A Changed Man
In the morning, George was out walking around the camp doing a routine patrol.
Just the day before, he had decided to volunteer to join Grant and the other fighters on an expedition out into the 'wilderness', as the normal folks liked to call it. After the invasion of the ants, he had realized that relying on someone else to keep him safe was not a smart decision.
Although scared that he may well end up dead long before he could achieve the strength he desired, he decided that it was time for him to take his life into his own hands.
After a short question and answer session with some gentleman named Zach, George was given the green light to join the new trainee's group.
Due to the fact that Grant had suddenly disappeared the day before though, the expedition was unable to commence; so he, along with a few others, were assigned to patrol the camp in the meantime.
He was handed a shotgun, a patrol route, and a brief rundown of the expectations for the job and then immediately sent on his way.
Although nervous, George was determined to do his job properly, so he followed the instructions he was given to the letter.
As he was passing by the main entrance to the camp, George suddenly realized that there was a silhouette heading towards his direction. It didn't appear to be that of a man but he couldn't quite tell because the sun was rising into the sky directly behind the silhouette obscuring his ability to properly identify it.
He quickly followed the protocol that had been laid out for him during his brief training and immediately began to ring a makeshift bell that had been set up no more than a few hours ago.
It was to be the a temporary measure to allow for early warnings of danger.
After a brief moment of silence, he heard another bell ring not too far behind him and he knew that his signal had been passed along.
Since it would take at least a few minutes for the rest of the guards to mobilize to his location, he took up a defensive stance with his pump shotgun and prepared to defend the entrance.
George aimed in the direction of the silhouette but it was difficult for him to focus because his hands and subsequently the gun were shaking due to his nervousness.
"Stop! If you are a human, identify yourself immediately!"
No reply.
"If you do not stop immediately I will be forced to fire upon you!"
Still, no reply.
"This is your final warning! In 3 seconds you will be fired upon!"
Again, no reply. The silhouette never ceased its progress forward and was now a mere 10 minutes away.
Due to the angle of the sun and the odd shape of the silhouette, George was still unable to identify what or who it was.
Left with no choice, George raised his gun slightly higher so that the butt of the shotgun was squarely against his shoulder, and fired a shot.
A nanosecond after the gun was fired, the silhouette suddenly flashed to the side and dodged the buck shot completely.
George suddenly panicked even more than he already had been. He quickly raised the gun back up to his shoulder and began to fire off shots in quick succession.
Unbelievably, the silhouette just flashed from one spot to the next, dodging every single shot.
Out of bullets and left with no option, George moved out from behind the barricade that had been separating him and the gate, and prepared to fight the silhouette.
However, when he shifted his angle out from behind the barricade, the person who made up the silhouette was suddenly visible.
When George realized who he had just fired at, he began to freak out. He dropped too his knees and immediately began to beg for mercy.
"I'm so sorry sir! I did not realize it was you! Please don't kill me! The sun and whatever you're carrying made it hard to tell who you were!"
Grant, with two massive cats slung over his shoulders, was walking with his head hung down.
When Grant didn't respond to his pleas for mercy, George figured his life was all but over. He said a silent prayer to The Path of all things for destroying most technology, effectively erasing his search history so no one could find it.
As George sat there with his eyes closed and hands folded in prayer, he awaited death.
After thirty seconds and the fact that he was still breathing, George opened one eye to see what Grant was doing.
It was in that moment that Grant finally passed by the kneeling George.
It was quiet and barely audible, but George could have sworn that he heard something along the lines of, "The key to victory... the keys... to victory.. Key ring of victory? Ah.. the keys... to victory! Stupid grandpa.."
George quickly closed his eye and pretended that he had heard nothing.
He didn't know what was wrong with Grant, but he was mumbling like a madman so whatever it was, it was best to stay out of his way.
Grant had only managed to take a few steps past the kneeling George before a small group of men, led by Ethan, came storming down the road towards the gate with their weapons drawn.
Ethan, immediately recognizing Grant, came running up to Grant and stopped directly in front of him.
"Grant! You're finally back! What the heck is with those giant cats on your shoulder?
God in Heaven! You look like you just spent the night in a pig pen! You're filthy!
Wait, that's not important! We heard the alarm of an impending attack! Stay and help us out!"
However, Grant continued to move forward, as if he was a zombie in an open field, completely uninterested and unaware of the world around him searching for only one thing.
When Ethan reached out to grab Grant by the shoulder to try to shake him awake, Grant simply flashed a few feet to his right before he continued to walk forward.
Confused, Ethan tried again to stop Grant, but the result was the same. Grant would just flash to a place where his path was unobstructed and then continue to move forward.
"Grant! What the heck is wrong with you?! Did something happen?! Why won't you respond?!"
Suddenly, Grant stopped in place and look directly into Ethan's eyes before screaming, "It's the key to victory!" and then returning to his slow and steady trek forward.
Equal parts confused and alarmed at Grant's behavior, Ethan decided that he needed to hand the threat of danger before dealing with whatever it was going on with Grant.
To his annoyance however, it was shortly discovered that the threat that George had identified had in fact just been Grant so he quickly returned to his friends location and began to try to awaken him from his trance like state.
He tried everything from shouting at him, obstructing his path, and even fighting him.
None of it worked though because Grant either ignored him or overpower him in mere moments.
When he had tried to fight Grant, it felt like he was staring down a wild animal that he knew was many times stronger than him but was momentarily restrained within a cage.
Ethan only had one thought when looking at Grant the way he was now, [He is a changed man.. whatever happened to him in the last 12-16 hours has affected him greatly. And not just emotionally. Physically he's clearly stronger but he feels more.. chaotic. Like a storm ready to burst forth at a moments notice."
Knowing that he would be unable to stop Grant, he simply followed along with his friend to try and figure out what his ultimate destination would be and just maybe he would snap out of it when he reached it.
Along the way, Ethan was forced to turn away multiple people who had recognized Grant. Everyone either wanted something from him or wanted to thank him for something they had already received.
When Ethan was certain that Grant was headed for the hospital, the man himself suddenly took a turn and headed for a clearing not far away.
After reaching the clearing, Grant set down the cats and immediately began to skin them with a small blade he pulled from his pocket.
Since Ethan had decided to stick with Grant until he regained his former self, if he would ever, Ethan sat down in the clearing just far enough that he wouldn't get caught in the blood and guts pouring onto the ground.
Neither of them spoke for a good 15 minutes but eventually Ethan became bored so he decided to talk to Grant about anything that came to mind in case he said something that snapped him out of it.
"Hey Grant, you won't believe what happened to me yesterday!
I went on a date!"
It worked wonders.
"You did WHAT?!"