Ashes and Dust (6 page)

Then she rounded a large boulder not far from where they’d found the bones. She choked off a scream and stopped in her tracks. There, no more than twenty feet away, a group of the lizard creatures charged toward her, choking off the exit route.

11

Cash sat behind the wheel of his borrowed car, finishing his warm Coke, and thinking about the meeting he’d just witnessed. He couldn’t hear what was said, but it was the second time he’d seen Charley Wilson and Julie Barnes act like they knew each other better than most people knew, which was not at all. Aside from the conversion of Charley’s house to the new town solar grid, he couldn’t think of any reason a woman like that—sexy and sophisticated—would have anything to do with that deadbeat. He’d known Charley a long time. They’d been friends on occasion, but since Charley’s closest friend became a bottle, they didn’t socialize much, other than the occasional story swap at the Brickhouse.

Normally, his Yankee sensibilities would tell Cash it was none of his business, but now, secrets could get people killed. Still, confronting Charley or Julie wasn’t something he wanted to do alone. Better to fill in Frost or Griffin. Let the law work things out.

He started the car, looking up at the hazy yellow sky. He didn’t like this world. The light made everything look flat.
At least
, he thought,
nothing is trying to—

A scream.

His heart beat faster. In the past, a scream would have been little more than a curiosity. Kids playing. A prank. They rarely meant anything bad. But now... He leaned forward over the wheel, looking out the windshield.

A woman bolted out from behind a house, easily identifiable by her bright pink, plaid flannel shirt. But she moved differently now. There was no swagger. No purposeful shift of her butt. She was running, for her life, heading away from him, down the street toward town. Had Charley snuck out the back and attacked her?

He had his answer a moment later when a ten-foot-long lizard scrambled into the road, its claws clacking loudly over the pavement. It was a blur of black and orange, sporting three eyes on either side of its head and two wide tails that spun as it tried to turn. It slid across the macadam, trying to stop, and slammed into the curb along the sidewalk. But the thing wasn’t fazed. It was quick to its feet again, scrabbling after Julie.

And then—
the fuck?
—a ball of white hot fire burst from the creature’s mouth, billowing out around its body. The flames fell short of Julie, but the thing was gaining on her quickly.

Cash buckled himself in, threw the vehicle into drive and smashed the gas pedal to the floor. He’d wanted to leave quietly, without Charley noticing him, but if Julie died, they might never find out what the pair had been up to. Tires squealed as the car accelerated, passing the 30-mph residential speed limit in four seconds. Doubling it in another three.

Without her customary heels, Julie was pretty fast. She’d nearly reached Main Street. But she wasn’t going to make it much further. The creature was nearly on top of her. Luckily for Julie, Cash’s car was even closer to the creature. He hit the thing from behind, as it rounded the corner behind Julie. There was a hard jolt as he struck the thing, but he had no time to see if he’d killed it. He hammered the brakes, skidding across Main Street and careening into the woods on the far side of the street, narrowly missing a pine tree. With the car stopped, and in one piece, he threw it into reverse and peeled back out of the woods.

He spotting Julie still running, heading for the police station, which he knew wasn’t currently manned. He knew about the posses that had been organized, and he saw people looking his way from the center of town, but no one was taking action. He couldn’t blame them. Most hadn’t seen the things he had. First encounters with the otherworldly could freeze a person in place.

But the lizard, while missing both tails now, seemed undaunted as it continued after Julie.

Cash threw the car into drive and sped after it.

To his surprise, Julie ran past the police station and stopped in front of Sam’s hardware store, which had been left unlocked. Not only was Sam dead, but the town needed access to his cache of supplies. Julie ran inside and closed the door behind her.

The lizard crashed into the door a moment later. It tried a second time, shaking its head, looking dazed. Then it jaws sprang open. White flames burst out, engulfing the door.

Holy hell
, Cash thought, and he braced for an impact.

There was a jolt when he hit it, but he never lost control of the vehicle. He skidded to a stop in front of the park, where a group of five armed men and old Huck, watched with slack-jawed amazement. Cash jumped out of the car, shotgun in hand and turned back toward the creature.

Its back had been crushed beneath the car’s wheels, but it hadn’t given up the chase. Instead, it was bashing its head against the burning door...until the door was kicked open from the inside. The monster flinched back in surprise, its six eyes going wide before being frozen that way when a pitchfork shot out of the door and impaled its head. The sharp spines shot down and out of the thing’s neck.

Julie exited the fiery door, pitchfork in hand, and shoved the creature away. It fell to the sidewalk, dead. She disappeared back inside for a moment and reemerged with a bright red fire extinguisher, which she turned on the door, unleashing a cloud of compressed carbon dioxide.

When the flames subsided, she dropped the tank, rolled her neck and kicked the dead creature with an angry grunt.

Huck stepped up next to Cash, “Thought she was a real estate agent.”

Cash frowned. “So did I.”

As impressive as Julie’s counterattack was, it was also disconcerting. It wasn’t an act of desperation. She could have snuck out a window, or out the back door. But she didn’t. She attacked. Ruthlessly. Cash saw her in a different light now. Julie Barnes was a dangerous woman.

She glanced over at him, eyeing him angrily. They’d never been friendly. She’d helped destroy his business. But then she softened her expression and said, “Thanks for the help.”

He didn’t get a chance to reply. Gunshots rose up all over town, mixed with shouting. But the sounds just punctuated the true horror Cash had only just detected: the scent of burning wood...and people.

12

A burst of static from Griffin’s hip cut through the room’s tension and made everyone jump. Cash’s voice followed. “Griffin, this is Cash, you read?”

Griffin plucked the radio up. “I hear you, Cash. Heard gunshots. What’s going on? Over.”

“Big fuckin’ lizards is what’s going on,” Cash said. “And there’s more than a few of them. Breathing fire! Could use some—” Cash’s voice was drowned out by a stream of gunfire and shouting. In the silence that followed, the echoing reports of the gunfire reached them.

“Sounds like a war,” Winslow said.

“Almost,” Griffin said. “But close enough.”

“…coming?” Cash said from the radio. “Lots of guns. No organization. We need—” More gunfire followed by, “Huck! Get back.” The boom of a shotgun. A shriek.

“Cash,” Griffin said into the radio, heading toward the door. “I’m on my way!”

He stopped when Avalon caught up to him, heading for the door. “You’re not coming.”

“I’m not staying here,” she said.

“Ava, I’m—”

Radar and Lisa headed for the door. “If they’re in town,” Radar said. “They might also be here.”

“This house is secure,” Griffin said. “A fortress.”

Winslow stepped to the front door without a word. After looking through the side window, he opened the door and stepped out. Griffin couldn’t stop the man from coming, but he wasn’t about to bring his daughter and two teens into a fight. “You’re not even armed. I can’t protect you all.”

“I might be able to help with that,” Jennifer said.

All eyes turned to the nurse, who stood behind the group. She was holding a pair of black AR15 rifles and a 9mm Ruger handgun.

“Where did those come from?” Griffin asked.

“Does it matter?” Jennifer replied. She walked to Radar and put one of the rifles in his hands. Then she handed the handgun to Lisa. “You know how to use those?”

Radar nodded.

Lisa said, “My father took us to the range a few times last year.” She pulled the slide back, chambering a round.

Radar pulled back the charge handle on his rifle and flipped the safety on. “I went with them.”

Jennifer gave her rifle’s charge handle a yank and looked at Griffin, “Well?”

He looked at the group, checking each face for a crack in their resolve, but he found none. He wasn’t going to win this argument. And, if he was honest with himself, he felt better knowing that the kids could defend themselves if need be. Normally, he wouldn’t have heard of it. But this was the world—or worlds—they lived in now.

He eyed Jennifer, realizing that he knew nothing at all about the woman. She could be helpful or she could shoot them all in the back. “You’ve been in this house since the first shift. Why are you helping now?”

“My job,” she said, “is to keep Mr. Ellison alive. That might mean saving him from a heart attack. It might also mean stopping fire-breathing monsters from burning down the town.”

“We could have used your help before,” Griffin said, and then he realized the truth. “Ellison was here, wasn’t he? For the desert and the darkness. But you were telling the truth. He’s not home now. If he was, you wouldn’t be leaving.”

She said nothing, but she didn’t have to. Jennifer Turkette might actually have a medical background, but he doubted that was all. The way she handled the rifle in her hands spoke of a military background. And right now, that could be useful to more than just Ellison.

Griffin lowered his guard. “Okay. Everyone in the car. And for the love of God, keep your safeties on. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

13

After a barrage of gunfire, the path ahead was mostly clear. They’d torn into the approaching lizards without remorse, but they had used a good amount of ammunition in the process. And while nothing ahead was still trying to kill them, they would now have to run through, and over, dead and dying monsters.

Frost felt exhausted. The chase was wearing her down quickly, the desolate air and the rugged terrain sapping her strength. The fact that she had an army of fire-breathing lizard creatures closing in didn’t help.

She began mentally picking her path back to town, trying to find a way that would be quick, but also avoiding the still living lizards. But before she could finish, more of the things emerged from the ground ahead. It was like the Earth was bleeding the things.

She squeezed off a single shot, striking the closest monster between the eyes. It rolled in the dirt, squealing in a high pitched whine that sounded like a cross between a pig and an injured horse. By all appearances, this world had been burned to a crisp and devoured by these things, but they weren’t that hard to kill.
How could these things have overrun an entire world?
Perhaps they hadn’t. Maybe they were contained to this region of the world. But then, why here? Why Refuge?

It didn’t make sense. Why would this world’s government not just sweep in and exterminate the things? They weren’t even very smart. Frost had been able to dodge several of them with easy jukes and jumps, and sometimes the creatures set fire to their comrades because they were too slow to hit her. On those occasions, the creatures went ahead and fed, anyway.

She risked a quick glance behind her. The entire group was keeping up nicely. If they could just keep up this pace, they should be able to make it back to town without losing a single member of her team.

She turned around just in time to see the low, rocky overhang that smacked into her face. She hit the ground hard, and felt the warmth of blood spreading over her cheek, but she was still conscious. She felt a bit dazed, but then she realized she was looking straight in the open maw of a fire-breathing lizard. She scrambled back, but it was already dead. Its stomach had burst open, and a red, gelatinous ooze was spilling out.

Frost pushed herself onto her knees. Her head swirled, but she could see well enough to notice the hundreds of clear orbs stuck in the red ooze. Each sphere contained a single, three-inch long lizard. They wriggled madly for freedom. Small flames erupted from some of the eggs.

Babies
, she realized. Hundreds of them. And already able to breathe fire.

That’s how they did it. They overwhelmed this world through sheer numbers.

Jared Loomis saw
Frost go down hard, and he immediately made his way over to her. Already several of the creatures were turning toward her position. Loomis stopped, aimed his rifle, and popped the closest two before they could get near enough to hurt her. Then he launched into a sprint, hoping to make it in time.

By the time he reached her, Frost was kneeling, staring at the corpse of one of the creatures. She looked up at him, blood covering one of her cheeks. She was conscious, but she looked a bit dazed.

“There’s too many,” she said. “That’s what happened.”

She whacked her head pretty hard,
he thought. But there was no time to be gentle. He reached down and grabbed her hand, then yanked her to her feet and shoved her back in the direction of town. “Move!

Frost did as he asked. She started running, but then stumbled right toward one of the creatures!

“No,” he shouted. “Stop!” He sprinted toward her and tackled her just in time to save her from the thing’s flame. The fire shot over her and hit him squarely on the shoulder. His shirt burst into flame, and then the creature, seeing it had a hit, poured on the juice.

The pain was intense, blinding. His whole shoulder began to melt away from the heat. It was soon joined by a fierce pain in his leg. A second creature had reached him. He screamed, trying not to black out. As he writhed on the ground, he saw Frost get to her feet.

She pulled out her sidearm and quickly emptied the clip.

He couldn’t see what was happening around him, just the yellow haze of a sky above, but since he was no longer being cooked alive, he assumed Frost had killed the creatures. At least the few that had been intent on eating his ashes.

Loomis turned his head to the side. His vision faded in and out, but he could see that more of the creatures were coming toward him, spurred on by the smell of ashes and death. He caught a whiff of something sticky and sweet, and realized it was the odor of his own roasted flesh. He yelped in pain when he felt pressure on his shoulder.

Frost was at his side, trying to pull him to his feet. Meeks was with her, grabbing his good arm and trying to pull him up.

He screamed. The skin peeled away from his burned shoulder, sliding off like so much barbecue. The pain was excruciating, and he almost blacked out. But he couldn’t let himself faint. If he did, Frost and the others would try to carry him out. They would never make it, he knew. They would die trying.

He couldn’t let that happen.

“Let me go,” he shouted, swatting her hands away. “Leave! Go!”

Frost looked horrified. So did Meeks and Dodge, who had just caught up. But behind them, he saw that Silver was nodding.

“He’s right,” Silver said. “We can’t carry him.”

Frost whirled around, her face as red as Jared’s shoulder felt. “You can’t be serious!”

Loomis lost track of the argument. Something in the sky caught his attention. The object was an aberration in this world. The straight line, soaring above didn’t belong. He tracked its arc through the sky, and became confused when the long, slender object shrank down to the size of a small dot.

Realization struck him hard. “Look out!” he shouted and shoved at the people holding him. The agony he felt from the sudden movement lasted only a moment.

Frost felt a
jolt of anger when Loomis pushed her away and forced her to drop him, but it was suddenly replaced by abject shock, when a five-foot-long spear, like a javelin, fell from the sky and impaled Loomis’s head, pinning his partially charred body to the dead ground.

Stifling a gasp, she spun around. The creatures were closing in. They didn’t have long. But the creatures weren’t remotely capable of throwing a—
there!

When everyone turned, she realized she’d shouted the word aloud. A man ran among the creatures, cloaked in their black and orange skins. He had a long shaggy beard and tangles of hair hanging out from under a lizard skull atop the man’s head. He was wiry and thin, but he moved with skilled grace and total comfort among the monsters. Was he guiding them or simply living among them?

The answers didn’t matter. What did matter was that a second spear had suddenly materialized in the man’s hand, and he was preparing to throw it. At her. She knew because their eyes met for a just a moment. Her stomach twisted with recognition.

She was yanked from her thoughts by Dodge, pulling on her arm. “Let’s go!”

They ran behind the others, hurrying to catch up, leaving Loomis behind. He’d meant something to her once. But this fucked up new reality didn’t give her time to grieve his passing. She only hoped his death would distract the monsters long enough for the others to reach town.