Obliteration

by Zoe Parker

  “Your father is one of the richest men in the world.” I shrug, I have no idea. “We’ll have everything taken care of shortly, I’ll get Marie to speed things up for you.” He stands and comes around the desk to hold out his hand. I stare at it for a few seconds before he drops it. “I’m sincerely sorry for the inconvenience I’ve caused you.”

  “That should require a larger discount on the vehicle as a form of apology, correct?” I ask. Sure, I’m rich but there’s no shame in haggling prices—especially with someone who was going to call the cops on me.

  “Of course, I’ll get this taken care of.” He hurries past me and I watch him walk over to Marie.

  “Look at that, I didn’t even have to hit anyone,” I muse.

  “Yet.” I turn to look at Phobe whose eyes are on the main entrance of the dealership. A small group of people—no, not people—enter and look around. They’re definitely not dressed to be buying a car. The two swords strapped to the back of the Schoth in the front, are the first clue.

  Yeah, this could make me feel better, or worse. I’ll revisit it after we kill them.

  “Miss Black?” Harvard questions in my ear. Shit, I forgot I was on the phone.

  “Harvard, be prepared, I might have to break things here. Okay?”

  “I’ll have the attorney on call. Be safe.” I hang up and tuck the phone in my pocket.

  “I’m assuming they’re looking for us? More bounty hunters?” I ask Phobe.

  He nods and steps out of the office. The Schoth turn in unison and their eyes focus on me, ignoring Phobe completely. I calmly walk out and stop next to Marie’s desk.

  “You need to get your people out of here,” I warn.

  “Pardon?” Marc asks nervously.

  “Those four there,” I point at the Schoth, “are aliens,” it’s become a quick way to explain Light Fey to people. I’ve learned the hard way that no one runs when I say elf or Schoth. “So get everyone out of here, now.”

  One of the Schoth help prove my point by holding up her hand with a globe of ice in it. All of the humans react at once. There are a few screams and then they all have enough sense to run the opposite direction. Marc stops by me on the way out of the door.

  “Here,” he shoves a set of keys in my hands. “The truck is yours, just please don’t let them kill us.” I planned on killing them anyhow but this gives me more incentive to break less stuff.

  I can’t promise nothing will get smashed and I tell him as much. “Things are going to get broken, fighting with them isn’t pretty.”

  “I have good insurance,” he says, then promptly runs out the back door, leaving us alone with the Schoth. Spotting my credit card on Marie’s desk, I snag it. No reason to leave that laying about; tucking it in my pocket, I turn my full attention to the Schoth.

  “Iza Black, we’ve come to collect the bounty on your head.” The male in the front, who looks like a character out of a video game, says while pulling both of his swords out from behind his back.

  “Yeah, that’s what they all say before I kill them.” Smiling, I start to walk towards him, as a cop car with lights on pulls up outside. Two humans get out and take a look inside before dodging behind their car. These guys have either paid attention to the news or have enough sense to simply be cautious. Either way, I can’t let the Schoth kill them.

  The globe of ice flies towards me and I step to the side, watching it sail past and collide with the flimsy wall behind me. The hole it leaves is as big as a watermelon. Yeah, I hope he has really good insurance.

  Phobe disappears from beside me, moving so fast no one can track him, including me. The mage who threw the ice ball is the first casualty. She disappears into darkness, leaving behind only the echo of her screams. He doesn’t need my help, not at all, and it gives me an excuse to go outside and talk the policemen into leaving in case there are more Schoth hiding outside.

  As soon as I step foot out the door I discover there are, in fact, more. Eight of them. Running, I slide over the hood of the car and land in a crouch beside the humans.

  “Hey guys, I don’t know if you realize it yet, but those are aliens. You need to get in your car and leave.” Their guns won’t work, neither will their mace. I hate to see them die uselessly.

  A dagger imbeds itself in the car next to my head. The next one I catch mid-air with my hand. It would’ve hit one of the cops in the face. Given how pale he is, I think he knows it too.

  “Are you that girl from the video who fights these guys? The monster one?”

  “Yeah, but I’m your monster. Now, wait here, don’t get up—I know it’s hard because you’re warriors, but they’ll kill you.”

  “Our monster huh?” He seems amused by this and for some stupid reason it makes me smile at him.

  “Okay, I’m going to go kill them but no macing me, that shit hurts.” He nods sagely and I’m up and on my feet before I see his partner’s response.

  Running at the closest Schoth, I jump and knee her in the face before she can do anything more than throw her hands up. Not that it helps much, I have a lot of momentum. With a crunch of bone she flies backwards onto the hood of the car behind her. The windshield breaks from the impact and she slides down the hood to puddle on the ground, unconscious.

  One down. Seven more to go.

  The next one is more prepared and meets my dagger with a sword. He’s decent too, parrying most of my attacks before I get the last one in past his guard. I understand why Phobe insisted I learn now. Otherwise I’d have gotten stabbed twenty times by this point.

  Pushing forward I stab him again, this time in the belly. With a cry of pain he pulls back from me, all defense. I keep pushing; we can’t leave a single one alive—not even injured. They’ll only keep coming and try to stab you in the back.

  As blood drips through his hands and down his body, I patiently use the holes in his defense against him. When I feel the presence of another close to me I stop playing with him and stab him through the chest. The life leaves his eyes before he hits the ground.

  Turning I slash out with the second dagger that materializes in my other hand, and catch the mage off guard. The spell dies on his lips as he falls bonelessly over to the side, dead. Two more down.

  Phobe appears briefly a few feet away and then moves again. Four, five and six down. One of the remaining males turns towards the two cops hunkered down beside their car, watching but staying out of the way. He lifts a gun and aims it at them. Running, I push myself fast enough to get there before any bullets. The first one catches me in the right shoulder, the second one I catch in the arm.

  Cursing, I stand my ground in front of them. A fiend appears behind the Schoth and takes a big bite out of his shoulder. Good girl. Laughing as more appear and latch onto him I turn to the cops and usher them into their car. “Go! I got this.” There’s only one more left—a cry of pain catches my attention.

  Phobe always gets to have more fun.

  Standing, I wait for the bullets to push themselves out, and shake off the lingering pain. It’s over before it really began; the final one Phobe taunted but apparently left alive, is running towards me—but not to attack. He’s running in fear of the large, dark shadows pursuing him. The forlorn are playing too.

  Phobe is walking slowly behind them, his eyes on me. I can’t help but appreciate the view. The forlorn catch the Schoth before he gets to the edge of the parking lot. His screams go on for several minutes before cutting off abruptly.

  “Ready to go?” I ask, pointing at the truck.

  Phobe stops a few inches from me and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m driving.” He snags the keys from where its hanging out of my pocket and walks away.

  “Hey! It’s my truck!” I yell, following him.

  6

  I think she bought one of everything in the surplus store. The back of the truck is full of her purchases. Some of which will benefit us, some I think she bought purely for their level of shine. The dragon always has a say in collecting t
hings, although I don’t think she knows she does it. Like the spray bottle with a fan on the end of it that she’s playing with. I see its supposed purpose, but we both know it wasn’t something she needs.

  She giggles again. I take that back, maybe it is.

  We won’t need any of this stuff until after we scout out the next decoy base. If that’s what it is. There’s always the chance we’ll stumble upon one of the real ones. There are dozens of bases in this country alone and some will be genuine. I think there are more of them, but they're being hidden, even from me.

  The window is down and blowing her hair around her in lazy waves. A solid white streak catches my attention. It’s not the first time I’ve seen it but it is the first time a memory surfaces. Not a full one—merely a glimpse—but it's enough to know that she sacrificed something of herself to cause it. Something that made me angry. I’ll ask her about it later. I don’t want to disturb the small smile on her mouth or the lack of shadows in her eyes.

  A truck full of humans pass us, yelling as they look in our windows and see Iza. The bed of the truck is holding several of them, armed with guns and various other human weapons. The tailgate has, ‘Kill all aliens’ painted on it in bright, orange letters.

  I believe the humans refer to these types as ‘rednecks’.

  “They’re on the way to the base, I’m guessing?” she asks, watching them with annoyance. “I support the humans defending themselves but this is…” I watch her chew her bottom lip while searching for a word that isn’t, idiot. “Suicidal. Plain and simple. They won’t survive in there against even farmers and potion makers.”

  A few humans have been lucky against smaller camps but the rate of their success is slim to none. The one we’re heading to is heavily populated and even Jameson could fight against this truckload of imbeciles and probably win. I speed up and remain relatively close to them. Our plans to scout and then decide how to go in are now useless. We have to go at the same time as these… rednecks, or let them uselessly die. Not that the gene pool will suffer much from their losses.

  “You know, we could let them go in and save someone from having stupid children with them?” Iza muses and I roll my lip between my teeth to keep from laughing. Our thoughts were so similar it’s almost like she read my mind. “But stupidity doesn’t necessary mean ‘bad person.’” She sighs. Yeah, we’re going in after them.

  She starts moving around and tucking things in various pockets. She unpacked her leathers when we stopped to get food. As cliche as they are, their usefulness is undeniable. They protect her to some degree. Someone wove Magiks in them as they were made and I’m pretty sure the leather is from the hide of a dragon. I haven’t told her this and she isn’t suspicious about them, but I am curious as to who made them.

  I ask, “Where did you get those leathers?”

  “Arista gave them to me, she said they’d help out. Why? Do you want some?” She smirks as she asks that.

  “I don’t need them but I can see why she gave them to you.” Her curiosity is piqued now. “They have Magiks in them,” I answer her unspoken question.

  “Oh, I know that, I thought you were going to tell me they were made from the skins of my fallen enemies,” she says then snorts.

  They probably are but I don’t say anything.

  Iza being her normal self, asks, “They really are, aren’t they?” She laughs and shakes her head. I focus back on the road and increase our speed yet again. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can kill something and stop thinking about touching that white streak in her hair.

  Dusk has settled around us as we walk quietly behind the loud group of humans. They’re not hiding their approach at all; demonstrating yet another display of the ‘intelligence,’ this group shares. Iza occasionally laughs at them under her breath but hasn’t said anything else since we left the truck. She has let me into her mind, as I thought she would. Her plan is simple; she’s letting the humans go in first to stir up the camp’s occupants so she can better gauge what threat level they represent.

  In other words, they’re bait.

  The time arrives quickly, the camp is only a few miles off the main road. They don’t even have sentries to guard the entrance, their shield is minimal at best, and even the human’s arrival doesn’t cause the Schoth alarm. Their actions finally do though. They go after the small group of Schoth children playing on the outskirts.

  “Hey there little alien boy, where’s your parents?” One of the men asks, raising his shotgun level with the child’s face.

  The little boy is dirty and looks underfed, without that air of meanness that adults carry. Not all Schoth are born to be vile pricks; most of them are shaped that way by their upbringing, which weeds out the ones considered 'undesirable.’ To the Schoth, that’s anyone with a conscience. This child, looking frightened and abused, still has one. He’s hiding his little sister behind his back.

  This isn’t going to go over well with Iza.

  She walks past me and inserts herself between the humans and the children. Both groups react. A few of the children scream in fear and the humans raise all of their weapons and point them at her. I go to step forward but she subtly shakes her head.

  The foolish woman is going to try and save both of them.

  “Sorry guys, these kids are off limits,” she says, spreading her arms out to block more of the kids from view.

  “Who the hell are you?” The ‘leader’ demands, spitting on the ground.

  “I came here to do the same thing as you, but not to kids—you need to move on and find different targets. Better yet, you should probably turn around and go have a few beers at a nice bar somewhere and let other people handle this.”

  “Bah, they’re going to grow up and be just like their parents. Better to catch them young and end the problem before it begins,” he says.

  “Seriously? You’re willing to kill kids?” she demands, anger entering her voice for the first time.

  “Duh, man eating, alien babies,” he says with a disgusted sneer.

  Iza frowns and looks over her shoulder at the condition of the children, then back to the humans. “These children haven’t been corrupted yet—so that’s a no.”

  “Well, then we’ll have to shoot you too,” he says with a smile.

  “You’re a Feyrie,” the little boy says from behind her. She looks over her shoulder at him and nods. “But you’re helping us?” She nods again. He contemplates her with an adult level seriousness before saying, “I won’t grow up to be like my parents.”

  Schoth children aren’t usually well cared for, they get the brunt of their parents ire as much as anyone else. This child might stand a chance to be something better and Iza sees it.

  “I didn’t come here to do anything good today, little guy—can you keep your promise knowing that?” She gives him as much earnestness as he’s giving her. Once again he contemplates her solemnly, demonstrating a maturity and intelligence most Schoth aren’t known for.

  “Where will we go?” he asks. My shadows touch him and I see that he’s being genuine. He wants to save his sister and his friends. His desire to help has gotten him punished more than any other child here, but it hasn’t stopped him either.

  This boy should’ve been one of Iza’s Feyrie.

  “I know a place I can take you to,” she says after a few minutes of silence, broken only by the heavy breathing of some of the humans. The group of humans has taken the ‘stand there and watch’ approach. None of them actually wanted to kill children, but they’ve lost family and friends to the Schoth plague and wanted to do something about it.

  Slipping into Iza’s mind I see her hastily formed plan. Iza’s heart is going to be the death of her. She’s going to make a place specifically for them, a place she feels they can be kids and make a choice based on who they are as a person, not who other Schoth want them to be.

  I’m not sure if it'll work and neither is she but Iza isn’t the type to give up easily.

  “Walk th
at direction until you get to a big, red truck. Climb up in the back of it and wait for me there, okay?” When the humans protest she turns to them and says, “How about ten grand a piece to leave right now?” Already her mind is made up, she won’t let them have the children but she’s also trying to find a way to not kill the humans either. If they refuse the bribe, she will decide whether she wants to or not.

  “Ten thousand dollars?” One asks in disbelief.

  “Yeah, just to go get back in your truck and leave,” she says, pointing back the way we came.

  “How do we know you’ll stick with your word?” The leader asks.

  “Write your name and an email address on a piece of paper and leave it on my truck, I’ll send you the money.” There’s no other way to get them the money right now. Iza isn’t going to walk away from this camp and she’s not going to let them hurt the kids.

  “I’m going to write your license plate number down and if you don’t send it, I’m going to pay you a visit,” the leader threatens. She nods and points again.

  “Don’t touch the kids,” she cautions.

  “For ten grand lady? I’ll kiss my mother-in-law on the mouth,” he jokes and waves for his group to follow him. Iza waits until their out of sight and then turns back to the kids. “Go now, they won’t hurt you. Hurry.” She senses the changes in the camp behind her. I’ve been keeping an eye out and the lack of attention paid to their children demonstrates clearly how good of parents Schoth are. But they are starting to stir, not to check on the children per se, but the foreign Magiks some of the more sensitive ones are feeling.

  As the last child walks away Iza turns to me.

  “I can’t kill kids Phobe, not even Light Fey.” Her admission doesn’t surprise me, her mind is an open book. This block in her ability to ‘kill all Schoth’ bothers her too. She hates Light Fey and has now discovered her one weakness concerning them. Their children.