A foray into the forrest.

You wake up feeling better then you have during the trip to The Sanctuary. Sleeping in a bed is something you'll certainly appreciate in this world. Looking over you see Dawn kneeling next to you watching you. When she sees you are awake finally she smiles, which makes you smile back.

"Did I talk in my sleep" you ask.

"Yes" Dawn replies.

"Are you going to tell me what I said" you ask.

"No" Dawn replies with a smirk.

"Well then you and Yvette are similar in that regard" you chuckle.

"Speaking of Yvette, she and the others are waiting for breakfast and would like you to join them when you are ready" Dawn states. Nodding your head you stretch your arms and legs out, and go take a quick shower. Putting on a tshirt and what look like pajama pants you head to the kitchen. You arrive and see all the girls sitting at a table talking. You chuckle when you see Dawn is in the kitchen cooking something that smells great, and she is also sitting at the table talking with the girls. You wonder if you'll ever really get used to that. They all smile when they see you walk in so you walk to the table and give each of them kiss on the cheek before setting down.

"What are you ladies discussing this morning" you ask the group.

"Oh just the usual" Annabel says smiling at you.

"Uh huh, care to share what the usual is" you ask. The girls all look at each other smirking.

"We'll let you know when we get it all figured out" Annabel says as she looks around at the group. Knowing the group you can tell this usually means good sex, so you decide to not push for any more information.

"What about you, planning anything for today" Jane asks to change the subject.

"Well we got shelter, water and food, and we aren't going to freeze to death anytime soon, so that speeds our plans up quite a bit. I was hoping to take Copper and Lysandra over to the forest and explore a little bit, and then I had an idea or two for making planks of wood to build houses if I had some time. Everyone is welcome to join me" you answer. The group of girls look around at each other and you can tell they are suppressing smiles.

"Of course if you'd like to do your own things today you wouldn't hurt my feelings any" you state. The remainder of breakfast you chat with the girls about nothing of consequence, and afterwards head back to your room to get dressed. Looking at your leather armor and other gear you remember the gear in the rooms of war. You let out a sigh and decide you need to set aside your worries and gear up with the best items available.

Heading into the war rooms you see there is really only one type of armor available. Some of it looks different, but besides aesthetics you doubt there is much difference between them. The suits looks like something you'd see out of a video game. They appear to look like a set of plate armor, but the helmets seem much more futuristic in nature as well as whatever they are made of is clearly not metal. You step up and pull on the gauntlet of one suit to try it on, but you realize it isn't coming off by itself. You try the leggings and helmet and discover it is all connected together. You stand back and scratch your head for a moment as you try to figure out how you'd even get into the suit.

"Need a hand" you hear Dawn chuckle behind you, which causes you to jump a bit.

"One of these days I'll have to figure out how to spook you like that" you chuckle as your adrenaline rush calms down "but yah, how do you put these on" you ask her. Dawn steps up next to the suit and presses against the wall.

"Stand here" she motions you to step in front of the suit. She presses a button and the suit spins around, and you watch it lower down as the back of it opens up. She motions you forward and you step into the suit. You can feel the suit close back up around you, and it seems to adjust itself to your body size. You take a few steps and move your arms and legs around to feel its range of motion. Turning around you see Dawn approaching you with your sword. She removes the belt from the sheath before handing it to you, which makes you raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Press it against your waist where you would normally have it belted on" she states. You place it against your hip and watch tiny tendrils of material wrap around the sheath to hold it in place. You practice drawing your sword and sheathing it again to test it out.

"That's handy" you reply.

"The suit will detect a weapon allowing you to apply it in any position on your body. The suit also has other features" she says stepping forward. She presses against where your ear would be and most of your helmet collapses backwards into the suit. What remains is what feels like a pair of sunglasses. Pressing the sunglasses again the helmet whips back out covering your head. You press the spot again and the helmet retreats again.

"This suit is linked to me. It will transmit your location and vital signs to me, and you can communicate with me by holding the button on the back of your left hand. Through the visor in front of your eyes I can relay information to you. For instance I can display the location of enemies as long as I can see them with the satellite above us, or if one of your team can see them. I will set your current location as a way point so while you are in the forest you know what direction to get home in" she explains.

"Wow...these are going to give us more of an edge than I thought" you say marveling at the armor "what kind of protection does it grant me" you ask.

"It will protect you from most slashing and piercing attacks, but blunt force could do damage if the person hitting you was strong enough. Especially to your head" she responds "I would prefer if...if you just evaded getting hit by anything" she says looking up at you worried.

"Don't worry, I'm not looking for any fights today" you reply and give her a hug. She hugs you back for a moment and then steps back. She turns and motions you to follow her. She stands next to one of the boxes and you open it up to find a weapon that looks very similar to a rifle the US military would use. Dawn reaches down and grabs several magazines of ammo. She places them one by one on your hip and they dematerialize, and on your visor you see three small magazine symbols appear in the upper left. Next she takes the rifle from you and loads a magazine into it, and then moves behind you to place it against your back. Turning your head you can see the stock just above your right shoulder.

"Just grab it and the suit will release it" she moves to the box again and grabs another rifle.

"Pull back on the charging handle to cock it and load the first round into its chamber as such" she says pulling the handle backwards.

"The weapon is semi-automatic. Here is the safety" she says flipping a switch "and here is the magazine release" she says pointing at a button above the magazine.

"Do you know how to handle this weapon or should I continue with a more in depth explanation" she asks.

"I owned similar weapons in my previous world. I'm a bit weirded out by how similar these weapons are, but I don't see anything on them I don't understand" you reply. Dawn aims at the far wall and pulls the trigger. You hear the familiar "click" of a dry fire, and Dawn promptly places the rifle back into the box.

"I assumed as much" she says looking you up and down. She motions you to follow and you walk into the next room. She grabs a knife off of the wall and unsheathes it. It appears to be like a tanto knife you've seen in many stores. She promptly sheathes it and places it against your left forearm, and the suit holds it in place.

"You never know" she states. Looking along the wall you see various swords, knives, and blunt weapons like hammers and maces.

"Why have these if we have guns" you ask her as you scan the wall.

"Swords and knives don't need to be reloaded, and if your enemies get close to you your rifle doesn't make a very effective melee weapon" she replies. You could see the logic you suppose.

"Well unless there is anything else I'm going to go scout around a bit then" you state as you turn to go get Copper and Lysandra.

"Wait" Dawn calls to stop you. You turn to see what it is she wants.

"Just...just be careful ok. Your armor won't help you if you run into another Lysandra, and there are bigger things then her out there" she says clearly worried. You give her another hug, and a quick kiss.

"I'll run away if I can. I'm not looking for a fight today. Besides" you state "I have you watching over me don't I" you ask with a smirk.

"You can count on that" she responds hugging you tighter.

"See, no worries, and Copper and Lysander wouldn't let anything happen to me anyways" you add.

"Just don't get cocky. Technology can be a big advantage, but in the end something like this" she says pulling your sword out half way "wiped all of it out" she stated seriously.

"I know, I won't rush into any situation without talking to you about it. Sound fair" you ask.

"That is acceptable" she responds. You move to step away but she holds you tightly. She looks up at you with a smile.

"The girls want me to inform you that if you die out there they will hunt you down in the underworld, drag you back into this world, and chew you out" she says smirking "I left out some profanities, but you get the picture" she says letting you go finally.

"Tell them I love you all very much, and I'll be back for dinner" you reply and cup your hand against her cheek. She holds your hand to her cheek for a moment smiling. She gives you kiss on the cheek and then fades away. You go collect Copper and Lysander who both appear happy to see you. They seem to get a bit more serious when you explain the plan to them, but you can tell they are happy to be getting outside again. When you approach the ramp outside the ground shakes slightly as the giant doors swing slowly open. Stepping outside you take a deep breath of the fresh air, and set to heading towards the forest. Walking should take about an hour, but you'd rather walk and examine the ground as you go instead of zooming around on Copper or one of the ATVs for now.

A little over an hour later you'd spotted herds of deer, some dinos that would make a good food source, and plenty of wild wheat and even some maize like plants. Now you find yourself looking up at the giant trees that make up the bulk of what you can see of the forest. Mostly evergreens of some kind with random deciduous trees scattered around. Looking at the trees you'd be willing to bet they are old growth, but you regret not bringing your sword that cuts wood with you to find out, although you weren't entirely sure how easy it would be to get through some of these trees given how thick they were.

It was time to move into the forest though. You couldn't help but feel a shiver run up your spine. Even back in your old world forests gave you the creeps. You take your first step into the forest with Copper and Lysander in tow. Even they appear to be on higher alert as they follow.