Chapter Thirty-Three – Long Road Ahead

Chapter Thirty-Three – Long Road Ahead

“There have been proposals over the years for a comprehensive defensive strategy. Something that would keep Earth entirely secure, no matter the size or scope of an invasion.

The issue is always the same though; who would foot the bill?”

–Quote from, Ongoing Threat, 2051

***

I kicked a model three’s corpse in the head, and with the added boost from my armour, sent it flopping back to the edge of the road. “Think we’ll have to deal with more of them?” I asked.

The convoy was rolling on behind us, surprisingly quiet, actually.

“Maybe,” Grasshopper said. “But there’s always more xenos out there. Even in this forest… I don’t envy those who will eventually clear it out.”

I winced. Yeah, someone would have to go tree-by-tree, checking every inch of the place for any missing chunks of antithesis stuff, just on the off chance the fuckers rooted themselves down and started a fresh hive here.

“We’re going to need to do that everywhere, aren’t we?” I asked. If the incursion was world-wide, then even after clearing all the current hives, we’d have to canvas the entire damned planet.

“Seems like it, yes,” Grasshopper said. “I don’t know what that will mean for the future, but maybe it will be for the best. We’ll have a chance to root out every last foothold they have on our world.”

“Yeah,” I said. I wasn’t quite as optimistic as she was.

I kept an eye out on the trees and brush around us, but nothing showed up to try and eat our faces. Even as we reached the very end of the forest, I could feel my heart thundering away as I fully expected something to jump out at me.

It never happened though.

“Want to pick a side, or should we both stand on the same one?” Grasshopper asked.

“Huh? Oh, of the convoy? Uh, splitting up is probably safer,” I said.

Grasshopper nodded, then moved to the side. “See you in twelve minutes,” she said.

I snorted and found a spot of my own on the edge of the road. We both stopped just a few metres from the edge of the woods where the trees grew a little more sparse. I raised my gun to my shoulder, but left it pointing at the ground.

“That was something,” I said.

It was a good experience, I think.

“I guess,” I said. “Hard to say how often I’m going to have to do something like this. Doing a lot of new things lately.”

A Vanguard’s life is rarely stagnant.

I snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it. So, how many points have I made?”

Current Point Total:
19,874

Tokens earned:
One

I whistled. “That many?” I asked. Had I really killed enough aliens to make my point count climb so high? Token was nice too. Harder to get and all.

Since you were working with another Vanguard, the total number of kills was divided between the two of you, in turn, you both received slightly more than half the total points. It means that you shared in the kills that you didn’t make as well.

“Huh,” I said. That was a good deal.

It encourages Vanguards to work together. The difference in points earned is negligible to us, especially when you consider the increased survival rate among Vanguards who work together as a group.

“I thought samurai were picked from people who like working alone,” I said.

They are, yes.

I frowned. “Then doesn’t that, uh, contradict the other bit?” I asked.