Chapter 97
In Through the Out Door
You have 11:14:47 hours remaining.
Advance. Overcome.
The sun hung low, its light mixing with the blinding white beam, turning the valley into a glaring mess.
Crouched, hidden amongst the trees along a ridge, the group looked down into the gully.
Updrafts of warming air rode the valley's rocky walls, bringing with it a rancid smell.
“Hell…”
Dan’s feet shifted, unconsciously closing the distance to his family.
“That’s not what we wanted to see.”
“No. No it is not.”
Jimmy twirled his sandy hair, cracked and scuffed glasses shining in the glare.
The approach to the beam was sloping, rocky terrain in a 270 degree arc surrounding it.
Until it met the forest, which creeped up on flat ground opposite of them.
Flies buzzed around the broken human bodies littering the rock below.
Dried blood pooled below them.
Dead beasts lay, sharing in their resting ground.
They cast long, odd shadows, being close to the glitch breaking reality.
“Some of those kills look too clean for tooth and claw… and someone stripped those bodies…”
Jimmy stroked his unshaven chin, calculating all the options before them.
“We can sit here all day, waiting for some sign that will never come to be… or we can just go now.”
Dan looked to his life-long friend.
The archer was staring at the beam, eyes unfocussed, lost in its presence.
Dirty blonde hair starting to grow wild.
Disheveled, torn clothes long considered rags.
He stood, back straight, limbs hanging loose at his sides.
A slight smile turning up the corners of his mouth.
Calm. Relaxed even.
Dan shook his head with a grin.
He’s holding up well.
Chris stared with a burning intensity, matching the rumbling coming from his Core.
Shifting impatiently from foot to titanium-foot, one could feel his driving need.
The urge to push forward.
Or to get away from the memory.
An exhausted Kim kneeled, trying desperately to cycle the dribs and drabs of Qi they had got from the various beasts along the way of their endless march.
While she could hold more than anyone else, her cultivation was long, and tedious.
Luna accepted the distracted pats, as she smelled the air, head snapping back and forth.
The remaining Coreless members of the group were dead on their feet, the few hours of rest they had managed to snag not nearly enough.
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I don't know how much longer they can make it.
If we stay and rest, anything could stumble across us…
Dan nodded.
“We are moving now.”
He glanced at Jaime and Belle, helping the wincing George to his feet.
At Annette, pale, distracted, and mumbling under her breath.
“Try to stay sharp.”
Please.
With a deep breath, Dan stepped out from behind cover, and started down the broken ground to the gully floor.
Both fists wrapped tight around the Heavy Hammer of Frost.
They followed in a loose ring, Chris and Kim on either side, Jimmy trailing behind.
Staying low, they tried hugging the sporadic boulders, attempting to stay hidden.
But it was of little use.
Little to no cover existed along their approach, and the forest loomed ever closer.
Dan growled.
Time crawled.
Just as the body builder was taking a step on to flat grass, the last twenty yards to the seam, a sharp snap sent a jolt through his heart.
Followed by a wave of wind across his scalp.
Thunk.
Jimmy’s arrow sunk deep into a trunk.
Slowly, a shadow slunk away from the trunk.
Human. Male.
Hair long, and matted.
Covered in makeshift leather armor.
Holding a worn axe.
Eyes narrow, bloodshot, flicking to the trees behind him.
Wild.
Dangerous.
“He has allies.”
Wood creaked, as Jimmy half-drew his bow.
Watching, waiting.
The wild man stayed frozen, obviously terrified by the still quivering arrow.
But seemingly unwilling to back down.
The ground gave more than it should under Dan’s two powerful strides.
“We are going through that!”
Beefy forearm rose, pointing with the even beefier hammer.
“Back. The. Fuck. Up!”
The man snarled, the earth rumbling under his feet as power started to radiate.
“Yeah? That's all we’re doing, so go ahead and walk away…”
A wave of frost blew out in a sphere, blades of grass freezing, crumbling.
Crystals of ice sparkled in the air as they zipped to the cracking ground.
“No. We aren't doing this. Back off, or die.”
Both men’s grips tightened on their weapons, Qi surging.
“ENOUGH!”
George pushed past his son, visibly struggling to walk through the power gathering in the air.
“I’M TIRED, AND I'M GOING HOME!”
Dan pulled his Domain back in shock, moving to give his father a hand.
“Get off me you muscle headed idiot!”
George pulled his arm out of his son’s grip, straightened to his full height, and marched straight into the light.
“Dad!” Chris charged after him, the rising temperature disappearing as fast as his silhouette.
The wild man stood, axe head dropping, surprise stamped on his face.
Jaime, holding tight to Belle’s hand, stepped through next.
Her eyes never left her husband's wide back.
Kim glanced at Jimmy, he nodded.
“Come on little girl, let's go home. Let's find daddy.”
Luna’s ears perked up at the word ‘home’.
Her head snapped up at hearing ‘daddy’.
Whipping back and forth from Kim and the seam in existence, her tucked tail straightened as she let out a cry.
Tearing off, she bolted for the light.
“Luna! Wait!” Kim surged, chasing after the disappearing paintbrush tail.
Jimmy gave his sagging mother a peck on the cheek, and helped her through the portal.
When was the last time she was not running her Aura?
He gave a cheery little wave to the wild man, then stepped through.
The wild man looked bewildered, as he raised his hand, waving goodbye.
Grunting, Dan nodded, turned sharply and disappeared into the light.
One by one, the strangers disappeared.
Only the beam remained.
Waiting.
A dirty hand scratched at a wild mane of hair.
“That dude in the glasses gave me the creeps…”
