“No, not swarm. People.”
The group halted their frantic preparation and turned to Louise.
“Injured?” Shane asked.
Louise shook her head.
“Well let’s go say hi then.” Phil said and set his helmet back down. “Anyone you recognised?”
“No, but four of them are wearing helmets.”
Heinz stayed at the back as they made their way to the front door. None of them were leaving their weapons behind and his halberd made it awkward to pass through some of the doors.
“Whereabouts were they?” Phil asked as he fiddled with the lock on the front door. With a click Phil pulled the door open.
“Coming up the driv-”
The outer wall of the doorway exploded in a shower of gravel. Phil yelped and fell back, right onto Louise who sagged to the side under his weight.
Shane reacted quickly and grabbing a hold of the two of them, dragged them back.
A metal pole slammed into the right side of the doorway again sending more rocks flying.
“HEY!” Tara shouted. “What the hell? We’re clearly people!”
There was a brief pause before a muffled voice echoed out.
“So? That makes you just as dangerous.” To emphasise this point the metal pole slammed into the wall again. Lower this time.
“SO?” Tara shouted back. “What did we ever do to you?”
“It’s what you’re going to do.” The voice rose in pitch as they shouted back. Another blow struck the wall.
Heinz glanced back to see Phil and Louise were standing up and Phil looked unharmed.
“Stop!” Heinz shouted. “Christ this is someone’s house.”
Turning towards Phil, Louise and Shane he indicated towards the kitchen and garden.
Another clang and more fragments bounced inside. Louise nodded and tapped on Shane’s shoulder. The three disappeared back into the house.
“Stephen! Christ.” A new voice called.
There was a thump against the wall.
“Hey!” Their attacker Stephen shouted.
Heinz tapped Tara’s shoulder and motioned her back. She gave him an eye roll but complied.
“I’m coming out.” He shouted.
A different metal pole tapped lightly against the outer wall.
“You’ll stay where you are.” The new voice instructed. “I apologise for Stephen’s actions but you can stay inside until we leave.”
Shouts rang out from the other side of the house. The metal pole dropped slightly as the wielder was distracted. Heinz held his halberd to his right and charged out.
He kept running until he was a few metres from the house. The reclaimers turned to face him but the situation had changed. The two by the doorway stood with their backs to the wall. Pinned between him, the house and Tara. A third member of the group had been walking to the corner of the house but turned as he ran out.
All three were wearing heavy dark coats and carried large bags on their backs. Padded motorbike pants completed the look but were baggy on one of the members by the door. They were further distinguished by wearing a ski helmet while the other two wore full face motorbike helmets.
“Want to put those weapons down and talk?” Heinz called, wiggling the stop sign at the end of his halberd.
The helmeted reclaimers seemed to do a back take at the sight of him but only tightened their grips on their weapons. They all carried long metallic poles with a flat cross at one end. The kind you’d see used in a building site as supports.
“I don’t think so.” The bulkier reclaimer by the door called back. They grabbed their groupmate Stephen and tugged them away from the door with them. “We’ll leave now. No need for anyone to get hurt.”
Louise, Phil came around the corner, making the third group member retreat back. Shane followed behind, dragging two people in front of him. Shane kept a firm grip on the two weaponless captives.
“I think you should drop your weapons.” Louise called.
The bulky reclaimer stepped forward and in front of Stephen. They indicated to the other member of their group by the corner.
“Cormac and I have passed the second threshold. Let’s not make this messy.”
“And we’ve all passed the third. Drop them now.” Louise shouted back. Shane shook the two reclaimers he was holding to emphasise this. All three flinched but levelled their weapons at the group instead of dropping them.
“Alisha. We can’t run.” The reclaimer by the corner, Cormac glanced back at the bulky reclaimer.
“Yeah.” Alisha said, voice falling. “Make our mark will we?”
“Woah, let’s calm down here. We ju-”
“SWARM!” Stephen stepped out from behind Alisha and pointed behind Heinz. Heinz just raised his eyebrow. Stephen must be younger than he looked if he thought Heinz was going to fall for that.
“Shit. We defend by the doorway. Shane let them go.” Louise called and started to jog towards Heinz. She indicated to Cormac with her shears. “I don’t know what your deal is but you stick by the side of the house and away from us while the swarm are here.”
Heinz turned to see dark shapes inching up the drive. A light glow along the horizon made it easier to make out their shapes but not what kind of swarm they were.
‘Shite’ Heinz winced.
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They formed up in front of the door. Shane and Phil stood in front of Tara and Louise while Heinz stood a little off to the side. It wasn’t as effective a formation without Phil and Shane’s shields but no one wanted Tara in front and Louise’s shears didn’t have much stopping power.
The cool air on his head made Heinz shiver. There wasn’t enough time to get their helmets. Heinz hated wearing his and he’d only had it for a few days but now he felt naked without it.
A whining hum began and Heinz looked to see one of the swarm had stopped. It was the smallest of the four creatures and as Heinz watched something around its neck unfolded. A Mane.
The Mane was accompanied by three other swarm. One was familiar. The hulking shape of the Boar was unmistakable. The other two were not.
Both creatures were short. They were about as tall as the Jackals, about knee height. What they lacked in height they made up in length. They were both easily as long as the musical chair creature with a tail that extended out behind them.
It was their heads that distinguished them. Large and flat they extended out, a little wider than their bodies.
When their mouths opened it blocked sight of the rest of their body. Thin strands of colour drooped from the top of their mouth down.
Heinz glanced over at the other group of reclaimers at the corner. They all wore similar gear and carried the same weapons. From their appearance you’d think they were the more organised and prepared group. But they stood apart in clumps with the two Shane had dragged split from the group. Three of their members were visibly shaking.
Heinz looked back at the incoming swarm and sighed.
“Over here!” He shouted and began thumping his halberd’s counterweight against the ground.
A few seconds later another joined his beat. Louise was knocking a blade handle against the wall.
The swarm split up. The Boar broke from the group and headed for the other reclaimers. The two new kinds of swarm bolted towards the door and them.
“Heinz and I will take the one on the left.” Louise instructed and edged out from behind Phil.
Heinz stepped forward and levelled his spear down at the approaching creature. While long it was low to the ground. The creature skipped off the ground as it ran, two alternative feet in the air at a time.
He would need to keep an eye on its tail during the fight. It sashayed behind the creature slinking back and forth as it made the final sprint.
The swarm was metres away when its tail rose up above the creature, tip pointed at Heinz.
Heinz jerked back, very aware of his bare head. The tail inched forward before abruptly turning and slamming back on the ground behind. With a loud slap a shudder travelled through the creature's body. As the shudder passed the creature lifted off the ground until its front was flying through the air. At Heinz’s head.
‘Fuck’ Heinz didn’t have time to think. His world shrank as the creature opened its mouth. Thin strands of white floated stretching from one jaw to the other soared towards him.
A weight hit his side and he was falling. Louise had tackled him. The creature soared above them. The tail followed. It caught Louise and she was smacked off of him.
The creature slammed into the wall. It slid down dazed and that was the only thing that saved them.
Heinz struggled to get up and face the creature. His weight pressed the halberd underneath him and Louise’s legs were tangled in his as they both tried to rise. He was on one knee when the tail swung back and knocked him over again.
Louise responded faster and scurried to the side to avoid the backswing. When the swing stopped she was on her feet and jumping at the creature with her blades out.
Heinz wasn’t as quick. He leaned into the tail’s blow and while he stopped it, it threw him back and he knew his shoulder was going to bruise.
Louise was stabbing her way up the creature but he was too close to its tail. His spear would do no good. Heinz tore the hatchet from his belt and followed Louise’s example.
He jumped onto the base of its tail. The growths on the creature’s back tore at his jacket as he clung on. His hatchet sank deep into its flesh as he landed.
The creature shuddered underneath him and Heinz’s feet shifted to the side as the tail began to move. His legs rose above the back of his head as the tail curled around. Heinz turned to the side in time to see the tip arcing towards him.
“Oh shit.” Heinz abandoned the hatchet and rolled to the side as the tip slammed into the back of the creature. He scrambled across the ground for the halberd as the creature screamed from the impact. The tail lashed back down, cracking the tarmac and launching the creature into the air.
His hand closed around the halberd as it landed and he swung the spear tip around, ready to dive forward as soon as it moved. But it didn’t.
Louise stood up on the other side of the still creature with a groan. She reached over its body and pulled out a stained blade from its back.
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Heinz looked to the side to see Phil and Shane pulling their weapons from the corpse of the other swarm. Tara was running after the Mane.
The other group of reclaimers had finished up too. Several of them were lying on the ground but the others didn’t seem panicked so Heinz guessed they were alright.
He lowered his halberd and retrieved his hatchet.
Heinz walked over to the other reclaimer group. Stephen and the two that Shane had manhandled tensed. Alisha and Cormac glanced his way and kept their eyes on him.
When it was clear that Heinz wasn't going to stop a distance away, Alisha pushed Stephen back to the ground and gestured Heinz over to the wall.
“Why all the hostility?” Heinz asked Alisha as they stood apart from both groups.
She blinked at him, taken aback.
“You don’t know?” She closed her eyes when Heinz shook his head. “Past the third threshold and you have no idea."
When she opened her eyes again they were drained.
"Things didn’t go as well in Courtmac as they did in Kinmore. We had slightly less people but a quarter of the housing. The supplies in our one cornershop barely lasted two days. People were sleeping in the halls and on the floor in the hotel but there wasn’t enough room. Some ended up on the streets.”
Heinz winced. Kinmore was having trouble feeding and finding places for everyone to stay. The incident at the marina two days ago proved problems still existed. It seemed they were better off than they realised.
“Then things got ugly. A reclaimer attacked one of the more successful cultivators when they refused to sell them food. It got out of hand and the cultivator died. People tried to stop the reclaimer but he was stronger. The Energy we get off of the swarm? You can get that from people too.”
Heinz tightened his grip on his halberd. The stares from the other four members of Alisha's group weren't hostile. They were worried. Fearful.
How had this knowledge not come out in Kinmore? They had made contact with Courtmacsherry days ago. Besides, there were thousands of people in Kinmore. Heinz already knew of several deaths, chances were with all the weapons and increased strength something had gone wrong.
The deaths. The council had kept them quiet for a week. What else had they been willing to hide?
Alisha continued not seeing the turmoil in Heinz.
“The system blocks the killers. Cultivators can get an Identify augment which lets them detect if a reclaimer has killed one of us but that’s it. The killers can still get stronger. People have been going missing. We have set up guards and checkpoints but nothing has worked.”
“So when we said we were on the third threshold?”
“Killing other reclaimers or cultivators is the fastest way to grow.” Alisha said with a sigh. “We weren’t willing to take the risk.”
“And now?” Heinz asked. “We have six or seven more hours here. Any interest in working together?”
Alisha frowned. “Is that a third threshold thing? We only have thirty minutes left on our timer.”
Heinz nodded. “Possibly? We now have limited time outside swarm zones. We don’t get assignments but credit from killing swarm from a bounty system.”
“That's going to be messy. None of the Courtmac third thresholds have spread that news around.” Alisha said and rubbed her forehead. "But no. I think we'll head out after a short rest. Some of the others are more wary. Stephen's mother was killed a few days ago."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Sorry about earlier but he's angry." Alisha pushed away from the wall. "You keep safe alright. Kill the swarm and keep an eye out. For people too. We don't know if it's one killer or several."