Remnant 2 - CH 1- (Patreon)

Steve sighed and shook his head, staring out at the vast empty plain before him.

“The fuck did I agree to this,” Steve muttered. “I should have just… stayed on the farm and took Gwen up on her offer.

“I could be playing ‘make the siren sing’ but noooo, I decided I wanted to take my stupid ass out to work some more.”

“Because it’s what we should do.”

Turning to look to the speaker, Steve found Ina standing nearby.

Dressed out in light-leather armor and without a weapon, she looked mildly out-of-place wearing it.

Mostly because she was extremely easy on the eyes and had an amazing figure. She had short blonde hair the color of wheat and blue eyes that for whatever reason hit the right spots in Steve’s head.

Standing next to her was Jaina and Kassandra.

“It’s true. Very, very true,” Jaina said. “As much, much land as we can take.”

The small Kobold woman was an interesting looking creature to Steve. She had a bust on par with Ina’s but was considerably smaller in stature. It made her look oddly top heavy. Especially given that she often ran on all fours.

She was covered in almost invisibly short brown fur from head to toe, with black accents here and there. The only different-colored spot was her belly, which was a large white oval.

Her nose and ears were very beastlike. She was somewhat removed from humanity as far as her species went by itself.

Though her very blue eyes held the spark of life and intelligence. She was no different than Steve was in his own mind.

Rising above both the other two women was Kassandra the Lamia.

Dark-blond hair peeked out from under her bronze helmet. Her bright green and reptilian like eyes were moving across the horizon in front of them.

Ina was definitely pretty, but Kassandra was stunning.

Dressed out in her armor there wasn’t much to be seen of her shape, but Steve knew she wasn’t unfortunate.

From her armored hip plates and down was her scaled snake tail that wound itself down around and under her.

“Well? You gonna chime in?” Steve asked.

“No,” Kassandra said, looking down to him. A smile flitted across her face. “Because I like this idea. It’s us four out alone in the wilderness again. I enjoyed our time together. We worked well with one another.”

“Rachele’s joining us in a day or two,” Jaina said.

“I don’t mind her, she’s fine,” Kassandra said. “She’s a fighter as well even though she doesn’t look it. I don’t think for a minute she wouldn’t pick up a weapon and defend herself or others.”

Steve blew out a huff and looked back out in front of himself.

Nikki had digested everything he’d told her about what he’d seen at the wall. What he’d learned of and from the citadel commander.

That even the grass and trees were becoming sick with the creep.

Her thought in the end for all of that was that they were better off enclosing as much land as they could for the future.

Because if the soil itself became tainted, it would become all the harder to turn it to their purposes later.

“Nikki was right,” Ina said confidently. “And while I’ll miss the comforts of our home, we need to be able to provide for our offspring. And that means more land. Land for the farm.

“Land for Nia and her eventual brothers and sisters.”

Clicking his tongue at that, Steve brought his shovel down into the grass in front of himself.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I just don’t like it. Feel like with this much more space to incorporate were asking for more bandit problems. Like those idiots who stole Nikki.”

“No, no,” Jaina said. “In taking this land, it’s to prevent stuff like that. Or, or, to prevent other cities from bothering us. So we don’t have a repeat of Filch and what happened to Xivin.”

Ina walked by with her hands on top of her head. She looked thoughtful.

“I suppose. Though with what happened at the wall, does it lift the temporary quarantine? In the end, the whole wall came down and blocked the way through. Right? You said it looked like it was going into our neighbor’s lands.”

Steve grunted as he began to methodically work his shovel. He was preparing the land they were standing on right now. They’d need to be able to survive at a temporary outpost here as they worked.

That meant getting some defenses and place to sleep first.

“Steve?” Ina asked, turning to face him.

Closing his eyes for a second, he didn’t really want to think about the wall. All he could think of was the citadel-commander who had sabotaged a peer. It left a strange anger in Steve that he didn’t really understand.

Not to mention Lucia had almost died there protecting him.

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like I knocked it down just right. We’ll see though. Doesn’t change that the creep is still here in Lamals. Was there last night. So were the monsters.”

“Pity that little girl didn’t survive her witch-ceremony,” Jaina said. “She was cute. Cute, cute for a little human girl.”

It was a never-ending train of subjects Steve really didn’t want to talk about it seemed. They’d found a little girl at the walls this morning and Steve had tried to resurrect her in the same way he had Jaina and Ina.

“Not everyone seems to be strong enough to survive dying and coming back to life,” Steve said.

“Alright. Come on, Jaina. Let’s go see if we can start raising up some rock,” Ina said. “Maybe all that practice we did will finally pay off.”

Turning, Ina began walking away toward the west.

“Oh, yes, yes. That’d be good, wouldn’t it,” Jaina said, moving after Ina.

“I’d say so,” Ina said. “Now, let’s try with you lifting and I’ll see about forming it into a wall.”

“Okay!” Jaina said, falling in line next to Ina.

“They work well together,” Kassandra said. “Think they can do it?”

“Can, can’t, doesn’t matter,” Steve said, moving over and digging another spot out with his shovel. “Regardless we’ll still be here for a while. Don’t like being away from home. Hate it.”

“Think of it this way,” Kassandra said, drawing closer to him. “Once we build this outpost, we’ll have lots of room for our family. It even runs right over the road, so we can include a gate and gate house. We’ll be able to protect ourselves, protect the road to Filch, and everyone we care about.”

“I don’t care about Filch,” Steve muttered.

“Yes you do. You care about Rachele and Xivin, don’t you?” Kassandra asked. “In protecting Filch, you protect them and what they care about.”

Growling, Steve stood up from his work and glared at Kassandra. He really didn’t want to be told what he cared about right now.

Smiling at him, she leaned in close to him, coming down to his height.

“Punish me a little tonight?” Kassandra asked, her tone warm and smooth.

Ugh. She’s baiting me.

“Little Snake,” Steve said, grinning at her and holding up a hand. “Keep pushing my buttons and I’ll punish you a bit more than you want.”

“Maybe I want that,” Kassandra said, inching ever closer to him. “And besides, you’re just angry because you know I’m right, but you hate being forced into things. And you feel like Nikki forced you into this. At least a little bit.”

Glowering at her, Steve didn’t know how to respond.

Instead he grabbed her breast plate and pulled her into himself and kissed her.

Several seconds passed before he released her and patted her on the shoulder.

“You’re right,” he admitted. “But by the time I see her next I’ll have forgiven her. I may be just an angry brute, but I’m not stupid.

“Besides, everyone agreed with Nikki. Hard to say no at that point.”

Kassandra was watching him with something akin to a predatory stare.

It reminded him of Chessa.

Feeling an ache in his chest, Steve turned back to his work.

He missed Chessa, regretted her death, but he didn’t feel it as keenly as Jaina did. Nor did he feel her loss as he imagined he should.

There were times that he felt like something was wrong with him for not feeling her loss more deeply.

But he couldn’t pinpoint it. Nor could he attribute it to anything other than himself. Especially since Jaina and the others had expressed sincere grief over her loss.

Then again, they were over it in a day or three. I still feel it and they seemed to have moved on completely.

I wonder if this is part of that strange mind control thing again.

In fact… I wonder if it’s changed.

“Little Snake, I want to put hundreds of kids in you till you drown in them. That our children literally crush you in their weight,” Steve said, working his shovel through the dirt. “You good with that? Can I try right now?”

“Of course, I have to have children to make sure I provide more soldiers to fight the Creep. That’s my duty,” Kassandra said immediately and in that same dead tone.

“Even if it was thousands of eggs? That I wanted you pregnant forever after?” Steve asked, deciding to press.

“Yes, please. I have to have children to make sure I provide more soldiers to fight the Creep. That’s my duty. Especially now that you’re my man. I’m a failure because I haven’t become pregnant,” Kassandra said.

Now that’s odd. No one’s ever mentioned anything like that before.

Had the same tone, too.

Need to be careful.

Maybe there’s something else in there for them if they don’t have children.

“Oh? You shouldn’t feel like a failure. It isn’t as if you’re guaranteed to get pregnant from having sex. It’s kinda random, ya know?” Steve said.

Pausing in his work, Steve lifted his head up to meet Kassandra’s eyes directly.

“I’m… I…” Kassandra’s voice fell off, unable to break away from his gaze.

“My Little Snake, you’re not a failure. If you say that again, I’ll be cross,” Steve said.

“I understand,” Kassandra said, though there was a strange undercurrent in her voice. “I’m not a failure.”

“No. You’re not. Now watch over me. I need to get this field done so we have something to eat,” Steve said.

***

Dropping onto the top of a water barrel, Steve let out a sigh. He’d been digging for most of the day in the end. The field was planted which was immediately followed by a very small moat.

Right now it was really just a deep trench. It’d serve well enough for the time being. That was a temporary solution with a timer on it. If the zombies showed up in any number, they could possibly make a mount of their bodies and climb up.

It was one of the reasons Rachele was coming in a day or two. She’d be bringing a wagon full of water barrels, and take the wagon they’d brought with them back.

Looking to the west he could see a wall of stone. It wasn’t very large, but it was there.

Which means it’s possible for the creep witches to replace the logs with actual stone for a longer term solution.

“I’m going to have to send them back to the farm to start working on replacing the palisade,” Steve said.

“They won’t care for that,” Kassandra said.

“Nope. Not really a concern though. They’ll do it because thats what we need to do,” Steve said.

“I think they’ll argue your safety is paramount,” Kassandra said. “Which Nikki would agree with.”

Frowning, his brows drawing together, Steve caught the underlying implication there.

Sending them back would simply prompt Nikki to send someone else in their place.

Probably… Lucia and Misty? Misty’s busy working on getting the moat around Filch finalized and Lucia’s been making bows and arrows non-stop.

“You’re right,” Steve mumbled. Ina and Jaina were walking back toward Steve even now. They looked worn but not exhausted.

“Will we be sleeping under the stars tonight?” Kassandra asked.

Steve looked to the sun and found it was already past noon. Moving towards the horizon, he figured they had six hours of daylight left.

“Yeah,” he said. “I can probably knock down a bunch of trees in that grove to the east and start getting them ready. Won’t have a cabin today though. Maybe tomorrow. After having built one, the second one I imagine will be much easier. That could just be my ego talking but-”

“There’s someone coming,” Kassandra said, interrupting him. “A number of someones.”

Standing up immediately Steve started walking toward the wagon. He didn’t care who it was, he wasn’t about to welcome anyone onto his land, his territory, or his presence, without his weapon in hand.

“It’s… two groups of someones,” Kassandra said. “They’re coming this way from different angles, but both are heading this way. I don’t think they’re aware of each other.”

“How is that even possible,” Steve groused. “We’ve seen no one. At all. We told no one we were coming here.”

“I think you’re forgetting just how wild and varied life is,” Kassandra said. “It’s very possible that there were those watching us that we did not see.”

“I wanna argue that point but clearly I can’t since they’re coming this way. Kinda lends credence to your point,” Steve said.

“Yes. They’re too far to get a hard count but… there’s at least forty of them in total between both sides,” Kassandra said.

“Great,” Steve muttered. Looking to where Ina and Jaina were leisurely walking his way, he lifted his hand and waved at them. “Need them to hurry up and get over here to drink some water and rest. They’re gonna be earning their keep I think. One on one I can murder people. A group? Need my creep-witches.”

Jaina must have been watching because she made a quick hand gesture at Ina. Then she dropped to all fours and started running toward Steve in her very animal like way.

Ina started moving at a jog, though she wasn’t built for such a thing. She’d fight and battle with others, but there was no mistaking her distaste for running or moving quickly.

Coming to a grass tearing sliding stop, Jaina bounced up to two feet.

“What is it, Husband?” Jaina asked. 

“People coming this way and I really need you and Ina here resting and recuperating,” Steve said. “Starting drinking water and grab a snack.”

“Others?” Jaina asked, her head turning around in a full circle, her ears swiveling this way and that.

Kassandra held up a hand and pointed to one point then another.

Steve couldn’t see what they were looking at to be honest. His eyesight was very Human.

Jaina nodded her head, peering off into the direction Kassandra had indicated. Then she looked a bit further to the north-east, her tail rather still behind her. “I see both groups. They’re carrying weapons.”

Growling, Steve picked up his axe and grabbed his shield. Buckling the shield on he gave his axe a quick spin with his wrist.

When he first donned it as a weapon he felt it had been uncomfortable.

Unwieldy.

Now it felt normal, comfortable, and an extension of his arm. Mismatched balance and all.

“Hate running,” Ina said, coming to a walk nearby. “Hate it so much. Makes everything hurt.”

“Enemies,” Jaina said, still looking out into the distance.

“Oh,” Ina said. Then she sighed and nodded her head. Moving over to the open water barrel she grabbed the attached mug and began drinking deeply. Finishing off a mug she blew out a breath. “Get the sand?”

“Yes, yes. I will,” Jaina broke her eyes from the distant people and moved off to the wagon.

“Sand?” Steve asked coming to stand next to Kassandra.

“The black sand left over from the zombies,” Ina said. “We’ve been experimenting with it. It makes spells more powerful. Goes really quick though.”

“Huh. Alright,” Steve said, thinking.

“Misty started collecting it this morning. She said there was quite a bit of it at the bottom of her waters,” Ina said. “I may not be built for running, but I’m doing my best.”

“You’re doing amazingly, Ina,” Steve said, giving her a small smile.

The young woman with a confidence issue was quite dead it seemed.

In her place was a very strong woman with a bright mind.

“When we’re done with these people, we’re having sex. And then again later probably,” Ina said. “And you’re not going to say no.”

Who was incredibly sexually active and beyond the definition of forward. Ina consistently and often took Steve whether he was in the mood or she had to work him up to it.

Steve stood there and didn’t respond to her in any way.

He’d found that sometimes if he ignored her, she’d forget. Or her sex drive might reverse itself if given some time.

Responding at all gave her something to latch onto and work with.

“I think they just saw each other,” Jaina said, walking up and holding a small pouch out to Ina. “They’re moving toward one another now and no longer concerned with us at all.”

“I think I like that even less,” Steve said. “Let’s… see if we can’t get closer to see what’s going on before it happens. If they want to make this easy and group up so you two to smoke’em with a wave of fire, great.”

“I will lead the way,” Kassandra said, moving out in front. “Move out to the side Jaina. Wait for my whistle to engage. You will be our flanker. Do as Steve suggested and wipe them out with a flame wave.”

“Yes, yes. I’m going,” Jaina said.

Dropping down to all fours she brushed up against Steve, rubbing herself bodily against him, before she ran off keeping low to the ground.

Way too much like a dog. Way too much.