Dream Stalkers

by Tim Waggoner

  “Sez you, Mord,” Jinx said.

  “So… they throw pieces of themselves, huh?” Russell sounded very much like a nervous man who was trying to sound calm. Bloodshedder felt the same as her master. She hunched down in her seat and whined softly. Russell went on. “Kind of like Quietus, I guess.”

  Quietus was an assassin who’d served the Fata Morgana. A silent living shadow, he’d killed people with weapons formed from his own substance. As far as I knew, he’d been destroyed when Jinx and I had prevented the dimensions from merging. I hope it was true. He was a cold-hearted and extremely deadly sonofabitch, and both worlds were better off with him gone.

  “Quietus might’ve been related to the Darkuns somehow,” I said. “The Darkness too.”

  “Really?” Russell said. “I mean, he does have dark in his name, but besides that…”

  “You know how when he opens his robe there’s nothing but a black emptiness inside?” I said.

  “Yeah, and if someone tries to attack him – or more importantly, Maggie – they might find themselves swallowed up by that void.”

  I nodded. “Maggie once told me that, when people disappear into that emptiness, they end up here, in the Murk.”

  “Now that would be a nasty surprise,” Russell said.

  The thumping continued to grow louder and the lights in our car flickered, which was a less than comforting sign. The noise agitated Jinx until he was bouncing in his seat like an over-excited four-year-old. There aren’t many things he loves more than fighting Darkuns.

  Ferret-Face chose that moment to let out a high-pitched shriek. He yanked his feet off the floor, as if afraid the Darkuns might attempt to enter the car from underneath. He drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, as if by doing so he formed a protective barrier for himself. Not that it would help. If a Darkun managed to get inside, nothing short of head-to-toe titanium armor could protect him.

  He kept whipping his head around, as if trying to track the movements of the Darkuns outside. His whiskers quivered so fast now that they were blurs, and I thought I could actually hear them making humming sounds. He breathed rapidly, whining with each exhalation, yapping with alarm whenever a Darkun struck a particularly hard blow and outright shrieking if they struck anywhere close to where he sat. He gripped the edge of his seat so tight that his finger claws pierced the metal, and I tried not to imagine what they could do to flesh and bone.

  I felt sorry for him, but I was scared myself, and my fear made me snappish as I said, “Calm down, damn it! Everything will be okay!”

  His red eyes fixed on me, but I couldn’t tell if he’d registered what I’d just said.

  Jinx got up from his seat and walked over to sit next to Ferret-Face. The Incubi jumped as Jinx put an arm around his quivering shoulders.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “If they do manage to break in, they’ll tear us to pieces so fast, we’ll be dead before we know it.” He then gave Ferret-Face what I assume he intended to be a reassuring smile, but which instead resembled a lunatic’s grimace. I didn’t think it was possible to see a being with a fur-covered face go pale, but it happened. The skin beneath his fur turned so white it almost gleamed.

  Ferret-Face jumped up from his seat with a strangled cry and ran into the corridor – more to put some distance between himself and Jinx than to escape the Darkuns outside, I think. As for the Darkuns, they redoubled their efforts to break into the car, emboldened perhaps by Ferret-Face’s cries of fear. The noise became deafening, and I could feel the engine slow, as if Darkuns weighed it down. I imagined the shadowy creatures clustered along the entire length of the train, so many that they blotted it out entirely, transforming it into another piece of darkness in a realm without light. At that moment, I almost cried out in fear myself.

  Up to this point, the Loco-Motive’s passage along the tracks had been smooth. But now the car we were in began to sway back and forth, as if the Darkuns outside were attempting to derail it. Ferret-Face’s whining became fully-fledged howls at this point, and he clapped his clawed hands over his ears in an attempt to shut out the sounds of the creatures pounding on the car’s metal exterior. A useless attempt. I know, because I tried the same thing without success.

  Russell looked as worried as I felt, and he’d drawn his M-rapier, more to feel the comfort of it in his hand than because it would do him any good right then. Bloodshedder growled and continuously sniffed the air, as if she could monitor what the Darkuns were doing outside that way. Who knows? Maybe she could. Mordacity didn’t appear concerned, but it’s hard to appear like anything when your features are made of immobile bone. He sat in his seat next to Bloodshedder, not moving. He’d made the passage through the Murk many more times during his career than I had, and I told myself that I should take a cue from his seeming lack of concern. If Mordacity wasn’t worried, then why should I be? The thought helped, a little anyway, until Ferret-Face completely lost his shit.

  “We have to get out of here before they kill us!” He screamed these words, pulled his hands from his ears, and ran toward the door.

  Panels of reinforced steel had slid down to protect the outside of the door at the same time the smaller panels had locked into place over the windows, but the inside of the door remained unshielded. Ferret-Face began striking the door with those crystalline claws of his, hitting it fast and hard. He quickly sliced through the door and reached the steel panel underneath. I hoped that would stop him, but it didn’t. Maybe the protective panels weren’t as strong on the inside as they were on the outside. Or maybe his claws were made of stronger stuff than the Darkuns’ were. Whichever the case, Ferret-Face cut deep criss-crossing grooves into the steel, filling the air around him with a miniature storm of curved metal shavings.

  When Jinx saw what Ferret-Face was doing, he clapped his hands together like an excited little boy.

  “This is going to be fun!”

  Russell and I exchanged glances, and a wordless message passed between us.

  Oh, fuck.

  I pulled my hands from my ears and started toward Ferret-Face, Russell right behind me. If the terrified Incubus managed to so much as make the tiniest breach in the Loco-Motive’s protective barrier, the Darkuns would be able to enter. Their bodies were malleable, like the shadows they resembled, and they would have no trouble squeezing through a crack to get at us. And once they were inside – even if only a handful got through – our survival could be measured in seconds.

  Jinx remained in his seat, evidently satisfied to sit back and watch the show. He pulled a fist-sized package out of his pocket. It said Bubba-Wubba on it in colorful letters. He unwrapped a large pink mass, popped it into his mouth, having to dislocate his jaw to get it all in, and began chewing vigorously. I figured he was out of popcorn.

  I drew my trancer, flicked the setting selector to sleep mode, and fired a full-power blast at Ferret-Face. The trancer’s sleep function works better on humans than it does Incubi, but I hoped the blast would, if nothing else, bring him down from his frenzied panic. At first he seemed unaffected by the trancer’s beam – probably due to the massive amount of adrenaline roaring through his system. But soon his exertions began to slow, and I kept firing M-energy at him, hoping he’d lose consciousness soon. His motions slowed even further until he was swaying drunkenly, swinging his claws in awkward, lurching swipes, missing the steel panel as often as he hit it. He staggered backward, swiped the air a couple last times for good measure, and then collapsed. I stopped firing my trancer and holstered it.

  “Hopefully, he’ll be out for the rest of the–”

  A harsh crack! sounded, cutting me off. Ferret-Face had sliced dozens of grooves into the protective panel, some of them quite deep. And it was one of those that split open to allow a tendril of darkness to slither through. It moved slowly, waving back and forth, tentatively exploring. It brushed one of Ferret-Face’s feet and then froze. But then it moved with lightning speed, wrapping around the Incubus’ ankle and pullin
g him toward the crack in the metal.

  This did not look good.

  The ebon substance of the tendril began to hiss and bubble, steam rising from it as the light in the car ate away at its darkness. Still, the tendril didn’t release its grip on Ferret-Face. I drew my trancer once more and fired a force beam at the tendril. Russell sheathed his rapier and rushed forward to grab hold of Ferret-Face’s wrists and tried to pull the Incubus free from the Darkun’s tendril. But, no matter what either of us did, the tendril continued withdrawing, pulling Ferret-Face’s foot toward the crack in the metal inch by inch. Mordacity ran to help Russell, each of them holding onto one of Ferret-Face’s arms. Bloodshedder took hold of Russell’s cape and tugged, adding her strength to the struggle. Jinx just chewed his gum and watched. I knew our only hope of saving Ferret-Face was if we could slow down the tendril for the car’s light to weaken it or, better yet, destroy it. So I kept firing and Russell, Mordacity, and Bloodshedder kept pulling.

  Maybe the Darkun on the other side of the door realized its time was running out, or maybe it was simply eager to feed and couldn’t wait any longer. Either way, other tendrils squeezed through the crack and began to widen it, and then, with a swift yank, the Darkun pulled Ferret-Face toward the expanded opening. Russell, Bloodshedder, and Mordacity were jerked forward; they lost hold of Ferret-Face’s wrists, and the Incubus flew toward the opening. The crack was wider now, but not nearly wide enough for Ferret-Face’s body to pass through easily. Bone snapped, flesh tore, blood spurted, and then, just like that, Ferret-Face was gone.

  As horrible as it was to watch him go, I told myself that at least he’d been unconscious when it had happened. Cold comfort, maybe, but it was something. But my thoughts quickly turned to the problem that Ferret-Face’s demise had left us: there was now an opening to the outside – and all the hungry Darkuns who wanted to get inside.

  I’d stopped firing when Ferret-Face had been pulled outside, but now Mordacity said, “Use your trancer to block the breach, Audra!”

  Trancers aren’t lasers and their beams don’t produce heat. I couldn’t melt the metal and form a patch over the breach, but, if I continuously fired a trancer beam at the breach, I might be able to block the Darkuns from entering. If I could keep doing that until we reached our destination, we’d be safe. Maybe.

  But before I could fire again, Jinx stepped past me. He was still chewing his massive amount of gum, cheeks distended like a chipmunk with a mouthful of food, saliva dribbling past his lips. When he reached the door, he leaned his head back and spit out the slimy pink wad. It flew toward the breach, and, when it struck the metal panel, it flattened, plugged the breach, and stuck fast. It bulged as a Darkun from the other side – maybe the same one that had taken Ferret-Face – tried to break through, but the gum-plug held.

  Jinx looked at me and grinned, bits and pieces of pink covering his teeth.

  “Bubba Wubba: never leave home without it.”

  Nine

  After a time, the Darkuns’ attacks lessened and eventually stopped altogether. The Loco-Motive began to slow, and, although the protective panels over the windows didn’t raise and we still couldn’t see out, I knew we’d reached our destination. The door that led to the engine opened, and the Conductor stepped back into our car. He pointed his empty sleeve at the side door, and the lock disengaged with a soft click.

  We rose from our seats and headed for the exit. Jinx had finished the rest of his spiders, and he crumpled the bag and tossed it over his shoulder. The Conductor raised his sleeve and sucked the bag in as if he had an industrial shop vac hidden inside his clothes.

  Jinx giggled. “Man, he is so cool!”

  The car door opened on its own as I reached it, and bright light flooded in. Knowing what to expect, I squinted and averted my eyes, but the intense light still hurt. We stepped off the car onto a rectangular concrete platform illuminated by tall lamp poles atop which sat what looked like miniature suns. The blazing orbs created an oasis of light in the Murk’s darkness, and the illuminated area extended well beyond the platform, revealing the gray, lifeless ground of this region. At the edge of the light, shadowy shapes moved about restlessly. The Darkuns desperately wanted to get at us, but they were held at bay by the orbs’ radiance. The orbs’ light hadn’t failed all the times I’d been to Deadlock, and I had no reason to think it would do so now. But that didn’t prevent me from imagining what would happen if the light was suddenly extinguished, and I drew my trancer, just to be on the safe side. Jinx stood next to me and glanced at the Darkuns watching us. I knew he would’ve loved to whip out Cuthbert Junior and go running off into the darkness to indulge his lust for maximum carnage, but he didn’t. Maybe it was because we had a job to do, or maybe it was because there was a chance for even greater mayhem inside the prison. Or maybe it was because he knew I was scared and wanted to comfort me with his presence. Whatever the reason, I was grateful he stayed with me.

  I was surprised to see three other passengers disembark from the train. I was instantly on alert. None of them were the two assassins who had attacked us in Wet Dreams, but that didn’t mean they weren’t different assassins. The others noticed them the same time I did, and Russell and Mordacity drew their swords. Bloodshedder started growling softly, and Jinx pulled out Cuthbert Junior. If the passengers were concerned that we’d armed ourselves, they didn’t show it. They seemed far more worried about the Darkuns gathered in the inky blackness beyond the platform’s lights. They kept looking around and shuffling back and forth nervously. All three were Incubi. One was a human-sized earwig, another looked like a conglomeration of glistening organs without any skin, muscles, or bones, and the last had a woman’s body – trim and well-toned as her tight black shirt and pants revealed – but she had the head of a large, brown-furred, big-eared, and sharp-toothed bat.

  The three didn’t seem to be together, and, while they checked us out, none of them seemed concerned by us. Given my uniform, maybe they figured we were on official Shadow Watch business, and we only had our weapons out as a precaution. Or maybe they were assassins, and they were going to play it cool until they decided to attack.

  There were no passengers to get on here, so the Loco-Motive’s doors closed, and the engine began to build up steam – or whatever substance provided its power. Crimson smoke curled upward from the train’s stack and its high-pitched whistle-shriek sounded. The Loco-Motive slowly edged forward, pulling the cars along behind it. It quickly picked up speed and rolled down its tracks with eerie silence. As the train approached the edge of the protective light nimbus, it seemed to bend at a strange angle, and then it was gone – engine, cars, and all.

  “What happened?” Russell asked.

  I answered without taking my gaze off the three Incubi standing farther down the platform.

  “From our vantage point, the train went back to the beginning of the tracks in Oldtown. To the Loco-Motive, I guess it seemed to just keep going straight.”

  “Oh,” Russell said. “Right. The Mobius-strip thing. So the tracks don’t run through the Edgelands?”

  Mordacity answered for me. “No one enters the Edgelands by choice.”

  Jinx gave him a lip-splitting grin. “I do.”

  “I stand corrected,” Mordacity said. “What I should’ve said is, no one sane goes there by choice.”

  Jinx let out a hyena-giggle, and the three other Incubi on the platform looked suddenly uncomfortable and moved even farther away from us. Maybe they weren’t assassins, I thought. Then again, Jinx’s laughter could scare the hide off a T-rex, so the fact that those Incubi were frightened didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  “I get why the Loco-Motive doesn’t stop directly at Deadlock,” Russell said. “Same reason it’s located in the Murk in the first place: to discourage prisoners from escaping. How far away is the prison?”

  “A couple miles,” I said.

  “A couple miles in the dark,” Jinx added. “With vicious killing machines trying to get at you
the entire way.” He paused, and then added, “It’s glorious.”

  “Please don’t tell me we’re supposed to walk there,” Russell said.

  “The prison sends transportation,” Mordacity said. “It’s usually here to meet the train, but sometimes it’s… delayed.”

  “By those vicious killing machines Jinx mentioned,” Russell said.

  Mordacity nodded.

  So we stood and waited. Occasionally a Darkun would creep close to the edge of the light and hurl a piece of itself at one of the blazing lamps in an attempt to extinguish it. But the distance was too great, and the chunk of shadowy substance would fall to the ground without doing any harm, and quickly disintegrate in the harsh glare of the lamps.

  “Could they try to tunnel to us?” Russell asked. He didn’t sound scared, simply curious.

  “There’s fifty feet of concrete beneath the platform,” I said. “And, if one did get through, it would emerge into the light.”

  Russell nodded. “And light burns them.”

  “Yes. It doesn’t destroy them immediately,” Mordacity said, “but it will kill them if it’s intense enough.”

  “Their forms are supposed to be malleable,” Russell said. “Is that true?”

  “Yes, to a degree,” I confirmed.

  “Does that mean they can fly?”

  I hadn’t considered that possibility. “I honestly don’t know.”

  “Because if they could fly…” Russell began.

  Jinx clapped his hands together in glee. “They could fly over the lights and drop something to break them!” He made a whistling sound followed by an uncannily lifelike imitation of an explosion. The sound was so realistic that the trio of other Incubi waiting cried out in alarm and threw themselves to the surface of the platform. After several seconds passed without their horrible deaths by explosive force, they got up and glared at Jinx, who blew them a kiss.

  Russell looked skyward, but all that could be seen above us was an unbroken expanse of darkness. I knew he was imagining sleek black shapes soaring through the blackness, chunks of their own bodies clutched in talons, ready to be released when they were over their targets. I knew because I was imagining the same thing.