Earth Dies

The following two weeks were a blur of activity, even more than the prior week had been. Bridgette was a harsh task-mistress, ensuring that the trio really took their failures to heart and had plans upon plans to mitigate them. They were up early each morning, taking care of the chores around the farm and then getting a few hours of training in before a quick lunch, then resumed training until dinner. After dinner, Bridgette would drag Alice upstairs where the two girls continued exploring Bridgette's new dual nature until collapsing in bed in the early hours of the morning. Then it would start all over again, except with even more laundry needing to be done the following day.

Finally, Bridgette declared them competent enough to risk another adventure. This time, the plan was to travel back down to Defiance and try to make contact with any other survivors and begin building a network of friends. Bridgette made the trio wake up even earlier, finishing their chores before sunrise, so that she could give them a "pre-mission brief," go over contingency planning, and so on before they left the farm.

"Okay, team." Bridgette began. "Let's begin the mission brief." Colin rolled his eyes, while Alice popped to attention and smiled at Bridgette.

"You are such a teacher's pet," Colin whispered to Alice. Alice woofed back, grinning, pretending to wag a tail.

"Situation is as follows - it's approximately a five-mile walk to Defiance. We're going through potential enemy terrain, with the possibility of kobolds or other as-yet unknown adversaries attacking us from ambush positions. If we encounter them, we believe they will most likely attempt to attack us. On our side, it's just the three of us. Nobody is coming to help us. But we've been training, and we understand the threats we might face, so we'll do great."

"Our mission is to walk to Defiance, attempt to make contact with any other survivors in order to gain allies, and return home safely. An optional mission objective can be to escort any survivor back here if we think they're a value add to our group or in need of assistance that only we can provide, but that will require my specific approval before we add them to our actual party interface. I estimate it'll probably take three to four hours each way, so we should get back with plenty of time before dark."

"Our standard movement formation is going to be me in the lead, Alice about ten steps back and ten to the left, Colin a similar distance to the right. That should give us enough flexibility to move as needed, but still be close enough so that if something happens, we can get to each other rapidly."

"In the event of wounds, Alice you take the lead on healing us. Use your best judgement on who to heal and how, but keep us in the fight. If it looks unwinnable, I'll call for an orderly retreat, and we'll try to fight our way out. Hopefully, we'll be able to make a smart choice about whether the combat looks winnable before we even start the fight, and it won't come to that."

"Roger that, Captain Bridgette, sir!" Colin saluted with a sarcastic flip of his hand.

"Colin ... I'm trying to ensure we don't screw up like last time." Bridgette sighed.

"I think you're doing great, babe. Thank you for spending the time thinking this through!" Alice cheered on her lover.

"Okay, fine. You're definitely over the top, but if it helps, you're not wrong."

With that, the trio picked up their gear from the courtyard, ensured Alice's house was all locked up and set a few tripwires around the front and back doors that would at least tell if anyone had been by but cause no damage, and headed out. The first half hour, they kept their eyes peeled to the farmland they walked through, carefully looking for threats, but quickly Alice and Colin became bored and started chatting.

"Favorite elf, Colin. Who is it?" Alice asked.

"Deedlit from Lodoss War."

"Huh? Never heard of him."

"She's a her. She's beautiful, powerful, mysterious, just an overall fascinating and well written character who really shines in a supporting role, growing into a significant narrative factor."

"..."

"Okay she's a hot elf chick with nice boobs, a short skirt, and a big sword. I can hear you judging from here!"

"Haha, nice one."

"Guys, let's focus on the road. We don't want to be surprised by any more kobolds," Bridgette chipped in.

"How about you, Alice? You've always liked science fiction and fantasy. Who's your favorite elf? And if you say Legolas, I'm pushing you into the ditch and leaving you there."

"I know it'll come as a surprise, but no - not him. Close, though. Arwen. To be specific, book Arwen with the looks of movie Arwen, though. Book Arwen was a much better character."

"Hmm, interesting choice. Not Galadriel?"

"Honestly, no. Arwen always seemed like the more interesting character, and then watching the movies? Mmm, yes please."

"Well, she was only a half-elf, but I'll allow it. Also, totally not a surprising choice in hindsight."

"Hey, nerds. Can you please pay attention to our surroundings so the kobolds don't get us?" Bridgette tried again, grumpily.

"Sorry, B." Alice apologized, looking sheepish. The trio lapsed into silence and resumed trudging down the hot asphalt.

Another half mile down the road...

"Okay Colin, so which girl in our class would look best as an elf? Just throw a pair of pointy ears on them and go - who would it be?"

"Being an elf is more than just a pair of ears, it's the attitude, it's the nature attunement, the magical affinity, it's so much more."

"Yea yea, but who?"

Colin blushed, scratching the back of his head. "Well, there was that one girl who was only here our junior year, if you remember her? Scarlett? She was a real outdoorsy type, always spoke up about camping and running through nature, plus loved fantasy novels and magic. I always thought she'd make a great elf."

"You mean the girl on the cross-country team who kept getting in trouble for going skinny-dipping in the river and never wearing underwear at school? And she kept accidentally finding herself in situations where all of the boys noticed?"

"Ahem ... yes. Her." Colin blushed, fondly remembering his former classmate.

"Ehh, she wasn't my type, a little too granola, but I can see it. Maybe with some luck, we'll run into her, and you can say hi."

"I doubt it, I think her parents moved to Oregon after they got nearly busted growing pot in the middle of their corn field. If it's this much trouble to walk to town, there's no way we're walking across the Rockies. Although I would love to know if she got turned into an elf ..."

"GUYS! Seriously. We are walking through enemy territory!" Bridgette snapped.

Colin saluted, "Sorry boss! Won't happen again."

"I'm sorry, B. It's just boring and peaceful. We're fine out here." Alice contributed. "There's nothing to be afraid of, there's not even any bad guys within a few miles of us!"

Naturally, that was when the kobolds attacked.