The following week a man in military fatigues knocked on team six's door before breakfast. Lucy rubbed her eyes as she took a letter from him. It was addressed to all three of them. The letter explained they were to go on an expedition. They would be taken to a farm just outside old Witney where a monster outbreak had been seen that could affect the supply to the city. Lucy had somewhat enjoyed her first week at the academy however, she felt excited at the prospect of leaving for a while and even more so at the prospect of being given her first mission.
"They better not be giving us these low-level missions because of you," Anne said coldly to Lucy. The girls got ready packing essentials for a few days away from the academy. Outside the front of the building, a military truck sat waiting and the three girls loaded themselves into the back. Anne reclined on the bench opposite the other two, Mary sat reading a book.
"What are you reading, Mary?" Lucy now felt a mixture of brave enough and bored enough to interrupt her concentration.
"Don Quixote" Mary replied.
The truck arrived at a small farmhouse. The front garden lined with rocky walls. The three girls jumped off the back onto the dirt road. The driver stepped down from the cab and tipped his cap.
"Alright girls, They've already been told that you'll be staying. I'll come back to get you in three days." After salutes between soldiers the three girls turned and began to walk up the path toward the house as the truck pulled away. Reaching the door, Anne confidently knocked. No one answered. She began angrily tapping her foot and knocked again harder.
"ARGH. They knew we were coming why aren't they answering the door!" Anne shouted in frustration.
"I'm sure they're just busy with something round the back," Lucy replied
"You'd know all about that wouldn't you farm girl" Lucy ignored what she assumed was supposed to be an insult and instead lead the other two around the farmhouse toward the back. The three were surprised by the lack of visible sheep on this sheep farm. The backfield appeared completely empty. Confused, Lucy continued taking the other two toward a barn at the far side. The barn had big wooden doors that when tried seemed locked. Lucy tugged and the doors came loose from their hinges. She yelped, shocked that she had managed to break such a heavy set of locked doors. The girls jumped back allowing the doors to fall down in front of them. A flock of Polugas begin to stampede from inside. Their leathery legs galloped carrying their large oval woolly torsos.
"Polugas? I thought this was a sheep farm" Anne said.
"They must've been hiding them from us" Mary pontificated. A young boy came running from the house's backdoor, dressed in brown trousers held up with suspenders over a clean white shirt.
"HEY, HEY, HEY" he was shouting as he ran toward them.
"Why was your barn full of monsters?" Anne asked as he reached them trying to catch his breath.
"Because we thought you might kill them if you saw them." He gasped.
"That is our job." She said her hands firmly on her hips. "I assume you know better than anyone that keeping monsters as livestock is illegal." The government had banned the integration of the more docile monsters into the farming industry over 200 years ago unsure of the danger the new species posed.
"What's so wrong with them? They're kind really." The boy said as one of the polugas came closer to him and he itched behind one of its strangely long ears that dragged on the floor. The beast pushed its face into the boy as a sign of affection.
"That's really gross," Anne said scowling.
"What's this one's name?" Mary asked crouching in front of the creature
"Douglas,"
"Can I stroke it?"
"Y- Yes," the boy said flustered, Mary outstretched her hand and patted the monster on its woolly hide.
"He's a good boy, isn't he?" She said looking up at him "What's your name?"
"Jonathan," the boy replied.
"I'm Mary, Anne and Lucy," she said standing and gesturing towards her teammates.
"Nice to meet you," the boy smiled.
"Nice to meet you too," Mary returned the smile. "We were told there was a monster outbreak around this farm. Is this true or were they referring to your herd here?"
"No, we've not seen any other monsters ‘round these parts in years."
"That's good then. I suppose we've got any easy three days then." Mary said turning to the others.
"What are we going to do for three days in a dump like this?" Anne said arms crossed.
"Let's treat it as a holiday," She replied.
"You're welcome to stay here of course as long as you don't hurt them." the boy said sheepishly.
Jonathan lead the girls to the farmhouse. The interior was modest with rustic home made wooden furniture and sparse decoration. Lucy felt as though she could recognise this lifestyle, supposing dairy and wool farms not to be too dissimilar. He offered them what he called mutton and bread to eat. Jonathan explained that it was just him and his father ,who was currently at market, living on the farm these days without explaining where his mother was. He showed them the spare bedroom they'd be staying in. Far from the well manicured dorms the beds were hard in all the wrong places and in the middle of the day a draft let in more cold air than they would've liked. Anne had to visibly stop herself from compulsively complaining.
"Do you think we should go and check the area anyway just in case there is anything lurking around?" Lucy asked the room once Jonathan had left to allow them to 'settle in'.
"You can," Anne said plonking herself on her bed arms crossed.
"Yes, I think I'll stay here too, if you think you're ready to go explore on your own." Mary said.
Slightly surprised that Mary said something Lucy could take as offense she was determined to prove her wrong. She explained to Jonathan and he wished her well hoping she wouldn't find anything. The farm backed onto a forest, it wasn't a long walk until she was secluded by trees unable to see the farmhouse behind her. Having only attended two monstology classes in her first week at the academy she had to admit to herself she wasn't sure what she was looking for. Not ready to wish one of the others had come with her she trudged on deeper into the woods. Over the last three hundred or so years since the cataclysm England had become much more wild. Nature had reclaimed the landscape. Using Georgia's old sword she cut through the long grasses and undergrowth that impeded her. She'd become used to having a sword, though she hadn't yet reconciled that it was second hand. The others didn't speak of Georgia, she wondered if the memory would be too painful or if they truly didn't care about her. Anne maybe, surely not Mary though. She came to a small stream cutting through the forest floor. Looking down it she crouched, not too far away a large green bird was drinking from the stream. Ostrich-like it craned its neck down from its highly set body atop two stalk legs. Dipping it's head into the water it flicked it back up swallowing. Suddenly it turned its head, water spilling from its long sharp beak. Looking straight towards her it squawked so loudly Lucy pressed her hands against her ears dropping her sword on the ground. The bird stooped low and began to sprint, throwing its wings outward to reveal spines underneath that poked outward. Scrambling to a stand Lucy tried to run but, caught her feet on the wire connecting the sword to her scabbard causing her to trip and meet the floor once again. It closed the distance as she desperately tried to untangle herself from the wire. Another deafening screech as it dug its talons into her back, Lucy let out a cry of pain. Not letting go the bird twisted its long neck around hers, binding her. Suddenly all she could see was black and all she could hear was a loud whooshing noise. After a moment her vision became clear again revealing not the forest but a craggy hillside.
Casting her mind back a week she remembered her encounter with the forhan and grasped the bird's neck with both hands. Trying not to strangle it but rather 'tame' it. Still unaware of her newfound strength she heard a snapping noise. Then, beneath the bright green feathers she felt the skin split. She tore the bird's neck in twain and purple blood spurted out drenching her and the rocks. Forcing the now corpse off of her she managed to stand up and unwrap her coiled legs, clicking her sword back into its holster. Though it was about midday when she encountered the bird the sun was now setting. Though she was now in impending danger being somewhere unknown and with the day now coming to a close she took a moment to feel proud of herself. She'd managed to kill a monster. A dangerous looking monster. She realised her back didn't hurt as much as she felt it should. Feeling around she found 6 deep cuts in her lower back where the talons had dug in. The blood that lingered on her hands was tinged more blue than the regular sight of crimson she was used to. Her stomach growled. Unsure of the mutton Jonathan offered she didn't eat any and now she eyed the bird hungrily. She felt something animalistic inside herself. Though she felt disgusted at the idea she felt herself bend down onto her hands and knees as she stepped closer toward her kill. She pulled back regaining herself and crawled backward away from the corpse.
"If I'm going to eat it, I should at least think about cooking it," she thought to herself looking around for any wood in the area. The hillside was barren. She felt herself grow starving. Now unable to break her gaze at the corpse. Again slowly she dropped to her hands and pulled herself closer. She felt a grin form on her face that didn't come from her. Throwing her face down she tore a chunk of meat from the bird. Feeling the sensation of feathers between her teeth she pushed her neck upward to swallow. The meat was still warm from when it was alive. It was chewy yet she found her teeth could tear it apart with ease. Already covered in its blood from the kill she didn't mind the blood that was dripping from her chin into her uniform. She tore at the corpse with her hands throwing the chunks of meat into her mouth before barely chewing it and swallowing. She'd never felt so hungry in her life. Picking most of the corpse clean she felt like she had just awoken. Jumping to her feet away from the bird she was horrified to see the desecrated remains of unknown organs strewn about bones and clumps of meat. She felt tears form in her eyes. Finding a rock she slid down to sit and silently sobbed.
"Right, where is she. Its been hours," Anne said suddenly turning to face Mary. The two were in the barn having been asked to help out by feeding the herd its evening meal.
"It has been quite some time hasn't it," she replied calmly holding out a bucket of grain for the Poluga to eat from.
"We should go and look for her." Anne said decidedly. They informed Jonathan and began their search in the forest the same direction Lucy went.
"It's getting dark are you sure we shouldn't wait for morning?" Mary asked.
"Are you joking? She won't last a night out there, we'll be lucky if she isn't already dead."
"You should've said something instead of letting her go if you felt that way," Mary said. Anne grunted not replying. Coming to the stream where Lucy had met the bird. The pair came across a circle of scorch marks. The dirt had been turned back and the sides of trees were ash.
"She must've found something," Mary said
"But where did she go?" Anne asked, Mary crouched and pressed her hand on the ground at the centre of the mark.
"She was teleported."
"Teleported! She could be anywhere!"
"Not necessarily, many monsters cant teleport far taking something else with them." Mary said confidently, Anne let out a sigh of relief.
"Any idea what direction we should look for her then?" she asked
"Without knowing what teleported her and why, its hard to determine where it would've taken her. For now I think all we can do is just continue walking." The pair continued as the sky grew darker. Anne held her hand over the tip of her lance and it came alight with a controlled flame. After an hour the forest suddenly stopped. A wide pit had opened up before them on the forest's edge. In the dim light, they could just make out old mining equipment. A giant wheel attached to a metal strut and tank tracks stuck out of the quarry wall. Below them, they could hear a sound faint sound. Nodding at each other they slid down the side of the pit.
"Lucy! What happened here?" Anne cried as they came across the girl sitting against the rock. Lucy silently pointed out toward her shame. Mary's eyes met with the bird's remains and she crouched to get a closer look. She picked up a bulbous-looking organ by a string with her finger and thumb, careful not to dirty herself.
"You killed something?" Anne asked. "I'm actually kind of impressed."
"Yes, I didn't mean to though" Lucy replied muffled her face between her knees.
"What do you mean you didn't mean to? You defended yourself didn't you?"
"I wanted to tame it like I did that forhan, I didn't want to kill it and I really didn't want to eat it."
"Hm, well you had to eat it. I guess they haven't taught you that yet but it's protocol. It's good that you did."
"It didn't feel good."
"Now that's a lie," Anne said, Lucy didn't reply this time and instead got to her feet. The pair noticed Mary still investigating the remains and saw her open her mouth wide and swallow the organ without chewing.
"You're covered in it," Mary said turning to Lucy "I can help with that." She held out her hands in front of herself towards Lucy. Closing her eyes and muttering something under her voice the monster blood that had stained her clothes began to slowly wriggle out from the fabric weave. The translucent liquid carried grains of proteins away from her clothes. Mary conducted the liquid towards the floor creating a new puddle effectively making her uniform look brand new. "There we are."
"That was amazing," Lucy said Stunned. "How did you do that?"
"I'm quite proficient with water magic so I simply isolated the water in the blood and used it to carry the other components out. It's so much easier than trying to scrub those kinds of stains out."
"Yeah, yeah you're very good, anyway we should get going before something else shows up." Anne lead the way pulling herself back up the steep wall they had slid down. Mary gestured to Lucy to follow them.
"The forest seems quite empty apart from whatever you faced" Mary reassured, Lucy looking quite afraid as they ventured into the bleak foliage they had come from.
"With us, you've got nothing to fear anyway." Anne said still leading the trio in front. They walked for hours all of them growing tired and frustrated.
"Why did you have to go and get you're self in trouble anyway" Anne finally snapped "We could've just sat on that farm for three days."
"I wanted to feel useful," Lucy replied solemnly.
"Being useful will get you killed."
"Come on now Anne, Lucy was only trying to do her job," Mary interjected.
"Her job? She’s been one of us for about a week and already she thinks she’s better than us"
"I don't think I'm better than you," Lucy shouted at her.
"I think it was the right thing to do," Mary rested her hand on Lucy's shoulder. They continued in silence again as they trudged back to the house in the early hours. Opening the door an old bearded man was sitting in the living room. His pipe smoke clouded the ceiling.
"You those girls the army sent?" He grunted at them.
"Yes," Anne said.
"We don't need you, ain't no monsters in these parts."
"That's a lie we know about the polugas and there was something in the forest."
"I want you gone tomorrow, freaks like you got us in this mess."
"Without freaks like us you would have been eaten by monsters."
"Sorry for the inconvenience sir, we will try not to make ourselves quiet for the duration of our stay," Lucy stepped out from behind Anne to try and mediate the situation.
"Can't do nothing 'bout that smell though can you," pausing to take a smoke on his pipe. "Could be quiet as a mouse but I can smell that shit on 'ye." Stunned, Lucy didn't know anything about a smell. Did she smell?
"You're one to talk, this house reeks. I know you're poor but you don't have to make it so obvious," Anne said feeling thoroughly offended. Jonathan's father stood up and took steps towards them. Grabbing Anne by the throat and lifting her slightly off the ground.
"Get out of this house now you bitch," he spat. Anne smiled and lifted her hands to his. Slowly she peeled his fingers back snapping them. He reeled in pain and fell to his knees. Anne gracefully returned to the floor.
"You knew better than that," she said looking over him.
"Anne! Did you have to do that?" Mary shouted.
"He disrespected us," Anne almost whispered. She quickly turned away from him and pulled open his door. "Come on." Arms crossed she walked up the dirt track.
"Anne wait, where are you going?" Mary called after her.
"We can't stay here now can we?"
"We can apologise?"
"Even if he accepted it I don't want to stay in that man's house." Reaching the road and turning back to face her. Mary could see that tears had begun to form on Anne's face. She ran over and wrapped her arms around Anne. "Get off me." She didn't let go. "I'll hurt you too." Relenting, Mary stepped back.
"I don't think you could," Mary said. Lucy stood at a distance away from the pair. "I've got a radio, I'll ask someone to come get us." The girls sat by the side of the road. Not talking much. After about forty minutes they heard the rumble of a truck coming up the road. The headlights glared they held their arms up both to signal their position and protect their eyes. The driver remained in the truck and Anne wordlessly climbed in the back.
"Go ahead, Lucy," Mary said, she followed her instruction and sat far from Anne. Mary stepped up to the driver's window "This farm is using monsters as sheep." The drivers nodded and Mary climbed on with the others.