I Am Chosen

Reckoning

Kacey's backup pistol was in her hand in an instant. The weapon felt odd there... not just because it wasn't her service weapon but also because of the wrist brace. Nevertheless, the brace wouldn't affect her aim; not at this distance. Hollis was pulling his weapon as well, other hand up, palm out. He looked over at Kacey, baffled.

"Is that-"

Kacey nodded.

Declan stepped toward them.

"Hands up!" Hollis yelled, his gun aimed at the approaching man's chest.

"I am the reckoning," Declan repeated as he reached inside his coat with his right hand.

Hollis and Kacey both fired.

Before he could pull anything from his coat, the vagrant was knocked back several steps; screams erupted and the few passengers who were on the foredeck raced to the glass door. Declan Crowe, still standing, advanced toward Kacey. Hollis put himself in the attacker's path and Crowe lashed out with his gloved right hand, cuffing the detective upside the head and staggering him into the port-side rail.

The dead man then charged Kacey, backing her into the railing that lined the inner loop of the U-shaped deck. Ignoring the pain in her wrist she grabbed and twisted, attempting a hip throw but found herself wrapped in an unbreakable embrace; as his weight surmounted the railing, Crowe took her with him over the edge.

The two of them plummeted onto the top of the box truck, their combined mass caving its top. Fortunately, Kacey landed atop Crowe. The two continued grappling, rolling until Declan gained the top position. He glared down at her; his eyes tiny holes punched into some unfathomable abyss. Kacey could smell no breath emanating from the nose or mouth; could feel no air from his exertions but her nose did detect decay and rot and ruin. The man's skin was waxy and gray in pallor. She struck out, forcing his head away long enough to see Hollis above, leaning over the railing, looking down wide-eyed. The next instant he was gone.

Kacey attempted to sweep Crowe off balance but the dead man rolled, pulling her with him and the two tumbled down over the windshield, onto the hood and then down onto the short span of deck just before the bow. Though she called on every reserve of strength, Kacey could feel herself weakening. The thing she tussled with was solid; relentless... and back in a mounted position. Kacey wriggled to get out from under him but he came forward, his left-

And that was when she saw it: what should have been his left hand. It was something... other. Something difficult for her mind to wrap itself around.

The thumb was a large kind of claw covered in a hard shell. The first finger was thin and segmented like the leg of an insect. The remaining fingers weren't even fingers but more like short tentacles, wriggling, writhing, squirming... seeking her face as the misshapen limb came toward her. The whole of the appendage was dark, almost black, and covered in rough, chunky patches like stone.

A moan of disgust escaped Kacey as she scooted furiously back but that limb and those tendrils wrapped around her head, lifting her off of the deck and then slamming back down. Vaguely Kacey was aware of Crowe fumbling with his right hand on the inside of the jacket that hung now to one side. He finally found what he looked for in the inner pocket and retrieved it.

It was a rock. A black rock.

Waves of nausea rolled over Kacey in its presence. Looking at it, she became lost. Even in the midst of the attack, of her life being in danger, the stone had a...displacing effect. The more she looked at it the more it drew her in. It was as if her soul were abandoning her body, drifting toward the stone... there to become lost in unimaginable gulfs; to drown in shifting black tides.

There was something familiar about this abyssal void. That familiarity sparked immediate revulsion, causing her to recoil... just enough to break the trance.

Suddenly she was fully back in reality.

She shoved an elbow against Crowe's knee and scooted her ass to one side, slipping her leg out from beneath him. She tucked her leg to her own chest and kicked out. The dead man reared upward, stumbling back, the dark tentacles of his left limb snatching at Kacey's face and missing by only a fraction.

There was a squeal of tires, a crunching sound, and then the box truck hopped over the blocks that had been placed under its front wheels and smashed into Crowe, launching him off the bow of the boat. He held the stone even as he disappeared over the edge and into the water below.

The lead tires of the box truck slid over the rounded nose of the bow; the vehicle's front end dropped and then held still. Looking behind it, Kacey could see the Tahoe, its grill smashed up against the box truck's rear, and at the Tahoe's wheel, Hollis.

He looked at Kacey with a mixture of shock, confusion, relief... but over all of these, one emotion in particular showed most prominently:

Fear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I told a certain someone that I might include Blizzcon pics in this week's update. So... here you go! Blizzcon was a blast. Keep an eye out for my Nova comic, which should be coming out by the end of this month/early next. As always, thanks for reading!!