Now, Kansas
“Stay inside and keep my little guy safe. I’ll handle this.”
Nila stepped out of the bus.
“What’s the plan?” Jayde said.
“Get on the bus and stay out of sight.”
Surprisingly, the young woman merely nodded and climbed aboard. She must’ve heard something in Nila’s voice or seen something in her eyes.
Three trucks peeled into the parking lot and screeched to a stop in front of her.
Twenty men and three women.
All armed and armored to varying degrees.
They all had that golden cross and wings symbol somewhere on their gear and clothes.
Nila maintained her calm.
Knox had already come to instruct the people Cal had brought in from beyond the walls on the plan.
They began sneaking into the city to their hiding places as soon as the alarms had started blaring.
There was still a lot of people hiding in the various abandoned RV’s scattered across the huge lot.
All she could do was trust that Cal’s slight clouding effect on the church’s fighters held.
Otherwise they’d have questions about her futuristic Threnosh armor.
The leader of the church group was an older man. He hopped out of the truck and strode imperiously toward her.
No look of surprise on his face at the sight of her.
So far so good.
She needed to keep the focus on her, so that they wouldn’t notice the rest.
“What the fuck is this? We’ve got passes. They’re good till sunset,” she challenged.
“Not anymore,” the man eyed her contemptuously. “What are you supposed to be? Some kind of tiny knight?”
She didn’t deign to reply to the barb. “We paid you tens of thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry.”
“We are under a state of emergency. As such, the conscription act is in effect. You and everyone else you’ve got on that bus are coming with us to be assigned to the defense of our great city. You’ve got that fancy knight’s armor or whatever, so you should be good… little lady,” the man winked.
“We aren’t part of your little community. We haven’t sworn any oaths of any kind.”
“Typical of your kind. Come to this country and take advantage of every opportunity, but when it comes time to earn your keep. You don’t wanna do your duty.”
“And what country is that?”
“Okay, I’m not arguing with a tiny bitch. You do what I say. I tell you to get on the wall and you do it!” the man snapped.
“What will it take for you and your men to go away?”
“Normally, I’d say some more cash and some time with that pretty mouth of yours, but this ain’t normal. It’s a damn waste in your case, but we need bodies on the wall.”
“All the more reason for you to turn around. I count twenty-three bodies that won’t be able to fight after I get through with you.”
The older man blinked and gaped like the mouth breather he was in confusion for a second before his brain processed her words. His face turned red when he finally caught up.
“Hold on,” she said lightly, “you’ve got healing magic. So, as long as I don’t kill anybody—”
“Fucking bitch!”
The older man threw a punch.
Nila didn’t move.
The steel gauntlet clanged off her faceplate with a loud crack
The older man cried out.
She kicked his knee and bent it the wrong direction.
The others moved.
Too slow for her.
She dashed to the side of the lead truck, braced one foot against the ground and kicked with the other, sending the truck full of people spinning ninety degrees.
“Stay inside!” she snapped at Hayden and Jayde.
The two young women had appeared at the bus door.
She drew her baseball bat-like club from her back as she leapt into the lead truck’s bed.
She swung a circle over her head, breaking jaws and faces.
A lucky shot plinked of the Threnosh-made armor.
The other vehicles needed her attention.
She somersaulted through the air to land in the second truck’s bed.
Second one, same as the first.
In both cases the church fighters went down easily.
Too consumed by the pain to fight back.
“Healing Li—”
She cut the woman’s words off with a jab from her club.
The woman gasped for air.
Nila broke the woman’s leg with a follow up strike to give her something else to fix before she could help the rest of them.
The last vehicle was an SUV.
Church fighters piled out, but they were too slow.
She was in their midst before they do more than get a few errant shots and spells off.
They all had broken bones when she was finished.
“You are a vile excuse for a human being,” she lifted the leader by the front of his armor. “Come after us again and I won’t hold back.” She tossed him into the back of the truck like a bag of tiny potatoes.
She did the same for the rest. Cramming them unceremoniously back into their vehicles with little regard for their injuries.
She didn’t feel too bad about it.
These people sucked.
Leaving innocents outside the wall to die just because of orientation was odious.
“I didn’t touch you because I needed you to drive back,” she addressed the three drivers. “Don’t make me regret that decision. You head straight back to your base and tell everyone the truth.”
They left even faster than they had come.
“Jesus-fucking-Christ! I knew you were good, but that was brutal!” Jayde beamed at her.
“We’re moving to the backup spot.”
“What about them?” Hayden gestured toward the head poking out from the scattered RV’s
“This might actually work in their favor. The church will be looking for our bus now. I’ll tell them to keep their heads down and stick to Knox’s plan.”
“Dayana and the others?” Hayden said.
“They’ll know where to go once they see that we aren’t here.”
Nila eyed the rapidly shrinking vehicles as they fled down the street.
Her main responsibility was to keep the little guy and everyone else safe, in that order.
She didn’t like being violent, but she had no regrets in this case.
----------------------------------------
The sweet smell of fear was thick in the air.
It made it hard for Michael to concentrate on his role.
He had to keep an arrow on his bow ready to take out enemy ranged fighters that might have a bead on his teammates. It was tough when all he wanted to do was to join his fellow brothers and sisters in the hunt and the feast.
The tent city was filled with the exciting sounds of prey being chased down, killed and devoured.
“Focus everyone!” Britt barked. “I know you want to join in, but don’t give in to the desire for instant gratification. If we do as we’re supposed to we’ll show that we can be trusted when it comes time to select which teams get assigned to the best Quests when we take the city.”
Sunny gnashed her teeth and made to dart off as a crying man ran past them with a pack of their feral brethren on his heels.
Charlie caught the back of her collar just in time.
“Don’t bother!” Charlie snapped. “They got him,” she gesticulated toward the man being taken down and torn apart.
The sweet tang of blood—
Michael shook his head and tried harder.
“What are we even doing?”
It was a bit hard to understand Donald due to the not as fat young man’s distended jaw and mouth filled with sharp teeth.
“Children. We are supposed to be capturing children. Ugh!” Britt stomped her feet. “Is it so hard? There!” she snapped.
Michael followed her pointed finger.
A teenage girl was trying to run, dragging a young boy in their wake.
He could hear their panic, smell their fear.
So sweet.
“Get them before one of the others tears them apart!” Britt barked.
Lincoln and Donald sprang into action.
Charlie needed to keep her hold on Sunny lest the latter beat the others to the kids, while Michael did his job and kept an eye out for threats.
He missed it.
He had one job.
But didn’t notice the man streaking out of the sky to land between his brothers and the two kids.
The man was clad in jeans, a t-shirt and a motorcycle jacket.
Lincoln leapt.
Huge, clawed hands grasping to tear into the short man.
A loud crack like thunder filled the air and Lincoln went flying dozens of feet back.
Michael and the others just barely managed to dive out of the way.
Donald squeezed bursts of gun fire into the man, who simply raised a hand.
Somehow the man stood unharmed as the bullets dropped to the grass.
Donald went flying just like Lincoln. His shattered carbine pressed against his armor.
The man’s face looked troubled. “You’re just kids,” he said in a deep voice.
Another of Michael’s brothers came barreling from one side, tearing through tents in his path.
It was a veteran, a hulking powerhouse that moved with quickness that belied his muscular bulk.
Blood flew from the brother’s stained mouth.
The man’s face remained calm as he drew the impossibly large revolver from a thigh holster and fired.
A cloud of blood and brain’s erupted.
The body ran on for several steps before the man swept an arm and sent it tumbling to the side.
“Don’t be this. Don’t be monsters.”
It felt like the man was speaking directly into his soul.
“I’ve seen where your path ends. You can see it all around you. There’s still a chance you can change that. Just turn around and walk away.”
He sighted and drew back his arrow.
“Your Flesh Priests are lying to you. There’s nothing special or sacred about it. It’s just another class. A monstrous one.”
“Power Shot!”
His arrow streaked across the space with a speed comparable to a bullet.
The man caught it with his left hand.
Sad eyes pierced into Michael’s soul or so it felt.
“I can’t make you do the right things. It has to be your choice.”
“Light Arrow!” Britt thrust her hand forward.
A sickly yellow light flashed.
He could track the magic arrow with the enhancements his transformed state granted to his perceptions.
It struck the man’s face—
But nothing happened.
The man didn’t even blink as the arrow burst into nothing.
More of Michael’s brothers and sisters finally noticed the mysterious man’s presence.
A dozen rushed him from multiple directions.
The man moved quickly, even in Michael’s perceptions.
The massive gun cracked the air like a cannon.
Ten times it boomed.
Ten bodies practically exploded.
Some yet lived, he could tell. If they could get fresh flesh to them, they could heal.
The man’s eyes narrowed. He pulled something from one of the small compartments at his belt.
Glittering lights danced through the air.
Michael realized too late.
It was the sun’s light reflecting off flying pieces of steel.
Blades and spikes that cut throats and plunged through eyes.
The wounded became dead in an instant.
He shot another arrow to no avail. It just bounced off the man’s jacket.
“Damn it. This is too soon, but you’re not giving me much of a choice,” the man glanced at the cowering kids behind him.
Michael heard the whispered words.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Then he felt an invisible weight suddenly crush him to the ground.
He tried to fight it but his new strength served only to sink his hands into the soft grass and mud beneath.
He managed to turn just enough to keep his eyes on the man.
He caught the twinkle of glittering stars in the man’s eyes as the man, the cowering kids and a handful of other survivors of the tent city rose into the sky leaving his surviving brothers and sisters without the ability to do anything other than roar in impotent rage as they had their faces shoved into the mud.
He thought of the prophecy Fred had mentioned.
The song was there. On the outer edges of his thoughts.
Where was the gold?
Where was the fire?
----------------------------------------
Cal touched base with Nila when he got closer.
She filled him in so he made sure the RV park was clear of church presence before he dropped the traumatized handful of survivors off before heading to the backup site.
His mind itched to scan deeper and search for Zalthyss’ presence.
Had he alerted it to his presence through his actions at the tent city?
He reached the empty parking lot tucked between two tall buildings in the city’s mostly abandoned downtown area.
The bus was there and he was relieved to note that everyone was safe.
Nila met him outside.
“You have that look on your face. Did something go wrong?”
“I made a mistake. I underestimated how fast they’d move. I was too slow. Too late at two settlements to save anyone and too late at the last one. I only got a handful out.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I had to use more of my power than I had planned, which means I wasted lives. I should’ve gone all out from the beginning.”
“There’s something you need to know…”
Nila told him about Hayden’s nightmare.
“But it hasn’t shown its face yet?” he glanced at his left hand.
Nila reached out and held it, gently, but firmly. “Dayana has some information from her spying thing.”
“Right,” he let her lead him to the bus.
“I’m sorry!” Hayden blurted as soon as he stepped into view.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Nila waved it away.
“How did it go?” he said as Dayana came over.
“Getting in was easy. I ended up hiding in the ceiling right above where they had their little planning sesh. Like all Spider-manning up in the lights and wires, above those tile things. You know like the cardboard, but not, ceiling panels in offices. Getting out was the hard part. I sorta fell and there was this whole thing with them shooting holy rays and other bullshit, but I made it out,” she grinned.
“I’m glad. What’d you learn?”
“Pretty much what we already knew. The church leadership is basically the same as the military leadership, so they suck. Their banking everything on the walls and their faith magics,” she snorted.
“Anything about Zalthyss?”
“Nothing. They never once mentioned that name. The closest they got was, like, praying to Jesus and God. That doing that was enough to bring them deliverance from the evil sinners and shit like that.”
“Okay, that’s good. Seems to indicate that it hasn’t made its direct presence known, which could be a sign that its not actually physically on our world. Good job to the spy team,” he acknowledged Dayana, Shrewed, Trevor and Jimenez in turn before focusing on Hayden. “Your dream?”
She told him. Haltingly, but completely. She apologized for hurting the little guy.
He didn’t blame her. Told her what Nila eventually did. That the important thing was to not repeat it and to be thankful that the little guy was fine.
“I’m going to work harder to shield you— all of you— from something like that happening again.” He didn’t elaborate further.
“How can they still believe that they worship the true God?” Monsignor said. “The music in my thoughts does nothing but bring disquiet to my soul.”
No one felt comfortable enough to venture an answer.
“It’s an ability. As real as our powers, our magic, our Skills,” he said after a moment. “Zalthyss is just like us. A physical entity. I’ve beaten it before. Even captured it. Sure another one showed up later, but that’s explainable since we know a lot of impossible things are now real.”
“So, what now?” Jayde said. “Do we help fight the Meat Parade? Cause, like, I know the church is fucked up, but not everyone in the city suck like they do. I don’t know, man. It feels like it’d be bad not to try.”
“I still have a promise to fulfill. We’ll need to defend long enough to arrange transport for Heddy, Knox and all their people.”
“It’s going to be hard to find buses that actually run. All the vehicles I’ve seen running have been private ones. Cars, trucks, bikes,” Shrewed said.
“We don’t have anyone with a class that can get a dead one started again,” Trevor said.
“Can we ask them if they have someone?” Amber said.
“That’s probable. You said they had working vehicles out there, right?” Nila regarded Cal.
“Yeah, they definitely did. I should’ve checked for Mechanics,” he shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. If we can’t get them started we can chain them together and I’ll pull them myself.”
“I can look for them. I’m the only one here, except you, I guess, that can go around unnoticed,” Dayana volunteered.
A loud chime suddenly rant out in Cal’s ears.
Congratulations!
You have received a Quest.
Defend Wichita.
Success Parameters: Prevent the city from falling to the attackers.
Failure Parameters: Lose the city to the attackers and/or Exceed minimum number of casualties among the inhabitants (????) or Death or Capture.
Reward: 1000000 Universal Points.
Bonus Reward(s): Contingent on performance.
Will you accept?
“That’s another huge one on top of the one we already have to investigate the eternal church,” Shrewed said.
“You all got the same one?” he asked.
Nods all around.
“Do we accept it?” Amber said.
“Can we think about it first?” Trevor said.
“I’d imagine we have until the actual attack on the city starts, which means whenever the Meat Parade hits the walls.”
“Cal’s right. Getting this Quest right now… it’s starting soon,” Nila said.
Let people die when he had the power to do something about it?
Did he really have a choice?
“You can all do whatever you want,” he said.
“I’m in if you’re in,” Trevor said.
A sentiment echoed by the rest.
“I’m accepting it, but the rest of the plan doesn’t change. Priority is to get Heddy’s people to some form of safety. Saving the rest of the city comes next. Dayana find me those buses. Nila, you’re the fastest and toughest, I need you to go to Heddy to let her know what we’re planning. The rest of you stay here for now and keep my little dude safe. I’ll keep an eye on the attack and see if I need to step in.”
“Zalthyss?” Nila said.
“If it appears, I’ll have to focus on it. If that happens and the Meat Parade overruns the city then you’ll all have to get out with as many people as you can take with you. I trust you to find a way.”
----------------------------------------
Trevina stood on the wall next to her husband and two oldest children. A son, 15, and a daughter, 13. Their youngest was in the one of the emergency shelters under the care of a stranger.
She had always prayed and given thanks to God for the miracle that had seen her entire family make it through the apocalyptic appearance of the spires and the monsters. Through the dark days in the aftermath as society crumbled and slowly rebuilt.
She had deeply-concealed misgivings and concerns about the change to the church when it became the Eternal Church of Joyous Light.
The song, oh she heard the song, but unlike how it was with most of the others, it struck a discordant tune within her.
It was wrong, though she’d never give that a voice.
It was too important for her family to have a safe and stable place in a world gone mad.
The walls and the church had provided that.
Now the church had put her and her family on the wall to face the coming cannibal horde.
Sure, everyone over the age of ten had been given training with the rifles in their hands and the spears at their feet.
But what use was one weekend a month?
She had three levels in Militiawoman.
What good was that?
Her hands shook and the bile rose in her throat.
The wooden stock of the hunting rifle grew slick. She wiped her hand on her shirt.
They hadn’t even given her armor.
The only thing they gave her was a hockey helmet.
The clear plastic facemask fogged up with her frantic breathing.
The Meat Parade was drawing close.
Dozens of vehicles filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of howling, pale-skinned monsters in the guise of men.
“They’ve got guns, Dad,” Trevonte, her son whispered in horror.
“Keep your heads down, kids,” Derrick said.
Her husband, strong and steady.
She gazed over and saw the whites of his wide eyes behind the football helmet.
“Dad, I’m scared,” Derina, her daughter, said.
“It’ll be okay. Just fire all your bullets and you can duck down behind the wall.”
The Meat Parade drew ever closer.
She could see their too-wide mouths, filled with sharp teeth, smeared with blood. Long arms, longer fingers ending in nails that looked more like claws.
“Why are our babies up here?” she whispered in dawning horror at the reality.
It couldn’t be real.
They had always gone to the services.
Followed the rules.
Did everything the church told them to do.
And yet, they placed her babies on the wall.
She looked left and right.
All along the wall.
People that looked just like her.
Young and old.
“Nothing changed,” Derrick rumbled in that deep voice that she loved so much. “The God damn apocalypse happens and people stay the same.”
“We shouldn’t be here!” she hissed, careful to keep her voice low enough so that her babies wouldn’t hear her terror.
Derrick looked back.
She knew what he saw.
Others with better guns than them standing on the rooftops.
Why weren’t they on the wall?
“They won’t let us leave,” Derrick said simply.
“Ready your guns!” a loud voice jolted her.
She looked instinctively to the guard tower a short distance away.
The men and women inside had automatic rifles and were protected by the narrow openings and the steel plates affixed to the outside of the enclosed perch.
She thought to run, use her body to shield her babies, but there was a wide space between the walls and the buildings. They’d never make it back into the safety of the city.
“Fire!”
She aimed like she had trained.
The iron sight shook no matter how hard she tried to steady her arms and her breathing.
She squeezed the trigger.
Whether she hit her target was an open question.
It didn’t matter.
She could her her baby girl crying in between the ragged burst of ear-splitting gun fire.
“Get down!” Derrick shouted.
Return fire from the cannibals tore into the top of the wooden wall.
It felt like she was wearing earmuffs but she could still make out the sounds of bullets splintering the thick wood, people screaming, praying, crying.
“Fire, you cowards! Or I’ll shoot you myself! Useless n—”
Her world was swallowed by a great explosion that shoot her insides as heat washed over her back.
Her babies screamed.
“Stay down!”
Was that her husband, her love?
He was right next to her, but he sounded so far away.
She tried to blink away the tears, felt at the wetness flowing from one ear.
How much time had she stood, then cowered on the wall?
An hour of standing and waiting.
Minutes as the Meat Parade became visible in the distance, spreading out from road to the flat fields to the east of the city.
Seconds of combat.
An eternity.
“Fire your guns damn you!”
She didn’t even know how many times she had fired.
Did she have any bullets left?
There had only been five in the gun.
They hadn’t given her more.
The platform they were on shook with tremendous impacts.
A pale-skinned face smeared in blood appeared over the wall. Snarling with a mouth that was too big. Sharp teeth like an animal’s rather than something that belonged in a human’s.
She fell back with a scream, instinct thrust her rifle out like a barrier held in both hands.
A heavy weight bore her down.
The platform atop the wall was only ten feet wide.
Her head and shoulders hung over nothing.
Clawed hands cut her deep through her sleeves. Cloth, just normal clothing. They hadn’t given her any armor. Not like they provided for themselves.
Teeth snapped at her face.
Terror gave her strength to push up with her rifle. Luck that the once human monster bit down on the wood and iron.
“Mom!”
“Mommy!”
Voices she couldn’t comprehend.
Then a loud roar.
Anger more than pain.
The weight lifted off her a fraction.
She looked to the left.
Her son and daughter held spears thrust into the human monster.
Their wide eyes filled with tears of terror, rage and everything else that made them human.
Innocent.
Her babies shouldn’t be up here.
Why did they make them fight?
Her precious babies should’ve been protected not thrown to the monsters.
“Trevina! Kids! Power Strike!”
Her husband swung his rifle.
A loud crack.
The monster’s head twisted.
Teeth flew.
Jaw hung broken.
She found her wits somehow.
Thrust the barrel of the rifle into the gaping maw full of blood and bits of flesh.
Find the trigger.
Squeeze.
Pray she still had bullets.
The head exploded.
Showering them all in blood and gore.
Her husband smiled in shock and relief.
She fought the bile down.
A pale white hand as big as a tree trunk swept out of nowhere.
Her husband didn’t have time to do anything.
Her last sight of him was his blood-splattered face smiling the smile that had never failed to set the butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
The monster’s hand pulled him back over the wall.
Her babies screamed.
The monster pulled itself up.
The wooden platform shook and cried out in protest at the weight of its massive bulk.
A grotesque mockery of humanity even worse that the others.
Huge muscles, an impossibly large shadow that loomed over her screaming babies.
That huge arm descended.
Her son dived and knocked her daughter out of the way, off the wall.
She screamed.
Her daughter screamed.
Her son died.
All across the wall the same scenes repeated.
People that shouldn’t have been there died.
No.
That wasn’t right.
They were murdered.
The towers still stood.
Guns, arrows and spells flew.
The monsters left those alone for the most part.
There was more than enough flesh exposed on the walls for them to focus on.
The monster turned to her with a grin wide enough to bite her in half.
It suddenly rose in the air as if plucked by an invisible giant’s hand.
Across the entire expanse of the wall, as far as she could see all the other monsters rose into the air.
They snarled and struggled.
Hundreds of them.
Then the invisible hands squeezed and crushed.
The angry roars turned into ones of pain, agony.
The dark part in her relished it.
They had taken away two of her lights. Snuffed them out forever. Let them suffer. Please! Let them feel what she felt.
Loud cracks echoed across the wall.
Silence.
The monster’s corpses were dashed across the ground knocking the rest of their kind to the ground like bowling pins.
Her daughter!
She realized—
She frantically looked to the ground.
Ten feet wasn’t a fatal fall… was it?
There was no sign of her baby.
Where was her baby?
“Mommy!”
Her daughter’s voice.
She followed the sound upward.
Her daughter floated next to a flying man.
Gentle hands she couldn’t see suddenly pulled her into the air. To her daughter’s embrace. She held on as tight as she could.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
The man spoke in a voice as harsh as frozen mountain peaks.
She would’ve recoiled but somehow she knew with certainty that the words weren’t meant for her.
Across the wall the survivors, like her, were pulled into the air.
Gun shots rang out.
She flinched but no bullets reached her or the others.
A sudden flash of rage pulsed through her. Gone so fast that she thought she had imagined it.
The monsters climbed the wall.
They were thrown back, crushed to the ground by invisible hands.
“Save your ammunition for the monsters,” the man growled.
She didn’t understand.
Weren’t they already doing that?
Realization dawned on her a moment later when the armed men and women bearing the golden cross and wings suddenly floated from the rooftops across the street to the wall.
They cried out in dismay.
She felt no empathy.
This was what they deserved.
The same fate they had forced on her family.
“Defend your city like you should’ve done in the first place.”
The man flew and they floated in his wake.
“I’m sorry I was too late. This is happening all over the city. The Meat Parade is attacking from every direction and the eternal church is sacrificing people like you.”
He set them down a few miles from the wall.
The sounds of gunfire and spells exploding lessened.
“Listen, I need to go. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’d suggest you avoid the church’s people or they’ll throw you back into the grinder to save themselves. Go to this place…” he gave them directions. “Tell the people you find there what happened. Tell them I sent you. They’ll do what they can to protect you.”
She recognized the cross streets.
Somewhere downtown.
She thought of her youngest. Stuck in the shelter. A hostage. She realized that now.
What could she do now?
A song— music— played in the back of her thoughts.