He looked back toward the entrance of the building, where the heads of several employees, people he had known for years, looked back from where they were perched on planters. They tried to make it to safety, he thought, the almost choking anger constricting his chest. There was no safety.
“You shouldn't be out here, sir,” said the Major in charge of building security. “I can't guarantee your safety.”
Daemon shot the man a glare that possessed all of his growing anger. A small smile creased his lips as the man recoiled back. Daemon waved a hand at the death and destruction around him. “Like you couldn't guarantee the safety of my employees. The job you were hired to perform.”
He looked around at the police who crowded the area, starting their investigation of a mass murder such as the city had never seen. “Like these men, these policemen, failed in their sworn duty to protect upstanding citizens of the city.”
Daemon turned his gaze back to his Chief of Security. “Of course you can't guarantee my safety, you idiot,” he yelled, watching the man flinch again. “No one can guarantee the safety of anyone while this thing roams the streets.”
Daemon turned in a circle, looking at the faces of all the men and women who were out on this night. “No one can guarantee shit.” He looked back at his Security Chief, then stormed back at the man. “Now get the hell out of my sight, you worthless sack of shit. I want your things cleaned out of the building by morning. You no longer work here.”
With that Daemon turned on his heel and stormed back to his building. No one he left behind felt secure in their positions, just as he wanted it.
Chapter Nineteen
Jude was barely clinging to consciousness as he fell from the airship. He landed on a rolling hill of sand, after a short drop that knocked the wind out of him. His brain was confused from the shock the Mage had delivered to him before he fell from the ship. Not enough to where he couldn’t recognize the trouble he was in, dropping into the darkness of the uninhabited countryside. The rigid airship continued on through the night, well lit, its engines buzzing away as they drove the twin propellers of the craft.
Jude rolled back over at the bottom of the hill, spitting sand from his mouth. He looked around but could see nothing other than darkness. There was not even a moon in the sky, and the stars, though bright and numerous, gave scant illumination. He lay there, still as could be, controlling his breathing as he waited for the last effects of the shock to leave him. He tried to make as little noise as possible, not wanting to attract anything that might be stalking the darkness. He knew that the great majority of Shadows hung out around cities and dwellings, places where they might be able to pick up a victim. Not here in the uninhabited lands, though there were always some out here in the wastelands. And he didn’t want one of those some coming up on him while he was flailing around in the dark.
Jude took stock of his situation while he lay still, waiting for the sun to rise. They had taken all of his weapons, even his belt buckle knife. From the time he estimated they had been in the air they had dropped him at least a hundred miles from the nearest habitation. Of course, due to his confusion during transport, that meant he could be anywhere from fifty to two hundred and fifty miles from habitation, and he really didn’t know what direction he needed to travel to get back to the city. But he knew he had to get back there. People needed to know what he had found out. And he was pissed enough that he was determined they would find out.
Jude looked out over the darkness, his eyes scanning, then stopping as they saw the red glow on the horizon that presaged the coming dawn.
Something scuttled by in the dark, a deeper shadow in the night. It clicked and hissed, and Jude had the impression of some kind of large insect form moving by about twenty yards away. It was moving fast, and he was sure it was heading for cover before the light of day hit it. He kept perfectly still, hardly even breathing, not wanting to chance that the creature might decide to detour if it knew prey was near. Within moments it was gone, and Jude breathed out a sigh of relief, continuing to watch as the horizon reddened.
The disk of the sun poked up over another dune, from which Jude knew was to the East of him. Meaning the dirigible had brought him south of the city. He couldn’t hear or smell the ocean, and guessed that he was some ways inland. The sun continued to rise. Jude picked himself up from the sand and brushed himself off, looking around to see if there were any landmarks that he might head toward while it was still cool. He looked up at the hill he had rolled down and decided that it offered the best vantage point from where he was. He trudged up the soft sand, feeling his head clear by the moment. It took several minutes, and the disk of the sun was almost over the horizon when he reached the top.
Every direction he looked offered the same view. Sand, endless sand, in large dunes that rolled across the landscape. He wondered what the land had looked like when it still supported life. Now there wasn’t even a shrub to break the monotony. It was as dead as the surface of the moon, though the planet’s atmosphere was still breathable, not a vacuum like the satellite’s.
Jude thought about what geography he knew. The ocean would be to the East, at some unknown distance. There was not likely to be anything along the coast that would help him, though he might be able to flag a boat or ship down. Unlikely, but possible. The city would be to the North, again at some unknown but probably great distance. South would be more desert for as long as he could walk. There would be mountains to the West, the low ancient mountains on this side of the continent. And there would be, if he heard Sarah correctly, the mission farms of the Church of God Ascendant.
That’s where I’ll head, he thought, squinting his eyes and trying to make out the mountains. He thought he saw something, some indication of differing terrain on the horizon. But that could have been hopeful imagination.
The dunes here seemed to run east to west in their orientation, so he started off walking along the top of the dune. This gave him a better view of the area and, he hoped, kept him going in the proper direction. He walked for miles along the one top before having to walk down at the end and up onto another dune. The temperature kept rising through the day while the sun rose in the sky. Jude felt the sweat pouring off his brow and soaking into his shirt. His skin began to sting, and he took off his shirt to get to his undershirt. He fashioned the undershirt into a head scarf, then put his shirt back on. He knew he needed water, that the sun was baking the moisture out of him. But there was nothing living as far as he could see, nothing that might give him some nourishment, or the slightest bit of moisture.
About mid-morning, from the position of the sun in the sky, he came upon the river. The gray waters swept through their channel in the sands, a hundred yards wide by Jude’s best estimate. He walked to the banks and knelt down, pulling up a handful of water and tasting it. It tasted good, with the odorless tasteless sweetness of pure water. Jude pushed his face into the river and drank deep. He drank as much as he could, then got up from the bank, wiping his face with his sleeve, his thirst slaked. He knew the full feeling stomach would empty soon, and he wished for some food, but the banks were as lifeless as the desert the river flowed through. He remembered pictures he had seen of deserts, and recalled that rivers and streams were long oases of trees and grasses. The problem here was not lack of moisture. It was the lack of life, of the force that animated living things. Nothing would ever grow here again, and the river was a wasted terrain feature flowing for the use of nothing.
An hour up the river he saw the bridge. A low slung metal span, the center collapsed and fallen into the water. It was the color of rust, a metal framework that was oxidizing away in the damp. Jude walked to the end on his side and noted the twin rail tracks that ran down the span. He shook his head, the sorrow for his fallen race brimming up. This was a sign of the civilization that used to extend to these lands, now gone. Gone for good.
The world is dying, thought Jude, remembering hearing that from so many in the last couple of months. Eventuall
y even the huge city that was his home would be like this. Steel and glass and concrete structures sticking up from the sand. Nothing living. Nothing to remember who had placed these structures here, while they rusted and weathered into nothingness.
Jude left the bridge behind and trudged up the bank. It was still very hot, with the added burden of high humidity. But he followed his water supply as he walked.
Jude thought about what had happened to get him to this point, a point where his enemies hoped he would end. There was a conspiracy in the government, using these Eldritch as a power source to keep the magical grid alive, and the world alive for some more years. The government was afraid the people would become incensed if they learned of the genocide of these creatures. Jude doubted there would be that much of an outcry. After all, people were getting what they wanted, and the hell with the lives of things that weren’t even human. The Church would of course raise hell, and they still had a lot of pull, with six million adherents. Maybe that was the fear. That the Church would throw a monkey wrench in the whole process.
Playing the images over in his mind he came to the scene of finding Santana dead, tacked to the door. Tears welled up in his eyes. He had loved that cat more than anything since his wife died. That cat had been all he had left of his wife, and the bastards had killed him in a manner that caused terrible pain and suffering to the animal. Jude had killed the men responsible, and he vowed, while walking the lifeless banks of the river, to go further, and get those who had sent those men.
A screech from the sky broke through his thoughts about the cat. Jude looked up to see a large bird, some kind of raptor, gliding through the sky on the desert updrafts. He looked in wonder as the bird banked in the sky. What can it live on here? he thought, following the path of the bird to the west. There was nothing here for it to live on, so it must have flown from someplace where there were things for it to eat. Like the mountains. Jude followed the bird with his eyes, to the west, and began to walk faster, hoping to see the mountains at any moment.
An hour later and he still saw no mountains, though the river was curving to the North. He continued to follow the course of the river, hoping that it would curve back to the west, but after an hour of walking it was still heading north, not the way he wanted to go. He was thinking about swimming the river when he saw another bridge, maybe a mile ahead. This one turned out to be a vehicle and pedestrian span, and it was intact. There were some holes in the tarmac, but he was able to skirt those easily to reach the other side.
Jude pulled his watch from his pocket and looked at it. It was something those who had assaulted him left him, probably seeing no use he could put it to increase his survival. It was nearing three, and he had at most four more hours before the darkness came. And with the darkness would come the Shadows.
Jude continued to walk, one foot after the other across the sands. The surface itself pulled at his feet with each step. His calves were aching from walking on the too soft surface. Within an hour he was beginning to feel thirsty again, and had no convenient source of water flowing beside him like before. Sweat was running down his face, and the glare of the sun on the sand was blinding to his eyes. Clouds started to form in the east, behind him, and stream across the sky. Soon the sun was hidden, and rain began to fall over the sands.
Not the lack of water, Jude thought again, looking up into the sky and letting the cool water wash over his face. There was everything needed for life here, with the exception of life. The organics that would normally make this sand soil had washed away over the years, as the life forms that generated those organics were no more.
The rain cooled down the desert, but Jude couldn’t see far ahead in the mist. The rolling hills of the desert seemed to go on and on forever. He checked his watch again, and it was a little after five. It would be dark in less than two hours. He needed some kind of shelter, but where could he hide from the Shadows? Where to find shelter in this open expanse of nothing? The Shadows must find shelter during the day, but he couldn’t use their shelter as his own. He could see himself trying to slide into a cave as the Shadow was coming out, or out in the morning after it came in. It wouldn’t work. All there was to do was keep walking, and hope he came to something. When it got dark he would just have to lay down somewhere and not make noise.
He thought he was seeing an illusion at first as he walked through the mist. The clouds were starting to disperse. The sun was low in the sky. And there was something ahead, looming out of the mist.
Those are mountains, thought Jude, hurrying his pace, shrugging off the fatigue in his renewed hope. Large, dark forms rising up ahead. How far ahead? He kept pushing on, feeling that his legs were going to fall out from under him at any minute.
Then it was six, and he was standing in the pass between the two low peaks on either side. The shadows were starting to grow along the walls of the pass, and Jude was feeling very anxious. He was in the mountains now, but where would he find one of these mission farms? He needed to locate one, and soon.
“Hello,” he yelled as he continued into the pass, moving upwards. “Hello.”
The greeting echoed back to him from the rock walls. He kept moving, turning a corner in the pass. Is that what I think it is? he thought, looking up the slope of the pass and seeing a grizzled looking pine tree. There were tufts of grass growing here and there. Not a lush landscape, in fact a sparse scrubland of life barely holding on. But something more than the desert behind him.
“Hello,” he yelled again. He thought he heard something else, and strained his ears. But he couldn’t hear anything. He began to put it off to his hopeful imagination. Then he heard it again. Barking. Faint, but coming closer. He wasn’t sure that was a good sign. And then the dogs came running down the slope, coming at him. Four large beasts that had the look of herding dogs. But if they were feral, they would have other things in mind.
Jude readied himself to strike, trying to call up a spell that might give him some power over the beasts. The spell fizzled. There was no energy to work it out here. The dogs ran up and slid around him, their tails wagging as they sniffed his clothes. One thrust its head under his hand, tail thumping, and he felt a wave of relief. The dogs were friendly, he decided, which meant they weren’t wild.
Jude heard the sound of a steam engine approaching, and two of the dogs ran back up the gentle slope of the pass. They disappeared around a corner, then came rocketing back, leading a cross country steamer that looked like it had seen much use. Two people sat in the open cab, a man driving and a woman in the passenger seat. There was a rifle and a shotgun on a rack behind the people, and Jude made sure to keep his hands in plain sight as the steamer pulled to a stop twenty yards up slope from him.
“How’d you get here?” asked the man, getting out of the steamer. “We get guests sometimes, but they normally don’t come walking in.”
“I was stranded in the desert,” said Jude, looking over the man and woman, who both seemed reasonably clean and healthy. “I was hoping I might find one of the missions I had heard about in the mountains.”
“You’re on the edge of Sutter’s Mission,” said the woman with a welcoming smile. “We’ll give you a ride there if you’d like.”
Sutter’s Mission, thought Jude, nodding his head. That’s the one Sarah was talking about, where her parents are. How much of a coincidence is that?
“Are you a member of the Church?” asked the woman as she gestured for him to get into the back of the cab. “I’m Mary by the way. Mary Tracer. And this is my husband, Bob.”
“I was raised in the Church,” said Jude, climbing into the seat and settling in. “I kind of drifted away as I got older.”
“No magic,” said the man, Bob, giving Jude a stern look. “Magic is not allowed on the mission grounds. It would defeat what we are trying to accomplish here. So no magic.”
“Yes sir,” said Jude, nodding. “I won’t do a thing that’s magical while I’m here.”
“It wouldn’t be hospitable,�
�� said Mary as Bob put the steamer in gear and turned the vehicle. He started up the pass, the dogs running around and playing tag with the vehicle.
“We were up here looking for some lost sheep,” said Bob, honking his horn at one of the dogs that got much too close to being run over. “We found them, and were getting ready to bring them on down, when the dogs started barking and ran down the pass.”
“I have a friend in the city who told me about your mission,” said Jude, trying to get more information from the couple. “Sarah Stranger. Have you heard of her?”
“That’s the Reverend Gerald’s daughter,” said Mary, her smile widening. “Of course we know her. Might be you would want to talk with the Reverend when we get to the mission proper.”
The car took another turn in the pass, and Jude saw the sheep the couple were talking about. The dogs took off and started barking and nipping at the animals, which moved the direction the dogs herded them with indignant baas. There was some grass scattered here and there in the pass, and as they neared the top it got thicker, with some more stunted trees on the slopes. Jude wondered how they made a go of it here, and decided that asking was the best way to get the information.
Bob laughed when he asked the question. Mary started to open her mouth to answer, then the vehicle bounced over the top of the pass and started on the way down. She gestured to the window and Jude looked out, his jaw dropping.
Spread out below them was a large valley, a river running through the center, sparkling in the setting sun. At first glance Jude thought it must be twenty or thirty square miles of flatlands surrounded by the mountains. The valley was partially forested, with thick stands of trees. The rest were fields of rippling grain or pastures for animals. He could see hundreds of dots in the nearer fields, cattle and sheep in abundance. Buildings of farms and animal barns were scattered about the valley, and a long dirt road ran along the river. In the center were a collection of houses and buildings making up the village of the valley.
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