ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter Nineteen: Conflict on the Bridge

The hike to the bridge took about two hours, twice what it would have taken me if I was on a casual stroll before everything had gone to hell. The changes in terrain would occasionally block our view of the bridge only to bring it back into sight as we topped another hill. Around us were ruined homes and businesses, the pale pastels that had been popular in the city now buried in the browns and greens of nature reclaiming her territory.

Catayla had appeared, in her usual ninja like fashion, as we reached the top of the final hill before a gradual slope would bring us directly to the ramp leading up the bridge itself. At the far side of the bridge we could see a dark mass of bodies pressing through the barricades of stacked cars and scrap metal. The roar of thousands of voices crying out together was punctuated by the echoing barks of gunfire.

It was difficult to make out individuals from the horde but some of them were large enough to be clearly seen even from a distance. Among the wash of bodies could be seen massive forms, some humanoid with odd proportions - overlong limbs, and twisted bodies. Others were beasts of fantastic size that would dwarf their common cousins. Still stranger creatures were harder to describe with no common creature to compare them with, one such beast seemed to be a massive ball of eyes and tentacles covered in rubbery, wrinkled skin.

The sky above the battlefield was nearly as full. Forms too far away and packed to densely to be clearly seen blacked out the sky, providing shade to the killing below.

"Tiller," I said. "Can you make out anything useful? What about those birds up there?" I was relying on Tiller's perception heavy build. It made sense that it would increase his vision, but I'd never really asked him about it in detail.

"Dinosaurs," Said Tiller. "Pterodactyls with gold and red feathered wings and scaled bodies. It's really quite amazing..."

"I get it, Tiller," I said. "We can both geek out together when our lives are not in danger and we don't have a crisis on our hands. Now. Focus. What are the birds... I mean dinosaurs. Tell me what they're doing."

"Nothing," he said shaking his head. "I mean they are flying, obviously, but they are not fighting. They seem to just be circling. Some are breaking away from the group and fleeing, but they aren't attacking."

"I don't like it," said Rachel. "Whatever has these literal fucking demons spooked is something we should stay away from. There must be hundreds of those things, thousands! Yet here we are moseying on in like it's a day at the park."

"You wanted to be here," said Catayla. "It's too late to back out now. Besides, those are your people on that bridge. We need to get down there and find a way to punch our way through."

"Look," said the tall amazon with the ridiculously oversized club. "None of us want to be here, but it needs doing. Besides, I've got friends on that bridge. There is no way we are leaving them there to die."

Despite the tough words none of us moved immediately. The numbers were overwhelming, a mass of dark bodies covered half the length of the bridge like swarming ants. It was Worthy, of all people, that started moving first. With a grunt his two companions followed, the rest of us not too far behind.

Crossing the bridge required going up a ramp and climbing over several makeshift barriers of stacked cars and debris, but we covered the ground quickly. The sound of gunfire and the roar of voices, both human and otherwise, slowly began to drown out my ability to pick out individual sounds. My other senses were obscured as well, smoke and the smell of burning hair nearly overwhelmed me for a moment. It was disorienting and isolating in a way that made my heart begin to race and my hands shake.

We were soon met with a close-up view of the battle, and immediately thrust into the fray. The defenders had fallen back to a secondary barrier about half way down the bridge. This funneled the stampeding monsters into a narrow area creating a 'kill zone' where the defenders were able to concentrate their ranged fire. Despite the advantage this gave to ranged attackers most of the guards had abandoned their rifles and those that still used guns had telltale blue lines tracing the trajectory of their shots, much like Tiller's guns did when he was using mana rounds instead of physical bullets.