The Changlings (The New Earth Chronicles Book 2)

by J. J. Thompson

  “Hey, where is everyone?” a voice called out from outside of the room.

  Everyone turned to look at the doorway and Bobby trotted over to it, his torch leaving a smoky trail as he went.

  “Wasn't that Eric's voice?” Rachel asked.

  “Sounded like it.”

  “Eric?” Bobby yelled down the hallway as he stepped out of the room. “We're in here.”

  The group heard several sets of footsteps rapidly approaching the command center. Bobby came back in and stepped aside as Eric ran in, followed by Fani and three other people.

  Sarah gasped in surprise and then smiled with delight. She recognized Alexa from her perfectly round, bald head and overly long arms, but she was accompanied by two people that they had not expected.

  “My God. Sandra!” Caroline exclaimed in astonishment. “And Marshall. How did you two get here?”

  Sandra's face was finally free of its wrappings. She was unique among the Changlings because her mutation was so shockingly strange, even odder than Rachel's. Her eyes were black. Not just the iris, but her entire eye including the part that should be white. And they were twice as large as normal eyes. At first glance, it made her look like she'd had her eyes gouged out. It was very disconcerting for people who met her for the first time.

  Other than that, Sandra had dark brown hair cut short and regular, attractive features. And unlike Bobby, her eyes were no more sensitive to light than anyone else's.

  Marshall was still the red-headed scamp that Sarah remembered, but both he and Sandra looked the worse for wear. Their faces were streaked with dirt and Marshall had a long cut across his forehead, just above his nose. There was dried blood from the wound that had run down his face and left a ragged trail all the way to his chin.

  Both of them wore jeans and t-shirts that had bits of leaves and twigs sticking to them. And they both looked exhausted.

  Next to them, Alexa appeared almost pristine. She wore black sweat pants and a gray hooded sweater and, except for some mud on her sneakers, was seemingly untouched by her journey. But her eyes were wide and haunted and Sarah realized that Alexa was alone. That could only mean that her people hadn't made it.

  “Are you all okay?” Miesha asked as she rushed over to the newcomers.

  “Okay?”

  Alexa looked at Miesha as if she didn't recognize her.

  “They're all dead,” she said in a hollow voice. “All of my friends. Dead, just like that. Slaughtered like lambs in their sleep.”

  She rubbed her smooth head with a trembling hand.

  “We never saw them coming. The damned goblins. They got past our traps and doors and fell on us like wild animals. And I...”

  She shook her head once.

  “I was checking the back exit. Can you believe it? Since we knew about the drakes and goblins, I decided that it was my duty to make sure that it was clear of debris, in case we had to make a quick retreat. Isn't that ironic? When I got back from my inspection, everyone was already dead. Everyone!”

  Miesha took Alexa's hands and silently squeezed them.

  “The only person who ended up needing that exit tunnel was me,” Alexa added, not seeming to have noticed that Miesha was holding her hands. “Me. When I got to the surface, I just headed west. I don't know how I avoided being caught; I certainly wasn't trying to. And somehow I ran into Sandra on the highway and... here we are.”

  Caroline and Rachel walked over to join the newcomers. Rachel patted Alexa's shoulder while she looked at Sandra and Marshall.

  “Same story?” she asked them simply.

  Sandra nodded while Marshall just stared at the floor, swaying slightly.

  “Yes. But ours is somewhat reversed. I was with Marshall at the entrance to our camp. We were standing guard. I had doubled all shifts because of the goblins and drakes.”

  She reached out and ruffled Marshall's shock of red hair. He raised his head and stared at her, his blue eyes filled with tears.

  “We were just talking,” Sandra continued. “About his studies, of all things. And then the screaming started. The goblins had found our emergency exit and crawled through it and attacked without warning. Our friends were dead before we could lift a finger to save them. If there hadn't been a dozen or more of the creatures, I would have fought them anyway, but...” She smiled at Marshall. “I had someone else to take care of. We put down the plank and crossed our pit trap and then threw it away so that the goblins couldn't follow. Like Alexa, once we reached the surface we headed west. I hadn't actually considered coming back to the Diefenbunker until we ran into Alexa and she told me that you and the others were here.”

  She shook her head angrily, looking down at her dirty hands and chipped nails.

  “I lost my damned stone in the rush to escape the goblins, I'm afraid. It fell into the pit as Marshall and I were crossing over it. So I couldn't call you, Sarah. Sorry.”

  “Sorry?” Sarah exclaimed. “My God, don't be sorry for surviving! You three are awesome. Getting here in one piece through hostile territory? Incredible. I'm the one who's sorry. Sorry for your losses, all of them. Sadly, we've lost many more than that and I've heard nothing from Clara or any of her people. I think we have to assume that they're gone too.”

  Alexa muttered curses under her breath while Sandra closed her eyes for a moment.

  “How many of us are left?” she asked thinly.

  “A couple of dozen, maybe,” Caroline told her. “But having that few makes all of them even more precious to me, to us. We have to protect them.”

  “Here?” Alexa scoffed, gesturing at the command center. “This place is too close to the city. Once the dragon knows that we're in here, cowering like frightened rabbits, it will come and tear that blast door off of its hinges and send in its drakes. Whoever is in here will be slaughtered, just like my people were slaughtered.”

  Rachel moved forward and stood looking down at Alexa; her height, white skin and blue hair making her look even more intimidating in the flickering light of the torches.

  “My son will not be slaughtered,” she snarled at Alexa. “Not by goblins, or drakes or the dragon itself. Do you hear me? I grieve for your losses, Alexa, as I grieve for my own. But we will not give up or surrender to those fiends. Not while there is breath left in any of us. Agreed?”

  Alexa stared up at Rachel in surprise at her reaction. But then her expression changed to one of compassion.

  “Your son is alive? Oh, that is such good news on such an unhappy day,” Alexa said with a tentative smile. “Of course you're right, Rachel. I'm sorry. We all still have a duty to those who look to us for guidance. But still, we cannot stay here.”

  She looked around at the others and finally seemed to notice Magnus where he still stood beneath the towering map of the province.

  “Magnus! Thank goodness you made it.”

  He nodded at her.

  “And you as well, Alexa. You've had a hard time of it.”

  She gave Rachel a quick look.

  “We all have,” Alexa answered. “But now, while we seem to have a moment to regroup and plan, what are we to do?”

  “We were all discussing that very thing when you and Rachel and Marshall arrived,” the shaman told her. “This is a map of the province. Why don't we examine it and you can all decide on a course of action together, hmm?”

  The leaders walked over to join him, all except for Sarah and Eric. She touched his arm to get his attention and then lowered her voice.

  “Shouldn't someone be up at the main door, keeping watch just in case?” she asked quietly.

  He shrugged.

  “Is there really any need? I agree that Clara and anyone else who isn't here by now probably isn't coming. And I need to be in on this discussion,” he added with a nod at the other leaders. “I may only have Fani to care for now, but I take that responsibility very seriously.”

  Sarah nodded her understanding.

  “Yes, of course. But we should have at least one person up the
re, if only to raise the alarm if the goblins or drakes attack the door.”

  “I'll do it.”

  They looked at Bobby, who had been standing quietly nearby, waiting for Sarah.

  “Are you sure?” she asked him. “You're at least as tired as everyone else is around here. Maybe you should get some rest?”

  “Yes, I'm sure that I should,” Bobby replied with a grin. “But right now we don't have time for that luxury. I can nap near the door if I have to. At least then I'll be able to hear anyone or anything banging against the other side of it.”

  Eric slapped his shoulder appreciatively.

  “Good man,” he said. “Fani and I were using a couple of office chairs that we rolled out of one of the rooms up there. They're quite comfortable, so feel free to nap away.”

  “Thanks Eric. You both had better get over there and get into the discussion before they all make their decision without you.”

  Sarah laughed.

  “I'd like to see them try. Go ahead up, Bobby. And thanks for volunteering. I'll bring you up some water later.”

  “Magnus brought some rations with him,” Bobby told her and both Sarah and Eric smiled in anticipation. “Maybe someone could bring some up for me?”

  “I'll bring some with the water.”

  “Thanks.”

  Bobby hurried off and Eric and Sarah went over to join the discussion. Alexa was arguing for moving everyone to a new town. There really weren't any cities directly west of Ottawa, but small towns and villages dotted the map all the way to the Manitoba border and she seemed to feel that the Changlings could not survive without the familiarity of buildings and streets around them. Unfortunately she didn't seem to be convincing anyone.

  “Look, Alexa, I know how you feel,” Caroline told her calmly. “But any towns that weren't leveled by the dragons years ago will eventually be consumed by the forests that surround them. We need to find our own home, away from any place that will draw unwanted attention from our enemies. One day, when we've settled in and are stronger, then we might be more prepared to defend ourselves. But right now, with only a handful of us? No, we can't tempt fate and repeat our past mistakes. In retrospect, we should have left the city years ago. But we got too comfortable, too reliant on the supplies that we could scrounge from the ruins. Well, all of that is over now and we have to look forward, not back, and plan accordingly.”

  Before Alexa could reply, Rachel cut in.

  “I agree,” she said firmly. “As the only one of us who has a young child, I know how scary the thought of trying to live in the wilderness is. But the idea of leaving the city just to put ourselves into the same situation again, this time in a town that is even smaller than Ottawa, is laughable. We can't do it. I won't do it. And if that means heading off on my own and taking my handful of people with me, then so be it.”

  “You won't be alone, Rachel,” Sarah averred. “Bobby and I will be right there with you. Ottawa is lost to us, for good. It's time to make our own home, far away from this dangerous place.”

  Rachel smiled at her appreciatively.

  Alexa looked around at the other leaders.

  “Is there anyone else who thinks that the idea of living in the forest is nuts?”

  “I do,” Eric told her. Rachel began to smile, but stopped as he continued. “But if it's a choice between learning how to hunt and forage off of the land and being gutted by a drake, I'll take the hunting, thanks. We're all young and we can all learn new skills. Magnus,” he nodded at the shaman, “can teach us what we need to know. It's early in the season yet, so we'll have plenty of time to find a place to live and settle down in before winter comes. I vote that we disappear entirely and let the goblins and drakes fight over the bones of the city. They're welcome to it; there is nothing there for us now.”

  “I think we have a consensus,” Miesha told them all. “Alexa, I'm sorry but we have to take the long view now. We aren't children anymore and we have to plan for the future. We could be forgiven for not doing that when we were young and left this bunker. Ottawa was the only home we knew. But now, it's not our home anymore; it's a war zone. So please, let's make this decision unanimous and plan accordingly.”

  Alexa rubbed her smooth head absently as she turned away and looked up at the map. With a sigh of resignation, she nodded.

  “Very well. I've lost my closest friends, but I am still one of you and my duty is clear. I have to aid all of our people now, not just a handful. So I'm with you. The question now is, where do we go?”

  Sarah felt a rush of relief. She was fond of Alexa and wanted all of them to get along. They would need that as they set out toward an unknown future.

  “Magnus?” she said. “Do you have any thoughts about a destination for us?”

  The shaman stood with his arms folded, staring intently at the map of the province.

  “To begin with, I think our goal should simply be to avoid any towns and villages,” he replied.

  He pointed up at the map, tracing a winding path across it, away from the city.

  “As you know, the forests have grown swiftly since the fall of mankind, and they will offer us shelter and cover as we retreat. We all know that drakes can track by sight and scent, but with the amount of undergrowth out there now, even their noses will get confused once we enter the deep woods. Dragons will not be able to spot us from the skies and the goblins only wanted us gone from the city. I have the feeling that, once we are truly out of their reach, they will let us go. Why pursue us? We have nothing of value to them.”

  Eric and Miesha were both nodding as he spoke.

  “That makes sense to me,” Caroline said. “It shouldn't be too hard to steer clear of any towns. There are smaller maps of the province stored somewhere in the bunker that we can take with us and I'm guessing that there is probably a compass around somewhere. The devices aren't really mechanical, so they should work.”

  Magnus smiled at her.

  “Bring one if you wish, but I will always be able to tell you what direction we are moving in. The maps are a good idea, though. If we can find enough of them, I think that all of you leaders should have one, just in case.”

  “Sounds good,” Eric said. “There must be backpacks around here somewhere. We can pack them with whatever essentials that we can find before we head out. Speaking of which...”

  He looked around at the group.

  “When do we leave?” he asked.

  “Can we afford to let our friends rest for a day?” Sarah wondered as she looked at the map. “Bobby told me that Magnus brought some rations with him, so everyone can eat and build up their strength before we all have to start a long hike.”

  “What do you think?” Miesha asked Magnus. “Will we be attacked soon or will the goblins concentrate on their fight with the drakes?”

  “Honestly, I don't know,” the shaman replied. “I do not know who commands the goblin forces or what their priorities are. My guess is that they will ignore us for the moment, since we've all cleared out of the city. But even if they do that, what will that black dragon do? I have no idea.”

  “We'll have to risk it,” Rachel told them. “After everything that they've been through, I doubt that we'd be able to make our people walk more than a few hours before half of them collapsed.”

  “Agreed,” Eric said. “And if there is an attack on the blast door, there's always the emergency exit tunnel. Even a dragon would take a few minutes to break through the main entrance, and that would give us enough time to get away.”

  “It's settled then,” Miesha stated firmly. “Let's look around for those maps and backpacks. Then everyone get some rest. But make sure that your people pack whatever they want to take with them as soon as they wake up. I have a feeling that time is not on our side anymore.”

  Chapter 20

  Bobby woke up with a snort when someone tapped on his shoulder. He was sitting on a rather comfortable padded leather chair in the main hallway about a dozen feet from the sealed blast door.
He had hung his torch in a bracket on the wall, but it had long since died out and, when he turned his head, for a moment he was blinded by an intense yellow light.

  “Oh, sorry Bobby. I held the wand too close to your face.”

  He sat up and cleared his throat a few times before answering.

  “That's okay, Sarah. I must have nodded off. How long have I been up here?”

  “No idea,” Sarah said as she moved around to stand in front of the chair. “A couple of hours, maybe? Maybe longer. Sorry it took so long for me to bring you your food and water, but we were getting things organized for our journey. Here.”

  She handed him the backpack that he had carried from Ottawa and he smiled as he recognized the stained and weathered canvas bag. Inside was a water flask and a small block of something wrapped in silver foil. There were also several torches wrapped in plastic, the candles that he had found back when they had been traveling, and a box of matches. And there was the road-map that they'd found in that lonely cottage.

  “Two hours?” he replied as he took out the flask and the ration. “Huh. So that's why my neck is so stiff.”

  “I suppose so. Anything to report?”

  “Nothing. Not so much as a scratch on the door.”

  She watched as Bobby unwrapped the block of compressed food and stared at it.

  “What's it made of?” he asked as he examined the ration dubiously.

  “No idea. It tastes okay, though. Kind of like a really stale brownie. At least it's filling.”

  Bobby nodded and took a tentative bite. He grimaced and immediately sipped some water.

  “Man, that's dry.”

  Sarah laughed at his expression.

  “Yep. Still, it's better than nothing.”

  “Hmm.”

  She waited until he had finished eating before speaking again. While she did so, Sarah twirled her wand between her fingers as if it was a baton and the glowing gem left a blazing trail in the darkness, a yellow after-image that almost appeared to be a solid circle.

  “Wow, that's cool,” Bobby said as he watched her. “Have you been practicing with it?”