Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Sacred Geometry of Chance

July 20, 2010

Silver City, NM

Yelling and barking drew Marc’s attention forward to the saloon. He looked over at Cyrus who was still staring at the decapitated goblin carcass.

“Cyrus! We gotta go! Get Lily to somewhere safe. There are more of them. Lots more!” Marc shouted, waking the marge man from his stupor.

Shaking it off, Cyrus looked from the body to his hand, still holding the large cleaver, to Marc, and finally to his wife who was still leaning against the doorway leading into the restaurant.

Marc pushed past the man and pulled the back door firmly shut. He locked it, then checked the windows. Finally, he ran out of the kitchen back to the saloon, grabbing Cyrus’s shirt and pulling him along.

A moment later, the three of them rushed into the saloon to see everyone in a near panic.

“Marc!” Sheila cried. “Is Lily okay? There is something outside, but it’s been trying to get in. Torren is going crazy and all we can see are shadows.”

Marc looked at the large windows on both sides of the heavy wood door at the entrance to the Lobo. Ryan and George were positioned on one side while Gordy and Matt were peering cautiously out the other.

Shiela and Melanie rushed over to check on Lily and Cyrus. Realizing Cyrus was still carrying the large knife, Marc went to his side and gently pulled the blade from his hand, and laid it on the bar.

Marc quickly assessed the situation. For now, everyone looked unhurt. Mr. Maeda, Selena, Leeroy, and Peter were sitting at one of the tables in front of the bar. The guys seemed to have the main entrance covered. Still, Marc understood that they were most likely surrounded by a horde of goblins.

Goblins were weak beasts. He had always thought of them as big annoying frogs. The danger came from their speed, sharp teeth, and their numbers. “See a goblin, find a hundred,” was a common saying he had learned in Clearwater. If an entire horde had appeared in Pinos Altos, things were about to get very troublesome.

Looking around the room, the situation was not good. The windows would not stop them for long, and there were too many entrances to the room. He had no weapons, and he wasn’t sure who in this group could help him fight them off.

“Cyrus, we need to get upstairs. Is the dining room open?”

Cyrus looked at him blankly.

“Cyrus! There are more of them. Lots more. We have to move!”

That seemed to wake the man up and he shivered with a wave of fear at the word “more”.

“Yeah. It’s open,” Cyrus said, looking up the staircase.

Hearing that, Marc grabbed the knife, and then ran over to Ryan, handing him the cleaver.

“We have to move everyone upstairs. I’m going to go up and check it first. When I call, send everyone up.”

Thankfully, Ryan was taking this all in stride. He may not have seen any overseas action, but he was a trained soldier.

“What’s going on Marc? What’s out there? They move so fast I can’t get a good look. Coyotes?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Anyway, they aren’t that bad. Just fast. Don’t open the door for any reason. Once they get inside, it will be a problem.”

Marc looked over at Ryan and George with a confident, serious expression.

“When I call, Get them all up the stairs as quickly as possible.” Both nodded back.

“Is anybody armed?” Marc called into the saloon.

“You bet!”

Marc sighed. Of course.

Shelia reached into her purse and pulled out a small revolver in a black Kevlar holster.

“Sheila, have can you even fire that thing?”

“Sure I can!” She said defensively.

Marc looked at her dubiously.

“Outside of a range?” Marc asked, knowing the answer. This was not good.

“I got a Glock in the glove box of my pickup,” said the so-far silent Matt.

“Leave it,” Marc said. “No one goes outside for any reason.”

Quickly weighing the situation, he looked at Matt.

“Can you handle a revolver?”

“Sure. Used to work security. Back then they issued revolvers,” Matt replied.

“Shiela, let Matt borrow your gun, okay?”

She looked at him skeptically, then some rattling came from one of the small dining rooms. Her eyes went wide, then she reluctantly passed Matt the gun and a couple of reloaders that she fished out from her giant purse.

“Listen, these things are fast and nimble. They also like to get in close. Do not fire unless you have a clear shot. Understand? Don’t pull that trigger unless you are in the clear.”

Matt pulled the small gun from the holster and checked the safety. Then he looked back to Marc and nodded.

They both knew that with this many people in the room, it was more likely that he would hit someone else, than a fast-moving target close in.

“Torren!” Marc called and whistled.

Torren barked a reply then ran to Marc’s side.

I’m going to check out the dining room. When I call down, everyone be ready to come up. It’s not safe down here.

He avoided looking around the room. He was sure his sudden actions were adding to the fear everyone felt, but the sooner he got everyone in a defensible position, the better.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Cyrus started to move, but Marc shook his head, pointedly looked over at Lily.

Cyrus nodded with a frown but stopped moving. The shock seemed to have worn off, but Marc knew he was better off doing this alone for now.

Stopping at the bar, he saw a box holding some bar tools and cutlery. He pulled out a steak knife and a large icepick. Hopefully, this would be enough, he thought to himself. Then he slowly, cautiously, walked up the stairs to the second floor.

The second floor had a long narrow landing, with four doors that all opened into the main dining room. At the end was another door that only led to some restrooms. Luckily Marc had been here enough to know the floorplan reasonably well.

He imagined that the large room was originally four separate guest rooms when this was a hotel. Now, the walls had been taken out, leaving a long, large open room.

Marc crept slowly to the first door, then checked the door handle. Moving it as gently as possible, he cursed when it didn’t move. It was locked.

He slid over the next door and it was also locked. Finally, at the third door, the door handle twisted freely, and as quietly as possible Marc pulled the door open.

He nodded his head while looking at Torren and the dog slid into the room. Marc followed right behind, hitting the light switch just inside the entrance.

The incandescent bulbs took a few seconds to warm up, and as the glow slowly brightened up the room, Marc looked around.

Torren was running back and forth, sniffing, but it appeared the room was empty. The curtains were all drawn, but he quickly checked them all to make sure they were all closed and locked. Then he left the room and called down, “All clear, everyone get up here.”

A minute later, the entire group was sitting in the dining room. The doors were locked and secured, and Marc allowed himself to sit in a chair to catch his breath.

Shiela, Ryan, and Selena however would have none of that.

“Okay. Explain.” Sheila barked.

“What are those things?” Ryan stared at him wide-eyed.

“What happened to Lily?” Selena demanded.

Marc held up his hand to stop everyone from talking over each other.

He needed to figure out what to do. How would he explain all this? How much should he tell everyone? Also, how would he get them through this?

The goblins are weak. They shouldn’t be able to break the doors down, and as long as they couldn’t get inside everyone should be safe. He didn’t know how many there were, however, and if they nested somewhere nearby the whole area would be unsafe.

There was also the matter of how they had appeared in the first place. If they came through a portal like the dire wolf, something worse could come through as well. If he could track it down, then it might close up like the last one. He had no way of locating it, however.

The three were still peppering Marc with questions, and more of the group was starting to gather around. He had moved so quickly to respond that they all assumed he knew what was going on, but now they wanted more details.

“I do know what is outside. One of them got into the kitchen and that’s what Lily saw.” He started to explain.

“It’s a little hard to explain right now, but there might be a lot more of them outside. They are not too dangerous alone, but they hunt in groups and if we get caught outside it would be very bad.”

“What? What is it?” Selena asked, her impatience showing through.

“Scavengers. They are not from around here and I have no idea how they got here, but I’ve seen them before. We’ll be fine as long as we stay holed up here.”

“What. Is. It?” Selena growled as she glowered standing above him.

“Umm. Goblins?” Marc said weakly.

----------------------------------------

Half an hour later the room was silent. Selena sat in front of Marc, staring at him with an angry scowl. Ryan was by a window, nervously peering out under the curtain into the darkness.

Cyrus and Lily had confirmed Marc’s story, although Lily insisted on calling the beast a “Kappa”, apparently a water demon from Japanese folklore. Sheila was sitting with her husband and the Maeda couple, talking in low whispers. The truckers sat nearby, Gordy was petting Torren.

“Bullshit.” Selena spat.

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” Marc explained, fatigue in his voice.

“Goblins.”

“Yes.”

“Like in the game. The big froggy things.”

“Yes, just like that.”

“Not the green-skinned short cave monsters from Warcraft, but the big frog mobs from Pl@y3r?”

“Yup, exactly like those.” Marc nodded.

“And there is a dead one in the kitchen right now?”

Marc nodded slowly, not liking where this was going.

“I want to see it,” the young girl demanded.

Marc felt a real headache piercing his skull.

“It’s too dangerous to wander around. Just like in the game, these things like to ambush prey, and the swarm attack. If you see them, there will be more hiding nearby,” Marc felt like a schoolteacher with a precocious student.

“So what are we going to do? Sit here and wait for the National Guard?”

“Cellphones are down right?” They had all tried to call out once they reached the dining room, but there was no signal. This wasn’t uncommon, but it was suspiciously troublesome considering the current situation.

“Isn’t there a landline downstairs? Let me go down, I can check on the mob and call 911.”

For a moment, Marc considered the proposal, then he shook it off. This was not the party assassin in front of him. It was a teenage girl.

“No way. Absolutely no way.”

“Look, I can’t stay here all night. I have to call my Mom. She’ll freak out if I stay out all night without calling.”

This was bad. She was making some good arguments. Meanwhile, he could feel that as the tension and fear were subsiding, the mood in the room was turning to problem-solving.

Knowing what waited downstairs, Marc knew he could not allow them to leave this room, but he was struggling to come up with a reasonable explanation for why they had to stay here. He needed an idea on how to resolve this, as quickly as possible. If he could do it without news crews descending on Pinos Altos, even better.

But how could he neutralize an entire horde of goblins single-handedly? Without magic even?

Finally, the idea hit him. He wasn’t sure it would work, but it might, and if it did, it would confirm even more of his suspicions.

“Just give me a minute. I might have an idea. But for now, I need you to stay here. You’ll be able to call home soon, I promise.”

Marc wasn’t sure he would be able to keep that promise. It was less of a plan and more a reckless idea.

Marc stood up and walked over to Ryan who was still standing near a window. He caught Matt’s attention, then Cyrus. The two men came over and Marc started to explain his idea.

“You’re nuts!” Ryan protested, loudly enough that every head in the room swiveled to look at them.

“No way. We can stay here till dawn, I’m sure the cellphones will start working eventually, or someone will come up from town. We just need to wait this out,” Cyrus argues as he registered his disapproval.

Matt just frowned, not saying anything else.

“Look, I’ve dealt with these things before. I can make it if I go alone. If all goes well this whole thing could be over in half an hour.”

“When? When did you ever do anything like this Marc?” Ryan demanded.

“You haven’t been more than a hundred miles from here as long as I have known you, and I don’t remember ever hearing about a mob of goblins showing up in Grant County.”

“Trust me. I know what I am doing. I’ll be fine. I just need you guys to hold the fort here and make sure nobody leaves this room until it’s all clear.”

“There’s no way you are going out there by yourself,” Cyrus complained. “If there are really dozens of those things out there, how are you going to take care of them all?”

“I don’t have time to explain. The sooner I do this, the greater the chance of success. I need you to keep everyone here safe. I can handle myself. Remember, I do this kind of stuff for a living.”

That explanation did not seem to move any of the other men, but regardless, this was the best plan he could come up with.

A nagging voice in the back of his head whispered into his soul.

“Like none of your plans have ever ended up hurting people, right Marc?”

He felt a chill up and down his spine. Guilt and regret pushed up from his stomach to his eyeballs.

Forcing the uncertainty from his voice, he spoke to the whole group.

“Okay. I have a plan. I have to move quickly though. I’m going to make a run for my truck outside. I know these little buggers, and I know I can get to the truck, but only if I go by myself. I’ll get there and drive over to the sheriff’s department and get some help. I can be there in a couple of hours, but if I can get into cellphone range I’ll call as soon as I get a signal. We’ll have help soon, I promise.”

The subdued atmosphere suddenly dispersed as everyone started talking at once. Sheila started crying as her husband held her around her shoulders.

“Listen! You all need to stay calm and quiet. You’ll be safe as long as you stay up here. I just need to make it to the truck. Going by myself will make it easier and safer. Selena, give me your mom’s phone number and I’ll call her right after I call the cops.”

As Marc spoke, the room slowly quieted down. He looked around the room and saw the fear and worry on every face.

It wasn’t the first time he faced a room like this, and the memories of similar situations from his past made his heart ache.

He heard his teacher’s voice, now carried across the years to an entirely different universe.

“Why do you always have to step forward? Why can’t you just learn to accept? Do nothing, Marc. Just let it go. When you force action, there will always be unexpected consequences.”

He had ignored her then, to disastrous effect. Now, again he was refusing to do nothing. His path was the one in front of him, always stepping forward into the fire.