by R. D. Brady
His mother sat on her cot and waved him over. He dragged his feet on his way to her. Once in reach, she pulled him down next to her, wrapping her arms around him. He leaned into her. He was probably getting too old for her to do that, at least in public. But in private, he was okay with it.
She placed a kiss on his forehead and squeezed him tight. “Tell you what. You get all of your clothes and books in your pack, and then you can go play with David for a little while.”
He grinned up at her. “Thanks, Mom.”
She ruffled his hair as she let him go. Then she stood up, looking around, her hands on her hips. “Okay. Let’s see. I need—”
A loud noise rang out, and the ground trembled. A gale-force wind slammed into the tent as his mom threw herself over him. “Riley!”
Shock robbed Lyla of movement for a moment, but as soon as two more beings appeared behind the one who had annihilated Allan, she was all action. She swung up to her feet and dodged to her right as the being aimed at her.
And the whole time, she assessed. Strong, tall. Need to get him off balance. She slipped in at it from the side, slamming her staff into the side of its knee. It wobbled. Sliding her knife from its sheath, she plunged it toward its ribs.
And it broke. Oh my God.
The being grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. She kicked up, catching it in the groin. It loosened its grip slightly. She kicked off its chest with both feet and threw herself backward, landing on her back. Rolling to her side, she kicked at the side of one of its knees and then the other. A shadow passed over her, and her head jerked up as another took aim.
Without thought, she rolled between the creature’s legs, keeping it between her and the other one. She stomped on the back of its knees, and it crashed to the ground. Then she slammed her foot into the back of its head. It pitched forward. The second one, unable to get a shot, raced toward her.
Lyla tensed, ready to face it, when a blur of motion sped in from the left, and Otto tackled the being to the ground. Lyla rushed forward as the being caught Otto in the chin with its staff. For a moment, the thing raised its chin, revealing its neck. Lyla slammed her staff into the opening, and the thing convulsed. Otto rolled off of it.
In the distance, she could hear that horrible blasting noise repeating over and over. And she knew with each sound that someone was reduced to ash.
“Otto, go. Evacuate the camp. Now!”
Otto stumbled to his feet, looking dazed. She pushed him away from the creature as it started to get to its feet. She wasted no time. Her staff crashed into one side of its head, twirling back to hit the other. She brought the end of the staff toward its neck, but it dropped its chin and the staff slammed into the helmet instead, jarring her painfully.
I can’t hit them. I can’t hurt them.
She swept the staff toward its knees, but it met her with its own staff. Don’t let it get a shot. She attacked, and it blocked every move. Now it was on the attack, pushing her back. She defended, knowing she needed to get control of this fight or she was done for.
She backpedaled and then feinted to the right before shifting left and catching it in the knee. She slipped behind it, slamming her staff into the back of its legs, causing it to stumble forward. But it whipped around. She dove to the ground to avoid the staff swinging at her head. She slammed her heel into its right knee and then into the front of its left. Wrapping her left foot around its ankle, anchoring it in place, she kicked at its knee with her right.
Windmilling its arms, it toppled to its side. She lunged forward, her staff raised, but a blast sent her stumbling back. Her head whipped to the side and another creature, this one even larger, approached, its staff sending out bursts.
Lyla sprinted toward the trees, shifting direction to avoid getting hit, but some blasts came way too close. She didn’t slow down as she hit the trees and circled to the left. They weren’t defending the camp anymore. The camp was done. They needed to get out. And she needed to find Muriel and Riley. But guilt, strong and deep, accompanied her.
We should have listened. We should have warned everybody.
Riley lay still as the ground tremors stopped. The back half of the tent had collapsed around them.
His mom groaned, pushing the tarp away from them. “Riley? You okay?”
Riley blinked hard, his head ringing. He spit dirt out of his mouth and pushed his hands against the ground, still on his knees. “What was that?”
His mother wrapped her hand around his arm and pulled him up without a word. Fear flashed across her face, and a trickle of blood dribbled down from a cut on her forehead.
“You’re hurt.”
His mom swiped at the blood and then kicked back the tarp. She pulled him toward the tent’s entrance. Outside, people screamed and some sprinted past the tent toward the camp center. In the sky, a cloud of smoke drifted upward from the north side of camp.
Riley’s heart began to pound. “Mom?”
“You stay right by my side, okay?” she ordered, a tremor in her voice. She grabbed her scabbard from her cot, looping it over her shoulder. Riley stared at her. She rarely ever carried her sword.
“Mom?” he asked again, fear spreading through him.
She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Her bright eyes stared into his. “It will be okay. Just stay with me. You do not leave my side, do you understand?”
He nodded before his head jerked toward the center of camp. Louder screams echoed from the camp along with a blasting noise. “What’s that noise?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know, honey.”
He peeked around her. More blasts sounded from the center of town now. People ran past their tent. He saw Thad Williams run by, his arm bloodied. And he could see more people running in the distance.
He pictured the people in the middle of the camp. That’s where the school was. He’d run past over two dozen people on his way home. Had they escaped? And then his stomach clenched.
The Phoenixes had been there, too. He grabbed his mom’s arm. “Mom. Lyla. She was there. She was training.”
His mom patted his hand, but he could see the tremble in it. “Don’t worry about your aunt. She’ll be fine, and she’ll come find us. We need to run now, okay?”
She didn’t give him a chance to argue. She just grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the center of camp, toward the trees. Riley sprinted next to her, but his mind kept going back to the picture of his aunt with the rest of the Phoenixes. What was happening? Were they all right?
That strange noise sounded behind him again. What was that?
A man jostled into him in his haste. Riley nearly went down, but his mom kept him upright.
They were almost at the end of the row of tents when his mom yanked him to a stop, pulling him behind her.
“Mom, what are you—” The words died in Riley’s throat as he looked beyond her.
Ahead of them stood a man. No, that wasn’t right. The thing was over eight feet tall, wearing a skintight suit of dark blue fabric, a matching helmet covering its face. In its hands it held a long brown staff with a white bulge at the end.
A man next to them ran to the right, trying to get around the thing. The being turned, and a bolt of energy escaped its staff. The man exploded, disappearing in a blink of blue light. All that remained was a pile of ash.
Riley could feel his mom shaking. She reached back and touched his arm. “I love you, Riley.”
The being raised its staff and pointed it at them.
Riley felt the breath leave his lungs as the being leveled its weapon on them. Then a dark figure darted from the forest behind it. Riley’s heart clenched. Lyla.
Lyla swung her staff at the side of the being’s legs. It stumbled back, trying to regain its balance. She hit it under the chin with her staff. It flew off its feet, landing with a thud that made the ground shake.
Another swing and her staff landed on the being’s throat. Lyla kept all her attention on the creature at the end of
her staff. “Run, Muriel, run!”
His mom grabbed Riley’s arm and yanked him into the trees. A blast hit a tree next to him, leaving a scorch mark on the base.
Riley glanced behind him. Another being was sprinting toward them. It fired at Lyla, but she twirled out of the way.
Two more Phoenixes appeared between the tents. One had the beings’ weapon. It fired. The being didn’t turn to ash, but it did stop, clutching its side.
“Look out, Riley!” his mom yelled as they went over a rise and down a steep hill.
Riley’s hands flew in front of him. He slid down a few feet, trying to keep his balance. But he was moving too fast. He tripped over a rock jutting out from the ground and landed hard on his side. His momentum kept him moving forward. He rolled, bouncing down the hill. Each time he hit the ground he let out a grunt. And it seemed like every time he touched the ground, he managed to slam into a rock or branch hidden in the leaves.
At the bottom, he rolled to a stop, his back resting against a tree, his body feeling like one giant bruise. His breathing came out in ragged pants, and he couldn’t seem to stop shaking. That thing had tried to kill them. And Lyla was still back at camp with God knew how many of them.
And for the first time, he feared that Lyla was going up against an opponent she couldn’t beat. And if she couldn’t beat them, then who could?
His mom skidded to a halt next to him, branches and leaves stuck to her hair and clothes. Scratches and smudges of dirt ran along her cheeks, but she seemed oblivious to her own cuts, too focused on him. She ran her hands over him, checking for any injuries.
“Are you okay?” she asked, even as she pulled him to his feet. She shot a glance back up the hill where the blasting noises continued to ring out. “We have to keep going. Can you?”
He barely had a chance to nod before she grabbed his hand and pulled him away. Riley ran with his hand in his mom’s, and with each tree he passed he expected one of those things to step out. His breathing turned choppy, and it was only fear that kept his legs churning.
When the trees grew too dense for them to run side by side, his mom took the lead. She never hesitated, she just kept moving. He followed her as they moved over downed trees, pushed through brush, dashed through creeks and streams. Even as her breathing became labored, she didn’t stop. She silently pushed him on, urging him to keep moving every time he thought about stopping. But it wasn’t just his mom’s determination that made his feet move. It was the memory of that being etched into his brain. If it caught them, they were dead. So every time Riley wanted to quit, he made himself run faster.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, his mom pulled him to a stop at the edge of a stream. Riley bent at the waist, trying to catch his breath.
She stood panting beside him, taking in huge lungfuls of air as she scanned the forest behind them and looked up and down the stream, holding on to the trunk of a maple tree for support. She turned to look at him, her cheeks red but the rest of her face abnormally pale. “We’re going to get some water, but we need to be quick. Okay?”
He nodded, his heart still racing, and suddenly he became aware of how dry his mouth was. His mom pulled her sword and scanned the riverbank again before nodding. Riley walked next to her, scanning as well.
They reached the water’s edge. She continued her vigilance, her gaze continually surveying the area around them. “Go ahead. Get some water.”
He dropped to his knees, plunging his hands into the icy water, and pulling cupped handfuls to his mouth as fast as he could manage.
She put a hand on his shoulder. “Not so fast. But hurry, we can’t stop for long. We need to keep moving.”
He slowed his drinking, knowing she was right and that drinking too quickly would only give him a stitch.
Riley stood up, and she leaned down to drink. A shadow moved by a tree. Riley’s heart rate doubled. He stumbled back. “Mom!”
In one graceful move, she pulled Riley behind her, the sword extended in front of her.
“Just me,” Lyla said, stepping from the trees.
His mother let out a cry and ran the short distance to his aunt. She pulled Lyla into a hug. Riley wanted to do the same, but he held himself back. But he did let himself smile. Lyla was okay. She’d found them. It would be all right now.
His mother pulled back, studying Lyla’s face. “Are you all right?”
Riley could see the cuts along his aunt’s face and palms, the bruise on her cheek. There were holes in her cloak, and it was singed around the edges. He swallowed. She had just missed being hit by those things.
But Lyla nodded, giving them both a small smile. “I’m okay.”
“The camp?” his mother asked.
Lyla shook her head. “Scattered. And those that didn’t scatter …” Her words died away.
There was a catch in his mother’s voice. “How many?”
Lyla’s gaze shifted away. “Hard to say. But we lost a lot. Any survivors are grouping at the Old Mill tomorrow morning, then heading south.”
“What were those things?” his mom asked.
Lyla’s eyes were troubled. “I don’t know. But they’re hard to take down—really hard.”
The enormity of what had just happened hit him. They had been attacked. The camp was gone. Riley felt light-headed, and he swayed a little bit, his throat feeling tight. “David,” he said. “What happened to David?”
Lyla darted a glance at his mother before walking over to Riley. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she looked into his eyes. “I’m sorry, Riley. He’s gone.”
Riley stared at her, not really comprehending her words. His vision became fuzzy at the edges. He backed away from her. Why would she say that? David couldn’t be gone. It wasn’t possible. “But … he can’t be. He’s my best friend. He’s not gone.”
Lyla took his arms again, not letting him retreat any further. She kept her gaze steady as it met his. “I’m sorry, honey. I saw him. He’s gone.”
He shoved at his aunt. “But why? Why would they kill him? He never hurt anybody. He never—” His words choked off, the tears in his throat making it impossible to talk. “You’re wrong. He’s not dead.”
Lyla didn’t move with his shove. She looked into his eyes again. “Riley, he is. And if you want to be mad at someone, be mad at those things. They’re the ones that did this to him, to our home.”
Riley’s knees went weak at her words. David was dead. It wasn’t fair. He was small for his age, and he never hurt anybody. His chest heaved. He stared at his aunt, feeling the tears roll down his cheeks. “Why David?” He threw his arms around her neck and sobbed. “Why? Why him?”
Lyla wrapped her arms around him and rocked him. “I don’t know, but I will find out.”
Lyla sat on a rock just inside the cave, her eyes peeled to the forest for any sound, any movement, even as she fought off her exhaustion. She had led Riley and Muriel through the forest, keeping a grueling pace for hours. She needed to get them far enough away from the camp that they wouldn’t be followed but also get them close enough to Old Mill that they would be able to meet up with everybody.
And with every step she took, she thought of the people they had lost. She pictured Allan, his eyes staring out at nothing. She heard the screams again and again and felt powerless again and again.
Addie and Jamal had been heading in the direction of the front gate just before the attack. They’d headed straight for them. Damn it. She closed her eyes, trying to get control of her emotions. She’d managed to avoid thinking about them all day. But now with the world quiet, there was nothing to distract her from her fears.
You don’t know that they were killed. They could have survived. They have to have survived. She raised her head, staring into the star-filled sky, taking a deep breath. She willed back the tears that wanted to fall. There was no time for grief right now. Grief was a luxury of the safe. And they were not safe. Not yet.
Lyla glanced back into the cave. Muriel sat up against th
e back wall. Riley was curled into her side. Lyla had called a halt about an hour ago. She had wanted to keep going, but neither Muriel nor Riley were ready for this kind of hike. They needed to stop.
Lyla had found the cave. It was the best they could do for cover. It was more of an outcropping than a full cave, but it would at least keep them covered for the night.
Lyla had covered the opening with tall branches. Now it would be almost impossible to find the entrance unless you already knew it was there.
Her gaze roamed over Riley and Muriel, feeling that protectiveness for them that she had felt for as long as she could remember. She had been terrified today when those things attacked. Not just because of how hard it was to take them down, but because when that explosion went off, she hadn’t known where Riley and Muriel were. She’d been terrified that Riley had doubled back to watch them train. When Riley was born, Lyla had been amazed at how such a tiny little boy could make her smile with one little look. And that joy at his presence in her life had only grown over the years.
There were only eleven years between them, and he’d become, in her mind, a little brother. Which meant it was her job to protect him. Ever since she was little, she’d felt a driving need to protect, even with Muriel, who was the older sister by six years. But for as long as both of them could remember, Lyla was the one to step in front of Muriel, keeping the danger from reaching her—because the idea of someone hurting her family was too unbearable for Lyla to face.
The world they lived in was hard. Strangers could bring death by weapons or disease. A simple cut left untreated could become infected and quickly be beyond the scope of their limited medical skills. Storms cropped up out of nowhere, sometimes bringing swarms of tornados or earthquakes, sometimes both. Three years ago, a tornado swarm destroyed the crops just before harvest.
That had been a cold, hard winter. They made it through because they had each other. She knew that. Lyla spent that winter hunting for every small piece of game she could find and bringing it back to feed the camp. She still remembered how cold she’d felt, her toes and fingers going numb. But she’d pushed on, knowing lives depended on her, knowing the two lives of her little family depended on her.