Shadow Born

by Jamie Sedgwick

  That was an uncomfortable thought. Gabriel’s mind raced with the possibilities. If the Shadowlords had the power to summon a thunderstorm and control a dragon, there was no telling what else they might be able to do. It had never occurred to him that they might find a way to attack during the day. Apparently, the rules had changed.

  “I’d better check that closet,” he said.

  He returned a few minutes later carrying two black tactical jackets and two small backpacks. “I’m not sure what all of this stuff is,” he said. “We’ve got two pistols loaded with R9-11 ammo, a couple tazers, and a couple of these…” He held up a large egg-shaped object that was about eight inches long and six inches in diameter. The outer shell was made of hard, clear plastic that allowed a clear view of the complex electronics inside.

  “Those are EGGs,” Jodi said. “It stands for ‘Electromagnetic-field Generating Grenades’. They’re supposed to have basically the same effect as R9-11, but in a grenade.”

  “They’re supposed to?” Gabriel repeated. “You mean they don’t work?”

  “I don’t know. We’ve never tried them. Pete and Mr. Oglesby have been working on the design for about six months. I didn’t even know they had a prototype. If Reeves had them in here, he must have been planning on testing them.”

  “Great,” Gabriel murmured. “Let’s hope we don’t need them.”

  A few minutes later Jodi announced that they were at the lake. “At least I think we are,” she said, glancing out the window. The rain had slowed down, but an ocean of mist covered the ground.

  “I can’t see anything but fog,” Gabriel said. “Can you land using just the instruments?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never landed before. Reeves was going to teach me that pretty soon.”

  Gabriel shot her a look. “You’ve never LANDED before?”

  “I have in a flight simulator… just not for real.”

  “Uh, do the ejection seats work?”

  Jodi shot him a glare. “Very funny. Just buckle up and shut up.” She banked to the left and circled the area a few times, burning off airspeed and altitude. When they broke through the fog the plane was only a hundred feet off the ground.

  Gabriel blinked. “Where’s the lake?” he said.

  “It dried up decades ago.”

  Until that moment, Gabriel had thought Jodi was going to land the plane on water. He stared apprehensively at the dry, barren lakebed that stretched out for several miles in either direction. This wasn’t good. A bad landing in water might at least prove survivable. Here, there was nothing but dirt and rocks.

  Jodi brought the landing gear down and circled in for a touchdown. Gabriel winced as the ground rushed up to meet them. The plane seemed to be moving dangerously fast. Then Jodi pulled back on the yoke, and the front end of the plane tilted skyward.

  The ground disappeared and Gabriel saw nothing but mist in the windshield. There was no mistaking the feeling of the tail wheels touching down. The plane shuddered and made a groaning sound like the Titanic hitting an iceberg. Then, slowly, the front end of the plane dropped. The instant the front end was down, Jodi hit the brakes hard.

  Unfortunately, the rain had turned the dry lakebed to mud. The wheels locked up and Gabriel felt a sickening twisting sensation as the plane lurched to the right and went into a spin. The landscape outside his window became a blur as the plane went careening across the lakebed at ninety miles per hour.

  Jodi screamed. Gabriel clutched the armrests and closed his eyes, waiting for death.

  Chapter 21

  Gabriel dared a glance at the ground sailing by outside. He saw flashes of land and grass and he groaned. It wouldn’t take much -the slightest divot or rock on the ground-to bust the wheels and flip the plane over. Going at that speed, the aluminum frame wouldn’t provide any protection whatsoever. The plane would be crushed under its own weight.

  They’d be lucky if it smashed them to death right away. Otherwise, they’d be trapped underneath it. The inevitable influx of mud would smother them, slowly and painfully. Gabriel couldn’t think of a worse way to die. He almost wished the dragon had fried them when it had the chance. He braced himself in the seat, helpless and absolutely terrified.

  Jodi throttled up and released the brakes. She was using the pull of the engines to try to get the plane straight again. Gabriel held onto the armrests for dear life as the plane whipped around. Gradually, the spinning stopped. The plane fishtailed awkwardly, and Jodi revved up the engines even higher. Gabriel glanced out the window, and his heart nearly stopped.

  “We’re going to hit the embankment!” he cried out. The plane had stopped spinning, but it was still sliding sideways towards the edge of the lake.

  “DUH!” Jodi shouted. “Didn’t I tell you to SHUTUP?”

  Gabriel bit his tongue and braced himself for the collision. Then, suddenly, the plane broke free of its slide. The wheels found a spot of dry ground and the engines roared as the Albatross surged forward.

  Jodi let out a loud sigh. She throttled the engines down and made a beeline across the lakebed, gently tapping the brakes every few seconds. “See,” she said. “I told you it was no problem. A minute later, the plane rolled to a stop near an old shack at the bottom of a hill.

  “We’re here!” Jodi said. She cut the engines and shut off the instruments. “Please remain seated until the seatbelt light is off, and thanks for flying Jodi Air!”

  Gabriel checked his pulse to make sure his heart was still beating. “Where do you keep the barf bags?” he said.

  Jodi punched him in the arm.

  As Julia had promised, there was an ATV hidden inside the old fishing shack. It was just like the one back at the mansion. At first, Gabriel wondered what would make them keep it here, in an abandoned shack miles from anywhere. The place was surrounded by nothing but dirt and tumbleweeds. Then he realized it was probably for that exact reason.

  A man like Reeves would always have a backup plan, and he would naturally take great care to keep it hidden. The fishing shack was perfect. It was inconspicuous, and well off the beaten path. Also, the lakebed made a great alternative landing spot. Or at least it would have, if it was dry. Gabriel wondered how many other secret spots Reeves had out there.

  Jodi took a moment to rummage through their packs, showing Gabriel how everything worked. “These sunglasses are night vision,” she said. “They have built in light sources, but its all battery operated so don’t use them unless you have to. I already told you about the EGGs. You just set the timer and hit the button, and hopefully it’ll work. There are food rations and survival gear in here, in case of emergencies. Reeves puts that stuff everywhere.” She paused, realizing she’d spoken about him as if he were still alive. She took a deep breath, and then went on. “The bullets in your pistol are R9-11 rounds. They won’t hurt people, but you’ve seen what they do to Shadowkind.”

  She held up her TAC jacket and began rummaging through the pockets. “Okay, we’ve got pocket knives, multi-tools, and tracers…” she held up a small button-sized metallic object. “The back is sticky, you just put it on a car or something, and Pete can track it from D.A.S. headquarters. Ahh! We’ve also got scanner radios.” She held up a walkie-talkie sized object with dials and buttons all over the front of it. “This will pick up all the standard radio frequencies, including police, emergency services, air rescue, and cellular. You’ve got basically everything except satellite, and the decryption is built in. Just press this button and it automatically filters the channel you’re listening to.”

  “Cool,” said Gabriel. “If only I had a year to learn how to use it.”

  “It’s not that hard. For now, I’m setting them to scan the frequencies most commonly used by D.A.S. It’s got a wireless headset, but just put that in your pack. Our helmets already have headsets built into them.”

  With that taken care of, they piled onto the ATV. With Jodi at the controls, they roared out onto the lakebed. The intercom in Gabriel’s helmet buzz
ed to life. “I’m taking the back way,” Jodi said. “We’re going around those hills just outside of town. In a couple miles, we’ll hit the woods. Until then we’re in the open, so pay attention.”

  “Gotcha.” Gabriel scanned the horizon as they drove, keeping a wary watch on the surrounding hills. He didn’t see anything but rocks and brush for some time. Finally, the hills began to give way to farmland, and he saw the forest up ahead.

  “Almost there,” Jodi said. She gunned the engine and headed for the trees. They were halfway there when Gabriel got the feeling that something was wrong. At first, it was just sort of nervousness, a feeling in his gut. He glanced around and saw nothing but grassland. He told himself there was nothing to worry about, that they were almost home. Then some instinct or sixth sense made him glance up over his shoulder.

  Gabriel saw an enormous creature barreling down on them, straight out of the sky. It looked almost like a flying horse, but the creature’s jet-black body was somewhat humanoid, and it had wings like a bat. Gabriel immediately recognized the horrific monster as the Jersey Devil from the Book of Shadows.

  “TURN!” He shouted.

  “What? Why? Which way?”

  “I don’t care!” he shouted. “JUST TURN!”

  Jodi twisted the handlebars just in time. The creature swooped down, and its hooves hammered into the rain-soaked earth. Mud sprayed into the air. It let out a blood-chilling shriek. It had missed them by inches.

  “That was a close one,” Gabriel said. He pointed to a nearby section of woods. “There, I don’t think he can follow us!”

  Jodi glanced over her shoulder and saw the creature bearing down on them again. “It’s coming back!” she shouted. “Shoot it! Use one of the pistols.”

  Gabriel fussed with his pack for a few seconds. Several things dropped out, but he ignored them. Finally, he located the pistol at the bottom. “Got it!”

  Gabriel felt a shock of familiarity as he took the weapon into his grip. He felt the weight of it, the shape of the handle in his grip. “I’ve done this before,” he murmured.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. He raised the pistol and took quick aim. He fired three shots in quick succession. They had no effect whatsoever.

  “You missed!” Jodi shouted.

  “I didn’t miss, it’s too big. The bullets aren’t doing anything. We need another rocket.”

  “We don’t have any rockets,” said Jodi. “All we have are the EGGs, and we don’t even know if they work!”

  Gabriel gauged the distance to the woods and then glanced back at the Devil. There was no way they were going to make it. “Turn!” He shouted again. “Left!” Jodi did, once again in the nick of time. The cryptid rocketed past them, shrieking angrily as it missed its targets for the second time. “That’s not gonna work next time,” he said. “Let me drive. I’ve got an idea.”

  Jodi slowed a little and allowed Gabriel to squeeze into the driver’s position. “Now what?” she said, plopping onto the seat behind him.

  “Get the EGG out of my pack.” He glanced back at the Devil. Its eyes glowed with pure unchained rage. It was coming in for the kill this time. “Set it for 5 seconds and then hand it to me.”

  After she had it set, Gabriel took the device and cradled it in one arm, holding the throttle in the other. He glanced back at the Devil, and then at the tree line. “You’re gonna have to jump.”

  “WHAT?”

  “Don’t argue, just do it. Trust me. At the count of three… ONE… TWO… THREE!”

  Chapter 22

  Reeves gagged as ice-cold water struck him in the face. He sputtered, trying to catch his breath. Like a diver gazing up at the surface of the ocean, consciousness seemed to loom over him, just out of reach. He heard voices, broken and distorted, and tried to make sense of the meaningless sounds that his brain could not interpret. Then vertigo overwhelmed him and he started to slip away.

  He heard the sound of a slap, like a snare drum echoing down a long tunnel, and his body slowly acknowledged the pain. His eyes fluttered open, and struggled for focus.

  “Mr. Reeves,” someone said. It was the voice of a young man. Too young. That was odd. Reeves had been interrogated before, but never by a child. His brain struggled to pull it all together into something cohesive and sensible, but it wasn’t working.

  “John Reeves, if that really is your name,” the voice continued. “You see, your driver’s license says ‘John Reeves,’ and so does your health insurance card. Even your library card says ‘John Reeves.’ But somehow your fingerprints and DNA belong to a man who doesn’t exist.”

  Reeves’ head lolled as he listened. Of course there were no records; that was the whole point. He couldn’t have done the things he used to do if there were records. Everybody knew that. This was the most boring interrogation he’d ever had. It was so boring, he thought he might just go back to sleep.

  He started to slip away again, but then he recognized the dark chasm that threatened to swallow him. That chasm was death, not sleep. The very acknowledgement that he was close to the edge was enough to clear his head. He pulled back, struggling for consciousness.

  “You see, I have certain… let’s call them friends who work for various government agencies around the world. You know the ones I’m talking about: FBI, NSA, KGB, Secret Service. There’s more. Lots more. But that’s not the point. You see, my friends tell me that their databases store records on over ninety-five percent of the people in the world. Isn’t that amazing?”

  “Shadowfriends,” Reeves mumbled. He raised his head, and stared into his captor’s face. A boy, Reeves thought. Can’t even be eighteen. A child shadowfriend. Great.

  “Well, yes, that is what they are,” the young man said. “Though I think it’s in bad taste to actually use that word, don’t you? Anyway, my friends, with all their resources, have no record of you. Isn’t that funny? So tell me, who are you really, Mr. Reeves?”

  The young man stepped closer and Reeves gazed into his eyes. Well, one eye. The other was all covered by that shaggy bleached mane. Reeves remembered the new wave hairstyle. Back in the eighties, it was a popular cut with pop musicians. The bleach, the hair gel. It was awful. “Time to update that hairstyle kid.” The words came out slowly, and a bit slurred. Reeves had taken a pretty good beating.

  “Very funny. I wonder if you’ll still be cracking jokes when the Shadowlords are done with you. You know what they can do, don’t you? Of course you do. You know, I’d rather not have you go through that. It’s noisy and painful, and worst of all, very time-consuming. I’m in a bit of a hurry. So what say you tell us about your little D.A.S. operation, and we can avoid all that mess? That way we can all get on with our lives, and you won’t have to end up babbling like a baby in diapers.”

  Reeves sneered, not because he wasn’t afraid, but because he would never let them know it. He knew exactly what the Shadowlords could do, and the boy wasn’t exaggerating.

  Reeves had been tortured before. In 1971 in Pakistan, they ran needles under his fingernails and chopped off the end of his pinky with a cigar cutter. In North Korea, they sliced long ribbons of skin off his back while he hung from a rafter.

  Reeves would take either of those any day over getting interrogated by a Shadowlord. They could reach inside your brain and give you the worst pain imaginable, without even touching you. They could take you right to the brink of death and leave you lying in a puddle of your own urine. Then they’d come back twenty minutes later and do it again. Reeves didn’t know if he was ready for that.

  “You should know something before we get started,” the young man said, leaning in close. “D.A.S. is history. We broke your little compound apart and left it in ashes. Then we killed all your friends. Julia died screaming. Jodi and Gabriel? They suffered. It was awful.”

  Reeves lurched forward, slamming his forehead into the punk’s nose. He tumbled to the ground, screaming like a little girl. Reeves took advantage of the distraction to
make his escape. Unfortunately, the beating had taken its toll. Reeves’ body didn’t move nearly as fast as it should have.

  He almost managed to get to his feet, but then an invisible force field caught him and forced him back down. It was like a vice, pressing him down into the chair, and it squeezed the breath out of his lungs. As Reeves struggled for oxygen, the shadowfriend got to his feet and found a towel for his bloody nose.

  Reeves was on the verge of passing out when the Shadowlord came to stand next to him, his alabaster face twisted in a cruel vampire-like smile.

  “He’s all yours,” the young man said, wiping blood from his nose. “Just don’t kill him.”

  Chapter 23

  Jodi took a deep breath and bailed off the ATV. Gabriel cringed as he saw her tumbling across the field behind him. Hopefully, the rain had softened the ground up a bit. He’d hate to be responsible for her breaking a leg or something. He shot a worried look at the Jersey Devil. Jodi had no means of defending herself against the beast. If it followed her instead of the ATV, she probably wouldn’t survive. The whole plan hinged on Gabriel being the bait.

  It only took a few seconds to find out. Jodi hit the ground and rolled to a stop. Thankfully, she had the good sense to stay motionless and not bring attention to herself. The Devil barreled past her without a sideways glance, its malevolent stare fixed on Gabriel and the ATV.

  Gabriel shoved the EGG into the narrow space between the handlebars. He wedged it in as tightly as he could, and threw another glance over his shoulder. The Devil was closing in fast. He made a few quick calculations, estimating the monster’s flight speed and the speed of the ATV. He hit the button on the EGG and activated it. A small red light began flashing, warning him that he had five seconds.