The Caitlin Chronicles Boxed Set

by Michael Anderle

  For a moment, Scout simply stared at Belle. Then, with a big lick of her face, he jumped towards the fence, put his paws to the ground, and started digging.

  “What’s he doing?” Vex asked.

  Within a few seconds, the cub had made a hole large enough for himself to squeeze through. He pushed his head down, arched his body under, and was halfway through before it suddenly dawned on the pair that they wouldn’t be able to follow.

  “Shit! Grab him,” Vex cried.

  But it was too late. Belle’s hands went for Scout’s legs, but he was under and through before she could gain any purchase.

  “Fuckity fuck!” Vex exclaimed.

  “Calm down,” Belle said softly. “Maybe he’ll direct us from that side. Or maybe he’s trying to make sure he can dig the hole from that side first so we’ll fit through?”

  “Why would it matter what side he digs the hole from?” Vex asked.

  “I don’t know, I’m not a wolf cub.”

  Scout watched with keen eyes from the other side of the fence. He was a few feet away, too far to reach through the fence and grab him. He stared at them, cocking his head with his ears raised.

  Belle sat on her ass. “Do you have any treats on you?”

  “Why would I have treats on me? I wasn’t prepared to become a dog owner in a day.”

  “What about SPAM? Do we have any tins of that left?”

  Vex patted his pockets, his expression sarcastic. “Oh, no. I’m sorry. Was I supposed to pack before I left?”

  “Well, we need to do something—”

  Belle’s words fell short as a man appeared, sprinting out from between several houses on Scout’s side of the fence. He was a large man and naked, with muscles rippling in the moonlight.

  “What the—” was all Vex could manage before Scout started barking.

  “No, shut up, Scout,” Belle whispered harshly.

  But it was too late. The man’s attention had already been drawn. In a mad dash, he sprinted towards the cub and picked him up. Seemingly distracted by his own thoughts and panic, he hardly seemed to notice Vex and Belle sitting there.

  The man turned back to the nearest house, entered the front door with a crash, and disappeared inside.

  “This night keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Vex reached down and clawed at the ground.

  “What are you doing?”

  “If the cub can do it, why can’t I?” he asked, shoveling dirt behind him with his hands now shaped like paddles.

  “Vex, stop it,” Belle said.

  “Why?”

  He lifted his head in time to see someone else appear now. A woman, by the looks of things. Belle gasped and put a hand to her mouth as the woman spotted them and sprinted at an impossible speed towards the fence.

  “What the fuck are you two doing here?” Mary-Anne asked, panting a little more than she would have liked to admit.

  “We could ask you the same thing. Have we somehow arrived in Crazyopolis?” Belle asked.

  Mary-Anne looked in all directions as if expecting to see something. “Now’s not the time. Did you see a bear come through this way?”

  “A bear?”

  “You know? Big, tall animal, walks on four paws, bit of a fucking snout—a bear!” Mary-Anne said hurriedly.

  Vex shook his head. “Nope. No bear.”

  “Dammit.”

  “Did see a big-ass naked man, though.”

  Mary-Anne’s eyes flared. “Which way did he go?”

  Vex and Belle pointed at the doorway the man had entered.

  “Thanks,” Mary-Anne said, dashing towards the house. She reached the door, then sprinted back, burying her hands in the ground. In seconds, she had dug a hole large enough for the two to crawl through. “You know that would’ve taken you all night, right?”

  Belle looked down her nose at Vex.

  “What?” he asked.

  The house was a state. Ivy, fungi, and moss grew out of the old kitchen sink, chinaware was smashed in all directions, and tables were buckled and broken. It looked as though a herd of elephants had held a party and never bothered to clean up after themselves.

  “Where did he go?” Belle asked, walking cautiously from room to room, half-expecting the man to jump out and attack them at any moment.

  Mary-Anne closed her eyes and sniffed. “This way.”

  She led them to a small cupboard under the stairs. From where they stood, it hardly looked large enough to fit Joe standing up. But when they opened it, they were hit with a waft of stale air.

  Inside was a set of stairs leading down to an unknown destination. Mary-Anne glanced back at the other two as if to ask silently if they would follow.

  “You’re not serious?” Vex asked.

  “Not scared of the dark are we, Vex?” Belle teased.

  “Not exactly. I’m more…cautious about following a crazed naked lunatic who stole our puppy and disappeared into a big hole in the ground. If that’s me being scared, then so be it. I’d really like to know that I’ll wake up again tomorrow morning. If I go down there without caution, who knows what’ll happen?”

  “What’s down there, Ma?” Belle asked.

  Mary-Anne shrugged. “Oh, not much. Just an underground sewage system which has been taken over by a pack of Weres who may or may not have kidnapped Kain.”

  There was a pause as they both stared at the vampire.

  Finally, Vex turned to Belle and said, “See? This is why it’s less fun to stay at Silver Creek.”

  Belle rolled her eyes and motioned for Mary-Anne to enter. “Go on. Lead the way. Just promise us that you’ll give us advance notice if a Were is about to tear our heads off.”

  The Broken City, Old Ontario

  By the time Caitlin and the others arrived back at the library, they were exhausted.

  She watched Joe, Tom, and Laurie as they made themselves comfortable. They had been given a set of blankets and cushions by Izzy, as well as one of the rare spare rooms of the library in which to shut themselves in and rest in peace.

  Joe plonked his ass down with his back to the wall, removed his hat, yawned, and then instantly fell asleep. Tom lay down, removed his eyepatch to give his empty socket a good scratch, and looked at a wound on his right forearm.

  Laurie watched him with interest. “You need that looking at?”

  “No, it’s fine,” Tom said. “It’s nothing, honestly.”

  Caitlin and Laurie shared a look.

  “There are no prizes for heroes, here,” Caitlin said. “Particularly if you’ve been gashed by the Mad. If that’s the case, that’s something we need to know about.” She was partly joking, but a small part of her wondered about the cut. The last thing she wanted was to lose one of her guys to the Madness.

  “No, it’s nothing like that,” Tom said, his eyes widening as he realized what she had suggested. “I fell. Well, actually, I was tripped. They may be a tight-knit community, but they’re clumsy fighters.”

  “What do you mean?” Laurie asked disbelievingly.

  “I was in deep with a Mad, ready to cut through his stomach when I turned to make my final blow, and one of the city fuckers appeared behind me. He claimed he was trying to help, but I had it handled. I think they want all the glory for themselves. Dude’s foot landed on mine, and I twisted and fell.”

  “Would have been hard to wrestle the glory off Kitty-Cat,” Laurie said, tying her hair back and getting comfortable in her blanket.

  “Oh, stop it.” Caitlin blushed, thankful that the muted light would hide it.

  “No, give yourself some credit,” Tom said. “If I didn’t know better, I would’ve guessed you were half vampire. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast and so easily from target to target. Even with their guns, your count must have totaled double anyone else’s.”

  Caitlin stroked Moxie affectionately, the sword now wrapped up tight in its sheath. “Sometimes it’s about getting stuck in, not attacking from afar.” She grinned. “Make sure you don’t tell
Kain my kill count, though. The last thing we want when we find him is for him to dash off into the abyss again.”

  A moment of silence passed as their thoughts turned to their friend and the reality of the situation.

  “Do you think he’s okay?” Tom asked over the gentle rhythm of Joe’s snores.

  “Yeah,” Caitlin replied. “He’s a tough cookie, that one. I struggle to think of a single scenario where he wouldn’t be able to use his tongue to wriggle out of a situation.”

  “Oi, oi.” Laurie grinned. “Always wondered whether you two had a thing going on.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Caitlin protested.

  “Ah, relax, girl. You know I’m joking.”

  “Good.” Caitlin settled down in her own blanket. A wave of tiredness swept over her. “He’ll be okay, I’m sure of it. Ma’s out there now, looking for him.”

  “But how do you know?” Laurie urged.

  Caitlin thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. I just…feel it somehow, y’know? I fail to believe that if Mary-Anne thought we were in any kind of danger, she wouldn’t rescue us. If I were her right now, I’d be doing exactly the same thing. Taking the opportunity to hunt alone. These city cats have been hunting for years, but they’ve never had a vampire on their side. They’ve been against the Unknown. We’ve got two of them working with us. And as much as Ma and Pooch have their quirks and vices, I’d trust them both with my life.”

  Caitlin stared at the ceiling and remembered the journey the three of them had shared from that fateful day in Mary-Anne’s manor to meeting Kain near the airship for the very first time. They’d come a long way and grown as a trio, leading the revolutionaries. She was sure that it wasn’t all going to stop here.

  “You’re lucky, y’know,” Tom said sleepily. His eyes were closed, and Caitlin wasn’t sure whether he was aware he’d spoken.

  She leaned her own head back and closed her eyes. You’re wrong, she thought. It has nothing to do with luck.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Silver Creek, Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario

  “Well, where the hell are they?” Dylan asked.

  “Well, get a load of Sergeant-General-Major Dylan.” Ash grinned. “Only back home for two minutes and already making demands.”

  Alice slapped Ash on the arm. “Leave him alone.”

  Dylan thanked her and looked around the room. They were back in Mother Wendy’s tavern around the old drawing board which had seen himself, Caitlin, Mary-Anne, Kain, Ash, Alice, Vex, Belle, and Sully taking ownership of the town and the Revolutionaries. Though, now, with half of the Council of Revolutionaries—what had quickly become known as the CoR—outside the town’s walls, the meeting seemed somewhat empty.

  Only Sullivan was left who seemed to have any clue of what was going on in the town, though even he couldn’t account for the empty chairs which should have been filled by Vex and Belle’s asses.

  Sullivan shrugged. “I’m sorry, Dill. I have no idea.”

  “What do you mean, you have no idea? Two people can’t disappear off into the night without a word. Someone must have seen them.” Dylan’s tone was firm but fair.

  “I don’t know,” Sully repeated.

  “You know that pair,” Ash said, chipping in before Dylan could say another word. “They’re sneaky—strange, even. If they wanted to find a way to slink off and leave the town, then that’s exactly what they’ll do. Not you, nor Sully, nor I would have any hope of holding them back.”

  Alice cleared her throat.

  “Or Alice,” Ash added.

  “Damn,” Dylan muttered. He saw the crestfallen look on Sully’s face and changed his approach. “Look, I know it’s not your fault. You’ve done a great job in our absence. Silver Creek is ticking like clockwork from what I’ve seen so far. You should be proud of yourself.”

  Larry, who had been invited to join by Dylan—considering he currently didn’t really know anyone else in town—looked between Dylan and Sully with obvious confusion.

  “I’m sorry, am I missing something here? Is Sully your son?”

  Dylan grinned. “No.”

  “Slow brother?”

  “No.”

  “Damaged cousin?”

  Dylan and Sully both laughed. “No.”

  “Then why are you talking to him like a child?” Larry leaned over the table towards Sully. “Hey, big man. You don’t need a pep talk from Dill. You merely need an injection of confidence, by the looks of things. Get your chin up and smile, for God’s sake.”

  Ash stood and slow-clapped. “Well said.”

  Dylan blushed. “Okay, enough of that shit. Let’s recalibrate, shall we?”

  They went through the motions, with Sully updating them on everything from any problems with the townsfolk, through to news from the remaining Revolutionaries, and even on how the road was being used and received.

  He filled them in on everything he could think of, but aside from the slip-up with the Mad from the guard gates, all seemed to be in hand. Jamie and Christie had visited every other day since the road had been finished, bringing with them a steady stream of newcomers to the town, while several Silver Creek folks had found the courage to make their own journey and see the sights at Ashdale Pond. All in all, it seemed as though they had recreated a tiny part of the world that had existed before the fall.

  “Amazing news,” Dylan said. “That’s exactly what we wanted from the High Road. To begin to open up the world and let the people breathe the free air for a change. Have there been many sightings of the Mad along the road?”

  At this, Sully shuffled in his chair.

  “What?” Dylan probed. “What is it?”

  He avoided his leader’s gaze as he said, “Well, yes. And no.”

  “It’s either one or the other, Sully. It can’t be both.”

  To Dylan’s surprise, a strange smile settled on Sully’s mouth. “Well, it was the Revolutionaries’ idea, really. See, a few of them had gotten bored with training on the dummies and saw the road as an opportunity to practice their skills in the real world.”

  Ash chimed in, already one step ahead of Sully’s story. “They didn’t?”

  “Oh, they did,” Sully said. “The first time they did it, we were on full alert. Guards from Silver Creek and folk from Ashdale raced towards the tolling of the bell, but by the time they arrived, the Revolutionaries had already got it handled.”

  “What handled?” Dylan asked. “What are they doing?”

  “It’s actually pretty genius,” Ash said, his admiration almost envious. “Sully, am I right in saying that they’re hunting Mad for sport? Using the bells to attract the Mad from the forest so that they can hone their skills on live Mad, rather than static dummies made of straw?”

  Sully nodded.

  Dylan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. On the one hand, the idea of it was ingenious. If the Revolutionaries’ wanted to become the best that they could be, then they needed to practice on actual targets which fought back, threw unpredictable punches, and reacted in a realistic setting to their own moves. On the other hand, to play and test your skills on real-life Mad incurred the very real risk of letting your guard slip and becoming infected yourself.

  A risk they most certainly couldn’t afford to make.

  “Tell me they’re all okay,” Dylan demanded. “Tell me no one has gotten hurt.”

  Sully shook his head. “Nope. Not one injury yet. They’re a talented bunch, but they’ve grown bored. They work together as a tight unit—I’ve seen them at it—and their skills together are nothing short of impressive.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got a good bunch, there,” Larry said.

  “Yeah. Yeah, we have.” Dylan smiled. “The best in the whole damn forest, if I’m not much mistaken.”

  They continued their talk, probing Sully for news until there was nothing more to give. An accidental pregnancy from one of the townsfolk. A few squabbles. A few people treading the fine line of the law, but
besides that, not much at all.

  When Dylan left Mother Wendy’s, he gave the large, lovable woman a squeeze and looked out at the sky. Night had fallen, and the world seemed peaceful. He walked beside Larry, both too awake to sleep since their late-afternoon snooze. Ash and Alice headed back to their own quarters and made no secret of their own plans to “reconnect” after a long journey out into the wilds.

  “Make sure you use protection,” Dylan joked.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ve got my armor,” Ash retorted, sticking his tongue out the corner of his mouth and smacking Alice’s ass.

  “Oi,” she said. “Enough of that. Save it for when the door’s closed.”

  Dylan gave Larry the extended tour of the town. With the streets empty, it was calm. He didn’t have to worry about bumping into many people who would stop and chat. He didn’t have to concern himself with avoiding the bustling crowds of the marketplace. In fact, it didn’t take too long before he had shown Larry most of the lay of the land and found his way to the top parapets of Silver Creek.

  The view from the upper levels was to die for. They looked over a sea of green which stretched for miles in all directions. Silver Creek truly was the heart of the forest.

  Larry gasped in awe.

  “And you thought you had The Sweet Spot,” Dylan mocked.

  “I’d pick our community over this volume of people any day. But, man, you can’t beat that view.”

  “Tell me about it.” Dylan leaned forward and rested his arms on the walls. “This is the spot my father used to bring me to whenever he had the chance. It was always up here that he’d remind me that the world was bigger than Silver Creek. That there was far more than we’d ever have the chance to see or understand.”

  “Your father thought deep, didn’t he?”

  Dylan nodded. “He was the reason I became a ranger. He’d tuck my sister and me in and then disappear out the gates every night. When he came back, it was with incredible tales of zombies and relics in the forest; things I was scared I’d never see.”

  “And what do you think now you’ve had the chance to see them?” Larry asked.

  “Honestly?” Dylan took a deep breath. “Now there are many things I wish I was able to un-see.” He looked down at the palms of his hands as if imagining the blood which had stained them over the years. “It’s strange, y’know? Me and my sister—Caitlin, I’m sure you’ll meet her one day. She’s something else—were cut from the same cloth, but yet, as each day passes, I see the differences between us more and more. While I spent most of my days out in the woods as a ranger, she was stuck at home. I wished more and more that I could find a role within the safety of the town, but she wanted more and more to see the outside world.