Page 8 of Psycho Gods

I unrolled my hunched spine and patted the already closed binder on my lap. I hadn’t bothered to flip through the summarized list of policies and strategies, because I’d memorized it the first time he’d covered it:

Don’t eat any food from Planet 003FX.

Don’t make loud noises.

The objective is to eliminate the ungodly quietly and efficiently before they realize they are under attack.

The civilization indigenous to Planet 003FX is unknown because of the treacherous nature of the realm’s terrain. Their new name: the infected.

Recent intelligence indicates the civilization is composed of remote city-states called compounds that are located in mountainous valleys.

The planet has a twenty-four-hour day and night cycle, like most realms with life.

Experts theorize it will take days for information to spread among the settlements. Since not all the portals in the realm have been located, the ungodly must be eliminated before they can flee.

Only wear your standard-issue battle gear. It is camouflage to the terrain.

Keep your hair pulled back from your face.

No smoking, drugs, or alcohol use during the war.

Always keep track of your weapons.

Use your weapons, holsters, and straps.

Enchanted bullets do not work against the ungodly. Rely on other weapons.

Treat other soldiers with courtesy.

Study the ranking officer chart and always listen to your commanders.

Leadership chart in descending rank: champions, generals, spies, assassins, foot soldiers.

Champions and generals have access to the strategy room for planning and will give the rest of the war camp their assignments.

The champions have the ultimate say.

The current theory is the ungodly infect their prey by forcing them to swallow their eggs. Do not swallow any eggs. It is theorized the warm temperature of the planet has allowed them to infect and spread at an abnormal rate.

I’d crossed out the drug policy because I didn’t follow bad laws.

My new life motto: stand for something or fall for everything. Yes, I was standing for drug use.

Someone had to.

And the next person who reminded me not to eat food from the realm was getting stabbed in the throat. I was tempted to eat a leaf off a tree just for fun, bonus points if it killed me.

Also, whoever had written the last bullet point deserved to be institutionalized.

Who the fuck would voluntarily eat the eggs of a parasitic monster with pincers?

Controversial take—that person deserved to be infected.

“Write what I’m about to say down.” Dick pointed to the pens attached to our binders.

I unclicked the pen and doodled a dying stick figure shooting a rifle at another dying stick figure.

Art imitated life.

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