Chapter 15
Signs of Development
Adams walked through the night with his unit. He put himself through training exercises as well as his men. He had them move as a unit. He tried to get them to sneak through the underbrush but they lacked the coordination to avoid breaking branches and making other noises.
He also started to notice changes in himself. He noticed his eyesight was deteriorating terribly. He never had particularly good eye sight but now he had to concentrate to focus on anything beyond a few hundred yards. He also noticed that his peripheral vision was nearly zero. He noticed that unless he was watching his feet he could not tell where he was placing his feet. This would explain the units inability to move quietly.
His sense of hearing changed. It didn't get better or worse, but it was different. Before when he was walking through the woods he noticed that the lack of animal noises seemed wrong. The quiet of the forest seemed strange. Now he heard other sounds. The wind, which before was a background noise, came to the forefront. It was the focus. He also came to hear other forest sounds. The sounds of the life eaters. He heard beetles crawling through dead leaves.
His dexterity and tactile senses reduced greatly. He had to concentrate to move faster than a very slow walk, and he could no longer feel things with fingers. He could tell he had something in his hand, but he could not tell if it was cold metal or wood. He expected he could hold a smoldering coal in his hand and it would be feel the same as his sword.
His speech was the same from what he could tell although he had to remember to suck breath in before he could speak. He noticed that the change affected people differently. The command group all retained the ability to talk. The other men usually could not speak. Of his men only four had retained the ability to speak. Quinn was losing his speech quickly. The look of resignation on his face when Adams asked him about it was almost painful to Adams. He thought to himself why he able to do these things, retain parts of his humanity when others, like Quinn, lost everything.
After a few minutes of trying he realized that his sense of smell had improved and deteriorated at the same time. He could smell many new and different things but he had to be almost on top of anything before he would smell it. He thought that maybe the fact that he no longer breathed anything in unless he forced himself would account for the lack of range he now had. He bent down and sniffed at the ground. He could smell the earth, the rich moist smell of the dirt. He picked up several other scents, there was a sharp fungal scent and a dull peat. He could smell the roots of trees under the dirt and he caught the copper scent of blood some where near him in the earth. He was amazed that only a few days prior to this he would not have smell these things, he would have smell the floral scent of the air and the pine scent of the trees, as he did now, but would have missed all these other aromas.
If he stopped and concentrated he thought he could hear or feel other tings as well. He did not know what he was hearing, it sounded like a huge creature breathing across the land. It was different form the wind. It was not like the wind it was a rhythmic sound, like something breathing in and out or some type of heart beat.
He could not concentrate on it for long as when ever he did he started to get an urge to move on. He recognized the feeling, he started to realize that he was looking into something that his new master didn't want him to be thinking about.
He still spoke aloud when ever he was near one of the other commanders, just to assure himself that he could. He started to notice that it was becoming more difficult to draw in the breath to make the sounds some. This sent a spike of fear through his gut as he thought that he had to exercise he lungs to keep them able to breath or rest them so that when he needed to he could still count on them to be functional. He also was aware that if he choose poorly he could be damaging himself and robbing himself of the ability altogether.
He waited for a chance to talk with Luuk. Just after midnight he saw his commander and moved over to speak with him.
“Sir, I have some questions.” He told Luuk.
“Go ahead, and drop the sir, we left soldiers and command behind a long way back.”
“Well, where are we going? What are our plans?” He asked, “I mean we are returning to our original base and I can only assume we will be attacking it. I can't figure out what it is we are trying to accomplish.”
Luuk looked at him for a long time before answering. “There are certain answers I wish I had for myself. All I can tell you is that our allegiance has changed. What ever we have become we are no longer part of the world or part of the people we once defended. We have a new culture to defend now. We are too well trained to do anything less.”
“But sir!” He protested, “We have been fighting the monsters from the corrupted lands for so long, now to become one, it can't be!”
“Adams, think about what you are saying. Do you see and Reavers among us? Any creature from the corrupted lands at all? We are not a part of the corrupted lands. We are apart form them. It would be best for you to forget your humanity. You lost it days past. You have to shift your loyalty to our new masters.”
Luuk looked at him for a long moment and then walked off to find other groups marching south towards the human base camp.
Adams thought long and hard on what he had said. He was no longer human he could not include himself in that race any longer. As he continued south he realized he was holding onto a part of himself that had left with his final breath.
There he was marching south to destroy what had once been his home when he realized that he was not attacking his home, he was advancing on an enemy position. He started to think about strategy to overtake the outer positions. How they could defeat the defensive fortifications and move into the camp proper.
He noticed that he had allowed his men to wander. He took a moment gather in the men and get them back into formation.
It was approaching dawn when he met two of the other leaders. He stopped to talk to them about the attack on the base camp.
“I have been thinking about how we can take out the advanced positions.” He told the other two men.
“I hadn't thought about that!” One excalaimed.
“Start thinking about it. What else will we be doing? Moving into new barracks?” He challenged him. His mouth worked but he made no sound.
“If we approach the positions at dusk we should be able to get into the fortifications without a fight. If we time it right we should be able to get most of the positions neutralized with minimal losses.”
The other leaders still looked lost. One shook his head as if to try to shake the thought out of his head. Adams was going to admonish the man but remembered his own reaction to the idea.
“I'm sorry, but we need to start thinking about what we are going to do when we reach the camp. You are a still a soldier, and you are a leader now. Get your men ready. If commander Luuk orders the attack you had better be able to get your men into the fight when and where they are needed.”
Adams moved away from the men. He hoped they would be able to get their groups in order before they reached the base camp. Without having to stop for rest, food or sleep this new force would reach the camp in a matter of days not the weeks it took them to get out this far out from the camp.
Adams walked through the night with his unit. He put himself through training exercises as well as his men. He had them move as a unit. He tried to get them to sneak through the underbrush but they lacked the coordination to avoid breaking branches and making other noises.
He also started to notice changes in himself. He noticed his eyesight was deteriorating terribly. He never had particularly good eye sight but now he had to concentrate to focus on anything beyond a few hundred yards. He also noticed that his peripheral vision was nearly zero. He noticed that unless he was watching his feet he could not tell where he was placing his feet. This would explain the units inability to move quietly.
His sense of hearing changed. It didn't get better or worse, but it was different. Before when he was walking through the woods he noticed that the lack of animal noises seemed wrong. The quiet of the forest seemed strange. Now he heard other sounds. The wind, which before was a background noise, came to the forefront. It was the focus. He also came to hear other forest sounds. The sounds of the life eaters. He heard beetles crawling through dead leaves.
His dexterity and tactile senses reduced greatly. He had to concentrate to move faster than a very slow walk, and he could no longer feel things with fingers. He could tell he had something in his hand, but he could not tell if it was cold metal or wood. He expected he could hold a smoldering coal in his hand and it would be feel the same as his sword.
His speech was the same from what he could tell although he had to remember to suck breath in before he could speak. He noticed that the change affected people differently. The command group all retained the ability to talk. The other men usually could not speak. Of his men only four had retained the ability to speak. Quinn was losing his speech quickly. The look of resignation on his face when Adams asked him about it was almost painful to Adams. He thought to himself why he able to do these things, retain parts of his humanity when others, like Quinn, lost everything.
After a few minutes of trying he realized that his sense of smell had improved and deteriorated at the same time. He could smell many new and different things but he had to be almost on top of anything before he would smell it. He thought that maybe the fact that he no longer breathed anything in unless he forced himself would account for the lack of range he now had. He bent down and sniffed at the ground. He could smell the earth, the rich moist smell of the dirt. He picked up several other scents, there was a sharp fungal scent and a dull peat. He could smell the roots of trees under the dirt and he caught the copper scent of blood some where near him in the earth. He was amazed that only a few days prior to this he would not have smell these things, he would have smell the floral scent of the air and the pine scent of the trees, as he did now, but would have missed all these other aromas.
If he stopped and concentrated he thought he could hear or feel other tings as well. He did not know what he was hearing, it sounded like a huge creature breathing across the land. It was different form the wind. It was not like the wind it was a rhythmic sound, like something breathing in and out or some type of heart beat.
He could not concentrate on it for long as when ever he did he started to get an urge to move on. He recognized the feeling, he started to realize that he was looking into something that his new master didn't want him to be thinking about.
He still spoke aloud when ever he was near one of the other commanders, just to assure himself that he could. He started to notice that it was becoming more difficult to draw in the breath to make the sounds some. This sent a spike of fear through his gut as he thought that he had to exercise he lungs to keep them able to breath or rest them so that when he needed to he could still count on them to be functional. He also was aware that if he choose poorly he could be damaging himself and robbing himself of the ability altogether.
He waited for a chance to talk with Luuk. Just after midnight he saw his commander and moved over to speak with him.
“Sir, I have some questions.” He told Luuk.
“Go ahead, and drop the sir, we left soldiers and command behind a long way back.”
“Well, where are we going? What are our plans?” He asked, “I mean we are returning to our original base and I can only assume we will be attacking it. I can't figure out what it is we are trying to accomplish.”
Luuk looked at him for a long time before answering. “There are certain answers I wish I had for myself. All I can tell you is that our allegiance has changed. What ever we have become we are no longer part of the world or part of the people we once defended. We have a new culture to defend now. We are too well trained to do anything less.”
“But sir!” He protested, “We have been fighting the monsters from the corrupted lands for so long, now to become one, it can't be!”
“Adams, think about what you are saying. Do you see and Reavers among us? Any creature from the corrupted lands at all? We are not a part of the corrupted lands. We are apart form them. It would be best for you to forget your humanity. You lost it days past. You have to shift your loyalty to our new masters.”
Luuk looked at him for a long moment and then walked off to find other groups marching south towards the human base camp.
Adams thought long and hard on what he had said. He was no longer human he could not include himself in that race any longer. As he continued south he realized he was holding onto a part of himself that had left with his final breath.
There he was marching south to destroy what had once been his home when he realized that he was not attacking his home, he was advancing on an enemy position. He started to think about strategy to overtake the outer positions. How they could defeat the defensive fortifications and move into the camp proper.
He noticed that he had allowed his men to wander. He took a moment gather in the men and get them back into formation.
It was approaching dawn when he met two of the other leaders. He stopped to talk to them about the attack on the base camp.
“I have been thinking about how we can take out the advanced positions.” He told the other two men.
“I hadn't thought about that!” One excalaimed.
“Start thinking about it. What else will we be doing? Moving into new barracks?” He challenged him. His mouth worked but he made no sound.
“If we approach the positions at dusk we should be able to get into the fortifications without a fight. If we time it right we should be able to get most of the positions neutralized with minimal losses.”
The other leaders still looked lost. One shook his head as if to try to shake the thought out of his head. Adams was going to admonish the man but remembered his own reaction to the idea.
“I'm sorry, but we need to start thinking about what we are going to do when we reach the camp. You are a still a soldier, and you are a leader now. Get your men ready. If commander Luuk orders the attack you had better be able to get your men into the fight when and where they are needed.”
Adams moved away from the men. He hoped they would be able to get their groups in order before they reached the base camp. Without having to stop for rest, food or sleep this new force would reach the camp in a matter of days not the weeks it took them to get out this far out from the camp.
posted by shaneknysh at 01:20
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