Doom Bringers

Time: 0900
Location: 10 klicks east fo the city Gryphus, Bandit Forrest
P.O.V Staff Sgt. Kaybee Compton

The strangest part of waking up was the new limbs I had apparently grown overnight or at least over the time I had been unconscious. Could you imagine waking up and the whole landscape had shifted before you, and then, Bam! wings. To say the very least I was still not used to them. I took inventory of my items and found that I still had the most of the things I started off in the mission with. Well everything except my spotter. 'I hope he's doing alright'. I took out the remaining bullet from the magazine and placed it on one of the slots on my shoulder. I then took the empty mag and replaced it with a new one.

I had two new holes on the back of my shirt curtesy of my new appendages. I thought of removing my outer shirt in order to inspect how the wings had come to appear, but I decided not to, who knows how hard it was going to be to get it back on. The next thought that came to mind was if the new wings were any good. The wings themselves were a big feathery and had midnight blue color to them; almost black but not quite there yet. They were also very soft almost to the point I thought I might as well use them as a blanket. I did thought of removing my backpack, but like the shirt problem I thought it was better not to tempt fate or murphy whichever was worse. I willed the appendages to open and they did. 'Ok let's see what you can do'. I flapped, which came almost instinctively.

For a moment I hovered 4 feet above the ground then slowly I pushed higher. As I kept going I was amazed at that It took little effort to go up. Then my thoughts went back to my recent incidents. Where was I exactly? I had wings now so either I was in a secret under the wraps experiment or I was really far away from home.

In the distance I noticed something like a city but it looked medieval, none the less it was big. I raised my rifle to eye level and peered thru, the familiar cross hairs zeroing in on the settlment Thru it I could see smoke coming from the top of many chimneys. Lowering my weapon I decided that I would go there. I hovered slowly to the ground and was very surprised that It took almost no effort. So I can fly now, cool.

All I got from the walkie was static I decided I would not fly into town but rather walk there, there isn't any point in scaring the people you want help from. I figured they probably had a phone I could use to contact HQ and mabe then get some answers. So I set off on my journey.

Location: Talon Strike Barracks, City of Gyphus

"Alright soldiers listen up the kings daughter was supposed to come back from a small trip with the late hours of yesterday but we all know that is not the case." Aquila said "we have been assembled here because of that. You have been chosen to be here because you are the best warriors, your training has taught you well but you also have been chosen because of your keen intelligence. You may be wondering why so manny are here. Well its because the king is taking no chances. Each one of you has been handed a drawing of the subject so that you may know who we are looking for. Let me warn you right now, we will be headed into Bandit territory, so if there is a coward among you leave right now" Aquila paused looking in to the crowd of fighters; Nobody moved.

Aquila smiled "Good, so let's go save the princess and make our king proud! We move out immediately!"

With a War cry the small band of griffons moved out into the forrest.

Location: Bandit Forrest
P.O.V Kaybee Compton

I was starting to regret walking, my feet hurt my legs were tiered and my shoulders hurt. I sat down on a rock and went to pull out an MRE but couldn't reach it due to my wings ' Stupid wings, not letting me eat'. I was in the process of trying to loosen my backpack when I heard voices. I stoped and listened. The voice was that of a young woman, she sounded angry and frustrated. The best part about it was the language! oh how I longed to hear it, even if it had been just a couple hours; It was english! I Proceeded to sneak closer hopping to get more information. What I got was way more than I bargained for; in the center of what appeared to be a shody camp was a griffon shackled and tied to a post. With the wings on my back I probably should have seen it coming.

"Let me go!" It Cried to one who was walking around it. I presumed the tied up one to be a her due to her voice.

"No, I don't think I want to do that" said a masculine voice coming from the free griffon " you see" It said " Your father would pay nicely to get you back"

So it's a hostage situation Kaybee observed from the bushes.
"My dad would never negotiate with the likes of you!" the tied up griffon spat out.

The free griffon suddenly came very close to the tied up griffon and said who said " You know, I've never done it with a princess before, but theres always a first for everything"

The tied up griffon began to squirm and struggle against the binds that held her only to be held tightly by the free griffon who had moved to her backside. "Now princess I will make you beg" It said.

It was too much. The whole thing was just wrong. With my weapon raised I shouted, "Get on the ground and put your hands up!" as I walked out of hiding.

The offending griffon stopped and looked around. Without warning it pulled out a knife and placed it across the tied up griffins' throat.
"Put the weapon down or you ill be dead before you hit the ground!" I yelled.
The griffon with the knife laughed " Hairless dimond dog, you are a fool to come here! You're so stupid you cant even hold that stick correctly!"
"Put the knife down and step away from the girl" I said " This is your final warning."
The Griffon stood his ground "Make me"
With a sigh I pulled the triger "so be it"

As promised the griffon toppled over dead as the tied griffon gave a shrill of fright at the sight she beheld.

"whoa whoa, calm down its all right I wont hurt you" I said to the frightened griffon "easy there". I moved forward and she backed up as much as she could still frightend.

"My name is Kaybee Compton" I said as I bent over to her " Whats your name?"

"My name is Gilda, Gilda Goldwing" she said cautiously. I nodded in recognition.

"Ok Gilda, Im here to help so don't worry ill get you home safe, but first im going to need to cut the ropes that are holding you. Can you do me a favor and close your eyes for a moment please?" She nodded and closed her eyes. I Pull out my knife and preceded to cut the ropes of her.

"Ok you can open them up now" I said

There was a small silence then she spoke up and softly said " thank you"

"Hey, no problem" I said " its what I do".

"Yo boss is everything alright we heard..." the voice faltered as its gaze landed on us and the dead griffon. I quickly turned to Gilda and ordered "GO NOW!!!". She took off running a few steps and then looked back at me conflicted "GO!!" I shouted. Tears had formed in her eyes "Im sorry" she said and ran. I returned my gaze to the incoming griffons; there were at least 10 of them, all of them armed with swords and daggers some of them even had battle axes.

I slung my rifle on my back as best I could and pulled out my two Colt 1911 pistols. With each pistol in hand I preceded to address the griffons who had fanned out in front of me.
"We can either one of two ways. Option A, we all leave here alive and nobody gets hurt, or option B you all die. Please choose A because i've done enough killing for today"
"There is only one of you and ten of us" One of them said , " the only one dying here today is you; for killing our leader and letting our prize escape!"
"B it is" I said as I raised my pistols "I'll make it quick".
Simultaneously pulling on the triggers the griffons went down in pairs.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!

The shock of seeing their friends go down bought me enough time to cut their numbers to four before they moved. Darting to the side they closed the distance between us. I crouched putting two bullets in a griffon to my left and then rolled over to avoid being cleaved in half by an axe. I sent a bullet in the skull the wielder as I got to my feet. Great that leaves two. I have 1 bullet in my left pistol and four in my right. Putting away my left sidearm I pulled out my Ontario Marine Bayonet.

"Guys, It dosen't have to end like this" I said "Just surrender now and we can talk it out".

As expected this didn't help instead it seemed to make them angrier. They both moved to my sides. As they both lunged at me I jumped up and my wings propelled me upward temporarily surprising them as well as me. Thru the surprise my training took over as I dispatched another griffon with the rest of the magazine. Repeating the process I put away the spent pistol and pulled out my M1 Garand Springfield Bayonet. The last griffon stood frozen among the bodies shaken but still standing.
"What are you" he screamed "What are you!"
Even though the situation was tense somehow managed to chuckle.
"Me? Im just a regular guy"

With that he charged, it was desperate attempt but an attempt. I dodged his sword as I danced around him. Wildly he swung his sword in a high arc trying to decapitate me, I ducked under it and closed the distance between us. Before he could recover I plunged the Ontario in his throat. The griffin froze and then went limp as his body lost its life. Using the last bullet I put the griffin out of his misery, dying by your own blood was a terrible way to go.

Once I finished retracting my knife from the body I observed my handiwork. In total all ten griffons plus their leader dead. I replaced my empty pistol magazines and went to examine the dead. Seeing how these griffons had attacked me with only swords I figured that their civilization was at least to the point where they could do metalworks, I guess my assumptions were confirmed; I was in the Medieval times. I may not have been the looting type but needless to say I went thru the bodies rummaging for anything useful. Pretty soon I was going to need more bullets so obtaining metal was a priority. Most of the griffins had nothing but their weapons and mabe a small bag of what I assumed were gold coins.

I rounded all the swords I could find and stuck them in the dirt so that they were standing in a neat row along with a two knives ann an axe. As for the currency I counted 443 coins. I took the coins and placed it in one of the pouches I had taken from one of the griffins. As I walked toward their camp I took notice of the strong smell of blood, looking for the source I found that I was indeed the source of the smell. I wasn't necessarily covered as much as I bathed in it. 'I have bathed in the blood of my enemys' I thought, I smiled; funny I never thought I would ever use that one. I continued to walk to the camp and rummaged thru the tents; naturally I walked towards the biggest one first. I was happy to find several maps and a journal,'this is good' I thought 'the more info the better'. Before leaving I took a sword form the tent, the apperance of it was that of a blackened steel katana and the best part was that it came with its very own sheath.

I continued walk to another tent smaller in comparison to the previous one but still large enough for me to walk in without bending over. I presumed it to be the barracks of the newly dead griffons due to the many beds that the tent was lined with. I moved to the last one and saw it lined with what appeared to be beef and fish jerky. I reached forwards and grabbed one of the beef jerky and took a cautious bite out of it. Yup, definitely beef jerky. Suddenly I heard a whimper. Dropping the jerky I pulled out one of my pistols.
"Who's there!" I said aloud

There was no response except another wimper. Cautiously I moved outside ,weapon drawn, and to the source of the sound. I came around the corner and was delighted to see what I found.