Chapter 27 — Nick and Lee (Patreon)

Author's Note: Also, I'm sorry for the delay on these, I failed to realize that I had three tests this week and I just didn't have as much time as I was hoping to dedicate to writing. The goal is to get four chapters done this weekend so I can fulfill my portion of the pledges for the month. I understand if people want to downgrade their pledges though. Sorry for the inconvenience on this. And thank you again for reading and your support it really means a lot to me.

North End, Boston, Massachusetts 

Nick stepped on a twig, snapping it with an audible crack. He ducked back into the alley as a two-ton turned her head to look for the sound. Hoping she hadn’t seen him, he’d already cast bond on her five times, so odds were that she wouldn’t attack him but he didn’t want to risk her getting angry, especially this close to the final casting.

He kept out of sight, counting twenty heartbeats before he began to slowly move back to where he could see the courtyard. He caught her tail just past the Paul Revere statue as she ducked into her den in the Old North Church. Nick glanced back at Hanover St. it was unlikely that anything would follow the undisputed ruler of the North End, but wanted to be sure. He made his way into the church, pausing at the entrance to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim light.

She had made a den at the far end of the church from the entrance, he realized that he could see the red glow reflecting off of them as she watched him from her bedding. She was a few no more than a few days from giving birth, her belly swollen with the pups, but otherwise she had the shape of an overly large hound dog. Her coloring was beautiful the coat a gorgeous blue merle, with tan trim and glacier blue eyes. Nick had no idea what breed she had been before she was changed, probably a great dane or a catahoula. 

Nick crept forward under the expectant mother’s watchful eyes. He pulled out the meat from his backpack and held it in front of him. He’d had to kill a rabbit, a simple enough matter with his mezmerize skill. Fish was even easier to get, but she refused to eat any the one time he’d brought a couple cod. He had stuck to red meat after that, mostly rabbits and squirrels. His target was completely capable of hunting on her own of course, but she seemed to accept these small snacks as payment for letting him get closer. And since bonding required he be less than a meter away from her when he cast it, he would take whatever he could get.

Throwing the rabbit meat towards the hound she snapped it out of the air, chomping down on it once before swallowing it whole. At nearly twelve feet long and seven feet tall the small amount of meat he was able to carry wouldn’t be able to do more than put a dent her hunger, it was more the act of providing her with food that was important. It turned him from prey into an annoyance and hopefully in a few minutes, a friend. 

Inching forward Nick kept his demeanor calm despite the sweat dripping down his back, she was lethargic after having just returned from hunting. He assumed she wouldn’t hunt again until after the pups were born, but it was hard to get an accurate guess, given that he had never worked on a two ton dog before. She looked at him, and growled indicating he had come close enough. It was a soft growl, for such a massive beast, but still loud enough to make his chest rattle from the reverberations. He stopped, but kept his eyes locked on her red glowing ones. He stood there and waited, she eventually got bored and began grooming herself.

He took several cautious steps forward, and when she didn’t growl again, he took a few more. Repeating the process until he was a meter away he activated bond for the sixth time. The skill had a massive cooldown, 20 hours, but it allowed him to form a bond between himself and a beast. As soon as the skill finished the she sat up, looking at him while cocking her head slightly to one side, considering him. For the first time since he had begun following her, there was no malice in her eyes, just curiosity and excitement and significantly more intelligence than before the bond, her tail began wagging, her ears were back, her mouth parted slightly and her tongue lolling out slightly. All good signs.

Nick crossed the distance between him and the big dog, he reached up and dug his fingers into the hair behind her ears. She pressed her head against him leaning into the scratches, he used both hands, her fur was almost three inches thick and difficult to penetrate, a great protection from the other predators around.

After several minutes of scratching he stopped, she turned to look at him, and licked his face. Her massive size meant she also licked most of his chest and Nick laughed. She carefully tackled him and began licking him clean, even as Nick tried to protest. There wasn’t much he could do to fight off his overzealous new pet.

When she was satisfied she curled back up and sighed contentedly. Nick lay down next to her front legs and put his head against her shoulder. It had been days since he’d gotten a good night’s rest. Now that she was his, he could finally sleep, trusting in her instincts to protect them both. 

“I’m going to call you Lupa. After the She-Wolf that birthed Rome.” If she responded he didn’t hear it, as he had already fallen asleep curled up besides her.

* * *

Perdido Key, Florida

Lee was running. It was honestly a bit like a bad recreation of Forrest Gump.

He could see his destination ahead of him. A strange block of metal, slightly rounded and very organic looking. It had taken him almost two days to grow it from the shed that had been there before.

He could hear the creature behind him gaining speed and he cut to the left, the thing could really build up some steam, but it couldn’t turn for crap. Another few seconds and he adjusted his course again, moving for the entrance to what he affectionately called his gatlopp. Lee still couldn’t see the creature behind him, but from the sounds it was making he knew it was going to be close.

Another course shift, slowing the beast down just a little bit more and then he was past the entrance, six feet in he slapped his hand against the wall causing a two inch metal sheet to drop behind him. The beast squealed in pain as the corresponding one at the entrance to the gatlopp slammed down cutting the creature in half with it’s razor sharp bottom. It was actually sharper than a razor, his new talents allowing him to make things that science would never have been able to create a week ago. 

Leaning forward, Lee placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. The monster behind him still squealed, it’s sharp tusks raking against the metal behind him even though its spine had probably been severed by the door. He placed his hands on the wall, and metal melted away giving him a handle and footholds to grasp. Then the holes slid most of the way up the wall, allowing him to see over the door where the mana twisted boar was slowly bleeding out. 

After a moment of considering Lee caused another wall to fall, cutting the boars head off in an instant. He patted the gatlopp and descended, resetting the inner door as he did so. “Wish I had as much control over all metal as I do over the stuff I’ve grown.” He says to himself as he begins raising the floor and starts to cut the pig into portions. It was a big beast, but with a few hundred people to feed, he knew it wouldn’t last long. He’d pay his tribute to Kira and her thugs, that should get them out of his hair for a few days at least.

He cut off a portion for his own meal, and putting it on a spit and lit the fire to cook it. He didn’t take advantage of Kira’s protection or her communal food pot, but he was also one of the few people bringing in meat. If he had a way to keep his food fresh he’d be long gone, nothing in the swamp could hurt him, he’d just have gatlopp march along until no one could follow him. 

Well, as soon as he could figure out how to get gatlopp marching. Until then he’d have to deal with Kira. Her thugs would come by soon, they always did after he lit his fire. They’d probably be happy he killed something other than gator this time. 

He glanced over at the boar and frowned, it had been bigger than any of the rest of them, but he still hadn’t gotten another xatherite. Jacobs, one of Kira’s stupider thugs, had told him that Pensacola had managed to pick up three now. He knew that the stuff he was fighting was harder than whatever Jacobs could kill. Even if he was mostly red, his attacks were weak compared to the kind of damage Lee’s traps could dish out.

Another problem, all he had was traps. Things that he could create with his lifetime of swamp hunting and the violet xatherite that allowed him to grow steel and shape it however he wanted. He sat musing over his options for almost an hour, his mouth beginning to water from the aroma coming off the haunch of meat on the spit. 

Banging came from the side of gatlopp, “Lee, open up it’s Kira.”

Lee frowned, she came personally? She hadn’t done that since the first day he had been found, when they tried to get him to come back to Pensacola and grow protections for the town. He opened the outer door, “That’s your portion.” He shouted, and he could hear several of Kira’s people beginning to transport several hundred pounds of pig meat. 

“Lee, come talk to me or I’m going to tell your mama that you’re being rude.”

Lee frowned, while his Ma and Pa had survived he felt no need to join them. With a grunt he opened a door large enough for Kira to walk through, Jacobs was the first to appear through the doorway, and a spike of steel shot up stopping him in his tracks before he impaled himself on it.

“I didn’t invite you Jacobs, go make yourself useful and pick up something heavy.” Lee said with a wave of dismissal.

It took almost five seconds for Jacobs to realize that Lee wasn’t joking and he could see the big man’s face turning red in anger. Lee prepared a few more spikes incase the stupid lout decided he wanted to try to start something again. They hadn’t gotten along since Lee had forced the bigger boy to pee his pants in fear back in elementary school. It honestly surprised Lee that Jacobs could even remember that long ago.

His spikes were unneeded though, Kira laid a hand on Jacobs’ shoulder and said something too quietly for Lee to hear into his ear. The big man turned around and began helping the others carry the meat back.

Kira stepped through the portal and waited for Lee to remove the spike, which he did with a wave of his hand and created a stool for her to sit on instead. She was a pretty woman, dark auburn hair and freckles with a plump body that most men would have called curvey. “What can I do for the new ganglord of Pensacola?” Lee asked, grinning as saw Kira barely restrain her rolled eyes.

“I’m not a ganglord Lee, Just trying to keep everyone safe.” 

“Sure, sure. What can I do for you?”

“Look, I know you said you were only interested in helping us get food and otherwise had no intention of affiliating with the rest of humanity.” She paused looking around at the barren metal room he had created for himself. The lines were all wrong, slightly curved and bent instead of straight, like something robotic trying to look organic. “But we really need your help… with your skills we could easily keep everyone safe.”

They had been friends, once, back before...Lee’s eye twitched and he shook his head, “Not interested.” 

“Lee, it isn’t safe out here on your own.” Switching tracks, “What if you get hurt and can’t make it back here? You’d be a sitting duck.” Kira said, but Lee refused to meet her eyes, he cut off a portion of the meat and blowing on it for a second as he shifted it between his hands before biting it.

“No. Not if he’s there.” Lee said, dismissing Kira by turning away from her and back to his fire. He heard her sigh and then stand up, walking to the hole he had created for her. They had had this argument before, and he refused to go near that man.

“Thank you for the meat, I really wish you would reconsider.” 

Lee said nothing, he knew she would go away soon. She was too busy saving the whole town to spend too much time on the outcast.

As she left, the metal folded back to a seamless wall. The thought occurred to him as he heard the last of the transporters leave, was he trying to keep them out, or something else in?