Chapter Sixteen
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brIA WOKE UP SHORTLY after dawn. The early morning sunlight landed directly on her face through the living room drapes. Groaning, she sat up and ran her hands through her hair. She winced at how greasy it felt. “I need to take a shower,” she mumbled, then yawned.
Wishing the house had running water, the cambion used the facilities, then ate canned food for breakfast. She searched the house for something to carry the food she was going to gather in and found a handy gardening cart in the garage.
“This could work,” she said, testing the black plastic contraption.
The wheels were sturdy and it could carry a heavy weight.
She piled her belongings into the cart, as well as the items she’d raided from the pantry, then set off.
Bria scanned each house she came to before entering the premises and looting the pantries.
The disturbing feeling that she was being stalked crept over her as the morning progressed.
She couldn’t sense anyone, but the feeling persisted.
Bria paused at midday to take a short break.
Peering back the way she’d come, she couldn’t detect anyone, but she knew she wasn’t alone.
Someone was following her from a distance.
“It can’t be Urzra,” she said with a frown.
“He’d have to be nuts to follow me all this way after I sent him packing again. ”
She didn’t have a weapon, except for her magic, so she didn’t want to confront her stalker. For now, she would continue to search for food and seeds. If the stalker made a move, she would try to be ready for it.
Her nerves were wound tight when she continued on after her break.
Bria found a hunting knife in the garage of the next house she came to.
It was in a sheath and she strapped it to a belt loop, since she wasn’t wearing a belt.
Drawing the knife, she gave a tentative slash in the air.
The blade was shiny and she knew it was sharp without needing to test it.
“It’s better than nothing,” she figured, then sheathed it again.
Guns would be too dangerous, since she didn’t even know how to use one.
Bria looted the pantry, then kept going. She saw a town ahead an hour later. She heard people talking and laughing when she drew closer. No one was arguing or shouting and they seemed to be getting along.
“Is it possible they aren’t all evil?” she marveled, giving the town a wide berth. Even if they weren’t dangerous, she didn’t want to approach them. The last thing she needed was to join a community. She just wanted to be alone.
Her resolve to avoid humans was tested a few minutes later when she heard two trucks zooming towards the town.
She ducked down in the long grass, hoping it would hide her as they blasted past. Rising just high enough to see, she watched as the vehicles screeched to a halt.
Armed men climbed out and began shooting at the townsfolk as they ran for their homes.
“Why are so many people so damn evil?” Bria said angrily. She’d sensed their souls were black as they’d driven past her.
A woman let out a screech of pain and one of the interlopers whooped with sick joy.
Bria knew she couldn’t just walk away and let them slaughter everyone in the small community.
Leaving the cart behind, the cambion sped closer to the ten assailants.
She sent a wave of power towards them, ensnaring them all.
Their emotions were a mixture of fear, excitement and bloodlust. She changed their twisted hatred into peace and calm.
The gunshots ceased and the marauders’ expressions became serene. One of the townspeople fired off a shot and hit one of their attackers in the chest. He collapsed and cheers rang out.
Gunfire came from the houses, targeting the strangers who’d come to wipe them all out. Bria maintained her power until the last thug fell, then released it.
“We did it!” someone shouted in glee. “Those animals didn’t get to kidnap any of us this time!”
Cheers and laughter came from inside the houses, then the townsfolk emerged. They hugged each other in sheer relief that they were alive and unharmed. Bria hid behind a tree to watch, proud that she’d managed to save so many lives.
“What happened to them?” a young woman asked, crossing to one of the corpses to nudge it with her foot. “Why did they just stand there like dummies?”
“It was weird,” a man a few years older than her replied, then began stripping the weapons from their foes. “It was almost like they went into some kind of trance.”
“I saw something like this once,” an older man said. “It was during a war with a rival gang. Our enemies got high on some new kind of drug that was meant to make them into maniacal killing machines. Instead, they turned into drooling idiots.”
Covered in tattoos, he looked like he’d lived a hard life, yet the community had taken him in. He helped the others search the bodies for anything useful and handed the guns over to others who were weaponless.
“What if the rest of them turn up when these guys don’t return to their lair?” someone asked fearfully.
“Then we’ll turn their own weapons against them and defend ourselves again,” the ex-gang member said. “We can’t let them keep raiding our town and picking us off one at a time.”
“Let’s hope they’ll all take that drug that makes them stupid and useless,” the young woman said. “They’re all insane killers and they’ll slaughter us all for what we did to their friends.”
“What are we going to do with the bodies?” a middle-aged woman asked. She limped over, using a cane for balance. “Their corpses will draw coyotes and other predators to our town if we don’t get rid of them.”
“We’ll pile them into the trucks and drive them a safe distance away,” another person suggested.
Nods of approval and agreement came from the others, then they began heaving the dead men into the beds of their own trucks.
Bria was about to leave when she heard more vehicles approaching. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see someone pointing a gun with a scope at her. She tried to dart to the side, but the bullet slammed into her shoulder, sending her spinning into the tree.
Agony tore through Bria as she grasped hold of the trunk with one hand.
Blood was spurting from her wound and the bullet was stuck in her joint.
Involuntary tears of pain blinded her. Blinking the tears away, she couldn’t concentrate enough to use her magic as twelve more assailants pulled over.
Two of them leaped out and raced towards her, grinning in evil triumph.
She heard a distant roar of pure rage, then was shocked to sense Urzra rapidly drawing closer.