discovered a set of five Unhumans at the far end.

  Wishing he’d had access to [Sniff] so he could have seen this coming, Jeric put his weapon up and laid down cover fire as Gaet ducked under him and dashed to crouch behind a bulkhead. The corporal then popped out and shot at the enemies as Jeric sprinted to the other side of the bulkhead. From this more defensible position, they exchanged fire with their enemies. Fortunately, Unhumans relied so heavily on their [Skills] that they rarely became expert marksmen so even with fewer numbers, Jeric and Gaet had the advantage.

  They took those five out, but six more took their place. Jeric cursed.

  “What’s your ETA, Jones? We could use a little backup,” Gaet said into the radio.

  “A minute tops,” she promised.

  The shooting from their enemies became intense enough that Jeric had to hide behind the bulkhead full time. These idiots were going to throw away all their ammo in a matter of minutes, and then this would be like taking candy from a baby.

  Jones and Wells briefly popped around the corner and then ducked back out of view.

  “Managed to piss the whole base off, Sergeant,” Wells snickered.

  “Freaks and I never have gotten along all that well.” Jeric doublechecked his clip, and when a break finally came, he stepped out of his protection—remaining in a crouch—and unloaded the mag into the blockage of enemies at the far door. His teammates did the same, and in less than thirty seconds, all six of the Unhumans were in a heap on the floor. The whole team quickly reloaded their weapons.

  “Let’s go before more reinforcements come.” Jeric stood up and jogged forwards, keeping his gun pointed at the doorway. They were going to save everyone in this facility. He would make sure of it.

  He and his team reached the door which led to the next stairwell. Two Unhumans were coming up to it, but Jeric and Gaet easily dispatched them before they made it too far.

  “This is Jordan. My team is heading down to the next level,” he informed Nora.

  “I’m sending Delta Squad after you as backup. Be careful down there. The [Skill]-shield—”

  “Won’t be active. I know, ma’am,” Jeric assured her. He looked over his shoulder to confirm his team was ready, and then went down the stairs. When he reached the next door, he stopped and allowed Jones to back him up. She opened it, and he checked for enemies.

  Jeric had to roll out of the way and into the open hallway as bullets flew at him from the Unhumans waiting. He managed to get behind the cover of a bulkhead as Jones poked her weapon out and gave him some cover fire, and using that, Jeric was able to step out into the open and unleash a couple dozen rounds at the freaks. The shooting stopped soon after, and his team came out of the stairwell.

  “The resistance is getting heavier,” Gaet not-so-helpfully noticed.

  “Good thing we have Delta coming to back us up,” he said, not bothering to look back. “Delta, what’s your ETA? We’re running into more trouble than we anticipated down here.”

  The lieutenant in-charge responded, citing less than five minutes until they caught up. That wasn’t all that much time, but Jeric wanted to push on to keep the Unhumans from easily rallying. With the [Skill]-shield unable to reach this far, he went ahead and turned back on [Sniff], giving him an advantage as they went through the next layer of the facility.

  [Sniff: Active]

  The strongest scents were those of his team, Human mixed with a variety of Unhumans, but he picked up on traces of pure Unhumans all over.

  A lot of traces.

  “It’s going to get worse from here on out,” Jeric warned the others. The ears on top of his head twitched, more sensitive to sound than those of a regular Human.

  He hadn’t made it more than twenty steps down the hallway when another group of Unhumans appeared at the end of the corridor. He and his team were trading shots with them when some of the enemy appeared on their side, coming out of a hallway which had been hidden by magic.

  Jeric swore as he turned to face the new set of enemies, keenly aware of the precarious position of his team. Wells shouted, and Jeric glanced back to see him on the ground, blood spilling out of a shoulder wound.

  “Sergeant, we can’t hold this position,” Jones yelled.

  “Retreat to the stairwell to regroup with Delta,” Jeric said. He and Gaet stayed put, covering his team’s escape as Jones helped Wells to his feet and those two ran back down the hall. Gaet then followed them, walking backwards so as to help defend Jeric. Once the corporal was far enough down, Jeric sprinted after him, diving around the corner as more bullets flew through the air.

  “How is he?” he asked Jones, who was wrapping a bandage around Wells’ shoulder.

  “It looks like a through and through. He should be okay as long as we get him out of here,” she said.

  “Give me a gun. Let me take these suckers out.” Wells attempted to stand up.

  “Easy, soldier. We want heroes who come home.” Jeric liked the saying Nora had coined for use on all their missions. It was a good reminder that living to fight another day mattered more than satiating one’s desire for revenge in the moment.

  Delta Squad arrived a minute later, and Jeric relinquished control of the situation to the lieutenant over them, a fully Human man named Mwangi.

  “Jordan, you and Gaet will cover the rear. I’ll take the lead with Sergeant Flores. We’ll end these freaks and get to the rest of the prisoners. Jones, take Wells back up the stairs and wait there,” Mwangi said with his thick Kenyan accent.

  “Yes, sir.” Jeric didn’t like the plan, but he was a soldier who knew how to follow orders.

  Mwangi and Flores went out first, then half their team, then the next half, and then finally Jeric and Gaet at the rear. They reached the corridor where they originally got stuck, but with the extra firepower they overcame the Unhumans.

  Or so it seemed.

  Once the last one fell, Mwangi was about to order them forward, but before he could start to speak, the lights flickered out.

  [Dark Vision: Active]

  More shooting began, alongside the shouts of Unhumans activating [Skills].

  “Everyone back,” the Lieutenant said.

  A [Blast Wave] rocked the floor, making it difficult to stay on his feet, but Jeric managed to jog away from the fight. He recognized the need to regroup against this kind of effort.

  Jeric and Gaet led the way, which worked out since they both had [Dark Vision]. The other soldiers had flashlights out in another second, but Jeric’s [Dark Vision] was high enough level that it wasn’t bothered by the bit of extra light.

  He took charge in getting everyone back to the lit stairwell and to the second floor landing where Jones and Wells waited.

  [Dark Vision: Inactive]

  [Sniff: Inactive]

  [Mana Consumed: 15]

  The world returned to one of normal vision and normal scents, which proved a bit of a hard adjustment.

  The Delta Squad trickled in after him and Gaet. Or at least what was left of them. They lost three soldiers in the rush back to the stairwell, but finally they were back within the safety of the [Skill]-shield.

  Lieutenant Mwangi shook his head and spoke into the radio on his ear. “I’m sorry, Captain, but we were unsuccessful. There’s too much resistance for us to make it through.”

  “We can’t give up. We just need another squad or two and the node for the shield, ma’am,” Jeric said before Nora could respond.

  “I just got word from the Colonel. They have reason to believe that the Unhumans are already sending reinforcements to this facility. We have two hours to get back to camp, get it down, and be on the road. He wants to be at the airstrip by noon,” Nora’s voice said in his ear. “This was good work. We got over four dozen refugees from this mission. I’m proud of you all.”

  “That’s not good enough,” Jeric growled. He didn’t care if everyone on the radio heard him. He knew that many of them agreed with him.

  “Sergeant Jordan, the order has been given. We’re done here.”

  “Captain—”

  “Fight another day, Jeric.”

  He balled his fist up, but he let the argument die there. It didn’t matter what he thought. He was only a staff sergeant after all, and Nora held the authority. This was one of the few moments he wished he’d taken Hazel up on that offer for officer training, despite knowing he would rather die than deal with the politics of the boot-licking officers.

  Jeric helped Wells to his feet, and then the pair of them joined the flow of soldiers leaving the stairwell and making their way out of the facility. It burned Jeric that they were abandoning people in this disgusting excuse for a prison, especially knowing that there were almost definitely children among those in the lower cellblock, but his hands were tied by the orders of his superiors.

  As they walked through the upper floor, he passed by Nora, but he made sure to avoid eye contact with the Captain, keeping his focus on getting his injured team member out of the base and to the medical camp.

  It took a few moments to adjust to the sunlight once they were outside, but Jeric kept a quick pace as he hauled Private Wells the mile and a half to the triage center, the others of his team close behind.

  The medical staff were inundated with people after getting so many refugees, but they ensured they had several medics set aside for the returning soldiers, and Jeric dropped Wells off with one of them.

  “Get better, kid. You’ll get your revenge next time,” Jeric told him.

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Wells nodded at him.

  Jeric walked away, Gaet and Jones on his heels.

  “What are you going to do now, Sergeant?” Gaet asked.

  “Go back to camp and help take it down. You heard Captain Anders,” he said as they walked.

  “We’re really leaving all those people behind. Last time you said—”

  “I know. But we don’t have a choice.” Jeric increased his pace, half-hoping the two soldiers would leave him alone, but he had no such luck. They stayed close to him all the way back to camp.

  When they arrived, some private informed Jeric he was wanted at the command center.

  “Go be useful. I’ll find you later,” he said to Gaet and Jones. They nodded and walked away as he made his way to the large canopy which was in a state of chaos. People were busy dismantling computers and screens and loading boxes.

  Colonel White stood at the center of it, conversing with Nora and Mwangi.

  “Sergeant Jordan, give me one good reason I shouldn’t write you up for court martial right now,” White shouted as soon as his eyes landed on Jeric.

  “It was… a tense situation, Colonel. I apologize for my actions.” The words nearly made him want to throw up, and he decided that he was very happy not being an officer and having to play these kinds of games all the time.

  Nora held an arm out in front of him. “I value my soldiers’ opinions, Colonel. All of them.”

  White snorted. “Don’t give me that crap, Anders. You two shouldn’t even be allowed on missions together.”

  “We’re not family. There are no rules against it.” Nora’s volume matched the Colonel’s. She had so much of Hazel in her, just not quite enough of the temperament.

  “You’re basically family. Just because Jordan wasn’t officially adopted by your mother, doesn’t change the fact that she played that role for him.” White stepped closer to Nora, and Jeric had to remind himself that shooting this man was not worth the headache that would come after.

  “You’re out of line, Colonel.”

  “How dare you talk to me like that. Just because—”

  Mwangi stepped between the two. “We have bigger concerns, sir. The Unhumans may very well be here within the hour, and we still have fifty refugees to finish processing and load up.”

  Nora and White stared at each other before both took a breath and looked away. The Colonel went off to boss some other poor soldier around, and Nora turned to Jeric.

  “Sorry about that. But he’s right. You were out of line, Jeric,” she said.

  “Can we discuss this later? This whole camp needs to be taken down,” he reminded her.

  “Okay.” Nora rubbed her head. “Look, can you do me a solid and take Fletcher with you? I know he’s a pain, but I’d rather he be with someone I trust.”

  “Fine. But you owe me big time.” Jeric crossed his arms. “Where is he?”

  “He’s just over—” Nora stopped and cursed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Jeric looked to where she pointed to see a suspiciously empty chair.

  Patreon is now eighteen chapters ahead :)