Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Thirty-Seven: ARI

Ari jumped as Lutz hit the glass windowpane with his palm. He motioned for her to come to the door, letting her pull it open part way before moving in to block her exit.

"What's going on?" she noticed the large plasma gun in his hands. "Where's Robie?"

"I need you to get everyone out the back of the building as fast as possible."

She frowned, glancing again at Lutz's gun. Ari seriously doubted he'd been hauling that around in his duffel bag, and if he needed her help in evacuating a building... "I need a weapon."

Lutz pulled a standard revolver from a shoulder holster under his coat and handed it to Ari, surprising her again - things must be very bad if he was willing to give a gun to a hopeful cadet with absolutely no training. "Get them to follow the alleys out of town and run east into the woods. Keep in mind, this is an order, cadet."

"But I'm not - " The words fell from her mouth without her initiating them. Lutz was quick to keep her from finishing them.

"Everyone in here is a civilian but you are Ben Kana's daughter,"

The hesitation melted away, he was right. "Yes sir."

There was another piercingly loud screech from the center of town. "Who is out there?" she asked, quickly checking the settings on the gun.

"Something that shouldn't be." He left. Frowning, she turned her attention to the inside of the café.

"Okay, everybody to listen up!" she said loudly. A handful of people looked at her, but the rest continued to talk amongst themselves in distressed tones. "Excuse me!" she continued, louder. "ATTENTION!"

Her lips twitched in a satisfied smirk as everyone turned to her in absolute silence. That was something she could never get away with on Mecham.

"We've been informed that the alley way is clear. Everyone needs to exit the building immediately, out the back. We're evacuating."

There was a chorus of whys and from whats, but above them all rose a deep, "Why should we listen to you?"

Ari drew herself up to her fullest height, trying to put on as much Military bravado as she could muster and for a 15 year old girl, it most likely looked as fake as it felt. "Because I have orders from Military Corporal Lutz that this building is to be evacuated. Now grab the person beside you and move!" There was another shriek from outside, far enough away that there was no immediate threat, but disconcerting enough that it caused several people to shudder. "I doubt any of you really want to stick around and find out what exactly is going on out there. Now let's go people!"

One of the employees led her through the kitchen to the back of the café, showing her the emergency exit. The exit Farris had escaped through. Ari did a quick survey of the alley and, deeming it safe, signaled for people to start leaving. "Follow the alley east out of town," she said as they passed, "get into the woods."

Most of the civilians followed her instructions, and those who didn't were soon righted with Ari's best imitation of her Headmistress Hobsen's irate tone. Of course, she noted later, it probably didn't hurt that she was holding a gun.

She had just finished herding the last person out the door when a woman's chilling scream echoed from the front street. "Go!" Ari ordered, waving the man on and making sure he was far enough down the alley before turning back into the café, checking her gun as she did. Lutz surely meant for her to follow them into the woods, but technically he never actually said.

Instead, she slipped through the kitchen just as something smashed through the glass windows of the café, followed by the sound of crashing monitors.

Ari dove to the floor and crawled behind the display counter. Whatever had sent people running and screaming through the streets must be right outside; but, she reluctantly admitted, there was no way she could act until she knew what exactly was out there.

"Think before you act, Ari." She muttered her brother's constant instructions to herself. With a flick of her wrist, the cylinder dropped open on the revolver, revealing a full load. Ari swallowed hard, hoping the ten rounds would be enough for the danger they were facing. Snapping it closed again she maneuvered around the center kitchen to get a better look.

Her body slammed into the metal cooling unit under the counter before she even realized someone had grabbed her from behind. "There's a back door. Use it," a cold voice ordered.

Ari blinked until her vision had adjusted, and then she flat-out stared - it was a girl. A tiny girl.

This five foot two, maybe ninety pound girl, was so focused on peering around the counter, that she failed to notice her command was being blatantly ignored. Ari shifted towards the edge of the counter, hoping to get a better view of whatever this stranger was looking at.

As she followed, Ari noticed large cuts in the girl's dark, dreary clothing. The bright red blood oozing from her fair skin, blended with the deep red fabric of her tunic. It briefly occurred to Ari that the flying object which shattered the windows may have actually been this girl. Another piercing cry turned her attention to the broken windows. The sound wasn't human but neither was what Ari saw next.

Like something out of her nightmares - giant, brutal, streaming saliva from a gaping mouth. However, instead of the wolfish features that would match the build of the creature, it had a distinctly feline head. And, oh yes, there was one more difference...

It was walking on its hind legs.

As horrible as it was, the creature seemed familiar, stranger still it brought to mind a name. One she had read only recently in ZIG's decoding scavenger hunt, "Kelandrai." Ari muttered.

"What?" The small girls head whipped around. Strands of her black hair slapping Ari in the face as she did.

The familiar feeling left her and she was left staring blankly at the strange girl.

"I told you to leave," the girl hissed. However the emotion in her strange reddish-brown eyes showed more indifference than anger.

The haze in Ari's mind faded somewhat, brought back to the situation at hand. "I have a gun."

"Interesting last words."

Ari rolled her eyes, "I have friends out there." It was a stretch to call them friends but she felt she needed to be there to help if they needed her.

"And what? You're going to save him? From that?" As she spoke, a sharp, female scream was cut off by a loud crunch. Both girls turned from the windows to avoid seeing what they already knew had made those sounds.Fortunately, the beast shuffled farther down the street, away from the café.

Ari's jaw twitched. "Why are they here?"

"Oh, just to stock up on supplies." she said. With no emotional fluctuation in her voice, Ari couldn't be sure, but it seemed the girl was joking. "Does it really matter why? They're here. They're eating people and they don't seem to be leaving." A wickedly unsettling grin, began in the corner of the girls mouth. "So stay out of my way."

A chill rippled down Ari's spine. "Your way? What are you planning on doing?" Anything that created a smile like that couldn't possibly be a good idea.

Ignoring Ari, the girl placed her palm on the surface of the cooling unit. A shimmer rippled across the metal, almost like a wave of heat - and then Ari realized it was the metal itself that rippled, shifting into a long, polished blade. The base of the blade extended, thickening into a rigid handle, and the girl pulled a strip of black cloth from her shirt to wrap around it for traction.

Amazement and an undercut of puzzlement filled Ari's mind. That was magic. It had to be magic. She had never seen anything like that before. Then she realized what the weapon was and all amazement flew away.