Chapter 3 - To Camp

The two soldiers had their quick meals. Calyx gobbled his canned food like water while Kristo ate with precision and grace. Nica had not eaten something since she preoccupied herself with weapon-dismantling and removing rainwater inside the chamber.

 These guys had been through a lot from the looks of them. Their tattered clothes suggested that the camp had no regard for clothing replenishments, and perhaps, prioritized only for food and enemy reconnaissance. Nica had droopy eyes and a soft facial demeanor. However, the way she handled her rifle suggested otherwise.

Anyone would be deceived by her beauty.

Kristo and Calyx on the other hand seemed to have proper military training but answered both to Nica. Seemingly, she was their senior. Luke could not imagine the excitement of his comrades back in 2030 while they regaled the idea of being chosen. Based on the faces of the three, being enlisted was an unfortunate choice.

'If only they could see this,' Luke thought about his friends. Well, they were not deployed yet. 

Only the families of the chosen would reap true rewards. Even so, the pension plans posed a better choice due to the dire economic recession. The global economy was hitting rock bottom, jobs receded more and more each month. Businesses started to close, and people from other poorer regions experienced premature poverty.

The cause of this downfall due to the unrelenting alien attacks in 2030.

Scientists and the military had discovered that the conquering aliens in their timeline came from the year 2069 when the latter reactivated a seized portal travel machine to deliver menace to a targeted timeline. 

The reason why the Bugmen chose the year 2030 to wage war against remained a mystery. But humanity had chosen its path and allocated global resources to battle the conquerors in 2069, in turn, two timelines combined their wits and resources for the war.

Nica had quick stares at Luke while the latter gobbled food so sheepishly. A few moments ago, he just vomited pork menudo. However, something told him that he needed food-sourced energy if recently exposed to portal travel. Hence, he conquered his resistive appetite.

 "What?" Luke asked the female soldier about her constant and awkward gawking.

"I am just curious. You are younger than Jameson." Nica asked while she squatted an arm's length from him, a lamp between them.

"I don't know. Maybe they don't have a choice. The scientists told me that I passed their test. I don't know what kind of test. They say it's more on personality and potential which I hardly grasp. The scientists tend to be more secretive about these things, you know. I just complied with Command."

"How about your parents? Are they happy?"

"Parents. I was an orphan at the age of ten. My parents died fighting against the Bugmen."

"Oh. Sorry. I did not know," her voice lowered.

"No, it's fine. It's a long time ago... What shall I do next?" Luke tried to escape the topic, "Command told me that I can proceed with my lab's construction."

"Yes. But you need to undergo military training first. Command told us that you only have undergone the basics survival training."

"Why?"

The thought of fighting against each other gave Luke utter disgust. Exerting physical strength was not his strong suit, much more on the idea of hurting a spar mate. The students back in school bullied him a lot. Although his height, five foot ten, could be intimidating to some. However, judging his muscular mass determined his lack of athleticism. Moreover, as an orphan, he became a target of superior students.

 "We don't want another Jameson, don't we? We need to be prepared at all times, while you work with your virus evolution. I think the movement leader would tell you these things as we arrived at the camp."

They proceeded outside the warehouse after their break, into the embrace of a chilling breeze toward their parked vehicle. An all-terrain black jeep with modified shock suspensions to accommodate twenty-inch rims and bad-ass wheels, concealed below a tree. The rain had retreated its strength but would still drench loamy soil. It was dark. Gray clouds heaved the skies while the rain persisted.

Numerous bends of land sprawled along the vast barren, trees though had sprung thick on portions. A jet-black atmosphere blanketed over an occasional white mist crawling below the hills' feet. Beyond the peaks of monolithic silhouettes, bright city lights faintly reach the dark overcast.

 "Brigham City!" Luke said. It was the city he was born into and grew into a teenager with challenging circumstances.

"Don't be fooled, Bugmen run the place. It's the heart of their operation." Nica started the jeep and floored the jeep's pedal. Their vehicle bounced against the rocky terrain. It explained why they used the all-terrain jeep.

"What about the camp?" Luke asked.

"Ten clicks from here. Bugmen are nearing their search. I should report to George about the scouts we encountered near the Fishport." Nica responded.

"What if they would locate the camp? What are we going to do?"

"Well, protocol suggests that we need safety first before engaging in a fight. So, relocation is the first solution. That's why we need you to hurry. No pressure at all."

"No pressure!" Luke repeated it sarcastically.

 Virus evolution posed a challenge. Transmission could be easy as rain and the arid atmosphere used as channels. However, mutating it to be deadly would make the virus unstable. Secondly, during incubation, the virus should withstand the host's immune system for months. Otherwise, his plan would not work.

Thanks to the new Virus Genome engineered to be compatible with mutations. He could manipulate the virus in nucleic quantum levels through the use of available high technology. As long as materials for virus mutation were available, it would expedite his objective. Unfortunately, farming the needed materials posed a challenge too. He needed to tread to long-distance places to procure, imposing further exposure to risk.

According to Command, there was a Virology Doctor who transferred years before to teach him the ways of evolution.

 "Is there a virus doctor in the base?" Luke asked.

"You mean Doc Clay. Yeah. The Bugmen got him. We suspect that he is their evolver now for the cure."

Command had failed to impart this information.

"What? He should be your priority!" Luke exclaimed, enraged by the thought. Doctor Clay could be a formidable opponent in his evolution.

"Yes, kid. I know. It is unfortunate. You can't expect anything in war. The Bugmen got him, now we got you." She looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

Predicaments had piled up, unknowingly before his portal travel. With his probable failure, he could be the reason to lose the war and face total human annihilation. Unfathomable pressure had built up even further.

It was nighttime. Fortunately, Nica knew the intricate pathway weaving through the sprawling trees. The jeep's headlight sheepishly illuminated the path against the canopy of trees casting shadows. Then, Nica decelerated.

 "We are near," Nica announced.

The pathways were not solidly paved for their truck to pass through. The glaring lights sourced from Brigham City vanished. It meant that their camp was located farther away.

 After a few quick turns and inconspicuous pathways, their jeep halted as a metallic gate mysteriously appeared before them. An invisible camo-cloak of an arranged spate of light-refracting or reflecting devices sheathed the base's entirety.

Their headlights shone graffiti-filled Galvanized sheets that made up their gate, supported by thick angle bars and wound-up barbed wires above them. Two soldiers ambled about the gate's walkway above, long-barreled guns protruding from their raincoats.

Nica rolled down the window and signaled the two with a gesture, swirling her finger up in the air. The two soldiers seemed to understand the signal and for a short while, the gates shrieked as they opened.

 "Welcome to the camp, Luke," Nica said.