"Thirteen casualties before we were able to take it out, sir."

"How many of them civilians?" Daughton asked.

"All of them, sir."

"Understood. Dismissed."

The man in the camouflaged gear gave a salute before walking quickly from the tent, rifle slung over his shoulder. Daughton sighed.

At least he didn't lose any of his fighting force, small mercy that it was. The follow-up report would contain all the information of the deceased that his subordinates could recover, which hopefully would give them enough to at least track down some sort of next-of-kin. An almost impossible task, but Daughton had gotten used to attempting impossible tasks.

He didn't understand why his superiors insisted they try to control the whole city. If only they were allowed to retreat to a smaller, more defensible location, then maybe his men would be able to hold strong against the monsters. But no, they were forced to defend a ridiculously large stretch of land against anything that might approach. They had dug trenches, established a no-man-zone at the border of the city, maintained a twenty-four hour watch…and yet monsters still made it in.

This wasn't like a normal war. There was no 'front' to maintain, nor were the enemies' capabilities known. They could come from any direction without warning. There were no supply lines to cut off, no way to track enemy forces, no tactical intelligence to be gained, nothing. Trying to defend the entire city was foolishness.

But Daughton didn't make that decision. He simply would have to do his best to follow the orders he had, and hope that those giving the orders had some sort of plan.

- Sgt. Daughton, Inclusion +3 days 23:14 hours

"Where's here?" I ask, looking around. Nothing from the surrounding forest looks any different from what we've been walking through for the last day.

"Give me a few minutes to coordinate, and we will be able to proceed," Sam responds.

I nod. As impatient as I am, we've been hiking all day. I can use the break. With a sigh, I drop to the ground, Pallas following my lead while Melete pulls out some food from her backpack before joining us.

But as the minutes pass in silence, I grow impatient. Styx is lying still in the wheelbarrow, her steady breathing broken only by the occasional groan as she shifts, but Sam stands in the exact same position without moving. Nothing it is doing indicates any sort of 'coordinating.' Styx has waited this long, but that doesn't mean she can wait indefinitely. But as I make to stand up and demand progress from Sam, Pallas reaches out and places a hand on my shoulder, holding me in place.

I glance at him angrily before sighing and relaxing once again. As much as it might make me feel better, yelling at Sam is unlikely to help.

Two minutes of agitated waiting later, Sam turns its eye back to us. "Let us proceed."

I just nod as we stand together. Sam never moved while we waited so I'm unsure of what has changed, but I decide to just go with it. I pick up my bag from next to me and take a step forward.

And then I almost drop my bag in surprise. Where there previously had only been more of the same forest, now strange alien structures lie camouflaged in the shadows of the trees.

Matte black, the domes are the same color and texture as Sam's body, but significantly larger. They're just barely taller than I am standing up but stretch at least twenty feet across, and I can't see how far back they extend. I can see three of the domes from where I'm standing, and each has several dark holes in the front leading beneath the ground. At first glance, they remind me of black, empty turtle shells. But as we approach the nearest of the structures and Sam leads the way down the path into its depths, I'm reminded instead of the top of a massive anthill.

We follow Sam into the tunnel, Pallas pushing the wheelbarrow behind me. The ground is the same material as the rest of the structure. I can't feel any give beneath my feet, and disconcerting as it is to step into this strange alien building, it is relieving to finally walk on something clear of obstacles. Despite wearing long pants, my legs have numerous cuts from constantly pushing through thorny underbrush.

The light from the sun disappears behind us, and faint blue lines on the walls and ceiling light up to illuminate the way. They whorl around us in the black material, forming strange patterns that, as I stare at them, I feel as if I should be able to decipher meaning from. With a start, I realize the lines bear a striking resemblance to the tattoos on my right arm.

Unconsciously, I slow my pace until I'm walking only inches in front of the wheelbarrow. Glancing back, I can see Melete practically hugging Pallas' large back, but he doesn't seem to mind. The overwhelmingly alien environment has all of us on edge.

We descend at a slight slope until I'm sure we're below ground level, but the path shows no signs of ending. We pass several splits in our tunnel, but Sam ignores each of them and continues to follow what I've labeled in my head as the 'main' path.

After the third split, we round a corner and see another Alatir in our path, frozen, one leg raised in the air in the motion of taking a step. We pause in our journey, and Sam and the new Alatir stare at each other for about fifteen seconds until the Alatir simply disappears in place as if it had never existed. Sam leads us to the edge of the tunnel around the spot where the other Alatir had been standing.

I have a sudden urge to reach out my hand to the space the Alatir had been occupying, but only barely manage to fight the impulse. We continue walking without speaking.

I wish Sam would say something. I would normally expect it to be talking our ears off in this situation, eager to share its expertise and to hear our own impressions of its home. Its silence is disconcerting.

We follow Sam's lead, maintaining a silence of our own as our journey continues. I can only guess how long we have walked, how far below the ground we have descended. Has this structure only existed since the inclusion? How did they build it so fast? I haven't ever seen Sam use tools. How would the Alatir use tools anyway? Melete may have been joking so long ago when she stated the 'strength' of humanity, but the lack of thumbs on Alatir would make it seriously difficult to use anything approaching what I would consider a normal tool. Could they have even brought tools with them when they appeared on our world? Every monster we've seen so far has only had its own body.

These and a thousand other questions fly through my head, and I realize how little we've made use of the fount of knowledge Sam could be. I make note of all the questions, hoping that I'll have the chance to ask them. My list of questions grows as time passes, distracting me from other questions that I dutifully ignore.

Questions like, how deep under the ground are we? And will we ever see the sun again?

My distracted focus is broken when Sam stops. This time, there is no split in the tunnel or other Alatir to explain its sudden break. The tunnel extends out before us, empty and dark aside from the faint blue light.

Sam turns and looks back at us with its large yellow eye.

"This is where I leave you," Sam says. "I will take Styx with me to receive the promised healing."

I tense. We'll be separating? But then I force myself to relax, and nod. Pallas pushes the wheelbarrow a bit to the side and walks to stand beside me, Melete on my other side.

"Should we leave her in the wheelbarrow?" Pallas asks.

"Yes, that is fine. When you see her next, she will be as good as new," Sam replies.

"Thank you," I say through gritted teeth. I'm still angry at Sam. It was deceiving us into traveling to its colony, and it was only because of its faulty information that the hive queen would stay close to its burrow that Styx was hurt in the first place. But in the end, Sam didn't have to offer healing for Styx. It could have manipulated us to travel to its colony while we believed we were walking back to Carscott. If Styx is able to walk away from this healthy, then I resolve to fully forgive Sam.

Sam walks next to the wheelbarrow. "Once I am gone, continue down the tunnel. Our leaders will meet with you. Another diplomat, a less biased diplomat, will translate for you." Sam pauses. In its expressionless body I can almost sense…hesitance? "...I truly hope you do well in the trials ahead. And know that, regardless of what happens to you, Styx will walk free once she is healed."

On that ominous note, Sam and the wheelbarrow disappear into the dark, their forms fading to match the black of the walls until they are entirely gone. For a moment, there is a slight blur where the wheelbarrow and Styx had been, but then I blink and it is gone.

I look to my left and right, making eye contact with Melete and Pallas. Hoping we're making the right decision, I reach out and grab each of their hands before we step forward together.

The tunnel is empty for another minute of walking until it suddenly ends, opening into a large cavern, the blue lines twisting and turning up the walls to a ceiling twenty yards over our heads. The room is round and extends probably fifty yards across. After hesitating at the edge of the tunnel, we continue, walking to the center of the cavern.

I glance around us as we walk. Aside from the blue lines illuminating the area, the walls are flat and plain, the floor just as empty. It truly looks as if we have entered an empty cavern, and I can't see any other tunnel on the far side we may be able to continue down. With some trepidation, I look behind us only to see a flat wall as well, the tunnel we had been walking gone, as if it never existed.

I swallow, and look around us frantically. There should be something in here, right? Without anything else to observe, I examine the lines on the walls, hoping to find some clue in their strange loopy patterns. As I trace the lines though, I feel some sense of wrongness from portions of the walls. I can't put my finger specifically on what is bothering me, but something about those sections of the lights just doesn't seem quite right. And directly ahead of us is the largest section of the lines that is giving me the strange vibe.

We're coming close to the wall, only ten yards away now, when I sense something in my head, a strange sensation that feels simultaneously familiar and foreign. Images and feelings flash through my head: walking to the edge of a cliff, preparing to open a door behind which I know hides a monster, holding poisonous berries up to my mouth…these and so many more overwhelm me, most of them so foreign that I can't hope to comprehend them. But together, they point a complete and definite picture: STOP.

Simultaneously, Pallas, Melete, and I freeze in place, our hands still held together. My left leg is lifted out in front of me, and I cautiously lower it to the ground.

Another wave of sensations pass over me: a bird chirping in the woods, a friend about to be pounced on by a sneaking dog monster, the joy of wonderful news too good to keep to myself. SPEAK.

"What would you like us to say?" I ask into the seemingly empty room.

"That will do nicely," my voice replies. And suddenly the room is no longer empty.

S: 148

D:144

W: 321

I: 102

C: 100

0

Skills: Adjust:Self, Bond:Mental