by Otto Schafer
“Not the names, kid! The ability!” Ed barked.
Paul frowned. “Well, for one you didn’t ask, and for two you’re being a dick.”
“How many men, Pete?” Lenny asked.
“I see at least twenty,” Pete said, lips moving in a silent count. “Wait, there are three more in the tree line. Hey, a couple of them look like teenagers. Whoa! One is… floating.”
“I don’t like these odds,” Paul said. “And we have no idea what they are capable of.”
“Well, if we try to run, they’ll gun us down. They have the superior firepower and the numbers.” Ed looked back at Garrett and the others. “We have to let them get close. You guys just stay behind Paul and me.”
Garrett exchanged a frown with Lenny. “Maybe you should let Lenny and me help,” Garrett said.
The men were around seventy-five yards out and closing. Camo hat shouted, “Real slow, raise your hands up nice and high where we can see them. You cooperate, and we’ll let you go.”
“Hey, guys. Do you see that?” Pete said, pointing into the prairie. “That shrub is moving.”
Pete was right. Thirty yards out into the prairie, the shrub was moving. Garrett lowered a raised hand and pointed. “Right there, look!”
The shrub twisted and flexed as its limbs and budding leaves constricted inward, braiding tiny twigs into thicker ones. The shrub, pulling in upon itself, formed a new silhouette as it took on a new shape – a human shape.
“It looks like a… like a person!” David said.
The shrub stood to its full height, now looking clearly like a woman in a hooded tunic, still the grey-brown color of weathered wood. The woman was perfectly still, her head bowed as if in reverence, her newly formed hands held open and out to her sides.
“It’s a hand,” Garrett whispered. Then something grew from her hand, stretching out a couple inches, then a foot. It was thin and shaped like… It’s a blade!
Garrett watched as the guy with the AK, also the closest to the shrub woman, twisted his body to point the weapon in the shrub woman’s face.
The shrub woman lunged forward, driving the long wooden blade into AK’s chest.
AK groaned, his gun swinging wildly upward as he pulled the trigger. Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
Garrett jumped at the sound.
The other men in the field stood momentarily stunned as AK fell back into the prairie grass. Then all the men turned their attention to the shrub woman.
The shrub woman extended her other hand outward, her palm pointing down as she waved it in a sweeping motion over the prairie. She shouted a word that Garrett didn’t understand, yet somehow recognized. His heart caught. It was a word like Apep used. A word of power.
The prairie grass all around the men changed from a dry blond to a lush green, and then it grew, reaching up to three feet high in the span of Garrett’s own gasp. He didn’t take his eyes off the shrub woman as she leapt and dove headfirst into the grass. Just before she vanished, something happened. Shrub woman transformed into something else. Garrett wasn’t sure what it was until he heard the distinct roar.
Apparently, Lenny still wasn’t sure. “What the hell is that thing, Garrett?!”
“Shapeshifter!” David announced in a hoarse breath.
The prairie erupted in gunfire as the shrub woman, now a shrub lion, attacked the group of armed men.
“Everyone, get down, now!” Paul shouted.
Garrett dropped to the ground, his bike the only thing shielding him from stray bullets. He peered, wide-eyed, through the bike frame as another guy clad in camo disappeared into the tall grass. The shrub lion leapt through the air high above the prairie, shifted back to shrub woman, and kicked a potbellied guy in the face. Garrett watched them both go down. But what came out of the grass was something else. It looked like a wolverine, but bigger. It growled as it leapt, claws ripping through the air – and through flesh. Shifting again, the shrub woman reappeared, twisting through the air, twigs stretching, tangling, and flexing into something else.
Garrett couldn’t see all the shifts as he hunkered down behind his bike, but he was sure he saw a wolf bare teeth, biting and shaking its prey in wooden jowls. Another shift, and the shrub woman turned into a bear, mauling and roaring. Gunfire popped all across the field, followed closely by shouts of, “Don’t shoot!”
“They’re shooting each other in the crossfire!” Ed shouted back over his shoulder through the gunfire and screams.
The bear stood on hind legs, altering back to a shrub. Then, with a catlike leap, it shifted to a panther, landing on the face of the next camo-sporting victim. The two tangled, falling back into the grass, and for a second Garrett lost sight of the shrub woman.
David pointed. “There! Oh god, it’s shifting again.”
When Garrett spotted it again, the creature was already changing back to a woman, skewering another guy from behind with its long wooden blade as he tried to run for the tree line. “Jesus, Len. What is this thing?” Garrett asked, unable to look away from the slaughter.
Lenny didn’t answer. He just stared, slack-jawed – they all just stared.
The shifting shrub continued across the field with a practiced precision, morphing in and out of species as it methodically laid waste to everyone in the tall grass. Then Garrett watched it dip below the grass, vanishing from his sight again, and for a moment, the field went still.
“Where did it go?” Ed asked in a hushed voice.
“I can’t find it,” David said.
Paul scanned the field tensely. “I don’t have eyes on it.”
There were only two men left in the field – camo cap and another bearded guy, both frantically swinging their weapons from side to side. Finally, they shared a look that Garrett knew could only be terror.
The bearded guy’s eyes went wide, and he screamed.
“Something’s got him!” David said, covering his eyes.
A large boa appeared from the tall grass, climbing up and circling the man from toe to head with alarming speed. Bearded man’s scream cut short, stifled by the sound of bone-crushing constriction as the giant snake pulled him down into the grass.
“Get out of there!” Ed shouted at camo cap, causing Garrett to jump.
The shout from Ed seemed to shake camo hat loose from his momentary paralysis. His eyes went insanely wide as he turned back toward the tree line and began pushing desperately forward through the grass.
Then Garrett saw what was chasing him.
From the tree line, others who had not yet stepped into the field must have seen it too, and they all started screaming, “Retreat! Run for the woods! Don’t look back, just run!”
Camo cap tried to run for the woods but tripped and fell in the tall grass. A second later, he shot back up and tried again.
“He’s not going to make it,” Pete said.
“God, don’t look back,” Lenny breathed.
But the man did look back, and when he did, the gorilla pounced.
The field went still again.
Then came an angry shout from the tree line as a kid who looked to be younger than Garrett levitated out over the field.
“That’s the kid I saw floating a few minutes ago!” Pete said.
The gorilla rose from the grass, facing the young man as it transformed once again.
Right before Garrett’s eyes, a wooden dragon formed. The dragon flapped its wings and jumped up and forward. It looked so real, just like an actual dragon but smaller, and for a brief moment Garrett thought it might actually breathe fire.
“This is crazy! Are you guys seeing this?!” David said.
“Um, guys?” Pete said.
The floating kid drew two pistols and opened fire.
The bullets flew true, splintering wooden scales, but whether they were causing harm Garrett couldn’t be sure.
The dragon flew forward, wooden talons open.
“Um, guys, you really need to see this,” Pete said.
The fl
oating boy dropped the spent pistols and tried to turn and flee, but he was too late. The shrub dragon was on him, forcing him down into the grass.
“Guys! Dammit! Look!” Pete demanded.
Everyone swiveled their heads.
“Jesus, Pete! What the—” Lenny stood up. “Oh balls! That’s not good.”
Trees dotted the area behind their shelter where, a moment earlier, there had only been an open expanse of mowed grass. And the trees were moving, more and more of them appearing, filling the area.
“Get on the bikes!” Ed shouted.
Garrett stood and mounted his bike, looking from the field to the trees behind the shelter.
“Go! Go! Go!” Ed ordered, and they went, pedaling forward though the grass along the field’s edge with all they had.
Behind them, the shelter exploded into splinters as a massive oak tree surged forward, its long roots pulling it along like octopus tentacles. The ground bulged and split, grass ripped and churned, as the other trees advanced too. Then they heard a booming voice thunder, “Garrett Turek! Stop!”
Garrett’s heart raced. “What the shit? Why does it know my name? What does it want?”
“We aren’t stopping to find out – pedal with all you got, boys!” Paul said.
Movement in the prairie caught Garrett’s eye. “Guys! Look!” The shrub thing, now a woman again, was running straight at them – straight at Garrett. Its strange wooden eyes bore into him. Come on, Garrett! We got this! We are going to make this! He willed himself to pedal as hard and fast as he could. They had to get up the overgrown gravel road and onto the main road where they could get some actual speed.
“It’s okay! Just pedal. We’re pulling ahead of it!” Ed shouted.
“Yeah, look, the trees are starting to fall off,” Paul said.
David, last in the pack, gasped, “We got to lose them quick… because I don’t know how… how long I can hold this pace.”
Garrett looked over again. Ed and Paul were right – they were pulling away. They were going to make it. Garrett started to smile. They were almost to the blacktop road! They were actually going to make it! Then he looked back again, and his smile fell away.
Shrub woman was shifting.
8
Mind Speak
Monday, April 18 – God Stones Day 12
Rural Chiapas State, Mexico
Tears flowed like twin rivers down Breanne’s cheeks, but these were not tears of sadness, these were tears of absolute joy. Tears that flowed from news too good to be true.
When Juan had asked which shift she wanted, Breanne elected to take the second watch. She and Gabi needed at least a little rest. Falling asleep on watch would put everyone at risk, and she wasn’t willing to let that happen. Plus, she wanted to talk to her father and find out if he and her brother had made it to Petersburg safely, and if Garrett and the others had made it out.
Gabi, the conduit as always, held Breanne’s hand in one of her own and the gold chain Breanne’s father had given Sarah in the other. Through Gabi, she learned her father had in fact made it to Petersburg and Garrett and the others had survived! But then came the news that brought the tears. She couldn’t believe it. She made Gabi check and then check again and then once more. Each time Gabi returned the same response. Her brother lived! Paul was alive! He was alive, and he was okay! She threw her arms around Gabi and wept.
When she finally got herself under control, she must have asked a hundred questions. She quickly learned that both her brothers, along with Garrett and the others, had set out on mountain bikes to come and rescue her and Gabi.
Still wiping tears from her eyes, she shook Gabi’s shoulders. “Is David with them? Ask if David is with them too!”
Gabi closed her eyes and then opened them. “Yes, he is with them.”
“Gabi! Do you know what this means?” Breanne asked, still shaking her.
Gabi’s head bobbled up and down as she shook it back and forth, laughing at Breanne’s infectious excitement. “No. Which one is David again?”
“The healer,” Breanne said with a smile.
“He can fix Sarah?” she asked, her eyes going big.
Breanne snapped her fingers. “Just like that.” She nodded. “But how long will it take them to get here on bikes? And how will they find this place? Ask my father, Gabi. Ask him how long before they get here.”
“He said they will come to the farm you described. He said no one knows for sure, but the trip is well over two thousand miles. Maybe five to six weeks, maybe longer.”
“Jesus, Gabi, how are we going to keep Sarah alive that long?” Breanne asked, but she already knew the answer. Sarah needed antibiotics, and if Breanne couldn’t get her some, there was no way she would live five more weeks. She might not live five more days.
She told her father she loved him, promised she would stay put, and reassured him she wouldn’t do anything stupid.
“I have a feeling we are going to break those promises, aren’t we?” Gabi asked after she put the gold chain away.
Breanne nodded as the hollow pain in her gut from fearing her friends and family were dead was replaced instantly with a thousand new emotions. “I’m afraid so, Gabi.”
Breanne stood guard at the entrance to the cenote, watching little Gabi’s eyes grow heavy as she rested against the cool stone. The night was cooling off and the young girl had her arms wrapped around herself. “Here, Gabi, please take this, before you catch your death.” Jesus, I sound like my father, she mused. “Lean forward.” She draped a large flannel shirt one elder had given her over the girl’s shoulders.
“Thanks, Bre, but won’t you be cold?” Gabi asked, leaning back against the stone wall.
“I’m fine.” Breanne smiled. Her eyes fell to the homemade slingshot Gabi gripped in her hand. Gabi had bargained stubbornly for her own pistol, finally conceding only when Juan offered her a slingshot passed down to him by his own father. She observed the way the girl held the slingshot in her small hands. It wasn’t awkward, it was natural – practiced. “You know how to use that, don’t you?”
“I am very good with a slingshot, but still, I’m pissed,” Gabi said, yawning.
“Gabi!” Breanne gasped.
“Well! I can’t kill a dragon with this,” she said, leaning forward to wave the slingshot in the air as if to show her how useless it was.
“Oh, I don’t know, Gabi. Have you heard the story of David and Goliath?”
“No. I don’t think I know that one,” she said, crossing her arms. “Breanne? Will you tell it to me? My father used to tell me stories.”
Breanne smiled and told the story.
“So he didn’t actually kill the giant with the rock from his slingshot. He killed the giant by cutting off its head with a sword! Breanne! You proved my point! I need a pistol or at least a sword for when I kill the dragon!”
Not for if she kills the dragon, Breanne thought, but for when she kills it. Gabi was set on this. Could she blame her? Wouldn’t she be dead set on killing the dragon if it had killed her family? And isn’t that what drove her to want to kill Apep? But her father was okay, and Paul didn’t die. Still, they could have died, and oh god, what if they had? Would she be as strong as this little girl was now? Relief for her brother and father hadn’t taken the place of her hate for Apep nor dampened her desire to kill him. She would kill him. Sure as Gabi would slay her dragon, she would kill her elf.
“Gabi, at least for tonight you have a weapon. Maybe it isn’t the one you need for slaying dragons, but I don’t suspect you will be fighting any tonight.”
“You think I am being silly? You think I am not serious?”
Breanne met the girl’s eyes with a serious stare. “No, Gabi. Never think that about me. I believe you mean every word. I believe… in you.” She smiled wryly. “But I don’t believe you will slay your dragon tonight and, honestly, I hope we don’t have to slay anything. I’ve had enough with snakes and centipedes to last me a lifetime, and I am exhausted.�
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Gabi smiled. “Yeah, you’re right, and besides, after this shift we need to get rest if you want to leave in the morning.”
Breanne frowned. “Gabi! Were you reading my thoughts again?”
“I’m sorry, but you make it so easy! Why do you want to leave when your friends and brothers are on the way?”
“You mean you don’t already know?” Breanne asked sarcastically. “It’s going to take a long time for them to get here, Gabi. I’m afraid for Sarah. I’m afraid she can’t wait that long. Not without medicine. She has a fever, and that means infection. She needs antibiotics, and I can’t count on someone showing up with any. We have to keep her alive until David gets here. We have to.”
“Yes, I am worried for Sarah too.”
A silence fell between them, replaced once again by the strange night sounds of the jungle.
“Gabi, we have to talk about you reading my mind. What did you mean when you said I make it so easy?”
“Can I try to show you something?”
Breanne nodded.
“Sit next to me?” Gabi asked, easing herself down to the ground and closing her eyes.
Breanne sat down, and after a moment she frowned. “What are you doing?”
“You couldn’t hear me talking in your mind?”
Breanne shook her head, confused.
“What about now?”
Breanne kept her eyes closed, turning her ear to the jungle. “Gabi, I don’t know what you think is going to happen, but all I hear are crickets, locusts, and whatever that strange squeaking sound is, coming from over there.” She pointed into the darkness. “I don’t know what it is, but it is a little creepy!”
“Sí, I have never heard that before either,” Gabi said, her eyebrows knitting together.
They stared out into the dense jungle darkness and listened for a moment; then, Breanne turned back to Gabi, just as the girl reached out and took Breanne’s hand in hers.
Gabi shrugged. “I don’t know exactly what should happen. This didn’t come with instructions… Wait! That’s it! Ogliosh said something when he was trying to teach me about opening my mind.” Her eyes grew big. “Bre, can you feel this?”