Army of Humans and Monsters-The Book

Chapter 22

Suddenly, a thud is heard on top of the roof, scaring Tabitha.

“That had better be you Wolfblood,” Bloodtooth said, as she looked up at the dent in the roof.

Some tapping is heard.

“No, I am not going to stop so you can get in the backseat,” Bloodtooth said. “Besides, I don’t think that you want to sit there anyways, considering how close you are to your living relatives. The bastard’s a messy eater, and his car would attract the Scavengers (Sanitation/Body-Clean/Pick-up department) if he left the windows down on a hot day in an empty parking lot.”

This caused some more tapping to be heard.

“That’s alright Wolfblood,” Bloodtooth said. “Changehide could use some responsibility. Now hold on, the road is tricky up ahead, as it is an area that large children like to play near.”

“What do you mean by that, and who is on the roof anyways?” Tabitha asked.

“Oh, that’s just Wolfblood,” Bloodtooth said. “He’s a good friend of mine, and a damn good shot with a sniper rifle. Of course, seeing as to how it would be hard for anyone, even someone like me, to hear him over this piece of shit that that piece of shit likes to use, he had to use Morse code, very useful trick to learn. As for why the road is tricky, we are about to travel through the giant section of town, and their children like to play in the road, especially to either pick up, or step on, cars made for those our size. Thankfully, I know someone who lives here.”

“Who is it?” (Tabitha)

“It is a widow of an officer that I served under, one who was in the military herself. Of course, after her husband was killed in action, when I had to fight my first real battle, she fell into a state of depression, and was given a medical discharge, which means that she is still under the military’s protection.” (Bloodtooth)

“Will we be safe with her though?” (Tabitha)

“Yep, although I best give her a call, so that she knows that we are coming. After all, she may be a vegetarian, as long as you don’t do something to anger her, but she could still step on us if she doesn’t know that we are coming.” (Bloodtooth)

“Ah Cindy, it is good to see you again,” a grandmotherly looking woman, who was five hundred feet tall, said, as she opened the door to her, and her late husband’s, home.

“The pleasure is mine Sally,” Bloodtooth said, as the woman picked up the car that she and the rest were in, or in Wolfblood’s case, on.

“Well,” the woman said. “I best get you in. The kids of civilians have no respect for others.”

“Yah, I had to avoid a few,” Bloodtooth said, as the woman carried them in and set them on a coffee table. “By the way, do you have something that I, and this woman, can take a bath in? The owner of this car, who is in the trunk by the way, never took the time to clean it, if you know what I mean.”

“Yah, I know what you mean. ‘Serve and Protect’ indeed. The only things those monsters who call themselves police officers serve are their stomachs, with those that they are supposed to protect. You just wait here, I’ll go fill a small bowl with some warm water, and get you a scrap of soap, so you can wash off,” the woman said, as she left the living room.

“How well do you know this woman,” Tabitha asked, nervously. “I don’t really like giants.”

“Bad experience with one before you dropped out, or after, right?” Bloodtooth asked, as she got out of the car.

“Yah,” Tabitha said, as she also got out.

“God, the guys on laundry duty are going to kill me, if the commander doesn’t do it himself,” Bloodtooth mumbled, as she looked as the back of the clothes she had given Tabitha, which were covered in blood, knowing that her clothes were just as bad, if not worse.

“Damn, uh, Cindy,” Wolfblood said, as he got off of the roof, not used to calling Bloodtooth by her first name. “You were right when you said that I wouldn’t want to sit in the car. I mean, by God, while I may have to drink the blood of the living, but this, this is just wrong. Are you really sure on having him join up or some such thing?”

“It’s that or killing him. I told him some classified information, in regards to the commander’s race.” (Bloodtooth)

“Why did you tell him that?” (Wolfblood)

“The bastard had me watch a movie with him, a war movie. It was the one based off of the commander’s time when he was a sergeant, about twenty years ago.” (Bloodtooth)

“Oh, it was that movie. I really wish that the film industry really looked over the reports that we give them when they want to make a movie that is based on actual military events. I mean, even if the races and faces of people have to be concealed to protect them, the media industry should try to stay within the facts, and not elaborate, and fictionalize, them. I tell you, the commander was pissed when they aired that movie in the public theaters before the higher ups had a chance to look at it.” (Wolfblood)

“I know,” Bloodtooth said. “I was at the theater myself. The guy just destroyed the place, with his own bare hands and feet, and he calls me the loose cannon on the base.”

“Well, at least the military respected his wishes to not show it to the rest of the base,” Wolfblood said, as he looked at Tabitha, with a slight look of hunger in his eyes.

“Don’t even think about any of it,” Bloodtooth said, smacking him upside the head.

“Why?” Wolfblood asked, with a grin, as he rubbed his head.

“For the first part, you are married. As for the second, I don’t think Jenkins would like it if you gave his cousin a kiss, as it were, especially one on her neck,” Bloodtooth said, as she waited for Sally to come back to the living room.

About thirty minutes later, after Bloodtooth and Tabitha had gotten themselves cleaned up, and dressed in some clean clothing, Bloodtooth in a decent pair of military fatigues, and Tabitha wearing a borrowed set of clothes from one of Sally’s servant’s, most of which had husbands serving in the military themselves, Bloodtooth asked Sally if she and her could talk in private.

“So Cindy, or is it Lieutenant Bloodtooth, something tells me that this is not a social visit,” Sally said, when the pair were in her kitchen.

“You remember the murders committed about five years back, in which the victims tended to be related to The Uniter?” Bloodtooth asked.

“Yah, I remember. The authorities called it an overenthusiastic hunt, and closed the case in two seconds,” Sally said, with a huff. “Such things make me wish that the military would take over the country. Admittedly, there would be those who might let the power go to their heads, but, overall, most would make sure that everyone was treated fairly. In fact, the predation of others for non-survival reasons would be called what it really is, murder.”

“Yah, well anyways, there were two survivors, William Jenkins and Tabitha Jensen,” Bloodtooth said, as she held up two fingers, with a smile. “And, we finally found them, all within the last week. Jenkins enlisted when some tax collectors chased him into a recruitment office, and we found Jensen just a few hours ago.”

“So, what is it that my Howard’s favorite soldier asks of me?” Sally asked, with a look of knowing.

“Well obviously, Jensen has no place to call home, and while she is technically military property, there are those who don’t respect that title of ownership, if you know what I mean. Also, she will need a place to stay, as she has no interest in joining up, though I get the feeling that she’d make a great officer,” Bloodtooth said, as she drank a cup of coffee that one of the soldier wives had given her.

“Well, what about this Jenkins guy?” Sally asked. “Is he anything like the original?”

“Very,” Bloodtooth said, with a chuckle. “In his entrance test, he gave his ‘life’ for a recruit that was quite a ways behind him while they were doing pushups. Then, during the intelligence part, he quickly realized that he couldn’t do it alone, and asked if I was allowed to help him. Well, of course I did, and his test was the one where the recruit has to touch the brick, while the floor is buried under mud and the brick is a distance above the mud. Well, even while standing on my shoulders, he still couldn’t reach. So, he had two options, stand on my head and jump, which could have killed both of us, or, ask me to tilt my head back, open my mouth, and stand on the edges of my jaws, which would of risked only his life. Well, he chose the second option, putting my life above his, despite the fact that we’d only just met then. I wouldn’t be surprised if, if he was an officer, and was in a situation, one that required him to take the life of one of his soldiers or watched them all starve to death, he’d take his pistol, place it under his chin, and pull the trigger, sparing the life of one soldier, and making sure that the rest had something to eat.”

“Do you really think that he would really do something like that?” Sally asked.

“Probably not,” Bloodtooth said, taking another sip of her coffee. “But, like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Also, when it comes to making plans, and leading others, he is a natural strategist and commander all rolled into one. Of course, that’s only if he makes it through the training.”

“Well, I’ll tell you this, I’d be a fool to not help one of the Uniter’s bloodline,” Sally said. “If she agrees to it, I can let her stay under my roof until the military helps her on her feet.”

“That’s good,” Bloodtooth said, as she finished her coffee, and set the cup down. “However, we do need a ride back to the base, so we can get Tabitha and William reconnected with each other, drop the owner of that car off to the second in command, get the car cleaned out, give the remains a decent burial, appease the owners’ spirits, and of course, scrap and melt the car down into something useful.”

“That is not a problem, Lieutenant Bloodtooth,” Sally said, with a smile. “I just need to get a carrying case for you and the other three; I trust that you knocked the bastard out before you stole his car, right?”

“Of course I did,” Bloodtooth said, as she pulled the tranquillizer from her shoulder holster, and held it out for her. “While I love my fifty caliber Desert Eagle, as well as my forty-five caliber Colt revolver, this thing will do the trick if I want to bring someone, especially if they have no scales on their skin, in alive, without the need for a medic to revive them. Besides, carrying a corpse around is not easy, even with a shrink bag, as you have to keep it preserved and relatively intact. With this though, the prisoner is kept alive, and will be asleep until the dose wears off, or is given the reversal.”

At this, the woman just chuckled.

“I guess that you don’t always bloody your teeth, as it were,” she said. “Well, we best get ready. I have a feeling that the commander will throw a fit about you bailing out on his orientation.”

“Well, better that than not saving the life of a comrade’s relative,” Bloodtooth said, chuckling.