Negative Film

by Leonard Petracci

  And we had a Survivalist guiding our steps.

  Chapter 101

  Zeke darted into the crowd, grabbing the shoulder of a Special spewing a torrent of wind and wrenching him over his outstretched foot as we passed. He aimed the man, channeling his flow of air to blast a path through the crowd like a firehose at a riot, blasting a path through. Without a moment’s hesitation, we took advantage of the opening, threading through before Zeke took a sidestep, sliding leftwards as a spray of rocks from the wall landed like meteors next to us and sprayed dirt upwards in rooster-tailed flares. One narrowly missed Ennia, and she reached a hand down to calm Lilac, whose bright eyes blazed like rage-filled beacons.

  Zeke’s erratic movements tacked back and forth across the sea of powers, each driving us closer at an angle to the wall, and narrowly missing certain death on more occasions than I could notice. In a living train, we jumped forward ten paces, then sidestepped to the right to avoid a blast of ice from a nearby Blizzarder. As soon as the passage cleared, we traversed the frozen ground until we butted against a Laseret beaming rays of cauterizing light towards the walls. With a sharp jab to the ribs, Zeke left her gasping as we ducked beneath the lightshow, only to be met with an individual who pulled up mounds of earth by the handful, converting them to magma in their palms and lobbing them like brimstone-filled snowballs towards the wall. With a touch from a Blender, the ground around him turned to jade, swallowing up his feet and removing his ammunition source in a single strike.

  These were only the Specials who noticed us, but there were far more—groups of Mimics that scoured the field searching for portals to the other side to keep open, Quakers who attacked the footing under mastodon’s feet, and Flamethrowers who kept a constant stream of fire on the wall in an ongoing battle against Lola’s Vibrants. Concussers directed shockwaves at the top of the walls where Rila’s sentries prowled, picking off anyone who came too close with ranged powers, while Fielders erected glowing fortifications to defend the advancing troops.

  It was chaos, the sort of chaos that would be impossible to navigate without a Survivalist.

  And even then, we still stumbled into a pitfall.

  Zeke dropped to the ground as electricity arced over us, blue light flashing as I felt my skin prickle and hair stand on end. We followed just in time, narrowly missing brunt of the bolt, only the outlying corona reaching my muscles to make them spasm with the discharge. I spat dirt out of my mouth as I leapt back to my feet, my eyes narrowing as I saw Sparky advancing, drawing his hand back for another strike.

  Behind me, the others recovered, and we were close to the wall—only a few seconds’ sprint would bring them to within range to rescue, and since we were at the front lines, no one stood in opposition. To escape, they’d only need a few seconds of distraction—a few seconds I knew I could provide.

  As Sparky crackled, even his eyes turning blue with the force of his next strike, I charged, a dark orb held high in my hand. His eyes widened as I tackled him, using my power to draw the electricity out of him, the gravitational force so strong that his cheeks rippled as they were pulled forwards. My shoulder drove into his stomach, and I felt his breath being driven from him as we fell together, his hands searching for purchase on the back of my shirt. Using my own momentum, he threw me over his back, flipping me in a somersault that sent me crashing against a nearby tree trunk. Dazed, I threw the orb I used to collect his electrical force back at him, the strike going wide—something about it felt different, as if it were lopsided, and it wobbled as it narrowly missed him.

  Two seconds later, the orb exploded, releasing violent blue light that sprayed outwards in an energetic bubble before breaking into a wave. Every special within twenty feet fell, spasming as the light rolled over them, as the electrical potential contained in the orb rushing through their nervous systems entered a mad race to reunite with the ground. Across the battlefield, faces turned, drawn in by the impossible-to-ignore flashing beacon that had struck down so many of their comrades.

  In a wave, they poured forwards, replacing each of the fallen with two more bodies, their powers activating as they advanced. With a quick look behind me, I breathed a sigh of relief as Zeke and the others reached the wall, the plants parting to engulf them and allow them through. Lilac met my eyes and roared, the sound managing to stall the onslaught for a half second of hesitation.

  Setting my jaw, I snapped my fingers, throwing down my hands as two black orbs erupted into being, warping the world around them as they fed upon leaves and dirt. This time, they would not take me alive. They would not force me to serve them. And if they killed me, I would not be dying alone.

  But then the leader of the crowd, a man just slightly older than a boy with angry rings of red plasma swarming up his arms, froze in his tracks. His eyes traveled to the ground as he leapt right, shrieking as he released a bout of plasma that clung like jelly to anything it touched. To his left, another Special backpedaled rapidly, dark spikes leaping from her fingertips to embed themselves into the earth. One fell backwards, squealing as he backpedaled, his eyes filled with fright at the earth. Around them the others followed, jumping from side to side as fear flashed across their faces to match the confusion across mine.

  Taking advantage of the diversion, I started to sprint towards the wall, colliding with Sparky before I had taken two steps. In the confusion, he had circled behind me, and now his fingers gripped deep in my hair and tight around my sleeve, holding me tight as his electrical energy coursed through me. My muscles seized, my power refusing to listen as my jaw clenched, pain arcing up my spine as I smelled my hair burning. Even my lungs refused to cooperate as they expelled my breath from my chest, and the electrical energy doubled as I entered a silent scream.

  “Finally taking what you’re due!” he shouted, his eyes still glowing deep blue, and electricity leaping off the tips of his teeth.

  With a final jolt, the energy dissipated and dropped to me knees as Sparky released me, my shins biting into exposed roots. But somewhere in my consciousness, as I regained control over my body and thoughts, I heard a deep thwack. In front of me, a shape swam into focus, contour lines slowly distinguishing it from the backdrop of green wall behind. My eyes still watering, I blinked, first making out the curling brunette hair that framed a flawless face, then the intelligent brown eyes filled with concern. She was in a fighting stance, her left foot slightly farther forwards than her right, and the spear in her hand still with the butt forwards from where the shaft had connected with Sparky’s head before he crumpled to the ground in front of me.

  “Looks like Rila was right; the butt end is good for shepherding,” she declared, my hearing returning before my sight.

  With another blink, the details came further into focus, my mouth drying and heart beating faster as she rushed forwards to embrace me. Then we rose from the ground, streaking upwards into the air to leave the fight far below us, circling in a spiral to surmount the wall.

  And I wasn’t sure if I was more grateful for her embrace or the escape.

  Chapter 102

  A scream of rage sounded in the battle as I reached the top of the wall, and my eyes connected with the source, a shimmering collection of jagged diamond edges that watched me escape. But for now, I was safe as Arial set me down gently, breathing deeply to recover as I looked over myself. Red burns emanated from the places Sparky had gripped me, branding his fingertips into the skin, but aside from the occasional muscle spasm, the damage seemed fleeting.

  “We agreed,” said Arial, touching a finger to my nose before flicking my burn hard enough to make me yelp, “that neither of us would do something stupid without the other. How many times am I going to have to save you before you start thinking twice about suicide missions?”

  “When it comes to quick thinking, I’m a slow learner,” I groaned, stretching to bring flexibility back to my body as it stubbornly resisted movement. “But I had to—Lacit would have made it to the other side if I didn’t intervene. He had a
squad of Mimics holding a gate open, and there wasn’t time to rally a force.”

  Arial sighed before putting a hand under my chin and forcing my gaze into her own, her stare enough to silence my words as her eyes pulled me in.

  “Look,” she said. “This is bigger than Lacit. We can’t afford to lose you; I can’t afford to lose you. Sometimes, that might mean we give a little ground. That we suffer a loss to win in the long term. Because every time you do this, you rely too strongly on fate, and fate doesn’t care about you like I do. Eventually, it will fail you.”

  “But if he wins, who knows what will happen?” I said. “We can’t risk that either.”

  “But we can wait until we can face it together,” she said and leaned forwards, her lips reaching mine as a shiver shot up my spine, my cheeks burned, and I felt a stronger shock than Sparky could ever deliver.

  “Hey, lovebirds!” came a shout from beside us, and Arial broke away, practically leaping back up into the air in embarrassment as she smoothed dust off her shirt. Lucio laughed as he approached, holding the video camera in his hands, the lens aimed at us.

  “Lucio, I swear, if you caught that on tape, your precious camera is going over the wall,” threatened Arial, and his face turned white as his knuckles clutched the strap.

  “What? No, I didn’t catch that on tape!” he exclaimed, backing slightly away. “I caught something way better! The action scene of all action scenes right here—I got it all: SC, the splinter tornado, the Blending, the escape, all of it. Absolutely incredible footage. We just have to figure out how to doctor it up so you look more like Darian from afar, since he’s the main character.”

  “Is that all you’ve been doing up here, filming?” I asked, my voice demanding.

  “What? No! I just got you out of that mess. I think you owe me a thank you for driving off an entire troop of Specials single-handedly.”

  “He’s right,” said the yellow-eyed sentry from earlier, appearing beside Lucio. “He’s turned away anyone coming close enough to the wall to cause damage.”

  “Oh, and how might that be?” I asked, remembering how the plasma-powered man had balked when he was about to attack and instead had directed his powers into the ground, and the others had fled for no apparent reason.

  “Trapdoor spiders!” said Lucio with a hint of pride. “Rather nightmarish memories of them eating one of their friends right in front of them. Anyone coming close enough remembers enormous spiders the size of mastodons hiding just under the leaves to drag them under. And trust me, they all seem terrified of spiders. I mean, who isn’t?”

  “Trapdoor spiders?” asked the sentry, his eyebrow arched, the translation imperfect.

  “A variety that stays hidden underground before jumping out and dragging prey away,” said Arial.

  “Ah yes,” said the sentry, nodding in all seriousness. “Perhaps we should have brought those out sooner. We typically save them for later on.”

  “Wait,” said Lucio, his face paling. “You actually have them the size of mastodons?”

  “Oh no, no.” The sentry laughed. “Of course not; that would be ridiculous. They get no larger than a horse.”

  Lucio sputtered, choking on his own words as the sentry winked at Arial. But their conversation was lost on me as I stared back over the battle, following the glittering shape of Blake in the distance. There, he had rendezvoused with Lacit, and the two huddled, speaking to a third person that I could just barely recognize. One who had certainly not kept her disdain of Aetia and Lola a secret during the tribe council meetings, and whose amber beads were visible even from a distance.

  And who now drew her finger across open space, creating a rift just in front of Lacit.

  “You ready?” I said, reaching out to take Arial’s hand in my own just as Lacit and Waela stepped through to the other side, leaving Blake in command of the army.

  “Ready for what?” she asked, her head cocking to one side when she followed my gaze and saw nothing.

  “Let’s do something stupid together.”

  Chapter 103

  We found Lola at the center of the wall, Rila beside her and a handful of advisers clustered around them. A bruise splotched across one cheek, while one of her hands was bandaged, though that didn’t stop her from gripping her spear. They watched far below as the tribespeople fought, Rila barking out orders while Lola tempered them with knowledge of the outside world.

  “Prepare another strike for the left flank,” commanded Rila. “We need to minimize the space that they can attack the wall, so our Vibrants can keep it from crumbling.”

  “Wait, not just yet,” interrupted Lola, pointing towards the right. “See those? Those are called Furnaces. They’re nonexistent here, but that group alone could incinerate a tunnel through the wall of their own volition. If there is anywhere we should focus eliminating, it should be the right flank.”

  Rila squinted then spoke. “Confirmed, right flank. I want chaos more than anything else—they’re dealing with high amounts of firepower, but nearly no discipline. Get them firing without hesitation, get them hitting each other, sew discord in their ranks. Our greatest advantage is their weaknesses, in that they expected us to be unorganized savages.”

  Behind her, an advisor passed the message to a runner that relayed it to the mastodon unit. Below, Transients winked in and out of existence in a flurry of motion that kept the approaching Specials at bay, for fear of the spear tips that threaded through reality like sewing needles.

  “Lola!” I said, breaking into the conversation to steal their attention. “We have a bigger problem.”

  “A bigger problem than someone breaking through the wall?” she asked, her eyes still below, tracking the movements of the troops.

  “The same problem,” I answered as both her and Rila’s heads whipped towards me. “It’s Lacit—he’s entered the other side.”

  “He’s what? How?” Lola demanded, drawing a sharp breath, her body already starting to turn transparent.

  “Waela,” I said, “She’s let him in, opened up a hole for him to waltz right through.”

  “Traitor, of course she would,” hissed Lola. “Smart play; she thinks she can usurp us using him. But with all the Deathguards defending the interior, he won’t last long.”

  “Uh, you sure about that?” asked Lucio, wincing as he looked past her.

  “Even their strongest wouldn’t last long against them,” Rila answered. “He wouldn’t stand a chance, crushed like a bug under a boulder.”

  “Right, if they were there,” continued Lucio, and pointed down below, where a stream of dark-robed individuals had just exited through the wall. Lola’s face whitened, and she cursed in her native tongue before turning to her sister.

  “And of course she would direct the Deathguards to the battle beforehand. I’m such an idiot! I’m going inside; do you have the battle managed? Keep the Deathguards reined in! It’s supposed to be too early for them to strike, and we’ll want to wear those Mimics down beforehand. It would take an exceptionally strong one to capture a Deathguard, but I don’t want to risk it.”

  “Not a problem. With their help, the outer battle is easily won.” said Rila, her eyes narrowing. “We’ll scare them off more than do damage.”

  “Good,” answered Lola, then started to shimmer, but not before I caught her arm.

  “Wait!” I said. “If you’re going inside, you’re going to need help. We’re coming with you.”

  She hesitated, looking to Rila, but she shrugged.

  “They’re Painted now, aren’t they?” she said. “They have every right to go. As Grandmother said, they walk among us.”

  “Just know that Lacit isn’t the only dangerous thing where we are going,” said Lola to us. “And whatever you do, don’t touch it.”

  “Touch what?” Asked Arial.

  “You’ll know. You’ll absolutely know,” Lola responded, then turned to Rila. “Send the Deathguards after us as fast as you can. And if I don’t come back, you
need to pull these two out.”

  “Of course you’ll come back. We still have a fight after this battle,” Rila said with a smile.

  “No, let me reiterate,” said Lola, clasping her sister’s arms. “When I don’t come back, you need to pull them out.”

  Rila’s eyes widened, then she nodded, her expression knowing.

  “Of course. But without any goodbyes?”

  “I said them when I left last time,” answered Lola as she took our hands in our own. “Besides, the goodbyes would only be for them, not for me. Now, Arial, drift us downwards at a forty-five! And, Lucio, protect my sister, or I’m stranding you on the other side!”

  Together, we leapt from the wall, Arial providing enough force to let us mimic a falling leaf. And with our hands in hers, Lola pulled us from our world, and into another.

  One far darker.

  Chapter 104

  I’ve heard howling—in the rainforest, we’d experienced it at night. In the slums of the city, dogs laying stake to alleyways would still raise their heads to cry at the moon before slinking into the shadows. And in battle, I’d heard the howling of people in combat, blinded by rage as they blasted powers at each other, as if their voices could intensify the destruction spreading from their fingertips.

  But I’d never felt howling.

  It came as a blow, vibrating my bones as it passed through me, as if the earth itself shivered. Wind coursed around me like a cold current, thick with dark particulate that made me cough as I breathed in, but otherwise, the world remained soundless. Raising a hand to catch the snow-like substance, I rubbed it between my fingers, the trail of grey betraying its nature.

  Ash.

  I coughed again, my eyes adjusting to the swirling darkness, tears forming from the stinging acidity of the air, watching as the ash circumscribed a single point far ahead. Blinking, I could just make out a blackness darker than any around me—not an absence of brightness, but an active consumer, one so dark that I could feel it pulling the very light from my eyes while casting suffocating nets of shadow over us.