Gun Mage 3: Surviving a Post Apocalyptic Magic Earth Read online

  “And there’s a mage as well,” Sorcha added. “I think he’s controlling the wolves.”

  I had to force myself to look away from the very soft looking ears and focus on the Irishwoman instead.

  “We don’t really have a place to hide out here,” I noted.

  “Let’s keep moving,” Darwin ordered as he started to jog down the road. “We’ll get as close as we can to the next town before we have to face them.”

  The horses were more than ready to run, and it was a struggle to keep them from bolting down the road ahead of us. I could see both Sorcha and Freya work to soothe the animals while Darwin and I kept an eye on the surrounding forest.

  Yet despite our increased pace, there were no signs that we were any closer to a town or even a farm where we could take shelter. We were on a long stretch of empty road, the perfect place to attack and kill travelers without any consequences.

  And as the sky started to turn orange and pink, the first howl went up from the pursuing pack.

  Chapter 2

  “I’m really starting to hate wolves,” Sorcha muttered.

  “In here,” Darwin called out as he started toward a stand of trees.

  Freya charged ahead as her long legs and rabbit skills let her hop through the snow like it was little more than some extra dirt on the ground. The horses both ran with her, and so it was just us three normal humans who stumbled into the circle of pines last. Freya already had her Glock at the ready as her ears swiveled to find a target, and both Darwin and I soon had our own weapons up as well while Sorcha grabbed the bow and quiver and took a spot in the center of the ring.

  For a moment, all was quiet. The world was bathed in the early glow of morning, and a pair of doves floated lazily in the air. Drops of water fell from the boughs of the surrounding trees, and the scent of pine wafted through the air.

  And then another howl split the air, and six gray forms seemed to take shape from the morning mist. The wolves eyed us hungrily, and I felt one of the horses rear up behind me.

  Freya and I opened fire first, and the rapid staccato of the Glocks filled the air. The Glock wasn’t like any of the other guns I had fired. The firing action was positively smooth, with almost no kick compared to the others, though I still needed two hands to hold it steady. If the other guns felt like big, booming power, then the Glock was neat, tidy, and crisp, but just as deadly.

  When we were done, two of the wolves fell to the ground amid a pool of red while a third limped away and left bloody prints across the pristine snow. The rest scattered back into the trees, but another howl signalled that the canines were still nearby.

  We didn’t have long to wait, as another pair of wolves burst from the brush from different directions. An arrow whizzed past my head as I was still turning toward the scrabbling sound, and I heard the thud of the arrow as it found flesh and then the brief yelp of a wolf.

  The Winchester cracked then, and I saw another wolf fall to the ground almost directly opposite the one Sorcha had shot. There wasn’t time to consider that, though, as I heard more rustling in the bushes. There was a snarl, and then another wolf leapt from the tangled branches. Freya and I fired on the wolf at the same moment, and it fell to the ground in front of me, with a hole in its skull and a second one in its flank. Its tongue lolled from its mouth as blood started to seep into the ground near its jaw.

  And then I heard the Winchester boom, followed by the thud of another body. I glanced back and saw a large wolf with a dark gray coat in a pile of brown leaves and snow with a pool of blood near its chest.

  “They’re leaving,” Freya said a few moments later. I saw her ears swivel to follow the trail of the wolves, and her nose twitched as she caught their scent.

  “The mage is still around somewhere, though,” Sorcha added as she peered into the trees. “I can feel him.”

  “Then let’s get going again, before the mage and the wolves have time to regroup,” Darwin said.

  We ran back to the road and started to jog again. For long moments, all I heard was the sound of our breathing and the soft thud of the horses’ hooves on the snow. We all scanned the trees in the hopes that we might catch a glimpse of the wolves if they returned, but I also tried to watch for signs of another town, or even an abandoned building where we could find cover and maybe deal with the mage.

  Despite our vigilance, the next attack still took us by surprise, probably because we were still focused on the threat of wolves. What we faced instead was a flock of wild turkeys that charged at us after a single squawked warning from the trailside. Turkeys snapped at our legs while others dropped on us from the trees. I might have laughed, but the pain and danger of a turkey attack were real, and I had the blood and bruises along my shoulders and back to prove it.

  At the end, I just shot at anything that had feathers. After what felt like an endless amount of shooting and cursing, the few surviving members of the flock finally limped back off into the woods. Feathers fell slowly from the sky and blood turned the pristine snow into a red bloodbath. Plump bodies littered the ground, and I felt a twinge of regret at the waste.

  “We can’t trust that any of the animals are themselves,” Sorcha warned as she watched a hawk circle high overhead.

  “Hate to leave all this for the wolves and mountain lions,” Darwin noted as he studied the turkey massacre.

  “Then grab one for tonight and let’s keep going,” Freya suggested as she tried to steady the horses once again.

  The women and I started to move on while Darwin looked over the various turkeys. He caught up with us a few moments later with a hefty turkey that had taken a shot to the neck. The horses nickered at the smell of blood, but allowed him to add the bird to our packs.

  “Freya, do you need more ammo?” Darwin asked.

  “Wouldn’t hurt,” Freya agreed as she handed the Glock over to her grandfather.

  “Let’s stop over here for a moment while I reload these guns,” Darwin suggested.

  “Better make it quick,” I warned as I scanned the woods.

  The sound of small animals scurrying through the brush wasn’t uncommon, but most critters made an effort not to alert you to their presence. At the moment, though, it sounded like an entire army of squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles and every other forest floor creature was closing in on our location.

  Darwin found the ammunition quickly and reloaded both the Winchester rifle and the Glock. He gave me a quizzical look, and I glanced at the phantom Glock I still carried.

  “Will it use normal ammunition?” Darwin asked.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted.

  “Good a time as any to find out,” he suggested.

  I handed the nine millimeter to the older man, and watched him as he released the magazine, added more bullets, then snapped it back into place.

  “It feels... heavier,” I said as I weighed the gun in my hand. “Not a lot more, but enough that I can tell.”

  “Fascinating, but may I suggest we work this out later?” Sorcha replied as she eyed a group of squirrels in a nearby tree that had started to chatter.

  We moved back to the road and started to jog again. This time, though, squirrels started to line up in the trees near the road, and as we ran by, their chatter filled the air. We ignored them at first, but then the squirrels started to toss things at us, like sap-laden pine cones and acorns.

  Despite the assault, we kept going, though we all uttered more than a few curse words at the rodents’ accuracy. I felt one heavy pine cone smack me in the back and knew I would have a lovely bruise to go with all the turkey scratches.

  “Damn squirrels,” Darwin muttered as he pointed the Winchester toward the trees.

  “Forget the squirrels,” I replied. “No matter how many animals we kill, it won’t make any difference. It’s the mage we need to take care of.”

  “He’s right,” Freya declared. “We have to get him to show himself.”

  “Do you have a sense of how close he is?” I asked
Sorcha, then glanced at Freya as well.

  “He’s not that far, I think,” Sorcha replied as she looked around. “And, it may be two mages.”

  “Great,” Darwin muttered.

  “I’m surprised they haven’t done anything besides send the animals after us,” I noted as acorns started to rain down on us.

  “If it’s just the two mages, then I would guess that their job is just to track us and maybe slow us down,” Darwin replied as he glanced toward the sky where an eagle rode the thermals. “Once the rest of the gang gets here, that’s when they’ll attack.”

  “And they’re probably hoping that the animals will force us to use up all our guns and ammunition,” Freya added.

  “Which we’ve already come close to doing,” I pointed out. “So let’s see if we can get the mages to appear.”

  “How do we do that?” Sorcha asked as she tried to pull a squirrel-tossed twig out from her hair.

  “We stop, like we’re injured,” Darwin said quietly. “We find shelter. They may hang back for a bit and let the animals do the investigating, but eventually, they’ll want to take a look for themselves.”

  “It has to be a place that isn’t loaded with animals,” I stated as I ducked to avoid a flying pinecone. “Which might be tricky in the middle of the forest.”

  “We need another cave,” Freya suggested.

  “Or an old building,” Darwin replied as he started down the road. “This used to be a major highway, so there must be old buildings nearby.”

  “How do we find either a cave or a building?” Sorcha asked as the rest of us started after the ex-trooper.

  “If we can find an old exit ramp, we’ll find buildings,” Darwin replied.

  We started to run faster in the hope that we might outrun the worst of the rodent barrage, but the squirrels were soon joined by a battalion of angry blue jays who dive bombed us before quickly retreating back into the trees.

  “Freya, go on ahead,” Darwin ordered. “See if you can find the next exit ramp.”

  The rabbit woman nodded, then sprinted ahead at a pace that no normal human could match. The squirrels started to bark at each other as she moved down the road, too fast for the rodents to hit. She followed a bend in the road and was soon out of sight, and even the squirrel sounds that followed her soon died away.

  Meanwhile, Sorcha, Darwin, and I tried to keep going as fast as we could, but we were all frustrated with the attacks. The animals weren’t drawing blood anymore, but they were definitely slowing us down, especially as more birds joined in on the attacks.

  The winged army swooped, cawed, and even swarmed around us at one point like a hive of angry bees. Both Darwin and I tried to fire shots, and two of the birds fell to the ground, but for the most part, it was almost impossible to find a clean target while the birds flew within mere inches of us. There was just no easy way to pick off an avian without accidentally shooting a human as well.

  “Damn it,” I heard Darwin mutter as a thrown pinecone clocked him in the back of the head while he waved his arms at a pack of wrens that flitted around his face.

  Between the squirrels and the birds, we weren’t making much progress along the road. The horses had long since grown impatient and started to kick at anything and anyone, despite our best efforts to keep them calm and moving forward. Luckily, I heard the squirrel chatter pick up again a few moments later, and then I saw Freya’s long-legged form race back toward us.

  “It’s not far,” she announced as she skidded to a halt. “It’s something called a service area. A lot of it has started to fall down, but there’s a... ‘gaseteria’ that’s still in okay shape. I think we can hide in there.”

  “Then let’s go,” I replied.

  We started to run down the road again, faster than we had before now that we knew shelter from the attack was close by. Freya frequently darted ahead, then stopped and waited for us to catch up. It would have been annoying to watch her race to safety then wait for us to stagger up under the brunt of the attack, but I could read the anxiety in her face, and I knew she was worried that we would be caught by the mages before we made it to the gaseteria.

  Still, it felt like an eternity before I saw Freya stop next to a pre-magic highway sign. It was blue with white lettering, though it was hard to pick out much more than the words ‘service area’ beneath the years of dirt and vines. There was a narrow trail that led away from the road and nearly lost among a clump of young trees stood a group of pre-magic buildings and a parking lot full of cars.

  “I’d never thought I’d be so happy to see a gaseteria,” Darwin huffed as we turned up the trail.

  “What was it used for?” I asked as I swung my arms at a group of songbirds that darted near my head.

  “To fill up cars with gas,” Darwin replied, “and to get food on the go.”

  “I hate squirrels and birds!” Sorcha blurted out in frustration.

  There was a moment of silence as we fought our way toward the old buildings, and then the four of us started to laugh.

  “And to think, I always thought squirrels were cute,” Freya added as she grabbed up a pinecone and lobbed it back toward the trees.

  “Please tell me there’s a place we can block off from the animals,” Darwin muttered.

  The building Freya led us to was a one-story cement box, covered in creeping vines and streaks of grime, but the wall of windows was still intact, and even the glass door was still whole. Ferns and mosses had embedded themselves in the cracks between the door and the jamb which created an effective seal against the outside world.

  I was tempted to smash in the door, but that would invite all the critters in as well, and they still swarmed around us with an almost frantic energy. Instead, Sorcha and Freya kicked and punched at anything that got too close while Darwin and I worked on the door. After several tries, the door squealed and slowly started to move, and then with one last hard tug, a cloud of plants and dirt tumbled to the ground and the door swung open.

  “In!” I shouted at Freya and Sorcha.

  The two women led the horses inside, with Darwin and I right behind them. We slammed the door shut, which sent several birds tumbling to the ground as they crashed into the glass. A pair of chipmunks had made it inside before we closed the door, but without the rest of the pack, they seemed uncertain what to do. Freya stomped her foot and the toothsome twosome darted under a table where they chattered quietly to each other.

  “They’re probably wondering how the hell they ended up here,” Freya commented as she sat down in a booth. “Poor little buggers, being used like that.”

  “At least they’re still alive,” Sorcha sighed. “Most creatures who do the Magesterium’s bidding aren’t so lucky.”

  “I’ll probably be more sympathetic when I can get all of these leaves and nuts out of my clothes,” I replied as I tried to shake loose some of the detritus.

  “Well, they’re not leaving,” Darwin noted as he peered out the window.

  “At least they’re not attacking,” Sorcha pointed out.

  “Yet,” Darwin sniffed.

  “I guess this is the part where people got food,” I noted as I started to look around.

  There were tables lined up in neat rows, along with the booths that sat beneath the windows. There was a counter, a cash register, a row of broken glass doors that held a few toppled cans of beer and ‘Coke Products’, a ‘Nacho Cheese Dispenser’, and a group of four human skeletons near the back.

  “Oh,” I uttered when I saw the skeletons.

  “What is it?” Sorcha asked from her spot across from Freya.

  “Human skeletons,” I replied. “From the pre-magic era, I think.”

  Darwin joined me, and after a quick survey of the area, he knelt down next to the group. He removed his sunglasses and peered at the four, then studied the surrounding floors and walls more closely.

  “There was a lot of this in those first days after the meteorite hit,” he mused. “People panicked, others just tr
ied to take advantage of the pandemonium to steal what they could. These four were here when someone tried to rob the place and got shot for it.”

  “That’s... terrible,” Sorcha stated as the two women joined us.

  “This one was the clerk,” Darwin continued as he studied the remnants of the clothing. “These others were probably just drivers who stopped in to get gas and food.”

  “So, this kind of thing really did happen with guns,” I murmured. “People just shooting people.”

  “I won’t deny guns made it easier in some ways,” Darwin said as he stood up. “But bad people will always find a way to hurt others, even without guns.”

  “Just look at the Magesterium,” Freya sniffed.

  I nodded, though it was hard to take my eyes away from the remains. I tried to imagine what it must have been like back then, as the first reports of the worldwide disaster became known. People tried to flee from the coasts, and so many poured onto the roads and highways that whole towns emptied out. Most left so quickly that there wasn’t time to grab much more than a jacket and the keys to their car. They probably stopped only when they couldn’t go any further, and then they came in here and were killed.

  “Hey,” Freya said as she turned to look back toward the windows. “It’s gone quiet.”

  “Normally that would mean a large predator,” Darwin commented as we all moved slowly back toward the window.

  “I don’t see anything,” I replied as I tried to peer through the trees and vines.

  “There’s definitely something out there,” Freya replied as her ears came out again and swiveled around.

  After a moment, we could all hear the sound of something large moving through the brush. The horses whinnied and shifted uneasily, and when I glanced around, I could see their ears were pricked forward and their eyes were locked on the scene just outside the window.

  “Here it comes,” Sorcha warned as low tree limbs started to quiver.

  There was a crashing sound, and then a black bear rumbled through the brush and stopped just outside the gaseteria. It stared at the glass for a moment, then roared its disapproval.