It was the school bus.
“No,” he said, spitting out a puddle of blood.
It had to be reinforcements arriving on the scene. Not that Mackenzie needed any – the ragtags might have taken some losses but they were well in control of the situation now. The school bus was just another nail in the coffin of the Resistance, the New Resistance, or whatever Cody and his group were called.
What did it matter? Cody felt his last reserves of hope being trampled upon. Surely this was the end.
Except something strange was happening. The ragtags, rather than being overjoyed, looked troubled by the arrival of the school bus. Casting their eyes over in that direction, Cody thought they looked like they’d seen a ghost.
It was the same with Mackenzie. He was standing tall, tense and alert.
The bus was sitting stationary, its engine purring quietly. Cody noticed that a cloud of colored mist had come down and was now lingering near the vehicle. As he sat up on the snow, more light appeared, coming from all directions and drifting towards the bus at a steady, cautious pace.
Cody’s Glock was lying nearby on the snow. It wasn’t that far. If he could just get his hands on it…
He saw Crazy Diamond sitting up in the backseat of the car. Fortunately she looked intact if a little dazed – the ragtags hadn’t gotten much further than pulling open the zip of her parka. There was a bewildered look on her face.
Mackenzie signaled to the ragtags by clicking his fingers.
“Over here,” he said.
They hurried over to their boss’s side like well-trained puppies. At the same time, Cody heard the swift whooshing of the bus doors opening from afar. He climbed back to his feet, reenergized by curiosity, wincing at the countless aches and pains all competing for attention around his body.
He kept his eyes on the bus.
Somebody stepped out of the vehicle and stood in the middle of the road.
A solitary figure.
Cody’s heart nearly burst with joy. He strained his eyes for a better look, convinced that he was hallucinating again.
“Rachel,” he said. “Oh thank God.”
She was standing there in silence, staring at Mackenzie and the gang of ragtags who were walking slowly in her direction.
Despite the distraction, Cody knew this was his chance. He crept over and picked up the Glock lying on the snow. Then he went over to help Crazy Diamond but she was already out of the car and back on her feet. As she zipped up her coat, the shocked expression on her face said it all.
“Guess we don’t have to go looking for her,” Crazy Diamond said. “She’s found us – that’s some kid you’ve got there Cody.”
A silent standoff between Rachel and Mackenzie was underway. Rachel stood beside the bus while Mackenzie and his men had taken up position at the opposite end of the road. It was like watching the climactic shootout of a western movie, two gunslingers facing off to decide who was fastest.
The colored lights lingered overhead.
Cody pulled the spare magazine out of his pocket. As quietly as he could, he released the empty one and put the fresh rounds into the Glock.
Crazy Diamond was looking over at her pistol, which was still lying at the entrance of the car park where she’d thrown it at the ragtags earlier. Cody saw the hungry, vengeful look in her eyes. It was obvious that she was desperate to go after it.
Further down the street, Mackenzie took a step forward.
“Excellent timing,” he said to Rachel. “Where have you been Rachel?”
When she didn’t reply, Mackenzie pulled off a chunk of torn skin from his chin. The ragtags had gathered behind their boss, but they kept a respectable distance. In their excitement to answer Mackenzie’s call for backup, it looked like they’d forgotten about Cody and Crazy Diamond. Either that or they didn’t consider them much of a threat anymore. The two captives had been softened up after all.
Had they turned around, they would have seen Crazy Diamond creeping towards her pistol. They might have seen the hellfire in her eyes too – that was for them. Revenge had been sworn for a vile deed not committed perhaps, but intended. She moved quietly, trying not to attract any attention.
“You’re stronger than me Rachel.” Mackenzie said. “You can beat me but you know very well that you can’t beat them.” He pointed to the floating lights above their heads. “Bow to your masters girl. Give up now before it’s too late for your dad.”
Rachel didn’t blink. She didn’t speak either.
Cody saw a flicker movement near Rachel – something or someone slipped out from behind the nearby trees.
It was a small black girl.
The girl stepped onto the road, taking up position a few feet behind Rachel. Her fierce eyes scowled at Mackenzie and the ragtags. If looks could kill, the battle would have been over.
More kids began to appear, slipping out from behind the trees. They came out of the darkness like young fairies that had been hiding in plain sight all along, waiting for the right moment to make their entrance. Others emerged from behind abandoned cars. Cody watched this sudden turn of events in fascination. The kids were all dressed in layers of winter clothes – jackets, hats and gloves, all of which were at least a couple of sizes too big for them. They looked like a gang who’d just raided their parents’ closets.
Even more kids spilled out of the bus. They stood alongside the others on the street, forming a triangle shape that stretched out at Rachel’s back. There had to be somewhere in between twenty to thirty children with Rachel at least.
Crazy Diamond gave Cody a puzzled look. Cody shook his head and shrugged. He didn’t have a clue what to think about all this – he was just delighted to see Rachel back again and standing there in one piece.
There was low-pitched growling sound. Slowly, the bus began to reverse back down the street, moving away from the group of children. As it made space, the kids spread themselves out in the middle of the road, all the while keeping the triangle intact at Rachel’s back.
The bright headlights of the bus receded. At the end of the street, it reversed around the corner and drove away.
Mackenzie held his hands aloft, signaling to the colored light that watched over them all.
“Here she is!” he called out, pointing a crooked finger at Rachel. “I deliver her into your hands. Please take her.“
The light overhead had taken on a deep bluish-red tinge. It swooped towards Rachel. She looked up and at the same time, the shield lit up around her. Her blue eyes clouded over and turned black.
The colored light probed the girl like a key searching for a lock. A moment later, it drifted upwards again. Cody heard the Exterminators let out a loud bellowing noise that made the ground tremble under his feet.
“Yes,” Mackenzie said, one hand pressed to his temple. “Open a gate. Take us home with you.”
The light was spinning in a clockwise motion. The blue and red colors thrashed back and forth at a furious tempo, bouncing off one another, swelling and getting brighter all the time. Something began to emerge in its center. It was a circle. The circle got bigger. Cody recognized what he was seeing immediately – the Exterminators were opening up another gate just like they’d done in Brackenridge Park. This was the door that they’d try to pull Rachel through.
Rachel took a deep breath. Slowly, she closed her eyes. Her face wrinkled up in a look of deep concentration.
The gate swelled above her head on a background of bluish-red light. It stretched like a piece of loose fabric, spreading out far and wide. Drops of color leaked from the eye, trickling down to the children below. This gate was at least ten times the size of the one Cody had seen last time.
It looked like a hungry mouth, begging to be fed.
“Oh Jesus,” Cody said.
Now the gate began to descend. The mouth-like hole gaped open, its jaws reaching for Rachel and the children standing underneath.
But Rachel kept her eyes closed.
She lifted her chin, ex
posing her neck to the gate. After what felt like a lifetime, Rachel clenched her fist and in a quick snapping motion, pulled on something invisible.
A wall of light surrounded the children. A massive shield.
Cody staggered forward, one hand over his mouth. Both he and Crazy Diamond stood there, lost for words. Every child standing at Rachel’s back was under the protection of the shield. Their eyes were as black as coal, just like hers. Just like Mackenzie’s one good eye. Looking on from afar, the children looked like brightly colored ornaments, festive decorations in the middle of the street.
“What the hell is going on?” Crazy Diamond said.
Mackenzie took a step back. He shook his head briefly and it was obvious the man was rattled.
Rachel didn’t hesitate. She turned back to the gate. As she tilted her head to look up, all the kids mimicked her actions. It was as if they were connected. This strange choreography continued further when Rachel lifted her arm and pointed a finger at the swelling gate.
The children did likewise.
Rachel held her finger in the air, keeping it trained on the gate like it was a magic wand, warding off evil spirits.
All of a sudden the Exterminators made a noise that sounded like a human scream. The steady, churning rhythm of the gate was jolted out of its complacent momentum. It began to shrivel up. It was like somebody had pulled the plug on its life support. The light within its heart shook violently and began to fragment into hundreds and thousands of pieces of individual light, drifting separately away from one another.
Rachel and the children stood like mannequins. Their heads and fingers pointed upwards and while the gate thrashed angrily for its life, they didn’t so much as blink.
Cody’s heart was racing. They – the children were winning. He wasn’t sure what was happening, what he was watching, especially considering how badly things had gone during Rachel’s first tussle with the Exterminators. It had to be the children of course. Did they possess the same gifts as she did? Or was Rachel using them somehow, harnessing their energy and using it against the Exterminators?
Rachel lowered her arm to her side. So did the children.
Mackenzie was waving his arms in the air. He was gesturing towards the blue and red light that still lingered in the sky above their heads.
“Kill her!” Mackenzie yelled. “If you can’t take her through the gate then just kill her.”
Mackenzie stopped suddenly, like he’d frozen on the spot. Then slowly, he turned to the side and Cody saw the man’s side profile poking out of his hood. There was still a hint of the handsome face of old in that rugged profile. Mackenzie closed his eyes and lifted a hand to his head. It looked like he was receiving some sudden inbound communication. An urgent message.
“Yes,” he said, nodding his head. “Use me. Give me the strength and I’ll kill her for you. Give me the power – give me everything you’ve got.”
Crazy Diamond looked at Cody. “What’s he talking about?”
Cody kept his eyes on Mackenzie.
“The Exterminators can’t get past the children,” he said. “I don’t know why but it looks like they need another way in.”
Mackenzie stood with his arms outstretched as the bluish-red light swirled around and then shot into his body like a giant laser beam. He was flailing wildly like he was being electrocuted. As the light continued to work its way inside the man, Mackenzie screamed hideously, like he was strapped to a medieval torture device.
The ragtags backed away. Whatever this was, it was beyond their level of expertise.
Rachel watched Mackenzie’s transformation with wide eyes. She was breathing heavily. Cody noticed that the children, still under her control, were breathing in a similar rhythm.
The screaming stopped.
Mackenzie ripped the cloak off his back. As his body swelled outwards the rest of his clothes were torn open and in a matter of seconds, the man was standing stark naked, exposing more jagged-looking scars. There was a loud thump. Seconds later, a white shield lit up around Mackenzie. It was such an intense glow that it swallowed up his features – his eyes, nose, ears, mouth – all the little details of the man were consumed.
The Exterminators were now inside him.
Mackenzie lifted his hands, bringing them closer to his featureless face. He examined them with the fascination of a child.
He turned to his left, lifted his arm and made a brief slicing motion that looked like a karate chop. A row of nearby trees crashed onto the black snow. They fell so cleanly and suddenly it was like they’d been caught out by a silent chainsaw.
Mackenzie looked at his hands again. There was a brief moment of noise that might have been laughter.
Then he turned back to the children.
13
Mackenzie pointed to the abandoned cars lying on the grass.
His arm was a blur as he pulled it back towards his body with the same snapping motion that Rachel used. The car – a burned out Prius – rolled across the grass at his command. It went towards the children, crashing over the huddle of fallen trees that Mackenzie had cut down just seconds earlier.
Rachel held up her right hand, like she was waving at the runaway vehicle. The children standing at her back did likewise.
The car altered course, switching its angle of attack so that it was rushing towards Mackenzie.
Mackenzie was ready. He pushed the car back towards the children and followed this by rolling yet another car off the grass – a beat-up tan Subaru, that charged towards Rachel and the children at an even faster speed.
Rachel and the children held both their arms aloft. They leaned back and then pushed at the air, diverting the vehicles, hurling both of them towards Mackenzie who in turn, threw them back again.
It made for a terrible racket. Metal scraped against the road, forcing Cody and Crazy Diamond to cover their ears.
They were still standing at the edge of the car park.
Crazy Diamond nudged Cody on the arm. Then she crept forwards, making a move for her gun, which was lying just a few feet away on the dark snow next to the road. She stayed on tiptoe so as not to alert the ragtags, who were absorbed in the tennis-like duel that was going on across the street.
Crazy Diamond kneeled down and picked up the pistol. She kept still for a second afterwards, as if expecting the ragtags to turn around and catch her out. They didn’t. With the gun in hand, she ran over to Cody.
“Back in the game,” she said.
Cody watched as she slid a spare magazine into the gun. There was an enthusiasm, an eagerness about her as she worked. Cody saw the bullet hole in the shoulder of her parka jacket and he wondered if she’d forgotten about getting shot already.
“Did you hear what I said?” Crazy Diamond said.
“What?” Cody said, snapping out of his daze. “No. What did you say?”
“The ragtags,” she said. “We gotta hit them now. Look at them – it’s like they’ve forgotten all about us.”
“Can you blame them?” Cody said, his eyes turning back to the duel.
“Look I know it’s hard for you,” Crazy Diamond said. “But Rachel knows what she’s doing over there. Her fight is with Mackenzie and the Exterminators. Our job right now is to take those ragtag bastards out of the picture. They’re sitting ducks. And after what they were about to do to us...”
Cody remembered only too well. He squeezed the handle of the Glock.
Then he closed his eyes and nodded.
“Alright,” he said.
Cody opened his eyes again. The ragtags were standing in the middle of the road – a captivated audience watching as Rachel and Mackenzie duked it out with a barrage of four wheeled missiles. Mackenzie was mixing it up now – he’d added a number of fallen tree trunks into the arsenal, throwing them at the children like javelins.
“Should we take cover?” Cody said, looking at Crazy Diamond. “Or are we just going in guns blazing?”
“Guns blazing,” Crazy Diamond said. “
They’re too far away from cover. We jump them from behind and show no mercy – just like they would do to us.”
Cody saw the seething hatred for the ragtags in her eyes. He’d never seen Crazy Diamond this angry before.
They crept onto the road.
The ragtags were standing in a tight gang, like they were watching a street fight.
Cody and Crazy Diamond pointed their pistols at their backs. Sitting ducks. There was no guilt in Cody’s mind about shooting anyone in the back. Crazy Diamond was right – the ragtags wouldn’t hesitate if the shoe was on the other foot.
“Now,” Crazy Diamond whispered.
They opened fire.
There were cries of fright within the gang. Somebody screamed in agony.
Two of the ragtags fell, shot in the back.
The others recovered quickly, turned around and returned fire. There were only five ragtags left on their feet but they still outnumbered Cody and Crazy Diamond. Now it was the final shootout. The two sides both pressed forward – it was an open battle in the center of the road, with little thought of cover from either side.
“Bastards!” Crazy Diamond yelled.
Cody squeezed the trigger like a man possessed. He walked forwards and felt invincible, like he was a bulletproof character out of a superhero movie. Crazy Diamond was right – they were bastards, all of them. He was going to take them out, the murdering would-be rapist sons of bitches. And he was going to enjoy it.
He yelled at the top of his voice as he sprayed bullets everywhere. It was a fierce warlike cry that fuelled his courage.
Cody’s bubble of invincibility couldn’t last forever.
As the bullets whizzed back and forth, he felt an excruciating burning sensation in his side. He gasped for air and dropped onto the ground.
Confusion flooded his mind.
Somebody screamed behind him.
Cody put a hand to his side and saw a hole in his parka. He pressed his hand to the area and winced. It was almost the exact same spot where he’d been shot before in the airport by the crazy fake cop.
Only this time it wasn’t a graze.
“Damn it,” he cried out, more in frustration than anything else.
Mega Post-Apocalyptic Double Bill Page 86