General Stevens POV

  I watch the four of them disappear into the dungeon corridors. I trust the two soldiers I sent. E-5 Freja Madsen was part of the Danish Fr?mandskorpset, or frogmen as they were known in America. It was hard to confirm, but she did have all the gear. She passed all our tests with relative ease and made her way to sergeant in our special forces group. While I had planned to send her alone, she requested to bring E-4 Micha? Zieliński, a Polish GROM operative, and her right-hand man.

  I make my way back to my office where Private Garret is waiting. “Get in,” I point at the door, and he steps inside. He stands at parade rest while I sit at my desk.

  I grab his report of when he captured the two I later learned were called Monty and Grant. While discussing the needed materials with Monty, I put the report on the desk and tell him to read the highlighted sentence. Garret picks up the document and reads.

  “Trespasser #1 states that they were just trying to get to the next building. Trespasser #2 smacks him.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t see the relevance of the sentence, sir.”

  The general sighs and begins to explain. “The second one was displeased by what the first one said, so #1 might have said something they wanted to keep a secret.”

  Garret doesn’t react, so the general presses further. “They were going to the next building. That means…” The general waits for a response from Garret, who is still giving him a blank look and doesn’t answer.

  The general’s blood pressure spikes at the thought of someone this clueless reaching the rank of corporal. “It means they have a way to locate the summoned buildings, you dense piece of shit! And your aggressive actions might have just caused them to refuse to join us! Do you know what that could do for us? We could send a search party who doesn't wander aimlessly and knows where to go in this ever-changing hellhole.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Garret's face pales at the implications of such a skill, and the fact that he is the reason they lost it.

  “We’re lucky they didn’t hold a grudge, or else we would have lost them fully!” The general releases the armrest, his knuckles turning white, and the wood creaks under his grip. He takes a deep breath and lets himself relax. Any more frustration and he might have thrown his chair at Garret.

  “Luckily, I was able to strike a deal with them after your colossal fuckup—only some materials and a weapon each. But guess what, Garret? You’re on gathering duty until you’ve replaced every piece of gear and material that we had to give because you couldn’t do your goddamn job right. Now get out of here and report to Sergeant Madelin. She’s your new CO.”

  With that, Garret salutes the general and hurries out of his office.

  "I truly hope we can work more closely with those two, we need some of that luck they have." the general says

  Grant POV

  I turn to the two soldiers who have been assigned to help us get the materials home and bring the hydroponics crafting specs back to their base. “Hey, you two up for some looting?” They give me an odd look, and Monty lets out a sigh.

  “Dude, I thought we were keeping that a secret,” Monty says.

  “Well, I already fucked up and said it in front of… whatever his name was. While he might not have caught it, he probably wrote what we said. It's also probably the reason the general himself came to check on us. So let's just give them something to report, and I can get some more loot. It’s a win-win-lose."

  Monty asks, “Who is losing?”

  With excitement, Grant says, “Corporal or private, whatever the fuck his name is. That bastard won’t see another promotion for the next couple of years.”

  Monty chuckles and tells me, “Fine, lead the way.” He turns to the two soldiers. “You two don’t mind a little detour, do you?”

  Sergeant Freja looks at her second-in-command, who only shrugs, and she answers in a thick Danish accent, “We do not mind.”

  With that, I activate Scavenger's Intuition and lead the group through the building.

  After walking for a while, we arrive at the front of a supermarket, this time with working sliding doors. But there’s another exciting thing here—shopping carts. I look at Monty and say, “Ready to do some shopping?”

  Monty grabs a shopping cart and tells me, “I’ll look for essentials while you go and look for luxury items we can trade.”

  I nod and look back at the two soldiers while Sergeant Freja is searching for a way to get the shutters down so the place is secured. Corporal Micha? has already taken a shopping cart.

  With a jump, Freja grabs the shutter, pulls it down, and sets it down gently to avoid making too much noise.

  With the supermarket now secured, it’s time to stock up.