Lycan Fallout 5 Read online

  “The polions? How bad is this going to be?”

  I didn’t know how to, nor whether I should, present this as bleak to him as I felt the outcome would be. I was searching for something that offered a measured hope; it was not forthcoming. Mathieu understood my non-answer.

  “Could we outpace them if we evacuated?” he asked.

  “For a while, but not forever. They are being driven, though perhaps we might take care of those that lead them on. Do you even for a moment believe that Lana would vacate her city?”

  “No; especially not now. With her pregnancy, she has wanted to strengthen her hold on her home.”

  “She’s nesting.”

  “Nesting?”

  “It’s an instinct to prepare the home and protect the baby. During my time this usually meant a trip to the hardware store to pick out paint for the baby’s room and sticking plastic safety covers in electrical outlets. But now it’s different, a lot different.”

  “I should have stood up for the Lycan and Azile.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it; it was an unpopular stance. I won’t say there could never be trust between Lycan and humans, but not that quickly. After a generation or two, once people are further removed from our losses, acceptance might be achieved. But for now, how do you tell the mother and children who lost their father, or the brother that lost a sister, to drop their grief and trust those very same individuals that took so much away? Almost an impossibility.”

  “What are we to do?”

  “Same thing we’ve always done. We fight.”

  Mathieu’s head sagged. “When is it enough?”

  “I’d love to tell you ‘one last time,’ though I feel like I’ve been saying that for the past two centuries. It’s done when you’re done. Want to know what’s really fucked up? Sometimes it’s not even done then.”

  “I am sorry, Michael Talbot. You have been nothing but the truest of friends and I have let doubt cloud my mind on more than one occasion.”

  “Listen, Mathieu, as long as you keep making beer, there’s a great chance I will never do anything intentionally to hurt you.”

  “Only a great chance?”

  “I’m leaving wiggle room in there in case you get a wild hair across your ass to start making IPAs.”

  I was smiling; I looked up at Lana across the way. She had a look of consternation upon her face as she gazed our way. She would pace and then look again; she turned away quickly when she realized I was watching her. Whatever she had been debating, she’d made up her mind and was coming over to us, her head held high.

  “I feel that my actions were justified and that you had given me good cause to feel the way that I had.” She turned to leave.

  “That’s one of the top five worst apologies I’ve ever heard in my life,” I told her backside.

  “It is the best I can offer at the moment.” I could tell by the rise and fall of her shoulders that she was crying.

  “It’s all right, Lana,” I called out to her as she moved farther away. “Given what has happened, I would have doubted me as well. Now, as if you didn’t think me mad already, I have an incredibly stupid and dangerous favor to ask–something I need help with.”

  “Well, when you put it like that, how could we possibly refuse,” Mathieu replied.

  Chapter 26

  Eliza

  Eliza found herself back in the underworld. She felt something she’d not felt in a long time: fear. Michael had been close to extinguishing her life with the stroke of his sword.

  “I did not think that would work,” she said as she looked down at the stone she held in her palm. “It is clear to me what I need to do now. The witch needs to die; with her gone, he will lose his desire to live. Then the werewolf will pay for what he has taken from me.” She walked a few miles to physically separate herself from where she had been before once again activating the stone. She flipped as easily between worlds as one does stepping over a small stream. She found herself outside of the city limits of Denarth in a thick grove of trees. “I wonder what would have happened if I’d done this two feet over,” she said as she ran her hand along the rough bark of an ancient oak tree.

  Chapter 27

  Tim

  “That shithole is the hub of humanity?” Tim was on a hill some miles away, looking at the walls of Denarth. “Fuck me. That place makes Los Angeles look like Shangri-La. Know what I’m saying? Talking to you fuck-tard!”

  “I hear you; I always hear you. I can’t help but hear you,” Ganlin replied.

  “There’s my little buddy! You’ve been quiet lately; it’s nice to know I’m not alone in this.”

  “Don’t worry, you always have your insanity to keep you warm at night.”

  “That may be true, my green friend, but the crazy doesn’t mind. You do, and that makes this infinitely better. So, you’re sure Talbot-fuck is in there? He’s gotta be; my dick is hard just thinking about it.”

  “Why would your penis be tumescent thinking on Talbot?”

  “Not in a homo way, jackass. Just that I want to fuck him.”

  “Fuck him?”

  “Argh! Fuck him up! I want to fuck him up. You didn’t let me finish, you cockless wonder.”

  “You do remember you told him you wanted an alliance?”

  “I could maybe punch him three, four times, at the most, and then we could work together.”

  “I’m sure that will go over well,” Ganlin replied. “Are you positive you don’t want to find some clothes more appropriate to this time period?”

  “Fuck you, magic man. Clown suits are ageless. Ever hear of court jesters? They were renowned, man–loved, even! Who doesn’t adore a clown?”

  “I can think of at least one person,” Ganlin groused.

  “That’s the spirit, microdick.”

  “You do realize that a person’s identity is not determined by his or her genitalia, right?”

  “Spoken exactly like someone who didn’t have any pork and beans to speak of. If you had to subsist on that Vienna sausage, you would have starved pretty quickly. You know, I once inhabited the body of a woman. Sure, it was easily the most disgusting place I’d ever had to reside in, all those fucking thousands of jumbled thoughts and emotions I had to wrestle into submission, but I learned one thing. Want to know what it was?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Gonna tell you anyway.”

  “I never doubted it for a moment.”

  “She had meatier balls than you.”

  “How can this be my reality now?”

  “Let’s go down and say hello.”

  Chapter 28

  Mike Journal Entry 11

  A three-ring burst came from the northern-most tower. It wasn’t necessarily an alarm, but it was something to take notice of. In this instance, it was extremely fitting because what was coming belonged in a circus. A macabre circus, perhaps, but a circus, nonetheless.

  “Tim,” I said as I stood on the wall.

  “Friend of yours?” Mathieu asked. I could see he was so unsettled that fur was rapidly forming on his arms then receding as he tried to control himself.

  “Got to think Tim doesn’t have any friends.”

  “Good to know,” he answered. “Not that he doesn’t have any friends, but rather, you aren’t one of them. You and I would have to sit down and have a serious conversation, if that were the case.”

  “I think I’d rather you just shot me.” I’d been watching the clown approach for the last ten minutes, and instead of getting used to his image, you know, maybe like a desensitization, the apprehension, fear, disgust…they kept increasing. He was waving his arms around, arguing with someone who was completely invisible to the rest of us. He had been so engrossed in his internal debate, it was a shock to him when he realized he was at the Denarth wall. At least fifty of us were looking down at him. He looked up and smiled.

  “Knock, motherfucking knock,” he said, motioning with his closed hand as if he were rapping on a door.<
br />
  “What do I do?” one of the guards asked.

  “Riddle him with every bullet and arrow we have. If there’s any boiling tar, I say a couple of vats of that and possibly a burning bale of hay tossed from a trebuchet, to top it off. A little understated, but should work,” I said. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my town and I couldn’t make that type of executive decision.

  “What are your intentions?” Lana asked.

  “I don’t care if she’s the Governess of Guadalupe!” Tim shouted at someone. “She’s got a rack that could sleep four.”

  Mathieu frowned at me like this was my fault. In some twisted sort of way, it was, but how in the fuck could you lay this at my feet?

  “Now that we’re done discussing my bosom, I asked you a question.”

  “You read minds?” Tim asked, he looked genuinely surprised. It was Lana’s turn to take a look over at me.

  “Yo, numbnuts. You were talking out loud,” I said.

  “Bullshit. Good to see you, fuck head.”

  “We’re off to a wonderful start. Just tell Lana why you’re here and then we can decide on which way we send you back to where you came from.”

  “Lana? Name doesn’t do your tits any justice. I think I might call you Candy, Lexus, maybe Bambi.”

  “I will kill you!” Mathieu roared as he changed over and jumped down from the wall; he was fast approaching Tim.

  “Look, a puppy!” Tim said. “Wish I had a newspaper to swat your nose.”

  “Enough!” Lana shouted.

  Mathieu stopped his charge to look up.

  “Yeah, heel, Fuzzy!” Tim laughed. “Bet you have a pretty bad flea problem.”

  “That is my husband you are speaking of, and a sitting member of the High Council of Denarth!”

  “You two are hitched? Bestiality is legal now? And I thought hell was weird. Fuck me, I bet you two give a whole new twist to doggie style. That’s some niche porn right there. I’d pay to watch that.” Tim was retreating off into his unwell mind. I could not even begin to understand the width, depth, and breadth of his depravity. One would surely get lost traveling down those twisting, darkened alleyways.

  “Tim-Tim.”

  That snapped him right quick out of his lunacy loop, like I’d shoved a cattle prod up his ass. Not that I’d want to; I’m just saying that was how quick it was. But now that we’re talking about cattle prods up asses, I’m not sure how or why anyone would be able to reference how that actually felt. Although, I’m sure some idiot, somewhere, was party to that particular sensation, but he’d long ago died from some even more asinine “hold my beer,” moment and could not weigh-in on the experience.

  “Don’t you ever call me that again, you twitchy motherfucker.” He was pointing a finger at me; his lips were pulled back, revealing the interlocking pointed teeth. All of the fears I had ever had regarding clowns came to the fore. That white mask, oversized red lips, and the shiny, bulbous nose to go with the shock of orange hair; the loud, billowing outfit just screaming for attention…it was like I had feared clowns my entire life, as if somehow I had prepared for this exact moment my whole life.

  I was close to locking up; it was Azile who helped me through. She had been late to the party, but just in time, as far as I was concerned.

  “You all right?” she asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. I felt immediately calmer.

  “He makes me feel like I just drank a glass full of random strangers’ snot-rockets.”

  “That’s just gross. Would it somehow make it better if they weren’t strangers?” she asked, looking for clarification.

  “Worse. Sorry, can we not talk about this?”

  “Trust me, I never wanted to in the first place.”

  “You going to let me in anytime soon? Looks like it’s about to get interesting out here.” Tim was looking off toward the polions, who seemed to have slowed their progress.

  “You have still given me no reason why I would want to do that,” Lana said.

  “I wouldn’t mind being closer to Talbot.” Tim was doing his best to give a sincere smile.

  “He’s telling the truth,” Linnick said to me.

  “Yeah, at least the parts he wants us to know about,” I said to her. To Tim I asked: “Why do you want to be near me?”

  “I’m not gonna kill ya, you pasty fuck, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Well?” I asked Linnick.

  “He wants to kill you, all right…maybe just not right now,” she replied cryptically.

  “You’re starting to give me a complex, Tim, with all the insults.”

  “You one of those coddled babes that gets offended at every little thing? I’m just using terms of endearment.”

  “Can’t imagine he had a lot of endearing going on,” Linnick said.

  It was so unexpected, I involuntarily let out a snort. Azile had to turn away.

  “Listen, you little turd slices. I’ve had offers from two teams so far, yet I’ve decided I want to play for the good guys. Don’t fuck this up!” Tim was shouting.

  “Two teams?” Lana asked.

  “Talbot, how stupid are these fucks? Didn’t you tell them anything?”

  “Honestly, Tim, I was hoping you wouldn’t show,” I told him.

  “I’ll wait.”

  “Gabriel and Lamashtu want him to kill me and destroy what remains of the earth, or something along those lines. That about sum it up?”

  “I would have flared it up some, but that’s the gist of it.”

  “And why would you help us?” Lana asked.

  “Angels, demons–fuck em all. What’d they ever do for me? Seems my dear old dad was half-demon, and he was as mean as a rabid snake. All he ever did was beat anything in front of him. And my saint of a mother? Where was her guardian angel when all this was shaking loose? As far as I’m concerned, they can all go play Parcheesi together.”

  “That is not where I thought that was going,” I said to Mathieu.

  “What do we gain by bringing you in here?” Lana asked.

  “Seriously? Talbot-fuck, tell them.”

  “I guess we could up our psychotic factor.”

  “Fuck, you’re stupid. Sea cucumbers are better at problem-solving than you.”

  “He’s really starting to hurt my feelings,” I told Azile. “You must have been a huge hit at birthday parties,” I called down.

  “Oh man! I could go for a little kid right now. Don’t any of you look at me that way! I’m not no fucking sicko! I meant to eat. The fat ones, the ones’ whose diets mainly consisted of Sugar Daddies and Mountain Dew…they’re fucking delicious, doughy little bastards.”

  “Tim!” Azile shouted to get his attention. “You’re giving us precious little to justify why we would want to have you among us.”

  “A little demonstration, perhaps?” He smiled; his long tongue snaked through those barbed teeth, the resultant blood flowed down his chin. Somehow, the longer he stood there, the more sinister he looked.

  Azile went from casually aware to full alarm-wary in a matter of seconds as Tim began to levitate. “You didn’t say anything about him having powers,” she said to me.

  “Didn’t know I was the designated clown whisperer.”

  “Pretty fucking cool, huh? I’m almost close enough to punch the living shit out of you. Whoa, whoa, whoa, there, killer.” It was clear that this last part was not directed to any of us watching. He was moving toward myself and Azile. “I will pull your tongue out through your ear if you try me!”

  “What the fuck is going on?” I spared a quick sidelong glance at Azile.

  “Seems my summer resident hates the Red Bitch as much as I hate Talbot-fuck.”

  “Summer resident?” Kalandar asked.

  “Tommy is in his head,” I replied.

  “That Tommy?” Mathieu asked.

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about, fuck-wad. That’s the second time you said ‘Tommy.’ The one with the voodoo calls himself Sootie. No, wait; that�
��s the name I gave him. Langley? Sphincter? Ganja…yeah…Ganlin.”

  Azile sent something out before I could even feel the roiling in my gut start. Tim fell to the ground and was immediately immobilized. I was leaning over the parapet, looking down at the body.

  “You said you picked him up in a lava flow; your eyes were with him.”

  “Your momma really should have shoved that hanger up a little farther. Instead of just swirling your brains around, she should have made you too stupid for your heart to keep beating. There wasn’t then, and there isn’t now, any idiot named Tommy. The parasite I’m allowing to live is Ganlin, though he goes by the name Green Man. Some seriously deranged demons created him as a way to get a hold of some kid who would allow them to gain access to this world. This is what I’m talking about! They always want to crawl out from their shitty little holes in the earth and fuck up our little pieces of heaven. But I’m here to tell you, if anyone is going to take a dump on my lawn, it’s going to be me!”

  I barely heard anything he said after he said he hadn’t met up with Tommy. Was it all a lie? Sebastian had warned me, but had I heeded his advice? If it wasn’t Tommy, where was the boy? So many questions. My heart ached for the truth. A time would come when I could discover what had happened, but right now, there was a war to wage.

  “Tim, I feel like fifty-one percent of you is here to help and the other forty-nine is here to, well, kill shit. But Ganlin, I don’t trust at all,” I said. “I don’t even know if I trust myself around him. I’m owed a huge debt and going through you to get to him has its fair share of appeal.”

  “I control him! He only does what I want him to, when I want him to!”