Chapter 49: Flesh Wound

  It was early in the morning, the sky just had started to brighten and the sun had not yet climbed over the horizon, as Marcus fulfilled his guard duty. He had taken two shifts, and allowed Achara to sleep through the night. He did not feel like sleeping in the first place, too much was on his mind.

  His hand touched his shoulder subconsciously and he did not feel any difference to before. He closed his eyes for a second and moved his shoulder muscles, there was no sign of discomfort. But there should be something that proved it had healed, Marcus thought. Freshly healed wounds were tender, sensitive, and even with his large vitality it took time until things felt “normal” again. But his shoulder was back to normal as if nothing ever happened.

  As the first rays of the white sun touched the camp Achara woke up and the day started for the team.

  Marcus watched them rise and stretch but his thoughts were somewhere else. They had gained two levels, since they left Earth. Five scorpions and a Grumbler got the whole team two levels, even Janette who always feared to be left out. That was great and maybe worth as much as the money they made in such a short time. The problem was, yesterday’s events had shown them how dangerous the place really was. Because they had no problems with several of the monsters they felt they had things under control, until they had not. At breakfast Marcus laid out a few new ground rules for the next hunts. They would spent more time observing and preparing their attacks and if things looked sketchy, they would rather abandon the prey than to take the risk. All agreed to this without hesitation.

  Their progress was much slower now but thanks to Janette’s eyes they managed to take down two monsters per day. Two days later their careful approach payed dividends when two hidden scorpions appeared around their target out of nowhere. The team had been observing still and quickly retreated to a safe distance. After five days they decided to return to the base and restock even so they had some provisions left. Overall they had taken down nine scorpions in those five days.

  The base was as busy as on the day of their arrival and it took some time to get the provisions and some minor repairs on the truck. Marcus decided to meet Mr. Hornfogger again to check for news. When he returned to the team at the truck he had indeed some news for them. “Looks like we broke a record guys. Most scorpion kills in such a short time ever!” He laughed and the rest celebrated the unexpected achievement. “Mr. Hornfogger was very excited and interested what our trick was to finding them so quickly. I said beginners luck but I doubt he believed me. We also have gotten a nickname from the retrieval troops, “Killer Commando”.”

  Marcus watched them celebrate and tried to come to a decision. They were doing well, more than that, they did great and their new strategy worked great too. A part of him wanted to stop right here but Marcus worried he was too anxious and everybody was hyped. “Okay let’s go back out there and slowly and carefully farm the whole place empty.” He said with a smile but his stomach felt cramped.

  Day six brought another 2 kills and another two level ups had accumulated. They were all so close in levels that they basically progressed together, only Janette needed one more kill than the rest to get her second level up. The day after, they moved a bit closer to the mountains, but still stayed at a good distance. They traveled along a large river that progressed from the mountain region into a far away sea. They found various animals and monsters and contemplated to hunt something else but decided to stick to their MO. A scorpion hunted near the river and killed a two legged monster that had some resemblance too a kangaroo, in so far a kangaroo had massive claws and could breath actual fire. The fire part was a surprise to the team but the scorpion did not care much and pierced it’s head with the stinger and started to devour it’s prey.

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  They went with the bait version of their tactics and Marcus drew the attention of the monster while the rest prepared to strike. The ground near the river was bad and often muddy and Achara left Janette the kill. The scorpion was wary and watched as Marcus closed the distance by walking along the river and as planed the scorpion turned and gave Janette a nice target to shoot at. A singular shot echoed over the river bank and the beast was down. Marcus moved slowly closer, checked the kill and gave the thumbs up to Janette.

  Achara’s scream and Janette’s horror-stricken face was all Marcus saw before he turned around. A massive thing was behind him, giant steel like teeth closed around his right arm in an instant and he was flung into the air like a puppet. The thing had lizard like skin and sharp, overlapping teeth, mud and water was dripping down its enormous head. That was the extent what Marcus saw before it bit down. Marcus flew through the air and landed hard on the ground. Mud covered his face and he could see with one eye what his body already told him, his right arm was gone.

  Directly under his shoulder, his arm was only a bloody stump. Shock took control of Marcus and he could not move or think, some other force lifted him up and he quickly floated away from the river. Somewhere far away he heard screaming and shooting and the roaring of something massive but his mind was completely focused on what was happening with his arm. As the floating stopped and Kou helped Achara to get him on the flatbed of the truck, Marcus watched his arm return. It was not healing or growing back as one would imagine, instead it came back in way how a 3d printer works. From his shoulder, layer by layer, his arm reformed, it burned like fire but Marcus was too out of it too even scream.

  The arm was already reformed up to his elbow as Kou saw what was happening “Dear god.” was all he said. Janette was at the wheel and they rushed away for half a mile before she stopped, jumped out of driver seat and ran to the back of the truck. Marcus sat next to Kou and Achara with two healthy arms. The armor on his arm was gone but the arm itself looked as if nothing ever happened. Marcus waved at Janette with his right arm “Look it is back.”. Janette screamed and jumped onto him punching him with tears in her eyes until she calmed down.

  Everybody needed a moment to calm down. “The thing is not following us?” Marcus asked but they all shook their heads. “What was it, I didn’t get a good look at it while it chewed off my arm.” Marcus said and Janette punched him again to reward his stupid comment. “It was one of those Terror Stompers but nobody said something about ambushes in the water. And fuck the whole “it is in the mountains” talk. How is this the mountains?” Kou was upset and happy at the same time.

  Janette gently touched Marcus’ arm and he made a decision “We are going home.”, nobody opposed him but he felt the need to explain himself. The thing that was on his mind wanted out and now it had all the reason to. “We have been running on pure luck for far too long. We have been rushing things, trying too hard, too fast. Everything has gone bananas, the centipede, Kim, making a clan and going on a bloody cat. 3 world. Today we got more lucky than we have any right to. If it had been anybody but me than somebody would have lost and arm or even a life. We are soft and unprepared, we need time. We need a home and need to properly train as individuals and as a team.” All these things shot out of his mouth and the rest was listening.

  The first to say something was Kou “You are right. No excuses. Let’s take it slow and build up a proper team. If anything, the fact that we were able to be this successful here, even so we are all lacking, shows that we are strong or at least have a strong potential as a team. Let’s find a home and go step by step.” Achara smiled and held Kou’s hand. Marcus felt tired and leaned back “But please, somebody else than Janette drives.”, she hit him hard.

  They went back to the base, took care of their bills and got their pay. Overall they made 4,17 million dollar in about a week. There were some costs and taxes but it would be more than enough to pay the bills for a long time and to find and buy a place as HQ. The drive back through the ice world’s snowy dessert was uneventful. Their driver, a woman named Felicia, was not very interested in small talk and they played card games all the way. The set of three coffins under a blanket in the back of the cabin only reinforced their decision to go home.

  One last time they would go back to the dorms in the Philippines to get all their stuff but already on the flight back they looked at potential buildings for a HQ. Janette had left with Cherry but Marcus felt he knew what she would want. While Achara and Kou worked through online portals for houses, Marcus leaned back in his airplane seat and looked at his arm. The memory of the bloody stump was still fresh on his mind. This was not healing, regeneration or some weird healing factor. This was something completely different and it made Marcus feel afraid.