by Lisa Lace
Sabin might have been good at speaking English, but his skill in writing it could use some work.
heather
i’m sorry. i should have done something by now to stop them but i didn’t and now you’re sick. please don’t die. please. i know you can’t really control that, but you’re strong and i need you to hold on for me. i think if i can kill them then the sickness will go away. i’m going to do everything i can.
i failed everyone else. i failed my mil’kra and my friends, i failed my planet. and then i ran away to come here and try and to keep you and your kind from experiencing the same pain. i’m going to beat them or die trying. i won’t fail you.
if i don’t make it back i want to say thank you. you took me in without even knowing me or where i was from. you made it easier to deal with the things i’ve lost. you made me smile and showed me that there’s happiness to be had anywhere if you know how to find it. i care about you more than i ever expected to.
if i don’t make it back, live a long happy life okay? remember me. remember that death can be salvation and wishes come true.
sabin
Before she’d even reached the end of the letter, her eyes filled with tears. By the time she’d finished it and then read it over again, they were spilling down her cheeks in a hot rush. Her chest ached, and the thought of never seeing him again made her want to be sick for real.
He’d come to mean so much to her in the short time that they’d known each other, and knowing that the feeling was mutual just made the thought of losing him hurt all the more.
She bowed her head and pressed her hands over her face and cried into them for a moment, and Keith was quiet, stepping over to rub her back.
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” he said softly. “But it’ll be okay.”
Heather laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You don’t know that,” she insisted. “He could die. I could die. Everyone could…”
She trailed off. If Sabin failed, then there was a very high chance that more and more people would die. Her mother, her friends. That was so much to pile on the shoulders of one person, even a person with shoulders like Sabin’s.
He was strong, but everyone had moments of weakness, and while she knew there was nothing she could do to help him with this, she felt like she should be with him, if only so he wasn’t doing it alone.
“Hey, hey,” Keith said. “None of this defeatist attitude. Like I said, I don’t know what’s happening, but your boy seemed to be on it. I’d trust anyone who was built like that. Now, I made you some soup and some tea because, no offense, but you look terrible. Do you want it in here?”
Heather shook her head. “No, I want to get out of this bed. I feel okay enough for that.” She waved him away and pushed her covers back, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and putting her feet down on the floor. A wave of vertigo and accompanying nausea threatened to knock her over, but she gritted her teeth and breathed through it, making her way slowly into the living room.
By the time she made it to the couch, she was exhausted, and she dropped onto it with a grateful sigh, pressing a hand to her forehead. She felt hot even to her own touch, and she wasn’t even sure she could keep soup or tea down with the way her stomach was rolling, but she was determined to try.
Sabin’s words were in her head: you’re strong and i need you to hold on for me. She was going to do her best to be here and fine when he got back. Because he was coming back. She had to believe that.
Keith brought her a tray and put it on her lap before sitting down next to her. He turned on the television, and it was still on the news from where they had been watching it before.
The stories running across the bottom of the screen didn’t do anything to make her feel better. There were fires and killings and everyone was pointing the finger at everyone else. Everything was exploding and imploding, and Heather felt the anxiety churn in her stomach.
How was one warrior going to stop all of this?
Chapter 14: It Ends
How was one warrior going to stop this?
That was the completely unhelpful thought that kept going through Sabin’s mind as he walked in the deepening darkness. He wasn’t sure what his bat was going to do to hurt one of the Nine, considering they were mostly made up of darkness itself, but he was definitely going to swing it as many times as it took for something to hit.
It was a monumental task, either way, and he let out a breath as he walked, watching the buildings and the quality of the town drop off as he went.
This was probably the right way, then.
Earth was probably a lot like Samis is in that the poorer and needier citizens had the most reason to have higher rates of crime, and he could definitely tell that he was reaching that sort of location as he walked.
The buildings were more dilapidated, there were cracks in the street, and everywhere he could feel eyes following him.
People watched from windows and doorways and stoops as he walked, and he knew that a large man with a bat was always going to be viewed as a threat, but he also knew that he wasn’t going to put it down now. It hadn’t occurred to him that he might have to defend himself against humans as well as the Nine, but with the way these people were watching him, it seemed very likely.
His fingers tightened on the handle of the bat, and he swung it up to his shoulder, eyes darting from side to side.
No one had attacked him yet, and it wasn’t very likely that the One would be hiding in an occupied building. Or at least, whoever occupied the building at one point wasn’t likely to be alive anymore. So he bypassed all the places that were obviously being inhabited, making for the edge of the area towards where more places were abandoned.
Cracked windows, no doors, bricks missing. That seemed like the exact sort of place that would be perfect for a creature of darkness to hide, and Sabin headed for a row of them, trying to ignore the way his breath came quicker.
He was afraid. He wasn’t going to deny it. Beings that literally ate fear and did all they could to cause it were a reason to be afraid. While there was likely only one of them here, there was also only one of him.
And these were creatures who had caused the destruction of life as he’d known it before. The last time he’d come face to face (well, face to...mask thing) with them, it had ended in the death of one of his oldest and best friends.
But his training had taught him that courage didn’t come from the absence of fear, and there was no one else to do this job. So he wasn’t backing down until it was either done or he was dead.
“Hey, buddy,” someone said from the shadows, and Sabin whirled around to see two men stepping out from an alley.
“Hello,” he said, fingers gripping the bat. “Something I can do for you?” He might not have known much about Earth, but the body language of criminals and thugs was pretty universal.
“We was just about to ask you the same thing, pal,” one of them said, and he reached behind him to pull what looked like a very primitive gun from his waistband. “We don’t like strangers snooping around our place. Not with all the weird crap that’s been going down lately.”
Of course, they’d noticed it. “I’m here trying to put a stop to the weird crap,” Sabin replied. “Not to get involved in your business.”
They both snorted at that. “You hear him, Craig?” one of them said to the other. “Sounds like a cop to me. We don’t take kindly to cops either.”
“Especially,” Craig added. “When they come down here armed. So you hand over all the cash you got on you and maybe my buddy here doesn’t blow your head off as a message.”
Sabin sighed. He really didn’t have time for this. “Look,” he said. “I don’t have any money on me, and I’m in a hurry, so if you could get out of my way, I’d really appreciate it.”
The one with the gun lifted the weapon like he was prepared to fire. Sabin made an unimpressed face. From the look of it, it shot bullets. What year was this, even? His people hadn’
t used bullets in over a hundred years, and they were one of the least technologically advanced cultures out there. No wonder the humans were always fighting each other if they were stuck using weapons like that.
He was out of practice, but he was pretty sure he had enough skill to take down these two without much effort. After all, he needed to save his strength for the real fight.
The bat was an unfamiliar weapon, weighted much differently than a sword, but Sabin was gifted enough to adjust. In just a few swings, he had the gun knocked to the ground and the bat was swinging into the backs of each man’s knees, sending them to the ground as well. They both looked up with wide eyes.
Craig reached for the gun on the ground, and Sabin rolled his eyes, pointing the bat at him. “Don’t,” he said. “Not worth it.”
They exchanged looks and then apparently decided that Sabin was right because they hightailed it out of there, back into the alley they had come from.
Sabin shook his head and made to continue his search, but paused to pick up the gun first. His fingers barely fit where they were supposed to, but it was better than nothing. He knew bullets could tear through flesh, and there had to be something fleshy on his foe that he could shoot. It could come in handy.
Those who had been watching him apparently decided that they didn’t want any trouble because when he looked up, most of the people had cleared out.
Well. All the better.
The streets narrowed as he walked, more buildings crowded in together, and the signs of chaos were all over.
Unless he was mistaken, there was a dead body in one of the alleys, and the sounds of people fighting were loud from the buildings. Screams echoed out every few seconds, and there was coughing and retching from various shadowed corners.
This place was very much a slum, and it made Sabin sad to see it. Did no one care about these people and the fact that they were dying and killing each other? Didn’t they have someone to look after them?
Apparently not, and he didn’t have time for pity. Something told him that this was the epicenter of it all. The place where the worst of it started and then spread out to the rest of the city, carried like some kind of infectious disease, which was essentially what it was. Here, he had to be on his guard.
He couldn’t get caught up fighting humans and he couldn’t let the madness take him. He had to focus. He had to remember that he had a job to do.
“Hey!” someone shouted, and Sabin groaned.
“Get out of here! We don’t want your kind here!”
Sabin frowned at that, looking at what appeared to be a young boy standing in front of him, brandishing a knife.
“My kind?” he asked.
“You’re a cop, ain’t you? You ain’t never did nothing for us, so don’t start now.”
“I’m not a cop,” Sabin said, holding up a hand.
“Liar!” cried someone else. “All you people do is hurt and kill!”
“We don’t want you here!”
“Go back to where you came from!”
“Leave us here to rot like you always do!”
Before he could register what was happening, Sabin was being surrounded. Teenagers and young people alike were crowding in around him, all brandishing some sort of makeshift weapon. They looked dirty and bruised, and he had a second to wonder if that had been their natural state even before the Nine had showed up.
“I’m trying to help,” he said.
“We don’t want your help!”
“We don’t need it!”
“Kill him!” someone screamed from out a window, and Sabin had had just about enough.
He knew over seventy five ways to incapacitate someone without killing them, and he used every single one as he moved through the crowd. One young man was just screaming nonsense, and Sabin knew the madness had him. He wrapped a hand around his throat and pressed until he passed out.
Sedated, not killed.
Hopefully by the time they woke up, things would be better.
Sabin knew the minute he found the right place. That sickly, rotten smell that he didn’t think he’d ever really forget from the ruins was thick in the air. The building was more dilapidated than any of the others around it, and it was almost like no one even dared to get too close to it.
Sabin didn’t want to. His stomach roiled, and he gagged a little at the scent, the fear bubbling over into nearly full blown panic.
He wondered if that had something to do with the madness. You got so scared that you had to act out some way. Or so scared that you just lost your mind. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise him one bit.
Gritting his teeth, he made himself climb the stairs. He made himself step on the crumbling brick threshold and put his hand on the door. It wasn’t locked, but it was clear that no one needed a lock to keep people out of here. No one in their right mind would even get close, let alone try to break in, and from the broken and boarded up windows, it was obvious that there wasn’t anything worth stealing inside.
What was inside was something dark and disgusting that Sabin had to fight, and he pushed his way inside.
Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and grime, and it cushioned and muffled the sound of his feet as he walked across the floor. It was nearly dark in the house, if that’s what it was, with only the streetlights to illuminate the inside. Sabin regretted not bringing a flashlight but then figured that was probably for the best.
If he could keep his presence concealed until he found the One of the Nine, then he’d be doing well. Not that he was going to count on that happening.
Sure enough, he had no sooner moved to head for the stairs when the sudden glow of red eyes at the top of the landing startled him.
He froze in place, nearly paralyzed with his own fear. All he could think about was the look on Lilera’s face as she died and the way his mother must have been consumed by her fear before she died. Especially with that being her second run in with the Nine. He stood there, shaking slightly, visualizing his own death as the creature came closer to him, practically gliding down the stairs.
Its eyes narrowed as it came, taking him in.
“You,” it hissed. “I have seen you before.”
That did something to jerk Sabin out of his haze of terror, and he swallowed hard and squared his shoulders.
“You have,” he said. “And you should have killed me then.”
It inhaled with a long rattle that made Sabin shudder.
“Samis Das,” it said.
“That’s right. You killed my people. My mil’kra, my friends. You and your kind killed them all, and I’m ending it here.”
A sound like metal rubbing up against glass rang out, and Sabin realized it was the creature’s laughter. “You could not hope to win. We are infinite. We are unstoppable. And we hunger.”
“Yeah, I know all about your hunger,” Sabin snapped. “And I also know you’re not unbeatable.” He smirked, though it was probably unwise. “I know your secret.”
Those red eyes widened for a second and then narrowed again, and without warning, the creature was lunging at him, blade like appendage slashing at the space where his neck had been only seconds before.
It was a good thing he hadn’t climbed up the stairs because in his haste to dart back away from the attack, he fell backwards, tumbling to the filthy floor.
And still the One advanced on him, that same sick, yellow ooze dripping from its beak like face. Sabin realized that it was probably what condensed and concentrated fear looked like.
He also realized that the creature was moving slower than he would have expected.
It was bigger than before, unless he was mistaken, but it was slower, too, and it hit him that it had been feeding so well that it was too full to move quickly. It had glutted itself on the dark emotions of humanity, and now it was stuffed full and still feeding.
Sabin was going to use that to his advantage.
He got his feet back under him and darted forward, swinging with the bat when he
picked it back up. The wood connected, but then phased through the shadowy parts of the creature, and Sabin swore under his breath.
He was too close, and before he could jump back out of the way, he was being slashed at, razor sharp pain erupting as the cut got him right across the middle.
Blood poured from the wound, deeper than it looked, apparently, but Sabin didn’t have time for worrying about that. He drew the gun from his waistband, running for one of the other rooms while he tried to figure out how to use it on the fly. It seemed pretty simple, aim and fire, but bullets were a much more finite resource than beams of white hot light, so he was going to have to be careful not to fire unless he was sure of what he was going to hit. Especially since he didn’t know how many bullets he had to work with.
If he ended up with no weapon, he was as good as gone.
Sabin couldn’t hear the One moving after him, but since it didn’t have to walk, that made sense. He dashed into a room, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and before he could so much as turn around, pain flared as he was slashed across the back twice.
He staggered and then slipped in his own blood, gritting his teeth as he went down to one knee in the dust. A weight thumped into him, and he cried out as he was pushed down further, rolling over and nearly screaming at the gruesome image of the One up close and personal.
It was on top of him, holding him down and breathing its death rattle breath right in his face.
His heart raced, nearly threatening to explode in his chest as the fear held him hostage for long seconds.
“Goodbye,” the creature hissed, and the smell was overwhelming. It leaned closer to Sabin, serrated beak aiming straight for his neck.
Time seemed to slow down, then, and it was a true moment of fight or flight.
He still had the gun in his hand, it was still loaded. He could still fight.
With his free hand he reached up and found a not lethal surface to put his hand to, pushing the One away from him, when he had room, he grabbed that sharp beak, ignoring the way his hand split open as he pulled with all his strength.
It was a terrible angle for it, but he was strong, and he yanked the mask free, revealing a horrible, twisted face and a lipless, gaping maw.