Time Reavers Read online

  A glint of metal appeared near the ground. Eight ruby eyes focused on the humans.

  “Creeper,” Melanie whispered.

  Amy fired first, but even if her aim had been true, the reaver ducked back into cover. The shot ricocheted off the stone bend in the tunnel and spun into the dark. A thin layer of frost glittered near the impact.

  “Missed!” Amy said. She loaded another bolt and started turning the crank assist.

  The reaver stuck its head out again and opened its mouth. Its throat glowed with orange fire.

  Keh keh keh…

  Daniel threw his knife, but the reaver turned and raced deeper into the darkness. The knife clattered against the gravel.

  “After it! Around the bend!”

  Daniel and Rüdiger advanced. Nicole ran to keep up. The tunnel continued its gentle curve with the creeper hiding further along the bend.

  Keh keh keh…

  “Is that thing laughing at us?” Nicole asked.

  “Could be,” Rüdiger said.

  Keh keh kreeiiigh!!!

  Melanie’s crossbow bolt struck one of its eyes. The creeper flailed about, its centipede-like body thrashing against the ground. After a moment, the creature gained its bearings and fled deeper into the tunnel.

  “De little Aschloche is persistent,” Melanie said, loading a bolt.

  The reaver didn’t get far. Nicole could see it around the bend. She reached towards the ground and felt broken chunks of stone in her hand. With an upward motion, she lifted hundreds of pieces of gravel into the air.

  “Try dodging this!” Nicole shouted. With a groan of effort, she blasted the gravel forward. It struck the reaver in dozens of places, smashing through its body in glowing streamers of reaver blood.

  The creeper fell wetly to the ground in a hissing puddle of its own fluids.

  “Nice!” Amy said.

  Nicole brushed the beaded sweat from her brow. She took a few deep breaths.

  “The freeze hasn’t lifted,” Rüdiger said. “Melanie?”

  “Nutting behind us.”

  HEH… HEH… HEH…

  The deep rumble shook the walls and resonated within Nicole’s chest. Its semblance to laughter chilled her bones. The air was suddenly hot, and when Nicole breathed in, she smelled a strong sulfurous stench.

  All were silent. Nicole glanced from front to back, breaths coming quickly. With the echo, she couldn’t tell where the sound had come from. It seemed to come from everywhere at once.

  “Guys?” Nicole asked.

  “Something big is in here with us,” Daniel said. “Rüdi?”

  “I don’t see it! Melanie?”

  “Not back here!”

  Around the bend, eight reaver eyes opened. Where the creeper’s eyes were tiny pins of reddish light, these were blinding beacons. The glow reflected off the walls and turned the rails into scorching red curves. The hulking beast moved forward, its features gaining clarity with each thunderous step.

  The reaver filled the tunnel from end to end, wider and taller than the train it was built for. Its body resembled a “hill” of armor, smooth, rounded and shiny, almost beetle-like. A central ridge ran across the middle of its outer shell, extending over a barely visible head with two massive tusks. Eight thick, powerful legs supported the creature, better for crushing than cutting.

  HEH… HEH… HEH…

  “Juggernaut!” Daniel shouted. “RUN!!!”

  The juggernaut threw its mouth open and charged with a deafening roar.

  BRAAAAAUUUUUUGH!!!

  Nicole turned, stumbled over a railroad tie, but used her momentum to turn the fall into a flat out sprint. The juggernaut’s heavy steps shook the walls. Gravel vibrated off the ground. It wasn’t fast, not initially, but it picked up speed quickly.

  Nicole and the others pulled away from the juggernaut. It disappeared around the bend, but only for a moment. The gigantic creature continued to gain momentum. It kept pace, and soon, it was closing on them, bellowing like a jet engine from hell.

  Rüdiger lobbed a fireball over his shoulder like a grenade. It struck the juggernaut head-on and exploded in a flash of light, obscuring their pursuer in a thin bluish haze. The juggernaut charged through the cloud with only a tiny scorch mark on its armored hide.

  “It’s still coming!” Rüdiger shouted.

  “Of course it is!” Daniel shouted. “It’s a damn juggernaut! RUN!!!”

  Amy began to fall behind. Nicole grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

  “Come on!” Nicole shouted.

  Daniel leaped atop the train locomotive and threw a knife. It bounced off the juggernaut’s metallic shell.

  “Keep going!” Daniel shouted. He tossed his trench coat back and pulled another knife out.

  “Ve are going! Ve are going!” Melanie shouted. She and the others raced past the locomotive. They had just enough space between the train and the wall to run single file.

  The juggernaut didn’t slow down. It lowered its head, tusks aimed at the locomotive. Daniel’s second knife ricocheted off.

  “Oh, crap!” Daniel said. He turned and ran along the train’s top.

  The juggernaut crashed into the locomotive, crumpling it like tissue. It didn’t seem to slow down at all. Whole train cars and their occupants broke apart, giving way effortlessly to the monster charging through. Ragged pieces of them floated freely behind the massive creature. The sound of tortured metal and broken wood echoed in her ears.

  Sunlight from the tunnel’s mouth illuminated the train ahead.

  “Get out!” Daniel shouted from atop the train. “Get out of the tunnel!”

  “Dere is a tunnel to de right!” Melanie shouted.

  “That doesn’t help us!” Daniel shouted.

  “A tau tunnel! A small one! I feel it!”

  “Then get in! I’ll draw it off!” Daniel stopped near the exit and pulled another knife out.

  The party raced out of the train tunnel, but as they approached, the sunlight grew darker. A giant shape descended from outside the entrance. A huge centipede reaver spread its twitching mandibles and opened a dripping, caustic mouth.

  “Daniel! Behind you!” Nicole shouted.

  Daniel dodged at the last moment. The sentinel’s maw snapped shut where his head had been. He threw his knife, embedding it deep in one of the reaver’s eyes. It reared back and bellowed.

  BREEEEIIIIIIIGH!!!

  Nicole spotted the tau tunnel: a black opening on the ground. Sunlight glinted off the strange crystalline rock that formed the mouth. It seemed to cut into the ground at an angle, too steep to walk, but they could probably slide down. Melanie jumped in first and disappeared.

  Rüdiger stopped at the mouth. He turned and motioned furiously. “Come on! In you go!”

  “Get in, Amy!” Nicole shouted. Her sister leaped in without a second thought.

  Nicole turned around. The sentinel reaver had coiled itself around the train, constricting it like a snake. Its body flowed like a river of metal plates. Sparks rained from the train cars’ skins.

  “Daniel!” Nicole shouted. She couldn’t see him.

  The sentinel reaver lunged at something unseen on the far side of the train. She heard the brief metal-on-metal tone of Daniel’s sword cutting into the creature.

  The juggernaut burst out of the train tunnel. It shook pieces of a passenger car to either side. Its bright ruby eyes hunted for prey.

  Rüdiger grabbed her shoulder. “Time to go!”

  Nicole bit her lip. She tore her eyes away from the carnage and jumped down the tau tunnel.

  Chapter 11

  Watchtower

  “I tink I see de exit,” Melanie said, climbing up the ragged crystalline slope.

  “What does it look like?” Rüdiger asked.

  “A train station.”

  “Not another train,” Nicole said. Her thighs burned from exertion. It felt like they’d been climbing for hours. Amy panted behind her, struggling to keep pace.

  “It’s
better than some alternatives,” Rüdiger said. “German?”

  “I tink so,” Melanie said. “Ja, definitely. I can see de signs.”

  “Well, at least it’s the right country,” Rüdiger said.

  Nicole wiped her brow and grinned. “A good thing it’s not France, right?”

  “Too true.”

  “Keep it up, Amy,” Nicole said. “We’re almost there.”

  “Finally! My feet feel like they’re on fire.”

  “It’s your own fault, you know.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Your shoes are just for looking pretty, not for walking.”

  “Well, as we discussed before, if I had known about the giant robot insects, I would have bought something more functional.”

  “Look at it this way,” Nicole said. “I bet this will help you slim up.”

  “Screw you.”

  Nicole laughed, but this time Amy joined her. It felt good to laugh. She’d tried her best not to think about Daniel. He was a capable guy, she kept telling herself. Of course he made it out alive.

  Nicole followed the two Germans out of the tau tunnel and onto an open train platform. It wasn’t occupied and felt vaguely remote, like it was built near the edge of a city’s influence. A cool breeze blew across the concrete platform and whistled through a nearby forest. A stone path led away from the platform and cut through the forest. Rüdiger and Melanie walked over to the train route map.

  Nicole looked back. The tau tunnel was gone, leaving Amy in all her gothic eccentricity.

  “What?” Amy asked. “Something on my face?”

  “It’s nothing.” Nicole opened her cell phone and tried to reach Daniel. He didn’t pick up. She tried two more times, but couldn’t get through.

  “He’ll be fine,” Amy said. “I’m sure of it.”

  “Yeah, probably. Hey, Rüdiger? Where are we?”

  “Stuttgart,” Rüdiger said. “Hmm. We’re within walking distance of Watchtower.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  “I don’t know. The reavers recently built this tau tunnel, but it isn’t a big one. It could mean they were scouting out Watchtower. It might mean nothing.”

  “Should we wait for Daniel?” Nicole asked.

  “No point. He knows where we’re going, not where we are. If he’s alive, that is.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say things like that,” Nicole said with finality.

  Rüdiger gave her a weary smile. “Come on. It’s this way.” He started up a path leading into the forest.

  “Great. More walking,” Amy said.

  Rüdiger led the way along a winding path through the woods for two miles. Nicole found the hike refreshing after the choppy terrain of the tau tunnel. The ground here was flat and the breeze felt good against her skin.

  Rüdiger stopped in front of a small clearing.

  “Here we are,” he said.

  Even with the trees blocking their view, Nicole could see a radio tower rising in the distance. It reminded her of the Seattle Space Needle. The radio tower was the only landmark visible over the tree line.

  “Okay, I give up,” Nicole said. “Where is it?”

  “Is everyone ready?” Rüdiger asked.

  “Ja,” Melanie said.

  “Ready for—

  * * *

  “—what?” Nicole asked. She’d felt disorientation similar to when time stopped, but not quite the same. She was about to ask why when she looked at the clearing again.

  “Huh. Where did that come from?” Nicole craned her neck, looking up at the tower in the clearing.

  Watchtower resembled a single castle’s turret made out of smoothed stone blocks. A parapet crowned the top, ten stories high. The only feature at the base was a black metallic door. Other than that, the outer walls were incredibly smooth and looked impossible to climb.

  “Interesting, isn’t it?” Rüdiger said. “Watchtower is like Chronopolis in that time and space are only slightly different from the real world.”

  Nicole looked up at a flagpole fluttering above Watchtower’s pointed cap.

  “It’s still moving,” she said.

  “Yes, the flow of time is mostly intact here,” Rüdiger said. “The mutable laws still apply, but the absolute laws are slightly different because this isn’t a freeze.”

  “If you say so.” Nicole looked around.

  A dark shape near the base of the tower moved. It groaned and stood up.

  “Daniel!” Nicole said.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” Rüdiger said. “I guess you’re not dead after all.”

  Daniel pushed himself upright, his back to the tower. He rubbed his eyes. From his stubble, it looked like he hadn’t shaved in two days.

  “Thanks for caring, Rüdi.”

  “Are you all right?” Nicole said.

  “Yeah, just needed a nap,” Daniel said. He massaged his shoulder. “Ouch.”

  “You look terrible.”

  “Give me a break. Running that far with a sentinel and a juggernaut on my tail is hard work.”

  Rüdiger stepped back and looked up. “I don’t see anyone up top.”

  Melanie cupped her mouth and shouted, “Hallo! Ist da jemand?”

  No one answered from the tower.

  “I already tried,” Daniel said. He cracked his neck to one side then the other.

  “Watchtower is always manned,” Rüdiger said. “Always.”

  “Maybe dey retreated to Chronopolis?” Melanie asked.

  “If so, what did they retreat from?” Rüdiger said. “If reavers attacked, we should see evidence.”

  “Well, whatever happened, we need to get inside.” Daniel walked to the door and gave it a swift kick. “Yeah, that isn’t budging. Even after my power nap. Rüdi, can you blast a way inside?”

  “I doubt it,” Rüdiger said. He scratched his chin. “It’s solid stone and the door is a single piece of molded juggernaut carapace. Plus I don’t think putting holes in the foundation is a good idea.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” Daniel stepped back and looked up. “If I can get in through the top, I could unlock the door from the inside.”

  “It’s just getting there that’s the problem,” Rüdiger said.

  “What about me?” Nicole asked. “I can probably help there.”

  “You can?” Daniel asked.

  “Well, can’t I lift stuff?”

  “You can’t lift a human or a reaver,” Rüdiger said. “Nothing living.”

  “Yeah, so? What about I lift something and Daniel jumps onto it? Would that work?”

  “Huh, now that you mention it…” Daniel said.

  Rüdiger shook his head. “Your temporal influence is going to give her one hell of a kick when you touch whatever she levitates.”

  “Yeah, but I’ll be brief. I should be able to jump off before her brain explodes.”

  “Wait. What?”

  Daniel winked. “Just kidding. But yeah, it’s going to hurt.”

  “Don’t joke like that! It’s not funny!”

  “Umm,” Daniel looked around. “How about a tree? That one looks dead.”

  Daniel drew his sword, ran up, and swung at the base of a thick leafless oak. The blade penetrated an inch. He put his boot to the trunk and wrenched his sword out.

  “Okay, that didn’t work.”

  “Please. I’m embarrassed just watching,” Rüdiger said. “Stand back.” He raised an open hand. Blue fire coiled around him and collected in a tight point of light above his palm.

  Daniel cleared the firing lane so fast he turned into a black haze dashing across the tree line.

  Rüdiger tossed the fireball. It struck the tree a foot above the ground and exploded into a cloud of hovering splinters. The wood groaned and the tree tipped towards Nicole and the others.

  “Grab it, Nicole!” Daniel shouted.

  Nicole reached for the falling tree. A strong electric surge ran through her arms, covering them in goose bumps. Her
hairs stood on end. She felt the rough bark against her palms and the dampness of morning dew.

  “Oh, crap! It’s heavy! It’s heavy!”

  Something intangible between Nicole and the falling trunk pressed her down to her knees. She held her arms outstretched, straining with the tree’s colossal weight. It slowed in its fall, but kept coming. Nicole clenched her teeth. A dull pain in the back of her head sharpened.

  The tree slowed and stopped at a forty-five degree angle above her head.

  “Amazing,” Rüdiger said.

  “Next time more warning!” Nicole shouted, red-faced.

  “Sorry, I thought it would fall the other way.”

  “All right, now start lifting it up,” Daniel said.

  “You want me to do more?” Nicole shouted. The tree trunk teetered over her. She drove it into Watchtower, cracking it in half. With a toss of one hand, she sent the bottom half tumbling through the air into the forest. It crashed to the ground, rolled, and finally reset.

  Now with only the lighter top half to lift, Nicole felt the pain in her head change to a low burning, still not good but better than stabbing needles. She stood up, planted her feet, and concentrated on lifting the trunk. It slowly ascended.

  “Is this high enough?” Nicole shouted, sweat trickling into her eyes.

  “Just a little more. A little more. Just a little bit—”

  “Come on! Can’t you jump this yet?”

  “There. Perfect! Hold it right here!” Daniel said. He sprinted towards two trees near the clearing’s edge and jumped towards one. What Daniel did next was too fast for Nicole to follow. He seemed to ricochet between the two trees, a black-cloaked shape bouncing higher and higher until he landed near the top. From there, Daniel ran out across a branch that could hardly support his weight and jumped through the air.

  Nicole still held the trunk at a forty-five degree angle, and Daniel caught the lowest part with his hands.

  “Gah!” Nicole gasped. Her head exploded with hot daggers of pain. She dropped to a knee, but held the trunk in the air.

  “Whoa!” Daniel shouted, hanging on. “A little wobbly up here!”

  “HURRY!!!”

  Daniel pulled himself onto the trunk and ran to the top. Without a pause, he launched himself upward and grabbed hold of Watchtower’s battlements.