Voodootown

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Twister

When Midnight stood, Twister turned her head and looked at the portal.  She saw a doll, it looked like Blink, silhouetted against the blue glow.  Her vision was fuzzy and she couldn't see anything else clearly.  She couldn't see him, but knew Flow had to be close by.

Midnight shouted at her friends and she tried to rise, but couldn't even prop herself onto her elbow.  She searched around with her hand, tried to find the shard of pin that she thought was nearby.

As Midnight raised his hand to throw a pile of hexes at Blink and Flow, Twister saw a shadow cross over her.  It moved too fast to make it out, but she heard several metallic pings.  Grease shook his head and she saw two pins protruding from his right eye.

She got a last view of Blink in front of the portal, with Flow standing nearby.  Then, Blink stepped through.  The portal seemed to bend in at three points, then it disappeared.  It was gone.

She smiled, turned her head the direction the blur had gone, saw Squat and Sticks land nearby.  Sticks rolled, landed on her stomach, but still threw another two pins at Grease.  They stuck in his left eye and the thrall shook his head, rearing onto his hind legs and thrashing.

Then Squat stepped up.  He swung what looked like the stump of a sign post at Grease and hit the thrall in the side.  Metal creaked and a large section of Grease's armor bent in, locked against itself.  The thrall sailed into a building and went through the bricks, ended up tied around a metal support beam.

"What the hell was that thing?" Sticks asked.

Twister just shook her head as Squat stepped up.  "We're the cavalry," he said.  Then, he turned to Midnight.  "You're next."

Midnight looked down at Squat, a sneer on his face.  But Squat didn't say anything else.  Twister watched him swing the metal pole.  It hit Midnight in the shin and blue light flashed out as the shield charms around him activated.  The pole bent at the point of impact, continued to bend completely around the man's ankle from the force of Squat's swing.

Midnight's sneer widened into a look of amazement.  Then Squat turned, switched his grip on the weapon so that it was over his shoulder.  He heaved, threw it forward and Midnight was pulled forward by the ankle.  He arced over the three of them and crashed down onto his crowd of thralls.

"What's next, boss?" Sticks asked.

Twister groaned, but forced herself to move.  She pointed at the line of hexes she had laid on the ground.  "Those, start them all."

"The ones that look like little gas pump handles?"

Twister nodded.  "There's a match attached to the last one.  Let them start pumping gasoline out, then strike the match."

Sticks nodded and Squat leaned over.  "What do you want me to do?"

"Ju Ju is trapped over by the portal.  Can you get her out?"

"Flow's got that, I think," Squat said.

Twister looked over, saw Flow standing by the small brick structure with something that looked like a giant drill.  "Then get me out of here," she said.

"What?  You don't want to die some noble death protecting us as we run away?"

"Hell no," Twister said.  "I want a nap."

Squat picked her up and jogged over to Flow, who stopped the drill and leaned against the side of the little building.  "Ju Ju, it's us.  Okay?  You can put the doll down."

Ju Ju's voice sounded small and shaky from inside the walls.  "Okay.  Okay."  Flow turned the drill back on and quickly punched through the wall.  Squat reached in, pulled a few bricks out with one hand and Ju Ju climbed out.

She looked around, her movements quick and jerky.  Her eyes stopped on Twister for a moment.  "What happened to you?"

Twister didn't try to answer, and everyone turned when they heard the rush of displaced air as Blink teleported back.  He shook his head and scrunched his face, then looked around.  "Whoa," he said.

Twister turned in Squat's arms, saw Sticks hit the last gas pump hex and lift the match.  Behind her, Midnight started to stand up.  "Fire in the whatever," Sticks said.  She jogged away, struck the match and threw it at the growing stream of gasoline.  The fuel exploded into a wall of fire and black smoke between them and Midnight.

Sticks ran up to them, her head low and slapping out what looked like a scorch mark on the shoulder of her cheerleading uniform.

"Let's get out of here," Twister said.