(BL) Hunting The Field Guide novel Chapter 57

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.