Chapter 23 - Necros

"Then you must leave!" Joseph urged, standing. "You can take my vehicle."

Terra shook her head. "You do not understand what he is capable of. Necros will tear this town apart to find me. Go warn as many as you can, and see if you can find Will." She leaned forward to embrace the pastor, her head barely coming up to his shoulders. "And thank you."

As she ran out, Joseph called to her. "God be with you, Terra."

I hope so.

As Terra sprinted, burning vengeance flared from deep wounds, extending bitter flames through her mind. Necros took Anna, and so many more. This monster deserves to suffer for each one.

Arriving at her apartment, she bent over and panted while her thoughts swirled. The exhaustion spurred a moment of lucidity.

Necros is too powerful. Facing him in direct battle would be suicide.

The most rational response, as Joseph suggested, was to flee, to run far away.

But what of the good people in Freehold? I can't let them suffer because of me. And Will...

The semblance of a plan formed in Terra's mind. I have to draw him away.

Terra pulled a set of fighting spikes from her motorcycle saddlebag, sliding them into her boot. She suppressed her aura as much as she could, hoping Necros had not noticed it, at least not yet. Driving the motorcycle to the edge of town, she parked it out of sight between a rundown vacant house and a small wooden shed. A peek into the aura revealed the location of Necros and his Enforcers.

Terra ran back toward the hospital, stopping at the community center and peering around the corner to assess the situation. Necros stood before the hospital front doors under the awning, but all that remained of them were twisted metal frames and shattered glass. He stood tall, wearing the ceremonial gold mask and robe for someone of his high rank.

Such is his ego. I can use that against him.

Two Enforcers wearing silver masks and robes flanked Necros. Just from their adornment, even without an aura view, Terra knew they were powerful Talents themselves, likely of similar power to her own. Three armed guards in gray Dynasty uniforms stood behind them.

Four townspeople, including two white-shirted hospital security guards, lay motionless on the ground. Necros extended a hand toward a terrified woman, lifting her by invisible force and pinning her to the wall. She twitched as she cried out, her face twisted in pain.

Liz. No!

Terra took a deep breath and firmed her resolve. Now is the time.

She moved out into the open and drew three spikes from her boot. Shifting fully into the aura, she suspended the spikes in mid-air before her. With practiced precision, she telekinetically flung them at high velocity. Necros and his silver Enforcers observed Terra's intrusion into the aura immediately, and threw up shimmering shields to protect themselves, but they were not her target. Instead, the three Dynasty guards who stood behind them dropped to the ground, each pierced through the chest by the deadly projectiles.

Liz slid down the wall as Necros turned toward Terra. "So there you are," he shouted.

Terra cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Hey, Emperor's arse licker. Come and get me!"

That should do it.

Terra sprinted away while telekinetically launching rocks drawn from a nearby pile at her pursuers, hoping to delay them for a second. Running in a zigzag pattern by the community building, she raced toward her waiting motorcycle. Spikes hissed past her, pelting the ground to her right. Necros and his assistants began the chase, but not by running, instead floating just above the ground as if specters.

Thrusting his hands forward, Necros sent a pressure pulse at Terra. She threw up a shield to block, but it still sent her sprawling across the ground with a breathy grunt. Jumping up, she resumed her flight while brushing bits of sand and gravel from a scraped arm.

More spikes whizzed by. Terra yelped as sharp searing pain burst from her thigh, exploding with blinding whiteness in her mind. She crumbled to the ground on one knee. Grimacing, she pulled herself up and limped around the community building corner, dragging her wounded leg along. A hand to the gash came up dripping in crimson.

With a deep breath, Terra set off again. Temporarily pulling out of the aura, she hoped to make herself more difficult to locate. Only able to hobble in a half-run, Terra made a hard left turn between buildings.

If I can just get to my motorcycle.

After a right turn down a shadowy alley, Terra pulled up. At the other end of the alley stood one of the silver-clad Enforcers, who let fly two spikes. She leaped to the left while telekinetically pushing the projectiles to the right so that they just missed her, instead embedding themselves in a wooden post with hollow thunks. Directed with an arm fling, Terra launched a spike back at the Enforcer, but with a downward hand motion, he sent it clattering to the ground at his feet.

"Is that all you have?" he said with a hollow laugh.

The tall chimney above and behind him gave Terra an idea. Using her powers, she pulled hard on the bricks and then let gravity take over. The Enforcer turned and extended his hands, creating a shield to protect himself from the falling bricks. It was just the distraction she needed. The spike Terra launched buried itself deeply in the wall just behind him with a sharp crack, its path taking it directly through the body of the Enforcer. He stood stunned for a few seconds before blood spurted from a chest hole, then he slumped to the graveled ground.

One down.

A forceful push sent Terra rolling on the packed gravel, this one from the opposite direction. The other silver-clad Enforcer approached from the other end of the alley. Nearly breathless, Terra crawled behind a metal trash container with a salty metallic taste on her tongue. A hand drawn across her mouth wiped away blood from a split lip.

With a deep breath, Terra closed her eyes and concentrated. Using precise psi-surgery skills, she sent a sharp tendril of force toward her opponent. As expected, the Enforcer threw up a shield to block, but one more appropriate for a blunt force. Terra's micro-scale thrust pierced the shield. Knowing there would be no time to search within the body of her opponent for an appropriate target, she set off a pressure pulse blindly within the Enforcer's chest. With a cry, the Enforcer grasped her chest and collapsed to her knees, gasping.

Two down.

Terra staggered down the alley, passing the body of the first Enforcer. She grimaced as hot pain shot up from her leg wound. Reaching the end of the alley, she looked to the right and spied the shed where her motorcycle waited.

So far, so good.

Necros had to be somewhere nearby, so again, she suppressed her aura to make it harder for him to track her. Limping her way alongside the gravel road, she left a trail of red drops. As she came around the side of the vacant building next to the shed, Terra breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the motorcycle.

Now to get out of town and lead Necros away.

But as she drew closer, a golden spike streaked by with a hiss, striking the motorcycle. Penetrating the power cell, despite the reinforced shell designed to prevent such a thing, the energy held in the high-density capacitor cell burst out in a hot blue-white flash. Terra jumped back and turned away from the bright light and singeing heat.

A strong telekinetic push sent her crashing through the rickety wooden door of the old vacant building, leaving her stunned and dizzied on the floor. Her body rose, floating, but not by her doing. An unseen telekinetic force held her suspended in the middle of the barren room, constricting her like a snake and causing her to gasp for air.

Terra blinked, trying to focus blurry eyes on a robed figure that stood at the doorway threshold, silhouetted by bright outside light.

Necros addressed her in a voice laced with smugness. "Ah, we finally meet at last. I have so looked forward to this. Terra, is it not? You shall be my greatest trophy, even better than your former partner. What was her name? Anna, I think. Such a shame her body disappeared. I would have mounted your head next to hers."

As he spoke, Terra devised a desperate plan to free herself. With her telekinetic abilities, she picked up crumbled rocks and debris from the floor and flung it at him, a diversion. A large nail hanging loosely in the doorway behind him was to be the primary strike. As Necros threw up a shield to block the debris in front of him, Terra pulled the nail and launched it at his back. But its motion abruptly stopped as the point just touched him, then it fell to the floor with a clink.

With a backhand motion, Necros slammed Terra hard against the far stone wall. Ribs cracked and head split from the impact. She grunted as the air burst from her lungs, then collapsed in a blurry daze.

With a wave of a finger, Necros lifted her again, pinning her tight against the wall. "Oh, that was clever, very clever indeed." He gazed at her through the aura, tilting his head. "You are indeed an attractive woman." Revulsion rose in Terra's throat as his bony fingers traced her cheek. He sighed. "I would take my pleasure, but you are just too dangerous to remain alive."

Terra jerked her head from his touch and spat, "Go to hell!"

"Ah, yes. The final curse of the vanquished," he responded. "If hell exists, my dear, you will see it first."

Stepping back, a shiny jewel-encrusted dagger lifted from Necros' belt and floated toward Terra. It drifted, as though to savor the kill, stopping as the tip touched her throat, just piercing her skin. A trickle of blood ran down between her breasts. Terra allowed her face to relax, resigning herself to death.

I am so sorry, Will.

"And now you die," Necros whispered.

Terra mentally braced for the thrust of the blade, but incredulously, the dagger dropped to the floor with a reverberating clatter. The force holding her up released, and she slid down into a sitting position, leaning against the wall. Before contemplation of what this meant, a terrible wave of sickening vertigo and anguish washed over her. Her mind spun and gut twisted as she lost all contact with the aura.

The Darkness.

Necros screamed in terror, staggered, and clutched his masked head. Whatever caused this feeling in her affected him so much more.

Terra held her breath as a man with a dark hood pulled over his head walked in toward her. Reaching down to retrieve the dagger, the man revealed his face.

Will!

But this face was unlike the Will she knew. His eyes burned through an otherwise cold and emotionless expression. Carrying the dagger, he walked over to Necros. Will tore off the mask and flung it to the floor to reveal a face old, twisted, and terrified. In a single motion, Will plunged the blade deep into Necros' chest. He stood motionless, gazing down at the now lifeless form, and let his clenched fists relax.

Will pulled his hood back as he kneeled before Terra. Back again was the man she remembered, the one with a kind face and caring eyes. He carefully scooped her into his arms and brought her to his chest. Terra braced for the pain, but it did not come.

Such gentle strength.

He carried her out of the building as she rested her head against his shoulder. Speaking in a soft voice rich with warmth, he said, "You are safe now. I have you, Terra Lorr."

Within Will's strong arms, death's dread lifted as if fog in the morning sun. Consciousness fading, Terra heard clearly the whispers of her heart, taking a deeper meaning of his words.

Yes, Will Sall. You do have me.