In the morning, there was a knock at Louise's door.
She glared at it in answer, then returned to her busy day of glowering at the wall. There was another knock, then another, then finally, Cray opened the door, face long and distraught. She turned away—he and his sister had lied to her, deceived her. They didn’t deserve so much as her acknowledgment.
Cray sighed, then took a seat on the floor opposite the bed. Silence for a minute, then he cleared his throat, "Listen, I know you're angry..."
Fantastic observation. Also, water is wet, and there is a cave outside this house.
He spoke words of apology and sorrow about how he’d felt bad the whole time - and he deserved to! - but it wasn’t until he finished with, “… we just didn't want you to die.”
"Liar." His stupid face looked confused, like he’d spilled juice on the carpet or some other stupid accident, as opposed to lying to her. “You could've prepared me, so that when you told me, I would understand. It was easier for you, though, to just play pretend.” She took a breath and hated the rattle in it. “When would I have found out, when I was an old lady, still dreaming that I would get to see my family again?”
"I'm sorry. I really am."
"That's not good enough!" she hissed. "Now get out of my room. I want to see what all. Go away!"
He sighed, then looked at the floor. “Louise, I get you’re angry, I do, but we need to get ready to go. It’s time to go Find again.”
Louise could only stare at him. Go Find again? “Are you joking? You lied to me and I just discovered that I'm never going to get to go home, and you expect me to help you Find, anyway?”
“It’s not a joke.” He massaged his forehead. “Trust me, I get it. We lied to and betrayed you, and you’re absolutely furious - and you have every right to be. Maybe you don’t want to Find anymore, or just want to stay in bed forever, and I would love to give you today, even just one day, to rest.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “But it's not my choice. Finders Find, even if we’re miserable and want to stay back home. We don’t have a choice.”
"That… That's horrible."
“Everyone has rough days,” he whispered. “Sometimes Karah and I can’t even look at each other, but we have to go out, anyway. This won't be the last time you want to stay home, either. But we have to go out there, anyway. So, stay calm, focus, and we’ll make it out alive.” He paused. “We'll try to keep the route as easy as we can, but this is why so many die when they discover the truth: because they’re sad, angry or depressed, and they don’t know how to put it away for the day and finish the Find. If you want to stay alive, you have to forget about it."
Louise wanted to shout at him, and she did, but in the end, she followed him to the waypoint, her emotions a sea of frustration and rage.
/-/
Buzz….
New enemies, this time creatures reminiscent of wasps, with several insect-like wings, a bright green coloration, and stingers that dripped an equally green poison. Oh, and each of them were about as big as his torso. Hive Swarmers, just wonderful. Five of them streaked across the cloudy sky overhead. They were a pain in the best of days… He glanced at Louise, who glowered at her feet. These were not the best days.
Cray adjusted the shade so that it concealed the inside of the house once again, then glanced at Karah. Now that he knew of their presence, it was easy to spot the others. Some clung to trees, others stayed low to the ground, and a few flew across the sky. How to handle though…
Karah signaled his attention with a wave, then pointed toward a house down the block, a crevasse in the road across, then a third house. Their route? He supposed it was doable. They’d entered a formerly quiet suburban neighborhood this time, upscale too, with immense lawns, but decades of overgrowth provided some cover. They could make it, maybe. Another glance at Louise, whose glare threatened to drill a hole through the floor, and he suppressed a sigh. He couldn’t blame her anger, but they needed to work together if they were going to survive, so he patted her shoulder.
Her glare turned his way.
Progress, he hoped. "We have to find the hive," he whispered. “Swarmers aren’t too bad alone, but one mistake and they’ll surround you. Best way to handle it is to take out the hive first.”
Louise shrugged and turned back to her silent glower. Her hands clenched together, then unclenched, as if to wring someone’s neck. Probably his, but there was little to be done out there. At least she’s angry rather than despairing, right?
Luckily, her sulk didn’t extend to being suicidal, and she dashed with them to the next house. A pretty easy one. Just some Gibberers, and since they got the drop on those, it was a quick victory. They even got an enchanted dagger amidst the pile of loot. The crevasse Karah spotted was an easy enough one, minus a couple of moments when a swarmer buzzed lazily overhead, and they reached the other house. A two-story condominium; vines hung down like banners about the place and the front door had broken and fell onto the pavement some time ago.
Cray stepped around the door and inside. Kitchen to the right, staircase to the left and a hall that went through a dining room once re-purposed for a miniature gym and into the living room. The smell of dust was overpowering, and he covered his mouth to keep in a sneeze.
Buzz!
He had just enough time to look up before the Hive Swarmer rammed its stinger deep into his cheek.
Pain erupted, like he’d set fire to his face, but he wrenched out his shotgun and aimed straight for the oversized insect. Kaboom. The swarmer dissolved in red. However, he didn't have to look to see that his cheek radiated a sickly green glow, and around them, the sound of buzzing filled the air.
Louise tilted her head in confusion, but Karah grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her inside. The exercise room was beside a staircase that led to a basement. It would have to do.
"One minute," he said to Louise, not bothering to whisper. No point now. He jabbed his finger toward his green face. “For the next minute, all the swarmers know where exactly I am. They’re all coming, and we have to hold them off.”
"Without taking more stings," Karah finished. "Each time they sting someone, that’s a fresh minute to endure. Now get ready; here they come!"
iThe living room window shattered, and a dozen hive swarmers poured inside, one after the other. Their carapaces gleamed in the sunlight, but a gray light poured from their mandibles. ‘Barb shot’
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A dozen jagged spikes hurtled toward them like so many javelins.
Cray ducked behind the door, Louise and Karah right behind him. Thudthudthud. Many of the spikes slammed into the door, others crashed into the door and enough through for the jagged barbs to poke out the other side.
A quick shotgun round and two of the oversized bugs dissolved into a pile of drops. Two down, and far too many to go. The rest surged forward, but purple signaled Louise’s entry into the battle, followed by the fwip of her crossbow. At least they went down easily. Karah stayed back at the door - the last thing they needed was for one of these things to sting her - but she pummeled a pair of them when they got in range.
Another crash. The exercise room windows burst inward, and even more of the swarmers poured inside, while a quick glance showed dark shapes massed outside the main entryway.
Karah pulled Cray and Louise down the staircase and slammed the door shut, a barricade that lasted for just a few seconds before it exploded inward and over two dozen black spikes hurtled down towards them. They buried themselves in the concrete floor, but Louise’s grunt signaled she’d taken a hit. Then the bugs exploded forward. It was dark in the basement, but the glow from Cray’s cheek revealed a bunch of boxes and crates, and the sun’s feeble rays shimmered off of dozens of green carapaces.
“Go loud,” Karah said. “Won’t matter what we attract if they sting you again.”
Agreed. Blue light coalesced in his hand once more. The bugs were halfway down the staircase already, so the moment he thumbed the catch once again. The grenade burned crimson and chased the shadows away before he hurled it up the staircase. “Grenade Shower… ACTIVATE!” Then he dashed for the furthest corner of the basement he could find and took cover behind a box of blankets.
Out in the open, the explosions could be quite destructive. In the confined staircase, they were devastating. The swarmers had just a moment to react before the explosions began. Boomboomboomboomboom! Each moment, everything inside the staircase took a dozen grenades to the face. The walls cracked and shattered, and there was a mighty roar of wood tearing and smashing into stone. Wooden shrapnel sprayed down and into his chest and arm-covered face.
When the explosions ceased, light poured down the stairs from a brand-new skylight, what remained of the furniture were splinters and scraps of fabric, and not a single swarmer was within eyesight. However, the furious buzz from above promised more on their way, a promise fulfilled when another dozen stormed down into the basement.
At that moment, the pain in Cray’s cheek came to an abrupt halt and the hive swarmers… didn’t slow down exactly, but their arcs toward them became less straight and direct. After that wave, the following one only had a couple swarmers, then none. Finally, when the last bit of loot clattered to the floor, Cray let out a deep breath. Victory… for the moment, anyway.
They ought to get out here for before too long, as it was certain they’d attracted a lot of attention from the giant series of explosions. The staircase was nothing but scraps now, but they pocketed the loot—mostly crafting materials, but some ammo too—used the boxes as a makeshift ladder and made it back into the now-obliterated exercise room. Once they got to the entrance once again, they peered around. A few Hive Swarmers still patrolled the skies, but most had entered their material in piles of loot. Based on the direction they came from…
"Over there," Karah motioned toward a nearby farmhouse just outside of the more suburban areas, across a field of corn that had long since overgrown, but now that she’d pointed it out, he couldn’t miss the swarmers flying in and out of the doors barn entrance. Time to take down the hive.
/-/
Inside the barn door, there must have been two dozen Hive Swarmers, perhaps more. Some flew while others rested upon rusted farming equipment, but behind them stood the hive itself. The same design of a hornet nest in her world, but with a green glow from the opening, and massive, perhaps as big as a truck, it hung from the rafters overhead. But with so many defenders, how could they possibly avoid detection before -
Kaboom! One round from Cray’s shotgun and the hive exploded in a shower of goo, slime and other disgusting things. Well, that answered that. A moment later, every single swarmer erupted toward them.
This time, Karah charged forward to meet them. She leaped onto one, and used it as a stepping stone to pummel another behind it, then kicked the first to the ground and crushed it beneath her feet.
Why would she get so close to-? The answer hit her like a meteorite. The hive is gone. There aren’t any more coming, so it’s okay if they sting us once or twice!
One of them lined up for a Barb Shot on her, but disintegrated when purple light slammed into it, and loot drops clattered to the floor.
Another followed behind the first one, but she dodged into a stall opening and, when it followed, fired her crossbow straight behind those compound green eyes. Two down.
Buzz! Her only warning before the stinger rammed itself into her shoulder. Pain seared her, but she wrenched herself away from it, and the follow-up Barb Shot shattered a crate next to her. She nailed it with an Arcane Blast and it dissolved into red. She reloaded absently. Green light poured from her shoulder, and it seared like someone kicked her in it, but after everything she'd been through, the hurt felt good. It felt right. She should hurt. She should be in pain.
Several more came in, and her next Arcane Blast went wide, but one of them dropped from a second crossbow bolt. The three remaining were upon her, though. More stings. More pain, but she just blasted away at them. Louise could feel herself tiring, but fought on anyway. There was no way home, nothing except for an eternity of battle, so she might as well get started. Die. A blast exploded into one of them. Die, die, die! More pain, more enemies bursting into showers of loot. I JUST WANTED TO GO HOME!
Everything dissolved into purple, green, and red. Did she dodge? Probably, but she couldn’t have remembered if her life depended on it. It was just attack, attack, attack. The swarmers died, one after the other. Diediediediedie!
A motion in front of her. She aimed for it, but before the arcane blast could explode forth in its obliterating light, Karah wrenched her arm to the side and gave her a shake. “Watch who you’re aiming at before you kill us all,” she hissed. It wasn’t until Louise nodded that she released her arm. “Now, we got them all.”
A wave of disappointment flowed through Louise. She wished there were more to fight.
They grabbed the loot, a pile of arrows and Swarmer Wings for a change, and Karah pointed them back toward the waypoint.
It wasn’t too far, and they went back the way they came, so not too many enemies, and the few there were fell with ease. Boring, useless. Give her something that would hurt.
They were almost there when Louise spotted it, an enemy she hadn’t seen before. Some sort of robed figure on a horse's body. Louise aimed straight for its chest, then unleashed –
Karah tackled her to the ground behind a rusted pickup.
Are you kidding me!? Louise rounded on Karah, but the look on the other girl’s face halted her. Her expression… Karah was stern, sometimes caring, often grouchy, but now her face was could have been a ghost’s for how pale it was, her eyes wide and irises tiny. Even as her arms wrapped about Louise like a vise, they trembled and shook.
Karah was terrified.
Clop, clop. Hooves behind her, heading her way. Louise peered beneath the vehicle to get a better look, then she felt it. It was the feeling of being at ground zero of a hurricane, and any moment she hurtle into the sky. All coming from that strange figure. Then she noticed something. It might be akin to a centaur in form, but its shadow… even from the other side of the pickup truck. She could see there was something wrong with it. Far greater than the size of the creature, far greater than a house, it filled the clearing, but not in a single mass. And they were alive. A thousand tendrils of living shadow thrashed and writhed; they gripped the shadow of a tree not ten feet from them, then flexed.
The tree shattered into the tiniest of pieces..
In that moment, her self-destructive rage shattered, replaced with fear. She didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, she wanted nothing to do with it. Louise pressed herself against the ground. Her heartbeat was a heavy thud-thud; and she had no idea how the creature didn't hear it.
Clop, clop. It drew closer still. Any moment, it might peek over the edge of the vehicle they used for cover. Karah shook against her. A snort, akin to the horse it most assuredly was not.
Time seemed to still for an eternity, but then the footsteps turned away, and the sound of hooves receded until she could hear them no more. Still, it was another minute before a shaking Karah hoisted her to her feet. The creature was gone now, as if it was but a dream… Except that where the creature once walked, there was a trail of… no, not destruction. Eradication. A house that once had stood there was now gone, as if it never existed to begin with. Just bare earth remained.
If I’d attacked it… Louise swallowed.
“Let’s get through the waypoint,” Karah whispered, face calm once more, albeit pale. “Now.”