After Heinz’s group arrived, the streets of Innishannon grew busier.
Heinz was recognised when he wiped the mud off his face, but his word alone wasn’t enough. His group trickled back to the pub, and the leaders of those that they had warned with them. Five powerful reclaimers were not taken lightly. A group of Innishannon’s highest threshold Reclaimers were sent out as scouts to corroborate their story.
While they waited for the scouts to return, runners were sent to Kinmore, Courtmacsherry and to recall as many Reclaimers as possible. Then, to Heinz’s dismay, with all of the obvious and immediate actions taken care of, the Innishannon council looked to him and his group for direction. As the pub had grown crowded, they'd been pushed back from the centre table in favour of locals. but they were still at the centre of attention.
Heinz didn't like the press of people. It was too soon after the charged town meeting for him to be comfortable in front of so many strangers. He found himself scanning faces for anger or any sign of impending violence.
“You say a stampede, but how many Swarm is that? Can we herd them into a trap like with Bandon? Halfway town isn’t as large but with the right equipme-”
“No.”
Everyone looked towards Louise at her sharp rebuff. She pushed her way forward out of the crowd and towards the table. “We out paced the Swarm but not by much. The stampede will reach Halfway before us, if they aren’t there already. We need to find somewhere else. Do you have a map of the terrain?”
“Why did you come here?” The question wasn’t spoken loudly, but in the silence left by Louise’s declaration, it cut through the room like a siren. “They were chasing you. You led them here! You led them to us!”
Heinz straightened, readying to push through the crowd if need be. He examined the man who had spoken. He didn’t know his name, but he recognised him as one of the Innishannon Delegates. The man flinched under the attention as the crowd turned to him, but he persisted and stared Louise down.
“The Swarm would have broken through the zone walls with or without us. As for coming here, I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that they want to eat us.” Louise didn't smile as she rapped her knuckles against the table. “They might be coming a little faster, but without us you would have had no warning. The stampede would have crushed everything. Everything and everyone.”
Quiet followed that until someone else pushed through the crowd to the table. They set a map onto the table - by William, another of the Innishannon Delegates and the bald de facto head of Innishannon- and not Louise.
William traced a line along the map, the main road that Innishannon was built around. “Are you suggesting we lead them into Innishannon?”
Uproar met this statement. People began to shift towards the table, squirming forward to get their voices heard. Heinz pushed back, becoming a fixed pillar in the crowd as it began to move. He tracked faces in the crowd. Tara was beside him and Phil. Shane had retreated to the wall by the entrance as it grew busier.
A splitting crack of wood filled the air. The noise drowned out the protests and drew everyone’s eyes towards the bar’s doorway, searching for the wooden door they expected to see cracked. But Heinz had knocked that off earlier.
“Crap.” More cracking followed and everyone’s eyes were drawn back to the heavy wooden table. Robert hopped and pulled shards of wood off his shoe. It was hard to see through the crowd but a noticeable gap had opened around him, William and what Heinz suspected to be a new hole in the wooden floor. Robert dropped the last splinter and slapped the table, lightly, so as not to break it.
In the ensuing noise gap, William spoke. “Anyone else speaking out of turn will be dragged out. We don’t have time for this. Louise?”
“No,” Phil called from beside Heinz. Now it was the bulky man's turn to push through to the table. He stopped beside Louise and shared a look with her. She nodded to him. “Even if we could funnel them down the road and into the town it would be a mistake. Bandon showed us that.”
Another murmur grew but Robert quelled it by slapping the table again.
“Bandon was a success. If we can use fire again in some way to thin the herd-”
Phil shook his head. “The fire worked but we don’t have time to set the fuel up or a good location where to use it. What failed in Bandon was the shield wall, the single confrontation. We set up ranks, we prepared and were ready for the Swarm. They still broke through. Half dead and burnt, they still broke through." Gritted faces met the announcement. Anyone who had been part of the shield wall knew of its failure and anyone behind it had suffered from the Octopus. "There are more Swarm in the Stampede than there ever were in Bandon and bigger Swarm. Swarm that can break the zone walls.“ Phil paused and took a slow breath. ”We can’t hold them in one place.”
Protests and noise from the crowd had quieted now. Everyone here was ‘blooded’ in some form or fashion. They’d faced unknown odds and survived or rebuilt this small corner of the world. Anxiety was fading into resolve as people came to terms with the danger facing them.
“We need to fight them in the open. Use our numbers to spread them out and take them out individually. That’s how we win against the Swarm. We fight them with numbers, distract them and attack their weaknesses." Phil gave one last glance at Louise before he stepped back from the table.
Louise reached over the table and jabbed a finger down on the map she had been studying as Phil spoke. “Here. It’s an open space, along the main road and at the top of a hill.”
Everyone pressed in to get a better look at the spot. It was a crossroads three kilometres from Innishannon, about a quarter of the way to Halfway. The intersection was at the exit of a small valley with two hills behind it flanking the road on both sides.
“You think we should fight the largest army of Swarm we’ve seen out there in the middle of nothing? Exposed, further from Kinmore and Courtmacsherry backup, and kilometres from home.”
“Yes,” Louise said, looking up from the map. ”And evacuate the town.”
William and Louise locked eyes and began a wordless conversation around that last suggestion. A weight settled over the crowd as they too digested it. A few of the other locals around the table, people who had been present for the talks with Aisling, glanced between themselves. None seemed eager to speak up at this moment.
William broke off first and began to drum his fingers against the table. “Rory, Abigail. Start evacuating across the river. Move everyone to Bandon first, starting with the children, then set up a perimeter. Bring the food next.”
Rory, the Delegate who had spoken out against Louise earlier blanched. “What about you?”
“Robert, Susan and Harry. Get the Reclaimers out to the crossroads. Don’t worry about supplies, I’ll sort that out. Rory, ask for volunteers from the other high threshold Cultivators. We will provide backup and medical aid.”
There was a pause as a few remaining people looked at the map and connected the dots between a force being sent out to meet the stampede as another evacuated the town. Grim would be an overly positive way of describing the mood.
Wood cracked as a fist struck the table, drawing everyone’s attention. William pulled bloody splitters from his skin and threw them to the floor. “NOW!”
Everyone moved.
Heinz group stayed together for the run out to the crossroads, splitting up as they arrived. At the first sign of Swarm they would meet at the right side of the road.
Heinz, Shane and Tara mostly stayed within sight of each other. They moved cars that had, in the days previous, been moved off the road, back onto the road. There was no time for efficiency, no time to open doors, release brakes or turn the wheels. Brute strength was what mattered here. If the vehicles wouldn’t roll on wheels they were flipped onto their sides or backs to slide.
Then a cry of 'Swarm!' came. Heinz abandoned a pickup to rush to the right hand side of the road. Tara arrived with him and the others were already waiting. As Phil handed out their weapons, Heinz took a moment to scan their work. Hatchbacks, SUVs, sedans, vans all pushed into a rough shape on the road. It wasn’t a wall, but a series of islands designed to split up the incoming force and blunt any charge. Far behind that and further up the hill towards Innishannon, cars were arriving to set up a medical station.
“Where are we fighting?” Tara asked.
“Here,” Louise said, beginning to stretch.
“Oh.” Tara glanced round looking at all the preparation. The islands weren’t designed to funnel the Swarm anywhere in particular, but the centre of the dual carriageway was the largest open space. “Not the centre?”
“They asked. I wanted us to be in the outer fields. We compromised.” Louise replied, still stretching. She turned an eye on Tara, forestalling any protest or further questions. “Let’s keep one thing in mind. We have helped Innishannon more than anyone else today and-” Louise waved at the four of them. “-all of you are about to cross your threshold.”
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Heinz reached out for that part of his mind and- “4 left for me.”
“10,” Shane said, flexing his hand.
“40.” Tara began to shift back and forth.
Phil sagged. “100.”
“At different parts of this fight, all of you are going to get a shock. We can’t be the centre of this fight.”
Shane grunted and moved towards the furthest right island.
“ONE MINUTE.” The call sounded from down hill, towards Halfway. Scout after scout repeated the call in a chain reaching back towards the mass of Reclaimers.
Heinz got up and followed Shane. He took his place on the fisherman’s left, a little behind, where he could be protected by the man's shield. Phil stepped up beside Shane. Louise stopped even with Phil and Tara behind them.
More and more reclaimers stepped into place, forming not a line across the road and surrounding fields but a net. Each strand ready to let the stampede pass through a gap before tightening on individual Swarm.
The last few scouts ran back to the crossroads and the stampede followed. As the last of the Reclaimers disappeared into the islands, the chasing Monkeys backed off. The chasing Swarm fell back towards the centre of the stampede and the two Rhinos who waited there. The lumbering beasts advanced, pace unchanging and tens, hundreds of Swarm followed.
Heinz’s left hand grew sweaty against his halberd as he tried to count. His right grew itchy under the bandages.
Clicking, heavy echoing clicks like that of massive machinery in movement, sounded from the back of the army. The stampede pivoted, Swarm moving in sync to twist and dart around and leave an open space before the Rhinos. The Rhinos leaned back and splayed their forelegs out. Tusks twitched as a grotesque mouth opened and dual thrums filled the air.
The Rhinos charged. The Swarm followed, tearing at the pavement, jumping over cars and descending on the Reclaimers.
Monkeys reached Heinz's group first, a trivial enemy for them now. Shane casually swatted the first to the side with one blow of his shield. Its defence of bristly fur doing little against thirty kilograms of metal. Heinz finished it of with a stab, sinking the tip of his halberd into the creature’s head and-
Dimly Heinz noticed that he was falling.
The change concerned him. He didn’t want to be falling. But he also didn’t know why. It was all so.. distant. He reached out. He wanted it to stop, but he was just as distant as everything else. He couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t move.
Heinz hit the ground and bounced. The world became smaller, thinner and then it cut off entirely. He was left in a void, floating fuzzily until he hit the ground again. He lay there for an eternity. Then he was moving, the world opened and a blob moved with him. He recognised the blob but he couldn't tell what it was. The world closed again and Heinz rested. The falling was gone and with it the sense of urgency. He was at peace.
Pain.
Heinz spasmed as his whole body complained at once. Screams and cries filled the air. Messages crowded his mind. Shapes passed by him, moving too fast to catch. He threw the messages from his mind and slammed an elbow into the tarmac to push himself up. His halberd. Where was his weapon?
A shape fell at him. He twitched and fell to the side, scrambling for his weapon as.. Shane? collapsed next to him. Tara cursed and drove forward into the fight, leaving Shane on the ground.
Heinz stood shakily, scanning the ground for his halberd. Tara swung her axe at a Spider, stepping to the side to avoid a Slime that was creeping forward at her feet while she was distracted. Phil stabbed into the wheel sized creature. The spear stopped it in place but did little else to the cord-like Swarm.
Heinz spotted his halberd, abandoned by the car island. He lunged for it.
Louise twisted around a Monkey and then between the many legs of the Spider. She raised two knives and drove them up to the hilt into its carapace. Her arms went to her belt, gathering more knives even as she ducked back to avoid flailing limbs.
Heinz stood, swiping his halberd to drive off a Hyena approaching them from behind. The counterweight connected, snapping the Hyena’s leg and continuing in to dent the creature's chest. It slid back, into the rear of an Spider being fought by another group. Heinz stepped forward, stabbing into Tara’s Spider.
The Swarm was surrounded. The people were trapped. A Musical Chair was driven to the ground. A woman’s head was chewed off. Her body fell. Each Island fought against the tide. Some regained ground, others sank beneath the wave.
Tara seized and fell after splitting a Springer’s back. Heinz retreated, standing over her as Louise circled. A boar charged. He was forced to step away to meet it. The squashed face was impaled, tusks rattling his bones. His leg shredded by a Slime, cloth and fibreglass plates falling away to reveal burnished scales.
Heinz fought. He swung. Shane joined him. He stabbed. He struck.
The Swarm parted before their little island and Shane bellowed a challenge. A creature swayed towards them, clicking. The Swarm didn't have a head, instead a general front - like a solid wall with a small window, from where the clicking came. Panels twisted around its body, covering joints and forming a flat, impenetrable armour. It was big, the size of a small car and bulky. Each movement orchestrated by a series of thick limbs moving in sync. Slugs crawled out of its joints and fell onto the ground.
Heinz’s blood chilled as for the first time in weeks he saw the weakest kind of Swarm. The Swarm’s numbers had no pattern, no definite count or limit but this was the first sign that they could be endless. This Swarm, this Factory seemed to spew Slugs out at a constant rate, the creatures falling to the ground and wiggling off to the many corpses around them.
It had to die.
The Swarm around them surged forward, spurred on by the presence of this creature.
Heinz gritted his teeth and prepared himself to trigger his Adrenaline augment. It was just him and Shane. Louise had fallen back some time ago when Phil seized and Tara was watching them. He would kill this and go. He could deal with the after-effects of the augment as they retreated.
Shane batted a Monkey into the air. His eyes were black pits already.
Heinz part cut, part smashed out a Spider’s right side. His breathing quickened and the world narrowed. His tiredness fell away. They advanced. Some of the Swarm died before them, but the majority were thrown aside or disabled.
The Factory slowed as they grew closer, limbs still moving with mechanical precision, but without the same urgency as before. As Heinz drew closer it became clear why. The hulking creature had strength but it lacked the distorted power and limbs of other Swarm. It was not a fighter.
More clicking. More Swarm diverted to them.
A blade flying by his shoulder made Heinz twitch but he pressed on, faster. He and Shane were not alone. His blows grew sloppier, speed was essential. A Pangolin fell before his and Shane's combined attacks and they reached the Factory. Shane sped up. He charged the creature, running shield first into the wall it created.
Shane bounced off. The clicking stopped and so did the Factory’s movement.
Heinz went for the limbs. He drove his spear tip into the thick limb, penetrating through the plate into the flesh but the creature ignored the blow. It had many legs. He tried the joint next but all he got was an outflow of slugs as he swept them from their resting place.
Looking back, Shane seemed to be having the same issues. He was battering at the stocky front of the creature but the wall was showing no sign of crumbling.
“Heinz!”
His eyes snapped to the noise. Louise waved at him one last time from her perch at the top of the creature, before stabbing down again.
Heinz jumped and reached for a hold. He slipped, the plates proving no grip and having only one hand free- Louise's hand grabbed his own and she pulled back. The creature's panels were just as slippy at the top. He slid on the smooth plate until he found a hold, one of Louise’s knives left embedded in the creature.
Louise gestured at the centre of the creature, marked out by several stab wounds. She was able to shout “Cut to the core”, before a Monkey joined them on the Factory’s back and she jumped away to deal with it.
Heinz slowly rose to a crouch, spreading his balance like he would on a surfboard as the Swarm jolted and shifted beneath him. He adjusted his halberd, sliding his hands down until the sign and its edge was closer to his body. He began to hack away at the shiny plates. Strike. Adjust. Strike. Section by section he carved away at the lines Louise had drawn until he had a U shape dug out.
Heinz dropped to his knees over his halberd, and with both hands reached for the end of the U. Like a can of beans, he peeled the Factory open. Underneath the shiny plate was mottled grey and black flesh. It pulsed, squirming and pushing like a horde of angry worms lay beneath the surface. Which they just might. He staggered to his feet, riding the angry shaking of the Factory, and, holding his halberd vertical, began to stab.
Motion caught his eye and he flinched back, nearly falling before he recognised Phil. Phil joined him, not nearly as steady on his feet. Stab after stab, they dug into the bowels of the Factory. Most of the stabs had no effect. Some sent messages stabbing into his mind, messages that Heinz read and dismissed as he saw ‘Spore’. One message, however, signified the end before the monster beneath him did.
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“Dead!” Heinz screamed, and looked for their exit.
Louise, Shane and Tara were below him, doing everything they could to prevent Swarm from coming to the Factory's aid. Around them the islands were chaos, a mess of humans and Swarm without a clear winner. The neighbouring fields were similar but with more distance between groups. Reclaimers outnumbered Swarm there, but with a higher percentage of low thresholds. The fighting continued along down the road, right up to the medical station which was messier still.
“The fields!” Phil shouted, coming to the same conclusion as him.
Heinz jumped off the back of the Factory as it began to crumble and fall beneath them. He landed foot first on a Spider attacking Louise. His weight drove the creature to the ground, and left it open for Louise to slip forward and stab two blades into its bulbous head. On the other side, Phil did the same for Shane and Tara.
They fled.
Tara led them as they weaved between islands. They avoided battles when they could, and fell onto others with their full force to push through. Heinz was the first to falter, slipping as the Adrenaline augment petered out. Phil caught him, but Heinz struggled to continue forward as all energy left his muscles.
Shane collapsed as they crossed into the field. Louise needed to push him the rest of the way over the hedgerow. She picked him up on the other side and they moved forward again, slower now with only Tara free to fight. They had a couple of messy calls where Phil needed to leave him leaning against his halberd, but the density of fighting was decreasing.
Heinz staggered forward. Tara swapped with Louise, practically carrying Shane now.
Then they were surrounded. Heinz pushed off Phil, standing shakily and-
“Drive them back!”
Heinz fell to the ground. Help had arrived.