of pissed-off Hag. This was going to go well.
Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one there. An arrow appeared high in my opponent’s chest, followed by another an inch lower. One clinked off of a rib bone, but the lower one slid in smoothly to about half its length. The Hag felt at it, her empty eye socket blinking in astonishment, and I took the opportunity to follow orders.
I lunged forward and whipped my knife around the back of her leg, sawing at the Achilles tendon as hard as I could. The knife bit deep but she bucked me off before I could sever it entirely. Another arrow slammed into her chest, forcing her back, and when she put her full weight on the wounded leg I actually heard the damaged tendon snap. She went down screaming, and the Breakers swarmed her. I struggled to my feet and looked for my axe, noticing along the way that Raine and Birgitte had taken care of the first Hag.
Unfortunately, the others Hags had cleared the stairs and were starting to pop through the doorway.
“Fuck me,” said Ethan. “Okay, Breakers! Time to get the hell out of here!”
We withdrew toward the sound of his voice, Gunner fighting to hold off the Hags with a sword that was little more than a steel bar by that time thanks to Hag bones. He was puffing hard but he didn’t quit. We got to the far stairwell, thus far clear of enemies, and Baran held off the Hags with a storm of arrows just long enough for Gunner to withdraw as well. I added a few punctuating arguments with my shotgun, glad to get a chance to use the damn thing, and we headed up the stairs.
Up the stairs?
I wanted to protest, to ask where the hell Ethan thought he was going, but I was crushed into the middle of our abbreviated horde and couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to. Gunner followed us up the stairs ass-first, holding back the approaching Hags with little more than a metal stick. He obviously didn’t feel like stopping. I just went along, hoping that Ethan had an actual plan.
We went up three stories before Ethan broke through the doorway and into another floor of the building. It looked a lot like the one we’d just left, though with fewer ropes and more wall. He led us to the side, heading into the bowels of the darkened floor. I hoped his plan didn’t involve hiding; even though some of them were blind, I suspected that the Hags could sniff us out.
His plan didn’t involve hiding. He got to the far wall, which was partially crushed by an impact from something on the other side. The windows were all broken out and covered, so I couldn’t tell what was going on out there. Ethan kicked at the dark material covering the windows, and when I heard glass shatter I placed what I was looking at.
Another building just next door was leaning against this one. He leapt across a small gap into the sloped twentieth floor of the neighboring building and gestured at us to come on after him. We did, jumping one by one as the sounds of the pursuing Hags got louder. We stopped for a moment in the other building as Raine took something the size of a paperback book from a pouch and started tying strings to it. He winked at me and said, “Figure they won’t see this surprise coming.”
When he pulled away, I saw that he’d set up a claymore-style mine. They’re wonderful little things, full of ball bearings and high explosive and geared to fire in a huge arc in one direction. Raine had it pointed away from us, back toward the oncoming Hags.
We took off for the second building’s fire escape, heading down this time. It wasn’t the easiest climb, but it beat the shit out of the last one. We made it down a floor and a half before a massive boom made the whole stairwell vibrate. The Hags started screaming again, this time in pain, and we laughed ourselves down to ground floor.
It was dark down there between the blacked-out windows and the nighttime, and we turned on our lights after a moment’s debate. Sometimes the reason an area was dark was because the inhabitants like to sleep late. We moved slowly, and this time it was Birgitte who held up a hand to stop us. We froze and looked around, doing our best not to make a sound. That time we all heard the whimper, and we loosened our weapons in their sheaths. This, we knew, was an occasion that didn’t call for guns.
Birgitte moved toward an office’s door, making about as much noise as your average shadow, and she held up her hand with four fingers extended. She counted down, three two one, and reared back to kick the door open. “Fucking freeze!” she cried, her sword out and pointed at a quivering lump on the floor.
The lump didn’t seem to be in the mood to offer any resistance. As we filed into the room, Gunner taking rear guard, Birgitte stepped forward and used the tip of her sword to flip the blanket off the lump. It turned out that it was actually two lumps, a woman protecting a boy who looked as if he hadn’t had a good meal since ever. They stared at us with the dull eyes of those without hope, and Birgitte gave a disgusted snort. There was something wrong with the boy’s eyes; they were too wide. It was hard to tell from where I was.
Ethan moved forward to squat next to our catch. “What’re you two doing here?” he demanded.
The woman was silent. The boy said, “Waiting for day.” She pulled him tighter and made a shushing sort of noise, though her heart wasn’t in it.
“What happens then?” said Ethan.
“Less monsters. We find food. Go hide again,” said the boy, matter-of-factly. This was his life, after all. He didn’t know any different, and seemed a little surprised that there were adults who didn’t get it.
Ethan turned his stare on the woman. She flinched, and I didn’t blame her. Ethan didn’t glare or threaten, but that stare was cold. “What’re you doing here, then? Why aren’t you at a stronghold?”
She started to shake her head, unwilling or unable to answer. The little boy looked at her and then held up one hand, his fingers spread. A thin membrane stretched between the fingers, and visible scales snaked down the top of his forearm. His bald head bore more scales instead of hair, and his wide eyes looked even wider now that I could see that they were almost completely black. I had no idea how old he was. Raine swore quietly and crossed himself.
“Boy’s a half-breed, Ethan,” said Baran. “They won’t take him in any stronghold I’ve heard of.”
I kept my face neutral. Everyone knew about the strongholds. They were the places in the cities that were full of people too brave or stubborn or trapped to get out. Most of them hadn’t worked, and had fallen to either internal or external pressures, but a few had struggled into life and remained viable. They tended to be made entirely of full-blooded Humans, or at least those who could pass. There weren’t many visitors or refugees, but I had to assume that a kid who was part fish wouldn’t be welcome. Nor would I, most likely, though my own ancestry was a lot easier to hide.
“Most likely caught outside the walls and raped,” said Birgitte, whispering to Ethan but close enough for me to hear. “Kicked out when the baby was born. Probably happens all the time in this shithole.”
Ethan nodded and turned back to the woman and her son. “Tell me where your stronghold is, miss.”
“Ain’t got one,” said the woman, speaking for the first time. “Said we had to go, couldn’t come back if I still had Virgil with me.”
Ethan nodded. “Well, maybe we can help with that. We’re here to help, miss.”
She looked up at him and I saw something spark down deep in her eyes. Perhaps there was a bit of hope left in these people after all. She said, “Wait ‘til day. Fewer monsters around.”
He nodded and turned to us. “Okay, we’re going to wait here. Catch some sleep if you can. Birgitte and I are going to see if we can do something about our scent trail, and then we’ve got first watch.”
I slumped against a wall, suddenly aware of how tired I was. Still, I took the opportunity to clean and reload my shotgun before I sharpened my axe. The others did the same, Gunner even managing to work his sword back to usability. By the time he was done I was asleep, soothed by the sound of the whetstone on the metal.
It seemed like I’d only blinked before someone was shaking me awake. “Newbie. Moron. Wake the fuck up.” I looked ar
ound and found Birgitte leaning over me, frowning at me. “Time for your watch.”
I sat up and groaned softly. My muscles reported back about various aches, each of them eager to make its voice the loudest in the chorus. I stood and stretched as Birgitte gave me a scowl and headed off to lie down next to the far wall. I didn’t know what I’d done to her in the first place but it didn’t look like giving her means to save us all from being eaten was going to be enough to make us friends.
I went to the watchpoint near the door and was glad to find that I was teamed with Raine. He nodded to me as I took my spot. “Good job with that knife,” he said. He had a pair of new cuts on his left arm, already clotted, adding to the design there. I tried not to look.
I glanced at my palm where Birgitte had cut me. “Thanks. Wish that Hag hadn’t frenched me there, though.” The wound was closed, still, though the greenish tinge remained. At least it hadn’t spread.
“No shit. Still, got another day fulla heartbeats.”
“Yeah. What’d Ethan and Birgitte do to cover the scent, anyway?”
“Beats me. Something he learned from scary people, I figure. Little more subtle than my claymore.”
“That was intense.”
“No kiddin’. Probably didn’t even need to cover the trail. They’re probably eatin’ their own up there, forgot