CHAPTER 14 - A LOT OF TROUBLE

“Candle!” I hissed.

Lords swore softly, then quickly put out the nearer one. Someone in the back of the room blew out the other, dropping the room into utter darkness for everyone except me. Far toward the rear of the room, someone whimpered in distress.

The response time putting out the lights was good, but I was pretty sure the goblins had seen something, because they were still coming right for us.

Lords came to crouch beside me. “What did you see?”

“Pack of goblins. There’s nine of them, making their way across the parking lot toward us. The dark doesn’t seem to bother them,” I told him.

“Or you,” he replied. “Goblins?”

“Short green things, generally with pointy sticks or clubs? Not a lot of brains, but they’re still dangerous.”

“Yeah, we saw them. Goblins, huh?”

“Seems to fit.”

“And they’re coming toward us?” he whispered. I just nodded in reply, as the goblins were getting pretty close. Lords seemed to get the message, because he was moving a moment later, gliding through the mostly-dark room, tapping a few of the men on their shoulders. I figured it was probably the same crew he’d greeting Alfred and I with. It was just a few cops, but that was what we had to work with here. The bigger problem was the lack of light. I wasn’t sure what they planned to do about that, but I’d underestimated Lords.

He and his three men went to the door and stacked there. I piled on at the end. I’d seen enough fights now to know that I could help, especially if I could get the zombies out of the car and into the fight. Since the goblins weren’t going to pass us by, from the looks of it, that meant we had to fight or run. In fact, I was more surprised others didn’t join us.

“You sure you want in on this, miss?” Lords asked softly.

“Yeah, I’ve fought these things before.”

“All right, then. Close your eyes when I light the flare,” Lords said.

Then he went to the front door and swung it open, stepping outside into the night. As soon as he was outside, he smacked something against his leg, and it started glowing very bright. I shielded my eyes, but I was already half-dazzled by the brilliance, my Nightvision working against me this time. I quick-swapped it back out in exchange for my undead buff.

The other three cops rushed outside to join him, and I staggered along right behind them. A quick mental command to my zombies woke them up and got them moving, opening the doors on either side of the car I’d stuck them inside. Then it was time to see if I could do something to make them a little stronger.

I focused on the Augment Undead spell, on how the crystal felt in my mind and on the memories it had given me. I knew intuitively how to cast the spell, even though I’d never even tried before. Tendrils of black smoke-like magic drifted from my hand, lashing through the air until they reached Rosencrantz. Once it touched the zombie, the magic sank into its skin and vanished, and I had the strong sense that Rosie was now a whole lot tougher than he had been a moment ago.

“What was that?” Alfred asked, stepping out beside me. He’d helped with the surgery on Kat, too, and I was pretty sure it had bothered him as much as me. He’d gone off on his own after, same as I. It was good to see him coming back out to fight, anyway. I’d seen him get into it a few times now, and while he was a little slow getting started, he picked up the idea that it was fight or die pretty fast.

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“New spell. Got something for you, too,” I said. I grabbed the strength crystal and handed it to him. Alfred gasped as it immediately sank into his skin. “Second strength crystal. Now you can slot another stone. Figured anything that helps us stay alive is a good thing.”

“Thanks!” Alfred said. He pulled out another clear crystal from his pocket and absorbed it. “Now I’m fast and strong. Time to take the fight to the enemy.”

Strength and agility was going to be a deadly combination. I hoped it would be enough to help us win this one, because that was a lot of goblins, and they looked super mad as they rushed toward us.

Lords and his fellow cops met them like a wall, but they were almost immediately forced back. Alfred stepped up to join their line and everything changed fast. He swung his axe, killing a goblin with one swing. The back-swing wounded another.

Meanwhile, Rosie was coming up behind them. He had the goblin knife I’d given him in a hand and once he was within striking distance he stabbed the nearest goblin several times. It let out loud squeals as it died.

Two of their kind dead in just a few seconds proved too much for the remaining goblins. They took off, racing away across car hoods and under bushes until they were well out of sight. Lords didn’t even try to give chase, ordering his men to stand fast.

Alfred knelt down and touched the goblin he’d killed, while I went around to the one Rosie killed and did the same. I got a clear crystal for my trouble. Those all seemed to be about physical or mental attributes, enhancement of our body or mind. I was still hoping I’d eventually get a second agility one myself, because that would be awesome. I was already tough to hit, what with how fast I could dodge. Making that stronger had enormous appeal.

“Good fighting,” Lords said. He recovered the flare, which was still going strong, and walked around the area outside the doors, checking to be sure no more surprises hid there.

“Nice thinking on the flare,” I replied. “With the power gone, that was brilliant, if you’ll forgive the pun. What about firearms, though? Can’t you just shoot them, or are you conserving ammo?”

Lords shook his head. “Can’t use them. Guns don’t work, the flash-bangs don’t work, and none of our vehicles will start. I don’t know what all’s up with that, but it’s weird as shit. The computers and power are all down, but the cars too? At first I figured, EMP. But then those creatures started popping up, and we tried shooting them, but no love.”

Half the reason I’d figured this spot would be safe was because the cops here would have guns. Now he was telling me guns stopped working along with the power? No wonder the police weren’t able to get things organized and under control again. They were as weak as anyone else, weaker maybe if they hadn’t gotten stones of their own already.

“How come no one else came outside?” I asked.

“They’re just kids, miss,” Lords replied. He waved his other men back inside, and Alfred went along. Lords stood watch, continuing to chat while I directed my zombies back into their car.

“You can call me Selena.”

“Selena, then. They’re mostly kids. Never had to do much fighting. Even the staff who took refuge here aren’t that capable,” Lords replied. “And none of them have those things, the ones you have.”

“None of them?” I asked, shocked. Surely they must have picked up at least one or two by now? I figured most anyone would have had a fight or two in order to get to this place.

But Lords shook his head. “None I know of, anyway. My boys, they each have one stone. All clear crystals. Strength for myself and Brad, agility for the other two. Mostly we’ve just holed up inside where it’s safe. Haven’t ventured out much yet. Too risky.”

I wondered about that. Playing it safe wasn’t actually doing them any favors. If they never faced any risk, they’d never get any of those stones. They’d just stay normal, which in this new world was increasingly looking like it was synonymous with ‘victim.’ If people didn’t learn how to fight, there were going to be a lot more fatalities.

I set that aside and asked the next obvious question. “What’s next? I assume come dawn you have some plan in mind for what to do?”

“I’m still hoping that we’ll get assistance coming for us soon,” Lords replied. “Somewhere out there, folks are organizing and getting ready to come help those affected, same as any other disaster. Probably best if we just sit tight. The station has food and water supplies. The medics brought over their gear, meds, and other stuff too. We’ve got what we need to survive a couple of days if we have to.”

“You think this will be over in a couple of days?” I asked, kicking one of the dead goblins with my boot.

“It better be, Miss Selena, or we’re all in a lot of trouble,” Lords said. Then he turned and went back inside.

I stared at the pair of dead goblins a moment longer before following. Personally, I thought he was right.

We were all in a lot of trouble.