Page 143 of Chasing the Red Queen

“Grandma?” Donja whimpered. “Oh God, is that you?”

“Yes, baby, it’s me.” She wiped at her tears with tremulous fingers then met Zaroc’s gaze. “Release her and take me,” she said, offering her hand as he moved closer. Suddenly Milos appeared and swung his fist of steel, knocking an unsuspecting Zaroc to the ground. Anna grabbed Donja just as Antonio appeared and grabbed them both. With one in each arm he turned to flee and like a bolt of lightning, zig-zagged the land, gunshots ricocheting around them.

Torin and the forces rushed to meet them. Torin grabbed Donja, his heart hammering. He kissed her cheek, her battered face forcing a growl.

“Retreat!” Antonio roared as he spun and saw Milos and his Affiliates engaging Zaroc. Milos swung, blood flying from Zaroc’s lips. From the fog, Garret and a handful of ruffians joined the fight.

Zaroc began to glow, his body evanescing between blows. Streaks of inner light penetrating his skin as he morphed into Scarface.

Seeing his best Affiliates pulverized, Milos rushed in slugging Scarface with the fury and force possessed only of Siruns. “Retreat!” Milos shouted, Affiliates falling like flies.

Scarface swung on Milos, the force hurling him through the air, crashing into fleeing Affiliates. Milos jumped to his feet and rocked his head in disbelief. “Retreat,” he shouted in Russian as he backed away. Affiliates turned to flee, some falling unto death, Scarface in pursuit.

Finding the Suburbans, cloaked in the heavy fog, Torin shoved Donja inside. He cranked the engine, Milos, Val and Gage piling inside. The front door flew open and Antonio tossed Anna inside, just as Scarface appeared from the swirling haze, seized Antonio from behind and tossed him fifty feet crashing into boulders.

Val jumped out and faced off with Scarface. Val swung and Scarface raised his hand and caught his fist. He twisted Val’s arm, snapping the bone, then seized his face and wretched Val’s head from his body. Scarface reached into the vehicle, Milos swinging his blade which bounced off his body and seized Anna. From the outside, Affiliates swarmed Scarface like bees, biting, stabbing and ripping at his skin. Unscathed, he pulled Anna to his chest, her screams reverberating as he bolted away, swallowed by the churning abyss. Antonio rushed to the vehicle as a couple of hundred or more of Garret’s minions, emboldened by Scarface, emerged from the silver vapor.

“Get in!” Torn wailed, “we’ll come back for her, we need reinforcements!”

Antonio got inside as Garret’s Iridescents swarmed the front Suburbans like locusts to wheat, windows shattered, body parts flying and amid the chaos, ten of the sixteen Suburbans sped away.

“I can’t leave her,” Antonio cried, opening the door on the speeding vehicle. Milos grabbed him by the arms and Antonio swung on him. They struggled, strength matched, the door wide with Donja screaming. Milos managed to pull him back as Gage leaned out the back window, perched on the side and slammed the front door. Antonio slugged Milos while trying to open the door and the battle within the vehicle intensified.

“Antonio!” Torin roared, the vehicle swerving. “We’re beaten! Listen to me! You won’t do Anna a damn bit of good if you’re dead!”

Antonio ceased his battle, his face wrought with misery.

“We should have listened to Larkspur,” Torin snapped. “Now get it together man, come on, think about it. He won’t harm her, he needs her.”

Antonio shrugged free of Milos, his eyes once more on the door.

“Damn it, Antonio, look at me!” Torin wailed.

Antonio cut a defiant side glance, his lips trembling.

“We failed, we lost hundreds of good men, and Val,” his words trailed. “He’s dead!” Torin slammed his fist to the steering wheel. “We can’t afford to lose you too.”

“So, what the fuck do we do now?” Milos blurted.

“We go home,” Torin replied, his eyes moist with misery, “we lick our wounds and gather the weapons needed, the seven Midewiwins. Then, we come back for Anna.”

Antonio dropped his head and buried his face inside his hands. “I failed her!”

“No,” Torin said, his voice all but lost in Donja’s incessant sobs. “We all failed, but we’re alive, do you hear me? Alive to fight another day.”

He closed his eyes.

Val.

Misery

It was fall, the trees dressed in fiery splendor, and for the past few days the sky had been a perfect collage of silver and white; today a blast of cold air spawned from Lake Huron had arrived with threats of a hard frost looming. Lisa glanced out the kitchen window, Affiliates, ten thick surrounding the manor. She sighed, heavily, Anna in her mind. She loaded a serving tray with chicken soup, crackers, cheese, chocolate cake and a tall glass of ice cold milk. Balancing the tray, she headed for the stairs and in the living room, noticed Carson and Frankie with Antonio, Milos, Val, Gage and Makayla listening intently as Larkspur spun tales of the Seventh Miigis, the Circle of Fire and Midewiwins.

She climbed the stairs with a heavy heart.

Anna, you saved her…just like you said you would, but now it is you who needs saving.

Down the hallway with diaphanous shades casting a silver glow and floorboards creaking, she noticed light escaping Donja’s old bedroom, the one she hated, yet demanded when she got home. She paused, then tapped the door jamb with her foot announcing her arrival.

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