by Scott Marcy
Mr. Durban sprinted and leaped. Regina recoiled in terror, and he slammed into her and knocked her to the ground. A scream ripped from Regina, and she struggled to push him off her. He opened his jaw unnaturally wide — the corners of cheeks ripped and all of his teeth bared — and bit her throat. Melvin hauled back his club and brought it down Mr. Durban’s head, but the daemia ignored him and shook Regina about like a ragdoll. Melvin slammed his club into Mr. Durban’s head until black blood flowed. The monstrous creature glared at him, flesh clenched between its teeth and blood smeared over his face and growled. Regina released a last raspy breath and died.
“Run,” Melvin shouted and ran, followed by the women. Meanwhile, in the sportswear department, Dorothy placed the rejects on hangers. At the sound of running feet, she turned and saw the others race past her. The store lights buzzed and exploded in a shower of sparks. When the creature emerged from the shadows, she screamed and ran for the exit.
“Did you hear that?” Lyra asked and emerged from a dressing room. Sterling stepped out of her booth, clad in her clothes and holding a pair of blue jeans and a knit top. When the lights blinked, they looked up just as they failed.
“What’s going on?” Kaylin asked, emerging from her booth. Her eyes grew wide, and she screamed. Lyra and Sterling turned to see the creature walking down the aisle toward the changing room. From out of the shadows, they saw a merchandise cart race toward the creature. Alex pushed it as fast as she could and slammed into its back, pinning it against a checkout counter. The stunned creature clawed at the countertop, throwing the register, pens, and other items onto the floor. Its screech, like fingernails on a chalkboard, made their skin crawl.
“Get out,” Alex shouted and struggled to hold the flailing monster. After the others had fled, she released it and followed them from the store. However, the power was out for the entire mall. Melvin, who appeared on the verge of tears, and the store personnel, waited in an atrium. Other creatures that were once human poured out of every shop.
The women kicked off their high heels, and Jack led Gloria by the hand. They sprinted past the store staff. “Run,” Lyra shouted as they fled. The group raced through the center of the mall as hundreds of creatures ran in pursuit. Burdened by her bulk, Patricia stumbled and fell, and the monsters piled on top of her; and she screamed as they clawed her flesh. Chris and Alex heard screams and stopped to help. Three daemia slammed into Chris and dragged her to the ground. Another daemia lunged at Alex, but she jumped aside, and the daemia hit a pole, head first. It was too late: the creatures ripped the women apart.
Alex fled the horrible scene.
They charged up the dead escalator and arrived in the food court. The overhead lights were broken, but exterior ambient light revealed chaos. Tables overturned, food strewed about the floor, dismembered and mutilated bodies, fires burning in several takeout restaurants, the food court was a disaster area. Several of the monsters feasted on the dead. Covered in blood and gore, the mother and the little girl looked up from a body and growled. The group raced through the gore, but a huge creature tackled Dorothy. A death cry ripped from her as the others burst through the doors.
They ran through the parking lot. A black cloud spread out over the mall, turning day to midnight. As they ran toward the minivan, Alex used her key fob to unlock it. The door slid open, but Melvin paused, “Where’s Dorothy?”
“That must have been the scream we heard,” Kaylin said.
Melvin ran to the back of the van but stopped. Monsters burst out of the mall like enraged ants from the ground and rushed up the aisle. “It’s too late.” He ran back and jumped into the van. He cocked his head and asked Jack, “Aren’t you running for president?”
After they were all inside, Alex threw the van into reverse and stomped on the gas. The tires squealed as it rocketed backward, and after throwing it in drive, she stomped the gas again. The back end fishtailed as it launched forward. The engine roaring, they sped through the parking lot. Monsters poured out from between parked cars and charged at the van. They bounced off or tumbled underneath it.
Alex charged at the curb and jumped it. The van fishtailed again as she made a left. Abandoned cars, doors open, content spilled, littered the road. Bodies lay all about the ground and fire spewed out the windows and roofs. The day turned to night, and firelight cast a deathly glow over the town.
As they raced toward the highway entrance, they saw a winged figure, a dark angel with alabaster skin, wearing burnished silver breastplate and armor, standing in the middle of the road. Standing akimbo, a look of consternation on her face, she glared at them. When the van slowed to a crawl, Alex pumped the gas, but it stalled. “Go, go, go,” she shouted, trying to start it, but the van slowed to a stop.
Sabrina marched up to the van and tapped on the driver’s side window. After Alex had lowered the window, Sabrina leaned over and looked at them. “What are you doing here? This is 3,000 years into your future. Time travel is dangerous. The slightest action can change the course of history. You have no place here. You already exist in this time.”
Alex cringed and said, “Do I know you?”
Sabrina collected her thoughts and then said, “I was the one who left the armor for you, Sam, and Socks in the Dragon Head Monument. Although you never saw me, I kept you from falling to your death when you fell from the Fry Pan inside Mornkul Mountain, and I moved your unconscious body into a safe underwater passage. After you and the others escape from Mornkul Mountain, I waged war on the daemia and prevented them from attacking Treetop City.”
Lyra leaned over and said, “You still don’t have the right to seal our necklaces. We aren’t your slaves.”
“Tactful as ever I see,” she replied. “I didn’t seal your necklaces. You did by traveling to the future.” Seeing their blank expressions, she said, “All necklaces are linked, but traveling to the future your necklaces updated to your future status. You sealed your necklaces — not me. Right now, I have to sterilize this city. Drive to Denver and wait for me. And Jack, it’s vital that you not encounter your former self in this time period. Do you understand?”
“I think so,” Jack replied and squeezed Gloria’s hand.
Sabrina saw once human creatures tearing apart the city. Several explosions rocked the downtown area, and the monsters dragged the unconverted humans from their cars and devoured them. “Go now. I will catch up to you later.”
Alex pressed the accelerator and sped down the entrance ramp to Interstate 70. When they hit the highway, the van was alone. Driving at over a hundred miles per hour, they raced away from the city. When they heard an explosion, Alex looked in the rear view mirror, and the others turned around. A black dragon soared out of the sky and strafed the city with fire. A mushroom cloud rose up from the city, engulfing everything in flames and raining fiery debris on the surrounding countryside.
Chapter 15
Riding in silence, arms wrapped around his belly, fingers interlaced, Melvin struggled to internalize the moment. He gazed out the window and took in the sights: gas stations, restaurants, rolling fields of golden wheat, and distant farmhouses, but they all seemed to be a mirage. The fabric of reality unraveled in his mind and the fairytales of his youth proved to be far more accurate as to the true nature of the universe than he imagined possible.
“So dragons are real?” Melvin asked.
“Yes,” Alex replied.
“Trolls?”
“Yes.”
“Monsters?”
“Yes.”
“Elves?”
“Yes.”
“So basically, all those crazy magical creatures are real?”
“Yup, most of them,” Alex replied. She saw him in the rearview mirror. “You seem upset.”
“No, no, I’m not upset … well, maybe a little. All of my friends and coworkers are dead, killed by those black ghost things, and a giant black dragon incinerated the mall, hell, it incinerated the entire town. I’m homeless, unemployed, and friendless; a
nd I still owe $158,263 on my student loans, and I’m 32. All of this will be hard to fit on a resume,” he said.
“They’re a type of ghoul,” Kaylin said.
“Beg pardon?” he replied.
“They’re not ghosts. They are a type of ghoul. There are several different varieties, but the common thread is that they can’t hold solid form without a host,” she said.
“Good to know for those difficult job interview questions,” he said with a nod. He sniffed and glanced at their necklaces. “And all of you are … what?”
Lyra stared out the window and said matter of fact, “We’re Valkyrie.”
“Oh sure,” he replied and used his tongue and sucked to dislodge a bit of his breakfast from his teeth. “I always thought you girls had wings. You know, for flying over the battlefield and collecting the souls of the heroic dead.”
“Very funny,” Lyra said and flicked a brunette tress over her shoulder. She crossed her arms and legs, lost in memory. “I remember playing as a little elva on Eden. I imagined coming to Earth and having adventures. None of them included destroying a town and killing its residents.”
“I’ll have to find a new softball league,” Melvin said. “The church, the field, and the entire team are toast.” After a minute of silence, he said, “I had one payment left on my car. True, it was a minivan, but still.”
“Okay,” Alex said, “stop brooding. We didn’t destroy the town. Those monsters did that. We shouldn’t have stopped, but how were we to know. It’s not fair.”
“And you’re who?” he asked Jack.
“I’m the president … from the future, and this is my wife, Gloria,” Jack said, and Gloria waved.
Melvin smiled and waved. “Good to meet you.” When a Safeway truck passed them, he said, “Can you drop me off at the train station in Denver. I’m going to stay with my sister and her two bratty kids.”
“No problem,” Alex said.
When they arrived at Union Station, downtown Denver, it was midnight. The door slid open, and Melvin stepped out and stretched. He retrieved his phone from his pocket before he remembered it was dead. He tossed it into a nearby green trashcan. “Thanks for the ride.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Kaylin.
“Everything I own went up in flames, so I’m going to visit my sister that lives in Tucson, Arizona.” He opened his wallet and counted his cash. “Hopefully, my credit cards still work, but if not, I’ve got enough cash. It looks like I’ll need a new job. I can’t believe everyone is dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled. She pressed a switch, and the door slid shut. As they cruised away from the station, she saw Melvin waving at them. Kaylin said, “A town is dead because of us. Where do we go now?”
Alex turned on the radio. “… Presidential candidate Jack Larson just received news that his wife, Gloria is missing and presumed dead in Mobley, Kansas. Federal investigators are still at the scene, but there is still no word from federal authorities about the cause of the destruction ….” She turned off the radio.
“What do we do now, President Larson?” Lyra asked.
“I think that winged woman was right. I have to avoid meeting myself at all costs, and Gloria is presumed dead in this timeline.”
Sterling sniffed and rubbed an ache from her lower back. “I never knew big boobs cause backaches. I need to put on my halter-corset. Can you get it for me, Kaylin?” Kaylin crawled to the back and retrieved the garment.
“We need rest, food, and a place to plan.” Alex checked the navigational map and found a Residence Hotel located in downtown Denver. “I’m exhausted.”
“And if those creatures show up again, then what?” asked Lyra.
“Then we run from monsters again,” Sterling said.
“Yes and put the whole city in danger,” Lyra said.
Alex sighed. “I suppose you have a point. It’s a clear night. We can find somewhere to set up camp.” She rechecked the nav-map and found a primitive campsite in a state park near the airport. “Big Bear Camping has showers and toilets. Good enough?”
Everyone grunted an affirmative reply. Lyra crossed her arms and brooded, glaring at the nighttime city. Alex was in charge; she didn’t see why she had to be the bad guy. “This isn’t my fault,” she blurted, but the others were too tired to respond. Kaylin curled up on the back seat, fast asleep, and Sterling fussed with her corset.
When they arrived at the campground, they placed a pair of blankets on the ground around an open campfire. They stared at the flames, each one lost in their thoughts, wondering what the new day held. However, Jack and Gloria stayed in the van for a private moment. They had three years of catching up to do.
When they saw headlights, Alex assumed it was the ranger coming to order them to put out the fire. However, the compact car that stopped could not belong to a park ranger: it barely made it up the rough trail. A car door slammed, and the silhouette of a man approached. “There you are. I’ve been all over the park looking for you.”
“Melvin?” asked Kaylin. “I thought you’d be on the train.”
“So did I,” he replied. “I was on the train waiting to leave the station. Then that winged lady walked up the aisle. Boy, did she get some looks from the other passengers. She walked up to me, wings and all, and just stared at me — that’s it.” The girls listened to him with rapt attention. “So I asked, ‘Can I help you?’”
He combed his fingers through his hair. “She said, ‘What are you doing here? You should be helping the girls. You have a mission.’” He performed a stop motion with his hands. “Excuse me. I’m unemployed and broke. My only mission is to find a job.”
“She said, ‘You have a job: to protect the others. I want you to report back to Alex and stay with them. They are camped outside the city.’ So I left the train and rented a car.” He hooked his thumbs in his pockets and shrugged. “Here I am. It didn’t feel like I had a choice.”
“That I understand. Have a seat,” Alex said, scooting over to make room. He sat down beside her with a groan from his bulk. Alex asked, “Did she say anything else?”
“Um … yup. She said, ‘Report to Captain Samuel Ash when you arrive on Eden.’ Any of you girls have an idea who that is?” he asked.
“That’s Alex’s boyfriend,” Kaylin said.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she replied. “He’s just a friend.”
“A friend with a sexy butt,” Kaylin said and scrunched up her nose.
Before Alex could speak, Lyra said, “Don’t even bother denying it. You spent the entire trip trying not to look at it or him.” Alex slouched and pouted. “Everyone knows you want him.”
“He likes you too,” Kaylin said and rolled onto her side facing Alex. “Has he kissed you yet?”
“No,” Alex squealed and hunched into a ball. “I’m not interested in that sort of thing.”
“You can introduce us when we meet up with him. I’m going to get some sleep.” Melvin lay back and crossed his arms beneath his head. “It’s a beautiful night.”
When Jack and Gloria exited the car, she said, “Melvin, I saw you drive up. I thought you were going to stay with your sister.” After he had recounted an abbreviated version of his experience on the train, they all settled down by the fire and fell asleep.
The first rays of dawn awoke Alex, and she awoke with terrible aches throughout her body. Melvin held her like a teddy bear and snuggled into her neck. With a sudden burst of panic, she scrambled free from him and jumped up to her feet.
Except for two scrub oak trees, golden wheat extended off to the horizon, and the wind made it flow like waves on the seat. A single fluffy white cloud floated through an endless blue sky. Then she noticed something peculiar: smoke rose up in the eastern sky, and her Elven eyes saw flame beneath it.
