Summoning America

Chapter 12: Demihuman Liberation

Somewhere between Ejei and Gim

Baker and Nakamoto looked out the window, holding on for dear life as their humvee traversed the underdeveloped road. "Dude, these things are hella uncomfortable. Why are they so damn bulky? Why not just use a GoPro or something," Nakamoto complained.

"Beats me; it's probably part of some new contract." Baker adjusted his bodycam.

"Yo, I heard we're one of the few teams who are getting these things," the driver called out.

"Oh, for real? What's up with that, Vargas?" Baker asked. "It's not like we're gonna go around committing war crimes or something."

"Uhh, I was in a meeting with that Anders dude, the ambassador. I kinda zoned out for most of it, but I think they wanted us to have these bodycams cause they want some good footage. Freeing slaves and all that."

Nakamoto crossed his arms. "Hmm, everything has to be political nowadays huh..."

"Well, if ya think about it, the President probably wants some good stuff to justify the war effort. I mean, shit, we were only in this world for like two months before we went to war. Again." Baker checked his gear, realizing that they were approaching the village.

The four humvees rolled through the burning village. The few structures that weren't burning were shredded and torn apart as if monsters were set loose. Blood stained the dirt, and a few bodies lay in the center of the village: all adult males who attempted to defend their families, but failed. Baker wrinkled his nose at the sight, disgusted by the blatant evil that took place here. He formed a cross gesture with his hands and gave a soft prayer before radioing to his men. "I see some tracks up ahead. Looks like carriage wheels."

They followed the tracks for an hour, stopping intermittently to gauge their surroundings. With nothing but open grassland all around, they trudged on with boredom. Eventually, the platoon came to a stop by a smoldering fire — one that was put out recently.

Baker put his hand over the smoking wood. "Still warm. They've gotta be nearby... Yo Nakamoto, get that drone up."

"Got it." He fished around in his backpack until he produced a small helicopter-like drone, piloting it with a tablet. He directed it forward and followed the fresh carriage trails on the dirt. After a couple minutes of traveling, he spotted something in the distance. "I got something! Looks like about 20 wagons, escorted by a group of 50 horsemen. I don't know about the contents of the wagons though; could be more hostiles, could be looted goods or kidnapped Demis."

"Alright. Their setup is exactly what we learned about last week... Let's do this by the book folks. There might be civilians in the wagons, so check your fire."

After everyone got back in their vehicles, they dashed to the rescue of the Qua Toynians. Two of the humvees veered off, conducting a flank so that the Lourians' escape path could be cut off. The other two humvees chased after the convoy, timing their arrival with that of their allies.

Baker leaned out the window from the lead humvee as they approached the convoy's rear guard, which consisted of ten knights. He brought a microphone up to his mouth and spoke, "Halt!"

The knights gave their comrades several hand signals, upon which the convoy slowed down and the ten knights approached the strange horseless carriage ahead of them. One of them disembarked and walked up to the humvee. Baker opened his door to exit, but was stopped by Nakamoto.

"Dude, we really just can't shoot 'em? No rules of war 'round here."

"I'm with you on that one, but what if they're just a merchant convoy or something? I mean, I'm 99 point 9 percent sure that they're the bastards who sacked that village, but we gotta get confirmation first."