The two walked mostly in silence, each one lost in his own thoughts. Approaching the Ashland exit they passed the remains of a minivan that had apparently struck the guard rail and turned on its side before bursting into flames. There were six people inside. Four of them children. They'd obviously been dead for some days.
At Ashland, Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon left the highway and took that street north, gradually starting to see more signs of life. They passed people clustered in doorways, who eyed them with concern or fear. They passed a bar that seemed open, music with a heavy synthetic beat leaking through the boarded windows. They also began to see more cars, but there were still very few of them. Then they came upon a large parking lot filled with scores of torn-open wood and fiberglass cases-food and supplies apparently dropped there by the government within the last few days. There were four bodies lying on the ground as well, lined up in a row alongside an Eagle Security patrol car. A young black officer sat atop the car, shotgun in hand.
Kyle waved to him, and considered approaching, but then thought better of it when he spotted two other bodies a short distance away. One was an older woman, the other a young troll boy. Both had been killed by shotgun blasts. Kyle also saw boxes of food stuffed into the back of the patrol car. The patrolman eyed them warily and they continued walking.
Near Oakdale, a huge, blackened beetle with hints of red on its carapace sat watching them from a storefront. Mucus and bits of flesh dripped from its mandibles as its odd head pivoted slowly to follow them. Kyle nodded to Seeks-the-Moon, and they both dropped their masking just for a moment. The beetle reacted as they'd hoped, moving further back into the shattered interior.
A few blocks later, just north of Belmont, Moon noticed a car following them some distance behind. Kyle glanced back and saw it too: a large tan car with old tires roped to it was pacing them five blocks behind. He and Moon moved out of the streets and began to hug closer to the storefronts.
A block later, the car accelerated, drawing closer. When it was only a short distance away, a young man in dark leathers leaned out the shattered window, waving a heavy revolver at them.
"This is Rager turf!" he howled. One of his eyes was covered over by dark-stained gauze. "Rager turf!"
"We're just passing through," Kyle called back. "On our way to somewhere else."
The car stopped, and all the doors opened. Seven men in torn denim and leathers piled out, each carrying a rifle or submachine gun. Four of them also carried bats. Kyle looked at Seeks-the-Moon, who was watching them impassively.
"I don't think you heard me," the first ganger said as he walked up. "This is our turf, Rager land. Nobody just passes through."
"Look," Kyle told him, moving his arm slightly so the high-velocity Ares combat gun was clearly visible. "We're not looking for trouble. We're just gonna keep walking and then we're gone. No hassle. No trouble."
The first ganger smiled, and a couple of the others laughed. Kyle was amazed at their bravado. He also knew that up close neither he nor Moon would seem threatening. Kyle was trying to appear calm and capable, as well as armed and armored. Seeks-the-Moon seemed the more calm, and almost slightly amused.
Tribute, chummer," said one of the others. 'Taxes, you I know. You live here, you pass through here, you pay us. You don't have nothing to pay, we take you instead. We can always find some use." A couple of them sniggered.
Kyle sighed, and started to reply, but Seeks-the-Moon cut him off. "You have a lot of confidence in your magician," he I laid loudly.
The group stopped laughing and looked at him. Two of them glanced nervously across the street.
"He's a whelp," the spirit continued. "Barely able to count. Already he sweats, trying to decide how to kill us quickly without taking you to boot."
Kyle looked off in the same direction as the gangers, but saw nothing. Seeks-the-Moon glanced at him. "Their magician is nothing more than a bug," he told Kyle. "We should treat him as such."
Kyle nodded. "All right." And he dropped his masking again, believing Seeks-the-Moon was doing the same.
Immediately, there was commotion from an abandoned lot that looked like it had been used for parking. A lone figure, a girl wearing the same colors as the gangers, darted from behind a pile of garbage and dashed away beyond some buildings.
The gangers were distracted by this, and Kyle quickly added to their confusion. A globe of gray-green energy sprang up around him and Seeks-the-Moon as he released the energy for the barrier spell he'd prepared earlier. Then, he raised his own weapon.
All seven gangers took an involuntary step back. Kyle smiled. "Now," he said "I think it's time you took off."
The first ganger was angry. "Nobody tells us what to-" A protoplasmic mass of dark purple suddenly covered his head, and he staggered backward and fell to his knees. Kyle shifted his eyes toward Seeks-the-Moon just in time to see the last vestiges of the spell's energy dissipate from the spirit's hands. He knew it was Moon-the spell was one he'd designed himself.
The ganger began to gag. "Get him out of here or he will die," Seeks-the-Moon said. Another of the gang members raised his rifle and pointed it at the spirit, but Kyle turned his weapon toward him.
"Please do as he says," Kyle said. "I don't know how to use this rifle well enough to only wound you."
The ganger blinked, and turned toward the one on the ground, and then began to back toward me car. The others took this as the sign they'd been waiting for, and began dragging their gagging and hacking leader back and into the car. They all piled in quickly, and the car jerked forward even before all of them were fully inside. The last ganger fired a couple of random shots toward them, but they went wide and impacted in the storefront behind them. Kyle waited until they were at least a block away and then gathered the power for a small, showy spell he'd known since school. It was harder to cast while maintaining the barrier spell, but it was well within his ability. A split second later, a flash of blue and silver fireworks erupted at the rear of the car. It was only light and sound, and did no damage, but the car jerked as it accelerated again, then quickly turned down a side street heading west.
Kyle dropped the barrier spell, and turned to look in the direction the beetle spirit had been. There was no way the creature could have missed the display of magic, and that, plus the clustering of people, might have been enough to send it for others.
He and Moon turned down the nearest street and made their way quickly past the row of houses along it In a few places they saw signs of movement from behind partially shuttered or boarded windows, but for the most part there was only silence. One block farther east they turned north again, watching for signs of pursuit and seeing none. Then, Kyle realized, they were only a few blocks from Beth's house.
He stood outside for a moment and stared at the building. It looked the same, little changed from when he'd fallen asleep on the small porch. Beth's car was several doors down, one of its windows smashed and some of the dashboard electronics taken. One of the tires had been punctured too.
A house three doors away looked like it had caught fire and either burned itself out, or been put out. The buildings next to it were only slightly damaged.
Kyle climbed the short steps to the porch, Seeks-the-Moon directly behind him. He looked in the front windows, and saw the living room as he'd left it more than a week ago. There were no signs of anyone inside.
He went to the door and keyed in the access code. The locked clicked and the indicator turned green. It was open.