Mystic Mantle by Kevin Mclaughlin & Michael Anderle

Author:Kevin Mclaughlin & Michael Anderle [Mclaughlin, Kevin & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2024-02-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The men’s eyes lit up when they got their hands on my modified rifles. I watched them fire at some paper targets about twenty yards out, which hung from wooden signposts at the other end of a large, empty field. Daniel was there. Miles was too. Keaton looked steadier on his feet. He fired a shot, and the laser ripped through a piece of paper in the distance with a crackle and a pop. The soldiers all knelt in a line at the edge of a concrete walkway. Mitchell and I stood a few feet behind them, watching as one after the other released small bursts of laser fire. The sun was still shining brightly, although it was slowly setting.

Keaton smiled broadly. “Booyah!” He made eye contact with me. “Man, Smith, I love these modifications. I never knew you were an inventor too.”

I laughed awkwardly and scratched my head. “Yeah, well, I got used to doing things like this back in Kortall.”

Daniel came up to me and extended his hand. I shook it.

He smiled. “Excellent work, sir. These will be of great use in fighting the reapers.”

I chuckled. “That’s the idea.”

I stood at the edge of the field for a while, watching various soldiers line up and take shots. They were great about sharing space. They tagged out regularly with new arrivals, and everyone got a fair opportunity to take some practice shots. Rounds of cheers rose from the men’s ranks upon each hit.

The air was starting to cool. I pulled my jacket tighter around me.

Mitchell stepped closer. She wore a jacket identical to mine. She undid her bun and shook her hair out. We stood side-by-side, watching as a cacophony of weapons sounded in front of us.

She glanced at me. “Good job today, Smith.”

I nodded. “Good job yourself.”

She glanced at the soldiers. “You know, one day, this nightmare will all be over. The reapers will be gone, and things will return to normal. Then I’ll have to decide what I want for my future. I have no frickin’ clue, dude.”

I glanced at her in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

Mitchell wrinkled her nose. “The Army will keep me on if I want. General Patterson wants me to keep moving up. But a little before the reapers attacked, I got a call from NASA…”

Mitchell looked up at the sky, and I saw a spark in her eyes.

She continued in a dreamy voice. “I always wanted to go to outer space. Now that I have the opportunity, I wonder, is it worth the life I’d give up here on Earth? Because if you’ve shown me anything, it’s that there’s a lot more to the world than I’d thought!”

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