Interlude XI (Part II) (Patreon)

Interlude XI (Part II)

Rayne Johnston

It had been a good day all things considered. A few assistants showed up thirty minutes into the briefing, bringing a few tables, sandwiches, and a few odds and ends. Due to the catastrophic nature of what had happened, the leader of the English Heritage group was on their way, but apparently the roads and other destroyed infrastructure had made the trip out to Stonehenge a bit of a challenge. Due to this, the team had been asked to stay around long beyond the point of no return, if the leaders didn’t come soon then Rayne was going to call it a day. It was clear to everyone that nothing noteworthy was going to be spoken by Alexa in her Aru’ka outfit.

Seeing Alexa give such noncommittal answers brought a sense of pride to the Captain, as she wanted to get a copy of this so she could show others in her department on how to interact with the media. Answer the question as succinctly as possible and move on, gods it was like watching a clinic. Everything was crisp and short to the point. Even when the interviewer found topics of interest, Alexa avoided them like a pro.

“So you are a bike enthusiast?” Re reporter asked.

“Who isn’t?” Alexa responded.

There was enough of a comedic beat that elapsed that both Bullford and Rayne found themselves chuckling silently to themselves, as the reporter desperately fought to keep this interview going. She, like everyone had been given a mission of prolonging this meeting until leadership arrived, and she was doing her darndest to keep it going. Even putting up with Judge and Warder for a good hour, until their information could no longer be of assistance, after that Bullford and Rayne both tagged in for a time, and now it was back to Alexa.

In all that time, it was noted that the secretary that had brought the table, food and other necessities was going to head back. They had even gone out of their way to tell Rayne to inform the cameraman and the reporter that special gifts had arrived. Then they went off to find leadership, of course, that was an hour ago.

Everything was going smoothly, almost too smoothly. Despite how mind numbing the entire event was, Rayne should have expected a set up of some kind. Yet, she had been lulled into a false sense of security. That was the moment before all hell broke loose.

“Oh right, while the elven representatives apologized for not being able to be here in person, they did ask that I give you this.” The reporter said, going over and getting boxes that the cameraman had been holding.

Of course, after the first box was given, Rayne herself could hear a faint sharp sound emanating from the camera. Rayne wasn’t the only one to hear the sound as it was so intense that it caused Bullford to audibly wince and turn away in pain.

Wince.

Simultaneously the cameraman called out with a quiet, “what the?”

The words were likely too silent to be heard by most humans, but supernatural hearing is great for hearing even the slightest mutterings of sound. A quick scan out of the corner of her eye showed the cameraman turning away from the scene to look at his camera. He then began taking a few steps away, likely to get some equipment to work on the camera, at least that was what Rayne thought as he held the camera vertically against his body walking and looking at the battery pack at the back to see if it was still good. It was apparent from his movements that he was more than used to walking and fiddling with his camera at the same time. A quick glance at the back only caused him to shake his head as he moved his hand away from the battery pack as whatever the reason for the problem was not the battery. All of this was gained in under a second, a quick scan of an area allowing Rayne to move on. She was about to turn back, when she heard Alexa speak.

“Wait!”

Hearing her sound somewhat excited Rayne again turned her head to glance over her shoulder at the girl. Rayne still had her back to the scene before her as her initial concern was on Bullford, but his problem was just mild irritation from a high pitched sound, one that was coming from a malfunctioning camera. But Alexa having concerns was a different issue entirely, she had good instincts.

There was movement to her left, as Warder was fiddling with the box he had just been given. The top seemingly slid off easily, and fell into his hand. At that, Alexa immediately began twisting her body away, and curling up into a ball. Rayne was about to ask why, when she found out firsthand what the problem was.

Ba-ba-BOOOM!

Multiple explosions rang out at once, each overlapping the other in a cacophony of sounds, flames, and lightning.

Rayne herself felt the intense bite and sting of fire lashing out against her back. The flames themselves didn’t hurt, rather it was the electricity that had somehow been woven into the attack that caused Rayne’s body to freeze up on her. While she was immune to the flames, the electricity did leave giant welts in her body. She could feel how her gray suit jacket was burnt away to ruins, fierce winds were also somehow generated by the explosion, ensuring the flames had oxygen to burn as they expanded ever outward. Rayne understood all of this on an instinctual level as she herself had been forced to experience the flames firsthand.

The minute the eruption of flames ended; Rayne found herself pushing her way up from Bullford. Somehow in the blast Rayne had been hurled forward on top of Bullford. Then still in an electricity induced daze, she found herself forcefully extending her body to her full height, as she felt like she had to wrestle with every muscle in her body to get them all to forcefully release themselves from their constricting hold.

A quick scan of the area showed that everyone was down. Well, no wait, Alexa was still up and moving going first to her mother. That was good, knowing that the mother was okay, Rayne scanned the rest of the scene for survivors. Warder, the dad was still kicking and convulsing, though he looked to be in bad shape. The cameraman had somehow collapsed onto their camera, seemingly trying to protect the camera with their very body, even in death. A quick scan of the reporter showed that she too was also dead, though something was wrong with her as parts of her body were slowly melting away, as if two mini blackholes had opened up right next to her and were now consuming everything they could from the area.  Rayne found herself enthralled by the sight so much that she likely would have continued staring had it not been for sounds stirring her from her musings.

“Gah!” Judy ‘Judge’ Thyme let out a pain filled groan, a sign that she was alive.

Seeing Judy, Rayne’s eyes instantly scanned to the reason for the sound and quickly locked onto Alexa. Who despite everything, despite being at near ground zero of the blast, despite having far worse injuries than she and Bullford could have suffered she had been the first to act. And now, whatever happened to her was taking its toll. She crawled on her knees, occasionally balancing herself with her one free hand, while her right hand held something dark.

Just looking at the hand caused an instinctual fear to race down Rayne’s back, as she could tell just how inherently wrong the odd substance was. With a glance over, she realized it was the same black substance that was slowly eating away at the reporter.

Then with a fright, Rayne turned to see that Alexa was going towards her father, towards the fourth and final source of black energy. At that Rayne herself started moving, followed shortly thereafter by Bullford who like her had been stopping and accessing the situation. The whole thing took a matter of seconds, but it felt like hours.

By the time they got there, a few things were apparent, first Alexa was in terrible shape. She had not one, but two of the black masses. Worse, it didn’t appear that she was able to rid herself of them. As they seemed to have burned a way into her skin by this point.

Even getting within ten feet of the area caused an increasing sense of dread to course down her spine. Being so close, Judy and Alexa didn’t seem to have the same sense of wrongness that she now felt. Even getting this close made Rayne’s body feel like it was unable to breathe, like she was somehow breathing in radioactive elements that were corrupting her to her very core.

“Jim! Dang it Jim! Wake up!” Judy cried out in pain and anguish.

At that Rayne and Bullford continued moving forward, despite the slight mental pause they felt while entering the bubble of corruption that blanketed the whole area.

“Alexa! Can you save him?” Judy said, turning to her daughter who was fighting just to stay conscious. Seeing her daughter in the state she was in, caused Judy to go almost ballistic with rage and anguish.

“ALEXA! No…NOO!” Judy began screaming, pain filling her voice as she drew near.

“Go…” Alexa managed to rasp out.

Hearing her and seeing the scene for what it was, the duo Bullford and Johnston both knew what to do to assist with the situation. A slight head nod was all it took to communicate so much. With that head nod, the plan to split up and secure the area was spoken. With the nod, Rayne spoke of how she would tend to Alexa, the victim she was closest to, while Bullford would tend to Judy.

As for Jim, well, it wasn’t good.

Logically they should have gone to him first, but the mother who was still weak and suffering from her own rot and decay that was claiming her body was getting visibly upset. Doctrine dictates that officers first have to secure the scene, before they can begin treating the wounded.

“You need to stay back.” Bullford said, as he grabbed Judy and began forcefully dragging her back out of the blanketing sphere of malevolence that coated this whole area. Rayne thought about removing Alexa as well, but realized that one removing her now would mean she would be spreading those dark balls of chaos with her. Secondly it would mean she would have to go further to treat Jim, if she could treat Jim.

From what it appeared, Jim’s body was convulsing, still fighting desperately to stay alive, but he now had a sunken chest wound, one caused by the explosion of black mass that seemed to have been rocketed right into his chest. Had it not been for Alexa acting when she did, he would likely be dead. As it was, well, he at least had a chance. If Alexa was up, operational and fully capable of using her Healing magic to its fullest, she might, and I repeat might have had a chance at saving him, Rayne thought to herself.

As it was, he was a tertiary concern. Right now, there was one, and possibly two survivors of this catastrophe, but only if Rayne acted quickly.

“Mam, you need to step back.” Captain Johnston said, coming over to kneel near Alexa’s head. This was her command voice and one that seemed to shock Judy into awareness of where she was, at least for the moment. That moment was short lived however, as Judy quickly came to her sense and then began trying to desperately come to either her husband, or to her daughter’s side.

“You need to stop. We are trying to remove you from the area.” Bullford said, not quite being able to articulate the fact that there was an oppressive aura over the area that was preventing her body from healing naturally. Realizing that she just had to trust her partner at this point, she went ahead and began focusing on helping Alexa through this.

“Girl! You need to focus and do whatever it is you are doing, but do not close your eyes. Don’t you quit on me. You hear me!”

“Yes.” A dry croaking sound emanated from Alexa’s lips. That one word was enough for Rayne to realize just how close to the brink of death she was. The fact that her body was spasming in pain also didn’t help the impression that she would somehow be able to survive this, but if anyone could pull through this, it would be Alexa.

“Good, now listen to me, and do exactly as I say and you will make it through this.” Rayne said, as she stared down into Alexa’s deep blue eyes.

Then she did everything she could to keep Alexa focusing on her, on staying awake.

Rustling.

After a few minutes, Bullford had managed to get Judy to rest outside the sphere of influence that these dark voids seemed to have, then he courageously braved his way back in. As he entered, Rayne couldn’t help but see the way he shivered as he entered, it was clear that there was a huge area of effect that these black dots have.

Judy who had been asked to sit down for her own health multiple times would not, at least not until she knew that Jim and Alexa were safe. Realizing this was the best he could get, he promised that he would bring out Jim, if she stayed still. That seemed to be enough of a promise, as here he was, without the injured Judy desperately following him in.

With deft hands the giant brute of a master werewolf slid his massive paws under the large Warder, who appeared oh so small at the moment, then with an act of strength only afforded a high level Awakened being, he began leaving with said body squarely in his hands. At first glance the wounds didn’t seem to be as bad as she had originally thought, while being a sunken chest wound, it was on the lower right side of his torso, near the diaphragm area, at least if Rayne’s memory of biology was still correct. Though, while the wound wasn’t as bad as she initially feared, his reaction was nothing to write home about. He lay there, arms limp and hanging loosely in the air.

Judging by the wound Warder suffered, Rayne’s crime scene analytics were coming in as she mentally tried to determine the most relevant course of action that could have happened. Knowing that the boxes all exploded independently, helped out a lot with the crime scene reconstruction. In her mind she saw how the box exploded, and was likely dropped as a result. Then the force of the first explosion causing the boxes in the reporter’s hands to go off simultaneously caused the box that had been let go to violently get shot directly into Jim’s chest, just below his lungs and other vital organs.

Rayne seeing that, looked down to see that Alexa herself was still an inch away from death herself. At one point Rayne had tried to get Alexa to let the balls go, but they were glued to her hands, as they had apparently burned their way into her flesh. Worse, every time she went near the substance she herself felt an intense burning sensation run down her own hands as she could feel, literally feel her own Draconian Skin being melted away and absorbed by the alien energy. Looking over, it was clear that something similar had happened to Judy’s hand, her hand that had been holding the box was melted away.

After she started bleeding from three fingers, Rayne stopped and instead turned her attentions towards keeping her patient alive.

“You see that girl. That’s your dad, he needs you.” Rayne paused, as she locked eyes with the stoic super, “I need you.”

Moisture.

Rayne felt a tear run down her face as she thought about how much trouble this one girl had caused. How much trouble the whole family had caused her over the years, how they had all quickly grown to become the family she always wanted, but never knew until now.

Rustle.

Looking down, Rayne saw that Alexa was now trying to move.

“You need to wait.” Rayne said, gently trying to push Alexa back down. Her face had been white as a ghost a moment ago, though now she did seem to be having some color in her.

“I need my father.” Alexa said as she forced her way past the gentle push of Rayne. Of course, Rayne could apply even more pressure to keep her down, but this was something that was needed. Instantly Rayne could see the intense vibrant green glow of magic coursing through her body, as it was clear that whatever had been stopping the girl’s use of magic was now gone.

Looking down, Rayne could also see that the two lumps of black energy that had fused their way into Alexa’s hands were now gone, as Alexa healed herself it was clear that she had somehow managed to get rid of the black substance that seemed to eat away at the very fabric of reality. A quick glance back showed that the two black balls that were on the reporter were not just still there, but they were still growing in size.

Rayne at first wanted to go help the stoic Alexa who herself was barely able to stand upright, but then Rayne paused, as she noticed something on the ground. A medium sized forest green box that sent shivers of fear down Rayne’s side just looking at it.

“What is that?” Rayne said, as she went closer to it, in her mind she realized that if the other boxes were any indication then this extra box would soon be detonated as well, particularly with the way the dark spheres that still existed around the reporter were still somehow expanding. Seeing the box, she realized two things, first that this box was likely still filled with the same explosive materials that the other boxes were. And secondly, she realize that this box was getting closer and closer to being detonated itself. Holding out her hand, Rayne stopped herself wondering if she should in fact reach out to grab the box before her.

“Get it.” Alexa said, her words confirming Rayne’s own suspicions.

Just like handling any live ordinance Rayne was careful and gingerly reached down to grab the box, pausing for a moment as she waited for an explosion that would not come. Then as if answering her unspoken question, Alexa who had been slowly limping away by herself spoke up.

“The lid.”

“The what?”

“The lid. It detonates when the lid is removed.” Alexa said.

At that, Rayne felt her fingers almost lose control over the box, but she then quickly regains her composure and manages to grip the box tightly in a grip that pushes the lid down, while pushing the bottom up, just to make sure the box does not slide apart.

“JIM! OH, Gods JIM!” Judy cries out, pounding on the chest of Jim who lay motionless in Bullford’s arms.

Alexa who was just at the brink of death’s door a second ago seemed to find an extra gear to her step as she hobbled even quicker forward. She was so fast that by the end Rayne could hardly keep up. Though Rayne had also been purposefully not trying to sprint or cause any disruptions that might otherwise set off the bomb within her hands, though she did agree that getting the bomb out of the potential blast radius would be the best.

Rayne was about to follow Alexa to Bullford and Jim, but then quickly thought better about bringing a possible undetonated bomb anywhere near the wounded warriors. After a few steps she turned about and immediately headed south, away from the rest of the group, only stopping when she was a full ten feet away from the dome of evil that had surrounded the area, she leaned down and gently placed the box on the ground.

Silence.

She waited for a moment, as if wondering if the simple placement of said box on the ground would be enough to set off another explosion. Then realizing she was being stupid for staying near the IED, she stood up and backed away slowly, then once she was far enough away from the box, she turned around and began sprinting. As she ran, she could once again feel the cool breeze on her back, a sign that most of her business suit had been ruined in the initial blast.

Then when as she got closer, horror struck her, as she saw three people hovering over a body. And it was a body, from this distance away Rayne could smell the waves of energy that were rolling off of the large girl, the magical healer who could work miracles. She could cure Necromancy, Rayne had seen it with her own eyes, and now despite her best efforts there was nothing that could be done.

Shuffle, stutter, step.

In a second, the speed that Rayne had been running stopped as her mind mentally broke down trying to see what happened. Then as her analytical mind broke it down, she wanted to reevaluate the situation, once, then twice, as her mind refused to accept what she knew to be true.

“NOOOOOO!!!” Judy cried out in a wailing shriek of a sob could be heard for hundreds of meters in all directions, as layers and layers of powers were edged into that one word.

Badump, stutter bump.

Rayne felt an intense clenching pain on her chest as she felt the same intense agony and pain that Judy felt, not just due to the power being used, but because she was a human being. Because she had worked with and truly appreciated the man that lay before her. The motionless man who her mind still refused to accept the truth, but it was right there. All laid out right before her, and there was nothing she, nor the best healer in the world could do to change the present. And it killed Rayne just a little more inside, knowing that she had once again outlived another great hero.

Jim ‘Warder’ Thyme, was dead.