Nathan Forrest flipped the burgers on the grill for what felt like the hundredth time though in actuality it was more like the dozenth. He hated grilling, it was such a hassle. The smoke coming from the grill made sweat profusely pour down his skin, making him constantly wipe his brow. It fogged up his silver glasses. He had to tie his long red hair into a ponytail to prevent it from getting into the meat. If he had it his way he would’ve cooked everything on the stove but he couldn’t. It was his turn to host the monthly meeting of the Humanity Defense Front so he was more or less forced into his current position of grilling for the entire neighborhood. Before every meeting there had to be a barbeque where the people could enjoy themselves and become closer as ordered by the Grand Master. It made sense, humans only have each other to rely on in this world. Anything that could be done to make them feel as if they were part of one big family should be done. So with all of its inconveniences, he would do his duty and grill.

“Hey, are those burgers done yet?” a man asked in Nathan’s ear.

Nathan looked up and saw a man with black buzz cut with bright blue eyes stare at him. He had a bandage on his right cheek that was the result of his own foolishness.

“Huh, I wonder. Given that I’m still flipping them and some of the meat’s still red I’m gonna say no William the burgers aren’t done. But if you want to eat some undercooked food I say go right ahead. In fact, how about you pick up this uncooked patty and eat it raw since you’re so goddamn hungry?” Nathan sarcastically proposed.

“You could’ve just said no.” the man replied.

“If I did then you would just come back and ask again in ten minutes. You don’t know how to listen. That’s why your dumbass got smacked by Don last night.”

“Damn you heard already?”

“Uh huh. You thought one of your boys wouldn’t come into base saying ‘oh shit William got his ass beat by Don cause William is a dumbass who likes to do things on his own?’.”

“Did one of my boys really say that?” William asked, his voice sounding frustrated.

“No you idiot, I paraphrased just a teeny bit. Anyway you better hope the Grand Master doesn’t kill you during today’s meeting over that stunt you did.”

“It’s going to be fine. If anything he should be proud of me. Don’t bosses like it when employees do things on their own?”

“No, they like it when employees listen to them. What you just described gets people fired. Of course you wouldn’t know since you never held a job.”

“That sounds like an insult but I’m proud my labor was never used to fatten an elf’s pockets.”

“I can agree with you on that but you do know that most businesses aren’t run by elves right?”

“Nope don’t you know that the elves run the financial system as part of their global conspiracy to control all the races? They control all the money so no matter who you’d work for, you’re fattening the pockets of an elf and quickening the extinction of mankind.”

“Uh huh. Well good thing we’re both doing something that helps humanity aren’t we?”

The two mens’ conversation ended and an awkward silence ensued. Neither man knew what to talk about next.

“So...those burgers done yet?” William finally asked.

“Simmons if you don’t get away from me I’m going to mess you up way more than what Don did last night.”

The threat made William grab his jaw in reflex. It still stung from last night even though it was only one punch. In fact the thing would’ve been dislocated had William not twisted his neck to lessen the blow. Bleeding from his mouth was a light injury in comparison.

“Look, go make yourself useful and get the Grand Master. The meeting is scheduled to happen in a few minutes. By the time it’s over the food will be done and we can eat.”

“Alright, fine.”

“And you better apologize when you see him. It’ll hopefully make him go easy on you.”

“Yeah yeah.” William dismissed with a wave of his hand as he walked away from the grill.

Nathan sighed at his companion’s inability to take advice. The upcoming meeting was going to be rough for William.

William Simmons walked across the front yard of Nathan’s house, passing by women chatting and children playing sports, his feet stomping through the artificial green grass that was present in front of every family’s house on base. As he walked a rubber ball almost hit him in the face but he reflexively swatted the ball away. He heard the children moan in disappointment as the ball flew across the red sandy street into the yard of the house situated across from them. Feeling guilty, William told the children he’d get it and began a small detour. Walking across the street William looked at all of the houses aligned, each one looking identical. Each house was painted pristine white and had two floors, making them look like mini-mansions. The entire base looked like this, streets upon streets of big houses.The base was reserved only for official members and their families of the Humanity Defense Front but any human could join so he wondered why some humans sympathized with them but refused to join. Perhaps they were afraid of the fact that once they joined they’d had to get their hands dirty. If that was truly the case then they were cowards. He was now across the street and picked up the ball. After examining it for a bit, he kicked the ball with such accuracy that it landed in one of the soccer nets that had been set up in front of Nathan’s house. He could hear the kids in awe as he made his way back.

He passed by them as he walked up the driveway towards the garage. The garage was the same color as every house, being a nice pristine white. While everyone didn’t own a wagon, carriage, and definitely not a car people used their garages for a variety of things. In most instances they were converted into man-caves which was the case for Nathan’s garage. The garage was open and William could see a group of men in front of a radio that was placed against the garage’s right wall. There were three men in all with two of them standing behind the third who was seated, leaning forward as he intently listened to what was on the radio. They were the other members of the council with the Grand Master himself being the one seated. The two behind him were Don Black,-Mason’s second in command-and Preacher Roper-the local clergyman for the church of Vienna. Don wore the same clothes he wore last night when he hit William but his face wasn’t covered so his shiny bald head, green eyes, and thick angular jaw were visible. The preacher was wearing his clergyman outfit which consisted of a long purple robe decorated with yellow stripes. Around his neck was a silver necklace of an “X”, the symbol of the Humanity Defense Front. He wore a large purple hat with a yellow brim but William could still see his brown eyes underneath. Finally there was the Grand Master himself, James Mason in all his glory. His appearance was quite simple wearing only a black tank top, grey cargo shorts, and black boots. He had a black beard that matched nicely with his curly black hair. He was leaning forward in his chair, almost falling out of it as he listened to the radio.

“Hey what’s going on?” William asked as he entered the garage.

“Shhhhh!” the Grand Master hissed.

Taken aback, William looked at Preacher Roper who only shrugged letting him know that if he had anything to say, he’d have to wait. William decided to awkwardly stand next to the other council members as the Grand Master enjoyed himself.

“It seems that I like you after all Haruto! I’ll never forget you!” a female voice said over the radio.

“Me too! I like you too Eba!” a man replied.

“Oh my fucking god” the Grand Master said in disbelief.

“Can I..can I kiss you Haruto?” the female asked.

“No way is this really happening?” The Grand Master asked no one in particular.

“Will Haruto and Eba kiss? How will Sheshita respond? Where is Tyrone? Find out next week on ‘That time I fell in love with my childhood friend but then got involved with a transfer student while I got diagnosed with terminal cancer.’” the radio announcer stated.

“Oh come on! Why does it always stop at the good part!” James yelled in anger.

The Grand Master leaned back in his chair and made a big sigh.

“Well that was a good one.” he stated, his anger disappearing immediately.

“So William, what can I do for you?” his grey eyes locking with William’s.

“G-Grand Master it’s almost time for the meeting.” William sputtered out, still nonplussed by what he just witnessed.

“Is it now? Well fellas y’all ready to have an oh so fun council meeting?” James asked the group.

“Of course Grand Master we have important business to discuss” Don Black concurred.

“Important is putting it lightly.” Preacher Roper added.

“So I’ve been told. We’ll sort it all out, don't worry. Come on now, let’s get this done so we can eat and enjoy the rest of the day.” James stated as he made his way to Nathan’s house.

With the Grand Master out of earshot William asked the two men “What in the world was that?”

“You mean the Grand Master enjoying one of his radio shows?” Don questioned back.

“Ugh yeah. I didn’t think he’d enjoy such things.”

“He can enjoy whatever he damn well pleases. First you went out of your way to do things on your own now you’re questioning the Grand Master?”

“Brother Black please cool your head. Brother Simmons meant nothing by it. He’s still new you know.” Preacher Roper interrupted.

“Well he’s about to learn real quick” Don said, leaving the garage.

“I take it Don is still mad at me,” William said to the preacher.

“Perhaps but I wouldn’t worry.”

“You think things will go that smoothly?”

“I think so. The Grand Master appears to be in quite the good mood. Vienna in all her infinite wisdom must be looking out for you. Now come, we have business to attend to.”

The council was seated around a large rectangular glass table located in Nathan Forrest’s kitchen. On each side sat the members of the council, including Nathan himself who was still sweating from grilling. At the end of the table sat James Mason, a big window behind him that gave a view of Nathan’s front yard. The light from the sun pierced through the window giving James a slight glow as he spoke.

“Alrighty people I know that you all want to get to the good stuff but we have some formalities to get out of the way. Preacher Roper, go ahead and do your thing.” James said.

The preacher gave a nod and stood up.

“Before we begin brothers we must pray. Please bow your heads” the preacher requested.

Every man at the table did so and closed their eyes.

“We are gathered here on a solemn occasion, my brothers. I know that it will be discussed in today’s meeting but I must express sadness at the untimely passing of Brother Colescott and his men. They were taken from us too soon and were lost in a most barbaric and inhumane fashion but it's a consolation they are now in Vienna’s embrace. As we hold today’s meeting let us always remember the tenets of the Humanity Defense Front. May we never forget that we humans are a chosen race, elected by Vienna. We are not to be partakers of this world system that the non-humans races seek to impose on us. We believe the ultimate destiny for humanity is to claim the world as our own as it is our fate ordained by Vienna so that our children may grow up in eternal safety. May holy Vienna continue to protect us amen.”

“Amen” the other men concurred.

“Ok fellas so I think we need to address the elephant in the room. Richard and some of his boys have died, R.I.P. Richard” James began, raising his head.

“And because of that someone here did something stupid by going to the sheriff and now we might be in the midst of a clusterfuck that right?”

“Correct” Don answered.

“And things were going so smoothly lately. What do we know about who killed him?”

“Two outsiders were seen entering town yesterday around the same time Richard and his boys were doing their duty in the park.” Nathan revealed, wiping his head with a napkin to stop the sweat.

“And you think these outsiders killed them?”

“Can’t be anyone in town that’s for sure.”

“I concur with Nathan. When I had to save Simmons from his own stupidity I saw a man knock out one of his boys and I didn’t recognize him so he was definitely an outsider. He was already in chains so he must’ve been arrested by the sheriff beforehand. Maybe he killed Richard and Sheriff Reeves apprehended him.” Don proposed.

“It couldn’t have been him. One of the town folks told me that it was a woman who entered the park. The man must’ve been the one who got into a fight with that catkin that defends your nephew’s place.” Nathan said.

The Grand Master’s eyebrows rose at hearing that and said “Oh really now? I think I know who the man is then. What do you know about the woman?”

“Apparently she’s a swordsman and she has to be the one who killed Richard. If I had to guess she’s with Sarah-the girl who gave birth to a hybrid. Her body wasn’t found so I’m assuming the outsider saved her.”

“Well that’s troublesome. That’s going to make finding the hybrid all the harder. Looks like we have our culprit. That leads to the next question, what to do now?” James asked the group, though his tone indicated that he already knew the answer.

“We burn the town down.” William responded.

“William, you're the last person to be making propositions.” Don pronounced.

“I mean I’m right though aren’t I? Richard died and when I went to the sheriff he said he wouldn’t turn over the culprit if he had them. Clearly the town is more trouble than it's worth. Let’s just evacuate the remaining humans and burn it to the ground. That’ll teach folks to mess with the Humanity Defense Front.”

“Hah! That’s a bit of an overreaction. An outsider killed Richard and the sheriff is just being his stubborn old self. I was thinking of something a bit different. I’m going to go talk with the sheriff, we can work together on this and get things back to normal. I’m sure I can convince him to help us find this woman and give us the man as well. As far as I’m concerned they’re both threats to us. The woman killed Richard and the man I know is going to be trouble. Sounds good?” James asked as he looked at each council members’ faces.

“You want to see the sheriff alone? I worked for him, if things get rough he’ll put up a fight” Don argued, sounding concerned for his leader’s wellbeing.

“I’ll be fine Don don’t worry. A man is easier to talk to when he doesn’t feel like he’s being threatened by a gang of men.” James assured.

William was surprised by how the meeting had been going so far. It appeared that it was about to end and there haven’t been any repercussions for what he did last night. All the anxiety he felt had truly been for nothing. At least it was until James spoke once more.

“With that onto the next topic: William’s fuck up.”

“Grand Master I-” William began but was cut off.

“You decided to see the Sheriff on your own right? Thinking that by threatening him you could force him to help us find whoever killed Richard. You tried to use a sledgehammer when it wasn’t needed. Now I know you’ve only been elevated to the council recently but do you think you had the authority to single handedly ruin the fragile relationship we have with Redrock’s law enforcement?”

“Grand Master I merely did what I thought you yourself would’ve done.”

“Oh is that so? Fellas do you all think I would’ve done what William did?”

William saw his fellow council members shake their heads.

“Hmm that’s strange, these men, ones that have known for years say I wouldn’t have done such a thing. In fact you’ve witnessed for yourself how I’m going to handle this problem. So you are wrong, correct?” James inquired, getting out of his chair.

“Y-yes Grand Master. I-I fucked up. It won’t happen again.”

“Do you know why the Humanity Defense Front is set up the way it is? Why is it so military like? With chapter masters such as myself answering to state leaders and those state leaders answering to the Imperial Master himself?” James asked, ignoring William’s promise.

“B-because it was founded by war veterans. They wanted the Humanity Defense Front to be as effective a fighting force as the military.”

“Right, I was a part of this from the beginning. In fact I served with the Imperial Master back during the war. I remember during the war he led us into a forested valley and we were ambushed by wood elves. They caught us completely by surprise. During that battle a fellow sergeant of mine decided to go out on his own and attempt to flank an enemy position without telling the Imperial Master. I tried to stop him but it was of no avail, I was completely brushed off. Good news is that they secured the position, bad news is that no one knew they were there so when the Imperial Master ordered that position to be bombarded with mage artillery all the men that had been there had been killed. Do you know what I’m trying to get at?”

“I-I’m afraid not”

“People die when the hierarchy is not followed, William. That’s why the Imperial Master is so big on discipline. So when you decide to do things on your own I take it as a personal insult. It’s because of that I have to make sure you never forget this lesson.”

“Grand Master I already won’t ever forget this.”

James turned around and looked at the window, seeing children playing outside.

“I’m glad I do stuff like this inside. Wouldn’t want to ruin the barbeque for everyone else.”

He raised his right hand and squeezed his palm, making a fist. William squinted his eyes trying to see if something happened but then it hit him. A sharp pain in his stomach that increased in intensity by the second making him feel like a bomb went off in his body.

“Ahhhhh!” William screamed as he fell out of his chair.

He curled on the floor writhing in pain, clutching his stomach. The other council members were unresponsive to William’s cries for help except the preacher who muttered prayers. James continued to look out the window and opened his hand only to close it again. felt a new pain in his throat, he could tell his tonsils had exploded. Blood started to fill his throat. He began to cough it up in an attempt to prevent himself from choking.

“Sorry about the blood he’s getting on your carpet Nathan” James apologized.

“It’s ok Grand Master. I’ll have the wife clean it later.”

James turned around and looked at the still seated members of the council.

“With that, today's meeting is closed. Good meeting everyone, got a lot done. We figured out that we have two outsiders to deal with and I exploded William’s appendix and tonsil. Nathan those burgers done?”

“Yes Grand Master.”

“Great, we finished before my next show comes on the radio. William you can join us once you get back on your feet. Let’s go fellas.”

“A blessed meeting as always” the preacher said, getting up from his seat.

“You went easy on him, only taking out vestigial organs” Don commented.

“What can I say? Today’s shows put me in a really good mood” James acknowledged.

The council members exited Nathan’s house, leaving William behind squirming in pain as a puddle of blood formed on Nathan’s well furnished carpet.