Burning Bright s-15

by Tom Dowd

  The helicopters continued their lightning volley as dozens of dark shapes bolted from the growing inferno. Most fell quickly, either unable or too injured to fly, but some, a half-dozen forms of what seemed to be wasps, shot toward the helicopters. Three of them suddenly broke off their attack, bouncing in different directions in a glittering blur of wings and sparks of astral energy. Kyle was still unwilling to use his astral senses and expose himself to attack, but he was sure those three had run into other spirits, elementals or watchers, guarding the helicopters. The three remaining insect spirits continued their mad rush at the choppers.

  The helicopters jinked, turning away from the bugs and accelerating. The lead helicopter dipped, and caught the first insect spirit in its rotor blades, hurling it away but damaging the blades. The second helicopter avoided its attacker and tired to evade, but Kyle knew the wasp spirits would be much, much faster than the machines. The third wasp caught its prey, and began to attack the cockpit

  Kyle wondered, but only for a moment, if the cockpit would hold. Then he saw the armored glass shatter and peel away. The helicopter immediately yawed to the right and began to lose altitude. It would hit the ground in a matter of seconds.

  He looked for the second copter, and saw it maneuvering vainly to avoid its attacker. Regardless of how good the pilot, it would not be able to hold out much longer. Kyle took a deep breath and called on his power. Raw astral energy focused through him and the formula he assembled in his mind. He reached out with his astral senses and synchronized the energy of the spell with the insect's, then released it. The energy flashed between them in astral space, a blue-gray spark of power that exploded against the thing like a bolt of lightning. It spun to one side, its wings torn, and began to fall, still writhing in blue energy as it dissipated. The helicopter dropped below the tops of the buildings and fled west, using the streets as cover. Kyle quickly scanned for the first helicopter, but did not see it. A ribbon of smoke rose into the air to tell him where the third had fallen.

  Within a minute of their sighting, they were gone. A handful of dark shapes lurked in the area of the office building, whose upper stories were ablaze. Soon the ominous shapes descended toward the streets.

  "It would seem your government is actually doing something," said Seeks-the-Moon.

  Kyle nodded. "Keep a lookout. Someone or some of the bug spirits may have seen my spell."

  "I have been," said Seeks-the-Moon.

  "Did that first helicopter get away?" Kyle asked. "I couldn't tell."

  "I couldn't either."

  Kyle looked back toward the Core. Light gunfire echoed up from the streets near them, but he still saw nothing. Kyle then looked east toward the lake. The sky was virtually cloudless, reflecting cleanly off what he could see of the still waters of the lake.

  There were boats out there, arrayed in a north-south line about three kilometers from the shore. He could make out the shapes of what seemed like Coast Guard cutters, and what may have been a regular Navy vessel or two. The rest seemed to be merchant vessels, probably impressed into service. There were a few smaller white pleasure boats out there as well, but those seemed to be keeping clear of the blockade. An orange and white helicopter hovered in the air near one. After a moment, the two parted and the sailboats headed back toward shore.

  Kyle turned his attention inland. There was little change visible in the already half-abandoned Noose, and he wondered if the vagrants and squatters living there might not survive this best of all. There was little else to see, with the exception of some smoke northeast and near to the lake.

  Looking west of the city, he could see more smoke, a half-dozen thin plumes, and signs of a land blockade around the city. Off some distance, helicopters and what seemed to be at least one light combat vehicle, maybe a scout LAV, patrolled the line of demarcation, which street rumor said was either as far west as Interstate 294, or as close as Harlem Avenue. The binoculars' rangefinder placed them at about fourteen kilometers, which made Harlem far more likely than the interstate some twenty plus kilometers away.

  Beyond the helicopters Kyle could see a glint of light from something big and elongated that hung in the air. A lighter-than-air craft, he thought, probably housing high-resolution radar for monitoring the sky over the city. He wondered if it was powerful enough to pick up the insect spirits when they moved about in physical form. He also wondered about the vulnerability of the craft, hanging there in plain sight. He knew that he could easily have struck it with a powerful spell, and assumed that others in the city could do the same. He also knew the military would have thought of that too.

  Then, finally, he looked north. Again, there was smoke, a particularly dense cloud billowing upward along the lake. He could barely make out the demarcation line, and wondered how far north it was. They'd been told Belmont Avenue, and he hoped that was true, as it would place Beth's apartment and Natalie's school out of the containment area. But the helicopters seemed farther away than that; the rangefinder on the binoculars was estimating fourteen kilometers, which seemed too far.

  Without a map there was no way to tell, so Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon began walking northward.

  24

  To make the best time, and to avoid getting ambushed by someone who might want to relieve them of their weaponry, Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon headed north along Interstate 90/94. It meant they were more exposed, more vulnerable, than if traveling one of the main streets, but it also put them less at risk. Kyle hoped that with the advantage of Seeks-the-Moon's always active astral senses, they would have advance warning of anything coming.

  As they headed down to the highway via the Lake Street exit ramp, a battered delivery truck sped past them, the older ork male in the passenger seat keeping his eye, and the barrel of his shotgun, trained on them. The truck didn't slow, but continued north, weaving once to avoid the burned wreck of a bus in the passing lane.

  They saw only one other car, a Toyota Elite speeding south on the other side of the highway. When its driver saw them, he slowed down and screamed out "What are you fraggin' nuts!" before zooming away again.

  The city was quiet around them as the roadbed rose slowly from below street level near the old Loop, to above street level a distance beyond Hubbard's Cave. At that point, Kyle and Moon could see more smoke and some obvious fires that still raged uncontrolled. They ducked once into cover as a swarm of insect spirits, dragonflies, appeared over the rooftops, and then quickly banked away down toward the streets. It was like the sudden passage of a heavy dark cloud that blocked the sun and deafened the ears with the whirring of giant wings. Kyle thought again about casting a spell that would make the two of them invisible, then decided against it since they didn't yet know how the creatures perceived. It might not do any good.

  Once, a possibly stray bullet kicked up dirt near them, but they could see no sign of a gunman. They kept walking, but Kyle readied the formula for a spell that he could cast quickly that ought to-he hoped-slow a bullet down, if not stop it completely.

  The two walked mostly in silence, each one lost in his own thoughts. Approaching the Ashland exit they passed the remains of a minivan that had apparently struck the guard rail and turned on its side before bursting into flames. There were six people inside. Four of them children. They'd obviously been dead for some days.

  ****

  At Ashland, Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon left the highway and took that street north, gradually starting to see more signs of life. They passed people clustered in doorways, who eyed them with concern or fear. They passed a bar that seemed open, music with a heavy synthetic beat leaking through the boarded windows. They also began to see more cars, but there were still very few of them. Then they came upon a large parking lot filled with scores of torn-open wood and fiberglass cases-food and supplies apparently dropped there by the government within the last few days. There were four bodies lying on the ground as well, lined up in a row alongside an Eagle Security patrol car. A young black officer sat atop the car, shotgun in hand
.

  Kyle waved to him, and considered approaching, but then thought better of it when he spotted two other bodies a short distance away. One was an older woman, the other a young troll boy. Both had been killed by shotgun blasts. Kyle also saw boxes of food stuffed into the back of the patrol car. The patrolman eyed them warily and they continued walking.

  ****

  Near Oakdale, a huge, blackened beetle with hints of red on its carapace sat watching them from a storefront. Mucus and bits of flesh dripped from its mandibles as its odd head pivoted slowly to follow them. Kyle nodded to Seeks-the-Moon, and they both dropped their masking just for a moment. The beetle reacted as they'd hoped, moving further back into the shattered interior.

  A few blocks later, just north of Belmont, Moon noticed a car following them some distance behind. Kyle glanced back and saw it too: a large tan car with old tires roped to it was pacing them five blocks behind. He and Moon moved out of the streets and began to hug closer to the storefronts.

  A block later, the car accelerated, drawing closer. When it was only a short distance away, a young man in dark leathers leaned out the shattered window, waving a heavy revolver at them.

  "This is Rager turf!" he howled. One of his eyes was covered over by dark-stained gauze. "Rager turf!"

  "We're just passing through," Kyle called back. "On our way to somewhere else."

  The car stopped, and all the doors opened. Seven men in torn denim and leathers piled out, each carrying a rifle or submachine gun. Four of them also carried bats. Kyle looked at Seeks-the-Moon, who was watching them impassively.

  "I don't think you heard me," the first ganger said as he walked up. "This is our turf, Rager land. Nobody just passes through."

  "Look," Kyle told him, moving his arm slightly so the high-velocity Ares combat gun was clearly visible. "We're not looking for trouble. We're just gonna keep walking and then we're gone. No hassle. No trouble."

  The first ganger smiled, and a couple of the others laughed. Kyle was amazed at their bravado. He also knew that up close neither he nor Moon would seem threatening. Kyle was trying to appear calm and capable, as well as armed and armored. Seeks-the-Moon seemed the more calm, and almost slightly amused.

  Tribute, chummer," said one of the others. 'Taxes, you I know. You live here, you pass through here, you pay us. You don't have nothing to pay, we take you instead. We can always find some use." A couple of them sniggered.

  Kyle sighed, and started to reply, but Seeks-the-Moon cut him off. "You have a lot of confidence in your magician," he I laid loudly.

  The group stopped laughing and looked at him. Two of them glanced nervously across the street.

  "He's a whelp," the spirit continued. "Barely able to count. Already he sweats, trying to decide how to kill us quickly without taking you to boot."

  Kyle looked off in the same direction as the gangers, but saw nothing. Seeks-the-Moon glanced at him. "Their magician is nothing more than a bug," he told Kyle. "We should treat him as such."

  Kyle nodded. "All right." And he dropped his masking again, believing Seeks-the-Moon was doing the same.

  Immediately, there was commotion from an abandoned lot that looked like it had been used for parking. A lone figure, a girl wearing the same colors as the gangers, darted from behind a pile of garbage and dashed away beyond some buildings.

  The gangers were distracted by this, and Kyle quickly added to their confusion. A globe of gray-green energy sprang up around him and Seeks-the-Moon as he released the energy for the barrier spell he'd prepared earlier. Then, he raised his own weapon.

  All seven gangers took an involuntary step back. Kyle smiled. "Now," he said "I think it's time you took off."

  The first ganger was angry. "Nobody tells us what to-" A protoplasmic mass of dark purple suddenly covered his head, and he staggered backward and fell to his knees. Kyle shifted his eyes toward Seeks-the-Moon just in time to see the last vestiges of the spell's energy dissipate from the spirit's hands. He knew it was Moon-the spell was one he'd designed himself.

  The ganger began to gag. "Get him out of here or he will die," Seeks-the-Moon said. Another of the gang members raised his rifle and pointed it at the spirit, but Kyle turned his weapon toward him.

  "Please do as he says," Kyle said. "I don't know how to use this rifle well enough to only wound you."

  The ganger blinked, and turned toward the one on the ground, and then began to back toward me car. The others took this as the sign they'd been waiting for, and began dragging their gagging and hacking leader back and into the car. They all piled in quickly, and the car jerked forward even before all of them were fully inside. The last ganger fired a couple of random shots toward them, but they went wide and impacted in the storefront behind them. Kyle waited until they were at least a block away and then gathered the power for a small, showy spell he'd known since school. It was harder to cast while maintaining the barrier spell, but it was well within his ability. A split second later, a flash of blue and silver fireworks erupted at the rear of the car. It was only light and sound, and did no damage, but the car jerked as it accelerated again, then quickly turned down a side street heading west.

  Kyle dropped the barrier spell, and turned to look in the direction the beetle spirit had been. There was no way the creature could have missed the display of magic, and that, plus the clustering of people, might have been enough to send it for others.

  He and Moon turned down the nearest street and made their way quickly past the row of houses along it In a few places they saw signs of movement from behind partially shuttered or boarded windows, but for the most part there was only silence. One block farther east they turned north again, watching for signs of pursuit and seeing none. Then, Kyle realized, they were only a few blocks from Beth's house.

  ****

  He stood outside for a moment and stared at the building. It looked the same, little changed from when he'd fallen asleep on the small porch. Beth's car was several doors down, one of its windows smashed and some of the dashboard electronics taken. One of the tires had been punctured too.

  A house three doors away looked like it had caught fire and either burned itself out, or been put out. The buildings next to it were only slightly damaged.

  Kyle climbed the short steps to the porch, Seeks-the-Moon directly behind him. He looked in the front windows, and saw the living room as he'd left it more than a week ago. There were no signs of anyone inside.

  He went to the door and keyed in the access code. The locked clicked and the indicator turned green. It was open.

  Slinging his rifle to leave both hands free for magic, he then pushed the door open and stepped inside. The air was stale and musty except for a sweet smell of something rotting. He immediately recognized the odor-garbage not emptied for a few days.

  He glanced up the stairs, and then walked slowly toward the kitchen, glancing into the living room and dining area as he did. There was no movement. Only silence.

  In the kitchen, he found evidence of activity. The cabinets had been looted, and it was obvious that most of the canned and nonperishable foods were gone. He immediately turned and rushed past Seeks-the-Moon, then bounded up the stairs.

  In Beth's room, he found the dresser drawers hanging open, with various items of clothing half hanging out of them. He searched through the piles on the floor and what was still in the drawers. Satisfied, he dashed back downstairs again and into Natalie's room. Her clothes were similarly strewn about, and Kyle searched through them too. When he'd confirmed his suspicion, he stood up to find Seek-the-Moon staring at him from the doorway.

  “They're not here,” Kyle said, slightly out of breath. "But they were."

  Seeks-me-Moon nodded. "I saw the kitchen."

  Kyle shook his head. "That could have been anyone. But some of their clothes are gone too. None of Natalie's underwear is here, and only some of Beth's is upstairs. They obviously packed before leaving."

  "Ah," said Seeks-the-Moon, shaking his head as he wa
lked toward the living room.

  "What?" Kyle asked loudly, but got no reply.

  Looking down at the mess of clothes and toys, he felt a wave of relief at the signs that Beth and Natalie had been here and gone elsewhere. Beyond the lines to safety, he hoped, though he'd seen nothing to tell him that.

  "Kyle," Seeks-the-Moon called out from the front of the house. "There's a message here for you."

  Kyle rushed out into the hall and into the living room.

  Seeks-the-Moon was pointing at an easel that had been propped up against the far wall. It bore a large pad of plain white paper on which a message had been written in green crayon. It read:

  Kyle-

  We're fine! We're going with Ellen and some of her friends to find a safe place to stay. I'll come back and leave a message when we know where we'll be. We're safe!

  Beth

  It was dated five days ago.

  Kyle, suddenly unable to stand, collapsed onto the couch. He'd never warned Beth about her sister, and now she and Natalie had gone for safety with people who were quite possibly the very creatures that had the city living in fear.

  He read the message again, and men a third time, before he buried his face in his hands and wept.

  25

  The stores and homes along Irving Park Road, from Lake Michigan out to the Des Plaines River, had been dynamited or bulldozed to mark the northern edge of the Chicago Containment Zone. Beyond the piles of debris, backed by powerful searchlights on makeshift towers, sat elements of Eagle Security, the Illinois National Guard, and the United Canadian and American States Army.