(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Date from Hell (part 1) Chapter 57: The Date from Hell (part 1) With the Captain in a slightly sour mood, Kellen wasn’t sure where this ‘date’ was going to go.

But, in a classic Captain Thatcher move, he made a quick recovery.

The Captain was now determined to make today a good memory, especially because of Captain Sergei’s comments.

He took Kellen’s hand in a tighter grip than the Guide was expecting and led the way towards the three blocks of destruction.

Kellen thought that they might take the car, but when the Captain breezed right past it, he kept his mouth shut.  Glancing around him, Kellen took in the damage with a clearer mind.

The last time he’d seen this area he’d been focused on what state the Captain would be in, not the actual destruction of the area.

It was bad.

Really bad.

The whole area was compromised, and Kellen was sure it was in the billions for reconstruction.

After all, if they used normal methods it would take years to recover the area.

If they used Espers, it would still take months.

The way the Captain had described it, Kellen assumed that the E.A.G.

had gotten either under the streets into the sewage tunnels or some other horrible way to maximize the damage to the area.

It was noticeable, even without asking for confirmation from the Captain, that they had done something like that either way.  The damaged areas sloped into themselves.

Like a box damaged from underneath, the sides fell inwards.

Kellen had only seen this type of damage from old age, with houses from the before times.

The houses hadn’t been as sturdy as the new builds of the modern day.

Since back then, they were using normal wood from normal trees.

Nowadays homes were built from materials found in gates.

The higher the Class the material, the more expensive it was.

Most cities where gates had opened and exploded had been completely rebuilt in the years following, especially if they were epicenters for humanity.

Kellen’s hometown was one of them, especially when the front lines formed.  The front lines actually referred to the small strip of land before the border of two areas where gates would normally form.

These areas usually referred to two habitable locations, like cities or countries, but in this case, it actually referred to the border between the habitable and the inhabitable.

The area past the front lines that Kellen and the Captain frequented had been decimated when the world was first attacked by the gates.

In fact, it was still overrun with monsters.

Most of them weren’t flying types, so if you had access to a craft that flew, or you yourself could fly, there was a chance you could safely travel over the area, but it wasn’t recommended.

After all, it had been decades since the area was taken over by monsters and no matter how many times S Classes raided the area in their free time, they still weren’t able to close all of the active, exploded gates.

The country that had been here before had been second in land mass, but still had a smaller population.

That played a part in how quickly everything changed, since there weren’t a lot of people to fight back against the monsters.

So when the country got divided by this huge area taken over by the monsters, it was no wonder that it collapsed.

The same happened to other countries around the world, and it took them almost 50 years to recover to a point where they could communicate again.

At that point, new nationalities had been drawn and resources were scarce.

At least, the resources that they had been used to before the gates showed up.

The lack of regular, natural resources was how the farming of gates even began.

And the beginning of a booming economy around owning and farming gates that were lower in Class, lower in risk, but high in resources.

It was actually a surprise to Kellen that the Captain had held off from fighting for the rights of a gate until now.

It wasn’t as if gates weren’t popping up all the time, but maybe it was because of the location.  One of the few phenomena that was still being researched was why gates formed in certain areas, like the front lines.

Why was that a hot spot when gates still popped up in cities, homes, apartments, bodies of water?

No one had a concrete answer, with only a few papers suggesting it might have something to do with ley lines, a surge of power along tectonic plates, or a human created phenomena by grouping powerful Espers and Guides in one area, thus encouraging gates to open in one area.

Kellen was curious about the actual reason, but had no need to truly find out why.

At least, not at the moment.  He had a feeling, after witnessing all of this destruction, that his opinions might change soon.  The Captain hadn’t said anything as they approached the area he had held together with his powers, either allowing Kellen to focus on his own thoughts for a moment, or he had his own to muddle with.

They began to see the police presence in the area.

Caution tape covered large expanses of he damaged area, and the police presence, along with the D.E.C.

was to encourage the regular public to stay away.

No one stopped Kellen and the Captain though, only bowing their heads in acknowledgement if they made eye contact before continuing on their way.

They knew who they were, and why they were here.  Kellen was the first to spot the members from the Peach Guild.

In fairness, they weren’t hard to spot.

The bright pink and white uniforms stuck out in amongst all the grey tones and rubble.

Even with her bright pink hair, it was still hard to spot Captain Sakura.

When Kellen did find her, he knew why.  She was wearing a short, pink skirt in line with her Guild uniform, she had her Captain’s jacket off and tied around her waist.

A white t-shirt covered her upper half and her hair was pulled into a messy, chaotic bun on the top of her head.

Dirt covered her whole body, and she was currently lifting half of a demolished building up so that others could get underneath.

Despite all of her eccentricities, Captain Sakura was a very good, hands on Captain.

Her doing the work of several Espers alone was a good example of that.  Just as he was acknowledging the prowess of Captain Sakura, Kellen spotted Captain Sergei not far away doing almost exactly the same thing.

The search and rescue teams were busy organising the reinforcements from the three Guilds, while the D.E.C.

handled security of the site.

Kellen, not wanting to interrupt either of the busy Captains, turned towards the search and rescue tent.

The Captain followed.  When the organizers saw the pair, they froze, before the head organizer rushed forward.

She was a smaller, thin woman that Kellen had met several times on the front lines.

She was normally in charge of the civilians and their safety after the D.E.C.

had approved their requests.

Most people just referred to her as Ms.

M.  “Guide Woods!

Captain Thatcher!

We weren’t informed that you two would be joining us today.

Is everything alright?

Are you here to help?” Kellen smiled at the woman who was covered in dirt, exhausted, but still had light behind her hazel eyes.

She wore a loose fitting version of the D.E.C.

uniform, and Kellen had a sneaking suspicion it was the uniform of the Esper who was keeping an eye on them from a distance.

Kellen knew through the grapevine that Ms.

M had a lover who stayed in town, but given the look the Esper was giving him, it had to be them.

“We were in the area, and after speaking with Captain Sergei we wanted to check on the area.

How is the recovery going?” Kellen asked and she sighed.

She shook her head.  “As good as it can be given that bombs went off in the area.

The structure is incredibly compromised, so the progress is slow.

It helps that Captain Sergei spared as many of his telekinetic Espers as possible, as well as himself when he could, but it’s still going too slow.

We are still in the crucial time where we could still have survivors.” She sighed.

“I know it’s selfish, but I just wish we had more Espers awaken with search and rescue related powers.

I know most of them aren’t incredibly helpful during regular times, or even in gates, but for times like now…” She trailed off, and Kellen patted her on the shoulder.  “I understand.

Is there anything you need from us?

Currently, we can’t operate too far from each other as I’m still experiencing side effects from overexerting myself, but is there anything else we can do?” Her eyes widened as she took in the fact that Kellen was holding the Captain’s hand.

With anyone else, they wouldn’t even question the normal hold, and she too hadn’t thought anything of it.

It wasn’t until Kellen mentioned it that she found it weird.  “Oh my gods Guide Woods, what are you even doing here?

You should be resting!” Even though she was a civilian, she had seen how taxing over guiding was to Guides.

Kellen brushed off her concern with a smile.  “When has Mr.

Woods ever let anything stop him, Ms.

M?

You should know, better than most, that he’s a force to be reckoned with.

Do you think that I could have stopped him?” The Captain said, smiling softly at the civilian and Guide.

Ms.

M, for her part, was stunned at the soft way Captain Thatcher was speaking.

But, then again, he had just found his pair and it was Guide Woods.

She knew that Captain Thatcher had his work cut out for him.  “Well, when you put it that way, I understand.

I have some recovery situations that I think could benefit from the Captain’s expertise, as well as yours, Guide Woods.” Kellen glanced behind him at the Captain, realising he hadn’t asked for consent from him.

It was clear that the Captain wanted to have a ‘date’ with Kellen, whatever that meant, and even if Kellen had never been on one, he knew this was far from the usual.

The Captain, however, only smiled down at the Guide, giving his hand a squeeze.

The Captain knew who Kellen was, and as much as he himself wanted to have a normal, romantic date, Kellen wasn’t the type of man to turn his back on his people.

Especially since he had witnessed what had happened, and stood in the center of it.

With the Captain, holding his hand.  So, Captain Thatcher was okay with whatever shape their first date took, even more so when Kellen accepted that the Captain was going to remain by his side, wanted him by his side, and constantly kept checking on him with little glances that warmed the Captain’s heart.  Ms.

M then handed Kellen and the Captain a map of the area.

She circled areas that would benefit from their touch in red, and circled areas that could need their assistance in blue.

Kellen, one to always follow the rules, thanked her after clarifying a few details, before allowing the Captain to pick him up and jump to the first location.  From that point on, it was hard work, sweat, and concrete dust.

Kellen had done quite a few rescue missions in gates before, but he’d rarely had to do any in city environments.

Usually the inside of gates didn’t have the remnants of human settlements inside of them.

It was only the rare occurrence where it did happen, and those were usually in fluctuating gates, so Kellen left those up to Brent.

That meant that even though Kellen had a lot of experience, he had to rely on others for help.

That wasn’t a big deal for him, but he could tell the Captain hated having others around them.

Kellen wasn’t sure if it was because most of them were civilians, or if it was because they weren’t from his Guild.

Either way, Kellen tried to make sure that the Captain had as little contact with them as possible, since he seemed to be so displeased, but for some reason that only made him more upset.

Kellen wasn’t sure what to do, so he kept working.

He even smiled when he felt cameras on him, trying to show he was in perfect form.

Even when he felt himself being drawn towards the Captain when the side effects got to be too much.

Each time the Captain would chuckle as Kellen, who had previously been roaming around the rubble, covered in dust and a sparkle in his eye, would hesitantly come over to the Captain and gently take his hand in his.

For his part, the Captain never protested these moments.

It was incredibly endearing, and he loved watching the shock cross the faces of the people who knew both him and Kellen from the front lines.

However, he did not like how Kellen was exhausting himself without taking care of himself.

Kellen was pushing himself hard, trying to do everything at once.

Maybe that was why he didn’t notice when the large group of Guides arrived, and who they were.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB I know the last few chapters have been a little bit focused on world building, but I hope you still like them!

Any guesses where this story takes place?

What part of the world?