"I hope your shield still works," Ralph said.
Ellen startled when Ralph grabbed her and spun her around. She hated him for making her take her eyes off her friends, but she couldn't blame him for doing so. The tusked monster was creeping up behind them. Its head and its first dozen legs were already inside the fortress.
A fierce whirlwind of violet energy gathered around its body. It raised its scimitars into the air then slashed them both down one after the other. Each swipe sent a magic weapon hurtling down the center of the courtyard.
They were the largest weapons she'd ever seen, but Ellen had full confidence in her shield. She summoned it and waited.
Despite their size, neither weapon could pierce her shield. The first scimitar bounced high up into the sky then sailed out into the plains. The second flew back the way it came and crashed into a section of the outer wall on the monster's left.
"Why don't you just repel the weapon back at the damn monster?" Ralph asked snidely. "Do you know how much easier your life would be?" He grabbed Ellen's arm and pulled. "Come on, let's go!"
Ellen ran with him. Ralph was the last person she ever expected to have at her side, but right now, she was glad to have him.
She left the courtyard and followed a clear road towards the hospital. The tremors the tusked monster made as it stomped its way into the fortress faded behind her.
"You're going to feel really dumb if we get down there and they've already left," Ralph said.
It was a nice thought, Kilroy and Brendon and Lindsey escaping safely, but the dimension wasn't nice at all. "Their rift will still be open," Ellen said. "We can follow them."
"True, but what if they're dead?"
Then she would feel dumb. Dumb and terribly sad. "They're strong," she mumbled. "Stronger than both of us."
A horde of monsters wandered into the intersection ahead. Each one was a black, wriggling mass of weapons.
Ellen veered left into a narrow gap between two homes. It led to a road that was safer, at least for a moment.
"Where are you going after this?" she asked Ralph. "You're not coming with me, are you?"
"No way," Ralph scoffed. "I'm going it alone once we're done here. That's how it's always been and that's the way I like it. I don't have the patience for teams and squads and junk like that."
Ellen gave him a curious glance. "Don't you have any friends or family?"
"I have a family, somewhere, but they don't like me and I really don't like them." He glanced at her, seemingly surprised that she had expressed some kind of interest in him. "Don't worry about me. Where's this hospital? You better remember the way."
She did remember the way, but it did little good when half the roads were packed with wandering monsters. Fortunately the alleyways along the way weren't half as dangerous, and no monster ever bothered to follow her through the many gaps and crevices between buildings she ducked inside of to escape, probably because most of them were too big to fit.
Ellen's heart sank as she approached the hospital. Kilroy was still near the entrance. He lay sprawled out on his back, unmoving. Butchered chunks of monster surrounded him on all sides.
Her eyes watered up. She'd arrived too late to save Kilroy. She was probably too late for Brendon and Lindsey as well.
But Kilroy coughed, and her hope returned. She bolted forward and collapsed to her knees beside him.
Her hope vanished as quick as it came. Kilroy's left side had been completely cut open and shredded. Blood spurt out of him so fast she couldn't believe he still had the life left in him to cough.
"Why did you come back here?" Kilroy asked, his voice just barely a whisper. "Did something happen? Are your friends-"
"Everyone escaped," Ellen said. Her tears ran down her face and dripped onto his cheek. "You're the only one who's hurt."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kilroy smiled, then reached up and gently touched Ellen's shoulder. "You're strong. No matter what danger you come across, you're going to survive." His hand slipped away. "Go inside. They need you."
Ellen couldn't bring herself to move. Even after Kilroy shut his eyes and became still, she didn't want to leave his side. He'd been her mentor, he'd introduced her to her friends, and he'd been the first person to have truly made her feel welcome in the fortress, and now he was dead.
"We're not safe here," Ralph warned. "You're going to die here with him if you don't get moving."
Ellen still couldn't bring herself to move, not until Ralph picked her up and shoved her towards the hospital.
She wiped her tears away and forced herself forward. There was no time to mourn. There was no time for anything. She had to find Brendon and Lindsey.
She darted through the hospital lobby and into an infirmary. Lindsey lay on her back in a bed near the entrance. Brendon stood over her, holding a bloodstained towel to her face.
"I can hold it myself," Lindsey argued. "We're never going to get out of here if you don't listen to me."
"You're too weak," Brendon said. "You'll bleed out as soon as I take my hands away." He looked to Ellen. "There's a supply room behind us somewhere. Get me another towel, bandages... anything that looks useful"
Ellen took off running towards the doorway in the back of the infirmary. She moved as fast as she could. The tusked monster was still out there. It or one of its weapons was bound to find her any moment now.
The doorway led to a long hallway. A dark closet full of supplies was nearby. She darted inside, picked up a bottle of clear fluid she guessed was disinfectant and a roll of linen bandages then hurried back to the infirmary.
"Put them where I can reach them," Brendon ordered. "We don't have a lot of time."
Ellen averted her eyes and approached Lindsey, whose pillow was stained red with blood. She set the supplies down beside Lindsey's shoulder then moved away.
"This is going to hurt," Brendon warned.
The cries that followed made Ellen shudder. Lindsey shrieked with a terrible agony that echoed throughout the hospital.
When Lindsey rose out of bed, her whole face except for her eyes and mouth were covered with bandages. "At least I'll fit in with all the monsters outside," she complained.
"You'll be alright," Brendon said uneasily. "But some of those wounds..."
"I'll be scarred for the rest of my life." A blue cowl lie on the bed across from her. Lindsey stomped over to it, snatched it up and threw it over her head, then adjusted it until only her eyes showed. "I don't want anyone seeing me like this."
"I doubt there's anyone here to see you," Brendon said.
Lindsey shot Ellen a look so hateful it made her shudder. "Why are you still here?"
"I-I was worried about you," Ellen stammered.
"We didn't need you. You should've left with your friends."
"We did need her," Brendon said cautiously.
Ellen didn't know who to believe, but she didn't regret her decision. Knowing Brendon and Lindsey were both alive and mostly well lifted a massive weight off her shoulders.
Lindsey stomped off towards the supply closet. "I need more supplies," she growled. "These bandages will have to be changed later."
"I'm glad you came back," Brendon said, his voice not much more than a whisper. "Lindsey wouldn't have made it if I had to leave her side."
"I don't mind," Ellen said, "but Kilroy-"
"I know," Brendon said sadly. "He called out to us right before you showed up." He paused. "What about your friends?"
"They escaped. So did their families."
Ralph shouted, "I hope you're not taking a break in there. That giant, nasty thing is crawling towards us right now."
Lindsey stomped back into the infirmary. She threw a bag of supplies to Ellen then complained, "Who's out there? I'd like to see him move around after being injured like I have."
"Don't take it out on him," Brendon said. "We're all still in this together."
"That's easy for you to say. You're not the one who's going to be disfigured f
or the rest of your life."
Brendon nudged her forward. "I've had enough of this hospital. Let's get out of here."
Ellen followed cautiously behind them. She hadn't expected Lindsey to be happy after having suffered such an awful injury, but she hadn't expected her to be this resentful, either.
Ralph was waiting outside. "It's about time," he complained. "What were you doing in-"
He turned silent and pale when Lindsey tore one of her swords from her waist and pressed the blade against his throat.
"Be quiet," Lindsey ordered. "Now where's that giant monster?"
Ralph pointed towards the courtyard.
"Good. Now get out of here. It's not safe." Lindsey drew her second sword and ran off.
"Where are you going now," Brendon said, his voice strained. He followed. "We need to get out of here."
A deep roar sounded in the distance, dragging on for several worrisome seconds. It sounded similar to a horn, but much lower pitched and much more monstrous. It echoed off the fortress's outer wall and reverberated up and down the streets.
Ellen groaned and hurried after Brendon and Lindsey. They should be escaping, not running off to find that giant monster.
"Ellen," Ralph said, and Ellen paused. "You can babysit them if you want, but I'm going somewhere safe." He outstretched his right arm and started concentrating. Violet energy gathered around his palm. "You should leave as well."
"I will soon," Ellen agreed. She eyed Ralph. Even though they were helping each other now, he probably still hated her, and it was all because of one little misunderstanding. "Do you remember when we first met? You ran into Barry, he shoved you into me, and then we both fell. I don't know how my knife slipped out of its sheath, but I didn't attack you. The whole thing was an accident."
"I figured that was the case," Ralph said, "but I had a lot going on back then, and I might've overreacted. Sorry." A rift appeared beside him. "Maybe we'll run into each other again someday."
"Yeah," Ellen agreed, smiling.
A shadow appeared under Ralph's feet. Ellen looked up, and her smiled vanished.
A storm of monstrous hammers was falling from the sky above the fortress. Before she could speak a word, Ralph disappeared beneath the head of one of the massive weapons.
Ellen clenched her supply bag tight and ran. How many people was the dimension going to take from her before it was satisfied? Would anything calm its bloodlust, or would it just keep killing and killing until not one smidgeon of life remained?
More hammers rained down around the fortress as she ran. One turned the hospital into scrap wood. A second leveled the row of houses behind it. Three more hit a dormitory in the distance ahead and reduced the whole building to rubble. Another crashed into the wall and launched a cloud of dust and debris into the air.
Ellen veered left to avoid the rubble, then right onto a wide-open road where Brendon and Lindsey were standing. The tusked monster was marching towards them from down the road, its dim red eyes focused on them and its massive weapons raised and ready.
"We can't kill that thing," Brendon said tensely. "We need to leave."
"I just want to scar it," Lindsey said, "like its friends scarred me." She glanced back at Ellen. "Start opening a rift for us. You'd better pick a nice and peaceful place for us to escape to or you'll regret it."
Ellen stuck out her right arm and started concentrating. The names of her friends' dimensions all slipped her mind. So did the names of all the calmer dimensions her guardian had brought her to in the past.
She'd have time to remember them later. Right now she just needed to escape.
"Bring out your weapons," Lindsey ordered Brendon. "Your real weapons. And you-" She glanced back at Ellen again. "Bring your shield up here once you're done with that."
Brendon pulled his axe from its harness. "After all the damage this thing has caused," he said thoughtfully, "it would be a shame if we let it go without a scratch." He looked back at Ellen. "This is our final battle here. Just stick with us a bit longer then we'll head somewhere safe."
"I'm sure she's just as mad at this monster as I am," Lindsey said.
Ellen continued concentrating until a rift opened beside her, then she darted forward and positioned herself in front of Brendon and Lindsey. She didn't mind the idea of getting revenge against the monster that had taken so much from her, but at the same time, simply glancing at the tusked monster was enough to turn her knees to mush.
"Where's your new friend?" Brendon asked.
"He didn't make it," Ellen said sadly. "A hammer-" She shook her head.
Brendon gave her a kind pat on the shoulder. "We'll make it. Don't worry."
"Here it comes," Lindsey said. "Guard us!"
Ellen summoned her shield and waited. The tusked monster stopped in an intersection just ahead, its tens of dozens of feet resting on top of rubble that had once housed hundreds of people. Its body reached all the way back to the entrance to the fortress then outside. It was a powerful monster, the most powerful she'd ever seen, but Brendon and Lindsey were strong. They'd scar it just like Lindsey said, and then she'd never have to see its awful face ever again.
Violet energy swelled around the tusked monster. It slashed both its scimitars through the air and cast two massive weapons at her. Ellen repelled them both away. One bounced high into the sky then out into the plains while the other sailed straight back at the monster and severed its spear wielding arm.
"You could've killed it right then and there if you'd aimed better," Lindsey complained.
She was right, but Ellen still felt a ping of satisfaction. She would've liked to have cut off the monster's head, but severing one of its limbs was a victory she'd gladly accept.
The monster raised its hammer and tried dropping it down on her head, but one of Brendon's living weapons appeared just in time to catch it in midair. The blades of the smaller axes wrapped around the hammer and held it in place.
"This won't kill it," Lindsey said, "but it'll show them we're not afraid to fight back."
She raised both her weapons into the air. First a fierce whirlwind of violet energy enveloped her, then a swirling mass of crimson swords formed at her feet and slowly rose high into the sky. They took the shape of a cyclone, which kept growing until it was as tall as the fortress's outer wall.
Ellen crept backwards towards her rift. The cyclone of swords was stirring up so much wind she had trouble keeping her footing. She had to shield her eyes as well. With the heavy winds came a thick cloud of dirt.
The cyclone moved forward, destroying everything nearby. It tore up the road, it shattered windows, and it blew shingles off nearby roofs. Even Brendon's living weapon couldn't survive the attack, and the monstrous hammer that had a powerful, brutish arm pushing it forward ended up getting shoved aside.
The swirling mass of swords dispersed as it collided with its target, but it left a scar. Several of them. One of the tusked monster's dim red eyes no longer showed, both its tusks had been grounded down to stumps, and its whole front half was cut open and bleeding green blood everywhere.
"I hope you never forget who gave you those scars," Lindsey said weakly, then she collapsed to her knees. "That's all I can do. Let's get out of here."
"You left a scar alright," Brendon said as he shoved his axe back into its harness. He scooped Lindsey up in his arms and bolted towards the rift.
Ellen followed. She stepped inside the rift right after Brendon. Darkness set in, and the Forlorn Dimension vanished behind her forever.
Chapter 25
Once the darkness faded, Ellen quickly drew her knife. There was no telling what sort of danger awaited her in this new dimension.
But the area was calm and quiet. She stood inside an old stone tower. A quarter of the wall was missing, and a sparse forest full of young trees lie outside. A faint afternoon light shined in through the cracks in the ceiling.
"This doesn't look too bad," Brendon said. He lay Lindsey down on the stone floor, then se
t his axe aside and collapsed onto his back. "You're going to have to look after things for now," he told Ellen. "Summoning even one of those weapons takes a lot out of me. And Lindsey... well, you know."
"Leave my supplies here," Lindsey said tiredly. "I'll help you look around later, but I need to sit down for a while first."
They were dead tired. Ellen couldn't blame them. Both had displayed more power than she had ever imagined a human capable of.
She set the supply bag down then moved towards the opening in the wall. She glanced outside cautiously, fearing there might be another giant monster lurking around the corner, but found nothing. The young forest was calm. There wasn't a trace of life, either human or monster, anywhere.
There wasn't a trace of civilization either, and that was probably going to be the case for now and for the rest of her life. The Monad Fortress was the only large establishment anywhere in the world, and now that it was gone, there was nothing.
Ellen stepped outside with a heavy heart. "It was nice while it lasted," she mumbled.
Her thoughts went straight to her friends. She remembered their destinations now: The Endor Dimension, the Haas Dimension, and the Arjex Dimension. They were probably still on the move and looking for a safe area to settle down in. Once they had had a few days to adjust to their new lives, and once Brendon and Lindsey recovered, she'd start looking for them.
She drifted through the forest. After the endless trail of destruction being wrought in every corner of the Forlorn Dimension, the silence was a pleasant change of pace.
She found a small stream not far from the tower. The water was clean and clear. She cupped her hands and took a drink, then started following the stream to see where it led.
She already liked this forest much better than the last forest she'd visited. It was much kinder. It was too bad the sky already had dark streaks running through it. This dimension wouldn't be her home for long.
The stream soon ended along with the world itself. Water flowed over the edge and disappeared into a boundless darkness that Ellen took one look at then hurried away from. That was enough exploring for today. She had enough food to last a few days and now she had water as well.
Forlorn Dimension (Ellen's Friends Book 1) Page 28