by Chris Fox
Sunfur. You’re Sunfur. It came in a dozen jumbled thoughts. They were tinged with awe and joy, something Yukon had come to expect when meeting new packs. Many had heard of the Great Pack, and longed to join it.
I am called Yukon. My pack and I are fleeing from many, many notdeads. They fill the valley below, and we dare not go back that way.
I am called Cloudrunner. The high places are not safe, thought back a coyote, an old matron, trusted by the others. He could feel her age, sense many seasons of memories in her mind. You must risk the notdeads. Those who go further into the mountains do not return. Even now, we are fleeing to plains west of us. Better to lay down in the snow than face the Liwanu.
Yukon could feel her terror, the lingering echo of packs whose song had been silenced forever. He peered back the way they had come, down the slopes winding into the town the humans called Sonora. Tiny black figures writhed between houses and shops, a sea of ant-like notdeads. Beyond them, he knew, thousands more choked the forest. He’d never seen a horde this large. It stretched for miles to both the north and south, blanketing the land in hungry death.
We cannot turn back. Yukon thought back, showing her what he saw below.
I mourn for us all, then, brother. The notdeads will kill many. The Liwanu and his children will kill all.
Yukon did not know that word, Liwanu—there were still many words he didn’t know, even after the Mother had awakened him—but he could feel the meaning behind it, something like the growl of a terrible bear.
Yukon trotted a few steps in the snow, unsure what to do. Thank you sister. We will move swiftly and try to avoid the high places as much as we can. We’ll follow the mountains, until the notdeads are left behind. Hopefully, we are gone before this Liwanu can find us.
May we run with you, brother?
Yes. Join our packmind. Be one with us.
Yukon bounded through the snow again, following the ridge to the north. He set a ground eating pace, loping through the snow with ease. The Mother had made him larger than any wolf, but the rest of the pack wasn’t so fortunate. The smallest was a border collie, panting as she rushed along in the trail Yukon’s passage allowed. He longed to slow, but dared not—not after Cloudrunner’s warning.
The sun marched steadily across the sky until Yukon finally paused upon a tall hill. He stared down at the tiny town below, just a few structures near a lake that had been made by men. The water was thick with writhing black specks, and the shores teemed with them. This place was even worse than Sonora. How large could the horde be? Surely there was an end to it.
Yukon plunged ahead, knowing that if he hesitated too long the rest of the pack would pick up on his unease. He needed to be strong for them, to keep them moving lest they give up hope. He plunged down a steep slope to a snow covered road, then turned north again, pressing forward, feeling for more packs.
There were none. The hills were silent, save for the wind. Even the crows were missing, and they never stopped talking. The pack sensed the change, and the occasional yips and barks were gone. They moved silently, flowing through the trees like ghosts.
Yukon’s heart raced. Something was out there. Something large, and very, very old. He sensed it out there, somewhere—and he knew that it sensed him, too. There was a sameness between them. Whatever it was, it had also been awakened by the Mother.
A lost brother?
The snow next to a huge granite boulder exploded into the air. A black-furred grizzly towered over the pack, standing many times the height of a man. It lunged at a German Shepherd, snapping her up in its jaws. She gave a single whimper, then the Bear flung her body into a pine tree. She fell and did not rise.
Yukon darted forward, barking at the Bear. Its gaze fell on him, and his pack sprang away. The larger members circled behind the Bear, while the smaller ones retreated into the trees.
Blood dripping from its muzzle, the Bear gave a thunderous roar as it lunged for Yukon. Yukon darted backward, but not quickly enough. Claws punched through his side, and he yelped as the blow carried him into the air. It flung him across the meadow, and he rolled through the snow at the far side.
Run, Sunfur. Run! Cloudrunner’s voice echoed through the pack mind. We will delay Liwanu, so you may live. The pack must live.
Yukon knew despair. No. Please. Do not do this.
The pack howled. They swarmed the Bear, darting in from every side. Yukon could feel their fierce determination, their knowledge that this was a foe they could stop. They would die, so Yukon would live; they were gladdened by this.
Yukon hung his head in shame, turning from battle. Blood flowed freely from his side, leaving a trail he knew the Bear would be able to follow. He forced himself past the pain, running north along the ridge. He still couldn’t risk leaving the hills, not while any of the pack survived. Many voices had gone silent, yet many more remained.
He redoubled his pace, running as he had never run. Alicia must be warned.
Chapter 2- Splitting Up
“Are we absolutely positive that splitting up is the best way to go?” Blair asked, leaning on his golden staff. The scarab-topped Primary Access Key hummed with power, comforting in the midst of so much chaos. He could feel it feeding pulses of energy into the Nexus, stabilizing its weakened matrix. The gems lighting the golden chamber glowed dimly, but it was better than it had been when they’d arrived.
They made a motley group: a mixture of deathless and champions, the ragged survivors of the battle for the First Ark. Now that the crisis was over Blair was already seeing the cracks start to form. Jordan stood apart from everyone, tree-trunk arms folded across his trademark black t-shirt. He hadn’t said much, but kept darting glances at Trevor and Irakesh. Trevor clearly knew it, frowning back at Jordan each time the big man darted a glance his way.
Trevor stepped onto the light bridge, turning to face Blair. Trevor’s skin was a little too pale, his eyes an unnatural green—but sometimes Blair could almost forget that he was deathless. “We’ve been over this. Yeah, splitting up is incredibly risky. Odds are good that at least one of us is going to run into more than we can handle. But with Ka essentially blind, we have no idea how things have changed in the outside world. We need answers.”
He beckoned to Irakesh. Irakesh bobbed his bald head submissively, then moved to stand behind him.
Trevor smiled at Blair, “I can’t believe you get to hang out with Liz, and I get stuck with fucking Irakesh. I feel like I lost a bet.”
“You realize I’m standing right here, right?” Irakesh asked, glaring at Trevor.
“Let’s focus, people,” Jordan snapped. He walked to the edge of the platform, looking up at Trevor. “Keep your wits about you, and don’t ever, ever trust that twisted bald fuck. Stick to the plan.”
“I get it,” Trevor replied hotly. “We’ll use the Arks to check in with each other in three days. If we’re unable to come physically, we’ll use the Arks to project a hologram. If we miss each other we check again in another seven days. It’s not a complicated plan, Jordan.”
“Calm down, guys. The testosterone is making my eyes water,” Liz said, smiling. She poked Jordan in the ribs. “Trevor’s a big boy. He’ll be fine.” Then she darted onto the platform, wrapping Trevor in a fierce hug. “Be careful, bro.”
Irakesh moved to join the hug, but Liz let out a low growl. Even in human form, it was menacing enough to make the deathless retreat.
“I’ll be careful, Wizzer,” Trevor said, mussing her hair. He released her, and she moved to rejoin Blair next to the platform. “Just keep Blair out of trouble.” Trevor’s face grew more serious as he turned to Jordan. “Good luck in South America. If you see Doctor Roberts, tell him I’m sorry about Panama.”
“Good luck, man,” Jordan said, extending a hand to Trevor. The pair shook, though there was clearly still tension between them. Trevor gave a nod, then the platform flared white. When the brilliance dimmed, he and Irakesh were gone—teleported thousands of miles in the blink of an eye
.
“Guess it’s my turn,” Jordan said. He started walking up the corridor, back toward the central hub of the Nexus, where they’d first met Ka.
Liz lagged a little behind, still peering at the platform where Trevor had disappeared. Blair didn’t blame her. She loved her brother, but circumstances always conspired to keep them apart.
Blair followed Jordan into the central hub, then up the passageway leading toward the Mother’s Ark, which was located down in Peru. Thinking of the Ark reminded Blair of the Mother, and the sacrifice she’d made on the world’s behalf. At least she was at peace now. She’d earned that.
“I can’t believe you’re going back to the place this all started,” Blair said, eyeing Jordan as they made their way up the corridor. The walls were lined with glyphs, glyphs Blair could read now—not that he had time to study them. “I still remember Mohn’s last stand down in the central chamber, when we woke the Mother.”
“The universe has a shitty sense of humor. Now not only am I a werewolf, but I’m the guy running her Ark,” Jordan replied. He shook his head, giving a sharp laugh. “It isn’t really my style. I’d rather be finding Mohn Corp. I can really make a difference there, with the Director gone. The Old Man might still be in charge, and he’ll need all the help he can get. I never liked him, but at least he wants to keep humanity breathing.”
“You’ll make a difference in Peru,” Blair replied. “There are more champions there than anywhere, and a lot of the tech survived. Those people will need a leader, and you can do that better than anyone except maybe Liz.”
“I can organize a military, but I’m never going to have the Director’s way with people. I’m not a bureaucrat, or a politician.” Jordan’s words were unapologetic. The man knew his strengths, and clearly didn’t consider leading to be one of them.
“So don’t be either. Be an Ark Lord. I wish you could see it from my perspective.” Blair gave a genuine laugh. It felt damned good, dissipating some of the ever-present tension in his shoulder blades. “You seriously underestimate how scary you are. You were the terrifying hit man who blew up Trevor’s house and chased us all over the world. You headed up major ops for Mohn Corp. When I got tapped for all this, I was a teacher at a local junior college.”
“Point taken,” Jordan said. He gave Blair a rare smile as he paused next to the platform. “I’ve just gotten used to taking orders, not giving them. Maybe it’s time for me to change that.”
“Good luck,” Blair replied. He offered Jordan his hand, and the burly man shook it.
“Jordan,” Liz said, hurrying into the room. She gave the commander a hug, just as she’d done for Trevor. “Be careful.”
Jordan seemed more than a little taken aback, but after a moment returned Liz’s hug. “I will, Liz. You guys do the same.”
He stepped onto the platform, and gave them a tight salute. Then the platform flashed, and he disappeared.
“Our turn,” Blair said. He offered Liz his arm, and she took it. They walked in silence, enjoying each other’s company until they reached the platform leading to the Ark of the Redwood. He turned to face Liz, taking her hand in his. “You realize that we’re walking into more chaos, and we won’t have a moment of free time.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think we can find a little time,” she said, giving a delightfully wicked grin. She leaned a little closer—almost close enough to kiss. “The rest of the world has survived for five years. I’m betting it can survive for one more night.”
Chapter 3- Salvador
Nox shifted restlessly, the shuttle’s strange black stone flowing to fit the contours of his grotesque body. The chair formed in the stone had a low back that allowed his wings to rest comfortably behind him, and parted to make room for his tail. It was as comfortable as any chair was likely to be, but no piece of furniture could make a three-hour flight anything but tedious—especially in a craft that had been designed both by and for another species.
The shuttle used the Builder’s iconic pyramid, and from the outside it could have been mistaken for a miniature Ark. Inside, it was dotted with small forests of black obelisks of varying heights, each giving off a different blend of signals. Nox couldn’t decipher them all, and he suspected that was part of why the grey men had given Hades the shuttle in the first place: it showed just how much more advanced they were.
Nox wasn’t impressed. The shuttle was advanced, but not much more so than humanity had been before the fall. Flying across the world was something he’d done regularly, as the Director for Mohn Corp.
The primitive airplanes you used were hardly the same, Set-Dun. They did not allow you to cross the world in minutes, nor did they allow you to journey to other worlds.
The voice had a point. Nox touched the console, willing the holoscreen to show him the coastline they were approaching. A vast expanse of blue-green washed up against the South American coast. Beyond that shore lay a sea of impenetrable green, the largest rainforest in the world. How odd that he had returned here, to the place where the old world had truly ended. Back then it had been about containing the werewolf virus, a war they’d thought they could win.
How naive he’d been, about so many things.
Yes, about a great many things. You’ve started to think of yourself as Nox, just as I predicted. Your old life will become little more than a dim memory as the years pass.
Nox ignored the voice, pivoting his chair to face the shuttle’s interior. Several dozen corrupted deathless, each with a sinuous tail and leathery bat wings, were perched among the obelisks. The differences between them were indistinguishable to the naked eye—but for one notable exception.
Kali, a beautiful girl in her early twenties, was in human form. She had red-brown hair, and an easy smile. Almost everything about her screamed girl next door—including her Ugg boots and black yoga pants—with only one thing to spoil the image: her eyes were flat black, dangerous and unreadable, like a shark.
She leapt to her feet the moment Nox faced her, hurried over to his side, and gave him a warm, friendly smile. “Looks like we’re almost there. You don’t mind if I kill Camiero’s family, do you? Nothing says ‘you work for us now’ quite like turning your wife and children to ash in front of you.”
Other demons had begun to approach, roosting on pillars all around them. Unlike Kali, the other demons had all been corrupted by Nox. He’d obliterated their free will, leaving them no choice but to obey.
Nox ignored them. “No,” he told Kali. He rose slowly, stalking toward her.
Kali merely pouted at his approach, but the other pair of demons both flinched.
“This trip requires subtlety,” Nox said. “If we do the job well, Camiero will serve us without the need for a demonstration. Remember, time is the resource we are shortest on. We need to work quickly, and we cannot do that if we antagonize this man. If he resists, you may dismember him and his family, and we’ll select another to rule here. ”
Kali grunted, studying her manicured fingernails.
Satisfied that his orders were clear, Nox turned back to the holoscreen. They had broken from the clouds now, and a mass of lush green jungle dominated the western horizon. They were circling South America’s eastern coast, moving south toward the Brazilian city of Salvador. It sprawled across a triangular peninsula, shielding the bay behind it from the ocean.
Sixteenth-century Spanish architecture huddled at the feet of massive modern resorts bordered by lush palms and wide white beaches. It reminded Nox a great deal of Hawaii, though the city was about a dozen times larger than Honolulu. Half the city sat at sea level; the other half was nearly three hundred feet higher. The two sections were separated by an escarpment, and linked by a series of elevators.
One of those elevators was slowly rising, and Nox could see dozens of people packed tightly inside.
“How do those still work?” Kali asked suspiciously.
“This city’s proximity to the equator means it was barely touched by the CME, or the
subsequent sunstorms. That makes it the perfect place for technology to survive.” He pointed at the line of cars snaking along the freeways. “That should tell you why controlling this city is so important to Hades.”
Nox guided the shuttle toward a large manor house atop the largest hill in the city. It was exactly the sort of place you’d expect a petty dictator to choose: ostentatious and completely indefensible, without even a tree line to obscure the place. Anyone with a rocket launcher and a bad temper could blow the shit out of the entire house from any of three dozen buildings within a mile. A professional sniper could surgically remove targets at will, executing anyone or anything that emerged from that house.
Nox shook his head, guiding the shuttle to hover just outside a bay window on the third story of the manor house. Deathless with assault rifles were scrambling now, blurring through the house in a panic. Nox willed himself to sink through the black stone floor, extending his wings as he left the craft. The black leathery membranes caught the warm tropical wind, and he glided toward the house. He immensely enjoyed flying; the feel of the wind along his scaly skin was a cool balm against the heat of accumulated sins.
You are still far too squeamish, Set-Dun. You balk at the simplest of necessities, the ever-present voice rumbled, deep in the recesses of his mind.
Again, Nox ignored it.
Kali’s demonic form rippled through the shuttle’s hull, and she glided toward him. “Are you certain about not killing the family?”
More demons rippled through the bottom of the shuttle, falling on the manor like deadly black leaves.
“You may ‘encourage’ anyone that tries to leave this place, but do not kill them,” Nox ordered. He crashed through the bay window, scattering glass across an enormous living room as his clawed feet sought purchase on the marble floor.
Several uniformed men took aim, letting out bursts of automatic weapons fire. Bullets ricocheted off Nox’s carapace, but he chose to ignore them as he walked toward a wide stairway leading down to the first floor. Camiero was somewhere below, probably surrounded by every bodyguard he could muster.
