Children of a Lesser God

Laz had no choice but to respond.

"SIR. REINFORCEMENTS FROM THE BASE. WE JUST GOT HERE."

"REINFORCEMENTS? Ah. Right. I heard they were sending people over. Alright. Get your gear and meet up with Agent Wallace who is in charge of deployment. Follow the signs and head downstairs. You'll probably be stuck with base duty once we get inside."

"Inside what sir?"

"Didn't they tell you anything about the assignment?"

"No sir. We were just told to come and support whoever was in charge."

"Well... I guess that makes sense. The smaller the number of people who know about this the safer it would be. At least that was my thought before they turned this into a goddamn media circus." The Major looked like he was pissed with no where to vent his frustration. Seeing the young Captain in front of him caused him to settle down however since it wouldn't be right of him to blame a solder for doing his job.

"Alright. Get going. I'll have someone fill you in on your way down... COLLINS. GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND GIVE THEM A SIT REP,"

A young Corporal came over and saluted before indicating that Laz's group should follow him.

As they made their way through the throngs of people lining up at the doors and disappeared out of sight, the Major couldn't help but stop a minute and look at the now disappearing backs of Laz's team.

"I don't think I even asked for their unit number or call sign... wait... how many of them were there? God damn it... I need a vacation..." The Major then continued along while yelling orders to various solders completing tasks outside the building.

"Captain, you got the standard 'other world' briefing before being deployed, correct?" Corporal Collins asked as they made their way to the staircase.

"All I was told was go here, follow orders and don't say a damn word about anything."

"How helpful. Alright. What we are doing is following the reps from Global Sciences in an investigation. Although we are there to provide the muscle as they like to call it, their own people, namely the Evolved, will be taking point and we just get grunt work duties."

"Evolved?"

"They really haven't been spreading the information like they should," the Corporal sighed as he began walking down the stairs.

"I've been stationed with various groups for about a year now as we have been working closely with Global Sciences to investigate several of these sights. Global Sciences has done individual recon ops on these gates before, but never in a joint ops with us. But as the need for more trained individuals arises, they asked the government for help. As such, we are basically becoming the workforce while they are the point men. So keep your anger in check when these cocky bastards look down on you. And they will look down on you."

Laz nodded his head, getting an idea of what was going on. Manpower for something like this needed to be well trained and expendable. Although a private company like Global Sciences could supply some man power, once the need got too big, they would stretch themselves thin. As such, their partnership with the government could provide them with military help in that department. They wouldn't be much help with fighting off the things that might pop up in a gate, but they could at least be well trained hands that wouldn't run off in the event of a fight.

"Anyway. They call them Evolved since the whole 'Chosen' name was deemed way too religious by many. Calling them 'Evolved' makes it easier for everyone to accept them as being the next stage in human evolution as opposed to some sort of religious fanatics."

Hearing this explanation, Laz agreed and was pissed off at the same time. Even the calm, cool and unshakable Ruby was clenching her fists like she wanted to hit something.

'Got to be sensitive about how people view their new lords and saviors after all while fucking over those of us who were different,' Laz thought to himself. He knew things for people like him would get much worse soon, but he just didn't know what he could do about it. Then again, as long as he managed to protect himself and those around him, that would be enough, right?.

And although Laz had a few ideas, he still didn't know why such a deep seeded hatred existed between them. He didn't deny that he felt it, he just didn't know why he felt it.

But what did it matter in the end? Some people were just meant to be enemies. Even if the whole world was against him, Laz would never stop moving forward. Not until he found his parents and his grandpa was safe... all of them.

But for the moment, Laz felt it best to focus on here and now. With a slight hand movement, he was able to get Ruby's attention. And with just a nod, he was able to calm her down.

"Anyway Captain. Although I am not one hundred percent sure, I'm guessing you and your men will be part of the base crew. Once they open up the other side, your job will be to go in and set up a recon and ops base. Once that's set, you will be on standby until further orders. But like I said, that's only a guess."

"Got it. Thank you Corporal."

"Of course sir. We've got to stick together after all. To tell you the truth..."

"Yes Corporal?"

"Well sir. Between us. I don't really like these guys. They basically act like they are god's gift to the human race. Fuck sir, some of them even act like god himself! It's sickening. Maybe they are like golden idols to the normal people. But if you spend any amount of time with them, you learn that they are all egotistical narcissists..."

"CORPORAL!" Laz said in a stern tone.

"SIR... Sorry sir."

"It's ok Corporal. There are just some places that are safe to speak and some that aren't."

Laz felt like he should stop the young man now before he got himself overheard. Besides which, Laz felt like what he was saying was his honest opinion, but this could just be a set up to test Laz and his men too. You could never be too sure.

"Compared to the few infected that I've seen, the difference is like night and day?"

"Oh? How so?" Laz knew he shouldn't have asked, but he really was curious as to how the young man who looked to be older than Laz felt about people like Laz.

"Even if they change into some freaky looking monsters, they still act more human that these asshats."

"It's best if you keep that opinion between us Corporal."

"Yes sir."

"Where did you end up encountering those infected anyway? From what I have heard, they are a mostly spread out bunch and they've been mostly kept off the news." Laz probed to see what info he could get.

"Well sir... We encountered a group while we were on route from base. Those evolved managed to sniff them out somehow and decided they would have some fun and attack them. After killing about half of them, the other half were detained and sent to a secret prison facility. I'm not sure where it is since it was only heresay, but from the sounds of it, it's big and isolated."

"That... sigh... will we ever learn from our mistakes?" Laz asked, thinking about some things. At the same time, the Corporal nodded his head, thinking Laz was thinking the same thing.

"I know, right? My grandpa used to talk about the concentration camps he came across back in the war all those years ago. He even told me that the US was one of the first countries to use them although were weren't actively trying to kill it's occupants. Still, for us to throw American citizens into these places..."

"Corporal. Although your heart is in the right place, it would be best if in the future, you learned to talk less. You never know who might be listening." Laz could feel a spiritual sense lock onto them as he cut off the young man once again. The spiritual sense was nowhere near as powerful as Laz's, but it was still pretty impressive.

Laz knew they had reached the basement.

As if on que, the young Corporal opened the double doors and propped it open, allowing for Laz and his followers to move inside.

They were greeted by a site they would never forget.

The entire basement had been dug out leaving only the foundation in place. In the center, lit up by a large number of spot lights, stood a single door that looked like it led to nowhere. It was just standing up in the middle of the room, looking like some bad stage prop for a messed up steam punk show. The door itself looked like it was made of brass and covered in layers of mechanisms and gears. Placed around the door was a plexiglass cage that was then surrounded by layers and layers of wired cages, concrete barriers and groups of armed solders. And in one area off to the side were dozens of reporters with cameras and video equipment set up , filming the whole event.

Laz honestly didn't know what to make of it, but he quickly regained his cool and put on a blank face as though observing the surroundings.

A rather handsome guy dressed in a tailored suit with a bullet proof vest on saw Laz and his men and quickly made his way over.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" He said without even bothering to be nice.

The Corporal who had shown them the way made his way over to the front.

"Sir. These are reinforcements sent for the mission." Collins said with a salute.

"Like they fucking matter. Just a few more flesh shields for us I guess. Whatever. Set them up with the B team... Hey... you've got some rather attractive girls with you here... might not be a waste after all... what's your name gorgeous?" The man asked Ruby who was standing right next to Laz.

Laz could tell two things right away. One, this man was a chosen... or evolved. And two, he shouldn't let Ruby respond since anything she said would make things worse.

"Captain Briggs. Fort Meyers. Thank you for the compliment sir," Laz said, stepping in front of Ruby as though he was the one being asked the question.

"I WASN'T FUCKING TALKING TO YOU, YOU MOTHER FUCKER..."

"Sir. These are professional troops sent over at the request of the Commander. Perhaps it would be best to let them get geared up and ready seeing as how the door will be opening soon?" Collins asked, stepping in. Although he didn't know anything about Laz's company, what he did know was that Laz's company had no experience handling these people and that might result in an altercation. Therefore it was best to get them away from each other as soon as possible.

"FINE. Fine. Send them over. There will be plenty of time to get to know each other on the other side. And over there, my word is the fucking law," the suited man snorted before moving away.

Collings couldn't help but wipe the sweat off his forehead despite the coolness in the air and quickly directed Laz and his men to the group B prep area.

"Sir. Make sure your people keep a low profile because he is right in a sense. Once you are on the other side, no matter what he does, there will be no one to stop him."

"Got it. Thank you again Corporal Collins. You're a good man. Perhaps... after we got over there... you should get outside and get some air. You know, head back early. You're not looking so well..." Laz said, using the barest amount of his spiritual sense. He noticed that the runes he used were super effective in hiding them from even the chosen so he decided to help the young man by putting this thought into his head that would affect him a bit later on.

Laz kind of got the feeling that when it was time for them to leave, there was going to be a lot of trouble and this nice guy shouldn't be a part of it.

"Uh... Yeah... Ok..." Collins' eyes glazed over for just a minute before returning to normal. Laz knew his ability had taken effect.

With that, Laz, Ruby and everyone else moved over into the assigned area and began gearing up... or at least looking like they were. Quite a few of them had never used a gun before so Laz made his rounds, showing everyone the basics while making it look like he was just doing an inspection before anyone else noticed.

Just as he finished getting Remi to hold her rifle in a slightly professional way, they heard a low bang followed by the sound of a lot of air blowing.

Looking over, Laz saw the door radiating a strong light, far stronger than the spot lights that were pointed at it.

Even more amazing though was that the door was opening on it's own.