* * * *
Max wasn’t kidding when he said that part of the city would be dangerous. It turned out that his friend was the leader of a small vigilante operation.
“I’m telling all of you right now, I don’t want any trouble while I’m arranging replacement supplies.” Max felt he had to address this one more time as he entered the building.
“I’m not sure about you guys,” said Nish, “but I’m hungry.” With that said everyone started walking down the street. We all followed as he led the way to a small hole in the wall place. Nish grinned and walked to a large table that would fit all of us.
“Please sit over here,” a waitress said, gesturing to two tables that she was in the process of pushing together.
Nish asked, “Miss, why can’t we just have that table?”
“There is a special party coming for that table.”
That peaked everyone’s curiosity, but we accepted the answer and took the offered table. The place had a barely clean feel to it. Even the menus felt slightly greasy. The place served the kind of food that keeps cardiologists in practice. I don’t think there was a dish that didn’t have something that was deep fried. They even had deep fried ice cream. After all that healthy food Sammy and Candy made me eat, I intended to love every artery-clogging bite.
The bell above the door rang, signaling a new customer. The waitress turned pale as she saw who it was. I looked to see what had spooked her. Coming through the door were a few very large members of the local gang. Doing a quick head count, I knew there wasn’t enough table space to fit them all at the table. I started assessing the situation like I was taught and realized there were sixteen of them and they all had pistols. They were a mix of humans, orcs, and goblins. One of the orcs was definitely the leader of the little group for two reasons. First, no one sat until he did, and two, he didn’t care who saw the cannon he used as a pistol, almost daring someone to say something.
He grew agitated when he saw what was left of his crew standing. It was at this point he noticed I was checking out his people. With distain dripping in his voice he said, “Fool, what the hell are you eyeballing my crew for?” This had the effect of getting everyone in the room to look my way.
The waitress tried to defuse the situation by saying, “Big D, these people are waiting for their take out.”
That’s when Big D made his fatal mistake. He punched her in the face, sending her falling backwards. Nish put a bullet in his head before she hit the ground. Erica’s blades sliced through another before they could even pull their weapons. Allyson erected a small barrier around the waitress. My body was acting on pure instinct as I rolled out of my chair into a kneeling firing position. I squeezed off two rounds, hitting the guy next to Big D, once in the gut followed by a second round into his chest near his heart. I moved again before finding a new target. I put three rounds into him before he went down, hitting him in the neck with my third shot. I moved and looked for a new target but there were none left.
The whole thing from start to finish took less than a minute. We had fired two dozen rounds before they could fire a dozen. It was exactly six heartbeats before I saw the bullet hanging in the air pointing at my heart. As I scrambled out of the way the bullet fell to the ground. My movement caught Todd’s attention.
“What’s wrong, Samuel?”
“I was just startled when I saw the bullet in front of me,” I answered.
“You’re welcome,“ Allyson said from across the table.
We left twenty on the table as we walked out. When we got around the corner we took stock of our situation. Nish had suffered a grazing shot that was hardly bleeding and Erica was hit by a gun when one of them clubbed her. He only got her shoulder because she had mostly dodged the blow. All of the blood on her was someone else’s. Tammy threw up an unobservable spell while Mathew healed Nish and Allyson took care of cleaning the blood from everyone.
We took the long way back to meet up with Max. When we were close I had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Then it dawned on me there was no one on the street near us. A block up the street, the yelp of a child got my attention. I looked just in time to see a mother scooping up her child and running into her house. Erica vocalized my feeling.
“I think we’re in the shooting gallery.”
A car turned onto the street heading towards us and accelerated. As it sped up people with automatic weapons popped out the windows and opened fire. Everyone scrambled for cover as a hail of bullets sprayed at us, everyone except for Tammy. A hot wind started swirling around her. She raised her hands at the car as it tried to ram her. Just as the car was about hit her, it stopped and was lifted into the air violently. One of the gunmen fell out of the window and landed on the ground lying at a funny angle. The other gunmen were trying to get back into the car when she moved her hands and then thrust them down. The car mirrored her movements and rolled until it was upside down and slammed into the pavement. With a snap of her fingers the car burst into flames so hot the metal side panels started to melt and the asphalt pooled.
Screaming, she said, “Tell those pathetic bastards I’m going to send them to whatever hell they believe in.” Then she looked down and sobbed openly. At her feet lay Allyson in a growing pool of blood.
Mathew was already running to her when I started to look for him. Tammy raised a hand as if to kill him. When she lowered it he continued to approach Allyson. They exchanged quiet words, then Mathew prayed over Allyson. Tammy placed a hand on his back and a flare of brilliant golden light burst forth from where she touched him. When the light faded, sirens could be heard approaching. Mathew was slumped over Allyson.
We ran over to them. Erica grabbed Tammy while Clinton and I grabbed Mathew. Sammy and Candy carefully lifted Allyson and we started moving as quickly as we could away from the sirens. We were several blocks away when a hushed voice called out to us, “Over here!” Todd saw the darkened figure waving. Todd and Nish moved towards the offered shelter.
The figure in the doorway held a door open for us and pointed towards the stairs going down. Once down the stairs the figure spoke, “I’m Taneisa, what remains of the local neighborhood watch.” She paused with sadness in her eyes. “You have picked a fight with a very nasty gang called the Dreadnaughts. They moved in here about a year ago and have started taking over the streets with extreme force. They are real bad news. I don’t know what kind of weapons you have, but you sure did a number on them.”
The Line is Drawn
Taneisa was explaining how the Dreadnaughts had started with a block and now controlled most of the city. It would seem they had someone with deep pockets sponsoring them.
“The bastards are in bed with the Mexican cartels. I’ve seen them with Mexican power brokers. I tried to give this information to the police. My payment was a drive by that killed my wife.”
Allyson’s soft moan broke the silence and Tammy exclaimed, “Thank Aaryan.”
“Don’t thank her yet,” warned Mathew, “She is not out of the woods.”
“Any chance she has is because of her and you,” Tammy said, stroking Allyson’s hair. “I swear I will forever be in your dept., whatever the outcome.”
I walked over to where Allyson was lying on a cot. Her shirt was covered in her blood; I nearly retched when I saw it. Tammy grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. Sitting on that chair she looked old. She patted a spot on the bed. When I was seated she placed Allyson’s hand in mine.
“It will help to keep her anchored to us if she is surrounded by family and loved ones,” Tammy said with a weak smile, as if she almost believed the words herself.
I lost track of time sitting there with them. Police patrolled the streets heavily the rest of the night. At some point Taneisa came by with a blanket and another chair for me.
“She was always a gifted mage,” Tammy said. “From an early age she could speak the language and manipulate the power. It was hard keeping this from her
father.”
Fresh tears flowed as she sobbed openly for the first time. I moved my chair next to hers and hugged her to me. Tissues materialized next to me. I handed one to her and pulled one for the tears running down her face. Years of repressed anger and sorrow for all she had gone through with her husband came pouring out all at once. “I can’t lose her. She is all I have left of him,” came through the sobs.
“Mom,” a weak voice cracked.
“Save your strength, baby. Do you need a drink? Just nod your head.”
Allyson nodded her head and Taneisa went to get something for her. I whispered to Tammy, “Is she enlightened?” Her answer was a quick shack of her head, no.
When Taneisa returned with some water, I asked, “Is this your house?”
“Yes, Ella and I bought this place ten years ago. My insurance fixed the holes in the walls but only time can heal the holes in my heart.”
It wasn’t until I looked at my watch that I realized the light I saw when the door opened was the morning sun.
“We need to find Max and get out of here,” I said. “Max must be going nuts with everything that is going on.”
“You can’t leave until night,” Taneisa said. “Your encounter with the Dreadnaughts has been all over the news. Where did you get napalm?”
“What are you talking about?” said Nish. It wasn’t official but Nish had become the de facto leader in Max’s absence.
“According to the news, you guys used napalm on that car with those people still in it. I wish I could have seen those bastards burn,” Taneisa added with evil glee.
Sammy answered this time. “You can’t believe everything you hear on TV. Besides, we didn’t get a chance to stay long, the cops were already coming because of the dinner encounter.”
“Taneisa, can you give me a tour of your house?” Todd asked.
“Sure, anyone else want to see the place?” Everyone but Mathew, Tammy, and I went; Allyson was still too weak to sit up.
When the door closed, Mathew went to the cot and took Allyson’s hand and started to pray. His hands glowed that same golden light, there was something new with his magic. Sure there was always a glow but not like this. I was still trying to figure out how a dead god was able to grant magic. Next to me Tammy started casting a spell. When it was done she spoke softly, “We are safe, Allyson was injured, will wait until nightfall to find you.” With a wave of her hand, wisps that had formed near her mouth moved towards the door and disappeared.
The next thing I knew Allyson was stroking my hair and it was nearly evening. Allyson was alive, but pale and still weak from her injures. When I wiped my mouth I discovered drool on the side of my face. Allyson gave a weak laugh. I was saved by Todd, Tammy, and Taneisa as they brought down food. The sight of the food reminded me I hadn’t eaten since before the fight at the diner the other night.
After we all ate, Taneisa said, “I think it’s dark enough if you want to leave.”
We thanked her for everything she did for us. After eating something we all had more energy for the trip at hand, and it was a long trip to find Max. We weren’t able to go straight there because we had to dodge gangs and police alike. At one point Nish had us hiding in an abandoned house for half an hour. When he finally felt safe, we left. He refused questions and just waved us on. Whatever it was that had spooked him caused him to double his pace. Everyone but Sammy and Candy were exhausted by the time we got there. As we approached the door, little red dots decorated our clothes. Two people walked up to us.
“What business do you have here?” the guy on the right said.
“We’re here for Max,” Nish answered. “We’re friends of his. Tell him we didn’t stay out of trouble.”
He smiled, nodded, and walked away. The red dots moved in tiny little figure eights to the breathing of the marksmen, but never once left our chests. I could have sworn I heard Max yelling. The guy came back and waved us forward. I didn’t feel safe until after the door closed and the red dots blinked out of existence. Max opened and closed his mouth several times before anything came out. Then he said, “One simple little order, DON’T GET IN ANY TROUBLE! You weren’t even gone thirty minutes before you started shooting the place up. What the hell were you thinking? Why did you have to pick a fight with the most powerful gang in the city?”
“Let me explain, Max. All we were doing was getting something for dinner. Anyway, several of them came into the place we went to and started beating on the waitress that tried to get us out of there.”
“That was just the first fight, what about the second and third fights?”
“We only had one other run in with them. That was the drive by with the melted car. What was the other engagement you’ve heard about?” Tammy asked.
“We heard of a bloodbath right after you melted the car full of people. The fact that most of the people were killed by knife cuts made me think of Erica.”
“We were helped by, get this, the neighborhood watch, or what’s left of it,” Nish said with a smile.
“A black woman named Taneisa?” the guy behind Max asked.
“Forgive my rudeness,” said Max in a mock greeting. “This is Blaise, Blaise this is everyone.”
“Yes, she claims to be the last of the neighborhood watch,” Nish said. “She says she has been fighting these guys using the system.”
“We try to protect her as best we can,” said Blaise. “She has suffered more than most and still sticks with it. She is the why some of us still fight.”
“We need to stay and help, Max,” Tammy said with most of us shaking our heads in agreement. “We have the resources to make a difference here. Besides, I owe her. She took us in; I’m not sure what would have happened if she didn’t. I also owe those bastards that nearly took my Allyson away from me.” That last statement was said with such deadly intent that Blaise looked surprised to hear it.
“We could use the help with these guys. Their numbers are growing fast, plus they have more firepower than we do. We are fighting a losing battle with these guys.”
Max said, “If we do this, we do it my way, no more of this Rambo crap. Blaise, I need maps of the area marked with as much intelligence as possible. Nish, do you think you can find your way back to Taneisa’s house?”
“I’ll get someone to take him there,” Blaise said.
“When you get there, ask her to come here so I can get whatever information she may have,” said Max.
“She is sleeping, Max,” said Nish. “What can she do that could really help?”
“She is alive out there, in the thick of it, by herself. I want to know what she knows. Then I’ll decide if we stay or go.” Max paused and looked around at everyone. “What are you waiting for, get moving.”
In the chaos of the moment, Allyson came to me and placed her hands on each side of my face and pulled me into a kiss. Time stopped and everyone disappeared in the world except for us. Her lips against mine felt like heaven. Then all too soon it ended. “Thank you for keeping watch over me,” she said.
Then just like that she left me standing there, stunned.