Adam pulled off to the side of the street without thinking. The deserted road stretched ahead, lined with abandoned cars that were covered in leaves and pollen. It was quiet, but not with the oppressive silence of the forest, just still, like the world had been put on pause.
He took several deep breaths and coughed, trying to clear the lingering scent from his lungs as scanned the area. After a moment, he remembered where they were and rolled the windows back up.
“How is everyone doing? Still with me?” he asked, turning to face them.
“I’m alright," Natalie said softly, but she sounded pretty far from alright.
Samantha rubbed her arms like she was trying to shake off a chill. "That glade was alive. Not just the trees or the vines. The whole place. It was all one thing… and it had intent. I've never felt anything like that."
“Yeah, I don't think anyone has." Adam let the words hang in the air before continuing. "It was... alien. Territorial. It felt like we were trespassing.”
"Trespassing," Natalie echoed. She reached between the seats and took Samantha's hand. "It did feel like that. Funny, isn't it? Shouldn't we be the ones feeling like we're being invaded?"
For once, Adam shared the edge of anger in her voice. We should be the angry ones. We should feel like we've been invaded. His eyes widened as the thought finally clicked into place.
This is an invasion.
The thought made him shiver. The idea of an active, intentional invasion sent a cold pit sinking into his stomach. He shoved the thought aside and reached for the gearshift before sitting still got them all killed.
Samantha pulled the spray paint from her pack and shook it as she opened the door. “I’m going to mark the other side of the boundary. We need to make sure it’s not growing in either direction.”
“Be careful.” Natalie's voice had an edge. It was less warning and more of a command.
Samantha's brow furrowed in brief annoyance, but the tension vanished when their eyes met and her expression softened.
"I'm not made of glass, love,” she said, giving Natalie's hand a quick squeeze, then stepping out and jogging across the street.
"I know. But I am," Natalie sighed, placing her hand on the door handle.
Adam stared ahead, drumming his fingers nervously on the steering wheel.
A gentle breeze stirred the fallen leaves from the hood of a nearby abandoned car, each rustle drawing his eyes and increasing the tension in his chest.
He watched as Samantha finished marking the boundary and started back across the road. Exhaling a breath he hadn't realized he was holding; he glanced over his shoulder at Natalie.
A sharp crack rang out from Natalie's open window. It reminded Adam of thick ice breaking underfoot, only louder. The sound repeated three more times, each one cutting through the air like the crack of a whip. Alarm prickled across his skin as he turned, frantically searching the street for a source.
Then he saw her.
Samantha stood in the middle of the road, her hand pressed to her stomach. Bright red blood welled between her fingers and she staggered forward one step, and then another, before crumpling to her knees.
It took Adam several seconds to connect the dots, then clarity hit him all at once and he snapped into motion.
He threw the car into reverse and slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The tires screeched, and the car lurched backward violently.
“SAM!” Natalie howled from the back seat as more gunshots rang through the air, one punching through the windshield and out the back window.
Adam yanked the wheel hard, sending the car into a tight arc. He stomped on the brake, bringing them to a screeching halt that shielded Samantha's body from further gunfire. Another shot shattered the passenger window, and the bullet passed close enough to graze his cheek as he fumbled the door open and dove out.
Natalie followed, grabbing her medical bag and rolling onto the pavement. She landed on her back and kicked the door shut with both feet. Then she thrust her pistol into Adam's hands, her face drawn and pale.
"This isn't the movies. The car won't stop every bullet,” she hissed, before turning and rushing to Samantha’s side.
Natalie dragged the smaller women behind the cover of the engine block. “Sam, I’m sorry but this is going to hurt,” she shouted, and Samantha choked as Natalie rolled her over, revealing a wide, blooming red stain under her hand. The blood seeped steadily through her fingers as she clutched her stomach.
Adam stared down at the gun like it had crawled into his hand. He had fired a gun a few times before, at a range, under calm and sterile conditions, but never like this. He crawled to the rear of the car and stole a quick glance around the bumper.
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Several figures were moving cautiously between the abandoned vehicles across the street.
Adam held his breath, raised the pistol. and fired.
The shapes immediately ducked low and returned fire, their bullets punching fresh holes in the car and kicking up stinging chips of asphalt. He took cover behind the wheel and stole a glance at his companions.
Natalie didn't hesitate. She moved with swift, practiced precision, cutting open Samantha's shirt to reveal the angry, pulsing wound in her upper abdomen. Samantha looked up at her, eyes wild with pain and fear.
"I... I slowed... the bullet..." she rasped, coughing up a fine red mist through chattering teeth.
"Shh. No talking," Natalie cooed, pulling a tampon out of her pack as several more cracks split the air, the bullets slamming into the car or ricocheting off of the pavement.
She placed a small piece of rubber tubing between Samantha's teeth. "Bite down," she instructed, then pushed the applicator into the wound.
Samantha went rigid, a scream tearing out of her throat and she clamped her eyes shut, tears slipping down her temples in twin rivers.
Adam fired two more shots at the advancing figures. He was sure by now they were human, and only one of them had a gun. That one fired back, and a bullet smashed through the rear taillight, peppering Adam's cheek with plastic shards.
"Fuck!" He ducked down, blinking rapidly to clear his vision, then winced as he pulled a thin sliver of plastic from his cheek.
Natalie packed the wound tightly with gauze while Adam exchanged fire with their attackers. The material soaked up the blood, but didn't stop the flow completely. "We have to get her out of here. Those shots are going to draw creatures, and she's going to bleed out if we stay."
She pressed her hand hard against Samantha's wound, making her gasp in pain.
Adam leaned to the side and risked another shot, catching a glimpse of the three figures crouched behind the hood of a car less than thirty feet away.
As if on cue, a shrill series of screeches tore through the air, answering the crack of gunfire like a challenge.
Brightly feathered creatures crawled into view on a rooftop farther down the road, leaving them flanked and exposed. The beasts swiveled their bird-like heads, staring first at Adam's group and then the enemy, seemingly uncertain as to who looked more appetizing.
He looked down at the gun, his hand trembling while his heart rattled in his chest.
“You have four shots left,” Natalie warned, eyes flickering between him and the monsters.
Holy shit. She was counting?!
"I have an idea," he said suddenly. "I'm going to try and shoot the gas tank." He looked at her, more a question than a statement.
"Adam, this isn't a movie! It won't explode," she snapped, shaking her head as she pressed harder on Samantha's stomach. Her hands worked quickly, packing more material into the wound, steady despite the blood.
Samantha twisted in pain, her breath coming in short, wet gasps. She raised a trembling hand and pointed past the car toward the attackers.
"Not without help, it won't."
Adam sparked an arc of electricity between his fingers and Natalie's eyes widened.
"Do it." She leaned over Samantha, shielding her with her body.
Adam dropped to his stomach and aimed where he thought the gas tank was. He took slow, measured shots, punching three neat holes into the car's side. One went wide, blowing out the front tire and causing the advancing men to momentarily take cover.
Peering underneath, he thought he saw a faint trickle of liquid spilling from under the bullet holes.
More gunfire rang out, scattering gravel that bit his skin. Adam ducked back behind the car. He focused and drew charge into his hand until it danced finger to finger. The air thickened with the scent of ozone and his vision narrowed as he continued to pour power into his hand.
Adam counted to three, leaned out, and flung the bolt toward the leaking vehicle.
It snapped across the distance with a sharp, buzzing crack, striking the car with physical force, and chips of paint exploded from the point of impact. Electricity cracked and popped as it arced beneath the vehicle, racing toward the trickle of fuel.
Adam clamped his eyes shut and held his breath, waiting as more gun shots hammered his car, and the creatures screeched again, growing closer.
Nothing happened. No explosion. No distraction. Nothing.
"God damn it!" He slammed his first against the back of the car, denting the thin plastic.
One of the creatures leapt from the rooftop onto a nearby car, crushing the roof with a dull crash of crumpling metal before letting out a piercing screech. It crouched, ready to pounce.
Adam turned toward Natalie and Samantha, his jaw clenched in helpless frustration.
Samantha's face had gone pale and her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she raised a trembling hand, pointing two fingers at the leaking car. Between them, a flickering ball of orange and red flared to life, smoldering as it hovered in the air.
"Mmmmm, move," she choked out.
Adam threw himself aside as she loosed the fireball.
Samantha seemed to deflate the moment it left her hand, her eyes rolling back into her head as the blazing missile tore from her fingers.
A brief flash of heat washed over him, then the fireball struck the car, blasting through the metal.
The street erupted in flame and shrapnel, followed a second later by a deeper, concussive blast that shook the ground.
Adam watched as one of the creatures was hurled away, its body landing in a smoking heap in the middle of the road.
His ears rang and the air scorched his lungs, but there was no time to hesitate.
He staggered to his feet, but Natalie was already moving.
Adam grabbed Samantha's limp legs and helped haul her into the back seat. Natalie climbed in right behind, and Adam kicked the door shut.
He turned and the creature was on its feet, already charging toward him.
Smoke curled from its scorched feathers, and it raced forward on backward-jointed legs ending in a single wicked looking claw.
It opened its beak and screeched, four writhing tongues slashing the air between rows of serrated teeth.
Adam didn't wait. He dove into the car a fraction of a second before the creature slammed into the door, its beak smashing against the window and sent a spiderweb of fractures racing across the glass.
He threw the still-running car into reverse as the creature again smashed its beak into the window, caving it in. He wrenched the wheel hard, the tires shrieking as the car spun, clipping the creature and sending it careening into the curb. Then he slammed on the gas, and the vehicle tore down the road.
In the rearview mirror, he glimpsed the three attackers scrambling as the creatures closed in. He looked away and left them to their fate.
"Adam..." Natalie's voice was thin and ragged. "I think I'm losing her." It came out as a half moan, half sob, swallowed by the rush of air through the shattered window.
"We're almost there."
He buried the accelerator, devouring the last stretch of road. Two sharp turns later, he skidded to a stop behind The Pagegrinder, praying it was far enough to keep the creatures off their trail.
