Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 26 - Monsters - IV

  The mob—twenty five in all—encircled Gordon Merrill, buzzing with angry voices. They'd backed him up to the wall at the gutted sheriff's station just as Rachel arrived with Natalie a few steps behind.

  "He's lying! He's just going to kill you all anyway!" Gordon shouted.

  "Says you," snapped Roger Quinton, the farmer. "You've been collaborating with the freaks since the town hall. Maybe even before that. Why should we believe a word you say?"

  "I'm one of you! I don't have any magic! Why would I lie?"

  "Look around you, man!" Roger gestured to the town, littered with glass and splintered metal. He pointed just behind Gordon, where the twisted and broken bars of the two cells had been shoved through the roof and protruded out like an ominous flag. "They did this to our town. The only way out of this is to deal with them all, and anyone who's trying to help them." He lowered his weapon. The sharp points of the metal pitchfork caught the sunset reflection for just a moment.

  "Stop!" Rachel shouted, running forward as fast as she could. She tried to grab the pitchfork, throwing out her mind as far as she could reach, but her grip was feeble and useless. She may as well have been trying to hold back a mountain. Some of the crowd turned toward her, but Roger had already moved.

  Gordon sank to the ground.

  Rachel stopped, while the crowd roared and began to shift back around, still caught up in the heat of the moment. She could see every single face full of wrath and pain. These were people she'd talked to and worked with for a year. She'd never imagined any of them capable of murder, even like this. Gordon was gasping for breath and trying to struggle away, but Rachel couldn't do anything for him.

  Natalie rode up next to her. "What do I do, Rachel?" she asked.

  "You destroyed our town!" someone cried from the back.

  "You killed the Reverend!"

  "We're all going to die because of you!"

  "Justice for Jenny!"

  What was my plan, anyway? Rachel thought bitterly, while the crowd slowly advanced. None of them seemed brave enough to close the distance first with Natalie's wolf facing them down, but they'd soon be totally surrounded if Rachel didn't do something.

  "Help us," she whispered.

  "I can't," replied the ghost at her side, before vanishing into the wind.

  No one was coming to help them. No one could help them, as far as Rachel knew.

  "Start backing away. Don't take your eyes off them, but we don't want to hurt them." Rachel did the same as she spoke. She hoped they'd find a chance to break out and run for it—but if they showed any sign of weakness, the group would undoubtedly charge them. Even Natalie's age wouldn't likely deter them, given her deadly companions and her well-known status as an awakened. They'd already faced down almost exactly the same crowd before, and only a show of extreme force had been enough to deter them.

  "What should I do?" Natalie asked again, panic in her voice. The crowd had almost surrounded them. They couldn't get away anymore.

  "Lightning on the ground at their feet," Rachel ordered. Something to scare them away, she hoped. Remind them they're mortal.

  Natalie took one hand off Gwen and thrust it at Roger Quinton, who happened to be almost directly in front of them. Purple-edged lightning blasted forth out of her palm with a loud whip-crack, nearly deafening everyone.