Claws passed through the fog, a figure cut into pieces. The second beast snapped and bit at the falling shape, only to bite into air. Karla watched from Delta’s back as he ran away in a straight line. Even as he tried to keep quiet, his frantic breaths were loud.
“You should move more erratically. Dodge.” Karla texted, the words appearing inside his helmet.
Delta huffed. He altered his path just in time to dodge a beast diving through the trailing fog, its claws and teeth impacting a tree.
“Just shoot them. Why are you not using your firearms?”
“Huff, uh, huff… I don’t have any ammo for them. I only carry the pistols for an emergency, but never thought I’d need extra magazines.”
Karla processed this for a moment.“You have two fast-firing machine pistols and you don’t have any way to reload? Dodge.”
Delta abruptly cut to one side just as the second beast landed, its claws whirling like a dervish. One paw slashed against Karla’s chest, leaving long, thin grooves on her metal ribs. “I’m a technician! I don’t fight!” Delta shouted.
Karla had a feeling she shared the sentiment a long time ago. Right now her brain was pointing out weak spots, developing tactics to counter the large bear-creatures. Most revolved around having a fantastically powerful harness. Remnants of her years controlling deadly machines for the Church. She wished she had legs.
“Besides! We only have to make it to a hilltop up ahead! My master sent a shuttle to pick us up.”
“Dodge. Stop running in straight lines.”
Delta dodged just as a roaring shock wave passed by. It wasn’t dangerous to the pair, but the fog was disrupted long enough for the second beast to track the two, correcting its path before it pounced.
Claws and fur wrapped over the harness, damaging the projectors. Thick saliva splashed over the left shoulder as the beast bit and pulled. Karla watched as it yanked a projector off and crunch the device in its teeth. “You should do something,” she texted.
“I’m trying!” Delta attempted to reach for something, but the beast kept him pinned to the forest floor. The second beast gripped the leg of the harness and pulled, dragging all three down the hill.
Karla sighed. She didn’t feel anything, physically or emotionally. Everything still felt so numb to her, she half-believed this was all still a dream or fantasy she had cooked up to escape the never-ending nightmare Stoke had dropped her into. One of the creatures sniffed along the leg of the harness, found an opening and began pulling and ripping at the cloth that covered the metal inner workings. Karla watched as devices were torn and chewed to pieces, half-interested in the spectacle. She doubted this ‘master’ of Delta’s would be kind to her. It sounded like Karla was part of some religious order that hunted down these people. Perhaps it would be better off to just engage the bomb and let it all pass away…
Oh yeah, he disconnected it. Karla glanced over Delta’s shoulder in time to see him pull out a dagger with a heat blade. He swung it awkwardly, catching the bear creature in one of its forearms. Smoke and steam erupted as fur burned and blood boiled. The beast screeched and jumped back, one limb held awkwardly. Delta swiped at the other beast on his legs, but was too slow to catch it. It kept a distance away from Delta, eying the glowing blade.
“And this knife of yours, how long does the heatblade last on it?” Karla texted.
“It will last long enough.” He said as he stumbled up the slope. One of the creatures made a low howling noise as it slunk into the shadows, the second one followed its lead. “Shit.” Delta turned and ran up the hill, searching for something.
Karla could see the creatures appear between trees from time to time. They seemed to be waiting for an ambush opportunity. When she told Delta, he just nodded and kept moving. “Those are some kind of shadow bears. They hunt in packs, and us encountering two was luck. I think they got greedy and tried to have us to themselves, but now they’re waiting for the rest of their pack to get here. I don’t fancy fighting more than two.”
Karla thought for a moment. “Bears don’t hunt in packs.”
“Well, these aren’t actually bears. They’re from the other side. Ah! There!” Delta began running towards a sleek white ship that sat partially obscured in a small clearing. It was tall and thin like a large double-bit axe, with small angular wings to either side and sturdy landing gear underneath it. He ran up to the side and began punching in a code. An error sound played, and he entered a different code. “Dammit! Which one did she use?”
Karla couldn’t see what he was doing, but she had a good view into the forest. Eyes that glowed in the faint moonlight appeared one after the other, they moved to surround the ship and began closing in. “There are at least ten…” she texted. “Probably more on the other side. You should hurry.”
“Okay! I’m trying!”
Karla looked around the clearing, then up at the moon that hung low in the sky. She could just see it now they were in the clearing, a round, craggy shape rising just above the treeline.
She stared at it. It was… wrong. The light and dark shapes were all wrong. She stared at it for a moment before realizing the moon was far too jagged and broken looking. Many smaller shapes scattered and merged in her vision, but if she focused she could see the moon was now many smaller pieces, all generally hovering around one another. A faint trail of white followed the moon across the sky.
“Delta.”
“One second! There! Got it!” A happy chirp emitted from the ship as the door slid open. The beasts prowling out of the trees hesitated at the movement, but were quickly closing after the door halted.
“Delta!”
“What?” he turned around and found the beasts nearing.
“What happened to the moon?”
Delta glanced up at the broken moon, then back at the closing beasts. He shut the door. He ran through the ship to a console and plugged a cable in. The ship rocked as one of the bears rammed the side of the ship.
“What happened to it?” Karla texted.
“That’s not really important right now, is it?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Is it not? It’s the fucking moon we’re talking about!”
“I mean, it’s always been that way…” Delta prepped the shuttle to lift off, the craft tilting as one of the bears attempted to grab a hold of the tail. The sound of claws ripping down the side of the craft echoed inside. “That’s probably fine…” A deep thrumming sound echoed beneath their feet as the craft lifted. Karla could see the trees dropping beneath them, and a view of an extensive mountain range spread out beneath them. Several more thumps and jolts shook the craft before the beasts finally dropped away.. An alarm began to blare.
“Everything good?” she asked.
“Uh, maybe?” Delta flicked several switches. A display unfolded from the ceiling showing a transparent version of the craft. Several areas were in red. He looked it over for a few moments. “I mean, it should be okay still. Olivia will be pissed though. Looks like our starboard fuel tanks have been torn up pretty bad, and so has the landing gear, but we should be alright for the flight.” He unlatched Karla and placed her into a seat. She slumped down. “Oh, right.” He pulled her up and strapped her to the back.
The harness opened, allowing a lanky teenager to step out. He began looking over the device. “They took off so much… were those the kind that eat metal or something?” He looked around back and messed with the torn legs. Beyond the fabric was a dense layer of mechanics, far more than Karla expected. Even the face turned out to be a display with a hard metal casing that wrapped over the user’s head.
She tried to speak, but realized she was unplugged. She jerked her neck and head around, but nothing seemed to grab this kid’s attention. She pulled at the chair next to her… it moved.
She had reached out, almost unintentionally, but the chair moved very slightly as she willed it. She had been worried her gifts would never come back to her, but just now…
The chair moved again. Karla spent the next few hours gently nudging the chair as Delta tinkered with his harness. She would dance if she could. She tried to ‘see’ around herself, but failed with every attempt. Only the physical force seemed to do anything, so she kept at it, nudging the chair back and forth like a toddler excited by something shiny.
The mountains disappeared into a mix of deep greens and blues as they flew. There were black lakes and some pale fields of snow scattered through the area below, but even that faded into a deep shade of blue as they ascended ever higher into the atmosphere. Karla felt herself slowing, fading away. Her head dipped several times before nodding off into a deep, dream-filled sleep.
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Bartholomew watched as the Northern Tyrix Bears slunk off. He had lured them towards the ship he spotted landing in a nearby clearing. It had the markings of Olivia on it, a clear warning to any in the Clans not to mess with it. It probably had a sensor package on board, it would ID him as soon as he drew near. He knew he couldn’t be known to interfere, but he had hoped the lured bears would tear that oblivious boy and the abomination on his back to pieces. He sighed. Olivia will probably dissect it anyways, but for some reason it rubbed him the wrong way.
“Barty, did they make it away?” A voice com picked up in his ear.
“Yes uncle, though they took some damage on the ship from the beasts.”
“What did you make of Olivia’s apprentice?”
Bartholomew shook his head. “Green. Foolish. Despite most of these Inner Circle things blowing up the second they’re down, he walked straight up to it while wearing some decrepit Harness. Looked like it was some relic from the first California war.”
“Don’t underestimate Olivia or who she chooses to teach. She’s had an iron grip over the clans for a century and it doesn’t look like it’s letting go anytime soon.”
“Uncle. The news. Is it true?”
There was silence for some time before his uncle responded. “We… think so.”
“We aren’t sure?”
“William Stoke was seen entering a strider and assaulting our northern strongholds, but it all seems so sudden, so badly planned.”
“Maybe he went senile?” Bartholomew laughed.
“Don’t underestimate him either. His death is being proclaimed across the Church, I feel like there is more to this than we know.”
“They aren’t hiding it? Do you think some of the Apostles are making a move?”
The voice grunted. “Not them, they are too loyal. His bishops are the ones making moves. I have a bad feeling about all this.”
Bartholomew threw himself upwards, landing on an upper branch of a nearby ironwood. The pack of bears passed by beneath him, not noticing him at all. He had already sprayed his body down with chemicals designed to distract hunter beasts and electronic sensors alike. He sat there for some time, watching the small dot of light cruise off into the horizon.
“Uncle, the Witch claimed to be called Karla. Around when Stoke’s strider went down, it seemed to slow and become confused. It still killed Sam, Cress, and Garvey before its harness failed. Then it acted all nice and cozy with the brat.”
“Leave it Barty. If it’s a puppet or whatever, Olivia will deal with it.”
“But what if Stoke’s alive, and he’s inside of this abomination? The Church was supposedly working on mind imaging.”
“Leave it. We’ll find out eventually. For now, return to the northern base and prepare for war. The other clans seem to be chomping at the bit to getting back to fighting now that Stoke is apparently dead. The Lightning God Clan are already on the move.”
“Shit. I’ll head back now.” Bartholomew cut the com and glanced around. The beasts seemed to have dispersed, there was no movement in the surrounding forest. He pushed off the tree just as a bright blue bolt pierced straight through his chest plate. A tree caught his legs as he fell, sending him spinning into the dirt.
He woke up moments later, system warnings blaring. His harness had already sealed his wounds and sent out a distress signal, but he wasn’t getting backup anytime soon this far out. He had to get up and move. He rolled onto his chest and pressed himself off the ground, only for another bolt to cut through the undergrowth, taking off his right arm below the elbow. He tumbled back into the dirt, clutching at his arm in pain.
“Raaah! Who is it?” Bartholomew shouted at the trees. He couldn’t see his attackers, and sensors hadn’t picked up a damn thing apart from the two bolts… He shoved himself sideways, rolling behind a tree as another bolt tore through the dirt where he was just laying. With his one good hand he drew a Tek-Rex 105 revolver and pulled back the hammer. Loaded with high-velocity rifle rounds, they would pierce through any shielding and armor a light harness would carry. The recoil would damage his one good hand, but he needed to sort this quickly if he wanted to live.
The faint crunch of gravel reached his ears. His sensors picked up a soft footstep, at just the wrong spot of the forest floor. He spun out around the tree and fired… at nothing. The revolver round raced through the forest and ricocheted off something hard, soaring high in the air, a faint red glow marking his failure.
Another bolt cut through his wrist, taking his revolver with it. He screamed and fell back.
“Fuck! Do you know who I am!” He shouted. “You’ll pay for this!” He tried to com his uncle, but only now were signals being jammed. It seemed they wanted his clan to know he had been attacked, but not who did it. He triggered a small pair of drones to launch up in hopes of catching an image of his attackers, but a quick burst of pistol fire brought the pair down before they could cloak.
A shadow moved. The wide-brimmed hat of the Fading Smoke Clan seemed to materialize out of nothing. A mix of their bloodline gifts, and their technology, their stealth was the best out of their clans, as was their sniping abilities.
“Fading Smoke…” Bartholomew huffed. “Is this how the treaty ends?” The figure walked closer, and he recognized it. One of two, the twin daughters of the clan head Knowles. “You!” He shouted, hoping to somehow turn this around. “You wait for me to exit the tunnels only to ambush me? If this is found out, you will never find trust in any other clan again.”
“Oh Barty, you were messing with Olivia’s boy, were you not?” said one twin as she crouched in front of him, a long-barreled sniper rifle across her lap.
“I think if this is found out, you’ll be in far more shit than us.” Said the second one, behind him.
Before he could respond, a heatblade found its way into his neck. His heatblade, stolen off his waist.
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The twins watched as he twitched, then laid still, the blade burning away the man’s throat.
Tonya scanned for vitals, nodding once he was gone. “There! Job done!”
Selina shook her head. “Nah. Just got a com from dad. We have more work now. Looks like the clans will be getting busy soon.”
“Good! If Stoke is properly dead, then maybe we won’t have the Church breathing down our necks anymore! We can actually take this fight seriously this time!” Tonya happily wiggled as she pulled a dismembered hand from the revolver.
The sisters laughed and chatted as they dug through the smoldering corpse, taking anything and everything of value.