Autumn in the City of Lights

by Kirby Howell

  I came to rest in a heap in a corner. There was no way Karl and Lush wouldn’t have heard that. I was right.

  “She’s in here!” Lush yelled, and heavy footsteps vibrated the floor beneath me.

  Forget stealth, I had to get out of here. Now.

  I sprang to my feet and clicked on my flashlight. Multiple flashlight beams dazzled my eyes. Startled, I leapt away in horror from people standing all around me. I nearly cried out loud when they all jumped, too.

  Then I realized where I was – a fun house mirror maze. Fantastic.

  I found the nearest opening and pushed away from the mirror behind me, launching myself through it and down the next mirrored hallway and around a tight bend, trying not to get dizzy from the multiple versions of myself running next to me, away from me, and toward me, and my flashlight beam reflecting back into my eyes.

  I knew Karl and Lush would find me faster because of my light, but I had to get out of this maze, and I couldn’t do it at a crawl in complete darkness.

  I turned another corner, and my flashlight lit a sign on a door marked “exit.” I almost laughed out loud as I barreled full speed toward it. Any potential laughter died before it could even come out when I crashed headlong into a mirror.

  Stars burned in the darkness before my eyes, and I shook my head, willing myself not to pass out. The mirror had been reflecting the exit sign across from it. Footsteps were close behind me, and with a sudden burst of energy, I ran to the real exit, but instead of bursting through the door, I crouched down in front of it with my flashlight, hoping it might confuse Lush like it had confused me.

  But it wasn’t Lush who appeared in the mirror, it was Grey. He saw me, and his eyes lit up. He quickened his pace in what he thought was my direction. I waved my arms wildly and made a stopping motion. Grey skidded to a stop in time to realize I was a reflection. He smiled, realizing what my plan was, then pointed at me, telling me to stay put. He stood still for a moment, then disappeared completely.

  I hoped he wasn’t projecting anywhere too far away. Just in case this didn’t work.

  But it did work. I gasped as Lush appeared, barreling toward me. Her eyes met mine, and while I knew that it was just her reflection, my legs still jerked, wanting to leap out of the way as she seemed to get closer and closer.

  She crashed into the mirror harder than I had, and the entire wall shattered, giant shards falling around her as she collapsed onto the floor, knocked out cold.

  I jumped to my feet and turned to flee toward the exit but crashed directly into Grey. He caught me in his arms, and I hugged him back tightly and closed my eyes.

  When I opened them, we were inside a guard shack at the studio exit.

  “We have to finish this,” Grey said. “Karl can’t be allowed to continue putting our lives in danger. You can stay here, or I can take you to safety, somewhere in the Verdugo Mountains, and you can walk home after the air has cleared.”

  “I’m staying,” I whispered. He nodded, not surprised by my choice, then kissed me firmly on the lips.

  “Please don’t come out unless you absolutely must.”

  I agreed, and he projected away.

  Moments later, I heard a roar of gunfire and fighting, but it wasn’t coming from within the studio lot. I chanced a quick look through the guard shack windows and saw two trucks rumbling in my direction. There was a gun turret in the back of one, and a man spinning it from left to right, shooting at New Burbank guards on horseback. The other truck had a bed full of gun-toting members of The Front. Clearly, Lush and Karl had called in the cavalry.

  The trucks’ headlights swept over the guard shack, and I ducked down. Engines revved and metal screeched as the trucks rammed the gates. A bone-jarring crash rattled the guard shack. The gates had fallen. The Front was here.

  The trucks stopped just inside the gnarled gates, and men and women spilled from them, prepping weapons and holding walkies up to their mouths.

  Then I remembered the walkie I had. I pulled it out and pressed the button. “Ben!” I shouted in a loud whisper. “The Front is invading New Burbank. There are two truckfulls of people here now.”

  “Autumn! Thank God,” he sighed. “Yeah, I just heard our sentries on the radios. What you’re seeing is just the first wave. At least a dozen more are on the way. We’re at war,” he said. “You’ve gotta get out of there. Both of you.”

  “We can’t,” I replied. “Not yet. If we can get to Karl, we can end this here and now. If we run, they’ll keep coming after us.” Ben wasn’t quick to respond.

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “Take your radio, and get everyone at home somewhere safe.”

  “Okay,” he said. “You guys be careful.” The radio went silent.

  Hoofbeats sounded in the distance behind us. It was another wave of New Burbank riders. I ducked as I heard the horses pass my little guard shack. By my count, that made our numbers about equal here on the lot... for now.

  I chanced another look through the window, but Grey was nowhere to be seen among the dark shapes darting to and fro, grappling with each other, twisted faces lit by brief and sudden pops of light from gunfire. Riderless horses fled the noise, manes streaking out behind them like forgotten battle flags.

  Before I ducked back down in the guard shack, a cold set of eyes met mine. It was Lush. Her head was badly cut, and half her face was coated in blood that shone black in the night. She staggered toward me, the glare of focused determination lighting her eyes. She pulled a gun from her waistband.

  I darted out of the guard shack, doing my best to avoid the brunt of the fighting. I found a side alleyway that ran behind some offices and turned down it.

  Somehow, through the chaos roaring by the front gates, I heard Lush’s voice. “Run little girl, run. It’ll only make it more fun for me.” Lush’s words were slurred, and she reached out to steady herself against a sign as she lurched over the curb. Her fingers left bloody trails across it as she passed. She raised her gun, leveling it at me, and I scrambled into motion, hoping and praying her vision was impaired enough to affect her aim.

  Bits of concrete showered down on me from where her bullet hit the side of the building. I didn’t look back and kept running, arms and legs pumping as hard as I could make them, ignoring the throbbing pain in my shoulder.

  Lush fired again and again, her shots becoming more and more erratic. I dove behind a dumpster and realized I couldn’t hide there. She’d find me easily, and I didn’t have anything to defend myself with.

  I chanced a peek around the dumpster, and she was there, closing in on me. I ran again, twisting through alleys and around the corners of stages, and yet Lush was always there, somehow keeping pace with me despite her increasing limp.

  I found myself running down the middle of a street that was partially under construction, or had been a couple years ago. Piles of supplies lay covered by tarps, and equipment stood silently rusting. A gust of wind caught a nearby tarp and filled the top of it like a balloon. The edges that weren’t tucked in were torn and flapped in the nighttime breeze. I looked behind me and, for once, I didn’t see Lush, which only frightened me more.

  Maybe I could hide somewhere. If she wasn’t watching me. Just then, I saw her stagger onto the street. I ducked behind a tarp-covered pyramid of supplies and watched her. She paused, as if unsure which direction I’d gone. I sighed in frustration when she started moving again, in my direction.

  “You know you’re just as cowardly as Sam was!” Lush called. “A chicken.”

  She was getting closer. I searched the ground around me for something, anything I could use to defend myself.

  “Always running away. A lotta big talk but nothing to back it up!”

  I peeked under the worn tarp. Short lengths of wood were stacked into a pyramid, still mostly intact despite the tarp being worn to rags around it. I grabbed one of the short two by fours and slid it out. It was heavy, but not too heavy for me. It would have to do.

  �
��Just a little baby chicken.” She followed it up with a clucking noise. “Both of you.”

  I hunched behind the stacked wood, readying myself. I’d have one chance.

  “Just a couple little baby chicks without their mamas.”

  Lush’s voice was close, very close. I stood suddenly and swung the piece of wood like a bat, knocking the gun from her hands. It clattered to the ground as she cried out in pain, then launched herself at me. I swung again, connecting the end of the wood with the side of her head. That one was for Ben, and all the other people she’d hurt and killed during the Hillside Bowl bombing.

  She crumpled to the ground, and I darted around her. I plucked the gun from the ground and gripped it in both hands. I edged around her, watching her for a moment, wondering if I’d killed her. Her chest slowly rose and fell, and I was surprised when a small wave of relief washed over me. I bent quickly, searching her pockets. Under her jacket was a second clip. On a whim, I checked her boot and found a small knife. I pocketed both and ran back toward the fight. I didn’t need to guess which direction to go – I could hear it: shouts and yells, truck motors, horses, and gunfire.

  The fight had escalated since Lush chased me away from the scene. More of The Front’s trucks had arrived, along with several members on motorcycles. The remaining horses bucked and whinnied every time an engine revved. In the darkness, there were no defined sides, only chaos.

  A truck whizzed by me, and I jumped out of its path. A figure in the bed of the truck threw something that swirled through the air, one end alight, leaving a streak of orange fire behind it. With a shatter, it landed near a group of fighters and exploded, but they barely noticed.

  The explosion lit up the area briefly, and I saw bright red hair I’d know anywhere. Daniel was huddled behind a car, securing a belt around a man’s bleeding leg.

  “Daniel!” I called, running to him.

  He looked up at the sound of my voice and caught me in a bear hug as soon as I reached him. His show of affection surprised me, particularly when he didn’t let go.

  “Thank God! Are you okay?” he asked in my ear. “Where’s Grey?”

  “No idea,” I replied truthfully. I knew he’d gone after Karl, but I hadn’t seen him since the guard shack.

  “We need to get you out of here,” Daniel said, finally letting me go and peeking around the car as sporadic gunfire sounded nearby.

  “But there has to be something we can do—”

  “Autumn, look around you! This is complete madness! We need to get you to Connie.”

  Another Molotov cocktail exploded nearby. Daniel dragged me under his arm and covered my head with both his hands as bits of debris and glass rained down.

  “She didn’t take Shad’s death very well,” Daniel continued. “Or your kidnapping. And I’ll be damned if something happens to you now that I know you’re okay.” He stole another look over the car. “As soon as it’s clear, we’re leaving!”

  “Grey may need our help,” I argued, pulling away from him.

  He lowered his voice so only I could hear him. “Grey has survived two world wars and God knows what else. He’ll find his way home when this is over.” He turned to two uninjured guards as they stood and hoisted the injured man into their arms.

  “There seems to be a lull in action,” one of the guards said. “We’re going to get him over to the hospital.”

  “We’ll follow you out,” Daniel said, standing. He offered me a hand, which I reluctantly took and stood.

  After doing one more visual sweep for Grey, we rushed out from behind the car and made our way toward the front of the lot, but we found more fighting before we found a clear path out.

  Taking me under his arm, Daniel barreled through the fray. I looked for Grey as we skirted a larger fight, lit by a nearby truck that was on fire. I gasped and pulled on Daniel to stop.

  “It’s Grey! He’s fighting Karl!” I shouted.

  “Where?”

  I raised my hand to point, but they were gone. And I wasn’t the only one to notice their disappearance. A few of the people that had been near Grey and Karl paused and stared at the empty space.

  “There they are!” Daniel pointed.

  Grey and Karl’s fight recommenced several yards away from where they'd disappeared. I watched as Karl vanished and reappeared behind Grey, shoving him into the side of a dumpster. Grey stumbled and fell to his knees. Karl pulled an object from the waistband of his pants. A gun.

  I jerked free from Daniel and ran.

  “Autumn, no!” Daniel called from behind me.

  Karl aimed the gun at Grey, who was still crouching on the ground. Sprinting harder, I screamed, hoping to get Karl’s attention and distract him. The gun went off, but Grey was gone. Karl swung around, searching for him.

  Something fell from above, crashing into Karl. Grey was back. He’d jumped off the dumpster onto Karl.

  I reached the group surrounding them as screams erupted. The fighting momentarily ceased as Frontmen and New Burbank people alike stood in awe. Then I heard the murmurs.

  “It is true!”

  “That’s what Karl did at the Summit!”

  “Isn’t that the doctor kid?”

  “This is messed up, I’m getting out of here!”

  The tide of people shifted suddenly, coming at me, and I was caught in it. Bodies pressed against mine, and yelling voices filled my ears. The looming faces were frightened, enthralled, angry. I couldn’t see Grey and Karl through the sudden crush of people.

  “Autumn!”

  For a brief moment, I caught sight of Daniel fighting his way toward me, but then lost him again. The crowd around me surged one way, then the other. I had no idea which way we were headed, and I could barely stay on my feet, and even then, I was being stepped on or tripping over someone else. The massive amount of people around me was suffocating, and I was reminded of the stampede in Las Vegas.

  A sudden wave of people pushed against me, and I lost my footing. I grabbed the person next to me, but they were falling, too. I hit the ground hard and was immediately kicked in the small of my back. I instinctively wrapped my arms around my head and tried to curl into a ball, but someone fell onto my legs. Another weight landed on my chest, and all I could hear was screaming and crying. I screamed for help but couldn’t hear myself over the din.

  Then from nowhere, a powerful whoosh cleared the air of sound, and whoever was crushing me was gone. All was still. The sudden quiet was deafening.

  For a moment, I thought Grey had projected me away, like he’d done to get me out of the way of the stampeding horses in Las Vegas. But he’d been nowhere around me.

  I opened my eyes and uncovered my head, pushing myself up slightly to get a better view of the scene around me. The entire crowd was sprawled on the ground, fanned out in an enormous circle around three people who stood in the middle. I recognized the one in the middle, and my mouth fell open. It was Grey’s old companion from the University, Lydia.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  I sat up further. Lydia was here – was back. Her eyes met mine across the crowd of splayed out figures just beginning to stir.

  Another figure beyond the trio caught my eye. Grey. He stood, his brilliant blue eyes staring in wonder at the group before us, then his focus shifted, and I could tell he saw me. I stood quickly, but he was gone from sight. A gasp startled me. A woman lying near my feet was staring up at me with wide eyes, her body frozen in fear. I felt a presence at my side and realized it was Grey she was staring at. He’d just appeared next to me.

  “Who... what are you?” she whispered.

  “He’s our friend,” I answered and realized I’d echoed Grey’s first words to me after he saved me from The Front more than two years ago.

  “Do you see where he went?” Grey called suddenly. He’d taken a defensive stance next to me, his hands on my arms, ready to project at a moment’s notice.

  “No, but I’m quite sure Karl will show himself,” said one of the men standi
ng next to Lydia. All three of them were turned outward, watching a different section of the dark lot around us. The man who’d spoken was older – much, much older. He reminded me a little of my Granddaddy – tall and willowy with age, but also strong like an ancient tree that would never fall.

  “There he is!” Lydia cried, pointing, but Karl had already disappeared again. So had the third person in their group. Grey’s grip tightened on me as we waited, and the crowd around us began to move – waking, shifting, standing.

  A man with fiery red hair climbed to his feet not far from me.

  “Daniel!” I called to him. He looked dazed but unhurt and picked his way toward us.

  The same woman who’d asked Grey what he was got slowly to her feet beside me.

  “Who are those people? Where’d the third one go?” she asked.

  “Is that Lydia?” Daniel asked. “Grey, are they... ?”

  “Yes,” Grey said, smiling. “And by the looks of it, they’ve come to take Karl home.”

  “Take him home?!” a man from The Front asked.

  “There!” someone shouted. Karl briefly appeared, then disappeared, followed by a flicker of light in the shape of a human.

  “What was that? Did you see that?” Several people around us demanded.

  “She’s not going fast enough,” I heard Lydia say. “She’s going to lose him.”

  “Aurin will collect him,” the old man replied.

  Faster and faster, Karl appeared and reappeared, sometimes disappearing for longer lengths of time, though always followed by that same flicker of light that I figured to be the third person in Lydia’s group.

  “How can she do that?” I whispered to Grey. As far as I knew, you had to have physical contact with someone to astral project with them.