The Awakened World Boxed Set

by William Stacey

  Then he sensed the magic use, still hanging in the air like smoke, and he had his answer. "Angie fucking Ritter," he whispered.

  He used the bracer to interrogate the pack leader, seeing in its brute mind the scent of two female humans who had moved on up the mountain. The wolf-bitch must be with her, he realized. But why, and where are her stupid brothers? He didn’t understand what the two women were doing here, but their presence wasn’t necessarily a problem. It could be fun. He ordered the pack leader to pursue the women but not to kill them. Instead, he wanted them herded toward Tavi. In moments, the pack bolted, howling and spreading out through the trees.

  Shane’s mood was now much improved. He’d give the werewolf to Mother Smoke Heart to do with as she pleased, and he’d slaughter the mage, maybe use her pain as an example to break Tavi. He grinned, rubbing his erection through his pants.

  Chapter 29

  "I don't think she's here," Erin said, her gaze sweeping the ruins of the small settlement near the summit of Mount Laguna. "Could she have moved on?"

  "Don't... don't know," Angie gasped, bent over, her hands on her hips as she tried to catch her breath. It was just after three p.m., and they had run here, pursued by the howls of the chupacabra pack. Her lungs were doing their best to force their way out of her mouth. The chupacabras should have caught them long ago, but the two women had yet to see them. That left only one uncomfortable conclusion: the chupacabras were herding them. Why?

  Angie, her heart pounding, gripped Erin's shoulder and used the other woman to pull herself upright as she considered the buildings. This was the Mount Laguna settlement, or at least the ruins of the pre-Awakening hamlet. The true summit was at least another kilometer farther up the mountain, and from here, she could see portions of an old government facility rising above the trees, including what looked like abandoned radar towers.

  Angie considered the abandoned hamlet. It held an old general store, several cabins, and a restaurant, as well as some campgrounds, but the wilderness had already reclaimed the land. New growth and saplings burst through walls and windows, growing out of roofs. Nothing moved but birds. A faded sign resting on the ground next to a vine-covered log cabin read, LAGUNA MOUNTAIN VISITOR'S CENTER. Angie closed her eyes and cast out her life-sense magic, but there was nothing around other than rodents and birds.

  Erin stared behind them, her nostrils flaring.

  "Still there?" Angie asked.

  The other woman nodded, leaning on the barrel of her hunting rifle. "They're playing with us, and I don't much like it." A throaty growl slipped past Erin's lips, causing Angie to take a step back. Sometimes she forgot that her friend was a werewolf.

  "Why? Why not just rush us? There's more than enough of them."

  Erin shook her head. "Maybe they don't like the fact we killed three of their buddies. Could be they're afraid."

  "They're not afraid."

  Erin sighed. "Probably not, but I think we got their attention." She turned back to Angie, the trace of a smile on her lips now. "Maybe while they're eating you, I can run away."

  "If it comes to that, you should," Angie said in all seriousness and then changed the subject. "There's no point in searching here. There's no one here."

  "You're sure?"

  Angie nodded. "This place is small enough for me to scan all at once."

  Erin, her lips pursed in thought, turned her attention to the old Air Force station atop the summit. A single narrow road met the Sunrise Highway, twisting up to the station through the pine trees. "Well, only one other place she could be."

  "Let's go before these things change their minds and decide to eat us after all."

  With Erin leading, the two women hiked up the mountain, taking the twisting dirt road to the old Air Force station. An ancient sign, dangling at an angle, warned them that they were entering restricted property: THE MOUNT LAGUNA JOINT SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM. Angie saw this had once been a large complex with many buildings. Now graffiti covered the gutted shells of the ruins, the interiors filled with debris. A large chain-link fence surrounded the site, but portions of it had fallen in. Both women stared at the ruined gates. Once, there had been a guard shack here, but it had long since collapsed.

  Erin considered the buildings. "If we go in there and she's not there, we could box ourselves in."

  "What's our other choice?"

  "We keep on going, make our way down the other side of the mountain."

  "And what if Tavi is in there and needs help?"

  "What if she's already dead? The pack came down the mountain. That means they've already been here."

  Angie stared at the ruined site, the maintenance and storage buildings among the trees, the rusted-out construction vehicles. She owed Tavi a debt, but she didn't owe her a life. And Erin's words rang true—the chupacabras wouldn't have come back down the mountain if they hadn't already finished with Tavi and her party.

  So why are they herding us back here, then?

  Angie made tight fists of her hands and drew a deep breath. She had to find out. "I'm sorry," she said to Erin. "I have to look. But you should keep going, find your brothers."

  Erin snorted in derision and flicked a strand of red hair from her eyes. "Stay behind me." She stepped past the ruined gates.

  They made their way through the old Air Force site now overgrown by forest. Debris and garbage lay between the trees, carpeted by eighteen years of weeds. Rusted-out dumpsters filled with refuse and chunks of concrete sat about as the two women made their way toward the main complex, a ruined concrete structure several stories high, its walls falling in.

  "Fun place," Angie said, staring at a tractor so badly rusted the front wheels had fallen off. An old skeleton sat in the cab, its skull shattered by a bullet. So many people had died after the Awakening, no wonder the survivors believed the ruins were haunted. And who's to say they're not? she thought, staring at the skeleton’s dark eye holes, her skin crawling.

  They reached the main complex, the windowpanes gone, parts of the wall falling apart. Angie peered through one of the holes but saw only dark rubble. "Looks like this place was abandoned before the Awakening."

  Erin nodded, her gaze darting about. "Let's find the entrance."

  They skirted the large complex, passing the rusted-out shells of military vehicles and tractors. At the far corner of the building, Erin halted, sniffing the air, her distaste clear on her features.

  "What is it?" Angie asked.

  "Death. Get ready."

  When they came around the corner, the ground opened into a weed-covered clearing. The entrance was on this side, but it was completely blocked by rubble where a portion of a wall had fallen in. Lying about the clearing were the corpses of at least a half dozen Norteno soldiers and the carcasses of their mounts. Blood and entrails glistened on the ground, and the air hummed with flies. As the wind shifted, the stench washed over Angie, and she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. My god, they’ve been lying in the sun all day.

  Hundreds of spent casings littered the ground around the corpses, shining in the sunlight. The Norteno soldiers had put up a brave fight, but it hadn't helped. Their bodies were hewed and ripped and chewed, their eyes open and staring. The dead eyes of the horses were worse. Bitterness filled Angie’s mouth, and she fought the urge to throw up. We came for nothing, she thought. All this way to warn Tavi, and she was already dead.

  I am an idiot. God, I hope I didn't kill Erin by bringing her here.

  As they slowly made their way across the clearing of death, a sense of foreboding gripped Angie. She had to make sure, had to find Tavi's corpse, but at the same time, she didn’t want to. These Norteno soldiers had been so badly mauled they were barely recognizable as men.

  Erin strolled past a line of four tents. The tents were ripped apart, their contents, blankets and clothing, thrown about haphazardly. "They must have hit this place early this morning," she said. "Just after they attacked the Pine Valley settlement." She shook her head. "Animals don't do
this sort of thing. It makes no sense."

  "It does if someone is controlling them."

  "At least they put up a fight." She used her Winchester to point out three chupacabra carcasses less than fifty feet away, lying near the metal stairs that led to one of the corrugated iron towers with a dome structure at its summit. There were several other such towers, but this one appeared to be in better shape than the rest, which didn't say much.

  Angie stared at the carcasses. "Why are all three carcasses near the tower?" She closed her eyes and cast out her life-sense magic. A single life-form shone from above. "Someone's alive," she told Erin in excitement. "In the tower."

  "I know," Erin replied, caution in her voice. "Stay still. No sudden movements."

  "What is it?" Sweat ran down Angie’s spine as she followed Erin's gaze to the rusty steel stairs that led up to the tower's door. And then she saw what Erin had already seen, and her mouth turned dry.

  An M18 Claymore antipersonnel mine sat atop the metal stairs in front of the tower’s door. The Claymore, shaped like a curved metal plate, was designed to blast hundreds of steel balls in a sixty-degree arc to its front. It was lethal out to a hundred meters—and Angie and Erin were well within its kill zone—more than close enough to make out the writing on the Claymore: FRONT TOWARD ENEMY.

  "Oh shit," Angie whispered.

  Chapter 30

  Rowan watched from horseback with his rifle across his saddle as Casey dismounted and moved among the dead Norteno soldiers strewn across the mountain road. Six chupacabras’ carcasses rotted alongside the dead men, and the gag-inducing stench did nothing to improve his mood. It was getting late in the afternoon. They had yet to catch up to the women, and all three of them were becoming irritable, especially Jay, who had always been closest to Erin. Jay sat his own mount next to Rowan, his face pale with fear.

  "She's not here," Rowan said softly. "We’d know if something happened to her, same as Lewis. We always know."

  "Why would she run off like that?" Jay asked, a wounded tone to his voice.

  Rowan sighed. "Because she's not going to walk away and let Angie kill herself."

  Jay snorted. "And why the fuck would Angie leave us to help a Nortie?"

  This time Rowan sighed so hard he thought he’d hurt himself and wiped his forearm across his face. "Because she’s a far better person than we are." He turned his attention to Casey. "Anything useful?"

  "Tons," Casey replied, lifting a box-fed light machine gun by the barrel. "These Nortie boys were loaded for bear—too bad they ran into monster." He dropped the heavy weapon and knelt beside one of the dead chupacabras. "Smell worse the closer you get," he said, his face twisted into a scowl. "And they didn't smell all that great from far away."

  "I'm sure we smell just as bad to them," Rowan said.

  Casey moved on to another corpse, a man whose curly blond hair glistened with blood. "This one was killed by a sword blow."

  Rowan's eyes narrowed, and he dismounted, approaching Casey and the corpse. "Really?"

  "A-yup," Casey grunted. "See for yourself."

  Casey was right. The man wore the chevrons of a Norteno lance corporal, and his skull had been split by a sword—a good clean cut, too. "This is all kinds of messed up."

  "None of the dead are Brujas mages," said Casey. "So why..."

  "Damned if I know, but Erin came this way." He peered up the road to the mountain's summit. His back was sore from riding, his throat was parched, and he wanted a beer. He was getting too old for this, werewolf or not. "Four brothers, and it's the little sister that gives me all the trouble."

  Casey snorted. "You sound like Mom."

  "What do you think? Could Erin and Angie have slipped past us, gone back down the mountain?"

  "Without us seeing, hearing, or smelling 'em?" Casey spat on the road. "Not likely." He shook his head. "No, they're still up there. We keep going, we'll find 'em. Problem is, all the ugly-assed monsters are ahead of us as well."

  "Yeah, thanks for that stunning analysis, Tracker Joe."

  Casey sniffed. "You asked."

  "Strip the dead for anything useful, 'specially things that go boom. I want to move in ten."

  "Something's coming," Jay warned.

  Jay, holding his rifle one-handed by the pistol grip, watched the woods on their right. Most men couldn't shoot worth shit with one hand, but most men weren't werewolves, and Rowan had mountains of confidence in his youngest brother. Both Rowan and Casey readied themselves for battle.

  "Come on, you fugly little doggies," Casey said, eagerness in his voice.

  Rowan heard the snapping of branches and saw movement through the trees. He looked over the sight of his rifle, his own excitement growing. Battle was always like this for him, had always been the same. The only high he had ever needed was fighting. If he hadn’t been a SEAL, he'd probably have been a bank robber. His finger tightened over the trigger.

  And then a sorrel mare stepped out of the trees. The other horses neighed in greeting, recognizing an old friend.

  Rowan lowered his rifle. "Cobble." His fear spiked. If Cobble was free, where were Angie and Erin?

  Chapter 31

  Angie stared at the Claymore antipersonnel mine, sweat beading on her forehead. From this close, if it went off and her shade couldn’t shield them, the weapon would shred them both. She stepped in front of Erin anyhow, hoping she still had enough mana left for one more shield. But the Claymore didn't detonate.

  Tavi's voice called down from the top of the tower, maybe twenty feet above. "Don't … don't come any closer," she said weakly.

  "Perfect," muttered Erin from behind Angie. "She's afraid of us."

  Angie, shading her eyes with her hand, saw Tavi’s face through a missing panel in the dome, an assault rifle pointed at them. "Tavi, it's Angie Ritter and Erin Seagrave. We're here to help."

  "Angie?" Tavi asked in confusion. "What the hell are you doing here? Is anyone else with you?"

  "Just us." Then she heard the chupacabras howling from far too close. First one and then others. A chill coursed through her. "Us and the monsters."

  "They're coming," Erin said simply.

  "How about you let us up there and we talk?"

  "I'll be right down." Tavi’s face disappeared.

  "We need to hurry," Erin said, turning and watching their rear. "I think they're done herding us."

  Both women rushed up the stairs and stepped over the Claymore. The Claymore's det cord ran through an opening in the tower wall several inches wide. Erin tried the metal door, but something on the other side wedged it firmly in place. "I might be able to force it."

  But then they heard metal scrape against metal as Tavi moved away whatever was barricading the door.

  Erin sniffed the air. "Come on, Tavi," she whispered. "Hurry up."

  Then the first chupacabra came around the corner of the building. It was the same size as the others, at least two hundred pounds of muscle, fur, barbs, and claws. It stopped and glared at them with one beady black eye, the other ruined by a scar. Two more chupacabras followed the first, and then dozens more came from all around them, converging on the tower.

  Just then, the door scraped open, and Tavi motioned at them to hurry. Both women rushed into the tower, and Tavi slammed it shut again. All three women hurriedly shoved the metal furniture, rusty office desks and chairs, back against the door, wedging it shut. The interior of the tower was dark, but sunlight stabbed through broken slats, illuminating the metal stairs that wound their way up the inner wall.

  "Follow me," Tavi said and hurried up the staircase. As she did, the frame shook under her weight, and dust and metal flakes fell like rain.

  Angie and Erin exchanged worried looks but hurried after Tavi. The staircase groaned under their weight but held, and moments later, they came out in the dome at the top. The dome, Angie now saw, was constructed of hundreds of fiberglass plates, but many were missing, and bright sunlight stabbed through the openings. The chamber was empty, the
radar machinery and electronics long gone, with only the rusted-out frame remaining. The heat, however, was like walking into a furnace, and it would only get worse.

  Tavi hurried to the opening she had looked through earlier and picked up a clacker, the remote detonating device for the Claymore. Now Angie saw the detonation cord running from the clacker down the stairs to the Claymore. Erin brushed past Tavi, aiming through the opening with her Winchester.

  Two corpses of Norteno soldiers lay against the round wall on the far side of the dome, blood-soaked bandages wrapped about them. Unlike the other corpses, Angie saw these men had passed peacefully, their eyes closed. Judging by the blood, she guessed they had bled out. She glanced at Tavi, now seeing her clothing was filthy with blood, her similarly blood-splattered face ashen, her eyes red.

  "How long have you been up here?"

  "Do you have water?" Tavi asked.

  Erin handed her a canteen, and Tavi drank greedily before Erin gently but firmly took it away. "You'll vomit."

  Tavi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, smearing the dried blood on her cheek. She no longer wore her short Brujas cape but still wore her hexed saber. Three assault rifles with a pile of full magazines sat nearby.

  "Tavi," Angie repeated. "How long have you—"

  "Since just after sunrise," she answered. "We heard the gunshots and saw the flare from the settlement. The … the others wanted to go back down the mountain and help, but…" She stared at the floor, her face crestfallen. "We didn't," she said so softly that Angie barely heard her.

  "You couldn't have helped," Erin stated flatly. "If you had been there, you'd be dead too."