by P. S. Power
He ran outside in his pajamas, stumbling a bit as he jogged, not ready for a sprint yet, with sneakers on but no socks. The others followed him, having been awake and ready to move, or at least dressed, except for Libby who'd stripped down to her under wear and a loose long sleeved shirt to sleep in. She simply picked up her clothes and ran though, carrying her shoes as well.
The last person in line turned out to be Troy.
“Someone said emergency so-” Zack grabbed his arm and took him through the shortcut to the mall. Troy stopped, looking around, his eyes opened wide, finding himself suddenly in the side lot of Underwood.
“Run! Gawk later, Troy, lives could be at stake here.” Zack said as he jogged, pulling the other man into doing the same before letting go of his arm. Everyone else had gone ahead. Claire and Merri already out of sight.
Inside he followed them into the back of the frozen yogurt shop, since the doors were already unlocked there, and he didn't have his key with him to get into Candles and More. Not that they couldn't have opened the door to the Candle shop. Given the people with him the doors wouldn't have stood a chance, but this way there wouldn't be a repair bill.
Blake stood behind the counter, pointing to the back yelling, “go, go, go” as if this were an action movie or a video game. Given how boring his night shift job must normally be here, the man had probably earned a bit of enthusiasm for pretty much anything that took place. Or not. He'd forgotten that for Vampires, night would be the busy time of day.
Zack didn't stop, but did raise a hand in greeting on the way past. Everyone, including Troy, passed him and waited in the back.
He quickly looked through the line into the Amarillo node he knew belonged to the Mages there to get his bearings. Then searched the Nodes there one by one until he found the Vampire's location, asking Claire if that would be their destination, since the other place would be locked up for several more hours. She called out yes, louder than he'd expected. She stood to his left, almost touching, but not quite.
It looked safe. The idea that this whole thing could be a trap had occurred to him, of course. Anyone paying attention would know who would come running to help by now. What they didn't know, at least possibly, is how carefully they'd do that running.
Claire spoke rapidly, slowing it down for the rest of them that weren't her kind.
“Nikki, stay here and man the phones. Blake, you too, traffic through here may increase suddenly. Get food for Humans, Vampires and... I don't know what the others involved in this are even called. One of those names we can't pronounce again most likely. But be ready to get them what they need if any come through here. I don't plan on this being a refugee center, but you never know in cases like this...”
Inside her Shadow told them that there had never really been a situation like this. The sheer fact that Zack, their own Line-Walker, could and more importantly would, move people vast distances if they needed the help meant the situation might end up being truly novel. Also they couldn't take people that might prove to be a problem, not knowing what they were going in to.
Zack saw her reasoning. Nikki and Blake were strong, fast, capable people, but if it turned out to be daylight where they ended up going, they'd suddenly become a liability.
Everyone that had been at the house had come. Two Succubi, three Humans, two Vampires, an Alfric, a Trolleinkein and a Were. He hadn't realized his group of immediate friends had grown so large until that moment.
“If you're going to Amarillo, get in line and start walking toward the node – that's toward me, Troy – we can do this in ten seconds, I think.” Holding out a hand he looked at them and called out for them to go. He refrained from repeating it like Blake had though. They needed to move fast, but not faster than could be handled, after all.
They moved, coming at a jog. He could barely keep up with them, but thought that they might have done considerably better than ten seconds getting everyone through. Good to know, he thought, looking around, that kind of speed may come in handy some time.
Troy had simply followed along, his deeper self repeating what Zack had said earlier, gawk later, over and over again. Zack let himself feel proud of his friend for a moment. Most people would have frozen, or freaked out, instead of deferring those things until later. Troy may be 'just a Human' but that didn't mean he couldn't do incredible things too, Zack knew.
The local Vampires had found their guide and asked the new kind of being to wait in the outer office. This Nexus didn't have a public face, so the business camouflage hadn't been needed. It'd been designed more like a real embassy than a store. The down side, as far as Zack could tell had to do with the obvious lack of frozen yogurt. Well, that and the aprons. The suits these Vampires wore didn't feel as warm or inviting to him.
Without talking, the local vamps brought in the old man, not a Human, but obviously male. His eyes were big and his skin pale. His teeth looked flat, and perfectly even. Zack realized he had seen this kind of person before, though he didn't have a name for them. He'd escorted a family of them weeks ago. He remembered thinking it odd, due to their strange appearance, and where they were going, Australia, maybe? It was hard to remember, because he'd taken people a lot of places since then.
Looking at the man's Shadow now, he realized that hadn't been the only time he'd seen such people. The translators in Lesser Shia were all the same type, though they kept it well hidden behind their veils and blue uniforms.
Well, they must have a reason for their secrecy. There was no need to spoil it for them if that's what they wanted.
Glancing at the man in the baggy, brilliantly colored striped robe, he asked if he spoke English.
The answer was perfect, which wasn't too surprising.
“Yes. I can direct you to my home land. I believe the Hub in the capital is the one we're looking for. I'm an exile, so I can't go with you into the city. Still, I wouldn't have innocents die because of my own bitterness. What do you need me to do?”
He told the old, huge-eyed man what he needed. It took a few minutes, given how old the memory was, but they found the correct node and looked through, searching for traps. The beings waiting for him looked like officials, even if their garments seemed a little plain. Then again, maybe they'd ran out in the middle of the night in their pajamas too? In an emergency such things didn't really matter, did they?
They came through the line, if anything, a little faster this time.
“Thank you for coming,” The woman in front said in perfect, totally unaccented English. Naturally.
“We've organized goods and personnel as we've heard it's done at Lesser Shia. We can reorganize if need be. My co-leader, call him Tom, can show you the way, we've maps and people that have been to the Hub most local to the disaster site.” Then she ran out of things to say and floundered for a second until Zack spoke.
“Good...Tom, have you been there?” He pointed at the man briefly, to ensure he had the right one. The man nodded.
This new man had an easier time picturing the needed location than the last one had, probably having been there more recently. Zack took him through the Line to that location to make certain it was the right place. It was too pressing to waste hours taking people to the wrong place, preventing help from getting to the disaster site in time because of an error early on. Better to take the two minutes now, he figured, hoping that wouldn't be the two minutes that made a life and death difference for anyone.
Once confirmed they headed back instantly and started passing people and supplies through the line, at a rate of about forty per minute. Tom and the other official... stared. Then after about twenty minutes stood gap-mouthed in a way that would be parody if a Human did it. The others ran around organizing the line for best speed.
Troy developed a little speech that he repeated over and over again, near the doorway to the node chamber, so Zack heard him, even though he physically stood in the void at the same time.
“Single file line! Walk forward holding out your left arm.
A strange man will grab it and walk a few steps with you, then you need to keep walking, you'll be at your destination, if you stop you'll plug the line. Good luck!”
Hilda gathered hundreds, perhaps nearly a thousand pounds of materials and carried them over at one point. Zack saw her near the line coming toward him at a ninety degree angle to the flow of pale beings. Her Shadow self told him what she wanted to try.
I'll come in between people, if you can grab my arm when I do, I should walk out the other side away from the line incoming...
Her timing proved perfect, and on his way back from passing a person through, he managed to grab her arm, take her through with a twisting motion, which sent her spinning a little bit on the other side, and grabbing the next raised arm without missing a beat. For a moment it felt like dancing, more than anything else.
They did this over and again, Claire joining in and to his surprise, Merri. The small woman didn't carry as much as the other two, but Zack saw that she easily carried a load that would be nearly twice what he could have lifted, much less carried, even with his longer arms and legs. It surprised him a little. He'd never considered that she'd be stronger than him before. It didn't bother him, he just found it impressive, and kept on working.
Libby heard one of the people in charge say that they needed a way to locate people in the dark. They had great night vision, but no air craft it turned out.
“That, I believe, is my cue.” Libby explained what she planned to them and Tom went through with her, both of them cutting into the line at the door and working their way forward. Zack got to see a Were change for the first time, if in dizzying bits and pieces, watching Libby strip naked, then seem to melt into a bat in just a few seconds. She took off, flying wobbly patterns above them.
About eight hours later, the line suddenly ended.
Zack sat, exhausted. So did all of the white skinned, large eyed people. Hilda still had energy, but her stomach growled loudly. Zack asked if they had any food, though they could go back to the Mall for some if need be. He felt a little light-headed. That reminded him to be wary of poison, which he decided to handle by letting Hilda check the food and drink. Her sense of smell should be able to detect almost anything.
Not only were they provided with Human food, but Alfric as well, which caught Merri's attention. She eagerly ate a large portion quickly, then looked up guiltily at him and stopped. Her glowing inner self telling him how she hid how much she ate from him, so she wouldn't seem like a great expense to keep around.
Smiling he spoke to her gently.
“Merri, you need your energy, I don't think we're done here yet. Eat all you comfortably can and don't worry about me. I've got plenty to eat over here thanks to our hosts.” He nodded toward the strange being that had brought them the food. Oddly the food turned out to be American military rations, which weren't good, but managed to be sort of edible.
They'd even brought volunteers, Humans, to feed Claire, so Betty could keep on working without having to donate blood. She took them to another room, so that Zack wouldn't see her feed and came back shortly, thanking everyone for their hospitality.
Word came in that there were wounded that needed to be evacuated quickly, if they were to have any chance at all of surviving. Zack couldn't see any communications devices, but the data coming in seemed accurate anyway. When new things came in, all of the white skinned people seemed to know it at once, according to their Shadows.
This turned out to be a problem. They didn't have rolling carts or tables, but litters that needed two people to carry them.
He had moved more mass before, but had never tried to take that many people at one time. Two children, but never three adults.
“I'm going to try something. This... may not work.” When the first litter walked into view he spread his Shadow self over all three people coming through the line, and translated them all, including himself, instantly. He gasped as a shock ran through him. More exactly, he tried to gasp, but couldn't, not having a body in the void to gasp with.
All of their personalities passed through him without any filtering at all. He couldn't even begin to block everything out. He almost dropped them, leaving them to drift in the void. With tremendous effort they got through. As they walked on to get out of the way, like everyone else had for hours, he fell to his knees, winded as if he had run a long distance or far too fast.
“Are you all right?” Claire rushed to him, worried.
“Uh, ah, yeah, winded. Have to... get the next one.” He got them just in time. This trip seemed exactly as bad as the first.
Once all twelve of the severely injured people and their litter bearers were through, he vomited, then lay gasping for breath for about fifteen minutes. Perversely, he then felt like he'd been starved and had to eat more food.
The administrator or minister that hadn't given her name stared at him as all this took place, her eyes wide. Zack knew he must look ridiculous, which left him feeling embarrassed. Knowing he didn't have time for it, he tried to shut down that emotion, finding himself successful after a minute or so.
It seemed from what they were told, that Libby had been very successful, finding the main body of people they looked for and a few stragglers as well that the rescue teams were able to help.
The woman that greeted them took Claire aside. His Vampire shook her head talking for a few minutes and then came over to where he sat still recovering. She felt his head with her cool hand. It felt nice.
"I'm not sick or anything. Not poisoned either. The multi-person transfers are really just that hard. I can't see another way though, for now."
Another shipment of people and goods came and then another.
Libby returned to them, as her two legged self, and a few of the serious, but walking, wounded came through, to go to whatever these people used as a hospital.
At the very end he had one more person on a litter, which winded him again, leaving him gasping and with a stitch in his side.
The lady official came back over with Tom, who had come through when Libby did, to thank them. They took his hand and bowed over it, then to the surprise of everyone else did the same with all those that had come with him.
“Thank you, all. You have saved many lives here today. Without your efforts, all of your efforts... There are no words for our gratitude....”
Claire stepped forward seeing Zack hadn't got his breath back all the way yet and bowed in turn.
“No words are needed. I believe I speak for all here in saying we're happy to have been of service.”
Zack saw again how well Claire managed such situations. She always knew the right thing to say at the right time, it seemed like. Plus, she managed to keep her composure and didn't just sit around gasping for breath like some losers did.
The trip to the Mall took half a minute, there being no reason to hurry now. Claire went through last, taking his hand and leading him to a yellow vinyl booth in the shop. He felt all right, though a little light-headed. It probably meant eating was in order. Seeing this, Hilda asked Blake to make something.
What was passed to him was serviceable, of course, since most of the ingredients matched up well enough, but a few were off, and the presentation was messy. Honestly it was clear that the young Vampire hadn't read Claire's notebook yet. It tasted all right, though the raisins and nuts were a bit off with the chocolate sauce. It really looked like he had just dashed some things together. Claire stared at it, clearly offended, and sighed.
“Kids...” She shook her head and smiled warmly.
He knew that Nikki and Blake couldn't have worked all day, so he asked who'd watched the shop, since Claire hadn't been there to help. Blake looking guilty answered a bit sheepishly.
“Uh, well, the lady from the Fun Zone, Rose? She came and relieved us. Then Keane came at five and stayed until Nikki and I had a chance to eat and get here... about an hour ago.”
Claire's Shadow decided to take the gift of work from Rose as a good thing and not a trap, t
hen planned some kind of reward for the woman.
“Well, that was most kind of Rose. Zack you're married to her, do you have any idea of what she'd like as a reward for her aid?”
He sat, thinking for a while, not answering. Finally he looked up at Claire, who sat across from him at the table.
“Well, I bet she'd like it if we could spell her on some of her shifts, so she could get a day or two off. It would have to be someone that can work days though, and you're needed here all the time. I could to it, or Betty could, maybe Troy?” His voice sounded tired to him, but Claire perked up, apparently finding that a satisfactory idea. “Hm. Time for my daily meeting with Patty then. I wonder what she'll make of the pajamas?” Zack wondered out loud as he stood up. Claire put a hand out to stop him, but he just held her hand for a second then got out of the booth.
“I imagine she'll think you're simply coming dressed for success, given the subject you're studying.” Val quipped. Both she and Sarah had been useful and unusually silent all day long. Always there when needed, but saying very little. He hoped they were feeling all right. They hadn't fed the entire time. That had to be hard for them.
They followed him to the clothing store and walked with him to Patty's office.
“I heard you all went on another adventure. How did it go?”
Zack started to say fine, but Sarah interrupted him, putting an arm around him possessively.
“You should have seen him Patty, you should have seen everyone! Beings from a half dozen different groups, maybe more, pulling together without bickering or even arguing. I thought that China thing was a fluke, but this was way bigger... Do you have any idea how many people he transferred, our Mr. Hartley here?”
Patty shook her head at the obviously rhetorical question.
“Over twenty-thousand people, Patty. Even when he collapsed, gasping, lying in a pool of his own vomit, even then he didn't stop. He got back up and kept working. Just because people none of us even recognized needed help. I'm awestruck, to tell you the truth. And the others... No one stopped working or quit, even as the hours ran on. Even Troy, his roommate, the regular Human man? He went and helped organize the traffic, making sure that things ran smoothly. I...”