Chapter 34 - Icy Defense

  Alex led from the front, shouting to urge on the huge crowd following him in a desperate search for safety. There was no way to protect everyone at this point. There were just too many of them. The deeper through the city his band of refugees had pressed, the more people swarmed out of the buildings, joining them. It was all just too much.

  If Castle had still been there, maybe the two of them together could have protected everyone, kept them all safe. But Castle hadn't returned. Alex didn't know what had happened to him. He couldn't imagine there were too many things out there dangerous enough to take Cameron down, but it was impossible to say for sure. They'd already run across several monsters capable of doing him serious harm. There were probably more out there.

  The more likely answer was he'd been detained somehow. “Probably got tied up rescuing someone else,” Alex grumbled under his breath.

  It was difficult to complain about Castle's propensity for rescuing anyone who was in danger. After all, if it hadn't been for that trait, Alex would never have survived being stuck in the giant spider’s web. But it was damned annoying sometimes, too!

  It was like the man had no sense of priorities! If he saw someone in danger, he just went in to rescue them without considering possible consequences. Annoying, yes. But there was something admirable about it, too.

  “Look out!” someone behind him shouted.

  One of those giant birds swooped down from the roof of a skyscraper, angling toward the pack of people behind him. Alex didn't hesitate. He fired an Ice Blast at the thing. The shot missed. He fired again as it drew closer, this time scoring a hit. The bird wasn't taken down, but it squawked angrily, and then turned away.

  The city was full of easier targets. All you really had to do to survive was not be one of them. Alex had learned that if you showed some teeth, predators went looking for something less dangerous to hunt.

  Even so, he knew he hadn't protected everyone. Every so often, he heard a scream from somewhere behind him. With so many fleeing humans all packed into one spot. It was like he was leading an all-you-can-eat buffet around the streets. Alex blocked out any feelings of guilt over the losses. He was doing all he could. That would have to be enough.

  Alex rounded another corner. The hospital was right down the street. Not far now. He waved his arms to get the attention of the people following him.

  "Come on, everyone!" Alex shouted. "We're almost there. Just a little farther!"

  The terrified and exhausted band following him surged forward at his words. There were over a hundred of them. Maybe a couple hundred. Alex moved with them, staying at the front of the pack. He wasn't surprised to find the hospital doors locked when he got there.

  Alex banged on the glass. "Hey! These people need help! Let us in."

  There was a woman inside the vestibule, wearing a hospital security uniform. She shook her head. "My orders are to leave this door locked. No one gets in."

  Alex ducked his head and swore under his breath. He turned back to the woman to try one more time. He wanted to do this the nice way, if he could.

  "These people need help. There's monsters right behind us. Please let them in."

  But she just stood there, looking scared and shaking her head.

  "God damn it,” Alex swore.

  Fine. If they wanted to do this the hard way, he could accommodate that, too. He wasn't thrilled with the hospital's security, anyway. Not after they'd tried to steal from him and Cameron. One way or another, he was going to get these people inside to safety.

  Alex focused his will and summoned an Ice Blast, the same spell he had used to fight the monsters. He fired the Blast, sending it hurtling directly at the plate glass doors.

  The ice smashed into the glass, shattering explosively and sending a huge spider web of cracks across the whole thing. One shot hadn't been enough, but Alex felt confident a second would do the trick. He fired again.

  This time, the glass blew inward in a shower of sparkling shards. The refugees behind him didn't hesitate. They rushed in, eager to avail themselves of any sort of safety, even if it was a frail and questionable one. They surged past the woman and a second guard a little deeper inside. Alex let them go, stepping aside so the could pass in what felt like a never-ending wave of desperation.

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  They were MGH's problem at this point. Alex had done everything he could to ensure they'd gotten to some semblance of a safe place. Although, of course, nothing was truly safe at this point.

  So, what now?

  Alex glanced around and spotted Cameron's building across the street. He mentally reviewed what he'd seen of the apartment, cataloging items quickly, and decided there was really nothing up there worth the risk of going back for it. However, he knew Cameron had friends there. It would be good to at least warn them what was coming.

  Alex crossed the street and rapped on the door. Fortunately, one of the men on guard in the lobby recognized him from when they departed that morning. He opened the door and let Alex in.

  "What the hell is going on out there?" the man asked.

  "Invasion," Alex replied. The man just blinked, looking more shell-shocked than anything else, so Alex went on. "You know all those lobsters folks used to eat?"

  The man nodded.

  "Well, they all got very big, and they've apparently decided to return the favor. They're marching on the city from the ocean side, and they're headed this way."

  The man's mouth opened and closed a couple of times without making a sound. Then, he shook his head. "You're not kidding, are you? God, I missed when I could tell if somebody was making a joke or not."

  Alex chuckled. "I know what you mean, but no, I'm not joking. We need to get everyone out of this building and off towards someplace safer than this. There's an army headed this way. And they're not taking prisoners."

  "Shit." he turned toward one of the other men who had been guarding the lobby. "Freddy, take Jack and start going floor to floor. Bang on doors. Warn people what's coming, and that they've got to get ready to move right away."

  He turned back toward Alex. "My name is Sebastian. How long do you think we have?"

  "I'm Alex," he replied. "As far as the timeline goes, I don't know for sure, but not long. An hour at most, I think. Might be less. Might be a lot less."

  He hoped Castle got back soon. There was definitely a fight coming, and Alex figured the more high-ranked people they had to fight it, the better.

  Alex glanced outside and saw two of the giant birds dive down on the crowd. Up close, they were scary as hell. The birds looked a lot like seagulls. In fact, he had a hunch they were magically altered seagulls, just like the ratkin had been rats and the giant spiders had been typical spiders before the Event hit.

  These birds were enormous, though. They looked like something out of a dinosaur movie, but instead of leathery wings, they had the standard white plumage of a gull, complete with the grey wingtips and big yellow beaks. He used to toss fries to those birds. Now they were big enough to eat him alive, if they wanted to.

  And they apparently did. With only one door broken in, it was taking time for the flow of people to all get back inside. That left the ones on the street horribly vulnerable. The two birds swooped down, snagged a pair of people from the crowd, and were airborne again in seconds, carrying the screaming victims high into the air.

  More of the birds swooped by overhead. They looked like they were checking out the salad bar.

  “I need to see if I can help those people,” Alex said. “I can chase off some of those birds, at least. Give them a fighting chance.”

  “If you can, you should,” Sebastian replied. “Nothing I can do about those critters, not with this.” He gestured with the baseball bat in his hand.

  “Do everything you can to get people moving, okay?” Alex said. “If anyone is still in this building when the enemy force gets here, they’re not going to make it.”

  “We’re on it. Good luck.”

  Alex gave him a nod and stepped back outside.

  Two more birds—rocs, Cameron had named them—dove down from the sky to pick out dinner.

  “Not this time,” Alex muttered. He gestured with a hand, summoning the magic spell that had somehow become second nature in under an hour. A big icicle appeared in the air above his hand and then shot skyward. The projectile hit home, slamming into the bird’s left wing.

  The ice must have done some serious damage, because the bird lost control of its flight and veered off course, smacking into the side of the apartment building hard enough to spiderweb two of the windows. It scrabbled for a hold as it slid down the wall, beating its wings heavily and giving out loud cawing sounds. Its wings finally caught some air and propelled it back into the air about a dozen feet before it slammed into the pavement.

  A second roc was still incoming. It swooped down to pick someone up, but the intended victim saw the bird coming and dove sideways. That cleared Alex’s line of sight well enough that he snapped off another Ice Blast, taking the bird full in the face. It lost control of its flight and crashed, skidding ten feet along the sidewalk. People screamed and dove out of the way.

  Alex rushed forward, bat in hand, and cracked the thing over the head a few times before it could get back to its feet. He was panting by the time it stopped moving, and he realized with a start that the crowd was clapping for him. He looked around, amazed. Someone gave a loud cheer.

  A man took a step forward and clapped him on the back. “Nice work, man. Saved our asses, you did.”

  “Just trying to help,” Alex replied.

  The accolades felt good. He’d been fighting to keep these people alive, and hearing them cheer for him felt right. It was awesome, and suddenly he understood better why Castle would work so hard to save people. It was almost like a drug, that appreciation.

  He reached down to tap the bird and got a large stone from the thing. What it was, he didn’t know. He still needed to hit tier five so he could identify crystals and see the tier level of his foes. For now, he’d have to rely on Castle for that. Damn it, where was he, anyway?

  A crashing sound caught his ear. Alex whirled toward the sound, expecting it to be another threat, but it was Cameron, landing on the hood of a car fifty feet down the street. He jumped again, bounding forward, each leap taking him an impossible distance. Three more jumps, and he landed a couple of steps away.

  “Miss me?” Castle asked, grinning. “I have news. Some of it’s good, some bad.”