Other Places 2: Road Blocks

by P. S. Power

  Still, kids in trouble, who could resist that? Not the world's most well traveled store clerk.

  "I won't just go and die. I know it's selfish, but anyone willing to ask that is probably planning to kill everyone anyway. Me going in there solves nothing. Now me taking in a group of superhuman fighters... Gets a lot of people killed. Tell them that if they explain what they want with me, and let all the people, and beings there go, right now, I'll talk to them. On the phone. It's all they're getting from me. I don't want people to die, but this is ridiculous. I mean, anyone that wanted me dead could just shoot me, and if they want my help, I can't see that..." He felt small and weak, and the idea that any of this was about him was insane.

  Unless Greater Demons were involved.

  Vaughn actually smiled and shook his head.

  "They claim they mean to kill you, thinking you a Demon. They've already executed three people, perhaps four by now. The Shifters have a mercenary crew prepared to enter the building, from the outside. Only twenty strong, however. If you could get some of our people in place, inside the building, it would allow us to try and protect those we can. It may not be possible. They told us all the Nodes are being guarded. We could sacrifice a person or two in order to take them out of play, the guards on a single Node, but..."

  But Zack would most likely die first, probably screaming, and asking why he was so stupid. He got what the man was getting at there. It was still a bad idea, but he shrugged.

  "O.K. Come back here with me. Or... let's lock the front door first."

  Lenore did the same on her shop and came back, so he could lock them all in. It was just so they wouldn't be interrupted. He was really starting to wish that Lenore had just been giving the guy a hummer. It would have been easier to deal with.

  Without stopping he went to the Node again, and waved at it. Then didn't bother explaining.

  New Mexico. He could feel it in his head, a set of raised bumps on the otherwise smooth surface of the world. The map it was on in his head was the one he used to practice capitals off of when he was eleven. It had the whole world, but was remarkably free of needless junk.

  The Mall there was really being held, like he'd been told, and it was a mixed bag of people doing it, as far as size went. But only about ten of them. The Nexus there had ten Nodes in different places, but they weren't guarded by people. They had guns pointed at the nodes on all sides, with what had to be lasers running through them. He got the idea. Break the beam and find a nice bellyful of lead. It would work pretty well.

  Unless he was actually a Greater Demon like these losers thought. It would only really work if he was exactly what he'd claimed to be.

  The problem there, the ones that they missed, were the little Node points. His Mall had them too, places in the structure that weren't real weaknesses in the fabric of space, that lead to anywhere, but divots that were still more than his shortcuts normally were. Things that went two or three places or more. More to the point, since he was at a good spot for it already, he could enter any of them from where they were standing. Or any other Nexus, he was sure.

  Smiling, he looked at Lenore and shook his head.

  "Is it polite to get a girl blood for Valentine's Day?" It was a sudden change in topic, but she was old and agile of both mind and body. She kept up.

  "Very. Especially if the host is still alive, it acts as an energy link that way. Have someone in mind?"

  "Nope. Just trying to figure it all out."

  Then he waved at the Node point. It was a lazy thing, but the idea was clear.

  "The actual Nodes are booby trapped and I doubt that I'd survive them, but there's a bathroom on the second floor, in a men's clothing shop, that I can take people in through. It's a bit small in there, but we might get ten in, if we do it carefully? I don't know if the shop itself is empty, but I think that most of the attackers are in the center, holding..." He gestured, trying to show the kind of weapons he meant. "Machine guns? But little ones for the most part, I can't tell who or what they are, since they have masks, but a few aren't human at least. I... The Ambassador there, your people's, he isn't in the crowd."

  Not that he could find. For some reason they got quiet, instead of happy, like he expected, even after he explained to Lenore that the bathroom might be pretty safe, as long as no one noticed them while he took people in. Then all everyone else had to do was run out and they'd be able to...

  Get shot. It didn't mean the same thing to a Vampire maybe, but Shifters bled red blood.

  "Go through the ceiling? Or into the floor? They have the strength for it, your people."

  It wasn't a perfect plan, since if it was up to him, he'd get a couple of snake Shifters in first to set up sniping positions. He might not know the name for the kind of weapons he'd seen, but he could see that working. After all, he had played a video game before in his life.

  The closest team of Vampires that could be gotten to go in, was in Denver, and would be in position at their own Node, in about thirty minutes. He could take them from there, he thought. Still, he didn't have time to train them how to do it, did he? Barb was his normal porter, carrying people for him, or their luggage, and Edom, the second in command for the area had managed it several times as well, really having a knack for it. Lenore had gone through with him several times, on dates, because that showcased him as really special, and she'd seemed impressed by the effort.

  The one he wanted for it was Bey, but the little Vampire man was off in Asia, and just showing up to bug him seemed rude.

  He realized he was saying all of this out loud and shook his head. The point was, he needed a strong and skilled person to take the team in for him, or it wouldn't work. He just wasn't up to lifting that much with his right arm yet.

  Vaughn stopped moving and looked at him hard.

  "I see, we'll not send your lady, so one of the others? Which will do the best job?"

  "That's probably a wash for this one. Edom is way stronger, but I'm going to slow both of them down, and Barb is slightly better at it than he is. I don't particularly want to put either of them into danger. Bey either, but he's very fast when he chooses to be. If we had him, I don't think this would be a real problem at all. Just take him in and get the Shifters to fake an attack from the outside to distract the dying."

  He let his thin and boney shoulders come up. Nearly touching his ears, but not quite.

  "I can't choose between them. If I do and they die, it will be my fault."

  It was probably ridiculous to say such a thing, but Vaughn stepped forward.

  "Teach me this trick. We have half an hour, is that enough time to master it? You don't know me at all, and I'm the person that delivered the problem to you. The risk should be mine, don't you think?"

  It sort of made sense, plus, as an added bonus to sweeten the deal, he was already there. It wasn't hard really, as long as the people being carried held still for it and didn't go limp.

  He got it on the first try, after a long explanation, then had to carry Lenore for him through ten jumps. The actions, the stepping through that did the physical part of it, wasn't hard for him, and didn't even hurt yet.

  Now, after he got himself shot, that would change, he didn't doubt, but for the moment...

  "Hey, can I get a bullet proof vest? Or... I don't know, armor?"

  That got a quick phone call to be made, and Zack had to describe how tall he was as well as what he weighed. It wasn't enough. He was five-ten, but weighed about a hundred and twenty-five pounds. For a long time he'd been nearly starving, and hadn't been large before that, so it showed. Even though he kept eating three meals a day, it was like he just couldn't get anything to stick to his bones.

  No one mentioned it, thankfully.

  So, at fifteen until they were supposed to leave, Zack carried his Vampire porter through the portal. His new one for the day. Then he was stuffed, a little roughly, into a bullet proof vest, and given a helmet that had to look dorky on him. It was all in blue, like he was a poli
ce officer. It even said police on it. He didn't ask how they'd gotten it.

  He let Vaughn, who was clearly a leader, do the talking for him, which got the Vampires, all rather old themselves, to form a line.

  "On three we go in, like described. Get out of the way and stand ready. Remember, move to the mark on the floor and stand rigid, until you're there. It doesn't feel like anything, so you'll just be there, after a small bump. Any questions?"

  There weren't any.

  Taking the first one in line, a scared looking pale man with a machine gun of his own, he started counting.

  "One, two, th-"

  Chapter two

  "-ree."

  For Zack it was a single step, and for a strong Vampire, even carrying another one using a bear hug from behind, it was just a hop. Vaughn had the timing down pretty well already too, which meant the second he dropped his passenger, he turned, ready to go back, his hand finding Zack's right arm again so he could be pulled back.

  This time, instead of counting out loud, Zack bobbed in place, and on the third one, hoping that his signals were good enough, he went back. After they got the first seven Vampires into place, the room seemed full to him, but these men and women didn't seem to care about their dignity or comfort and simply laid down, so that the new ones coming in could stand on them, until there were fifteen in place. That left seven back in the little room, but no more were really going to fit, and one of the Vamps signaled this to Vaughn, who in turn stopped him as soon as they got back to the office complex that housed the Denver Node.

  "They have to move some of the people out, can you watch to see when there is space? Then get the rest in?" The look from the Vampire was strange as he said the words, but what it was supposed to mean, Zack couldn't really tell. Mirror Him was silent on the whole thing, too, and instead of suggesting it meant he wanted to snack on Zack, or even date him, there was nothing. It wasn't like him to pass up that kind of opportunity either, so it was odd and got his attention.

  "I'll do that. I guess everyone else should stay ready? I don't know how this kind of thing works, but if I had to fight terrorists, I'd want as many friends there to help me out as possible." It was a throwaway line, but one of the remaining fighters, who wore all black, like the rest of them, nodded. Her hair was short and a plain brown, like a buzz cut, and she looked hard enough to play in a movie about space marines. In fact, with her Hispanic looks, he thought he might have actually seen her in a role like that before.

  "We all would. He wasn't asking if you'd do it for us, just if you had the ability to keep going. We were told that you might not get all of us through." She was so intense that it seemed almost like she was planning to attack him, if he said the wrong thing, but she went still, like her kind did when worried.

  "Not a problem at this point. We should get you there. Just, you know, be safe on the other side and remember to send me a birthday card next year." As humor went it wasn't great, but no one hit him, so he decided it was good enough.

  On the other side of the rift the bathroom was emptying, as the Vampires took his advice and went into the ceiling, using the tiles there for cover. He couldn't have done it, even with help, the whole thing taking superhuman effort and skill to pull off the way they were doing it. They left one man in the room, guarding the door, his back to the Node.

  "We're up."

  The rest were in place about two minutes later. All the turning around made him a bit dizzy, but going through the thing itself wasn't that hard at all. In fact... He felt refreshed. Like it was easier to be doing that than standing around, or like it had added something to him. Most beings that could do it at all, use the Nodes, complained that it was incredibly draining, so that was a strange thing to notice.

  Vaughn tried to call for a chair, still holding him, like he was ready for the frail Human to fall over, or even die from the effort, but he shook his head, and tried to look a bit grim. After all, people could still die in there, and it was far from over. He ran a commentary about it for Vaughn and the Denver Ambassador, watching it through the Node, which had them both on the phone after a few seconds, repeating what he was telling them. Finally a cell phone was pushed to his head.

  The voice that spoke wasn't anyone he knew at all.

  "Hartley? This is Branson Meers, I'm heading the external entry team for this mission. We're set to begin on your word." Then he went silent, as if Zack was simply supposed to understand what to do or something like that. Why would they want him to tell them when to go in?

  'Because you're so cute, dumbo. You've played this video game before, so think about it, you're their eyes. Look at what's happening and explain it all as clearly as you can. The Vamps are almost surrounding the hostage takers, but in the ceiling. The doors have booby traps on them, all that crud.' The tone was so exasperated that Zack felt a bit stupid for a moment, then told the man on the phone all of that.

  "We need to reset... do we have time?"

  The people in the middle of the room looked miserable and the men, and women, with guns, seemed agitated and like they were going to kill another person, but it looked like they really might not yet, not having anyone ready to die. It took nearly ten minutes. That gave them time to pick someone and get her on her knees, a little to the front, so everyone could see it happening.

  The signal to start was going to be gunfire, but only from outside, which meant that when the masked person, he had a nice ski thing on his head that covered his face totally, shot the old woman in the head, no one reacted. Not on the scene, except for the crying, no doubt.

  "It's a go. Go on your own volition." Zack thought it sounded cool, but was still wincing about the woman that was bleeding on the floor.

  Then the place erupted, fast and hard, so much so he couldn't track even half of it really. The people he'd brought in waited for the men and women with guns to turn toward the outside, then literally dropped on them from above. It was a mess and got bloody, fast. Most of the hostages laid down and tried to cover their heads, which was what Zack wanted to do himself, just watching it from a remove, so he wasn't going to blame them for it. There were children there too, and the only saving grace that he could see was that even the attackers hadn't started to use them yet. Not even as shields, though they were right there.

  One thing was clear however, these people weren't just regular folk dressed up for a bank robbery. When their weapons ran out of bullets, most of them started fighting hand to hand, with a speed that made it nearly impossible for him to track at all.

  That meant they were Vampires, most likely. Or something else so similar that it wasn't a real point at the moment. They were outnumbered, and after about thirty seconds, moving from one bit of cover to the next, a military group in green came from the outside. They weren't invisible, but they hid as they did it, being careful not to make killing them too easy. It was a great plan, and Zack had to endorse it personally, since none of them went down, even when some of the hostages did.

  Hiding... Zack nodded to himself. It seemed like an effective plan really.

  They were doing it slightly wrong, going toward the violence and then, as covertly as possible, trying to pull people away, even as the battle raged. They didn't engage in it themselves, focusing on the extraction portion of things.

  It was about that time that he saw one of them go down. He was just stabbed, and only once, but from behind and in the lower back. It was a man with short hair in a deep rust color and heavy glasses. He was small and had a twitchy look to him, which meant Zack had a good guess as to what he was. A Bat Shifter.

  He also had a group of kids with him, and the attacker with his silver blade was moving in on them. It probably wasn't going to involve reassuring them that it would all be all right either, from the menacing way he did it.

  "Vaughn..." He explained it quickly, and just hoped that the man would be willing to go in. They had a shortcut into the place not too far behind the scene that was playing out, right on the battle field. Floor?
Maybe it was an arena of death? It was a stupid place to go if you weren't nearly immortal, but there wasn't time for him to debate the idea. Instead he held out his arm, and bad, horrible, plan or not, the Vampire with him picked up the local Ambassador with one arm around his middle and grabbed the back of Zack's arm so hard he was probably going to have bruises.

  "Jump!" There was no time for counting, and they were in the mess so fast that he didn't know he'd done it himself. Before he could wet himself or dive to the floor, which was his personal plan, Vaughn threw the Denver Ambassador, like a ball, at the attacker with the knife, then ran to engage the being as well. They weren't armed, which was an oversight, but they managed to take the man out pretty fast anyway, then had to turn to fight another one, who seemed to realize there was a new threat. For his part, Zack saw the little kids, none older than nine or ten, and noticed that one of the larger ones, a boy, was trying to drag the Bat Shifter away by himself. It wasn't working very well, but seemed like a real plan, given where the bullets were going at the moment. He moved to help and together, barely, they did it, another little kid, who might have been all of five, and seemed like a girl, jumping in to do the same.

  Then they all, the five kids, the Bat man and him, hid behind a heavy brick planter that made a low wall. If anyone came back there for them, one of the killers, they were dead, so they all held very still, and tried to do their crying quietly. After another few moments things started to become quieter. Calling it silent would be a lie, since the din of crying people and occasional bit of gunfire wasn't that at all, but Zack risked popping his head up.