“Come on out, girlie! We just wan’ a word with ya!”

  SMASH

  Julia was frantically packing things into her bracelet. She had her entire room packed away—except for the furniture—and now she was working on the essentials from the rest of the house. She grabbed the storage bag that Braden had left for her and tied it around her waist. It had all the food she would need while he was gone.

  SMASH

  Trixy was draped around her neck, anxiously gripping the shoulder seam on her shirt. Julia had already grabbed Trixy’s various beds, cushions, and toys. She started packing kitchenware—cups, pots, pans, silverware—anything she could find.

  CRACK

  The front door split near the middle, splinters of wood flying into the entryway. Looks like this was all she’d be able to pack.

  Two days had passed since Julia noticed the presence of the ‘others,’ as she had taken to

  calling them. She had remained inside the entire time, not wanting to risk venturing out and drawing their ire. She had no idea what the situation was out there, and she had deemed any attempt to go out and gather information too risky.

  She had occasionally heard shouting or the noise from a scuffle, but it always faded away. There was never any noise around the house. It was always off in the street or farther into town. Until now, that is.

  Dave was back, and he was crazier than ever. There were at least a few people with him. She only knew because whenever he jeered and shouted at her, it was accompanied by other voices piling on. They had shown up completely out of the blue. She nearly jumped out of her skin when an axe-wielding Dave struck the front door.

  The good news was that Braden seemed to have installed wards of some kind. They must be triggered by the doors being locked or something. The axe had long-since broken, and Dave was now pounding on the door with his bare fists.

  Of course, the instant Julia heard the first of the axe’s impacts, she knew she had to leave. She was hoping the wards would be strong enough to keep them out while she packed the whole house up, but it seems that wasn’t the case. Dave was possessed of unnatural Strength. At least, she suspected it was unnatural.

  Even if his woodcutter class gave him decent stats, she didn’t think anyone should be able to blast through a warded door with their bare fists—especially without even a combat Class as their main.

  Julia headed toward the back window and opened the shutters a crack—planning to jump out and escape.

  CRASH

  A bloodied hand smashed through the glass and forced the shutters open further.

  THUMP—THUMP—THUMP

  Julia slammed the shutters over and over on the arm until it retracted enough for her to force them closed again. She locked them immediately. It seemed these were warded as well since the ensuing pounding didn’t destroy them outright. But, looking at the state of the front door, she knew that wouldn’t last.

  Julia was in a tight spot. Tears formed in her eyes, but she didn’t have time for that! She willed a long kitchen knife out of her bracelet and into her right hand as she took off up the stairs. If downstairs wasn’t an option, she’d have to take a chance jumping off the roof.

  When she reached the top of the stairs, she heard the door smash off its hinges and impact the far wall of the entryway.

  “Where ya at!? It’ll be right quick if ya come on out! I swear on the name a Davith Sherwood, I’ll send ya out without sufferin’!”

  She sprinted over to her bedroom window and opened it. As she climbed out, she made a snap decision. She focused her attention to her bed, now just a feather mattress with no sheets, and used her Spark spell to ignite the mattress. The loose feathers went up in a blaze almost immediately.

  They may force her from her home, but she would make damn sure they’d get nothing out of it. Of course, she didn’t have a clue what was going on. She didn’t know if their goal was to rob them, but no need to risk it.

  She took measured steps across the roof, trying to be as quiet as possible. She knew there were others around. She hoped they’d all rushed into the house when the door came down. That would give her a chance to run, but she wasn’t going to be foolishly hopeful.

  Looking at Trixy, she winked twice, and they faded from view.

  She maneuvered to the edge of the roof that hung over the porch just to the right of the sidewalk. Looking out, Julia estimated there to be a crowd of about 30 people—all radiating a strange aura that she confirmed with a brief activation of Truesight.

  She lowered herself over the edge of the roof to hang down as far as she could. She let herself fall and then collapsed with the momentum onto the grass. Although muffled, the impact still made a small swishing sound. Fortunately, everyone was distracted by the smoke now billowing out of the upstairs windows.

  Good. Maybe the smoke will be a warning to anyone that’s still sane in the area.

  She took off across the yard and vaulted over the fence before heading down the street. Once they were far enough away that all they could hear were muted shouts, Trixy undid the invisibility, panting heavily. She’d likely used most of her mana in their escape.

  Julia switched to stealthier movement now that the spell was gone. She hugged walls and clung to shadows as much as she could as she moved. Fortunately, it was late in the evening, so the shadows were only growing longer.

  She had no real idea of what to do or where to go. The only thing she could think to do was head for the mayor’s house. Even if he didn’t know what was going on, he’d likely know what to do better than her. He’d have a plan.

  She peeked around a corner and saw absolute chaos.

  Townsfolk were being dragged out of homes and shops by the dozens. Some came with resignation, others were kicking and screaming, and still others were lying in pools of blood. Clearly, they resisted a little too much.

  The strangest thing was that they were sitting their prisoners down in the square and—after seeming to just sit there for a second—the prisoners got up and started helping the crazy ones drag more villagers out. It was like the act of sitting down instantly drove them crazy.

  Julia couldn’t understand what was happening, and she also had no idea how she was going to get by the huge crowd in the square.

  Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and spun. A middle-aged woman with brown hair pulled into a tight bun grabbed her shoulders. She had a simple, grey dress underneath an apron that probably used to be white but was now a dark brown. From blood or dirt or both, she wasn’t sure.

  “Well, what do we have here!? A cute little snack coming to join the initiation? No need to hide in the shadows, little one. He’ll welcome you just the same as us!” the woman exclaimed, as though inviting Julia to a party.

  Julia was too stunned to respond. She froze in abject terror—thinking about being taken to the square and becoming one of them.

  Trixy was more composed and immediately bit one of the hands holding Julia’s shoulders.

  “Ow! You little rat! He doesn’t have any use for nasty creatures like you!” she bellowed. Still holding Julia’s shoulder with one hand, she reached towards Trixy to grab her.

  This finally forced Julia out of her shock. She used the knife—still in her hand—to cut a deep gouge across the arm still holding her shoulder.

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  “AAAAHHH!” the crazed woman screeched. Julia clapped her hands over her ears; the sound was like a banshee’s wail.

  “How dare you!? You would stand in the way of The Plan!?” The woman, eyes now slightly bloodshot, threw a straight punch as she said this. Julia just barely had time to slide to the side as the punch flew past her.

  Julia barely even heard the impact. She glanced behind her to see that the punch hadn’t blown a huge hole in the wall like she’d expected. It had simply passed through it like it wasn’t there. There was no gaping hole with damaged bricks spilling across the ground—just a fist-shaped hole in the brick, as though the fist turned the brick and mortar in its path to dust.

  The crazed lady cocked her fist back again with a manic smile. A strand of drool started dripping down the corner of her mouth, and her eyes seemed to be growing increasingly more bloodshot with every second. Julia was positive she wouldn’t be able to dodge another strike like that now that the woman had gauged her speed.

  Just as the thought that she might actually die here occurred to her, an arrowhead came squelching out the front of the woman’s throat. Her eyes went wide, and she made a horrible gurgling noise while clutching at her throat.

  “Julia! This way!” a man on a chestnut-colored horse called to her. He was riding directly through the square. Running over any of the crazies that got in his way.

  Julia didn’t know who he was, but she wasn’t about to question help when she had just seen her life flash before her eyes. She took off at a full-sprint in his direction.

  She heard thumping behind her and glanced back. She almost tripped over her own feet when she saw the crazed woman sprinting after her with the arrow still poking out of her neck. Worse still, she was gaining fast.

  “Here! Grab my hand!” the man shouted as he neared. He leaned to the side and extended his arm. She grabbed it and was hauled onto the back of the horse.

  “Hold on tight!” he cautioned before kicking the arrow-in-her-neck lady in the face as they blasted past her.

  “I was headed for the mayor’s house! He might know what’s going on!” Julia shouted over the wind and shouts.

  “No chance! We’re getting out of here and headed for the city! Braden is there, and he’d never forgive me if anything happened to you!” her mysterious rescuer replied.

  “You know Braden?! Who are you? Why are you here?” Julia asked. Not that she wasn’t grateful, but what was with this coincidence?

  “Name’s Lothier, adventurer of Striton. Braden hired me to come back here and look after you while he’s away in the city. This is not what he said the job would be, though! He said I might have to threaten some townsfolk if they tried bullying you while he was away! I did not sign up for…this!”

  Julia thought that it was a reasonable reaction. She had no idea what was going on, either. Still, she was grateful for Braden’s over-cautious nature. If he hadn’t been such a worrywart and hired Lothier, she’d be dead. She’d probably still tease him about it, though.

  Lothier had the look of a Scout, or probably a more advanced class than that. He had dark leather armor pieces covering most of his critical body parts with a black tunic and pants underneath. He wore a black facemask that went up over his nose and had the hood of his tunic up. The only real personal detail she could make out was his hazel eyes.

  “Thank you for your help, Lothier! I don’t know what’s going on, either. Things started devolving a couple days ago, but this kind of violence is a surprise to me, too.” Julia didn’t have to yell quite as loudly now that the shouts and screams had faded behind them.

  They passed through the gate and she noted that there was no guard present.

  “Hey, you got any riding experience, Julia?” Lothier asked.

  “None,” Julia answered truthfully.

  “Well, now’s as good a time as any. I’m gonna move you in front of me. Just hold the reins and make gentle corrections left or right to keep Apple here on the road,” he said.

  “Apple? That’s the horse’s name? Wait, why do I need to steer!? I actually can’t even think of a worse time to learn than right now!’ Julia exclaimed.

  “We’ve got trouble behind us. I don’t know what’s going on with these people, but they’re gaining on a horse at full gallop. I’m going to need to use my bow.” Lothier said with sudden serenity. Julia figured this was the calm-under-pressure that Braden always mentioned adventurers needed.

  She noticed the short, wooden bow on his back with a quiver of arrows. In all the commotion, she had completely forgotten that it was he that had shot the lady through the throat.

  Lothier picked Julia up and set her down in front of him. She picked up the reins with sweaty palms while Lothier stood up and—with tremendous grace—spun around to sit with his back to Julia. He drew his bow and began to fire.

  Julia looked back to see how his aim was and flinched when she saw Dave leading the pack of 10-15 that were chasing them. He looked nothing like she remembered. His mouth was open in a vicious snarl, as though he were soundlessly screaming, drool streamed out both sides.

  His eyes were so bloodshot they looked yellowish brown, and his fists were in complete tatters—likely from pulverizing her warded front door. She noticed the edges of his clothes were singed black, which gave her a small sense of satisfaction.

  Only now that twilight had settled did she notice that all their pursuers’ irises were glowing a fiery red.

  Lothier was lining his shots up carefully. He seemed to have learned from his experience with the lady that could somehow pursue them with an arrow through her throat. He was taking shots to keep them from chasing. His arrows punched through heads and kneecaps and feet. Whatever he could aim at easiest.

  Still, the chase was frantic, so he missed about two of every three shots. The crazies that got hit in the head collapsed without so much as a twitch, like puppets with their strings suddenly cut.

  The ones that took arrows to their knees also went down, but with much more struggling. They didn’t even flinch at the arrows embedded in them. They either got up and continued limping in pursuit, or they crawled.

  Julia was disturbed that the crawlers didn’t even flinch when their stricken knees made contact with the ground. The lady had screamed when Julia slashed her, though, so they must feel pain. Although, she also ran after them with an arrow in her throat, so maybe this—whatever this was—dulled their sense of pain as it progressed. The woman had looked much worse after Julia sliced her.

  “Alright. Good work keeping us on the path. I’m going to switch back now,” Lothier said.

  “What? Why!? There are still at least seven of them back there!” Julia yelled over her shoulder.

  “I’m down to five arrows. Gotta save those for if they get close enough that I’ve got no chance of missing. If I hit all five shots, I think I can manage with only two of them left. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. Hopefully they didn’t get unlimited stamina to go with their monstrous Strength, and they tire out before Apple does,” he said with more resignation than the hope he seemed to be attempting to evoke.

  He swapped places with Julia and spurred Apple on as they made it into the treeline. Julia wasn’t hopeful. She had seen Dave smashing the door with his bare fists. She’d seen what remained of those same fists, and still he pursued.

  No, she didn’t think they were going to stop. Even if their bodies got tired, based on how they handled pain, they wouldn’t stop until they physically could not run anymore and collapsed.

  Julia was trying to figure out how they were going to escape when she suddenly realized she could help. She wasn’t helpless, she had just felt like it up to this point. If she hadn’t frozen when that lady grabbed her, she might have been able to do more then, too…perhaps, if she hadn’t just run when her parents—no! This wasn’t the time.

  She was strong, and she had worked for it. As the fear faded away and Julia embraced her own strength—the strength she had worked for years to acquire—a calm settled over her.

  “I’m going to try some magic, Lothier. Please keep going no matter what happens. I’ll have to cast a spell on you to protect you from it,” Julia said, her voice calm.

  “Sure. Just don’t overdo it. It doesn’t do me any good to survive here just for Braden to kill me if I get back to Striton with you injured,” he chuckled.

  Julia smiled and then focused on her Lightning Magic. She first cast Faraday’s Cage on herself, Trixy, Apple, and Lothier. This took a quarter of her mana outright and was draining her quickly. She had to make this one spell count.

  She customized her Lightning Bolt recipe to focus on power and reach. However, when she tried to target one of the pursuers, she found it untenable. The spell kept locking onto them and then…slipping out of her grasp. That was the only feeling she could ascribe to it. It was like she was trying to grab a slippery worm.

  She was running out of time. What could she do? Was it the hazy aura that was preventing her from targeting them? Maybe it was the fact that both she and they were running frantically? She could cast the spell blindly, but lightning was such a concentrated blast. She’d very likely miss completely.

  She looked at the ground they were passing over and had a sudden realization. If she couldn’t target them, she’d have to target something they couldn’t avoid.

  She focused her spell on the ground directly beneath her and then anchored it there. As they galloped away, she kept her focus on it. It got more difficult as the distance grew, but soon, Dave took a step into that exact spot. She poured all her remaining mana—just over half—into the spell and released it.

  She heard a deafening crack, but her head suddenly felt like it split open. She felt a light snap in her nose and blood came rushing out of both nostrils. She was vaguely aware of System notifications appearing in front of her, but her world was spinning upside down, so she couldn’t pay much attention.

  Julia’s last thought was that she needed to fall backwards into Lothier, rather than falling forward and off the back of the horse.

  She felt herself lean back, and then she knew no more.