Author's Note

This chapter is for Tuesday 13 Aug 2024; posted early as I will be away from computer tomorrow.

125-Derailed

Ten more seconds was a luxury we did not have and they unraveled, each one, without mercy.

[ten]

An explosion from behind me rocked the room, the sound of my front door being blasted open. Before I could turn to look, we heard the stomp of boots and the clack of gear. There was no command of, “Freeze!” no warning or hesitation, simply the crackle of an energy weapon lancing into the domicile. A beam missed Discord, and shot between Eric and Leslie. From the corner of my eye I could see Twilight already pushing Gloam towards the kitchen to seek cover, desperately keeping her own body between our daughter and impending death.

[nine]

Discord charged towards the door, throwing away his chance to escape in order to create a distraction for the rest of us.

In a spray of wallcrete fragments some immense apparatus intruded down from above. Dark, faceted, it both drew, and baffled, the eye. It moved without a sound other than the last scraps of my ceiling, dislodged as it shifted. An instant of heightened dread receded to mere terror as it rotated and panned past us to point towards the flurry of activity at the doorway. My eyes followed the sight-line of what I took to be the barrel or emitter of the device. Armored enforcers covered on either side of the remnants of my doorframe, readying their weapon for another volley and bringing a second one into action.

At my side, the chicken guy collapsed part way through the portal, that first shot of hostile fire must have hit him when it missed the rest of us. He had almost made it to safety, only to be cut down on the verge of freedom. Eric nearly tripped on him as he fell immediately in front of him and Leslie.

[eight]

A second team of enforcers had their shoulder borne energy weapon ready and its beam caught Discord full on. Isha gasped and I felt the flow of power from her cease as she pulled her hand from my shoulder. She was prepping to cast a healing spell if she could survive long enough to help him.

There was too much happening at once for me to spare a thought to question how long the black weapon had been hidden, waiting, for such an eventuality. I could ask questions later, if there was a later. After a rapid traverse it began a warm up sequence and Bear prepared to returned fire towards the intruders clustered in the hall. They had not attempted entry yet, but their ranged attack was threat enough if they were not dealt with soon.

Twilight and Gloam were out of my sight, I tore my gaze away from the danger from the hall to look for them; Twilight had almost herded Gloam into the relative refuge of the kitchen.

My brother and his coworker grabbed for chicken guy’s arms to try to lift him back to his feet but he was completely limp.

[seven]

A beam, and then another, sizzled across the room. The first enforcer team was firing again only to be interrupted mid-blast by Bear’s weapon coming to life. It spewed dark radiance towards our attackers. I wasn’t sure what their first target was but the partial shot had been intended for me. The results of Bear’s counterattack made so little sense I put them momentarily out of my mind as I scanned to look for my husband and daughter. They were out of sight, but maybe I could call them back to dash for Gallop before my power ran out and the portal closed.

Since he was completely unconscious, if not dead, Eric and Leslie dragged the fallen chicken bearer by his arms towards Hoof’s alien light in an effort to clear the portal.

Discord had fallen after being hit, and numbness was setting into my legs. I hadn’t escaped the effects of the interrupted attack.

[six]

I finally spotted Gloam and Twilight; I hadn’t seen them before because they were down – the third shot must have hit them both. They were sprawled together, steps away from cover. Twilight had done her best to protect Gloam to the very last and even now she was half across our daughter, vainly interposing her own body against the enforcers. For all practical purposes my life was now over even if the hollow rhythm of my pulse still echoed its last few beats.

I could barely stand, whatever had downed the chicken man, and Discord, its effects on me were dire. I was stone numb from my navel down and had to claw at the wall to keep myself upright as the numbness spread. Tottering on legs that were nerveless sticks, I was losing the battle and there was no way I could keep the portal open for Isha much longer.

As I fought to stay up I saw that my eyes had not fooled me regarding the effects of Bear’s counterattack. Astounding, but too late.

“Isha!” I gasped, in the sudden quiet. She was the only one still unimpaired. “Go through! We’ll come later!”

The portal was almost clear and she’d be able to dash through before it closed forever.

[five]

Isha sprang into action, and for an instant I thought she would go, that she, at least, would survive to tell our tale.

Beyond her, a fine view of the city. A massive hole lay where the empty domicile unit across the hall from mine used to be. I also used to have a wall somewhere in that direction. No more. Now my living room carpet ended just beyond where Discord lay, with a plunge down into the floor below. The black ray of obliteration had not merely imposed existence failure on the attackers, it had eaten through ‘crete and iron as though they simply didn’t matter.

[four]

With fatal deliberation Isha grabbed the cargo tote containing my offerings to the colonists – in the rush it had been left behind. Even a tool of great power means little in a desperate rout.

[three]

Chicken man had been pulled out of the way. She grunted with effort as she heaved the heavy cube through to land on the groundmoss of Gallop. And then she turned away from her chance to escape.

I ran out of power and the portal shrank away to nothing as I tottered ready to collapse.

[two]

Isha put her arms out to catch me and I fell limply into her embrace. The numbness was spreading further up my body. She pulled me close as we slid to the floor together and came to rest with my head on her lap.

[one]

“I know there isn’t going to be a later. I love you Tanna, but you can’t tell a lie for shit,” she sobbed, and held me tight as her tears fell on my face. “They got Twilight, and Gloam, and Discord.”

Despite the immediate threat being eliminated by methods unknown, surely more adversaries were approaching from the wings. After my husband, and daughter, and friend, the death of the woman who held me so tight, and least of all that of myself, would be a mere afterthought.

“Our fairy tale is over.”

And there was no longer any reason to survive.

“This is it,” she said.

The unnatural silence was pierced by a pervading hum coming from all directions, with no clue as to the source of the menace.

Isha spoke one last time over the growing racket.

[zero]

“The end.”