[Warbinger Returns Arc]

Chapter 02

The Forest in the City

The tear appeared in the morning, dark and wiry and framed by a pale circle that blocked the rising sun. Geoff stared up at the purple opening with Rick while the crowds forming in the streets around them grew. Then the gentle murmurs of the civilians turned into a distressed rumble as the edges of it began to fray, the tear pulled apart, and a beady eye appeared within.

It turned its gaze in their direction and there was a dark ripple in the air that chilled his skin. He turned his head to share his disbelief with Rick, but he was gone.

“Rick?” Geoff spun around, looking for his friend, but paused when he heard a loud crash a few blocks away. A rush of dust chased people into the street. He scanned the crowd again for Rick. He wasn’t there, and Geoff was sure. He’d have picked out that afro in a second in this crowd, and Rick was taller than most folk too.

He looked over his shoulder at the eye in the sky. Tendrils were creeping out, wiggling around in the air as if probing for something. He’d thought the tear had been far, but those tendrils looked close enough to wrap around the nearby buildings.

The crowd around him was starting to back towards the far-off crash as screams both close and distant increased in frequency. He had to investigate the crash; the squad car was that way too, and the crowd was starting to push him. But he didn’t want to take his eyes off that thing.

Geoff stuck with the flood of people as he jogged down the street to the next intersection. A young woman called out to him with an arm outstretched. “Officer!” She scurried towards him and whipped her arm around in the air like she didn’t even know where she wanted him to look. “Look at this, the street is gone!” She stomped her feet accusingly, and her arm finally settled on a direction.

He looked down the street. It was gone. Or at least, part of it was. The entire left half of the road was just a hole with a sewage pipe leaning in it. “Is anyone hurt?” he asked her.

“Yes of course they are! You have to do something!” Others heard her shouting and decided to join the conversation. Soon he was surrounded by disgruntled and fearful civilians.

From where he was standing the hole looked deep, but he had to lean around them to see. Even as they demanded his aid they blocked him from getting closer and the nagging voices were beginning to get on his nerves. He couldn’t see anyone in the hole, but there were purple petals floating in the breeze that stood out as the only thing out of the ordinary.

“Yeah you’re HDF right?” a man said, “what are you going to do? What is that thing?”

Geoff rolled his eyes. He turned to move past them. He had to get to the radio in his car.

“The street disappeared and someone fell in! Where are you going?” Another man stepped in front of him with arms crossed to bar his path. Geoff clenched his fist.

“I heard the Redcorner apartment building just vanished!” someone else whined with an agitated jab of their finger towards the site of the crash and settling dust. “Look at all that dust!”

Geoff shook his head. Buildings and streets vanishing into thin air. Rick too. At least he could report the Redcorner instead of checking it out himself. Then he could do whatever command wanted him to do.

“What is that monster in the sky?” He heard the question posed a half dozen times and his eye was beginning to twitch. A monster was crawling out of the sky, the city was disappearing, and these people wanted him to solve all their problems. They could at least remember their manners.

More screams echoed through the streets in all directions. He noticed the folk passing by were sprinting and he turned around to look at the sky again. The tear was actually smaller now, or maybe it just seemed that way with the monstrous mass of flailing, curling black tentacles hanging out of it. A bunch of them were stretched out and wrapped around the tall Unity Building at the centre of the city. He almost hoped the building would buckle before it could pull itself all the way through.

All the while these panicked people were standing too close to him and shouting in his ear. Asking questions there was no reason he could answer better than they could. They looked to HDF for security and he would do what he could, but he was no leader. He was a man who followed orders.

“What is it?!” The man from before yelled at his head and he felt spit hit his cheek. “You have to tell us something!”

“That’s a get the hell off the streets!” He shouted back. He turned to walk away but the man barred his path. His heart was beating hard in his chest. Geoff was scared too, and didn’t even have Rick to back him up.

“You’re going to do nothing? You useless HDF don’t remember ho–”

His fist interrupted the man’s insult and he didn’t wait for him to recover to walk away. “I’m going to hit the radio and get some orders, make sure help is coming.” He looked over his shoulder without slowing his pace. “You better get some distance from that thing, that’s all I know,” he said. He rubbed the ache in his knuckles.

Dammit Rick, gotta vanish and leave my ass alone in this shit, he thought as he reached the squad car and pulled the door open. He grabbed the radio and held down the talk button. “Command, Officer Geoff Friction, emblem 4444. You heard about this tentacle thing? Rick Elliot is gone and I need some orders down here.” He sat to wait for a response with one leg out the door, watching as people made a mass exodus towards the south.

In a moment someone opened the line on the other side. “Officer Friction, this is command. Can you report on the situation?”

“Tear opened up and something is crawling through,” he responded. “Rick is gone, Redcorner Apartments reportedly gone, half a street is gone. No obvious evidence, just vanished. Intersection is Fourth and Spring.”

The radio buzzed and dispatch answered. “That matches other reports that are coming in. Your orders are to find officer Richard Elliot if you can, and both of you are to report to Old Town. Reports place enemy combatants of unknown origins there. Deilitus will brief you further when you arrive. Don’t touch the blue trees.”

Don’t touch what? And Deilitus? The Presidential Pillars were dispatched already, then. He didn’t bother asking about the trees. If they knew more they would have said more, but he did get the address that the Pillars were bunkered at and jotted it down.

“What’s the plan for evacuation? Everyone here is running south.”

“The evacuation of Central is being prioritised. Emergency vehicles have already been dispatched.”

He frowned. They were being vague with him, and that meant Martyrsmith was already involved.

Geoff reached for his keys, but hesitated as he watched the scene in the streets. The crowds had already thinned, but now it was cars blocking the roads. A big Med Corps vehicle was already approaching from the east, but the broken street created a bottleneck that blocked the way with morons turning east.

He pulled his leg inside the car and turned the key. He wouldn’t waste time looking for Rick. If Rick was anywhere to be found, he would have been there to have his back. Geoff accepted the man had vanished with the road and the buildings.

With the flick of a switch on the dashboard his siren blared, flashing blue and red and allowing him to force an opening as people hesitated to cut him off. He drove across both lanes while he could and blocked the eastward road with his car. As the last few cars cleared the road the ambulance pulled up next to him and an Emergency Response Team hoped out.

Geoff flicked off the siren, but he left the rotating lights on.

He was a bit worried about the gap in the street. He could see down now, and it wasn’t as far as he was led to believe. A civilian stood unharmed on a mix of pipe and rubble. A mound of dirt was piled up on one side with thorny plants half-buried and purple flower petals spread all over. The dirt mound was high enough to climb out. The man must have been afraid of the thorns. Geoff was only worried about the street collapsing with his car on it.

While the ERT lowered a telescopic ladder into the hole, the evacuation siren started to blare its horrible echoing noise through the streets, squashing any thoughts he had about getting out of his car. The rise and fall of the siren’s note would ensure he went mad by the turn of the hour. Maybe the monster would flee from it.

The ERT hauled the man up and were back in their vehicle before he could dust himself off. Geoff backed up his car to let them onto the street, where they announced through a loudspeaker that everyone should abandon their vehicles and evacuate on foot. He tried to tune out the noise.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

With the eastward street clear he drove off, leaving the ERT to handle the stupid-brave fools who wouldn’t leave their crap behind to save their lives or who wanted to take pictures even if it meant they wouldn’t be alive to see them.

The Captain’s Cup cafe caught his attention as he drove past. The front of it was missing, and some people still sat inside. Maybe Rick was right. You had to be crazy to drink there.

As most of the drive took him towards the monster, he found it disturbingly quiet. The city was already abandoned here. Everyone, including his wife and daughter, would be well on their way out. But he frowned at the shop windows he passed, smashed in by looters who found the time to steal while the only things decent people had time to take were their children and pets.

Maybe those other folk he criticised weren’t so bad. Dumb, maybe, but not bad.

He turned a corner and the massive trunk of a tree barred his path. He slammed the brake and the car jerked to a halt a metre from a coiling root that snaked into the ground through the hole left by a missing street light.

He took a deep breath. It had curly roots and curly leaves. Turquoise more than blue but any tint of blue in the leaves was more than he was used to. He backed up and continued down the road, taking the next right instead.

Now that he knew what he was looking for, he noticed the trees everywhere. Peeking their extremely broad canopies above the rooftops in one direction, sticking out of a building in another. They would be great shade for his backyard, if they weren’t so damn huge.

On one road the trees replaced almost every other building, shrouding the street in shade and a faint blue tint that made the day feel late. He rolled to a stop where one had appeared through a plot that used to have a Hometoll Bank on it. It leaned heavily into the building across the street. Teenagers were trying to climb the thing, finding handholds in all the little holes and nubs that dotted its surface.

He rolled down the passenger-side window. “Hey, don’t climb that!” he shouted over the siren. It looked great for climbing though, with the deep holes that perforated the trunk. “You shouldn’t touch that tree!”

“Why not?” a kid yelled back. He popped his yellow shirt at Geoff with both hands. “We want to see the tear from the top!”

“I–” he paused. “I don't know, kid,” he sighed. “You don’t know what it is, don’t touch it. Or if you insist on climbing the damn things, find one outside the evac zone!”

They made rude gestures at him so he shook his head and drove off. Dumb kids. No way I let Marinda grow up to be that stupid. He called in their location just in case.

The monster was right in front of him as he approached his destination. It stretched from the tear to the Unity building, sagging in the middle with wiggling tendrils and protruding ribs. He tried not to look at it. It had so many eyes now.

The address in Old Town turned out to be a mall. He scoffed; they could have just told him the mall’s name. He kept his head low as he pulled up on the side where the building blocked his view of the monster and popped the trunk before getting out of the car. It was quiet; there were no sounds of combat, but the air was tense. Or maybe that was just him.

His fingers brushed the pistol at his waist instinctively. He hadn’t had to draw it in years, but the danger in the air drew his hand to it now.

He grabbed one of Rick’s small first-aid packs from the trunk and attached it to the back of his belt. An extra clip for his pistol went into his pouch and the rest he packed into a bag. More first-aid and ammo, cuffs, a portable radio—if the size of a cinder block could be called portable. He didn’t know what the Pillars needed so he might as well take the whole trunk if he could carry it. He was worried about an extended fire-fight though. That ammo would not last very long. Unless they let out… no, it wasn’t so desperate that they would let her out, was it?

He pulled a towel to stuff it in the bag and it revealed an old case hidden underneath. Goosebumps covered his arms as he was suddenly overwhelmed with nostalgia. The custom Martyrsmith 44-round micro-grenade shotgun.

“Ain’t that a sight,” he muttered. “Forgot you were in here.” The case was matte black with a fourteen-digit combination lock on the front that went almost the whole way across. He pulled the case forward and spun the first digit to the number 4. “Lucky number four baby,” he grinned as he spun the rest of the digits, “All the time.”

He pushed the heavy lid open to reveal his second child. MGS. He ran his hand along the silver inlay on the side. “I don’t want to take you out of retirement, but I have a feeling it’s about to get messy.” He was more grateful than ever that they let him keep it.

It came out of the case with a satisfying smoothness. It felt at home in his hands. It was an old companion that instantly reminded him of days long gone. Days better off in the past. With a quick prayer of thanks to the gun’s previous owner he hooked it to the strap, slung it over his shoulder and tucked the magazines into his pouch.

He slammed the trunk shut, ready for anything. Except the things he needed Rick for. That bastard better not get killed before he gets back.

An employee entrance on the side of the mall was so small and flush with the wall Geoff thought for a second it wasn’t a real door, but when he tried the handle it was unlocked. He let himself in. The hall was so narrow he’d have a hard time passing someone. He drew his pistol and walked quietly to the far end. He leaned against the door carefully to ease a crack out and peered through it. It just looked like a mall, empty and still. He could only really make out a waste bin and the side of an escalator so he leaned a bit more to widen the opening. He sighed. He was wasting a lot of time being so on edge. The Pillars should have the whole place secured.

The door creaked open as he pushed it the rest of the way and examined the right side of the mall, pistol poised just in case. The ground was littered with trash and filth. Not too surprising if the place had been evacuated in a hurry. The shops looked like they’d been put through a spin cycle with clothes scattered to every corner and discarded food soaking up spilled drinks. An unfamiliar sour smell hung in the air.

He stepped into the mall and let the door swing shut behind him. On his left, an alien regarded him with a passive curiosity only a few metres away.

He dove backwards and rolled. Taking cover behind a waste bin he pointed his pistol out at the pale figure. It cocked its head so one of its long, pointed ears touched its shoulder. It was almost attractive with its smooth features, round blue eyes that matched its hair and feminine proportions, but he bet it was more dangerous than it looked. A long tail swished briefly before curling out of view behind it.

“What do you want?” he asked. Could it understand him? He doubted it. “If I fire this gun, backup will be on you like peas on rice, doesn’t matter if I miss, they’ll hear it.”

It spoke, its language was smooth and its voice melodic and comforting. But the words were gibberish in his ears. It walked forward, closing half the distance before stopping and extending a hand.

His finger itched on the trigger and his hand was growing clammy. His instinct told him not to shoot. If it could kill him and wanted to it would have. But maybe it needed to be closer? Or it was waiting for him to let his guard down. Then why stand in the open? He could kill it now. Or did it not recognize the threat of a handgun? Or was he not a threat to it? Was it a scout?

What would Rick do? Rick wouldn’t shoot. Geoff had to save his ass a half dozen times because he wouldn’t pull the trigger, back before HDF really meant something. Before it meant the peace they earned after cleaning up the last generation’s war. You can’t have peace if you keep pulling the trigger.

But Geoff didn’t want to let this thing kill him either, so he crouched behind the waste bin with his pistol held out until his arm started to strain. Unknown origins, he thought. He stood up and locked eyes with the thing. It remained perfectly still except the occasional swish of the tail that sent a ripple through its long skirt. Its hand remained extended palm-up as if in greeting.

A horrible, distant shriek curdled the air and shook the building like an earthquake. He ducked and covered one ear with his free hand. The alien twisted to look behind it, eyes darting to every corner. When it faced him again fear was written plain as vanilla on its face. A painful echo of the shriek rang in his head.

“You’re not with that thing?” he thought out loud.

It dove forward, pushed his gun arm to the side and grabbed him by the face. Colours exploded into his mind. The hand over his eyes and the mall in his peripherals washed away. A torrent of words flooded his head. He understood none of them, but he could see how they were written in his mind’s eye. A few aligned and he read them… or rather, his mind knew their meaning without him knowing.

“…Accept the gift.”

What gift? He thought. The words swimming in his head found matches with ones he knew. But they weren’t all words; some were ideas, concepts, turns of phrase. A new understanding wrote itself into his mind and stained it like a tattoo.

He fell onto his backside.

The creature before him lowered its hand and spoke. He didn’t recognise the words, but somehow, he understood them. “Get up. I need your help.” Their voice was calm and still had a melodious quality to it.

“W-what did you just do to me?” Geoff squeezed his smooth head with one hand.

“I can understand you by the power of the Rite of Tongues, and I shared that understanding with you by the power of the Rite of Sharing. It will not last forever, but I need one of you to understand me if we are to negotiate peace and turn our efforts against the true threat.”

“That thing?” Geoff knew what they meant. If it knew what that monster was then he needed their help more than they needed his.

“Yes. My name is Lamet, a female of my species, although…” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I get the impression that you noticed. The guard tower from my village seems to have been brought here along with some of the guards inside. I appeared… elsewhere. Your people see us as invaders connected to the monster, and I do not blame them for this, but they must know the truth so that we can unite.”

“Lamet?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Noticed? What are you accusing me of? I was just wondering what the hell you are. I have a wife at home who would beat both our asses if you said that nonsense where she could hear it.” He caught himself about to start rambling and shook his head. “Nevermind. Sorry, I’m not…” He sighed. “Do you know what that monster is? That thing have a name I should know too? Mine is Geoff, I guess I should mention.”

Lamet laughed nervously. “A name? That creature’s name is unpronounceable. If you heard it said it would drive you mad.” She lowered her eyes. “Imagine the sound of a thousand orphans screaming before their necks are snapped at once. The sound you make when you watch your children devoured alive by a predator, unable to save them because your legs have been dissolved in acid. The bubbling you hear as the acid melts the cartilage of your ears. The sound of your bones being crunched in a monster's jaws while you're still alive. Your wife howling as she stumbles down the street cradling her spilled intestines in her arms…” Her arms folded in front of her as she stared at the floor. “What would be the worst sound you can imagine? Combine it with the nine next worst sounds, and this is the creature's name.”

“What the hell?” Geoff said incredulously. “That’s what you call that thing? All that? No nickname?”

“He is the Devourer of Civilisation. His teeth are death unimaginable that will tear our worlds apart, leaving the survivors to dissolve in the saliva of anguish. Warbinger.” Lamet shuddered.

“For f– why the hell didn’t you just say Warbinger then? You want me to lose sleep tonight?”

Lamet spoke quietly. “If you live to sleep tonight then Warbinger is dead and the experience would be enough to taint your dreams no matter what I said. But it is important that you understand. Any horror you can conceive, he will bring before the day is done. Now, before we waste more time with conversation, go to your people on the topmost floor and explain matters to them. I will meet with mine and we will unite.”