Then

“Tell me about Jay and the einherjar,” Cal whispered to Eron.

Eron scratched at the rough stubble on his chin. “Jay’s stronger than me. He was slapping gremlins out of the air like they were flies, breaking them easy. I hurt him though, kicked him in the ankle. Huge motherfucker—”

“Language!” Remy snapped.

Eron narrowed his eyes. “Relax, your kids aren’t around.”

“I don’t want you to get into the habit for when they are.”

“Fine, whatever… as I was saying, the dude looks like one of those strong men, or like the dude who plays the Mountain. Total douchbag. Tight Under Armour shirt, shaved head, tactical gear, and like a wannabe black ops beard. Man, they were all like that.”

“The einherjar?”

“Who the fu—, hell calls themselves that, unironically?” Eron scoffed. “They could almost cut me with their edge,” he rolled his eyes. “But yeah, they hit all the stereotypes. Seriously, for a group of people who do nothing but stereotype everyone else, how do they not see what they are?”

“Their hatred of others is a reflection of their own insecurities,” Remy said. “Deep down they see themselves as less than, so to compensate they view those different as even less.”

“You said one hit you with a fireball?”

“I didn’t actually see it, but the loser did yell out ‘fireball’ and then I felt a very hot sensation hit me in the back,” Eron said. “It felt like a baseball, physically.”

Cal nodded. “With the added heat element. Hence a literal ball of fire.”

“If I still had a shirt you could check for scorch marks,” Eron shrugged.

Cal took the small candle lantern from Remy and moved to look at Eron’s back. “Looks like you’re right. It looks like there’s a small circle of soot or ash.”

“Are you done?” Remy poked at Cal. “We’re so close, I want to get my wife and kids out of there,” he gestured sharply at the football field.

Cal nodded. “I’m as recovered as I’ll ever be.”

“Does your head hurt? Nose still bleeding?” Nila looked at him with concern.

“I’m at about a five, head-wise. Nose is fine.” Cal looked at the football field through the bleachers.

The entire playing area from end zone to end zone was enclosed by a chain link fence topped with concertina wire. Inside were dozens of tents packed tightly together. There was maybe just enough space for three or four people abreast to walk in the aisles between the rows. Roving on both sides of the fence were the remainder of Jay’s men. From what Cal could see these weren’t armed with shotguns. They all had some sort of melee weapon in their hands. Still, they had to proceed with the assumption that the ones they couldn’t see were armed with guns.

“Alright, I think we go with our basic plan,” Cal said. “Eron—”

“I’ll make a scene, draw as much attention away.”

“Start there,” Cal pointed toward the end zone to their right. There was something about the cluster of tents at the left end zone that drew his attention. “The rest of us will start at the other end.”

“Can you tell if Megan and the kids are over there?” Remy caught on quickly.

“Not yet, but maybe when we get closer,” Cal said.

“Alright, I’m off,” Eron grinned. “Wait for my signal.”

“What’s the signal?” Remy frowned.

“Oh, you’ll know it when you hear it.” With that Eron ran off at a half crouch, skirting just outside the edge of the burning torch lights of the makeshift concentration camp.

“He’s not taking this seriously enough,” Remy said with a look of exasperation at Cal.

“He is… in his own way.”

“I’m afraid he might get himself hurt if he keeps being so reckless.”

“Don’t worry too much, Remy. He’s tough and he just keeps getting tougher.” Cal found Nila’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Okay, you guys just need to move without hesitation. When we encounter guards, just go on the attack. I’ll use my mind powers to distract them. Basically give you guys the first shot.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Remy said as he glanced down at the machete in his hand.

Cal immediately recognized the problem. He took the small baseball bat from where it was tied to Nila’s pack and handed it to his brother. “Less than lethal. You’re stronger than you were, but not significantly so. Which means you don’t have to hold back as much.”

“Thanks.” Remy sheathed his machete at his side before taking the bat. “I’ve been practicing, not as much as I should’ve been, I know that now. I’ve got a good idea at how hard I can hit someone without killing them.”

“Good to hear.” Cal gave his brother a smile. “You ready, Nila?”

“Yeah, it’s going to be a lot easier to fight regular people than those gremlins,” Nila sighed, “I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”

“There’s been a lot of unbelievable things happening,” Cal said. “Let’s get in position and wait for Eron’s signal.”

Remy blew out the candle lantern and hooked it to the carabiner at his belt. He wanted to be able to use both his hands. Besides, there was plenty of light where they were going.

“Come and have a go, if you think you’re hard enough!” Eron’s shout broke the still quiet of the night.

“Did he really just quote that?” Remy shook his head.

“Yeah, yeah he did.” Cal echoed the exasperation.

“Why does that sound familiar?”

Cal chuckled. “It’s from that classic movie you hated,” he said to Nila. “The one with the Scottish werewolves fighting British soldiers.”

A look of recognition crossed Nila’s face. “I remember that. Why you think it’s a classic, I’ll never understand.”

“Seriously?” Remy frowned. “You didn’t like it? It was pretty great.”

“Guys, please focus!” Nila huffed.

The trio was lying prone on the grass just outside the reach of the burning torches that where hung liberally all along the chain link fence. Hidden by the darkness, they watched as Eron’s ridiculous battle cry drew the patrolling guards to his position on the opposite end of the football field.

As soon as the coast was clear they got up and sprinted across the grass, across the orange track that ringed the football field. They didn’t stop until they reached the fence.

With a look of concentration, Remy focused on the fence. It slowly gave way to his magnetic power. The links tore and peeled back to make an opening that Cal led the others through.

He crept near the rear of an especially large tent. From the lantern light within he could make out several silhouettes. Judging by their sizes a few were children. Cal came to a stop and raised his fist, only for Nila to bump into him. He looked back and frowned at her.

Sorry, Nila mouthed the word.

Cal called on his telepathy, once again the pain in his brain grew stronger. It seemed that he was reaching his limit for the night. He pushed past it and followed the threads of thought inside the tent. He recognized three almost immediately. He probed further and found a potential problem.

Within the tent among the other minds, two stood out. They’re thoughts sickened Cal. There was hatred and lust in a mingled soup of vileness. He found that those two yielded more threads, which he followed to the outside front of the tent. Two more minds of a similar bent.

Cal held up four fingers for Nila and Remy to see. Then he gestured to the interior of the tent and then to the front.

The original plan was to locate Megan, Tessa, and Veronica, then cut an opening in the back of their tent to get them out. That was no longer safe. There were too many people inside the tent with them, including two of Jay’s men. Add the two right outside the tent and discovery was all but assured.

“I’ll come up from the right side and distract the two out front,” Cal whispered. “You two will hit them from the left side. After that, I’ll draw the two from inside and you guys jumps them as they come out.”

Two quick nods and the group moved to take their positions.

“Hey, assholes!” Cal stepped out from the side of the tent and quickly pushed a small thought into the two men’s minds. It was a simple thought really, the idea that what they were holding in their hands was extremely hot. The reaction that followed was pure reflex to the danger that only existed in their minds for that split second. They practically flung the police batons to the ground like, well, like they were holding hot coals.

The two cops were decked out in their best tactical gear, bulletproof vests, the works. Unfortunately, they had grown complacent in their duties, guarding women and children. They had neglected to protect their most vulnerable body part. An oversight that Nila and Remy took advantage off.

Each slammed their baseball bats into the back of the men’s heads, dropping them both. Contrary to films and television, hitting someone in the back of the head didn’t always guarantee an instant knockout. The two cops clung to consciousness as they tried to get back to their feet. Nila and Remy simply hit them a few more times until they stopped moving.

The sudden violence on the outside of the tent drew attention from the inside.

“The hell is going on out there?” A rough voice called from within.

Nila and Remy exchanged a worried look as Cal frantically waved them back, pointing toward the side of the tent that they had just emerged from. Nila moved quickly and retreated. For whatever reason Remy didn’t, which left him out in the open right in the sights of the shotgun barrel that emerged from the tent’s front opening.

“Motherfucker!” The man that held the shotgun spat out as he took in the scene of his unconscious and bleeding fellows, while Remy stood over them with a bloodstained bat. “You gonna pay for that, spic!”

The man had Remy dead to rights and he didn’t hesitate as he aimed and fired in one smooth motion. There was nothing Cal could do, but watch in horror as his younger brother threw his hands up in front of him reflexively in a vain attempt to somehow block the spray of buckshot.

Or at least it was futile for one without magnetic powers. To the surprise of everyone watching the scene, Remy wasn’t a dead man. As the most shocked out of all of them, Remy’s wide-eyed stare took in the cloud of metal pellets hovering mere inches from his face.

“Shit!” The man pumped his shotgun, ejecting the spent shell and chambering another.

Cal acted, dashing forward aiming to tackle the cop, but he already knew that he wasn’t going to be fast enough.

He needn’t have bothered. Remy, a look of grim determination on his face, pushed out with his hands. It looked as if he flinging a heavy medicine ball. Except what he threw forward were just eight small metal pellets.

The pellets peppered the shotgun wielding cop an instant before he squeezed the trigger. He fell back into the tent, while his shot went way above Remy’s head.

A second shotgun barrel appeared at the entrance.

Cal’s abbreviated charge placed him in the right spot to grab the barrel and force it to the ground. The cop on the other end squeezed the trigger. The shot caused Cal to flinch and let go. The man swung the shotgun toward Cal, who dropped to the ground just as the second shot fired, barely missing him.

The blast was deafening, but Cal ignored the ringing in his ears. He exploded forward and executed a double leg takedown. The last time he did something like that was back in his high school wrestling days. So he could be excused for sloppy technique. Fortunately, his greatly enhanced strength pitted up against normal human strength rendered that concern moot.

Cal plowed into the man, his shoulder right in the man’s stomach. The unnatural force of the impact carried the man up in the air for a good distance before Cal planted him into the ground. He winced at the sound and feeling of the man’s ribs breaking. The man’s bones weren’t strong enough to handle being the middle element of the sandwich between Cal’s body and the unyielding ground. When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, whatever is in between loses.

Remy and Nila rushed into the massive tent right after.

The first cop was bleeding from the pellets Remy had shot into his face, but he tried to point his shotgun anyways. Remy rushed in and slammed him in the face with the bat before he could squeeze the trigger. He dropped his consciousness along with the shotgun, which Remy kicked back toward the tent’s opening.

Cal stood up and did the same with the second cop’s shotgun. He stared down at the man, who was flat on his back, struggling to breathe. He couldn’t find it in himself to care. “Stay down or else,” he said flatly.

“Remy!”

“Daddy!”

“Megan! Tessa! Veronica!” Remy’s voice was full of relief. He dropped his bat and rushed to embrace his family.

Cal scanned the tent interior. It was enormous, for a tent, belatedly he realized it was more of a yurt than a tent. It was like a spacious living room, cots were arranged in rows and there were two openings on each side that led into bedroom sized chambers.

There were seven other people besides his family members. All women and girls, ranging in age from six-ish to somewhere in the thirties based on his best guess. All of them were looking at him with a mix of confusion and fear. Mostly the latter, he could tell from the thoughts they were giving off.

“Uh… right… so, you’re all free to go back to your homes,” Cal said. A few of the women made for the front opening. “Not right now,” he said quickly. “I mean, we’re not keeping you hear. Well we are, but only until we take care of the rest of them,” he jerked his thumb at the unconscious man near his feet. “So just sit tight and keep your heads down… just for now.”

“Very smooth,” Nila said.

“Hey, Remy, I’m going to check on Eron,” Cal ignored his girlfriend. “You going to be okay in here?”

Remy nodded, too consumed in his family embrace to speak.

“Nila, I’m going to ask you to keep an eye on things in here,” Cal said. “Maybe give them a rundown on the plan.”

Nila looked like she was about to object, but she swallowed her protest and nodded. “I’ll get them ready to go.”

Cal moved closer to Nila. “See if you can find out why they were separated out from the rest. And why they’re here in the first place. Ron said that they were letting white people go back to their homes. I’ve got an idea, but it’s better to hear it from a first hand source.”

“What if they want to leave immediately?”

“Then let them go. We’re not the government, we can’t force people to do things. Besides, I’m guessing they already know what kind of dangers are out there in the dark.”

With that Cal ducked out of the tent and ran toward the other end zone. He could hear the sounds of a fight, but he couldn’t see anything with all of the tents in his way. He could only hope that Eron was handling his part of the plan and that he was safe.