A year, that’s how long between the first incursion was, the whole west ranges plunged into fear as demons ravaged the nds. There was no warning, no decration of war, just their sudden arrival.

  A freak scenario it had to be; surely nothing like this could ever happen again.

  A year, long enough for people to become comfortable, short enough for new response strategies to be drawn up, however too short for them to be fully implemented.

  A year… the demons came back. Appearing from nowhere again dropping down from the sky in random unpredictable ways, the second incursion was bigger; the rangers engaged in futile brawls but nothing came of it apart from the few mangled corpses the rangers were able to collect and autopsy. This gave the rangers a marginally deeper understanding of what exactly they fought. These demons shockingly were not from the realms of hell, it was somehow natural.

  Six months. Surely after that st incursion; there was no logic in that sentiment, just hope, any more and the western ranges would be plunged into a dark age. People's homes were rebuilt and life started to crawl back to its usual pace, the dead were buried and mourned. Life wasn’t easy for the family of the dead but after six months the fresh wounds were closing and a sense of progress and healing began to take root.

  Six months, numbers unlike any seen before ravaged the ranges. The rangers were brutally effective with their freshly drilled combat doctrines. The western rangers stood toe to toe with the forces from a preserved hell and stood victorious. Victorious in its most pyrrhic sense. Won more battles than lost, more of them dead than us, but the nd was ravaged and fields burned to the ground, the demons had changed adapted they used to be leopard like; lying in wait for people to be lured towards the small packs ambush, a squad missing just outside a small town were unfortunately common news.

  These ones were entirely new; the leopards still fought but a new unit joined something more headstrong, more willing to run head first into a bloody brawl.

  Foxes were slimmer and tougher; they would frequently shrug off multiple shots unfazed and worse yet they started deploying basic tactics to destroy basic ranger formations. Something like this was not entirely natural; it was now showing a constant adaptation on a deep controlled level as if they were being aimed. The same constant patterns of flooding in from the east while small groups ravaged the back lines, their coordination grew from random at best to well thought through sound and logical warfare methods.

  A gavel struck its sounding block. A verdict had been made the rangers had pushed for permission to send exhibitions out east, and today the vote had been cast. Cck, cck, cck. The room stood in silence

  “The bill in front of me today is to finally be voted on.” The speaker organised his papers. “In front of me y twenty objections. And it's safe to say the proposal is controversial for many reasons, henceforth this vote will be blind, and your decision to vote for or against will remain a secret.” He cleared his throat. “Do not let your fear guide your decision making.”

  Alexis paced through the muddied cobblestone courtyard, trudging his boots along the pathways he looked at the clock tower, eleven-twenty-three, verdict would be received midday. He was anxious it seemed like either way the bill was passed it would be death from being overrun by the never-ending horde stomping them out, or equally dangerous, death by logistics being stretched thin unable to react.

  He had a preference of course, but more in the sense of a death row inmate picking the method. The only difference is one had a chance.

  Cyrus found him, and stopped his never-ending track. “Kid.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What are you doing?”

  Alexis gnced at the clock, eleven-twenty-five. “waiting for midday.”

  “Come, get some lunch with me.”

  Alexis nodded. “Are you paying?”

  Cyrus smiled. “When have I not?”

  “Plenty of times you old bastard.”

  Cyrus jabbed Alexis’s arm. “It was one time.”

  The cafe was small with only three tables and eight chairs around but it was enough, it was going to be a slow day most people either outside the hall waiting for any update or at home waiting for the bell to ring.

  It chimed once, the bell tolled causing the ptes and cutlery to buzz on the table. Cyrus’s cup clinked as he pced it on the stone counter top. “Best we go see the results.” And firmly patted Alexis on the shoulder.

  Alexis looked down at his still full coffee. “Yeah, we probably should.”

  The courtyard was packed. People crammed in as the balcony doors creaked open. Slowly, a man in a leather jacket stepped out and waved a bell in his hand high above his head for a few seconds letting crowds chatter to fade. “Hear ye, hear ye.” He rang the bell more and the st conversations in the crowd ended abruptly. “The council has decided in a one-oh-one to ninety nine ruling supporting the rangers to unch expeditions to solve our demon infestations. That is all.” The w was passed by a single vote majority.

  Alexis sighed. “Guess I’m going out then?” He gnced over to Cyrus.

  “And what makes you think I’d even pick you.”

  Alexis shrugged. “My good looks?”

  Cyrus shook his head. “No, but close. Ya got till midnight to be ready to report to the rangers stables.”

  “Aye.” Alexis nodded.

  Alexis went to his dorm room, it was small and cramped. He packed a rge ruck bag and pced it on the bedside table he sat down and quickly and admittedly half assed his cleaning of his rifle. But he kept it in good condition and it hardly had any rounds through it so it didn’t need one too badly to begin with.

  It was te afternoon when he had everything in order he set his clock to wake him up at 11:30 pm. He y, trying to fall asleep.