The City Revolts: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Caitlin Chronicles Book 4)

by Daniel Willcocks

  Alicia looked from Brett to Jimmy and definitely noticed something in their eyes now. Were they—

  Now’s not the time, she reprimanded herself.

  She studied the field and tried to soak it all in although a part of her wanted to hide from it. This made it all so real and also made her feel like a coward for hiding in a tower while the others fought for her spoils. Had that been the type of leader she had always been?

  No.

  Alicia remembered the old days not long after she had arrived at the Broken City with her caravan. They had been little more than a group of vagabonds thrown out into the world and looking for a place to call home. There had been rumors from others that the Broken City—a place that had once been called Hamilton before the fall—had a band of survivors and was the perfect place to hunker down and remain safe from the Mad. She had been told of an existing colony who kept the gates secure and allowed entry to wanderers who had lost their homes.

  What a joke that had turned out to be when she had arrived to find only a cluster of two dozen men and women gathered around the fire in the old library. They had barricaded themselves in and were reluctant to allow entry to anyone until Alicia proved her worth and slew a quartet of Mad who had attacked them.

  As days passed into months, she had naturally taken the role of leader. With her ability to organize others and reestablish actual boundaries, it wasn’t long before the city built up into what it had become. While not perfect, it was her home, and Alicia had led well. She’d trained Triston and protected her sister.

  How could Felicia have let this happen in her absence?

  No. It’s time to take responsibility. Determination welled inside of her. No more hiding behind walls and fences, no more watching others die for my sake. I can—and I will—end this.

  Alicia stood suddenly, snatched Brett’s pistol, and headed to the stairs.

  The Weres called after her, but their words fell on deaf ears and they looked at one another in alarm.

  It was only when she reached the first step that she paused, but it was the fear in their voices as they pointed at the horizon rather than their words that alerted her to several hundred moonlit shapes that made their way down the hill. A vast tide of bodies moved at a rapid pace toward the center of the city. Even from this distance, Alicia was certain she knew what she saw.

  No… Oh, no.

  She darted down the stairs at double pace, spun around the stairwells, shoved through the front doors, and fired Brett’s pistol into the air. Her screams rent the air.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The Broken City, Old Ontario

  All heads turned to stare at the woman who stood in the middle of the street with a pistol pointed skyward. Her screams were so shrill that it was a wonder the remaining glass in the city hadn’t shattered.

  Caitlin felt her heart drop. Shit. What is she doing?

  A strange silence fell over the battlefield. Weres engaged in fights with humans paused, suddenly uncertain of whether or not to continue. Even Bryce and Triston stopped, both not quite believing what they saw.

  Triston glared at Caitlin with a look that seemed to say, “She was here the whole friggin’ time?”

  “Enough!” Alicia shouted and took advantage of the silence. Weres looked uncertainly at Bryce, who simply stared at the woman. Humans turned from Triston to Alicia and back again, not quite sure what to make of the development.

  Caitlin gauged the distance and saw both Bryce and Triston equidistant from Alicia. They looked at each other as if thinking the same thing.

  She sighed. If Bryce were to reach the city leader first, the humans would likely give up. If Triston reached her first, they’d get a soldier back, but would the fight continue?

  “Enough of this fighting,” Alicia said and now strained her voice to be heard by all. “We are not enemies. We are victims of our own incorrect perceptions of one another, citizens of the city trapped by our fear of a leader who is no longer with us. The monstrous Were who caused this situation has been vanquished.”

  A murmur of agitation rose amongst the Weres.

  “The very same Were who kept you all under the illusion that the humans wanted war. The same Were who stole our children and kept them in darkness for months on end and who chained me to the wall to watch the experimentation with Were blood on our own heirs. This is the Were you followed, but this is not the type of Were you all need to be.”

  The humans raised fists and cheered.

  “And you,” Alicia said, her eyes finding Triston’s. “Since when did we risk the blood of our people for the sake of a gain in territory? Do you wonder at the reason why I’ve not commanded a war before? Did you not realize how I’ve mused and pondered to find ways to keep us all free and at peace for as long as possible? Look at yourselves. Look at what you’ve done.”

  Everyone, both Were and human, looked around at the chaos and carnage. Bodies littered the ground, and blood stained their clothing.

  “Enough of this shit,” Bryce called as he now waded in his human form toward Alicia. Triston realized the danger in the situation and ran forward in an effort to gain distance.

  But when Bryce was no more than ten feet away from Alicia, he was forced to stop, unprepared for the small force which now stood in his way. In silence, Caitlin had indicated for her Revolutionaries to step in and now, they stood between Bryce and the city leader. A wall consisting of her Revolutionaries, Weres, and the children of the city constituted a united front of all parties involved. They stared into Bryce’s eyes with a plea for peace.

  Even Kain stepped forward, then, almost nose to nose with the Alpha now. “I told you, friend. This is bigger than you and me.”

  The massive Were’s nostrils flared. He looked torn between the idea of proving himself as Alpha and the sense it all made. To actually have the chance to bring the city to peace… wouldn’t that be a better idea?

  “What are your terms?” he asked softly after a long silence.

  Caitlin smiled and turned to the woman. “Well?”

  “Well, first, we have bigger fish to fry.” Alicia pointed toward the end of the street from where a chorus of screeches and cries rang out. Humans and Were alike recoiled in horror as several hundred Mad appeared around the corner. Their eyes blazed in the night as they now hurtled at an alarming speed toward the gathered crowd.

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Caitlin sighed and tightened her grip on her sword.

  “Formation!” Alicia shouted. “Everyone, fall back. Pikes and Weres with weapons to the front!”

  Bryce glared at her.

  “Sorry, all yours.”

  “Weres with weapons to the front!” he shouted, shifted into a bear, and made his way to the first row of the gathering formation.

  Caitlin followed, and the Revolutionaries moved alongside her. Somewhere along the way, Laurie had managed to pilfer a bow and arrows from another citizen and now inspected them as she walked.

  “Not too shabby,” she mused aloud.

  “Focus on the job at hand,” Caitlin said.

  When they reached the front, she readied herself. Her jaw dropped when she saw something that she didn’t quite believe.

  A vampire led the charge. That much was unmistakable. Nowhere near as decomposed as the Mad that followed, in her anger, she almost looked like Mary-Anne. Caitlin’s heart skipped a beat until she realized that it wasn’t Mary-Anne the vampire reminded her of.

  It was Felicia.

  “Felicia’s a vampire?” Caitlin asked Alicia as she joined the frontline.

  “That’s news to me,” the woman said, her mouth open in horror.

  “Impossible,” Joe said. “She’s been with us during the day. I thoughts vampires only came out at night?”

  “Who’s Felicia?” Kain asked.

  “She’s my sister,” Alicia said, hardly able to take it in. “Or…was…”

  “It doesn’t really matter who the fuck she is, right now,” Caitlin said. “What matter
s is that we don’t let the Mad stampede their way through the goddamn city.”

  Vampire Felicia was horrifying to behold. Somehow, Caitlin managed to hold her nerve as the vampire moved at an incredible speed toward her. Her red eyes blazed in delight as her clothes trailed behind her.

  You want it. Come get it, Caitlin thought.

  “Finally, we meet. The mighty warrior girl—” Felicia began before she suddenly vanished before Caitlin’s eyes.

  “Huh?” Caitlin looked around and noticed her attacker now against the side of a building and engaged in a scrap with something she could barely see.

  The Mad screeched. They were almost upon them.

  “What’s going on?” Kain shouted as he caught up, already breathless.

  Caitlin shrugged.

  “Focus on your own fights!” a voice cried which filled their hearts with joy.

  “Ma?”

  “One and the same!” Mary-Anne said with great effort as Felicia kicked her chest and she sprawled back and scrambled to her feet. “Like I say, focus on the friggin’ Mad, would you? I got this.”

  Felicia roared with laughter.

  “You heard the vamp. Onward!” Caitlin said and grinned as she raced toward the Mad with Kain, Alicia, Bryce, Triston, and the others at her side. This was it. This was what it had all led to. A final stand for the city and a final stand for freedom.

  Caitlin screamed as she eliminated the first of the Mad. At a call from Triston, arrows rained overhead. Kain tore into one while the others fought their own battles. Everywhere Caitlin looked, people and Weres fought together, working toward a common purpose.

  She made her way forward and found a flat-topped boulder where she could stand and direct the charge. Hundreds of Mad funneled through toward the waiting troops. For as far as she could see, they poured into the streets in a relentless, endless flow.

  The defenders fought bravely but lost a few of the good fighters along the way. Caitlin’s sword moved as if by its own volition and slashed and hacked with unmatchable speed and pace. Her skin glistened with sweat. She had fought Mad before, but never this many. However the bitch vampire had gathered them together, she had done a great job because to set a horde like this upon the unexpecting city would have taken some work.

  Stop admiring the bitch. Do you really want to shake her hand and say well done for this?

  As the battle wore on and more humans and Weres began to fall to the ranks of Mad as they surged through, it seemed it might be the stamina of the city that became their downfall. Caitlin watched as Mary-Anne and Felicia rocketed about the field in battle. Occasionally, they’d whirl past in a blur or smash into anyone who got in their way. In the briefest of moments, Caitlin saw the wounds on Mary-Anne’s face—not enough to deter her from battle but enough to know that damage had been done.

  Felicia, on the other hand, smiled the whole way through.

  When was the last time Ma drank blood? Caitlin wondered. Has Felicia drunk her fill ahead of all this chaos?

  Caitlin continued to fight but could feel herself begin to slow. The Mad seemed never-ending, and there was only so much space for the army behind her to contribute once the arrows were all gone.

  Come on, Kitty-Cat, she said to herself as she drove Moxie into the throat of a particularly ugly female Mad. Keep it going. It doesn’t end here.

  Mary-Anne growled and used all the energy she had to throw her adversary in the opposite direction.

  “Ha ha!” she exclaimed but immediately grew quiet as the other vamp practically bounced off the wall of the building and zigzagged back through the crowd to attack her.

  Mary-Anne blocked a punch but took a kick to her stomach that knocked the wind out of her. She felt something solid slam into her and turned to see the dent in the car she had been tossed into.

  “Fuck. You’ve got a mean throw on you,” she said.

  “I wish I could say the same about you!”

  Mary-Anne ducked in time to avoid yet another blow, but the woman was fast. She tried to think of a way to cripple her progress. By her experienced reckoning, this vamp was fresh—a new creation, amped up on a fresh stomach full of blood. In a way, she viewed her with envy and remembered her glory days when her strength was at peak levels and the whole journey was new and exciting.

  Then another question popped into her head. Who had turned her into a vampire? Was this the vampire pictured on the Governor’s map? The one they had originally gone to track? Surely not.

  “Oof!” Mary-Anne’s thoughts broke as she was smacked across the face. She felt the hot, red burn of a scratch etched into her skin and returned the favor.

  “Bitch!” the woman shouted.

  “Oh, behave. It’ll heal.”

  They continued their fight, almost blind to the others around them. At the start, Mary-Anne had tried to keep track of how Caitlin and the Revolutionaries were doing. Now, it took all her effort to focus on this vampire and make sure she wasn’t able to turn against the those fighting the mad. If this bitch ever got free, it would all be over.

  She’d even forgotten about Dylan and the caravan with whom she had somehow managed to navigate through the forest with her damaged leg. When she had seen the fires, heard the cries, and smelled the Mad and the vamp, she had dashed off. She had ignored the pain in her leg which hadn’t yet completely healed but was well on its way.

  Mary-Anne couldn’t remember the last time she had fought this desperately with a vampire. She had actually completely forgotten what it was like to fight another. Several decades of hibernation would do that to a person, and now, she wished she’d kept up her own training.

  You didn’t think you’d see this situation again, though, did you? You believed the world was over and gave up, didn’t you? Yes, you sat in your hole in your family home and waited for the world to die. That’s what you did.

  “No, I didn’t.” Mary-Anne grimaced and her hands locked with Felicia’s as they spun and smashed through Mad, human, and Were.

  “What?” Felicia asked.

  Yes, you did. You decided the world was over, so little Miss Carter gave up. Why don’t you give up now? Why don’t you quit and throw in the towel? Your time is over. Leave it to the humans to clean up your mess.

  Mary-Anne felt rage boil up inside of her. The culmination of years upon years of lying about and doing nothing merged with the light, passion, and inspiration that the woman who could wield a sword unlike any other had bestowed upon her. She caught sight of Caitlin, who swung her blade while sweat glistened on her forehead. Her hair was disheveled but a relentless determination burned in her eyes as she took on Mad, after Mad, after Mad.

  “Fuck you,” Mary-Anne said, shoved the surprised woman backward, and threw a haymaker at her face.

  The woman blinked stupidly.

  Mary-Anne threw another punch.

  The woman growled.

  She leapt forward and pummeled her opponent into the side of the building. Brick and stone crumbled around them.

  “Fuuuuuuuuuck!” she shouted and continued the barrage of blows until she was exhausted and the woman stopped moving. Finally, Mary-Anne stopped and caught her breath.

  When she looked up again, the woman smiled. A slow laugh rolled from the back of her throat.

  “Nice try, old timer,” the woman said as she dove into Mary-Anne’s body and shoved her across the battleground at ridiculous speed.

  Caitlin looked up in time to see Felicia force Mary-Anne through the crowd.

  “No!” she cried, distracted long enough for a Mad to knock her onto the ground.

  It landed on top of her, its eyes red and raging, and its teeth snapped at her face. Caitlin grunted and managed to lift the Mad a moment later after Kain drove a sword into its back.

  “You realize you could have got me, right?” Caitlin scolded him.

  “Hey, you’re free, aren’t you?”

  “Mary-Anne?” she asked and scanned the battlefield.

  “Where’d she go?�
�

  “I don’t know!”

  “Climb on,” Kain said and offered her a hand.

  She put a foot in his hand, and he raised her above the sea of heads. Finally, she saw the two vampires tussling near the building where they had kept Alicia for the past few days. “Over there. Bring me down.”

  As he started to comply, she tapped him on the head and stopped him.

  “Ouch. What?”

  At this height, all Caitlin could do was stare as she saw the tail end of the Mad horde. They were beginning to thin, and many now turned and ran in the direction opposite the fight.

  “They’re running, Kain. They’re giving up.”

  “Since when have you known Mad to give up?”

  Caitlin paused, annoyed by her own stupidity. When had Mad ever given up?

  She shaded her eyes, squinted ahead, and beamed at a sight she couldn’t quite believe.

  His muscles shook. “I’m not being funny, but this has been a long day and you’re taking the piss a bit.”

  “Kain,” she said as he lowered her down. “They’re here.”

  “Who?”

  Caitlin laughed, not even caring in that moment why the many familiar faces of Silver Creek poured around the corner and hacked down the Mad as they approached.

  The Were rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Kitty-Cat. Who?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The Broken City, Old Ontario

  There was a fleeting moment as Dylan arrived on the scene when his courage faltered.

  He had seen them from afar as the caravan left the cover of the forest and blinked at the unreal sight of the city. Hundreds of bodies had been shepherded down the hill like cattle. He’d watched in silence, fascinated and barely able to process the speed of the figure who rounded them up and directed them toward the city.

  At first, his mind had told him that they were nothing more than survivors. A vast pack of wanderers like themselves sprinting in excitement at the first sight of civilization they had seen of this magnitude in…well…forever.