Diary of the Displaced Box Set

by Glynn James

  Kre'esh.

  We stayed there, hidden in the ravine. and watched as they jumped. I tried to count, but lost it at thirty in the blur of movement above us.

  Thirty Kre'esh.

  I would never be able to kill that many if they all ran at us at once.

  We left it a few minutes and then hurried up on to the ravine. I threw the bicycle up, and then climbed, hopping on to the bicycle as quickly as I could and pedalling away as fast as it would carry me.

  But we had not anticipated that some of the Kre'esh might come back to the ravine so quickly. I had hoped that they would at least keep going for a while, before they realised that they were tracking us in the wrong direction.

  A hiss behind me made me glance round. About fifty feet behind us were three Kre'esh.

  "Keep running," I shouted at DogThing. He grabbed GreyFoot by the neck and ran onwards, even faster than I would have been able to pedal.

  I held onto the handlebars tightly with my left hand, keeping the steering straight, and then drew my gun with my right, every moment telling myself that riding forward at twenty miles an hour whilst firing a gun behind you was not a clever thing to be doing.

  CRACK. CRACK.

  The first two shots went wide, but they were enough to slow them down. The first of the lizard cat creatures ducked low and rolled away before getting back up and darting forward again.

  CRACK.

  The third shot took down one of the Kre'esh, hitting it straight in the face and obliterating most of its head. The body tumbled and continued to slide across the marble. The other two Kre'esh dodged around their fallen ally and kept on coming, screaming as they ran. Those piercing, hollow screams were answered by many, and from all directions except for the one that I was pedalling in.

  CRACK. CRACK.

  Another shot hit the mark, severing the leading Kre'esh's leg clean off. The creature fell to the ground, screeching and leaving a smear of dark blood across the pale marble ground. It tried to get up, but fell again.

  I pedalled hard. Firing and riding at the same time meant that I kept slowing down whilst I tried to aim.

  "Rocks," came DogThing's voice in my head. It sounded urgent.

  I quickly looked back around, and only just in time to swerve and avoid a large chunk of the marble that was jutting out of the floor. I didn't remember seeing that before.

  After a few seconds of gaining my balance, I pushed forwards. The remaining Kre'esh was now only twenty feet or so behind me, having jumped right over the rock. It was slowly gaining on me.

  Then I saw them, ahead of me, DogThing and GreyFoot. Both were crouching low on the ground, teeth bared.

  I knew that look.

  I turned the bicycle and aimed almost directly at them, just to the side, giving them just enough space to attack.

  The Kre'esh didn't even see them. It was so intent on catching me that when DogThing clamped his teeth on the creature's neck, and GreyFoot bit into one of it legs, it just carried on going. I almost didn't want to stop, or look back after the ripping sound that followed as the creature was torn apart by its own momentum.

  But I did. I rode a full arc and came back around to where they were both now feeding on the Kre'esh. I shuddered. The thing was still barely alive, jerking and shaking from shock. One of its legs lay ten feet away and most of its insides were splayed out in the gap between there and where it had finally come to a halt. My stomach churned, the stench was terrible. As much as I hated these creatures, I couldn't let it die like that. I aimed my gun at its head and fired.

  GreyFoot jumped back and growled at me. I almost had the impression that she was telling me off, but a moment later she continued feeding. I watched her tucking in, and cringed. Even though she was tiny if compared to the adult Maw, against the kind of dogs that people keep as pets on Earth, she was a dangerous little thing.

  After they had finished gorging themselves we set off again, or I did and DogThing and his little sidekick caught up with me. With a pack of Kre'esh so close to us I wasn't hanging around for long, hungry Maw or not.

  Considering how long it took me to cross the plateau back when I first set out into the dark more than a month ago, crossing it on a bicycle, even one in as bad a condition as Adler's rusty old thing, was a hell of a lot quicker than on foot and pushing a cart. I can't really account for the time, only that it only seemed like a few hours had passed when the plateau dropped away into the slope and I saw the waterfall and the shack, and all the strange, glowing plants again.

  How a place like that could be a welcoming sight, I don't know, but it was. I was also relieved to have miles between us and the Kre'esh, even though I knew that they could move pretty fast when they wanted to. They would be hunting us now.

  I had to rest somewhere and I knew that the shack was always somewhere that CutterJack and his pets had avoided when Rudy had lived there. He never did know why, though I suspected that he might be afraid of the place, as much as a creature such as he was able to be afraid of anything. For what reason? I don't know.

  As I rode down the slope and up the other side, coasting along the rock path towards the shack, I noticed movement on the edge of my vision. Gargants, out on the swamp, still moving around. Fortunately they weren't up near the waterfall at the moment. I guess I hadn't wiped out their whole species in the swamp fire after all.

  I pushed open the front door of the shack and took the bicycle inside, scanning around the place to see if anything had changed, or if anyone had been there since Rudy and I left there for what was supposed to be the last time.

  It was quiet and uncomfortable there without Rudy around.

  Again, and unusually, DogThing and GreyFoot joined me in the shack, huddling down in one corner whilst I spent an hour or so reinforcing the windows and the door by stacking everything that I could find against them, everything except for the mattress that I was going to sleep on.

  Day 57

  We had another visitor in the night. It prowled around outside for a while before moving on. I was sure it was another of the Kre'esh, but I didn't get a good look at the thing. I know it wasn't CutterJack or Dha'mir. I would have known somehow if it had been. It also wasn't a Zombie, otherwise it would have been battering on the walls all night. The thought of that made me shudder as I remembered the time that I had been woken by the sounds of a horde of the things banging on the door, and the battle outside that had come afterwards. I must admit I'd rather have dealt with Zombies than Kre'esh, though.

  I woke up still feeling knackered. I guess it was just too hard to sleep with my adrenaline on full steam ahead. I knew that not far away, there was a chance that Abegail and Chione might be locked away in a hidden bunker and I had to find it. I had to find it fast. I also had to hope that I was the first to find it.

  I grabbed my stuff and got ready to go. DogThing and GreyFoot were already sitting waiting by the door, patiently. I tentatively stepped out of the door and out onto the flat expanse of rock that jutted out in front of the shack, expecting Kre'esh to come bursting down the hill or out from the swamp at any moment, but thankfully they didn't show.

  Then it occurred to me that I was near one of the locked doors, just over the back of the shack and up the rope that hung down from the ledge. There was something up there that I just had to see for myself, I was sure of it. Something that I had missed during my first visit up there.

  I made my way up the winding path behind the shack, eventually arriving at the rope. I'd forgotten how hard a climb it was, especially with my pack, which I was not leaving anywhere, for any reason. I struggled over the final edge and then sat looking back down at my two Maw friends.

  "Don't worry," I called, "I won't be long."

  "We'll be here."

  I climbed over the rock-fall, lit one of my remaining torches and crawled down the other side. The burial spot was still there, and still untouched. As much as I didn't like to disturb the dead, I had to see for myself. I had to see if there were any clues abo
ut this person who had been killed and buried here. Was it one of the four Gate openers that were with CutterJack, one of the two that survived and escaped the guns of the Vigilant soldiers? There had to be clues as to their fate somewhere, and here seemed as likely a place as any. The person buried here had to have come from somewhere.

  There weren't many stones piled up on top of the bones, and after only a couple of minutes I had uncovered the remains. It had not been a ceremonious burial; the body had just been thrown down here and covered up by...

  FLASH

  I'm standing in a doorway. It's one of the physical doors that we built to block The Corridor up. It's the one above the waterfall. But I'm on the outside, where the sun is shining brightly. There are Vigilant soldiers with me. Four of them. Two Outrider sentries are also here; the ones that were guarding the door from the outside.

  "So the noise was from just inside here?" I ask one of the sentries.

  "Yes, sir," he replies. "There was screaming and begging, and then the sounds of a fight. It was disturbing, but we obeyed our orders and didn't open the door."

  "Good. Well done."

  I feel heartless, but also know that the risk of opening the door is too great.

  I shine the torch into the passageway, and make my way along it, with the Vigilant soldiers by my side, their rifles raised. Target lights flicker around in the darkness.

  The body is over near the collapsed area of the tunnel, huddled against the wall, torn apart and mutilated. I walk over to it and look down. Even with the damage that has been done to it, I can see that it is one of the Gate Openers. The wretched creature has been cut apart.

  There is a broken chain lying on the floor.

  At least one of the two survivors is now dead, I think, but then I stop. Why kill the Gate Openers? Surely Nua'lath would need them if he was to attempt an escape at some point?

  I find nothing useful, so spend a few minutes covering the body with stones from the collapse, and then we leave. The Vigilant soldiers watch over the entrance as I do this, and I can tell by the way they shift about that they are uncomfortable being here.

  FLASH

  I shuddered. So many things that I am remembering are confusing, and some of them are unwanted. I was the one that buried the body all those years ago. Me.

  I didn't even bother to search through the remains for clues; I knew that there was nothing here for me to discover, but I had achieved at least some of what I'd hoped for. The flashback told me more than enough.

  I headed back over the rubble pile, down the rope and over to where DogThing and GreyFoot were still waiting for me.

  "Did you find what you were looking for?"

  "Yes...well..sort of. More questions really."

  "Oh."

  "OK," I said. "Let's get out of here. We're just wasting time here."

  We followed the same route that we had taken the last time, more or less. I didn't have Rudy with me to guide me anymore, so it was mostly guess-work. It was easy to follow, though; the paths through the rocks along the side of the swamp all looked much the same, and so long as I kept the swamp within visible distance I could still use it to guide me without the risk of having to face another of the huge, lumbering slugs. I'd had quite enough experience of those disgusting things the last time we were here.

  Hours passed, and eventually we stopped to rest. DogThing found a small cave that was dark and overhung enough for us to hide in, and the three of us huddled in there.

  Day 58

  "Wake up."

  Again, it was DogThing.

  "Quiet."

  I roused slowly, with my gun still in one hand and my blade in the other. It was awkward to sleep holding weapons, but I knew that the seconds could count.

  "Out there. Zombies."

  I looked out of the darkness of the cave and my heartbeat increased.

  Barely a few yards away, dark figures shuffled along the path; many of them. I crouched there, at the back of the cave, hoping that our tiny hiding place would be enough cover to keep us hidden.

  An hour must have passed before the last of the creatures wandered by, then after a few minutes, I slowly crawled to the front of the cave and peered out. The path where they had come from was clear, and in the other direction I could just make out the back of the last Zombie stumbling away into the darkness.

  I grabbed my things and we crept away, taking the first turning off the main path and heading further down towards the swamp. I would rather be nearer to the slug things than a Zombie horde. Or would I? I didn't know which was easier to deal with.

  Where the hell were they coming from? I knew that I hadn't been the other side of The City and I knew that there was a lot more of The Corridor that way, but they had to be coming from somewhere. Was there a door open somehow? I remembered the conversation with Joshua so long ago, how you could arrive here but not open a door to escape, and I'd seen the holes that let things through, but so many Zombies?

  We headed around the swamp for the rest of the day, and I used the bicycle as much as I could, just to speed things up. But the ground amongst the rocks was difficult to pedal over, and I often ended up using the bicycle as something to lean on rather than ride.

  Then it was there, over the ridge to our right; the first of the buildings that were The City. Roughly twenty minutes later and I shut and bolted the door to the house on Merriwether Avenue that Adler had called home for a while. I walked around, memories of the place flooding back to me. This was the building that we had used to house the generator; the one that was in the cellar. It had charged the portal device until we were able to use it. It was ironic, really. I had wondered how Adler had managed to build an engine in the basement, and that hadn't been the case at all. I'd completely forgotten to mention it when we finally met him, but knew the answer anyway.

  I checked the building, securing the windows as best I could. I would sleep now, and then when I woke up, unless I was interrupted, I would begin my search. Somewhere in these crumbling ruins was the bunker. I presumed it must be underground, but...

  The man-hole cover.

  The footprints.

  The room with the blood in it.

  Kre'esh blood.

  The battery. We always used those batteries for portal anchors.

  Of course! Now it all made sense.

  Someone had come into this place from somewhere else. They had run across the street and climbed down into the man-hole cover. I had thought that it was CutterJack, but somehow I knew it couldn't be. But who had it been? Chione?

  Day 59

  I awoke slowly for the first time in days. I don't know how long I had slept for, but it must have been hours and hours, because as I sat up, the pain in my chest wasn't the first thing I thought of and it was a few minutes before I even remembered it. I opened my shirt and looked at the freshly knitted scar that was forming. There was very little redness there now, and as I moved my arms around, my ribs didn't scream at me.

  I got up and put my jacket and trousers back on, and couldn't remember when I'd decided to take them off.

  DogThing and GreyFoot were upstairs in the room with the record player when I found them, both sitting looking out of the closed window at the street below.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, immediately realising that something was amiss.

  "Movement in the streets. Kre'esh."

  I moved to his side and looked out of the window. The view of the street was clouded with mist, and I strained to see anything. Then after a minute or so I caught a glimpse of something in one of the alleyways. It shifted and jittered about, peering at us from its hiding place, impatiently.

  "They're waiting for us aren't they?"

  "Yes. They have been for a while."

  "How many do you think you've seen?"

  "A lot. Maybe all of the ones that we saw before."

  "Damn. Now we're trapped in here. We need to get over to the man-hole cover and down into...whatever is underneath the city. There are probably sewer
s or something. The bunker is down there somewhere, I'm almost sure of it, though I can't remember exactly where."

  I knew I should have gone down the man-hole when we arrived, straight down the one that I had found open during my first visit to The City.

  DogThing sniffed.

  "There are other round holes. Like the one in the street. In different streets."

  "Where is the nearest?"

  He looked thoughtful for a moment, and I mused over being able to tell a dog's expressions. Not that he was really a dog.

  "Out the back. It's in the next street, somewhere in the middle."

  I moved quickly out into the hall and then to the back room, where the rope would be attached to the drainpipe, and looked down into the row of back yards behind the houses. Beyond that was an alleyway filled with rubble and rubbish, and beyond that the backs of more houses that faced onto the next street, but there, in amongst them, was an alleyway not far from the back gate of this house.

  "Which street?"

  "The one that is over those houses."

  "OK."

  I surveyed the ground between us and the alleyway. Between the bottom of the window and our goal was thirty yards of weeds, then the gate, then ten yards of alleyway, and then the corner where the bins were piled up. After that it looked like a straight run to the alleyway, and that went through the houses. There was no way to tell if the alleyway was blocked with anything, and all I could do was hope that it wasn't.

  We had to risk it.

  I packed my gear and then carefully opened the back window, trying not to make any noise.

  "Can you two jump from here?"

  "Yes."

  "Right. When I start climbing, you go."

  I took a deep breath, grabbed the rope, pulled it out of its drainpipe hiding place and climbed out of the window. The rope swung outwards into open space and I hung there, lowering myself as fast as I could, feeling the rope burn my skin as I went hand over hand until I was six feet from the ground. Then I let go and dropped. The moment before I hit the dirt, I felt, more than saw, DogThing with GreyFoot held by the scruff of her neck land a few feet away. He dropped GreyFoot and we ran.