Lieutenant Sawyer ran into the hallway just behind the rest of her team. The dretch easily dwarfed the soldiers, being twice as tall as a man and was built like a wrestler. Naked save for its ragged loincloth, its size made it look almost like a gigantic baby. Well, except for the nasty roar and a maw of sharp teeth.

The team had started without her. Lieutenant Prowse, Samuels, and Walker were on full auto-fire while Rodriguez was providing cover fire for the rottweilers as it jumped in, bit, jumped back. Douglas was tossing blue fire at the demon. Of course, the dretch ignored it while pounding a rottweiler, who was staying just beyond the reach of the monster.

She had been told to only use the ring when it looked like her team could lose; she decided that the conditions of the ring had been fulfilled. She put it on and yelled, “Huc!” She then felt a tingle; she was unsure if that was a good thing or if she was soon going to be in worse trouble. A blue dot formed just in front of her and expanded into a meter-radius circle. The circle rose until it was two meters off the ground, becoming a cylinder of solid blue light. A male figure quickly walked out of the cylinder, then it disappeared into the floor.

The cylinder left behind a scrawny teenage boy with a blonde buzzcut. He was in combat boots, camo pants, and an open gray sleeveless sweatshirt. He was carrying a rifle so futuristic that it looked like a plastic toy and a large something covered in crystals and glyphs. His pale skin was covered in multi-colored tattoos.

He pulled on a headset and looked at her with his emerald green eyes. “Hello, I'm your emergency situation assistant. What is the nature of your emergency?”

Confused, she pointed at the dretch.

He looked at the dretch. “Are you serious?”

“Yep! It's about to start eating my people.”

“Fine. Call your people back. Hold my stake gun.” He handed the large something to her with one hand.

She almost let it fall to the ground but caught it with both hands; it was far heavier than his casualness with it had made it seem. “Everyone, retreat!”

The team scrambled away from the dretch; the sudden lack of playmates left it confused. The boy crouched into a combat stance and then leaped at the dretch, easily clearing the ten meters between him and it. He cocked his hand and then punched it. The demon was dazed. He landed and snap-kicked the demon. The demon flew into a wall and fell.

It didn't rise.

The group was in shock. Lieutenant Sawyer was impressed. A smile started across Douglas' face.

The boy walked back over to Lieutenant Sawyer. “No offense to you, but I was told to expect vampires. I was hoping that there were vampires here. I am not in Mexico, am I?”

She smiled. “Nope. You're in South Dakota. Just outside of what used to be Rapid City.”

“Great. So demons are the local pest problem. I will need to obtain a different large gun.” He motioned at the stake gun. She handed it to him.

"That is a pretty large gun itself.” She looked over at her team. “So...was anyone hurt in the battle?” Everyone looked themselves over and shook their heads.

The boy slung his weapons. “Well, that is good. You have apparently come into possession of an edging ring. We thought that they had all been destroyed or lost by this era.”

"Nice to know it's rare, I suppose.”

“Yes. Then I guess that I am the lucky person to give you that mandatory orientation. As you have obviously figured out the word that summons me, you have earned the word that sends me back home: 'exite'.” She started to say the word; he put his finger on her lips to stop her. “Not just yet. You can use that once per day, as defined as 'between midnight local time'. No idea how many times you can do that per day. Got me so far?”

"Sure. Sounds simple enough.” She rubbed her ring.

"Now that I have been summoned, you do not need to be in a ley line to use either word.” She looked confused. “Right. You probably called them 'blue areas” or something like that.”

“Blue zones, but yeah.”

“That will change once you figure it out.” He took a slightly more relaxed stance. “Looks like right after The Cataclysm. Interesting.”

She slung her weapons. “One obvious question, kid. What's your name?”

It was his turn to look confused. “I guess I forgot that. I am Kev, your emergency situation assistant. And yours?”

"Lieutenant Catherine Sawyer.” She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

He just nodded. “Thank you.” He looked over her squad. “Good tight squad. A cyborg, even though I would guess you all have some sort of implants, two combat specialists, a scout, two combat droids, and a scouter droid. Nice.” He looked at Douglas. “I am guessing the mage is not part of the usual group.” Douglas smiled. “But I have no doubt he will be asking me a lot of questions in the future.

Lieutenant Sawyer smiled. “Try and stop him.” Suddenly aware that there was no activity around her, she decided it was time to change that. “Would everyone mind cleaning their weapons? Thank you.” The group grabbed their weapons and started cleaning them. Rodriguez started with the rottweiler. Douglas just hoped she ignored him so he could continue studying the boy.

"You would not happen to know where the local surf shop is, would you?”

She returned to her confusion. “Not really a location known for its surfing. Landlocked and all that.”

"Right. South Dakota. Could you do me a favor and look for a good surf shop anyway? I am always looking for a good vintage surfboard. Australia has some decent waves about now, and there should be no huge sea monsters. Yet.”

“Surf shop. Got it. So...would you mind coming with us to meet the local leadership?” She looked at him, pleading with her eyes.

He looked pained for a moment. “Fine. And I guess that means you will want to run some tests as well, right?” She nodded. “Fine. How far away is your HQ, and in what direction?”

She pointed roughly east. “And about two hours away.”

"I keep forgetting that people use time as distance.” His head cocked to the side, looked at her like he was working out what to say, and straightened his head. “No, I need the distance. I am technically more of a transportation specialist and the actual distance helps more than how long it took you to walk here.”

She was mildly annoyed. “Time is more useful to us.” He was about to interject but she answered before he could. “But it should be about twelve kilometers.”

“That works.” He looked at Douglas, then her. “For future consideration, is he part of the group?”

Douglas stopped studying him. “I'm more of an adjutant.”

"Will he be coming with us or does he needs to be somewhere else?”

Douglas looked at Lieutenant Sawyer as her eyes rolled. “Douglas will be coming with us. I owe him a meal if nothing else.” Douglas visibly lit up. She shook her head.

"All right then. Would you prefer to clean weapons here or at your base?”

Everyone looked hopefully at her. She acquiesced to the group. “At the base.”

He touched a tattoo on his left breast, one that looked like a blue hole. The hole faded to a medium gray and a blue circle appeared in front of him. “Do not worry; the portal is perfectly safe. Shall we?”

Peering in, Lieutenant Sawyer saw the outside Fort Solace. “This had better be safe.” She motioned to the hole. “All right, guys, through the portal we go. Hurry, please!”

The entire group picked up their weapons and tools and looked at her before walking through. She followed them and was followed by a grinning Douglas.

Kev sighed. “This is going to be all sorts of fun.” He went in and the portal disappeared. Only the dead demon gave any trace that they had been there.

* * * * *

Kev walked out of the portal and it disappeared; the tattoo returned to its normal colors. Everyone but Lieutenant Sawyer and Douglas were already walking to the base, just a relative few meters away.

Douglas was energized. “Wait until I tell the guys!” He looked at Kev. “Can we do that again?”

Kev smiled at the mage. “You should know how to do that yourself.”

Douglas' glow faded. Lieutenant Sawyer looked at him. He looked at his skin. “This is normally what happens when I step away from a zone. It just means I'm sort of at your mercy until I get back.”

"Interesting; I've never seen you without your aura before. Can you take your glasses off?”

"Anything for you.” He removed the glasses.

She looked at his eyes, noting that they were brown. “So that's what your normal eyes look like. Heh. You can put them back on.” She grabbed a chit from her pocket. “All right, tell Sergeant Hyde at the mess hello for me then.” He looked at her as if needing direction. “Just follow the signs. Also, talk to Rodriguez about a temporary pallet; I'd like for you to stay the night.” He nodded, then ran off. She turned to Kev. “I can summon you any time now?”

He nodded. “Pretty much, sure. I would suggest you limit it to when you feel threatened due to its limits, but I expect that over the next couple of days you'll be testing it out. I would not worry about losing it anymore if I were you; it has likely bonded to you already.”

She tried to take it off, but it wouldn't budge. “Interesting.” She looked back at the kid. “Okay. And you still have no problem with submitting to testing?”

“Yes; I am sort of curious about a few things myself, such as your level of technology.”

"Interesting. See you tomorrow, then. Exite!”

"I obviously forgot to mention that you do not need to shout.”

Kev was surrounded by a blue circle that expanded into a cylinder as tall as Kev, then disappeared. Kev was gone.

She started walking into the entrance. “Well, this is going to be a fun report to write....”