[rework] Minglings - chapter 5: Meanwhile...

The long line of army trucks rolled in an orderly fashion across the narrow stretch of hardened sand that people in these parts called a road.

It was hard to hear the soft voices inside the truck with all the noise the vehicles made. They were discussing things related to games, fantasy, and goblins. It was a topic utterly different from regular conversations, but this was understandable considering the current situation.

Sandra kept her eyes peeled on the forest from her position just behind the driver, her rifle at the ready. Dry trees with the occasional yellow leaves whizzed by, and she cursed at the recklessness of driving this fast on such a road.

This way, the lookouts would have no time to warn us, she thought, as an angry glint appeared in her eyes.

"Keep your cool, Sharps," someone grunted voice from her right.

Sandra scrunched her face as she looked over, wishing she could use one hand to flick a finger. She strangled down her annoyance, trying to keep a level voice.

"I don't know what you mean, Peltmans. Just enjoying this breeze Harms is providing."

The burly man swallowed, and she guessed she hadn't kept her annoyance from her gaze entirely.

"Whatever you say, Sarge. Only trying to be helpful," he said.

Then he turned back to the others, who had ignored the entire exchange. Instead, their eyes scanned the surroundings as they softly discussed the same thing they had had since the briefing.

"I am telling you, what will they do if we don't follow orders? This bloody world will fall apart soon, and everybody that listens to them will end up as Goblins! Didn't you ever play a game? Why would you want to be bloody cannon fodder?" a wiry man asked.

"Are you crazy, Eli? That's insubordination. If the higher-ups hear you, you'll be in deep shit. Besides, they told us Goblins could eventually turn into orcs and other stuff. Those are cool, right?" a hawk-nosed, sharp-eyed man replied.

"'Could 'being my problem with all of this! It means it isn't a guarantee. What if we are the ones that stay Goblins forever? And what do you think will happen after that world merging happens? Things will bloody change is what will happen. No. I don't know what I will pick, but I will decide for myself. They can do whatever they want with me after. If there is even someone left by then!" Eli responded, sounding obnoxiously sure of himself as always.

Sandra looked across her shoulder at the ragtag bunch that was her squad. It was the first time one of them had full out said he would go against orders, and she knew she had to do something. No matter her own thoughts on the subject.

"And what exactly do you suggest we pick then, Eli?" she snapped. "It would have to be something that can turn you invisible! Because otherwise, you will get court-martialed when they find you."

Eli seemed to finally realize he had gotten carried away.

"Just voicing my humble opinion, Sarge. But I doubt they know what they are talking about if they think turning into a Goblin is ever a good idea. Something like Fiend or Kobold or perhaps even those Insectoids sounds better to me," he said, a lot more subdued.

Sandra grunted and shook her head. "And you base this wisdom on what? Your years of playing games that are, in most cases, created by the people you think are wrong?" She finally turned and stared him straight in the eye.

Eli's eyes flickered down, and he visibly struggled to keep his opinions to himself. After a moment, he sighed and looked away. "Whatever. We will see who's right when this is all said and done."

Sandra shook her head, her anger flaring up again, and this time it took her a lot more effort to suppress it.

It wasn't directed at Eli, though.

Well, not all of it, she thought angrily.

She was angry at the situation in general. The fact that Eli might be correct wasn't helping either. The thing was, she actually had something to base it on instead of his misguided confidence. In this case, an accidentally overheard conversation. Her mind flickered back over the moment, trying to glean more intel she might have missed the hundreds of times she'd replayed it before.

The day they had left the research area, she had been out on patrol duty. In the dead of night, with floodlights trying to stave off the darkness, she had been walking back to her tent, taking a shortcut through the unlit excavation site. At one point, a high-pitched voice coming her way startled her. Knowing she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the excavation area, she had hidden behind some large crates.

Two scientists had meandered her way, one carrying a flashlight that he used to wave around in oval patterns on the ground.

".. can't be serious, Allan. Their unfounded decision will change the lives of millions of people!" a female scientist said.

"Dammit, Tess. It isn't completely unfounded! And what is the alternative? Listen, I know you feel we should not interfere with the merging or what people turn into, but we don't know everything! People with more knowledge deemed this the best course of action."

"Don't act coy with me, Allan! You know as well as I do that if they would share what they know, we could make a better assessment of the coming situation!"

Tess, the female scientist, shook her head vigorously as she stopped almost in front of Sandra's hiding spot.

"No. What I think is that they don't know any more than we do and that they are basing their decisions on the fact that they want control over the populace based on the misguided notion that they can control the mingled goblinoids."

The male scientist sighed in resignation, appearing to have heard this argument before. "Are you and the others going to be headstrong? If they find out that you turned into something else after the merging, they won't like that, and you know it."

"Fuck them. Based on my findings, the best options for humanity's survival, if we can still call ourselves that after this, would be either Fiend or Kobold. The others agree so you are the stubborn one," she hissed as he continued forward.

The two bickering scientists had left her earshot, and Sandra had rushed back to her tent.

Sandra was pulled back to the present as the truck bounced up and down on the sandy road. Resigning herself to the fact that discussing this with anybody would just get her into trouble, she tried to determine if she

could get away with what she had planned.

A few minutes later, she came to the same conclusion. There was no way to tell.

The uncertainty made her furious, and she wondered how much longer it would take to the midway point. Her dull plastic watch quickly told her the countdown would end in ten minutes. She knew they would probably stop soon to prepare for what was to come.

As if someone heard her thoughts, a crackle came from the radio, and a hard-to-understand male voice bellowed out of the speakers.

"We are approaching the designated area. So everybody move to your sectors. And be ready for anything, ladies! The brains gave us a breakdown on what to expect, but remember they also said it was part guesswork how it would actually go down!"

The voice stopped, and a momentary silence filled the truck.

Reaching over to the driver's seat, Sandra tapped Harms' shoulder. The tanned man nodded without looking.

"Got it, Sarge."

With practiced ease, the long line of trucks dispersed around the lead vehicle, and groups of soldiers jumped out, running around, arranging the equipment, and setting up a large radio pole.

Sandra excited her truck and looked at the six men and women in front of her. She only really knew two of them. The other four had been diverted to her squad less than a week ago. Luckily the two she knew were trustworthy and would have her back. The others she wasn't too sure about yet, especially Peltmans, had something odd about him. She looked at the only other woman in her squad, someone who had been with her since basic training.

"Hernandez, Harms, Elli, go and operate the guns. Remember to lean back when the timer ends, or you might fall across something you need in the future."

The deceptively petit, black-haired woman with the misleading baby face nodded.

"Will do, Sarge. Let's go, you two," she snapped.

Sandra looked at the time again. The neon red digits showed less than five minutes remaining. She wondered how many people across the world were doing the same thing. Then she looked around, inspecting the roughly one hundred soldiers that had been guarding the high security, well-hidden dig site previously. There was no sign of the spec-ops that had arrived moments before the evacuation. They had stayed in the lead vehicle and had not exited it the entire trip. Their only purpose seemed to be guarding the few scientists that had not fit into the helicopter back to the main base the previous evening.

Remembering the hasty evacuation of the research facility and all the equipment they had left behind, she also thought back to the briefing.

They were woken up in the dead of night and gathered next to a line of trucks, engines running. Uncomfortable and sweating, one of the scientists had been urged on by an officer to explain that they had actually not been examining potentially dangerous radiated materials. Instead, they were there to determine the exact moment that the world would change be drawn into something unstoppable that he called The Merger.

A few of the soldiers had become rowdy, shouting if the world was ending? Eventually, the officers, backed up by the spec-ops, managed to regain order. Even more anxious now, the scientist had reluctantly continued. He gave a brief rundown of what to expect and ended with which lifeform to choose.

As soon as he finished, the scientist stepped back, and an officer took over. The merging was to happen in eight hours, and there was nothing they could do to prevent it. Luckily the government was prepared, so they had no need to worry. They needed to evacuate the area, and they would travel to the main base immediately, twelve hours to the north. That meant they would weather the merger en route.

It had taken more shouting to get the soldiers to calm down again, and one was escorted away for trying to contact his family.

"Sarge, we have less than a minute remaining," Peltmans deep, steady voice startled her awake.

Dammit, I'm getting too easily distracted, Sandra thought.

"Alright. Remember your briefing and get ready. And..." Sandra let the sentence hang for a moment as she struggled with herself, feeling training and conditioning fight with her desires and common sense. Eventually, to her complete surprise, her training lost out, and she added.

"And guys..." The seriousness of her voice made them all snap to attention.

"Life after the merge will be different, long and hard. Make sure you decide for yourself what you want to become."

Eli gasped, gazing down at her from the truck's mounted gun, ignoring the other's looks. He seemed too shocked to speak for a moment, then he snapped out of it and nodded with a stern look on his face.

A loud beeping countdown came from Sandra's watch.

"Ten seconds," Sandra said, taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what was to come. She needed to decide what to do, but she was still uncertain as she recalled the conversation between the scientists.

At two, she put her back against the truck wheel and opened her eyes wide, hoping to pick up something from what was to come.

Before the counter hit zero, everybody sagged to the ground. Trees stopped moving in the wind, clouds froze mid-air, and birds fell to the ground.

After an indeterminable amount of time, parts of the world lurched as things began moving. The few trees to the side shook, and some were uprooted from the earth by an unseen force, falling without producing any sound. Many toppling trees disappeared before touching the ground, vanishing in blinding light. Other, different trees shimmered into existence where they had been. The road the convoy had been driving on started to overgrow with purple-colored plants that popped up out of nothing while more trees grew at an astonishing rate.

Sometime later, the clouds started moving again, a reddish sheen covering them.

An immense jungle now covered the land from where the convoy had just come, and a loud and angry roar came from deep within.

--

Before Sandra's consciousness could comprehend the situation, her body moved. She shot upright, her head already turning from side to side, scanning her surroundings before her eyes could even focus on what she saw. The movement caused her to stumble, and she almost tipped over as pain flared up from her feet and a weird sensation came from her rear.

With a silent curse, she sat down and looked at her feet. The sides of her army boots had split at the seams, and sharp talons were poking through the ironed front. She hissed as she reached for them, then froze. Those weren't her hands!

Covered in copper-colored scales and tipped with razor-sharp black nails, they reminded her of the claws of her grandfather's pet lizard. A stupid thought crossed her mind for a moment. She never did like painting her nails, and now it looked like she would never again have to worry about it again.

She sniffed, not impressed by her own joke. Besides, her feet were telling her they needed immediate attention. Trying to remove the shoes the usual way proved impossible, as they just wouldn't fit back through the other end. She felt the urge to rip them off.

Started cries and rustling began coming from all around, showing the rest was waking up as well, and she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, realizing she was just not thinking clearly.

Carefully she put one of her sharp fingernails behind the durable leather, and it sliced through as if it were butter. She peeled the boots off with a sigh of relief before looking at her bare feet. They were covered in the same coppery scales as her hands and were longer than they had been. Like her hands, they were tipped with dangerous-looking talons.

With the pain from her feet ended, she again noticed the uncomfortable pressure from just below her back and got an ominous feeling she felt around. It was as if a coiling snake was hiding inside her trousers. Shocked, she sucked in her belly and reached inside the back of her pants. Her amber eyes widened at what she found, and she pulled out a long tail, barely believing what she saw.

She felt a familiar panic surge up, but before she could start her grandfather's breathing exercises, she felt it fade away, much faster than she had a right to.

Lizards have tails, she chastised herself. You should have realized when you made this choice!

She pushed back any lingering primal fear about now having a long bendable appendage below her waist and carefully poked a hole inside her pants with her new sharp nails.

Useful tools, she thought as she stuck her tail through the hole, feeling the material rip up further to accommodate the wrist-thick thing.

Finally done, she looked around, at the same time realizing that should have been her first priority.

Green plants with purple leaves covered the sandy ground nearby, and sitting huddled together were three beings dressed in army clothing. The outfit was a size too big for two of them, hanging loosely around their wiry frames. They hadn't noticed her yet, too preoccupied with examining their yellow and green faces. Coarse black hair that resembled wet plant roots lined pointy faces with eyes that seemed too large. Their mouths were opened a little as if they couldn't shut all the way, showing small pointy teeth.

They chose goblins, Sandra thought, feeling saddened.

Besides the smaller ones sat a big, lumbering thing. Although similar to the other two, this one was big and muscular, with a more human-like face.

Peltmans, Sandra thought as she frowned. Why was he different from the others?

Peltman's overly muscled arms had ripped apart the sleeves of the army jacket, which hung down loosely. As she examined him, the large Goblin stared straight at her.

"Sarge?"

The deep rumbling voice seemed to be almost tangible.

Sandra nodded, keeping her eyes glued to his, trying to determine how much of the dumb brute was still left.

A wide grin, showing healthy and sharp teeth, covered Peltman's face, but he remained quiet. Sandra got a dangerous sensation as she saw a glint appear in his eyes. Any lingering positive memory about the bug man vanished, and she stood and glared at him.

"On your feet, soldier. We have our orders."

Peltman's face warped into a dangerous glare, but he nodded and got up. He looked down at the two smaller ones who were staring up at him with a slightly awed expression and grinned. Reaching down, he picked both of them up by their necks and put them on their feet. The two showed no reaction besides a slight widening of their eyes. And Peltman's slowly padded them on their heads as if they were puppies.

Sandra had no idea who they were, as she couldn't make out their faces, and their dog tags were hidden below the folds of their baggy uniforms.

With one eye on Peltmans, Sandra looked around at the decimated trucks. They were either piled together in a crumpled heap or, oddly, were without tires. They did have one thing in common; they had no more occupants. Groups of goblins, dressed in soldiers' clothing, stood around, talking and examining each other.

Sandra looked around, trying to locate the other half of her squad, but soon heard from the scattered conversations that everyone that had been in the vehicles had disappeared.

"There's not even clothing or weapons left," one of the Goblins said, cackling loudly.

Sandra looked around for a moment in disbelief. Hernandez had been her only real friend. They had gone through basic together, and the fact she was now gone, mysteriously disappeared in the midst of whatever had just happened, struck her hard.

No, no time for that now, she thought, as she steeled herself.

Gritting her teeth and finding they were sharper and much stronger than before, she looked at the center of what previously had been a ring of trucks.

Many of the Goblin soldiers around her were moving that way, so she signaled for Peltmans and the others to follow her and did the same. As she walked, she tried to determine how many non-goblins were around.

From hidden glances and whispers, she knew that it hadn't gone unnoticed that she disobeyed orders. As she gently touched her tail, which kept trying to fling, she guessed it was hard to miss as she probably looked like an oversized iguana.

Within moments, she found that roughly one out of ten soldiers were something other than a Goblin, and she also realized that many Goblins were casting not so covert glances at Peltmans. The hulking brute was marching along behind her, flexing now and again and barely paying attention to her. Instead, he seemed to relish in the attention he was getting.

He is far too different, she thought as she began slowly moving away from him, maneuvering the other two soldiers between her and him.

She quickly located the four other lizard things that she presumed were Kobolds and realized they, her included, were heavily outnumbered.

Besides the Kobolds, there were around ten greyish-looking things that seemed like a cross between a human and a piece of charcoal; Fiends, she guessed. Then she noticed something to the side, and she almost hissed, barely catching herself.

A group of horrifying insectoid things was moving in a single file forward, looking around. Numbering eight, they all had insect-like traits and were green or blackish blue. Their faces were barely human, and their black, bulging eyes reminded her of flies. One of them stared back at her, its slit-like mouth showing virtually no expression, and she shuddered as she turned her gaze away.

Who would want that? she thought, appalled. Even a goblin would be better than that!

Taking another look around, she noticed another curious thing: Peltmans, the fiends, and she were all a head taller than the others that she saw.

As she arrived close to the central group, she examined the Fiends and quickly found they were all wearing scientist outfits and standing in two groups. One group was near a few Goblins, while the others were standing apart. There was only a single Goblin wearing scientist clothes, and he was standing alone, glaring at the other scientists with such hatred she almost thought he was going to attack them.

She caught movement heading her way from the corner of her eye and looked over slowly. The other Kobolds were walking toward her, and she instantly saw that she was the only non-commissioned amongst them. They looked at her, shuffled a bit uncomfortably, but fell in line behind her without a word.

Sandra looked at them, noticing the frightened looks of the four, and she frowned.

They are afraid, she thought as she examined them. They were not just a head shorter than her but also less muscular. Almost as if they were a weaker form. A shuffle made her look back up, and she saw some of the goblins moving to the center.

There was a tense atmosphere in the air, and the eerie noises from the mysterious jungle behind them were not helping.

After a moment, one of the scientists moved forward and scraped his throat while fidgeting a bit.

"Right, we have a problem. The high-ranking officers were inside the central vehicle, and they have disappeared."

The Fiend scraped his throat again, then puffed out its chest. "I have the provisional rank of Lieutenant, making me the highest-ranked officer left."

A soft murmur followed his statements, and two goblins stepped forward.

"Sir. No offense, but are you capable of leading us?" one of the goblins said in a raspy voice. He was similar to the others, and only his army jacket showed he was a master sergeant. All of the goblins quieted at his words.

"We should head to the main base and find out what the situation is like there," the tall Fiend continued, ignoring the Goblin's question.

"Why are you not like us?" a softly spoken question echoed out of the crowd.

The Fiend looked around, seeming to find the one who spoke.

Sandra did the same, but she quickly realized that the Goblins all looked the same. It was nearly impossible to keep them apart, especially with their matching uniforms.

"Because we need people of different kinds to survive what is to come," the Fiend finally said.

Sandra saw he was becoming more uncomfortable, his hands fidgetting inside his pockets.

"What do you mean, what is to come? There is more?" one of the two master sergeants asked, sounding upset.

His words ignited another wave of angry shouting, and some goblins moved forward threateningly. Within moments a dangerous atmosphere began to spread.

The Fiend stepped back and looked at those behind him with eyes wide in fear. The other scientists nodded, waving for him to do something. The Fiend swallowed, and he hastily continued.

"Listen. The situation is worse than we anticipated. People, vehicles, and terrain vanished. Also, either the electricity stopped working, or something caused all of our batteries to be drained. None of this was in the signals we received."

The Fiend's words caused the Goblin turned soldiers to stop and listen, and the Fiend seemed emboldened as he continued in a rushed voice.

"This was the first of a three-step process. We don't know the exact details, but the last step will completely absorb our world. The first step was only supposed to change us, not any of this! The world changes were supposed to be the second step..." the Fiend fell silent, looking at the two goblins who had stepped forward, glaring at him.

The two Goblins stared at him before sharing a long look.

Sandra saw their expressions change rapidly, and none of them gave her a good feeling. She took a tiny step back, closer to the other Kobolds.

"Fine. We will head to the main base. There should be officers there who know what to do," one of the Goblins said to the other one, a small grin on his face.

"You will take half, and I will take the other half. It will take a day to walk, so we better get going."

Although his words seemed final, he didn't move and continued looking at the other Goblin.

As they kept looking at each other, their expressions slowly hardened, and a spark seemed to ignite between them. The other Goblins turned deathly quiet, their eyes shining as they looked on with bated breath.

What the hell are they doing? Sandra thought, sneaking another step back while she looked around.

The Fiends and the odd Insects things were also backing off, and she saw worry and confusion on the faces of the Fiends.

For a moment, it seemed they were going to fight; then, as one, they stepped back. Perhaps a semblance of their former military training exerted itself, Sandra didn't know, but they began barking orders to the surrounding Goblins. As heated as they had looked, the Goblins didn't miss a beat, and faster than Sandra had thought possible, all of them had grabbed weapons, and formed two long lines

Sandra felt her hackles rise as she looked around, seeing that the other Kobolds, the Fiends, and the Insect monsters were now standing out like a sore thumb. Dozens of angry green eyes turned to her and the others as a silent hush came to the crowd.

We are in trouble, Sandra thought.