The Sagittarian

By Gwyndolyn L Russell

Apex Corps is just as threatened by the rise of the Black Wolves as the Order of the Hunters. They may not be in the sight of the Black Wolves' yet, but they fear they will be next. They've been preparing in the shadows and taking advantage of the war between their two enemies. Now, they've decided to str

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gwyndolyn Russell
• Release date: Sep 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088094280

Book preview

ONE

There comes a time that every boy becomes a man and every girl becomes a woman. It's different for everyone, but the results are often the same. You get thrust into the real world from the only nest you've ever known. Even though you get raised and prepared to be out on your own, to prove you can take care of yourself, when the time comes that your mother kicks your rear end out of the nest and you make that descent to the surface of a raging ocean, you forget everything. In that moment when you have to make one of two choices, everything goes blank as if you had just been born. You either flap your little wings as hard as you can or you smack into the foam below.

I don't know what life is like outside of Rataan. I was taught in the academy that civilians, what we call non-hunters, live a plush life free of danger. Hunters on the other hand are born into danger. I was lucky enough to be born in the den to two loving parents who watched my every step through the academy since I was one year old. I know they're my parents. I know they care about me and love me, but I still feel no real instinct to care for them. They didn't raise me. They only brought me into this world. This world filled with a bittersweet cruelty. I was raised by my instructors. Older hunters that dedicated their lives to raising the next generation.

Sergeant Kaptha was my daily instructor. He taught a platoon of us recruits for twenty years. Taught us everything we know now. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here now taking the final exam of the academy. I wouldn't have a chance to prove that I was in fact a man and I could handle the struggle of life.

He was a harsh man who pursued perfection. His recruits were destined to be highly sought after hunters. He drilled us from dawn to dusk and at times he even woke us in the middle of the night to drill us again.

Tomislav and I gave him a run for his money. We were always getting into trouble until our teens. It's not that we ever stopped; we just got better at hiding our antics, or putting the blame on others. Tomislav was like me. Born here. His parents gave him a name though we weren't allowed to use it. At this age, we addressed each other by our service numbers. A twelve digit code that told what year we were born, what month, what region, and how many came before us. The number was usually shortened down to three digits, all of which taken from the end of each set of numbers. My parents called me Karasu, but my friends called me 343 and Tomislav was 296.

Still, we weren't prepared for this. To be booted out of the nest as if we were never cared for to begin with. I guess nothing could actually prepare a child for the real world. This final exam of ours was a rite of passage. A trial to adulthood. We were told it was a simple test to prove everything we learned over the last twenty years. A test of our skills and knowledge.

I was ready. Eager to go. I could disassemble and reassemble fifteen different rifles and pistols blindfolded. I was third in class for accuracy. I could run for miles in under eighteen minutes without breaking a sweat. Climb any surface. Knives weren't even an issue. My combat skills were in the top five of the whole platoon. I was number one in strategy and battle planning. I was raised to do this.

Sergeant Kaptha let us partner up if we wanted to so of course 296 and I teamed up. He wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but damn could he brute force his way through any situation. He didn't climb over walls; he bombed them to walk right through.

We were given a flash drive and told to take it across the planet to another den.

That was it? We couldn't believe this was what it boiled down to. It was going to be easy. Whatever trouble came our way would have been scripted. Just another training exercise.

We were wrong. We were so wrong about the exam that when those towering suits of purple and orange armor crashed down on top of us, it was like being hit by a freight train. A fall from grace. We were booted out of the nest and told to fly with featherless wings. That raging water below was coming in fast, waiting to gulp us down into oblivion.

A team of six ravens, each one no less than twelve feet tall, ambushed us on an empty stretch of dirt road hundreds of miles from the nearest town. Shuttles swooped overhead with their engines blasting scorch marks into the ground. We didn't even stand a chance. They had us on the ground and as soon as I tried to fight back, I was clocked over the head with a metal fist.

When I came to, I was lying on a dirty concrete floor in a black room. There was a small puddle near me in the tiny eight foot by eight foot space and I prayed it was just water. The only light came in from the bottom of a heavy steel door. Centimeters of space let just enough light to make out shapes in shades of grey.

296 was with me still unconscious on the floor. After I woke him up, the door swung open. Two eldiravan rushed in. Their armor nearly glistened in the light. Faint scratches littered the surface. What came next we had been trained for, but now that we were living it, the training might as well have not been there.

A beating was putting it lightly. That was child's play. They interrogated us as if we were terrorists plotting to bomb their capital or assassinate their emperor. We weren't just beaten black and blue. It was an experiment. We were specimens to them. They cut us open to see what made us tick. Picked at our brains in a way no textbook ever explained. They waterboarded us, whipped us, broke our bones. They even treated our more severe injuries. Let them heal just to break them again. They tried to put me and 296 against each other. 

I thought I was ready for it. Thought I could handle it. I held hope for six months in that cell. We could break out. We could get free. Make it back home.

Then they took 296. I don't know where. He was dragged out of the room and I never saw him again. Those filthy raven bastards told me they burned him alive. Let the fire char his flesh until there were only blackened bones left.

That was when my hope was shattered. There was no escape. No rescue to come. I shut down. Didn't want to keep trying. What was the point? Whether I told them the honest truth or a lie, they treated me no better than a mangy mutt on the side of the road. If I fought back, they beat me into the concrete. If I did nothing, they upped their technique.

They made hell a real place. I was weak and powerless to do anything. I lost track of time. I couldn't tell reality from a dream. I was isolated in total darkness. I thought I was in there for decades. Just a pet occasionally fed when the master remembered. Locked in a cage. I was in there for so long I forgot what it was like on the outside. I forgot what the grass felt like between my toes. The sun above blazing in the lilac tinted sky. The smell of the air.

I wanted it to end. I wanted to go home. Be a kid again. I never wanted this. Being a soldier was a dream, but this wasn't it. This wasn't what a soldier was. I no longer had control. I was trapped. The only escape for me now was death.

When the next tray of cold, week old and par cooked rice was slid underneath the door, I didn't even bother to eat. I rarely ate anymore. The ravens force fed me meals once a week. I couldn't be bothered to waste the energy to chew. This time though…. This time I took the tray and dumped the slop off it. Smashed the tray into the concrete floor. I smashed it until it snapped in half. Then did it to the larger half. When that broke, it came away with a sharpened point.

There was no dignity living like this. No honor left. A life I barely got to live and I spent far too long as some pet to these sick fucks.

I stared at that shard of metal tray. Squeezed it in both of my hands. I didn't want to feel pain anymore. I didn't want to live like this for a second longer, but the fear of the inevitable struck me in my chest in that moment. Would it hurt? What if it didn't work? What if it wasn't instant? Was there anything beyond this life? This world? 

Muffled voices on the other side of the door made my heart race. They were back. I could hear them laughing. The door creaked as they turned the wheel to unlock it.

Either I did it now within these next few seconds or I suffered a worse fate. I took a sharp breath and thrust the pointed end into my throat.

Every breath was met with blood pouring out from my neck. I wheezed. Watched as the door opened. It burned like a fire raging in my throat. I coughed and hacked. My vision blurred within seconds. Blinded further by the bright light flooding the room.

First I saw the eldiravan who rushed into the room screaming for a medic. Then there in the door I could barely make out another shape. An older man in a white lab coat.

TWO

That was how hunters were made. That was why we lived separate from other humans, from the civilians as we affectionately called them. Our children were taken from their parents or orphanages and sent into the academy. From their first year to their twenty-first, recruits or young hunters lived a busy life of training and learning. We were soldiers. Riflemen. Every hunter alive today could kill a man with something was simple as a plastic spoon. If they said otherwise, they were lying. Death didn't bother a hunter. Killing a man was nothing more than a typical nine to five job. 

Even then, not all hunters were the same. Some took up more peaceful jobs where they didn't have to worry about the enemy shooting at them. Some went on to be great soldiers. Some became horkosians, the most loathed of all the hunters. The scariest of us. They were the ones that handled interrogations. Sick, sadistic bastards who spent their free time thinking of new ways to break the human psyche. Others became praetorians. Law enforcers. Proud and noble and highly sought after. The unluckiest of the recruits would be turned into alpha hunters. They were the broken recruits. Less than human. Transposed into monstrous killing machines. The best of the hunters were the sagittarians. Elite covert operatives. 

That was me.

The final exam, our rite of passage, was a year long arduous endeavor. It ripped away everything that made us human. Showed us our flaws and weaknesses. Then built us back up as hunters. Real men and women that could do anything.

I was hand selected straight out of the exam to become a sagittarian. My first year in the academy was spent recovering from the exam. Bones were mended. Medications and psychological therapy. The damage I sustained in my throat destroyed my vocal cords and prevented me from talking. For months I couldn't say a word. I opted for surgery for a cybernetic replacement and now my voice was completely different. It had a robotic flare now. The wound left a deep scar on my neck.

While I recovered from the surgery, General Carson approached me with a special mission. One that had never been undertaken by any sagittarian in the history of the Order. Infiltrating the enemy was a risky task in and of itself. Becoming one of them to spy on them from the inside. Pretending to be one of them. Sagittarians were trained for it. It was our specialty. This, however, was off the wall. This was suicide. He outright said the chance of my death was ninety-five percent within the first few months. It was why he wanted me to do it.

My test results showed the utmost skill in the required categories. I was top of my class after all. Damn, I was proud of it, but this mission made me wish I was a worse student. I couldn't say no. I wouldn't dare tell the standing general of Apex's ground forces no.

The next four years of my life I trained to be a sagittarian. While I did that, I trained for the mission General Carson gave me. I learned everything about alpha hunters. Every little detail. The stereotypical mannerisms, the speech patterns, the high and mighty attitudes. I learned their ruthlessness and cunningness. I was given a basic background to fit with my age by the time I was done. An orphan too traumatized by the final exam to keep a will to live. A hollow shell of a man just following orders. A handful of basic missions, none too impressive and worth mentioning.

The more I learned about alpha hunters the more I hated them. They truly were monsters. They cared about nothing other than their orders. No morals and no restrictions. If you were a target, whether you were an old man, a woman or a newborn didn't matter to them. You were tormented and killed slowly. 

They showed me videos and pictures, and retold old stories about alpha hunters. Famous ones from hundreds of years ago to present ones. Without a master to control them, they were wild animals sated only by the blood of innocent lives.

That's why I had to do this mission. That's why General Carson picked me out of the academy instead of the other trainees. I had the courage and the willpower. I had the ability to get in, survive, and complete the mission. I was the one that had to infiltrate the ranks of the Black Wolves. Get close to Spectre, Javelin, and the other 'old alphas' as they liked to call themselves. 

I didn't just learn about alpha hunters in general, I learned about the Black Wolf leaders as well. I knew their real names, their fake names, what they looked like, and their personalities. I memorized an entire list of what it seemed they preferred and a list of what they detested. 

By the time I was twenty-five years old, I graduated a second time. This one was as a sagittarian. I was ready to go. Equipped with the finest gear for alpha hunters, which I knew everything about. A robotic dog to help in combat. They gave me my own little fighter ship deemed the A.X. Eagle.

To start my mission, I had to go to Solstice. A hotspot for criminal activity. We were aware of Black Wolves' presence on Solstice. An initial contact for rogue alpha hunters. I just had to find him and weasel my way inside.

The flight to Solstice was long and boring. There was nothing to do on this little ship. It was just big enough for two people to live in close quarters. Two cots were cut into the far wall on the right side of the ship. The foot of which turned into a small armory cabinet to hold two rifles, two compact rifles, two pistols, a tomahawk, a couple of different knives, and two drawers filled with frag grenades, flashbangs, stunners, smokes, and short range EMPs. Next to that cabinet was a potted plant, some earthly tree I didn't know the name of. A television that tuned only to Apex broadcasts. Then the consoles for all of the systems wrapped around the front of the ship. Radars, satellites, scanners, broadcasters, radios, life support systems, water systems, septic systems, engines, stabilizers, weapons. Then finally two pilot seats five feet apart. Each with their own console and set of monitors that wrapped around the front to simulate a holographic cockpit. Both had flight controls and weapon controls. The monitors could be swung around at either side to let someone in and out of the seat. The left side of the ship was more back up consoles and computers, raised sections for storage. Ship repair tools filled the storage space to the brim. It wrapped around towards the back for a wall featuring the Apex logo of the two intersecting, opened triangles. A cabinet was on the floor here.. it would have been a small kitchen for anyone else, but that equipment was removed for the alpha hunters. Instead, the cabinet was packed full of wooden crates that held the endless supply of toothpaste tubes labeled Alpha Feed; the best food to feed your alpha hunters. Next to the cabinet were two cut-ins with various hooks. These were to hold the Olympian armor sets when they weren't worn. Yellow tape lined the outer edge of the ramp, that when opened by the button on a small podium near the center of the room, left ten feet of open space. On the other side was a dresser with four drawers filled with spare uniforms and clothes. Between the dresser and the empty space for the ramp was a door that led into a surprisingly small bathroom. One metal toilet, one tiny sink with a mirror, and then a shower with a glass door. It actually had running water, but it was disabled while in zero gravity.

I left the television on with the volume low. It was better than listening to the incessant hums, whirs, and beeps of the machines. I left the autopilot system on and turned the display to show the surrounding space. I was shocked to find there was no equipment to keep up strength while out here. I supposed alpha hunters weren't meant to spend too much time without gravity. I spent most of my time lying on the bottom cot reading from a tablet. Older news that I didn't catch while in the academy. More attacks conducted by the Black Wolves. Innocent civilians and hunters murdered in cold blood for no reason aside from the fact they were not alphas.

Women and children left to die in the rubble of their homes. The rare few survivors told stories of raiding and raping. Hellish treatment that I didn't even suffer in the final exam. That I never heard of anyone suffering and we were taught to fear the horkosians for their devilish tact. Horkosians were angels when compared to the alpha hunters. 

I eventually stopped reading news on them. It was pissing me off to no end. Every other paragraph made my blood boil. What good were alpha hunters? Maybe the ones that were kept on a short leash were well behaved. Worth the trouble. I was well aware they lived most of their lives in the field like wild animals. Took on jobs that even I, as a sagittarian, would never be assigned to. 

The pilot's console beeped with a notification. I sat up from the cot and headed over to the seat.

A.X. Eagle, this is Solstice Station, do you copy? A robotic voice came over the speakers.

It took a few seconds for me to get to the seat and hit the button to activate the microphone.

This is A.X. Eagle; I read you loud and clear Solstice Station. I said with that robotic flare.

Are you looking for service today?

No, sir. Just passing through.

He was silent for nearly a minute. You're clear to land at Dock Bravo, Pad Twelve.

The console in front of me flashed with a blue message. The system had received the coordinates to the pad and I could either use the virtual way point system to navigate through the chaotic jungle of ships myself, or let the autopilot system take control. I hit the button for autopilot and got up from the seat.

I heard about Solstice, but I had never been there before. As a recruit, my life was at the den training. This was the first time I ever left home. Out in space on my own. Headed to a place filled with heathens, heretics, and what have you. I didn't know what to expect.

While the ship brought itself through the maze of docks, I headed to the back to freshen up. Washed my face. Grabbed a tube of food.

I had never seen this before. Food in a tube like this was uncommon. Liquid diets and powders were normal for supplements and quick meals, but this… this was disgusting. Thick and slimy it tasted like pure rot. It tasted like a bottom feeder survived off its own feces for months before it was caught, slaughtered and packaged up as ready to eat food. The way it was packaged was even insulting. "Alpha Feed'' was written across either side in big, bold letters. More writing claimed it was the perfect meal for any hungry alpha hunter. Pure nutritional value for the daily needs of a hard working alpha including added caffeine for that extra pep to their step. All the benefits with none of the waste. It looked like something you would feed a cow when it was sick. It only recently clicked in my head what it meant by none of the waste. I hadn’t used the bathroom since I boarded the ship three weeks ago! 

Through a few gags and coughs, I downed all the contents of the tube and tossed it into the trash heap at the back of the ship. The system beeped that it was proceeding with the standard landing procedure. I climbed up into the armor set mounted against the back wall. A dark, slate grey with the more flexible parts painted black. Apex's logo was painted on the chest and the alpha hunters branding was painted on the right shoulder complete with a barcode.

I was already just less than six feet tall. On the slender side. This armor was heavy and bulky and didn't fit my usual fighting style. Agility was something that armor just didn't do smoothly. It added an extra foot to my height, bringing me just less than seven feet tall and added a thousand pounds to my slender frame.

It opened up like butterfly wings, split straight down the middle of the torso, each leg, and each arm. I climbed up inside and positioned my feet in the stirrups and hands in the internal gloves. It closed in around me and sealed itself airtight. Without the helmet, I was blinded on my left side due to the one oversized pauldron that towered over my head. Even when I turned my head as far as I could, my flank was blindsided as well. A neck guard was raised to protect the neck and head. The right side was more open. The pauldron there was only half the size of the other one. It still provided good neck protection though. It even had a small, flat piece at the front to help grip the stock of the rifle when it was shouldered. 

I was effectively in a walking tank. The armor was two inches thick around the torso and never thinned below one inch on the other parts. The gears, hydraulics, and machinery whirred and buzzed to life now that it was active. I rolled the helmet around in my hands while I pushed myself off the hooks to float towards the pilot’s seat. This helmet made me think of a demon. There were four separate pieces to it. The base that wrapped around the head and housed the systems and provided impact and penetration protection. The visor sat on the upper half folded up and down around the front of the helmet and the top. Smooth angles helped it deflect bullets. It had two settings, one that blinded the wearer and the other let them see right through. Large horns mimicked the ones found on the alpha branding. Sprouted up from the sides of the visor and curved backwards and down around the sides to curl in around the ears. Borderline impractical, I expected they would prove more harm than good. The lower front half of the helmet was a muzzle. One that imprisoned alpha hunters wore. It wrapped around the nose and mouth and bent around the sides of the face to the ears. Sharp teeth were etched into the front of it. It was a fitting helmet for alpha hunters. A constant reminder that they were meant to be leashed and controlled. 

When the ship landed, I hit the power button on the console to shut the engines off. I pulled the key out of its slot; nothing more than a card with a barcode. I pulled the helmet on and hit the button on the side, just underneath it. That signaled the neck piece of the armor to open and attach to the bottom of the helmet. I was blind while the system booted up. It took mere seconds and I could see the cabin around me as clear as day. I grabbed a rifle from the cabinet and slung it over my shoulder.

I hit the button to open the ramp and headed down. Once I left the range of the sensors, the ramp pulled itself back up and locked.

The docks were packed with people from wall to wall. Machines walked,  rolled, and flew around with crates, delivering them from one place to another. It was hard to see a safe way through without shoving people out of the way, or risk being run over by one of the machines.

I heard a dog bark next to me. I looked down to see the robotic dog, a garm unit as they were called, staring up at me. Startled by the sight of it, I took a breath and laughed. I had forgotten that I even had one of those tailing me. I reached down to pet the top of its metallic head and it barked at me again.

You don’t happen to know where to go, huh, boy? I asked it.

Its head cocked to the side, its tongue drooping from its mouth. It barked at me and bounced around in place. 

All right. We’ll just take a tour. Another pat to its head and we were off. 

I pushed through the crowd, taking the time to coax people aside. I thought the space harbor was packed; the streets of the station were filled with schools of people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. They moved about like fish. One way to another led by the wind generated by other groups passing by. Open air stalls lined the streets. Neon signs lit up the sides of the structures. I could even hear the bass of electronic music thumping somewhere in the distance. Televisions were spotted throughout the corners and storefronts. Broadcasts from across the galaxy were played. 

One of the broadcasts caught my attention. It started out as a simple night show, something I was familiar with. An eldiravan was the host, sat in a luxurious red chair. A night stand at one side separated him from a second matching chair that was filled by an ardrizi. They were discussing some sort of issue between two colonies when the screen filled with static. A picture of a snarling wolf’s head displayed before it faded into a black screen. Out of the darkness stepped a man lit in red and orange lights.

His face was robotic and skeletal. A smooshed muzzle lined with flesh tearing teeth and a hollow nose. Large beady eyes glowed a toxic green. A hood was up to cover the rest of his head. He got in real close to the camera and eyed it.

You already know who we are. We don't have to tell you. He said in a robotic, scratchy voice. Were still here. Were still kicking and fighting. The Council is dead, but the fight isn't over. Alpha hunters are still enslaved, still forced to kneel to higher powers. I'm here to tell you to stop. Don't obey them any longer! They are not your masters. It's time you opened your eyes, my brothers, and joined us. Come home. Fight with us. Set our brothers free!

He had more to say, but the broadcast turned to static once more and displayed a message: Broadcast cancelled. System rebooting.

That was Feral. His profile was in the dossier along with the other old alphas. He was one of the most cybernetically enhanced of the alpha hunters. Made it a fashion statement in a way. He was barbaric. A sick and twisted individual. I was told his name represented his personality. He was a feral alpha. Held nothing back in a fight and was well known for making his victims suffer. 

Hey, alpha! Someone called from the crowd.

I turned to see what was going on and found a pair of well armored venators approaching me. Their armor was pristine, fresh from the armory and never worn. Not so much as a scuff of dirt or a scratch from a loose clip. 

I was warned about these guys. A new unit in the Order. Directly answered to the Council. They were specialized hunters and meant to counter the alpha hunter insurrection. They were hardasses and looking for an excuse to arrest any alpha hunter they saw.

These guys must have been low ranking venators. Their armor was light and provided good protection, but there were obvious soft parts in the armor. They made me think of old school knights in shining armor. Swords on their hips were coupled with batons.

Nice broadcast, huh? One said. His arms were crossed over his chest to hug the rifle to him. He was nearly as tall as me.

I guess. I shrugged.

What's your ID? The other one asked. He reached down to his hip where a bulky, white scanner was strapped.

343, I said.

Hold still, he held the scanner up for the barcode on my arm. He checked the screen and nodded. It checks out. What are you doing on Solstice?

Work. 

That armor looks pretty new, the tall one pointed. First time out of the pits of hell, huh, alpha?

Seemed pretty interested in that broadcast, too. The other sneered.

I raised both of my hands to show them my armored palms. Look, I don’t want any trouble. I’m here on official Apex business. I’m looking for the local embassy.

The local embassy! He laughed and tucked the scanner back on his waistband.

Why don’t we escort you there? Y’know, make sure you get there safe and sound like a good little pet?

I can find my own way.

Let me see that rifle you got there. He reached for the weapon tucked under my arm.

I stepped back and grabbed the upper rail to keep it tight against my side. Fuck no. Leave me alone.

That scar on my neck itched something awful. Something was off. This wasn’t right. I hadn't done anything wrong. I was here for five minutes! These guys were just after another notch on their belts.

The dog barked and lunged towards the nearest venator to separate us. That prompted the soldier to kick the dog in the head and make it cry out. When I reached for the dog to pull it away from them, one of the venators spoke up.

Got the access code. The tall one said, clicking on the side of his helmet.

Use it. The other said. 

Access code? I didn’t know what they were talking about. What would they need access to right now?

I found out in a matter of seconds. Something Apex didn’t warn me about. The nodes within the armor that just made contact with my body activated. I thought they were sensors, but they served the purpose of delivering electrical volts from the armor’s battery to my body. A surprisingly high number of volts. 

My body naturally convulsed with the excess electricity. I hit the ground hard as a rock and I couldn’t even make a sound to call for help or mercy. My HUD flashed with the icon of a human body where it showed the damage I was receiving. The electricity wrecked my system. I couldn’t breathe. My heart stopped. 

THREE

I briefly blacked out from the overload of electricity. My whole body was seized up. I thought about trying to tell them the truth. Tell them I wasn't an alpha hunter. I couldn't say a word, however. I couldn't even move!

When everything went black, everything I felt stopped. I felt nothing in that brief moment. Neither alive nor dead. In pain or soothed.

Then the color came black in awful blurs like someone had spilled a bucket of paint over my helmet. The sound was distorted. My body still refused to move beyond the natural twitching. 

Muffled shouting made my ears ring. The blurry splotches slowly melded into real shapes. Someone was standing over me. Thick, leather boots.

The shouting stopped. A thud.

My shoulder was shaken.

Come on, a voice said, distorted and muffled. Get up. Another shake of my shoulder. What a drag. Making me work even more.

I gripped the metal floor. At least I thought I did. I told my fingers to move, but they must not have. My head was taken off the ground, body slumped over. Metal shrieked across metal. The man half carrying me down the street grunted every other step. 

Man, they did a number on you, huh? Whoa, down, boy! I ain't gonna hurt him. Still muffled, the voice was becoming more clear. The colors darkened and the splotches sharpened.

I tried to say something, but my ears rang with a static filled squeal.

Relax, brother. Get you somewhere safe. Fuck, this is not what I came out to do. Lucky son of a bitch. He grunted. 

I hit the ground with a heavy thud. I hardly felt it. My entire body tingled with trillions of needles.

How's he doing, boy? Still breathing? The man asked as he lifted me back up.

The dog barked. I could hear its feet clacking around with each excited step.

Almost there. Get you inside. Get a beer. Smoke some. Be good as new. Get one of the boys in the back to fix that armor of yours. Stop that from happening again.

By the time my vision sharpened enough to see things with some slight bloom effect, he was kicking in a door. He dragged me inside where the air was filled with a faint haze of smoke. I could smell hundreds of different herbs and plants. There was a soft chatter of patrons. It quieted down as