Amazon Apocalpyse 6: Chapter 29

Arranging another joint training session was easy. Everyone else was surprised when we saw Sergeant Benton again, but I wasn't. I knew he was the one behind most of these expeditions on the military base's side.

“Glad to hear you want to give us a chance. With your abilities, you’ll be welcome additions to our ranks. Come on,” Sergeant Benton said as he led us away from Crownhill to a jeep.

We loaded up with him and were taken through the forest on a lengthy ride. It lasted about three hours despite traveling quickly. Eventually, we came to a stop at a small encampment.

“This doesn’t look like a military base,” I asked, looking around at a rather small fortification containing only a few tents and razor wire.

“Nope. This is an enlistment facility. We need to look everyone over before they join up, and a recruiter will want some one-on-one time with each of you. But between you and me, as long as none of you are spies or hiding your identity somehow, you’ll get in fine. We always need new people, especially those who come with a few levels.”

Sergeant Benton waved and departed. Meanwhile, I grimaced. Losing my cloak might make things difficult.

“Looks like there’s the line. You all first. I’ve got to look for a bathroom,” I said, then rapidly turned to find somewhere to work without being seen.

Once I was clear, I got started hastily modifying my cloak. The first thing I thought of was pushing the whole thing out into a parallel spatial dimension, that way it would look like I wasn’t wearing it, but I actually would be.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work. Without most of the enchantment in mundane reality, the enchantments just didn't function. If I wanted a fully extradimensional disguise item, I would need to redesign my enchantments from the ground up taking that into account.

Had I known I’d need to go through customs, I would have at least reinforced my Himmel identity with a mundane disguise, like a fake mustache and a wig.

Since I didn’t have either of those, I would just have to make do with an elaborate series of enchantments inscribed directly on my skin. I’d had the idea ever since I gave Reluna her sexy tattoo with a life-saving item inside it.

Mine was applied a bit more painfully, since I didn’t have ink. I used a spell to burn the pattern into the flesh of my chest and added some creative embellishments to it so that it would look like a fancy design.

It took me nearly half an hour to finish, and when I was out, I made a big show of stumbling out of the bushes.

“Whew. Don’t go back there anytime soon. I really have to lay off the burritos,” I laughed. A few of the military guys nearby rolled their eyes, and one pinched his nose in expectation of an awful smell wafting over him at any moment.

When I rejoined my companions, I found they were already processed and on the other side of camp.

“There you are. We thought you’d run off,” said one of the recruiters.

“Sorry. Bathroom emergency. So where do I enlist?” I asked.

“First, we need to examine you. We’ve got to confirm you're human, or at least on the list of approved races,” the recruiter explained.

“Approved races?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Most are kill-on-sight,” the recruiter shrugged as though it were self-explanatory.

“I see.” I had yet to dig into who the military guys had faced during previous stages of the integration, but from the sound of things, most of their encounters had been violent.

It wasn’t entirely unexpected. Most of the other races that Crownhill had encountered had been overtly hostile and often willing to eat humans at the first opportunity. If not for my adventures across other worlds, I’d probably be pretty nervous around non-human races, too.

“Alright, the process is fairly simple. I’ll just take you through the basics. Height, weight, whether you’re under alien influence or a secret spy, you know the drill.”

I had to set aside my cloak and weapons. My tattoo hardly even received a comment, and before I knew it, I was done. The recruiter jotted down a few notes on his clipboard, and I got creative with bending space and a mirror so I could read them.

The notes suggested I was a good candidate for a leadership position. It seemed strange to decide that based on a purely physical inspection, but maybe there was also a report from Seargent Benton that I wasn’t seeing.

“Got any special skill sets you want us to know about?” the recruiter asked as he jotted down some notes.

I shrugged. “I’ve enchanted a little here and there. I can perform a few tricks with a monster core, given the chance.”

“Enchanter job. Good. If you’re willing to learn some more traditional electrical skills, we could use you in the improvised weapons department. Seems like the general is desperate for anyone who can make homemade bombs that can be dropped from a helicopter. Anyway, you’re all set. Get dressed and get moving. I think the next trip to base leaves shortly,” the recruiter said, tossing me my cloak.

I dressed and hurried out, where I found the rest of my team waiting for me.

“There you are. We thought they held you back for some reason,” Meghan said, eyes nervous as she scanned the camp. She seemed less cut out for spywork than the others.

Suzie nudged her elbow and shot her a look that kept her from saying more.

“No, I’m good to go. When do we leave?” I looked to the driver, who nodded to me and took off immediately.

We spoke quietly as we traveled the rest of the way to the military base. I kept a careful eye on the window, and looked for landmarks, and made note of a few we passed along the way. I’d take to the air and get the lay of the land as soon as I was sure I could get away with it.

Eventually, we arrived at the main military base. There was a security checkpoint with a large fence that looked unchanged from pre-System days, though I did see tell-tall signs of recent repairs. The new landmass the System had added no doubt left lots of holes in the fence line, but those had since been patched.

We passed a modest airfield off to the side. Several of the helicopters I’d already seen were lined up there, and there were airplanes too, both fighter jets and bombers.

The fighter jets were in pieces. I couldn’t tell if they were salvaging them or trying to get them operational, but I doubted the military guys had much use for fighter jets unless they were running into dragons. I would have to check to see if these things were operational, and if so, warn Ben and the others to steer clear of this airspace.

Most of the airplanes on the runway had an older look to them and appeared to be retrofitted in one way or another. Unless they had people as good as I was with enchanting, they would have a tough time replacing modern smart missiles once they were consumed, assuming the System even allowed them to be used. Firearms had required complete reassembly before the System recognized them as weapons. I had to assume someone had done similar with the helicopters and planes.

Beyond the airfields was a much more robust concrete fence. Like the fence, it had also been recently filled in to make it secure after the System’s meddling. I also spotted occasional claw marks and the scorch marks of fireballs here and there. A few portions of the walls were more cracked than others, like somebody had tried to smash them open with a battering ram and failed.

These defenses had clearly been tested, but the buildings beyond them were in good shape. If I had to guess, I’d say the heart of the base had never been breached.

“Housing for recruits is that way. Your squad can stay together, at least for now. You’re all part of the new specialists program with your medieval and magical weapons, so you’ll have separate training,” our driver said over his shoulder. Soon, we pulled up to a building and were let off and told to get settled and wait for further orders.

We walked into the barracks, which were a hall with five bunks on either side. There were chests at the end of each bed for belongings, but it was clear we’d be sleeping twenty to a room.

The girls were unhappy with this arrangement.

“Even in college, I only had one roommate,” Abby sighed.

“Mixed dorms? I sleep with a dagger under my pillow, just so everyone knows,” Suzie said.

“Why don’t we get an apartment? In Crownhill, everybody gets a free apartment...” Meghan worriedly tugged at her hair.

I chuckled and answered Meghan.

“The Shardlord of Crownhill has an army of automated construction bots, and even pulled an entire city district out of thin air, if you remember the weird alien part of the city. That kind of thing means there’s more to go around. As for here, we should be grateful we’re not sleeping in tents. There were people out in the field at the base we were recruited from that were doing just that.”

“Oh, come on, guys. It’ll be fun.” Charlie kicked off his shoes and bounced into bed. “It’s like a big slumber party! Besides, I don’t think we’ll be here too often anyway. We’re supposed to be training most of the time.”

Sure enough, we barely had the time to get settled before someone came to get us. We were issued gear, which in this case was little more than a camouflage band we were supposed to tie around our arms. The bands looked like they’d been cut from destroyed uniforms. Mine even came with a bullet hole on one side.

After, we were made to run a few laps, which was mostly pointless given our stats. Even at D-Grade, everyone on my team could take home every Olympic gold medal without issues. At the peak of B-Grade, I actually had to splash some water on my forehead to make sure I looked like I was sweating.

A drill instructor yelled at us, which was again unpopular with the ladies. Truthfully, it was unpopular with me as well. I’d gotten used to leading, which meant keeping my mouth shut and marching on command was less than thrilling.

“Halt! We’re coming up on the graveyard. Make sure you pay your respects, recruits!” The drill instructor saluted a memorial along the jogging path before hopping back in his vehicle. He needed it to keep up with our running speed.

We awkwardly followed suit and saluted the memorial. It didn’t look like much of a graveyard to me. It was just a pillar with a big black stone inscribed with a few hundred names on it. I noted one at the top was the original George C. Marshall, not the one currently running the military base.

“Alright, enough catching your breath. Get your asses moving again!” the drill instructor shouted at us.

The boot camp experience was surprisingly similar to how it was in the movies, and I got the distinct impression that our instructors didn’t really know what to do with us. Exercise did nothing, but running and pushups were what they knew. While my whole team had gone into this with some enthusiasm, it was gone now from everyone besides Charlie.

“What are you smiling about?” Suzie asked Charlie as we prepared for bed.

“Did you hear what the instructors said? Tomorrow we’re going to start combat training! I bet we’re better than most of the other recruits. I can’t wait to show them what I’m made of!” Charlie grinned widely.

“Just don’t forget why we’re here,” Abby reminded him.

Suzie sighed and pulled the covers over herself. Meghan was already curled up under her blanket. Being a spellcaster with most of her points in intelligence, she had the hardest time with the day’s calisthenics.

I lay in bed for a few minutes before using Shadowrealm Stride to slip out. This was where the real reconnaissance work would begin.

I probably could have done this without the whole spy and fake recruit charade, but I still had some hope my team would discover something I’d miss on my own.

I took to the sky and scanned the base. As I’d already noted from the ride in here, the military base was using old airplanes and helicopters. I found one partially disassembled, made sure nobody was looking, and then appeared next to it for a closer look.

It was obvious where absurdly expensive modern military gear ended and where improvised weaponry took over. The helicopter I was looking at had big baskets welded on the side. I had to check several similar helicopters to figure out what they were for.

They were for dropping those improvised magical explosives I’d seen Charlie use. From what I'd heard, they were supplementing their traditional weaponry stockpile with improvised equipment. It was smart, even if their designs were lacking.

The bombs really were quite primitive by my standards, and they relied more on traditional chemistry than mana. The explosion was triggered by a rapid oxidation reaction that produced the right aspect of mana to destabilize the weak monster core that fueled the bomb. It was terribly inefficient, but it did work.

I would have simply used the mana itself, but whoever made this didn’t know enough about mana storage and manipulation. Such a roundabout solution likely indicated the military base wasn’t in communication with any off-world powers, unlike New Kyoto.

Within the first few hours, I got a good grasp of the military base’s equipment and numbers. Before, I’d theorized that General Marshall was putting on a strong front and pretending he had more soldiers than he did. It was looking like that was true.

Most of the barracks were empty. I’d suspected as much when fifteen of the twenty bunks my team was staying in were empty. Either there were a lot more forward bases, or General Marshall didn’t have even half the men he was pretending to have.

Maybe that was why he was so eager to poach my low-ranking adventurers. That would be a surefire way to bolster his numbers fast, though it would mean restructuring his military base into something more like the Glacian Imperial Army.

I circled the base a few more times. There was a sprawling series of tents outside the base that looked more like a refugee encampment than a military installation, though they were military camps.

Looking down from above and bending my head to hear the whispered conversations, I realized that was exactly what this was. There were at least twenty thousand people in that camp. Compared to life before the integration, they were living in squalor with trenches for latrines and old military rations for food.

It was clear General Marshall had more mouths to feed and fewer resources than Crownhill. We’d been helped a lot early on by having access to markets for buying and selling goods on Themyscira, so no one in Crownhill had starved or gone without necessities. I doubted the same was true here.

Despite the apparent shortages, things seemed orderly enough. I overheard only a few arguments and no fights. The world had ended, and everyone in the tents knew they were lucky to even be alive. They were fortunate that the military base had enough spare resources to keep food in their bellies and the rain off their heads.

It seemed strange that General Marshall wasn’t spending more time recruiting from the refugee camp right next to his base. If it were me, I’d at least be willing to move equipment if it meant getting out of the camp. There were plenty of things even low-level people could do for work in a place without an army of golems.

I would have to visit the refugee camp at some point. I could only glean so much drifting through the skies above them. Sakura might disagree, but I found there was something special about putting feet on the ground and doing things yourself. A scouting report didn’t have the same feel as going somewhere and taking a look for yourself.

By the time light was peeking through over the horizon, I felt like I had scouted all the obvious places. I found myself scratching my head, wondering what else to look for. I had all the basic information, and none of it seemed outside my expectations. All in all, this place looked exactly like what I imagine a military base that had survived the integration might be like.

If this were a normal scouting mission, I’d call it quits about now and head home. But despite the evidence I’d gathered with my own eyes, I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing something.

<Note>

Carter missed... jepordy night in the officer's barraks! Surely that was it.