Chapter 20 #3
“I mean, that as well, you did sign up—”
“He died with the rest of them, didn’t he?”
“What?”
“It’s Yu, right? Or are you Hala? Is that why I feel so emotional right now? Are you fucking with my mind?”
“Uh …”
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Kosh’s eyes flashed. A handgun appeared in his hand.
They flashed again. Yelling cried out from somewhere. A faint figure appeared in the sky above them. The yelling got louder, as they started to fall.
A final flash. But once more nothing happened.
Kosh pointed the gun at them. Yu shut their eyes and flinched.
BANG.
Mal never thought himself the forgetful type.
He liked to think they’d covered all their bases: They’d brought Taran in case of Mazino’s escape; they’d brought gear to stop Kosh from blinking away; even Walters had thought their plan was reasonably foolproof.
But sitting there, next to Des and Hala, watching Yu from a distance, Mal got the sense he’d forgotten something rather important.
Then his world started to swirl, and the ground beneath his feet started to shake.
He remembered the first time he met Kosh, how nervous he’d been, how desperate he was to meet someone else like him, how dumb it now seemed to have given a complete stranger a strand of his hair.
As the ground disappeared around him, he managed just one word before being warped away in a mist: “Help.”
Yu opened their eyes. They didn’t feel any pain.
Maybe they were in shock? Maybe they were numb from the cold of the rain?
They looked down and found their clothes ill-fitted.
They must have reverted back to themselves as they flinched.
Kosh was in shock, his gun on the ground next to a beanbag, his hand limp and broken at the wrist. The figure in the sky got closer. Mal, plummeting and screaming.
Kosh stared at Yu in disbelief, then another beanbag crashed into his chest. Black sludge sprayed from his open wound.
Yu ran at him. Crunching footsteps sounded behind them, half a dozen at least. A figure flew through the air, leaping up over the graveyard.
The yelling stopped momentarily, then something crashed into the dirt nearby.
Yu focused on Kosh. Trying desperately not to trip on their sopping-wet clothes.
Walters appeared by the gate holding the mason jar.
Kosh clutched at something around his neck as he fell.
That’s what Yu needed. Walters had told them to look for a pendant.
Yu reached the pale moving corpse and snatched at the pendant.
They wrestled, Kosh with his one good hand, Yu fighting with both of theirs; clothing slapped and sloshed around them.
Kosh’s eyes met Yu’s as an awful realization dawned on them both.
He’s going to disappear. He’s going to teleport away.
Yu knew it would only take a second—well, exactly one point three seconds, if their time poking around the teleporters guild was correct.
Kosh took a deep breath. Yu struck him in the face.
Kosh seemed undeterred. Yu watched as his eyes went calm and cold, and a soft grin crept onto his face. Yu had to stall him, but how?
CLASP.
Des’s hands forced a metal circlet shut around Kosh’s good arm.
Kosh’s eyes flashed and nothing happened, but this time Kosh seemed taken aback by it.
The soft smile on his face disappeared and a rushed panic set in.
Kosh’s purple hand fiddled and clamored for the pendant, but Yu managed to grab it from him, ripping it free of his neck.
The corpse groaned and fell back momentarily.
The footsteps behind stopped for a moment, then started again with renewed vigor.
Walters was close now, one last step. Yu fumbled with the pendant, their hands slippery and numb from the rain. Tink. It fell into the jar. Walters slammed down the lid, screwing it on tight. Yu felt at ease for a moment.
Frenzied, crunching footsteps roared behind them. With no master, the animated corpses did as they wished; and they wished for flesh.
“AAHHHHHHH,” Mal screamed, covered in blood and dirt.
A flash of black pulsed from his hands, and in an instant, the bodies fell back to the earth, crumbling into piles of bone.
Hala came running over to them, an exhausted smile on her face, still gripping the beanbag gun for dear life.
Mal stood in a small dirt crater surrounded by graves, looking battered but alive.
Des, also covered in grit and dirt, put an assuring hand on Yu’s back.
Yu even saw Elaine and Taran poke their heads around the gate entrance to see what all the fuss was about.
Walters held up the jar with a sad satisfaction.
Their terrible plan had worked. They’d done it.
The group breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Yu felt the stress of the moment bleed out of their shoulders. They’d actually done it.
Smash.
A jar shattered on the nearby earth. A jar containing a ruby.