Maxillo nodded. From his expression, he still didn’t like it. But there wasn’t much he could do about that.
“Onward, then.”
Samuel started walking, and the rest of us followed.
Chapter 20
We walked across Central Square as night finally settled over the land. With the night came a thin mist that overhung the entire city in a wispy blanket. The Coleseo appeared haunting in the nighttime fog — maybe it was just the wind, but I thought I heard screams echoing in that direction, like ghosts in the air.
The city was a different place at night. Central Square was mostly empty, and ill-lit. Most windows were dark — lighting must have been an expensive commodity, though behind us, the Imperial Palace’s many windows glowed in the night. As we exited Central Square, the tall, shadowy buildings and twisting streets imbued a sense of claustrophobia. Raucous laughter emanated from taverns leading under buildings.
At long last, we reached the northern gate. We passed through them, the nighttime guards giving us questioning stares. The mist thickened as we walked up the wide, dirt road. One by one, the Praetorians clicked on flashlights, but they did little to illuminate our surroundings. The mist was cool, creeping onto my skin, chilling me. On either side of the road was thick forest, from which the sounds of insects came. A high screech emanated from the woods — the yowling of a jaguar, perhaps?
The Praetorians did not seem afraid, however. They marched on, their demeanor stony and determined. We kept up with their pace.
“About how far is it?” Maxillo asked.
“A few miles,” Samuel said. “He is staying where the road goes through a pass. It’s just a little bit beyond that.”
“Sepulcher’s Pass,” Maxillo said. “It is a haunted place. Many dead kings are buried there from an age long past.”
“Kings?” I asked. “What kings?”
“The land is forbidden to normal citizens,” Maxillo said. “There, many of the Aztec Kings buried their dead. There are pyramids, covered in forest and jungle. They were discovered by the Empire’s armies, years ago, during the First War.”
“The First War?” Anna asked.
“The war the Empire fought with Old Mexico.”
“I thought Mexico fell after Ragnarok,” I said.
“It did,” Maxillo said, growing tired of our questions. “Because of us.”
Nothing more was said as the road began its steep incline. We went back and forth as the road snaked up the mountainside. The mist thickened, making it very difficult to see. Behind, I could see the lights of Nova Roma dimly lit in the darkness. Even the thick fog could not mask a city of that size.
Again, the screech sounded from the forest, closer.
“What is that?” Julian asked.
Maxillo shrugged. “Probably a jaguar. They are active in the forest, at nights.”
I knew that was not a jaguar. I had fought those things inside the Coleseo, just hours ago. This was something different. Something…worse. It was all too reminiscent of…
“Crawlers,” Anna said.
An unmistakable scuttling of dozens of legs sounded from ahead.
“Box formation!” Maxillo shouted.
The Praetorians hurried to make a square around us, each facing outward, pausing in the center of the road. We remained in the middle.
“Whatever comes out of the forest, shoot first,” Maxillo said to us.
Another screech sounded, deadly close to us now. A shadowy crawler pounced from the night and onto the misty road. It landed on top of a Praetorian, who screamed as the creature tore into his flesh. With a flash of spears, two more Praetorians charged the creature, skewering it through the belly. It went limp, even as more shadowy shapes came from the woods.
“There’s too many!” Anna asked. “We have to break through and make it to the ship!”
“The ship?” Maxillo asked. “What ship?”
A pair of crawlers attacked the group’s left flank. Three Praetorians lined up, pointing their spears into the darkness. The battle-hardened warriors did everything their training had taught them, but they had never fought anything like this. More crawlers appeared, swarming over the warriors, their spears doing little against the creatures’ thick exoskeletons. The crawlers screeched in victory as they ripped tendrils of flesh from the Praetorians’ corpses, sprays of blood adding a reddish hue to the mist.
“Do as she says!” Maxillo roared. “Clear a path ahead!”
The Praetorians responded, cutting their way through a pack of crawlers that still grew in number. Where had they all come from? There were no Blights around here, were there?
That was when a crawler appeared in front of me, a scythe-like fang flashing by my side. I tucked and rolled onto the ground. Lying on my back, the crawler appeared above me, exposing its soft underbelly. I aimed and fired my Beretta. The creature squealed in pain as each bullet connected, purple blood oozing from the large holes I had created at point blank range. I rolled to the side as the creature crashed down.
The others were ahead of me by now, but Anna had stayed behind.
“Alex, get your ass moving!”
Another crawler appeared at Anna’s side. She turned, dodging its lightning strike, all the while swinging around to catch it with her katana. The creature turned its stomach away, and instead the katana glanced off the creature’s side in a shower of sparks.
The crawler had cut us off from the rest of the group, and more were coming from behind.
I ran forward, pointing my gun toward the hideous monster.
Bam. Bam. Bam.
The bullets ricocheted off its tough skin. I had succeeded in nothing more than pissing it off. The crawler charged for me, and in so doing, exposed itself to Anna. She surged forward, swiping her blade underneath it.
The crawler gave a horrible screech that pierced my ears. The fetid stench of its guts filled the air as they spilled out onto the dirt path. The creature’s body slumped, twitched, and grew still.
“Come on,” I said.
I grabbed Anna’s hand and ran up the mountain path. We passed the bodies of both man and monster as we ran ahead. Thankfully, none of them were our own.
Then, a baleful roar sounded from above. The mist darkened as something…flew…over us. It wasn’t Gilgamesh. This was something alive.
We both paused on the road. I hoped the mist was thick enough that whatever was up there couldn’t see us.
The thing passed overhead, giving an unholy bellow is it plied the skies above. The mist was too thick to get a view of it.
“What is that thing?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. We need to find the others.”
We continued our sprint, wheezing for air. The sounds of the screeches and gunshots were getting closer. Men’s screams sounded in the night. I could only hope that they weren’t either Samuel or Julian.
Finally, the ground leveled, and the road turned. We were getting close to the rendezvous point.
We passed the corpse of one of the crawlers. Huddled against its frame were two forms. It was Samuel and Julian.
“Samuel!” I said, running closer.
He held a finger to his lips.
“We thought you were dead,” Julian said.
“It’ll take more than a few crawlers to kill me,” I said. “Did you guys see that flying thing?”
Samuel nodded his assent, his eyes wide. “It swooped down and took Maxillo with its claws…”
“What was it?” Anna asked.
Samuel waved us over. We got on the ground, scooting against its back.