Now, Kansas
“Listen up!” Fred barked.
Michael regarded his former section leader.
The wiry man was covered in partially healed cuts, burns and bullet wounds.
“That did not go as planned but that’s okay. No plan survives contact with the enemy. You’ve got to adjust and be flexible. So, that’s what our commanders are doing.”
That was an understatement.
Michael had watched the fight to breach the city’s eastern wall. It had been going well until that flying man had shown up and killed hundreds of his brothers and sisters in a matter of seconds.
He had recognized the man from a distance when his team hadn’t.
The same one that had handed them their asses in the tent city.
He found out later that the scene had been repeated all around the city.
Where the man showed up they were thrown back.
“Here’s what’s going to happen tonight. We’re going to attack again. While the enemy is occupied you will slip into the city. They can’t cover every inch of the wall. Always seemed stupid to me. Why build a wall around the entire city when there’ll be inevitable gaps. It’s not like they’ve got millions of people in there,” Fred shook his head. “In any case. Once you’re inside it’s guerrilla tactics. You’ll proceed in small teams. Complete autonomy. Cause as much chaos as you can. Eat and get stronger.”
“The flying man—”
“None of that,” Fred cut off the voice. “I know the rumors are going around. This isn’t the same ‘flying man’ from the stories the vets tell you to make you piss your pants. Multiple sources have confirmed it. They know what the real guy looks like. They were there back in the day. Not the same guy. That one was all about punching and tanking shots like nothing. No telekinetic bullshit like this one. Anyways, the plan accounts for him. We’ll keep him occupied while you slip in. Then you’ll draw his attention to let us breach the walls. He can’t be everywhere and if we move fast enough we can kill, eat and take prisoners.”
“What are our real objectives?” Britt said.
“Remember that prophecy thing I told you about?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Not for you or me to know the full details. Just know that we are all playing a vital role in the ultimate success of a huge Quest.”
“But we don’t have it?” Britt said.
“Don’t worry about the rewards. Everyone will get a share equal to their contributions.” Fred waved them away. “That’s it. No more questions. You’ve got your locations. As soon as it gets dark, sneak into position and wait for the flares.”
The briefing broke apart and Michael joined the rest of his team as they moved through the camp to reach their tents.
“I see this as a good thing. We do not want to tangle with that flying dude,” Donald said.
“I’m concerned that we don’t know what the real objectives are. It feels like we’re just distractions,” Britt said.
“That’s what Fred basically said,” Michael nodded.
“Doesn’t it bother you?” Britt said.
“I don’t worry about things above my level,” he shrugged.
“We get to hunt without worrying about the complicated stuff,” Sunny said.
“We’d already be dead if we had joined the vets in the attack on the walls earlier today,” Lincoln said.
“I passed by the prisoner cages and there aren’t a lot left,” Charlie said.
“So what?” Donald said.
“Fred still looked pretty messed up,” he said.
“It means they had to use too much to heal, which means we’re out of healing for the next attack,” Charlie continued.
“Again, so what? The main force is coming in, like, a week. They’ll bring more,” Donald scoffed.
“Charlie’s right. I don’t know the exact plan, since we’re too low level,” Britt rolled her eyes, “but if I had to guess. We should’ve breached the walls and taken territory in the city with the first attack. That means we should’ve had more prisoners by now. Not less.”
“Like Fred said, we just got to be flexible,” Donald said. “We go in tonight, like ninjas, and get it done.”
They spent the time remaining to them getting ready. They couldn’t eat since the last of the prisoners were undoubtedly being saved for higher ranking brothers and sisters. They checked their equipment making sure that everything was in the best possible condition it could be in.
Time flowed strangely.
It simultaneously felt like forever, yet when the call came they didn’t feel like they had enough time to prepare.
They ran into position under the cover of darkness and the renewed assault on the wall.
Michael didn’t need his darkvision to see the action in the distance thanks to the spotlights shining down from the guard towers and the flashes from the weapons and spells.
He scanned the dark sky for the flying man but saw nothing.
The flare came all too quickly and they were sprinting across the open ground.
Fred was right.
What was the point of a wall when you were going to be forced to leave sections of it unguarded due to lack of personnel?
The whiz-crack of a gunshot sent a shower of dirt flying at his feet.
“Guard tower,” someone in his thirty-strong group hissed.
“Light Arrow,” Britt said.
A dozen spells and gunshots joined hers in striking the guard tower.
“Leave the tower to me!” one of the vets roared. “Get in the city!”
The vet transformed into her hulking form and leapt all the way to the top of the tower.
Michael didn’t see the rest as he sprinted for the wall.
He transformed as he reached it.
Claw-like nails and enhanced strength made it a simply matter to scale the ten-foot-tall wooden wall.
Britt was just behind him.
The others had already scaled over the top.
“Alright. Split up into your teams. No orders. Just cause as much chaos as you can,” another vet said. “Don’t count on any backup to bail you out if you get in trouble. For the blessed sacrament.”
“For the blessed sacrament!” they all echoed.
“Over there!” Britt urged them toward a dark alley. “Okay, stop. It’s time to make a plan. I’m betting most of the people not fighting on the wall will be in their homes or in shelters,” she pulled out a map of the city. “I don’t know exactly where people are living since I’m a noob,” she sighed.
“Let’s go for the rich people. They’re fatter,” Sunny growled.
“There’s a bunch big houses over here,” Donald tapped the map.
“Don’t know if there’ll be people there,” Lincoln said.
“Oh, people will definitely in the big houses. Whether rich or not. The best places always get taken,” Charlie said.
“They’ll be better defended. I think we’re better off doing what Britt planned,” he said.
She gave him a grateful look. “Michael’s right. We have no idea if the homes are held by people stronger than us. We might not even be able to get inside. So, I thought it’d be best if we followed our orders and created chaos. Start fires. Draw attention to them and set up ambushes. Pull guards away from the weaker people. Then hit the homes.”
There was some grumbling, but the team backed their leader.
They ran through dark streets until they spotted a good target.
A corner gas station beckoned.
Lincoln pulled two gas cans from his large pack and handed them out.
“Can you get them open?” Britt pointed to the metal lids set in the concrete concealing the tanks buried underground.
“Easy,” Lincoln pulled a crowbar from his pack and transformed.
He pried the caps open with brute force and did the same to expose the gas in the tanks.
“Do we just drop a match—” Donald said.
“No!” Britt snapped. “Give me the rope?”
Lincoln handed it over.
She unrolled it and lowered one end into the tank.
Lincoln passed out bundles of rope as they copied Britt with the other tanks.
They then used the gas cans to drench the ropes as they pulled them out into the middle of the street.
“Is this far enough?” Donald said.
“No, but we can run pretty fast,” Britt struck a match and lit the ropes.
They ran for it.
The gas-soaked ropes lit up.
The trail of fire was slower than them as it ran down the ropes and into the tanks.
They reached the cover of a large building when an ear-splitting boom shook their insides and shattered windows in the immediate area.
Michael looked back.
The gas station was a flaming ruin.
The fires had spread to the stores in the same corner shopping center.
“It worked!” Britt clapped in delight.
“Awesome!” Donald’s sharp-teeth gleamed in the fire light.
“Let’s get into position, Michael and Donald up there,” Britt pointed to the second level of a two-story building directly across the street from the burning gas station. “The rest of us will wait there,” she pointed to the alley behind the burning stores. “We’ll go on you guys.”
They didn’t have to wait long.
An actual fire truck, no sirens, rolled up.
A dozen men and women hopped out warily.
The ones with shields protected the rest as they observed the raging flames.
“Do we shoot?” Donald whispered.
Michael stood in the shadow of the wall. Arrow nocked, but not drawn. “Not yet. They’re on guard.”
He could hear them talk clearly despite the distance thanks to his hunter’s ears.
“What the fuck happened?”
“We’ve got infiltrators. Stay on your toes!”
“Do we put it out?”
“Yeah, but keep your head on a swivel.”
Michael peeked to take a quick glance.
He noticed one detail.
They all had a golden cross and wings somewhere on their armor or clothing.
He realized they were part of the eternal church.
A big, bearded man barked instructions while he gestured emphatically.
A handful of them began to take the hose from the fire truck.
The ones with shields stuck close to them making sure to keep their backs protected. The rest took up defensive positions using the fire truck as partial cover.
“We should send a runner to let them know about this.”
“I’m not sending anyone out there on their own. We stay together. Don’t worry. We’ll put this out and head back.”
The hose men got to work turning the stream of water to the fires on the stores.
“Get ready,” Michael whispered.
Donald took a knee at the broken window and raised his carbine.
“Power Shot.”
Michael stepped from cover and drew in one smooth motion.
The arrow streaked through the air with a bang.
The bearded leader crumpled to the ground.
The arrow’s fletching quivered out from his iron helmet like a tiny flag.
Donald’s carbine barked in three round bursts a split-second later.
Michael drew another arrow and loosed.
A shield-bearing woman fell to the ground with a second flag planted in her eye.
He ran to the other side of the room and took cover behind the brick wall as something hot exploded through the broken window and into the ceiling.
Donald cursed as he threw himself behind the wall patting his burning sleeves frantically.
“We need to keep their attention on us!” Michael snapped a quick shot out of cover and struck a shield.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The return fireball sent flames splashing near him.
Dueling gun’s barked at each other.
“I’m hit!”
Donald came out the loser on that exchange.
Michael drew another arrow and loosed.
Another miss.
Not so for the enemy.
Hot pain lanced through his chain shirt and into his shoulder.
The bow fell from his hand.
He pressed himself back into cover.
“We need to heal!” Donald called.
A high-pitched roar suddenly filled the sky.
The impacts on their cover stopped.
Michael risked a look.
Sunny had already leapt on top of a big man’s shield. She tore into his face with frenzied slashes.
The drawback of an open-faced helm was death for the man as Sunny leaned close and bit with an impossibly huge mouth.
Charlie and Lincoln were several steps behind Sunny.
The latter barreled toward an axe and shield wielder.
“Bulwark!” the woman screamed.
The impact knocked her back a few steps while doing the same to Lincoln.
An archer near the firetruck drew her bow and whispered something Michael didn’t catch.
The arrowhead burst into flames.
She loosed and struck Lincoln in the upper chest.
Michael picked up his bow and drew his own arrow.
His wounded shoulder rebelled.
Charlie charged a man in chainmail wielding a two-handed axe. “Rend Armor!” claw-like nails in her right hand shredded the steel rings protecting his stomach. “Gutting Slash!” her left hand swept across his gut. Tough, padded fabric parted like paper. His flesh did the same. “Here!” she tossed a handful of guts to Lincoln, before shoving the rest into her mouth.
A burning arrow pierced through the tough fabric into her thigh. She finished swallowing, dug the arrow out and charged the archer.
Lincoln did the same and punched the woman’s shield.
The wood shattered.
“Quick Chop!”
Her downward stroke flashed too fast for Lincoln to follow.
He raised an arm but realized a split-second too late that the axe had struck him in the collarbone.
His chainmail held but he heard the crack, felt the bone break.
“Light Arrow!”
Britt’s spell hit the woman in the face.
Lincoln dashed forward to grab the stunned woman. He bit her face off then ripped her throat out, swallowing with relish.
He felt the broken bone begin to heal.
The pain spiked but he relished it.
It fed his hunger for the kill.
“Get me closer!” Britt called out.
“Follow me,” Lincoln held the dying woman in front of him like a shield and charged.
“Repel Evil!”
Michael watched as the air around a woman distorted along with a burst of golden light that dwindled to a soft glow that settled into a spherical aura around ten feet from her body.
His entire team recoiled, turned and ran.
They took several hits but managed to turn the corner and disappear into the darkness.
“Damn it! We’ve got to get out of here!” Donald said.
Michael lingered to cast one last baleful look at the woman and the glow around her.
Instinct told him that he hated it.
He followed Donald out of the building.
He led the way.
He had a better sense of smell than Donald.
His brother and sisters scent was clear beneath the sweet scent of flesh.
They caught up quickly in the shadows of a Walmart.
The other four were sharing the dead woman’s corpse.
Lincoln had carried it with his great strength.
“You’re wounded!” Britt said. “Here have some,” she handed him a bloody chunk of meat.
“I got shot too,” Donald whined.
“Grab a bite,” Britt gestured toward the corpse.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Donald winced.
“Did you get the bullet out yet?” Britt said.
He shook his head.
“Here, let me help.”
Britt worked quickly and efficiently.
She scoured his wound, pulling out broken chainmail, fabric and finally the bullet.
“Thanks,” he muttered before swallowing the meat whole.
It was strange how the pain of healing was worse than the pain of being wounded.
“Was that a win?” Donald said.
Sunny grunted something unintelligible. She was in the throes of her transformation more than the others.
“I shot one guy, well I shot a few, but I’m only sure that I killed one,” Donald continued.
“I killed two,” Michael added.
“Lincoln, Charlie and Sunny each got one, so that’s half their number and Michael got their leader. That’s a win,” Britt pronounced.
“Yeah, but we only got one and we’re sharing,” Charlie sighed. “We need to partake of the sacrament to get stronger and we definitely need to get stronger or the next fight will go bad for us. We’re not going to heal completely from this,” she pointed at the partially eaten corpse.
“What happened down there? That woman said ‘Repel Evil’ and you guys ran,” Michael said.
“We already talked about this, but to catch you up… it was like the opposite of a taunt. We just knew that we had to get away from that woman. I— we tried to fight it,” Britt shook her head.
“Maybe we can go back later and take the sacrament,” Lincoln ventured.
“No— that’s a good idea— but they know about us now. Even if they’re the kind of people that’d leave the bodies of their comrades, they know that the sacrament gives us strength,” Britt said. “We need to move on and find other targets.”
They used the remaining gas in their cans to start several fires.
At each location they waited for another ambush opportunity that never came.
The night stretched on as they continued to prowl the empty city streets.
It was on the wrong side of midnight when they reached a street that was pitch black with one exception.
A two-story building was lit up from within.
Michael heard the conversations, smelled the fear.
Britt stopped suddenly. “Guys, check out that building… the owner is weaker than us…”
“Hell yeah!” Donald pumped his fist.
“I’m pretty sure there’s, like, a hundred people crammed in that place,” Michael said.
“Doesn’t matter, let’s go!” Sunny vibrated in place.
“No! We need a plan first!” Britt snapped.
“What’s there to plan? There’s a front door and a back door and the upstairs window and maybe a fire escape in the back… okay… what’s the plan?” Donald shrugged.
“It’s packed. I say we all just get in there and cause as much panic as possible. I doubt there are strong fighters inside. Those would be on the wall or out in the city. It should be easy,” Britt beamed a bloody, sharp-toothed smile.
----------------------------------------
Heddy navigated through the press of bodies in both her shop and apartment.
It wasn’t standing room only, but it was close.
People found places to sit, leaning against walls and furniture.
They saved the most comfortable spots, like chairs, the couch and her bed for the old and the young.
Knox had made sure that there was plenty to drink and eat. Though that wasn’t a big concern since their plan had been to slowly funnel people out to the downtown location that Nila woman had given them as a gathering spot for their eventual escape from the besieged city.
She joined the rest in flinching and looking to the windows whenever a particularly loud explosion shook the air. The sounds of gunfire had long ago dwindled to something like background white noise.
The heat inside was unbearable and she had the others crack the windows open a few inches.
She wanted them out. She had never been one to be comfortable without plenty of personal space and she was finding it a challenge to have so many people in her one safe space. She had offered though and she wasn’t one to go back on her word.
At least it wasn’t as packed as it had been earlier in the day.
Unfortunately, when the sun had gone down Knox had decided that it was too dangerous for people to move through the city in the dark especially when it seemed like there were sounds of fighting inside the walls.
The back door jingled and everyone held their breaths.
Those closest tried to shy away but they didn’t have room.
She gripped the handle of her knife.
The door opened quickly.
A sigh of relief passed through the room.
It was Knox.
He gave a tired smile. His usually perfect silver and black hair was mussed and she couldn’t help but notice there was noticeably more silver than black.
“What’s happening out there?” an old man sitting next to the door said.
“They’re in the city,” Knox replied. “Please, don’t panic,” he soothed as worried gasps filled Heddy’s shop.
“Are you sure?”
“My sources are pretty certain. There have been fires and explosions all over the place. The church has been sending out response teams and not all of them are coming back. The ones that do… are coming back hurt and with missing people.”
“We need to get out of here!”
“No. It’s the worse time to be out on the streets,” Knox shook his head.
“What about those people that are supposed to help us?”
“I’m hoping they can provide an escort or something, but I can’t go to them until tomorrow morning. It’s too dangerous out there in the dark,” Knox said.
Heddy caught his eye and dragged him to a corner behind her main worktable for as much privacy as could be managed in the packed space.
“They got past the walls? How?” she demanded.
“Sources—” he lowered his voice, “my sources say that the church thinks they sneaked small teams in at lightly defended spots. The main attack hasn’t breached the walls. Your friend, Cal, it’s not clear… but the word is that he’s all over the place keeping the Meat Parade from getting through. They’re attacking from all sides, Heddy!” he hissed. “There shouldn’t be this many of them…”
“Should we just make a run for it? We’re not safe here. What if our best chance is to stay with Cal’s people. That Nila had some kind of futuristic armor and I saw her jump from the ground to the roof.”
Knox nodded. “I know. There was some kind of fight at the RV park earlier today. I don’t have details, but a lot church fighters came back busted up pretty good.”
“Maybe a few of the fastest or sneakiest people here try to make it to them and then they can escort the rest of us.”
“I don’t know…”
“How can you not? You’ve got all the plans!” Heddy hissed.
“It’s—” Knox voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ve lost contact with a lot of the network. I don’t know if its the seekers or the cannibals…”
“You have to do something. We can’t stay in my shop forever.”
“In the morning—”
“What if it’s too late?”
“Look, Heddy, I’ve got nothing— unless,” Knox sighed. “Do you have paper?”
“What for?”
“It’s a terrible plan, but better than nothing. I’m going to give everyone in here the address of the gathering spot. If something goes wrong at least some of us might make it out of here.”
Heddy helped Knox write the directions down and passed them out to everyone inside her shop and apartment.
The work took her mind of the unpleasant stuffiness of the air, so much so that when they finished she felt a spike of despair.
She was desperate for a breath of fresh air that she consider stepping out into the alley behind her shop for just a few seconds.
Her hand drifted toward the doorknob as if with a mind of its own.
“Heddy! What are you doing?” Knox hissed.
She pulled her hand back and turned away when the door suddenly exploded open knocking her aside.
A loud roar filled the space.
Screams.
The press of bodies trying to get away.
Gunfire.
Heddy’s head spun as she tried to get up from the wall she had been slammed into.
“Heddy!”
She dimly heard Knox’s voice.
“Meat Parade! Run!” a voice she didn’t recognize shouted.
Her vision cleared just in time to see a small, pale blur dash past her to jump on a screaming man.
Teeth tore into throat and swallowed greedily.
“They’re coming from the front!”
She fought the bile in her throat and pushed her way toward the doorway from her backroom workshop to the front.
The press of desperate bodies pushed up against the walls as they tried to funnel themselves away from the cannibalistic monsters.
A big bodied cannibal reached out and grabbed a small woman by the back of her neck.
The poor woman screamed as sharp nails cut her flesh.
“Help! They’re up here too!”
Heddy looked back and watched in horror as the cannibal’s bloody mouth opened impossibly wide and bit half the back of the woman’s head off in one go.
Most of the people taking shelter in her shop weren’t real fighters.
Knox’s network had split the most capable ones to ensure that all the different safe houses were somewhat protected.
Where were the ones supposed to protect her shop?
The small cannibal lashed out and opened up the back of a man pushing against Heddy’s back.
She could see the whites of his eyes as he gazed at her, pleading, before a pair of clawed hands dug into his face and pooped his eyes like grapes as he was dragged back down.
“My sword!” she pointed at the sheathed blade propped up against the wall on the other side of the room near her main work table. “It’s enchanted! Someone—”
A snarl cut her off as the big bodied cannibal leapt and dragged the old woman crying next to her into a final embrace.
A young woman, a girl really, turned from the press with scream of terror and rage and took up the blade, frantically drawing it from the sheath. “How?” she screamed at Heddy.
“Say ‘Ignite’!”
The girl screamed and the straight blade burst into flames.
She recoiled and almost fumbled it.
The magic or the light or the heat, whatever the case, the girl attracted the attention of both cannibalistic monsters.
Their heads turned to regard her as they swallowed chunks of bloody flesh.
“Stay back!” the girl waved the burning blade.
They advanced on her, forgetting the rest.
“Now’s our chance. Out the back!” Knox yelled over the press from where he was stuck just on the other side of the doorway.
Heddy stumbled toward the open back door.
The others were slow to catch on but they did and the trickle turned into a tide as terrified people stampeded out the door.
She stopped and was roughly jostled.
She only had eyes for the young girl and the burning blade.
Her blade. Her words.
They put the girl in the path of the monsters.
One life to save dozens.
Was that fair?
“Heddy! C’mon!” Knox grabbed her arm and tried to drag her along with the tide. “They’re everywhere! They came in through the front and upstairs, in your apartment!”
“I— I— her— she’s—” she gestured.
“I know, but what else can we do!”
Heddy felt the hammering in her chest, the hot bile in her throat.
She felt the warm handle of the knife tucked into the back of her belt.
The crowd thinned.
“Get back!” the girl swung the burning sword in wide arcs.
The small cannibal monster hissed in anger as she got over eager and earned a hot cut to her clawed hand.
“We need to go!” Knox hissed in Heddy’s ear.
“But—”
“Shit!” Knox cursed.
Another cannibal monster appeared at the cleared doorway to the front.
He had the same too-wide mouth filled with sharp teeth and smeared with blood, but unlike the other two he wielded a weapon and was chubby with none of the hardness of the other two.
She watched in slow motion as he raised the gun. Pointed it at her and squeezed the trigger.
The loud bang felt cataclysmic in the enclosed space.
She was pulled back roughly.
Knox was suddenly in front of her.
He collapsed into her arms.
Three red flowers slowly bloomed on his once pristine white shirt.
His eyes stared up into hers for a moment before they stared into nothing.
The gun-wielding cannibal approached and pressed the barrel to her head.
Heddy slapped the barrel aside with a cry of rage and threw herself at the cannibal monster.
The knife was in her hand without conscious thought and she plunged it down into his forehead, all the way to the hilt.
It wasn’t her own strength, which was meager, that allowed the blade to part the steel helmet, tough skin and bone like paper. The magic in the blade had done the work.
The cannibal monster’s body jerked and seized up from the shock enchantment.
Teeth broke on teeth and severed his long tongue as his jaw clenched out of his control.
The dead body toppled as she pulled the knife free and—
She suddenly spun through the air from the heavy punch near her left shoulder.
The knife clattered on the floor.
Pain unlike any other she had ever known radiated from her shoulder.
She felt the hard shaft and soft fletching with her hand.
An arrow had gone all the way through her shoulder.
Her vision dimmed.
The fire light from the burning blade as the girl waved it in front of her frantically reminded her of childhood fireworks.
The sheer terror on the girl’s face reminded her of her own.
The two cannibal monsters menaced ever closer just out of the blade’s reach. Like lions toying with their prey.
She looked up and saw another cannibal at the front door to her shop. He nocked another arrow to his bow.
Heddy closed her eyes and waited.
“Flicker Movement.”