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Authors: Ryan McCall

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Watch
officers
,”
he said, panting. “They ambushed me at the carriage.”

Inissa swore. This was not
good.


T
here’s more,” he continued. “I only
escaped because they were distracted by some freakish
monsters.”


What?” said Inissa

What are
you babbling about?”

Liam saw something and the fear on his
face reappeared. “Those!” and he pointed behind her.

She turned and saw monstrous
plant-things
grabbing at Danton who was struggling in their grasp. One
of them had smothered his mouth with its hand, suffocating him. His
face was slowly being covered with moving vines oozing out of the
thing’s hand.

This continued until his entire
head was covered and then
the monster squeezed hard. There was a horrendous
sound of snapping bone and blood seeped out from between the
vines.


Back to the carriage,
now
,” said
Inissa. No amount of tarcaine was worth confronting these monsters.
She pulled something metallic out of her bag and placed it on the
ground, hoping it would delay the monsters long enough to get away.
She turned and ran, pushing Liam and prompting him to run as
well.

The small metal sphere she had put on the
ground came to life and moved along the ground of its own accord.
It was a flare bomb, though a much smaller and complex design than
those used by the military. It rolled towards plant creatures that
were now bent over Danton’s body. He was covered in those vines and
to Inissa it looked like they were consuming him. Inissa took one
last look back, when she had run a safe distance. The bomb avoided
the vines and hit one of the thing’s legs. It then pierced into the
skin with tiny spikes and released four puffs of smoke. Then it
detonated in a small explosion that set the creatures on
fire.

Chap
ter 15

 

Screaming people
were running out of
the tent in terror; Reese and Cassandra fought past them to get
back inside. They managed to get through and reached the bottom of
the stands. The sight was a grisly one; it looked as if all of the
circus performers had transformed and turned on the
audience.

There
were bodies all over the stands, the
creatures had not wasted time in following the circus master’s
order. Several audience members were trying to fight back, though
they were not having much success. Reese saw several patrons being
overwhelmed, their screams muffled as vines were stuffed into their
throats and spread over the rest of them.

Michael was still stuck where
he had been sitting, along with several others
. They were holding off the
creatures with pieces of wood taken from the stand chairs. Reese
scrambled up the stairs to reach his friend. He dodged past several
of the creatures feasting on bodies and picked up a metal pole that
had belonged to one of the performers. He reached the level where
Michael was cornered and smashed one of the creatures in the back
of the head. It howled and toppled over.


Thanks
,” said Michael. “What the hell is
going on?”

Reese push
ed the creature out of the way.
“No idea, let’s just get the fuck out of here,” he said. He led the
way back down the stairs with Michael and the other survivors
following him.

Cassandra waved at them
urgently
.
“Let’s move!” she said.

M
ost of the creatures were distracted and
feeding in the stands, so they were able to get out easily enough.
The few of the things that approached them were driven off with
blows to the head, as Reese had done. They emerged onto the dirt
area outside and Reese stopped. There were more the things out here
and they had the tent surrounded.


What do we do
now?” asked
Michael.

Reese
shook his head. Then gunshots rang
out, bullets tearing into the creatures, while several of them lost
their heads to sword blows. There was a roar and three of the
creatures went flying through the air, bowled aside by an enormous
bear agorid. He then proceeded to sweep aside more of them with a
large axe. A red haired woman in an Alkos City watch uniform ran
through the gap and approached them.


Get out of here!” she said,
while she reloaded her revolver
. “Make your way to Surrin.”

Reese
and the others took her advice and
ran while the agorid and a masked kitsune killed off more of the
creatures. The watch officer fired again to cover them and they
cleared the main tent. They were now running through the stalls,
all of which had been abandoned by the owners. Either they had run
or the creatures had killed them. Reese stopped and looked
back.


What is it?” asked
Cassandra.

He felt bad
leaving. “There’s too many of
those monsters, those officers will be killed,” he replied. “We
need to help them.”


Screw that,” said one man. “You
do what you want, but we’re getting out of here,” and he kept
moving, leading the others away.


How are we going to stop them?”
asked Michael. “We’re not exactly warriors.”


They
aren’t invincible,” said Reese. “How
about make use of what’s over there?” He pointed to the alchemy
stall they had visited earlier in the night.

Michael
grinned
. “Of
course, the melting chemical. We can light them up.” He bolted over
to the stand and climbed over the counter to grab the
bottles.


Should we
do that? These creatures are
still people,” said Cassandra.

Reese looked at
her
. “What’s
going on Cassandra?” he asked. “You disappeared and then suddenly
these things appeared being directed by the circus
master.”

There were
tears in her eyes. “I…I was
looking for someone, my girlfriend. She came to the Night Circus
two weeks ago and she never returned. No letter, no note, nothing.
I had no idea what had happened to her. I had to find her. I’m
sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I didn’t want to come by myself
and I didn’t think you’d believe me.”

Reese was upset but he didn’t hold it
against her. “It’s alright, you couldn’t have known.”

Cassandra was sobbing now. “It’s not
alright, I found her and she’s been turned into one of those
monsters. I’ve lost her!” She collapsed into his arms. He held her
up, placing his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.


I’m truly
sorry
,” he
said. “If we see her, we could try and hold her down, tie her up.
Maybe whatever’s been done can be reversed.” He wasn’t hopeful,
he’d read about something like this before and had a suspicion
about who was responsible. But it was what she needed to hear right
now.


Thank you
,” she replied, standing back
up and wiping her eyes.


Here,” said Michael and threw a
couple of bottles at them. Reese caught them. The bottle had wick
stuffed in the top. Michael also threw across matches.


L
ight the tops and throw them” he said.
“The high burning temperature should be able to melt their skin or
at least set them on fire.” He shoved several more of the bottles
into his pack. “Are we heading back then?” he asked.


Yeah, let
’s go,” said Reese, and he
tested the weight of the bottle in his hand. He wanted to know how
hard he needed to throw it. They went back through the stalls
towards the main tent and the howls of the creatures.

***

Brenna
’s gun was empty again. She didn’t
have time to reload so she holstered it and resorted to her sword.
She stabbed at the creatures that came near her. She was not as
skilled at melee fighting as Snar or Tanaka. She had several
scrapes along her arms where the creatures had slashed her. As they
finished off the last of the creatures, she heard an angry
voice.


What h
ave you done to my creations?!” She
turned her head to see what she assumed was the circus master
standing at the main tent entrance with a furious look on his face.
He shouted, “Get them!” A horde of the creatures came pouring out
of the tent behind him, obscuring him from view.

Brenna slashed her sword at
the
first to
reach her. She cut off its hand and it gave off a piercing screech.
She kicked it in the stomach and it fell back. Two more of them
were soon upon her however and she dodged a clawed hand that was
aimed at her face.

She stabbed the creature
in the midriff but
when she pulled back, her sword didn’t move. It was stuck in the
thing’s stomach. It howled and swung its arms at her. She leapt
back and rolled as she hit the ground. Snar charged in at the new
group of creatures, knocking several of them back with his body
weight. He slashed back and forth with his axe, cleaving at them.
Both his axe-head and his arms were becoming stained with green
blood.

He held his paw
down to Brenna and
helped her up. Tanaka managed to be holding his own. With his speed
and skill, he danced around the creatures slashing at heads and
limbs and killing many of them. For every one he killed though,
there were three more to take its place.

Something flew through the
air
and hit
several of the creatures. She heard glass shatter and saw something
burst with liquid and then an intense white light. Whatever it was,
it ignited and flames spread over the plant-things.

The one
s that were aflame were screaming and
ran around like rabid dogs, knocking into others, also setting them
on fire. Several more bottles came down and hit more of them. One
bottle hit the side of the tent and the rough fabric blazed with
fire. The creatures were no longer interested in attacking them.
They were howling, screaming and rapidly burning up. Brenna looked
over to see who had saved them; it was three youngsters from the
group that had escaped earlier.

She wanted to go and
tha
nk them,
but first she had to deal with the mastermind of this horror. She
reloaded her gun and stalked across the dirt to the circus master
who was looking around in dismay at the destruction of his army.
The tent behind him was now an inferno and she felt the heat hit
her face.


If you make a
move I don’t like
or try to say anything without being asked, I will put a bullet
right into your head,” she said.

He looked at her and
scowled
, but
didn’t say anything.

S
he pulled out her handcuffs and said, “Put
your hands out in front of you.” He did as she ordered and she put
the cuffs on him. “What’s your name?” she asked. He didn’t
answer.


I asked for your name, you
bastard!” She kicked him in the side of the leg. He grunted and
dropped to his knees.


Pyrus Valus,” he replied in a
soft voice.


Well Mr. Valus you’ll be coming
back with me to face charges in Alkos City,
we’ll start with murder and the
then Creator knows what else.”

Snar and Tanaka approached
along with
the three youngsters. “I don’t think that’s his real name,”
said the tall, Estaran looking boy.


Look I appreciate you
helping us, but
that was a damn reckless thing you did coming back like that,” said
Brenna. “You could have been injured or killed.” Why hadn’t they
listened to her?


Some
gratitude
,”
scoffed the shorty, stocky one.


I’m grateful for the help,” she
replied, “but you three are too young to be getting involved in
something like this. As civilians you should get out of clear of
trouble next time. But, yes you did save me and my partner. Now,
uh…” she indicated at the tall, lad.


Reese
,” he said.


Reese, how do you know
that
isn’t
his real name?”


I’ve read about this before,
well not exactly this, but a prototype of it. This man’s true name
is Acteon Calidius, Estara’s most notorious war
criminal.”

Chapter 16

 

Acteon Calid
ius. There were few folk on the
eastern half of the continent that did not know that name. He had
begun as a general in the Republican cause against the Estaran
monarchy, one of many who turned against their loyalist
comrades.

He seized control of Senaea for the rebels
early in the war and controlled it with an iron fist. He hunted
down and killed any suspected monarchy loyalists. It was estimated
that more than twenty thousand civilians had been executed under
his command and he came to be known as the Ravager of
Senaea.

If that wasn’t enough, he had started up a
military research unit. Carrying out experiments on prisoners;
infecting with them with diseases to test their potential as
biological weapons, grafting mechanical implants onto those near
death to see if they could be strengthened and genetic experiments
to enhance the abilities of soldiers.

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