Chapter 1

Signs of Death

Luuk looked down the street of the town. His men were doing a house to house search but he was already cataloging what they would find. Empty houses. Lots of empty houses. There would still be all the things in the houses. Sometimes there would be pots on the stove, or a meal laid out on the table. But there would be no people. No animals. No sign of anything alive. Some houses would contain signs of a struggle some would not. Some would have barricades. Some would be damaged. All the houses would be empty.

It had been three weeks since Luuk had taken his patrol out to investigate problems near the corrupted lands and they had found the same thing over and over and over again. Towns, farms, villages, all emptied of people and animals. There was plenty of sign leading into the town of where the people had gone. The people were all headed north and east into the corruptions. No one headed into those cursed lands, they were filled with poisoned water, ruined plants and a host of creatures that were among the fiercest known. It was a rare to find people who wanted to live this near the corruption. Most were here because of the promise of free land after farming this area for ten years.

In the three weeks since they had been on patrol they had been expecting to find some sign of the creatures from the corrupted lands. Luuk had been a warden for nearly 15 years. He had been into the heart of that corruption and had seen the creatures that called it home. They were twisted creatures. If this was the work of a creature from there they would see something. These creatures knew only hunger. If they were to catch an animal alone they would kill it and feed. They left behind corpses and destruction, not empty houses. This was not the work of anything Luuk had ever seen come out of the corrupt areas.

Where were the people. That was the mystery. There were too many to just disappear. At first when they had started to find empty farms, Luuk thought there might have been some Reavers form the edge of the corruption that had chased the farmers out into the hills. As the number of empty farms increased and when entire towns were turning up empty, that had to be discarded.

So what was it that was causing all these people to leave? Or was it something making the people disappear? What was it that his men had found.

He walked away form the town square, deep in thought. He knew his men would start reporting back to him soon. As the men started to return to the town square he knew that as before they had found nothing, Luuk started to make plans in his head. They would have to take the same precautions as before.

“Walker! Freeman! Williams!” Luuk yelled, calling three of his fist leaders forward. When the men arrived he returned their salute and put them as ease. “So I assume this place is the same as the others?” All three indicated that it was the same. “Fine. Then we know what we have to do. We can't take any of the food from here in case it is compromised. I want a hard perimeter one hundred paces across with defense positions every 30 paces. Lets get camp set up.”

The three men saluted and left to get the work started.

“Lets get some fires going too. Its going to be a long night again” Luuk shouted after the retreating men.

Luuk knew his men would build a defensible safe place to investigate the area. He knew his men, and he trusted them. They were some of the best at what they did. He had not expected to be given command of this large of a force for a simple reconnaissance sweep. He was used to commanding a battle group. Four fists, forty men. He had been given a platoon! Six battle groups! He had two hundred and forty men, which he had thought was a bit much for this mission.

Now that he saw that there was something serious going on, he thought maybe this wasn't as many men as he might need.

He started to calculate the number of Reavers it would take to kill and eat the number people to empty all the places they had visited up until now. If that was what he was facing he was going to be outnumbered by at least five to one. There must be something else... something new.

Someone approached and saluted. Luuk returned the salute. “Commander,” the bannerman said, “ we have a perimiter set up but two fists are missing.”

“What do you mean by 'missing' bannerman?” Luuk asked.

“They were out on a perimiter patrol and have not returned.” The bannerman said. “Should we send out a recovery team?”

Luuk looked past the bannerman to the camp that was nearly complete. “Send four fists. Make sure a dowser and a blaster are included in the fists. Until we find the men or discover where they were taken I want double patrols.”

Yes sir!” the bannerman barked.

The bannerman may have saluted before he left but Luuk wasn't really watching him. Two fists! That was too many men to go missing in such a short time. Luuk started to pace back and forth along the street. He was starting to get frustrated. If his commanding officer knew he would need this many men why would he not tell him what to expect.

He noticed something, tucked underneath a nearby porch was a body. Not a human but a cat, maybe even just a kitten. Slowly he reached in a pulled out the body. It was long dead but it did not smell of decay. The back had been snapped and a large bite had been taken from the belly. The violence that had been used to feed on this small beast was unmistakably the work of something from the corrupted lands.

His second in command approached and saluted, “Commander the fists have returned you should come and hear there reports.”

“Greg, what do you make of this?” He held the cat for his second to take a look.

“It's a cat, sir. A dead cat.”

“Why was it not found in the search?” Luuk asked. “ I want a reader here to take a look at this thing right now. Then I will hear the report from the late patrols.”

“But sir, the men, they found some...” Greg started but then stopped.

“What is it?” Luuk demanded.

“The cat sir, it moved.” Greg blurted. “I saw it move.”

“Greg, you've been in the field too long. We are too far from the corruption for that sort of thing to happen. Besides its been dead too long. We have no evidence of anything... dammit!” Luuk was lecturing his number two when the cat, the dead cat, bit him hard.

Luuk threw the cat down and reached for his knife. Greg had already pinned the cat to the ground before Luuk could get his knife ready to throw.

“I want a healer here now. Bring me the lost patrols here.” Luuk told Greg. “ I want a reader here, and anyone else who has any idea what is going on.”

Greg just stood in place.

“Well, come on Greg... get moving.” Luuk shouted.

“I think we had better move.” Greg said, pointing towards the forest outside of the townsite.

Luuk turned. He swore under his breath. Well at least they had found the missing people.