Clarity's Doom (Ancient Origins Book 1) (26 page)

The hybrid glanced back to the trees as he held the freed arrow and snapped it in half. Clarity groaned, either Luke forgot to coat the arrow head in the freezing gel or it had no effect, or the glass hadn’t shattered. The children were in danger. A bomb exploded in the distance as well as one close to DaV-nin. He was tossed into the air and came crashing down with a hard thump. Doom raced from his hiding place, he had his sword drawn, raised high. The two engaged in a battle for their lives.

DaV-nin’s razor sharp claws skidded along the length of the sword drawing sparks. A fast jab and cut to his leg surprised him. DaV-nin was bleeding. Clarity pulled her sword to aid Doom, but more hybrids appeared from the foliage and instead, she taunted them to follow her. Leaving Doom and DaV-nin to battle, Clarity ran for her life while the hybrids chased her.

Deep in the heart of the jungle where the foliage was wakening, the ground was soft and wet under her leathered feet.
I will not die in booties,
became her newest mantra. All around, ground bombs were exploding, people screamed as trees toppled. The forest filled with humans of all kinds and hybrids in numbers she didn’t think possible. A battalion of grouped balloons formed in areas tied high in trees were numerous hybrids prepared to attack. The balloons were popped by arrows; one by one the bombs exploded killing mass amounts of hybrids. Others roared blinded by the assault.

Firecrackers tossed under hybrid feet confused many. Younger hybrids fled. The hybrids weren’t used to humans attacking; it didn’t fit in their natural order. Humans were supposed to be docile and easy marks. Their once indestructible bodies were succumbing to weapons never seen before, a knowledge that would have been theirs. Body parts were strewn, the dead or dying hybrids, the killers, were being killed. Clarity’s plan was working, but if she didn’t run faster she’d be dead before she could celebrate. The hybrids on her tail were catching up, and Clarity was cut off from any bombs they hid and stored. She had to do something drastic.

Clarity reached the end of the mountain and began running downhill. The grass wasn’t high enough to mask any dangers from her vision. She skidded along a huge downed trunk with slippery moss and hit the bottom, her sword went flying. She flipped in a tight circle, arms pinwheeling. Her feet hit the ground and she landed running. Startled dinosaurs reared and pawed the ground. When the raptor spied her, Clarity knew it was time for a fast getaway. Having lost the hybrids in her tumble, she raced again. The open grass turned into a jungle of growing foliage.

Racing further into the woods, her chest heaving, she gasped for air but dared not stop. The single raptor was hot on her heels. Clarity came to a long slope of wet rock and debris. The rock she jumped on, landing on her hip, spiraled her down as the raptor snapped at her. Clarity bellowed as the rock sped up smashing into smaller rocks, upsetting foliage. The raptor was left behind, blasting a loud cheep, but she faced a new danger. The cliff she was fast approaching made her suck in her breath, she knew where it led. There were two separate sides to the hill she raced down. A huge drop off to the one she was headed for would kill her if she didn’t act fast. Clarity, balancing precariously on hands and feet, jumped and grabbed a small tree. Her weight was too much for the tree to bear. Both she and the slab of rock careened over different sides of the cliff where she dove into the water as the rock slab went airborne smashing into pieces on other boulders.

Clarity mermaid swam up into the fast current, floundering when she burst the surface hungry for air. Animal carcasses, logs floated by. A huge piece of flat wood bumped into her shoulder. Struggling she yanked her tired body up, tried to stand and groaned. Arms out at her sides, knees wobbling, she surfed with the current. Debris from all corners assaulted her small safe haven and staying upright was her mission. The noise of the racing water bombarded her ears. The foliage before her dipped and spun and Clarity realized if she didn’t get to land she’d die. The trees dipped downward on either side of the racing river, crashing together, splintering as the chasm narrowed. Groaning, she noticed the end blocked by a huge mountain base. The water formed twenty foot tidal waves, and when faced with a dead end and nowhere to go, crashed the water back onto itself.

Don’t puke, don’t puke.

The wood she was semi standing on was suddenly cracked into by another piece of tree trunk tossing her closer to the water’s edge, almost upsetting her precarious balance. With relief she jumped before hitting the whirlpooling dead end and swung from a tree. Her drenched hands slipped, and she fell into an open running tunnel, landing in another downward slope. Light dirt beneath her feet in the open tunnel kept her from being able to find a solid grip. Her legs jelly, Clarity fought the urge to collapse, knowing she’d somersault to wherever the tunnel ended up.

As Clarity’s feet raced forward, sliding, against her will she tried to steady herself by waving her arms backward. Walls high on either side showed no end in sight, and she swallowed hard when she saw the dinosaurs set a trap of their own. A small mountain of rocks was triggered in a rock slide when she tripped a vine.

Fuck me, what human taught them that?

More disturbing, a hybrid waited ahead of her in the tunnel. Clarity looked ahead and behind, her momentum speeding up. Trapped. The rocks gained on her, a few small ones rolling past, a hybrid before her, its long legs able to jump from the trap. And he was grinning. Clarity dropped and slid under the legs of the hybrid that swung for her. Yelping when the razor claws caught a tuft of hair, Clarity jerked her head to look back behind her.

Catching air instead of its intended victim, the hybrid started to run but a mad rush of racing rocks smashed into it at waist height. The hybrid stopped the flow of many, some rolling up and over his head, before he dragged his body and battered form over the tunnel’s edge, muscles rippling with effort. The numerous tiny rolling stones and slick dirt under her ass and hip ached as Clarity raced faster around a wide corner, slightly rolling to a hip. Clarity screamed as she flew under the legs of another hybrid that pounced last second and missed. She sucked in her breath as she gazed behind her. Clarity wondered if her clothing was similar to what protected a motorcyclist skidding on pavement.

Holy fucking sledding. Leather, who knew?

The hybrid jumped too late and the cascade of rocks had a similar effect, crashing into him, slamming him at his knees then thighs before he could escape. Clarity spied a bigger threat. Nowhere left to run, or slide. Clarity saw the dead end wall; the tumbling rocks a hairsbreadth behind. Her body wouldn’t be able to bear the brunt of so many. Screaming, she planted her feet hard, rolled up, and jumped as high as she could trying to reach the surface. A hand and arm lowered over the edge followed by a face, and Doom was there, reaching down last second to grab her hand. Just as the rocks hit and smashed. They both went flying. Shards of rocks exploded, casting small stones over them. Doom pulled her under him.

“Holy hell.” Clarity gasped.

“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes.”

“Where’s DaV-nin?”

“Wounded and regrouping. So are we.”

Doom yanked Clarity to her feet. She looked at her clothes. “Damn, I bet the people on bikes would love this material. I’m not shredded, but my ass and thighs throb, my entire body is killing me.”

“It’ll have to kill you later.”

Gripping her hand they ran. Everywhere, humans and hybrids were fighting within the forest.

“So much for regrouping,” Clarity said as they came to a halt.

Mass anarchy everywhere she looked, Clarity winced when she saw a human hit the ground. Not only were the hybrids attacking humans, but they were fending off other dinosaurs. The war had turned into a free-for-all. Death assaulted each corner, blood smeared trees, rocks, humans, and animals. Muffin ripped into a hybrid downed by Luke and an arrow under its nose.

“Don’t kill the dead ones, you dummy,” Luke yelled.

“Damn, if Muffin is out here, the younger children might be, too. Oh my God, there’s the dog,” Clarity cried out filling with horror.

Kiki was behind Luke watching her brother’s back. Bubble-gum grabbed the ankle of a hybrid and would have been slashed if Muffin hadn’t leaped to bite the wrist of the swinging claw. Rex hid behind Luke peeking around the boy as he fired arrow after arrow. Clarity could see the arrows he shot had brilliantly blue-topped heads under the glass shining in the high sun. Clarity wanted to panic. Night would soon be on them. The kids had reloaded. From the corner of her eye, she watched Nina pitch a bomb. Three hybrids were dispatched, limbs flying. The girl was too close, a twig sliced across her arm and she went down to crawl across the ground, trying to get away.

Solace and Menace stood back to back. Terrified, Clarity watched as the youngest children from the village spilled into the midst of the battleground. Solace and Menace raced to them, tossing the twins high into the air at a tree base and yelling for them to climb. Em followed but Flight shook loose from everyone. The boy held a small wooden sword in his hands. Clarity could see his terror.

“Run,” she screamed when a hybrid went for Flight.

Solace was the first to reach the boy. Menace attacked while she grabbed Flight to run. There was nowhere safe. Without further aid, the twins could climb no higher. When Cole fell to the ground his brother jumped after him. Solace pulled the boys along with her and Flight. Everything was out in the open as they spilled into the grassed area. Raptors slunk in and grabbed the fallen. DaV-nin and Doom faced off once again. Bombs exploded while the two males engaged in heated battle. Clarity could tell there would be no regrouping. The fight would be to the bitter end.

Nina, arm bloodied slipped into Clarity’s line of vision. The girl was done fighting. Weaponless she looked for shelter. Clarity took her by her good arm and raced them both to a hollowed out trunk. Nina pressed as far back against the trunk as possible.

“What do we do?” Nina asked as tears slipped down her face.

“I’m going to catch my breath. I need to catch my breath. See those knobs of wood in here? You use them to climb. Stay in here and hide. I’ll help you but then I have to get back out there and help Solace.”

When the ground shifted beneath her feet Clarity screamed and clung tight to a root as the dirt became an inky black hole. Nina screamed and reached for her, but Clarity pushed her back. The sides of the dirt were rolling into the ground. But Clarity could see a light and a bottom to the hole. She was sucked into a tube, a cover closed overhead; she was trapped. Her fists pounded against the hard container.

The humming of a machine hurt Clarity’s head. The chamber she found herself in was a large tube swinging low in the ground. It appeared to be following a route. The motion stopped slowly. The door swung open and she crept out, blinking against the sudden light. Heart pounding, Clarity took a few small steps.

“You needn’t be frightened. You’re finally safe.”

Clarity gazed at a tall man, his black robe hung covering his head to the floor or perhaps he hovered over the ground. He was shadowed, broad. His voice was deep.

“Who are you?”

“Telk.”

“What am I doing here?”

“You were supposed to be here last year but my colleges and I wanted to see what would play out on Earth Twelve.”

“Earth Twelve?”

“Yes. There are twenty Earths in all. Each different yet the same. We control all.”

“Twenty Earths? Dimensions?”

“Not at all. Each Earth is real. All different. We sent the meteor to change the course of history on Earth Six. Your Earth, Clarity. The hybrids on Earth Twelve are breeding, genetically selecting the biggest, smartest. Like humans breed dogs, but with that comes complications, disease. While the humans are disease free on Earth Twelve, they have no clue how old they are, it was to even the playing field. The hybrids die out and can only breed every year so the process of a genetic change took longer.”

Clarity crept closer, her heart racing, she quivered. She always knew something more was going on. On a massive wall and surrounding them were blue balls of planets, except one, one was black. She pointed.

“Is that an Earth?”

“Yes, the oldest, Earth One. It’s almost dead. Trillions of years old it advanced such as your Earth. There are no humans left. They killed one another. It was sad to watch but a learning experience, so we decided to intervene and open the sinkholes when we found your Earth on the same destructive path. We draw hope from the disaster. Before Earth One died there were too many survivors to house everyone. Every corner of the planet was inhabited. If you place caged animals together, they will fight, they need room.

“Don’t you think there is a reason the world has become so overpopulated so fast? Everyone who has ever been born returns. Earth One dying and another, Earth Two in the stages of death are sending millions of souls to
your
planet. It’s up to us to distribute them accordingly, but we must be careful. If not dead, some humans lack the ability to fit in with their new environment.” He made a flourish with his hands indicating every planet.

Clarity took that to mean all people everywhere were privy to the almost dead planet and its deceased occupants.

“You steal people. Souls.”

“When we approached your government, we gave them information of technology in return for individuals who could populate new planets. There are some humans from your Earth who are selected. It’s a great honor.”

“But you have killed others.”

“Collateral damage, to a small degree in essence. Some sinkholes didn’t open on the other side fast enough.”

Clarity felt ill. “That fall I took, if it abruptly ended, it would have been like a freight train hit my body.”

Telk was silent for a moment. “It would have been far worse but quick.”

“Are those the people only returning to Earth after being gone two years?”

“Yes. It was unfortunate. The sinkhole between destinations is a stasis of sorts. There is no time. For us, the problem was instantaneous, for earthlings it was two years. We thought the least we could do was offer families closure.”