Reluctant Necromancer

Oliver pulled the van over close enough to our convoy that we could still turn around when it was time to go. When we all hopped out of it though, the crowd around Glen’s truck took a collective step back.

I couldn’t help but let out a weary sigh. With great power comes great fear more than anything. I stood up straight and pulled my shoulders back though. I wasn’t ashamed that I had stood in front of the danger and protected these people. And honestly, if they thought I should be then fuck them.

A middle aged white man stepped forward, obviously placing himself in charge of the group of what looked like refugees. For all I knew he was the duly elected leader for the group, but he just set my teeth on edge on general principle.

“We, uh, we can’t thank you enough for taking care of those monsters,” the man said into the quiet.

Mara who was the most hot headed of us all surprised me by not pointing out that they hadn’t thanked us at all yet. “It’s no problem. People should look out for each other.”

“Are you…are you Americans?” he asked a little stunned. A little afraid. I forgot that apparently we had an accent or whatever. People in Whitcomb had stopped making a big deal about it pretty quickly.

“Yep. Got transported here during the initial system break. Been helping out our town ever since,” Mara answered.

The man spit to the side angrily. “A whole gang of Americans showed up in our town a few days ago and basically ran us all out. It was either leave or die,” he looked pissed. I could sympathize with that sentiment if it had happened to me. Not sure I’d jump straight to blaming every American though.

“What town are you guys from?” Mara asked.

The man looked around like he wasn’t sure if he should say. An older woman shoved him in the shoulder from behind, “Jesus, Frank. They’re obviously not with the other people. And even if they were, telling them where we’re from won’t change anything for us.”

She turned to face Mara as she stepped past Frank. “We’re from Montiback. Just up the road a ways. We’ve only been on the move since this morning. The pricks had started rounding people up for lord knows what and the rest of us decided it was time to get going.”

“Wait, so you left people behind,” I demanded.

“We’re not fighters, miss. We would have just died had we tried to do anything,” she sounded almost reasonable. The fucking coward.

Ashley reached forward and grabbed a hold of my arm. I hadn’t even noticed I’d been leaning forward like I was going to do something. She squeezed my arm and I turned my gaze to her. A thankful smile spread across my face and I gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

We all stepped away from the others as Glen began telling them about how things were going in Whitcomb. “I don’t like this,” I said at once.

“Agreed, but we already have a mission and people depending on us,” Oliver said. I turned a withering stare in his direction. “It’s like triage, Grace. We can’t save everyone so we focus on who we can save first.”

“Fine, what about on the way back?” I asked.

“We’ll still need to escort the others back home. You saw what things are like even this close to home,” Oliver argued.

“Gah!” I yelled angrily. The voices behind us cut off and I could feel the crowd shifting further away from us. “It’s not right. There’s got to be a way to do all of it.”

“Not without putting undue risk on the people depending on us. Both the convoy and the town as a whole,” Oliver argued calmly.

“What’s your solution then?”

“We hurry through this, get the convoy back to Whitcomb and come back out to check on the town and scout around other nearby towns. If it happened once it probably happened before and will happen again.”

All that came out of my mouth was an angry growl. I nodded at Oliver in reluctant agreement and then stomped back to the van. Ashley followed a few minutes later and wrapped me up in a warm hug until the others returned. By the time we were ready to go I was once again calmed down.

Mara and Oliver talked quietly in the front seat with the phone held between them. Mara looked back at me before turning back to Oliver and jabbing her finger at the screen. Oliver threw his arms in the air and angrily put the van in drive.

Mara leaned over the front seat to face us. “The easiest roads around Montiback actually lead to a hill overlooking the town before it splits off. We can at least get an eye on the situation as we go past. See how things are holding up for the most part.”

“Thank you,” I said relieved. At least a little.

We drove for about half an hour before Oliver pulled over to the side of the road. He’d stopped before the crest of the hill so we could sneak up and take a look before giving ourselves away with our vehicles.

We scrambled out of the van. Oliver went back to discuss what was going on with the rest of the convoy. I followed behind Ashley as she slunk up the hill and popped her head over the top. A few seconds later mine joined hers.

Nothing seemed to be moving in the town below. It was smaller than Whitcomb. Maybe a handful of streets altogether and a few scattered neighborhoods. Just a tiny village. It should be brightening up as the sun started its descent and the skies darkened. But in the little village nothing stirred or flickered. Not even any dogs barked. It was more than a little eerie.

We stayed there for several minutes but never saw anything or anyone move down below. I couldn’t help but wonder where the raiders had disappeared off to. Because they didn’t appear to be down below. But, neither did anyone else.

I looked around at the others, but they all shook their heads. We made our way back to the van and hopped in. Mara and John explained to Oliver what we’d seen. Or rather what we hadn’t. He grunted before starting the van and getting us going again.

We drove for another hour, the sky getting steadily darker. Eventually we found a little turn off that we pulled the convoy down. After a little discussion we decided that sleeping in the vehicles, while uncomfortable, might be safer. We set up a watch rotation for every two hours with one of the civvies teamed up with one of us for each shift except the middle where Ashley and I would be up together. Since we weren’t driving, giving us the middle shift with the most interrupted sleep seemed wisest. Or so Mara declared to the group at large. There was little grumbling as everyone ate a cold dinner from their stashes and we got ready to bed down for the night.

I took the floor beneath the bench seat Ashley stretched out on. She leaned over and smiled at me. “Goodnight,” she whispered before brushing her lips across mine.

As she separated I reached up and grabbed her behind the neck. Pulling her down I pressed my lips against hers and immediately deepened the kiss. A soft sigh hummed across my lips as she returned my affection.

Before things could get too heated she pressed a hand to my shoulder and pressed herself up. She panted down at me for a moment. Then darted forward to peck a kiss to the tip of my nose.

“Goodnight,” I called to her retreating form. I couldn’t quite wipe the smile from my face as I curled up into my blanket. Doing anything with that woman was like playing with fire. It was so fun, but one of these days she was going to really give it to me.