by R S Penney
She pointed her gun forward and to the right, firing several shots that pushed her backward and to the left. The flying avalanche surged through the space where she had been hanging, streaking off into the starry sky and then falling on buildings several streets over.
The last of her ammunition was gone. She didn’t mind; it wouldn’t do much good anyway. She killed her Gravity-Sink for half a second and began her slow, steady descent. She twisted around to find the ground rushing up to meet her.
Kalia was running on the sidewalk.
Desa fell in beside her, killing the Sink when her foot touched the ground and sprinting as fast as she could. Hanak Tuvar’s screams sent chills down her spine.
Unable to resist the temptation, she looked back. The creature was standing in the road, surrounded by that ruddy haze. Why isn’t it chasing us? she wondered.
Kalia was huffing and puffing, her face flushed, sweat glistening on her skin. “What do we do now?” she asked.
“We regroup,” Desa said. “And come up with another plan.”
“Stay together!” Tommy shouted.
At least three dozen people ran along the cobblestone road between two lines of tall, blocky buildings. Most of them were carrying bundles of clothes or bags full of food. A few had guns. Others held small children. Young and old, men and women: they were a motley bunch. But they all had one thing in common.
Fear.
Hanak Tuvar’s inhuman screams pursued them through the night. They had been running for over ten minutes, but Tommy could still hear the creature shrieking in the distance, an endless, cacophonous song, punctuated by the sound of buildings crashing.
Sitting tall in Midnight’s saddle with the reins in hand, Tommy frowned as he watched the people running past. He kept the horse at a trot to keep pace with the crowd. Midnight could outrun these folks without breaking a sweat, but he didn’t dare leave them behind. Someone had to guide them out of this city.
With Desa and Kalia off fighting the demon, Miri had claimed the brown horse that they had rescued from Delarac’s mansion. She moved up beside a man who had stopped to look back at the destruction. “Keep going,” she urged.
The good fellow nodded and hastened to join the others.
“They’ll be all right,” Tommy said. “Won’t they?”
Miri looked at him, and he could see the hopelessness in her eyes. She might put on a brave face for the others, but she couldn’t hide her feelings from him. “I don’t know,” she barked. “We have no idea what that thing is or what kind of power it might…Look, if anyone can survive against an enemy like that, it’s Desa Kincaid.”
The crowd surged into Bowman Plaza, where the Parliament Building stood solemn and silent on the north side of the square. Ten seconds after that, they all dispersed, running in a hundred different directions with nothing resembling a plan.
Nudging Midnight into motion, Tommy rode the stallion into the middle of the square. He stood in the stirrups, scanning back and forth to let his gaze fall upon anyone who might be looking. “Stop!” he called out. “We have to stay together!”
No one listened.
“Stop!”
They just kept running.
Growling in frustration, Tommy retrieved an arrow from his quiver, nocked it and pointed his bow into the sky. He let it fly, the shaft vanishing into the darkness. And then he triggered the Electric-Source he had created.
A spiderweb of lightning streaked across the heavens, jagged, silver bolts expanding in all directions. For a moment, everyone just stopped. And then they started screaming, running even harder, trying desperately to get away.
Hanging his head, Tommy pressed two fingers against his forehead. “Should have seen that coming,” he muttered. “For the love of the Almighty…”
He dropped out of Midnight’s saddle and climbed onto the rim of the fountain in the middle of the plaza. Triggering his Sonic-Source, he drew in a deep breath and spoke with all the confidence he could muster.
“STOP!”
His booming voice brought everyone to a halt.
One by one, they turned around to see who had addressed them. Nearly a hundred people, many of them dressed in bedclothes, all staring at the idiot who stood in the spray, heedless of the night’s chill.
“I know you’re afraid,” Tommy began. “But we have to stay together.”
“That thing!” one man shouted, pointing westward. The poor fellow looked like he was about ready to faint. “It’ll come for us.”
Pressing his lips together, Tommy nodded slowly in agreement. “Yes, it will,” he said, jumping down from the fountain and striding toward the man. “Which is why we need a plan. If we’re going to flee the city, we need supplies.”
A young, pale-skinned woman with her hair hanging loose clutched a bag of food to her chest. “You can’t have mine!” she declared as if she expected everyone to fall on her like a pack of wolves. Which only brought her the attention that she had been hoping to avoid.
“We’re going to make for Ofalla,” Tommy said. “It’s the nearest settlement, the safest place we can go right now. We stay together as a group, share our resources. No one gets left behind. Is that clear?”
“But there’s not enough for everyone!” someone shouted.
Cold and wet, Tommy drew himself up to full height. He let his gaze fall upon the speaker, silencing any further dissent. “If necessary, we’ll resort to hunting,” he replied. “These lands are full of rabbits. We can cook them over a fire if we need to.”
He hoped to the Almighty that no one realized he was improvising. He had no idea how plentiful rabbits were. Or any other animal for that matter. In the end, it was irrelevant. Staying here meant certain death. So, they would just have to take their chances in the wilderness.
“Tommy!”
Dalen led a procession of disheveled people out of a side street. At least fifty of them. Most were properly dressed, thank the Almighty. Tommy couldn’t imagine traveling through the wilderness in bedclothes. But for those who had fled the west end of the city, there was no going back. Hanak Tuvar was still out there.
Tommy sauntered up to the other man, grinning and shaking his head. “You beautiful bastard!” He seized Dalen by the shoulders and kissed him on the lips. “I knew you’d be able to find us!”
The other man pulled away. “All I did was follow the lightning,” he said. “It wasn’t hard.”
Tommy stepped aside so that Miri could throw her arms around Dalen’s neck and kiss him. That drew a few stares from the people who had gathered in the plaza. He heard angry mutters from several of them.
“All right,” Tommy said. “Now that we’re all here, it’s time to get organized.”
“We should head down the south road,” Dalen said as Miri rained kisses over his face. “Swing west and make for Ofalla.”
“We can’t leave yet,” Tommy insisted.
“Why not?”
He gestured to the buildings all around them, sweeping his hand back and forth in wide arcs. “There are people in those houses,” he said. “Frightened people who heard the commotion and decided that hiding was their best option. If we leave them, Hanak Tuvar will get them.”
Mrs. Carmichael approached him with a bag of food held to her chest. “But what are we supposed to do?” she asked. “We can’t save them all.”
“We’ll divide into teams of five,” Tommy said. “Spread out through the neighbourhoods and knock on every door. Tell anyone you find that we’re evacuating the city. They’re to bring as much food as they can carry and join us here in Bowman Plaza.”
“And if they won’t come?” a young woman asked.
“Then we leave without them,” Tommy said. “If someone doesn’t want to join us, respect their wishes and move on to the next house. Do not get into a fight over it! If you’re wounded in the process, it will only slow you down.
“Miri, take a team of twenty with you. Go to the stables. Bring back horses and wagons. Dalen, I want
you here in the plaza. Keep a count of the supplies that everyone brings in. We need to know what we’re working with so that we can properly ration the food.
“The rest of you, spread out and start knocking on doors. Whenever you collect five more people, split them off into a new team and send them in a different direction. I want to cover as much ground as possible. We leave the city at dawn. Anyone who hasn’t joined us by then gets left behind.”
A portly fellow with a double-chin pushed his way through the crowd, planting himself in front of Tommy. “Why should we listen to you?” he demanded. “A bloody degenerate! Just who are you anyway?”
Tommy stretched his hand into the air, releasing a thin bolt of lightning from his ring. A demonstration that produced more than a few screams. When it was over, they were all watching him in wide-eyed horror. “I’m the one who’s going to keep you alive,” he said coldly. “Now, get moving!”
Gasping for breath, Desa fell back against the wall of an alley. She placed a hand over her heart as she tried to fight off her fatigue. “Is it still out there?” she whispered. “Sweet Mercy, doesn’t that thing ever quit?”
Kalia was at the mouth of the alley, peering around the corner. “It seems to have stopped for now,” she murmured. “I don’t know…”
They had been running for over two hours, trying to get back to Tommy. Twice now, they had encountered one of his teams, townsfolk who had instructed them to go to the central plaza and join the evacuation. Desa would like nothing better than to reunite with her friends and flee this wretched city in haste. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
Hanak Tuvar was spreading its infection, distorting the very laws of nature everywhere it went. It seemed to be expanding its territory in fits and bursts, moving into a new neighbourhood and then resting to regain its strength. The one thing that diverted it from its ghastly purpose was Desa. When it saw her, it focused all of its energy on capturing her. She was quite sure that if it ever managed to trap her inside that red haze, it would kill her with a thought.
That seemed to be its only weakness. Its power was absolute – or nearly so – within the red halo, but it had very little influence in the areas that it had not yet changed.
Hunched over with a hand on her chest, Desa shut her eyes and trembled. “All right,” she said. “We can’t stay here. Let’s get moving.”
Kalia rounded on her, striding into the alley and laying a hand on Desa’s shoulder. That look of concern in her eyes. Desa knew that she was in for a lecture. “You’re much too tired,” Kalia said. “If you go back out there, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
“We have to keep it distracted.”
“At the cost of your life?”
Overwhelmed, Desa threw her arms around the other woman, resting her chin on Kalia’s shoulder. “I’m just one person. If my death saves a hundred others, I’ll pay that price.”
“And you wonder why I love you.”
Tears leaked from Desa’s eyes. She nuzzled her partner’s shoulder, trembling. “I don’t wonder,” she said. “Not anymore.”
Unwilling to waste another second, she crept to the sidewalk and peered up the street. The red haze started about two blocks away. As she took in the sight, Desa realized that “haze” was the wrong word. It wasn’t fog or vapour; the colours simply changed as if the light passing through that spot had been refracted.
Hanak Tuvar landed atop a church with a high steeple, its bulbous head thrown back, its tentacles digging into the stone. The entire building collapsed under its weight. And then it began tossing the rubble aside.
At first, she didn’t know why, but the answer became clear when Hanak Tuvar moved a large, stone block to expose a battered man lying underneath. The poor fellow was still alive. Barely. He yelped as a tentacle slithered around him and stuffed him into the creature’s mouth.
The demon began to grow after it swallowed him. Desa had seen it do that several times. Whenever it fed on someone, its bloated body swelled by several inches. Several inches for each victim. If it consumed most of the city…
“Hey!” Desa shouted.
Hanak Tuvar whirled around, focusing its attention on her. It scrambled up the street, stopping at the edge of the red halo, refusing to move beyond that point. Why it didn’t just expand its reach, she couldn’t say. Perhaps it was too tired.
Hanak Tuvar raised its two front tentacles and brought them down on the cobblestones, smashing them. Dozens and dozens of small rocks floated into the air and then shot toward Desa like a hailstorm.
She had just enough time to duck back into the alley before a hundred projectiles went flying past. Going back out there would not be wise. She had the beast’s attention. That was all she needed.
“Come on,” Desa said, running deeper into the alley.
“Where are we going?” Kalia panted.
“Anywhere but here.”
Tommy inspected a wagon full of food. Sacks of apples, pears, carrots, bread, cheese and jerky filled the wagon bed. Enough to last for months if he were still traveling in a small group. Sadly, that was no longer the case.
Over four thousand people had gathered in the square when the first traces of sunlight crept into the eastern sky. Four thousand lost souls, most of them frightened and talking quietly with one another. The few snippets of conversation that he overheard were centred on the most inane topics. These people could stand here while a monster ravaged their city and argue about whether a marriage betrothal between two of their neighbours would go forward. It must have been an attempt to keep their minds occupied, and he was more than willing to leave them to it. Anything that kept them from panicking was all right with him.
Four thousand people. A few years ago, Tommy would have been unable to conceive of it, but according to Dalen, it was less than a quarter of the city’s population. The teams who returned to the plaza all had stories about cantankerous citizens who refused to leave their homes.
Well, he had expected as much. Some folks were just too stubborn to do what was sensible. At least no one had gotten into a fight. He’d heard several tales of men brandishing firearms when someone suggested that they should evacuate, but no one had been hurt, thank the Almighty.
Miri had done her job well, bringing back thirty wagons and enough horses to pull them. He had expected recalcitrance from the stablemen, but most of them were quite willing to evacuate. He suspected that Miri had persuaded them with her usual charm. Most of the wagons she had brought back were stuffed to the brim with food, but even with the feast laid out before him, he feared it wouldn’t be enough. Not for four thousand mouths.
It had started as a trickle: three or four people wandering into the plaza, saying they had been told to come. Then three or four became ten or twelve. By the wee hours of the night, dozens of people were showing up every few minutes. He worried about gathering them all in one place – a big crowd was easy prey for Hanak Tuvar – but he could think of no other way to organize them. And Desa seemed to be keeping the demon busy.
Tommy had gone up to the roof of a tall building at the edge of the plaza, hoping to get a sense of what was going on. His biggest clue came from the lamplight, or rather the lack thereof. Large patches of the city had gone dark. He was certain those were the areas that had been visited by Hanak Tuvar. Lampposts melted and flames were snuffed out everywhere it went.
A few hours ago, Kalia had shown up to give him a report. She and Desa were keeping the demon contained in the west end of the city. Every ten or fifteen minutes, they would come out of hiding to taunt the creature and distract it from whatever it was doing.
According to Kalia, Hanak Tuvar never left the confines of the strange, red halo that it had created. Whenever it saw Desa or Kalia, the demon flew into a rage, directing all of its efforts toward catching them, a hunt that was impeded by its limited mobility. Why on Earth it would be so single-minded, he couldn’t begin to guess – perhaps some remnant of Adele remained – but the plan seemed to be wo
rking. Energy that could have been put to use expanding its territory was instead focused on capturing Desa. Or killing her. Tommy wasn’t sure what it wanted. He was just grateful for the opportunity his friends had provided, an opportunity to gather people.
Still dressed in black, Tommy stood near the fountain with his hands in his pockets. He had removed the bandana; there was no point in hiding his face now. Anxiety clawed at his insides. He had told Kalia to be here at dawn, but there was no sign of her or Desa.
Zoe came plodding up to him, the wind teasing thin strands of her red hair. Her eyes were downcast. Whether from exhaustion or emotional stress, he couldn’t say. “The sun is coming up,” she said. “Some of the people are starting to wonder why we haven’t left the city.”
He said nothing.
“Do you want to wait for Desa?” Zoe asked.
“We can’t afford to do that,” he said. “Spread the word. We’re leaving.”
Zoe offered a curt nod and then ran off to follow his instructions. He had put himself in charge. That came with certain responsibilities.
Hopping onto a bench, Tommy triggered his Sonic-Source. “Everyone, please listen!” Silence fell over the plaza. “It’s time for us to leave the city.”
He saw many people nodding in agreement.
“We will proceed south on Main Street until we reach the outskirts of town. From there, we will turn west toward Ofalla. Wagon teams will go first, and the rest of us will follow. I want an orderly procession. Stay together. No shoving, no hollering. We will move as quickly as we can.
“I know that many of you are hungry and tired, but we must put at least twenty miles between us and this city before we stop to rest. Now, let’s move.”
It startled him when the wagons lurched into motion, rolling out of the plaza and down the wide thoroughfare. He had expected some resistance – fears, misgivings, something – but the people listened to him. They had made up their minds that his plan offered the best chance of survival, and once that decision was made, there was no point in quibbling.
So, they began their journey.