We were travelling with a caravan of merchants and mercenaries, all looking to travel from Dortmund to Hanover. Two days had passed since my confrontation with Eveline, clearly we weren't going to get past this business with Lena, and she had something up her arse about whatever I'd said to her the night we'd spent together. Honestly, I didn't need it, and I don't know what I'd said that had offended her so. If I knew, I might have been able to avoid it.

We'd even stopped training together, which honestly didn't bother me at the moment. Lena had picked up where Eveline had left off.

This silent treatment Eveline was throwing in my direction was abuse, plain and simple. Dani had to deal with it from both of our so-called parents, and at least one of her boyfriends was also a dick about this sort of thing, so I knew what I was dealing with.

Thinking about Dani was painful. Last I heard from her, she had moved to Ontario to live with a girlfriend she had been seeing for the previous year. I hadn't seen her since before I went to see the Synergy CEO back before the outbreak. I had no idea if she was alive, or where she might be, and right now, even if she were alive, I certainly had no means of getting to see her any time soon.

I put Dani out of my mind for now. There was nothing I could do for my sister at the moment, but I hoped I'd be able to rectify that in the future.

My mind returned to this business I had with Eveline, and it frustrated me. The only real choice I had right now, while she was playing this silence game, was to just ignore her. If she wanted to talk to me, let her approach me and talk.

This morning, we were going to pack up and close the distance to a town known as Rheda-Wiedenbrück, where we'd heard from some travelling merchants among the caravan, about the town being under seige. Yesterday, we'd hooked up with a band of mercenaries who were looking for work, and the idea occurred to them to put up an offer to defend the town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück from their attackers.

I felt the need to help these people, and I couldn't tell you why. Maybe it was the fact I needed to get my training to work, and see if my nanocloud could speed up the muscle memory retention of this knowledge. Maybe it was the sheer need to help these people, given there were so many innocents.

We agreed to it, and passed the word to the merchants that we would take a short diversion to deal with the town's issues while the caravan continued on to Hanover. We would soon catch up with them, given how much more mobile we were.

Lena, Suzie, Ralf and I were all talking amiably about the weather over the Wildspitze mountain range from their regular travels south. Not surprisingly, snow trekking was an art form all its' own, and they regaled me with tales of what it was like when the snow made things challenging.

Eveline had emerged from her tent at some point during our conversation, giving me a stony glare and stalking off. I didn't even acknowledge it, continuing with our conversation instead.

"So what plan of action do we have for getting into the town?" I asked as I sat grinding my combat knife against a millstone to sharpen it. "They're going to be on the defensive."

Lena was packing her backpack as she explained. "So far, what we've been told is they have mounted a concentration of guards to repel the marauders at the southern and western edges of the town behind barricades made from old junked vehicles and discarded furniture. They're scrambling to do the same on the eastern and northern sides of the city, but they only have enough manpower to defend two of those areas at a time. The attackers are made up of heavy armoured brutes with some swordsmen, a few crossbow archers and one sniper."

"I'm surprised they're trying to use ballistics," I commented with a laugh. "Almost everyone's nanocloud can counteract the force of a round through the body, even in major organs."

"These snipers use sharp-pointed armour-piercing rounds to penetrate anyone using shields, and sometimes they use explosive-tipped rounds to rip open a person from the inside. Pretty gruesome."

I couldn't help but shudder. The idea of having my major organs or extremities blasted away by an explosive round was enough to make me doubt my suitability for this job. I then received a notification from my nanocloud.

Recommend acquiring and applying a countermeasure module for ballistic weapons attacks at the earliest opportunity. Categories include:

Active-Scan Detection

Carbon Nanotube Dermal Reinforcement

Range-Finder

Trajectory Visualiser

Where did you find this information?

Category information was updated from last contact with combat-class nanocloud host two days ago.

Oh shit, I nearly gasped aloud. My nanocloud had updated the list of possible functions and modules from when it last came into someone else's nanocloud.

Lena's nanocloud.

When we'd had sex the other night.

I looked about to see if anyone had noticed my reaction, and saw no sign that anyone had. I continued grinding my combat blade against the millstone as Lena continued her story. "Thankfully the rounds are no longer manufactured in bulk, so they're pretty expensive to get a hold of, and countermeasures exist that can be deployed through your nano... Whatever you call it."

I'd previously told her what I called the cluster of machines that courses through everyone. "Nanocloud," I supplied helpfully.

"Nanocloud," Lena smiled. Her smiles could really be engaging, I realised, despite my misgivings. "Point is, you can get protection upgrades, and they're pretty damn good."

I decided to change the subject back to the defensiveness of the town. "You were saying about the approaches?"

"So yeah, we can approach from the eastern or northern approaches to the town. There will still be guards, but we're hopefully the only ones approaching, and we'll walk out open handed so they know we don't intend to ambush them. Once we're in the town, we'll offer our help repelling the invading pirates, and hopefully turn things around."

"Sounds good," I replied. "But what can we do? You seem like a pretty experienced ranged fighter with those lethal daggers of yours, Ralf over there looks like a mean fox fighter with some close-quarters ability, and Suzie has that crossbow of hers. Me, I barely know how to hold a knife."

"We're going in with about twenty assassin types who have stealth abilities," Lena reminded him. "They can move quickly across the field, as can the three of us. You'll be fine, though you might need to stick with one of us if things get dicey."

"Great," I grumbled, wishing I had more time to train before this fight was to take place. I fucking hated feeling like a liability. "Alright, let's get ready to divert."

"Good," Lena smiled again. "The caravan will maintain its' route and speed, so we should be able to find it quickly enough once we're done with the fighting there, and we can still make our journey to Hanover in plenty of time to do what you need to do next with your contact."

I tried very hard not to flinch at that reference. Since I'd unintentionally revealed I was looking for the volunteers for the original experiment to Lena the night we'd had sex, Eveline had reminded me that I'd potentially compromised my mission by doing so, and I didn't need reminding of her at the moment. I continued to sharpen my knife until the blade easily nicked my skin with very little pressure. I then sheathed the blade in the holster, and re-attached the holster to my belt.

Eveline came striding up to me, angry, her tail swiping the air so fast, it might cause a concussion if it hit someone in the head.

As per fucking usual, I thought to myself with a sigh. "This is all I need," I muttered under my breath.

Her stare bore right into me. "Have some courage to speak aloud to me," she hissed in contempt.

"Don't give her the satisfaction-" Lena said under her breath, but I'd had enough.

"No, fuck this," I told her, turning to Eveline. "You were more than happy giving me the silent treatment," I snapped at her. "So why don't we just keep it that way?" I then turned back to the others. "We ready to get moving?"

Eveline narrowed her eyes in anger, her lips thinning in displeasure. "What do you think you are doing diverting to a town out in the middle of nowhere?"

How fucking dare you, I seethed inwardly. Slowly, I got to my feet, turning to face her. "I'm sorry, did you just demand I answer to you?"

"No, you can do what you like-" she began, but I interrupted her.

"Thanks, I didn't realise I needed your fucking permission!" I was now shaking in anger and losing my patience and self-discipline.

"Stop twisting the intent of my words!" Eveline hissed, her posture taking on a defensive stance.

"Fuck off," I retorted. "You've been playing these stupid fucking games with me from day one. I'm sick of it."

"I'm not concerned with-"

"No, you're not concerned with anything that doesn't suit you, are you, princess?" I snapped angrily at her. "If it doesn't fit in with your plans and designs, then it needs to change or be ignored so that you can do whatever you want. Well unlike your royal subjects, your Majesty, I don't answer to you, and I never did. I'm going on this mission because there are people there who need help, and that matters to me..." I continued with a barb that was mean-spirited in hindsight. "Although it probably doesn't matter to you since they are all human vermin who need to-"

I didn't get to finish that sentence, as Eveline took a leap, roaring and hissing in fury, landing on top of me with her hand to my throat, her claws extending enough to pierce the skin slightly, and she held her free hand up, claws fully extended as she gritted her teeth in anger.

Well... Anger and a hint of distress. Not that I wanted to even think about that at this moment.

Lena now had both blades out, one at Eveline's neck, the other one at her back. "Playtime's over, kitty cat. Get off of him, right now."

Ralf's expression was troubled. Suzie looked like she wanted to cut Eveline's throat open as she glared openly at the feline hybrid. Eveline hissed at both women, but she stepped back and stood, withdrawing her attack on me.

"This action is diverting you from your mission," she spoke in clipped tones, her face a stony mask.

"Don't pretend you care, your Highness," I barked back at her, as I lifted myself off of the ground.

"Rick," Ralf said in apparent warning, but I'd had it.

"This is my decision. I decided for myself what I wanted to do next. It doesn't require your permission and I'm damned fucking well not looking for your approval, your royal worshipfulness. You obviously don't like my choices, you clearly have an intense hatred of me as both a person and as a member of the human species, and you can fuck your anger about that fact, up your arse!" I exclaimed as she hissed at me. "Since I offend your high-class breeding so much, you can feel free to take whatever journey you wish anywhere in the world you like. Whatever obligation you think you have to me has been satisfied, and I will tell your father-"

"You don't get to decide whether my promises to other people are satisfied just because you don't like my company," Eveline muttered, her tone defiant yet quiet.

"You also don't get to decide what missions I undertake, but that didn't stop you from trying to berate me for it, oh mighty sovereign of the world-"

"Stop it," Eveline hissed. "I've never pretended to be royalty of any kind-"

"No, you just act like everyone is beneath you, and I'm not going to tolerate that, or you, any longer. Get out of my fucking sight," I whispered in fury, any semblance of rational thought long dispelled by this latest incident.

Eveline refused to move, and despite having daggers at her throat and her back, she was still defiant. She didn't even seem afraid of Lena next to her, and Lena had been lightning fast. "My promise was not to you. You cannot absolve me of my duty to fulfil it."

I sighed, looking to the others, and I shrugged. Inwardly, I was seething, but outwardly, I tried to project a casual indifference I was incapable of feeling at any time. "Sorry guys, looks like I won't be going with you. I'm going to have to set up camp until Her Majesty here-" I ignored the umpteenth angry hiss she spat in my direction and continued speaking as if she hadn't attempted to interrupt. "-realises I'll not do anything while she continues to remain in my presence."

Ralf stepped over to Eveline, his expression mixed with concern and resolve. "Why do you insist on staying? You clearly dislike the man, you have little tolerance for the humans in our group, and you have no respect for any of us," he said in his bass voice. Eveline snapped her head to face him as he stood near her. "Why stay when you don't want to be here?"

"Can you blame me for how I feel after he went and disclosed dangerous information to a bunch of strangers?"

Ralf shook his head. "No," he admitted, pissing me the fuck off.

I went to speak, but Eveline wasn't done, and now she turned to me. "Can you blame me for how I feel after you jumped into bed with this whore-"

"Oh, fuck no!" I roared. "You rejected my presence, and now you seek to reprimand me for accepting comfort from someone else who didn't treat me like shit right after she got what she wanted from me?" Eveline flinched as if I'd punched her in the face. "Not a fucking chance, princess. The days of you taking out your racial hatred of every human being alive-"

"Go fuck yourself, arsehole," Eveline hissed.

"-on this planet, simply for being human..." I continued, raising my voice over her angry interruption. "Are over."

Ralf looked at me, shaking his head almost imperceptibly, then looked back to Eveline, who looked at him with wariness. Did I imagine the look of pity on his face? "I'm sorry," he whispered, almost too quietly for me to hear. Then he hung his head in shame.

A part of me had begun to realise that I might have allowed this situation to escalate way too far, but it was still drowned out by the part of me that wanted to vent his fury, to seek validation for his defensiveness, to ignore how others might be affected by his actions.

"Time to go, kitty!" Lena said in a faux-cheerful tone that set me on edge. While I was pissed off with Eveline's attitude, this behaviour from Lena was only going to make things worse. My anger began to abate, although it was not quick to do so.

Eveline slowly turned to face Lena despite the presence of the knives, her face naked with fury. "And you, bitch?" she hissed, rapidly repelled the blade at her neck, and stepped back away from the one that was now at her chest. "You'd better hope we never meet again." With that, she turned to face me, her face settled into a glare that was a mix of fury and pain. After a moment, she leapt up away from us, and ran off into the surrounding fields. Within minutes, I'd lost sight of her.

"What a ferocious kitty," Lena drawled, sliding both of her knives back into their slots at her belt. "Hopefully none of us will ever see her again."

She sounded pleased with herself. Suzie looked murderous, as though she wanted to go chasing after Eveline and get into a scrap with her. Ralf looked troubled.

I just felt sick to my fucking stomach. Now that the confrontation was over, I began to feel remorse. I might have been pissed off with her, and I wasn't going to tolerate her emotional abuse, but this had not been at all how I wanted the conversation to go. Why did you have to be so hostile? I thought in despair.

After a moment, I heard what I thought sounded like an angry, tortured wail, off in the distance, and my heart gave a pang in guilt and anguish. If that was Eveline, I'd really fucked up and hurt her badly, and now we both felt like shit.

What the fuck had I done?

Finally, we had packed our encampment and were ready to head out. We split into two parties, the majority of the caravan continuing to Hanover, while Lena's team and I headed to Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Without the need for large wagons for supplies, nor horses to pull us along (especially given the caravan had no motorised transportation of its own), my team and I would be able to make good time to the town, carry out the mission, and catch up with the main caravan again afterward before it reached Hanover.

I didn't really feel like talking to the others right then, so I positioned myself at the edge of the convoy, near the rear of the caravan. It made no difference to me whether I stood off to the left or the right, so I just picked one at random, and stepped away a short distance, making sure to keep within line of sight. If, while I was lost in thought, I strayed too far from my position in the caravan, my nanocloud would interrupt my thoughts to let me know I was drifting. It was somewhat irritating when it did this, but it wasn't excessive, and I was able to lose myself in my thoughts without straying too far from the others.

Knowing I had to focus on the mission was one thing. Actually doing so was another. The fallout with Eveline was causing me no amount of distress, mainly because up until a few days ago, we were beginning to get along better. While she was naturally an abrasive person with strangers, I had thought we were warming up to one another. Partly, I was distressed because I was fascinated by her mysteriously grating, yet protective attitude toward me, and partly because I was as much to blame as Eveline was in escalating our argument.

Maybe more so. I had said some pretty harsh things to her, and I wasn't even sure they were actually true.

And Lena?

Lena was provocative where Eveline was concerned. Whether that was jealousy or not was anyone's guess. I certainly had no idea. All I knew was that the situation has blown the fuck up, and any chance I might have had to salvage it was more than likely long past. Eveline was nowhere near us, and I doubted I was ever going to see her again. At the very least, she deserved an apology for the things I'd said, even if I was unaware of any issues she might have been experiencing.

This was all about my wounded pride, and I knew it. I might not have liked how she spoke to me that night, I might not have liked how she had sent me away, and if I was honest with myself, I still didn't like it, even now, and maybe I never would. It made no difference. If I had just sucked it up like a decent fucking human being, we might still be talking to each other, and she wouldn't be fucking hell knows where else.

I'd felt relief when she'd run off on her hunt that first day we walked to Sevenum. If that had been the last time I saw her, I'd have been perfectly fine with that. But now? Now I felt sick to my stomach, confused about my feelings regarding her absence, and my anxiety was starting to affect me to the point I was surprised my nanocloud had not yet intervened.

"You alright over there?" Lena asked, her voice sounding concerned to me.

I hadn't even noticed her approach, I was so lost in thought while we were on the road. "Not really," I sighed dejectedly.

"Uh oh," Lena drawled, her expression amused. "What's up?"

I wasn't finding this even slightly amusing, I thought in resentment. It also seemed odd she would ask me this question, given what had happened. The odd disconnect from the reality of our situation made me suspicious, but her expression was curious, querying. "It's disturbing to me, everything that happened this morning. Eveline-"

"Rick," Lena interrupted in mild irritation. "Why would you even waste a single thought on someone who clearly has issues with every human alive?"

My breath exploded out of me. I was not liking the direction Lena was taking this conversation. "We were getting along before-"

"But you're not any more, are you?" Lena interrupted, more forcefully this time. "Look, Rick. Sooner or later, you're just going to have to accept the fact that there are some people out there who you cannot change. It doesn't matter that you were on better terms before. I've seen the same things you have. She was hostile to you from the moment I met her. She pushed against your every suggestion, she made you feel guilty for being a human, for fucking hell's sake Rick!" I felt an icy-cold hand touch my face, and I struggled to suppress a flinch, not wanting to offend her. "She even criticised you for wanting to go on this mission to help others, and then when you called her out for being the spoilt little princess that she is, for being a blatant fucking racist with regard to her attitude to humans, she then went to try to kill you for your temerity to insult her in front of others. Kill you, Rick! She had your throat in a strangulation grip, and I know she has claws that she could easily pierce your neck with, so really... I ask you, why are you even wasting any thought on her?"

I hung my head, feeling even worse. Lena's cold hand combed through my hair in a gesture that no doubt was meant to be comforting, and to my immense surprise, she leaned into my side, standing on tiptoes, kissing the side of my head. Her words seemed to make some kind of sense to me, and I could acknowledge that fact.

Still...

Eveline had deadly claws, as Lena had just pointed out to me. If she had really intended me harm, I'd have already been dead long before Lena's blades were at her throat.

Yet, she hadn't killed me.

Still, that didn't mean the rest of it wasn't true. She really did disdain every human she came into contact with.

I let out a sigh. "You've given me a lot to think about."

Another kiss to the side of my head, and then Lena let me go, standing off to the side so we could walk separately again. "Right now, you need to get your head in the game. We'll be in the city limits in an hour or so."

I nodded. "I'll get right on it," I told her, deciding to consult my nanocloud as Lena went marching forward to join Ralf and Suzie. I consulted with my nanocloud again.

Is there any way you can dampen other emotional responses than fury, panic and anxiety?

Affirmative. Emotional Control Module is now enabled.

Nanocloud can dampen host responses in order to improve focus.

Enable.

I noticed the change within a second or two. My anxiety and heart-sickness eased slightly and continued to ease over the next few minutes, allowing my mind to focus. It was enough I could focus on the mission without worrying about extraneous concerns.

Emotional damping enabled.

Broad spectrum range.

Recommend disabling after two hours to avoid mental health complications.

I didn't understand that condition, but I was grateful that I could focus. I quickened my pace and caught up with Lena, Ralf and Suzie, turning to Lena. "Alright, my head is in the game," I told her, feeling steady and confident.

Lena gave me a sensuous smile. "You'll feel better for having helped these people, and we can catch up to the caravan with plenty of time to meet whoever you need to see next." To my surprise, she took my hand and squeezed it, lingering for a moment, before letting go, her lust-filled gaze holding my own, before she turned to Suzie to resume whatever conversation they were having.

Ralf nodded to me as he stepped by my side. "How are you?" He asked.

"Better," I told him. "Enough so I can focus on what's happening in the next day or so."

He nodded, clapping me on the shoulder with a furry hand, his grip surprisingly strong. "I'm sure things will work out," he surprised me by saying.

I nodded to him, letting out a deep sigh. This whole ordeal was still weird, even if I was feeling less anxious and heartsick about it.

We arrived at the city just before sunset. Rheda-Wiedenbrück was an example of a town that had been hastily changed since the outbreak, with a makeshift concrete barrier wall extending ten metres into the air that surrounded the entire city. It appeared over the tops of roads and paving, disrupting the previous road and street layouts that were in place long ago. I had no idea when this wall had gone up, but it was clearly thick enough that people could walk along the tops, through unseen but clearly-obvious walkways that were positioned out of sight from the outside.

Approaching from the East, Suzie, Lena, Ralf and I stepped toward a hastily-erected checkpoint, our hands empty, palms outstretched, as Lena called to the guards manning the checkpoint.

"Hallo?" She called out in almost perfect German. "We are here to help."

The two guards who were manning the checkpoint stepped forward, drawing swords and standing in combat stances I didn't recognise, and could only guess were effective.

Almost immediately, four more stepped out of a nearby guard house to provide support, two of which trained crossbows at their group.

"Who are you?" One of them demanded.

"Does it matter?" Lena asked. "We're here to help with the defence of your town from the marauders that even now, are trying to chip away at your forces on the two approaches to the west and south. Your north and east approaches are woefully undefended, and all it would take is an overwhelming force of attackers to surprise you on either the north and east approaches that they could break through before any of your forces could re-deploy to cover them."

"What's the pass phrase?" One of the guards called out.

Lena spoke in a language unfamiliar to me, and my nanocloud had obviously never encountered it before, so could not provide me an understanding of it.

"Open the gate," the original guard called out, and the four auxiliaries that had stepped out of their guard house now stepped back in, leaving the original two by the checkpoint. "Report to the guard barracks on the western edge of the town. They'll decide how to use your talents."

Lena turned around. "Let's go," she called to the group of mercenaries hanging back, and they all stepped briskly toward us to catch up. As one, we all stepped inside the city limits.