“Jesus Christ!” Jebediah Francis blurted out when a blade touched his throat.
He thought he was alone in his office, but he made the mistake of letting down his guard in this crazy world. Someone had appeared from the shadows, pressing a nasty-looking dagger to his neck. “Let’s talk this out. Who sent you? Was it Daniels, that stupid bastard? The mayor?”
The knife squeezed closer, drawing a line of blood on his skin, something that hadn’t happened since he awakened his powers. “No one sent me. I came to see you myself.” A disembodied voice answered back. Jeb couldn’t identify if it belonged to a man or woman. “I came to see the leader of the people who protect this town.”
“I’m not the leader. The commander holds way more power than I do.” More than a panicked admittance, it was the truth.
“That old man is blind to the corruption he lets fester out. You, you see the darkness of people.” The voice paused, the knife letting up. “I know you don’t want that darkness to swallow us whole. I came to tell you I won’t be holding the bosses back this time.”
Jeb felt tired, more than he had in a long time. “So you’re our mysterious savior.” He leaned back as he whispered to himself, no longer caring about the knife at his throat. “Why are you telling me this? You don’t have any responsibilities towards us.”
“Because I don’t want to see this town get massacred either. I need to focus on the big picture, while you guys protect the people here.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do?” He sighed.
“Fight.” The voice said. The dagger slipped from his neck, leaving a line of blood before it and its wielder disappeared.
“What the hell can we even do against a disaster-level threat?” He clapped his hand to his forehead, trying to think of a solution.
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Screams, moans, and groans along with the scent of disinfectant wafted through the air around the hospital. With the building filled to maximum capacity and then some, the number of tents surrounding it grew exponentially larger until they ran out of tents. Now, patients were lucky to get a tent, waiting to be treated with their bleeding wounds exposed to the open air.
Devin navigated through the confusing jumble of patients to get to Ben's tent. The teen was in the middle of putting on a change of only slightly bloodied clothes when Devin opened the tent flap. He gave the boys a weary, awkward smile as his eyes lingered on the gruesome scars that extended from his shoulder to his pelvis. “Glad to see you’re alive.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Glad to be alive.” Ben sighed, shoving a hand in Ken’s face before he could start talking. “Let’s get out of here, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be.”
Devin nodded, waiting for the twins to grab their stuff. They left expeditiously, leaving their tent flap wide open for the next person to use.
“Sorry for not visiting you,” Devin said awkwardly. “I… I had to take care of my situation first.”
“Don’t worry about it. I heard you saved my life.” Ben waved it off. “As far as I’m concerned, I owe you.”
Devin looked him up and down, “If you say so.” He sighed, before jabbing a thumb down the street. “Come on. Gerald’s having another cookout. Apparently, there was another elite boar in the horde last night.” He told them, leading them to Gerald’s house a few blocks away with the sun at their backs.
Ken, unable to hold himself back, blurted out “Whydoyoufeelsodifferent?”
“Woah, woah.” Devin held in a chuckle. “Speak slower before you choke on your spit.”
Ken took a deep breath. “I said, why do you feel so different? You’re giving off a totally different feeling than you were on Monday.”
Devin rubbed the back of his head. “Probably because I had to reconstruct my ring. It’s slightly different now.” He manifested his circle around him, uncaring of the eyes that shot towards him. He demonstrates the changes in the now sun-white construct, pointing out the green and crimson flakes. “Things almost went left, but in the end, I got it right.”
A paw slapped against his neck. “We got it right.” At their questioning looks, he pulled Dewey out of the collar of his jacket. “Dewey here helped me a lot.”
“Aww.” Ben swooned at her. Seeing Devin have his pet on standby, Ben followed his lead, summoning his wolf pup in a flash of arcanium. “Einstein here is a good boy too.” He said, holding the puppy in his arms like a child before dropping him. The summon wordlessly followed them, walking side-by-side with its summoner.
“How are the other wolves I gave you?”
“They’re good! Been repairing them with the shards from the lake for the last couple of days, so now we can help with defending the town too.”
“You’re going to participate in that?” Devin asked, so surprised he nearly ran into a light pole. “But you just got up today. Don’t you think it's a little risky?”
“Maybe.” Ben shrugged. “But Jenkins told us how bad they thought it was going to be tonight. I would rather be out there fighting with them, than waiting to die in a tent.” He gave Devin a sidelong look. “Are you not planning on going out there tonight?”
“...I don’t know yet.” He bit his lip leaving it at that as they walked up to Gerald’s house.
Already, his mouth was watering from smelling the barbecue from down the street. He knocked on their door, giving a wide smile as Gerald’s wife opened the door.
“Junior! Hamiltons! Glad to have you here.” She yelled over the loud music, stepping aside to let them into the already-filled house.
Even though the setting sun was only giving little light from over the horizon, the living room was lit by Christmas and porch lights powered by the generator that also fueled the stereo that literally had the music bumping through the house.
Barbecue tinted with all kinds of spices hung in the air, promising a delicious dinner before a long night. Devin quickly left the boys to catch up with their friends around town, beelining to the cooler filled with ice. Just like he prayed, it was stacked to the brim with actually good beer.
He immediately popped the cap off of one and took a sip, savoring the frothy drink with a shudder. Good thing I never went to those parties in college. I really would’ve been an alcoholic.
“That’s a neat trick.” A familiar voice popped above the music beside him. Devin turned, and his jaw dropped.
Jenkins’ army fatigues were no were to be found, replaced by a civvie summer uniform; a tank top and jean shorts that showed a little too much skin. Her tan glistened in the orange sunlight, yet his eyes were drawn to hers as she framed her face with her long dark brown hair that wasn’t hidden under a hat or helmet.
“Goddamn.” He whispered to himself.