When the timer went off for the pizza, they heard a shout on the street below. Caleb hauled himself out of the desk chair to push aside the curtain and look out the window. Jeremy slid on his oven mitts and retrieved the pizza. He felt a thousand times better after taking a shower and shaving. The bags sat packed and ready beside the door. They now had a gym bag of dragon scales, a duffle filled with clothes and cat supplies, a backpack for food, Moira’s backpack with first aid and maps, and Atticus’s cat carrier.
“There’s fighting going on down there,” Caleb said. Moira stepped out of the bathroom in a billow of steam and fresh shower scent. She finished wrapping a towel around her hair and went over to peer out the window with Caleb.
“It’s the protest.” She glanced at Jeremy, “It looks like things got out of hand.”
“Well, hopefully, things calm down by the time we finish the pizza.” Jeremy set it on the counter and rummaged in his utensils for a pizza cutter. He sliced it into six portions. Moira wandered over and pursed her lips.
“I’m a vegetarian.” She told him.
Jeremy picked the pepperoni slices off of two portions and smiled at her. She grumbled but picked them up nonetheless. Caleb went back to spinning in the desk chair as he ate his slices.
“So, you are able to, like, see magic?” He asked.
“I guess.” Jeremy leaned against the counter and shrugged, “I don’t know if that is really what it is, but I don’t know what else it would be. Everything alive seems to have an overlay and colors.”
“Even me?”
“Yes.” Jeremy glanced Caleb over, “Yours is dark red, and you have runes…”
He trailed off while gesturing to his own chest to indicate where the runes sat in the overlay. Caleb glanced down at himself. Jeremy pulled his notebook out and flipped to a new page, creating one for Caleb. He sketched the runes and turned the book around to show him.
“They look like this.”
“What do mine look like?” Moira asked. Jeremy flipped to her page and showed her.
Atticus twined around their feet, drawn to whatever the three of them were simultaneously interested in. Caleb scooped her up and held her out toward Jeremy. “Does Atticus have an overlay?”
“Actually,” Jeremy raised his eyebrows, “No.”
“That’s cause cats don’t have souls,” Moira said. Caleb made a sound of indignation and clutched Atticus to his chest.
A loud bang echoed on the street. Moira jumped, and Atticus scrambled out of Caleb’s lap to hide under the bed. Caleb clutched the arms of the chair as if he were going to get up, But Jeremy pushed him back down.
“Probably better not to stand by the window,” he said.
“True.” Caleb eased back into the chair and grinned, “Being able to see magic is cool, but not as cool as turning into a dragon. I can’t wait to see that! Hopefully, I end up having a cool skill like you guys.”
“It’s kinda weird.” Moira folded herself onto the couch again and pulled a pillow into her lap, “I haven’t really seen anyone online talking about having special skills like us. But obviously, not everyone can turn into a dragon, or they would have by now.”
“I saw a thing about a guy turning into a dragon.” Caleb said, “He ate a bunch of people, and the National Guard ended up killing him. I’m glad you don’t do that.”
Then, the fire alarm started going off in the hallway. They stared at each other. Caleb laughed nervously.
“Your building doesn’t happen to do fire drills, does it?”
“No.” Jeremy grabbed the cat bag and crouched by the bed to drag Atticus out. The cat was determined not to be dragged out. He shoved himself further under the bed to get two hands around her. Moira knelt beside him and peered under the bed. Behind them, Caleb hauled the backpack with all the food on and slung the duffle with the clothes over his head.
“Jeeze.” He complained, “Did you have to pack your entire apartment, Jeremy?”
“I don’t know how much you’ve gotten out since all this started going down,” Jeremy huffed as he craned his neck to reach just a little bit further, “But once I leave here, I don’t plan on coming back. It’s hard to get around, so I’d rather take everything I need now. Aha!”
He dragged Atticus out and dumped her into the carrier, quickly securing the zipper before she could wiggle back out, “There now. Is that so bad? Your blanket is in there and everything.” He muttered as he fed his arms through the loops of the carrier. The press of the bag against his back made his face twist in a grimace, but he gritted his teeth, picked up the gym bag filled with dragon scales, and looped it over one of his shoulders. Moira had her backpack, so they were ready to go.
“Alright.” Jeremy patted his pockets to check for the dragon scale he was using as a knife and made sure that the actual knife was secured on his belt. He felt the map in his other pocket. With a nod, he opened the door. There was no smoke yet, but the fire alarms at the ends of the hallway flashed in time with their ear-splitting beep. One of his neighbors also emerged from their apartment. They shared a look of mutual disbelief, then headed for the stairwell.
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They tumbled out of the emergency exit on the ground level and into a swarm of people. Shattering glass and shouts filled the air. People ducked through the windows of shops to loot whatever was left. They ran down the street, climbing over cars and avoiding bodies that lay prone on the asphalt and sidewalk. Car alarms wailed. Streaks of fire flew along with bullets. The trio sprinted across the street and ducked behind a car for cover.
“Jesus.” Caleb huffed, peering over the top of the hood, “What the hell is going on?”
The coffee shop window was shattered, its employees scattered, and the card table tipped over. Coffee ran down the street from the broken coffee urns. Jeremy looked back toward his apartment building. Smoke poured out of the windows on the bottom levels. He was glad he decided to pack as though he would never return because it looked like he was not going to have the chance to.
“No, seriously, what is going on?” Caleb asked when nobody responded. In a twist of events, a shard of ice sailed over their heads and smashed into the building next to them. It left a glittering splash of frost against the bricks.
“Someone’s getting creative,” Jeremy muttered. Caleb’s face was turning red. He did not like to be ignored. He was probably about two seconds flat from leaping up onto the roof of the car and screaming his question to the whole riot to see who would answer.
“People are upset about the militarized zones they are setting up around the gates because the government is forcing many people off their property in the name of evacuations, and fighting has broken out between the National Guard and civilians,” Jeremy said quickly.
“Also, they are going to nuke Chicago.” Moira added, “Haven’t you been keeping up with the news?”
“Okay, but why are people fighting here!” Caleb yelped and pulled his duffle bag out of the way just before someone nearly tripped over it, “There isn’t a gate nearby.”
The woman who nearly tripped slammed her back against the car next to them and glanced over, “They tried to move the crowd off the highway. I don’t know who cast the first spell, but a bunch of fire spells went off, and all hell broke loose.”
She craned her neck to look through the car window into the street. Jeremy heard a hissing noise and peeked around the bumper to see the spray from a canister on the other side of the tire. He reared back and lifted his shirt to his nose.
“We gotta get out of here.”
They stumbled to their feet and away from the cloud of tear gas rapidly filling the air. The woman hollered at the top of her lungs, lunged for the canister, and chucked it toward the group of cops moving in formation down the road. Caleb made a noise of approval as Jeremy grabbed his arm and dragged him away.
Spells were slung back and forth, red and white flashes in the rapidly darkening streets, but gunfire was still more common. Jeremy stared in shock as they passed an explosion of brick that was definitely not caused by rubber bullets. Honestly, if the police and National Guard were responding to people’s panic by firing on them rather than protecting them from the goblins and dragons, Jeremy was wholeheartedly on the side of the protestors.
But this was rapidly deteriorating into a messy situation. Smoke and tear gas stung his eyes and nose. Atticus yowled from the carrier on his back. Moira coughed and dragged a stumbling Caleb along behind her. They were not equipped to handle outright warfare like this, and Jeremy had goals, namely to figure out what the hell happened to start all this and if it could be reversed or mitigated. They needed to get away.
He reached a side street and veered down it, cutting through the cracked parking lot of a shut-down gas station and the fallen-in chain link fence around the vacant alley behind it. They made a beeline away from the overpass and the riot's epicenter, hopefully directly away from the conflict. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure it sent them in the opposite direction of Moira’s boyfriend. Once they reached a neutral spot, Jeremy could look at the map and re-orient them.
They stopped once they reached an old warehouse district dominated by empty buildings with glass shattered long ago. The air here was filled with lazy dust rather than tear gas. He let the gym bag slip to the ground and wiped the tears from his face. His eyes still burned.
When he’d first seen the National Guard members lined up a few hours ago, the idea of going to them with his information about the situation briefly crossed his mind. Now, he was not so sure if he was comfortable going to them for help when it seemed like they were panicking just as much as civilians were. If he and Moira did find something useful at her uncle’s penthouse, they would have to find someone higher up the chain of command or outside of it who might have the authority to do something useful.
“Damn, I’ve just been holed up in your apartment since yesterday. I didn’t realize it was this crazy outside!” Caleb leaned against the crumbly wall and let out a whistle, “It’s a good thing you came back when you did to get your stuff.”
Jeremy hummed in agreement. He pulled the map out of his pocket and looked around for a street sign or any indication of where they were. There was nothing but newspaper drifting across the road and shadows looming from the cavernous windows. They were far from the shouts and bangs that echoed in the distance.
“Where are we?” He asked Caleb.
“Fifth and Johnson,” Caleb came over to examine the map, “Why? Where are you trying to get to?”
“Here.” Jeremy pointed to the star over Derek’s apartment building.
“That’s over by the university.” Caleb tsked, “We just ran in the opposite direction.”
“I know that.” Jeremy huffed, “Can you get us back over there without going through that whole mess?”
Caleb stepped back and looked up at the sun like an ancient explorer navigating with only the knowledge of the heavens. He tapped his chin and hummed, then held his hand out for the map. Jeremy slapped it into his palm. Caleb unfolded it, held it up, lowered it, and held it up again.
“What is he doing?” Moira whispered.
“Being dramatic.” Jeremy crossed his arms and tapped his foot, “He knows every street in this city. Forget your GPS; he has a nose for both directions and is practically psychic about traffic. It’s uncanny.”
“I’m calculating how far out I think the riot will spread.” Caleb announced over their hushed conversation, “And how quickly we can move so that I can get the fastest route without running into combat again.”
“How can he know that?”
Jeremy shrugged, “Don’t try too hard, Caleb. My guess is that no matter how hard we try to avoid a conflict, something will attack us.”
“I’m trying to think positive.” Caleb let the map crumple as his hands fell to his sides. Jeremy made a wounded noise as he watched one of the corners along a fold tear a bit. Caleb noticed and took pity on him, carefully smoothing the map against his thigh before folding it back up. He handed it back with a flourish.
“Starting navigation. Your estimated arrival time is…” Caleb checked his watch, “7:36 pm.”
He marched off, trusting them to follow without a backward glance. Moira hurried to follow. Jeremy pulled the gym bag back over his shoulder and trailed behind.