She caught up with Brendon and Lindsey, who'd already retreated a short distance away, then looked back. A hammer just like the one that had hit her dormitory was wedged into the side of the wall. The debris knocked free from the impact had buried the grave as well as several onlookers who didn't flee in time. Some of their limbs stuck out from beneath the rubble, still grasping for life.
She sank to the ground and curled up into a ball. Even partially formed the monster inside the cloud had no trouble wreaking havoc. It was going to kill her and her friends and everyone around her and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. "I can't do it," she whimpered, her face already damp with tears. "It's too much. I can't do it. I don't want to be here anymore."
If Brendon and Lindsey had any comforting words for her, they weren't sharing them. All the soldiers were silent as well.
Ellen startled when two strong hands clamped down on her shoulders.
"You're strong, Ellen," Kilroy said. "You're going to make it through this. We all are. It's just one more day. One more day and everyone will be somewhere much safer than this, including you and your friends."
She didn't feel strong at all. She didn't feel confident in her friends either, but even if they only cared about her knife, she didn't want them to die in a place like this.
Ellen wiped her tears away and stood up.
"Good," Kilroy said. He gave her a pat on the back, then raised his voice and shouted, "No more begging, no more crying and no more running away! We have a job to do and we have to do it well. If we don't, even more of our friends are going to die. You're members of the Fortress Guard. If you don't guard this fortress then nobody will!"
The soldiers all gave him a quick solute then continued on their way. Even those who'd been begging Ellen to save them showed a hint of confidence in their faces, and she was thankful for that. Her own confidence was hanging on by a thread that wouldn't survive one more sad story.
Brendon gave Kilroy an amused look. "Since when did you start giving speeches?"
"This is a desperate time," Kilroy said. "We're all doing strange things to survive." He lifted his great sword off the ground and threw it over his shoulder. "Now come on, we have work to do."
He took off running. Brendon and Lindsey followed, and Ellen trailed behind them.
The monsters outside the fortress were some of the worst she'd ever seen. There were more claws and teeth and tendrils and wings and tentacles and beaks and spikes and other awful appendages than she could count, all gathered for the sake of tearing apart the last bit of humanity that remained in this dimension. It was only a matter of time before that sea of nightmares flooded into the fortress.
Fortunately, most of them couldn't climb the wall, and even fewer could fly. But still she wondered, what reason was there for a group of awful things like this to exist? What were they accomplishing by laying waste to all traces of civilization? There had to be something that brought them to life and compelled them to act, but what?
She planned to find the answer some day, but for the time being, simply surviving was her utmost concern.
She was given a break from the wall near the middle of the day. Kilroy collapsed from exhaustion atop one of the four remaining towers then sent her and Brendon and Lindsey down into the fortress to look for supplies.
Ellen felt some guilt over leaving Kilroy and the other soldiers behind on the wall, but it was only a temporary thing, and everyone was tired and hungry, not just Kilroy.
At the bottom of the stairs, Brendon pointed her towards a training hall down the road then marched off in a different direction.
Ellen approached the building cautiously. It was the same training hall where she'd first met her friends. Something felt off about pillaging her home away from home for supplies, but if it meant the soldiers on the wall wouldn't be overtaken by exhaustion while they needed to fight, it was worth it.
The inside was dim, but enough light slipped in through the cracks in the ceiling for her to find her way to the supply closet. Tons of boxes, bins, crates and bags lay scattered around the floor, each one shredded or smashed to bits. She looked them over, hoping to find a backpack like the one Barry used to carry.
She found one right away, and it was completely empty. So were the next three. The fifth contained a single flask of water that she quickly gulped down, and the sixth was so heavy she struggled to move it.
Ellen smiled. A single backpack wouldn't feed the whole Fortress Guard, but it was enough to keep them going for a little while longer.
She dug out a few pouches of bread for herself first, then threw the heavy backpack onto her shoulders and left the supply closet.
Trevor was lingering outside. His appearance made her startle.
He looked shocked as well. "I wasn't expecting to find anyone here," he said.
His comments from the morning were still fresh in her mind. So were the rest of her friends' remarks. Ellen ignored him and kept walking.
"Are you looking for supplies?" he asked. "Did you find-"
His stomach interrupted him with a bitter growl.
Friends or not, she didn't care to see anyone starve. "I have some food," Ellen said flatly. "Just take a little bit."
She let him dig around in her backpack until he found a few pouches of food and two flasks of water, then pulled away.
"This should be enough," Trevor said. "Ludendi hasn't eaten anything since you gave her your food, but she doesn't have much of an appetite." A sorrowful look spread across his face. "I've been talking to everyone's families, but..."
She already knew the answer. "We can't stay together," Ellen said.
"Yeah," Trevor said sadly. "Our families are meeting in the courtyard tomorrow morning. If you still want to leave the fortress with one of us, we'll be there waiting for you."
They were going to be waiting a long time, because she didn't plan to join them. What good would come from sticking with people who only pretended to like her because of her knife? There was none. Them going their separate ways was the best thing that could happen to her.
Ellen shuddered, then slapped the side of her head. Trevor, Ludendi and Barry were her friends. They didn't plan to steal her knife, it was the miserable situation they were in that was making them desperate and turning her into a monster.
"I'll see you in the morning," she said quickly, then she darted outside and started looking for Brendon and Lindsey.
A small group of dreary looking adults was watching her from the side of the training hall. She tried to keep her distance, but the group seemed to be following her.
Her heart sped up. They probably wanted a portion of her food, but their long, worn out faces weren't the least bit inviting. She picked up her pace.
Another group drifted out of a nearby alleyway and started following her as well. They looked even more dreary.
A woman behind her called out, "Don't I know you? Can we talk? I need to ask you a favor."
"I can't stop right now," Ellen said in a vain attempt to ward off the group. "I have to get back to the wall right away."
Her words did no good. Her followers didn't stop or even slow down.
The road brought her to a deserted intersection then another road lined with small houses. She was getting further and further from Brendon and Lindsey, but they could take care of themselves. Right now she had to worry about her own wellbeing.
She nearly shrieked when a mountain of a man burst out of one of the houses and charged straight at her. There was no time to run or dodge or even draw her knife.
He stopped right beside her. "You have to help me," he said, his voice frantic and racing. His face was wet with tears. "You're the girl with the magic knife, aren't you? My brother is sick and I don't think he's going to make it. Your knife can help him. I need to borrow-"
He tried to grab her knife, but Ellen darted forward and avoided his hand.
"You saved a man's life on the wall the other day," the man pleaded. "I need you to do
it again now!"
Ellen kept going. She might've saved Brendon's life, but he had not been sick and there was nothing her knife could do to help someone who was.
The group kept following her. So did the man. They were close enough that she could hear them muttering about her.
"She's the one."
"She has that magic knife."
"I heard she brought a Fortress Guard soldier back to life."
"I heard her knife brought a whole squad back to life."
"Someone should ask her if we can borrow it."
"She has that shield too, the one that makes her invincible."
More stragglers slowly left their homes and joined the group. As their numbers grew so did their speed. Ellen had to walk as fast as she could to stay ahead of them. It was a dreary situation. Not only did they all seem to know about her knife, but they'd grossly overestimated its restorative power as well.
"Does anyone know her name?"
"My mother broke her leg trying to help the Fortress Guard the other day. Do you think that girl's knife can fix her?"
"My niece has been asleep for days. I'll do anything to save her."
"My son's arm is turning green. He's not going to make it if he doesn't get help."
"Is she going to help us, or is she running away?"
"Someone should get her attention."
One of their comments sent chills down her spine, and that comment was: "We should grab her." Ellen took off running.
Some of her followers ran after her; she could hear their quick footsteps right behind her, but she didn't dare look over her shoulder out of fear of seeing just how close they were to catching her.
She darted into an alleyway between two brick homes and headed straight for the wall. The Fortress Guard would protect her. If not, then the sight of all the monsters converging on the wall would scare her pursuers away. Or maybe another monstrous hammer would crash down and distract everyone. It didn't matter how it happened, she just had to escape.
A hand clamped down on her backpack and held her in place. Ellen thrashed with fright. Her panicked movements set her free, then she ran.
Two figures stood outside the alleyway. They were too close to escape from. Seeing them sent a wave of fear surging through her body, until she realized who they were.
Ellen veered left and ducked behind Brendon and Lindsey. Both had their weapons drawn as if they were expecting a battle, which could very well happen.
Brendon stepped in front of the alleyway and aimed his axe at the group. They skid to a stop and stared at him with wide-eyed looks of fear and confusion.
"There's no magic knife!" Brendon said. "Stop chasing dumb rumors and start packing up your homes. You're running out of time."
He didn't have Kilroy's knack for commanding others, Ellen noticed, but he did have his axe while the group that had chased her was unarmed.
The group didn't move. Many of its members started voicing their complaints, the majority of which involved their sick family members who needed help.
Brendon lowered his head but kept his axe aimed at the group. "We can't... we can't save everyone. Some of your family members aren't going to make it. You have to accept that and move on."
His comment brought a dozen different curses and swears down upon him. A few members of the group even threw rocks and trash from the alleyway at him.
Ellen winced when an especially sharp rock crashed into Brendon's chin. It knocked his head sideways and cut open a wound beneath his beard. Blood trickled down his face and stained the gray hairs on his neck red.
She felt bad for him, and for everyone in the group. Monsters weren't kind to anyone, much less the sick and the injured. The people attacking Brendon would likely lose their family members and there was nothing she could do to help them.
The group spent another minute cursing Brendon before drifting away, then Brendon lowered his axe. "I can't take much more of this," he grumbled.
"We just have to survive one more day and then we'll be far away from this place," Lindsey said with a sigh. "All those people will be far away as well, or so I'd like to believe."
Brendon wiped a trickle of blood from his chin then headed for the wall. "Someone will stay, someone too sick or injured to move on their own. How long do you think that's going to haunt us for?"
"Too long." Lindsey followed.
Ellen trailed behind them, her head hung low. The supplies she'd found earlier felt utterly insignificant in the face of so much turmoil. "I found some food and water," she mumbled.
"You did well," Lindsey said. "I'm sure you'll save at least a few lives."
Back on the wall, Ellen had to immediately brace herself. The soldiers came running as soon as she arrived. They plundered and pillaged and picked at her backpack so intensely she had trouble keeping her footing.
For a brief moment while everyone gave her their thanks, her gloom vanished. She just had to survive a few more hours and then she'd be free. Whatever dimension she headed to next wouldn't be perfectly safe, but today was the last day she'd have to live with a sea of nightmares trying to butcher her and everyone around her. Even if those nightmares caught her before the day ended, Ludendi, Barry and Trevor and their families would still survive. Even Ralph would likely survive as well, although she didn't mind the thought of a monstrous hammer landing on his head.
She spent the rest of the day fighting on the wall. More rumors about her knife and her shield sprouted up, and even her backpack became a thing of mystery, but Brendon and Lindsey squelched those rumors as soon as they surfaced. Several of the soldiers that had given her their thanks succumbed to the horde of monsters attacking the fortress, but she survived. So did Brendon and Lindsey and Kilroy and everyone in the fortress below.
Late at night, during a brief period of calm, Lindsey led her off the wall and to a small brick house beside the courtyard.
"Your dormitory was scrapped for wood," Lindsey explained along the way. "The fire wall needed fuel, and an empty building with a damaged foundation was the easiest building to sacrifice. I hope you didn't leave anything important behind."
The news made Ellen's heart sink. That small, plain room had been her home for several weeks now, but it was probably for the best. Those monstrous hammers had been creeping closer and closer to her room each day. There was no telling when one would land on her head.
Lindsey unlocked the front door and urged her inside so quickly she nearly tripped, then followed her in and locked the door behind her.
The reason for her urgency became obvious when Ellen saw what rested on the table inside: a great big collection of meat and bread and dried fruit and flasks of water. There was enough to last for weeks.
"Brendon and I have been more than greedy," Lindsey admitted, "but there's no telling how long it's going to take us to find more food once we leave here." She picked up a sleeping bag and handed it to Ellen. "Tomorrow is going to be more hectic than you can imagine. Try to get as much sleep as you can."
Ellen unrolled the sleeping bag and lay down on the floor. Visions of dead and maimed soldiers started plaguing her as soon as she closed her eyes, and a bolt of stress struck her body each time she thought about leaving two of her friends behind, but after having spent most of the day fighting, she was too tired to stay awake for long.
She woke up the next morning to the sound of Brendon and Lindsey packing their supplies. A terrible chill came over her right away. This was going to be her final day in the fortress.
Chapter 24
Ellen followed Brendon and Lindsey outside. She immediately glanced up at the wall. There wasn't a single soldier anywhere in sight. They'd all left while she was asleep, or so she hoped. Regardless, there was nothing to stop the horde of monsters outside the fortress from pouring over the wall.
Or they could just use the front entrance. The black plume of smoke from the fire wall was a fraction of its former size. The fire had either been extinguished or was too small to make a differ
ence.
Already she felt tense. The monsters used to be, for the most part, contained outside the fortress. Now they could be anywhere.
Kilroy darted over, his great sword in hand and stained with half a dozen strange new colors she assumed was monster blood. "The eastern side of the fortress is as clear as it's going to get," he said, panting. "We just need to check this half for anyone who's too sick or stubborn to leave and then you three can get out of here. Same plan as yesterday!" He raised his sword and took off running down the road. Brendon and Lindsey ran after him.
Ellen drew her knife and followed. Just like before, she stuck to the back of the group. She watched the courtyard and the group lingering around it for as long as she could before a row of houses blocked her view. Her friends weren't amongst that group, but they'd be joining it soon. They had to.
"You mean the four of us," Lindsey said.
Kilroy shrugged. "You two have to protect Ellen. This fortress is the closest thing I have to a son. If we get out together then great, but if I go down with it then that's fine with me."
"You're making me sick," Brendon grumbled, and Kilroy laughed.
"I'm leaving with my friends," Ellen said. One of her friends, more specially, but she didn't want to mention that or even think about it. She still hadn't decided who she'd pick.
"That's even better," Kilroy said. "I'll make sure you see them again even if it kills me."
He stopped in the middle of a four-way intersection, not under his own volition, but because a spear had crashed down in front of him. It ripped up the road and launched bits of stone and dirt and into the air.
A second spear came for his head, but he batted it away with his sword. A third flew at his torso, but Ellen managed to catch up to him in time to guard him with her shield, to which Kilroy responded by giving her a kind pat on the shoulder.
Two spear wielding monsters leapt off the fortress wall and started drifting towards the intersection. Two more darted out of an alleyway down the road, and a dozen raw meat looking monsters flew up from behind the homes around the area.
Forlorn Dimension Page 26
