Jess had never fought any werebeasts, much less a weredeer, and even less so for a pack of them. Generally, her role was a sort of sniper role, as she was one of the few who were able to use electric mana without getting themselves fried. Most people in the refugee camp had a field of magic that they had specialized in and they were ill suited for others. There were, of course, the rare exceptions that were able to draw runes of multiple abstract concepts that empowered their main ‘element’, but they were few and far between. Though it was theorized by the more active experimenters that everyone should be able to do it with enough practice, not many started with the ability. While Jess was one of the stronger survivors, she was still unable to create abstract systems of runes, which was becoming the line between ‘mana users’ and ‘mages.’ She found the names a bit childish, but she had to admit that they got the point across.

She shook her idle thoughts away and reexamined the pack of weredeer. The average weredeer was 8 feet tall without their antlers and 10 feet with them. Surprisingly, every member of the species had antlers, even what she assumed were the females. Apart from the average pack member, there were two alphas, as others began to call them. They were much taller than the normal pack members, being 12 feet tall without their antlers and 15 feet tall with them. Jess was only 5 foot 8 inches, so they were a reasonably intimidating sight to behold, even for the normally fearless Jess. Their extra height was evenly distributed across their entire body, making every part of them stronger, tougher, and thicker than their shorter cousins.

Thinking on the properties of the alphas, she took aim with her nail and electric mana. She stared at them as they ran, charging from over a mile off; she had learned that focusing on her sight allowed her to see things from a very long distance. They passed buildings and streets, but kept gaining momentum. Once they had reached the half a mile line, she let her nail fly, releasing a loud zap as it flew. It barely arced and a line of purple trailed behind it as it drilled into the head of the leading alpha.

It stumbled and fell, rolling a few hundred feet before it finally came to a stop. The other weredeer, seeming almost unconcerned, swerved around the alpha and continued their charge. She pulled another nail out of her pocket and took aim once more. The second alpha was closing in on the wall, she was unable to get a clean shot, and some of the guards were becoming scared. They unsteadily raised their guns or wove their spells, ready to face the alpha. Before it even reached 500 feet, a mess of vines, weeds, and branches erupted out of the buildings nearby that had been claimed by the odd plant growth. They coiled around the beast, gripping its arms and legs like a vice. Jess grinned and sent her remaining nail through the thing’s eye. Now that it was closer and immobilized, she realized that the creature would not be taken down by such a thing, so she sent a second nail into the same eye, finally killing it by piercing its brain.

She sighed. “Thanks Ket, that could have been bad.” She said, he just grinned. “By the way, that other alpha is still alive. One isn’t going to cut it, and with its whole regeneration thing, it’ll probably only be driven off for a minute to get some food, but it’ll be back.” After saying as much, she could hear some of the defenders dry gulping at the prospect of fighting the creature.

“Eeh.” He groaned. “Never liked fighting these regenerator monsters. They’ve got such a ferocious appetite that it gets a bit annoying, especially when they can just ignore you over a meal and regen any damage you do to it. And it’s never fun when they book it, find something to eat, and get back into the fight. Makes you wonder how the hell humans have even survived this long.” He remarked offhandedly.

Jess shook her head at Ket. “Don’t. You’ll make everyone afraid.” She admonished.

“Probably for the best.” He shrugged. “A healthy dose of fear’ll get people not to throw themselves to their deaths. That, by the way, will also make our jobs safer. Less dead people around, further they have to go to heal.” She shrugged, agreeing a bit with his sentiments. Pulling out another nail, she saw that the pack had gotten a bit closer. They had reached the place where the second alpha had died. They stopped their charge as soon as they could reach it and began to devour the creature. They stripped flesh from bone and even shattered bones in their maws. Before 30 seconds, the alpha had been consumed and, seeing that there was nothing left, the other weredeer resumed their charge.

Jess sent her fourth nail into the crowd and pulled out the fifth when the rest of the defenders opened fire. Every attack from bullets, fire, water, ice, wind, rocks, and even shards of scrap metal rained on the pack. The attacks tore through their skill and sunk into their flesh, but they continued.The only reason that they were not overrun was due to the fact that they stopped their charge every time a weredeer died. Each time, they descended upon the dead creature, giving the defenders a much needed respite to reload and recharge their mana supplies through breathing techniques. They could not kill them while they ate, so it was the only thing they could do.

The creatures continued to gain ground, stopping only when one of their comrades died. Jess shot a glance at Ket. “Ket, got anything yet? We’re losing ground!” She yelled.

“I’m trying my best here. This is a very delicate process. I had expected them to take longer to eat the alpha, so I had started putting some traps over there. Unfortunately, they took too much ground. I’m just wondering where the rest of the heavy hitters are; we could use the help.”

“Well, I’m inclined to agree, but we still have to hold. Just set something up at the point where they would leap in front of the wall.”

“What do you think I have been doing!? Just hold ‘em off for a few more seconds.” She snapped her head back, as they had been gaining more ground. There were only 30 of them charging, but they had stockpiled so many nutrients that they could instantly heal any damage done by the normal defender’s attacks. Even Jess was having trouble taking them down by then; they could heal the damage done to their heads before the nail killed them, so the weredeer were charging unimpededly by their instincts. Cursing under her breath, Jess pulled out a handful of nails and pointed them at the pack if weredeer. She poured as much mana as she could into her electric runes and waited until they got close. They charged, unhindered by the standard gunfire and elemental attacks, and prepared to leap.

At that moment, the grass that had grown in the cracks in the pavement shot up and grabbed the first wave of weredeer, pulling them down and making a wall of flesh. The next wave tried to climb over them, but the grass grew even further, tangling up the second group. At that moment, Jess decided to strike. She threw the handful of nails up in the air as they orientated themselves, facing the deer. Without a moment’s delay, they all shot forward and ripped the group apart. They cut clean through the bodies of the weredeer and even electrocuted the flesh of the beasts due to the large amount of electric mana that went into the runes.

Few died from the shot, but the survivors were drained of nutrients and were unable to regenerate. The crowd made for easy pickings, as the rest of the defenders mowed them down, killing the entangled mess of weredeer. Jess felt weak and almost fell over, but Ket caught her before she could. He sighed, saying. “Let’s get you some rest. After that, I think everyone’s tired.” They all nodded their heads save for one.

The shy girl spoke up. “Wasn’t there supposed to be a second Alpha?” The relief they had felt at the lossless victory instantly evaporated. They snapped their heads around and scanned the streets. From what they saw, the streets were clear. There was nothing moving in sight. They were about to call for reinforcements when the same shy girl spotted movement. “What’s that?”

Jess, still leaning on Ket, used her eye-strengthening ability to look at the moving figure. She squinted and saw not an alpha weredeer but a middle aged man. He was a bit shorter than her, perhaps 5 feet 6 inches from her estimate and had brownish skin. He had white hair, like that of a polar bear, that was put into a comb over. His eyes were a piercing blue and his nose was a bit on the smaller side. He wore a neutral expression that was tinted with curiosity and had a small spattering of blood on it. Jess weakly gazed at the man as he nonchalantly strolled down the street. “It’s a guy. Other than a small bit of blood, he is pretty much immaculate. Middle aged as well, but I’d bet money that he is actually really old, but is just very mana sensitive.”

“What makes you say that?” Ket asked. “He got an alpha weredeer skull as a hat or a necklace of saber wolf canines?”

A small chuckle broke out among the defenders, which brought a bit of levity to the situation. Jess, however, shot the mood back down. “He just looks… unconcerned. I don’t know. Just try to be civil if you can, Ket.” She asserted, shooting a glare at him.

He gave a nervous laugh. “I-I’ll see what I can do.” He stammered. Before too long, the man made it close to the gate. Ket called out to him. “Stranger, what’s your business here?”

The man stopped and looked at the tangled pile of weredeer corpses before looking back up to the top of the makeshift wall. “I’m traveling.” He yelled in a naturally deep voice. “Trying to find a place to stay. What’s this place?”

“This is the Youdsville holdout. The military set up a refugee camp here. It’s also being used as a staging ground for the reclamation of Hollostan.” Ket shouted back.

The man’s eyes went wide with surprise. “Youdsville? I was aiming for Gourdonstan! How did I…” He trailed off, but Jess could tell that the gears in the man’s head were turning.

Ket sighed. “No wonder you went to the wrong place, Gourdonstan was wiped off the map a week ago.” He shouted. “Sorry, but there are a bunch of refugees from that town in the camp.” He paused again. “You didn’t happen to see an alpha weredeer out there, did you?” He asked.

The man looked at the weredeer pack and pointed. “Did it look like these things? There was one that was big and strong over there.” He pointed to the side street he seemed to come out of. “I killed it though. The thing was attacking me.”

Ket sighed in relief. “Thanks for that. We were a bit worried that it would come back when we weren’t looking. Anyway, you said you were looking for a place to stay?” The man nodded. “Well, we take in refugees, so taking in someone who can hold their own is only fair. What’s your name?” Ket asked. He was one of the few in the base that was allowed to let powerful individuals join. While the chances of them being a marauder were low, it was best to be safe. Jess was one of the people who was allowed to do so as well, and she saw no reason to contest the admission of the man.

He cleared his throat. “My name’s Trunks. The people over in Gourdonstan called me Uncle Trunks, but Trunks is fine.” He paused for a moment. “So… Can I be let in?”

Ket gave a hearty laugh. “Sure, can you climb the wall?” Trunks nodded and leaped onto the 5 foot high wall. Ket grinned. “Come on, we gotta get your accommodations set up.” He walked away with Jess still hanging onto him and gestured to Trunks to follow, which he did with a smile.

*=====*

Alright, that’s it for our visit to Earth. Yeah, I am using fake names because I, A), don’t have a clue about what it’s like out west, and B), I kinda want to separate the Earth in my story from the Earth in real life. There is a reason for this, so don’t think about it too hard. Anyway, no chapters Thursday or Friday. Well, after the whole schedule change, it’s more like no chapters released on Friday or Saturday. Either way, Thanks for your continued support.