Adelfried

Ying fired again and again. The rifle spit bright white streaks of ESH into the barrier surrounding Minna. Each attack dissipated like the last. “Where’s Jim!” Ying yelled.

“I left your traitorous husband at NASA.” Minna raised her hand. “No one attacks me and is forgiven as you are about to learn.” She swung her arm with a flash of radiant green light and Ying flew back, slamming into a tree in the front yard. She didn’t move.

“Minna! What have you done!” Adelfried rushed to Ying. He patted her face gently.

No response. He lifted her head and leaned in close until finally a faint breath brushed against his beard. Relief washed over him. She was still alive.

“What have I done? You saw them both attack me. I spared their lives because they helped you. But my charity has its limits. They are no longer under my protection. I would have left her too, but she will still be useful.” Minna pointed to Meyers. “Set daunters. I want everyone out of here before the cleanup crew arrives.” She clapped her hands. “Now move!”

Meyers and the remaining handful of Wreckies scrambled to collect any gear laying around.

A sickness so similar to the day Adelfried was thrown to this time churned inside him. His hands trembled. The desire to strike Mistress Kreeg raged within. His hands curled into fists. The flow of magic swirled within, welling into his pools of bright blue energy in his fists.

No.

This was ridiculous.

It solved nothing.

This was his daughter. Even if it didn’t feel like it; she was. He had to make this right. He had to do what? What could he do?

He rubbed his hands against the tops of his pants. Slowly the bright blue glow receded. “Jim only fired to get your attention. You were not in danger, and he knew it. Only after switching it to full power did he even get you to look at him. He was trying to tell you that the Root and the house were under attack.”

Minna scoffed at Adelfried. “You tell someone with words, not a shot from Mark Seven MEAR.”

“No! You wouldn’t listen!” The anger raged again. He curled his lips in. “He yelled at you, but you were too busy trying to kill your uncle to listen to anything!”

Minna averted her eyes from Adelfried, pretending to look around as the Wreckie agents finished stowing gear in the vehicles.

Adelfried shook his head in disgust. “Jim, again, was trying to protect his family, and the Root. He was looking out for all of us. And what did you do? You left him to become a Sov!”

“I told you. The Root is safe. No one can break that barrier. No one!”

“But what about his family? You said they would be safe. And now they aren’t! And you abandoned them all. And now Ying, too. Who are you?” Adelfried focused his attention on Ying. He brushed her face. “Come on, Ying. Wake up.”

Minna huffed. Just like a spoiled kid who didn’t get a cookie. “No. Jim should not have shot me. Just like she should not have. They are both paying the price for their actions.”

Adelfried gently laid Ying’s head down on the ground. He rose to his feet puffing his chest out. “You will go and get Jim. Right now!”

Minna curled her lips in. “No. I won’t. He is getting what he deserves.”

A coldness started to grow in Adelfried. Then he realized a hand was squeezing his ankle. Suddenly, his insides went ice cold as if his very life was being pulled from his body. What was happening? A purple blaze sliced through Minna’s barrier and struck her in the chest. She shrieked, flying back and tumbling to the ground.

Adelfried felt his body lift into the air. Ying’s grip on Adelfried’s ankle tightened as they both levitated into the air. Purple energy burned the air around her as Adelfried’s magic poured into her. Ying struck again. Blood spilled out from Minna’s waist. No!

A third strike split Minna’s shoulder open with a spray of blood and a sickening snap. Bone and tissue protruded from her open wound like half carved meat on a butcher's table.

“Ying! Stop!” Adelfried tried to yell, but the words came out as a whisper. He tried to free himself from her grasp, but his muscles failed him. He couldn’t move.

Then, she let go.

He fell to the ground in a heap. His body ached and tingled, all movement awkward and strained.

Ying floated to the ground gracefully. Her purple aura started to fade. A Wreckie fired a MEAR at her, but she deflected it instinctively like swatting a gnat. With the snap of a finger all the Wreckies passed out.

Ying slowly walked over to Minna as Adelfried continued to try to get to his feet. He couldn’t. He was too weak.

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She kneeled over Minna and grabbed her throat. No! This couldn’t be happening.

Adelfried struggled to a knee before finally getting both legs under him. “Ying. Don’t do this,” he finally said with his voice almost to full strength. “This isn’t right. No more death.”

Ying’s laugh echoed in Adelfried’s mind. “Relax. Even though the bitch deserves it after what she did. That is not who I am.”

Adelfried stumbled closer, almost falling over. Ying’s other hand gripped the hunk of meat and bone that was Minna’s left shoulder. She pressed it back into place with a nauseating squelch.

Adelfried’s stomach turned at the exposed tissue and jagged bones being shoved together.

Violet ribbons of light slowly fused the wound closed.

Minna screamed in agony.

“Hush, you big baby,” Ying said holding Minna firmly in place as wound sealed. Next, she put both hands on her waist. As with her shoulder, the wound sealed leaving no trace of the previous attack.

Such magic of the body was...unthinkable? A moment ago, Minna was all but dead and now it was like she had never been hurt.

Adelfried slumped to the ground. The weight of the whole situation crashed down on him like a landslide of events he couldn’t stop.

Bright lights of a car’s headlight broke his stupor. A small white car pulled into the cul-de-sac. Through the front window the word “Uber” could be seen. The door opened and Jim stepped out. “Thanks,” he said closing the door behind him.

He slowly walked up to Ying and Adelfried. His dark brown eyes almost sparked under the streetlights as they shifted side to side, unsure of all the unconscious people lying about. “Uh...what did I miss?”

Ying smiled. “It's good to see you honey but I think I’m gonna.... yeah, gonna pass out now.” And she did.

Evan

Nina wrapped coarse yet silky arms around Evan. She planted a warm, damp kiss on his cheek, then another. Inches from his face her pretty smile warmed him with anticipation. Was she going to kiss him? Her breath was heavy and damp, with hints of some kind of meat...chicken? Her smile turned mischievous, and she plunged her sandpaper-rough tongue into his mouth. He turned away. This wasn’t right. Again and again, she repeated her oral assault before directing her attention to his left eye, then his ear. She felt panicked. Why did he feel her emotions at all? Why was she licking him with her chickeny breath? That specific scent of chicken was so familiar. So gross. So much like the dog food he fed Zarg.

Evan shoved Zarg’s large beak-like snout away from him. “Ew, okay. I’m awake.” He frantically wiped his mouth on his arm to get as much of Zarg’s slobber out of his mouth. When his eyes opened, he was met with pitch black. Evan instinctively wrapped an arm around Zarg’s neck. He let out a whimper and tucked his head into the crook of Evan’s neck. Zarg was terrified.

“It’s okay, boy. We’ll be fine.” He stroked the back of Zarg’s head as he tried to believe his own lies. His chest had already started to heave as fear crawled up his back. No. He was not going to panic. Kae and Nina were there with him. He wasn’t alone. He had Zarg right here next to him.

Evan felt around with his hands trying to get his bearings in the disorienting darkness. He was still on the couch. He was in his game room. He was still in his house. But where the hell was the house? No, panic was not an option.

“Kae? Nina?” He said almost in a whisper, afraid they wouldn’t respond. Or perhaps that someone else would. No. That wasn’t possible, they were safe behind Adelfried’s barrier. Mistress Kreeg had said that herself. They were probably looking for them right now. Looking or digging? How far had they fallen?

He tried again. “Kae? Nina?”

Maybe they were hurt? He pivoted to put his feet on the ground, but something blocked his feet from planting firmly on the floor. Something had fallen. After some kicking and shoving of mysterious objects he was finally able to rise. One step later he realized the floor was covered in all the contents of the room, from books, overturned tables, and who knows what else. He needed light. Back to the couch to resume his looking for his cell phone. His hand grabbed a furry stick. The stick—Zarg’s leg—pulled back. “Sorry Zargy. That’s just me trying to find my phone.” After a minute of growing panic and searching in darkness, he finally felt the corner of his phone deep into the cushions of the couch. Whew.

With the light from his phone, he was finally able to navigate the debris that covered the floor and pick his way to the main room. A heavy wooden side table had fallen over, freeing itself of its picture frames and papers which now covered the floor. Evan’s feet crunched glass with each step as he ventured further into the room. A tall lamp had tipped over and at the foot of the stairs next to a fallen bookcase, Nina lay half covered in books and a pillow that had found its way from Evan’s room.

“Nina,” Evan said stepping over a pile of books from the bookcase. “Are you okay?” He shook her shoulder gently.

“Ughhhh,” she grunted as she started to move.

Evan started pulling books off. “Hey, you with me?”

She rubbed her forehead. “Ugh...my head is killing me. I think a book bashed me in the head, and this bookcase nearly crushed my legs. But other than that...yeah peachy.”

Evan tossed another book over the fallen table when Kae yelped. “Ow. Stop it, you ass. I’m over here.”

“Sorry.” Evan crept over the table, shining his light all around until he found Kae laying in the corner of the room on her left arm. The upper arm bent inward in a way it shouldn’t. Evan shuddered at the unnatural sight. He covered his mouth to stifle his gasp.

Kae wiped her forehead. “Hey, can you get this table off my legs?

“Uh Kae...are... um...don’t move. Your...”

Kae tried to maneuver herself out from underneath the table, but it was too heavy. “Come on, get this off me.” She pushed it with her good arm, but it didn’t move.

Nina had freed herself from her book prison and flipped her phone light on. When her light hit Kae’s shoulder, she gasped. “Aw shit.”

Kae covered her eyes as both phone lights shone directly on her. “Can y'all stop blinding me and help me out of this?”

Nina pointed her light down. “Kae, don’t move. Your upper arm is broken.”

“Wait, what?” Kae turned her head to consider the arm she was laying on. “Fuck me.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Nina said with panic speeding her words. “We’re fine. Everyone’s alive. We just need—”

The house started to rumble, no, it started to move. A sudden surge sent Nina and Evan falling backwards onto the pile of books. The room plunged into darkness as both cellphone lights fell to the ground, buried underneath the mess.

“Ow fuck!” Kae yelled as the house continued to surge forward. Backward? Which way were they going? Weren’t they underground? How was the house moving at all?

The sound of wood and glass breaking came from the top of the stairs. The room illuminated in a warm orange light as Nina raised her glowing hand in the air.

The loud squeal of a thick piece of wood bending was followed by a deafening crack. A series of loud crashes and crunches followed for several seconds as the house continued to move somewhere. It was picking up speed. A final boom came from above. Evan’s eyes went to the top of the stairs. The hall closet, and their only exit out of the basement, had collapsed. They were trapped.