DARKSIDERS: Return of the Horsemen

Chapter 7: The way to the Bronx

Once the sun began rising, Alli was up and reloading her med-kit, glow sticks, flares and rations before grabbing her hoodie vest. Once her pack was on her back, Dust perched himself once again on the pack. Steven was still asleep, so she wrote a quick note for him. Once outside, she spotted Ruin, but not War. She walked up to the horse who met her half way. He lowered his head to her and allowed her to pet him. “Morning, Ruin. Ready to go find Mayhem today?” She asked. He snorted in response. The tracker smiled as she noticed War approach out of the morning mist. “Where’d you go?” She asked. “To check on Valor’s defenses. Luckily, the Maker has set warding along the perimeters.” He responded. Alli nodded. “Yeah. B’jorn did one hell of a job with that. Anyways, we better cut through the park so we can head for the Bronx.” She suggested. War nodded, hopping up onto Ruin’s back, then helped the human up as well, situating her in front of him once again.  “Follow the old trail, Ruin.” Alli ordered. The horse began walking through the wooded area until they reached the old foot path. Dust took flight as well. “This area is part of the settlement, correct?” War asked. “Yeah. It was tough as hell, but we managed to take the entirety of the park back from the demons. We usually use the area close to the settlement for agriculture. The rest is for everyone. Weather it’s training or just needing to be alone for a bit. Once we took the park back, B’jorn set up warding around the area.”  She explained.

Ruin picked up speed so it would take less time to get through the park. Once at the other side, the horse kept going until the roads became tough for a horse to pass through. Alli looked around and saw the entrance to the old subway system. “Over there. We can get to The Bronx through there. There was a bridge back in the day, but its destroyed now.” She explained. War dismounted, then helped her off Ruin before the phantom horse vanished again. By now, the sun was just peaking over the horizon. Alli turned on a new mounted flashlight that was on the strap of her pack. Dust landed on her shoulder before they made the descent. Skeletons and corpses littered the station. People who tried to hide from the demons met a horrible demise. They made it down to the platform and Alli began leading War onto the tracks, which weren’t connected to the settlement’s power grid, and pulled her pistol out, just in case.
“Be on your guard. Demons down here can get a little frisky.” She said. War kept silent as they kept walking. Thanks to the brightness of the flashlight, the two came across some debris and a chasm. Luckily, the debris had some of the demon growth on it. War took the lead this time. Grappling onto the demon growth. Alli reached for her pocket, grabbing a glow stick and cracking it. “Dust, scout ahead, but keep close.” Alli told the raven, sending him flying with the green glow stick in his talons before she began climbing onto the demon growth beside War. As they kept going, the growth changed from climbing to hanging. War sunk both his hand and gauntlet into the overhead growth, then looked at the tracker, noticing her hesitation. “Is everything alright, Alli?” He asked. Looking to him, she responded, “Um, not really, War. Climbing like how I am now is a piece of cake. Hanging is not my strong suit. Plus, if demons show up, I can’t  defend myself. Also, this chasm is new.” She responded. War climbed over to her, then held out his hand. “I won’t let you fall. You have my word.” He said, calmly. Alli took it, then War situated her so they were in a piggyback situation. “War, I could kiss you! This way, I can keep an eye open for demons while you get us across.” She said, happily while locking her legs around his waist. “Save your affections for after we save my brother.” He said. Alli shook her head. “It’s a figure of speech, big guy.” She said as he began climbing across, carefully.

While climbing across the chasm, Dust started to caw loudly in alarm. “Looks like we’re about to have some unwanted company.” Alli said, reaching for her pistol. They were demonic bats and they were headed for the tracker and Horseman. Alli took aim and shot down a few of the bats. The others were a little tougher to shoot due to a lack of light. Dust took notice and flew overhead of the bats, which gave Alli enough light to shoot the rest of them down. Once they were taken care of, War continued to grapple his way across until they saw the ledge on the other side. Once War let go of the overhead demon growth, the two fell to the ground. Alli slid off his back and continued to lead him up to The Bronx. They came across a subway station, which Alli recognized, and she lead both War and Dust back topside, where they were greeted by a new area. “Welcome to the Bronx.” The tracker said, turning her flashlight off.