Raven's Fall (World on Fire Book 2)

by Lincoln Cole

  The snow came down in a heavy blanket now, dropping visibility to almost nothing. No lights shone outside the train, as it passed through the mountains alone, making it all feel detached.

  Abigail ran through two cars before she heard the detonation behind her. When she looked back, open space grew between the detached cars while they receded into the distance. Frieda would stay safe now, and Dominick would have no trouble picking her up and getting her warm.

  No going back now. Determined, Abigail hurried forward through the empty train, down the center aisle, hearing only the motion of the train around her. After another few minutes, she caught her first glimpse of Nida.

  The girl moved up ahead, limping and leaning heavily against the seats as she went. Badly injured, by the looks, and having trouble keeping her body in motion.

  Abigail caught up with her on the third railcar back from the engine. She jumped through the open doors and into the car, just five meters behind Nida.

  The demon turned to face her, a furious expression on her face. “Why won’t you just die?”

  “It’s over,” Abigail said, edging toward the demon. “Surrender.”

  Nida laughed, leaning heavily against one of the seats, knife in hand and looking like she had trouble staying on her feet.

  “You think you’ve won, but this is only the beginning.”

  “This is the end,” Abigail said. “At least, for you.”

  She drew her revolver and fired.

  Nida sprang to the side, diving out of the way of the shot. The train lights flickered, and Abigail fired again, trying to trace her movement, but Nida disappeared behind the seats.

  Abigail kept shooting after the demon, and then drew her sword. She rushed forward just as Nida leaped out over the seats, stabbing with the dagger.

  Abigail blocked the first attack, and then sliced back, narrowly missing Nida’s shoulder. She followed through with a kick, knocking the girl back several steps and sending her off-balance. The demon staggered on her wounded leg, and Abigail rushed in after her, slicing back and forth.

  Nida rolled, avoiding the series of attacks and keeping her distance. The seats made it hard to get a good angle with her big blade, but Abigail pursued and refused to let her opponent catch her feet and retaliate.

  Finally, she managed to connect, slicing Nida’s thigh with the blade and hobbling her. She followed that by cutting deeply into her arm, severing tender muscles there. Nida managed to twist her body and avoid the brunt of the attacks, but Abigail could tell that the demon had a hard time keeping the body moving. It had begun to give out and wouldn’t last much longer.

  “Last chance,” Abigail said.

  Nida leaped out at Abigail, stabbing with the blade, and Abigail knocked the dagger out of her hand. It bounced under one of the seats, out of sight. The demon dove past her, back toward the doorway leading further back down the train.

  She pulled something out of her pocket and flashed Abigail a grin. Her mouth had filled with blood, and one of her eyes had swollen shut.

  “I’d hoped I wouldn’t have to waste this,” she said. “I don’t have a lot to spare.”

  A vial of red something. Then Abigail realized that it contained Frieda’s blood. Nida dumped it onto the ground between them.

  As soon as it hit the floor, it steamed and hissed. Abigail hesitated, not sure what was happening, and watching it warily. She’d never heard about anything like this before.

  Nida chanted, performing some sort of ritual. The words sounded guttural, no language Abigail had ever heard spoken. She didn’t know enough to recognize the intention of the ritual.

  However, she did realize, quickly, that it was something terrible.

  The material around the blood burst into flames, spreading rapidly through the car as though oil coated everything. Abigail stepped back, watching the flames rise to encompass the entire area, blocking her off from Nida.

  “A little present,” Nida called, stumbling away and toward the exit leading to the rear of the train. “Have fun!”

  And then she disappeared out of the passenger car and into the snow. Abigail cursed in frustration, trying to find some way around the fire to get to the demon.

  Something crawled in the fire.

  At first, Abigail couldn’t identify it, but then she made out its humanoid shape. It crawled toward her, growing in size and climbing to its feet. It looked like the burning seats and flooring of the train had formed into a humanoid creature, maybe three meters tall.

  “Uh oh …” Abigail took a cautious step back.

  It turned toward her and charged, still aflame.

  Abigail turned and ran.

  ***

  “Get her in here,” Dominick called from the pilot’s seat. “Hurry.”

  Haatim ignored him and pushed the ladder out of the helicopter. It fell down and stopped a few feet above the walkway connecting the two railcars.

  The snow fell thick now, making everything slick, so he wasn’t about to rush and slip off and break his neck.

  Of course, he realized that was a funny sentiment considering what had just happened not even ten minutes earlier. He could still hardly believe he’d jumped out of a helicopter, and if he’d had even a few seconds to think about it, he never would have gone through with it.

  Haatim descended the ladder to the walkway between two of the stopped railcars. Three of them rested on the tracks, blanketed in snow. His hands and body chilled at speed, but to be honest, it didn’t feel that bad. After his time spent with Dominick, a bit of cold weather didn’t bother him like it used to.

  Dominick had the helicopter hovering, keeping it steady even as the wind picked up. The storm rumbled nearby, and they’d nearly run out of time.

  As soon as his boots touched the slick metal, Haatim slipped and almost fell over the side railing. Below, the rough ground waited for him. The raised tracks sat about a meter above the ground. A lot of snow had packed, but a tumble would still hurt. He held onto the rope ladder, pulling himself up, and then worked his way into the railcar.

  It had no lights, and it took a minute for Haatim’s eyes to adjust. The entire place looked demolished. Seats torn up, bullet holes everywhere, and half the glass missing. The wind blew snow in through the openings, and it swirled in the air in small tornados before settling to the ground.

  “Holy hell,” he muttered, eyeing the devastation.

  Hopefully, Abigail hadn’t gotten wounded during this firefight, but Haatim couldn’t think of a single way in which she might have gotten out of this unscathed. Bodies of at least six dead men lay strewn about, maybe more.

  Then something moved near the front of the carriage. Haatim stumbled back with a cry, trying to jerk his pistol loose.

  “Who’s there?” he shouted, raising the weapon. He attempted to sight down the barrel, but his hands shook too much.

  “It’s me, Haatim.” Frieda walked toward him, clutching her arm to her chest, wrapped in a cloth bandage. She looked weak and barely able to stay on her feet.

  He slid the gun away and grabbed her, helping her stand.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’ll be fine,” she said.

  “Where’s Abigail?”

  “She went on ahead. We need to hurry and get to her.”

  “Is she safe?”

  “No. She went after Nida, but it isn’t Nida.”

  “I know,” he said. “She tried to kill my mother and me.”

  “We need to go.”

  “Stay here. I’ll drop you a harness.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  Haatim climbed the rope ladder, and then dropped down the line with a harness attached. Frieda slipped into it, and he hauled her up. Once he’d gotten her safely into the helicopter, he closed the door.

  “We’re in,” he said to Dominick, who nodded.

  “Let’s go get Abi.” Dominick pulled out of the hover.

  They flew after the train, once more chasing it down. It moved s
lowly, but the wind forced them to keep their speed low too. It buffeted the helicopter around and made piloting difficult for Dominick.

  “Do you know what happened to my father?” Haatim grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Frieda.

  “No. I never saw him. Nida took me and got out of there.”

  “Why did Nida come after you?”

  “I don’t know. Something to do with my blood, but I’m not sure what. All I know is that she plans to summon something here.”

  “What?” Haatim’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean we need to hurry and catch up because Abigail won’t stand a chance against it alone.”

  ***

  The creature moved fast but clumsily and had a hard time getting around the seats. Abigail dodged and weaved, trying to get away from it, but it had too large a reach.

  It swung a huge arm down at her, clipping her shoulder and launching her through the air. She flew over the countertop of the bar and smashed into the line of bottles. A few broke, glass and liquor flew, and many jarred loose and went rolling across the floor.

  Some of the liquor ignited, spreading the fire further. As the fire grew and filled the area, so did the creature. Already, it towered near the top of the railcar, looking down at her and smoldering.

  The only part that didn’t look like a conglomeration of seats, metal, and floor were its eyes. They stared at her, filled with hate and rage. It moved through the aisle toward her, jerking seats out of the way as it went.

  Abigail scrambled, diving over the bar and running toward the front of the train. She managed to get up and out of the way before it could maneuver toward her.

  The fire spread after the demon, raging through the carriage. The smoke made it difficult to see or breathe, and she crouched low to try and stay under it.

  Abigail felt, more than heard, something come flying at her and ducked just as a section of a seat flew over her head. It burned and bounced down the aisle in front of her. A guttural roaring sound came from behind her as the demon kept coming.

  She made it to a door, but it stood closed. She flipped the latch and opened it a little.

  As the creature came at her, swinging its burning arms, Abigail turned and raised her sword to deflect the first attack, but it pushed right through, slicing its arm off.

  The broken chunk kept flying, spreading hot ash and clipping her on the shoulder. Some of it hit her, burning her skin. She stumbled back and finished pulling open the door. The demon roared at her again, but she managed to stumble outside onto the narrow walkway.

  Hurt, she tried to pull the door shut behind her, but the demon stuck an arm through the opening, stopping it from closing. Quickly, Abigail opened the door to the next railcar and climbed inside just as the demon exited the first. It couldn’t quite fit, but grabbed hold of the metal sides of the train and pushed them apart.

  It crumpled as easily as a tin can. The demon looked enormous now, and nearly filled the entire section between carriages.

  Abigail scrambled, sliding her door closed. This time, the monster couldn’t stop her. Only a split second later, though, something slammed into the wall.

  The metal caved in, almost giving way. Abigail spun, sprinting through the railcar just as the demon broke through the wall and came in after her.

  Abigail had no idea of how to deal with something like this. She’d never even heard of things like this, let alone been trained in dealing with them. Stuff like this never made it to the surface, and every second it stayed here, it seemed to grow larger.

  She couldn’t let it get to any city centers or places with innocent people. Something like this would continue to spread and grow, and it would wreak immense devastation before they managed to stop it.

  If they managed to stop it.

  The demon charged into the railcar after her, trailing fire and roaring as it came. The roar sounded guttural and unlike any creature or animal she’d ever heard. More of a grinding sound than anything else.

  It picked up part of another seat and threw it at her. Again, Abigail sensed more than saw it happening and ducked just in time, so it didn’t hit her in the back of the head.

  An idea came to mind. She slung the bag of C4 off her shoulder while she ran, pulling out the last few bricks and clumping them together. Then she attached a detonator just before she reached the next door in line.

  The demon chased her, but this car—doubled up with seats—didn’t have open space. As the monster grew, it could barely fit down the aisle.

  Not that it stopped coming.

  Abigail threw open the door and ran out into the cold, but instead of jumping into the last car, she climbed the ladder. The last carriage didn’t have an opening to reach the engine.

  The metal felt slick and damp, hard to hold onto, as the snow billowed around her. She made it onto the roof, sliding on the slick surface. Smoke and ash billowed from the engine up ahead, making it even more difficult to see as she moved forward.

  Abigail set the timer on the detonator for thirty seconds, and then moved again. She crawled across the roof, stuffing the C4 back into her bag. Beneath her, the creature roared, but instead of following her, it burst into the railcar below.

  The roof wobbled under the creature’s impact, and she slipped across the rounded metal surface and toward the edge. Panicked, Abigail turned the sword sideways and stabbed it into the roof just before she fell over the side.

  She swung out into the air, holding onto the grip of the sword. They traveled overtop solid ground for now, but just up ahead lay another long bridge over another canyon.

  Abigail looked into the railcar. The demon charged down the center aisle. It pushed through the seats, ripping them out and tossing them to smolder behind it.

  Just as it reached the window in front of her, Abigail swung her legs, kicked against the slick metal, and rolled her body. The demon punched through the glass, reaching for her, and missed her leg by a few centimeters. She could feel the heat and fire pouring off it as she rolled back onto the roof.

  She slid the blade free, got her bearings, and crawled toward the engine. She didn’t know if anyone drove this thing or if it ran on automation, and didn’t much care right now. A gap lay between her and the engine, about a meter across.

  The demon pounded against the front of the train. Though more solid than the other connection doorways, the monster would burst through the metal after only a few more hits.

  Abigail backed up a few steps and climbed to shaky feet. With a deep and steadying breath, she sprinted toward the edge and jumped, landing on the engine just behind the smokestack and grabbing on. It gave her nothing easy to grip, but she managed to catch onto a pipe jutting out of the side and catch her balance.

  Then she descended to the bottom of the engine and stuffed the bag into a crevice. The timer said she had another eight seconds, and they’d moved over the enormous canyon, the bottom of which she couldn’t see because of the snow.

  The demon slammed against the metal wall again, which gave way as one of its arms smashed through. It pulled its arm back in and looked through the opening at her, roaring in rage.

  Abigail smiled at it, waved, and then jumped from the train.

  ***

  Haatim dropped into the copilot’s seat as they approached the train. The wind picked up and jostled them constantly. The snow had brought visibility down to almost nothing. The sun had gone, yet he still had no problem seeing the train: it looked like the front several cars had set on fire.

  It glided across a bridge high in the air, maybe a hundred meters ahead of them. He couldn’t make out any details, just the fire, as they flew in toward it.

  “Why is it on fire?”

  “No clue,” Dominick said. “Radio Abigail again.”

  “I did,” he said. “Not answering.”

  “Try again. When we get close, I’ll lower you and try to—”

  Just then, a huge explosion lifted the front of the train by the eng
ine. It rocked the tracks and broke the rails, knocking the train off the runners. It skidded forward across the bridge for another twenty or so meters, and then the tracks curved.

  The train didn’t. With so much forward momentum, it ran right off the edge, pulling the rest of the attached railcars with it. The engine nosedived into the wall of a cliff, crunching under the weight of the attached cars, and then it all fell toward the ground.

  It dropped another sixty or so meters, and then hit the bottom with a sharp crack. Part of it landed in the running river and sank.

  “What the hell was that?” Haatim asked.

  Neither Dominick nor Frieda answered, but just stared at the smoldering wreckage. Dominick flew the helicopter down toward the train. The weight of the metal pulled the front cars into the river as well, and slowly, the water put the fire out. In silence, the train slipped beneath the surface.

  “Do you see her?” Dominick asked.

  “No,” Haatim said. “Get us closer.”

  The wind felt worse in the crevice, forming a wind tunnel. Dominick flipped on a spotlight on the front of the helicopter and scanned the area.

  “Keep your eyes open,” he said. “The water is cold. If she’s down there, she won’t survive long.”

  Haatim didn’t reply. He watched the spotlight as it ran over the surface of the river, scouring the area, but couldn’t see anything other than random pieces of wreckage floating on the surface. The water moved at speed, pulling everything along with the current.

  “How long can she survive?” Haatim asked.

  “Ten minutes,” Dominick said. “Maybe. Probably less.”

  They searched for another twenty minutes, scouring the entire length of the train and the surrounding area. The wind speed increased yet more, and by the end, Dominick had to scramble just to keep them from slamming into the wall of the canyon.

  “We need to go,” Dominick said. “I can’t keep this up. The storm has come.”

  Haatim didn’t answer but kept searching for any sign that Abigail might still be alive.

  “Haatim?”

  “I heard you,” he said.

  “I’m sorry.”