And Then There Were Giants Read online

  It was Luciano, the happy kitten that saved him from his dark thoughts. The cat managed to get his attention, as he stood frozen, letting the water wash over his hands and coalesce into the drain. He turned it off, dried his hands, and lifted the tiny cat up to look him in the eye. Luciano meowed and pawed playfully at his face, forcing him to smile and pet behind his ear gently.

  “Well, aren’t you the little survivor,” James said to him as he took him to the loveseat next to Tracy and continued to pet him.

  “How long was I out?” Tracy asked as she looked over at the big man, petting away at her Luciano. “Aww, I see he got you too, huh?” she said and smiled at Luciano and waved.

  The kitten lazily looked away from his new friend to see the familiar Tracy and meowed meekly before hopping onto her chest.

  “Back to mommy,” James said, and then stood up and looked around. “You were out for a few minutes. How do you feel?”

  “Alive, but I can barely move,” she said, looking down at her bandages and then throwing her head back in frustration. “You know, I’ve been a cop for three years now and I haven’t gotten so much as a scratch on my body this whole time. World goes to hell and I start getting hurt. Helluva lucky streak I got going.”

  “Who took Alysia?” he asked her bluntly.

  “A couple of thugs. They were wrapped up and masked real good, like they don’t want anyone to identify them.”

  “You got one of them,” he said, as he walked over to the window and looked out at the setting sun.

  “Yeah, just one, but the others got CeeCee.”

  “It’s not just men out there capturing people,” James said without looking at her.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, trying in vain to sit up.

  “I shot, killed and burned the body of someone that tried to pull me from my bike. What I burned was not a man; it was some kind of demon. Red skin, horns, black lips… just no horned tail or bat wings.”

  “Demons? Are you freaking kidding me? Demons are running around, too?” Tracy asked and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She had always joked about it being the end of the world but now the religion of her youth was flaring up. It must be the end of days, the apocalypse, and Satan was sending his creatures up to earth in order to harvest souls. “So, we have kreples—”

  “Cripples?” James asked in a concerned tone as he turned to look at her.

  “No, kreples. The lizard creatures that are everywhere,” Tracy said, hoping he wouldn’t ask anything more about the name.

  “How do you know their name?”

  She sighed. “It’s from a videogame that CeeCee and I both play. Those creatures look just like them, so we call them kreples.”

  James wanted to smile. “You mean, Blue Fantasy Six. I’m the one that got her into that game. So you’re a fellow Paladin, too, huh?” he asked, referring to the common title players of the game dubbed themselves.

  “All Paladin here, James. Just like your daughter.”

  “Call me Jimmy,” he said and sat back down on the loveseat to look at her. “Need anything? Painkillers, liquor? I know it hurts like hell.”

  “I’m good; the conversation helps take my mind off it. So demons, too, huh? kreples, giants, and freaking demons.” She made a popping noise with her mouth and then stared past him to the setting sun. “It will be dark soon. We have no lights here and it gets pretty creepy outside with all the screams and whatnot.”

  “Do you have candles?” James asked.

  “I have a couple bulb droids,” she said and pointed to a mechanical orb on the table.

  James picked it up and twisted it once. The droid hummed and floated up towards the ceiling where it began to glow, illuminating the entire room.

  “Tomorrow we will need to get moving, find Alysia, and take her back from those damned things,” James said.

  Tracy smiled at his small voice. It was a welcome surprise from the large, intimidating man, and she wanted to get to know him better. There was something gentle and pure about him, and she really, really liked him. Maybe it was Alysia’s story about how he had taken her and her mother in, or maybe it was the fact that he had saved her life. Whatever it was, she enjoyed him being there. And as they talked into the night, she fell asleep to the sound of his voice.

  It was early the next morning when they headed out. Tracy could barely move and the cold air that seemed to come from everywhere made her pain worse as she struggled to walk with him. The big man had bandaged her up, and she was on enough painkillers to make it tolerable, but still it wasn’t enough.

  “No way am I gonna be able to ride on that thing,” she said when she saw his hover-bike.

  He looked at her and sized her up. “It hovers. No bumps, no discomfort. Plus, this one’s been rigged to fly up beyond a foot,” he said proudly as he walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

  “I’m not worried about the pain; I’m worried about falling off. That seat is obviously meant for one person.”

  “This is why you will need to trust me,” he said. “You’ll have to sit facing the other way.” And he watched her eyes to see if she understood.

  “You mean sit on your lap facing the other way,” she said, looking at him to see if she could read something in his intent.

  “Listen, my girl is out there hurting somewhere. I only hesitated because of your condition. Do you really think that—?”

  “Okay!” Tracy said, realizing he was right. “Let’s just head out. The longer we stay out here, well, you know.”

  He kick-started the bike and it roared like a mechanical lion. She tugged at her jeans to pull them up more as she threw her leg over his and sat facing him. She almost found it comical, as he adjusted her enough so that he could see past her face. She reached down and held the bars that ran alongside his seat and he handed her a large handgun.

  “If we get followed, you can keep ‘em off us,” he said and she tried to ignore her pain and think past the fact that she was on his lap.

  “So, quick question before we leave,” she said.

  “Yeah, sure, what is it?”

  “This tiny crotch rocket you have us on. It will get us around, no doubt about that, but what happens when we find CeeCee? Where is she gonna fit?”

  “I’ll figure it out,” he said, and they lifted into the air and took off.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Alysia rubbed her aching ankles as she woke up feeling uncomfortably cold. She didn’t have her watch but she could tell that it was about 4:00 a.m. She lay on the rooftop of a gas station inside of a makeshift tent. She had scavenged the store after her escape the night before and had taken some instant coffee. Her mind went to it now as she thought up ways she could get a fire going, boil some water, and get warm. The layers of tarp and bags that she had used to cover herself was not enough, and it made her wonder how homeless people did it.

  She looked around at the darkness of the city and saw a few lights that indicated life here and there. Where had everyone gone? Had they not bothered to warn the school about this evacuation? Her mind drifted to the barbecue men, the demons that had captured her for their ritual. She looked at the streets to see if they were still out there, and her mind began to play tricks on her. She felt the eyes of the boy staring at her through the woods; she imagines that he knew where she was, and he was waiting her out.

  She closed her eyes, pulled the covers tighter around her body, and tried to sleep. It was a futile effort, but she no longer wanted to look out into the dark.

  When dawn broke, the sky was on fire. It was her first time seeing the sunrise in many years and she sat up to enjoy it, despite the cold. The demon that had been waiting for her smiled when she did this because his wait had not been in vain. The others had gone back into the city to find her, but he knew she was still near the park. She had been running but he knew she would not have gone far. He ran to the far side of the store and scaled the wall easily,
slipping behind her as she stretched her aching limbs. By the time she realized he was back there, he had her hands in his binds.

  Alysia almost fainted from the shock of having the demon capture her after a night of running. She looked at him with rage in her eyes, but his twisted features and black teeth repulsed her. If that wasn’t enough, he smelled of sulfur. It was so thick that she could hardly breathe and when he laughed, the smell got even worse.

  “What do you want with me?” she asked him, trying her best to stay strong despite the situation.

  He stood up, smiling at her, and then cocked his head as if he was admiring her. She didn’t like what she saw reflected in his eyes and kicked at his knee hard, causing him to stumble back as she got to her feet. She spun low and swept his legs, hoping that his stumble weakened his footing.

  The demon lost his balance and fell off the roof, his head cracking on the asphalt below. Alysia did not wait to see if he would get up and jumped off the roof to land on top of him, finishing him off. She used her teeth to loosen the binds and then ran back into the convenience store to look for a weapon.

  The others would scour the city and then retrace their steps to come back to where she was. Alysia was almost certain they would be looking for her, so she went back outside and pulled the corpse of the demon back inside to hide it. She grabbed some bread from a shelf and then scarfed it down. She washed her face, and wherever else she felt needed attention, and then slipped into the back to where the manager’s office would be.

  She didn’t find a gun like she was expecting but she found some ammunition. She needed weapons, but she was in a gas station, not a pawnshop.

  Mmm, coffee, she thought then looked around. There was alcohol, potato chips, and a little bit of everything that people passing through would need. She picked up a lighter and thought about it. “Bingo,” she said. “They may look like demons but I bet they burn like everything else.”

  An hour or so later, she heard the screams and grunts of the frustrated horde, and as she peered out through the thick window, she saw that they were looking at the building. Her heart sank. She had no weapon, they had the building surrounded, and they were too many. Her mind was working overtime as she held her lighter ready. And when the first few came in through the door to look around, she lit the fabric of the Molotov Cocktail and threw it at them.

  The bottle hit the ground near their feet and the flames took to their bodies quickly. Alysia was surprised at how fast they burned but it only slowed them as they charged at her. She side kicked the first one that got to her, and ran around to the other side of the aisle. He collapsed as the flames consumed his flesh, and the other didn’t quite make it to her as he, too collapsed.

  Alysia ran over to her stash of bottles and held her lighter ready for another, but this time the demons stayed outside, frightened by her new weapon but unwilling to leave her alone. One particularly large demon decided to brave her offensive and walked through the door, looking around for her. She depressed the button on the lighter, but it stood cold in her hand, refusing to light. She shook it desperately and pressed it again, but it was not going to light and the demon was getting closer. She cursed her luck and looked around; if he came from one end of the aisle, she would dart down the other.

  Her head was on fire from the pain as he lifted her up and punched her in the abdomen. When she screamed and he dropped her, she thought to run but found that she couldn’t move. She was hurting and the punch he’d given her was hard, much harder than any hit she had ever felt.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked him as he knelt next to her and pulled out a knife that looked like bone.

  He didn’t answer but lifted up her leg and placed the knife at her Achilles tendon and smiled through cruel red and black lips. She knew what it meant but she felt paralyzed. She tried to kick at him with her other leg but it was pinned underneath him and her arms wouldn’t move.

  “CRUA!” Another large demon shouted at him and the smile became a frown as he stood up, nodded to the other one, and then looked down at her with disgust. They didn’t want to hurt her, which was a surprise considering the fact that she had killed a number of them.

  “Crua, dosh o’gan,” it said in a deep, menacing voice, and her attacker pulled her up and held her in front of him.

  She made to dispute whatever it was they wanted to do to her but before she could say anything, his fist turned her world into blackness.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Alysia woke up to the same ritual as before, but this time she found herself tied to a tree with metal cords. There were real guards stationed around her, watching her every move, and there was blood – a lot of blood – all over her shirt. Her nose was throbbing but she managed to smile; her dad would be proud if he saw how much of him was in her. I am a fighter, she said to herself. I was tested, fight or flight, and I am a fighter. The words reinvigorated her and she looked around the campsite. Once again, the demons had a bonfire going, and danced around it rhythmically. This must mean that I am to be a sacrifice, she thought to herself. Then one of the demons saw her looking about and walked over to slap her.

  There was no escaping for her this time, and she could do nothing but watch the dancing going on from midday until nighttime. When the sun snuck off behind the buildings and the sky turned black, the procession of demons formed a circle around the fire. Two females walked over, released her bonds, and then dragged her to a tent nearby. The combined smell of their sulfurous bodies and the heat of the bonfire made Alysia gag. She sized them up to see if she could get the slip on them but she felt weak to the point of passing out.

  They stripped her of her clothing and undid her braids, brushing oils into her hair and on her skin. When they were finished, they forced her into a purple dress, lay her on a bed and tied her hands and feet to the post.

  “Really, this is what you captured me for?” she said to them, defiantly. “I’m sure some demon king or something is going to walk in here next and you all are just going to let him do whatever he wants with me, right?”

  The women looked at one another and then kept on working, and then they left the tent to join the circle with the others. Alysia was frightened and she could feel the loud thumps from her heart beating in her ears. The demons were singing now and the fire had grown, its brilliance shining through the thin fabric of the tent. She tugged at the ropes that held her wrists and cursed at the fact that she was too weak to break them.

  She used her body to see if the bed could move, and when it rocked from her attempts, she felt a glimmer of hope. Rocking and shifting her weight this way and that, Alysia managed to loosen one of the binds on her arms. She kept this going until she had one hand free, and when she was finally out, she looked around for a weapon. Run Alysia, she told herself, and then looked at the doorway where the women were waiting for whomever it was that was supposed to be her consort. She lifted the lower part of the tent near the rear and slid under it, staying low to the ground as she did.

  The demon circle was right in front of her, but they were looking at a particularly large, shadowy figure as he stepped from out of the circle and walked proudly to the tent. She slipped into the bushes and started sprinting; this time, she had a good lead on them and since they hadn’t discovered her escape yet, she felt good about her chances. I must be special, she thought. A city full of people and they choose me.

  The woods were thick and black on all sides but she kept on running despite the rocks digging into her bare feet. When she came upon another campsite she pulled up short. Her heart sank as she looked at what seemed to be the aftermath of a massacre. There were bodies everywhere, charred and disfigured, and on the ground near what used to be a bonfire lay the corpse of a woman in a purple dress very much like her own. Alysia paused to examine her fully, and the evidence of what the demons meant for her played itself out in graphic detail.

  The girl looked as if they had drained her blood, and her skin was pale to t
he point where she was alabaster beneath the moon. They had drawn all sorts of symbols on her body, and her wounds were different compared to the others that lay strewn all over the clearing. Alysia cursed herself for staying too long, and took off running back into the woods. She was crying but she didn’t know why. Maybe it was the thought that she would have been that girl if she hadn’t escaped the night before, or maybe it was tears of joy.

  She kept on running until she came upon another site, this one empty and eerily quiet. She walked through it towards a large expanse of grassy field that sat bordered on three corners by the untamed forest. She wondered what the city had planned to do with this big field but it didn’t matter; the grass felt good beneath her feet.

  Her mind was racing and all she could think about was the pale, marked up girl in the purple dress. What were the symbols, why did she look drained? Alysia thought of all the movies she had seen and all of the games she had played and her imagination went wild. She thought of the demons summoning something that they needed, or better yet “someone.” To do this, they needed the vessel of a young woman. The last girl’s vessel was not strong enough to sustain the summoning so they had come for her. It was the stuff of classic movies, but here she was, twice escaped and oiled up for a ritual.

  She realized she had been standing in the open field going over this and that she had stopped moving. The moonlight shone down on her like a spotlight and she turned around slowly to see if the demons were coming for her. She saw nothing and the only sounds she could hear were the sounds of people screaming in the direction of the city. She forced her legs to start walking, the soft grass of the field massaging the soles of her feet and tickling her toes. Why me? she thought. Why was I the one chosen for sacrifice?

  In the video game, Blue Fantasy, Alysia liked to play the ranger role; it was a role of strength and dexterity – the perfect blend of warrior and rogue. She would play for hours, wishing that one day she could become as fearless as her avatar, but video games allowed you to die. In the camp earlier, the situation forced her to run in order to live, but in the game she would have tried to fight her way out.