Terry cut through the narrow alleys of the inner city, alarm bells clanged their displeasure from all directions. The shouts from the pursuing crowd grew distant as Terry’s strength carried him and Kaius further from the city center. They were safe for the moment, but the strength he’d gained from whatever it was the fat boy had done to him waned with every breath.
Terry left the relative safety of the alley and entered one of the main streets to get his bearings. Thankfully, the street was devoid of people, likely they were all hiding from, or rushing toward, the commotion at the city center. Terry studied the skyline. Judging by the towers of the palace, he’d retreated south.
“Shit,” Terry hissed.
The sparsely guarded service gate was north, and even though the guards stationed there would never let him pass carrying the man who clearly fit the description of the Emperor’s killer, Terry was sure he could convince them to open the gate anyway…by threatening them, or just beating them up. He’d already come this far, what’s another couple assault charges in the grand scheme?
However, that plan relied on him having superior strength by the time he arrived, which he wouldn’t if he judged their location correctly. Maybe he could sneak up on one of the guards and bash him with the shovel before anyone noticed? That’d leave him with only one angry, combat-trained guard to deal with, then he’d just have to find a way to haul his enormous companion the rest of the way out of the city.
Stupid idea. He needed a better plan, maybe a place to hide until he could get his super strength back? But where? He didn’t know anyone who lived in the inner city, and even if he did they probably wouldn’t agree to shelter the most wanted man in the country.
This was one of those times he wished he’d ingratiated himself with the city’s criminal element. He’d been approached before by a lowly gang in the outer city, but politely turned them down. The money just wasn’t worth the risk for him. If he were caught in criminal dealings, he’d likely be imprisoned…or worse: be sent back to the Empire of the Sunset Moon.
Any criminal organization worth their salt always had use for someone that could move freely about the city relatively unnoticed, and they all had safe houses and hideouts where one could lay low after a crime. He was kicking himself now for not paying more attention to gossip and news. He couldn’t remember the names of the inner city’s criminals or their affiliations, even if he wanted to seek them out and buy their help with Kaius’ coin, he wouldn’t know where to begin looking.
But what was a safe house or a hideout really? Just an empty place that no one would bother or think to look? Like the basement of an unassuming shop, or abandoned building, or…
A crazy idea hit him, and Terry shot down an alley headed south.
=========================
Her plan had taken a detour, she was willing to admit that. The boys were going into hiding, but they weren’t dead, so there was some hope left. Other opportunities existed for course correction, the people she’d seen that might help them along the way could still find their way into the mix, especially if she gave them a nudge in the right direction, plus there were always animals.
Once the magic really started flowing and accumulating in all corners of the world, it’d only be a matter of time before the animals gained awareness and the ability to communicate. They were so much harder to read than humans, but that sword cut both ways. They could get a plan back on track, or completely derail it. Victory could be snatched from the jaws of defeat with the appearance of a single intelligent mouse, but defeat had come more than once at the hands of a simple bear–well, maybe not simple, the bear she had in mind had been extremely intelligent and possessed abilities that could level entire armies.
Be that as it may, there were no animals in the vicinity of her chosen saviors that she could see were on the verge of gaining awareness and intelligence, but there was one human who might be of use to them…if she lived. A recent shovel to the head left her in poor shape. Her spirit was half out of her body and had already begun to adapt to the world that came after.
She gently gave the spirit a nudge back toward her old body. The spirit resisted. She nudged it harder. The spirit shoved back.
This…never happened. She hadn’t done it all that often, but spirits were always happy to return to the world they knew. This one fought against her and for the first time in her seemingly endless existence, she had to wrestle a spirit back into its old body. Maybe the spirit had spent too long adapting to the other side? That might be an issue.
“You…bitch,” she grunted out the first words she’d spoken aloud in eons. The stars trembled in response.
What was wrong with that girl? That should not have been such a struggle. She wasn’t exactly ‘all-powerful’ herself, but relative to that stubborn spirit she most definitely was. When the spirit began to merge with her old body, she sighed in relief. Maybe now things could get back on track.
In the final moments before the merging process completed, the spirit stuck out a glowing, ethereal hand, and raised its middle finger.
============================
Prairie Creek, where the streets were clean, the food usually wouldn’t give you soul-rending diarrhea, the benches were not being fought over by homeless people, and birds seemed to sing especially for you–or at least that’s what he was picturing as he drug his fat lottery ticket through one of Prairie Creek’s dark and dirty alleys.
“Where are we?” Kaius asked. Terry thought he finally seemed to be coming around.
“Prairie Creek.”
“We did it, Bryan. We escaped.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Or maybe not, Terry thought, then said, “We absolutely did not escape.”
“Free men, Byron. No more farming for us. We’re done,“ the boy’s words were still slurred.
“We’re not farmers, man,” Terry said with an annoyed sigh.
“That’s right, Burlin! We’re done with that life.”
“What? No! That’s not what I’m say–you know what?” Terry interrupted himself. “Just shut up. We’re almost there.”
Terry looked at the numbers on the backs of the houses facing the alleyway. All the homes here had front doors facing the street and backdoors facing the alleys, but little to no yard. He approached the door marked ‘13012.’
“Please be unlocked,” Terry muttered as he turned the doorknob. It swung open with no resistance.
“That can’t be safe,” Kaius slurred, “anybody could just walk in. Criminals, undesirables…” Terry walked in, dragging Kaius with him. Kaius let out a gasp, “I love the decorations, you must give me the number to your decorator. Oh, that couch looks comfy, do you mind if I lie down?”
“Be my guest,” Terry grumbled, letting go of the boy’s wrist.
Kaius stumbled through a completely empty house, fluffed a nonexistent pillow, then flopped onto a nonexistent couch. “It is firmer than it looks, but I hear that’s good for your back,” He said, curling up on the wood floor.
13012 Evenpine Terrace Parkway, Terry thought, the vacant home he had to beg the sales agent to see only two weeks ago. It’d serve well enough as a hiding spot for now, although Terry glanced at shit caked Kaius and wondered if the place would ever smell the same again. He walked through the house to make sure they were indeed alone, then made sure all the doors were locked.
Satisfied that they were as safe as they were going to be, Terry sat on the floor, and tried to avoid thinking about all the innocent people he’d hurt just for the chance to be powerful.
He failed.
After some unpleasant self reflection on just how far he’d fallen after a single taste of power, Terry forced himself to think about their next move, which was to get Kaius to help him get his strength back, get the books from the palace, then escape. Terry figured he could avoid hurting more people during the next escape if he simply ran up to the service gate at night with Kaius strapped to his back somehow, kicked down the gate, then ran like hell.
Good plan, Terry, he told himself. Great plan.
================================
Doctor Lu Vandu had been practicing medicine for only five years, but his clinic had already become one of the busiest in the city. Thanks in no small part to a monetary contribution from his parents, he was able to afford his own office right in the city center. Between the high foot traffic and the fact that people seemed to inherently like young doctors, he had enough work to keep him busy from sun ‘til to sun down.
Today, however, he was fulfilling his extra duties as a licensed doctor in the Fat Dragon Empire. All doctor’s wishing to practice medicine in the Fat Dragon Empire had to provide emergency services whenever and wherever trouble arose, assuming of course that their safety would not be jeopardized in the delivery of those services.
Injured guards and citizens were lined up in rows outside his office, all of them lying on the ground waiting for him to make his rounds. At first, he’d run through everyone quickly looking for any life threatening injuries. Thankfully, for whatever reason this shovel wielding maniac did not seem to be aiming to kill anyone based on the injuries he found on his victims, except for one.
An unconscious girl lay flat on her back, her entire body and face covered by a white sheet as he had determined she was not long for this world. These people did not need to watch that poor girl die, nor did she deserve to be gawked at. He wished he had the time to spare to move her elsewhere, but more injured were arriving every minute.
He looked up at the girl after every few patients to see if she was gone yet. Having just set a broken leg, he looked at the white sheet, still barely moving with each shallow breath. Doctor Lu Vandu stood, and walked to his next patient.
People looked upward all round him, pointing and gasping. The stars flared despite it being the middle of the day, their white light cutting through the clear blue sky.
Then the screaming started.
He whirled on the spot as all heads within earshot turned toward the commotion. The girl under the white sheet sat bolt upright, startling the girl next to her.
“Get your hands off me!” yelled the girl under the sheet as she flailed her arms about wildly. Then, she stood up in one smooth motion, further startling all the surrounding people who’d all believed her to be dead or dying.
Doctor Lu Vandu ran to her, she stared at him with wild eyes, looking ready to bolt or fight him. When he arrived, he flitted around her like a hummingbird looking for the part of her skull that’d been crushed. It was gone. All that remained was dried blood and chunks of the unspeakable in her wavy brown hair.
“By the gods,” he muttered.
“By the gods,” she repeated with a confused look while moving her mouth like she was chewing, as if she’d not known her mouth could make such sounds.
“How are you alive? What is your name?”
“What is your name?” she repeated.
He paused, considering how to approach the situation, certain she must have some issues with her head presenting as a speech or perhaps memory problem.
“I am Doctor Lu Vandu, and you have been in a very serious altercation.”
“Lu,” she repeated. “I…I am Doctor Lu.”
The doctor approached her carefully, taking her by the hands, and preparing to speak again. “No, I-”
She headbutted him. The onlookers screamed and gasped as Doctor Lu Vandu fell backwards clutching his bleeding nose. A look of shock passed over her face, then she shook her head as though she’d knocked something loose in her brain and she wanted to rattle it around. Her eyes closed, and she inhaled deeply through her nose.
Her eyes snapped open, and narrowed with rage. “I can smell that piece of shit.”
“I think that’s your hair, miss,” said Doctor Lu Vandu, sounding nasally from pinching his blood gushing nose.
She pawed at her hair, then looked at the flakes of dried blood and shit sticking to her hand.
She looked down at Doctor Lu Vandu, then at the people surrounding her. “What?” she asked the crowd, her tone indignant.
No one responded.
“You guys are weird.”
Doctor Lu Vandu watched her walk away, and said nothing when she veered three steps out of her way to shove a random bystander. She walked on and laughed as the person skidded across the ground for a dozen paces.
No one tried to stop her, they merely listened in terror as she cackled and muttered to herself about how far up some poor soul’s ass she’d be placing a shovel.