Carmen wrenched the leaf spring of the vehicle free, then set it aside. The ends were still smoking from her use of Smolder, which she’d utilized to weaken the steel so she could pull it away from the car. She could have used Fracture, but it required a lot more ethera than Smolder, making the choice easy even if it required a judicious application of her Strength. Slapping her hands together, she pushed herself to her feet and let out a sigh as she looked around.
The parking lot of the school was much the same as it had been when they had first arrived, though with a couple of key differences. First, there were a couple of people standing guard against any intrusions. Nothing had attacked them yet, but Carmen and the others knew precisely how dangerous the wilderness was, so they didn’t want to take any chances that something could sneak up on them.
The second difference was that the few cars had all been taken apart so that Carmen could harvest the high-quality steel she found in the parts. Unfortunately, modern cars had much less steel in their makeup than they once might have, and as a result, her haul hadn’t been quite as extensive as the number of cars might have suggested. Still, she’d managed to gather enough that she hoped to outfit the entire group of refugees.
And now that they’d settled, she’d had a chance to build a reasonable forge in which to do it.
So, Carmen gathered the steel and headed around to the back of the school where she’d built her forge. It was located beneath an awning outside of the cafeteria, and the presence of a few old cigarette butts suggested that it had once been used by the workers as a break area. Obviously, schools were intended to be smoke-free zones, but Carmen was familiar enough with human nature to know just how little that would matter to people who just wanted to enjoy a smoke in peace.
She didn’t exactly approve, but with everything that had happened over the past few years, it was difficult to begrudge anyone for taking what enjoyment they could from their lives. If that included stealing a few moments to smoke a cigarette, then so be it.
In any case, Carmen wasn’t worried about the self-destructive habits of the past. Instead, her mind was firmly on the present, with an occasional glance toward the future. To that end, she needed to complete her first project, which was to arm her people so they had the best chance of survival in the event that something attacked them.
Or someone.
Carmen was well aware that it wasn’t a matter of if that came to pass, but when. And she was determined to prepare the refugees for that inevitable eventuality. So, once they’d settled in, she had wasted no time in building a forge.
The bricks were rocks that had been mortared together with clay she and Miguel had harvested from a nearby deposit. It had been messy work, but enjoyable enough, if only because it had allowed her the chance to spend time with her son. Of late, those sorts of opportunities had been in short supply, and since nearly losing him, Carmen was more determined than ever to take advantage of any chances she could find.
The forge itself wasn’t a complex structure. Just a big, brick oven with a chimney. However, because of her abilities like Bond, the structure – aside from the chimney – was airtight and well insulated. Attached to it was a bellows she’d made from the enormous badger hide. The only issue was that with a paucity of coal, she was forced to use wood. That wasn’t ideal, because coal tended to burn much more evenly. Yet, Carmen was well aware that beggars couldn’t be choosers, so she would take whatever she could get. Hopefully, that would change as they settled in, though she knew they would have to get lucky to find a coal deposit anywhere close – especially considering they didn’t have anyone who knew anything about such things.
In any case, wood would have to do for the time being.
So, Carmen gathered her firewood, then spent the next few hours alternating between Decontaminate, Refine Material, and Ethereal Infusion. It was tedious work, but if she wanted to make the best of her situation, she needed every advantage she could get. So, she bent her will to removing the wood’s impurities, then using Bond to fuse the results back together before repeating the process. All the while, she kept Ethereal Infusion going, making certain to flood the fuel with as much as possible. Doing so before burning the wood would impart some of that ethera into the fire. In turn, that would seep into the metal.
As she worked, Carmen gazed out at the nearby lake. A few of the other refugees were lounging on the shore, their toes tickling the calm water. One of them laughed at a joke. It was such a peaceful scene, and one that was desperately needed after their trek through the wilderness. Even a few days without their lives being constantly threatened was enough to raise everyone’s spirits.
Even Carmen’s.
Certainly, she hadn’t forgotten all the blood on her hands. It would take years before she even began to forgive herself for the hubris she’d displayed by trying to rebel against Roman. And she would never get over what that man had done to her wife. Yet, the school felt like it might be the second chance everyone so desperately needed.
But danger was around every corner, and Carmen knew better than most how necessary good equipment could be. So, once she’d finished with the wood, she set it aside and started in on the steel. Gradually, as the day went on, she processed the material, purifying and infusing it with ethera until it had practically become an entirely new metal.
Of course, it wasn’t on par with the cold iron they’d mined in Silverado. There was a qualitative difference in the base material that no amount of refinement could rival. Yet, Carmen was still proud of the results, even if her constant and repeated use of Decontaminate and Refine Material had whittled the amount down by two-thirds. That was expected, which was why she’d spent so much time pulling bits and pieces from the cars, but it was still a little disappointing when she looked at the twenty billets of steel.
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“You can help if you want,” she said, glancing over at Miguel, who’d been watching the whole time.
“I don’t have any abilities,” he countered.
“You don’t need abilities to pump the bellows,” she said. “Besides, it builds muscle better than all that sword training you’ve been doing with Colt. I don’t know why you chose that weapon in the first place.”
“I train with spears, too,” he argued, his voice cracking. He’d started to hit puberty, and as a result, he was right in the middle of a growth spurt, which meant there was a few inches of ankle visible below the hem of his trousers. “And Colt has been showing me how to use a quarterstaff, too. He told me that between warriors of equal skill, a quarterstaff expert can beat a swordsman every time.”
“And yet you still spend ninety percent of your training time with the sword,” Carmen stated. “Couldn’t be because you think it’s cool, right? It’s completely practical, I’m sure.”
Miguel blushed. “I can use a bow, too,” he said in a soft voice. “Colt says it’s smart to know as many weapons as possible so you’re never without one.”
“He’s a smart man,” Carmen agreed. “Now, come here and –”
At that moment, a scream tore across the ground between the school and the lake. Carmen jerked her head in the direction of its origin, and whatever aura of peace that had infused the area completely shattered beneath the weight of what she saw.
A thick and slimy tentacle had slithered out of the lake and taken hold of one half of the couple who’d been lounging on the lakeshore. And that tentacle was pulling the screaming man into the lake. He scratched and clawed at the soft earth, but it was useless. The monster – for that was the only thing it could have been – was too strong, and its grip was far too sure.
At that moment, the tentacle burst into a mist of blood and slimy chunks of flesh, and it went wild, releasing the man and rising high into the air. Blood fell like rain as it thrashed back and forth, but by then, Colt had arrived. He hacked into it with a horizontal strike that had all the elegance of a lumberjack going about his business. But for all its crudeness, the attack was successful.
Colt’s sword – called Second Chance – bit deep, and when he pulled it free, it came with a wedge of blubbery meat. It slammed down into the ground like a falling tree, yet Colt dodged, diving to the side with a roll and then hacking again.
And again after that.
By the time he aimed another strike at the creature, Carmen had recovered her wits, screaming, “Stay back!” as she sprinted toward the lake. As she ran, she used Summon Tool, manifesting two blacksmithing hammers and enhancing them with Augment Weapon. The ability swept through Colt, lighting his sword with orange flames. And when he aimed yet another strike at the tentacle, it hit with a distinct sizzle.
Carmen slid to a stop next to the wounded man. His leg had obviously been crushed by the tentacle, and though he tried to pull himself to safety, his infirmity clearly limited his efforts. Meanwhile, his partner – a thin woman who normally wore the haunted expression of someone who’d lost far too much – simply watched in horror, stunned by past traumas and fresh terror.
And then, Miguel was beside the woman. He grabbed hold of her hand and yanked. At first, she did nothing. But she was too horrified to resist for long as he dragged her away. Carmen wanted to chastise her son for his disobedience, but there was no time. And besides, if she thought about it, she would have been proud.
He was his mother’s son, after all. Alyssa would have done the same thing, regardless of the danger to herself.
Carmen dismissed her hammers, recognizing that it was not the time to fight. Rather, it was time to run. So, she screamed, “Hold it off until we can get to safety!”
Colt didn’t acknowledge her orders. Instead, he continued his furious quest to chop the thick tendril in two. At the same time, Carmen hooked the wounded man under the armpits and dragged him backward. She could have carried him, and easily, but she didn’t know if that would injure him further. So, she tried to be as gentle as possible while pulling him away from the lakeshore.
After twenty or thirty feet, she heard a loud splash and looked up to see that the horrors of the lake had only escalated. Because where before there had only been a single tentacle, there were now ten. And they were all waving and writhing in obvious fury.
That wasn’t the truly disturbing part, though.
That label belonged to the thing rising from the depths.
It looked like a woman, if said woman was twenty feet tall, naked, and with the skin of a shark. Its hair was made of water snakes, and sharp fins jutted from its forearms. The lower half of the monster’s body was dedicated to the tentacles, all of which were hundreds of feet long and as thick as a telephone pole.
The monster let out a shriek, and for a brief second, Carmen’s mind went blank. She dropped the man to the ground as her muscles went slack. A second later, she returned to herself, but when she looked around, she saw that the others – Miguel, the haunted woman, and Colt – were not so lucky.
Carmen had no idea why she’d endured better than the others, but she wasn’t going to let that resistance go to waste. Miguel and his charge were out of range of the tentacles – for now – but Colt was right there, practically in their grasp. So Carmen dashed forward, resummoning her hammers and launching herself at the tentacle that had suddenly gone on the offensive. Just before it fell upon Colt, she rammed into it, leading the way with both of her blacksmithing hammers.
With her monumental Strength, Carmen packed quite a punch, and as a result, she knocked the thick tentacle aside. It fell upon the shore, kicking up mud and rocks upon impact. Carmen didn’t pay much attention to that. Instead, she dipped down, grabbed Colt around the waist, and threw him over her shoulder.
Then, she ran, propelling herself away from the lake with all the speed she could muster. And given her Strength, she could move incredibly quickly, if only in short bursts and in a straight line. When she reached the injured man, she repeated her motions, throwing him over the other shoulder as she dashed toward the school.
When she reached the safety of her open-air forge, Carmen looked back to see that the monster was crawling its way free of the water.
The message was clear.
This was that monster’s territory, and they only had three choices. Give in, run away, or fight it for dominance. That last one might’ve been the most attractive, but she knew from the brief fight that she and the others had no chance of winning that battle. So, the only real choice was to run.
The brief bout of safety they’d experienced had been an illusion.
“Put me down,” growled Colt.
Carmen did just that, handing over the injured man. Then, she said, “Gather everyone. Get as many supplies as you can carry. We can’t stay here.”
To his credit, Colt didn’t argue. Instead, he just said, “Yes, ma’am.”
Then, Carmen snatched the metal she’d spent all day refining into her hands. So with regret and fear, they were forced to abandon the false sanctuary.
As she prepared to leave, Carmen looked back to see that the monster hadn’t slithered far from the lake, but she knew it wouldn’t stop so long as they remained in the area. It was just one more piece of evidence that peace was in short supply in the transformed world.
Perhaps it was even nonexistent.