About ten to eleven hours after their departure, the troops ended up at the Ehirit entry zone.
"Okay, we're going to be about forty-five minutes til we're done registering all soldiers' names. Please be patient," The Colonel stated. There were a few exasperated groans here and there. The sun was long gone, the rain pouring hard outside of the humid bus.
Droplets pounding against the windows, Walter's gaze fixated on the paused scenery. Their outside surroundings were damp and near pitch-black, his own reflection greeting him more than what he could see out of the window. The sound of boots slamming down in the aisle broke him out of his concentration.
"A toast, to our new fellow mercenaries. We came, we saw, we conquered. We beat the odds against all odds, and now our monetary rewards are flowing into our grasps! Fifty grand here we come!" Wallace belted, flask in hand joining his lips as he downed it fiercely amongst cheers. He stood as upright as he could, long drunk before his speech, stumbling back. "But I will say, what is truly unexpected, is that our white knight Walter, Walter Thurman, is joining us on such a 'vain project', as he would say. The hypocrisy is as high as the humidity, isn't it?" Wallace came over to Walter's seat. "You finally cave in? Finally got that stick out your arse?"
"You're a grown man, Wallace. You should be above stirring up fights for attention," Walter retorted, not bothering to look up and make eye contact with the man-child.
"You see, that's what irks me about you. Your condescending, high and mighty, holier than thou attitude. It's alright, though. You can't keep up that act forever. Remember, you're just like everybody else," Wallace said. Walter stood up in Wallace's face.
"Don't test me."
"You going to do something about it? Or to keep your clear-cut image, should I?"
Young soldiers gathered round by sitting on their knees. Some peered high over their seats to witness the potential fight. Wallace displayed a scornful grin, looking down at Walter's smartphone in his hands. He drunkenly snatched it up, not contemplating his plan.
You have got to be kidding me.
Walter was witnessing a grown soldier behave like a five year old.
Walter pulled Wallace up by his collar, causing the young soldiers to go crazy. Most of the Vets looked at Wallace in scorn, some shaking their heads. Walter heard someone rise at the front of the bus. Looking past Wallace, he noticed that it was the Marshall, eyeing the two as if they were juvenile delinquents.
His fist was about to knock whatever remaining sense existed in Wallace's head. Walter pulled it back, getting ready to connect it with the immature Vet's face, ultimately refusing to do so for he would be taken off of the mission in an instant for 'starting a ruckus'. Walter perceived that would be how Wallace would tell this situation. Besides, he just wasn't worth it.
Walter released his hold of Wallace's collar, descending into his seat. The latter smirked. "Word of advice, guy. Know your place," Wallace said, dropping Walter's smartphone in the aisle before sitting back down, as if he knew the events would play out in his favor.
Swallowing whatever pride he had, Walter picked up his smartphone, leaning back in his seat and resting his eyes. Chuck made his way over to him. "You know that he didn't mean anything by it, right?"
"Trying to sleep over here," Walter retorted, a bit annoyed. His friend let out a light chuckle, settling down next to him. "Chuck, now is not the time."
"I know. So, that letter was to your family? Well, whatever's left of it I suppose," Chuck laughed, met with a sleepy half-eyed glare. "Too soon?"
Walter let out a short airy laugh from his nostrils. He sat up. "Nah, I'm used to his ways. I just didn't know that this behavior would follow through all the way over here too."
"Yeah, well, you know. Some men choose to mature, others are stuck in their Peter Pan phase. You're one of the lucky ones," Chuck pat Walter's shoulder.
"How so?"
"People look up to you. That's why Wallace is jealous. Think about it. What does Wallace have that anyone can look up to?" Chuck made apparent. "When we warded off against those squadrons, who fended them off with the best of the line?"
Walter looked at Chuck.
"And while that was going on, who was fetching resources for each town we visited?"
Walter looked out the window, trying to avoid showing the smallest of smirks.
Chuck grinned. "Face it, Walter. Wallace and those squadrons we faced off against have one thing in common. They can't conquer anything."
"Heh," Walter laughed.
"And besides, you two share the first three letters of your first names. Every time there's an award, achievement or recommendation, think about it. Whose name do you think he's thinking they'll call?" Chuck gave a final pat on Walter's shoulder before heading back to his own seat, two rows away on the left side of the bus. Walter looked up at this fact, and closed his eyes.
A loud honking, blaring noise sounded its alarm across the bus, waking everybody up in a frenzy.
"Up, up up! We need you all to get up in a jiffy!" a female's voice shouted from the front of the bus.
All of the soldiers woke up, some yawning and stretching. The tourist guide was a beauty, and the Ehirit sheriff for the location.
"Okay, first and foremost, I'm going to need you all to stop yawning okay? Now, welcome to Nadu! A village where a fraction of the tribe of the Ehirit reside. My name is Ahnah, and I'll be your guide to Nadu. I'm here as a Sheriff but I was previously a city resident, as yourselves, just volunteering. If you need any help, I'll be in the sheriff's office near the entrance gate which is where we are right now! Clear?" Ahnah spoke, voice booming into the shuttle bus driver's microphone.
Her accent was pretty local and city-like. All of the men applauded, loudly. Most of them for excitement, and more prevailing, her beauty.
Ahnah rose the microphone back to her mouth.
"If you're wondering why you're here, you must be incapable of reading." Soldiers laughed.
"You are here, because you are to assist with pest control of two varieties. There are wild boars, wolverines and gophers, as well as human pest control. Be on the lookout for poachers and rebels. This mission will be a total of ten months long with full pay being at fifty thousand dollars per person." People cheered at this part.
"Let me finish!" Ahnah laughed. "But that is only if you are here the whole ten months. You still have your certain two to three weeks off every three months to go home and visit your families. To those who are the most dedicated to staying here during those breaks, an extra fifteen thousand dollars will go to your paycheck." Louder cheers.
"You'll have to dedicate and commit! Alright, just going to lay down a few ground rules. Show the utmost respect to all citizens, especially the elders! All firearms are only allowed to go off outside the camp, and lastly..." It got quiet around, tension slightly building.
"There is a rumor of a wild wolf running around near the outside of the camp. Again, just a rumor. No need to get nervous!" she tried to calm down the gasps that several soldiers let out, most excited.
"Is it a wild pack?!" a soldier asked, eager.
"Ah, no. We caught wind that it was just a lone wolf. Again, just a rumor," she re-confirmed, the soldiers unable to contain themselves. "Okay, dinner is at 7:00 pm. It's currently 5:36 pm, so enjoy yourselves!" she concluded as the soldiers cheered. Ahnah went down the steps. "Alright men, single file!"
5:42 pm.
The men walked in two adjacent lines, passing by village cabins. There were Ehirit children sitting on the porches, the aroma of beef stew flowing into the streets. It was from the cooking elderly on the outside of the cabins. They all stared at the passing soldiers. Some more than others, the others being the children. Several preteens and midteens were whispering and chatting amongst each other. Blatant disregard in front of the soldiers. The children were more forward, 'oohing' and 'aahing'. They were all mesmerized by the forty-something count of soldiers, while some seemed none too pleased.
"Hey, look over there," Chuck said to Walter, elbowing him as he gestured with his head towards the midteens.
"Hey girl, we're not too good for you, are we?" one of the rude soldiers spoke to a female native in a lewd manner as the soldiers joined in laughter and quiet statements. The girl turned her head away in disgust and closed her book. The rest of the preteens were staring at their unusual, foreign features. The girl jogged up the wooden log cabin's steps and headed inside, not bothering to turn back around or make eye contact with anybody on her way in.
"Okay, it is now 7:01 pm, so everyone set the tables!" Ahnah commanded in a universal, booming voice. Soldiers were rampant, assisting the Cafeteria in all aspects. Walter hovered over a dining table, setting plates on the tablecloth. He looked up to the far end of the dining hall. A kids' playpen laid further down from it. That same girl from before was leaning against one of the Cafeteria's pillars nearby. Her eyes were deep and focused, scanning the words on her book. Layered, glossy thick black hair tufts laid over her shoulders, the rest falling on the middle of her back. She had sandy cinnamon skin and amber eyes. The same traits as the rest of the Ehirit people. Not exactly short, but not exactly tall either. She sported a simple short sleeved white top with a brown long sleeved shirt underneath, accompanied by black jeans and tan sneakers. The girl looked up, having felt his stare on her. She slammed her book loudly, echoing throughout the dining hall, startling Walter enough for him to flinch. Everyone else's focus was also disrupted and shifted towards the direction of the sound. The girl walked off to another part of the Cafeteria.
"Ouch," Chuck said as he walked over to Walter.
"That's Mil."
The two soldiers turned to an old lady behind them. "She's a bit of a bookworm, but she means well. It seems that she just disdains soldie-"
"Village Chief! Perhaps you should go handle the announcements?" an older Ehirit man approached then. He shortly escorted the elderly woman over towards the far end dining tables.
"Sorry about that. She sometimes leaks private information without knowing. What can I do for you men? Everything okay? You enjoying yourselves so far?"
"...You are?" Chuck started.
"Oh, forgive me. Where are my manners. I am the Village Leader, sort of like a sub-chief, if you will. That elderly woman is the Village Chief. She's been planning these luncheons and dinners for fifteen years now, for every one of our foreign armies," he informed.
Outside, Ehirit children were peering in through the windows. The dinner for the soldiers was about to start. "Ah, those are the children. They always take interest in the foreigners. Don't take it too personal."
Walter smiled at the children as Chuck peeked lower than him and waved to the children.
"What's up?"
The kids ran off screaming with smiles on their faces. Chuck rubbed the back of his neck, Walter patting his shoulder with reassurance, laughing a bit.
Dinnertime. The soldiers chowed down on the Ehirit meals. Walter and Chuck were sitting with seven other soldiers at an oval shaped table. The other soldiers sitting beside them were discussing guns; rifles and desert eagles.
"Got the new forty-five desert eagle. About to test it out later."
"You getting your son one, too?"
"Man, that's Malcolm's kid. Dwight is going to have his eighth birthday party in May. Maybe I'll get him a BB to keep him and the rats busy."
"You have rats in your house?"
"No, idiot. He found them sneaking into our yard from the cellar. Unless they came running over from your house."
"Now see, that's where you're wrong. I don't live next to idiots." the table riled up in laughter.
Chuck was laughing a bit too. He turned towards Walter. "You sure your family's okay with you being here for a few months extra?"
"You're just as nosy as the other soldiers."
"What? They bugging you too?"
"No, I mean in general," Walter confirmed.
"You know, you're going to have to open up sometime," Chuck said.
"..."
Chuck sighed.
"Well, whatever man. I'll go finish unpacking at our cabin."
"Okay," Walter responded as Chuck headed back to the log cabin. Although unfinished with his meal, he was retiring for the night.
Walter continued his meal.
Mil had always elicited wary stares.
Her boots sifted through the muddy ground, an extra pair joining from behind.
"Y'know, my mom thinks that you were being rude to the foreign soldiers," a young voice bellowed. The preteen girl wore freckles all over her tanned face. Braided black pigtails rested against the back of her jean overalls while sporting a white t shirt underneath. Her worn out sandals the same color of the dirt they had been running through.
"No, Maya, Mom was on her side! You thought those things!" retorted a girl who shared a similar face to the freckled girl, except she had the looks of a native american beauty. The ideal shimmering black hair exceeding her bust. An old white camisole hovered around her physique and not covering her jean skirt.
"Shut up, Britnee!" Maya fired back towards her older sister. Mil kept on walking.
"Leave her alone, you two! Show respect for those that are older than you!" an Ehirit boy with wooden frames and glass lens approached them. He seemed sort of nerdish, dressed in a brown polo shirt and dress pants, mussy dark chestnut hair leaking over his frames. "Come on, Mil. So uh, are we going to go hunting again?" he asked, never a moment without taking off and breathing on his lens that fogged with ease every two seconds in this humidity.
"Is that what you call hunting?" a voice echoed. The two looked up to the trees, a figure landing below. This boy sported the typical Native American look. A long braid rested against his back. His black denim jeans were free of any dirt, or perhaps it looked that way. Pulling his brown undershirt down from the jump, the boy's puca shell necklace shone from the white sunlight. He looked to be around their age.
"Kaile..." Mil spoke as the Village Chief made her way over to the young adults. An elderly woman who styled the two braided black pigtails look, only they were much shorter and rested over her shoulders. She wore a long brown robe, her ears adorned with eagle feather earrings.
"That's enough you two! Nicknuh, go home. Kaile, go help your mom put on the stew. You know she worries."
"Yes, Village Chief." he replied in a monotonous voice, walking ahead of the two, for he lived in the same direction they were heading.
"Mil, you've behaved like this for as long as I can remember. Now I know that it's hard to let go, but your father has moved past it. Perhaps it's time for you to move on as well?"
Mil was silent, staring at the ground during the whole walk. She looked at the Village Chief.
"Do you know if Dad will need help with the stew, too?"
"Well, yes, we could always use an extra pair of hands-"
"Okay, I'll go put it on." Mil dashed ahead. The Village Chief sighed.
Mil shut the door behind her, the hallway resonating with silence.
A growl echoed down the hallway.
It was almost time for the entrance bonfire.
Walter walked with Chuck through the village past the houses. Everyone was lighting their pots outside. The sky was an afternoon blueish gray, questioning if it were to release rain or not. The Ehirit people were getting ready, some coming out through their doors, their wind chimes swaying, loud and ringing. Chuck noticed a wolf wind chime and hooked rabbit's foot. "Oh yeah, want to go look for the wolf?" Chuck joked to Walter, though curious.
"Ah, yes," Wallace interrupted, snarkily walking past the men.
Walter ignored him. "That wild wolf we heard about, right?" He replied.
"Yes," the Colonel joined in the conversation from behind, the seated soldiers sitting upright.
"Sir!!" the soldiers saluted as the Colonel seated himself down.
"There will be a hunting squadron released to look for this so-called wild wolf if some of you are looking forward to being a part of it?" he reported as many soldiers chimed in with, "Yessirs!" and "Definitely!"s.
"I assume you'll be going as well, Walter?" the Colonel looked at him. There was a temporary pause.
"A wolf, you say? You know, we have a legend about a wolf," the Village Chief began while approaching the crowd of soldiers, before Walter could give a response. "An Alabaster wolf," she continued, luring them in, hoping to entice them.
It worked.
The sky was pitch black, getting dark fast during the winter season, the blazing bonfire now their only closest source of light. Everyone sat around the campfire.
"Alabaster?" The Colonel repeated.
"Well, it's sort of alabaster," Kaile responded. The young Ehirit shared his knowledge. He pushed his braided ponytail from over his right shoulder. "It's more of a golden wolf. A golden wolf with purple eyes."
"No, don't you know the legend's saying? It's a mysterious wolf whose fur gleamed of the golden full moon, and had pupils of the mulberry midnight!" Nicknuh retorted. It was obvious he was hoping to impress the soldiers while one-upping Kaile.
"Snot-nosed brat," a soldier laughed off in a cough. Kaile smiled at this, Nicknuh frowning.
"Now, now, calm it down boys, and let the Village Chief tell the story," the Village Chief began, soldiers eating their beef stew.
"There is a legend about the wolf whose fur gleamed of the golden full moon, and had pupils of the mulberry midnight. There was the rumor that it had fiery fangs of lava, for whatever cage the Alpha male was in, the poachers would always come back to find the bars inverted and twisted. It were as if scalding hot lava had bent them out of shape. To test this theory, one of the poachers leaned in and touched one of the bars right on the mark where it was scorched, and cried out in agony. The skin had completely dissolved from his index finger.
As revenge, the poacher's friend summoned their clan in a rage to locate and eradicate the mysterious rare wolf. They were to wear its fur as a trophy. What they didn't know was that the wolf was intelligent. It sought out their camp and set their huts ablaze with them in it for they had been resting for the day of the hunt. Staring at its blazing wildfire from afar, what the wolf did not expect was for the poacher with the burned finger to be standing behind it. Bow in arm. Although the wolf had turned around to face the man, it could not prepare to bare its fiery fangs, for it was too late. Though this in turn acted as a double-edged sword, for the man had also doomed his Village and his people. Revealed to be too late, the poacher later found out that the Alabaster wolf was the Village's guardian. It had acted in defense for its own safety. This was completely reasonable. Also bittersweet, for it had no tongue for human language, unable to communicate its intentions.
Still, the spirit of the wolf lives on. To avoid death once again, it hides in the body of a random animal every season based on what ability it may need to survive that year. Be it agility, the body of a squirrel. Strength, the body of a bear. Its true lupine form would take over on either of these animals when it was needed or in real danger. It would inherit the animal's abilities to avoid hunters and enraged villagers. The animals can control this transformation at will. The current animal only borrows the body of the wolf whenever it needed to become it, and still maintained their minds. They would also feel a need to fulfill the Alabaster wolf's duty, due to a bit of its consciousness. The Alabaster wolf is still trying to protect the Village to this day, from seen and unseen dangers. For the way to detect it, is quite simple. If you see a creature with an unneeded sun-kissed glow on its fur, hair or skin, you would've found the spirit of the Alabaster wolf," The Village Chief finished. It was completely silent.
Then, clapping. Everyone had enjoyed the story, some entranced by it. Others were more pumped up for the wolf hunt than before.
"And we're going to go looking for it?!" an antsy young soldier in his early twenties' cheered.
"Now now, calm down. It was just a folktale! What we're looking for is a gray wolf, for they're quite common out there," Ahnah said, rising up and collecting the soldiers' empty bowls.
"But it does seem like more fun than before, I gotta admit," Chuck told Walter.
"Hey boys, how's about we cheer to the night?" The Colonel spoke.
The soldiers held their glasses.
"CHEERS!" they yelled as they rose their glasses to the midnight sky.
There were a few toasts with each other. The Ehirit people in their mid forties' discussed subject matters with the soldiers. It were as if they had been friends for a long time. Mil was sitting around the bonfire, the Village Chief on the left of her, and a lady and her father on her right. She ate without much noise as an Ehirit man refilled her stew, placing it beside her. Her father was too busy conversing with the lady in a manner that resembled flirting. Though he was still married, although they separated.
"Hey, look," Chuck elbowed Walter. "It's your little girlfriend," he continued while Mil rolled her eyes in annoyance at her father.
Facing forward, her elbow knocked her bowl off of the log, spilling her stew. It was a loud crash, but everyone was too busy having a good time and loud conversations to pay attention. Chuck was talking with Walter, having to pause as Walter walked over and picked Mil's bowl up. Handing it back to the girl who stared at him with a blank expression, a soldier asked, "So Walter, you going on the hunt?"
"Yeah, I am," he replied, Mil dropping the bowl again. This time on purpose. People stared after her as she walked off.