Feral Empires: Fanning Flames

by Stephen L. Hadley

  Before long, not even the Occs could fail to notice his role in healing the fallen. Fury and frustration filled their officers’ shouted orders. And as much as Liam tried to focus on the task at hand, he could not help but glance toward the attackers whenever the voices rose.

  “Won’t be long now,” growled a voice, practically in his ear.

  Startled, Liam turned to find Colonel Ryan crouching at his side. Her cheek was streaked with fresh blood, but otherwise, she seemed to be unhurt and in good spirits. Her hands were wrapped tight around a dirt-stained rifle.

  “Until what?” he asked, stepping back as his patient sat up and gingerly tested his formerly shot-through arm.

  “The Occs aren’t dumb,” Ryan said. “By now, they’ll know it’s only a matter of time. If they have Hunters, they’ll use them soon.”

  Liam glanced at her, then shrugged.

  “I’ve already killed one today. What’s a few more?”

  To his surprise, the woman chuckled and clapped him firmly on the shoulder.

  “Atta boy,” she said, grinning. “I could use a—”

  Her words were drowned out by a sudden, bestial howling. At first, there was only a single voice to be heard. Then, like a pack of wolves challenging a full, shining moon, other howls joined the first. At the sound, the gunfire from both factions subsided to little more than occasional spurts.

  “Speak of the devils,” Ryan growled. Turning from Liam, she scurried along the line of defenders, crowing. “Steady, boys! Keep those rifles loaded! The bastards bleed like the rest of us!”

  Standing tall, Liam made his way to the section of wall where Jenn and Nora crouched. Kathryn accompanied him, apparently sensing correctly that her duties as a medic’s assistant were at an end. The women looked up at his arrival and offered thin smiles.

  “Well done,” Liam said, uncertain what else to do. “Sounds like the Occs are getting desperate.”

  “For all the good it does us,” Nora said, dejected. She gestured vaguely over the wall. “They’ve got Hunters, Liam.”

  “Wuyong was enhanced,” Liam said. He flinched as an Occ bullet whizzed past his face, removing the lobe of his ear. He rubbed the spot for a second, until the flesh healed. “These will die easier.”

  “You don’t know that!” Nora protested. She might have spoken more, but Jenn took her hand, squeezed it, and then patted her cheek reassuringly.

  “Liam’s right,” she said. “We’ve killed Hunters before—normal and enhanced. We can do it again.”

  Liam frowned. “We have?”

  Now it was Jenn’s turn to frown. “Of course we have,” she said. “Abernathy, remember?”

  “Wasn’t fair,” Kathryn chimed in bitterly. “Kathryn was fast and strong. Was show.”

  “Oh.” Liam chuckled, nodding. “You’re right. I forgot.”

  Nora sighed in obvious exasperation and looked around at the three of them. Despite her gloomy words, a wry smile was beginning to break through her grim expression.

  “You forgot you killed a Hunter?” she asked. “You three are ridiculous.”

  “Wasn’t worth remembering,” Liam said, stretching. “We’re enhanced. It comes with the territory.”

  He was still stretching when the gunfire resumed in earnest.

  ***

  Liam turned to find a scene like something out of a nightmare. A half-dozen figures leapt toward the garrison from the top of the city wall, inhuman limbs outstretched like great wings. The militiamen nearest to the wall swiveled and opened fire on the Hunters, but only succeeded in hitting a single one before the predators struck the ground. They landed on all fours like the beasts they resembled, and then they were among the defenders.

  Cries split the air as men were torn to shreds beneath the Hunters’ claws and fangs. In a matter of seconds, a dozen of the militiamen fell. Yet, despite their swift, almost mechanical deaths, they did not go effortlessly. The injured Hunter was slowed by his wounds and fell after a few additional rounds to the chest. Another toppled from a lucky shot to the head and lay twitching amid the corpses of his victims.

  These small victories were not enough to rally the defenders though. A panic seized hold of the militiamen as the Occ regulars resumed firing. Those who did not flee outright cowered beneath the garrison’s wall and shied away from the transfigured invaders, tripping and trampling their fellows in the process.

  Even Colonel Ryan, for all her poise, was not immune to the primal terror the Hunters inspired. She retreated too, eyes wide and hands shaking as she fired clumsily at the advancing foes.

  Only Liam stood fast.

  Or, at least, so it seemed at first.

  Snarling deep in her throat, Kathryn stalked low in his shadow like a semi-tamed wildcat. With one hand, she clutched her knife. With the other, her sharpened nails curled in a petite imitation of a Hunter’s claws.

  Next came Jenn. Though her vines were tattered and mostly useless after the damage they’d taken, she lifted the remains about her like so many spines. They curled around her like the legs of a dying spider.

  And, to Liam’s immense surprise, Nora joined her. The woman’s entire body shook as she stood at Jenn’s side. In her hands, she clung to the last of her improvised ammunition—a handful of spent brass and a warped, angular joint that looked as though it had once been part of a door hinge.

  “Thank you, Nora,” Liam said. He wasn’t sure if she could hear him over the din of gunfire, but turned to offer her a smile, anyway. “You’re very brave.”

  She didn’t have time to reply. A howl went up from the Hunters then and Nora reacted without hesitation. Licking the spent ammunition, she flung it wildly toward the enemies. Though her terror was obvious, her application of her enhancement was perfect—or at least lucky. The spent brass detonated in the midst of the Hunters, annihilating the legs of the nearest and sending the remaining three sprawling.

  It was all the cue anyone needed. Jenn and Kathryn charged, each woman pouncing onto one of the stunned Hunters. Jenn’s vines slammed downward, skewering her target in a dozen places. It was not a deadly blow, but if the Hunter’s pained roar was any indication, her attack was a good start.

  Kathryn, on the other hand, went for the kill immediately. Her blade found her chosen Hunter’s throat immediately, slashing with nearly as much vigor as her claws. But, even as she landed blow after blow, her victim began to recover. He caught her by the roots of her short hair, wrenching her head to the side and using the leverage to fling her roughly aside.

  Liam could wait no longer. The third and final Hunter was climbing to his feet, bulbous eyes blazing with fury.

  “Help Kathryn!” he bellowed, hoping Nora would be sensible enough to realize he was addressing her.

  He charged forward, aiming a kick at the Hunter’s face. It landed hard and he felt cartilage crunch. The Hunter barely even seemed to notice, however. It stood, locking eyes with him and wiping a thin smear of blood from its lip with a claw—eliminating the only evidence that Liam had done damage at all.

  Everything in Liam’s body, and mind, screamed at him to flee. The Hunter sparked some primal fear in him, precisely as it had been designed to do. Staring into its eyes, and watching as those eyes ascended to loom over him, was like gazing up at a force of nature. And yet, he would not allow himself to run. The moment he did, he knew he would never stop.

  And Liam was done running.

  “Come on, you ugly bastard,” he growled. “What’re you waiting for?”

  The Hunter stared down at him, evidently surprised by prey that would not flee. Then it laughed, and the sound of it sent a chill down Liam’s spine.

  It took all of his willpower not to flinch as the Hunter swung at him. And even then, he did not manage it perfectly. He jerked as the Hunter’s claw swiped his chest, cleaving through flesh and bone with ease and splattering the trampled dirt beneath them with blood. Still, he managed not to backpedal or stumble and s
o was rewarded with the Hunter’s shock when Liam remained standing. That astonishment doubled as his wounds closed in the span of a second.

  Taking advantage of the Hunter’s distraction, Liam aimed a second kick, this time between his foe’s legs. It landed and although without the satisfying crunch of the Hunter’s face, he was nevertheless gratified by the involuntary grunt that sprang from its lips. The Hunter staggered and Liam was briefly permitted to indulge in a hopeless fantasy of victory.

  But no, the Hunter had not been hurt by the blow. Its staggering was merely a faint, and an effective one. Liam yelped as it seized his leg by the ankle, squeezing with its immense paw until the bones cracked. And then, with unimaginable strength, the Hunter swung him through the air and slammed him face-first into the dirt.

  It was not until the pain reached him that Liam realized how much trouble he was in. A ferocious, crippling ache ran through his body like a shudder from scalp to ankle, all the more intense for being unexpected. He tried to move, but the Hunter swung him a second time, bashing him heavily against the garrison’s wall.

  This time, he tried to move. Unfortunately, his attempts proved utterly unsuccessful. He could not even groan. The very air seemed to have been driven from his lungs and though he could feel his body’s enhancement working to catch up, the scope of the damage was far, far worse than he wanted to even guess at.

  Only his eyes seemed to be working, albeit blurrily. Liam watched as the Hunter bent toward him. Its massive eyes burned with rage and its drooping, fanged mouth seemed unable to decide between biting or taunting him.

  Liam wanted to look around, to see how Jenn and Kathryn were faring. At the moment, it was the only thing that could have comforted him. But the Hunter’s eyes held him, transfixed, even as its claws found his throat.

  And then, in a spray of blood, the Hunter staggered. Its grip on his throat vanished.

  Liam watched as the Hunter spun to face Colonel Ryan and bellowed. The woman’s face paled and her rifle dropped from her fingers as she backed away. But then, she was not alone.

  Jenn pounced on the Hunter from behind, stabbing at its broad back and shoulders with her vines. The last of her intact ones appeared to have splintered, but she used its remains to great effect. It dug into the meat of the Hunter’s neck, burrowing down into his flesh with a writhing, serpentine motion. Still roaring, the Hunter whirled and swung in her direction. His claws missed her by inches, slicing instead through several of her outstretched vines and reducing them to useless stubs.

  And then, Kathryn was upon him as well. Her lip and nose were bloodied and her dress was even more tattered than usual, but her actions were just as fast and strong as ever. Landing astride the Hunter’s shoulders, she plunged her knife into its temple, driving the blade to the hilt. Even so, it took a moment for her foe to realize the fatality of the wound. He reached for her, fumbling a moment until his legs gave out and he collapsed.

  Kathryn waited until the last moment, just before the Hunter’s body struck the ground. Leaping from his shoulders, she landed delicately. With one hand, she held her knife—now coated with both blood and brain matter. With the other, she held her dress flat against her legs to keep it from flaring indecently.

  In an instant, both women were at his side.

  “Liam, are you okay?” Jenn demanded. “Where are you hurt?”

  He laughed and was doubly relieved to discover both that he could, and without pain.

  “Everywhere,” he admitted. “The Occs?”

  As if in answer to his question, a group of rallying militiamen hurried past them. They scooted along the edge of the garrison wall, alternately moving and firing toward the Occ regulars. He winced at the deafening boom of the rifles almost directly overhead.

  “Falling back, I think,” Jenn said, once the gunfire had moved on. “For now, at least.”

  “Good,” Liam said. He moved slowly, testing each of his limbs individually. From the weakness he felt, he could tell it would be another few minutes before his shattered body recovered sufficiently to stand. “Where’s Nora?”

  “Checking on Julie,” she said.

  “That’s fine. Thank her for me, will you?”

  “You can thank her yourself,” Jenn teased gently. Leaning in, she kissed him softly, careful to avoid touching him further. “But I expect she’ll want to thank you first. We’re alive thanks to you.”

  “What? No, I… You three did all the work.”

  “You took on a Hunter,” Jenn pointed out, then smirked. “Unarmed. Like a dumbass.”

  He laughed again. Even in the brief span between the two, he could feel how much his body had recovered. On one level, the notion was reassuring. On the other, it was disquieting. Just how badly damaged had his body been?

  “Fine, I distracted it,” he said, searching for a distraction. “So did the Colonel. If anyone deserves thanks, it’s—”

  “Don’t even think about it, son,” the Colonel interrupted. Stepping into his field of view, she slung her rifle over her shoulder and grinned down at him. “You stared that motherfucker down while I was busy pissing myself with the rest. This isn’t my victory, it’s yours.”

  Liam stared up at her and did his best to look firm.

  “Ours,” he insisted.

  For a moment, Ryan looked as though she might bristle at his contradiction. Then she snorted and gave a small nod.

  “Alright,” she said. “Ours.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  If Liam had hoped for the chance to rest after the conclusion of the battle, he would have been sorely disappointed. Fortunately, for the sake of his mood, he had harbored no such false hopes. The hours following the skirmish were ones of frantic activity that saw him escorted throughout virtually the entire city. Everywhere he went, the injured were brought to him. And, since he had insisted Kathryn remain behind to help protect Julie, he was forced to wield the knife himself. After a quick, painless incision and some careful laying on of hands, most the freshly healed citizens of New Lewville rose to join his makeshift tour on its way to the next triage center.

  It wouldn’t have been so bad, really, if Jenn had accompanied him or if he’d had a chance to catch his breath. The relief and delight he saw on the faces of the injured as he healed their wounds and reunited them with loved ones made him smile, even after six hours of such scenes. The problem was the route they took to get there.

  Here and there, Liam and his militia escort encountered the last vestiges of the Occ forces who had infiltrated and invaded the city. Most of these had retreated after the destruction of the airship, but more than a few had chosen, or been forced, to make hopeless last stands in the shadow and smoke of the cratering vessel.

  Each time he heard the telltale gunfire that heralded such an encounter, Liam could not keep his stomach from turning. Usually, it was not until militiamen stormed the buildings that the conflicts ended. But, on the rare occasions that Occs were captured alive, he soon found himself longing for his spot in Jenn’s hammock. The sight of the helpless soldiers struggling and thrashing as they were hauled to makeshift gallows was sufficiently horrifying that he simply marched away, leaving the militia and crowd of onlookers to catch up. He couldn’t say precisely why the executions bothered him. After all, he’d killed more than his fair share of Occs over the last few days. But they did.

  By the time night fell, the airship’s fires had been nearly extinguished, but the dozens of small blazes it had sparked elsewhere remained plenty of light to see by. And, in that hazy, orange glow, Liam found himself the unwilling participant in the oddest procession yet. Weariness and exhaustion had at last convinced Colonel Ryan to declare the city reclaimed. And so, wrapping an arm around Liam’s shoulder to help him remain upright, she had turned them round to return to the garrison.

  And yet, they were not alone. All along the road they’d traveled, the citizens of New Lewville lined the streets and crowded near. Even those who had not
been healed or brought forth injured loved ones lined up to see him. Many of the onlookers whispered things Liam could not hear, but that only added to the unnerving atmosphere. Every so often, some brave observer would scurry forward and brush his arm or side with outstretched fingers. At first, the militiamen escorting him only shooed the congregants away. But soon, the press of humanity on all sides grew so intense that the men were forced to surround Liam for fear over being overrun.

  “Get back, damn you!” Ryan bellowed, as the crowd grew so dense that they could proceed no further. “Make room!”

  “What are they doing?” Liam asked, wincing as a sudden swell shoved his escorts and made him stumble.

  “Getting’ all religiosized,” Ryan growled back. She hooked her arm through his as the crowd abated and they could once more push forward. “I was worried this might happen. You perform enough miracles and soon enough, this is what you get.”

  “Can I help?”

  “Better not,” she said, laughing darkly. “If you help any more, we’ll be trampled. I give it two days before they make you Mayor.”

  “What?”

  “Joking,” Ryan said, in a tone that sounded not at all as if she had been. Her face had grown serious, almost bitter. “Just focus on getting back to the garrison. My men will protect us and we can sort this mess out tomorrow.”

  Liam nodded, since there was nothing else he could do. Fortunately, the further they traveled, the thinner the crowds grew. By the time they reached the wall of the garrison, he could even see the fronts of the buildings in between the people. The sight of the militiamen guarding the gate, rifles at the ready, unnerved him slightly. But, to his relief, the following crowds did not seem inclined to try pushing onward.

  They just didn’t seem inclined to leave, either.

  ***

  Jenn was waiting for him when he arrived at the barracks. She was seated on one of dozens of thin mattresses on the floor, the bunks themselves having been repurposed for the wall outside. From the way she started at the sight of him, she must have been drifting off before he arrived, but there was nothing sleepy about the way she patted the spot beside her.