Cover of Dark - Chapter 4: Dragon Squad

    I followed Kazz closely, people were still staring. I couldn’t tell if they were judging me, cautious, or curious. Was it my tattoos? Was I still an outsider? Either way I hated all the eyes.

    “Where are we going?” I asked Kazz.

    “Back to my quarters, the rest of my squad is there. It's that building there,” he pointed to one of the barracks that looked slightly newer than the others, but not by much. It was two stories tall and made of wood and painted slightly off white. The roof looked as if it has been recently redone since the shingles were in pretty good condition. The second floor had four windows on one side, while the bottom floor had two long windows, and a large double door on the adjacent side. A flat face of the building had a round shield that was colored black with the exception of a yellow ring around the outside, and a simplistic yellow dragon on the inside.

    “Nice place,” I remarked.

    “Home of the Dragon Squad. We're an elite task force primarily assigned offensive missions to acquire territory. We're also occasionally assigned to convoy duty through enemy territory, recon, and very rarely spirit collecting.”

    “Spirits?” I inquired.

    “I'll explain later,” Kazz responded as he opened the heavy wooden door for me.

    The inside was kind of a mishmash of styles. We walked into a living room that was rather quaint. It had worn, off white carpet and a couple brown couches against both walls. The wall to the right had a large window, and the wall opposite had a nice painting of a lake surrounded by forests. The painting even had a frame made out of twisting tree branches that were sanded down and polished.

    To contrast this, the kitchen on the far side of the room was fairly modern. The light brown cabinets were topped with a grey granite countertop, and the sink seemed rather fancy.

    Back in the living room, the two occupants of the couches put down their books and stood as Kazz shut the door behind us. The guy on the right was short, around five feet even, though it was hard to tell with his slouch. He appeared perhaps three or four years older than I. He had scraggly black hair and the beginnings of an unkempt beard that looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks. He appeared to have Asian descent somewhere along the line. He was dressed in cargo shorts and a pocket T-shirt that showed off his overly hairy and muscular limbs. He wasn't wearing any shoes or socks either. Perhaps all his hair kept him warm enough in this weather? It wasn't exactly toasty in the room.

    The gal behind him wasn't dressed any more warmly. She was near toothpick skinny, and looked very fragile. Her arms resembled twigs and her legs looked like they wouldn't support her. Even her short hair which was both light in color and in volume, looked like it would blow away in the wind. However, despite looking fragile, she certainly didn't act like it. Her intimidatingly tall height at slightly over 6 and a half feet really set the stage for her attitude, even if she was slightly shorter than Kazz.  She walked in a both nimble and powerful way like she would have been ready to break someone's nose if they so much as got in her way, or even just to match her own crooked nose.  Even her eyes and forehead showed battle wearing with how she partially squinted and furrowed her brow. Considering she was walking our direction, I hoped my casual observation wouldn't come to pass.

      “So this is the kid?” She asked with almost a hint of distrust or disapproval in her voice. The scruffy guy in front of her was much more friendly.

    “Hey there! Name's Markus, that's Kate.” He grabbed my hand from my side and shook it, gripping my hand violently. “You Kazz's apprentice now? Sweet. How're you feeling? Isebel had to do a number to keep you afloat, you were hit pretty hard.” His voice hinted to a worn accent.

    “Yeah, I'm alright now, thanks.”

    Markus analyzed my hand before letting it go. “Neat tattoos, I bet our researches would love to study them.”

    Study?

    “Maybe tomorrow,” Kazz added, “gotta get him situated first.” Kazz patted my shoulder. “Where's everyone else?”

    “John went to work out but I bet he's just at the cafeteria. Isebel is doing her thing at the lab.” Kate replied. “I can call Isebel, but I bet her phone is on silent so she can focus, and John doesn't bring it when he “works out,” so…”

    “I'll get 'em!” Markus volunteered right before he dashed out the door. Kate shrugged as if she had predicted that response, then approached me. Her handshake was night and day different from Markus's, being weak and missing effort rather than over the top.

    “You don't have a name do you? That's why you're hoping to round everyone up isn't it?” She glanced at Kazz.

    “That's the idea, if you're okay with it that is,” he asked me.

    “Uh, yeah, sure, I guess.” I figured it'd be good to hear some suggestions before I made a decision. I took a seat on the couch. It wasn't super fancy, but it was comfortable enough.

    We waited for just a little over five minutes before Markus came in with Isebel and John in tow. Isebel was the first one in after Markus. She had fair skin, and pointed facial features. To contrast her rather short height at probably five foot two, she had long blonde hair that went down past her shoulders. She was dressed in a marbled brown cloth that wrapped around and around and around her, covering her body and legs like a snake, but leaving her arms free. I don't know how she wasn't cold.

    John on the other hand was nearly your stereotypical lumberjack, albeit a bit wider than usual. He was gargantuan and had to duck to get through the doorway, he was easily 7 feet tall, no more though. He had short curly brown hair, and a short curly beard to match. His nose was the smallest thing about his face, his ears stuck out from his hair, and I'm betting he could eat an entire half pound burger in one bite. He wore black exercise shorts and a blank white T-shirt that showed off his arms. His bicep was bigger than my leg, and his legs, well, they could probably crush me.

    John's voice was deep when he spoke. “Hey new guy.”

    Isebel was more calculating in what she said, and  her accent sounded fairly British. “Greetings newcomer.” I stood and we had a fairly one sided name exchange. Isebel had a very loose handshake, but John tried to crush my hand.

    The six of us sat down in the various chairs around the room. I took a seat on the right side of the couch by the windows. Kazz plopped down in an individual recliner diagonally to my right, and Markus sat on the left side of the couch I was on. John and Isebel sat on the sofa opposite me, and Kate sat on the arm of Kazz’s cushy brown recliner.

    “So, new guy, Kazz told us your side of the story, but what are we gonna call you?” John asked sitting forward a bit. While I felt more welcomed by this group, I still wasn't used to having all those eyes on me.

    “Heck, I don't know,” I shrugged.

    Kazz glanced up at Kate. “Tim?”

    Kate snorted. “No, we are not naming him after my father.” “What does he think though?”

    I shook my head. It didn’t sound right. Regardless that it was the name of Kate’s father, it just didn’t fit. “I don’t know, that's just not quite me. I don’t know how to describe it.”

    “That’s fair,” Isebel nodded. “How about Abraham?”

    “No,” Kazz interrupted, “There was a bully at my high school named Abraham.”

    “But what does he think?” Isebel emphasised. Kazz rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. I shook my head again.

    The afternoon pretty much went on like for a little while, with everyone throwing names at me to see if they’d stick. They might as well have been ping pong balls since they all bounced off of me. “Michael?” “No,” “Jeffery?” “No,” “Justin?” “Nah.”

    “Oh come on man, you’ve got to work with us here,” John light-heartedly complained while laughing through his nose.

    “Hey, it's a big deal! I'm going to be stuck with it forever!” I held my hands up in a shrug, chuckling a bit myself. Most everyone else did to, with the exception of Kate.

    Kazz groaned and stretched as he stood, forming a t-shape with his arms. Kate hopped off her arm of the chair, looking up at him with intrigue. Everyone else in the room did the same. He was clearly the leader, and when he stood, everyone paid attention.

    “Let's talk more over dinner, I'm starving.”

    5 minutes later and a quick trip to the bathroom we left for dinner. It was a pretty short walk as the base wasn't very large, but it was enough for Kazz and I to talk. We walked in front of the rest of the group who idly chatted with each other. Most of them were listening to Isebel talk about her research, but Kate followed Kazz and I closely, listening silently.

    Kazz explained to me the layout of the campus, and how to find my way around. He told me that all the housing was on the north side, and it consisted of six buildings. There were three large barracks for the conventional mages, one for the arch mages, and two for the special operations teams, including ours.

    “The other team is Skull Squad.” Kazz explained as we wandered our way to dinner, Kazz's breath now visible in the air. “While officially they're strictly for combat operations, and we're more general, there's a little bit of a rivalry between us. They are the best of the best, no other mage can fight like they do, so naturally they sit on pretty high horses. They also have a pretty incredible record of not once having failed a mission. 'Cuz of all that, they kinda look down on us as being inferior. Which, to be fair, is kinda true, but we try our best not to let it get to us.” Kazz shrugged.

    John held open one of the large wooden doors to the cafeteria, or the Joint Building as they called it. Constructed out of brick, concrete, and glass, it was one of the newest structures in the whole base. The second story had one massive floor to ceiling window that leaned out over the ground beneath it.

    “The main floor is the mess hall along with some places to come together and relax. Above it is offices and record keeping, and on the far side of the is the lab.”

    The cafeteria had a large vaulted ceiling with halogen lights hanging down, interspersed with idle fans. Everything above the 7 foot tall wood paneling on the walls was painted white. There were many long bench style tables, and about six or seven round tables with stool seating.

    We followed the wall on our right to a station to grab plastic trays. I let Kazz and Kate go first so I could watch and follow what they did.

    Everything was served ala-carte style with various stations serving different varieties of food. The closest serving salads, another serving other various sides, and then a main course area.

    “You gotta try the grilled vegetables,” Markus suggested as he slopped two spoonfuls onto the plate I had just grabbed. I blinked at it, then put it on my tray.

    “Alright.” They did smell pretty good.

    I caught up to Kazz, and served myself mashed potatoes after him. Main course was flank steak, or some vegetarian thing that Isebel got.

    We walked through the middle of the room with our meals, gathering a bit of attention. Some of them fretted Kazz or others in the squad, but most of them stared at me. I told myself it's because I'm the new guy, but I could only hope I was right.

    Kazz sat at one of the round tables near the door, then Kate and I sat on either side of him. Everyone unwrapped their silverware and dug in. Until now, I had been so distracted I hadn't noticed how hungry I was. Having not eaten anything since breakfast, dinner was a godsend.

    “So is this where everyone eats every meal?” I asked between bites.

    “Most of us,” Markus choked out through the food in his mouth.

    Kazz held up a finger and swallowed his bite. “Most of us do, but it depends on what kinds of missions people are on. If you're assigned to discover, liberate, or capture Gateways, meals are on your own. Same with spirit hunting. Extended scouting missions too, although depending on where you're deployed you're probably better off packing a ration pouch.”

    “Hold on,” I held up my hand. “Can we go back to the Gateways part? What are those?”