Alarum (Walking Shadows Book 1)

by Talis Jones

  Connors told me Sanctuary was a place without a map. Now maybe it’s someplace real (and for Bones’ sake I’ve got to hope that’s true). But maybe he was trying to tell me about something else. So maybe it is a place without a map. Maybe it’s where I’ll rest tonight. Maybe it’s not a place at all. Maybe Sanctuary is the people you love, the home you build, the rhythm you make, and the freedom you find. Maybe Sanctuary is throwing aside the “Me or Them” and trading it in for someone else altogether.

  I was born Sofia Ramsey and I’ve been many people since, but the woman who stands on the tracks of this on-coming train is called Fury. Called to dole out justice, she must now face justice for what she doled out. Today is the day I die, and I am not afraid.

  The first line of Rangers cross into range and we let the lead fly. Both guns in my hands scream their own war cries and empty bullet casings litter the ground by my feet. I pull that trigger what feels like a thousand times in the blink of an eye and I reload until my pockets are empty. A bullet shoots through my shoulder and I fall back.

  Grit in my mouth and life in my bones I haul myself up but another bullet tears through my thigh. A serum of cold focus turns my blinding pain numb. Swinging my shotgun around I fire at my fate as a bullet grazes my side. Tears stream from my eyes and my heart rips into two when I see Riker collapse not ten feet from my side. He doesn’t get up.

  I clench my jaw tighter and I unload those packets of gunpowder into the rushing storm of retribution. Again. Again. Again. I pull that trigger like it’s the last thing I was destined to do. Again. Again. Again.

  A rush of heat and unbearable pain tears through my chest and I collapse onto my knees, my shotgun discarded by a hand already passing into another realm. As I keel over onto my side, my head cracking against the dust I hear Bones’ scream tearing from his quivering lungs. I smile. Momma, he cried.

  From dust we were born and to dust we’ll return. But while you’re waiting, try and do something good. Thumb your nose at this dried up place and its dried up values, Hero said as we kicked a rock back and forth. Rat bashed in Sunnyside’s head with it last week but the rain washed most of the blood off and now it makes for a good game to play.

  I smile at Hero and I promise him I’ll try. If I’m gonna be dust then I’m gonna be the best damn dust around. I’ll save a kid, I promise myself. That’ll be my good thing. I’ll rescue them from their tower just like in a fairy tale that Momma used to tell me. I’ll be good, Hero. I’ll try real hard to be good. I hope I don't forget.

  CHAPTER 49

  Gunfire is so thick it drowns out the terrified sobs I can’t keep quiet. I remained in my hiding spot just long enough to see Fury fall and the soldiers split up to search. I’m not sure if they’re trying to catch me or trying to upturn the hidden nest of Sanctuary, but either way I run. Rocks so tall I would require wings to reach their tops trap me in a labyrinth but I keep running.

  My feet rise and fall heavily, weighed down by the leather boots Riker made me wear. My soft grey shoes from the Alliance were much lighter and far more comfortable but it didn’t take me a day across the border to understand that those are luxuries this land does not afford.

  I have no idea where to turn, where to go. It is only a matter of time before I’m found, trapped, cornered, corralled, smoked out. I wonder desperately about Sanctuary’s absence and I curse my grandfather for writing that plea in his journal. Fury and Riker might still be alive if they hadn’t thrown their lives away for mine.

  My feet stumble as my heart winces at the thought of their names.

  My body pants from exhaustion.

  I can’t run much farther…

  Skidding to a stop my eyes become round as dinner plates. Charging towards me is an army maybe three hundred strong. Riding on horses they tear through the rocky maze and I leap out of the way just in the nick of time. I’m overwhelmed by the sight and seized by a sudden notion I chase after them.

  I find a shorter rock stack and use the cracks as hand and footholds to hoist myself up. I stay crouched low but from up here I can witness the slaughter unfold. Sanctuary’s cavalry inundates the small posses that tore my family apart. I watch as soldiers fall, struck down from bullets and arrows sent soaring by Sanctuary. It doesn’t take too long before they surrender and flee with their tails tucked between their legs.

  Scraps. Crumbs. That’s all that’s left of them.

  An eerie calm settles over this place like the hair-raising calm that ushers out a storm.

  A whistle calls to me and I cock my head to see a man built like a Viking standing just below. “Come on down, boy. You’re safe now.” He smiles encouragingly at me and I decide to obey. There’s not much choice even if he does look massive and intimidating.

  Once I let go and hop down the last couple of feet the man claps a friendly hand on my shoulder and my knees buckle a little from the force. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he grins sheepishly. “My name is Johan.”

  I look him over. Massive, muscled, reddish blond hair twisted in locks, a long scraggly beard, freckles, and bright blue eyes. I was right to liken him to a Viking. “Are you from Sanctuary?” I ask making sure to look into his eyes, using my ability so he can’t lie.

  “That I am,” he winks.

  His cheery demeanor chills me. It seems horribly wrong to be acting in such a casual manner when we’re not fifty feet from a pool of bloodshed. The image of Fury and Riker sprawled in the dust covered by red, so much red. I hate the color red. Anger shakes me and I’m suddenly shouting at this man who could very easily crush my larynx with one fist.

  “Why didn’t you come sooner?” I rage, sobs dribbling snot down my front and tears washing the snot from my chin. The anger overwhelms me and I can hardly draw breath yet my fists keep beating on this man’s middle and curses shoot from my teeth. “You could have saved them!”

  “Hey hey calm down, boy,” he murmurs worriedly. His giant hands catch mine and I struggle to free myself but it’s no use. “Calm down,” he soothes.

  I’m too tired to fight, too tired to yell, too tired to understand this big mess of emotions pummeling through me and I collapse, held up only by this man clinging to my wrists. Slowly he kneels down and pulls me into a hug. I’m practically swallowed by the bulk of his arms but for a moment I let myself pretend it’s just Riker or Fury holding me and I take just a tiny sip of comfort before punching him hard and pulling away.

  Around us the other riders are already heading back towards wherever they came. I turn and see two figures starting to move the bodies into a pile and my feet are running before my brain has caught up.

  “Stop! Get away from them!” I trip over the smallest yet most unfeeling rock and I shuffle on hands and knees the last few feet to where Riker and Fury lay. I try not to see the red red blood or the dark telling holes torn into them. I gnash my teeth when a woman reaches towards me.

  “Easy, child,” she breathes gently. “Do they belong to you?” Soft dark hair falls into her hazel eyes as she bends down on one knee to speak to me. She looks much older than Fury, but not old.

  I nod and give her the cold stare of challenge that Fury taught me. “Don’t touch them.”

  “Okay,” she agrees. “We’re gathering the fallen to burn but if these two belong to you then you can decide what should be done with their bodies. Doesn’t seem right to toss them in with the devils who killed them.”

  “I…” I wipe my nose and think. I don’t know what to do. I just want them to be alive. I want Riker to sing with me and I want Fury to smile when she thinks I can’t see. What good is seeing the future if it’s only short glimpses. I saw them coming but not soon enough to matter. I failed them. “I…”

  “My name is Tori,” she smiles sadly. “What’s yours?”

  “Bones,” I murmur.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks curiously. “You were waiting for us, but why?”

  “I’m different,” I say.

  Tori leans in close and whispers,
“Me too.” At my stunned expression she smiles proudly. “Me and about sixty-eight others in Sanctuary.”

  “How are you different?”

  “I can shift people’s emotions,” she reveals. “What can you do?”

  “I can make people tell me the truth and...sometimes I can see the future,” I admit. Then like it’s dragged out of me by an angry cat I add, “But I didn’t see them dying.”

  “Nobody’s perfect,” she smiles in that sad way that seems to suit her. “Would you like me to use my gift to make you feel better? Just a little bit, just enough to give you a bit of relief from the pain.”

  “No!” I push myself away panicked. I won’t let her make Fury’s death and Riker’s death feel less. It hurts and it burns and it threatens to pull me under but that means they meant something. I’m not going to let anybody take that pain away from me. Even when it dulls with time it will leave its mark because they meant something to me.

  She holds her hands up promising not to touch me.

  “They’re gone, Bones,” she tells me. Her voice isn’t unkind but it’s not coddling either. “Now you’re too young for this burden but you’re going to have to decide what’s to be done with them.”

  Determined I calm my thoughts although I feel my hands still shaking. “I want to have a funeral. A proper goodbye.”

  Tori nods. “Will you need anything besides a shovel or a torch?”

  I look up into her dark hazel eyes. “Do you have a river?”

  CHAPTER 50

  It’s not a river but the stream sparkles clear and strong.

  A mile’s walk from Sanctuary we buried Fury and Riker at sunrise and now I’m standing by this stream holding a paper lantern in my hands. A girl named Tabby helped me make it. She came with Tori, Johan, and maybe a dozen or so others to join me. Johan said it was because they were sympathetic but I think they’re just curious ogglers. Well, so long as they stay quiet and standing in the back.

  The words sing in my head in Fury’s surprisingly sweet voice and I open my mouth to carry them to the stream in my own youthful timbre. I kneel and let the stream carry the lantern away as I sing. I stay bowed on my knees singing my sorrow and my hope.

  Johan surprises me by joining in on the chorus and I nearly collapse from shock as more and more voices fill the air. I peek over my shoulder and see nearly all of Sanctuary crowded behind us, three hundred strong, singing a song I can’t imagine how they know. Tears cascade down my cheeks and I let them sing for me because I simply can’t.

  …Oh sinners let’s go down,

  down in the river to pray…

  I clutch the two metal rings hanging from the long loop of leather I wear around my neck. Rings that once held a promise between Riker and Fury I now keep with me always as a promise I make to them both. I promise to make them proud. I’ll be good like they were. I’ll be fearless like Fury and loyal like Riker. I’ll be good. I’ll do right by them. Maybe one day I’ll save a kid just like they saved me.

  I straighten my spine and feel the weight of Fury’s shotgun pressed against it.

  I’ll do right by them.

  …Good Lord show me the way…

  Acknowledgments

  I never fully realized just how much work it takes to write a book until I first gave it a try and it doesn’t quite get easier with time. It’s exhausting, exciting, time consuming, but rewarding when it’s finally finished. So I’d like to take just a moment to thank a few people who helped me along.

  Thank you Jesus for leading me down this path. Back in school I hated writing so it’s amazing that I’m now voluntarily writing novels and enjoying it. Whenever I collide into a brick wall of writer’s block you never cease to help me with inspiration.

  Thank you Mom and Dad for allowing me to live at home and putting up with my crazy writing hours and habits. You never stopped believing in me even when I kept wanting to quit, convinced everything I wrote was garbage. You never pressured me to give up but instead stood by this direction my life had taken.

  Thank you Andy for giving me the spark of an idea during the long drive to Christmas in Florida. Even though it was something mentioned in passing, my brain couldn’t stop thinking and plotting and wondering until I ended up with an outline, a first draft, and eventually this finished novel. And thank you for designing the cover!

  Thank you Sarah for being the best beta reader in the world. You took the time to read Fury's story, help me catch typos, let me muse over ideas, and send you random texts in which I was panicking or second-guessing everything. You’ve been so encouraging and so helpful. It takes a lot of time to be a good beta reader so I really appreciate all the effort you put in.

  Thank you reader for choosing to pick up this book and giving it your (hopefully kind) attention. It takes a huge amount of work to write a book and your appreciation makes it all worth it.

  * * *

  I’d also like to add that while I use real state names of the current United States of America, everything in this book is a product of my imagination. This book takes place in a fictional future I created so if any facts used are incorrect then it is either unintentional and I apologize or it is part of the fiction fun.

  Note: The lyrics to the song “Down to the River to Pray” are protected under Public Domain so while I require no permission to use them within this work I also claim no ownership of them.

  The Author

  Talis Jones has always been an avid reader and any good story filled with fantasy and adventure is bound to be on her shelf. Graduated Suma Cum Laude with a degree in Theatre she has explored both stage and film, now finding herself drawn towards the literary world. Inspired by her mixed heritage as a Mexican-Englishwoman raised in the wilds of the USA, she rallies for diverse characters and seeks to contribute with her own writing.

  She gives a huge thanks to everyone who has supported her journey including every one of you who picks up this book.

  www.talisjonesofficial.com