Chapter 9: From Riches to Rags

It was morbid, a little too real. Body bags were included in our supplies, eight of them. For whatever reason, my brain paused at that number. Why not seven? Who was going to stick the last of us into our own damn bag?

These thoughts ran though my mind as we zipped up Tak, raised his body into the box, and sealed it. I should have said something. I didn’t. Just stared out of focus during the entire process. How, how did I become the leader? I wasn’t ready for this. Sure, we all had training for emergencies and command responsibilities. Alpha Team’s destruction in the atmosphere and Jadon’s disappearance made the mission serious, the strange changes to our bodies alarming when we thought about them, but frivolous on the surface. Tak’s death, though . . . in my arms, he died in my arms while I tried to stop the bleeding. This wasn’t a game, even if it resembled one.

We all stared at the container, waiting. I swallowed, walked over there, touched the right place and it sealed shut. Turned to the group, “We have to move. Those brigands might return in force. Yes, Fred, we have guns now, but if they stay in the forest, their crossbows would be a real problem. We don’t have time to bury the bodies, let’s line them up. Take whatever coin is on them, anything of value.”

Fred and Ave, our strongest, nodded to each other, then began laying each body side by side.

Bent said to me, “We could, you know, put their weapons in the container.”

“Whatever for?”

“If we want to study them later. Or to keep them out of the bandit’s hands. Or, if something terrible happens and we need weapons, we’ll know where to come.”

“Well, there’s nine other containers with submachine guns. We’re good on that front, but I think your idea is solid. We’ll do that, whatever weapons we don’t need, put them into the box.”

He gave me a weird look, then grabbed Dylan and started collecting swords, crossbows, a bow. Lane headed over to join them, picking up a sword and belt for himself, a bow, a couple quivers of arrows.

I reopened the box, feeling like I was profaning the dead. The damned message began playing. Shook my head and walked a little ways away to stare at the forest. Guard duty, I told myself.

“Hey.” Marci stopped beside me, “You know what’s strange? My electricity worked. The magic or whatever it is.”

“That’s unexpected. It means the nanotech isn’t facilitating the power.”

“Worse than that. It means the nanotech has physically changed my body. More than, uh, just being an elf,” she shook her head, holding up her arms, “whatever an elf is. Now, I’m wondering if I’ve got conductive fibers in my arms, a hidden capacitor or battery in my body. How do I generate electricity? How do I transmit it? I don’t feel like I have any pads on my palms.”

“We can scan you now that we’ve got a med kit. Can you generate electricity now?”

She held her right hand up, a look of concentration on her face, little blue bolts of lightning streaked around her hand. “Yeah, I am conductive.”

I gave a heartfelt smile, “Just, ah, be careful when you-”

“Not funny.”

“I was going to say, shake someone’s hand.”

***

It was nearly dawn when we finally arrived back at our tents. The sun had yet to rise, but the clouds above were lightening up, purple now, with some blues spread across them. Birds chirped out their territorial calls and, further downhill, frogs called out their own.

I guess we wouldn’t be needing the villager’s tents now, though, not with our new and much lighter ones. We’d give them back.

Lane trailed us, not speaking unless asked a direct question. Pouting, I guess, at not getting one of our submachine guns. Tough for him. Definitely not letting these out of our hands.

Fred and Ave led, Marci and Dylan, me and Bent, the villager behind. I made sure he kept up from time to time.

Bentley continued telling me what he’d found on the dead robed woman’s body, “It’s this book with all this strange writing in it. If I concentrate, it becomes clear, but it’s a real strain.”

“That’s all she had on her?”

“And this dagger.” He held it up. It was a thick, straight blade, with a sharp point at the top, and crossbars to protect one’s hand. Clearly not made for the kitchen. The metal had a greenish hue in the twilight. “As strange as this sounds, I think it’s silver.”

“That can’t be right. Silver doesn’t hold an edge. It’d be worthless in combat.”

“Well, in rpgs silver is used against some monsters. Like, werewolves. Or the undead.”

“This seems a lot more real than a game, Bent.”

“Ok, I don’t know, maybe it’s used for rituals. The thing is, I think she was the same class as me. A wizard! And this book I found, it has to be her spell book, right! It’s crazy. Now I have a spellbook.”

“You seem pretty excited to have pilfered a dead woman.”

“Well, yeah! I mean, she did try to kill us, and fair is foul and foul is fair. Anyways, Marci can zap people at will. I had nothing, even though I choose a magic-using class. I’m a submachine gun toting, spellless wizard. But that’s going to change now that I can start studying these incantations.”

I rolled my eyes in the dark, but tried to smile before speaking, “I really hope that book is what you think it is. But if it is, and you can, uh, cast spells? That’ll be . . . different. I wonder how the nanobots arrange that.”

“I’ve felt pretty useless until now. You and Marci have the science covered. And, sorry, I guess leadership. I was the pilot – was. I can’t really fight, not with these weapons. I can shoot, but we didn’t have guns until now. Well, the handgun anyways. First time I’ve carried a submachine gun.”

“Maybe you should ask Ave or Fred for a lesson?”

From up ahead, Ave shouted back, “Hey! Our camp!”

I could just make out a scattering of little fires. Fred and Ave took off toward the camp.

“Be careful!” Shrugging, I chased after them, the rest following. If this was an ambush, I hoped the guns were enough to get us out of it. I made a mental note to talk with the barbarians about rushing in and fools.

The smoke smelled of dusty canvas and pine. Tents, still burning here and there, pieces of them hanging limp off the trees they’d been tied to. The troglodyte bodies we’d left, gone.

“I guess we know who did this.”

Ave hefted one of her submachine guns, “I say we head to their camp right now.”

“Hell yeah!” said Fred, nodding.

“Guys,” I started, “we-”

Staring at the ground, Lane spoke up, “They’re not headed to their own camp. The tracks go back to my own village.”

“Shit.” Oddly, I could see the tracks. Bent grass, twigs moved away leaving empty impressions in the mud, a leaf flipped over there – how did I know the leaf was flipped? Oh, no dew on this side. No footsteps or boot tracks of any kind, yet where they went was as plain as day to me. I closed my eyes, thinking. It had to be the nanotech, changing me according to my class. An explorer. Damn. Because I couldn’t access the game system like the others could, I thought perhaps I was immune, but clearly not.

The tiredness hit me then. We hadn’t slept, it was probably near 5, maybe 6 AM, trudging back and forth across the plains, had a fight. There was only so much adrenaline could do before it wore off.

“We could wait for them here,” said Dylan. “They’ll probably return this way back to their camp.”

“After they sack my village. You people,” Lane shook his head, “I’m going to do what we asked of you.” He turned around, jogging off in the direction to his village.

“Well?” asked Fred.

“Alright. Damn. Let’s go after him, help the village if we can. Fred, Ave, you’re taking point again. But don’t rush in! Not like you did here. These guys are predators, been fighting all their life. Our first priority is to ourselves and our mission. We keep alive, push the trogs out, then we get Lane to take us to that cave. Dylan, Bent, take flank. Marci and I will bring up the rear. Set your guns to three shot bursts. Ok, let’s go.” Jesus, I thought to myself, I guess I am leader.

We took off in that formation. Fred and Ave jogging comfortably along ahead of us, Bent and Dylan behind them and right and left, me and Marci trailing.

She said to me, “I don’t like this. We’ve been killing in self-defense. But this feels more like military action and we’re not that. We’re not that.”

“I know. And then there’s Fred and Ave.”

“Yeah.”