Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse

Population Control

The surge of intelligible grim was getting on August's nerves. We could barely make it through the center of town to get supplies without a full-on attack. She wanted us to drag some out for target practice. Naturally, I was the bait.

They dropped me off in the center of town, at the highway crossroads. I walked south while the threat was low, but the older grim easily sensed my presence. Like a fork to steak, they were ready to dig in. That left me a little under a mile to sprint to the viaduct. I already had a couple dozen grim to outrun and that was increasing by the second. My training over the last few months made running the distance effortless. However, the rising overpass made my run-for-your-life pace, a little grueling.

I thought the viaduct was a stupid place for the showdown, but I didn't voice my opinion, since I didn't know why I thought that. A strategy four minutes in the planning and twenty minutes in the execution didn't leave much room for constructive criticism.

The crowd of grim hot on my tail were unaffected by my hyperventilating speed. I felt a pull at the back of my shirt, but a well-placed bullet from Haden's side arm took out the cause of it. I was pleased that she was as good a shot as she claimed, since my head was among the possible targets.

I rolled over car hoods, to save myself the time it would take to weave through them. I saw my offensive line at the peak of the inclined road. The great thing about the grim was they weren't usually smart. If they had a target in mind, they just kept right on coming. Apparently demons didn't understand the concept of retreat.

When I made it past my front line, Devin opened fire from atop his Dodge with his shotgun, and Haden with her pistol. August stayed on the ground and took care of any that made it through with her samurai sword. Haden didn't bother reloading when she ran out. She just jumped down with August and went straight to bashing their brains in with a bat.

"Lenore!" August called back to me when Devin couldn't manage to thin the line enough for her comfort.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I panted as I dug my bow out of the back of the truck. I was tired, sweaty, and I might have pulled a hamstring diving into the truck bed, but once I was lined up, all I needed was arm strength and eyes.

I nocked each arrow, drew, and released as fast as my dexterity allowed. The rapid repetition was impressive, though my aim was probably off a little. I took out nearly a dozen before my arrows ran out. I noted a look of shock from everyone, when they realized I had cleared the entire frontal attack in a matter of seconds. It gave Haden a moment to reload, and August time to rest her arms.

My tickling concern about our strategy was nearly to the fire-ant stage. The intuitive anxiety provided the warning, but no explanation for its cause. So all I could do was be on guard.

I took a moment to gather a few arrows that had spilled from my quiver, so I could avoid resorting to hand-to-hand combat.

As I bent down to pick up my arrows, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It was then that I realized why the viaduct was such a stupid idea.

I grabbed the tire iron from the floor of the truck bed and flung it near Devin's head. He saw the threat and ducked, though I suspected it would have missed him.

Before he could harangue me about poor sportsmanship in battle, the hiss of the bludgeoned grim behind him announced itself. He whipped around and bashed the remainder of its head in. It slumped over the side of the truck, empty of demon presence.

Devin might have afforded me a glance to thank me, but his eyes were transfixed on the attack coming from the south side of the viaduct. The intelligent portion of the horde had wrapped around beneath the overpass. We were flanked by grim north and south, with no option of east or west without risking broken legs from the four-story drop.

Devin cursed and called to August, but she was preoccupied with another surge on the north. Haden jumped back up on the truck bed with us and pegged off the closest attackers on either side. Devin struggled to get his shotgun loaded. It was a good weapon for multiple attackers, but at some point you had to reload, and then it was a liability. August was right; you couldn't just rely on a weapon to save you. Eventually you would run out of ammunition.

"What the fuck are you doing, Lenore?" Haden yelled at me. "Pick up your damn arrows and help!"

I looked down at the half dozen arrows mixed in with leaves and tools on the floor of the truck. I looked out at the thirty plus grim on the south side and the dozen or so left on the north side. Even with Haden's bullets this would end with hand to hand combat.

"Stop shooting, Haden," I said as I reached down for a ball-peen hammer I noticed when searching for arrows.

"What?" Haden said, shooting three more times.

"Devin, go help August clear up the north side and then get the truck started and come save my ass."

"What, where are you—?" Devin protested, trying to grab me before I jumped down.

"Haden, cover me!" I yelled behind me as I ran into the melee of grim. I heard two concurrent cusses followed by a bullet that kept one of the three grim I was approaching from ripping off my arm while I kicked and hit the other two.

One hit with the hammer and a grim would go down with a shattered skull, but getting the hammer there was the problem. I raised it high, only to get my wrist lassoed. I flipped the offending hijacker over my back with strength that I didn't actually have—but that's why God gave us adrenaline. A favor, but not a savior.

I struggled to get free from the grim's unrelenting grip while Haden shot the ones trying to take advantage of my leashed position. Giving up trying to pry at his fingers, I just broke his arm off at the elbow with my foot. The satisfying crack was reminiscent of breaking up pallets for the winter fire.

I dragged the half arm along with me, bitch-slapping a few grim with it as I climbed to the top of a hybrid SUV. In the elevated position, I kicked and hammered in the heads of the aggressors scrambling to rise with me.

Across my sea of predictable attackers, I saw a grim ascend to the top of a minivan. He looked at me with intelligent eyes that were creepy as hell. I couldn't help smiling at his sidelong, double-dog-daring stare. All he needed was a long jet-black coat flapping in the wind behind him and I might have swooned from his romantic villain portrayal.

"I'm out, Lenore!" Haden yelled at me, warning me that she was no longer going to be able to save me. I stomped my foot, shattering the hand that was trying to trip me. I should have been paying closer attention to the rat bastards at my feet, but I got the feeling my dark-eyed friend across the way was far more dangerous than all of them combined.

I heard August yell at me from the expanse of cars separating us, but I also felt the words penetrating through my mind, demanding my retreat. Her superhero psychic link to danger was screaming to save me, but she couldn't get to me. It was damned ironic that the one time I was standing my ground and fighting, she was begging me to run for my life.

I smashed another set of fingers and kicked a face, but I never took my eyes off the former man across from me. When he saw my intention was to fight him, he opened his mouth and roared with an inhuman voice. The other grim seemed to rally with this call to war—as if the pandemonium currently surrounding me wasn't enough to incite their anti-altruistic spirit.

I found his attempt to frighten me with boogeyman tactics infuriating, to say the least. I had just spent three months being beaten to a pulp by a man I might have accidentally fallen in love with. I wasn't about to let a loud-mouthed demon get the better of me with a stereo voice-over from hell.

I took in a deep breath and half yelled, half screamed back at him. The cathartic scream came out better than I intended, and the grim, including Captain Kick My Ass, stopped to stare at me. I laughed at his dumbfounded look. Apparently he wasn't used to women that spoke their mind.

I shifted in preparation for my mano-a-mano duel, but August's arm came out of nowhere and latched around me. We fell back into the truck bed together. The Dodge's tires squealed as Devin peeled out. Haden kicked out a few grim that were applying for stowaway status.

I watched my newfound arch-enemy shrink into the distance, along with all of his vermin friends. I almost hated leaving, because I wanted to see how that fight would have turned out.