Chapter 107 Scouting party 2 (1/2)

”Mars... Mars it's time to pack up camp”

”hmm... give me a second”

Mars awoke after Hans shock him a bit, he had the feeling he had been dreaming but was unable to remembered what he was dreaming about

'well whatever...'

Mars got up or at least he tried to as he quickly found Victoria was lying on top of him

”hey Victoria, wake up”

Victoria woke up and still on top of Mars began stretching while her horns flashed

”good... morning Mars”

”yeah good morning Victoria, could you get off me?”

”okay...”

Victoria jumped off and Mars was finally able to get up and look around, there was not much to see as he still was inside his tent, quickly getting on some clothes Mars got out of his tent and greeted Hans that was working on disabling his own tent

”good morning Hans”

”oh, good morning Mars”

Mars began taking his tent apart as he looked around, besides the endless desert there wasn't that much to look at so he quickly got his tent taken apart and packed into the large backpack before he joined Vanessa and Nicole that was eating breakfast

”good morning”

”morning Mars, sleep well?”

Mars gave a smile

”like a baby although I have the feeling I dreamt something, I just can't remember what it was”

”okay... was it a good dream?”

”I think so...”

Mars dug into his breakfast which was freeze-dried oatmeal after putting in some water it was more than edible and actually surprisingly good, while he ate he fed some leftovers form yesterday's barbecue to Victoria and by the time he was done eating the others was ready to move

”Mars you ready yet?”

”give me a second captain... yeah I think I'm good”

”okay then let's move”

””””yes captain””””

”yes... captain”

Vanessa was a little startled by Victoria's telepathic message but with Mars pointing to Victoria she figured it out and gave her a smile

”let's go”

the group began moving, the formation was the same as yesterday with Hans leading as navigator and Vanessa directly after him, then Nicole that was watching the right flank then Gus that was watching the left flank and finally Mars and Victoria that was watching the back

'this is really nostalgic... the only thing I miss is my gauss rifle... maybe I can make one when I return to the academy?'

Mars walked and made a mental plan about making a man portable electromagnetic rail gun and found that after he had observed the runes on Vanessa's armor suit it was surprisingly doable to mentally design one

'well that is for the future... now to make sure we don't get hit from behind...'

Mars put his focus back on watching the rear of the formation and thus time passed until it was about midday and the group stopped and Mars walked up to the front and looked forwards

'that's.... a village?'

some 50 building where half organized half randomly placed around what looked like a central well, there was no signs of life form the village and judging from the sand that covered the pathways in between the houses it had been empty for a while

”do you see anything Mars?”

”no, just a empty village, but the well in the middle got me interested...”

Vanessa gave a nod and looked towards the village

”right, we could always use more water... let's go check it out, we need to make sure its clear anyways... let's go”

”””yes captain”””

the group approached the the village and soon they reached the edge of the village, the houses was made of brownish clay or mud they looked simple but comfortable homes but now that they were all but empty they gave off a lonely feeling that spread over the group as they walked into the village

'empty...'

Mars cheeked a building at a time but they all turned up empty except for scattered furniture that made it look like the owners had left in a hurry

”how does it look?”

”empty so far...”

”keep an eye out, we don't want to be ambushed”

”yes captain”

Mars drew his sword and continued looking through buildings along with the rest of the group

'wait a second... why don't I just use my energy sense?'

Mars felt a little dumb but still activated his energy sense and looked around

'nothing... oh, wait there is something... in the well'