Thump!
The sound of Kieran landing on the grass was heard, attracting the wary gazes of Jake and Ruby which immediately dissipated upon recognizing him.
"What happened?"
Ruby threw the first question. Jake also listened attentively, from his posture, you could tell that he was expecting to hear about a beast that he could fight.
"A military outpost; probably set up by the camp, but it's being occupied by some humanoid beasts that I am unable to recognize."
Kieran said, giving them a breakdown of everything he had seen after following the small beast back to the outpost.
"I thought humanoid beasts were basically wiped off this planet, even the rare sightings of them were deep within the planet. To think we'd encounter them this close to the camp!"
Jake said out loud, his face had lost all the previous recklessness; going back to the serious look that Kieran had felt uncomfortable with.
"There's a lot we still don't understand. How did they manage to come this far undetected, what's their aim, how did they even manage to get their hands on the outpost? I doubt the camp just abandoned it!"
Ruby let out a series of truly concerning questions.
There was no way the camp had abandoned the outpost, especially after Kieran had seen the military's weapons strapped to the back of those big guards with the clubs, some others were also equipped with laser weapons that bore the camp's mark.
It was safe to assume that the soldiers stationed at the outpost had been somehow bested by those beasts.
Another possibility Kieran considered was that the soldiers there must have been killed by one of the peak beasts of the planet that passed by and left there, these beasts just happened to stumble on the then empty outpost and took their weapons; somehow managing to understand their usage.
Despite both possibilities being crazy and impossible in normal circumstances, this wasn't a normal circumstance. Since they stepped into the region, nothing they had experienced was "normal" like what they had been informed about or what he had read from the resources available to him in the library.
"How many did you count?"
Ruby asked and Kieran proceeded to inform them about their number, guarded positions, the structure of the outpost and their patrolling path.
There was no surprise on either Ruby nor Jake's face as they heard the amount of information he could collect in that short amount of time. He was away for about two hours and he only watched the camp for about fifteen minutes or so.
This was the standard of soldiers like them, although very few could be as effective as Kieran, he was the third on the ranking for a reason even though he was rather low-key among the recruits.
"A total of fifty comprising of thirty small ones and 20 big ones."
Jake repeated in contemplation.
"There might be a few more on the inside since I wasn't able to get a good look. Based on how organized they were, I believe they have a leader controlling them"
"So, we should expect about ten or twelve more." Kieran said
"Safe to assume that they're fully armed too."
Ruby added, gaining the agreement of both Jake and Kieran.
"Alright, let's move. Kieran, you take lead"
Jake gave the order and they immediately moved out, following behind Kieran.
They didn't care who gave the orders among them as long as it was right, it wasn't like they elected a team leader like the other teams did.
...
It only took about twenty minutes to get to the boundary of the clearing now that Kieran knew the location.
Stopping at the spot where had observed earlier, the others also saw the outpost.
The outpost still looked functional, but it was starting to accumulate dust and dirt, giving it a rundown feel with some parts of it broken by the beasts ultimately giving it a rundown feel.
The original walls around it had also crumbled with only a few parts of it still standing.
You could easily tell by the empty tents and buildings how small the population was, compared to the number the outpost had been made to house. This just made it easier for them to take advantages of those gaps in security and infiltrate.
The beasts also showed that they weren't completely stupid, since most of their defenses were centered around the command center which was located at the center of the outpost.
Surprisingly, they had managed not to break the lighting system in the tent, unlike the others around the outpost.
"We should get into the outpost first. Its best for us to get into the supply storage first since there are no guards there... "
Kieran explained the plan while drawing a rough plan of the outpost, using it as a model for them to understand their movement path.
"Clear?"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Jake and Ruby replied in affirmation.
Their plan in simple terms was to get in through the less guarded area of the storage facility that had its side close to a still intact wall, giving them the cover they needed, and move to the weapons storage facility while eliminating all the beasts they came across.
They were going to make a trip round the outer area before advancing towards the command center that was heavily guarded.
Not wasting any more time, they inspected their weapons and coms one more time before moving from their high spot, slowly making their way to the back of the outpost.
Just like Kieran had mentioned earlier, there were no guards stationed there and the original wall erected by the outpost had crumbled by ways still didn't understand.
Making their way through the hole in the wall, they ran in a straight line along the broken wall to the storage area.
Kieran made a hand sign to the two of them and they silently unsheathed their weapons and moved to the side of the medium size building.
Peeking out from the edge, all Kieran saw was a deserted area submerged in total darkness. Giving the sign, they made their way into the building.
Seeing the huge hangers in the room, Kieran recognized this as a food storage building. The place had been totally cleared out by the beasts and mostly empty with just some things left lying around. Kieran assumed the beast didn't eat things like that.
"This area seems completely abandoned."
Ruby said.
"Alright, we will take separate paths from here…."
Kieran said, using a holographic model he had tasked his watch with while they were infiltrating.
"… keep your coms on and call for backup if needed. Remember not to use the guns unless it's a dire situation, we don't know how sensitive their hearing is and you wouldn't want to attract a bunch of them to your location."
"Clear?"
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
Jake and Ruby replied.
"Don't forget the reports!"
With that, Kieran and the other two made their way out of the building, taking three separate paths.
Jake and Ruby took opposite paths along the wall like in their plan and Kieran took a roughly straight path to the command center.
...
Kieran had been advancing slowly, although he termed it a small camp, it still had a radius of 700 meters which only made him more convinced that there was no way a small group of seventy beasts could take over the outpost.
Along the way, he had searched several buildings and they were all empty with no sign of the beasts.
Jake's voice came in through the com connected to his earbuds.
Before Kieran could reply, Jake's voice was heard again; he had taken care of it.
They had been sharing short reports like this between themselves at intervals to keep themselves up to date. So far, only Jake had come across the beasts and they were in groups of three.
Ruby spotted a group once but it consisted of five big ones so Kieran had her observe and wait for them to pass.
Not long after, Kieran spotted his first group of beasts. They were around fifteen meters in front of him, walking in his direction with a flame torch they used to light their way.
It was a small group of three similar to the one Jake had just reported; they were all small, but Kieran managed to see a big one walking slowly far behind.
'More authority I guess' Kieran thought spotting the beast's lazy attitude.
'Three smalls, all armed with daggers and knives. One of them has a pistol….. This shouldn't take long'
Kieran analyzed from the back of the building he hid, tightening his grip on his weapon as he made a count down till they turned to his position.
The straight road they were on was blocked by some collapsed rubble, so they would end up making a turn to the one where Kieran was.
SLICE!
The moment they made the turn, Kieran swept the blade of his scythe across their necks before they could even react, reaping the heads of two of them.
The third beast paused in surprise, but before its hand could get to the pistol at its waist, Kieran had slashed its neck too, his blade cutting through like a hot knife through butter.
He said into his com, dragging the bodies of the beats along with their heads to the size to prevent the big one at the back from noticing as he hid back in his spot.
He gave another report as he waited, his face cold as ever.