Chapter 11 - The Living: Part 2

“Are we there yet?” Amoc’s voice came over the LAV’s radio.

“Really?” Simon sighed. “That’s the level you’re stooping to now?”

“Well, I mean, I’m used to having to stoop low.” Amoc replied. “Comes with being nine feet tall.”

Amoc was getting annoyingly good at using Simon’s usual antics against him; he had taught Amoc too well. Amoc was not, in fact, in war form at the moment. He was driving the trailing LAV while Marcus was driving the lead. Simon had the gunner’s seat in the lead vehicle with Marcus, while Maggie was manning the gunner’s seat in Amoc’s LAV. Ari was also back there with Amoc, and Draki was currently up in the air scouting.

Amoc tended to get restless when cooped up. Part of being Garou, Simon figured. Even if he called himself ‘high-functioning’ and able to stand cities, that part of his nature was still there. It reminded Simon of what Amoc was. For an outdoorsy human, the need might be more directly voiced; Simon was pretty sure it was just subconscious for Amoc; an inseparable part of what he was.

So of course hanging around me, some of my incredible wit was going to rub off. I only have myself to blame I suppose.

Simon laughed at his own sardonic thoughts.

“No sir, we are not there yet.” Simon purposely formalized his reply.

“I withdraw my question.” Amoc quickly backpedaled.

Amoc really doesn’t like being called ‘sir’ or ‘boss’ or anything like that. He’s not great at hiding the fact that it does genuinely annoy him. Which I guess is a good thing. Better than insisting on it, that’s for sure. But still useful for getting back at him when he’s in a snarky mood. I meant what I said, though. Amoc’s the right choice to be making the calls for us. The group vote was fine when it was just the undead, but it’s not just the undead anymore. If there’s one of us that has the most experience with weird and dangerous things, it’s him.

“How’s it running back there?” Simon asked Amoc.

“That hard one two shift seems to have gone away.” Amoc replied. “Last couple of turns, it was smooth.”

“Perfect, sounds like it just needed to cycle some fresh ATF through the system.”

Both of the LAVs were running surprisingly well. Simon had gone into servicing the two armored vehicles expecting to only get one in drivable condition, but both had passed the service and inspection checklists with no major issues. Amoc had complained about hard shifts from the transmission of the second LAV, but that seemed to have sorted itself out. Simon assumed it was just down to the old fluids needing to get filtered out with some driving.

They were now in the rural parts of Virginia, somewhere between Fredericksburg and the D.C. Metro area, keeping south per the advice of Ben, their radio contact at Mt. Weather. This trip by car would have taken a couple of hours at most, but for their lumbering armored vehicles driven by two novices, it was likely to take double that. Still, it was better than the alternatives

They were an hour into the drive, and the road so far had been quiet. It was beginning to unsettle Simon, though he had no expectations for how active this area should be. The undead did seem to stick to more urban areas, but Simon didn’t have much reference for what undead activity in rural Virginia should be. He had spent most of the apocalypse on the water, occasionally risking a raid of a city to find supplies, like some post-apocalyptic viking. Canada was the only real point of comparison he had. It occurred to Simon that Amoc had never really talked about what he had done in those first hours and days of the apocalypse.

I know he said once he never found his parents. That would be my guess on what he was doing. Definitely not something I’m going to pry into any time soon.

These thoughts helped Simon keep his mind off more personal concerns, but he inevitably found them slipping back in as the drive continued without event. He could feel Amoc’s presence behind him, and Draki’s, more vaguely above and slightly ahead. Marcus, Maggie, and Ari were fainter still, despite being closer. Simon didn’t quite seem to have Amoc’s level of sensitivity, and he also wasn’t sure he’d be able to tell any of them apart at a distance like Amoc seemed to be able.

What the hell am I now?

The thought fully intruded into Simon’s consciousness. He didn’t know the answer to the question. Amoc didn’t either, but he wasn’t sure which of them it concerned more. Simon had become part of Amoc’s world, far more so than he had on the night they met. He was no longer just an observer; he was now an active participant, able to feel the Veil’s ripples, and apparently understand any spoken or written language he was exposed to. If these things were possible, what else was?

Ari was one such possibility. The Gnoll, Simon’s applied name, was something completely new, not previously of his world or Amoc’s, and possibly manifested by the Veil itself. Not extraordinary, like Amoc or Draki, just a living, sentient creature that wasn’t human. A rebalancing of the world, Miriam had told Simon in that other reality. They were traveling an unknown road now, and Simon was extremely thankful he had Amoc with him for it.

“Movement, three o’clock.” Draki’s radio call interrupted Simon’s thoughts. “Farm buildings to your right, saw something duck in behind it.”

Simon propped himself further up out of the gunner’s hatch and looked in the direction Draki had called out. The group of buildings was obvious in the open field; several barns and a couple of grain silos. He looked back to see Maggie doing the same from the turret of the second LAV.

“Should we stop?” Simon asked Amoc over the radio. “I know you said no stopping, but it hasn’t exactly been undead around every corner.”

“Slow down.” Amoc ordered, and Simon felt Marcus slow the LAV. “Draki, what did you see?”

Simon looked overhead to see where Draki was. The late morning sun didn’t make it easy, but he was able to make out the Gargoyle’s silhouette almost directly overhead, turning towards the barn.

“A singular figure, human sized.” Draki’s brief reply came back over the radio. “I couldn’t tell much else from this height, and I can’t see it now. I think it went inside one of the barns.”

“Marcus, bring us to a stop.” Amoc ordered, and Simon braced himself slightly as Marcus brought the LAV to a stop. “I’ll go out. Maggie, driver’s seat. Simon, sight that turret on the barn.”

Simon moved back down into the LAV to sit behind the turret controls.

“We haven’t tested the canon yet.” Simon replied to the order.

“I know, but just in case.” Amoc continued. “It’s not a horde, and I’d feel it if it was something of the old world, but… well, none of that’s a guarantee of anything anymore.”

“Copy.” Simon confirmed.

Simon’s recall of the turret operation was instantaneous, of course. He reached for the translation control and rotated the turret right. Slowing as he reached the desired angle, he put his eyes to the gun sight and fixed it on the largest building in the middle, bringing the elevation in line. Simon looked to his left and made sure the master arming switch was still where he left it, but didn’t flip it.

Just in case.

“Movement again!” Draki suddenly exclaimed on the radio. “Between the barns, slightly to your left.”

Simon rotated the turret left… and saw a person walking out of the enclosed area, hands raised in the air. They were saying something, but Simon had no hope of hearing them over the engine inside the LAV.

“I see them, they’re saying something.” Simon informed over the radio.

“Don’t shoot me.” Amoc replied.

Garou hearing.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Simon stated, checking once again that the master arming switch was still in the disabled position.

“I’m walking out there.” Amoc stated, and Simon propped himself back up out of the turret to see Amoc doing exactly that. “Marcus, Maggie, eyes on a swivel, I don’t want to get surprised by a horde or anything else while we’re stopped.

“Got it.” Maggie confirmed.

Simon looked down to the driver’s position to see Marcus looking out of the hatch.

“Eyes open.” Marcus replied.

Simon decided the M249 mounted on top of the LAV’s turret would be better for keeping overwatch, and moved to put himself within quick reach of it. The gun was one of a number of military supplies they had plundered from Quantico. In fact, they probably looked like the military, given the helmets, radios, and load vests they were wearing. It was all excellent gear for surviving an apocalypse, but Simon had never been able to obtain any before meeting Amoc. Raiding a military base as a lone human wasn’t exactly a survivable endeavor, even now.

The LAVs rumbled as they sat idle, and Amoc hopped the fence into the field. The person had come to a stop a short distance in front of the farm, arms still raised. Simon found himself thinking about how this scenario would be a perfect setup for an ambush, but then questioned who would be dumb enough to take on two armored vehicles. Simon looked back to see Maggie propped up in the driver’s seat of the other LAV, rifle braced on the hatch edge, looking towards the field in the other direction.

Maggie’s no novice to this kind of thing.

Amoc had come to a stop not far into the field, and seemed to be waiting for the person to make the next move. As lucky as they may have been with people so far, Amoc wasn’t taking any chances. Not that they could have done much to him, but taking those kinds of risks was careless regardless. Amoc shouted something to the person; Simon couldn’t quite make it out over the LAV’s engine, but he got the gist of it when the person lowered their hands and began walking towards Amoc.

As they came closer, Simon got more of a look at them. Dirty clothes, dirty in general, and no gear of any kind. As far as Simon knew there was no one out here among the living other than Ben and his people at Mt. Weather, but that was assuming Ben hadn’t been holding back, or even knew about anyone else in Virginia in the first place.

The person looked human and male, at least in general shape and appearance, but their overall dirtiness made it hard to tell anything beyond that. Simon would have loved to have Amoc’s hearing at this point; the person was growing increasingly animated as they conversed with Amoc, and looked to be coming to grips with the fact that they were not, in fact, hallucinating. Or so Simon imagined. The question now was, what had brought them here? Amoc was likely finding out some of that right now.

The person suddenly dropped to their knees after Amoc had said something.

Are they… crying? Fuck. What kind of hell have they been through?

Amoc kneeled down and got the person to stand back up, and started walking back to the LAVs. Amoc’s body language told him this person wasn’t any apparent threat. The person struggled slightly with the fence, but managed it. As they got close, Amoc ushered the person into a seat in the back of Simon’s LAV, and motioned for Simon to dismount. Simon exited through the other row of seats in the back of the LAV; not an easy task given all the supplies stacked up inside. He and Amoc stepped back to the trailing LAV, out of earshot of their new guest, but still able to see them.

“Gabriel, is their name.” Amoc keyed his radio on so their whole group would hear him. “I didn’t get all of it, but it sounded like they were part of a work group that got ambushed by… something. They weren’t able to describe it well. I thought it might be eldritch at first… but then they said it was breathing fire. Nothing in my world breathes fire.”

“Fuck.” Simon swore. “I don’t even want to guess at what that might be, might accidentally will another into existence or something. Is Gabriel someone from Ben’s group?”

“I mentioned Ben, they said they didn't know the name.” Amoc replied.

“You believe them?” Simon asked, then realized he already knew the answer. “Right, Garou senses, built-in lie detector and such.”

Simon had learned early on that it was basically impossible to lie to Amoc. Amoc claimed it was a combination of things, heart rate, sweat, and other factors. Smelling fear, as he always put it.

“I believe they survived an attack from something powerful.” Amoc confirmed. “But there’s more to it than that. They’re absolutely happy to be alive and rescued by well-armed survivors, but avoided mentioning why they were out here, who they were with, or why they apparently had no survival gear.”

“You’d think if they had something good going with a group, they’d want to go back to it.” Simon stated the implication.

“Yeah, that was my thought too.” Amoc confirmed he shared the suspicion. “Not sure what that means exactly, but for now we just keep an eye on them and keep moving to Mt. Weather.”

“Yes sir.” Simon couldn’t help himself.

“You are driving now.” Amoc wasn’t amused. “Marcus, you’re joining Maggie. I’m going to keep an eye on our new guest.”

Marcus was already hauling himself out of the driver’s seat of the front LAV and jogging to the rear. Simon decided Amoc was sufficiently annoyed, and moved to take the front LAV’s vacated seat without further comment.

“How’s Ari?” Simon heard Amoc ask over the radio.

“Confused, but trying his best.” Maggied replied.

“Draki?” Amoc asked.

“I’m fine for a while longer.” Draki replied.

“Good, let’s move.” Amoc ordered as he closed the rear hatch of the LAV.

Simon put the LAV in gear and they were again on the move.

Going all the way to Mt. Weather without stopping was of course not entirely feasible, and they had planned a few points for quick breaks, if for no reason other than to empty bladders. Draki could stay airborne for quite some time, but he would need breaks as well. Gabriel hadn’t said much during the drive after their rescue, but did eventually speak up on their first planned stop.

“I feel I need to ask… where are you going?” Gabriel inquired of Amoc and Simon.

They were stopped in a town with a name Simon wasn’t sure how to pronounce. The spelling was making him crosseyed, and Simon wondered what that meant if even his newfound comprehension abilities couldn’t make sense of it. An amusing theory of the locals not actually knowing how to pronounce it came to mind. They had pulled the LAVs up in front of the town’s post office; the place was barely a bump in the road, and the post office had hours that said it closed for lunch. This was the kind of town that more resembled a European village, which wasn’t uncommon in states as old as Virginia.

“I was wondering when you might ask.” Amoc replied. “Have you heard of Mt. Weather?”

Gabriel shook their head in a negative response.

“It’s a government operations center up in the hills near West Virginia.” Amoc explained. “The Ben I mentioned before contacted us from there by radio. We’re going up there to hopefully find some more survivors.”

Simon had noted a tic in Gabriel’s features when Amoc had mentioned ‘near West Virginia’. There was clearly an association with that location.

“Do you trust them?” Gabriel asked.

“I trust the people you see around me.” Amoc responded without hesitation. “You’re the only unknown here, so I think that question is somewhat irrelevant to your situation right now.”

Amoc’s statement was blunt, and definitely had a protective overtone to it. That was some of the Garou coming out. The protective streak was buried deep in Amoc’s psyche. It could come on very strongly at times, and this was pretty mild considering the manifestations of it Simon had observed.

“Sorry… I uh… yeah, that’s not my business.” Gabriel sheepishly conceded, but still continued. “I just… god, you’re going to think I’m insane.”

“Try us.” Simon retorted. “Insane is just another word for normal these days.”

Gabriel paused to look at Simon, presumably wondering what he knew that they didn’t. Gabriel turned back to Amoc.

“I already babbled some of it out to… I’m sorry I never got your name.” Gabried tried to begin explaining.

“Amoc.”

Simon looked at Amoc and raised an eyebrow. This time it hadn’t been a slip, Simon was pretty sure. If it had been a slip, Amoc kept any reaction in check.

“Amoc.” Gabriel tried the name. “I’ll be honest, I don’t entirely know what I saw. I didn’t get the best look at it, but there was fire. A lot of it. Like a flamethrower, but it was coming from something big. It decimated the… all of us. I just got lucky, I think. Whatever it was, it didn’t notice me when I ran. I was on my own for a couple of days after that, until I found you. Seeing two armored vehicles, I thought the dehydration had gotten to me, and I was hallucinating.”

The tick was there again, right on the hesitation before ‘all of us.’ Amoc was right, there was definitely more Gabriel wasn't saying.

“Why did we find you with no water or gear?” Amoc pointedly asked.

Gabriel seemed to realize the trap he had set for himself.

“We were a work crew.” Gabriel replied.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Amoc was fully grilling Gabriel for information now.

“I’m sorry, I just wasn't wearing my gear when the attack came!” Gabriel explained, exasperated. “That’s your concern, why I had no gear? Not the living flamethrower that nearly killed me?”

Fair point.

“We’ve had some experience with monsters.” Amoc calmly stated. “Why do you think it was alive, this flamethrower?”

“The way it moved, the noises it made.” Gabriel explained. “It sounded angry.”

What the hell had Gabriel’s group come across?

“Did you try to fight it?” Amoc asked.

“No, of course not.” Gabriel stated, as if it should be obvious. “That was a job for…”

Gabriel let the sentence trail off. Amoc seemed to have found what they weren’t telling them.

“For what?” Amoc pressed the question.

“Please take me with you.” Gabriel begged, something clearly having given way in their resolve. “I can’t go back to them.”

“Back to who?” Amoc’s tone was hardened steel.

This was real fear, and Gabriel was clearly afraid of providing the answer to Amoc’s question.

“Gabriel, we’ve seen a lot of crazy shit out there.” Simon tried to play the counter to Amoc. “We’ve survived a lot of crazy shit. But we can’t help you if you won’t tell us what’s out there.”

Gabriel took several moments to respond.

“Do those work?” Gabriel pointed to the chain gun on the rear LAV.

“Yes.” Amoc replied.

In theory.

“You’ll need them, if they find you.” Gabriel explained. “They’re monsters. Literal monsters. Fast and strong as hell, and huge. They can’t be taken down by small arms. They’re not invincible, but it takes a hell of a lot to kill one. One of those cannons maybe could do it.”

“Do they have a name they call themselves?” Amoc asked.

“Garou.”

Fuck.

Simon tried his best to hide any reaction to the revelation. Looking over at Amoc, his features were entirely stoic.

“You saw them killed, the Garou?” Amoc asked, maintaining an entirely neutral tone.

“I… they went down.” Gabriel began. “There was blood and burned flesh down to the bone. And they didn’t get back up. I’ve seen them take a hell of beating from undead, but they always got back up. This was different. Then the flamethrower came after the rest of us, and I ran.”

“What’s going on?” Maggie rounded the corner of one of the LAVs.

Simon realized none of this had gone out over the radio. Only he and Amoc had heard the conversation.

“There’s uh… been some revelations.” Simon explained. “Of the non-human variety.”

“Oh.” Maggie immediately understood.

“Watch Gabriel.” Amoc ordered Maggie. “I need a word with Simon in private.”

Maggie nodded and made a show of moving her rifle to a position where she could quickly bring it up. Amoc and Simon walked out into the post office’s parking lot, out of human earshot.

“Not what you were hoping for?” Simon risked the blunt question before Amoc could speak.

“It’s just one person’s word.” Amoc reasoned.

“Gabriel’s more terrified of going back to those Garou than of nearly being killed by some monster neither of us recognizes.”

Simon felt horrible for laying it out like that, but it was needed. Amoc held out hope of finding more of his kind, and the first evidence looked like some kind of forced labor camp that had one human more willing to trust a bunch of strangers than go back to where they had come from.

“Is this what Draki said about you being a glass of ice water in the face sometimes?” Amoc’s tone was all raw nerves as he struggled to find some humor in the revelation.

“Yeah, I guess I’m good at that.” Simon replied. “Sorry.”

“Draki’s right about something else too; you’re lucky it was me that night.” Amoc stated.

Simon didn’t like where this was going.

“I’ve told you before, we’ve earned our reputation.” Amoc continued. “We are not nice people, in general. The rules of the old world kept us in check before. Those rules don’t matter anymore. If other Garou survived, something like this was bound to happen.”

“You also said before that some Garou would have preferred ruling over humans.” Simon remembered.

“Yeah.” Amoc confirmed. “So you understand why I hate being called by titles. Why I never tried to lead before you asked me to. I don’t ever want to get comfortable with what you’ve trusted me with.”

Fuck. I should have made that connection. You can be a real insensitive asshole sometimes, you know that, Simon?

“I’m sorry, Amoc.” Simon genuinely was. “I won’t do it again.”

“Thanks.” Amoc clearly was relieved.

“You think they could have survived, the Garou?” Simon asked.

“We are very hard to kill.” Amoc reasoned. “But this is something different. I don’t know. Not sure if I care if they did, given what Gabriel said.”

“It’s just one person’s word.” Simon reminded Amoc of his own words.

“Yeah.” Amoc conceded. “Gabriel’s not lying or holding anything back now, but… we don’t know them. I won’t jump to any conclusions before we know more.”

“So what do we do with Garbiel?” Simon asked.

“We take them with us.” Amoc replied without any hesitation. “And tell them everything. Right here, right now.”

“They’re going to freak out when they learn you’re a Garou, and you’re in charge.” Simon added.

“Yeah.” Amoc agreed. “But they’re just going to have to trust that I’m not like those Garou, and deal with it.”

“Gabriel’s lucky it was you.” Simon again reminded Amoc of his own words.

Amoc looked appalled.

“That really sounds awful when you throw it back at me like that.” Amoc began. “Like I expect you should be grateful or something.”

“Amoc, I said before, you don’t need to justify anything to me.” Simon reminded Amoc. “What you’ve done since that night speaks for itself. I am grateful… grateful that I found a friend worth fighting for in this hell. And you better fucking believe me when I say I will let you know if that evaluation ever changes.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Ready to do this?” Simon asked.

“Yeah.” Amoc confirmed, then keyed on his radio. “Draki, have you seen any reason for us to get moving in the next ten minutes or so?”

“No, no immediate threats.” Draki’s reply came back.

“Good, because we’re about to introduce you to Gabriel.” Amoc informed Draki.

“Already?” Draki asked. “Very well. I will be there shortly.”

Amoc began walking back towards where Maggie was watching Gabriel and Simon followed.

“Maggie, could you bring Ari around?” Amoc asked.

“Going straight to the deep end, huh?” Maggie replied, then said to Gabriel. “Strap in, bud, your world is about to get rocked even harder.”

“What does she mean?” Gabriel asked Amoc.

“What do you identify as, Gabriel?” Amoc asked.

“Uh… male?” Gabriel clearly didn’t fully comprehend the question.

“Human male?” Amoc clarified.

Now it was Gabriel’s turn to not like where the conversation was going. He only nodded a quick affirmative.

“You’re going to learn how important that distinction is right now.” Amoc added.

At that moment, Maggie came around the corner with Ari and Marcus. The dark-furred Gnoll stared wide-eyed at the new human in their company. He was actually dressed now, with a spare uniform they had taken from the supply warehouse, but the black and brown fur on his arms and legs was unmistakable where it was still exposed. As was his very obviously non-human head and yellow eyes.

“Holy shit!” Gabriel exclaimed and stood up out of the LAV where he had been sitting.

“Gabriel, meet Ari.” Amoc made the introduction. “Ari, this is Garbiel. You’ll have to excuse Gabriel’s manners, he’s had a rough few days.

“New?” Ari asked, pointing to Gabriel.

“Kind of.” Maggie tried to explain. “Not like you, but new to us.”

Simon could feel that Draki’s entrance was imminent.

“You may want to sit down for this next part.” Simon offered the advice.

Draki made his entrance in an open area of the parking lot, kicking up dust as he backwinged his way into a perfectly controlled landing, and touched down softly on both feet. Gabriel looked on in stunned silence as Draki made a show of stretching and flexing the muscles in his wings before folding them to his back. It was purposely flamboyant, and Simon was pretty sure Draki was enjoying himself as he walked over. Draki never stopped being an imposing figure, even with the incongruity of the military radio he wore on a sling, and the throat mic on his neck.

“Garbiel, this is Draki.” Amoc again did the introduction. “Our eyes in the sky, so to speak.”

“Good to finally meet you.” Draki greeted Gabriel.

Gabriel had taken Simon’s advice and returned to the seat in the LAV. He was silent, but the reaction was not the same as it had been for Simon, Jade, or Maggie. Gabriel had clearly already seen into this world, but hadn’t understood that it didn’t stop at Garou.

“Now before I ask if you’re sure you still want to go with us, there’s a couple more things you need to know.” Amoc began, and Simon realized where this was going. “What you see is not always the full story, though I think you already know this, having lived with Garou. We’re not all the same. Some of us built the trust others show us, instead of demanding it.”

Amoc’s turn of the statement was so subtle Gabriel almost missed what he had just been told. When the realization came, Gabriel suddenly threw himself out of the LAV and kneeled at Amoc’s feet. Amoc had been fishing for a response, it seemed, but this was clearly a lot more extreme than he had been expecting, judging by his scowling expression. Everyone else just looked surprised.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize!” Gabriel exclaimed from the ground. “Please forgive me!”

Well I guess that answers the question of how the other Garou were running their labor operation.

Amoc grabbed Gabriel under a shoulder and forced him to stand.

“The other…” Amoc’s tone was bordering on anger. “Is that I am not like those other Garou. You are not going to bow to me, ask my forgiveness, call me sir or lord or anything like that. I lead this group of humans and non-humans because they put their trust in me. I will never demand it, but you will earn it. Just like I earned it with them, and they earned it with me. If you can do that, then we can help you.”

Simon had never heard their group dynamic laid out in such clear terms before, but it was the truth, all of it. Amoc understood it now, and Simon was more sure than ever that he was the right one to lead it. It took Gabriel a moment to comprehend the tectonic shift in his world.

“I’ll try.” Gabriled said quietly.

“That’s all any of us can do.” Amoc’s tone was much softer. “But you’ll have to start on the road, we’ve been here too long. Especially with your living flamethrower likely still at large.”

Amoc looked around and noticed the shocked expressions of everyone else. Likely realizing they hadn’t heard the full story, or the revelation.

“I’ll fill you in on the way.” Amoc reassured them. “Let’s get going.”

Amoc gave out seat assignments, supplies were re-stowed, bladders were emptied a final time, and they all boarded the two LAVs. Within a couple of minutes they were again on their way to Mt. Weather.

Gabriel didn’t say much for the next hour or so of the drive. That wasn’t too shocking, given the rug they had just pulled out from under him. Simon was lost in his own thoughts as well. Mostly trying to figure how Amoc must feel, finally having confirmation that more Garou had survived, but those Garou weren’t the ones he was hoping for. Of course, that was based on a single human’s perspective.

And a lot of things can change based on your perspective. I’ve got the luxury of seeing Amoc as he is now, but what if I had met him before that night? Gabriel could have been me, in a different turn of events.

Simon shook off the thoughts and returned to the tasks at hand: driving the LAV, and keeping an eye out for movement in front of them. The undead were still absent, and as the day went on without their presence, Simon was growing more unsettled. Even as rural as this area was, it was dotted with small towns, homes and farms, and Simon would have expected to find at least some undead out there. So far, though, there had been none.

Around midday, they came to where the country road they were on passed underneath Interstate 66, a major highway through the more rural parts of Virginia. It wasn’t planned as a stop, but Amoc called for a halt. Simon slowly brought the LAV to a stop underneath the overpass, as Amoc instructed.

“Draki says there’s something we need to see.” Amoc cryptically informed Simon over the intercom. “Up on the Interstate. Shut it down and hop out.”

Simon did as he was ordered and climbed up out of the driver’s seat. The sudden silence as both LAVs shut down was stark, and it again reminded Simon of just how quiet the world had become. He was standing underneath an Interstate overpass in the middle of the day, and it was dead silent. Only the creak of the LAV’s hatches as everyone disembarked made any noise, along with the faint ticking of cooling metal on the exhaust.

“Up the entrance.” Amoc pointed to the ramp on the south side of the highway, and they all walked as a group.

They found Draki standing at the top of the ramp. Simon noted there were cars. A lot of cars. Many had hoods or trunks open. As the group reached Draki, Simon could see the cars lined the highway in both directions. They were stopped in the low point of a small valley, and the cars reached all the way to the top of the ridges on both sides. Simon also noticed that both directions of travel had cars pointed westbound.

“The backroads seem to have been the best choice.” Draki stated, breaking the relative quiet.

“So they did try to get out of the cities.” Simon assumed, then pointed in the direction they were facing. “East is D.C., maybe an hour in normal traffic. Look… both sides are going west. Like a hurricane evacuation.”

“Someone’s been through here.” Maggie was looking over one of the cars with an open hood. “Battery’s missing. And a few other parts, like stuff I took off dead cars in New York, to run radios and cooking stoves, and anything else we needed.”

“We’re not far from Mt. Weather now.” Simon offered. “Maybe another hour at LAV speeds. This could be Ben’s group.”

“Do you recognize any of this, Gabriel?” Amoc asked their guest.

They all looked over to Gabriel, who didn’t appear to have been ready to be put on the spot.

“I’ve never been here.” Gabriel said after a moment. “They never told us where we were going. Never gave us anything that could help us navigate. But I would have remembered this.”

Amoc seemed satisfied with the response.

“What do you think happened to all of them?” Marcus asked, motioning to the line of cars. “We should be getting mobbed by a horde right now.”

Marcus, asking the practical questions as always. And you’re not wrong, as usual.

“Might not be any way to know for sure.” Amoc concluded. “And not much point in speculating, but it is weird. All these cars, no undead.”

Amoc pointed to the west, where a dark cloud was slowly making its way over the hills.

“One thing I know for sure, though, that’s a storm on the way.” Amoc observed. “We should probably get moving. Draki?”

“I’ll be fine until it starts raining, or the wind picks up a bit more.” Draki confirmed.

“You were right to stop us for this.” Amoc added after a brief pause. “It’s very strange. It’s also something we will need to ask the residents of Mt. Weather about.”

Draki nodded to Amoc.

“Let’s keep going.” Amoc ordered.

Everyone returned to the LAVs, and noise returned to the world as the two diesel engines spun to life. The final leg of the journey went slowly as the roads were becoming much more narrow on average. Simon understood his new ability well enough now to know that comprehension of information is one thing, but actual experience is something else entirely. He was still learning a lot through practical application of what he had read and memorized. Marcus in the rear vehicle only had a crash course in driving the LAV-25, based on that limited understanding, and Simon tried to keep that in mind.

As they made the final turn onto Blue Ridge Mountain Road, the road that led directly to Mt. Weather, Amoc spoke to Simon over the intercom.

“I feel like we’re being watched.”

“They know we’re coming.” Simon offered a theory. “So we probably are being watched. I definitely would have a scout out here watching the road from the woods.”

The tree line on either side of the road became quite dense as they made it through the first few turns. The LAV was laboring a bit, which wasn’t surprising. The topographic map said it was nearly a six hundred foot climb from where the road started, and they were carrying a lot of gear and supplies. The noise meant it would be impossible to hear anything moving in those woods.

“I mean, I feel like we’re being watched.” Amoc emphasized the word.

“Oh.” Simon had been focusing pretty hard on the driving; the road was not meant for thirteen ton, eight wheeled armored vehicles. “I can’t say I’ve been paying attention to that. Right now I’m trying not to crash us.”

“Right.” Amoc said absently, and left it at that.

I recognize that voice. Non-human things are about.

“Ben’s group?” Simon asked.

“Maybe.” Was Amoc’s one word answer.

Yeah, something’s definitely got Amoc’s attention. Wouldn’t surprise me at this point if the only groups still among the living all have non-human help. Maggie’s group managed for a time, but was on the brink when we showed up. Gabriel’s survived with Garou help, if that account is reliable.

A particularly sharp bend requiring heavy braking suddenly brought Simon out of his thoughts, and back to the task at hand. The road was still in reasonably good shape; it looked like it had been paved sometime in the last five years, but it was clearly following an elevation line, and bends came unexpectedly out of the dense woods.

“Simon, when we get there I want you up in the gunner’s seat.” Amoc stated suddenly.

“That feeling still?” Simon asked.

“Yeah.” Amoc confirmed. “It’s not gone away.”

Simon couldn’t feel it, but Amoc had said that Garou were far more sensitive to the ripples in the Veil. He could feel Amoc very clearly, being right in front of him, and Draki, distantly overhead. But Simon was familiar with Draki’s impression in the Veil. Amoc had trained in tracking for years; that experience was something Simon didn’t have yet, and was what allowed Amoc to observe those that may not want to be observed.

“Armored vehicles on approach, please stop at the gate at your next right turn.” An unknown voice suddenly broke in on the radio.

“Told you we were being watched.” Simon stated.

“Slow it down.” Amoc ordered. “They know we’re coming and what we’re coming in, but let’s just be careful with our approach.

The road twisted and turned through a couple more corners before the tree line opened up, and a high fence line appeared. The full height of the fence was covered in opaque tarps, blocking any visibility into the compound.

This is Mt. Weather.

They had remained radio silent with Draki for the past twenty minutes. Mt. Weather being a government facility, they had made the assumption that it would have the equipment to listen in and talk to the radios in the LAVs. They had been correct.

“Mt. Weather, this is Amoc from the boat at Quantico.” Amoc returned the contact on the military channel. “We will approach as instructed.”

“Copy, Amoc.” The voice confirmed.

“So far so good.” Simon said, mostly for his own sake.

“That feeling just multiplied.” Amoc informed Simon over the intercom.

“Multiple non-humans?” Simon asked.

“Yes.” Amoc confirmed. “Inside the compound. Getting closer.”

“If you can feel them…”

“Maybe.” Amoc cut Simon off. “Too far out to tell.”

The right turn came up. Simon slowed and turned, and was met with a closed gate, also covered in a tarp. The LAV wasn’t quite tall enough to see over it. Simon brought the vehicle to a complete stop.

“Garou.” Amoc stated.

The word froze Simon in place.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Amoc again confirmed. “Gunner’s seat, now.”

Simon unbuckled himself and moved through the interior to the gunner’s seat. Amoc had already vacated the seat, and was moving to exit through the rear hatch.

“Don’t move the turret or the LAV unless you see an imminent threat.” Amoc ordered. “We don’t know who they are, or if they have anything to do with Gabriel.”

Gabriel had caught some of the conversation, and was looking decidedly nervous.

“Got it.” Simon confirmed.

Amoc unplugged from the LAV’s intercom and opened the rear hatch. Simon moved his own headset to the gunner’s position, and propped himself up out of the gunner’s hatch. It still wasn’t quite high enough to see over the fence; it had to be at least twelve feet tall. Simon wondered what could possibly have been worth such an extraordinarily expensive fence. It was a government facility, and those were always the most lucrative construction contracts. Or so he had once been told in another life.

Amoc walked around from the back of the LAV to stand at the gate. It seemed like an eternity before the gate began slowly rolling open. As it did, it revealed a group of humans. Or human looking, at least. They were armed and wearing some tactical gear, but no weapons were raised. A middle aged human walked forward to meet Amoc.

“Amoc I presume?” The human asked, loud enough for Simon to hear over the LAV’s engine.

“That’s correct.” Amoc replied.

“My name’s Greg.” Greg stated. “I’m in charge of security here. I have to say, I didn’t believe it when Ben told me what you were bringing up here, but here you are.”

Greg had an accent that Simon’s brain said was Appalachian. Greg looked over to the LAVs, and looked at Simon sitting in the gun turret before looking back to Amoc.

“I also believe that if you had any ill intent on us, you wouldn’t have rolled up to the gate like we asked you to. I can see a belt of ammo in that SAW up there, so I have to assume those cannons might be loaded too.”

Greg nodded back to Simon’s position. The SAW was indeed loaded, though it had not been chambered to fire. The chain gun was also loaded, though it had yet to fire under Simon’s operation.

“Being honest, there probably wouldn’t have been a damn thing we could have done to stop you.” Greg continued, stating a phrase that Simon had said to Amoc once himself. “So we’re going to trust you right now, and let you in. Plus we don’t like leaving this gate open any longer than we have to. Walk with me, and tell your people to take the leftmost gate at the top of the hill, and wait for us on the other side.”

“Leftmost gate, stop on the other side.” Simon heard Amoc order over the radio, mostly for Marcus’ benefit in the rear LAV.

“Copy.” Simon confirmed as he moved down from the gunner’s seat back to the driver’s seat.

Without Amoc, Simon was operating the forward LAV solo, and he didn’t trust Gabriel to do anything. As he was getting down, Simon briefly thought he caught a glimpse of movement at the top of the hill, and felt a ripple of an impression in the Veil. Something had moved in the trees to the left of the relatively large gatehouse. Something not human. Amoc was already walking forward with Greg and his company, so Simon put the thought aside and moved to the driver’s seat.

Placing the LAV back in gear, Simon moved forward at the vehicle’s idle speed through the leftmost of three gates. The far gate was meant for trucks, and allowed the tall armored vehicles through without issue. There were other buildings in the distance Simon could now see, but no other movement. He brought the LAV to a stop at what he felt was a respectful distance, with enough room for Marcus to pull up behind him. After stopping, Simon moved back to the gunner’s seat, and looked back as Amoc and Greg caught up with them. The gate was closed by a member of Greg’s company.

As they got closer to the LAVs, a human stepped out of the woods, and immediately Simon’s senses corrected him: this was not a human, this was a Garou. Looking back, he could see Amoc was already looking in the Garou’s direction.

“Amoc, this is Sam.” Greg introduced the Garou. “He’s one of my special forces, let’s say.”

“He already knows what I am.” Sam plainly stated, looking directly at Amoc. “He probably knew at the gate.”

It took a second, but the recognition flashed quickly on Greg’s face. It was a moment of abject terror, before he recovered. To Greg’s credit, he remained where he was, close to Amoc.

“I see.” Greg concluded, not entirely able to cover the tremor in his voice. “Anything else I should know about?”

“He’s Garou.” Sam said, referring to Amoc, and that got Greg to take a step back. “That one’s something I don’t recognize.”

The Garou named Sam was pointing at Simon. Hearing the recognition of non-human status stated out loud from a stranger was a bit unsettling.

“And there’s another out there, keeping an eye on us.” Sam likely was referring to Draki. “And some humans inside the armored vehicles.”

That meant he didn’t recognize Ari as non-human.

“Well that changes things.” Greg concluded, and turned to Amoc. “Does the name Fenris ring a bell to you?”

“Old Norse legend, giant wolf destined to kill Odin at Ragnarok.” Amoc retold the mythology.

“He’s not one of them.” Sam stated, cryptically.

“One of who?” Amoc asked.

Sam looked to Greg. Simon realized that he was deferring to the human. He got no unusual signals from Greg; he was most definitely human. There was a hierarchy here, in this unexpectedly cohabitated compound, and it seemed Greg outranked Sam. All of it was an interesting twist Simon hadn’t been expecting.

I really need to stop expecting things in this world. It’s kind of pointless.

“No, no… I can’t go back!” Simon suddenly heard Gabriel exclaim from inside the LAV.

Simon ducked back down into the LAV and saw Gabriel reaching for the rear hatch handle. As he grabbed it and started to open it, Simon hurled himself out of the gunner’s seat and grabbed his arm.

“No you fucking don’t!” Simon ordered.

They came spilling out of the back and directly into Sam, who grabbed Gabriel’s other arm. Amoc was right behind him, and Greg was lagging behind with his party, unable to match the speed of the two Garou. Amoc and Sam were staring directly at each other, both clearly on a hair trigger.

“Whoa!” Greg shouted. “Let’s just stay calm. Amoc, what’s going on here?”

Greg said the words slowly and clearly. It was the measured cadence of someone wanting to be sure nothing was misheard.

“This is Gabriel.” Amoc stated in a tone of forced calm, not taking his eyes off Sam. “We found him wandering the farms east of here. Said he had been part of a work group. A work group run by Garou.”

Gabriel looked like he was about ready to piss himself.

“I need to see his arm.” Sam half asked, half demanded.

“Amoc…” Simon tried to appeal to his clearly very tightly wound friend.

“Slowly.” Amoc replied.

Sam released his grip on Gabriel and brought both hands up in a sign that he was accepting Amoc’s terms. Slowly he reached for Gabriel’s bicep and raised the shirt sleeve up to his shoulder. On it was a small tattoo of a wolf’s head.

“He’s one of theirs.” Sam stated to Greg.

“I won’t go back.” Gabriel said, quietly but defiantly.

“Shit.” Greg swore. “That complicates things.

“They didn’t know.” Sam added.

“What didn’t we know?” Amoc asked.

Clearly they had just stirred up some kind of trouble. Sam recognized the tattoo, and knew what it meant. This was not their first interaction with Garbiel’s Garou.

“That’s going to take some explaining.” Greg offered.

A roll of thunder came from the distance.

“But we best do that inside.” Greg continued. “And I’d suggest calling your friend in as well, unless you want to leave them out there in the storm.”

Amoc stepped back from Sam and keyed the mic on his radio.

“Draki, you can come in now.”

Simon didn’t hear the reply, his headset having come off in the scuffle.

“Are we good?” Greg asked, mainly of the two Garou.

“For now.” Sam conceded.

“Simon, shut the LAVs down.” Amoc ordered. “We’re good.”

The release of tension was almost tangible. Simon went back into the LAV and turned the engine off, and motioned back to Marcus to do the same. Greg got a good look inside the LAV when he did so, and was quite clearly looking at the stacked ammo cans that were obviously much larger than small arms ammunition.

“So I wasn’t wrong.” Gred observed.

“No.” Amoc confirmed.

“Well I’m glad there weren’t any misunderstandings.” Greg said, looking at Sam.

That’s a loaded statement if I ever heard one.

Sam didn’t offer a reply. There was definitely more that was not being said.

Draki chose that moment to make his entrance. He clearly had made a quick descent, and landed far less flamboyantly than he had for Gabriel. Likely he had seen the entire interaction and had a good idea of what was going on already. Greg and his company all stared, wide-eyed. Likely Sam had told them about Gargoyles, but that would never prepare you for seeing a flying, humanoid dragon in the flesh.

“A Gargoyle?” Sam was surprised for a different reason. “This far from a city?”

Draki looked to Amoc for a response.

“Draki’s been with us for quite a while now.” Amoc explained. “The cities don’t have much to offer anymore. How much did you get?”

“Enough.” Draki replied. “It seems we are not the only ones breaking the rules.”

“No… no you definitely aren’t.” Greg added.

Another roll of thunder.

“Come on.” Greg motioned for them to follow. “Clearly we’ve both got a lot to fill each other in on.”