Chương 31: Action (Part 1)

Shrike hugs Martin as she steps out of the Utah airport.

"I genuinely missed the emptiness."

"I'm glad you're happy here, since I don't plan on moving anytime soon. New York is too noisy, even if the food is good." He kisses Shrike on the forehead.

"Let's go home, yeah?" Martin's foot is in a walking boot after a short visit to the hospital a few days after getting back. He's healing well, and ahead of schedule, too. All this time to himself, though, and he spends it fending off Shrike's constant attempts to baby him. Although, she has started cooking more. She's good at it, too, even without that temperature trick she used. - Norwood casts another spell, holding the fetish Peccary designed for him while illuminated by the moon.

He's been crawling all over the god damn mountains for over a week now. There's a trace of Shrike here, and recent, within a few miles of the rockfall. If he can prove she's the one who killed those hikers, then he'll have to be reinstated, right? Even if not, it'll mean she's out of the picture for a justifiable reason. At this point, it doesn't matter, as long as she's dealt with. He'd like to have simply waited until she was asleep outside her home, but that would look far too much like murder.

Sapient beasts don't have human rights, but killing one like that could still land him in prison for years. Plus, Peccary said she doesn't need sleep, and she can sense when certain people come within range of her.

'She', he muses. When did he start thinking of her as a person? She's a magical beast, but far too intelligent to be treated like an animal. No, she's mimicking humans, so he has to treat her like human quarry. That doesn't actually make her a person though. The fetish, a palm-sized misshapen lump of skin and bone, begins to slowly pull itself up. Finally, he found her. This wouldn't have worked on anything except Shrike. It's an incredibly faint trace, but he found it. Now all he has to do is scope out the area.

He follows the trace as it grows stronger, climbing over steep ledges and through untamed dry brush. He's close now, he can feel it. He spots a small opening in the rocks, and peers inside. Within is a humanoid shape, hidden by the dim light. He whips out his flashlight, and points it directly at the figure before him. -"Shit," the blur says, the intense light being absorbed by the black haze around him. A human. Still, this is a free meal delivery, though he'll have to find a new spot to hide... or not.

Who's gonna be looking for one guy lost in the mountains? -"You've got Martin," he says into the phone.

"Did Shrike win?" the voice on the other end demands.

"... huh?"

"This ain't a time for jokes, treant-hugger." Martin smirks. He recognizes the voice now.

"Peccary, long time no talk. Give me a good reason not to hang up right now."

"How about cuz there was a guy who was hellbent on hunting down and killing Shrike up in the mountains, and he dropped off the face of the Earth."

"... what the hell are you talking about?" Peccary's grating voice stops for a moment as he groans.

"Ex-Counter-Magic guy. Northwood, I think." Martin snaps to alertness, secure in knowing Shrike is still in the kitchen.

"Norwood. Wait, you knew someone was hunting Shrike, and didn't say anything?" he hisses, keeping his voice low.

"Nah, it's not like that. He was up where that kynde rockfall thing happened, scouring the desert for a sign of yer pet."

"Girlfriend. Not pet."

"... that's disgusting. Please tell me yer joking."

"Focus, dickhead." He grunts again.

"Figured he'd just blow off steam and come to a realization after wasting even more time up in the mountains. No harm, since the rockfall had nothin' to do with yer... ugh, partner." Peccary has a point. Kind of, at least.

"Whatever. And now he's missing?"

"Right. Figured he somehow did bump into Shrike up there, and the kynde fried his ass."

"This is ridiculous. Shrike hasn't left my side for more than an hour in days. She's too doting of a girlfriend. She makes me three meals a day, gets me whatever I need, even handles writing reports I don't want to. Apparently, she has a knack for technical writing. You know, she checks on-""Enough of the monster-fucking talk, I'm gonna spew. You should still get on it. This here is yer case, right? Have fun with all that." Martin hangs up the phone.

"Great. Just perfect. Shrike!" he calls, and she immediately dashes in.

"Yes?" she asks, smiling patiently.

"New lead on the kynde case. You're not gonna like it, though..." - Their Jeep slinks through the winding roads in the Wasatch Range once again, metal music playing as Shrike drives. A familiar location by now, unfortunately. Peccary had sent them coordinates on where Norwood had last reported being at, and is the obvious place to start.

"You know, Shrike, this may end up being a rescue mission..."

"I understand." She keeps an even tone, placidly looking ahead as she drives.

"... that's it?"

"I believe there is no point in dissuading you. Admittedly, I hope we find a corpse, but I shall not turn Norwood into one."

"There we go. I was worried you had forgiven him." She smirks.

"A foolish concern." Shrike pulls up at the coordinates, thanking the voice in her phone for the infallible directions, as she and Martin step out and onto the edge of razed land. Beneath their feet is a large, uneven splotch of dead ground, every plant within it seemingly drained of life. An unpleasant gnawing sensation starts to crawl up Shrike's legs, a million tiny, hungry insects that make their way through her entire body. It is vaguely familiar, in a way she can't process.

"Martin, this is an upsetting sight, and nags in a familiar way. Have we encountered something such as this previously?"

"No, we haven't... you're upset by this?"

"I am unsure why, but I am. I do not wish to linger." Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. He nods, taking her hand and leading her ahead. Norwood wasn't subtle, and left a very visible trail of trampled shrubs. Still, Martin can't traverse the terrain well in a walking boot, so their progress is slow as Shrike helps him along each obstacle. The trail leads to a small cavern entrance, making Martin pull his gun. A quiet yelp from up ahead catches his attention.

"Shrike?" She takes a step back, holding her arm out to keep Martin from moving further in.

"Something is unsettling. Deeply unsettling. We should leave." Martin takes her hand.

"What is it?"

"It is... Norwood. What remains of him, as it were."

"Shit, he's dead?"

"Regrettably not. He is somewhat emaciated and huddled in the cavern, alone... We should leave him be, with special attention on the word 'leave'." Martin limps up the uneven rocks, and peers inside. Norwood in shivering within, and looks like he aged a decade overnight. His skin is slightly loose, his muscle mass less defined, and his eyes haunted. No reaction to Shrike, even.

"Norwood. You alive?" Martin asks. He's quiet for a moment, before squeaking out, "It will be back. The darkness. The shadow."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was following Shrike's trail. You gotta get me out of here. Please. I-I was wrong, that wasn't Shrike. It was a kynde, it had the same trace, but it wasn't Shrike. Please take me back to the city. I'll tell you everything once I'm there." Martin turns to Shrike.

"Any thoughts?"

"We should not be here," she says, eyes darting.

"There is something amiss here. Something deep in my body says to leave. It shouts at me, the same as resting a hand on a hot stove." Shrike's voice starts to waver, as she grabs Martin's collar and starts gently tugging at it. Martin grimaces.

"Okay. We'll grab the the attempted murderer and head back. Damn, I want to leave this bastard to die, but he's our only source of info." - Norwood desperately scarfs down his third burger in the fast food place's parking lot, while Shrike and Martin watch him in disgust. As he finishes and catches his breath, he looks between them.

"Okay. Fuck. You ready?" Martin holds up a hand.

"First things first. If you ever do anything to Shrike, myself, or any of the other people you fucked over in Peter Sinks, I will kill you. I will fucking kill you in your sleep, and I will gladly admit to it. I'd happily go to prison for that, and I'd wake up every morning smiling, because the bars will be a permanent reminder of what I did. Got it?" Norwood slowly nods, and looks away from him.

"I'm not scared of you."

"I'm not trying to intimidate you. I just thought you should know. I'm amazed you're not in prison right now anyway. Now tell me what happened up there." He looks off to the mountains in the distance.

"I saw a bunch of these dark, drained sections of the ground. Every plant there was dead, obviously, but it went deeper. I started investigating, and it was worse. Every insect was dead. There was a shriveled up lizard in one of those sections, too. I took a sample of the dirt to make a culture from it, but nothing grew. The land is completely drained of life, down to the microscopic level. I went further, trying to find Shrike, but inside that little cave you found me in, there was this...

it was a dark blur, but when I shone my flashlight on it, I got a brief look at the thing beneath this thick fog it wrapped itself in. It looked human, well, human enough. A lot like Shrike, actually. Could be brother and sister."" And?"

"And I tried to take it out, but it did this thing... when I connected with that black blurry shit around it, I felt like I was moving though tar, and the deeper I sunk the slower I got. It started feeding off me, which is why I look like this. It was going to save the rest of me for later... fuck, I came close to dying. And you two saved me."

"Uh-huh. Okay, I have his spellbook, so he's harmless. Ready to dump him back in that hole as bait, Shrike?" She smiles broadly.

"A fitting end." Norwood's breath gets caught in his throat.

"Y... you're joking, right? You wouldn't feed me to that thing, right?"

"Gee," Martin says, "I can't imagine how disgusting of a person I would have to be to put someone in the path of such a dangerous magical beast..." He squirms for a moment, until Shrike cracks a smile. Norwood can't see why.

"Great," Martin says with a sneer.

"Alright, well, Shrike and I have work to do. Don't worry, we got you a chaperone." Martin watches a hand firmly clamp on Norwood's shoulder. Norwood turns around to see a pair of mirrored sunglasses looking back.

"Oh fuck..."

"How astute. You are absolutely correct," Caribou confirms.

"You're fucked." - Shrike is agitated as they return up the mountains, constantly slowing down to get a clearer look at a rock or shrub as they follow the previous path, though continue deeper past where they pulled off to find Norwood.

"This feeling of familiarity is not leaving me."

"It's just deja vu. Also, you're sure Caribou isn't going to kill him?"

"He swore not to... we have arrived." Martin looks out the window. It's another patch of dead land, but noticeably larger, and includes a tree that seems like it died years ago.

"Arrived where, though?" Shrike gets out of the Jeep, and steps onto the desolate soil. She reaches down and picks up the shriveled remains of a lizard, and immediately jerks up to her feet, and starts to back away.

"We should leave the mountains. Now. Move south. Perhaps Nevada."

"Jesus, Shrike, you want to tell me what has you so rattled?" He leans against the Jeep with a smirk, assuming she's half-joking. Her mind suddenly shifts into a long-unused thought process. Shrike's heart is racing, her limbs growing chilly, as tears start welling in her eyes.

"I... I know, there is something wrong here. I can not remain. Please, do not make me leave you behind." She steps backwards towards the Jeep, getting into the driver's seat and starting it, fighting the urge to fly down the mountain like the racing spring winds. Martin takes a last look and gets into the passenger seat, as Shrike pulls away at dangerous speed, gripping the steering wheel so tightly her hands starts cramp.

"Shrike, talk to me. Have you felt like this before?"

"Yes. Yes. I remember now. I remember everything. Long ago. Right before the mementos. I was here. Mountains, but not these. Close mountains." She makes a sharp turn, nearly flipping the Jeep as she drives along the narrow canyon road.

"Shrike, slow down! What the hell is happening!?" Martin grips on to the seat, realizing they might both die from whatever is freaking Shrike out.

"Damn it! Shrike, stop! You're going to kill us!" Shrike releases her foot from the gas, but doesn't apply the brake. They're still gaining more speed, the speedometer reading 90 as they race downhill. Martin watches the door of the Jeep scrape a railing. He knows there's a huge drop up ahead, far too sharp to make at the blistering speed. There's no choice. He reaches onto his belt, taking a small, ominously black sphere out. The moment they're on a fairly straight path, he takes his chance.

"Contain," he commands, the orb resonating with his intent, as Shrike immediately goes limp. - Shrike is in the spirit world. At least, she thinks so. The snow is melted, revealing perfectly smooth stone beneath. The trees are dead, only their skeletons comprising the endless forest.

"Holy hell. It's actually you! I thought I sensed you!" The blur slowly approaches Shrike.

"It's been so long, I barely recognized your taste!"

"Nonononono..." Shriek tries to leave the spirit world, but she's trapped in it, unable to return her consciousness to the mortal world.

"Nonono? I thought you'd be happy! We're finally reunited! Cereal and milk! PB&J! Yin and Yang!"

"I... no... I do not want this, please, just leave."

"What the hell? Are you crazy or something? Wait, do you even remember me after all this time? Oh, right! I should probably pull my form back together. Been lazy with it the last few millennia." The blur slowly starts to solidify. A silhouette, still, but becoming more recognizable. - Martin climbs on top of Shrike's body, slowly braking as he pulls off to the side of the road, onto the baked red dust. He sets the Jeep in park, taking the keys, and with a pained expression raises the orb again.

"Release." - Shrike is back in the mortal world. Eyes wide, she slams on the gas pedal, but the Jeep doesn't move. Keys. Need keys for engine. Engine to move. She notices Martin is out of the Jeep. He is to her left. She climbs out, quickly approaching him.

"Keys. Keys. Now."

"Shrike, just listen! I'm not giving you the damn keys! Are you really going to get us killed with your driving so you can continue this panic attack?" Shrike's heart still races, every nerve in her body alight with racing fire, commanding her to flee.

"I... this..." She gestures wildly, at nothing in particular.

"All of it!"

"All of what?!"

"All!" She shouts, loud enough to spook a few magpies. She lunges violently at Martin, trying get to his pockets for the keys. Martin pushes her off of him. He's still significantly stronger, physically. He gets up, holding out the orb again.

"Co-" He's interrupted by a thin spike of light knocking the orb out of his hands. Shrike readies another spike, aimed at his head, eyes unfocused, hands shaking.

"Don't make me do this, Martin. Please." His face falls a bit.

"... Shrike?" he says softy. She is breathing quickly, frozen in place, trying to evaluate the situation.

"Shrike... You trust me, right?" Her eyes linger on his.

"Trust me. Please. Whatever's happening, we can do this together. I promise." Long-dormant 'calamity' axiom conflicting with 'Martin is reliable and trustworthy' axiom. Oldest axiom takes precedent... no, newest axiom has most complete data? She closes her eyes, forcing her mind back to her typical thought processes. She's... ready to kill Martin? Completely illogical. Her own mind must be at fault, somehow tampered with, or perhaps severely misguided. Shrike dismisses the projection, heart racing.

"I... we have to go. Martin. I don't... this is very very bad. I love you. I love you, truly, deeply, intrinsically. This is calamity. I will let you drive, but you must listen." He nods, dusting himself off, and taking the orb again.

"I will."