Summers lay on his chest, overlooking the base he’d recently put a crater in. It had been a rough few days since blowing up the portal and stranding everyone here. In that time, they’d found that the army had left behind a lot more than they’d expected. It wasn't a huge surprise, no doubt hauling heavy equipment through the portal would have been a nightmare. Especially when you factored in the possibility it could collapse on them.

All that meant that now Summers and his group were sitting on an entire base's worth of food, supplies and weapons, with only himself and a handful of barely trained people to use them.

Asle moved up beside Summers, crawling to stay level with the ridge they’d set up on. Now that they’d chosen to stay in this world, the group had been trying to brainstorm what to do. Or rather, how they could salvage the situation.

Before they'd killed him, the thin man, Wendel, had mentioned he wasn't the only member of whatever force was trying to take over the planet. Meaning they’d have to fight what was left of his lackies. But the real problem was the hamr. From what they’d seen it spread like a virus. Since both he and Asle had been infected, it was only a matter of time before they had to deal with it.

Hell, even if they somehow won, there was no guarantee Summers wouldn’t wake up the day after as someone completely different. Or he could wake up more of a monster than he already was.

They hadn’t been able to figure out how the hamr incorporated the parts of monsters into his body, but it was clear it tended to favor functionality over form. Even the mishmash of gray skin that covered Summers’ chest had acted as natural armor, and he and Asle’s diet of MRE’s had not seen them growing chicken feathers or the like. So, that suggested there was a kind of intelligence in its decisions, deciding what its host would need to survive long enough to rewrite its brain.

And since they were coming late into the game, some had already reached that end. Which meant the people Wendel had described as the ‘greatest minds of their civilization’ were going to be behind the force they’d have to fight. Considering Summers was a self-proclaimed dumbass, that wasn’t ideal.

So, their enemy were geniuses with technology and weapons they only barely understood, a force that far outstripped their own, and the hamr had spread far enough that even the US army had given up and gone home.

By all accounts, Summers was pretty sure they were fucked.

Luckily, they had something that their enemy didn’t. A shitload of guns, explosives, and the element of surprise.

“They just walked into zone three,” Summers instructed, motioning to Asle. “Make sure to confirm.”

The girl nodded, keying the radio in her hands three times. At the center of the base, far below, a man in the clothing of a local led a group of about a dozen others through the ruins of the base.

They’d seen the group coming, likely to investigate what had happened to Wendel, or the explosion that Summers had set off. Looking at it from their perspective, they might have thought the base was abandoned. It wasn’t exactly welcome, but this was a good opportunity. The group was smaller than the one they’d fought before the army arrived, and a lot rougher looking. Considering how well armed they were, there was a good chance they were remnants of Wendel’s own force. Most looked to have been former soldiers in their past lives. Though there were a few elves scattered among them.

Summers shouldered the rifle at his side, looking through the scope. Many moved with an unnaturally stiff, listless gate, black eyes searching through the crumbled buildings of the base. It was robotic in a way.

“They ready yet?” Summers asked, looking to Asle.

Asle waited, listening as the radio crackled three times in response. She nodded again, offering the handheld over to him.

He eyed the approaching group, holding the radio. Their leader was sticking to the relative safety of the back, which was exactly what Summers was hoping for. Their small group had no chance against a dozen armed enemies, not in a fair fight. Which was why they’d opted for an ambush.

“Hit them,” Summers ordered.

Boom!

An explosion tore through the center of the enemies’ formation. Summers searched to find the leader amid the smoke. As it cleared, he saw the man clutching a leg that ended in a bloody stump. He’d dropped his weapon, so Summers aimed for another man beside him, sending a burst of fire into his chest. In a few seconds, Summers had picked off two others that had been spared by their trap.

He keyed the radio. “Try and take the leader alive.”

The base was filled with everything they could have wanted. And once they’d seen the group coming, they’d peppered it with whatever Summers could rig up. Which wasn’t much. He wasn’t as confident, or experienced as Cortez, but he’d seen her work enough times to get the job done, if badly given how many had survived the blast.

“Think that’s all of them,” Summers said as he handed the radio back to Asle. “Have them move in while I keep watch.”

Asle spoke into the radio, relaying his orders. He scoped in on the leader again, watching him for any sign of danger. To his surprise, the man was staring directly at Summers. It shouldn’t have been, it was clear by now these things could somehow sense him, if given the chance.

Both Pat and the twins were combing the field, checking for movement while Orvar held a gun to the leader himself. He was yelling for the man to lie down, but he wasn’t responding. No, he was focused on Summers.

“Come on,” Summers said after a moment. “Let’s get down there while we can.” Summers hefted his rifle, then looked over to Asle.

The girl was deathly still, arm trembling as it slowly inched towards the pistol at her side.

“. . .Asle?”

She didn’t respond. A small trickle of blood rolled from her nose.

Then the pressure hit him, Summers could feel something in his body, squirming inside him. The same feeling that Wendel had created when they’d first met.

Summers refocused on the leader, struggling even as the blood rushed to his head. He raised his rifle and fired center mass. The leader dropped, and Summers felt the pressure disappear. As if a spell had been broken, Asle clutched at her chest, gasping for air.

“You okay?” Summers asked.

“I’m. . .” Asle hesitated. “I could hear him. . . He wanted me to hurt you.”

Asle got to her feet, somehow more angry than afraid by what happened. It was odd seeing the girl show more emotion around him.

Summers considered Asle as she wiped the blood from her face. He hadn’t repeated the procedure to ‘remove’ the hamr from Asle’s mind like he had his own. Mostly out of a concern she wouldn’t survive it. Summers’ body had changed so much there was no telling if repeating what he did on her would work. It was essentially amateur brain surgery after all. But if these people could control her with a look, then he might need to rethink that.

As if she hadn’t been through enough already.

Summers turned back towards the base, Pat, Orvar and the twins were looking at him, probably wondering why he’d just executed a man in cold blood.

“So much for getting answers.” Summers gestured to Asle. “Come on. We can rest once we’re back with the others.”

Pat rifled through the pockets of their would-be prisoner, the twins and Orvar doing the same with the others. They’d been set up nearby to respond to any emergencies Summers couldn’t deal with alone. Despite what he’d expected, they hadn’t sounded too surprised when he’d explained what had happened. Somehow after everything they’d been through, trying to take over someone’s mind from a distance didn’t register with everything else they’d been dealing with. Or they hadn’t shown it, it was hard to tell with the stoic elves.

Synel waved as she made her way over, holding the detonator they’d been using in one hand. She glanced over the bodies lying in the dirt.

“I see everything went to plan?”

“More or less. Emphasis on the less.” Summers gestured to the leader’s body. “This one did. . . something. . . to me and Asle.”

“I’m fine,” Asle said, with more than a bit of defensiveness in her voice.

“Point being I don’t know if we can stay here for long. I think this one’s something like a Sergeant, his force wasn’t anything like what Wendel was leading, but we still couldn’t have taken them in a straight fight. If more come to check things out, we’re in trouble.”

“By how these men reacted, I don’t think they know the army left,” Synel offered.

“Even if it’s true, all that’s going to do is buy us time. We might need to consider abandoning the base, right now it’s just a target on our backs.”

Pat tensed at his words, Summers only just catching the motion. He didn’t say anything, but Summers knew the man well enough. Like it or not, he was acting as their leader. And he wasn’t going to be like every asshole CO he’d worked under, if someone didn’t agree with him, he wanted to hear it.

“Pat, what are you thinking?”

Pat hesitated before meeting Summers’ eyes.

“Commander. . . With respect if we left, we’d just be facing a stronger, better equipped enemy.”

“We’d have to destroy what we could first.” He held up a staying hand. “I know, that’s not a great option, but it might be our best shot at surviving. That comes first.”

Pat considered that, then looked at the bodies.

“My father used to tell me that in all things, you are either predator, or prey. Prey survives, Commander, it doesn’t win wars.”

Summers let out a breath, “We need to do more, I get it, but we have to work with what we have. Right now, that’s just us, and we’d need an army to hold this place.”

“We have an army,” Pat insisted. “Back in our city.”

“That was a couple dozen people, not an army, and they’re too far away to help. Pat, I get where you’re coming from man, but we can’t do this alone. We’ve gotten lucky so far, that’s not going to last.”

Summers heard a thud beside him. He turned to find Orvar taking the shoes off one of the bodies. He inspected the sole before he began to pick at the dirt stuck in its ridges.

Summers eyed the man, curious. “Orvar, what the hell are you doing?”

Orvar glanced up, then held up the piece of grass between his fingers.

“Grass,” Orvar announced.

“. . .I can see that.”

Orvar motioned to the clump in his hands.

“There is no grass around here, Commander.”

Summers glanced to his side, the space around the base was mostly dry, dead brush. “. . .No, there isn’t.” He paused. “There wasn’t any coming here either. Shit that’s a good catch.”

Orvar inclined his head.

“There are plains to the north.” Asle interjected. “And a few rivers.”

“Then that’s where these people came from," Orvar agreed.

Summers looked at Asle. “Right, you’re from here, aren’t you? Zolah, wasn’t it?”

Asle nodded, then pointed to one of the bodies beside Orvar. “His clothes are from a village to the west, they make them from animals there.”

The man she was pointing to was in fact, dressed in animal hide. It was odd, but surprisingly well made.

“I’m going to bet that village isn’t doing so well anymore,” Summers said, then considered. “Asle, how many people do you think lived there? I want to get a feel for the numbers we’re dealing with.”

Asle took a moment, thinking. “Two hundred? The others come from different villages. A thousand people, maybe?”

Summers sat, still eying the body. “Okay. That’s. . . not a fight we can win.”

Synel approached, then turned to Asle.

“Dearest, did you notice anything like that with any of the others?”

“No, but I would have noticed if there was anyone from the northeast. Their hair is different.” Asle gestured vaguely. “Curly.”

“I see. Then that would suggest they operate to the northwest. Correct?” At Asle’s nod, Synel continued. “And what’s left to the east? Any settlements? Tribes?”

“There are. . . some. Not a lot but they’re bigger, why?”

“Have you seen any examples of them? Any at all?”

Asle thought for a long moment before shaking her head.

Synel turned to Summers.

“You said you’d need an army, well, I think we may have found it.”

Summers blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“If our enemy hasn’t conquered those settlements, then such people would welcome things like weapons, or an offer of protection. An offer like that could buy allies far cheaper than you’d expect.”

Summers looked between the bodies and Synel. That actually wasn’t a bad idea. They were facing an army, and if these towns were any like the ones they’d encountered before, they might just need the supplies.

“Asle. . .” Summers turned to the girl. “Do you think you could point out where other towns are? Just the general area?”

“Maybe. The army might have more maps.”

“And you think these people would join up if we put a gun in their hands?”

Asle shrugged.

Summers sighed, looking over the field. “So, from what I’m getting the plan is: We ride out of the relative safety of the base with a few people, recruit some villagers that have never seen a weapon before to try and take on a force that the army couldn’t handle.” He paused. “I’m going to be honest, now that I’m saying it out loud this sounds like a shitty plan.”

“It is still a plan.” Synel offered. “Work with what we have, I believe you said.”

“Right, one step at a time.”

He took a calming breath, glancing around at the others. They were watching him expectantly. This time, he didn’t see any signs of nerves, only a sort of grim determination.

“All right.” Summers stood. “Then let’s figure out how to make this work.”