Chapter 28 — Ashes

  It was over.

  Omega lay dead on the porch of Makoto's cabin. The golems had vanished. Rachel was sitting in the mud and staring up into the rain, seemingly frozen in place. Alden struggled back to his feet, unsure what to do next. He walked over to Rachel, his head pounding with every step. His eyes were blurry and he could see specks dancing around in his vision. He sat down next to her before he ended up collapsing.

  "Hey," he started, not sure what else to open with.

  Rachel didn't move an inch.

  "Rachel?"

  "Yes."

  "It's over."

  Rachel shook her head, water flying off her hair to strike Alden in the face. She continued staring up into the sky heedless of the rainfall. "It's not."

  "We beat him. We won."

  "...Look around, Alden," she replied. "I don't think we can call this a win."

  She was right, after a fashion. They'd killed him, but Aaron was still writhing in pain on the other side of the clearing. Ruby had carried Cinza out to him, and together they were trying to stem the loss of blood. Cinza couldn't even stand, but still she tried to help. Yusuf ran about trying to find clean, dry cloth to use as a bandage. Rufus had gone into the other cabin to find Makoto.

  In the distance, the angry glow continued to brew while smoke billowed into the sky.

  "How many, do you think?" she asked quietly.

  "What?"

  "Because of me. Because I screwed up the first time. Because I waited as long as I could here and let him keep attacking." Rachel finally looked down at him. "How many?"

  "It was the only way."

  "How many?" Rachel asked again.

  Alden shook his head. "You can't do that to yourself."

  "Go help them, Alden. They need it more than I do."

  Rachel stood up and walked over to the cabin, where they could still hear the faint sound of someone softly crying. Alden didn't know what to say to her, but she wasn't wrong—Cinza's people were in crisis.

  Cinza shot him a confused look as he joined them, but didn't raise any objections. He pressed in where she'd been holding the bandages, putting on more pressure than she'd been able to manage from her awkward position and weakened arms. Ruby tried to tie a tourniquet around his shoulder, but there was no real place to cut off the blood flow. It was too overwhelming, with the arteries and veins torn to shreds and no real way to hold Aaron down.

  Their hands were covered in dark crimson mixed with the mud and rain, but she refused to give in. Even as Aaron slowed down and stopped moving, and Ruby and Alden fell back, Cinza was still trying to hold the bandage in place.

  "Cin," Ruby said.

  "No more," she snapped.

  "Cin, he's gone."

  Cinza twisted so sharply Alden thought her head might snap off. "I'm not losing another family member."

  "He's dead," Alden cut in. "It's over."

  She looked at him oddly. "What makes you think this is over?"

  "Look!" he shouted, gesturing to the corpse and Rachel standing over it. "He's dead! It's over."

  "He's right," said Ruby. "I know you're still out of it, Cin, but please. Aaron's gone, and we've got other people who need us." Cinza took a deep breath. Without warning, she began to struggle to her feet. Ruby took her arm and helped her upright. "Slow down a bit!"

  "Where's Makoto?" Cinza asked brusquely.

  Alden noticed that even now, she still maintained her echoing voice. She coughed throughout longer sentences, which was a stranger sound still than her usual voice, but she forced out the words nonetheless. Ruby pointed up at the cabin where Rachel stood. Makoto was just emerging, limping along with Rufus' support. Cinza started to walk toward them, but her legs buckled after only a few steps.

  "Let me carry you," Ruby muttered.

  "I can make it."

  "Don't be ridiculous, Cin. Nobody cares that you can't walk right now. You aren't showing weakness."

  Still visibly reluctant, Cinza allowed Ruby to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way through the downpour. Alden followed at a respectful distance. As he got close, Cinza was talking to a catatonic Rachel.

  "What happened?"

  Rachel wordlessly gestured at her feet. The crying had stopped. Jackson's face was twisted at an odd angle against the wooden floorboards where he'd fallen. Two bullets had burst through his skull while the remainder went through his chest. Thanks to the slowing effect, every single one had struck before he'd fallen.

  Cinza looked at the body with disgust. "Good."

  Rachel finally reacted with something more than a vague stupor, her eyes shooting up to meet Cinza's. The small girl spat on him, then pulled out a small cloth from inside her robes and wiped her mouth clean. Rachel looked appalled.

  "Do you expect me to give him respect? He is a monster and I wish him nothing but the deepest levels of hell, if such a place exists."

  "And I should be there with him," Rachel murmured.

  "Drop the melodrama," Cinza snapped. "You made some mistakes. We all did. None could have foreseen where this would lead. Think less about what could have been and more about what comes next. You've stopped our greatest threat. We've suffered losses, but we're still alive."

  "I wish—"

  "Wishes are nothing," she interrupted. "Wishes are flights of fancy for children. I told you, when you come to a decision, you must commit and not look back. I don't know what sort of choices you faced, but in the end, you were victorious. What more could I ask for?"

  "A better leader."

  "I chose you, Rachel." Cinza held out her hand, causing Ruby to almost drop her from the sudden imbalance. Rachel looked at it strangely, but didn't reach out. "I still choose you. You saved our lives today."

  Rachel's eyes welled up even more. Alden was beginning to realize what had happened. What Rachel had done. He walked up to join them, looking Rachel directly in the eyes. "You saved us all, Rachel," he added firmly, giving her a brief nod.

  He wouldn't reveal her betrayal. It wouldn't do anyone any good. They were still in a crisis, even with Omega dead at their feet. They needed a leader.

  Rachel took a deep breath. She took Cinza's hand, but she refused to look her in the eye. "Get everyone together," she said, though her voice sounded painfully flat and disaffected.

  "Who's everyone?" asked Rufus.

  "The town. Everyone who's still alive." Rachel started walking, straight for the billowing black pillars rising out of Rallsburg.

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  Rufus stayed behind, wanting to put his friend to rest. The rest of the group followed Rachel in a loose formation. Cinza limped along supported by both Ruby and Makoto—awkward due to her size, but they managed to make it work. Alden wasn't sure where he fit into the group and ended up at the front next to Rachel. She ignored them all, moving as if she were totally alone. It was only after they'd made it halfway back that Alden noticed she wasn't ignoring everyone.

  She was muttering under her breath, and not to herself. He could only catch a few snippets, but Rachel was trying to convince their invisible companion of something. If he guessed right, Rachel wanted her to find all the survivors left in town, but Grey-eyes wasn't answering. Alden spotted a few leaves on the ground that suddenly bent out of shape, confirming she was present. The town was swiftly approaching, and still Rachel's requests went unanswered.

  The glow of the fire faded away. Between the passing rain and whatever Natalie might have done, the pending inferno had been negated. The fire hadn't burned for that long, so Alden believed the town might yet be intact—but whatever hopes Alden held were dashed the moment they emerged from the woods.

  Rallsburg was covered in a sheet of grey. Buildings crumbled as far as the eye could see, their already-crippled structures laid waste by the flames. The ritual had done its damage, and the fires finished the town off. Only husks remained, the sturdiest wood in frames charred black as night. The old stone library towered over the wreckage like a gravestone. It was still just as damaged as when Alden had first arrived, but it stood immune to the fresh carnage that had struck Rallsburg.

  Since the library was the only visible intact building, they gravitated to it like a beacon. Alden's stomach churned as they walked through the broken town. There were sights no one should ever witness scattered about the houses and shops. Alden averted his eyes, feeling like he were somehow disrespecting the dead if he gawked at them. As they walked, Makoto or Yusuf would occasionally split off to investigate a structure they couldn't see inside—but inevitably they'd return alone, shaking their heads in disappointment.

  The few survivors they did come across joined their procession silently. Joe McKinney appeared after only a few minutes, to no comment from Cinza or the other Greycloaks whom he'd abandoned in the forest. There was no blame to be placed anymore—everyone felt too exhausted to raise grievances.

  They found Dan Rhodes outside his half-caved-in diner, sitting on the street and staring at the sky. Julian Black appeared a few minutes later, and Alden tried to give him a wide berth. He still carried the hunting rifle that had killed Logan Bowerson.

  Boris Morozov joined them on the next block. Alden half-expected Grey-eyes to reappear and greet him, but their reunion went unmarked. Boris tried to speak to Rachel, but besides a terse greeting, Rachel refused to engage with anyone. She still marched forward as if in a trance, her eyes unwavering from the library ahead.

  Alden worried about her. He didn't know her that well—in fact, he'd only spoken to her twice before they'd set off into the forest—but he couldn't imagine this was normal behavior. What was her plan? Was this funeral procession some sort of coping strategy for the town as a whole?

  Her words back in the forest still bothered him. She hadn't been talking like a leader, or even a survivor. She'd been surrendering.

  She was giving up, and Alden wasn't sure how to turn it around.

  They were only a block away from their destination, which was feeling more like a deadline with every step, when they heard a call from above. A few of their group scattered, but Alden recognized the voice. He waved to the quickly approaching speck shooting out of the low cloud layer.

  Hailey swooped in and came to an elegant landing a few feet away. Jessica let go and took a few steps away on unsteady feet, while Hailey limped over to the group. "Is everyone okay?"

  "Yeah," Alden replied, though it felt too inadequate an answer. "You kinda scared a few people," he added, looking over at Dan Rhodes. The diner owner had dropped to the pavement and covered his neck like he expected a disaster. As it became clear no harm was forthcoming, he gingerly accepted Boris' help back to his feet.

  Hailey winced. "Sorry, Dan."

  "'s okay," Dan mumbled, still a bit shell-shocked. "Thanks for savin' my bacon earlier."

  "No problem." Hailey looked around curiously. "So is it over? The ones following me all got dusted."

  "Yes," Alden replied.

  Hailey looked at him oddly, but didn't press the question. "So what's going on now?"

  Alden glanced at Rachel ahead of them, who hadn't stopped walking for a moment. He shrugged. "I guess we're meeting up."

  "Okay." Hailey fell in step with him, but Alden stopped again.

  "I just remembered, we left Neffie at that garage—"

  "Oh. I'll go get her. Hey, Jess?"

  Jessica looked up at her name. Hailey pointed at herself, then made a vertical swooping motion into the air, followed by a sort of imitation of a crane-game picking up something invisible and dropping it off.

  Jessica nodded. She pointed at Alden, then at herself and made a walking motion with her fingers. Alden wondered if he could have come up with coherent explanations like that on the fly so quickly, but he supposed they had a lot of practice.

  Hailey took a few steps and bounded into the air. She almost seemed to be standing on midair for a second, before clearly taking another jump off of nothing and a third, creating enough altitude to start gliding away across town. Alden watched her go with a mixture of jealousy and awe—and he certainly wasn't alone, judging by the expressions from the rest of the group.

  Their brief respite from the gloom was cut short as the procession reached its destination. The library loomed in front of them, the only intact structure remaining in Rallsburg. The rain had let up, but even so, Alden could feel their collective desire to take cover. No one wanted to be out in the open anymore, not after what they'd been through.

  Rachel walked up to the boards covering the entrance and gently set them aside. She passed through to the dark interior, and they saw a gentle orange light flicker to life. It peeked through the windows with a soft glow.

  No one followed her. Silence hung in her wake.

  "...So do we just go in?" asked Julian Black.

  "I guess? What do you people usually do?" said Dan.

  "I don't think any of this counts as usual," Cinza put in softly.

  Hailey returned while they were still milling about the library, unsure if they should follow Rachel inside. Neffie stumbled away at the landing, looking winded as ever. As she stood up, she let out a cry of "Preston!" and sprinted away from the group. It took Alden a second to realize her cry was joy, not grief.

  A man in uniform had just emerged around the next corner. His sleeves were a little singed and he looked like he'd just run a marathon, but he was certainly alive. Neffie buried her brother in a hug.

  Behind the man, Natalie rode out atop Gwen, looking more exhausted than the rest of them combined. Alden had never seen someone so young look so disheartened and tired, yet she still managed to stay upright and join the group. Both Kendra and Lily followed her, looking almost perfectly identical. One of them had a pair of sunglasses hanging from the hem of her shirt, but other than that Alden had no real way to distinguish them. Rounding them out was Hector Peraza, making it a reunion of the ritual group. Hector stayed close to Natalie as they approached, holding her hand as the wolf padded forward and sat down outside the library.

  Alden wanted to feel happy for the reunion, but so many others looked forlorn and abandoned. Joe McKinney already knew for certain his father had died. Jessica was looking left and right, clearly hoping her parents might emerge as Preston had. Hailey had told Alden about their rocky relationship, but they were still her parents. Dan and Julian were waiting for friends or colleagues, Kendra and Lily were waiting for the rest of the university staff who hadn't gone home for the summer yet.

  None dared walk away from the group. Even if Omega was dead, the memories of golems emerging from the shadows to tear them to pieces was too fresh. They bound themselves together like a herd, instinctively watching away from the center and keeping the weakest at the middle.

  "We're lucky he attacked when he did," Cinza commented, seated on the dirt and leaning against Ruby.

  She was speaking low enough that only those closest could hear, which included Alden and Hailey. Hailey spun around indignantly, but Cinza held up a hand to forestall her.

  "I'd guess it was intentional, if this hadn't been set off by the unexpected deaths in that trailer. But think about it. Spring term is over, so the school had already emptied for the summer." Cinza nodded at the wreckage of the university buildings, far away at the opposite end of the street from the library. "This could have been so much worse."

  Hailey opened her mouth to argue, but hesitated. A few seconds later, she closed it again with a sigh. The minutes dragged on, while the endless gray blanket of clouds slowly drifted through the sky. Between the sky, the ash and the charred buildings, it seemed to Alden like color had been sucked out of the town entirely. They were still surrounded by the green and brown of the forest at the edges, but the town itself was devoid of any sort of life. The only contrasting hue besides the clothes on their backs was the gentle flickering orange inside the library.

  The sheriff arrived around the same corner as Preston had a few minutes later, accompanied by the male councilor—Josh, if Alden remembered his name correctly. Jackie jogged up to join them, giving Preston and Neffie a warm welcome in particular. Questions of other survivors flew fast, but Jackie only shook her head. Before their hopes were completely dashed, there was a sudden, indistinct cry of alarm—from Jessica.

  A middle-aged couple sprinted down the road, and Jessica matched them in urgency. Hailey took off after her friend, stumbling a little from her injuries. The collected survivors watched as Jessica was snatched up by her parents in a tight hug. Their relief was infectious.

  Quiet murmurs began to spring up as the others voiced their vague hopes. Alden too felt relieved—perhaps moreso than the crowd, since Hailey had told him of the strained relationships in the Silverdale family. To see Jessica's parents reunited with their daughter in such a heartwarming way brought them a new wave of hope that they'd been missing for too long. Faint smiles were sprouting on lips, eyes softening.

  As Jessica and her family rejoined the group, Josh proposed a search party. He was collecting volunteers when a voice spoke up from nowhere. She sounded utterly defeated, her voice thick with the repercussions of grieving. "That's everyone."

  "What?" Josh asked, looking around.

  She didn't answer. Alden took a step toward where he thought the voice had come from. "Grey-eyes?" he asked tentatively.

  "...I don't feel anyone else in town. This is it."

  The silence that fell over them was agony. Jackie took a quick headcount. "That's everyone? Just twenty-two people? Jesus Christ…"

  Alden didn't know how many people were supposed to be in Rallsburg, but it had to be a hundred or two at least. The fires and the golems did far more than he'd realized. The town had been annihilated.

  "What are we supposed to do now?" Natalie asked. She sat up on Gwen and straightened her black dress, looking around for advice.

  No one had any for her. Slowly, one by one, heads turned toward the glowing light just inside the library gateway.