Carmen and I were closer to the rest than we’d realised, as Kaelyn led us out into the scorpions lair. I wasn’t even about to attempt to understand the size of the place, as Carmen and Kian swept their flashlights around but there were no walls or ceiling that I could see. This place was much larger than the tunnels.

  “Careful,” Kaelyn said, as she led us in a straight line, across from the opening. It was many metres before several dull pinpoints of light let us know Davies and his team were over there. Kaelyn called out as we approached so the men would know of our presence. The last thing we needed was panic.

  It was much worse than Kaelyn had led us to believe. As we came across what I expected were the rest, it turned out to only be Charlotte kneeling by two soldiers on the ground, hands placed on their foreheads with Captain Davies looking on. I could see a faint sheen of sweat rolling down Charlotte’s temple and the grimace in her face, her eyes scrunched as she tried her best. The two soldiers had their eyes closed, but I could see the gentle lifting of their chests but it was the state of both that had Charlotte expending so much effort.

  One of the men was missing an arm at the shoulder and a chunk of his torso on the opposite side, like something had taken a bite out of him. Both injuries had been roughly bandaged, though the bandages were seeped in blood. Perhaps in time, Charlotte would be able to heal the skin and flesh and bones that the man had lost, but she was far from that kind of healing right now, if it was even possible. No. This guy’s time as a soldier was over. So was the other guy’s. His torso was intact as were his arms but his legs ended in stubs halfway down his thighs, similarly covered in blood-soaked bandages.

  The injuries were horrific by any sense of the word and I had to look away. Look, I was getting more used to death, but these were just soldiers, trying to keep us protected. Maybe they had wives and kids. They certainly would have family of some sort. It hit different to killing Darren or Michelle or the two with Nathan. Carmen was looking at me with a resigned look and a tear in her eye, perfectly mimicking the way I felt. Kian kept his eyes on the scene, like he was standing in solidarity with Charlotte. Even if she had her eyes closed, she was the one trying to help these two stay alive.

  “What about the rest?” I asked Davies, who kept his eyes firmly on the two soldiers. They were his men. They might be soldiers, but he was the one who had sent them in here.

  “Gone,” he said.

  My heart skipped a beat. “Hill? Jackson?”

  Before I mentioned the other two, Davies cut in. “No. We’re alive. I meant the rest of the scouting team I’d sent in. Those four are gathering the bodies. What’s left of them.”

  There was a grit in the man’s voice. It was said so matter-of-factly – almost cold, though I didn’t for one moment think it was. It was just facts. Better to deal with the facts than with hopes. Come to terms with what’s happened. Looking at Davies’ eyes, I could tell he was the kind of man who would personally reach out to the men’s families to notify them.

  Kaelyn tapped me gently on the arm and nodded her head to the right of us. Carmen and I followed her as she led us along the wall further into the cavern. In the light of Carmen’s flashlight, we could see several rocks jutting from the edges of the cavern, except they weren’t brown or grey in colour. They were a dark green so as to be almost black, and smooth enough that I felt like I would cut my finger as I ran it along the stone. Within the rock were lighter green patches.

  We stopped several metres away from Captain Davies and stood against the smooth stones jutting out of the wall. A short distance further on, we could see another pincer, larger than the ones the scorpion we had killed had. Now and then, slightly beyond it we could see the flashlights of two of the others blinking as they moved around.

  “There were three more in here,” Kaelyn said “Did you see the tunnel where the dead animals were? The soldiers wanted to investigate them, but I told them it was a bad idea. I told them we needed to turn around and come back tomorrow with larger teams, but we didn’t get the chance. Two of these beasts were already behind us.

  “The soldiers shot but it did nothing, and I needed more space to work in with two of them there. So we ran this way. Another found us, but we eventually made it here, where the big one was. With four of them here, the soldiers didn’t stand a chance. I saved who I could.”

  “How do you know there aren’t more?”

  “They were drawn to us for food. If there were more, they would have been in here. I guess there could be some hiding, but I think we’ll need to find out another day.”

  “So, what is it you wanted us to see?” Carmen asked.

  Kaelyn swept her hand towards the walls, indicating the black rocks. Both Carmen and I frowned at her. “These are Adamantine ores. It’s the strongest metal in the universe. It’s what my knife is made of. Those…what do you call them? Bullets? If they were made of Adamantine, the soldiers would have had no problem.”

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  “It’s a heavy price to pay for some metal,” I said.

  Kaelyn looked at me. “But now this area is cleared of these beasts. They’re not the kind of thing you want to keep free. And this metal is worth the price.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Silver linings, eh?” I said. I gave Carmen a look, as if to ask if this is what our life was going to be. Finding a positive in the death of others. But at the same time, I couldn’t argue with Kaelyn’s logic. We were in the midst of a battle. People were gonna die. People had died. That was just fact. Just like how Davies had told us about the soldiers. Get used to it. But the more I got used to it, the more it scared me that death would stop bothering me. And if it did, what would that say about me?

  ***

  It was a solemn walk out of the cavern and to the safety of the hills outside. After Captain Davies’ team had gathered the remains of the dead soldiers, the captain took the decision to leave them in the lair for now. The priority was to save the living. In the end, Private Jackson had the soldier with the missing legs strapped to his back, whilst the other one was carried carefully by Privates Grant and Stevens. Needs must.

  As we got to the area where the scorpion had been defeated, Davies stopped us.

  “Let’s take back a couple of samples. The scientists can have a look, before we send more men back inside.”

  Kian, Kaelyn and I took it upon ourselves to grab a segment of the scorpion each. I took what looked to be part of one of the legs, a circular trunk with little protrusions and a sickly yellow colour to it beneath the more heavily armoured top layer. It was heavy in my arms and made me think twice about my ability to carry it all the way back. This was one of those actions first, consequences later moments. The consequence would be aching arms and the possibility of looking like a weakling as I stumbled my way back through the tunnel with the rest.

  We had no trouble getting back outside – and by we, I meant I was doing my best to not let the others see just how much I was struggling to carry my segment of leg. It was easy enough to follow the markings we had made and there were no further scorpions to deal with, thankfully. It looked like Kaelyn was right.

  As soon as we stepped outside into the cool April air, Davies radioed for help as the two injured soldiers were laid down carefully. We placed the scorpion segments to one side and sat down in a circle around the injured soldiers, Private Jackson placing a couple of LED lanterns down so we could see.

  “This is just fucking shit, isn’t it?” Private Grant declared, stretching his legs out with a grim look on his face. An eyebrow or two was raised at him. He tipped his head towards the injured soldiers. “If we’re struggling this much already, what chance do we have against what’s out there?”

  “Come on,” Jackson said. “This could have happened on any mission. Shit goes wrong all the time.” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

  “I get that, but even when things go wrong on a mission, an entire team doesn’t get wiped out so easily. We can’t even do damage to these things.”

  “Only because we’re not using the System,” Stevens said. “It’ll be different once we start allocating our coins.”

  The five of them were waiting for the results from the test subjects. Which classes to select. Which enhancements to use. Even my group hadn’t allocated enhancements yet. We needed to make sure we got it right and we were severely hampered until those results came back. The scientists were on a time limit and even though it had been less than a couple of days since this all began, the other Champion forces out there were already way ahead of us on an individual level. We weren’t ready to face Rare tier opponents, let alone the Epic tier ones.

  Grant spoke as if he was reading my mind. “Even then, we’re weak. Do we even have a chance here?”

  “Of course we do,” Captain Davies said. He was standing with Sergeant Hill, a little off to the side. “What happened here was a mistake. My mistake. I underestimated the danger. That won’t happen again. But don’t forget, Earth as a whole was designated a Rare, Rank S planet. Maybe as individual soldiers, we don’t warrant that, but our firepower is enough to lessen the gap.”

  “Sir, with all due respect – we’ve just seen that it wasn’t. Even earlier, if it wasn’t for River, we would have died to a bunch of four legged steaks.”

  “But we do have River,” Davies replied, “and Kaelyn and Carmen, Kian, Charlotte. And we’re at least the lucky ones. Would you rather be on the front lines?”

  Grant looked Davies in the eye and gave a small shake of his head. “Not right now.”

  “Your concerns are valid,” Davies continued, “but as long as we’re in the fight, we have a chance.”

  “But you know they’ll come for us soon, Sir,” Grant said. “They’ll be after him.” He nodded his head towards me. “We’re not ready to face whatever they send.”

  “Let me worry about that,” I piped in, a slight smile on my face at Grant. His concerns were valid. But I wasn’t one to worry too much. You could only deal with what’s in front of you. No use worrying about things you couldn’t change.

  It was about twenty minutes later that several transports showed up as well as a medical team. Professor Dawn was with them also. The two injured soldiers were carefully loaded onto gurneys and into the transports as Professor Dawn took a look at the scorpion segments, with Davies beside her. I walked over to the both of them.

  “Did you see the ore inside?” I asked Davies. Professor Dawn looked up, curiosity on her face.

  “Yes. Kaelyn told me what it was.” Seeing the questions on Dawn’s face, Davies said, “A new type of metal. The strongest in the universe apparently.”

  Dawn’s face lit up. “We’re going to need to test it. We’ll need geologists and engineers.”

  “We’ll need a lot more than that,” Davies replied. “I’ll speak to the higher-ups. Let them send what we need.”

  He turned to the rest, standing a few metres away. “Come on. Let’s get back to base, have a hot meal, a shower and some much-needed rest. There’s going to be a lot to do this week.”

  There was subdued relief as we all headed to the transports.