On her way to the courtyard, she found Barry. He was on the same road just a short distance ahead.
"Barry!" she called out, and he turned to her.
Ellen ran up to him, took his hand and held it gently. He looked well. The incident in the forest hadn't left any marks on him that she could see.
"I'm alive," she said timidly.
Barry watched her with a vacant expression.
"Is something wrong?"
"Sorry." Barry pulled his hand free and walked off. "I'm glad you're okay, but I'm really worn out right now."
Ellen followed him. The last time they were alone she had managed to make him blush with just a few words, yet now he was about as lively as a corpse. "Did something happen in the forest?"
"Do you remember how I always said that if we were attacked, the monster would go after me first? I was right. After we lost you-" He shuddered.
"I don't know what happened, but I'm glad you're alive," Ellen said.
She stayed at his side as he drifted away from the courtyard. She hoped he'd say something, anything, but Barry kept quiet the whole time. Whatever had happened after she crashed into that rock had taken a serious toll on him.
"The Fortress Brigade was shut down," she said after a while. "What are you going to do now? Do you have any plans? Brendon told me the Fortress Guard is looking for more-"
"You can do whatever you want," Barry croaked. "I don't have a weapon. I tried picking up a new one, but... I'm useless now. I can't do anything."
Ellen stopped and let Barry go on alone. He was miserable and there was nothing she could do to help him right now. "I'm going to see the others. Don't leave the fortress without me."
Barry didn't respond or even acknowledge her. His silence made her uneasy, but if he was too worn out to speak then he was probably too worn out to leave the fortress as well.
She made her way to Ludendi's home, a small brick house in the middle of a row of empty houses. There was a line of shops behind it, all void of activity. She knocked on the front door and waited.
"Come in," Ludendi said from inside.
Ellen lingered for a moment. The empty houses around her weren't as empty as she had first thought. Her knocking brought their tenants out of hiding and to their windows, where they spent a moment watching her with frightened eyes and tired faces then ducked out of sight again.
Watching them cower away made her heart sink. She didn't know them well, but a lot of them had shared smiles and kind words with her in the past, yet now they were too afraid to step outside.
She hoped Ludendi might be unfazed by what happened in the forest, but that hope was crushed as soon as she stepped inside her house and found her laying in bed, her shirt off and her torso wrapped with bandages.
"I'm glad you're still alive," Ludendi said, her voice tired and strained. Her face was so pale she almost blended in with her white bed sheets.
"Are you alright?" Ellen asked cautiously. "What happened to you?"
"That thing almost caught me. I felt its breath on my back, then this happened." Ludendi sat upright and faced away. The bandages on her back were so red and bloody that Ellen's stomach started to churn. "I still don't know how I survived. I guess I'm lucky it was dark out." She lay back down. "They told me it'll heal, but I have to stay in bed for a while."
Ellen's heart ached. Her bump on the head was nothing compared to the misery her friends had experienced. "What are you going to do after you heal? We can't stay in the fortress much longer."
"I'll probably die here," Ludendi said with a weak smile. "It's going to take me weeks to heal, or maybe months. I doubt we have more than a few days left. I'm just going to burden whoever tries to help me. Besides, I'm not fit to live out in the wilderness. None of us are. We were holding you back this whole-"
"No!" Ellen blurted out, more angrily than she had intended. A startled look appeared on Ludendi's face. "Did you already forget everything we've been through? If that giant monster couldn't kill you then nothing else will either. You're going to get better, and then we'll leave the fortress together!"
Her outburst made no difference. "We'll see," Ludendi said glumly. "I'm really tired. Do you think you can let me sleep for now?"
Ellen turned around and left. She slammed the door shut behind her on her way out. Ludendi's cut was awful, but it wasn't so bad she needed to give up on living.
"Ellen," a meek voice called out to her.
It was Trevor. He walked over and joined her.
"I'm glad you're alright," Ellen said, trying hide her bitterness.
"I was let off easy compared to everyone else," Trevor said. "I wasn't chased, or attacked, or lost."
Ellen's anger waned. Trevor sounded meek and distant, but that was how he always sounded. She was thankful that one of her friends had made it out of the forest unfazed.
"There's no way I would've made it back if anything had found me. I doubt I'll survive a week once we're forced to leave-"
"Don't say things like that!" Ellen snapped. "Did you already forget how much time we spent in the wilderness together? Even that giant thing couldn't kill us. It'll be even easier now that everyone has experience."
She clenched her fists tight and glared at him. Why were all her friends so discouraged? She couldn't understand it at all. That giant monster was an awful thing, but they had faced it and survived. The next time something like that found them, they'd fare even better.
"Maybe you're used to that kind of lifestyle," Trevor said, his eyes averted, "but none of us are. Being trapped out in the wilderness alone, unarmed, with no food or water and with something like that right behind us-" He quivered.
Ellen relaxed her fists. Trevor had a point. Her friends hadn't grown up out in the wilderness like she had. What she considered normal was probably a nightmare to them. They needed time to recover.
Trevor smiled weakly. "I managed to become an administrator. They put me in charge of meeting smaller families and single people and finding out their plans for the future. The job isn't going to last for long, but I made it." He looked up at Ellen. "Do you have any plans for when you leave the fortress?"
"I plan to stay with my friends," Ellen said. "We're going to keep living together and surviving together and no monster is going to change that."
"It's a nice thought, but you're the only one of us who's good at surviving. We'll just-"
"Stop!"
Trevor averted his eyes again. "Sorry. It's a nice thought, but I don't think it was meant to be. We had a lot of freedom in the Fortress Brigade, but all of us have families with different plans for the future. The odds of them sticking together aren't great."
Anger swelled up inside Ellen's chest. Her future was quite obvious now: all of her friends were going to go their separate ways and she was going to end up alone again. It would be just like the time she was searching for the fortress, except instead of lasting two weeks, it would last the rest of her life.
"I'm sure one of our families will let you join them," Trevor said. He perked up. "I'll ask them for you. It's the least I can do after all the times you saved our team."
Ellen's anger subsided. Having one of her friends with her was a far more pleasant option than being alone, but how could she ever pick just one of them? "Thank you," she said, and Trevor nodded.
An awful, blood curdling screech frightened the rest of her anger right out of her. Whoever made it sounded like they were on the throes of death. She spun around.
A man was falling from the fortress's outer wall. His arms and legs thrashed in every direction as he descended. He screamed the whole way down then became silent when he crashed into the ground. A small cloud of dirt erupted into the air above the impact site.
Ellen turned her back to the wall. She couldn't see where the man had landed and she didn't want to.
"It's getting worse every day," Trevor mumbled. "I'm sure someone is going to ask you to join the Fortress Guard. They asked all of us. If you do join, be very careful."
He promised her again that he'd ask everyone's families to stick together or at least take her with them, then left.
Ellen headed back to her dormitory. Thoughts of joining the Fortress Guard still lingered in her head, someone had to keep the fortress protected until her friends and their families were ready to leave, but the scene a moment ago put a serious damper on them. She wouldn't be leaving the fortress with anyone if she ended up in a crater beside the wall.
A boy on the road up ahead caught her attention. It was Ralph. He looked as plain as ever. Was he experiencing turmoil of his own, or had he made it out of the forest unscathed?
Her eyes met his, and right away she felt nervous. She wasn't exactly on good terms with Ralph. Did he plan to continue their quarrel where they'd left off, or was he willing to put the past behind him?
Her anxiety grew as the distance between her and Ralph shrank. It reached its peak once she was close enough to speak to him. She stopped and waited for his reaction.
Ralph looked away from her and kept walking.
Ellen watched him for a moment then moved on. His silence didn't surprise her. They weren't friends. Even calling themselves teammates was a stretch. He had hated her from the moment they met and nothing had changed since then.
All the others who lived in her dormitory were gathered in the lobby when she returned. It was the first time she'd seen everyone in one place. They were packed together so tight it was a struggle to get through the front door. Despite the size of the group, the room was utterly silent.
Lindsey, Brendon's counterpart, stood at the head of the crowd. While everyone before her looked scared and afraid, she remained cool and collected. "We're entering a drastic time," she said, her voice very direct. "We've lost access to most of our farmlands, and on top of that, many of our farmers, butchers, and cooks have either left the dimension or retired for good. The food we have left isn't going to last more than a few days, if that. Once it's gone, you're all going to be on your own."
A wave of nervous chatter broke out within the crowd. Ellen felt their fear. She doubted any of them had ever scoured the wilderness for food before. Even she wasn't very good at it, yet that was the future that awaited them all.
"A few of our cooks and butchers are still here," Lindsey continued, and the crowd quieted down. "They can give you and your families a crash course on making monster meat edible, but you have to hurry if you want to learn from them. We're running out of time faster than we're running out of food, and we're running out of Fortress Guard members even faster. Galvin wasn't trying to scare you with his speech the other day. He meant it when he said the fortress is going to be overrun soon. You need to meet with your friends and families and start working out a survival plan right away. If you don't, your bodies won't ever be buried because this place will be too overrun by monsters for anyone to reach you."
Lindsey moved on, but the crowd continued to linger in place, muttering quiet worries.
Ellen stood with them, stewing in their apathy, until Lindsey pulled her off to the side of the lobby. "And what about you? Are you taking this seriously, or do you plan to sit back and wait for the fortress to be overtaken?"
She was even more forceful up close. "I-I'm talking to my friends," Ellen stammered.
"Make it fast." Lindsey lowered her voice down to a whisper. "You might not have seen it yet, but there's a horde of monsters creeping out of the forest. They're going to be inside these walls before you know it. You need to leave before everything really starts to spiral out of control."
She left the dormitory.
Ellen slunk back to her room and collapsed into bed. The fortress was running out of food and there was soon going to be a horde of monsters coming over the wall. Did her guardian know what sort of hell he had sent to?
She couldn't be mad at him. He had no doubt wanted the best for her. It wasn't his fault the dimension had started decaying. At least if she ever ran into him again, he'd have no reason to send her away.
Sleep came easily enough; it was dark enough to be nighttime and the dorm was eerily quiet. She slept until an explosion outside woke her up.
Ellen leapt out of bed and peered out her window. A two-story home beside her dormitory had been reduced to a mound of scrap wood. A giant grungy hammer with a head the size of a wagon lay atop the rubble.
A crowd was already gathered around the debris. Some gazed on in silence while others were on their hands and knees crying fits of tears and rage.
The whole scene made Ellen uneasy. If the monstrous hammer had landed a few yards forward, she'd be the one buried beneath its mass.
She made her way downstairs. The hallways were dead silent and the cafeteria deserted. Not even the food servers were present, but someone had set out a tray of bread, meat and fruit.
She took a slice of bread to eat now then stuffed several pieces of meat and fruit and even more bread into her pockets. The guilt flowed through her in an instant, but she'd already collapsed from hunger once and she had no desire to do it again. Once her pockets were full, she hurried outside before anyone could see her.
A familiar face was waiting outside her dormitory. It was Kilroy. He greeted her with a cautious smile. "Welcome home, Ellen."
His tone made her weary, but not as much as the massive sword slung over his shoulder. It was taller than her body and as thick as her torso.
"I know you had a rough time in the forest," Kilroy said, "but the Fortress Guard could really use your help. There are a lot of families that need more time to prepare themselves, or they're just plain stubborn and refuse to leave. Someone has to protect them until they're ready to move on. If you could lend a hand for a day or even a few hours, everyone would really appreciate it."
He had a smile on his face, but not a confident one. If someone as experienced as Kilroy was afraid of what lie ahead, what chance did she stand?
But she couldn't say no. Kilroy had been nothing but kind to her ever since they met. Not only that, she might not have ever met her friends if it wasn't for him. The least she could do to repay him was give the Fortress Guard a few hours.
"Okay," Ellen agreed glumly.
Kilroy put one hand on her back and led her forward. "I'm putting together an extra special team. Your shield alone should be enough, but don't be afraid to use your knife if the situation calls for it."
The wall wasn't far off. Already Ellen could see a group of soldiers gathered on top. Something large lurked amongst them. Something with wings and horns and a weapon big enough to cut her in half with a single swipe.
Joining the Fortress Guard was a terrible mistake, she had no doubt now, but she'd told Kilroy she'd help for a few hours and she planned to do just that. Once those hours were up, she'd leave and never look back, assuming she survived.
Chapter 22
Ellen reached the top of the wall during a moment of peace. The monster she had spotted on her way up was gone now. Only hacked up chunks of gray meat remained. Two dozen soldiers lingered in the area, their weapons, faces and clothes stained with silver blood.
"I hope you're used to these kinds of sights," Kilroy said. "You're going to be seeing a lot of them."
She'd grown accustomed to seeing hacked up bits of monsters long before she came to the fortress, but Ellen kept quiet. She was the youngest person on the wall, and the smallest and the cleanest and also the only girl. She didn't fit in at all.
She followed Kilroy away from the soldiers, stepping carefully around the bloody monster chunks, and to an empty area a short distance away.
"We're waiting for two others," Kilroy said. "We'll get started once they find us."
Ellen peered out into the wilderness. The entire dimension was just as dark as the fortress. Tens of dozens of black shapes were roaming the plains, slowly creeping their way towards the fortress.
A man with a burning gaze and a suit of armor etched with silver designs stomped passed her and approached Kilroy. "This isn't a place for kids," he growled. "I'm
not about to explain to some sobbing parents why their little girl is coming home in casket."
Ellen winced. She didn't plan to go anywhere in a casket. If there was one thing she excelled at, it was running away. And she planned to make good use of that talent at the first sign of trouble.
"Don't worry about her, commander," Kilroy said calmly. "She's going to be working with the best the fortress has to offer, and she's plenty capable of surviving on her own."
"Is she an immortal" the commander scoffed. "Nobody's safe up here."
"Close, but not quite."
His eyes went on Ellen's knife. So did the commander's eyes. The looks they gave it made Ellen uncomfortable. Both seemed quite enthralled by it, as if they knew more than they were letting on.
"Do what you must," the commander said, then stomped off.
Brendon and Lindsey joined Kilroy's side.
"So this is the team we'll face the end of the world with," Lindsey said.
"We're not sticking around that long," Brendon said. "We're staying until all the families down there are gone, then we're getting out."
"We might have to leave even earlier if everything keeps going like it has been," Kilroy said. "Anyway, let's get started. The three of us together should be able to keep the wall safe for at least a day, plus we have Ellen."
He took his massive sword with both hands and sprinted away. Brendon and Lindsey ran after him.
Ellen followed. She hoped they were as strong as Kilroy claimed, because if even a quarter of the monsters roaming the plains made it onto the wall, they were going to be in a great of trouble.
A monster leapt up from outside the fortress and landed in front of Kilroy. Ellen recognized it; it was another one of the skivvy, winged, ghoulish looking things that had attacked her and Ludendi during her tour of the fortress. It had a narrow, sickly body, even narrower arms and fought with a spear.
Unlike the one she had encountered before, this one died before it could raise its spear. Kilroy split its head open with one swing of his massive sword then shoved its body off the side of the wall.
Forlorn Dimension (Ellen's Friends Book 1) Page 22
