Chapter 33: Everything Changes

  Marcus stepped out of the taxi and took off his new headphones. The base was already rebuilt and as good as new. He could still see some remnants of the battle two months ago but they were fading like an old wound. The driver helped him with his bags and Marcus paid for the service with a big bonus tip. It was a long journey back for the man but Marcus had decided earlier to use a taxi and spent his own money to get to base.

  He slowly walked over the courtyard and Russo came out of the training hall followed by a young black woman with red dyed hair. They greeted shortly, the woman went to the dorms and Russo gave Marcus a strong handshake. “It is good to see you. You look changed.” the older man said, to Marcus’ surprise. He looked changed? He had changed but he didn’t think this was visible on the outside.

  “A lot happened in a short amount of time. Who was that woman?” he asked and Russo scratched his head. “Right, you would not know, yet. Lars has quit the job and went back home to his family.” Russo explained that after the last attack and the heavy burns Lars had suffered, his wife begged him to come home and he could not say no to her. Lars was now an instructor for martial arts. For Marcus this was a shock and he dropped his bags. This was not what he expected, not now, not here.

  “Pavel has left too, you missed him by a week. He went to a tryout from a respectable clan and they were very impressed with his Air Step skills. They took him in. He actually wanted to wait until you come back but then you took longer and his clan had plans.” Russo looked at Marcus and added “And I don’t think you two will stay for long either.”

  Marcus blinked and turned around. Janette stood a hundred meter away, in an outdoor look, dirt and grime was on her clothing and she carried her large rifle. Marcus watched her approach and saw many small changes in her. Her hair had grown longer and looked wild. Her eyes seemed more focused and everything about her felt more determined. Suddenly she was just a step away.

  “Are you not going to greet me, you big lump of wood?” She opened her mouth and it was still Janette. Marcus smiled and just hugged her, lifting her off the ground, not caring that Russo stood right next to them. He put her down and she looked him up and down “You have changed.” She said and Marcus rolled his eyes. “Why is everybody saying that?” They laughed but Janette had a thoughtful look on her face.

  “And what about you. You look like you crawled through the forest on your belly, is that part of your “epic training montage”?” Marcus said and Janette took a super hero pose. “You bet. You are looking at a super badass, who cracked the second ability of the Hawkeye class.” She said and looked very smug. “Come on. I will show you.” She pulled Marcus away from his bags and Russo, who just shook his head and went to the admin building. Janette looked psyched and dragged him to the shooting range. “I worked my bloody ass off I will let you know.” and she looked at Marcus as if it was his fault.

  In the range she put a paper target at 25 meter and drew her pistol. One shot and the bullet hit the center of the target without fail. Marcus played surprised “UNBELIEVABLE such accuracy!” she kicked him. “You just wait I’m going to make you drop on your knees and call me prodigy, even my Cherry was impressed.” She put a fresh target on the range and pulled out a black sleeping mask, Marcus laughed and got another deserved kick. She put the mask on “turn me around”, and Marcus did turn her like a spinning top. When he stopped, her arm moved over to the target and one shot fell, a hit in the middle of the target. “What do you say now?” Janette pulled her mask off.

  Marcus was perplexed and Janette put her pistol away. “I call it Hunter Sight. It takes a lot of concentration and I have not mastered it yet.” Marcus looked at her and had to agree that she was incredible. In only two months she had created a new ability, from nothing.

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  “To show you the full power of Hunter Sight we need to go into the forest.” She said and Marcus played along. How hard had she worked on this? Marcus felt a seed of worry in his stomach.

  They walked a fair bit into the forest (Marcus’ bags are still in the courtyard) and Janette carried her large rifle. From a small bag she pulled a red apple and looked at it for a few seconds as if she wondered how it would taste “Take this and hide it somewhere nearby.” She put the apple in his hand. Marcus walked 50 meter and wanted to hide the apple “Further!” She shouted and Marcus walked further “FURTHER!” and Marcus ran away until he barely saw her. He hid the apple between two splitting branches of a large tree. He jogged back to her sitting on the ground playing with her phone. “You done?” She asked and he nodded.

  She got up, put the rifle to her shoulder, turned and shot with barely a second for aiming. The shot rang through the silent landscape. “You hit it.” Marcus said. “But you have not checked yet. You have to go there, see the apple pieces and be super amazed.” She was sulking but Marcus just smiled “You hit it. You are amazing.” She really was. “So how does this work?”

  “I was able to see the target before like it was closer, more real in a way. Now if I can visualize the target I know where it is and hit. Even without light or if it is hidden behind something. Once I have locked on to my target I will hit, if my weapon is powerful enough to punch through potential cover.” She explained and then her expression became very serious. “This is good enough, right?”

  Marcus looked at her and that strange feeling from before returned. “Good enough for what?”, he asked and she took a deep breath “For us to move on together. I’m not going to be your “has been” friend who could not keep up.” Marcus stared at her in disbelief. “I just got here, I have not even emptied my bags. I’m not going...” But Janette was adamant “You are not going to stay, you are moving on and I’m not going to fall behind.”

  Marcus looked at Janette and nobody talked for a minute while his brain tried to understand what she meant. Finally he started to comprehend that Janette was the one who had already seen ahead. The things he wanted to talk about, she already thought about, when he left for the expedition. He was the slow one and this was all so sudden. Lars, Pavel both have left and now she pushed the matter. But running away at this point was not an option.

  “I’m selfish.” He looked her straight in the eye. “You are right, I only recently realized that I want to move on, further and higher. The thing is, I had planed to talk you into coming with me. I prepared arguments and hoped to convince you to give it a shot. Walking forward together. I do not want to let go of you.” He watched her reaction trapped between fear and hope and a large portion of embarrassment. Janette laughed and smacked her tights. “We are real morons. You and me. We are worried about the same thing.”

  They were leaning against a birch tree trying to get their emotions in check. “This would be more normal if I was a dude.” Janette said. Marcus turned his head with a skeptic look. “We would just be two dudes becoming best friends and saving the world together. Really standard stuff.” She said while looking at leafs on the ground. “Yeah, but then we would have a falling out because we both would be after the same girl and then one of us would die and say something like “Promise me you will make her happy ARGHHH”.” Marcus said and they laughed.

  “Do you have the hots for Cherry? You can tell me, I’m not going to be angry.” Janette asked and Marcus nearly got red ears. “No, I mean your girl is super hot but there is no chemistry between us. Coincidentally, I just met another hot girl and it was the same, no sparks at all. With Monika it was fireworks from the first second.” Janette looked at her big friend. “Never thought I would meet a guy, I could be with, like this. Say these things, ask these questions.”

  Then they sat there for a long while. “What are we going to do now?” Janette asked.

  “To be honest I want to take a break, a real one. Two maybe three months of traveling and relaxing. Enough time to calm down and to plan for the future. I have enough funds for it. Would be enough for two.” Marcus said.

  “Pffftt. I can pay myself, thank you. But I like the idea, just one thing, in about three months Cherry and I are going to get married. And you are going to be there.” was Janette’s answer. Marcus nodded and made a salute. “Yes, mam.”, “Good soldier.” and they laughed again. He had not been laughing like this for months.

  “Cherry is loaded btw. I’m marrying into big money.” Janette said wiggling her eyebrows. “I beat a 6 meter monster beetle with my bare hands to death.” Marcus countered.

  Janette’s eyes grew big, “Tell. Me. Everything!”.