Chapter 2
“I’m not going to watch them die.”
Lei grabbed my arm. Her brow wrinkled as she prepared to deliver a sarcastic comment for violating the administration’s rule book.
She proved herself to be a superb partner in the truck, and I couldn’t think of many medics I’d rather have at my six.
But when it came to the primary people we were directed to help, she listened to the bigwigs.
I, on the other hand, cared more about saving lives.
“If they write you up again—”
“The goddamned bridge is collapsing. There are people out there.” I knew she was waiting to save a fallen hero, but how could she ignore their panicked screams? While Lei could sit in the ambulance and watch innocents plunge to their deaths, my training took hold.
I shoved the passenger door open and jumped out.
We had arrived on-site to provide medical attention to Dr. Arcane and his mystics.
A portal on the far side of the bridge had opened and out poured a small army of golems. These magical creatures had been created by some evil villain, but it was up to the Doc and his sidekicks to stop them.
Nowhere in the expectations did it say, “Do not destroy the bridge into Vanguard City.”
I followed the massive cable on the side of the bridge until I discovered the problem.
The thinner wires connecting the bridge to the suspension cable had severed, torn away, and now more threatened to break.
With a volley of fireballs, the heroes annihilated the front row of the muddy beasts, but the explosions rocked the bridge enough that a chasm formed.
While they prepared their next spells, the crack widened, cars falling into the river below. People leapt from their vehicles, running away from the growing hole in the middle of the bridge. It would only be a matter of minutes before the center of the bridge collapsed.
“Help.” The meek voice barely rose above the bolts of pink lightning thrown by Dr. Arcane. Jogging toward the hole, a cubbish man caught me by the arm.
“Leave it to the heroes.” His glasses were bent, nearly obscuring the cut above his right eye. “The bridge is collapsing.” He was a thick man. Dare I say chubby? If he hadn’t tried to prevent me from doing my job, I might have offered to buy him a coffee.
I yanked my arm away. “I know, asshole.”
Picking up the pace, I reached the edge of the expanding hole.
Asphalt continued breaking away, toppling hundreds of feet into the icy river below.
Dr. Arcane should have turned his attention to the civilians, the people unable to protect themselves.
Instead, he showed off for the public, giving his ego a sloppy hand job.
“Help!”
A dark blue car jerked as the road under the rear wheel crumbled.
The door had been dented, hit with enough force it trapped the driver inside.
No thinking, just acting. I ran, grabbed the door handle, and lifted with all my might.
Even the frequent trips to the gym hadn’t given me enough strength to tear the door from its frame.
“Don’t leave me.” His eyes were desperate, pleading with me not to abandon him. Reaching for the pocket on my thigh, I fished around for the cold metal.
“Turn your face away.” He listened without question. Gripping the utility tool, I smash it against the window. “Can you climb out?”
“My seatbelt—” I don’t need to hear the end of his statement. I smashed the glass, clearing enough for me to lean through the window.
“Thank you.” He’s terrified, his voice trembling like a man about to die. I flipped the tool around, snaking it between his waist and the seatbelt. It took a few jerks, but I tore through the fabric.
“Climb,” I barked.
He pulled himself through the window, trying to avoid the remaining glass. The moment I could get my arms under his armpits, I carried his weight, dragging him free of the car. As soon as he hit the asphalt, he was crawling, scurrying to his feet and bolting away from the car.
His car groaned as the asphalt gave way.
I tried to jump, but it was too late. I was going down.
My fingers slid along the road, trying to find anything to slow my descent.
Just before I plummeted downward, my fingers dug into a crack in the pavement.
Hanging hundreds of feet above the river, I tried to count my blessings.
The hole continued to expand, and it was only a matter of time before I fell through the air.
I was only a few feet from reaching the surface of the street, but it might as well have been a mile away.
Swinging my weight, I grabbed onto a piece of rebar.
No matter how hard I swung my leg up, I couldn’t pull myself any higher.
Hanging, minutes from death, I should have assumed that it’d be a superhero that did me in.
I’d curse Dr. Arcane as I plummeted into the water below.
All that time spent at the gym, building muscle to back my mouth, none of it could have prepared me for this. Switching my weight to my other hand, the fatigue set in. Already, my body grew heavy, and I struggled to maintain my grip.
A hand shot over the ledge, fingers digging into my wrist. I was glad to see there was another person out here with a moral compass pointing North.
Another hand joined the first, grabbing me by the back of my uniform, pulling me upward.
It wasn’t a graceful rescue, but it was enough that I could get my leg onto the pavement and roll away from the hole.
From now on, I’d do pull-ups at the gym.
The road continued to break apart, but for a second, I was safe. My savior fell back on his butt, gasping for air. When I looked up, it surprised me to see the man from earlier, the asshole who warned me away.
“Surprised?” he asked between gasps.
“Yeah, I am.” I got to my knees, scrambling to get away from the hole as the ground lurched.
“You looked like you were having so much fun.”
“Great, a comedian.” I got to my feet, holding out a hand. With a grunt, I pulled the large man to his feet. Inches from my face, he didn’t hide his smirk. Great, he knew I owed him my life, and I had a feeling he’d make good on that debt.
“Aren’t you supposed to be the one saving lives?” I debated jumping through the hole. Death couldn’t be more grating than his attempts at humor.
“The witty banter is best left to Dr. Arcane and his henchmen.”
“You didn’t see? They had to fall back. It’s an all-alert invasion now. There are heroes out here I’ve never even heard of.” This would have been like Christmas for Griffin. He was constantly asking about the heroes I got called to save.
“We need to get out of here.” Scanning the bridge, I couldn’t see any more civilians. Had they all gotten away? Had the new wave of supers saved them? It was the two of us that needed to get to safety before we became another superpowered casualty.
I jerked away when he tried to grab my wrist. His head tilted to the side, offended I didn’t let some stranger grab at me. The big guy might be cute, but not so much that I wouldn’t lay him out flat.
A cable snapped, flying overhead before the bridge shifted.
“Run!” He was already bolting into a sprint when I finished the command.
I was many things, but fast was not one of them.
Before we had gone a hundred feet, I daydreamed that I had let go of the rebar and plummeted to my death. I wouldn’t even run toward cake.
“What’s that?” He slowed to a saunter, pointing toward the divider that split the lanes on the bridge.
I had a moment to inspect the sky. The golems weren’t the problem anymore.
Harpies soaring through the air had taken priority.
The fight had started with Dr. Arcane’s magicians, but it had grown in scope and there must have been a hundred heroes shooting lasers, summoning lightning, or hammering flying demons with their fists.
“Medic, give me a hand.”
I stumbled forward as a harpy shot upward, striking a winged hero.
The two barreled toward the bridge, trading blows with neither getting the upper hand.
In the middle of the carnage, it was impossible to tell if the good guys were winning.
Having destroyed the bridge into the city, no matter who won, the normal folk were losing.
The man didn’t slow despite the chaos, moving toward the side of the bridge where piles of cars had been flipped. I was about to yell for him to keep running toward safety when he barked, “There’s somebody alive!”
I had been a medic for years, and as long as somebody still had a bit of fight left, it was my job to make sure they didn’t die before we reached the hospital. Then it was up to the doctors to fix the problem.
“I don’t recognize him.”
A man with a jetpack flew overhead, grabbing a harpy by the wings as I slowed my pace. I reached the man, and true to his word, a green man—no, alien, was lying on the ground, one of his four arms stretched out. I didn’t have my emergency bag, so I’d have to do this old school.
“Is he one of the good guys?”
I ignored the question. It wasn’t my place to assign good or bad. It was inconsequential to my job. I pushed aside my personal feelings as I dropped to my knees next to the alien. They weren’t as common as terrestrial heroes, but I had treated my fair share in the back of the ambulance.
“You need to run,” I barked.
“I’m not leaving—”
“No,” I growled, “I need you to tell my partner I need her. She’s waiting a ways up the bridge. Big white box truck. Go. Now!”
He hesitated, eyeing me. I appreciated he was willing to stay in the middle of a shit show to see this through. When the apocalypse stopped, I’d be sure to find him. I owed him my life.
“Aiden,” he said, “Aiden Scott.”
“Thank you.”
With a salute, he turned and bolted. I had to admire his ass. It looked rather tasty as he dashed off.
I rested a hand on the alien’s neck. His pulse was bounding, thumping from a familiar two-heart gallop.
“Okay, so far, not a corpse.”
The hero's eyes were almost serpentine, yellow, and narrow. I pulled a penlight from my pocket. With a click, I checked his eyes. One pupil blown, no iris to be found. Dammit, if he’s herniating, I’d be carrying a corpse to the truck.
Explosions.
I dropped onto all fours, covering the alien as a car launched upward. The heat washed over my body as debris skid along the street. I imagined dying in the line of duty, but it wasn’t going to be today, not because a bunch of second-rate heroes couldn’t stop a simple alien invasion.
The harpies were scary, but I’d gladly punch the winged hell beasts.
However, in the middle of the road, a shadowy figure stood watching.
Its lengthy arms hung below its knees, black fingers dragging along the pavement.
It’d be ominous on its own, but as its body jerked as if staving off a seizure, I fought to control my bladder.
Staring in my direction, I swore the beast grinned.
“Goddammit,” I growled, “we’re screwed.”