Sunday the 15th

[Eilonwy Solstice]

I want to apologize to everyone for running out like that. I . . . had had a dream. A precognitive dream. I wasn’t sure what time I woke during the night, but for me, it didn’t matter. The urgency I felt was overwhelming. I had to leave, and I had to leave fast. So I grabbed my staff and ran out. At the time, I didn’t think to bring anything else, be it glasses, a bathrobe, or even my shoes.

I’ll tell as much as I can. Then I am going to take another nap. I’ve been taking a lot of those.

. . . .

I was acutely aware of the chill of the pavement against my bare feet as I swept my cane ahead of me in arcs, tapping the unfamiliar ground before me. The wind grabbed my hair and flung it in my face as I forged ahead, tugging at my nightie in an effort to lead me astray; I shut my eyes and paid my hair and the uncomfortable chill no mind. I wasn’t sure how long I walked; I wasn’t sure how far I walked. But I continually stumbled and tripped, I was walking faster than was safe for a blind woman who didn’t know her surroundings.

It was old and dilapidated now, my feet rose the dust as I passed. My staff prodded the ground carefully; I cautiously stepped past the jagged ruins of a sidewalk, feeling the rough, broken brickwork of a wall with my hand before finding a small entrance. I would have sworn the ruins were centuries old, but I couldn’t say for certain. All I could do was tap my staff back and forth. Inside, there was the dank smell of decay and dust, intermingling freely with the sense of struggle that permeated the air. I turned my head to the side and tilted it slightly and listened intently. This was the place; I could feel it. But what was I supposed to find here?

I flinched as I stepped into an overhanging obstruction of sorts, too high to be felt by my staff. I fell to my knees, the side of my face throbbing. I cautiously felt my jaw and ear. It was just a bruise by the feel of it. It grew tender and raw almost immediately. But nothing too serious; I’d be fine in a day or two.

Still on my knees, I pressed my fingers to the rough ground and concentrated . . .Opening my Third Eye and pausing as the psychic sensations came like a blanket slowly being dragged over me. In my mind, I heard shouts, gunfire . . . cannon fire. The frenzy of the battle was so extensive it suffocated everything else out. I shuddered as the impression of rats . . . hundreds of them raced across my body as I Saw in the past. The years rolled by . . . we forgot this place.

My heart pounded in the dead stillness as the psychic impressions quieted and returned to the present. My left hand reached for the wall and my right got a better grip on my staff, a prop to help me drag myself to my feet. My breathing was ragged and loud in the deathly calm of the ruins. It had the feel of a graveyard. The paint had peeled and cracked along the wall, and my fingers felt the chipped brickwork underneath. My breath caught in my throat. I turned my head toward the distinct sound.

It was the sound of boots stepping on gravel blown in through the months by the unhampered wind.

Crunch . . . crunch . . . crunch.

“Uuuuggggghhhhh . . .” the groan was deep, throaty, and rasped like grinding of a chain against the ground. My heart leaped up my throat at the sound. How had I missed the figure so completely? He must have come during the images . . . “Uuuuuhhhhhhh . . .” it continued to moan as it stalked toward me. I tried to press myself against the wall, forcing myself to think clearly. It was ahead of me, somewhere within the destruction . . . but where?

It had been waiting for me. My Opening of my Third Eye had given me a feel for the wreckage about me. The hall I was in was small and narrow, with little room to maneuver my staff. There was a corner ahead of me . . . a corner the creature was about to cross. I could smell the blood and decay of the being. My immediate thoughts were that it was a zombie or ghoul of some sort, one that could somehow dodge my senses.

“Uuuuuuummmmmmhhhhh . . .”

Crunch . . . sfft . . . sfffffphht . . . . . . its feet shambled through the dust and gravel, and then it faced me. “Oooohhhh . . . urrrrgghhh . . .” I held my breath, hoping against hope that it would not see me. But it did anyway . . . .

“. . . Cee?” it mumbled in a surprisingly human voice. “I saw . . . my head hurts . . . .” My heart stopped; my throat constricted. I knew that voice.

“Ben?”

[concrete_Angel]

HE'S ALIVE?

[Ron Caliburn]

Cats have nothing on him.

[Shadowstalker]

So it would seem.

[Kolya]

It would be nice if we could finally get Holister the rest and comfort he needs.

Unfortunately, she returned alone.

[Natasha]

Yea, that kind of bothered me.

[Kolya]

It's a very intriguing story nonetheless.
I had to read it with the lights on!

[Shadowstalker]

OK.

[Kolya]

I'm not sure what exactly you mean there Shadowstalker.

[Shadowstalker]

Forget it.

[Ron Caliburn]

Sorry gang,

She's locked herself in her room for most of today, she's crying a lot. The story will have to wait a while.

[Shadowstalker]

It is ok, no rush on anything.

[Logos]

I'd say "I hope everything's OK", but that doesn't seem to be the case, so instead I'll offer my best wishes and hopes that things get better.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

I . . . I’m sorry I’ve been so lax, everybody. I’ve just felt so . . . so . . . I haven’t felt like this in a long time. . . .


He stumbled forward; I caught him in my arms. I had forgotten how big he was. The discrepancy between my vampiric self and my human self had brought an unusual parity that continually reminded me that I was no longer invulnerable to a man’s touch, and I found myself in awe at his physical stature. He was at least three inches taller than me, and he held at least sixty pounds over me.

And that weight, while inconsequential to a vampire, nearly brought me to my knees as his legs buckled underneath him and he sagged against me. But I was strong for my slender build. Pursing my lips and slowly working my hands under his arms, I tried to heft him over my shoulders and piggyback him. But he dragged me to the floor, so I drew him to the corner and tried to find a comfortable spot to lay him.

However, I hesitated. A raw emotion touched the edge of my consciousness, an alien presence of such vile proportions I had to gag back the bile that rose in my throat because of it. I mentally shrank back from it, strangely fascinated as I experienced for the first time the role that we played in this eternal struggle – humans against the Supernatural. My psyche enlarged to nearly quadruple at the thing’s presence . . . I swallowed the urge to attack it with everything I had right there. I was no longer a frontline soldier. I would have to conserve my energy.

The thing hovered at the edge of my thoughts like a bat, and that’s how I pictured it as it swooped through the air, a dark manifestation of nightmares and ignorance. I could sense it was marking the building that had once served as humans’ refuge. It knew we were in here; just not exactly where. It circled the building again, trying to find an opening. I held my breath. I felt the psychic probes it sent out to find us. One touched my mind; my defenses rose automatically, crushing the probe with the same intensity of fingers being slammed in a door. I felt, rather than heard, it squawk in protest, becoming a psychic call sent out in a large, radial wave.

“Somebody help us,” I breathed as other batlike creatures answered the call, diving into my Sense’s range. I shut my eyes tight, not daring to use a telepathic call myself, lest they hear me. I held Ben close as dozens of the creatures gathered on top of the building’s roof.

[GhostSpider]

*Pause for dramatic effect*

[Eilonwy Solstice]

*Pause for dramatic effect*

Actually, I’ve just been feeling . . . under the weather, Konrad.


I had to move before they discovered the opening to the wall I had taken. But maybe they already had, I considered as they began cawing raucously, as harsh as steel rods being banged together. I hoisted Ben in my arms, afraid I was injuring him further but knowing I had to move him or risk his death. I dragged him beyond the corner he had just passed, biting my bottom lip in exertion. The pace was far too slow, and it would get slower; I had to release him, make a cautious, tapping sweep with my staff, pull him onward, set him down, use my staff again, and resume those steps each time the distance of my staff was reached.

The scraping sound of his heels skidding against the ground seemed impossibly loud. The raps of my staff echoed like drops of water in a cavern. It was impossible to muffle the sounds. The hall led to a set of stairs. I would have a heck of a time pulling Ben up them. My shoulders and back were beginning to ache with the effort of tugging him. Squaring my back and taking deep breaths in an attempt to reinvigorate myself, I held my staff under my arm, rolled my skirt to my knees, and clasped my hands under Ben’s arms once more. Taking great care to maintain my balance, I began hauling him up.

Ben . . . you have to help me, I mouthed silently, imploring his subconscious telepathically, reaching into his delirious mind. Thoughts of Celeste and Molly nudged against mine as I sifted delicately through his mind, searching for the link to his consciousness.

“Cee . . . Molly . . .” he moaned, his head lolling against me. “I’m so sorry . . . I tried to keep . . . ughh . . . .” His booted soles righted themselves on the cold steel steps. We began ascending a little faster . . . but not much. Ben’s lowing lapsed into silence. But he continued to thrash spasmodically.

“Ben . . .! No . . .!” I grunted as a particularly violent shudder of his nearly caused me to lose my grip. My staff slid loose from my arm. I snatched for it unsuccessfully as it fell free. It clattered on the steps we had just gone over.

Once . . . twice . . . three times before it settled on the landing below, each strike a slap against the growing chill of my heart. I froze; growling of the bat things had gone quiet at the sound. For a brief moment, nothing happened, nothing moved. Then their chittering cries started anew and began to warble. Suddenly, they burst into action, following the sound like hounds on a blood trail.

They traversed what had taken me half an hour in seconds, burdened with nothing but their hatred. The bestial things gathered about my staff like vultures, picking it up in their winged limbs, sniffing it, chittering wildly. Then they quieted, anticipation veining through their minds.

They had seen us.

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Since there’s a lull in my . . . um . . . well . . . .


I held my breath as the bat things gathered thickly, climbing over each other in their haste to reach the top of the stairs. I let my breath out and began panting, drawing great draughts of air into my lungs. My Sixth Sense blared like a burglar alarm as one of them launched itself into the air. I jerked back and heaved Ben with all the strength I had, trying to clear the stairs with an awkward jump at the same time.

He flew over me; I landed painfully between the landing above us and the stairs, my lower back slammed hard against the edge of the steps. I swallowed the pain and raised my leg, kicking out against the bat thing that flew at me. The heel of my foot connected with its throat, stopping it short and dropping it to the stairs. I kicked out again . . . again . . . I felt an oddly human face as I lashed out . . . a misshapen, woman’s face. Buckteeth shattered under my blows, angular, livid features bruised as it tumbled away. I scrambled up the stairs. I another leaped up the stairs and latched onto my back, clawing with its back legs like a vicious cat. I bit my lips and sent a spear of mental energy at it. Its mind crumpled like a paper cup in a vise. No sooner had it fallen away then it discorporated into thousands of . . . moths . . . I think. I shut my eyes and mouth tightly and batted at the horrid things as they flew all over me before they disappeared from my senses.

The strange, female bat things crawled up the steps warily; making furtive gestures I could not make out, hopping back and forth between a slow advance and an even slower retreat. They knew I was blind; however, they sensed I was not an ordinary blind woman.

Another of the creatures leaped for me; I slapped it in the face, causing it to tumble back down with its fellows. A third grew brave and likewise attacked, dodging my kick and fastening onto me. I cried out in pain as blunt teeth bit into my shoulder. I yanked free; a palm strike sent it wheeling.

This went on for many minutes, the bat things with women’s faces slowly drawing nearer and occasionally flapping toward me in a flurry of leather wings. I would strike out at them if they ranged too close, which came more often as time wore on. Sometimes they got past me; I grabbed one by its clawed heels and swung it around my head, slamming it into the stairs until it disappeared in a knot of moths. Three times they nearly overwhelmed me, and three times I drove them back down to the landing by destroying the ones that passed me with mental attacks. Their minds were brittle, broken by eons of torture and hellish training. I sensed they had come here for a single purpose . . . to see that Humanity was bent to their Master’s will. And their Master’s will was focused on one man’s death in particular . . . .

Ben.

And I was just another obstacle.

I sensed the telepathic call that jerked their deformed faces upright . . . they wheeled about as one, fleeing back the way they had come. I followed them with my Third Eye as they took to the skies and flew out of range.

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Wow.


Are you *sure* you wouldn't like a nice Sawed off Shottie for occasions like this?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Bert . . . are you serious about that comment? Am I understanding you correctly? A sawed off shotgun? Me?

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Of course I am! Why would you not be able to use on in an abandoned place like that while fighting a swarm of evil bat things that stay clumped together?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

Well, just the fact that I’m blind would give a few people pause before handing me a twelve gauge, don’t you think?!

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Ordinarily yes, but you're not doing anything like that again unless you're armed!

[Eilonwy Solstice]

And how would you know?

[Bert_the_Turtle]

The last time you went unarmed like that you died!

[Eilonwy Solstice]

The last time I did that I wasn’t outnumbered 50 to 1!

[Bert_the_Turtle]

You're only proving my point!

[Eilonwy Solstice]

How? I survived this one, didn’t I? Obviously, I’m writing it!

[Bert_the_Turtle]

Yes and I can't imagine how, stumbling along, you lost your support, dragging Ben, outnumbered, even if you threw it away after discharging it you could've scattered and killed many of them while they were bunched up on the landings!

[Shadowstalker]

It isn't as foolish an idea as you may think Eilonwy. With your talents you should still be able to identify what is in the area of the blast, and there by insure you are going to be hitting only what you want.
Done right it would have a short range, but wide area of effect. Who knows with a little practice you could maybe even be able to pick out targets at a longer range and use slug rounds to deal with them?
You may want to think about it, as it couldn't hurt?

[Eilonwy Solstice]

How? How!? How would anyone else survive those odds? I had help, that’s how!