The morning light pouring through the windows seared Warren’s eyelids, and he groaned before rolling over onto his side. He briefly wondered why his father hadn’t installed blinds in the woodshed. But then he remembered his dad had always been the ‘rise before sunup’ type.

  Warren draped his arm over his face, hoping he might be able to fall back asleep. After a few more minutes, he gave up and swung his legs over the side of the cot. The call of nature was too pressing to ignore, and his throat felt parched.

  As he stood up, he winced and pressed a hand against his back. During his training to become a doctor, he’d become far too sedentary. The simple act of hiking up a mountain slope had made him ache all over. Once this all blew over, he’d swore he’d hit the gym after every shift at the hospital.

  He paused as he wondered for the first time if this would blow over. For all he knew, aliens might have invaded every town across the country. Maybe even the world. If that was happening, there was no going back to his old life. There was only adapting to this new reality.

  Warren walked over to the woodworking table and plugged in the coffeemaker. He frowned when the light didn’t come on. He then pulled the plug out before shoving it back in again.

  Nothing happened.

  His frown deepened as he walked over to the light switches and flicked them a few times. Again, nothing happened. It looked like the power had finally failed. Either the electrical lines were down somewhere, or the aliens had taken out the power plant.

  He briefly debated starting up the generator to make his morning coffee. But he finally decided it wasn’t worth wasting the precious fuel. An emergency might still crop up that required power. He didn’t want to be caught with a dry generator because he needed a caffeine fix.

  Instead, he walked over to his backpack and pulled out one of the colas he’d retrieved from the kitchen fridge. It wasn’t his preferred choice of drink in the morning, but at least it would give him a shot of caffeine. He cracked it open and then took a long swig.

  As he sipped on the cola, he examined the many partially completed projects his father had left behind. There was a nearly finished mailbox built to look like a barn, and what he assumed was the beginning of a kitchen table. He could almost picture his big bear of a father puttering around the wood shop holding a hammer. The ghost of his dad loomed large in here.

  He pushed down his thoughts as he gulped down the last of the cola. There was no point wasting anymore time in here. He needed to head back to town so he could scout it out. Hopefully, he’d get a better idea of what he was facing. So far, he’d only seen two of the alien factions. The others remained a mystery.

  Warren picked up his rifle—he’d cleared the jam the previous night—and then tossed his backpack over his shoulder. He was halfway to the door when a new notification jumped into his vision.

  “What now?” he muttered to himself. Each time a message appeared, it seemed to herald more bad news for him and the rest of mankind.

  The integration of Terra into the Holy Godaurian Empire has concluded. In accordance with the Treaty of Abadox, the fledging world has been seeded with challenges.

  Warren waited for more writing to appear, but no further information was forthcoming. He wondered what it had meant by ‘challenges.’ He had a sinking feeling that the world had just gotten a lot more dangerous.

  Walking over to the door, he noted a new icon blinking in the corner of his vision. When he focused on it, a map of the area sprang into his view. In the center was a little symbol which must represent himself. As he zoomed in, he noted he could see all the local structures, roads, and topography. There were also numerous flashing points of light across the area.

  He lifted his hand and touched one of the dots of light. A description slowly scrolled across the map.

  Torovox the Destroyer: Boss, Level 20

  Touching another one, a longer description appeared.

  Dungeon of Terran Life

  Level Range 1-5

  An intriguing selection of flora and fauna of Terra have been altered to create trials of increasing difficulty for knight aspirants.

  Warren breathed out as he finished reading. At least this answered his question of how to grow stronger. While he believed he could also gain levels from defeating the aliens, these would likely be a better source of experience. Plus, this way, he wouldn’t have to face legions of soldiers spraying beam weapons around like lunatics.

  He dismissed the map before stepping out of the woodworking shop. But he stopped dead in his tracks as he came face to face with the end of a rifle barrel.

  “Oh shit,” he muttered, groping for his own weapon on his shoulder.

  “Don’t!” a woman snapped. “Are you a fucking human?”

  “Am I a human?” he raised his hands into the air. “What sort of question is that?”

  “Answer the fucking question!” she shouted, pressing the gun’s barrel against his face.

  Warren took a second to examine the woman. She looked like she was part of some sort of special forces unit. She was wearing a light helmet that didn’t cover her ears with what looked like night vision goggles mounted on the top. Her uniform was green and tan camouflage, and she had a heavy backpack slung over her shoulders.

  “I’m a human, just liked you,” he replied in what he hoped was a calming tone. “My name is Warren, and this is my dad’s place.”

  The woman let out a long breath and then swayed to the side. She opened her mouth as though she meant to speak, but no words came out. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed against Warren.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  He caught her without thinking and dragged her into the wood shop. With one hand, he propped her gun up in the corner. Then he half-dragged, half-carried her over to the cot. As he laid her down, he noticed the back of her jacket was dark with blood.

  Rolling her over, he lifted the garment to peer underneath. She had a nearly square puncture wound in the small of her back. And he quickly realized she was losing a lot of blood. Thankfully, whatever had caused the wound had missed her major organs and intestines.

  Normally, he would send a wound like this up to surgery. But it wasn’t like he could get her to a hospital. He would have to stitch up the wound and hope whatever had stabbed her hadn’t caused internal damage.

  If he remembered correctly, his dad always kept a first aid kit in the bottom drawer of the cabinet. He hurried over and was relieved to find a fully stocked kit. From inside, he retrieved some gauze, a tube of antibiotic cream, and a needle with thread. Then he grabbed some soap and a bottle of water.

  He hurried back over to the woman on the cot and reached down to lift the back of her jacket again. But this time, a hand shot out and caught his wrist in an iron grip.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” the woman demanded, her voice raw with pain.

  “I’m a doctor,” he replied. “And I need to dress your wound.”

  “You’re a… doctor?” She released his hand and rolled onto her side. “Get it over with, then.”

  “I’ll need to stitch the wound closed,” he continued. “But first, I have to clean the area.” When she didn’t reply, he proceeded to thoroughly wash out the puncture wound with soapy water. He was surprised at how little the woman flinched. Most of the patients back in his hospital would have been begging him to stop without at least some local freezing.

  Once he felt satisfied that he’d cleaned it as much as he could, he set about stitching the injury closed. His hands moved in well-practiced motions, the thread pulling the skin together. He’d done this hundreds of times before and in a few minutes, he was finished. He then unscrewed the cap to the antibiotic cream and daubed a generous amount around the edges.

  The woman glanced back at him with dark eyes. “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Warren,” he said as he cut the gauze into a square before taping it into place. “Do you know what happened to you?”

  “One of those whale looking assholes stabbed me,” she said, her face tight with pain. “After the ambush, I got separated from my squad.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “I’m Corporal Ramirez,” she replied. “I’m a green beret with the 5th Special Forces Group.”

  “Do you have a first name?”

  She hesitated for a second.

  “I guess I could just call you Corporal—”

  “It’s Valentina,” she interrupted. “Sorry about shoving a gun in your face. And thanks for patching me up, doc.”

  When she tried to push herself up, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “It looks like you’ve lost a lot of blood. I need you to rest for a while before you try to stand up.”

  “I’ve got to complete my mission,” she replied, struggling into a sitting position. “Everyone’s counting on me.” She reached up and pulled off her helmet, shaking out flowing locks of dyed blond hair. She had short bangs that stopped right above her manicured eyebrows.

  Warren was surprised at how feminine she looked when she removed her helmet. Her heart-shaped face was perfectly framed by her straight blond hair. And her dark eyes were like endless pools under her thick eyelashes. He cleared his throat as he tried to dispel his thoughts. “What’s your mission?”

  She frowned before answering. “I guess I can tell you. Not like you’re going to run off and tell those little green men. My squad was tasked with special reconnaissance in this area. At last report, there are at least 500 invasions occurring across the country. But we lost contact with base a bit after setting out.”

  He paused as he considered his next words. “Did you receive any of the notifications about the empire?”

  Valentina nodded her head, looking unsure. “I thought I was going fucking nuts.”

  “That makes two of us,” he laughed. It was a relief to hear he wasn’t the only one receiving the strange prompts.

  “You got them, too?” She gave him a brilliant smile before wincing with pain. “Thank Jesus.”

  Warren walked back over to the first aid kit and pulled out a bottle of pain killers. He raised his brow as he read the label—these were incredibly strong. His father must have been using them shortly before his death.

  Unscrewing the cap, he popped out a pill into his palm. He then strode over to his bag and retrieved a bottle of water. He turned back to Valentina and handed her the water before offering the pill. “Take this,” he said. “It will help with the pain.”

  She pushed away his hand and staggered to her feet. “I can’t take any meds. I’ve got to get to Sayers Mills and complete my mission.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea in your condition.”

  “I have no choice.”

  He held out a hand to steady her. “At least let me go with you.”

  “You want to come with me?” her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “Because I want to see what we’re up against,” he said. “I want to help you fight the aliens.”

  “I’m only here for recon.” She pressed her plump lips together. “You should leave the fighting to the military. Anyway, I’d feel bad if you got wasted after patching me up.”

  “And I don’t want all my hard work to go to waste,” he said with a smile. “I’ll be very annoyed if another alien stabs you after I just finished stitching you up. Plus, I’d like to find some antibiotics for you in town. Normally, I’d leave a wound like yours open to help drain it. But I didn’t have that option here. You’re at a very high risk for developing an infection.”

  “I guess I could use a guide,” she said slowly. “I don’t know where I’m going, and my GPS is out. But if we run into any trouble, let me handle it. Got it, doc?”

  He nodded his head in agreement. But he had no intention of keeping his word. If they encountered aliens again, he planned to test out his combat deck. Especially if he met one of those worm-like Slaviigolaris. He still owed them some payback for what they’d done to Kassandra.

  “How did you get here?” Warren asked. If he was lucky, she had a chopper stashed nearby. Or maybe some dirt bikes.

  What did the army use for all-terrain vehicles, anyway? He remembered hearing about special forces on horses in Afghanistan, but he doubted they used those back home in the states.

  “We humped it over the mountain,” she said. “Some old trail the sarge knew about.”

  At the mention of the trail, his thoughts turned to his sister. “I don’t suppose you encountered a young woman leading a group of refugees? She has blond hair, blue eyes, and was with a family and an elderly couple.”

  Valentina covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh no. You know her?”

  At her words, the blood in his veins turned to ice. Something terrible had happened to Lisa. “She’s my sister…”

  “My squad saw someone who looked like that,” she said. “She’d been taken prisoner by some demonic looking aliens. They had purple skin and crazy horns on their heads. We would have done something, but we were outnumbered and sarge said it would compromise the mission.”

  “Was there anyone else with her?” He needed to know for sure. Not that he believed there was more than one blond hair woman climbing the old bootlegging trails in the mountain.

  “There was an elderly couple and a family,” Valentina gave him a reassuring smile. “Maybe it wasn’t her? There could have been a lot of girls going over the mountain.”

  “It was her,” he said in a steely tone. “As a doctor, I have to advise you to rest here for a few days. I’ll handle this on my own.”

  Valentina shook her head. “Wait, didn’t we just say that you were going to show me the way to town?

  “I’m going to get my sister back.”

  The purple aliens had taken control of the town, so he had to assume that was where they were taking their prisoners. And if she wasn’t there, then he would make the aliens tell him where they had taken her. By any means necessary.

  He walked over to his bag and rifle, but was surprised when Valentina staggered over to block his path. “I’m not going to let some civilian go off and get themselves wasted. If you want to get your sister back, I’ll help you once I’m done with my mission.”

  Warren mulled over her words silently. Finally, he muttered, “Don’t slow me down.”

  Hitching his own backpack over his shoulder, he walked toward the doorway. It was a long hike to town, and in his current mood, he hoped he ran into some aliens on the way. Because he was going to make them rue the day they ever came to this planet.