The Brothers Locke, page 3
“On the chair next to you is a folder. That is for you.”
Perry looked to his left and saw the folder on the chair. He picked it up and thumbed through the pages inside, coming across a series of photographs and what appeared to be personal records of the individuals in the pictures.
“I’m not sure what this means, sir,” admitted Perry.
“I need you to take that up to Icagoro tonight. Take it to this address.” Sim Sam handed Perry a folded piece of paper with an address sloppily scribbled on it. “They’ll know what to do from that point on.”
“Then what?”
“Then go home. Like I said: simple.”
“Simple,” Perry repeated.
Sim Sam went back to his gadget without as much as another glance at Perry. The security officer took the hint and left the office with folder in hand. It was getting late and it would take some time for him to get to Icagoro and back.
In the world of the Dea, the West half sat in perpetual darkness, from a golden sunset to pitch black night (depending on when and where you were). This wasn’t seen as a negative for most who inhabited the West. In fact, many of them resented the bright sun and cool evenings of the East. They despised even more being looked at as the negative half of the Dea. True, there were dark spirits that held domain in places like Shallowhale and the Lake of Drowned Souls, but Avidity was different. It was a beacon of light, commerce, equality, and progressive ideas. Under the dark skies of the West, Avidity shined with electric lights and giant screens that were running at all times. Sometimes the screens would promote the ideals of the city and its leader, other times commercials, but mostly entertainment. These screens were everywhere. Every building, every living unit (there were no homes in Avidity, just towers filled with assigned living units), and every street corner and bus stop was dotted with view screens.
Outside of the city, it was much different. Creatures of all manner roamed the valleys and hills, monsters of such nightmarish legend that most citizens of Avidity didn’t dare venture beyond their own borders. The roadways were not safe either. You couldn’t travel far without running into a bandit, pirate, thief, or gang of thugs. Three hours on the road to Icagoro was not a pleasant thought, but at least that path was less dangerous than others.
After signing out for the day, Perry grabbed some food from the tower’s grocery store, made sure he was armed, and acquired a company car for the trip. There were no direct lines of communication in Avidity (no phones, no electronic mail), so he dispatched one of the many messenger boys to his house so his wife would know he would not be home until early the next morning.
“Simple,” he said to himself as he turned the key in the ignition.
***
Traveling through Black Harvester Forest in an oversized jeep was not what the Locke Brothers had in mind when they left with Solas. It was getting late in the day and the already dark forest was becoming darker by the minute. Even though the vehicle had headlights, they only illuminated a few feet ahead, which slowed their progress.
“The sooner we’re out of here, the happier I’ll be,” Echo told his brothers.
The triplets had managed to cram themselves in the back of the jeep. There wasn’t enough room for eight people. The five members of Solas fit comfortably in the front and rear seats, but the back of the jeep, which was already filled with equipment, was the only place they could find. Adding to their misery were the hard metal containers they had to squeeze next to. Every time the jeep hit a bump, the brothers would get a bump from one of the containers.
“What other choice did we have?” Sharp signed to his brothers.
“None,” Mouth answered.
He took a quick look at the other passengers in the jeep, who were busy with their own conversations. He then leaned in closer to Sharp and Echo and began whispering.
“Pay attention to where they take us. The second we get a chance, we’re out of here.”
Echo didn’t seem too comfortable with this new plan. “And where exactly are we going to go?”
“Far away from them. We don’t know these people, but they certainly know us and Von Strauss. No matter what happens, I don’t see anything good coming out of staying with them,” Mouth said.
“Perhaps.”
Echo paused and took a look at the team for himself. The giant was driving the jeep with Bulk Brown in the passenger seat next to him. Dana sat in the seat behind him and was taking her time sharpening a knife and saying something to Bulk Brown about finding a place to camp for the night. The two teenagers, a boy and a girl who looked entirely out of place with the three grizzled mercenaries they were riding with, were involved in their own little world of notes and maps.
“What do you hear?” Mouth asked him.
“They’re not saying much. I don’t know, Mouth, if they wanted to kill us they could have done it already. Or at the very least left us out here in this forest to die. I don’t think they mean us any harm.”
Mouth shook his head in disagreement, “Death is not the only bad thing that can happen to us, Echo. We might be going to jail. An Icagoro jail, worse enough. No, I think our best bet is to try to get away as quickly as we can.”
It was then that Echo’s superior hearing caught something else. He squinted, focusing as hard as he could on whatever sound he heard. Sharp and Mouth became concerned and tried to get Echo to explain to them what he was hearing. He told them to keep quiet as he tried to listen, and after a few seconds, his eyes widened. In a panic, Echo beat on the metal containers in an attempt to get the Solas team’s attention.
“Stop the jeep! Stop the jeep!” he yelled.
“What in the world are you doing?” Mouth whispered to his brother.
“There’s something out there.”
The jeep didn’t stop. Instead, Bulk Brown started to yell at the brothers. His voice was deep and intimidating, but this was no time for games. Echo’s face told the story of how serious this was.
“What in the world is he babbling about back there?” Bulk asked Dana.
“No idea,” she said. “What is it, kid? What’s got you so upset?”
“I can hear things, you know,” said Echo.
“Yes?”
“And what I’m hearing right now is big. Really big. Underground. And it’s moving quickly in our direction. Scratch that. They are moving quickly in our direction.”
“And you want us to stop the jeep?” Dana scoffed.
“Well, turn it around, or drive in a different direction. Something! I’m telling you whatever it is – whatever they are – it’s not good for us.”
Bulk Brown had heard enough. “You three are something, aren’t you? Y’all will say anything to try to trick people. Let me tell you something right now, boy, the only way this jeep is stopping is if I say it is. You got that?”
A large eruption came from the right side of the jeep. Dirt and rocks flew into the air and through the shower of debris came a spindly creature of red skin, long limbs, and a deformed head. Its skull was shaped like a funnel, the top of it empty and spilling dirt from the rim while the bottom was a hole for a mouth, lined with six circular rows of fangs. On each side of its deformed skull were white slits for eyes, milky and without pupils.
The creature rammed its coned head into the jeep once again, this time flipping it on its side. It loosed a strained call into the forest air, like the chirping of a bird only deep and scratchy. On cue, its brothers arrived to surround the overturned vehicle. Their open mouths began to salivate at the meal they had acquired, each creature taking deliberate steps on their spidery legs towards the jeep.
“You were saying about this jeep stopping only when?” Mouth couldn’t help but needle Bulk Brown on his earlier proclamation.
“Yeah, yeah, shut up and get out of the jeep before we become dinner!” Bulk said.
Amazingly, no one had been seriously hurt. Any one of them could have been violently ejected from the vehicle with such a blow. Once free of the wreckage, the adults in the group grabbed any weapon they could and formed a circle around the young ones.
“Rensom,” Dana said, identifying the creatures that were circling them. “Don’t let them get any of their saliva on you. It won’t be a fun experience, I can guarantee you.”
“Ready?” Bulk Brown said to Bando.
The giant cocked his shotgun and exhaled deeply. “Oh yeah!”
“And what are we supposed to do?” Mouth asked.
“Try not to get killed,” Dana answered.
The Rensom had stopped advancing out of caution. They weren’t dumb animals and knew that their meal was armed. Regardless, they were not going to be denied their dinner, no matter the injury.
“I just want to say one last time, brother,” Echo said as he tugged on Mouth’s shirt sleeve. “This truly is, without a doubt, all your fault!”
The Brothers Locke
Episode 2: Dangerous Burdens
The last thing Solas wanted to see before getting out of Black Harvester Forest was a flock of Rensom attacking them. At over ten feet tall, the creatures towered over the five members of Solas and their guests, the Locke Brothers.
Legends surrounded the origins of the Rensom. Many people in the West believed the creatures had been grown from the seeds of a demon or created in a doomed lab experiment. The true story was somewhere in between. They were actually creations of a long-since extinct race that had inhabited what was now the city of Avidity. The Nek, as they were known, dabbled in dark science and magic. Combining these two practices created the Rensom, creatures formed by merging a natural species of spider with unnatural organic materials altered through rituals. How the Nek went extinct remained a mystery, but the general thought was that the Rensom had overtaken their masters. With giant inverted cones for heads, spindly legs, and poisonous saliva, these distorted animals were some of the most dangerous in the West.
“There’s only three,” Bulk Brown said to his team.
“Only,” Dana said sarcastically. “Have you ever seen a Rensom before?”
“A few times, actually. Aim for the eyes, blind them, and then take out the rest of the body. You have to be accurate. Shooting them in their heads will do nothing but piss them off.”
“Good to know.”
One of the creatures advanced, screeching as it went for the closest prey. Bando opened fire and did his best to hit the white eyeballs on either side of the creature’s head. None of his bullets hit their mark and instead bounced off the hardened skull. With one swipe of its forelimbs, the animal knocked Bando to the ground.
“Well, that didn’t go well,” Echo said.
“Kale!” the teenage girl called out.
“Give me your hand,” Kale said to the girl. “And for heaven’s sake keep your head down, Jocelyn.”
The two teenagers looked pretty average on the outside. They wore unassuming clothes, were not particularly tall or muscular, and appeared to be ordinary in every way. Kale had short brown hair, pale skin, and dark green eyes. The girl, Jocelyn, was slightly shorter but thicker in build. Her face was round with rosy cheeks, her blondish-brown hair tied in a ponytail. The only unique thing about her was a mole just to the right of her chin.
“Stay behind me,” Bando ordered as he got back to his feet.
The Rensom that had hit him backed off. It twitched its head in a disturbing way and then called to its brothers with what sounded like a cackle. The other two Rensom responded in kind and reared up on their hind legs.
“What’s going on, brother?” Echo asked.
Mouth looked around at the animals and bit his lip. “I’m not sure. We need to get away from these people before they get us killed.”
“Don’t move!” Dana snapped at them. “I’m serious. They’ll pick you to pieces if you do.”
“I’m sorry, was I talking to you?” Mouth shot back.
“Really, this is not the time to be a smart mouth… Mouth,” Dana said as she grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him to the ground before he could do anything else.
“She pushed me!” Mouth complained to Echo.
“Shoot!” Bulk Brown screamed.
The animals rushed the group from all sides. The muzzles of their guns flashed in the darkness of the forest as bullets flew, people screamed, and animals howled. One of the creatures narrowed its circular mouth to the size of a fist and began spitting at them. Dana pushed Jocelyn and Kale, the intended targets, out of the way. The saliva hit the ground where they had stood with a sizzle.
Any attempt to keep the group together ended with that. The two teens ran off into the darkness of the forest, Bando and Bulk Brown focused their fire on the spitting Rensom, and Dana tried her best to avoid the other two attacking monsters.
“It’s now or never,” Mouth told his brothers.
“That way,” Sharp signed and pointed to the east.
There was a path in that direction and although it was just as black as any other direction, it seemed like the easiest route to take. Echo and Sharp nodded and began to run. They made it eight steps before their path was blocked. With a thud, one of the creatures leapt in their path. Its skull showed the signs of battle, black streaks from the ricocheting bullets tattooing its coned head. With another cackle, it charged. The Locke Brothers tried to avoid it, but the Rensom swung its head in both directions, knocking Echo and Sharp out of its way. It was trying to pick them off one at a time, and the one it had singled out was Mouth.
“Crap!” Mouth shouted.
His legs were taken out from under him, the Rensom sweeping them with its forelimb. On the ground, Mouth was all but finished. He put his hands up out of instinct as the animal bared down with the funneled end of its skull, the mouth gaping as it tried to take a bite out of him. It took every bit of strength Mouth had to keep the creature at bay, pushing upwards as hard as he could against each side of the Rensom’s toothy maw. The smell escaping the animal was putrid, a mixture of rotten flesh and onions.
Its head violently lurched to the left. Sharp had found a tree branch to attack it with, trying to save his brother. This seemed to only anger the Rensom. It brushed Mouth aside and began to focus its attack on Sharp. For a moment, he stood his ground, branch in hand. As the monster came closer, Sharp realized he was woefully outmatched. He dropped the branch and began to run down the path he had pointed out earlier. The creature gave chase, but Sharp was quick. He leapt over boulders, darted across moss-covered earth, and ducked under low hanging tree limbs with the same dexterity he had used when fleeing security guards in Avidity.
“Sharp! Sharp!” Mouth called out into the darkness.
“Where is he?” Echo cried.
“He ran off! That thing went after him. You stay here, I’m going to—”
“Turn around!” Bulk Brown shouted to the brothers.
Mouth and Echo leapt out of the way as the carcass of a Rensom careened towards them. Its body just missed them both as it slammed into the dirt and skidded a few feet to a dead stop. Echo looked at what remained. Whatever Bulk Brown had done, it was effective; the creature was twitching as the last bits of life dribbled from the wounds in its abdomen.
Another cry rang out as the last Rensom struck out against Bando. This time, the giant wasn’t so lucky as the blow sliced open his shirt. He fell back, grabbing at the wound. Bulk Brown immediately fired, his shots precise. They pierced the orbital socket on the left of the creature’s head. It screamed in pain as it retreated a few paces from Bulk.
“Nah, nah!” Bulk Brown taunted. “You’ve messed with the wrong boys tonight!”
The Rensom twisted its head around like a drill, which allowed its healthy eye to see its assailant. To his credit, Bando had gotten back to his feet and aimed his weapon at the animal. The Rensom’s one good eye darted back and forth at both of them. This was more trouble than it was worth. It growled at the two men, moving backwards into the brush. Once it was clear of them, it burrowed the pointed end of its coned head into the ground, tearing away at the earth as it began its retreat. Bulk Brown and Bando watched until it had completely dug its tunnel, off to find easier prey.
“Are you alright?” Bulk asked his friend.
“I’ll survive,” Bando answered, tearing off his shirt and looking at the wound.
The slash across his chest was bleeding but superficial. Bulk looked him over for a second and then, seeing that his companion was indeed okay, went about the process of surveying the camp.
“Jocelyn! Kale! Get your butts out here!” he called out into the darkness.
On cue, the two teens popped up from behind a tree a few feet away. They had been hiding there the entire time. Somewhat shaken, they returned to the clearing. Bulk couldn’t help but crack a smile as the teens looked as if they had soiled themselves.
“Come on, you guys had it lucky. Those things didn’t even get near you.”
Kale was not amused. “You said nothing about Rensom attacks when we took this job!”
“Yeah, because I planned that,” Bulk replied sarcastically. “Quit your crying and gather up whatever isn’t broken. Bando and I will get this jeep back up and we’re out of here in ten minutes.”
“Our brother,” Echo spoke up. “We can’t leave without him.”
“Yeah,” Mouth added. “We’re not going anywhere without Sharp. And I mean it. You’ll have to shoot us before we leave here without him.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much,” Bando said.
The giant was searching through one of the containers that had been in the jeep. He found medical supplies and began tending to his wound.
“Are you crazy?” Mouth said. “I said we’re not leaving here without Sharp. We have to go look for him.”
“We’re already looking for him,” Bando said.
Mouth and Echo were puzzled by this until they realized that Dana was nowhere to be seen. She had gone after Sharp. Mouth let out a sigh of relief.
