city of night part 3

14.
DAWNS-VEIL 20 MI.
After stealing fuel from various way stations that dotted the long shitty road to Dawns-Veil, and the odd random encounter with the Maw we have finally arrived at the outskirts of the city. Ahead a large dome rises in the distance, like some giant half buried light bulb. Just behind the glass large buildings rise almost touching the ceiling. The entire city is lit up as if they had their own personal sun. As we draw closer to the city gate the dome rises ever higher, until it stretches out of view. I feel like I’m about to enter a fish tank. Two armed guards stand like statues at the front gate, as we reach the gate one of them raises his hand; I am nervous, what is going to happen when they see Adrian? What happens when they find out he isn’t human? To re-assure myself I glance over, my jaw drops. The only bit of oddness in his appearance is his eye, it is still that strange blue orb, but to the casual observer it could just as easily be a trick of the light.
“ What business do you have in Dawns-Veil?” the guard asks.
He places one hand to his helmet, most likely activating some remote earpiece. He then lowers his weapon and motions for us to enter the city.
Minuets after we pass through the gate we are again stopped by a pair of weekend warriors that call themselves the “ volunteer defense committee.” These poor saps are armed only with a tow truck and not a very well maintained one at that. Rust covers most of the vehicle, bits of the body have fallen off over the last few years, and a huge crack dominates the windshield.
“ You are to turn over your vehicle and remain on foot for the Duration of your stay. You can retrieve your vehicle as you leave the city.” This nicely scripted recital comes from the “ attendant” closest to the hearse. A devious shit-eating grin is plastered over his face.
Grudgingly I turn over the keys and step out of the car, my gun and some extra bullets nestled in my coat. Adrian climbs from the car and slams the door behind him. As if on cue the imitation sky clouds over and large fat snowflakes begin to drift to the ground. Leaving our only mode of transportation as well as our cache of weapons made me feel as naked as anyone could feel, Adrian however seemed to be doing fine. We walked for roughly a mile doing our best to blend into the throng of people that littered every sidewalk and street, the docile inhabitants of this city seem to have an almost hive mentality, no one speaks, you can tell where most of these people work based on their mode of dress alone. A troop of mechanics stands on one street corner, all of them decked out in head to toe blue overalls. Businessmen and women bustle to and fro dressed in slacks and conservative sport coats. All of them pressed for time and none have an apparent destination. I watch in amazement as a group of them board one of the dilapidated city busses only to climb out and wait at the next stop, no more than a block down the street.
“What in the hell is going on in this city?” I ask, half to myself. Adrian begins humming something that is oddly fitting for this vista before us.
“What is the name of that?” I ask.
“ It’s the theme from a very old television show called the twilight zone.” He replies.
The snow continues falling; the automated sun begins to sink below the artificial horizon and every light in the city springs to life in a blinding glare. The cityscapes of New York and Tokyo of old could never match the sheer awe inspiring brilliance of this great city. Only the people that inhabit this place seem like they do not belong. Still we watch as the hustle of this place goes on unabated, is it strange that a city this large with this many different souls dwelling here should be so silent yet so chaotic?
Adrian and I walk past several store fronts and office buildings seemingly unnoticed, when a short man wearing a torn shirt and ratty pair of pants slams into us from behind falling to his face taking Adrian to the ground with him. The stranger unleashes a stifled yelp and springs to his feet and runs off down the street.
“ What the hell!” Adrian bellows, no one on the street notices, he rummages around in his coat; a look of confusion is quickly replaced by one of anger.
“ He took my photo! That son of a bitch stole my family!” with that he runs after the thief, dodging pedestrians and traffic with wild abandon, I try to match his pace but he is running as if the devil himself is on his heels. Three blocks, two lefts and a right and I find both men in an alley, the thief has the photo in his hands, and six city guards behind him with guns aimed at Adrian.
“ You have something that belongs to me, I want it back.” Adrian growls
“ This criminal will be punished according to our laws, your property will be returned to you when you leave the city.” Answers the captain of the guard; no one could be more dismissive.
“Give me what’s mine and there won’t be a problem, you’ve been warned.” Adrian retorts; the severity of this warning does not go unnoticed. The guard aims their weapons at Adrian, a host of tiny red dots appear on his chest. My gun is in my hand; we’re ready to fight.
The thief takes a large step behind his cavalcade of armed saviors and judges, a sly smile on his face. I watch as he crouches to the ground and lays the palm of his hand on the pavement in the alleyway.
Without warning the asphalt under the guards erupts into the sky, two of the guards are impaled on long spikes made of pavement and lifted into the air, their screams fade into withered moans as they slide back to the earth, another two are tossed into the buildings on either side of the alley and knocked unconscious. The remaining two turn and open fire on the man, bullets rip through him and plunge themselves into the wall behind him; yet still he stands, the smile never leaving his face. In a flash almost too fast to see; the strange combatant rushes the first guard slamming him up against the brick building that line the alleyway. Holding him by the throat the stranger brushes his hand against the brick wall; a look of sheer horror plasters itself on the guard’s face as the stranger’s hand begins to change.
First at the fingertips the white of his skin is replaced by the red rust color of brick, this change flows like a river up the man’s arm until it reaches his head. In seconds his entire body looks like the brick wall behind him. The guard opens his mouth to scream, and is quickly silenced as the stranger slams his fist in to the wall through the guards head. Blood drips to the ground as the stranger withdraws his arm from the corpse now fixed to the wall. He turns back to us and runs after the last of the guard. This poor soul makes it to the street, he runs into traffic and stops a taxi, tossing the driver into the oncoming lane, this innocent is run down by a bus, no one notices. The cab careens down the street with the strange man running just behind it. The stranger easily catches up to his quarry and passes it. Once he is in front of the taxi he leaps into the air and lands on the hood of the car, placing the palm of his hand on the windshield, he closes his eyes. The glass starts to flow as if liquid. Finally it springs from the window frame in long shards that bury themselves in the guards face, the car swerves wildly and slams into a storefront, the stranger on the hood dives off the car at the last second. Right into a concrete wall, for a brief moment he is suspended against the wall before melting into it and disappearing.
“ What the fuck just happened?” I gasp. Adrian slowly walks to the sidewalk and looks around, scanning the street for any sign of the man that took his photo.
“ He’s fucking gone!” he yells, suddenly the pavement in front of him begins to shift and grow. It boils up over itself and rises in the air slowly taking on the shape of a man. Finally detail begins to present itself on the surface of the statue now in front of us. The pavement cracks and finally shatters revealing the stranger taking a bow in front of us.
“ TA DA!” he exclaims, “ Oh here’s your pit-chur, I uhh just wanted to git chur attention, thas all.” He mumbles his accent thick and muddy, his voice deep and comforting. He holds the photo up and waves it around briefly before Adrian snatches it from his grasp. He chuckles to himself and starts walking down the street, a group of business men stand off to the side checking their watches, waiting for the next ride to arrive.
“ BOO!” he yells at them jumping at them with fists raised, they don’t even notice him.
“ You boys commin with or not?” he yells back to us, I look at Adrian and he starts walking after the man.
For nearly an hour we follow this man around the city, he tells us about the people that used to live here, before Cirino the city’s new chancellor arrived. Shortly after he came to power a plague wiped out everyone in the city, the few survivors there were took to hiding in the sewers. He tells us that the people that appear to make this city look lived in are nothing more than holograms, the fake sky, the newness of the buildings; all of these things are simply projected to the ground by the overhanging dome, even the taxi driver that was hit by the bus was a dummy. Nothing more than a cheap robot programmed to drive a car.
“Why would he want to rule a city with no people in it?” I ask.
“ Well, you boys familiar with the term witch hunt?” he asks, “Ya see Cirino came here from Duskhaven, and he came to recruit Reapers; you see he wanted to build an army for Draven, only we didn’t wanna play with them fellows, so things got nasty. We fought at first but after a while we had to hide, Cirino caught twelve of us, so now we stay hidden. I try to kill the city guards when I can but it’s hard unless a distraction arrives.” He stops walking and turns to us, “ Shit, I should thank you, haven’t had that much fun in a long time. Where are my manners, my name is Recho.” He says, spitting from the side of his mouth as he reaches out to shake our hands.
Adrian looks around and shakes the man’s hand, as he does he pulls him close to him and whispers something in his ear.
“Of course.” He replies, Recho walks into the street and lifts up a manhole cover, that same shit-eating grin I noticed one of the guards wearing at the gate crosses his face, he waves us over and drops into the sewer.
The smell is awful, rats and trash surround us Recho is just ahead of us digging through some trash, he retrieves a small worn out and dirty teddy bear.
“ Ya this the one she give me.” He mumbles to himself, he walks over to me and hands me the bear, “ your daughter left this for ya, and She is waiting for you, but not here. When I said they took twelve of us I should of said they took thirteen. That kid of yours is something special, she fought off the man what took her from ya, and killed him, dunno how she done it but she used this bear to do it.” He says. Tears well in my eyes, I am so close to getting her back it feels like my heart might burst. I cradle the bear in my arms, I can even smell some trace of my daughter still on it, so close, so very close.
“Where is she?” I ask, overcome with emotion I sit down amidst the offal and bury my face in the stuffed animal. Adrian pulls the Christmas ornament from his coat and shows it to Recho, “Have you ever seen this before? Did the little girl mention it at all?” he demands.
“ Nah, never seen that before, but she did talk bout it, said it was her present for her daddy. She said she hoped you’d find it, because if you found that then maybe you’d find her.” Recho answers.
“ She’s in Duskhaven, of that I am sure, I think we can help you.” He says.
Recho heads off down the tunnel with us in tow, water drips from overhead, various steam vents open and fill the tunnel with fog. Eventually we come to a large open room.
As we enter this hall Recho begins speaking again,
“ We’ve been hiding here, trying to survive. See Reapers don’t feed on humans, we live off the environment around us, each time we absorb a mineral we get a little stronger, and our need to feed is diminished.” His explanation is cut short as he finally gazes at the scene before us.
Almost ten body’s lie in pieces around the room, in the center stands three men wearing long black coats. Recho losses his mind at what happened in his absence, his rage is palpable as his takes the concrete floor under him into his being, pebbles and debris begin to rise into the air at his transformation, he floats over a crater large enough to contain a small car. In an instant he charges the trio fists blazing with power. Two of them dive to either side while the third stands his ground. As Recho approaches him the man tosses his coattails aside and raises his hands, a large black metal barrier comes into being directly in front of him, Recho slams into it and forces the man all the way back across the room, each punch pushing the coated man back another step, with his back against the wall the stranger spreads his arms, dividing the makeshift shield into two large blades. The flow of this brawl has changed, now Recho is on the defensive. With each swing of his hands the blade draw ever closer to their mark, recho blocks this man’s last attack, but the man retaliates with a kick to the chest. The force of this blow throws Recho across the hall and into the far wall, chunks of concrete and bits of rebar cascade onto the floor burying Recho under a mass of rubble. Now the other two strangers spring into action the larger of the two rushes at me, I fire two rounds at him but both miss their mark, his raises his left hand and aims his index finger at me, suddenly the bear tucked into my coat begins to grow hot, it burns into my side, the pain making the world slow to a crawl. A flash of light from his fingers and a bullet races toward me, but I can see it crawl through the air toward me, with speed and ease I deflect the first and second round with the blade of my gun, and return fire, the bullets find their mark at long last but do nothing to the other man.
Adrian has his own problems to deal with, the third assailant is proving a tougher opponent that expected, each time Adrian tries to dive into a shadow this man rips out a large piece of the floor and hurls it through the ceiling, the city light spills down to us erasing most of the shadows, but it is still night out, we might have a chance. Adrian plants his feet firmly in a pool of shadow and unleashes a blast, it screams through the air and hits the man in the chest, the wave of shadow envelopes this man and throws him back a few feet, his arms raised in front of his face to hold back the blast, with a look of obvious strain the man shoves the shadow off of him and into the air. A huge hole is punched in the ceiling, the street begins to fall on all of us, the three men leap out of the hole and out of sight, Adrian leaps after them as I rush over to the pile of rubble encasing Recho. After some digging I find his hand, it lies limp on the ground, with renewed fervor I haul more rubble off of him. His hand weakly begins to move, his fingers stretching out to me I grasp his hand and pull him free of the wreckage. Slowly he rises to his feet and picks up a hunk of rock, I watch in awe as the rubble melts into nothing, Recho seems rejuvenated, he too leaps from the hole out onto the street. Still pavement rains down around me, again the bear grows hot, and again the world slows down, with strength and stamina I’ve never known I leap on pieces of falling rubble, darting from slab to slab I reach the street, finally on firm ground I chase my opponent into a nearby office.
Adrian catches his foe with a blast of shadow from behind, the man dodges it with ease with a powerful leap into the air, he flies so high that he grabs the top of the dome, nearly a mile off the ground, Adrian is right behind him, aiming a hand at the ground he looses enough shadow to propel himself into the air, wrapping more shadow over his fist he brings it to bear against his opponent, the man disappears for a split second only to reappear behind Adrian. With a roar the man lands a punch on Adrian’s cheek sending him through the dome in an explosion of glass and iron.
Recho takes a punch to the face by the unknown man and is sent reeling backwards; as he lays there he places his palm on the ground. The man stands over him his face hidden under a shiny black visor, he doesn’t speak, He only points his hand at Recho. Suddenly Recho launches a spike of asphalt at a nearby skyscraper, with a flick of his wrist he carves a building at its base, the whole thing comes toppling down on their heads. Just before he is crushed Recho blends into the street.
I find my quarry standing in front of our hearse, raising my gun I fire, the bullets strike him in the face splitting his visor down the middle, wiping blood from his forehead the man aims his own hand at me, a crash from next to me knocks me to the ground as a large spike bursts through the wall and pierces the mans head pinning him to a support pillar. Scrambling to my feet I run to the car climb in and plow through a huge bay window, the kind used on street corners to advertise this kind of parking structure, as I race down the street the building I have just left spills over itself and lands in the street, entombing yet another of our mysterious assailants.
On the top of the world the last battle is fought, Adrian is ducking and weaving as his attacker hurls shards of glass at him, diving to the right Adrian lands on his feet and looses a blast of shadow, it strikes the man in the feet and rockets him into the air, Adrian jumps after him one last time, the darkness around him boils as he draws strength from the night, any human part of him is replaced by the shade half of him, both of his eyes burn with blue fire, he soars over his victim and abruptly changes direction, bringing both of his fists down on the man the two become one as they plummet back to earth.
I drive the hearse down the now deserted city streets, weaving in and out of the stopped traffic; in the seat behind me I hear the audible click of a gun being cocked.
“I run this city, and you three have caused me enough trouble, I can survive a car crash… can you?” in front of the vehicle stands Recho, he stands as if he has grown roots, as the car strikes him he leans into the windshield becoming one with it, his skin becomes transparent as he passes the threshold, a stream of glass pours into the seat next to me slowly becoming a man. With one hand still dipped in the windshield he turns his free hand into a long shard, swiping it through the air he beheads Cirino in his seat, the gun falls lazily to the floor.
“We need to leave the city fight now, DRIVE!” he yells, I push my foot to the floor and speed out of the city, the few remaining city guards are run over as we crash through the city gate.
“We can’t leave Adrian!” I bellow, Recho places a hand on my shoulder and says,
“ He’ll be fine, don’t worry, shades are the strongest of all of us.”
Not knowing if I’ll ever see Adrian again or even if I’ll be able to finish our mission without him I drive, I haven’t felt this distraught since I left my family in that house.
Grabbing the unknown man by the neck Adrian brings his fist down on his face again and again, still falling the shadow surrounding Adrian deepens, the flesh remaining on this attacker begins to peel off in long strips, the duo strikes the ground with such force the plummet into the sewer below. Adrian releases all of his pent up energy at once, a ball of raw destructive shadow expands tearing the city’s infrastructure apart. Buildings are torn asunder in an instant, the dome shatters as a shockwave ripples through the air, the ball of shadow continues to grow until it doubles the size the dome used to occupy. The surrounding forest is blown flat for miles around in the force of the blast. The destruction goes on unmolested until nothing remains but a large crater roughly six miles in diameter. Finally silence blankets the countryside.

15.
The car careens down the road at blinding speed; the trees whip by, a dark green blur. The car skips over potholes and bottoms out several times along our escape route, causing the car to rock violently.
My thoughts reeled over the past moments, it took no small amount courage to ask this question; finding out my daughter is alive, losing Adrian, fighting those strangers. So many questions, yet only one comes to mind.
“ What happened back there?” I spit out at long last.
Recho slumps back further in the seat, he licks his lips several time in a vain attempt to moisten his arid tongue, he reaches into his pocket and removes a small film canister, with a couple of taps into his palm he knocks loose a small chunk of clay. After a few seconds he has absorbed any available moisture from this nugget, idly brushing the dust off on his pants he clears his throat.
“ Those three were among the men and women taken by Draven near a week ago. Their names were Darrius, Sampson and Marcus. I never thought I’d see them again, never thought I’d hafta kill any of em...” He says trailing off.
His head drops into his hands and he begins to sob. I focus my thoughts and attention on the road ahead, the headlamps play along the roadway, strange illusions dance on the shoulder just out of view. I am very tired. We round yet another sharp corner, the only motivation I have to keep going is love for my daughter, she’s out there and she’s scared. I made a promise to my wife, and I will not break it.
16.
The motel room is the same, no shadows: just that same negative photo look that is so disconcerting. Dosh sits on the bed as always. My head is ringing as if a hurricane rages just beneath my skull.
I walk to the bathroom and lean on the sink, trying to calm the inferno inside. Turning the tap on I splash some water in my face, it feels cool, but it helps little. Walking back into the main room Dosh is now standing in its center, three bright blue orbs of light dance in the air around him in eccentric circles. Looping and spinning the orbs flit about the room never going beyond arms reach of Dosh, some rise to the ceiling for a brief moment before suddenly changing course and plummeting to the ground, and again they rise back into the air.
“What is this?” I ask.
“ This whole time you have only ever used your power on an instinctual level, this part of the journey was not so Recho could teach Jack how to use the shadows as you do, that is impossible. It was to show you how Reapers interact with their surroundings, so you could learn to use the shadows in much the same way they use the world around themselves.”
His narration takes a brief pause as the orbs continue their dance, they spin faster then ever now, Dosh reaches out and snatches one from the air. A thin smile plays over his lips as he rolls the ball over the back of his hand and back into his palm.
“ These orbs are something you must learn to control, they represent your relationship to the shadow, if you can keep them in the air, able to grab one at will, then you will understand how you can use the shadows when you want to. Your training begins… NOW!” he bellows.
At the sound of his voice the room seems to shrink and one of the orbs sails through the air at unbelievable speed. The orb strikes me in the face and the world shuts off.
17.
A skinny and weak vampire named Wilhelm is running down a long hallway, the hallway is in the Duskhaven mansion. The reason this poor man is running is because word has just reached the city that the three soldiers sent to Dawns-veil have been killed, and the city destroyed. He is not running to deliver this sour news, but because he has just delivered it. He is running for his life. Tripping over furniture as he runs his feet always finding the floor, a glimmer of hope burns in his chest next to the fire in his lungs. The front door and safety are only feet away, but a sharp pain in his neck causes him to slow down to a crawl. The world grows hazy as his vision fails him. His head hits the ground long before his body stops running, he felt no pain which is of some comfort, but watching an although blurry scene of your corpse falling to the ground, is still horrifying. His eyes glaze over as the finality of this sets in.
“ Let this be a lesson to all of you never to fail me again.” Draven snarls as he wipes blood from his hand, turning back to his study he sees a lone guard standing aloof from the excitement.
“Tell Warren to bring them to me, you know what happens if you fail.” He growls, with that he slams the door closed.
18.
The car continues to be buffeted by the washboards of the dirt road; we are almost back to the village of Embry, dim fires still sparkle in the distance, as they draw near I can make out the remains of the town, bodies and charred pieces of flesh litter the ground. Armageddon had come to Embry, driven there by two men who knew not what they were doing. And now Dawns-veil is gone as well, Draven started this war when he touched my daughter, now I am going to finish it, only death will stop me.
It has started raining again; turning what little visibility I once had through the cracked windshield to nearly zero. A light flares to life in front of us, blinding me; I slam my foot on the brakes bringing the car to a violent halt. The huge man from Jericho’s basement is standing in the road; the arm I took from him has been replaced with a gleaming chrome one. Warren moves his immense bulk to the driver’s door and tears it off, grabbing me by the coat he rips me from the car and wraps a thick heavy bag over my head, I feel him remove my gun and the things my daughter left for me from my coat, the same treatment is given to Recho, we have no time to react. Within minuets we are stuffed into a large van. I can’t help but smile: they’re taking us to the same place we were heading to anyway, convenient huh?
Hours tick by in what seems like days, no one talks for the entire trip, Recho bumps into me again and again as the drive jockeys us around the cargo area, the bag slips from my face. I can barley see in the dimly lit interior, Warren’s bulk frames the driver seat, a dark shape I cannot make out sits at the passenger side, two armed guards sit in the back with us. Another bump.
“Hey where you boys takin us?” Recho blurts out.
The guard closest to him bashes Recho in the face with the butt of his gun sending him reeling into me.
“ So, guess that means you aint gonna tell me huh?” he spits out between breaths, blood soaks his hood.
The guard hits him again driving his point home. After the final blow Recho slumps facedown to the floor and is silent. Not wanting to incur the wrath of our new benefactors I slide into the smallest space I can and attempt to loosen my bonds, the cords holding me will not give.
Blood pools around Recho’s head, I can hear him trying to breath, bubbles form around the damp side of where his mouth should be under his hood.
“ C’mon you gotta get him up, he’s going to drown if you don’t move him!” I blurt out, my guard raises his rifle as if to strike, but is stopped by a shout from the front of the van.
“ And just why should that concern us?” Warren asks. His eyes never leaving the road.
Another bump, this one sends the whole van rocking up and down. Recho raises his head slightly,
“ I’ll give you a reason.” He gargles, ramming his face into the floor his blood soaked hood acts like a bridge allowing him to manipulate the steel flooring beneath him, the sound of metal being torn to shreds as the van rearranges itself from within is ear piercing. A large blood covered spike rips through the air and buries itself in the ceiling; more explode from the floor in every direction. Both of the guards are run through like they were nothing more than pincushions and pinned to the walls of the van. The unknown stranger dives free of the van as a spear plunges into the back of the driver’s chair causing Warren to jerk the wheel and send the van into a roll. My whole world is turned into some sick bloody kaleidoscope as the van tumbles through the air; doing my best to stay in one place I press my back into the floor and shut my eyes. When the world finally coalesces into a single focused picture, I am lying on the grass; Recho stands over me, his hood is removed; a huge dopey grin is smeared on his face. He has lost two teeth.
“ We gotta move man, they aint all dead you know.” Grabbing my arm he hauls me to my feet and wraps an arm around me, we begin walking down the road in the same direction we were originally heading.
“What the hell did you do that for?” I ask.
“ Oh you mean save our asses?” Recho barks back at me.
The scraping of metal and the sound of glass tinkling to the ground behind us causes both of us to turn around, the van rises in the air slowly, with a grunt Warren tosses it off of himself and into the woods. Brushing himself off he removes the shard of metal from his back and casually drops it to the ground.
“I really am impressed with you two, do you want to try that while I am paying attention?” he gives us no time to reply to his challenge as he raises his mechanical arm and fires a quick burs from his wrist. Bullets rip through the road, dirt and rocks flip through the air, tree branches are shorn from their limbs and come crashing to the ground, as Warren’s aim improves and the salvo comes closer to us; Recho plants his hands on the ground and brings a wall into being in front of us.
“ You should go, this won’t stop him forever.” He says through clenched teeth, closing his eyes he sends his own volley at Warren through the wall of rock. I take off towards Duskhaven as fast as I can, ignoring the pain in my leg I run.
Rock and lead consume the space between Warren and Recho, neither giving any quarter, Warren dives to the side and brings his arm to bear again, this time a panel on the side slides open, a small missile juts from this hiding place, in seconds it flares to life and streaks to the wall, the explosion obliterates the barrier and much of the earth around it. Recho is nowhere to be seen.
“Well done, now where are you hiding?” Warren muses.
~
My breath is hot in my chest as I hustle down the road, a sharp pain as grown in my side, my legs burn with unbearable fire, a voice from behind me causes me to stop, I turn and see a tall and very beautiful woman standing in the middle of the road, a long gleaming sword rests on her shoulder.
“ So you still plan to run, what will you do when you get there? Save the city? I am terribly sorry to tell you this but… there is no city to save.” A thin smile plays over her lips.
“ The people have all joined our ranks, even the children; what could you possibly hope to do now?” she says, even through her mockery I can see fear etched on her face; I draw my gun and extend the blade.
“Whatever I have to.” I say, the image of the family photo flashes in my mind and all the pain and exhaustion is wiped away.
I fire all six rounds in my gun as I run toward her, reloading without realizing it, she deflects each round in turn and launches her own attack. Sparks fly as our blades connect; she matches me evenly with each swing. Again our swords meet each other, she blocks my attack and leaps over me, I remember the bear in my pocket as my side burns with new fire; the world comes to a crawl as she passes over me. Swinging my sword I land one blow, and remover her arm. She tumbles to the ground and lies there for a moment, pushing herself to her feet she gazes at her lost appendage; insane laughter erupts from her mouth. I stare in horror as blood pours from the wound, the flow slowing and molding itself into the unmistakable shape of a human arm, with her arm grown back she grips her sword and rushes at me once more; the smile never fades from her lips.
~
Warren paces the road like a caged tiger in search of his prey, every few moments he fires a short burst from his wrist into the woods.
“COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREEVER YOU ARE!” he bellows, the wind is his only reply.
A large tree comes crashing to the earth nearly crushing the large man, still Recho is unseen, and then a faint form rises from the roadway.
“Here I am!” he yells, plunging a fist into the ground he causes the entire road to move, a tidal wave of earth and rock soars into the air and cascades toward Warren, roots spring from the ground and snake their way around the big mans legs, fixing him in place. A scream rises over the roar of the moving roadway; tons of mud, rock and earth rise ever higher into the air as the wave grows in size. With disturbing finality it comes crashing back down burying Warren in a makeshift tomb. Walking to the largest tree nearby Recho grasps it and lifts it from the ground, slamming it back down over Warrens grave he pushes it into the earth and causes the roots to take hold.
“ This is your prison, may you rot in peace.” Recho mumbles, fresh blood rises to his lips; he falls to the road and looks at the tree in its new home.
“I will be your warden…” he whispers as the light fades from his eyes.
~
My body is laced with wounds as I tire and her sword grows more difficult to repel, I block her next swing; a powerful over head swing that brings me to my knees, holding her blade at bay takes all of my concentration.
A vicious kick to the chest sends me rolling across the road, coughing up blood I roll onto my back, my gun lying limply in my hand. Her laughter pierces the air once again as she strides over to me. I scan the road around me hoping for any chance of salvation, all I find is the Christmas ornament, looking at the picture of my family resting in the dirt; fresh tears well up in my eyes. Thoughts of a thousand apologies race through my head, I feebly reach out and take hold of the small bauble. The words emblazoned on the photo ring in my ears like the voice of an angel,
“ I wuv you daddy…”
The ornament grows unbearably cold in my hand and shatters like a rose dipped in liquid nitrogen. From the woods around us the shriek of the Maw echoes like a freight train.
“ What the hell is that?” the woman asks herself, without warning hundreds of the Maw drop from the treetops and pour from the bushes that line the road. They all converge on the strange woman, few are cut down but many more rise to take the place of the fallen, soon the mob overtakes the sword wielding witch, her scream is cut short as she is ripped limb from limb, her body torn into so many pieces there is no chance of regeneration. I clamber to my feet and aim my gun at the horde; if I am going to die I will go down fighting. The mass of monster children turns to me and opens their collective mouth.
No sound comes out but I can hear the words thank you wash over me. Slowly they return to the forest, as they depart from view a new impossible sight greets me, the hearse sits in the road, running. Hopeful to see Recho or Adrian again I run to the car.
Empty.
Alone; my only thought is to find my daughter and end this whole mess. So I drive.