Heights had never been the problem. Not the vast open sky or the ground so far below that surviving the drop was impossible. Not even an approaching enemy on the horizon phased Leo the way the sight below did. Scorched earth, dying people, or people dead so long their bones glinted ivory in the mucky sunlight. Killed by monsters that now crawled over their corpses. That’s what scared him, what brought on the rolling nausea and disgust.

He shuttered his window and tried to focus on the task at hand. Berlin would be waiting for him when he was done in the States. The quicker he got this over with, the better.

“You can’t sit with me.”

“What? Why?”

Leo had closed his eyes, but now a single one opened to glare at the plucky redhead beside him. “Harvey…” he warned. “You know I don’t like sharing rows.”

Harvey shrugged, loading his luggage above them anyway. “And you know I don’t like sitting by myself. Considering your father booked the entire plane,” he expands his arms in a gesture to the whole, empty jetliner, “you’re my only option. Grumbly as you are.”

Leo could already feel his head pounding. Harvey may have been the closest thing to a friend Leo had, but he didn’t have to like it. It’s not like he asked for him to make an attempt for friendship, anyway. That was something of their parents making. “You talk too much,” Leo grumbled, leaning against his shuttered window to get as far away from Harvey as possible.

“And you could stand to talk more,” Harvey countered, finally settling in his seat. “Open the window, by the way.”

“If you want the view, move.”

“Oh, come on, Leo. We’re out over the ocean now. Gotta be.”

Harvey was probably right, but it didn’t matter. The oceans weren’t any better, really. If they were lucky, the only things in the water would be battleships and carriers flying flags from the few countries that remained intact. But, more often than not, people could see the scaly little freaks attempting assaults on the reinforced steel warships.

It really did suck how resilient their kind were. The skies, the ocean, the depths of the Earth itself. Clean shots from rifles could kill them, but their areas of vulnerability were so. Fucking. Small. Artillery had been mankind’s best friend for a time. But that was before they ran out of munitions and their means of production were obliterated. And nukes…they were the reason the entire continent of South America was now unlivable.

Funny thing was, all those nukes had done little to nothing to destroy the population of the slimy serpents taking refuge there. Hiding as though they were the victims.

“I don’t care,” came Leo’s short, aggressive response. “I don’t want to see it. See them. Just let it rest, Harvey. Or leave. I don’t care.” Cold as steel, his voice was, leaving no space for an argument.

“You know what, Leo? Fuck you,” Harvey snorted, abruptly standing and walking away.

That was fine. It’d only been a little over an hour, but that was plenty of time for Leo’s irritation to begin its assault on his tired mind. Besides, it wasn’t like Leo really cared about losing a friend he hadn’t asked for. It was better to be alone, better to not feel the fear of losing someone you cared about. It grew apathy like a poisonous spore, sure. But did that really matter when you were only going through the motions? And, even on the off chance it did matter, Leo didn’t care. He had one mission: kill every one of those scaly, humanoid freaks and free this world from their reign of terror.

He excelled at it. The best of the best at the young age of twenty-seven, Leo had killed well over thirty of the things. Felling each one brought a thrill he could only explain as euphoric. Part of him whispered that he was turning into just as much of a monster as they were, but a more prominent part shouted the importance of his work. How it prevented another kid from watching their mother and siblings gutted like fish. How it honored his own after their deaths.

It wasn’t just his job, and Leo willingly admitted that. It was personal, a trail of revenge that he felt absolutely justified in paving with the blood of his enemies. Helped that literally every termination company eagerly vied for his hand in teaching recruits how to efficiently destroy their enemy.

Denver, Colorado, had been discovered as a long-held refuge for a concerning population of the draconem. A new barrack had been built at the base of Wolf Creek Pass, tucked in between Fox Mountain and the I-160. Leo was being called in to prep the new facility crew for operations. It included everyone from advancement soldiers to defenders to even the people who swept floors and cleaned toilets. Everyone had to be ready to take down the threat if it advanced on their refuge. Everyone had to have the ability to kill one if the opportunity presented itself. There was no mercy, no empathy. Those were dangerous; they’d get you killed within a day.

Leo would be there to strip it all away.

He’d do it quickly.

He’d do it efficiently.

By the end of it, the new barracks would be armed with some of the most dangerous and unflinching militants in the area. What little draconem remained in this mountain pass would be annihilated by the end of the month. An easy paycheck and an even easier way to boost Leo’s numbers. He couldn’t say that the grin twitching at his lips hadn’t been brought about at the prospect.

As a matter of fact, he was having a harder time containing the exclamation just lingering on the tip of his tongue. He fell asleep with a smile to the gentle hum of the plane’s six engines.