Then, Kansas

“Listen up, Lincoln and Sunny start it off. You guys go in through the back. Donald you wait for people to bunch up in the front, then you go in. Watch out for friendly fire. Charlie and I will hit the upstairs from the fire escape. Michael, you’ll be out front covering Donald. Look, it’s fine if a bunch of them escape. That’ll actually be good for us from a chaos spreading standpoint,” Britt said.

“I don’t want to let any prey get away,” Sunny pouted with her too-wide mouth.

“You’ll get more than enough!” Donald gave her a toothy grin. “We all will!”

“Any questions?”

Lincoln, always serious, shook his head.

“I’m good,” Michael said.

The rest concurred.

“Remember to take the sacrament as your first move. We haven’t healed to a hundred percent and even if the people in there seem weak, you never know when someone could get lucky,” Charlie said.

They sat and observed the shop from the rooftop on the opposite side of the street.

It wasn’t smart to keep the lights on. It lit them up like a beacon considering the rest of the buildings on the street and the immediate area were dark.

The others left to sneak around to the shop’s back leaving him with Donald.

“I’ll stay here then I’ll move in if I need to,” Michael said.

“Hey, man, uh… when was I supposed to move in again?” Donald said.

“After Lincoln and Sunny hit the back door.”

Donald snickered. “Sorry… that was a good one.”

He caught it too late but laughed when he realized what he had said. “Seriously, though, I thought you were paying attention?”

“I was, just dipped in and out cause I’m hungry as fuck. Being wounded sucks shit. Man, like I can’t concentrate. I just need that sweet sweet sacrament in my belly.”

“Same.”

“No? Really? You’re like supercool about it. Ain’t twitchy like the rest of us.”

“I just think of it this way… to get the sacrament I need to do my part perfectly. The better I do my job the sooner I can satisfy the hunger. Actually helps me focus… most of the time,” he shrugged.

“Good deal! You’ll have to teach me how you do that later. I better get in position.”

“Heh…”

“What? Bullshit, bro. That’s not even close. Not like your ‘back door’.”

“Get them good!”

He bumped fists with Donald before his friend leapt from the one story roof down to the street and headed toward the front of the shop.

He heard the mass of people crammed inside the two story building.

They milled around while speaking of their worries and hopes.

He smelled them.

The fear was palpable, just simmering, ready to boil over into pure terror once his team struck.

He saw them through the upstairs windows.

Some foolish person had opened them and drawn the blinds up for fresh air.

So many people for the space.

A target rich environment.

He stayed his hand and ignored the hunter’s voice in his head telling him to kill and feed.

Soon enough.

The plan would work and he would partake of the sacrament.

Now, Kansas

Michael heard sudden, multiple loud crashes.

A door breaking.

Windows shattering.

He watched Britt and Charlie tearing and biting their way through the people in the second level living area.

At street level the front door burst open.

Donald calmly shot the first person to dash out.

A dozen scattered down the dark street after the unfortunate man hit the ground.

Donald shot a few more, but focused on rushing to the door to stem the tide of escapees.

He watched his friend disappear inside.

The sound of screaming was music in his ears.

The stench of bodily waste mingled with the sweetness of fear exploding into terror as the prey found themselves trapped by their predators.

The sacrament belonged to his team.

It seemed that he wouldn’t be needed to provide cover.

He stood up from his crouch, drew and shot a fleeing man in the side.

He leapt down and ran toward the downed man, slashing him across the neck before taking the sacrament.

There was no need for cruelty.

He silently thanked the dead man before eating as much of the blessed flesh as he could.

The healing began with a jolt of pain that carried straight through the entire process.

It hurt more to heal than it had to receive the wounds.

When he stood up with blood smearing his transformed face and hands he felt renewed.

Time to join his team, his friends.

He was just in time to see Donald topple to the ground.

A woman pulled a knife that looked and felt odd to him out of his friend’s head.

“Power Shot!” he drew and loosed before he realized it.

The woman spun around and hit the ground with a thud.

He nocked another arrow.

Eyes scanning the space looking for more threats.

He couldn’t see his teammates but he could hear them.

He tried not to look at Donald’s body.

It would be fine.

Once the fight was over they could just feed him the sacrament and he would heal.

“Flicker Movement.”

A dark-skinned woman appeared like a still photo crouched down next to the one he had shot.

He blinked and both were gone.

He blinked again and the dark-skinned woman lunged through the door.

Another blink and she was gone again.

He thought she had gone to the right of the room.

He was wrong.

Blink.

Blades sparked against his chainmail. His bowstring snapped.

He felt a stinging heat stab through the thick fabric of his pants.

The dark-skinned girl appeared for an instant before flickering to the back room.

He felt the fresh sacrament in his stomach go to work on the wound that would’ve otherwise seen him bleed to death in minutes.

Instead, he healed in seconds. He rushed forward knowing that Lincoln and Sunny were there as well.

Britt and Charlie almost collided with him as they flew down the stairs to his left.

“Bleed.”

They could only watch as the dark-skinned young woman weaved around Lincoln and Charlie appearing like still photos as she cut and stabbed them with short blades in each hand.

The two of them appeared like statues despite the enhanced speed that their transformed forms gave them.

“Help them!” Britt called out.

“What about the girl with the flaming sword?” Charlie said.

He hadn’t even realized that there was a girl with her back pressed up against the wall.

“Donald needs the sacrament!” he said.

“You do it!” Britt growled.

Their leader raised a hand trying and failing to track the dark-skinned young woman as she danced around Lincoln and Sunny shedding their blood like fountains.

He scrambled toward Donald.

Turned his friend over.

He saw the sightless, unblinking eyes. The oozing would in his head.

Donald had lost his helmet in their first fight and had forgotten it in that office.

It was too late.

“Ding dong, bitches!” a loud high-pitched voice rang out from the front door.

Two young women.

One was heavily armored in plate and chain. A spear in her hands. Thin chains wrapped around each armored arm.

He sensed tangible power coming from her body in waves. It was like being near the strongest power generator he could imagine.

A snarl visible through her helmet’s opening marred the young woman’s pretty, tan face.

The other was lightly armored and didn’t carry any visible weapons.

She punched her bare fists together and sneered.

“We’re getting out of here! Michael, grab Donald’s gun and cover us!” Britt thrust out her hand. “Light Dart Barrage!” her newest spell sent dozens of sickly yellow darts of magic light at the two young women.

“Mage Shield!” the unarmed young woman slapped herself and jumped forward to intercept Britt’s magic.

The darts peppered her body and shattered the faint glow around her but failed to do more.

“That was your best?” the young woman grin was feral. “I’m guessing your only Level 20 in Mage and whatever else you’ve got in cannibal. Not enough. Earth Wall.” The young woman punched the floor.

Britt was knocked off her feet by the sudden upwelling of hard dirt that rose up to about waist-high.

Michael reached for the first weapon he saw.

Donald’s lightning-enchanted sword.

His friend had never had the chance to use it in actual combat.

“YAAAA!”

An arc of flame passed just over his head, singing his helmet.

What was the activation word?”

“On!” he cried.

Blue-white arcs cascaded up and down his blade as he raised it blindly to block the descending fireblade.

Fighting on his knees wasn’t smart.

It made the girl a threat even if she lacked skill and was only propped up by the adrenaline flooding her body as she fought for her life.

She hammered at him desperately.

He pushed back, sending her flying, windmilling her arms the flaming blade clattered out the open door into the alley.

“D! The girl!” the heavily armored young woman roared as she leapt forward and thrust her spear.

The weapon stabbed into Sunny’s back and pinned her to the floor.

Arcs of electricity crackled along the metal-wrapped shaft and into Sunny.

Her body locked up.

The dark-skinned young woman abandoned Lincoln and appeared next to the knocked out girl.

She picked the girl up and disappeared out the back.

Lincoln leapt at the heavily armored young woman.

There was a flash, the spell of ozone and burnt flesh.

Lincoln flew, crashing into the back wall and breaking a table as his heavy body slammed down.

Arcs of electricity surged around the surface of the heavily armored woman’s gauntleted fist.

Charlie attacked. “Rend Armor.”

She tore deep gouges in the young woman’s plate even as her body seized up.

She recovered quickly with the sacrament in her stomach.

“Gutting Sl—”

“Nope! Stone Spike!”

The unarmed young woman’s fist crashed into Charlie’s cheek.

He watched as she spun away with a spray of broken teeth and a huge hole in her left cheek.

“Fireball!”

The next punch struck Charlie in the chest and sent her flying in a huge explosion of fire.

“Retreat! We need to run! They’re too strong!” Britt called wildly.

Michael finally climbed to his feet.

He knew it was a terrible idea to shout that.

“Go! I’ll keep them busy,” he said. Not that he believed he had a chance. The best he could do was get in their way for a bit. Maybe that’d be enough for the team to escape.

“Light Arrow! Light Arrow! Light Arrow!” Britt ran over to Charlie and helped her too her feet.

Lincoln was right with them.

“Help her up! Michael and I will cover you!”

“What about Sunny?” Lincoln said.

Their smallest and fiercest teammate was stuck to the floor as the heavily armored woman continued to funnel electricity into her through the spear in her back.

“She took a lot of the sacrament, but I don’t think she can keep healing from that. That was the hardest I’ve ever been hit by anything,” Lincoln said. “It’s taking everything I just ate to heal and it’s taking time.”

“Give up and we’ll make your deaths fairy quick,” the unarmed young woman sneered.

“They’re just kids,” the heavily armored young woman said.

There was something in her eyes.

Michael thought he saw reluctance or resignation.

“They decided eating other people was the way to go. Fuck ‘em.”

“J.”

“What… H?” J rolled her eyes.

“Maybe there’s a way back for them.”

“Look around you, they literally ate all these people. Their prions are all fucked up. You don’t get better from that. Like Ca— like C said, it’s, like, a class. It’s part of them now. And the only good cannibal is a dead one.”

H’s attention wavered a split-second.

The electricity flowing into Sunny stopped for an instant.

“Acid Spray!” She thrust her hand back toward H.

H cursed and recoiled back, but not before the acid splashed against her right arm.

The thin chain and the steel armor sizzled and smoke as the magic acid ate through them.

She no longer had a hand on the spear.

Sunny tore herself from the floor with a roar filled with rage and hunger that Michael felt in him.

“Now’s our chance!” Britt screamed.

They moved, but Sunny was quicker than them all.

Spear still sticking out of her back she leapt on J, who fell back while throwing an uppercut.

“Stone Spike!” she screamed.

Her fist hit Sunny in the chest.

A spray of blood, bone and lung erupted from Sunny’s back.

She bore J to the ground and bit down on the upraised arm.

Shark-like teeth ground into iron bracers.

There was a crack and J screamed.

“Big mouth motherfu— Fireball!” J punched Sunny in the side of the head.

The explosion threw her off, but she recovered quickly and leapt at J before the young woman could do more than scoot back toward H near the opening to the front of the shop.

Sunny’s mouth gaped wide enough to swallow J’s head, which meant it was wide enough for H to punch a steel-clad fist into the back of her throat.

“Eat this.”

Before Sunny could bite down Michael sensed the power in H surge into her fist.

Sunny shook as electricity funneled into her body.

In the span seconds her body was a charred ruin.

H had cooked his teammate from the inside.

Sunny had run out of the sacrament.

Lincoln’s meaty hand descended on H.

“Mage Shield!” J slapped her teammate’s leg.

Lincoln broke the shield, but didn’t touch H.

H touched Lincoln and caused his body to seize up.

“Run…” Lincoln managed to get out through a clenched jaw as he slowly, agonizingly fought his own muscles. They tore as he reached out to grapple H.

“Grab the sacrament!” Britt pointed to the body at Michael’s feet.

He numbly listened and followed Britt as she half-carried, half-dragged Charlie out the back door.

“Shit! They’re getting away!” J said.

“They’re not part of the Quest,” H said.

Michael’s last view was of the heavily armored young woman laying a hand on Lincoln’s forehead.

“Bitch broke my arm!” Jayde got up cradling said appendage to kick the smoldering corpse of the small cannibal. “Oh shit—” her eyes widened. “She bit me! I’m going to turn into one of them!”

Hayden regarded her acid eaten bracer.

The chain was a loss and the upper part of the bracer was mostly gone so she took it off. Only a small part of the gauntlet’s cuff had been eaten away while the chainmail and clothing underneath were untouched.

“No you aren’t. No one’s ever seen that happen,” she kicked the smoldering corpse of the largest cannibal before heading over to the strange knife laying near the open door. It was giving off some kind of energy that she couldn’t quite describe. “How many people died because we were too late?” she whispered.

“Too many… could’ve been worse. What if we didn’t come? I mean, we only went cause Jimenez happened to hit 30 and boosted her danger sense to heretofore unknown heights.” Jayde winced. “This really hurts.”

“There’s probably a first aid kit in here somewhere. Maybe check the upstairs. I think Heddy lives up there. Wash it out with some alcohol or something.”

“Good idea. Those teeth probably had all sorts of bacteria… and not the beneficial kind.”

Hayden picked up the knife and tucked it into her belt.

She found the flaming sword and deactivated it before spotting the empty sheath amidst the carnage on the floor.

“How many dead?” Dayana appeared at the rear door.

Hayden looked around. “A lot…” she replied with a sigh. “Where’d you put the girl?”

“Put her and a woman, who fits the description of Heddy, in an empty store a few doors down. Didn’t pick up any monsters around and it’s a claimed building. Whoever the owner is wasn’t strong enough to keep me out, but from the looks of the inside it should be safe for a bit.”

“That’s Knox,” Hayden pointed to the silver and black-haired man laying near the door.

“Yeah, I recognized him. I was close. A few more seconds…”

“At least he didn’t go as bad as the others. Jesus Christ. We didn’t see anything like this the other time we fought the Meat Parade.”

“I’m not surprised. They’re worse than animals. Kill them or they kill everyone,” Dayana shrugged. “Where’s Jayde?”

“Upstairs—”

The person in question came rushing down the stairs with a small first aid kit in one hand.

“You don’t want to go up there,” Jayde said.

“Oh good, you found a kit. Heddy’s got an arrow wound in the shoulder and the girl’s out cold, probably concussed,” Dayana said.

Jayde went to the table and began working on her broken and bitten arm. “Went right through my bracer… it’s fucking solid metal…” she muttered.

“It’s going to be a hard to get back to base while dragging two dead weights with us,” Dayana said. “Plus all the people that escaped from this slaughterhouse are running around out there like rabbits while the wolves are hunting.”

“We help who we can. We pick up the rabbits we can, avoid the wolves and get back to base,” Hayden said.

“We’re vulnerable as fuck right now. Heddy can walk, but the girl needs carrying. Jayde’s got a busted arm, which leaves you, but you’re our biggest gun,” Dayana said.

Jayde snorted.

“Cal said we help everyone we can.”

A loud chime sounded in their ears.

“Well…” Jayde perked, “would you look at that?”

“Creepy ass spires,” Dayana spat. “We’re going to get points for every person we bring back alive… there’s something… obscene about that.”

Hayden regarded the Quest notification.

She was disgusted, but it didn’t stop her from accepting.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Jayde waved her newly-bandaged arm then winced.

“Dumbass, who waves a broken arm around,” Dayana laughed.

“Whatever, bitch. I’m gonna heal sleeping beauty up so she can walk. I’ll do the same to the Heddy lady so at least they can move without needing help.”

“How bout you heal yourself?” Dayana said.

“Nah… I don’t have enough mana to do a broken bone, plus there’s probably some weird cannibal bacteria deal. I don’t want to turn into one of them. I’ll wait till we get back. Monsignor’s Jesus-magic is way better than my heal anyways,” Jayde said.

“Alright, let’s get moving.” Hayden threw the enchanted sword to Dayana. “You’re better than us with that.”

“Yo, you know we need better battle names, like the rangers,” Jayde said.

“No, that’s dumb. I don’t care if you use my real name,” Dayana said.

“But the witches—”

“Have you ever seen one?”

“No, but—”

“Thought so.”

Hayden gave the carnage one last look before following her team out into the night.

Jimenez closed her eyes and turned her head to the bus’ left side.

She opened them and quickly focused on the map of the city spread out on the small table.

“Here,” she pointed to a spot roughly 4 miles to their northwest, “it feels like there is a great danger coming from somewhere in this area.”

“Uh…” Amber consulted a small notepad for what felt like a long time. “Dayana’s scouting notes said that place is a residential ghetto… she underlined the word and drew what looks like angry faces,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, we know what that means,” Shrewed scowled.

“Those that proclaim they are the holiest are often the blindest to their sins,” Monsignor shook her head sadly.

Jimenez closed her eyes again.

A minute passed as she slowly turned to face the front, right and rear of the bus before opening her eyes back to the front.

“Er…” she traced her finger across a wide swath to their east. “People in danger… I feel like the Furies…” she shrugged.

“Heddy’s place is in that direction. Can you tell if it’s connected to the danger you felt coming for them?” Nila said.

“Yes— maybe— sorry, this is new and my head is really hurting,” Jimenez said.

“Don’t be. You’re doing great.” Marci eyed the rest as if challenging them to say otherwise.

“Anything else as specific as these two?” Nila said.

Jimenez shook her head. “Just the same general danger all around us.”

“The one in the north is definitely coming toward us?” Shrewed said.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“We need to get eyes on that,” Shrewed said to Nila.

“Dayana’s our only scout that can confidently avoid or escape from threats. The Meat Parade are too fast for any of you to get away from. Not to mention their superior senses. They’ll get the jump on everyone, but Jimenez,” Nila said.

“It’ll be a bloodbath if they get the jump on us here. There are way too many people outside for us to defend,” Shrewed said.

“Why don’t we put them in one of the buildings? The owners aren’t strong enough to stop you from just going inside, Nila,” Trevor said.

“I’d have to bring each person in with me and it would alert the owners. We don’t want to draw church attention,” Nila said.

“The Meat Parade isn’t a disciplined force if the danger to the north is indeed them then they may just as easily strike out in a different direction. Perhaps we should focus on fixing the buses Dayana marked for us. I spoke to the people Cal rescued and there are a handful with mechanic-type classes or adjacent Skills. A team to escort them is doable,” Monsignor said.

“That’ll thin our defense,” Nila said.

“The people outside can help. There ain’t a lot of dedicated fighters, but something is better than nothing,” Shrewed said.

Nila took a step back, physically and mentally as the others continued to trade ideas.

Cal? she reached out with her thoughts.

Yeah, Love?

How is it going?

It’s going… they keep throwing themselves at the walls. I keep killing them, but more keep coming. They’ve slipped into the city, but I don’t see any near you.

Jimenez picked up danger from the north. About four miles.

Church and cannibals are fighting. Too close to call. Her boost is brand new. It’ll take her time to get it down.

Okay… good… the Furies went to Heddy’s…

…

Cal?

Sorry, had to check. That was a good call. It was close and… well… Heddy made it along with a few others. They’re in danger though and I can’t leave the walls or more and stronger flesh eaters will break into the city. Damn it… should I stop holding back?

What if Zalthyss—

People are dying…

What happens if you tire yourself out when he appears? What if that’s what he’s waiting for?

Damn it…

Just stick to the plan. We’re going to get more buses ready.

Okay…

Be careful, love you.

Love you too.

Nila took a deep breath. “We’ll go with Monsignor’s plan and get the people outside organized defensively. Jimenez will monitor the situation to the north and we’ll wait for the Furies to get back before deciding how to proceed with that,” she said.

“Works for me,” Shrewed said.

There was no dissent.

So it fell to selecting the team to escort the mechanic-types to the bus.

Shrewed, Marci, Amber and Trevor went almost by default.

Jimenez wasn’t really meant for combat she just had the misfortune of finding herself in it more than she wanted.

Nila was the strongest and she could hit the threat coming from the north as a one-woman army if they came closer.

Monsignor calmed the people gathered outside the bus just by being present.

If they had to fight then they needed her steadying presence.

Nila regarded the sleeping toddler on the couch.

What kind of terrible parents brought their child into a war zone filled with cannibals and religious zealots that worshiped an alien masquerading as an angel?

“I’ll talk to the people. Tell them they need to get ready to defend themselves,” Monsignor said.

“They like you. Even after what the eternal church did to them…”

“I don’t represent the same church. I don’t represent a church at all. Faith is faith it doesn’t need men spewing rules and regulations. It doesn’t need self-appointed middle men gate-keeping the path to salvation. One just simply needs to do good. I try to exemplify that. My hope is that it comes through to others,” Monsignor said.

“Do only good everyday,” Nila laughed.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing. There was this thing when I was pretending to be a knight. I came up with a whole back story on how I got the class. Something about swearing vow. It never came up,” she shrugged.

“There are worse things to live by. I prefer something like ‘Jesus wouldn’t be a dick about any of this’,” Monsignor laughed.

“How does that one play?”

“Sadly… mixed.”