Blessed by Night

On the table was a map of their current position and all surroundings within five miles.

When prompted, the holomap would also show wildlife, flora and fauna, and sources of freshwater.

"This… is some real \'Star Wars\' shit." Malachi muttered in wonder.

At this, the other occupants of the room nodded their heads slowly in agreement.

Sei began to feel dizzy, and she held on to Joanne\'s arm to prevent herself from falling over.

"Are you alright?" She whispered worriedly. "You need to sit down?"

Sei shook her head no, but it was clear that she was still shaken about something.

"I-I\'m really bad with computers and stuff… what am I going to do if no one else is around and I need to make a bathroom..?!"

Joanne could tell that Sei\'s fears were grounded in reality, no matter how silly they may have seemed.

Hence the reason why she decided not to snicker and tease her like she was already so inclined to do.

"I- Uh… I\'ll help you with it if you like. It seems to function with mostly A.I protocols so…"

"…What does A.I mean?"

"Christ."

While Joanne was trying to explain technology to her ignorant companion, Malachi was going over the plan with the assembled personnel.

Of course he had told them about everything that happened earlier with the scout, and he had to be honest and say that he didn\'t realize how bad it sounded until right this moment.

"I realize I kinda kicked the hornets nest on this one, so if any of you would like a transport home, then I\'ll arrange it for you in a heartbeat."

A bunch of the girls scowled at him in response, almost like they were offended by the notion.

"We\'re not going to leave you high and dry now, especially after coming this far."

"We would never, but boss…"

"This feels more and more like a suicide mission…"

"Just how many are going to come for us..? We\'ve been lucky so far but our numbers are still less than thirty…"

"Aba?" Camille pointed to herself.

"""""""Absolutely not."""""""

Camille stuck her tongue out at all seven of her guardians and put her hand back down.

The axolotl on top of her head covered its mouth and made a gesture like it was snickering.

Malachi took the focus off his daughter for a bit and turned back towards his anxious squad.

"Anyway… as far as the numbers go, we\'ll bring in reserve members back at the base and hope to even things out just a tiny bit more.

But even if we had no backup… I want you girls to know that whether it\'s ten of us against ten million of them, I will always make sure that you girls make it out without a scratch."

It seemed like even the claws, fangs, and snakes coming out of Malachi\'s back hadn\'t done much to take away his appeal to women.

The only girls who didn\'t show blushes on their cheeks were Serana, Aisha, and Aubrey.

The rest of the girls looked like they were finally understanding just how even a modest and homey woman like Sei had gotten used to Mal\'s changes so fast, because it was starting not to bother them either.

Anna and the rest of Mal\'s fiancés noticed this, even if he didn\'t.

Nadine: "I don\'t care what he says, I will let you bitches die in a ditch."

Miraculously, the other girls found something else to stare at.

†ԋіѕ$-¢-на$ρ#τ&ε-я$-$ί&Տ-!

"Hm? Why\'re you being like that?" Mal asked as he pulled her cheek.

"No reason, darling~"

"Nadine, you can\'t just pick on our people for no reas-"

"""""She had a reason!""""" The girls reminded.

Malachi scratched his head as he looked around the room for help, but he never received it.

The closest thing to help he received came from Camille, who nudged his chest to get his attention before pointing towards her stomach.

She was just hungry…

"Haaa… Everybody\'s dismissed."

-

In an abandoned building that seemed to resemble an old high school gymnasium, dense, slovenly chewing sounds could be heard within the darkness.

The noises continued over and over again before stopping, but inevitably continuing mere moments later.

Suddenly, the double doors of the gym opened and the moonlight shone from outside.

If the sight of the illuminated room didn\'t shock you, the smell would have most certainly knocked you on your ass.

It was a staggering bloody nightmare.

The entire floor was caked with dried bones, blood, and discarded intestines.

In the back corner of the building, there were treasures from a world long destroyed.

Bundles of cash still wrapped in plastic, shining Rolex watches, old sneakers looted from a store, etc etc.

They were strictly kept away from the mass of rotting corpses kept on the other side of the room, in the hope that they would not lose their luster.

There was a throne in the middle of the room, made from the bones of what appeared to be several elephant bones and blocks of broken concrete.

There were quite a lot of abominations here, but three of them stepped into the gymnasium to address the thing inside.

"…Have you brought me more food..?"

The three abominations trembled at the mere sound of the creature\'s voice and they were unable to voice their reasoning for being here right off the bat.

"W-We.."

"Where is Obe…?"

Again, the three of them trembled as they glanced at the empty spot of their missing foursome.

"H-He is dead." One admitted.

"…Did you bring me his body to eat…?"

"N-No-"

The abomination on the left was unable to complete his words before a tractor tire was flung at him like a high-powered cannon ball and knocked him clean against the cinder block wall.

Though he wouldn\'t die from it, this blow sure as hell didn\'t tickle.

"…No food for me… useless, useless and unhelpful.."

"W-We\'ve come here to bring you to a place where there is food, King!" One of the abominations yellled in a panic.

"Food…? Where…?"

Suddenly, a smaller abomination was kicked into the gymnasium.

He had mottled green skin, a goblin-like face, and was nursing a bandaged wound on one of his shoulders.

"V-Vladimir has a story to tell the king..! T-Though he does not bring food, he does bring promises of a place where you can go and get it, and it is sure to be a meal worthy of your abhorrent honor!"