Nightshift 42: Morris Park
It had been easy enough during the daylight to dismiss the idea of monsters as a mass hallucination or the result of some sort of psychotropics. Bond, standing in a bank of fog that had not been present just moments before, suddenly found it just that much harder to rationalize. The trees lining the park looked warped and twisted where their
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"Hard to trust anyone? Yeah, I guess so." Out of nowhere, she gave him a big, playful grin. "Then... do you trust me?" Partly, she just wanted to see how Leonard reacted to sudden, awkward questions. But if she got a serious answer, that would be interesting too.
When asked about the way out, Anise just shrugged. "How would I know something like that?" It wasn't like anyone had ever left town, besides in the buses. And Anise didn't have any special information that wasn't common knowledge among most patients. "I just thought if we went in the opposite direction from where we came from, we'd eventually get away. I've never been this far before."
She thought she could see human-like silhouettes somewhere ahead of them, so Anise slowed her pace. They could have been bushes or trees, for all she could tell, but they couldn't afford to take any risks.
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Okay, so neither of us has a clue where we're headed. Great. He slowed his pace as she did, hearing rustling from both sides of the path. The sooner we get out of this park, the better.
He didn't have time to think long as two or three vaguely human-shaped creatures emerged from the shadows, gasping and garbling through their torn throats and rotted teeth. It was hard to tell their numbers- the suffocating darkness and fog made their shapes blend together as they approached. Leonard took a couple of steps backward, keeping Anise behind him as he readied his weapon.
"Fuck," he cursed as the shapes came closer. "Figures we wouldn't make it through here without incident. Maybe we can knock them down and make a break for it."
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Anise had to admit, she was a little surprised when Leonard moved to shield her once trouble came staggering along. After all, this was a Guardian getting guarded by someone else! But that wasn't all bad, in her view. Even though Leonard wasn't exactly a prince on a white horse, it felt good to have someone coming to her rescue, like she always dreamed about.
Still, Anise wasn't very good at the role of a damsel in distress. As much as she wanted to think she could leave everything to Leonard, it was hard for her to stand back and do nothing. "Knock them down? But against this many..." Well, they were all crowded together. Maybe she could manage something with her artes.
"If you can buy me a few seconds, I might be able to do something about them," she offered. Anise wasn't sure how much damage she could do against them, but she had a feeling their rotting skin offered a lot less protection than the thick hide and muscles of the last monster she attempted an arte on. The girl took a few long steps backward to give Leonard space, then began to focus on amassing what power she could into the mallet in her hands.
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Without a word, Leonard went for the one he judged to be closest, swinging his weapon downward toward the creature's head. The sharp corner pierced the weakened skull of the zombie and stunned him, knocking him to the ground. This seemed like a minor victory until another zombie appeared from the fog behind the first, lunging toward Leonard and digging its jagged fingernails into his right arm. Leonard struggled, barely managing to keep the beast's gaping mouth from connecting with his wrist.
A third zombie shambled from Leonard's left, trying to walk past him and toward Anise. Leonard made a grab for the zombie's arm, pulling it back to slow his assault. The undead man hissed and moaned, first trying to free himself from Leonard's grasp before turning his attention toward his captor.
"Fuck! There's three of them!" he called, hoping the girl would hear him and do something to protect herself.
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The Sixth Fonon it was, then! Light seemed like a good choice against the undead. This time, Anise knew better than to try to draw fonons from the area around her: she'd learned from her last attempt that it was no use. Instead, she focused on drawing fonons from her own body - those that could be spared, of course.
But once she felt she had enough to release into an arte, Anise heard Leonard shout, and looked up just in time to see a creature trying to make its way over to her. Even worse, Leonard was right in the middle of all of them! So much for getting them all at once. She should've known it wouldn't be that easy. Time for a last-second change in plans! Her new goal was to use the arte to do some damage without catching her ally in the middle of it.
The one that had tried to make its way over to her was the only one she could see clearly, so Anise made that one her target. Leonard may have been holding on to it, but there was just enough distance between the man and the monster's body to be safe. Probably. Raising the mallet she had focused her energy into, she unleashed the spell on the creature. "Don't look back!" she shouted at Leonard, hoping to spare his eyes the bright flash that would follow.
A narrow pillar of light shot up where the nearest enemy stood, with blinding light searing through the creature's body and shining out through its eyes and mouth. A moment later, the light vanished, and the creature crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Anise's guess about the creature's defense was about right: even a weakened arte was enough to take it down. And it still looked pretty cool! It was probably a good thing it had been weakened anyway, with it detonating so close to Leonard. The shorter range and lessened damage probably meant he didn't feel a thing! Or so she hoped.
"Got one!" she cried triumphantly, trying to ignore the dizziness she was beginning to feel.
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"What the fuck was that!?" Leonard asked as he turned around to face the girl. "Where did that light come from? What the fuck is going on here?" Fucking zombies and magic shit or something like she's some sort of fucking witch. Fuck, what is going on here? Leonard crammed his hands into his pockets for his notes again before realizing the futility of trying to read in the darkness. Fuck, I need my notes. Nothing makes sense and I have no idea what's going on and it's hard to keep focused with fucking monsters attacking us.
He closed his eyes, putting his hands to his face. Focus. This is important. Suspend disbelief for right now and just go with it. Fuck monsters and magic and whatever the hell it is that's going on right now and just survive.
"Sorry, I just... " He tried again. "I'm having some trouble comprehending all this."
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Anise just stared back at the man with a surprised look when he snapped at her, but her smile came back immediately when he started to backpedal. So his world didn't have anything like her artes, huh? She thought most people at Landel's knew about that kind of stuff, though. He had to be new.
"It's called a fonic arte! I can explain it later if you want, but for now it's probably easier to think of it as something like magic." There wasn't time for a lesson with monsters still on the prowl. They had to keep moving.
Even after waiting a bit, the dizziness didn't seem to go away. It seemed like it was getting worse, even. Maybe once they cleared the park, they could take a breather. Not likely, but maybe. "They're out of the way now, so we should get going before more show up," she suggested.
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He started walking again, stepping over the bodies of the fallen zombies and finally making it to the edge of the park.
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