by James Garvey
“It is difficult for me to calculate accurately. Given the tensile strength of the shutter material and the concentrated force of the log, assuming it is a pine, the front door can withstand twenty to thirty impacts before buckling.”
Gorian slumps back into her chair, her belly hanging precariously over her knees. “I never thought I’d say this, but it’s time to pray to your gods.”
Theo appears from the kitchen. “Well, if this be our last meal, we might as well make it worth our while. I scored a cask of ale from storage. It’s wonderful. Let’s eat and drink to our health.”
“And long life,” Iggy adds.
Bets chuckles grimly.
We eat grimly, trying to ignore the eerie silence outside the lodge walls. Theo spoons some of the green goop that Iggy’s eating into his mouth. He grimaces. “How do you live on that stuff? It’s rank.”
Gorian muses looking nowhere in particular. “Grey loves Iggy’s food.” She sighs.
"Theo, this goop is similar to the algae that we eat on nauron. Nothing like it exists on earth. I very much miss the taste of the real stuff. Perhaps you will have an opportunity to try it someday if we can leave earth." Iggy takes another bite.
"You mean if we make it out of here alive." Bets finishes her glass of ale and pours another.
"Slow down there Bets my girl." Theo puts his hand over his cup, gesturing for her to do the same. "We're going to have to fight soon."
"What's the point?"
"Bets, you've never backed down. Ever. Don't make me sad and disappointed." He wrinkles his nose. "Have some faith."
"In what, exactly? English had faith and it sucked him down a giant drain hole. We need to be realistic. They're going to break down that door and tear us apart."
Iggy sets down his spoon and looks intently at Bets with his dark, glossy eyes. "Even if they win, we'll hurt them badly. However, it seems to me that we need to stop Thresh to prevail. Any thoughts?"
"Deep down she's a coward," I say. "She'll stay back until every last one of her troops are dead, including Jonah, the man that was with her on Silius. She'll never give us the opportunity for a fair fight. If she loses to us, she'll walk away, regroup, and keep attacking until we give up."
Sam speaks. "Excuse me. I regret that Iggy was correct. They are using four of the creatures - grubs as you call them - to carry a 10-meter-long log to the entrance. They will begin battering the door within moments."
"Sam, please cut the outdoor lights. Also, dim the lights in here by ninety percent."
"Certainly Gorian." The lights dim.
"Well guys that should make things a bit awkward out there until they can start a fire for light. We need to be ready for them when they breach the door. I suggest we barrage them with suppressing fire as long as we can. When they finally break through our defense, we split up and disperse into the lodge. There are plenty of rooms in which to hide. Sam, open up the windows and doors at our request. Perhaps some of us might be able to wriggle out and escape into the back."
"I will assist you the best I can."
"Thanks my artificial friend. It was nice to know you."
We position ourselves before the great doors and wait.
Time passes painfully slowly. Finally, the first hard thud hits the door, shaking the foundation of the building and shattering our confidence. The door holds tight. More hits follow and there's no sign of damage. I begin to hope that the door's stronger than Sam predicted. However, at the tenth thud, a slight dent appears, with the doorframe creaking in protest. Theo groans quietly in disappointment. At the twentieth impact, it's quite clear that we'll be fighting soon. We all lower our weapons in anticipation.
At the twenty-ninth knock, the doors fall forward in a cloud of dust and debris. We squint at the dark opening, waiting for the first grub to appear. Nothing happens.
"Oh Amy," Thresh calls from outside in a friendly, sing-song lilt. "It wasn't very nice of you to kill my messenger. She was my only sister, you know."
Gorian looks at me and mouths, "What?"
"Amy, come out and join me and your beautiful daughter. Do this and your friends can go free. This is my last offer. Otherwise, I'm sending my children in to get you. I can't guarantee you won't get hurt."
I glance at Theo who gives me the strangest look of longing, fear, and happiness. He shakes his head no. I yell, "Thresh, I'm going to kill you."
"Amy. Have it your way."
The doorway swells with human bodies dripping with brown ooze. We begin firing and the bodies pile up, plugging the doorway and stopping the animated dead ones behind them. Bets yells, "Thresh, you’re done plugged up. You didn't think that through, did you honey?"
Thresh laughs, "Hello Bets. There's room for you too. Come on out."
With a sickening crunch, a shower of arms, legs, heads, and torsos bursts into the entrance hall with a spray of brown fluid as a small grub forces its way into the gap. Its enormous teeth gnash at us as we unload gleaming plasma into its snout. It slowly advances.
I glance at Gorian, who looks terrible. She says, "Not now."
"The baby?" I shout.
She's in her own world, oblivious to me. She may be riddled with pain but she pushes through it, concentrating on killing the writhing creature in the entryway.
"Run and hide Gorian," I yell.
She looks at me uncertainly, winces, and then backs away, continuing to fire. I turn to look at the monster, glance back to my side, and find that Gorian's vanished. With one less defender, the grub advances more quickly and we back off.
"I think it may be time to scatter," Theo yells.
We fire one more time and then retreat into the warm darkness that has been our home for months. I don't look back but from the sound, the grub and its friends have broken through and are tearing the interior of the lodge to pieces. I run through the dark corridor where I kissed Theo. I should be thinking about how to save my life. Rather, I feel a poignant regret that I didn't follow through, telling him how I really felt about him. I’m about to die and lose everything- my daughter to that fiend and the man I love to caution and loyalty.
I turn a corner and stop to rest, my chest heaving. A couple of shots ring out in one of the other wings. I hope that my friends are faring well, although I know that's doubtful. An image of poor Gorian on the floor in the throes of labor being torn to pieces by a grub is too much for me to handle. I lose my dinner on the floor. As I wipe my mouth, something scurries toward me. It's a live ground squirrel and somehow I know that I must follow it. It leads me into a small closet that I'd never noticed before. On the back wall behind a pile of rubbish is a door leading to a stairway. I take it down into a cramped cellar attached to a dimly lit tunnel.
The squirrel and I proceed through the passageway into a large room. Gorian’s sitting there panting. Iggy stands next to small box, not unlike Troll's brain. "I'm so glad you found us. The squirrel brought us here. We thought it was you possessing another animal," Iggy exclaims. "From the look of surprise on your face, the squirrel is not your idea. Welcome to Sam's central processing unit."
“Hi Amy,” Sam says.
I examine the squirrel closely, detecting a wisp of intelligence in its eyes. Fromer's staring back at me. The squirrel scampers back up the stairs and is gone.
We tap into Sam's surveillance system. The lodge is filled with creatures both dead and alive looking for us. We've seen no sign of Theo and Bets and hope that they’re hiding safely, like us. Thresh is angry, throwing furniture and cursing. Jonah sits at the kitchen table enjoying a mug of our delicious ale. He looks serenely happy. Thresh orders the grubs outside to search the perimeter and prevent us from escaping, although all the windows and doors are still shuttered.
“Sam, do you know where Theo and Bets are?” I ask.
“I allowed them to exit through one of the back service entrances and then resealed the door. They have gone into the woods and are past my detection.” Relief surges through me –they have a chance.
Iggy hops up and down, producing an odd wheeze that must be a nauron cheer. Gorian groans. I gently touch her taught belly – false labor pains.
“Gorian, breathe calmly and the pain will subside. The stress set you into false labor. You’ll be fine soon. No baby yet.”
“Well, Amy, I don’t feel fine.” She grunts.
I lean back on the cool wall. “Well, we’re safe for now. But, at some point, we’re going to have to emerge for water and food. They’ll wait us out.”
Gorian pants. “What do you think are the chances Bets and Theo will return with help?”
“From where?” I ask. “We’re on the side of a mountain.”
“Excuse me,” Sam interrupts. “You may want to see this.”
The grubs circle the building while thunder rumbles.
Iggy tilts his head. "Isn't it a bit early in spring for a rain storm?"
Sam zooms his screen at the eastern perimeter. The buck's back and not alone. Hundreds of woodland creatures, deer, caribou, elk, black bears, and magpies burst through the treeline. The grubs turn, seemingly startled. As the animals rush forward, ribbons of rain fall from the sky, transforming the snow on the ground to mush. The grubs, once weightless on the snow, are now mired in the muck. As the rain beats on the creatures, they begin to melt, ooze dripping from their backs. They shrink helplessly. The woodland animals pass the brown hulks and trample the few soldiers still standing their ground. Sam shifts the image to the front door, which is now a gaping hole. The animals rush in and we hear Thresh and Jonah yelling. They run out of the lodge into the melting snow, hacking fruitlessly with their blades at the rearing animals. They jump on the horses and ride away. It's a shame that Silius and Phineus did not respond magically to whatever spell has been cast on the woodland creatures, throwing Thresh and Jonah and trampling them to death. I try to reach out to my beloved horses, but they can’t hear me.
The rain lessens and Gorian seems better. Sam announces, "Four humans and one large humanoid are approaching from the east." We look at his screen and I gasp. Theo, Bets, Wenn, and father are walking through the mud to the lodge. Fromer follows behind them.
Iggy mutters, "Fromer?"
"You've met him then?" I ask.
Gorian says, "What? Do you know him? Nevermind. He was our security officer on the planet C9. He passed out of our universe through the portal there - we think- and became a superhero of sorts." She pauses thoughtfully. "That sounds really weird. Regardless, I'd never have expected to see him here."
"I did. Let's head up and greet them. You also might like to meet my father and husband."
Gorian struggles to her feet. "Holy cow."
CHAPTER 15 - UNIFICATION
"Is there any ale left?" Wenn's arm is wrapped around Theo's neck. They're quite tittered.
"No, my boy, we've finished it."
"Dammit."
Bets sips the last of the honey wine, looking relieved. I'm unsure whether she's happy to have defeated Thresh or that Wenn's come back to me, making Theo unattainable. Perhaps a little of both.
I'm in shock. We're all dealing with the aftermath of the attack differently. Instead of drinking, Gorian's sleeping soundly and Iggy's trying to repair Sam's damaged systems. Fromer's sent the wild animals back to their business in the forest and lumbers in the frozen mud piling bodies onto a huge fire. Father helps him. For me, the alcohol's a tempting path, but I'm wondering why we're letting Thresh and Jonah go.
After contemplating the acrid, black soot billowing from the carnal pyre, I decide to act, my face burning. Wenn and Theo are lolling about, while Bets looks on in amusement.
I pour the ale on Wenn’s head. "Wenn, after all this time, you decide to drink yourself into a stupor rather than pursue the bitch that stole your daughter and killed our kin? Look at the three of you- pitiful. The least you could do is to help father and Fromer’ cleanse this place."
Wenn's dripping and suddenly sober, a hardness I've never seen on him scored across his clenched jawline. He grabs a cloth and wipes his face. "What the hell is wrong with you woman? Take a moment to think. If you had an inkling of what Ansam and I went through for the sake of you girls - all of you - you'd think more about jumping down my yapper. We'll pursue at dawn, although our pace will be slow. We can only hope that Thresh's horses are slowed by the conditions as well. We have no horses left. They perished in the mountains."
"Where did you go? Why did you abandon us? Fromer can be convincing but I'd never leave Eliza. Yet you did."
Wenn's glass of ale flies across the room, shattering on the stone floor. "The beast, god, Fromer, whatever he is appeared one night while you were in the garden. He showed us images - the fate of you and the baby - Eliza - if we'd stayed." His eyes are dark and distant. "Fromer can see the future and knows the paths. I had to leave you to save you, which was the most horrible and unfair thing that could fall on a man."
"Did you consider that Fromer was lying?"
"Gods, woman, he can travel in animals, place thoughts in your mind, make pictures from darkness. Just look at him. There's no denying. I had to leave my unborn child for him. That's sacrifice."
I'm unconvinced. I think he never had the chance to bond with the child. She's abstract to him. He's trying to mask his guilt.
Theo stands, unsteady. "Amy, easy on us. It's dark and dangerous. We need to gather provisions and weapons before going after Thresh. No telling if she's got troops downhill. For all we know, she's coming back."
"Theo, I have a link to that woman. I can tell she's not coming back, especially if Fromer's with us. She's outmatched by the natural world. If I could only do a little bit of what he did to those animals -"
"Oh, Amy. You can and you will." Fromer stands in the doorway scratching his patch of hair.
I run to the beast and punch his chest. He's real, cool to the touch. His enormous heart pounds, just like mine. How can he be alive if he left this world? "Why are you doing this to us?" I yell.
"If they'd stayed in the village, events would have been very different. You'd be dead and Eliza would be lost. I can only ask that you trust me. Ansam and Wenn have played their role very well. When Thresh arrives at the portal, she'll find a measure of resistance that she never would've expected."
My father appears, wiping his hands his coat. "What a damned mess out there. Amy, Fromer's right you know. We had no choice. We followed him across the mountains to a village. The people had been watching the fog seep out of the lake - the portal as you call it - for years. They were terrified. Horrid things they saw, dead walking, creatures like the grubs -but bigger, nastier – and weird storms. People were disappearing. But the worse for them was the voices of their kin and friends, long in their graves but risen again. Was like the veil between our world and that of the dead was ripping. People weren't just fearing for their lives, they was lamenting the fate of their souls."
Wenn gazes into the distance. "With Fromer's urging, we built a foundry in the town. Fromer brought strange metals to use which we forged into blades and other weapons. The villagers discovered these tools were effective against the creatures crawling out of that mist. They got their lives back." He pulls his sword from its scabbard, the blade gleaming white in the darkness. "The name of the town is Yellow Stone. It's the best hope we have to stop the things from completely passing over here to earth."
Theo takes another gulp. “We all need to rest before we decide what to do next.”
We all retreat to sleep, while Fromer resumes clearing the grounds and stoking the fire. I’m trying to settle my mind when Wenn settles next to me and grabs my breast, his hot breath on my neck. I pull away, drawing my body into a tight ball. "Wenn, I know. I know. But under different circumstances. I can hardly lift my head."
He turns away with a boozy huff.
Morning arrives too quickly. Fromer's vanished again, as if he can't abide by the daylight. Bets, Theo, Wenn, and I start down the mountain. Thresh left a huge swath of mayhem, with trees bro
ken, bodies strewn, and debris littered. It's not difficult to find our way to her camp, which is mostly intact. The sight of the tents and fire smoke from a distance lifts my hopes. Perhaps they haven't left and we have a chance to confront her and Jonah. I'd relish the opportunity to blast Thresh in the stomach with my rifle. When we reach the grounds, it's clear that they've recently left. A few bodies and a thin, slimy residue of fog remain. Most of the soldiers' supplies still sit in sacks in the tents. From the tracks, we surmise all of Thresh's surviving army departed quickly and on horseback. I run to the tent where Eliza and Margarat stayed, holding onto a whisper of desperation that they were considered liabilities and left behind. No one's there.
I look behind me to see Wenn. He says quietly, "This is where she was."
"Yes, Wenn, how'd you know?"
"Saw it in my dreams." He walks to Eliza's cot and finds a worn ragdoll on the floor. He shakes. "This is so, so wrong. I've got no idea what she looks like."
I laugh hoarsely. "I only get to see her through that madwoman's eyes. Makes me want to tear her eyes out when I find her. She doesn't deserve our daughter."
Wenn kicks the cot.
"Shit," Theo exclaims. We both emerge from the tent to see that the divine rain from the previous night has now become our own version of hell. Sleet falls, encasing everything in slick ice. "We need to return to the lodge fast."
"Not under these conditions," Bets says. "We need to stay put until this works itself out."
We retreat to a large tent with the remnants of a cooking fire. We stoke the flames and raid the abandoned supplies. The soldiers ate surprisingly well, allowing us to assemble a nice meal. The other tents accumulate ice and begin collapsing. Our tent remains warm and comfortable, although none of us want to be there. During the entire night, trees snap under the weight of ice as dollops of slush hit our roof and melt away.
The following day, the storm passes and the weather turns cool. We pack our things and begin struggling up the mountain. We debate whether we should follow Thresh's trail but eventually agree that we need to wait and engage her at the portal. Surprisingly, the one dissenter in our group is Wenn, who wants to pursue Thresh directly through the treacherous forest. Even I realize this is hopeless with the horrible conditions and no horses.
