Demon Hunters: Last Class

Episode 33: Lyric and Toni- Broken Castle

~Lyric~

It felt a little like being on the playground when the chosen captains picked their teams for dodgeball, only we weren't playing a game. We were being broken up into groups and set to the task of barricading the windows of the dorms and other campus buildings. Despite the constant assurance that nothing was coming for the school, the hunters were being thorough about setting up defensible positions around the campus. The stronger students were helping create roadblocks along the road leading up from the main gate. The primary material being used were trees cut down from The Brutewood, to Mr. Brute's chagrin.

Blair, Mario, Larry, and I ended up on the same team charged with sealing the first floor windows of Shield House. Andrea was assigned to assist Nena with the administration of duties. I suspect she was how the four of us ended up together.

Our group leader was the tall woman with the fancy eyepatch I'd seen when McBrennan and his people first arrived. They called her Anchali and she looked like she belonged with a plus-size modeling agency and not walking around with a sawed-off shotgun holstered on each hip. Mario said she looked like a Southeast Asian Lara Croft and I couldn't argue with his assessment. Her accent was subtle, but came out thick when she yelled at the other hunters. With them she was a terror, but with us she was downright pleasant.

"You, Harry Potter. Grab those boxes of nails. The rest of you help me with these planks."

Building material like planks and plaster, prebaked bricks, and tools had been amassed in the parking spaces outside of the headmistress's house. Larry grumbled something under his breath about hating J.K. Rowlings and grabbed the indicated box. Me and another boy lifted a bundle of four long planks lashed together with twine and gathered behind the other groups. Blair looked around apologetically. The boy she was with carried their bundle by himself. She'd already dropped her side on his feet twice before we'd even started moving.

Anchali's radio crackled and she motioned for everyone to put down their burdens. Stepping a few feet away, she put the radio to her ear.

"Repeat that, over."

"We have vehicles coming up the main road. They appear to be parents here to collect their children."

"Are we sure they aren't hostile," someone on the same channel asked.

"We're expecting them," Dean Reed replied over the radio. "Have them wait by their cars and I'll gather the students."

Anchalie put away the radio and stood in the parking area to direct the cars which we could already hear approaching. A pair of snipers set up on the roof of Nena's place and a big woman with a chaingun stood beside the house, out of sight of the road, but on hand just in case. Two cars and an SUV pulled up. One car was a hunter vehicle acting as escort and the other was driven by a no-nonsense woman in a business suit. A house husband who looked like he hadn't slept in a few nights drove the family vehicle. They both got out, but were instructed to stay by their cars.

About fifteen minutes later, Oleg, the Russian kid from Shield House came down the path dragging two suitcases. Carrot followed behind him with a duffle bag. A little bit behind them, Dean Reed and a girl from Sword House carried a trunk. When the group reached the parking area, the man ran to his daughter, gathering her in a big hug. Both were crying. The business woman merely popped the trunk and helped Oleg stow his bags. The Dean helped the dad get the trunk into the back of the SUV then went around to speak to the business woman. I listened intently, determined not to watch the man with his daughter or feel the pain in my chest.

"Yes, his father and I are good friends. We spoke on my way here."

"Since we both have his verbal consent, Carrot– I mean Finn can leave with you."