DIRE : BORN (The Dire Saga Book 1) (32 page)

“Calm down! Listen, the Black Bloods—”

“The Black Bloods are gonna kill your ass, woman! And then we're next. No, fuck it, I'm a businessman. Joan's dead, I got no more ties here. I'm gone! I'm fucking gone. And I'm taking my resources with me so good luck with that!”

He stomped out of the tent, with what he called a “bug-out bag” over his shoulder. I followed, yelling. “Don't you dare walk out on Dire! Don't you do it!”

“Don't you fucking try to stop me, Dire. You are on your own, woman. You and the rest of these idiots.” His gesture incorporated the camp, and I saw people crawling out of tents at the yelling, the few faces still awake watching us from the barrel fires.

“Martin!” I yelled at his back, but to no avail. He walked west, flipping me off as he went, before vanishing into the darkness of the night.

People tried to stop me, as I stomped through the camp. My anger was plain on my face. I ignored them all, ignored the flat-eyed gaze of Minna, and the incredulous stare from Abes. I swept into the showerhouse, and only when Khalid looked up from his alembics, did I let my rage fade from my face. He was clad in his laboratory gear again, and I could see the concern in his eyes clearly behind his glasses. He started to speak and I held up a finger. “Give her a second.”

He did, and I covered my face with both hands, sagging against the wall. It took two or three minutes before I could stop my shoulders from shaking, and soothe my emotions. But I did, and I looked up to find him studying my face.

“Do you doubt Dire as well?” I asked him.

He merely shook his head. “If I did, I would not be here in the first place. I think the proper words for this situation are Respice post te; hominem te memento.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Dire doesn't understand your dialect.”

“Latin. It means 'look behind you; remember you too are a man.' Or woman in this case, but the sentiment remains the same. You are no god, and be thankful for that. You cannot succeed in everything, and there will always be people who disagree with you. This is what it means to be human.”

“Beats the alternative, then?”

“Some may say differently, but I say yes,” he nodded, looking at his hands. “Being far older than most gives a purer perspective, if you can avoid madness. The true eternal beings... the demons, the angels, the ghuls like the Locust, the fair folk... all of them are bound in ways we cannot imagine. So much more powerful than the highest human in some cases, but incapable of so much that we take for granted.” He smiled. “And that is the way of things, I think. God is great and good, and kind to his children.”

I nodded. “Then let us apply the fruits of human labor to the problem at hand. Lower your voice and let's talk alchemy. Dire's thought on the items you can make, and come to several decisions...”

We talked for perhaps half an hour, and at the end of it I was yawning. It had been a long day.  I had gotten into two fights, and stayed up late working on top of it. I borrowed Khalid's last jar of burn ointment, with promises to be more careful in the future. My bed was waiting, and I frowned as I saw that someone had put the sheets into a rough semblance of order. Paranoia flared, and I checked it before I lay down, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps someone had thought to do me a kindness. Lathering the burn ointment on took only a minute, and it felt so good to lie down.

I closed my eyes, and exhaustion claimed me in seconds.

When I opened my eyes, light beat into them. Daylight had come in an instant. I had been so exhausted that time had passed without any space between the shutting and opening of my eyelids. I groaned and lay back in the pile of sheets, but as tempting as it was, I just had too much to do. Today was the day that made or broke us, and after the business with Martin last night I needed to make sure my people were behind me.

My people. Seemed strange to think that. When had they become so? When they first extended me kindness? When dear sweet Joan had given me stew that first night I'd woken up knowing nothing? When Roy had stood up for me, even knowing that he was bringing potential trouble down on his friends? When we'd fought and bled and nearly died in the church? So much had happened, in less than a week. I'd turned their lives upside down and they'd done the same to me. It was a world gone mad, where the forces of civilization were literally powerless, hamstrung by their dependence on a source that had never failed before. But the unthinkable had happened, and more unthinkably it had persisted. We had survived it only by banding together, leaning on each other, and going beyond mere survival.

In a way, we were thriving. We just had to keep at it and win, and we would become more than we were. We would ascend above this cold and frightened world, this dark and chaotic city. We would die, or we would rise.

And that gave me the strength to get out of the sheets, to clamber up and pull on my fur coat. We would rise. I would rise. And our foes would weep in lamentation, as we trampled them under our feet!

First things first, before the joy of lamentations. I sought out Guzman, found him walking up and down a line of beached boats. He had his captain's hat on while he inspected them. Most of them were touched up in multiple places with a silvery tar-like substance, and I gauged that to be the CL Tight I'd retrieved. We had perhaps twenty big boats, and quite a few smaller ones. One barrel had gone a long way. When I remarked upon that to Guzman, his crooked smile showed pride. “Y'mix it with water, y'see. Got to do it in batches or it sets, but if you've got the knack for it, y'get about four times the contents of the barrel. We used every bit you got us.”

“Good. Ready them for evac. Also, break into the stores, get as many tarps as you can. Cut up old tents if you have to. Dire wants every boat covered.”

He raised one of his enormous eyebrows, squinted at me with eyes I could barely see. “Seems strange. Why do that?”

“We've got more boats than people,” I said. “Some of them will be decoys. With tarps on top and people below, no way for the Black Bloods to tell which ones are occupied. Could mean the difference between life and death, if our people can't get far enough from the shore fast enough.”

He nodded. “Guess I can see the logic in that. All right, I'll see what we can rig up. I take it I ain't going on the assault?”

“She needs you here,” I frowned. “More accurately, they need you here. You've got the most experience in getting these launched fast and well.”

He nodded, and offered a smile. “I won't let you down.” Then he offered a wrinkled hand and I shook it, before answering with my own smile.

“Dire knows you won't.”

Next was Minna, and I found her in the kitchen. She was making breakfast with Anya and... Susan? Yes, Susan. I noticed that Susan was a lot less jumpy, here, than she had been the last few days. Starting to recover from her ordeal in the church? Maybe. I hoped so.

“Minna. May Dire speak with you for a second?” The blonde woman looked at me, then to Susan.

“Go on, we'll be fine. Anya, can you take over stirring?”

The little girl practically ran to get a chair, pushed it over, climbed up on it and took her mother's place at the pot. Minna ruffled her hair, then followed me outside.

“You know we're attacking the Black Bloods today?” I asked her. She grunted. I took a breath. “You can't go. Dire needs you here.”

She frowned at me. “Why?”

“There's something that needs doing, if things go wrong...” I told her my plan, pointing up at the highway. She looked at it, then looked back to me.

“I can fight. I can kill.”

“Which is why Dire needs you here. She trusts you.” And I did.

She chewed it over, looked at the APC parked off to the side of the tents, and looked back up to the overpass.

“After I do this, I come to fight with you. I will need a bicycle.”

I grinned.

A trip to the port-a-john, followed by a run through the breakfast line later, and I gauged the mood of the camp. People were laughing and talking as usual, but there was an undercurrent of uncertainty to things. They knew we were attacking tonight. They knew that Martin had bailed. They were nervous, restless, and hiding it through routine and socializing. I'd expected no less. This wasn't an army, nor were they soldiers. They were just people, stuck in an unreasonable situation.

But then again, weren't we all?

I went to check in with Khalid, and he silently handed me a row of little vials, all colored quite differently. “You'll need to drink this before you go,” he said, pointing to the silver one. I took it and upended it without hesitation, trying not to gag at the taste. Copper and eggs, with a faint medical undertone, but then it was gone. I looked up to see him frowning at me. “I said before we go, not now! It lasts only a few hours.”

“We're going now.”

He blinked. “I thought we were attacking tonight...”

“Yes. That was the point. Come with, hm?” I slipped the rest of the vials into my pockets. I'd transfer some of them to the armor's compartments when I had a chance.

He followed me outside, and waited by the door of the laundry while I checked my armor over. Abes had done a good job, by the looks of it. I climbed in and brought up the systems one by one, running diagnostics as best as I could. It was still crude as power armor went, but my synch rate was up to eighty-eight percent, thanks to the redundancies and enhancements we'd built in. I tested the movements, fond them within tolerances. The floor groaned beneath me in a most alarming way, and I left the tent with care. One way or another, I wouldn't be bringing it back in here again.

I moved out to the center of the camp, and turned. And slowly, people dropped what they were doing and formed a loose circle around me. I waited. Let them build. Ignored the murmured discussions that got louder as Khalid walked to stand next to me, hands clasped behind his back.

Finally, I deemed the moment right.

“YOU KNOW DIRE.” Discussion died, as the echoes bounced across the beach, from the cold black ocean, to the empty road that bordered us. “YOU KNOW DIRE, WHO HAS FOUGHT FOR YOU. AND WILL FIGHT FOR YOU NOW. SOME OF YOU FIGHT AS WELL, AND HAVE FOUGHT TO DEFEND HER. TO DEFEND YOUR FAMILIES. TO DEFEND YOUR FRIENDS.”

“TODAY WE ARE DEFENDING NO LONGER.”

“TODAY WE ARE DONE WITH DEFENDING, FOR OUR ENEMY IS WOUNDED AND RECOVERING. TODAY WE ARE ATTACKING. TODAY WE BRING THE FIGHT TO THEM!”

A ragged cheer.

“TODAY WE END THEIR THREAT FOREVER!”

A bigger cheer.

“TODAY WE WIN! WE SHOW THEM THAT NO MATTER HOW SCARY THEY THINK THEY ARE, THEIR FATE IS DIRE!”

Scattered laughter, and applause.

“TODAY, DOCTOR DIRE AND THOSE WHO WILL STAND WITH HER GO TO REMOVE THE SMILE OF RICTUS. WE GO TO TOPPLE BARBATOS FROM HIS THRONE. WE WILL SMASH ALL THAT THEY HOLD DEAR. ARE YOU WITH HER?”

The biggest cheer yet, and I let the approval of the crowd wash over me. Approval that turned to confused murmurs, as I spoke further.

“WE LEAVE IN HALF AN HOUR.”

Cheers died, turned to confusion.

“IF YOU ARE GOING, GRAB YOUR GUN AND ANYTHING YOU NEED. BID YOUR LOVED ONES FAREWELL FOR NOW. ASSEMBLE BY THE APC WHEN YOU ARE READY. IT LEAVES IN HALF AN HOUR. IF YOU ARE STAYING, HELP GUZMAN GET THE BOATS READY. IN CASE OF ATTACK, YOU'LL BE HEADING OUT TO THE BAY UNTIL IT IS SAFE TO RETURN.”

Confusion turned to purpose, and people got moving. I looked around through the crowd, until I located Bunny. She was standing next to the APC, smoking. I stomped toward her, and she looked me up and down as I approached. “Nice upgrade. Colorful.”

“AESTHETICS TOOK A BACKSEAT TO FUNCTIONALITY.”

“Thought we were leaving tonight, though.” She scratched her chin.

“YES. EVERYONE DID. JUST AS PLANNED.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Ah.” She pulled the cigarette from her lips, and flicked it toward a burn barrel.

“ARE YOU READY TO DRIVE?”

“Yep. I'll get Roy and we'll load Sparky now.” She pointed at a wood-and-scrap rig up on the former turret's space, held together by baling wire and rope. “Pretty sure that'll work unless a sniper gets lucky.”

“HOW LIKELY IS THAT?”

“Unlikely. Most of the ones that could shoot that well died with Stig. The rest are typical gangers. Sights are on top for a reason, but they always seem to forget that.”

“LET US HOPE THEY ARE EVERYTHING WE EXPECT AND LESS.”

“All right. So, you have a plan?”

“THE TOWERS.”

“Straight to the heart of it. Yeah, okay. Here's how I think we should go about it...”

We talked tactics for a bit. Khalid went away, then returned, wearing his Janissary outfit. People muttered and stared, unsure what to make of it. I stretched forth a gauntlet, and he clasped my hand, with a small smile upon his face. “Well. I'm glad you have the sense to attack them during the day. I will admit I was getting somewhat worried earlier.”

“NO POINT IN LETTING THEM DEPLOY DRAUGR IF WE HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER.” I tilted my head. “SO WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE IF DIRE HAD INSISTED ON ATTACKING AT NIGHT?”

He shrugged. “Used you for a distraction, and gone hunting for the Locust.”

“Cold,” Bunny remarked, tapping a new cigarette out of a packet.