Page 31 of Broken Lands

Colin looked at me, his eyes dark and wide, eyebrows drawn together in worry. He glanced toward Amy and back again, then grabbed my arm as the alarm continued to blare throughout the compound. My heart was beating against my rib cage as he pulled me over to where Amy and another girl—I’m assuming one from her kitchen—were huddled behind the counter.

“What is—” I said before I was cut off by the sound of guards shouting, interlaced with a distant growl, deep and guttural, that sent my pulse racing even faster and a chill wracking down my spine.

“Something has broken through from the void. Stay with Amy,” Colin demanded in a whisper, pushing me down next to her, his face blank and devoid of emotion once more. He was back to stone cold General Brand. He turned to face Amy, a muscle clenching in his jaw as he said, “Get to the tower, into the bunker. Keep. Her. Safe.” Amy nodded fiercely, but Colin was already sprinting out of the tent.

I opened my mouth, ready to ask what the fuck was going on, when Amy held her finger up, shushing me. She shook her head in a clear sign it was not the time to talk. I nodded my understanding as she gestured at us to stay down and follow her. I stayed close to her back; the other girl—Lori, if her name tag was correct—pressed up against me from the rear as we crawled along the counter, aiming for the back of the tent.

Amy peeked outside, lifting the wall of the tent slightly to create a gap. The path must have been clear as she motioned for us to follow her and wiggled underneath the canvas. With no time to hesitate, I scrambled under the lip as soon as her feet had disappeared. What was happening, I wasn’t exactly sure, but I was not lagging behind to find out. Especially not after that bone chilling growl. It had been enough to sober me completely.

We emerged on a muddy walkway between tents, pausing for a moment to help Lori wiggle out to join us. I could see the guard tower a short way in the distance, a few rows of tents away from us. Shouting reached us on the wind and I looked in the direction it was coming from. Multiple elements were flying through the air, lighting up the sky as the sun began to set, all aimed at some unknown target that seemed to be just outside the gates.

A gravelly roar tore through the surrounding space again, setting the hairs on my arm on end. Metal screeched as it was crushed against itself, and the guards shouted more fervently. Whatever set off the alarms was quickly getting closer, maybe even breaking down the fence. Sweat beaded on my brow as I turned my attention to Amy, eager to get to the guard tower and bunker as quickly as possible.

She took off at a fast pace, moving on two feet, hunched as low to the ground as she could manage. Lori and I imitated her, following closely as she led us between the next row of tents as quickly as possible.

We zig zagged between a couple of tents, the noise behind us growing louder as more of the guards reached the front of the compound and whatever was attacking us broke its way through the gates. A fire was growing larger and larger in the distance, smoke thickening the air, the orange of the flame quickly becoming the only source of light as darkness fell swiftly. Shadows danced around us, over the walls of each tent we passed. Terror was building in my chest, making it hard to breathe as my heart knocked out a crescendo against my ribs.

Amy dipped into a gap between two tents, moving to the end of the row. She stopped suddenly, dropping low to the ground and holding up a hand, signaling for us to do the same. I fell to the floor immediately, crawling up next to her, my eyes darting around in the darkness. The guard tower was just across the way, highlighted by two torches on either side of the door. The door itself is wide open, the area in front of us deserted, nothing and no one standing between us and the safety the tower promises.

My legs itched to stand up and bolt across the path, to find the bunker, to get away from whatever creature has made its way on to our lands. But Amy hadn’t moved, still lying flat to the ground, her right ear pressed firmly against the earth beneath our feet, almost like she’s listening for something.

Oh, shit.

She was listening for something.

My heartbeat thumped in my ears, drowning out the mayhem of the battle behind us as I realized that the roaring creature behind us wasn’t the only threat we were facing. Something else was stalking us.

All I could hear was the steady whoosh, whoosh, whoosh of blood flowing through my body. Calm down, Riley. I took a deep breath, trying to do just that and listen for the thing that had caught Amy’s attention.

Turning my ear to the ground beneath us, I tried to focus on any abnormal noise radiating from beneath the earth. At first, I couldn’t hear a thing. I strained, closing my eyes and listening as hard as I could. A scurrying, scratching noise caught my attention, but I couldn’t figure out what would make it. Something burrowing through the dirt?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, Amy hissed. “Get ready.”

She lurched to her feet and out of the gap between tents, into the space directly in front of the tower. “Elements out. Cover each other. They’re surrounding us!” she shouted, and I watched in awe as she splayed her hands in front of her, mini tornadoes of swirling air visible in her palms. I was on my feet in a millisecond, Lori right next to me as we sprinted to join Amy. Banding together, backs pressed against one another in a triangle, we tried to cover every direction.

Lori raised her hands, and I followed suit, willing an element—any element—to come to my aid. I had no experience, no control. The best I could do was hope I didn’t hurt anyone in my bid to protect us. I widened my stance, steadying myself and preparing to fight. Closing my eyes, I waited, trying to focus on my earth element, imploring it to come forth. Thick, woody vines wrapped themselves around my palms and I opened my eyes, examining them in awe.

There was no time to celebrate my victory before the earth rumbled beneath our feet, and a small scaly creature ripped through the dirt, flinging itself up into the air in front of Amy. It bounced once, twice, with a surprisingly loud thud before it landed on the ground, and charged forward.

I only had a second to examine it before Amy hurled a ball of air in its direction. It was almost lizard like, with a long, solid body covered in dark murky green scales. Its head seemed misplaced on its torso, more like that of a large angry cat, with a black mane separating the head from body. It growled menacingly, mouth opening wide, exposing a long snout like jaw, with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth. Two giant, saber-like canine teeth protruded from the top front row, a rancid green drool dripping from them. Despite its smaller stature, there was no doubt that this nightmarish creature could tear me apart in the blink of an eye.

Amy’s attack collided with the creature with a cracking boom, much louder than I expected, ringing through the air. It was thrown back with force, landing hard and unmoving on the ground a few feet from us. More and more of the creatures had ripped their way through the dirt, circling us, until we were surrounded by them. Swallowing hard, I ran my eyes over them. We were severely outnumbered, and I wondered briefly if this might be the end.

One by one, they threw themselves at us and I had no more time to consider what the hell we were facing and whether we’d walk out of here alive.

I was thrown into the fray. There was no more time to think about how I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. No time to think at all. Only time to react. A creature rushed at me and I pushed my right palm toward it, willing the vines circling my wrist to strike. Shocked, I watched as they surged forward and wrapped themselves around their first victim. Instinctively, I closed my fist and tugged; the vine tightening around the creature’s torso and yanking him closer to me.

From the corner of my eye, I saw another rushing me from my left and I held the first creature in the air, unsure of what to do next. It thrashed and growled, but couldn’t break free of my vines. Facing my left palm in the second creature’s direction, I willed a ball of fire to my fingertips.

My magic answered my call, spewing forth from the well inside my chest. The vines that had been wrapping around my wrist vanished, replaced by an orb of scorching flames. I tossed it forward, a guttering roar confirming I had hit my target as I lobbed more orbs at the nightmarish creatures surrounding us.

In my periphery, I could see Amy forcing the creatures back with punishing gusts of wind. Lori was shooting jets of water at as many as she could, fast and furious. It wasn’t enough, though; they were gaining on us, tightening their circle. There wasn’t any way for us to escape them, not when they had us trapped like this.

“Start moving toward the tower,” Amy shouted. “Try to get close enough to make a break for it.” It was the best plan we had. The only plan we had. Lori and I nodded our agreement and started inching toward the open tower door, still using our elements to push back as many of our attackers as we could.

“Ready?” I shouted when we were a few feet from the door. “On the count of three, let’s all aim together, clear a path through them.”

Amy immediately began counting down, raising her voice above the cacophony of shouts and roars around us. When she reached three, I whipped my vines through the air and tossed the creature still tangled in them toward the door. It skidded along the dirt, knocking back some of the other creatures in our way. As they scrambled to gain their feet and advance again, Amy hit them with a blast of wind, followed swiftly by a wave of water from Lori. I brought balls of flame to my palms as we sprinted, Lori in front of me and Amy bringing up the rear. Tossing flames at any creatures trying to close the gap, I made it through the door, spinning on my heel to cover Amy, expecting her to be right behind me.

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