by Kate Sander
"You," she said to Tory, not looking up from the wretched man’s face. "Will you do the honour?"
"Gladly."
Tory walked over and the girl stepped away and held out her curved sword, hilt first. Tory nodded and grabbed it, taking the girl’s place standing over him.
Camora was going white and shaking. Tory smiled.
"Tell me how much you like it, bitch!" She said, raising the sword over her head.
His eyes went wide.
Tory swung down hard, lodging the sword deep in his brain.
Tory stepped back, elated.
"Thank you," she said. "I can't repay you."
"Not asking you to," the girl said. She leaned into the sword and had to rock it back and forth to dislodge it from his brain. "I may be a traitor, but the Ampulex aren't an army that does this shit. If I hadn't defected I would be killing him anyway."
Tory shook her head.
"Eris," the girl said with a grunt, finally getting the sword free. "And you are?"
"Tory."
"Cool. Nice to meet you. I have no family or friends. Want to team up? I've been following these guys, hoping they'd take me to the enemy so I could join up with the resistance or whatever. Guess it was a good call."
"Sure," Tory mumbled, numb from the events.
"Awesome. Where we off to?"
Tory looked around at the carnage and tried to think, but nothing would come into her brain.
For the first time, she didn't know.
She didn't know anything anymore.
20
Senka
"I HATE BOATS!" Senka yelled, between heaves as she puked over the railing. Kai continued to lick himself in the sun, ignoring her completely. Ujarak sat by the mast, whittling a piece of wood. The sailors quietly laughed to themselves at the sight. They were smart enough to know not to piss off the woman with the jaguar.
"The captain says we are almost in Anzen," Ujarak said, not looking up.
"That's what you said yesterday," Senka snarled as she returned to her usual position, when not hanging over the edge puking, of sitting on the ground with her head between her knees trying to breathe to keep the nausea at bay.
"The sea sickness should pass soon," Ujarak said.
"You said that last week," Senka said. "Still hasn't passed."
Ujarak didn't respond, wisely choosing to keep his eyes on his work.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" Senka said. She dry heaved and leapt to her feet, running to the railing to vomit some more.
Ujarak smiled to himself knowingly.
"LAND!" the lookout in the crow’s nest yelled. The sailors cheered. Senka managed a weak thumbs up between heaves.
It didn't take long for Senka, Ujarak and Kai to be on a small rowboat, heading slowly to the distant shore.
"Tell me why they don't get any closer," Senka said weakly as Ujarak rowed.
"They do not go to shore. It's too dangerous."
"Heartening. Why is it too dangerous?"
"The captain wouldn't say. I feel as though they are smuggling and their presence is not well received by the current government."
"The Ampulex?"
Ujarak shook his head. "They would not say. But yes, I believe the Ampulex are involved in some way. The Captain highly suggested that we not go to shore."
Senka huddled in a coat, trying to keep the nausea away. Kai gave her a friendly lick on the cheek then went back to his nap.
"Yeah you're all nice and cuddly since Ujarak and I saved your ass," she said affectionately as she rubbed his neck. "You feeling better?"
Kai purred his response. Senka lay her head back and closed her eyes.
How does Freudman have anything to do with the Ampulex? Better question, how did Freudman know that Tomo's pills created Zoya. There's no way to tell from her world, especially since the person was dead. That was the whole point, creating Zoya that couldn't be killed in her world.
Why did Freudman care so much about that? Was that a threat to the Ampulex somehow? Killing Zoya in her world? That still didn't answer the question of how Freudman knew that the pills worked.
Unless...
"No," Senka breathed out loud.
"No?" Ujarak asked, barely breathing hard while rowing.
"He can fucking talk to them," Senka said. "That's how he knew that the pills worked. Freudman can talk to someone over here."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Excited, Senka sat up. "I have to text Carter and tell him-" She stopped herself. She couldn't text Carter. She couldn't even speak to Carter. She was dead in that world. There was no waking up. There was no seeing Carter or her mother or brothers again. The weight hit her, pushing on her chest.
She could never see anyone she loved ever again. There was no waking up from this one.
A surprise to everyone in that tiny rowboat, Senka started crying. Big tears fell as the weight of never seeing Carter or James or her mother or her other brothers pressed in on her.
Ujarak looked at Kai in a panic. Kai stared back, both unsure of what to do. Ujarak had never seen Senka cry. Senka was a tough, emotionless, killing machine.
Her sobs crackled and she couldn't lift her head, tears streaking her face. Finally, decision made, Ujarak made a potentially deadly move. He let the oars fall quiet and took Senka into a massive bear hug.
Thankfully Senka didn't kill him. Instead, and surprisingly, she buried her head into his shoulder as sobs wracked her body. Kai nuzzled her shoulder, unable to really move and get closer due to the small size of the rowboat.
It took a while, but Senka managed to calm down and pushed Ujarak away.
The incident would never be mentioned again.
"I need a fucking drink," Senka muttered as she sat back in her chair. Kai put his heavy head on her shoulder.
Ujarak started rowing for the shore. "That makes two of us."
They pulled the rowboat into the bushes a few hundred yards away from the docks of the small coastal village. The style of building reminded Senka of Feudal Japan, with many peaks on the roofs, multiple floors and sharp edges.
"Kai, go scout," she said.
Kai bounded away through the trees, barely making a sound.
"Handy," Ujarak grunted.
Still queasy from the week and a half at sea, Senka gave him a weak smile.
"Stick to the beach?" Ujarak asked.
"Easy for you to say, you actually have a weapon you like." She spun the two short swords that Ujarak had given her. They weren't balanced properly and it was hard for her to know exactly where the edges were. Plus, the fight with the giant wasps had done a number on the sharpness of the edges, and despite her best efforts on the ship, they remained dull enough to run her finger over them.
Ujarak shot her a big smile and started jogging on the beach towards the town.
Senka sighed and ran to catch up. Her legs were weak and it was hard to run straight. The nausea remained and she burped in her mouth, tasting bile.
Still much faster than Ujarak, she easily caught up to him, and they jogged quietly together on the beach.
Senka felt strangely at peace. It really was beautiful. The waves hit the beach softly and the sunrise made the water a beautiful pink and gold. The salt air went deep into her lungs, and instead of making her vomit as it had on the ship, it cleared her head. The beach jog was a good idea. It was annoying how right Ujarak usually was.
They approached the village and slowed at the same time, Senka remaining slightly ahead of Ujarak. Just like the old days. The village looked abandoned. Doors swung in the wind, banging eerily. No one walked the streets. Old laundry laid in the middle of the dirt roads, trampled and filthy, ground into the grit. The docks were empty and pottery lay shattered.
The village had been abandoned in a hurry.
A low rumble greeted her from the left. Kai was there, watching the village from the trees.
"There's someone here," Senka said quietly. "Only one person. But something is
wrong."
"How do you know?"
"I can feel it. Kai is telling me."
"Threat?"
"I'm not sure," Senka said. There was nothing worrisome. They could easily defeat one person in the abandoned village.
"This place is a disaster. Wonder why the sailors were afraid to come ashore?" Senka said as she walked out of cover to the street. Ujarak followed, careful to watch the windows above them. Senka held up one finger and Kai stayed in the trees.
A shadow passed a window above them. Ujarak caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes. By how Senka's shoulders relaxed ahead of him, he knew she'd caught the movement too.
"I'm sure they had good reason," Ujarak said, carefully avoiding the broken pottery. They went up the road, away from the shadow. "They must know something we don't."
Footsteps behind them. Quiet, but easily discerned in the silent and depressing surroundings. Senka tapped her index finger on her thigh three times.
"I wonder if there used to be Ampulex here?" Senka asked loudly. Ujarak nodded.
Senka turned swiftly, raising her swords. Kai swooped in from the shadow of a small house along the street. Ujarak turned as well, as fast as he could, but laughably slow compared to the Zoya and her panther.
The man following them had no chance and dropped his bow with a scream as Kai launched himself at him and pinned him to the ground with his front paws.
"No no no no no no!"
Senka let out a low whistle and Kai bared his teeth and held his jaw an inch from the unarmed, weeping man.
"I wouldn't move," Senka said with a smile, while walking slowly up to the man. He was skinny, with long brown hair tied into a ponytail behind his neck. He looked as if he were in his early forties, but his weeping reminded her of a child. It was disgusting to watch.
The disgust crossed her mind, then she was reminded of her breakdown in the boat. She pushed it away. Maybe she cried, but she'd never begged for her life.
"We don't take kindly to someone pointing a bow at our backs," Senka said as she reached the man’s head. He was trying to look at her while simultaneously keeping an eye on the giant cat’s fangs a foot from his face. The result was comical, as his head bobbed from side to side, and his mouth moved silently like a fish.
"I'm just protecting myself," he mumbled.
Senka wrinkled her nose as the smell of urine hit her.
Disgusting.
"Kai," she said. "You can let him up. This snivelling mess won't hurt us, will he?"
"No no no. I promise I won't hurt you."
Kai stepped off and sat a few feet away. Ujarak gave Senka a sidelong glance and pushed past her, grabbing the man's hand and helping him to his feet.
"Sorry, friend." Ujarak grunted. "My companion can be a little... aggressive."
Senka shot him a glare and spat on the ground.
"Why were you going to kill us?" Senka asked pointedly, completely ignoring Ujarak. The man looked around himself in terror, catching Kai's eye. Kai growled lowly and the man let out a little scream.
"What's your name," Ujarak asked gently.
"T-t-t-Tang."
"Alright, Tang," Ujarak said. "My companion and her furry friend there won't hurt you. We just have a few questions we need you to answer."
Kai raised his hackles at the insult and anger fired through Senka. Ujarak felt the rage, yet didn't care.
"What happened here?"
"They came," Tang sobbed. "They came and took everyone."
"Who came?" Senka snapped.
"The Ampulex. They came and they took everyone. There were hundreds of them. They took them."
"When?" Senka asked.
"A year ago," Tang said.
"You've been here, alone, for a year?" Suspicion crept up on Senka. Something wasn't adding up.
"N-n-not alone," Tang said, refusing to meet her eye.
Senka and Kai heard it at the same time. The slow scrape of metal on rock. Senka knew that sound. She'd spent enough time in prisons to know that it was the sound of someone shackled to a wall.
Tang reached for her as she pushed passed him and ran into the nearest house, Kai on her heels.
"No!" Tang yelled after her. "No! It's not what you think!"
Ignoring him, anger burning through her, she heaved open the door of the nearest house and ran inside. The scraping was coming from upstairs. Senka heard it, followed by a low moan.
A woman was being kept captive.
"I'm coming!" Senka yelled, finding the stairs and pounding up them.
Kai's feet padded lightly behind her, followed way behind by the crashing of Tang and Ujarak. Senka would kill him, after she freed whoever was up there.
She'd make him pay.
The stairs opened into a hall with rooms on either side. The low moan reached her again and Senka took a hard right towards the sound.
A snarl from the dark room greeted her.
She stopped running and skidded on the floor. A white hand thrashed out from the shadowed corner. Senka leaned back, unable to get enough traction to change direction on the wet floor. The hand missed, but Senka fell with a heavy thud.
Senka tried to scramble up but the floor was sticky... and red. The floor was covered in blood.
"Argh!" she yelled. Kai reached out and Senka grabbed his paw. He hauled her out of the room as a gaunt-faced woman lunged from the corner, pointed teeth snarling, reaching out for her.
Kai and Senka tumbled back into the hall as Tang and Ujarak reached the top of the stairs.
The woman in the room let out a frustrated howl.
"What did you do?" Tang yelled, clearly afraid.
Senka scrambled to her feet and, covering the distance in two steps, slammed Tang into the wall. Elbow on his throat, she leaned in as he coughed. "You are going to explain, and you're going to do it fast. If you don't, I will kill you before you can piss your pants again."
Tang nodded quickly, clawing at her hands.
"What is going on here?"
Tang was turning blue. A little less pressure on her forearm and he was able to gasp for a breath. "The Ampulex," he said. "They turn people into that. That's my wife. I freed her as they were marching away. But I couldn't change her back."
"How?"
"The woman. The woman looks people in the eyes. Then they become... that. My wife tries to attack anything that enters the room. I have to keep her alive. I have hope that she will become normal. But she hasn't yet."
"And the blood?"
"She claws at her chains, at the floor, at everything," Tang sobbed. "I can't get her to stop. If I put pig’s blood on the floor then she can't damage her fingers as much. She was clawing them to the bone."
Senka stepped back. Ujarak was staring into the room, wide eyed. The woman inside was snarling and howling, trying desperately to reach them. Senka joined Ujarak and stared at the atrocity. Gaunt, hollow eyes white like the blind, the woman clawed desperately at the chain around her neck.
"I love her. I can't kill her." Tang said from beside them. "I just... can't."
Tang watched the two strangers with the cat walk away down the dusty road. Turning with a sigh, he lit a fire in the middle of the road, using bits of a house door. No one needed it anyway, he was alone in this village.
The fire raged and he cleared his mind, as he was shown to do, focusing on the wood.
His master’s face appeared.
"There's a Zoya here," Tang said. "She's traveling with a giant cat and a large man. They are heading inland."
Roald's voice filled his head. "You've done well."
"What are your orders?"
"Stay where you are."
"But you promised!"
A flash of anger in his master's eyes and Tang knew he'd pay for the indiscretion. His master turned to say something to someone beside him.
Tang heard his wife scream in pain from inside the house.
"No! I've done all you asked. You promised you'd release her!"
&nb
sp; "The Ampulex are about the greater good," Roald said sadly. The scream echoed all around Tang, tearing out his heart. He sobbed and dropped to his knees, begging. "You clearly haven't learned that yet."
The scream stopped in an instant.
"You promised," Tang blubbered.
"You are free," Roald said softly.
The pain started right behind his eyes. Tang moaned as it grew, engulfing his entire body.
"Step into the fire. End the pain," the woman Malin's voice whispered in his ear.
Tang rose. Without a second thought, he stepped into the fire.
So began real pain, and the end.
21
Black Eyes
"No, but it has to be real," Black Eyes countered. "Did you see those crazy flying horses that the hooded men were on? There's no way those were fake. And that giant red-eyed thing looking for the short dude with the ring? Has to be true."
"Look, Black Eyes," Carter said, rubbing his eyes. "We've been over this. You've watched those movies every night for a week and a half. They always end the same, don't they?"
"Yes, but there's no way people made that up. There's no way."
"People made that up," Carter said. The SUV stopped hard at a light. Must be a rookie driving.
"Look, but how did they-"
"Black Eyes, we've been over this. It's entertainment. It's designed to make you feel something, anything, because our lives are so empty that we require it come from an outside source. We have time to think. We don't have to hunt for our food, or get water, or build our houses. So, to fill our time, we make and watch movies. The Lord of the Rings is a good one, I'll give you that, but it's fake. Can we please talk about something else?" He looked down at his phone, a clear signal in his world that the conversation was over. Black Eyes hadn't known this man for long, but she knew that much about him.
Black Eyes crossed her arms and huffed, but she didn't press the subject any further. "You still haven't told me why that man can't be the same bastard who attacked my friend and I," Black Eyes said, staring out the window of the black SUV traveling somewhere in the city.
"I thought I did," Carter said, not looking up from his phone.