25.

  So few were left. The majority of the reinforcements Santi had called for had been injured or killed and the majority of the survivors had escorted Frank’s and Zeke’s people back to Homebase. Santi’s team, plus his Mom, Torin, and Yessi and her golems. Rayleigh had four fighters left, all Acolytes in the low thirties. Frank, Maya, and Zeke had all come with them, not having been asked but told. Their own evolutions coming soon enough.

  They had all watched in awe as the Pillar of Civilization had shrunk, falling into itself until it was nothing more than a thick seven foot long staff. Santi had it over his shoulder as he walked, eyes alert as they entered into where Daniel’s scouts had been killed. The heavy staff on Santi’s shoulder was reassuring as they looked around the cluster of buildings that composed the entirety of the town.

  Population 545. There were no apartments, no large homes. Most of the surviving houses were tract homes, easily thrown up and left alone. It was these little settlements, little more than villages, that survived the best. The populations were wiped out in most cases, but the infrastructure didn’t take quite as much of a beating.

  It was a decent place to have a small team of runners. Close to the interstate, could move in any cardinal direction with ease. Slightly out of the way so nobody should have ran over it without searching for it. The carcasses of the dead beetles were still there, massive and hollow, eaten out by other wild monsters or animals.

  “Isn’t this cozy,” Santi said, leaning toward Cameron. The bigger man just looked around and raised an eyebrow at the deserted town.

  “I wouldn’t want to be doing whatever it was Daniel had them doing way the fuck out here.”

  “They hung out and played board games or card games most of the time,” Hana supplied.

  “Boring.”

  “Then they all got killed,” Santi reminded Cam.

  “Yeah, there is that part. Bored to death.”

  Everyone pulled away from Cam as he stood there, his dark humor not landing. Bianca was shoulder to shoulder with Yessi as the two of them, and Yessi’s golem, marched into where the scout’s building had been.

  “Fuck, everyone’s a critic,” Cam grunted as he started to move toward the dead beetles. Chloe went with him, the two of them the physically strongest people in the small group, and they began to haul the corpses out of the way while Santi looked around for a good spot.

  He couldn’t access the pillar while it was in its travel mode and if he wanted this to work he was going to need the map. The three probes had provided a very accurate topographical map and the plan was for Daniel, Hana, and Bianca to move around town and develop a good map of the town and the surrounding region.

  The heavy spells Yessenia would be making over the next few days would require an accurate knowledge base of the terrain. Now that they were progressing past the easy ritual spells, things like altitude and slope of the land could affect the spell. It was rapidly growing beyond Santi’s limited knowledge, but Yessi was sinking into it like a duck to water.

  She had plenty of work to do and the math of building a half dozen spells, most of them overlapping, had been enough to make Santi’s head hurt. Yessi’s skills had been useful, shaving so much time off the effort that Santi had a brief moment of jealousy. He had faith that she could figure out all the spells needed to activate their trap, now it was just up to him to get the power source for the biggest of the spells.

  He’d need to get it from Duncan. He didn’t think the assassin would just hand it over, he’d need to have something in return. Something of equal value to a powerful rift heart. For that he’d need to start searching, these sparse areas likely had a few secrets hidden in them.

  First was to establish a small base here while he went and found the missing scout, Keegan. He’d take Daniel, Hana, Chloe and Tank. The rest of the group would stay here and protect Yessenia and prepare for the siege that was coming. The two dwarves would be massive help here, the experienced builders would have tricks up their sleeves that would help even the field.

  In the center of the small town was a little field, that was more a large yard than anything. It was surrounded by ribbons of concrete, the roads all barely single lane. It was good enough for him. Santi speared the pillar into the earth, the heavy staff spearing into the hard packed dirt with ease. With a thought the pillar began to grow, stretching up higher and higher.

  The menu popped into his mind and he quickly checked the map. There were no other people around and a little bit of tension left Santi’s back after seeing that. The scout had been left behind in their fast paced march to the outpost. Duncan would be around, but Santi needed to see him later, not sooner.

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  Santi left the pillar there and went back to the outpost that the runners had been housed in. It was a simple building with just a bit of plywood over the windows and the backdoor barricaded. The girls had pulled out what little was left of the runner’s personal possessions, tossing them on the lawn without a care. The dwarves were looking around, pointing to this and that, their guttural native tongue gruff and grating.

  “Pillar’s set up. Probes are deployed. Should have a decent map of the area in a few hours.”

  “Will we be able to access the map while you’re gone?” Bianca asked.

  “Yes. I’ll set you, Cam, and Torin as being able to access it. Won’t be able to do any of the functions I can do, but you’ll be able to use the maps.”

  “You trust Torin?”

  “Trust him far enough. We have an agreement and he won’t break it.”

  “If you say so. Mom likes him. Don’t know if I like who she is right now.”

  “I don’t think many of us like who we are right now. Work got to get done. You going to be fine without me?”

  “We’ll be fine. Torin is impressive, have no idea how those cyclops captured him.”

  “Numbers can still overwhelm people. At least, so far it can.” Santi had an image of a Champion, wreathed in lightning, as Disciples and peak Acolytes threw themselves at her. They all burned, turned to ash with a flicker of the fingers. At a certain point one would be strong enough that only their equals could match them.

  “Get your ass in here and help out. I don’t care how big and bad you are, you’re still my little brother and you don’t get to stand around while I clean.” Bianca had a fake stern look on her face and Santi felt grateful to her. At times he felt strange. Like he wasn’t who he thought he was. That the person who was accomplishing the things he was accomplishing, the man people looked to for advice and leadership wasn’t him. Just someone walking around with his face and body.

  His family helped ground him. Remind him that he was still Santiago. Which was something he sometimes forgot. He looked at the pool of silver metal wound around his arm, the numbers floating in his eyesight, and he saw the fields of the dead who’d died to his hand and he forgot who he was, lost in who he was becoming.

  The inside of the outpost was mostly already cleaned out. Personal belongings strewn out and any food thrown away to get rid of pests. The food was too weak for them to eat and was already moldering. He saved a few books and a deck of cards, but otherwise everything was thrown out. Yessenia quickly found a bedroom in the depths of the house and claimed it as her own.

  “Don’t forget you need to get those evolutions done!” Santi yelled after her. She had been more out and about the last day, but she was just as withdrawn as ever. She only talked to the family, even giving Cam just one word answers.

  “I’ll make sure it gets done. Those three going to get along or kill each other?” Bianca asked of the newest acquisitions to their little band. Santi had to think of it as he drug a couch against the wall and fluffed a few pillows.

  “I think they’ll get along a bit better now that they’re no longer competing for the same resources. Maya needs to be kept away from the rest of the group though. I think she’ll make a good addition to Rayleigh’s teams, or maybe even a heavy hitter like Daniel and Hana. She has the spirit for it, the drive.”

  “As long as she keeps that drive and spirit pointed away from us.”

  “If she steps out of line and threatens the family, I'll put her down.”

  “Get in line. I won’t let anything hurt us again.” Bianca was fierce, her eyes set and hard, a scowl on her face. They both remembered the day Abraham had come and how neither of them had been there. A lesson carved into their souls.

  “I should have ended that before it started. I was weak and we’re all paying for it. I’m sorry Bianca.I brought you into the town I built and told you it was safe. I was wrong.”

  “It’s Abraham’s fault. He was the one who did it. His insecurity and greed is what killed our father.”

  “I know that. I understand that. I still blame myself.”

  “I love you Santi. Dad loved you and Mom and Yessenia loves you. No one blames you for what Abraham did.”

  Santi felt tears pricking at his eyes as he dropped the fluffed pillow to the edge of the gray couch before flopping into it. Bianca sat down next to him and leaned against him, the two siblings staring at the undecorated wall across from them in silence for a few minutes.

  “Remember how he always sang the wrong words to Mom’s music?” Bianca asked.

  “She’d get so pissed, but would always laugh in the end.”

  “Vicente! That’s not how it goes!” Bianca said in a terrible impression of their mother. Both of them laughed and the tears did slide down his face then. It was a good thing though, the old memory bringing the warm comfort of familiarity rather than the sting of loss. They sat there, just talking quietly to each other stories of before, mainly of Dad, but of just before.

  They both pretended to not hear the sobs behind them coming from the hallway where Yessenia sat, not strong enough to sit with them. When Mom came in she took one look and then held up a hand, preventing whoever else was following her to stop. She closed the door and walked past Santi and Bianca and into the hallway. The sobs grew louder, heart wrenching wails as the bottled up emotions Yessenia had been holding for months finally broke free with the gentle reminder of happy times.