by Ugo, Kachi
“And when getting killed is inevitable?” asked Julian.
Peter’s heart quivered with fear. He opened his mouth to reply, then paused. His mind was blank.
That was when he felt the pulse of power. It was a strong wave of energy and it came from the artifact.
Rose jumped in her chair, snapping her head at the artifact. She then glanced back at him, a surprised expression on her face. She had felt it too.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yes, I felt it,” Peter said.
The gem on the artifact began to pulse more erratically, giving off a strong reddish glow. It even emitted an almost indiscernible monotonous sound.
“Peter, what’s going on there?” Julian asked, jarring Peter’s attention back to the call.
“I’ve got to go, Julian,” Peter said.
“Hey, Peter, stay safe!” Julian said right before Peter ended the call.
“What could it mean?” Delphina said.
“Whatever it means, I don’t think it’s anything good,” Rose said. “Can’t this car go any faster?”
Delphina stomped on the gas pedal, and the car jerked, accelerating above the speed limit. Twenty minutes later, they happened upon a barricade in the road.
An accident seemed to have taken place with an SUV. The vehicle sat in the middle of the road, three doors torn from their hinges—both doors in front and the right back one. The hood seemed to have been ripped off the car, and littering the asphalt were several engine components.
The SUV sat hedged between a couple of curious vehicles. Large trucks and black and white Sedans.
A police ‘Do Not Cross’ yellow-and-black strip blocked off the road, with two cop cars forming a barricade on their side of the road and the other side of the incident.
The place crawled with uniformed men. A few of them had FBI vests, while three of the men there wore nondescript clothes—probably Special Agents with the FBI.
Oddly, none of them was taking evidence from the crime scene. They all stood around, waiting.
Delphina slowly pulled up to the barricade. The artifact was strongest at this point.
One of the FBI Special Agents, a tall blonde guy who seemed to be in his thirties, approached them. He wore a grey suit with a tie and dark shades that hid his eyes.
As he got closer, a wave of Metal power rolled over the car, causing the chassis to pop and groan.
“Shit!” Delphina said, her hand immediately going for the gear.
Rose grabbed the hand, giving her a cold stare. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t.”
Delphina glared at her but said nothing. She lowered the window and smiled up at the officer.
“Hello, Ma’am,” he said with a southern accent, power oozing from him into the car. He glanced at Rose, then glanced at Peter in the back.
“Hi, Officer,” Del said, “Is this road blocked?”
“Yes, an unfortunate accident involving a family,” he replied. Then he pointed in the direction they had come. “If you go on in that direction for about twenty miles, you’ll arrive at an intersection, head on east for an alternate route.”
“Thanks,” Rose said.
The man nodded and pulled away from the car. He turned to leave but then paused.
Peter’s breathing ceased.
He came closer to the car, his power squeezing lightly around the car. The car groaned loudly.
“I didn’t get your names,” he said, his face straight, his expression serious.
“I’m Brian,” Peter chirped first, giving the ladies indication to not use their known names. “Brian Davies.”
“I’m Yvonne,” Del said. “And this here is my friend Mary.”
The man stared blank-faced at them. For a moment, Peter thought he suspected them to be Woodfolks. He was about to tap his power, which would have undoubtedly given them away to the officer.
But then a plastic smile appeared on the officer’s face. “Sorry for any inconvenience,” he said, his power alighting from the vehicle. “Do have a nice day.”
He turned and walked back to the crime scene. Delphina rolled the window back up, did a U-turn, and sped away from them.
“That’s a Grunt Attack Squad, isn’t it?” Rose questioned.
“That’s a lot worse!” Delphina replied, her voice trembling with trepidation. “The vehicles surrounding the car probably made up the GAS. But those other guys—the cops, the FBI, and that blondie—that’s not GAS. No, that’s something far worse.”
“And that car,” Peter said. “The GAS had stopped it. It has to be the One. Maybe that’s why the artifact gave off that wave of power. Maybe he’s on the run.”
Delphina got to a safe distance then parked on the roadside. “Most likely,” she said. “If they’d caught him they’d have left the scene. But for them to have barricaded the place, then he’s probably run off into the woods.”
They came down from the car, Rose grabbing the artifact with her. The reddish gem still pulsed rather strongly, which meant that the One was still close. It also meant that the GAS after him was close.
Delphina handed out staffs and armor jackets. This time, Rose didn’t refuse the armor. Perhaps she understood the severity of their predicament.
After they had put on their armor jackets, Rose asked, “You said the cops, the FBI, that they were—”
“I don’t know about the cops and the other people,” Del said, her eyes wide with wonder and fear. “Maybe they’re some Metallic cleanup crew, who knows? But that blondie?” she stuttered. “He’s a Raider,” she said, then she headed into the forest. Rose and Peter followed.
The trees gave Peter some comfort. Unlike the trees around the Tree House, these trees weren’t hostile. They were tall and very leafy with broad foliage and thick branches. The air was rich with the smell of green and the sound of nature, with birds chirping and flying about.
A few creeping things lurched out of the way as they bounded through, making a path where there was erstwhile no path.
They went as fast as they could, their eyes searching ahead and around for any sign of Metallics or the One.
He’s a Raider, Delphina had said. Up until now, Peter had believed that Raiders were mythical because he’d never seen one. Besides, how could one Metallic have so much power? How could one Metallic be capable of such cruelty and evil?
The stories he’d heard as a kid growing up came back to haunt him. Raiders were like the Baba Yaga of the Levitating world. They were stories that were told to young and naughty Woodfolk kids to keep them in line.
Be nice, Peter, one of Peter’s instructors had said, if you don’t want a Raider to come looking for you.
Peter shivered. Could that have been a Raider? “Why did he let us go?”
Delphina cocked her head over her shoulder, looking back at him. Rose was slightly ahead, course-correcting as they went. They had gotten to a portion of the forest where the trees weren’t tangled too close to each other.
“Huh?” she asked.
“The Raider,” Peter replied, his lungs burning at the exertion. “Why did he let us go?”
“No, Peter, he didn’t let us go,” Delphina said.
A knife of panic stabbed into Peter’s heart. The Raider was on their tail? Following them? Stalking them like a predator stalks her prey?
The stories came flooding back.
No! Peter screamed in his might, fighting off the overwhelming urge to run away. Raiders are a myth! They’re a myth! Stay on mission!
Are you willing to take that chance? said a new voice in his heart. It was a voice he knew all too well. It was the voice that had been with him while he was away from Maine. It was the voice of cowardice.
If the Raider has your scent, he will find you, and he will kill you, said the voice.
Rose slowed down, signaling them to stop. She then crouched, and they did the same, as they approached a small cliff. They crouch-wa
lked to the edge and looked over.
The cliff overlooked a tiny path winding its way through the forest. It was a five-yard drop, something they could make in a jump and not break their legs.
On the path was a scrawny-looking kid. He had on a green T-shirt and black pants. He couldn’t have been more than twelve years old, his fists balled at his sides, his visage marred with rage.
Three Metallics approached him from the left, while two approached from the right. One of them had some sort of device in his right hand, which he spoke into. His words were hushed, and Peter could barely make it out. If he were to guess, he’d say that they were calling for help.
“He’s the One,” Rose said, looking with wonder at the angry kid. “It’s him.” She glanced at Peter, a smile stretching her thin lips, her eyes gleaming with tears.
“We found him,” she whispered. She sounded as if she never believed they had a chance.
“Yeah, we did,” Peter said.
“Now we have to rescue him,” Delphina said. “Otherwise, those Metallics will take him away.”
“No,” Peter said, a thought occurring to him. “Let’s watch what happens.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Delphina snapped, her voice rising a decibel above their whisperings. Luckily, it wasn’t loud enough to draw the attention of the Metallics below.
“Let’s see how powerful he is,” Peter said. “And how the Metallics intend to capture him. We might learn one or two things about their techniques and power. Remember, we’re at war.”
Delphina didn’t look convinced. But Rose didn’t oppose. Perhaps it was because she was still shell-shocked at the fact that they had found the One.
The Metallics on the right struck with lightning speed, the chains around their waists rolling out and whipping toward the boy. The boy waved his hand, and the chains dissolved. But then one of the three men on the left had surged forward at the same time the ones on the right attacked.
The boy turned, but not in time. The man grabbed him in a bear hug. The boy screamed, a terrible earthquake rolling in from the north, felling trees as it approached. Before it got to them, one of the Metallics produced a flute-like weapon, aimed at the boy, and blew into one end of the pipe.
A dart erupted out of the other end and struck the boy in the neck. Less than five seconds later, the earthquake stopped, the boy…dead? Unconscious?
Rose and Delphina glanced at Peter questioningly.
He nodded. Now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
R
ose was the first one up, leaping spryly to her feet and then jumping posthaste into the midst of the unsuspecting Metallics.
Peter was not too far behind her, coming down with a spin of his staff. He yanked on his power core, causing a terrible drag of blood from him such that he blanked out as he landed on the ground.
Light burst into his mind as he roared back to consciousness, channeling the power into his staff and turning it into a turbine. The staff spun so fast that a gale was created, blasting into two of the Metallics and sending them slamming into the nearest tree trunk.
They fell on the ground, immobile. Peter spun around to face any other standing Metallic. He found the remaining three downed as well. Rose stood over two, while Delphina had killed the third from her position on the cliff.
Rose fell at the side of the boy. He had collapsed in a heap as Rose had tackled the one who held him. While hovering the artifact over the boy in one hand, she used her other hand to check his vitals.
Delphina landed with a whoosh at Peter’s side.
Rose glanced up to them both. “He’s alive. They must have tranquilized him.”
“We have to get out of here,” Delphina said.
They all glanced down the winding path in the direction of the road, where their vehicle was parked.
“We can’t go to the road,” Rose said. “There are too many of them there. Plus this Raider of yours.”
“We can’t remain here either,” Delphina said, looking over her shoulder at the cliff, then looking ahead into the quickly darkening forest. “There are Metallics swarming these woods.
One of which is my target, Peter thought. Lead Dumont.
Lead Dumont had to be leading the search for the One in these woods. No doubt he’d been alerted that the boy had been found and subdued. Even as they spoke, Metallics converged on their location.
In a minute or so at most, this place would be overrun with Metallics. And if they didn’t find the boy, they’d only send more Metallics into these woods to look for him.
They couldn’t turn back. They couldn’t hide around and wait it out. They had to keep moving. Or they had to find an easily defensible position and defend it, while they called for backup.
Peter looked ahead. The path was a narrow one, designed only for foot traffic. It wound away to the right in the distance.
It must lead somewhere, Peter thought. A house perhaps? A country home?
“Let’s follow the path,” Peter said.
Delphina carried the kid while Rose led ahead and Peter brought up the rear. They moved at breakneck speed, heading toward the howls and hoots of Metallics around them. Twice, they came upon teams of two Metallics.
Rose dealt decisively with the first team, while Peter took care of the second team. Both times they hadn’t seen them coming. Both times they had been lucky.
Peter couldn’t help thinking that all the times they’d fought the Metallics, it was always because they had caught them off guard. They hadn’t won on the merits of their powers, but on luck.
Luck wasn’t enough to win a battle. Luck certainly wasn’t enough to defeat a Raider.
If I come face to face with a Metallic who is competent enough, will I be able to defeat him? Peter asked himself.
By the time they arrived at the fence, it was completely dark. They had been moving through the woods for more than thirty minutes without incident, although the sound of the pursuing Metallics lay behind them, an ever-present reminder that they literally weren’t out of the woods yet.
It was a deserted country home with beautifully hewn rocks gleaming in the moonlight and a sweeping grounds of neatly manicured lawn. It stood one story above the ground and a hundred yards away from the fence, solitary, lonely, defensible.
They broke through the fence and ran across the grounds to the house. The front door was unlocked, and they broke into the house. No alarm went off. No light came on. No one was there to greet them.
“I’ll find a room for him,” Delphina said.
“I’ll come with you,” Rose replied.
While Delphina and Rose went upstairs to tuck the boy in, Peter went outside and did a once-over for the house. The building was very pre-Renaissance era with its rock and cobblestone walls.
A structure like this couldn’t have stood without large amounts of metal rods in it. Metal rods that could serve as weapons for the Metallics coming after them.
This will be a problem, Peter thought with a whimpering sigh. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.
Before returning into the house, he gazed out into the surrounding woods. In the far distance, he saw searchlights erupting past the treetops and stroking the skies.
Rose and Delphina joined him at the doorstep, observing the lights for a moment.
“What are our chances of not being seen?” Rose asked.
“Nil,” Delphina said.
“Where does that leave us?” Rose asked.
“We defend this place,” Peter said.
It seemed like a moment ago that Peter was making his way back to Bar Harbor, swearing that as soon as he had his money he would disappear, never to return again. Yet, here he was, about to face down a GAS and a Raider.
“A GAS and roughly eighteen or so Metallics,” Delphina said. “We’ve taken down nine. We’re left with nine.”
“And a Raider,” Rose added.
Delphina gave a grim
nod, looking out into the darkness. “And a Raider.”
Peter pulled out his phone and typed a simple SOS message to Julian. Almost immediately, Julian replied with promise of help. All they had to do was stay alive until then.
He doesn’t specify when help will come, Peter observed, reading the short message one last time. It could be an hour. It could be a day. There could be several days involved. Peter didn’t know.
Peter disregarded the response, tucking his phone back into his pocket. It didn’t matter what Julian had said. They were on their own.
His gut twisting in fear, Peter remembered a line from his childhood days. Abandon all hope all ye who face a Raider.
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