Bryce, page 7
part #2 of Anarock Shifters Series
She munched the stuff and discovered it really wasn’t that bad. It tasted kind of meaty and kind of fatty with a hint of sweetness. It reminded her of a crumbly granola bar. She ate the whole thing. Bryce ate his in silence, too. He handed her their water canister after he finished drinking and she swigged it down feeling somewhat better.
The Battalion packed up and moved on. The whole situation seemed so surreal to Alexa. None of these people showed any awareness of their own awful nature or their nutcase leader’s mission to destroy the world. None of them appeared to grasp the irony that they’d be wiping out and enslaving their own people. They would be playing right into their enemies’ hands and doing the job the military failed to do all this time.
Around mid-afternoon, the sun blasted fierce and unflinching from the sky. Whoever led this motley band of absurdities steered them into dense, shady woods.
Out of nowhere, Bryce turned his head and spoke to her for the first time since yesterday. “The water’s almost gone. There’s a stream over there. I’m going to fill it up.”
She looked in the direction he indicated. Sure enough, a gentle trickle of water cut through the marsh not far away. A shaft of sunlight broke the canopy and lit up a perfect little clearing carpeted with short, green grass.
The view electrified Alexa. Why would he tell her this, now of all times, if he wasn’t trying to send her a signal? This could be their only chance to get off by themselves and talk.
He didn’t say anything else. He veered aside and headed for the stream. She broke out of line and accompanied him. They walked at a nonchalant pace without hurrying.
Alexa’s chest hurt and she struggled to breathe. She told herself again and again, Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around. Bryce squatted by the stream. He submerged the canister under the water and air bubbles gurgled out of it.
Alexa couldn’t look at him and she couldn’t look back at the Omega Battalion, but she had to look somewhere. She had to keep herself calm and her voice low, so she pivoted to one side and stared off into the woods. “Who gave you the knife?”
“It was Jamison if you can believe that.” He muttered down at the water rippling over his wrist. He showed no sign that he was speaking to anyone. “I told him I needed something to cut the pemmican. I see a lot of people carrying knives and even guns. I don’t think there’s any ban on having them.”
“What are we going to do?” She swallowed to keep her throat working. “We can’t shift and we can’t use our power against the Battalion.”
“We’ll just have to break out the way we are, but if I’m right, we won’t have to.”
He surprised her so much she turned around to look at him. It happened before she could stop herself. “What do you mean?”
He stood up and screwed the lid on the canister. Now he came back to looking at her for the first time. “Think about it. We can’t use our power, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless. We can still fight. We can still use weapons. We can still kill people and we can still run. We can get out of here. We just have to plan it out.”
“How? They could stop us anytime.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Don’t you remember yesterday when he first ordered you to shoot your father?” Alexa winced, but he didn’t stop. He kept talking about it and calling the memory up before her eyes. “He told you to do it and you said, ‘I can’t’. If he could have made you do it against your will, he would have, but he didn’t do that. He made you do it yourself. He had to make sure you did it yourself.”
“That doesn’t prove anything. He didn’t make me do it then because he wanted to test my loyalty—or maybe I should say he wanted to test my obedience. Either way, he couldn’t do that if he made me shoot my dad against my will. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t make me do it against my will. We don’t know what these people are capable of.”
Bryce smiled down at her and swung the canister by its handle. He shot her his old cocky grin that she remembered from bygone years, but his short hair made him look different. It made him look harsh and cruel and determined.
He dropped his voice even lower. “Just look at us. No one is stopping us from talking or planning. No one is stopping us from getting our hands on weapons or thinking against McCain. They either can’t or don’t make people do things against their will. We can get out of here. We won’t be doing it as dragons, but we can still do it.”
He turned on his heel and strode back to the column. She blinked after him. Could he be right? She broke out of her trance and raced after him. She never once thought to question his intentions now. He made them all too plain.
She hustled up to his side, but she dared not speak above a whisper. “If you’re right, why did we tell him about the war room in the first place? Don’t you remember when he questioned us about Anarock? We couldn’t stop ourselves. Something made us tell the truth.”
“Maybe it was another person using magic to compel us to tell the truth. I don’t know. Maybe someone else did it. I only know Susie’s spell doesn’t stop us from doing that. It doesn’t make us report to McCain or Jamison or anybody that we’re planning to destroy the Battalion. No one knows what we’re doing.”
“That’s assuming a lot, isn’t it?” she asked. “Someone could be listening to us right now.”
“I sincerely hope they are.” He surveyed the Battalion ambling past a few dozen yards away. “I hope they know they’re gonna die at my hands or go down trying.”
She almost stopped to stare up at him. Then she burst into action and raced to his side again. “Okay, so if we can keep planning, what do you propose we do? How can we get out of here?”
“I don’t know. Just stay alert and do your best to get any tool that might work in our favor. Just keep playing along until the time is right. It’ll come sooner than we think.”
He took the last few steps and reentered the column. The pair resumed their position and fell into the brooding silence they maintained all day.
Alexa’s mind raced. So she had Bryce on her side after all. They would work together, but toward what? What could a few knives do against this Battalion of magicians, monsters, and strange anomalies?
8
Bryce and Alexa fell into their usual rhythm setting camp and settling into their tent for the night. Alexa hovered near Bryce the whole time and he was glad. He didn’t want to let her out of his sight.
She went with him to get firewood from the woods. He could have asked one of the magic wielders to light it for him and supply him with wood, but he didn’t feel like asking them for anything. He wanted to do it himself. Besides, the more everybody got comfortable with him and Alexa leaving camp and coming back, the better.
This time, the Battalion pitched their tents in the deep undergrowth instead of out in the open. Bryce didn’t ask why. Who in God’s name could understand why these people did anything? Maybe they did it because McCain told them to. It wouldn’t surprise him. No one questioned anything McCain did or said. They actively discouraged Bryce and Alexa from questioning, too.
The pair returned after twilight. They both carried armloads of sticks, but they still didn’t talk. For some reason, this impenetrable silence between them bound them together more than any conversation could. It soothed Bryce’s soul. It reaffirmed more than ever that he didn’t have to doubt her. She was right there and they understood each other without words.
They entered the first cluster of tents. A few Battalion members sat around campfires talking. Bryce didn’t pay much attention to their conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted someone looking into an ethereal window. It wasn’t Boris but some other seer.
“Where are they?” someone else asked.
“Just over the hill there to the northeast,” the seer replied. “How many can you make out?”
“Must be about a thousand. I can’t see them all.”
Someone else chimed in. “What are they talking about?”
Bryce happened to glance over and stopped dead in his tracks. He migrated behind the seer and stared through the portal. There, in front of God and everybody, he saw a few military men in fatigues talking with their heads together.
Bryce blinked. Yes, they really were US military. They were studying a map and pointing in different directions. One of them examined a handheld device of some kind, but Bryce didn’t recognize it. Just then, the volume through the window became clearer.
“They’re right over there,” one of the military guys said. “If we hit them before dawn, they’ll never know we’re coming.”
“Are all our people in position?” another asked.
“All but the rear patrol. They’ll be here in an hour. Then we can move out.”
The second one gave his man a clipped nod. “Do it. Hit them with everything we’ve got. We have to stop their advance before they get any farther east.”
At that moment, one with the device called out, “Hey! I’m picking up something. It’s coming from over there. They’re using their power to scan us. They’re watching us right now!”
The second man spun around fast. He had to be their commanding officer. “Show me!”
The soldier held out the machine and the officer scowled at it. Bryce couldn’t imagine what they were seeing, but before they could react, the window flickered out. “They saw us!” the seer whispered. “That thing detected us watching them.”
“How is that possible?” his friend murmured back. “McCain said no one could tell.”
The seer shook his head. “I don’t know how they did it. That machine must be able to pick up when we’re using these windows to see what they’re doing.”
The others glanced into the shadows, but they cringed closer together. “We have to tell McCain,” one of them breathed. “We have to tell somebody that the military is camped right over that hill ready to attack us.”
“How are you going to do that?” the seer whimpered. “You know what McCain’s like. He can’t stand anybody telling him what to do.”
“You wouldn’t be telling him what to do,” his comrade insisted. “You’d just be warning him. I’m sure he’d want to know if the whole Battalion was in danger.”
The seer kept shaking his head for no reason. “If you want to tell him, you go right ahead. I’m not going near McCain. He’s as likely to stab you in the heart for even suggesting that you knew something he didn’t. I’m not risking my ass when there’s a high chance he won’t even listen. I don’t care what anybody says. It’s not worth it.”
“What if the military attacks us like they said?” the third person interjected. “What if we all get slaughtered because no one was willing to raise the alarm?”
Bryce didn’t listen to the rest of the debate. He rotated around to find Alexa gazing up at him. Her dark eyes glimmered in the firelight. Her cheeks glowed and her parted lips quivered with short, rapid breaths.
Without discussing it, they both swiveled and continued their steady tramp back to their tent. Bryce ducked under the flap and dropped his wood next to his cot. Alexa appeared at his side and dumped her load on top of his.
Bryce dove for the corner and snatched up their food bundle. When he straightened up, Alexa waved to him from the doorway. “Hurry!” she breathed. “We don’t have much time.”
They burst out into the gathering darkness. Bryce cast one glimpse around the camp, but he didn’t need to worry. The night settled over the tents so no one could see much beyond the scattered fires.
Bryce and Alexa headed away from where the seer indicated the military was amassed. Bryce didn’t really care where they went as long as they worked their way as far from the Omega Battalion as possible.
Alexa matched him stride for stride. They drifted into that silent bubble of understanding where nothing remained hidden from either of them. They became one person turning and directing at exactly the same moment.
Bryce willed himself to hold his pace to a slow, calm stride. The ground squelched underfoot and he cringed at every step. The noise sounded excessively loud to him now. If anyone heard or noticed, they had to believe it was just another Battalion member walking around.
He kicked himself for not taking better note of the terrain during daylight. He admonished Alexa to keep her eyes open for any opportunity that presented itself. He didn’t know their chance would come so soon. If he had known, he would have committed the details of their surroundings to memory, but it was too late for regrets now.
The wetness underfoot increased. Every step wrenched his insides in an agony of anxiety. He dreaded anybody hearing and asking questions, so he turned off toward the trees. His one thought compelled him to get somewhere quiet, somewhere no one would hear them running for the hills and leaving the Battalion to twist in the wind.
He slipped between two tents. The forest loomed dark and massive just beyond sight. He could slow down to take a breath in there. Alexa eased closer to his side. Did she feel it, too?
At that moment, a deafening concussion boomed across the landscape. Bryce crouched under his arms not knowing where the noise was coming from. He dropped his food package and whipped around to see a gigantic explosion of light and fire erupt between the tents. Debris and bodies shot into the air and screams pierced the darkness.
In a matter of seconds, another quick succession of rocket fire detonated one right after the other. Plumes of red-orange flame blossomed all over the camp. They cast the tents and trees in an otherworldly glow, but there was nothing otherworldly about the pandemonium that ensued.
Body parts vaulted on the billowing infernos. Those that escaped the explosions ran screaming in any direction. People collided with each other and barreled into more rockets going off all around.
Tents sailed through space and smashed down in pieces. Creatures of indeterminate identity bellowed and bolted. They trampled people and dodged around, going every way at once.
Bryce blinked at the scene not knowing what to think. His brain wouldn’t function. Through the fog of shock and confusion, Alexa seized his sleeve and yanked him toward the trees. “Come on!”
He staggered after her. He didn’t have time to form any coherent concept before the undergrowth closed in. He realized he was leaving his food stash behind and he didn’t care.
She dove into the woods and he lunged after her. Wherever she went was fine with him. She didn’t hesitate where he would have paused to decide. In a few steps, she darted ahead of him running for cover.
His heart contracted in his chest. This was it. They were getting the fuck out of here. In a few minutes, the military would invade the camp and please God, they would wipe out the Omega Battalion down to the last man.
The dense canopy closed over their heads and still Alexa ran. She never slowed down. In his heart, Bryce urged her on. Just keeping going. Just keep on running. Don’t stop.
He pushed his legs to their utmost, but he couldn’t catch up with her no matter how fast he ran. She outstripped him and would have left him behind, but she looked back. She slowed to let him catch up.
The last time she did this, her eyes brightened when she met his gaze. A hint of a smile touched her curving lips. At that moment, before she had time to turn around, she barreled full tilt into something. She grunted and bounced off. She landed on her back.
Bryce barely had time to blink before a dozen military men sprinted out of the undergrowth. It took Bryce a fraction of a second to realize Alexa had collided with one of them. The man stood stock still and stared down at her in the same open-mouthed surprise that she stared up at him.
His comrades showed no such compunction. The instant they saw the pair, they shouldered their weapons to fire. Bryce reacted on sheer instinct. He leaped for Alexa and threw himself between her and the guns just as the first soldier compressed his trigger.
A flare belched from the muzzle. Bryce never thought twice. He sprang forward gritting his teeth and took the shot right in the sternum. In that instant, he didn’t give a shit if he died protecting Alexa. He would gladly go down defending her. He would rather die for her than for the Omega Battalion or Anarock or the Prometheus Crest or his family or anybody else.
Searing pain shattered his being. He roared in a rage and that roar erupted out of him with catastrophic force. He didn’t expect the change to happen so fast. Maybe he even convinced himself that Susie’s power would stop him from changing at all.
The dragon cracked his skin. Before he could blink, every part of him ruptured to a gargantuan behemoth of seething, volcanic fury. His neck stretched and his wrath stabbed through his flesh into spikes along his back. They sprouted down his tail and his wings whomped out to beat the air.
He whipped his head around shrieking hellish, ferocious wrath. All that torrential ferocity shot out of his mouth in liquid, blazing fire. He sprayed it at the soldiers and set half the wood on fire.
Men flailed their arms in all directions as their uniforms ignited. Bryce didn’t care. He thirsted for their puny, squeaking death cries. He unloaded all his rage on them spouting fire everywhere. A few off to one side tried to shoot at him, but the bullets either bounced off his scales or evaporated in the heat.
He thundered to the heavens. He reveled in watching them scurry before his onslaught. He laughed at their pathetic efforts to get near him. Down on the ground, Alexa sprawled on her back between his enormous claws. She didn’t move. She stared up at him in amazement.
He narrowed his eyes and looked around for any fool daring to show his head. The soldiers broke formation and split. One rank ran away to the left and the other took off to the right. Bryce chased them with his fire until he lost sight of them in the trees.
He arched his neck around. Distant thumps and explosions went off in the camp, but he couldn’t make them out from here. A few bursts of greenish-blue light broke through the orange glow of rocket fire.
He rumbled deep in his chest challenging anyone to come near. He craned his neck in both directions and saw four men running toward him. Come on, idiots. Come and get yours, too.
