“Hey Luth” Terry asked, lowering his binoculars to his chest.

“Yo” Luther replied curtly, keeping his binoculars to his eyes, scanning out in the distance for more incoming.

“That elf chick, she was pretty hot right?”

Luther sighed, lowering his binoculars before rubbing his eyes and face and then turning to look at his friend. Don wore a shit eating grin on his face like always, and like always Luther had to struggle to prevent a slight smile from tugging at the corners of his lips. Don had that effect on people.

“Yeah,” Luther replied, a smile growing on his face, “Yeah I'll give it to you man. She was pretty hot. If you are into that sort of thing anyway,” he added casually.

Don snorted and turned back towards his surroundings, keeping watch over the base, the shit eating grin still on his face.

“If you are into that sort of thing,” He mock imitated Luther. “Sometimes I think you are gay as hell man. Everrry guy is into that sort of thing. Fucking sexy. I'll bet you she's a biter too.” He wiggled his brows suggestively, knowing that Luther was still looking his way.

“Yeah,” Luther replied, rolling his eyes, before returning to scan the perimeter, “go ahead buddy. I get the feeling she would rip your dick out. “

“Hey I'd fuck crazy.”

“Yeah I know you'd fuck crazy. You fuck yourself every night,” Luther shot back, laughing.

“Aw man common. You saw her that tight ass armor. Fucking HOT! Admit it Luth, You'd fuck crazy too.”

“Sorry, I stopped fucking crazy after I fucked your mom last night HA!” Luther shot back again, and couldn't stop himself from widening his smile.

“Oh real nice Luth. Here we are, two best friends, one of which is gay, you, hanging out in a tower, and you gotta bring up mom jokes. Reeeaaaal classy.”

“CUT THE CHATTER” a loud voice screamed from below. Both men promptly shut up.

Luther sighed again and returned to his work, scanning the surroundings for whatever weird creature was going to show up. None of the monsters outside of their chain link fence had managed to get through yet, it wasn't for lack of trying either. There had been so many bodies the past few days that they had to send a patrol out to retrieve a bull dozer. Even then, it took almost an entire day to push the bodies together, a macabre hill bordering part of their fence line.

Ever since yesterday the surrounding area had started to settle down alongside the lowering monster attacks. Deep down the lack of gunshots and violence was starting to depress him though. The gunshots and explosions meant that there was as still a fight going on somewhere, now all he heard, more often than not, was silence. It was like humanity had stopped fighting back.

Luther looked away from the base, scanning further out towards the suburbs and city, or whatever was left of a suburbs or city. There wasn't much to see compared to before. Most of the city itself as well as parts of the suburbs were still smoldering from random fires and explosions. He squinted off in the distance and noticed a growing fire out in part of the suburbs. He bit his lip, hoping that it didn't spread further.

Both men settled into silence as they continued to survey the area, a gentle breeze passing against an open window of the tower, the only noise heard beyond the occasional pop of a gunshot in the distance. Neither one said it, but they were both starting to regret volunteering for tower duty despite how safe it was.

"Hey Luth? Take a look at 10 oh clock, by the bushes.

Luther walked next to Don and looked at the same location with his binoculars. Most of the area around their base had been cleared, and they had a good one hundred fifty yard clear zone from the fence to their surroundings. Despite their best efforts however, the area had gotten slightly overgrown. It was pretty had to convince people to mow the area, especially in light of the constant attacks. Guards there or not, they would be looking over their shoulder the whole time.

It didn't help that most of their equipment, lawnmowers included, had stopped working that morning. The idea of burning down the forest around them for more clear space was being floated around base.

After focusing in on the woods for a while, he began to see movement between the trees. A moment later a small green figure walked out of the brush clutching something in its hand. Luther let go of the breath he had been holding in relief. A lone goblin was better than the Gnoll pack they had to deal with the other day, then he shuddered as he remembered the trolls that tried to wander in afterwards. That had been an ugly fight.

"Is that another goblin?” he idly asked, already knowing the answer. He continued to watch the lone figure approaching the base.

"Yeah. I thought those guys gave up attacking on the second day. You would think the body pile we have outside the base would clue them in."

Luther reached down to the microphone attached to his uniform, clicking the device on.

"Ground this is tower. I've got a goblin approaching the western edge of the base by the wood line." Luther paused and waited while the green figure slowly made its way through overgrown clearing. Occasionally tripping and looking back towards the woods nervously.

"Just one?" Mick's voice crackled through the radio.

Luther leaned towards his microphone while watching the green figure, hesitating.

"Hey Don, can you make out what that thing is holding?"

Luther watched as Don squinted with his binoculars.

"I've got nothing. Could be anything."

Luther looked at the figure and a thought crossed his mind.

"Maybe a bomb. Lone goblin blows up the fence. Others charge in. Grab the rifle."

Don quickly sat down at the table in the corner of the tower and got into position with the rifle that was sitting there on a tripod, cradling it into his shoulder. Shrugging his shoulders slightly as he formed up on his scope, he sighted quickly onto target, giving Luther a thumbs up. The lone goblin hadn't reached a third of the way there.

"Ground this is tower. It’s just one goblin. I cannot confirm additional hostiles but it’s been looking back at the tree line and clutching something in its hand that we cannot make out. Recommend moving additional assets to the western fence line. Permission to fire?"

"Tower, Ground. Fire when ready. Sending assets to the western side. I'm on my way up.

“Hit'em Don”

Squaring his shoulders for a moment Don slowly pulled the trigger, the rifle rocking back gently against his shoulders.

Luther watched in his binoculars as a large portion of the goblins chest disappeared and the little goblin fell backwards into the thick grass, Green blood exploding outwards from the impact.

“Confirmed hit. Nice shot Don.” Donnie gave him the thumbs up in response, scanning the tree line for any other targets. Luther pulled the binoculars from his face, giving him a broad view of the field again. He squinted as he watched the tree line looking for any additional contacts.

Thudding footsteps sounded behind him and a few seconds later Mick popped up from the stair well, taking offered binoculars from Luther.

“You get it?”

“Yes Sir. Don pegged it a third of the way here.”

“Was it an I E D?” Mick asked as he pulled the binoculars to his face, playing around with the focus.

“I couldn't confirm, body's tough to see in the rough grass.”

“Hrm”

Luther watched as Mick chewed the inside of his mouth awhile before looking back at him.

“Better to wait awhile before we head out there to check it out, for all we know this is just the start of it. I'd bet we start seeing more of those bastards in a little while. They won't get to far this time though.” A vicious grin splitting his face.

Mick clicked his radio on, binoculars still scanning the tree line.

“Bravo. This is ground. You in position?”

The mic crackled back a moment later. “Bravo reads and is in position. Ready to light them up ground.”

Mick looked back at Luther, who had been watching the slightly crazed ground commander as he became more and more vicious looking. After the fall, some people broke down, others... turned into people like Mick.

Mick caught Luther's stare.

“Eyes on the tree line gentlemen. I have a feeling this is going to get exciting. I love killing those stupid green bastards.” he said, his vicious grin even wider than before.

****

Gans blinked, his eyes wide as saucers as he watched his goblin die. It had happened so quickly it was almost magic. One second blue face was nervously walking along like an idiot, ignoring his instructions on how to wave the white cloth around, and then the next moment the goblin almost disappeared he hit the ground so quickly. The green blood and viscera instantly exploding off the body before it fell was only evidence that it had been killed.

“Were they supposed to do that?” He asked, dumbfounded.

Cutter shrugged.

Suddenly the quiet base he saw in the distance didn't seem so quiet anymore. He saw figures in fatigues moving into position in sandbag pits alongside the fence line. He knew the base would be on alert, but it seemed a little extreme to him.

He felt himself involuntarily shrink a little bit further down next to the tree, putting himself below the bush in front of him.

“Well... I can always do it over a few times” he muttered to himself, eyeing Arms darkly. Arms, like a kid trying to escape his teachers notice, shrunk back a little bit while looking at the other goblins for support. Arms and cutter both took steps away from him.

“Arms,” he spoke softly. Knowing it unnerved them, he presented a broad, genuine smile to the small muscled goblin who started to pale and gibber underneath its breath.

Reaching to his belt he pulled the second white tee shirt, freeing it from his waist before handing it to the frightened goblin. Arms was still on the shit list for hiss back at him when he looked at his pack of shit valuables. Blue face was still the lowest of the totem pole, but he felt like Arms needed the point emphasized more. He didn't need a fight on his hands whenever he looked at the possessions his own conjurations had. It didn't hurt to use them as an example for the goblins either.

Plus Red was too stupid to betray him correctly, or even march to the base with the white flag either. Cutter struck him as being just intelligent enough to be useful, and just useful enough to not toss towards danger casually. It didn't hurt that Cutter was the only one of the pack that could answer him cohesively.

Returning his mind to the task at hand he stared at Arms.

“You understand what to do right. All you have to do is hold that white thing in your hands and wave it in front of your face. Don't hide it in your hands like Blue Face did.”

“yeach,” The muscular goblin croaked in reply. Gans sighed, noticing that the goblin was clutching the white cloth the same way Blue face had. Reaching out he forced the goblins hand open, then unrolled the shirt, putting it back in its hand, this time, the white clearly visible.

“Remember, wave, it in front of you and you will be fine. Right?”

“yeach.”

He rubbed his forehead, the feeling of a headache coming on as he idly wondered if he had brought enough white cloth.

“Well get going then.” He grabbed at the goblin and threw him towards the clearing.

Arms was shaking as he walked past the bush. Unlike Blue face however, he actually managed to keep the white t-shirt out and visible in front of him.

Gans held his breath as he stated to count, watching the small goblin slowly make his way down the clearing. Ominously, he took the same exact path as Blue Face, and was walking the same way as well, nervously stumbling and looking back towards him for any sort of reassurance.

He felt himself release his breath when Arms made his way past where Blue Face had fallen, relief flooding into him. At lease the base hadn’t started shooting on sight like he feared. The diminutive goblin jumped slightly when it took a look at the corpse of its fellow goblin before slowly continuing his way towards the fence line.

About twenty yards away from the fence line the men sitting covered positions began yelling orders to the goblin who looked around confused, like a small child lost at a grocery store. It tried to look behind him, looking for any hint of orders or what it was supposed to do. Without thinking it took a step forward.

The shouting stopped and a single word order barked out. Snapping sounds of gunshots followed and Gans watched as the small goblin was slapped down into the grass like the hand of god had put him there. He involuntarily gulped at the sight.

Crouching by the bush, he rested his back up against the tree he was using for partial cover and took a minute to think. Blue Face and Arms had been terrible choices. He glanced over at Red who was scraping at the dirt, shoving a bug into his mouth. Red wouldn’t be much of a choice either.

He could send Cutter, but part of him worried that if he kept sending failures out the base would simply shoot on sight instead of giving them a chance. That would normally leave him, but there was a good chance they might have already decided to shoot on sight anyway. Anxiety crept into his chest as he sat there wondering if he should take care of it himself.

Then he remembered why he picked warlord in the skill tree. Why do it myself when I can rely on others? If he died that was it. There was no do over, there was no respawn. He would die and that would be the end of it. It wasn’t like the games he played where he could come back with a penalty, this was real life, even if it imitated a fucked up game system.

He looked at Cutter. The yellow eyed goblin looked back at him, and reached a hand out, wiggling his fingers in a “Give it to me motion.” He couldn’t help but feel gratitude to the older goblin for volunteering, unlike the other two.

Gans pulled the last white t-shirt from his belt and handed it to Cutter, who promptly unrolled it and walked out of the clearing, confidently waving it in front of his head as he advanced towards the fence line.

He should have given it to Cutter from the start. It was all well and good to be nice to the one goblin who had half a brain, but he had been foolishly holding back one of his most useful conjurations. Worst case scenario he could always just conjure the old goblin again. He even got the feeling that Cutter wouldn’t mind as much as the other two goblins, who Gans had been giving shit duty for punishment.

He wasn’t sending Cutter towards the base as punishment, he was sending Cutter because it was the smart thing to do. He could replace cutter. He couldn’t replace himself. If Cutter failed, he would know that there wasn’t much hope of him succeeding either. If he wanted to survive in this world he needed to lean on his subordinates as much as possible.

Taking a deep breath to calm the feeling of worry in his stomach, Gans watched as the old goblin made his way towards the fence line. If Cutter failed, then that was that, there would be no going into the base for Gans, and he would have to somehow survive outside of the safety of the base. He wasn’t too thrilled at the idea.

Reaching the same mark as Arms, Cutter calmly paused and raised his hands above his head in response to the shouting from the men. It was strangely anticlimactic to watch as the hunched over goblin simply nodded in reply a few times and spoke back to the men guarding the fence line. It wasn’t long before Cutter motioned behind him and made a waving motion with his hand.

Lifting himself out of the bush in response, Gans felt his anxiety rise as he walked out from the cover of the trees. Putting one leg in front of the other, he slowly walked across the clearing, hoping that some trigger happy solider didn’t accidently pull the trigger on his walk over. Passing the bloodied body of Blue face reinforced his caution that he could be killed by accident.

Goblin bodies and Goblin blood, despite being green, smelled roughly the same as a red blooded human. An awful copper iron tang hung in the area around the body. It still struck him as odd that he wasn’t bothered by it despite his heightened sense of smell.

Reaching Cutter and the dead body of Red he slowly raised his hands in the air.

“That’s close enough!” one of the soldiers yelled from behind a sandbag pit, rifle still tucked into his cheek and pointing towards him.

“I’m looking for Mick Johnson or Luther.” He shouted towards the soldier, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible.

Gans watched as their expressions turned into confusion.

“If it helps you find him. He’s the asshole that led a patrol from the city to here. Should have gotten here yesterday or the day before. Alex says hi. Also, Alex says thanks a lot asshole for leaving me out there. Those words exactly.”

The soldiers continued to look at him in confusion, a few of them squinting at his face, one of them chuckling when Gans mentioned ‘asshole.” Eventually one of them stood up and fingered his radio, speaking softly into it before a reply was heard.

It wasn’t too soon after that he saw the short, surely form of Mick approaching the fence line, cursing as he walked. The closer he drew to Gans, the wider his eyes peeled open. Ignoring the surprised exclamations of the men around him, Mick threw open the gate and walked right up to Gans. Cocking his head to the side, Mick made a show of examining him before a flicker of a grin appeared on his face.

“You look a lot uglier than I remember Alex.”