Sub-lets in Hell, chapter 2. (Patreon)

Here we are, still on a time of sorts with the first release of the month. Still working on my little surprise as well, with it almost done. I'm pretty happy with both, and how it's all coming together. Anyway, please enjoy:

It was always odd, sleeping in a new place. Or rather, waking up in a new place. You went to sleep on your bed and had few problems, most of the time. But invariably, you woke up either in the night or morning not knowing where you were and not knowing what some sound or other was, freaked out of your mind.

When you were in the military, it was ever so much worse. I barely managed to avoid setting the far wall of my new bedroom on fire. I was alone, and yes, I was safe. No demons were sneaking up on me; I was safe. No human sympathizers were sneaking up to knife me in the dark, I was safe. Hell, it wasn't even dark. Well, not very dark, anyway.

This bedroom wasn't facing the East, so the morning sun wasn't going to wake me up. An oversight, if I were being honest, but I wasn't going to rearrange everything now. I'd barely gotten all my furniture and other crap back in the place, using Grex as a pack mule and mover.

He hadn't objected, just rolled his eyes at me. Used to my shenanigans by now.

I'd sent him home after the basics, couch in the living room, bed in the bedroom, all that jazz. The boxes would be me, and there were a lot of them. I'd missed my game systems, so those were going up first.

Right after breakfast. Thanks to Grex's hard work again, I had the basics. Coffee, eggs, bread, milk, and of course, a full box of danishes. Danishes weren't a food group of their own, but they should be. That and coffee would make the breakfast of champions for the day.

My clock, my old clock that I'd had since before, was blinking its time at me. Four-thirty, right on the dot. A legacy of another time, showing the time. It was also showing that I needed to get a move on, or I'd be late. I hadn't been told to report or where to report, but I wasn't going to assume that I was in the clear. Especially with my record of skirting certain military propriety. So far I'd been forgiven, but even if I was a hero now, I was certain to get thrown into the brig for taking liberties stateside.

It was odd thinking I might be a hero. That other people might view me as such. I sure as hell didn't feel it. I mean, I knew that others I'd talked to before had felt this way, they had told me themselves, but I didn't really get it. Now it was my turn, I guess.

Some day, if I were lucky, some wide-eyed kid would ask me about it, and I'd tell him the true heroes were the ones still decaying back in Germany, that we'd been forced to leave behind.  

It was still too raw to recite the names of those I'd failed. Even in my own head.

The coffee finished as I finished my danish, and I went ahead and poured a cup. I must have done it wrong somehow, because it didn't taste as good as what Grex made.

I'd still leave him at home. He deserved his rest, and I was safe. There was no problem; I was safe.

I had made too much coffee; I'd finish it later. I shut the machine off, there was no sense risking a house fire. I'd check to see how good the wiring was later. Or maybe just cut out that middleman and slap a surge protector in.

My clothes were already set out, but the coffee had reminded me of something else I needed to do. The bathroom was one of the few rooms completely set up. The toilet was a little cold of course, even in the middle of the desert, but I was used to it. A quick wash up after, and some military casual thrown on later, and I was good to go. Still with ten minutes to go.

The sun was now truly out, and the rays beat down on my robed form as soon as I stepped from the porch. The air itself was still cool, but I knew from experience that would change quickly.

There was activity, of course. Even this early, there were people jogging in formation and officers rushing around. Sergeants bringing some order to the chaos, or some of it anyway. No one was paying attention to me, however. I should do my morning P.T. since I was here.

I settled for just jogging to the tower at the pace we'd been taught, looking almost like one of the would-be grunts I was passing. I wasn't going to call them the names most recruits got called; that seemed a little disrespectful. Maybe if I'd spent a bit more time as a sergeant myself I'd feel differently. I can imagine having a bunch of wet behind the ears kids annoy me daily would warp my thinking.

I was supposed to be teaching a bunch of these wet behind the ears kids. Starting today.

The muster ground had squads mustering; everyone looked to be there and in their place except for the big man on campus and Karen. I saw Clay across the parade ground, and he looked like he'd already done laps in his tan short sleeved tee and desert camo pants. He wasn't wearing his robes.   I made my way over to him, picking my route along the edge to keep the disruption to a minimum.

Made it easier to see who the new summoners were at least; rather than trying to subtly pull away from me, those were the ones leaning my way, curious. Trying to drink it all in, as it were.

I sidled in next to Clay and stopped with a whisper: "They're early."

He wasted no time firing back, and he had been running. "You're late. Jetlag?"

"I guess." It hadn't really been, I'd just been slacking since basic. Would I get called on it here or not? Only time would tell. "I hadn't been given a muster point; were you?"

Clay glanced over, and there was shock in him. "No. Our muster point is the tower. What we do before that is up to us. P.T. is encouraged, but we don't have to be anywhere until six, and that's our classrooms. We're strictly teaching or help as needed."

I wasn't sure I liked that. I could see why I wouldn't be worked in the command structure, but Clay deserved better. Clay wouldn't be going with me if I had to run in a hurry, and he wouldn't be a target in the same way I was. At least I hoped not.

"I expected the General out here." When we'd been training, the man had been watching at muster every morning.

"Me too," Clay replied.

Well that was my morning's ration of words. Clay's too. We had time to watch the fun as the others were inspected and in some cases made to do push-ups. In one case, until he puked, with a guy I vaguely remembered and was now more happy than ever that I outranked yelling directly in his face the entire time.

We watched the entire show in silence, just us two, and no one even looked our way; at least no one with any sort of rank. For those people, we didn't exist, while the grunts? Hopefuls? Doomed? Couldn't seem to help but wonder who we were.

That sort of thing would get beaten out of them soon enough. There were still fronts to send the newbies too, in a few months. For all that I - that we - had changed everything, we'd actually changed nothing. At least not in the short term.

I was done here. "Meet you inside."

The show was winding down anyway. I turned only to find Clay one step behind me.

"You don't need to follow me."

That had come out a little sharper than I'd intended.

"It's fine, I got nowhere to be until six," Clay fired right back, trying to act nonchalant as best a wired up military man could.

Should I? I had to, I couldn't hold it in. "We're going to be sending those kids to their deaths. You and I will be sending those kids to their deaths, same as was done to us."

Clay shook his head. "You don't know that. We survived; they could too. With what the two of us have learned, they will have a much better chance than we had. Besides, it will get better. In another three months, who can say where the front will be? It might be in Berlin itself, and then we can go visit old haunts!"

I couldn't stop the shiver. I didn't ever want to go back there, and I couldn't see how he could joke about it. I was willing to admit it was a me thing.

Either way, I let it go, because if I said something, it wouldn't be nice and I wouldn't be able to take it back. I wasn't even sure that I'd want to, if it came to that.

The tower was open, of course. It was always open, no matter the hour. No one would be stupid enough to go inside without a reason. Somewhere under the tower was the rumor of dungeons... and dark research. Rumors for the constant guard presence flew around in my time, and probably in everyone else's time too.

Some of them were true of course, but that wasn't why the guards were posted. The guards were posted to make sure some crazy nutjob didn't plant bombs in the classroom. Religious nutjobs. it had happened before, in other places.

No one wanted it to happen here; me least of all. Not while I was going to be in one of those classrooms.

I took the stairs. It was only a floor, and I needed the exercise. Clay followed without complaint. We broke up once we reach the center, but of course we'd only be across the hall from each other.

The keys were in the locks of the classrooms. Old looking locks, but large ones that looked hard to break. The tag on the key was handwritten paper giving the room number. I unlocked the door and pocketed the key; clearly, Karen had been here already. Knowing her, probably last night and not this morning.

The room was how I left it, but if anything, even more clean than it had been yesterday, with not a single speck of dust showing, and maybe only a few strands hanging in the air. I couldn't tell without sunlight, and this far inside the tower, there was none of that.

I think I'd have preferred the sunlight with all its' issues. The hundred year old government issue halogens were a little too 'ancient school' for me. They hit a little too close to home.

There were books on the desk, and even more along the back shelves, and they all looked to copies of the same book: "Introduction to magical and demonic theory, twenty-third edition."

I'd used this book a year ago myself. We all had. It was the standard across all of America, and was written by a dry dude who'd never summoned a demon or cast a spell in his life.

Even so, for all of that, the lessons had been good enough; the information effective. Not nearly enough to keep me alive all on its' own, but I'd used almost everything I'd learned here. Karen wanted me to go as practical as I could, and that would be a change from my time here if this was the theory class, but practical was something I could do.

I would be forced to touch on contracts briefly, and teach the basics on how to set one up. I wasn't that specific class. I'd be teaching people, young people, how to sell their souls to the forces of Hell to defeat those same forces of Hell. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I'd cross that bridge when I got to it.

With nothing better to do, I set a book to each desk, just as I was used to from school. I didn't have a degree for any of this, but friends in high places counted for more in the military; there wouldn't be anyone objecting. Well, unless it was Congress.

Either way, that was over my pay grade... hey wait, jokes aside, my pay grade was going up now.

I could buy all of the expensive coffees....

A knock sounded on the open door; Karen was framed in it. As if I had summoned her, complete with one of those expensive coffees in each hand. She ghosted in, seeming to glide above the floor more than walk, and held out her left hand's coffee to me.

I took it and set it on the desk, noticing she wasn't in her robes either. Was there some relaxing of uniform policy I wasn't aware of here? "Thanks."

"There's a small shop in the px now. It's not as good as the place near the apartments, but it's pretty good. I couldn't really just grab one from there and drive it to you without it getting cold."

I wouldn't have cared that it was cold. Maybe Karen didn't remember that about me? "It's fine. So, what brings you in?"

"In the center drawer of your desk is a syllabus. It's a suggestion, not a rule, but something to get you started. Also, there is an attendance book with roll. Who you will be teaching, just call the names and mark them off; you know the drill."

I did indeed know the drill. "I have objections about teaching the ritual."

Karen flipped a hand in my direction, as if to flip away the issue. "That's fine. You don't have to teach anyone, not your class. You're strictly magic theory, and with your skills in that department, you'll do great. You can just tell anyone who asks to go down the hall for answers on the rite itself."

A few doors down the hall was where I'd learned the ritual myself. Again, from a guy who hadn't gone through it. Then again, just like with the book, it had worked well enough. No one had complained about the results yet, at least. Not to my face.

Well, a few demons had, but I didn't count them; they were the enemy.

"I forgot to ask yesterday. Am I supposed to muster? And if so, where?"

Karen winced, then her face smoothed. She was trying, at least. "Yeah, I forgot too. No, you don't need to muster. So long as you keep your fitness up, Captain, no one is going to make you grab a field pack and run twenty before lunch. Your days will be strictly for teaching, and your nights for relaxing. For the foreseeable future anyway. Can't speak to what might happen in a few months."

"Right, good enough. No objection if IU fo put on a field pack and run around though?"

I could always do push ups and sit ups, but I'd been running for too long to stop now... except I hadn't. The entire time I'd been deployed, I hadn't jogged a step. I had run for life though, both mine and others. Why did I feel the urge to back to my running routine now?

I knew, of course, it was normal now. I needed the normal, even if it was sweating my ass off in a desert counting steps.

"No, if you want to, knock yourself out. Morning's might be tough for you though, unless you get up before the sun and risk the snakes and scorpions."

How little she knew. Those little guys weren't a threat to me anymore, unless I rolled around in a full nest or something. "That's fine. You could do with some running yourself, ma'am."

Karen made a show of sucking in her non-existent gut. "You trying to call me fat?"

A joke, but she needed me to be serious now. "No, I'm trying to say you haven't done more than the absolute bare minimum since I've known you, and your muscles are probably getting weaker by the day."

She wasn't fat by any means, but working off all the cappuccinos and cake wasn't a bad idea either. I had no idea how I'd kept my figure in the field. Maybe it was all the fear and worry.

Karen didn't really do any of that, and for just a moment, I hated her for it.

Karen looked up from inspecting her arm, and shrugged at me. "I haven't heard any complaints yet."

Ouch, that was a little close to my earlier thoughts. "Of course not, you're one of us. Who is going to dare?"

My answer was another shrug: "I still pass basic every year. I'll think about it, running around in the desert is not my idea of fun."

"On that, at least, we agree. I just want to be able to out-run trouble if I can."

"You can't outrun a demon, Snow."

I completed the old joke: "I don't need to outrun the demon, I just need to outrun the other people running from the demon."

I knew, now. The last time I'd been here, I'd only suspected, but now I knew. I was one of those who wouldn't be running from the demon, but buying time for those that would. It was a nice thing to know about yourself, the circumstances under which you'd die. What you would do in certain situations, with no doubt at all; there was a sort of peace from it.

"Hey," I reoriented on Karen, just as she was stepping close. "Don't zone out on me, and don't waste my gift coffee. I've got to go. Any problems, you have my number."

"Sure. Should I mention that I have no idea what I'm doing?"

Karen waved me off as she went out the door: "It'll be fine, you're a natural. See you later!"

"Later!" I called the word out, but my heart wasn't really in it. I could hear footsteps in the hall, past Karen. Footsteps meant people, of course. Some of those people might be coming here.

I checked my phone. Not yet, I still had fifteen or so, probably. My people were likely to be eating breakfast right now. I had time enough for coffee.

I checked it, of course; even though it was Karen, there were ways to get poison past anyone. It was clear.

I sipped some more. The syllabus left me was pretty clear; chapter one first, going over the rules of magic use and how it worked. Answer questions. Second chapter was tomorrow? I guess the rules wouldn't take that long. They hadn't for us after all.

They went from learning the rules in this book straight to formulating your own circles and glyphs. Something you needed to know in order to craft your ritual, but not something directly related to making one. A fine line, but it was a line that I wasn't crossing.

A shift, a sound, from the doorway. Framed in it was a guy, looking almost unbearably young and with pale blond hair sporting a fresh buzz cut. The uniform he had on him was still creased with the lines it had come packaged with, it was so new. He took one look at me, and those baby blues of his widened the moment he met mine.

His eyes snapped down to my robe and back up to me, and he snapped to so quickly it had to be painful.

"Ma'am!"

Sigh, I wasn't doing all this. "As you were. I'm not going to stand on ceremony here; it'll be too annoying. I'd prefer you called me Captain or Snow, if you must call me. However, saluting me while in the door blocks it; get out or get in."

I got up as the recruit fumbled his way inside, and wrote on the chalkboard behind me: "Captain, or Snow... No need to salute in here." That should be good enough.

I sat back down just in time to look cool and busy as the others began trickling in, thankfully looking behind me, getting the hint, shutting up, and finding a seat.

The roll said I would have twenty-two, and I gave it a minute. My mental math said twenty-two were here, so I let them fidget a minute while I switched books and fished out a pen.

"Anderson." I looked up again just in time to match face to name as he realized what I was doing and called out in a clear but not loud voice: "Here, Ma'am."

I clicked my tongue and pointed back at the board. "Incorrect. Anderson."

"Here, Captain!"

Good. Best to beat it into them early. Metaphorically, of course, I wasn't about to bruise my hands on recruits. Plenty of officers to go around, for that.

"Atwood."

"Present, Snow."

A guy who wanted to test the waters? Perfect. I gave a shallow nod and continued.