The Crusaders II The stakes are raised higher 14.02

1.          Brooke View

Sheriff Tommy Jones III now called The Overseer while Brad and Andy, are his Senior, over looked the workforce in Brooke View as they build the defenses. All the vehicles are parked around the town to form a metal wall. Where there were no vehicles, they placed home equipment to form the barrier. The Overseer then walked to the only place where there are no barrier; the main road coming into the town. Today, he's expecting a major shipment which was diverted from its original destination to Brooke View Prison. The army have left after the clean up at the prison but the departing Colonel signed some ordinance transfer for equipments to the town. The three trucks arrived with a jeep and a truck load of soldiers.

"Sheriff Jones, my name is Major Rich. We have the things for you as signed by Colonel Toole." Major Rich handed over the forms for him to sign. Both of them looked at each other and their eyes gleamed.

"Major, won't you stay longer? Cup of coffee perhaps?" But the Major declined. He got the soldiers to unload the truck contents at the sheriff office while Andy and Brad checklist the inventory. Then the trucks left and the Overseer signaled his own delivery teams. The first teams arrived and took the claymore in the shopping trolleys and pushed off whatever they were assigned. The second teams took the high powered and automatic rifles while the last teams took the explosives.

Six hundred and sixty residents of Brooke View have become patriots to the cause to protect the greatest threat to Man's belief.

2.          Siberia

Siberia extends eastward from the Ural Mountains to the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic drainage basins, and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan, then to the national borders of Mongolia and China, covering about two third of Russia's territory, but is home to only 40 million people of the country's population.

The land comprise numerous north-south mountain ranges of various ages which some are up to almost three thousand meters in elevation but almost completely devoid of vegetation. The lower elevations are numerous valleys, many of them deep, and covered with larch forest, except in the extreme north, where the tundra dominates. Its soils are shallow for deep roots except near rivers. Its a land with volcanic peaks, with the highest point in Siberia; the active volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka, on the Kamchatka Peninsula at 4,649 meters. Despite its thermal landscape the climate of Siberia varies dramatically from one to four months of summer depending on the location and height. The most commonly occurring climate in Siberia is continental subarctic with the annual average temperature about −5 °C to +17 °C .

There is the peninsular of Kamchatka which lies at similar latitudes to Great Britain, cold arctic winds from Siberia combined with the cold Oyashio sea current result in the peninsula being covered in snow for over half a year. Its proximity to the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench or Kuril Trench; an oceanic trench in the northwest Pacific Ocean lends itself an abundance of whaling and fishing catches. Just lying off the coast of the peninsula, there lies a island among the Aleutian grouping. A village long abandoned by its settlers when the whales have moved on to other passages, the derelict structures are the only signs of any settlement. Its looks deserted with the sheds and rundown warehouses but recent passing boats tells of seeing lights on the settlement sometimes. If they only looked harder, they might had seen it was from an abandoned whaling warehouse in the village on Medny Island

"How do you like your stay in Siberia, Geraldine?" Miles asked of the lady as she settled herself near to the fire place set up earlier. Miles being a mercenary have lived in all extreme conditions and this one was just one of them. 

"I been in worse." Geraldine muttered back. They have just landed on the island; all four of them while the Norse heroes have gone to search for Loki. They came laden with supplies for a week stay but they have no idea how long they may need to stay.

"Manor in Siberia? I was expecting a dacha but this is no dacha." Kruger points to the rotten walls of the warehouse with gaps to allow the cold icy wind to flow in. "Are you sure the pilot got the coordinates wrong?"

"I doubt the priest is ever wrong. He has the divine guidance." Miles made a mockery of the priest and his faith which made Kruger frown. "I am with the faith but there are times I think they may need some fine tuning in their mind."

Kruger reached for his sword while Miles raised up his cross bow. It was Geraldine who stood in between them to avoid any conflicts.

"Why are both of you fighting? Ain't we have enough to go on for the last weeks?" Geraldine cautioned them, but she also felt the anger in her rousing her mind. Its not like her to be upset over petty issues like this. She looked at Clawler and noticed he's very agitated with the place.

"Its the place. We are all feeling agitated. Its fuel by the vibrations here. I think we are on the right spot but we need to find the doorway." Geraldine picked the staff out from her waist. "Maybe the staff would tell us. Guide me well."

She held out the staff but before it could do anything, they heard shouts from around them.

"Halt or we would shoot." The voice spoke in Russian, and there were ten of them. All of them are dressed in army winter camouflage with AK74 Carbine with two of them armed with Dragunov Sniper Rifle. The commander walked of the squad walked up with the Saiga Shotgun lowered down. The 12 gauge semi automatic shotgun with a ten shots ammo clip

"Crusaders?" The man stands at over two metres build like a grizzly bear "I am Major Boris Markov, Special Detachments to the Orthodox Church. This is my squad. We are what you termed as your equivalent in our land. We are trained to fight demons. All of us carry conventional weapons as some of our foes are humans, but we are also ready to the worse to demons."

The Major signaled his squad to stand down. Then he looked at Geraldine and the others.

"We were told to expect you tomorrow, so the cautious reception. My apology."

"None taken. Geraldine Black, and this is Miles, Kruger and Clawler. We were told to expect you." Geraldine introduced her squad. "Do you have any ladies in your squad? I am becoming to feel very isolated."

"Yes, we do." Major Markov signaled to one of the sniper to come forth. "This is Sergeant Luisa Trina; our stealth sniper and medical officer."

The lady non-commissioned officer stood at over two metres with a slim look but her beauty stands out from her posture. She extend her hand out and shook firmly with Geraldine.

"We are a rare breed. They just can't do without us watching their butts." Both ladies smiled but the Major stopped them.

"Geraldine, we been scouting the place for days but we cannot find any doorways."

"Its not what you may find but how you may seek it." Geraldine took up the staff and looked at it. It start to glow and then it pulled her to a door with the words marked on it; "Exit". She opened the door and instead of being swept by icy cold wind, it actually showed a large garden with a row of apple trees.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Garden of Eden or its equivalent." A voice welcome them.