The Others, such as they were, weren’t fighters. Scavengers, living off of the scraps, luxuriating in the raw destruction and the sheer negativity that surrounded Hillsglade House, gathering information in hopes of earning the goodwill of their masters.
When the rack of stacked wood was partially empty, I tested my strength.
I wasn’t as strong as I had been in the mirror, but I was still strong.
I dragged it.
“Need fire,” I said.
“I could-” Evan started.
“No,” I said. The Others that were attacking the house were on the lookout for a bogeyman in a mirror, a Thorburn, one of Rose’s cabal, or a sparrow.
“I’ll get it,” Green Eyes said.
“Kitchen drawer,” I said, in a voice that was pitched to a low whisper, “Far left of the kitchen.”
“Got it,” she said.
She disappeared inside, through the door that had already taken a blast from a claymore.
I heard a thud. An Other in the collection of scavengers was shoved back.
Those that hadn’t been pushed back pressed in.
Midge, apparently, was fighting back, even in defeat.
That she’d lasted this long, well, that was something.
Green Eyes emerged. The Others reacted, defensive, overly alert.
As if they were afraid something bigger and stronger was going to come and take their meal away.
Green Eyes’ tail was wrapped around a chair leg. She dragged it outside with her. I saw the industrial size box of waterproof matches in one hand, a barbecue lighter in the other.
I grabbed the chair as soon as it was in reach, placing it atop the pile.
More furniture…
I spotted wooden crates that had once held dirt and flowers, now nearly invisible beneath a heavy layer of snow.
I dumped out the dirt and placed the crates with the split logs, wood rack, and chair.
It was looking more like it would be a small bonfire.
By the time I’d emptied a fourth crate, Green Eyes was returning with another chair.
Some of the Others had chunks of meat in their mouths, their portions of food, and were stepping away from the huddled mass, watching.
None had recognized me yet. Those who might have made the connection were falling prey to group psychology. The others accepted me, so they suppressed their suspicions. With food available, they had other things to focus on. Food was power, to many, many Others.
Starting the fire, as it turned out, was more difficult.
A lack of kindling. Only wood, and the crates were still damp wood.
I debated setting the box of matches on fire, but I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t explode and set me on fire, and I didn’t want to exhaust my firestarting materials.
Green Eyes ducked inside, and by the time she’d returned, I’d failed to get the fire going.
She provided a package of napkins.
From there, the fire was easy enough to start. Napkins crammed into holes, where the wind couldn’t reach them, set alight. They caught the drier, flakier wood and bark, which caught the denser wood.
All without picking a fight, first.
Thank you, Evan.
“May I?” a muffled voice asked.
I turned.
A man in a stainless steel mask, with heavy-duty handcuffs at his wrists. He wore nice clothes, all things considered. His hands were bloody, holding a tattered mass of flesh and fat.
“May you…?”
“Use your fire, please? We must be civilized, and a civilized person cooks their meat.”
“You can use it, but only if you add wood to it,” I said. “Make it bigger.”
“I promise. May I cook the meat first?”
“You may.” I stepped away as I gestured at the bonfire, inviting him to take my spot. It was still in the process of igniting, fire jumping from one piece of wood to another.
More were claiming their meat. Five or six of the thirteen or so Others had ‘food’ in hand.
As they scattered, my eyes met Midge’s. Her lower body wasn’t intact, already largely stripped of flesh. A safer area to start when her arms threatened to grab or bludgeon.
Following my gaze, Green Eyes commented, “I’m hungry.”
Then Midge blinked.
An ugly smile spread across her face.
Then she started to laugh, to snigger, an ugly, snorting, mean sort of laughter, drawn out over long seconds.
She didn’t take her eyes off me.
Heads turned.
“What’s she laughing about?”
“Ane,” one of the long-necked women said. “I can almost see-”
“I see,” Ane said.
Seeing vulnerability. Made obvious by Midge. Damn it.
“He’s-”
I ran.
Part of the plan in the first place.
The man in the steel mask didn’t follow. Several did.
I wasn’t as strong as I’d been in the mirror world, but with room to stretch my legs, I was reminded of what I’d experienced in the drains, and during my brief skirmish with Ur.
A body of dry twigs and old bone was surprisingly light. Once I got moving, I was able to move fast.
Green Eyes, for her part, started to fall behind.
“Here!” I shouted.
She pounced on me, arms wrapping around my shoulders. Barbed scales caught on my clothes, and scratched at my flesh where her wrists grazed my collarbone.
Once she wrapped her tail around my stomach, I felt more flesh catch, but the tail wasn’t battering my legs as I continued to run. It was easier. Running with a heavy backpack.
Even with the burden, I wasn’t slow by any measure. Only a handful could match me in speed.
One woman, bronze-skinned, statuesque, pulled into the lead, winter coat unbuttoned, long coattails flapping behind her. She had eyes like a hawk, with bright yellow irises. Another, a gaunt man with long hair, eyes bugging out, leaped onto the side of the house, crawling at a speed that matched my running speed.
Something whizzed by my head. I heard Green Eyes cry out in pain. It had grazed her.
I couldn’t turn to look with the burden on my back. I had to trust Green Eyes to.
“Sling,” she said. “Like from David against Goliath.”
The bronze-skinned woman.
We were leaving some of the Others behind, but the woman and the wall-crawling man weren’t ones I was about to simply outpace, even considering that I didn’t get tired.
“Evan,” I said. “If she misses you twice, come back.”
He crawled out from where the hood was pressed down by Green Eyes’ arms, then took flight.
It wouldn’t be enough. He could slow them down, but I needed to make them stop.
I still had the Hyena in one hand, the long-nozzled lighter in the other.
“Take,” I said, raising the Hyena’s handle up to my collarbone. “Don’t stab me.”
Green Eyes grabbed it.
I reached into my pocket for the box of matches.
Time to do something stupid.
My eye fell on the trees. Old, overgrown trees that now shrouded the house.
This one was too close, I decided, as I ran past it.
Green Eyes yelped something, and I half-turned to see the wall-crawling man flying in my direction.
I twisted my foot around, pushing myself in another direction.
Plumes of snow exploded from the impact of old man and deep snow.
He leaped onto a nearby tree, then leaped for me again. I was forced to give up momentum to dodge again.
Chances were that if he got me, he’d get Green Eyes. He’d lose the ensuing fight, but we’d lose our chance to slip away.