by John Corwin
The compound was a few blocks away. The closer she got, the less appealing a place it seemed to stay the night. But Dara was a little drunk, a little stoned, and extremely tired. Dancing at the clubs for hours on end was exhilarating but it took its toll, even on a young Scion. She glanced at her phone. Almost four in the morning. She ambled down the street, entered the gate, and went to the back door.
Her ears popped. The air displaced all around her. She spun. Lucinda stood a few feet away. Groups of Scions ringed the parking lot.
"Hi, Dara."
Dara felt like she'd been dunked in ice water and soberness clawed through the haze in her brain. "What the hell is going on?"
Lucinda sighed. "Will you get Andre? We need to talk."
The door behind Dara slammed open. Thomas and Marissa emerged. Marissa's eyes were dark with fatigue. She might have been crying. Thomas looked terrible. Worn out. What had happened? Fear tangled in her throat. She didn't know what to say. What to do.
"Hello, Marissa," Lucinda said. "I need to speak with Andre."
"He knows. He's coming."
A crooked red slit appeared in the air. Andre emerged, a smile on his large face.
"What is that?" Dara asked. "How is it visible in Normal?"
Marissa took her by the arm and led her away. Andre turned to Lucinda and started talking.
"You should go, Dara. Leave now." Marissa's lip trembled.
"Go where?"
"Anywhere but this city."
"But my friends. What about you?"
"Go."
"Screw that. I'm sticking this out." Dara pulled her arm from Marissa and walked back to Lucinda and Andre.
"You've violated the Covenant. Step down peacefully. None of us want violence," Lucinda was saying.
"I'm afraid you and Mikhail will be required to step down."
"You're outnumbered. I spoke with council members earlier and they concur with my conclusion."
Andre laughed until his face turned red. "You're still green, Lucinda. I don't think we need a council anymore. We don't need factions either."
* * * * *
Alexander had a clear bead on Andre. First opportune shot. This was it. He took a long breath. Applied pressure to the trigger. Released the air from his lungs in an even flow. Dark hair abruptly blocked his view. A girl. The young one who'd arrived just before everyone else. Except for the tip of his nose, Andre's head was obstructed from view. Easily remedied. Alexander shifted left on the catwalk a few feet. The shot became clear again. Nobody could withstand a headshot in the right place. Not chum, not a Scion. Not even a grand arbiter.
One bullet and a puff of pink mist. Game over.
Alexander controlled his breathing. Slowed his heart rate. This would be a long-distance money shot. He took in the last breath. Released it slowly. Squeezed the trigger.
The air displaced behind him. His military training took over. Alexander dropped the rifle. Rolled to his back. Pulled a pistol and aimed—at Grand Arbiter Mikhail and Anne-Marie.
"Sir, I'm sorry." He stood and saluted from force of habit.
"Everything is ok, Alexei. I have new orders for you."
* * * * *
Dara couldn't believe her ears. Nobody else in the general vicinity could either.
Lucinda furrowed her brow. "Andre, you can't be serious. I'll give you an hour to step down and hand command to someone responsible."
"You overestimate yourselves."
"I hardly think so. Look around."
"I'll give you and Mikhail an hour to turn yourselves over. I will assume control of the factions. The council will be abolished. Any questions?"
Lucinda stepped away. "Andre, under authority of the Council, I'm putting you under immediate arrest and mind lockdown." She motioned to a group of people.
Andre vanished. A dark shadow appeared atop the theatre. "I've been busy Lucinda. You think I'm outnumbered?"
Crimson scars split the air in various points around the parking lot. The din of babbling voices and screams rose above the roar of confused Scions. Swarms of people emerged from the scars. No, not people. Ghouls. Dara could tell by the way their eyes rolled. By their crooked gait. By the way they began to tear through the assembled Scions like grass.
Dara hopped by sheer instinct to a safe place, an old water tower in an adjacent vacant lot. Someone cursed. She screamed. A man leapt to his feet and regarded her.
"Who are you?"
"Dara." She noticed a sniper rifle. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm not authorized—"
"I don't give a crap. Can you use that gun?"
"Of course."
"Then shoot the fucking ghouls!"
"Christ. I was wondering what the hell was going on."
He lay on his stomach. Took aim. Dara magnified the horde with her seeker sight. A shot rang out. Red fog misted behind a ghoul. It dropped. Then another. And another.
"I'll run out of bullets. I wasn't here to kill off a damned mob."
"You were here to assassinate Andre."
"Yes."
"Then do it. He goes down, maybe the ghouls do too." She zoomed her sight and spotted Andre atop the roof. She showed the shooter. "What's your name?"
"Alexander. Alexei to friends."
"Seeker, right?"
"Yep." He took aim.
Dara magnified her sight until she could see the expression on Andre's face. The bullet exploded from the rifle. Dara followed the trajectory of the bullet, her senses acute enough to actually see it.
Just feet away from Andre, the air swallowed the bullet up.
"Holy shit." Alexander peered down. "Did you see that?"
Dara switched sight. A network of gaping scars surrounded Andre. "He's holding open scars like shields."
"I see them. Those aren't Blight scars though. Something about them is way off."
"Where the hell do they go?"
"No idea. This is FUBAR. Andre has flipped his mind."
"What should we do?"
He shrugged. "Kill ghouls until I run outta bullets."
* * * * *
A ghoul clawed at Tollee's face and missed by a hair but caught Jason on the shoulder. He spun and went down hard. The ghouls were far too powerful to fight for executors, let alone seekers. Tollee was faster. Not by much. The ghoul, its human face writhing with insanity and anger, charged for Jason. Tollee grabbed it from behind and Blight hopped but not in the usual way. This time she went straight up.
Tollee usually only hopped up to reach the top of a building. Not to reach thin air. She'd used a wisp of cloud and the moonlight for guidance. Now for the tricky part. Timing. The ghoul screamed. She shifted back to Normal, looked down, and released the ghoul. She had to be a mile up. Probably less. At this height it really didn't matter. Gravity caught her and the ghoul. She focused on the ground. Hopped.
The asphalt stung her hands as she hit the ground hard and fell to her knees. She shifted back to Normal automatically. Jason pulled her up.
"Where did you go?"
A piercing scream rose above the din of the fighting. They looked up. A dark spot grew larger. Tollee grabbed Jason and pushed him away. The ghoul cratered in the asphalt behind her a second later.
"Smart girl," Jason said. "Let's do it."
They each rushed a ghoul from behind. Put their hands on them. Hopped. Jason smiled as they shifted back to Normal a mile above the ground and released the ghouls. This time she hopped back to the ground before gravity created the momentum that had skinned her knees the first time.
* * * * *
"It's raining ghouls!" Alexei laughed.
Dara watched as two seekers methodically hopped ghouls a half-mile up into the air. Bodies plummeted, plowed into the ground. A few landed atop others in the crowd, however, creating casualties. Dara recognized Tollee as one of the resourceful seekers. Tollee seemed to realize the unintended damage the bodies were doing. Soon the bodies were falling closer to Andre's position. They didn't faze him. His
web of scars simply swallowed anything that came too close.
Dawn began to break on the horizon. Chum were coming outdoors. Starting off their mornings. The fighting had spread to the streets. Bodies lay everywhere. Most were Scions. A group of arbiters had banded behind a wall of executors and were mind scrambling attacking ghouls. It wouldn't be long before their position was overwhelmed.
"Who's that?" Jason pointed toward the Vortex hamburger joint.
A group of shadowy figures had appeared. The pink rays of the sun lit their faces. Dara recognized one in particular.
Lucas Fowler.
Chapter 48
The theatre parking lot was pockmarked with craters. Blood soaked into the concrete and asphalt. Bodies sprawled everywhere. The coming dawn revealed every horror from the early morning battle. Dara had never seen anything like it. Alexei was out of ammo. Some groups of Scions had hopped away from danger. Those who'd remained were barely holding on.
Tollee and her companion had several other seekers helping now. They blipped in and out, taking unsuspecting ghouls far into the sky to plummet to their deaths. Their work hardly thinned the horde still emerging from the crimson scars Andre had opened.
Lucas ran for the parking lot. He leapt over the ruined fences and landed in the center of a skirmish. Two ghouls attacked. He sidestepped. Grabbed each one by an arm. Smashed them into each other so hard their skulls shattered. More attacked. He flung them away like dolls. But more came. He couldn't keep it up forever.
"We have to help," Dara said. "Somehow."
"Let's go closer."
They hopped to the roof of a tall building across from the theatre.
"You're not unique any more," Andre said, shouting at Lucas like jealous fourth grader with a new bicycle. "I have everything now. Even better, I have knowledge. You can't touch me."
Lucas swept away a ghoul with a crushing backhand. "What in God's name have you done, Andre? How many people did you kill for this?"
"You'd be amazed what I've learned over the past few hours. Thanks to you, friend. All thanks to you."
Dara could tell Lucas's intent. He was about to attack Andre. The scars might take him anywhere. Maybe somewhere he couldn't return from. She hopped in his path. He almost bowled her over.
"You can't attack him. Look in the Blight."
His eyes darkened. "Where do those scars go?"
"I don't know."
Lucas spun. His arm intersected an attacking ghoul. He flung the ghoul at Andre. The creature vanished. "Nice trick."
"I have better ones."
Lucas cried out. His hands pressed against his head. Dara looked in the Blight and saw the reason. A mass of black probes extended from Andre and into Lucas. Dara had never seen anything like them. They looked slick and shiny like black eels.
Lucinda appeared from the Blight with Greg and Vish. Vish's face was bruised. His fists were crusted with blood. Greg was cradling an arm. Lucinda was filthy but her eyes were focused. Glowing white probes exploded from her head and crashed against Andre's black ones.
"What are those things?" Greg asked.
"Drain probes," Mikhail said. "Do not engage them, Lucinda."
Dara jumped. She hadn't heard him arrive.
Lucas's eyes went vacant. He fell to the ground, his eyes unfocused. Unseeing. Someone screamed. Alexia. She fell to her knees by his side. Shook him. Pleaded with him to wake up. Tears cascaded down her face.
"I need some help back here," Vish said as another mass of ghouls rushed him.
A bullet zinged through the air and demolished a ghoul's face. More shots rang out and several more ghouls collapsed.
"We need to retreat," Lucinda said. "We can't beat these numbers." She put a hand on Alexia's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."
"I told him this would happen." A sob shook Alexia's body. "He came anyway."
"Surrender is your best option," Andre said from his perch atop the theatre. "Actually, it's your only option."
Alexia pressed her hands to Lucas's face as if searching for something. "He's still in there. I can feel him."
"Oh shit," Alexander said.
Dara looked up and around. They were surrounded by ghouls. Fine red threadlike probes ran from their heads to Andre's. She hadn't noticed them from the distance, but looking through the Blight she could see them clearly now. It must be how he was controlling them.
"I think we've reached the end game, friend." Andre smiled and looked at Mikhail. "Hopping won't do you any good. I have more of my army waiting in the Blight."
"What is your goal, Andre?" Mikhail asked.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Alexia gasped. Her tear-stained eyes focused on something distant. Dara looked in the same direction, expecting some new threat. The morning sunlight grew dimmer. A shadow crept up the ground behind her. Dara looked at the horizon. A black cloud stormed toward them.
"What the hell is that?"
Lucas pushed himself up. His eyes darkened to pitch black holes. His skin paled. A trickle of blood ran from his nose.
"How?" Andre asked, his eyes growing wide.
A cacophony of voices overpowered even the screaming ghouls. The ghouls abruptly ceased their advance. They peered at the ominous cloud. No, not a cloud. Black birds. Mynas. They swooped. Laughed. Called names. Hundreds of names. A new blood-red scar split the air in the parking lot. The thin red probes puffed away the moment the scare opened.
"Mommy?" A nearby ghoul in the body of a young man looked at a myna that had perched atop a fence post.
"Home," the myna said. "Home."
The ghoul whimpered but nodded. He loped into the scar and vanished.
Ghouls filed from all directions. Each seemed to have a guiding bird, some had more than one. They entered the scar while Andre screamed at the top of his lungs for them to stop.
"If you can control the birds, I can too," Andre shouted. More red probes shot from his head but they puffed away when they reached the birds.
"You're making a fundamental mistake," Alexia said back. "Nobody controls the mynas."
"Wrong." Andre's eyes darkened. His face mottled red. The birds ignored him. Probes of varying colors darted from his head to the birds. One bird dropped dead. Another took its place. Andre roared.
Dara observed Andre's shield of scars in the Blight and noticed how bits of the web were vanishing. Chinks were forming in his armor. Andre was losing his concentration. He was weakening.
A young man pushed his way through the knot of defenders. Tollee was pulling on his sleeve, trying to keep him back.
"What are you doing, Jason?" she asked.
"I know who you are," Jason said to Andre. "You're the arbiter who aided Cross."
"Impossible," Mikhail said.
Andre smiled. Not an amused smile. The sort of smile someone gets when he has been found out. "The one and only."
"I don't understand," Mikhail said.
"And you never will, friend. The day I revived Cross, something happened to me. Something surged from his mind and into mine. Something amazing. It rewired me. Whatever happened to him during his first death changed me. Whatever it was made him mine."
"That was too long ago. Not even arbiters live that long. You haven't aged nearly enough."
Andre shrugged. "Physically I haven't aged much. But I am aging. This body will die."
"You opened these scars. To afterlife?"
"To the afterlife and beyond."
"Time to end this, Andre," Lucas said. His hands were shaking. Sweat glistened on his forehead.
Andre scoffed. "It's already over. For now."
"Forever."
"I don't think so."
"How many innocents are dead thanks to you and Martin? How much blood is on my hands thanks to you?" Lucas's voice broke and tears welled in his eyes. "You've destroyed me."
"You were destroyed before we found you. A pathetic hermit wasting his days away. I'm your creator and your savior, Lucas Fowler. I could be the savior of all Scions
. You're all too close-minded to accept my vision of the future that could be. What if I told you eternal life was ours for the taking? That we'd never end up in the afterlife? We could rule here." He looked past Lucas. "If you're looking for someone to vent your worthless rage on, maybe you can use Tollee. After all, she killed your parents."
Tollee's face blanched and she gave Lucas a look of sheer fright.
Lucas waved the accusation aside with a swat of his hand. "I don't even know who that is. You're a coward, Andre. Whatever extra abilities saving Cross granted you, they've corrupted your mind. You nearly did the same to me."
Jason cut back into the argument. "What really happened to Cross? Was he executed?"
Andre grunted. "I guess you'll never know." A yellow scar formed behind him.
Mikhail cried out in pain.
"Mind-lock not working, friend?" Andre laughed and vanished into the scar.
"No!" Lucas rushed to Andre's former position and looked at it, as if Andre might reappear at any moment. He turned. "Who is Tollee?"
Dara backed away, sensing that something bad was about to happen.
Jason stepped forward. "Don't do anything rash, Lucas. We've all been through a lot here."
"Who is Tollee?"
"I am," a frightened voice said. Tollee stepped forward. She was shaking. Tears pooled in her eyes.
"You?" He clenched his fists, looked at Alexia. Looked back at Tollee. "Tell me about my parents."
"It's true. I'm responsible for all this. Everything."
Jason cut her off. "Not true. You were a pawn like everyone else. Martin and Andre used you."
Lucas roared. He turned and slammed the theatre with his fists. The cinder blocks cracked and spider-webbed. He turned for Tollee, took a deep breath, and paced away from her. He stopped a few feet away and looked at her. His eyes were rimmed with red. "Tell me everything."
Tollee whimpered and took in a shuddering breath. "Martin tried this before. He used another Scion. You were supposed to be the first victim, like David Young. Instead, he messed up and wrecked this Scion's brain. The guy reached your home and went crazy and killed everyone."
