As a week went by passed in the outpost more mercenaries were joining the hunting parties organized by the military, they were either there for the riches or to try to awaken their potential by battling these mutated creatures.
Sitting at the command post while reading the reports on the amount of mercenaries Jackson was pinching the bridge of his nose while sighing. He put the papers down before he looked at Traves and Rowan who were next to him. "Just how many of them are there? This is just making our work harder, and some of them even awakened."
Traves and Rowan also read the report and voiced their opinions as well.
"Well, if anything, they can't be stronger than Bruno and You. You two should be able to take any of them down."
"Yeah, at most they could be level 3 while you're level 4 and Bruno's level 5."
Jackson looked at the two of them before getting up from his chair and looking at the bustling activity. Groups upon groups of people wearing a variety of different armors and carrying weapons that ranged from knives to high powered rifles, some of them were carrying mutated beasts on their shoulders while heading to the exchange post.
"It's not their individual strengths that matter but the groups of them. Imagine you were a group of mercs that had been since the beginning and you had saved up a decent amount of money, you'd be fine with leaving right?"
The two nodded their heads, it was reasonable logic but mercenaries were people that strived for money, so it was a fifty-fifty shot with what he just said.
"But what if you had gotten here not too long ago and only had a few thousand saved up? You'd feel it was unfair to those that got here later and they might cause a scene which would make those fine with leaving before join them, because who doesn't love a bit more money in their wallet?"
They agreed heavily with this statement. If there were those that felt it was unfair and they caused a scene and asked to stay longer then those who had been here the longest would want to stay as well in order to get more cash. Although there were a few kinks in the logic behind it they knew the general idea was the same. If one person were to stay it wasn't fair, many, many more would as well.
Jackson went back to his seat as he continued to read the papers that he set down. The mercenaries had cleared about a mile so far, meaning that was only about one more week until they could leave, of course they wouldn't tell them this until it was actually time to. If they told them now they would hurry to clear it but as they had plenty of time to do everything.
When Jackson finished the report he went to find Bruno with Traves and Rowan following him quickly from behind. They found Bruno standing on the top of the outposts walls once again as he stared at what was now named "Scorch" named so because it was just that a scorched piece of forest.
Jackson hushed Traves and Rowan before he slowly approached Bruno from behind, but before he could even attempt to scare him Bruno had turned around to stare at him which in turn scared Jackson.
Looking at Bruno with a fake scared face Jackson grinned. "God! How are you so fast?"
Bruno ignored the comment before peering at Traves and Rowan behind Jackson and waved at them to get closer. "That feeling keeps getting stronger, I think the event will happen within a week."
The three looked at Bruno who had the highest sensitivity towards the strange feeling that had been gnawing at the back of their minds for the past couple of weeks. Rowan spoke before Jackson could this time.
"How come you're so hung up on that feeling?"
Bruno shrugged before looking back at the area. "I don't know I just feel a certain connection to it."
Jackson snickered to himself before he wiped away an imaginary tear. "Look at mister philosophical over here saying 'He has a connection to it.' Phew, what other wisdoms do you have for us Sir Bruno?"
Bruno rolled his eyes at Jackson. "Here's a piece of wisdom for you."
He slowly extended his hand towards Jackson's face and as he got as close as an inch away he retracted his hand before grinning at Jackson. "Don't be such a smartass."
Jackson glared at Bruno before touching his face, his face became grim as he realized what happened. His eyebrows were gone, as well as any other amount of facial hair. "My poor hair."
Traves and Rowan chuckled to themselves as they had done before and left the wall.
Bruno walked past Jackson while talking. "Come one, we have work to do."
Jackson swallowed his sadness before getting off the wall with Bruno and walked around the camp to observe the mercenaries. Some were laughing while drinking together, some were pale faced with injuries all over their bodies while others were completely silent with grim faces. Jackson observed these happenings without any expression on his face and so did Bruno, soon they had reached the command post once more.
Entering in they each took a spot up at a desk, with Jacksons being much larger than the rest. They each studied the separate reports on their desks while making notes off to the side.
The first week of operation had 12 mercenary groups and 30 individuals, the second week had 15 groups with 50 individuals, and the current week had 20 groups and 38 individuals. The individuals dropped due to them either not appearing in camp anymore or another group or individual brought their body back to the outpost.
After the sun had just barely set over the horizon Jackson and Bruno each got out of their desks and went to their quarters to sleep before continuing the same routine they had today while monitoring the amount of mercenaries. Each day had a different amount of groups and Individuals since some would either die or leave, but in two days the groups had skyrocketed to over 25 and nearly reached 30.
They had almost reached the goal as well with the estimated time it would take plummeting to only 36 hours. The final 36 hours were quiet and peaceful apart from the occasional gunshot one would hear coming from the depths of the forest. When the clock reached 2 hours a soldier rushed into the command post.
"Lieutenants! Lieutenants! Come quickly, something strange is happening in the sky!"
Jackson and Bruno both left their desks while Traves and Rowan were waiting outside for them once more, when they saw each other they nodded to one another before gazing at the sky. A giant swirl of clouds had appeared within the sky with large bolts of lightning appearing in the sky that would occasionally strike down and cause booming thunderclaps.
The mercenaries that had once filled the outpost had all left, it was unknown if it was from fear or they were told they need to leave or both. The only exceptions were those brave enough to stay and those dumb enough to offend the scarred officer.
Jackson nudged Bruno with his arm. "Hey Bruno, you think that's what the feeling was?"
Bruno, who was looking at where the clouds were currently located was filled with shock and didn't here his question. "The Scorch, head to the Scorch."
Saying that he ran towards the location of the Scorch, leaving the rest of them behind with stunned expressions.
They shouted in unison before running after him. "Wait you idiot!"