Chapter 7

It felt like I'd swallowed a large stone, and it was now sitting at the bottom of my stomach. We were on our way back to base, but by the time we got there, what would we find? Would there even be anyone to help? Would they have been torn apart by monsters? Or would a new forest sprouting out of nowhere crush them flat? I had no idea what was going on in other parts of the world. Were the oceans the same? The mountains? What about house pets? The questions just kept piling on me until I couldn't stand it anymore.

Falling to my knees, a guttural sob escaped my throat. I thought of my family, who I'd left almost two years ago when I joined the army. I had called my mom just a couple of nights ago to let her know how the field training exercise was going. Thinking about her didn't help, and the sadness only grew. Above all, I didn't want to think about that question, the one that would break me if I found out the answer right now. I was cursing my newfound intelligence. I was smart enough to ask all of these questions but too stupid to know any solutions.

I felt a hand fall onto my back, and I looked up. Bravo was there with a look on his face that said that he was on the verge too. He pulled me back onto my feet and steeled his face.

"We have a job to do Battle." He regarded me in the name that anyone in the army would when referring to a comrade, someone who had gone through the same training and had earned the respect of their peers. Thanks to this, I was able to pull myself together a little and nodded my gratitude at him.

"Thanks, Battle." I could still tell that he wanted to shed his own tears, but I was grateful to him for holding it together for me. SSG Underwood looked at us, and she adjusted herself and got up a look of grim determination on her face.

"Bravo is right." She pauses for a second, holding back another sob. "Everyone get up, we're soldiers, and we have a job to do. There may still be civilians back on base, and our job is to protect them. We're going full speed from here on out, hooah." The others began nodding and trying to pull themselves out of their shock. It took another ten minutes to get ourselves back up entirely, but after that, I could feel the system working overtime to try and help us. I guessed that it wouldn't be able to stop the initial shock, but once we'd calmed down a little, it could continue to do its job monitoring and adjusting our perceptions to trauma.

We went full out running, rucks strapped to our backs. Usually, it would have been exhausting for me, but my dexterity was higher now than when I first started, and I actually felt more physically fit than I had before all of this mess started. After another hour of running, we were coming up on the paved road that led into town. One more break, and we should be able to make it back in less than an hour as long as we didn't run into any more combat.

The break didn't last more than fifteen minutes, and although the heat was beating down on us, and our feet and bodies hurt from the experiences that we had in the forest, we went faster than we had yet. It was a struggle for the four non-rogues to keep up with our more dexterous counterparts, but we still did our best, and within a matter of minutes, we were able to see the small military base we called home.

Things had changed, though, just like they had throughout the desert. There was now a blue shimmering translucent dome that covered the entirety of the town. Once more, we sped up our pace and reached the outside of the dome, where we were stopped by a barricade and a group of uniformed men and women wearing full kits and wielding M4s.

"Stop right there! Show us identification!" One of the uniformed men shouted. We all pulled out our military ID's and another person came up to check them. They kept the weapons pointed at us the entire time.

"What is the meaning of this?" SSG Underwood spoke up. The man that had shouted at us walked up, now telling the others to stand down. The rank on his chest was that of a captain, but no one saluted. This felt very much like a combat zone right now, after all.

"I am Captain Zorrow, and we've been tasked with guarding this road against people trying to access the base without proper authorization. I'm sorry for the welcome party, but it's the tasking we've been given until we figure all of this out." The man stopped talking as if his explanation was over.

"I mean, what's going on with this dome?" SSG Underwood asked, and CPT Zorrow nodded.

"We aren't exactly sure about it. The thing showed up two nights ago when the messages started appearing. There's been a lot of changes, but I doubt that we have to tell you that." After that explanation lacking in any real details, I asked the system about it. Message.

"We have used excess universal energy to provide your species with something called 'safe zones' these areas are inaccessible by creatures other than approved domesticated animals and your own species. Safe zones are a place to rest, as well as hubs for commerce and trading with the other energy infused beings who will be coming to visit after a portion of time." "Well, that explains that, I guess." I thought to myself after reading the explanations.

I relayed the information to SSG Underwood, and she, in turn, explained our situation to the Captain.

"And how do you know all of this?" CPT Zorrow asked, narrowing his eyes at me before I had a chance to answer though SSG Underwood was answering for me.

"He's our resident expert on the system. His higher intelligence allows him to get more answers from it than we are." The captain looked at us, puzzled.

"Higher intelligence?" He asked. SSG Underwood waved her hand to me, motioning for me to come up and explain myself. I did telling him all about stat points, skill points, and leveling. It was apparent in his expression that he hadn't chosen a class yet.

"Do you think that you could give a brief to the command team? People were warned against choosing a class a few nights ago. Aside from the changes in the domestic animals, which have been rounded up, we haven't faced any creatures like those that you have described." With a determined look on my face, I nodded. I don't know how they managed to round up any of the new creatures which littered the earth's face, but I was looking forward to finding out.

Captain Zorrow led the others and me past the barricade and through the blue barrier. As I passed through it, there was a refreshing cool feeling that washed over my skin. The heat of the day melted away, and the weather on the inside felt like it could have been controlled by central heating and air. The streets were empty cars that had been on the road when the change happened were rolled off to the side. We had to slow down a lot, so we didn't completely overtake the Captain, who the system hadn't yet boosted.

We eventually got to our location, the movie theater. We were told to leave our rucksacks outside and entered the building through a side door that led directly into one of the main viewing rooms. There were quite a few officers in the rooms, and it sounded like most of them were arguing over what to do next. I had almost forgotten the events of the morning, but being in here with all of these people trying to make decisions brought it back. They had been lucky enough to be in the safe zone whenever this all happened, so most of the people on base had survived unless they had tried to leave.

But the news from this morning had thrown everyone into a panic. The Captain that had been leading us around took us to the very front where the CG was talking with his panel.

"Sir!" Captain Zorrow saluted the General, and we followed suit. "This soldier has information regarding the current circumstances, and I ask that he be allowed to brief the various command teams gathered here so we can get the word out." The General looked at me, and I stepped forward.

"What is this information?" I stood at parade rest and explained everything that we had learned so far. I excluded the part about the system manipulating our emotions and hoped that the others would have the good sense not to bring it up. The more people we could get choosing classes, the safer we would be in the long run. After my explanation, the General rubbed his head in frustration and sadness. A lot of groups that had been out in the field hadn't managed to make it back yet, and after the story that I'd just told him, it sunk in that most of them would probably never be making it back.

He agreed to let me tell my story to the rest of the officers in the viewing room, and so for the third time today, I began giving my briefing.