Chapter 22: Ashes to Ashes

Fate is a cruel thing. The path towards the final beam of light in the sky took them towards a place Spencer dreaded seeing. His party had looped back west, towards the San Gabriel mountain range and directly through a compact neighborhood Spencer once knew very well.

“We used to play street hockey out here all of the time.” Spencer told Sarah numbly and gestured to the asphalt paved culdesac around them. “We put two shots straight through the Tsing family’s front window and then street hockey got banned by community ruling.”

Sarah surveyed Spencer carefully. Her eyebrows knit together and her teeth bit her lower lip ever so slightly. It was a subtle gesture. All of Sarah’s facial expressions were tiny compared to what most people openly reflect. Despite the rising bile in his throat a part of Spencer was happy that he could dissect her microexpressions with accuracy now.

She’s worried for me. Spencer couldn’t blame her.

He was worried for himself too.

Sarah stepped closer. “Perhaps they made it out to safety? Or maybe it’s a different house? You said you haven’t lived here in-”

“It’s his house.” Spencer cut in angrily, but his anger quickly faded as he clarified. “It’s Chris’ house.”

The smoking ruins in front of him physically hurt to look at. So many childhood memories of running through the cramped halls and narrow backyards only for those images to clash so harshly with the blackened roof and ashen walls. Chris’ family home and the two on the either side had all caught fire sometime during the last two days. With no one to contain the blaze, the structures had all burned to the point of collapse.

Movement to Spencer’s right caught his attention briefly until he saw it was only Beatrice. The shield user had offered to run perimeter security and, though he didn’t ask her to, Naomi had naturally begun to do the same on the opposite side. Both engies were shooting him worried glances when they thought he wasn’t looking.

“Commander.” Sarah’s voice was gentle and leading. “You yourself were in transit when the apocalypse began, all I’m saying is that there is a real chance your friend was in a similar situation.”

She put a firm hand on her shoulder and rubbed it softly. “Please maintain some hope. There’s no need to carry more on your shoulders than you already are.”

Spencer cleared his throat and swallowed down the darkness creeping in again. “You’re right. We don’t know for sure.”

******

The sobering image of his friend’s home burned to the ground left an ashen taste in Spencer’s mouth for the next several hours. Travel through the ruined city streets was slow. He was probably being overly cautious, but Spencer wasn’t about to throw away all of the progress he’d made gaining each of his engies by rushing things now. Street by street, house by house, the final pillar of light grew closer. In the mid afternoon sun, Spener pulled Sarah, Beatrice, and Naomi close to him just within a line of bushes between the final home marking the edge of a residential and commercial district.

“Okay.” Spencer took a long swig from one of their water bottles while surveying the gas station and strip mall across the street from their position.

“There’s a pack of hellhounds sniffing around a donut shop about a block or so north.” He pointed. “And an abomination that wandered down a street parallel to us a bit south. I haven’t seen anything directly across from us. What about everyone else?”

Beatrice signed no, Sarah shook her head, and Naomi pretended not to be listening.

“Good, We’ll move-”

A scream shattered the quiet tension around them. Both Spencer’s group and the hellhounds down the road snapped their attention to the pizza place in the center of the strip mall. It wasn’t a hellhound screech, the deep vibration from a faceless, nor was it the haunting layered vocal chords of a lumbering abomination. It was a human scream. A woman in trouble. Spencer’s heart thumped loudly and he rose to his full height to get a better view of the storefront.

“Commander, you could be seen.” Sarah placed a firm hand on his arm and pulled him partially down.

The front window of the pizza place shattered loudly. A body flew out at high speeds and rolled across the parking lot. The body came to a halt facing Spencer directly. Blood from multiple cuts and extensive chest wounds leaked freely onto the pavement. The man’s eyes were wide open, surprise still clear as day on his battered face. He was older, maybe in his late forties, and painfully familiar to Spencer.

“Uncle Felix?” 

Spencer recognized the bloodied and battered man from the colorful indoor soccer shoes on his feet. Uncle Felix always wore those shoes. Even at work. He said they were the most comfortable shoes in the world. Felix wasn’t Spencer’s actual uncle, but the man lived with Chris for so long and Spencer had spent so much time around him that he was practically a blood relative.

That’s right, Felix owned a pizza franchise near the family’s house. Chris worked there part time since Felix was his uncle. Spencer’s mind grabbed onto the surfacing details like a lifeline. Anything to distract him from the family friend dead on the pavement a few dozen feet away from him.

Movement in front of the pizza place pulled Spencer back to the present. Three individuals rushed out of the shattered door. Two adults. One teenager. Chris and his father were supporting Chris’ incoherent aunt who was reaching out desperately for her husband even as the pair dragged her to the right along the front of the strip mall. Chris and his father had bent metal pipes in their hands. Makeshift weapons from the look of them. It only took a moment for the source of their hasty exit to make its appearance. A faceless one ducked under the broken window frame. Its large hands bent metal as it forced its way through. It swung its head after the family and let loose its deep reverberating internal roar. It leaned down and prepared to charge.

Spencer was moving before he was even aware of it. The butt of his Winchester rifle slotted right into his shoulder as his hands brought the hunting scope rapidly up to his eye. There was no thought, no plan, and no time to hesitate. The crossheirs landed right where the creature’s ear would be and Spencer pulled the trigger.

The high caliber round nearly took him off his feet as the heavy bullet kicked the rifle back incredibly hard. A fist sized hole exploded a foot to the right of where Spencer had aimed it.

The sight isn’t centered. Spencer groaned internally. 

He slammed the bolt back and ejected the spent cartridge.

“Naomi drop it!” Spencer shouted even as he leaped the bush line and sprinted across the road.

If he had time to think it through, Spencer would have realized that what he just shouted at Naomi could be considered an order. An expectation that she would follow his command without question. Everything she had promised vehemently that she would not do when she was traveling with them. Perhaps this moment of raw vulnerability would truly reveal Spencer as a fraud both to Naomi and himself.

Energy blasts sizzled menacingly as they zipped past Spencer’s head and impacted the faceless one. The large creature had just turned to investigate the gunshot when the energy bolts arrived. Chunks of the creature’s chest blew away in a gory mess. It dropped to one knee, howling in pain as its long arms scraped against the large cavity burned into its flesh.

She’s a good person. Spencer thought to himself as he paused in the center of the road and aimed his rifle again. Missed right. Aim left.

He adjusted his aim approximately where he thought it should be and fired again. Still off center, but close enough to hit. The three three eight bullet hit the faceless one’s shoulder and punched a hole clean through it. Four additional energy bolts from Naomi blew apart the creature’s head and it collapsed back against the broken glass, its own black blood painting the ground a grizzly scene.

“Spencer?”

He turned to find Chris waving frantically at him. Eyes wide and laughing ecstatically.

“Shit dude, is that really you?”

Screeches from the north froze them both in place. The breaking window, the gunshots, and even Naomi’s energy blasts were loud. Far too loud. The pack directly north of them was already on the move and from the chittering Spencer could hear in other directions they weren’t the only ones.

“We need to move.” Spencer turned to see where his team had ended up.

Sarah was two steps behind him to his right and Beatrice four steps behind to his left. The pair had followed him without question. A fact that lanced Spencer’s already heavy heart with a bit of guilt.

I can’t afford to rush ahead like that. They need me to be a commander. They need me to provide direction. Spencer took a stabilizing breath.

Naomi had already crossed to the faceless one where she kicked it roughly with her black dress shoes. When the creature remained still she scowled and turned expectantly towards Spencer who was already formulating a hasty plan. 

“Hellhounds inbound. Sarah, shift north to catch the closest group. Put yourself between the dogs and the Gwan family. Naomi, cover her from distance. Beatrice stay close with me. I’ll need you to catch any monsters that slip by the other two or approach from a different direction.”

“Yes commander.” Sarah darted ahead.

“You’re getting far too comfortable with me around, darling.” Naomi glared at him but raced to follow the sword user.

‘You can count on me, commander.’ Beatrice signed before turning to watch their backs.

The deflection specialist maintained a close proximity to Spencer. It felt like the shorter girl didn’t even have to look to sense whenever he moved. It was eerie but useful in their current situation.

“He’s not! He can’t be!” Felix’s wife, Mei, trembled in place and continued to reach desperately towards her dead husband.

Chris’ father, Peter, hastily comforted her while Chris jumped up to hug Spencer.

“I-I didn’t think I’d see you again man.” Chris thumped Spencer’s back and glanced at the engies that sprinted past.

A flicker of recognition passed through his friend’s eyes and Spencer rushed to cut off the inevitable questions.

“Later. Where are you trying to get to? Is there somewhere safe?”

A trio of hellhounds entered the parking lot on the north side. Naomi blasted two of them away while Sarah effortlessly dropped the third in close range combat.

“The roof.” Chris pointed up above his uncle’s pizza place. “We’ve been hiding up there. The dogs can’t follow up ladders and as long as we’ve stayed down none of the big ones have spotted us yet...”

Chris’ eyes darted over to his motionless uncle and he paled.

“W-we just came down to get some water and food from the shop. We didn’t know one of them would be inside.”

Spencer turned his friend away from the body.

“Where’s the way up to the roof?” Spencer asked pointedly.

He was doing the same thing to Chris that Spencer’s mind had been doing to him the past few days. Stay focused. Stay busy. Stay alive.

“Ladder.” Chris pointed to the north, around the side of the strip mall.

Beatrice’s shield nudged Spencer from behind. He turned to find her pointing directly south. More hellhounds had spotted them and were sprinting down the road at a terrifying pace.

“Go!” Spencer shouted to the group. “Ladder on the north side. Hurry before we’re surrounded.”

Chris helped carry his aunt around the building while Beatrice and Spencer lagged behind.

“Naomi!” Spencer called out even as he lined up a shot on the closest hellhound. “Shift fire south!”

They were already discovered. A bit more noise wouldn’t hurt at this point. Spencer fired his remaining three rounds in quick succession. He missed two, but the third managed to strike the hellhound in the leg and send it tumbling with a yelp of pain. Naomi jumped on top of a parked pickup truck. Her coat fluttered dramatically in the breeze as her blasters hummed up to full power and unleashed another salvo. The longer she fired the hotter the barrels on her blasters became. The energy bolts hissed louder, struck harder, and melted cement, armor, and flesh with progressive ease.

Her status page did mention ramping damage. Spencer noted , his own weapon feeling woefully inadequate as he painstakingly slid rounds into the built in magazine one at a time. I left Sarah on her own. She should be-

A glance behind him gave Spencer pause. Sarah had a growing pile of corpses lining the edge of the parking lot. At least fifteen hellhounds lay eviscerated by the blonde powerhouse. Any time a hellhound darted in to attack her or try to get to the much weaker humans behind her Sarah would surge forward with blinding speed and dispatch the monsters with ease. Seeing her now was a night and day difference from when she first emerged from the pod. A living testament that all of the bonding events they experienced together had done wonders for the engie’s stats and capabilities. Even when a lucky hellhound managed to graze Sarah’s arm the next time her sword struck home into a foe Sarah’s wound stitched itself up.

Lifesteal is an insane passive. Spencer grinned. No wonder she’s highly coveted in game.

“Commander.” Naomi called to him from her perch atop the pickup truck. “My guns are too hot. I’ll need to let them cool for a bit.”

Sure enough her blasters were bright red and scorching the very air around her head. Even as Naomi reported the situation her twin barrels swiveled to the left and gunned down a hellhound mid air as it leapt over the line of bushes the group had been using as cover earlier. The dogs were coming from more angles now and that worried Spencer.

“Sarah has our north covered. Naomi shift around the building and cover the back side. West. Beatrice and I will hold this side while the Gwans get up the ladder.” Spencer turned and shouted so Sarah could hear the plan too. “When Chris and his family are up Naomi will go up next and cover us from above. I’ll go second, followed closely by Beatrice. Sarah will be last up.”

Sarah simply flashed a thumbs up to the side while she slammed her sword home into the throat of a lunging hellhound. Beatrice moved directly in front of Spencer and readied her quarterstaff as her hover shield swiveled to face the nearest dog.

Naomi paused next to Spencer. “Darling, you should go before-”

“West, cover west!” Spencer ordered her.

His hands finally finished reloading his rifle and he made an urgent gesture to Naomi before shoulding the weapon. The gun kicked as Spencer fired at the closest inbound threat. Naomi bit her lower lip and clenched her fists by her waist. She looked like she wanted to argue further, but eventually she sprinted around to the far side of the strip mall to do what Spencer asked.

Watching Beatrice fight was much different compared to Sarah. Where Sarah dispatched foes with ease and precise strikes, Beatrice swung bluntly. It took her several swings to drop a single hellhound. Even still, the shield was true mastery at work. The hover shield was in constant motion. A bubble of protection that snapped to any direction was needed in the blink of an eye. 

Even though it felt like it was its own entity at some points in time Beatrice had told Spencer that she controlled every action it took. Any claw, tooth, or tail that swung at Beatrice was blocked and deflected away from the short girl’s body. At one point she was parrying four hellhounds at the same time while Spencer blew them apart at close range with his rifle. Unlike the shotgun, the high caliber hunting rifle could punch straight through the hellhound’s natural armor.

The high pitch whine of Naomi’s blasters signaled that a few hellhounds had either circled around the back side of the strip mall or a new pack had found them. Either way, their time on the ground was done. Spencer turned just as Chris reached the top rung of the ladder.

“The Gwans are up. Tighten formation. Naomi get up top now!” Spencer shouted. He could only hope she would be able to hear him over the shrieks, blaster shots, and crunch of monster bones being annihilated.

Spencer ran backwards while reloading. His pockets felt far lighter than he liked, but considering how many bullets he’d been firing it wasn’t wholly unexpected. Naomi sprinted around from the back, her blasters red hot, and met Spencer’s eyes. There was a lot happening behind those stormy gray eyes. Spencer couldn’t tell if she was mad, tired, or just afraid of what was happening around them. He didn’t have long to ponder it. 

“Go!” Spencer shouted.

Naomi leapt up the ladder. Her initial jump got her about halfway up, but she took the rest three rungs at a time.

“Commander!” She announced her arrival on the rooftop by scorching the dogs closest to Beatrice.

Spencer slung his rifle over his shoulder and began to climb. He slipped four rungs up but caught himself and continued.

“Beatrice! Time to go!” He shouted before he was even halfway up.

The shield user leapt up after Spencer, her shield swiveling down to smack away the nearest hellhound before Naomi turned it into a slag pile.

“Sarah!” Spencer shouted, his heart beating painfully with concern.

Sarah carved a path to the ladder and leapt up. He expected her to follow behind Beatrice, but much to his surprise Sarah cleared both of them on the ladder and snagged the edge of the roof just to the side. Sarah swung up like a gymnast and lowered a hand to Spencer.

“Commander.” 

Her hand was remarkably steady when it reached down and gripped Spencer’s arm. The world rushed by and flipped over as Sarah dragged him quickly up the last few feet. Sharp loose rocks dug into Spencer’s back roughly. Even through the discomfort Spencer could only feel relief surge through his adrenaline filled veins.

With Beatrice lifting herself up everyone was officially off of the ground floor. Screeching, howling, and snarling came from all sides. Spencer could hear the terrifying claws of the monsters tearing at the walls beneath them, but true to Chris’ words none of them could make it up.

They were safe. 

For now.