A Creature of War, Book 4, CH06 (Patreon)

“All the crates here are filled with guns, grenade, shotguns. Basically anything we could collect before the civilians got to them. She didn’t make a big deal of those they managed to get since none of them can fire anymore. You noticed the thing with the bullets? How about the water?”

El nodded and suppressed a shiver.

“Yeah, freaky stuff.”

Instead of crates, the back of the room had bows in racks, as well as crossbows.

“These,” the fox said, “she threw a fit over. When we found one of the stores that sold them the civilians were in the process of looting them. A few even shot at us with them. Other than what the guards have, these are everything we could collect.”

He took one out and handed it to El. “She wanted us to go around and take them all back, but there wasn’t enough of us to go around collecting them, not with the Mexicans attacking us every few weeks.”

El turned the stick over in his hand. It was all it was at the moment, it wasn’t strung. It was better made than any they’d come across getting here. “Do you all know how to use them?”

“We had to learn, it’s the only ranged weapon that works.”

“I’m going to have to learn, this isn’t something I’ve ever been taught how to use.”

“We had guns, so these things weren’t relevant. I didn’t even know they were deadly until Rex got an arrow through the chest.”

El nodded. The times they’d been attacked by people using bows, none of the arrows ever got close to hitting them, so he hadn’t bothered with them. Maybe he should have.

“Maybe they should have thought ahead,” El said, anger slipping into his voice. “I really wish for once they’d planned for things, instead of just sending us in and not caring who dies.”

The fox took a step back in shock. “Sir! They made us.” He lowered his voice. “You shouldn’t be talking about them like that.”

El snorted, putting the bow back on the rack. “I’ve been around too long to care if they get offended by what I say.”

“So, it’s true? The Specialists bypass the end date? We were told they just made new ones.”

“They don’t know how to make us. Every Specialist is an accident.” El paused. “I guess there won’t be any new ones now, not with all the technology dead.” He looked at the fox. “And there aren’t going to be any new yous either. I guess we’re a dying species now.” He smiled. “Not that you should stop trying to make babies. You never know, maybe one of you can keep things going for the rest of us.”

“Sir?” the fox asked.

“Please tell me you know about sex.”

“Oh yes. I’ve been in the commander’s bed. We all have at one time or another. Some more than others.” There was disappointment in his voice.

“That’s how she gets them attached to her, isn’t it?”

The fox nodded.

“I guess the rest of the time it’s just you and your teammates then.”

The fox frowned. “What do you mean?”

The lynx rubbed the top of his muzzle. “Great, yet another group I’m going to have to teach.” He grinned. “You are so lucky I love having sex.”

The fox still had that confused expression on his face.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll show you tonight.” He looked at the bows. “What’s the situation for arrows?”

“At last count there were four hundred crates of two hundred arrows each. She made them a priority to take ammunition out of the civilians’ hands, but they’ve been making their own.”

“That should be enough for everyone.”

“Considering I doubt one person can carry more than six quivers, I’d say so.”

“We have a cart, so we’ll be able to carry a few crates. Do you have any blades?”

“Over there.” Sydney led him to a dozen crates on their own. “Unfortunately, the civilians got to those before us and cleared them out. The Commander got real pissy over this. She made it a law that only soldiers were allowed to carry a blade over six inches long. The next morning we had three crates of broken knives at our door. Their way of rubbing our nose in the fact they had most of them.”

“Doesn’t sound like she made many friends among them.”

Sydney opened a crate. “No, she didn’t. She doesn’t talk much about herself before this happened, but with the few things she let slip, I guess she was in a position of power, but it was declining. Not military, there’s not one bone of army in her.”

“Really? Even after all the guys she’s had?”

Another confused expression.

“Never mind.” El looked in the crate. There was no order in it. The knives had been thrown in and never sorted. He saw pocket knives, thin blades that would never survive a real fight and even a few military models.

“When everything fell apart, and she found us, well, she took advantage of our willingness to follow her orders. She made use of us to reestablish her power base.”

“Do any of the human follow her?” he closed the crate. Someone would have to sort them before they left.

“Some. I’ve never seen them. She meets in secret with them. Samuel might know. She trusted him more than most of us. But I doubt it. But she did get some information from the civilian camps, so she has people in there who are loyal to her.”

“Will they be a problem? Now that she isn’t in power anymore?”

“I don’t know. I guess it depends on what your friend does.”

El nodded. “Unless there’s something else you need to show me here, we should meet up with him and find out what the food situation is.”

They exited the room, and Sydney waited until it was locked again before guiding El through more corridors, but these had fewer lights and looked in better conditions.

“She kept the food deep enough that none of the fightings reached it,” Sydney explained.

Vee and Mary met them partway. “We were heading to you,” the bull said. “What’s the weapon situation?” He indicated they should keep going the way he was.

“There’s enough guns and rifles to arm a full army, if we ever need that many clubs. There’s enough bows and arrows for a full battalion, and every soldier here knows how to use them, so that only leaves the five of us to train on them.”

“None of the rifles work?”

El shook his head. “The problem is the bullets, just like with us. I told you, whatever happened, everything changed. What’s the food like?”

“There’s a lot of it, but there’s no way to know if it’s enough until we know how many civilians there are. Mary doesn’t know.”

EL looked at the fox.

Sydney shook his head. “We only get the angry ones. Everyone else stays away.”

“It could have something to do with her making us fire in that first crowd who showed up demanding food,” Mary said.

Vee stopped. “She had you shoot civilians?”

Mary nodded. “She wanted to make the point that she was the one in charge.”

Vee began walking again. “How has she managed to keep them from openly revolting? There as to be more of them than of you, and they must have some weapons.”

“Sydney said she has spies within their ranks.”

“And,” Mary added, “I know she’s been pitting them against one another. Spreading stories of one group hoarding some food, or making plans to attack another group. From what I found out, she might even control one of the leaders.”

Sydney frowned. “How come I never heard about that?”

Mary smiled. “Because while she loves to take you guys to bed, she ignores us women. We might as well be invisible unless she needs us to do something. It’s let me listen in on some of those meetings.”

“How do I go about arranging such a meeting?” Vee asked. “With the civilians in general, not whoever worked for her.”

Sydney shrugged. “Just step outside the compound. There’s always civilians ready to scream their demands at us.”

They walked by the armory, and the two guards watched Vee warily, and kept going. They entered a room that looked a lot like the one they had first entered, except that this one had seen combat.

The walls and floors were covered with burn marks, old blood and the smell of death hung in the air. Mary went to the set of double doors and removed the bar that held them in place.

She pulled them open and people began shouting. Vee stepped outside, and the yelling faltered. Mary and Sydney followed. El was the last one out, and by the time he stepped next to Vee the crowd had grown silent.

The people looked at each other, possibly waiting for Vee to say something. When he didn’t a man in dirty jeans and an old shirt stepped forward. “Who are you?”

“My designation is VDK, I answer to Vee. I’m with the First Specialist Division. I was on a mission in Peru with my unit when things changed. Now we’re on our way back to our base.”

“Where’s the commander?” yelled a woman.

“She’s under arrest.”

“Under whose authority?” the same woman asked.

“Mine.” Vee looked the crowd over and raised his voice. “I am in charge of the soldiers here. The woman, Susan Rodriguez, who called herself ‘commander’ didn’t have the authority to lead them. Based on the way you’ve behaved, I expect you felt the same.”

“So what’s going to happen now?” a male voice came from the crowd and people nodded, they all wondered the same. El tried to see who it was, but couldn’t. 

Mary leaned close to Vee and whispered something while the same voice continued. “You’re going to order us around too? Force us to give you the little food we have? Horde everything for yourself? I know your type. You don’t care about any of us. At least the commander gave those of us who stayed in line some food.”

“I’m not staying. I have no desire to order anyone around, I’m a soldier, not an officer. You need to work out how you’ll lead yourselves. Me and my men will be leaving—”

“Sir?” Mary interrupted. “Unless you order me to stay, I’d prefer leaving with you. The others might feel the same.” Sydney nodded. “It isn’t going to be safe for us here after what she had us do.”

Vee looked the crowd over. “I’ll be taking the soldiers with me when I leave.”

“Who’s going to protect us?” someone yelled.

“You’re soldiers,” Someone else. “You have to stay and keep us safe.”

Vee fixed his gaze on the man who’d step forward. Maybe he wasn’t in charge, but he’d made himself so but standing out. “My job is to go to the front line, kill our enemies and then return to my home base. These soldiers would have been sent to do the same if the world hadn’t changed.”

The crowd yelled over each other, maybe what they said unintelligible. Vee kept looking at the man. Some of the crowd's questions resolved themselves to variations of ‘who will protect us?’

Vee didn’t answer the question.

“Us?” the man asked, his voice tentative. Vee’s response was an almost imperceptible nod. “We will?” The man seemed to realize the position he was now in. He raised his voice. “We will!”

The crowd quieted down.

He stepped halfway between Vee and them and faced the crowd. When he spoke he sounded confident. “We don’t need them! You all know the history. Before they came, we fought our own wars. There’s a lot more of us than them, so why are we letting them do it for us? You see what happened. They tried to rule over us. US! We’re in charge, not them.” The man turned to face Vee. “We want you out of our city!”

Vee crossed his arms over his chest. “Well said. Get the world to everyone, figure out how you’re going to lead yourselves. I’ll only take enough food and weapons for my people and the rest is yours.”

“What about the Commander?” someone asked. El was sure it was the same as before, the one that had made Mary whisper to Vee.

“Her fate will be yours to decide. I have no interest in her.”

“When are you leaving?” the man who had found himself in charge asked.

“In the morning. We need the rest and to gather what we’ll need. Until then, this post is mine. I will consider any who try to enter to be my enemy. And you’d do well to remember that I was created to kill my enemies. Don’t force my hand.”

“I’ll give you the night,” the man said, emboldened, “but if I don’t see any indications you’re preparing to leave by the time the sun comes up. I’ll see that as a sign you’re going back on your word, and I will consider you my enemy. I might not have been made to kill you, but there’s a lot more of us than there are of you, and we’ve had enough of being squashed under military boots.”

“I understand. We’ll be ready to move by first light.” He turned, and they went back inside. Once the doors were closed El noticed the room had been filled with Anthros.

With the tiger at the lead. “You can’t give her to them, sir. They’re going to tear her apart.”

“She committed crimes against them. She needs to pay.”

“She doesn’t deserve what they’re going to do to her. Sir, please. Just let me take her away from here. I’ll make sure she doesn’t come back to cause problems.”

Vee stiffened and stepped before the tiger. “You’d desert your post for her?”

Samuel swallowed hard. “Sir, she was important before all this. She was one of their leaders. She hasn’t made many good decisions since then, but it’s because of all this, not because she’s a bad person. She’ll need protection. You can assign me as her protective detail so that once things get back to normal she can start actually helping.”

El could see Vee thinking, and he didn’t like the direction those thoughts had to be taking. “He has a point, Vee. When things go back to normal, we’ll need people with leadership experience to take charge.”

“If things get back to normal,” Vee growled.