It was about a twenty minute ride further to the cabin, but they didn't make it there in peace.
As on the way out, they took the most direct route along the trail instead of following the highway. The moon was out and visibility was good, so once they were out of sight of the fires the evening appeared peaceful and idyllic. However, about ten minutes into the trail, all three horses became jumpy; whinnying, stamping their feet, and tossing their heads. The Clayton horses started ignoring orders, while Samantha had leaned forward and was having what looked like a quiet conversation with her horse.
"It's over there," she announced, pointing ahead and to the right.
"What is?" asked David.
"Donno. Apollo saw it, not me. It's got him worried though, so keep your eyes open. I think it might be a bear; they're absolute terrors this time of year. Except bears are also about as stealthy as a lawnmower, so if it is then we should be able to tell."
They continued riding for a tense minute.
"Huh, it seems to have disappeared. Maybe it was nothing, or maybe it was a bear and just ran off," she said. Nobody relaxed, though. For two solid minutes nobody relaxed.
Then out of absolutely nowhere something large and angry struck from above and bowled David right off his horse. It had big claws, huge teeth, and was almost two hundred pounds of solid muscle covered in fur.
It was an experienced ambush predator, and David had just been ambushed; he was in a very precarious situation. This animal knew exactly what it was doing and would be able to counter nearly everything David attempted, so unless he did something to turn the tide within just a fraction of the next second, the fight would be over before he even hit the ground. David didn't even know what he was fighting yet.
He could feel the beginning of something warm on the back of his neck, perhaps a hot breath or a wet tongue. While he didn't have time to identify it, he was certain that something was about to chomp down on him. The animal had planned its attack well; there was no time at all to react. Even if David knew what to do, his arms just couldn't move fast enough.
But ever since the jewelry shop, Evelyn's description of her barrier magic had been playing in David's mind. He had very little understanding of how it worked and practically no experience controlling magical power of any sort. However, what he did have was four backpacks full of gemstones. While Evelyn held a few crystals from Dana's house, David was carrying the rest of them plus the entire haul from the jewelry store. The mana charge in these gemstones was less than full, but he was carrying a whole lot of them.
The magic came with its own sort of instincts; it was like decades of practice and experience embedded right into the weave of the energy itself which could be drawn upon when needed, even without a solid understanding of how it worked. It was unnervingly valuable, and precisely the sort of thing that David would refuse to trust under typical circumstances. These were not typical circumstances.
Drawing from that mana, he attempted to create a barrier to protect his neck. He knew instinctively that at his level of experience he had no chance of creating something that the beast wouldn't be able to bite through, but perhaps he didn't have to. Burning through every last wisp of usable mana he could reach, David snapped up a weak little shield, now almost right inside the beast's mouth. He could sense the creation with his mind as if it were part of his imagination, and he was terrifyingly aware of just how flimsy it was.
All of this had happened within the first quarter-second from the initial moment of impact. David was falling and still had a long way to the ground. Within just a moment, the beast had already pierced his barrier with its dagger-like teeth and was rapidly forcing the shield to dissipate with the incredible strength of its jaws. Now halfway to the ground, the animal managed to crush the barrier completely, and within just the first half-second of the animal's initial attack, all of David's mana was gone, his only means of defense already crushed.
It was enough, though, because David hadn't formed the shield around himself to protect his neck. He formed it just behind himself, almost inside the attacker's mouth, giving the animal something other than himself to bite down on. The beast's terrible jaws snapped shut on empty air. That's not to say he was now free to go. All he had managed to do was foil the ambush, but if he hadn't done that, there would be no step two.
Grappling and twisting as he fell, David finally managed to identify his attacker. It was a mountain lion, a big one, and its face was already covered in blood.
In all his adventures of his younger years he had been wary of these creatures. He had never actually seen one in person until that very afternoon, but he had definitely felt their presence before. They left tracks and signs that he could discover only well after the fact. In his tent, or around the fire, or hiking along a stream, he had been watched or followed by mountain lions many times, and it always left him feeling helpless even though they almost never attacked humans. Defending yourself from such a creature was entirely about making sure they never tried it. Surviving an attack was not usually considered an option.
The only remaining way to survive, if it was even possible, was to fight back with everything he had and hope to scare it away. But fighting back was far easier said than done. It was faster than him and stronger than him. It had needle-sharp daggers for every one of its claws, fangs like a vampire nightmare and a jaw that could crush any or all of his bones. It also had honed fighting instincts that gave it near perfect responses to almost every possible action he might attempt; its reactions would be flawless. And finally, it had both the initiative and position, having carefully chosen its time and place to strike. So how can you fight back against an animal that unquestionably outclasses you on every single metric?
You fight dirty.
Of everything he had read and the fireside stories he had been told, there was only one method that consistently worked against these particular predators for those few who managed to pull it off. But the method was itself so risky that it was almost unthinkable to attempt, a last-ditch gamble for either life or ruin. Still, it wasn't like he had options. He had managed to at least land on his back thanks to having deflected the initial ambush, but the mountain lion had all of its front claws sunk deep into his flesh. He wasn't going anywhere if it didn't want him to.
So when the beast lunged for him with its gaping mouth to finish him off, he fought back in the only way possible. He shoved his fist as far as he could down the big kitty's throat.
The direction of the fight completely reversed in an instant. It could have bitten down and torn his arm entirely off; it had the strength, it had the leverage, it had the position. But it didn't. It had always fought by instinct and reflex, and right now the mountain lion's gag reflex was the only tune playing. It tried to get away. It shook its head and pulled back, but David grabbed onto whatever fleshly part he could grip deep inside the animal's gullet and held on tight.
What ensued was a display that was hard for the others to comprehend. The mountain lion struggled to get away despite being clearly the stronger fighter and seeming to have the upper hand. It in fact has David's actual hand, and even his entire right arm, almost elbow deep in its mouth. Its claws retracted, it tried to push him away with its paws. David used the shift in position to get to his feet. All the while he punched the kitty in the face with his left hand, hitting its eye and nose and ear. The animal was choking, trying to retch, trying to vomit out David's arm but he refused to let go.
In a sudden jerk, the cat pulled back with all it had, either to pull itself free or drag David off his feet and away. David's fingers slipped, and the beast managed to shake and pull itself off of his arm. Its throat now blessedly free, the animal was still flooded with overwhelming signals and reflexes from its body about the encounter. So rather than immediately fight or run, it proceeded to wheeze and convulse like a house cat coughing up a hairball, staggering left and right and backing up slowly as it retched.
Given the circumstances, David took the only rational action available to him. He closed the distance at a run and then punted the giant cat straight in the face like a football.
It then ran like the very Devil Of Felines was tied to its tail.
David stood panting with his hands on his knees, bleeding from cuts and gashes all over. Nobody said a word. He swallowed, coughed, wheezed, and panted. Nobody else moved. Nobody else even breathed.
He took one more long, drawn-out breath, then he picked up the bags he had dropped and slung them onto his horse.
"Okay. Let's go," he gasped.
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The group arrived at the cabin, put the horses away, and gathered together in the common room. Dana was propped on one of the couches, joined by James, with Gary and Samantha on the other. David sat in front of them on the cold fireplace, with Evelyn next to him tending to his injuries and quietly complaining about how little she could actually help. David wanted them to discuss immediate priorities while everyone was together, which was why he had asked for this meeting.
"I'll go first," said David, "we've got to make this place safe. That means we remove anything with a gas tank, shut off the propane lines, and convert everything to burning wood instead, so that nothing in the house explodes."
"We also need to go get Socks," said Samantha.
"I brought extra," Dana added, helpfully.
"Socks is the name of the horse we didn't bring with us. The stables at this house are a lot safer, even if they haven't been used in years. And I'll grab my own stuff while I'm over there since it sounds like I'm sleeping here tonight."
"How are we for water?" asked Dana.
"The pumps won't be running so we're limited to what's in the cistern. It'll last several days, maybe even a week if we're extra careful. But the pressure will be low and we won't have a water heater."
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Dana frowned at that answer despite the fact that nothing was urgently wrong. "Cedartop will run dry when the water towers empty, probably sometime in the next hour or two," she said. "Is there anything that can be done? A lot of lives are at stake."
"First of all, is that really our responsibility?" asked David.
"It's my responsibility, yes," replied Dana. "I realize I can't be expected to work miracles, but I imagine that city is about 48 hours away from a riot."
"Riot against whom?" asked Gary, tapping his scruffy chin. "There's nobody visibly in charge, nobody to blame."
"Good point," agreed David, "we can't position ourselves as the city's saviors or we'll be blamed for the first problem that we can't solve."
"I'm not asking you to save the city," sighed Dana, "I'm just asking whether you have any ideas on how we can get the city water pumps running. You need a solution for your pumps here anyway."
Gary hummed thoughtfully and looked at the ceiling, "Actually, I might have some ideas. But let's worry about that tomorrow. Other concerns?"
"The magic," said Evelyn, "we're missing something about it. We can't control it the way we're supposed to, and I just can't heal people fast enough. Plus now I've got three patients to heal instead of two."
"Which brings us to the subject of that damn cat," said Samantha. "What the hell was up with that thing? I thought you said they wouldn't attack us on horseback."
"That was a mountain lion, right? Aren't they supposed to be dangerous?" asked James.
"Yes, but as a rule they prefer solitary targets and avoid risky fights," said David, "Under normal circumstances we shouldn't have been attacked. Plus the blood on its face makes me think that I wasn't its first target tonight. Something's wrong."
"Does that mean we're not safe here?" asked James with visible concern.
"I think we're plenty safe inside. But we're not just going to hide in here for the next month, so we have to figure out what's going on. It's one more mystery for us to solve."
"And," added Samantha, "that makes it all the more urgent that we bring Socks over here tonight. The stables next door wouldn't protect her from that size of predator."
"Anything else?" David waited a moment before continuing: "OK, then. So tonight a couple of us go get the other horse, and tomorrow we figure out how to make the stupid magic work correctly and find ways to defend ourselves here. And maybe we might even save Cedartop, if we figure out how."
Given how dangerous it was to wander around outside in the dark right now, the preparation for this outing led to the last major discovery of the day. Down in the basement by the light of a kerosene lamp, David and Samantha opened the gun safe.
They both looked inside for a good ten seconds without saying a word, blinking and staring. Tiny scraps of metal fell out when the door was opened, along with dust and chunks of concrete from the demolished inner walls of the safe. David slowly closed the door again, shaking his head slightly. Nothing in the safe would be useful to anyone. Most of it wasn't even recognizable.
On the way back up the stairs, Samantha finally broke the silence: "After everything else that has happened today, I don't understand why I was even surprised. Do you think it just happened to us, or everyone else too?"
"Gary is pretty sure that the weird stuff we're seeing is happening worldwide, so probably everyone who owns a gun got a big surprise today. Which... well, you know what that means, right?" David asked.
"Life suddenly just got a whole lot more medieval?"
"Well, yeah. But can you imagine how this went for people in law enforcement? Or worse, the military?"
Now as they reached the top of the stairs, the others in the house could hear the conversation.
"What's going on with the military?" asked James.
"The guns all blew up," said Samantha.
"Or at least the ammunition did," said David. "The inside of the safe was completely destroyed, though. It seems likely that this same thing happened everywhere else, too."
"Hm. I suppose that's not surprising," said Gary, "I expect that most bombs went up as well. Our chemical plant explosion would have been tiny in comparison to a lot of military bases. There wouldn't be much left."
"What do you mean? Do you think there aren't any armies left?" asked James.
"Oh, I'm sure they're still around. Plus, armies are predictable folks; with all communication down, they'd interpret the explosions as an attack by their favorite enemy. Right now every short-sighted general in the world is making plans to retaliate against whichever foe they distrust the most."
"Yeah? With what weapons? No guns, no bombs, no planes, no tanks. Are they all going to learn how to use swords now? Honestly, what use is an unarmed army?" laughed Samantha, as she finished gathering her remaining equipment.
"That's a fair point. But don't underestimate what can be done with a command hierarchy and enough manpower, even if they're all empty handed and on foot. They could even do some good if they could be convinced that there's nobody to fight."
The rest wanted to keep chatting but Samantha was anxious to go get the missing horse.
"I'll go with you," said David, "they're less likely to attack if you're not alone."
"No you will not!" growled Evelyn, "you're visibly injured and you're covered in your own blood. You would actually attract attacks, not prevent them. I'll go with her."
"You're needed here, Evie," said Gary, "nobody else can do what you've been doing."
In the end, Samantha and Gary made the trip next door, and instead of firearms they simply brought fire. Each carried a branch almost as large as themselves set ablaze, as well as a smaller, sturdier stick to hit things with if the fiery deterrent didn't work.
----------------------------------------
Evelyn rolled her eyes when she noticed David's grumbling. For as kind and warm as the guy was, he sure could be a grouch sometimes. He had busied himself with building their fire, and he was currently breaking sticks of wood down into kindling and tossing them into the cold fireplace on top of a raft of split logs.
"You know, having to stay back doesn't make you any less of a man, or whatever this is about," she said.
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her for several seconds, as if studying, considering her. Finally he inhaled slowly and spoke:
"Do you truly have no idea what I find frustrating about this?"
The question caught her off guard. It wasn't the response she was expecting. She went to reply but nothing useful came.
"How many of us here would you be comfortable sending into danger?"
Evelyn considered, but David didn't wait for an answer.
"When I woke up this morning I had no idea what the coming apocalypse would look like, nobody did. But I thought we were more prepared than most, maybe even ready to take on whatever the day might bring. But twelve hours later, how did that work out for us? How safe are the people we care about? And what can we even do about it? I believe in fixing things you're unsatisfied with rather than just moping about it; but honestly, what could I even do at this point?"
"You don't actually have to protect everyone, David."
"You say that, but who here can protect themselves? Half of us are already injured, and we can't just stay inside. I agree that Samantha and Gary had a really good reason to go out tonight, but--"
David huffed again. Whatever he was about to say, he didn't want to say it out loud.
Evelyn didn't think that any answer she could give would be helpful. When someone is upset, they rarely want to be told that they're wrong. Instead, she slid over and put her hand on his shoulder, making contact with the bare skin of his neck. The visualization step was becoming almost second-nature to her now. Her previous two passes working on David's injuries were just about basic stabilization, addressing the most severe threats to his life and trying to help the bandages work more efficiently.
She checked first on his basic vital status; he was doing ok for the most part. She blew away the beginnings of an infection, and then decided to change things up a bit. Rather than prioritizing injuries by severity, she singled out a deep cut on his right hand, one that was giving him no end of difficulty as he worked. She began the slow process of closing up the injury.
It was frustrating beyond belief how little she could accomplish right now. Plus, the mana expenditure was bafflingly high for how little she was actually doing. It was like she was trying to parallel park a car, but from the outside, using nothing but a fire hose. Huge amounts of power got blown away with every tiny action she performed, and most of what she tried didn't even work. She understood David's frustration entirely, she was right there with him in the middle of it. But telling him how frustrated she was, too, wouldn't help in the slightest. She wanted to show him she understood by making his part easier.
David went back to his task while she worked on him. By the time he got the fire lit, she had closed the gash in his palm enough that he had full use of his hands. His torn-up back and chest and arms were still as bad as ever, and he still tensed and gritted his teeth with almost every tiny movement, but he at least could use his hands and feel useful. She had blown quite a lot of mana on that patch, but she didn't regret it.
"Thanks, Evie," he said, much quieter now. "You have no idea how big a difference that makes."
She smiled back wordlessly before moving to the couch to enjoy the fire.
She chatted quietly with James in front of the fire while Dana slept on the couch and David kept himself busy with something probably important.
A while later the front door banged open, and Samantha made a declaration:
"I hate these stupid animals and their stupid bullshit," she announced.
Her shirt was torn and her left arm bloodied, with a gash near her shoulder and a bite-shaped rip in her forearm. Gary trailed right behind her, limping as he walked and dripping blood with each step.
Evelyn shot David a quick glance, only to see him close his eyes for a second and whisper something for only himself to hear. He had clearly been scared that the two would get attacked, and Evelyn imagined that at the same time he was desperately trying to convince himself that he was just being overly protective.
She rushed to tend to the newly injured. With her severe lack of magical resources, she was limited almost entirely to traditional first-aid and bandages. At least she could visualize and assess their injuries with magical accuracy, and therefore she never ran the risk of missing or neglecting a problem more severe than it seemed. Through all of this, it seemed appropriate to keep the discussion going with Samantha; they could all use the distracting conversation.
"I thought you loved animals," Evelyn countered Samantha's previous outburst, "It's practically your defining characteristic."
"Animals in general are fine. I hate these specific animals. Specifically the ones who try to tear my arm off. It really sours the whole relationship."
"Yeah, I imagine it's hard to get close to someone like that."
"Oh, we got plenty close," said Samantha while gingerly removing her tattered shirt. The skin on her left side had a nasty set of rips from something's teeth. "Much closer than I was comfortable with. But the breakup was even worse."
"Hmm, yeah, breakups can be nasty, especially when they've practically sunk their teeth into you by that point."
"Exactly, especially when there's another--"
"What happened?" David interrupted. He directed his question at Gary so as to not seem rude, but Evelyn was interested in the answer. As entertaining as her banter was, it wasn't very informative.
"We made it there and nearly back without incident," said Gary. "It had begun to seem as though our caution had been unwarranted. But just this side of the outer gate, a raccoon attacked us."
"Seriously?" said Evelyn.
"A raccoon just attacked the two of you out of nowhere?" asked Dana, awoken by their arrival.
"Just a raccoon did all of that damage?" asked David.
"Yes, yes, and no," said Samantha, ticking off the answers on her fingers. "The raccoon attacked us entirely out of the blue. Well, out of the bushes, actually. And it was an absolute terror."
"It was so fast that we couldn't keep it off us, but so small that we had trouble hitting it. And it's honestly hard to take a raccoon seriously. It's a dangerous combination."
"A triple threat," Evelyn nodded sagely.
"And then player number two entered the battle," Samantha deadpanned.
"Yes, we were additionally attacked by a coyote at the same time. Most of what you can see was actually done by him."
"We couldn't ignore the damn raccoon, which meant that the coyote was able to do a lot more damage. We would smack one and get it to leave us alone and then the other one would hit us from behind. Over and over. It would have been comical if we weren't getting so beat up by it."
"In the end, Samantha... well..."
"I picked up the pissy little trash bandit by his back leg, whirled it around my head, and threw it at the coyote. They actually started fighting each other, so we took advantage of the distraction and ran like hell. We got Socks settled in with the other horses, and here we are."