She tried to convince herself that the worst and hardest part was done but, somewhere inside her heart she knew that her struggle had only just begun. There was a spell she could do to give her a little more focus but she didn’t want to consider that just yet; that was strictly a last resort thing. While she could keep going under her own steam, she would. Everyone was stronger than they thought – it was just a question of tapping into that strength, which was a task most people found impossible. That’s what dreams are about. In dreams you can do anything because you really can – but then you wake up and tell yourself off for being silly.
A square, ½ kilometre chain link fence enclosed her compound and those of the guards. She casually jogged towards the fence, stopping short when three more figures in black blocked her path. Amber lifted her gaze to see a young couple staring back at her. Maybe making a break for it in broad daylight wasn’t the best idea. Unnerved by their lack of movement, her eyes ticked across and down until her eyes settled on the third of the trio. It was a young boy – about four or five years old. He stared up at her, as expressionless as his elders, and didn’t move. He’s just a kid. Barely out of nappies, she thought, totally horrified. Liatruz had ripped away the innocence that made childhood so precious. How could someone do that to a child?
“We cannot allow you to escape,” the boy said. His monotone creeped Amber out a little – okay, a lot. The couple – Amber-Louise thought they were his parents – spoke a little more normally. “You will stop him and we cannot permit that.” They were stopping her from getting to the fence and she needed to get out as soon as possible to give herself a bit of time to breathe. No doubt there would be more of these things on the way and she wanted to avoid another fight right now if she could. That little voice in her head told her that she would need all the energy she could muster.
She wanted to avoid killing as many of these things as was possible – they used to be people, after all – but as they began to advance on her, arms outstretched, it looked as though running and letting them live wouldn’t be a viable option. She would normally have no qualms about killing the older couple, but a child too? She told herself that there was nothing left of the child left in the body but it didn’t help. Okay, evil, possibly possessed child – but still a kid. Maybe there’s another way.
The witch backed up another step and thoughts whizzed through her head, forming the skeleton of a plan. They had followed her further into the complex, leaving a good 10 foot gap between them and the fence. I can work with that. If things went right for once, she could get out of this without getting anyone hurt. The woman stood to her left; the man to her right; and the boy remained right in front of her. The most miniscule part of her felt sorry for them all – facing off against a girl who could so easily kick their respective asses without even touching them. But she had no time to stop and enjoy that part.
Visualising herself in a basketball game, she juddered about so that one of them got in her face each time she moved. Then, moving slightly too quickly for them to even react, she turned sideways and slipped out between them. After a few steps Amber decided to try the levitation spell that should carry her safely to the other side of the fence. Then she remembered that her magick didn’t work in here; wouldn’t work properly until she was far away from this place. She began to climb over, stepping up the pace when her sensitive ears picked up the sound of footsteps getting ever closer.
The others were coming.
In her hurry to get out, Amber-Louise tore her sleeve on a piece of barbed wire. It also ripped a long gash in the flesh of her upper arm, and, judging by the amount of blood, what appeared to be several blood vessels. It hurt like hell, she noticed as she dropped to the ground with a thud, but the pain was quickly forgotten.
The main thing was she was out.
Alive.
People were too scared to walk outside alone.
Very few cars were being driven around on the roads.
Buildings had been trashed and looted.
Safety was an alien word to most of the population.
The landscape was harsh and barren.
The trees, plants and flowers were all dead.
Growing and being different was against the rules.
The town had belonged to the monsters for far too long. Someone had to be prepared to take it back.
Chapter 2
Bleeding heavily from her arm, Amber-Louise tried her best to ignore it but found she was losing too much blood. Her arm felt heavy and weighted. The barbed wire must have cut pretty deep, though it didn’t hurt so much as ache. The gut was still pumping blood steadily and Amber sat on the floor as she tore a large section of material from her shirt. There didn’t seem to be any dirt on it so she wrapped it around her arm and used her teeth to pull it tight. It would heal and scab over soon but she couldn’t afford to have it weighing her down while she was on the run.
On the run. That made her sound like a fugitive. In some ways, she supposed, she was a fugitive, or an escapee. Just like in a prison uncaring guards were trying to track her down to recapture her. Hunting her down.
Her trainers slapped the ground as she jogged around, trying to figure out which way the nearest town was. She’d been in that cell – that cage – for too long, and it was difficult to figure out which way was which anymore. .Amber-Louise was glad that to any casual observer, and any of the people in black who weren’t actively looking for her, she just looked like a lost little girl trying to remember her way.
It wasn’t right – putting so much responsibility on such young shoulders. But Liatruz didn’t care for right or wrong. And it was her job to stop him, to make him care.
Slowly she turned around, deciding in which direction to run. She couldn’t spend too long choosing; they would have less chance of catching her unaware if she kept moving. There had to be a road somewhere nearby, at least in the next couple of miles. Once she found it, it would be easy enough to follow it into the town, where-ever it was. A breeze blew the blood-soaked rag around and her red-brown hair around her face. It had grown a few inches and the ends were very raggy. Amber ran her fingers through it and pushed it behind her ears, wishing she had something to tie it back with.
If she didn’t get a move on soon more of the ex-people would be on her tail. It wouldn’t be a major problem if she had to fight them but it would eat into her valuable hours. Besides, her instincts told her that there would be plenty more along the way.
She turned on her heel and headed north
Alex shut himself in his bedroom – the one place he could pretend things were normal. He wasn’t sleeping or playing on his games console, just looking out of his window at the people wandering the streets. All but the most fool-hardy – or foolish – of people were cowering in their homes. The people he saw on the ground were all dressed in black and had skin as white as snow. Under normal circumstances – whatever they were – their heavy, dark clothing and pale flesh would have been considered strange given the hot and sunny weather. But no-one had dared to question it, fearful of what they may do. His parents had been turned into two of the people on the ground, though he had no clue as to where they actually were now. It was horrible to think of people he loved being made into those… whatever they were.
“Mom. Dad,” he whispered to himself, although there was no reason for him to stay quiet. “What’s gonna happen to you when this is all over? It will be over soon, I promise you. God, what’s happening to you right now?” He wished he knew where they were, knew they were safe.
Alex switched his TV on and powered up his PlayStation 2, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on any of his games. But the total mindlessness of them usually took his mind off the thinking part. He usually bought fantasy games but had recently found that they were too close to his own reality, so he was playing a kids platform game. Even here there were monsters and zombies round every corner,
but he could take as many tries as he wanted at killing them. It was harder than it looked and he couldn’t think of a way to gain access to the dungeon.
If they came for him, he wouldn’t go – well, not unless they chloroform me, gag me and drag me. He was prepared to fight them if he had to, but he would very reluctant to do so and hurt them. He definitely wouldn’t kill them though because, underneath all that had been done to them and all that had been taken from them, they were still his parents.
He suddenly noticed that he was a little hungry and went downstairs to make himself a sandwich. He rummaged around in the fridge and in the cupboard, which he had kept well stocked. “We have bread…” When he had found all the ingredients, not that there was an actual recipe, Alex played at being a TV chef as he put it all together. “First we need the bread, which we must spread generously with peanut butter. Follow that with a slice of honey roast ham and some lettuce. Now, your ham might fall to bits at this stage,” he chuckled as it did exactly that in his hand, “But just bung it on regardless. Top that off with a blob of marmalade and a helping of chocolate syrup. Put on your final slice of bread and there you have it.” He pointed to the positively revolting-looking sandwich in his hand. “One completed Watson Whopper!” He took a large bite and nodded approvingly as he carried it through to the front room. His parents would never have let him make, let alone eat, something like this.
He hated himself for being so selfish but he kinda enjoyed the freedom he’d had living on his own. The house was still quite tidy but he could have made a mess if he’d wanted to. Okay, there were bills to pay and stuff but, with everything that was going on, the power companies had gotten sloppy with bills and invoices and things. Alex was free; he could do what he wanted; eat and sleep whenever he felt like it. But, he wanted the rules back. He needed something to keep him in line.
He switched the TV on again, not even intending to pay the slightest heed to it. Preparing to sink into yet another thoughtful trance. Something the newsreader was saying caught his attention.
“… Have been reported. The two travellers, thought to be Australian, were reported missing earlier today. It is a strong possible that they were kidnapped but, until more witnesses are found and come forward, this is pure speculation.”
“Kidnapped. That sounds about right.” Alex switched the set off after the report and took another bite of his sandwich.
It was very doubtful that anything else would be said about the missing couple, and they would probably never be seen again. No-one would come forward with any information either; they were too scared to. Anyway, the police hardly ever followed up on mysterious cases like this one, especially as they were becoming more common. Because they didn’t have the first clue what could have happened. And, even if they did, what could they do about it?
No, this required an expert.
Alex knew what had happened to the two backpackers and a few other people may have had a vague suspicion. Unlike those people in this, and neighbouring, towns, he wasn’t afraid to give voice to his thoughts. Most people thought that speaking a bad thing made it real but Alex had learnt that they were real whether you admitted them or not. The couple had gone missing in Rawston – the nest main town.
That could only mean one thing.
“It’s Liatruz. He’s coming back.”
Miranda tried to focus on the TV with tired eyes – she was watching an old black and white movie on the Classix channel. She was half-asleep already and couldn’t even remember what had happened at the start of the film. Someone got shot – that’s right – and now his brother’s come to town, looking for revenge. Sleep was such a tempting idea that she almost gave into it. But, no. Her husband was due home from his late shift in an hour and he wouldn’t want to come home to that.
A ghostly white figure appeared at the door and Miranda yelped in surprise, waking right out of her sleepy state. A heart attack is as good as a rest. Maybe not. “Jodie, you scared the life out of me,” she breathed, relieved. “Are you okay, honey?”
“Uh-huh. I just want Daddy to come home.” The girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned.
“So do I. He shouldn’t be too long coming home now.” She wrapped her arms around Jodie as she settled back into the cushions. “Anyway, hey, why aren’t you asleep? You should be in bed.”
“Can’t sleep.”
“Why not? Did you have a bad dream?” Her gaze flickered back to the screen, where yet another shooting spree was taking place.
“No, Mom,” she yawned, tired but too wired to sleep. “I heard a noise outside. Can I stay and watch the movie with you until Daddy gets back?”
“What sort of a noise?”
“Dunno. I was still half-asleep but, I did hear something.”
15 minutes later both mother and daughter were once more drifting towards sleep, oblivious to the incessant babbling of the actors. A loud noise, almost like splintering wood, rang through the house, waking them both from their slumber. Jodie was more frightened by it than her mother as it was the same noise that had woken her in the first place. “What was that?”
“It was probably just the wind.” It sounded more convincing in her head than it did out loud.
A few minutes later, the noise came again and Miranda knew it couldn’t possibly be the wind. It might just be a couple of dogs trying to kill each other outside, but what was the harm in going to have a quick peek? Even if it was just to put Jodie’s mind at rest.
She got up to take a look when Jodie grabbed her arm. “Don’t go!” The child was scared, that much was obvious – but why? Miranda moved to shake her arm free but Jody held tight. She was scared by it – things weren’t really supposed to go bump in the night – she was just a kid after all.
But children could sense dangers when adults could not. They often didn’t know exactly what it was, but they always knew it was there. “I mean it, Mom. There’s something out there and it’s coming. I thing something bad’s gonna happen.”
Miranda reached a hand behind the sofa and felt around until her fingers closed around an aluminium baseball, which she kept in case of intruders. “It’s probably nothing but if there is anyone out there, they’ll get the business end of this, okay.” Jodie looked slightly less scared but still insisted on cradling the cordless phone in her hands.
Brandishing the bat, Miranda crept down the hall and tiptoed to look through the peephole. Suddenly, the French doors in the bright kitchen crashed open and a group of figured began to file in, moving quickly – almost running. She gripped the bat more tightly, ready to swing, when they moved closer, into the light. The baseball bat slipped from her hands and clattered, useless, to the floor. “Maybe there’s something to those stories about the Bogeyman, after all,” she muttered to herself as everything around her went black.
They were taking over.
The nearest town had ended up being just over five miles north of the compound, following a road used only by wild animals and racing bikers. She had run most of the way and her muscles felt numb and burning hot at the same time. Her lungs and throat felt raw from swallowing all the dust the breeze and her feet had whipped up; she would get a drink from the first shop she came to.
Around 10 of the ex-people had tried to stop her along the way. Amber-Louise had hit them with various spells that eventually made them unconscious – see how they like it – but had had no other choice than to kill a few of them. Some of them were especially resilient to her magick and she suspected that these were the proper guards. It was weird but killing them gave her a funny feeling, a good feeling. Amber thought about it for a minute, realising that she didn’t feel half as bad about it as she would have done if they were normal humans still. They were merely in the way – nuisances sent to prevent her from getting home. Home. The place where she’d find the two people she missed and loved most in the world – her father and Alex. She refused to even
consider the fact that Liatruz may have already got to them. But, deep in her heart, she knew they were both okay; she couldn’t explain it but there was some kind of connection, and she knew. Witch perk.
Weary, but with the adrenaline pumping, she kicked a shop door in and leaned against the frame, trying to get her breath. There were only two people in the shop and they both screamed when she burst in. “Is that how you greet all your customers?” They looked absolutely petrified and were huddled together under the counter. Amber thought back, and remembered that she had seen very few normal people outside, and even fewer cars.
They were too scared – she thought that was quite sensible considering. Considering that Liatruz’s influence had travelled further than she’d thought.
She screwed the bottle off a shelved bottle of water and took a few mouthfuls before closing it and shoving it into her pocket. “Hooo! Needed that,” she coughed.
“W-w-what do you want here?” asked the middle-aged man. “We haven’t got anything valuable. What do you want?” But something in his expression told her that he knew exactly what most people who came here wanted.
A sign above the door told her that the man who had spoken was called Wright and the other, older man was his father. She felt sorry and ashamed that such a fragile old man should have to go through something like this. Well, no-one should. But she didn’t have time to say that, didn’t have a second to spare on such niceties.
Amber-Louise had a job to do.
And time was of the essence.