“That’s Tony’s truck.” Edwin pointed out a beat up, white, 1980 Ford F-150. “Kurt, the tailgate,” Edwin grunted out as they got close to it. “Ok, easy now,” he cautioned the group as they maneuvered Thomas. “Let me set his upper body down here and then we can push him in more. Kurt, go find Tony as quickly as you can. Tell him Edwin says to bring his truck keys now!”

Kurt barreled off towards the nearby lobby doors. In the shadow cast by White Hall the group hunkered down in the bed of the truck. Edwin sat by Thomas’s head, he wanted to try and keep Thomas from moving around too much while they drove. Ava was professional, doing her job without complaint. Roy was still robotically just following orders. It was enough for now.

Edwin reached for Thomas’s neck and felt for his pulse. He felt it fluttering weakly back. They still had time. If Tony would hurry up that is.

Tony came hustling out of the building a minute later. Kurt trailed behind him. “Holy hell,” he swore when he caught sight of Thomas. Tony turned away and reached for his pocket, but he stopped and turned back. His composure regained. “Alright,” Tony said, his voice steeled with determination. “Sit tight guys, we’ll be at the hospital in a minute.” Without needing further explanation the older man took the emergency head on.

He jumped into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. The truck roared to life. Kurt barely sat himself down in the bed before Tony threw it in reverse and whipped them back before accelerating and peeling out of the parking lot. The truck's wheels burned against the asphalt.

“Brace him,” Edwin shouted over the engine. “Ava, keep that tight.” Thomas’s limp body tried to slide with the turns but they were able to keep him in place, for the most part.

The road was empty of other cars as they hauled ass down Grand Ave. It was normally a ten minute drive, but Tony got them to the turn in five minutes. The hospital loomed ahead of them, several stories tall as they raced towards the parking lot. They pulled into the emergency entrance and Tony slid to a stop. The parking lot around them had about a dozen other cars parked nearby. A couple ambulances sat near the curb, in front of Tony’s truck. Several people milled about the entrance. They were all dressed like locals. Blue jeans and flannels were a common theme. One guy with his back against the wall wore a brown cowboy hat tipped across his face.

They threw the tailgate down and clambered out of the bed with Thomas in tow. A woman dressed in nurse scrubs came jogging out to greet them. “What’s wrong? She called out.

Edwin had been thinking about how to answer this eventual question so he was prepared and answered before anyone else. “This guy got slashed to the bone on his arm here. We tried making a tourniquet but he’s lost a lot of blood. He still had a pulse a minute ago though.

“Ok, follow me.” She beckoned them inside. Approaching the doorway she cupped her hands and shouted, “We have a patient with severe blood loss in shock, I need a bed and some blankets. I need someone to get an IV started too.”

A flurry of motion greeted them inside the doors as people rushed about. The group carried Thomas to a bed set aside in a little room and set him down. Roy and Edwin pulled the sheets up over him and then a nurse shooed them out.

Edwin wandered back outside and found himself in the crowd around the entrance. The guy with the hat tipped across his face lifted it and glanced at him. He was an older man, probably in his 50’s and he looked grizzled. “Hey, guy,” he called to Edwin. “You want a shirt?”

Edwin smiled. “That would be great, Thanks man.”

The man pushed himself off the wall and beckoned Edwin to follow him to his truck parked in the lot. He opened the door and rummaged through the glove box before he withdrew a pack of sanitizer wipes which he handed to Edwin. “Wipe yourself off. You’re covered in blood,” he said gruffly. And indeed his hands and arms were streaked with sticky residue when he checked. So Edwin gladly took the offered wipes and scrubbed at the smears he could reach across his arms and face.

A shirt found its way to Edwin’s hands. “Thank you,” he told the man. A gruff no problem was his response and the two of them made their way back to the entrance. The man now wore a beat up looking leather duster coat. He passed around his wipes to Ava, Roy, and Kurt. They thanked him and the man retook his position on the wall and sparked up a cigarette from his coat pocket.

When Ava and the other two finished wiping themselves, Ava turned to Tony. “Mr. Siciliano, do you think you could take us back to the dorm? I am afraid there is nothing more we can do here for the moment.”

He agreed and went to tell the nurse someone would be by to check on Thomas tomorrow around noon, and that they were at White Hall if they needed to contact him. Ava got into the cab with Tony, while the guys piled into the bed once more and Tony drove back with a much more sedate pace.

Thomas left a blood smear in the bed where his clothes had been soaked. No one bothered to try to avoid it as they were equally bloody from carrying him. None of the others tried to start a conversation so Edwin took the time to check the buildings along the route. No lights were on as he expected and all the doors were closed up. Nothing looked like it had been looted. Off to the west, the sun was beginning it’s dip towards the horizon. The drive back passed without excitement. When they pulled into the parking lot they could hear a dog barking on the other side. Through the gap between dorms Edwin glimpsed a gathered crowd of people.

“You guys hear that?” Kurt asked, his voice wary.

Roy looked up, his listlessness replaced with fear. “Yeah, I do,” he whispered. Before Edwin could add anything the truck parked and the two of them vaulted out of the bed to the ground. Roy went to open Ava’s door. “Ava,” he immediately greeted her when the door cracked open. “I think we have a problem.” Edwin got out as well and moved closer to listen.

“Hmm,” she hummed. “I suppose we shall have to fix it then.” She brushed Roy out of the way as she strutted towards the back door of the lobby. Edwin trailed behind her as Roy and Kurt nervously glanced at one another. Roy’s expression stiffened before he shook his head and matched pace with Tony as he followed behind Edwin. Kurt stood there watching them. His hesitation was ignored.

The back door was propped open with a cinderblock, Ava passed through it without slowing down. The lobby was crowded as Edwin filed in behind her. The crowd split apart before Ava as she moved forward with implacable ease. People stepped out of the way almost before they even knew she was there. Her dirty and bloody appearance did not inspire panic or fear. Edwin followed in her wake with Tony and Roy.

She left the front doors as smoothly as she entered through the back. Steady legs guided her as she strutted out on the square lawn that served as a centerpiece between the two dorms and the nearby dining hall. An old wooden fence framed the corners of the grass. Smooth concrete tiles surrounded it and several trees stood apart from the lawn towards the road that ran behind the dorms.

Wading into a sea of interested and eager faces, Edwin pushed his way along the edge of the crowd to get a better view near the front. The crowd grew quiet before he found a good spot. Edwin could make out another group of people over the heads of the crowd. In front of the dorm residents stood Ava. Everyone was focused on her arrival, anticipating her next move.

A moment later, Ava started speaking. Edwin shouldered past several vaguely familiar faces and came to rest near the front of the crowd. He was close to White Hall, just past the edge of the large windows that peered into the lobby. With his back to the solid stone of the building he felt his tension ratchet up as he got a good look at what stood across from the crowd of residents. A group of oddly dressed men stood there practically radiating ill-intent. They weren’t here as random bystanders with a passing interest in a spectacle. Two of them stood in front of the group, squaring off with Ava and another girl.

The group consisted of some twenty-odd men. Each man was dressed drably in muted or dark colors. Dull brown or gray were most prominent. They wore padded jackets and thin pants. Crummy shoes fit their feet. Stains and tears marred their clothes. Many of them hid their faces with threadbare hooded cloaks. Those few who did not were wearing round wool caps. What was most striking about these men were the weapons they carried. Each held a spear as tall as they were. Round shields embossed with steel and painted with a pair of shackled hands were held loosely in their off hands or resting on the ground by their feet.

The duo in front were different. Their clothes looked nicer, less stained and torn. Their cloaks were a dark, rich maroon. They wore steel chainmail over their padded jackets. Their boots were polished and they carried drawn and loaded crossbows. Quivers with additional bolts were belted to their waists alongside sheathed swords. They appeared to be threatening a girl wearing her yellow RA shirt.

Edwin recognized the girl. At the moment her name eluded him. All he could recall about her was that she tended to drift away from others during the RA meetings. She was likely shy or dealt with some other sort of social anxiety or disinterest. Clenched tightly in her arms was a silvery metal box. About the size of a plastic egg crate box. In front of her stood a defiant dog. It was the source of the continued barking Edwin had been hearing. It looked like a large chocolate lab.

They were gesturing towards the box. Beckoning her towards themselves. Ava had placed herself near the girl and was audibly in conversation with her. Her words were consoling the girl. Her name turned out to be Betty. Edwin listened further as Ava continued; it was difficult to follow over the barking.

Ava was intentionally ignoring the two men as they continued to call out and gesture towards the box. They quickly became fed up. Without further prompting one of them shouldered his crossbow and sighted down the haft of it. Without pause a twang split the din and Edwin watched as the bolt unerringly took the dog in the chest. The barking was silenced, only for it to be replaced by a furious shout and piteous whining.

Betty surged towards her dog, her lips curled into a snarl. More furious shouting erupting forth from her. The crossbowman looked momentarily taken aback by her reaction but his face shifted into contempt a moment later. He stepped back and used a foot brace on the front of the bow to relatch the string. His partner stepped forward during the interim.

From the dormside crowd a young man stepped forward. He held a pistol clenched in a shaky white knuckled grip. He moved to step in front of Betty. Ava stepped away to the side, out of the line of fire.

The pistol came up from pointing at the ground. A second hand joined the first to steady his aim as he pointed the gun towards the chest of the man reloading. Elbows bent, the young man sighted down his weapon, the dog killer squarely in his sights. Betty collapsed to the ground over the dog. A momentary stand off occured as the crossbowmen analyzed the young guy.

Betty’s fury abated as her shouts took on a pained tone. She started to wail. The guy with the pistol glanced down at Betty and Edwin got a good look at his face. Anger and pain were clear in the snarl across his lips as he returned his sight to his foes. Besides Betty, it was quiet and the guy’s hollering demand was clear to hear when he told the crossbowmen to throw down their weapons and put their hands up. The second crossbowmen levelled his weapon instead. A sneer filled the man’s lips as he raised the crossbow to aim it. The pistol holder shouted something, but before anyone could make sense of his words an ear splitting crack rent the air. A second and third followed in quick succession as an itchy trigger finger hammered down over and over. Whatever he had intended to say was punctuated by his deadly action, sealing and further chance of de-escalating.

The shots were surprising in how rapid and close they were. The majority of the crowd flinched and shouts of surprise and fear rose up. Edwin was no exception and he jolted, his head flinching back and his arms raising up defensively. He was no stranger to guns, but the suddenness and that the guy was willing to just gun down someone in front of everyone was unexpected.

The crossbowmen reacted differently from the crowd, he staggered slightly but snapped back up and loosed his loaded bolt towards the pistolier. The shaft tore clean through his throat and lost momentum before it could injure anyone else. The guy fell down sputtering, the pistol dropped at his feet as he clutched his neck. His arteries wasted no time in spilling his life across the grass. He slumped backwards, his hands working in vain to try and stem the flow. Involuntary shudders jerked his legs.

Edwin watched wide eyed alongside the crowd as the man shook off three bullets. His immediate reaction could be his body acting before he really registered the bullets. They had hit obviously, as he had been staggered. He looked down at his chest and winced. His chanimail had done nothing to deflect the bullets and his coat now bore three small holes. Rather than falling to the ground in mortal peril, the man gingerly patted where he had been shot. He walked forward and grabbed the gun off the ground. Then he turned around and walked back towards his compatriots.

Dead silence filled the air as no one on the dorm side spoke or moved. The group of two dozen men lurched to their feet and started to loosen their muscles. They hefted their spears and worked their shield arms around.

The first man had reloaded his crossbow and was scowling down at the dying kid on their side. He stepped closer and grabbed the silver box that Betty had abandoned while she grieved for her dog. Edwin felt whiplash as he glanced back and forth from the corpse to the killers. His nerves were jittery from the gunshots and his mind was still reeling as he tried to make sense of the situation. His heart hammered in his chest and his stomach nearly leapt out of his throat. Sweat beaded his brow and ran slickly down his back. His thoughts spun, switching from reconciling what had happened to plotting a course of action that removed him from the area.

The crowd roiled with unrest as the mood turned deadly. Edwin was lodged at the front of the crowd, between a mass of scared college kids and a group of strange armed men. Killers who could walk off three gunshots to the chest. As if they had been plastic bb’s rather than lead bullets. Along the edges of the crowd people slipped away, some tried to hide their departure, while others turned and dashed away. At the front of the crowd people started to push back away from the strange men. Some were shoved down as desperation started to rise.

A commanding voice filled the air. The crowd stilled. Not with recognition of the words but the tone. It demanded obedience and no one wanted to be singled out for not listening. Eyes darted back towards the source. Another group of men—equipped the same as those they reinforced—came from across the road. Spilling out from between the sorority houses. A man at the front strode forward and shouted again. His eyes drilled into the crowd. He held a coiled whip tightly between his hands. He wore fine clothes; red and yellow stripes patterned his shirt and pants. A polished steel helmet adorned his head and a painted steel breastplate covered his chest, a shirt of finely woven chainmail protected his shoulders and hung down past his waist where the breastplate did not. A large circular pommel poked out from a thin sheath on his hip.

The crowd of men parted, allowing the angry man to storm through. Like deer in the headlights the residents watched as the new arrival dressed down his obvious subordinate. Whatever explanation was offered seemed to calm the officer. Satisfied with whatever explanation he got, the man turned an inquisitive eye towards his audience. The spoken words filtered into Edwin’s thoughts but he did not recognize the language.

The officer turned to regard the second man; the one holding the silvery box under one arm with his crossbow couched in the other. The inquisitive gleam in his eye turned to greed. A thin smile snaked across his face. A momentary glance of pity was the last bit of attention he spared the crowd. The officer called out to a figure among the new arrivals.

A man stepped forward. He wore a body length blue robe that shimmered. A hazy glittering illumination sparkled off his robe. The man held a smooth wooden stick as long as he was tall in his right hand. Gripped near the midpoint he levered the head towards the crowd and Edwin found his eyes drawn to the scintillating yellow gem embedded into the top of the shaft. The gem looked like it held miniature lightning as arcs of plasma sparked and forked within the clear surfaces. Edwin’s mind felt fuzzy as he stared at the bottled power. His thoughts started to drift. He slapped his face with both hands to counter the effect. Concern overwhelmed his curiosity as cruel delight twisted the middle aged man's expression. This guy looked like a wizard, a wizard preparing to cast a spell.

Edwin tensed. Throughout the crowd hairs stood on end and a low inaudible rumbling swept through the air. It was an intangible feeling yet it resonated within the bones of everyone present. Their instincts screamed at them to flee. The air felt heavy and charged. Edwin could taste metal on his tongue. When it seemed that the world would shatter, the man spoke.

His staff erupted, a blinding bolt of lightning leaping forth to greet the saturated air. The lightning struck one unlucky soul before the wizard even finished speaking. The entire built up energy discharged through them, charring their body to ash in an instant. From his ashes the lightning forked out, smaller and smaller as it leapt toward everyone nearby.

For one brief moment, less than a second in time, Edwin beheld the dazzlingly casual evocation of nature’s power. The conjured lightning seemed frozen in his eyes during that moment between seconds. In the next moment his eyelids snapped shut, his eyes watering, blinded Edwin staggered away from the crowd into the open.

As the lightning branched from the first victim it weakened, those close to the original target found their flesh seared. Their blood flash boiled as the lightning snaked through veins. The electricity ruptured skin as it leapt between points on people. Hearts spasmed and ceased to contract, brains fried and bodies shut down. Further away from the initial impact the severity lessened and some people found themselves collapsing, merely paralyzed or spasming as the electricity hijacked their nervous system.

With one attack the wizard slew a hundred people and wounded many more. Just as the first one ended he unleashed another one. His target was a different part of the crowd, unaffected by the first strike. The same scene played out again.

The swift assault was beyond brutal and even as hundreds of people were zapped right in front of them some people in the crowd did not react. Those seized by fear or in control of a mere bit of their senses were quick to spur others around them to action. Screaming, shouting and all manner of other panicked noises filled the air. What had been a docile crowd was immediately turned into a frenzied stampede. No care was given to the wellbeing of others. The crowd melted away, people smashing others out of their way as they streamed into the nearby dorms or through the gaps between them, without a destination in mind.

The wizard turned to regard the glass windows occupying much of the wall along the front of the building. A third strike was launched towards White Hall. The glass shattered, joining with the splitting bolts to cut down those who had fled into the lobby. A fourth destroyed the front of the adjacent Downey Hall. The result was similar to the third.

Edwin managed to open his watering eyes and beheld the carnage around him. He had fallen away from the crowd and been spared the lightning's wrath. But just feet away from him the dead lay carpeted, mock throw rugs across the grass and concrete. People were fused to the ground and those still alive continued to twitch due to lingering electricity. His nose was filled with the reek of ash and burnt meat.

Edwin could not hold back his bile and vomited to the side. He came up spitting and with a miserable expression on his face. His stomach empty, Edwin focused on the wizard to see what he would do next.

The wizard was looking at Ava. She remained unaffected standing still in the middle of the lawn. She was unarmed and her eyes were darting around. She saw Edwin and her eyes lit up. Not a moment later Edwin found his eyes straying from the wizard to look at Ava. She looked so thin, standing alone up there. Edwin could almost see her shaking. In front of her a bunch of cruel butchers laughed as they gazed at her. Edwin snarled, his emotions shifting. The wizard turned his staff to point at Ava.

When Edwin saw that, a fierce need to act gripped him. Without thinking he jumped to his feet and sprinted towards Ava. He shouted her name, and without hesitation, and threw his concentration out to the concrete slabs that framed the grass square. He scooped a dinner plate sized slab free and rushed it over to hover in front of Ava. The wizard paused for a moment as he eyed the floating concrete. Then he released a miniature bolt of lightning against the improvised shield. The concrete exploded. Pebble sized chunks battered Ava and she shouted in pain as she stumbled backward and tripped to the ground.

The blowback from spending what felt like two fifths of his available energy, did not deter Edwin as he reached Ava’s side. He grinned maniacally. If that wizard thought he could hurt Ava, then he would have to kill Edwin first.

This close to the wizard Edwin could see that the cruel smile had been replaced with apathy. However his eyes glinted with appraisal as he looked Edwin over. He said something and a beam of blue light sprang from his staff to connect to his temple on one side. The man spoke again, this time in recognizable english, “block this one boy.”

Edwin heard the provocation and split his concentration, One part of him focused on helping Ava to her feet. The man’s taunt goaded Edwin to put as much psych into this next shield as he could manage. He scooped out a second slightly thicker plate sized piece of concrete and set it to hover chest height between himself and the wizard's staff. Edwin then took a step forward to place himself as a secondary line of defence between Ava and the impending attack.

“Run Ava,” he called out to her. “Get to cover. I won’t be able to hold him for long. Behind him Ava’s expression shifted to one of alarm. Events had escalated so far out of her expectations.

The wizard noticed Edwin’s marginally improved defense and chuckled as he saw deeper into what was happening. That the girl would be so ruthless was entertaining to him. These two could be a cultivated bit of fun if he played this right.

Ava turned and dashed away but before she did Edwin felt his mindset shift. Ever since Ava had glanced at him his entire mindset had shifted. He had been focused solely on saving and protecting her. As she turned her back to him though, and left him to take the wizard's next attack it felt as if a veil lifted from his thoughts. Edwin’s self preservation kicked back in and screamed at him to dodge out of the way. Screw Ava, his own life should be more important to him.

Glee filled the wizard’s face and a second lightning bolt leapt out and shattered Edwin’s shield, before it continued on and struck Edwin as he tried to jump out of the way. Some of the energy leapt from his out-stretched hand and connected with Ava. Both of them were unable to move or flee further as they collapsed to the ground. Edwin found himself on his side, his head looking towards the remaining carnage left by the earlier lightning bolts. His body locked up and shook outside of his control. Ava fell just ahead of him. By chance, they were away from the line of dead residents and were spared the trauma of falling face first into the corpses.

“Delightful,” the wizard said. “Ahh,” he exhaled, “this brings back memories. Listen up you two. Survive the next coming weeks for me. Then if we should by chance meet again, I’ll expect you to entertain me once more. Elsewise you’ll meet the same face as your fellows here.” The man tittered with laughter before he turned around. The beam connecting to his temple vanished. The officer did not look impressed by the wizard but neither he or any of the others said anything. Instead the group turned away from the massacre. None of them looked impressed or sickened, instead they looked bored as they prepared to leave.