Jay Posey - Morningside Fall

“Hall’s clear,” she said to Gamble. “A few alcoves, but they’re not deep. I saw a Weir across the street, but it was moving away from us.”

“Check,” Gamble answered, as she did so often. It seemed almost reflexive. “Can you pull security on that hall?”

“You mean watch it?” Cass asked.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Cass looked over at Wren, still tucked into the corner. He was hugging his knees, with his head resting on top of them, but he was still watching everything intently. “How much longer?” she asked Gamble.

“Seven to ten minutes.”

Cass nodded and returned to the corridor, keeping watch. Under normal circumstances, ten minutes wouldn’t have seemed like much of a wait. But in that moment, Cass wasn’t confident they’d last more than five.

They didn’t even make it to three.

Cass realised that Finn must’ve picked up on something, because he moved before anyone else did. He grabbed a handful of Wick’s coat and dragged his little brother backwards almost into Gamble’s lap. Sky tensed up and withdrew from the edge of the recess.

There was a brief exchange of whispers between Wick, Finn, and Gamble, and then Finn was moving again. He motioned emphatically to Wren and Painter, shepherding them towards Cass. When they reached her, Finn moved down the corridor with careful steps, heel-toe, heel-toe, his weapon at his shoulder and his eyes no doubt focused on his aim point.

Sky was the next one in, and once he was past them, he motioned for them to follow. Painter went first. Wren stayed locked to Cass’s side.

Gamble came in behind them, and Wick was last in again. Cass instinctively started guiding Wren into one of the alcoves, but Gamble grabbed her shoulder.

“Stay where I can see you,” she whispered.

Cass nodded and hunkered down against the right side of the corridor, with Wren in front of her. She realized they were in essentially the same formation as they’d been in the alley earlier in the night. But this time, once Wick was in position, he had whipped the strap of his pack over his head and laid the cumbersome bundle on the ground behind him, along the alley wall, and then brought his weapon up. Wren pressed into Cass, and she drew him close.

When the first call came, its volume and proximity shocked Cass. Without a doubt, a Weir was not far from where they’d been standing just moments before. The answer, however, was far worse. A second Weir responded from the opposite end of the corridor. Cass tightened her hold on Wren.

Wick shifted backwards smoothly, silently, perfectly balanced — almost like he was on rails. He looked back over his shoulder and pointed to his eyes with two fingers, then held up his index finger, and then finally pointed towards the right of the alley entrance. It wasn’t difficult to interpret. He’d seen one, right around the corner.

Gamble bowed her head and held a hand in front of her face, and made a sound like an uneven exhalation or broken sigh. It took a moment before Cass realized she was whispering. Gamble looked back around Cass, and Cass followed her gaze. Sky was motioning with his hand; two fingers up, and then a signal Cass guessed meant moving this way.

Gamble gave an exaggerated nod, and then ducked her head and held her hand up again. She whispered something, but it was so low and breathy there was no way Cass could make out the words. The Weir on Sky and Finn’s end of the alley called out again. Much closer. On Wick’s side, Cass could actually see the shine from the Weir’s eyes at the entrance.

Wick eased his weapon down and reached behind him with his left hand. With a slow but steady pull, he drew a long-bladed knife from a sheath along his lower back. In the heavy silence, Cass could hear the Weir breathing around the corner, an eerily lifeless sound like wind through rusting pipes. Gamble made a little noise. And then many things happened at once.

There was a shuffling sound behind Cass, and the electric howl of a Weir was cut short by the hum of Sky’s rifle, followed quickly by a muffled burst from Finn’s weapon. In the same instant, Wick launched out of the alley and intercepted the Weir on his side just as it reached the corner. His left arm pumped like a piston as he drove the creature backwards, out of view. There was a heavy impact, and Cass knew Wick had slammed the Weir to the ground. Gamble flashed up with her weapon at the ready, moving towards Wick — and covering the distance with such practiced intensity it almost looked casual, even in its terrifying speed.

Cass snapped her head around and saw Sky and Finn violently rushing the other corner together, moving as a single entity. Then, all was still and silent. For a brief few seconds, it felt like all the world was holding its breath.

And then a chorus of electric shrieks sundered the night from every direction.

Gamble came flying back around the corner and caught Cass by the arm, pulling her to her feet. Wick followed closely after. He slowed only long enough to snatch the supply bag off the ground and throw it over his shoulder, then swept past the rest of them towards the other end of the corridor.

“Swoop, abort alternate, alternate is compromised. We are moving to contingency,” Gamble said, in an emotionless tone at complete odds with the chaos. She ushered Cass, Wren, and Painter all towards the far end of the alley where Finn and Sky were.

Cass grabbed Wren’s hand. “I say again, alternate is compromised, proceed to contingency. Warpath, warpath, warpath.”

Cass didn’t know what “warpath” meant exactly, but she had a pretty good guess; they were in trouble. As they exited the corridor, Finn grabbed Painter and locked him close to Finn’s side, controlling Painter’s movement. Sky covered their escape, his rifle pointed back down the hall. Cass heard it hum once and then quickly again as they raced across the open space and into the alleys across the street.

No one was concerned about how much noise they were making now. Wick plunged into an alleyway and Finn was right behind him, dragging along Painter with one hand and keeping his weapon at the ready with the other. Gamble kept a hand on Cass’s shoulder. Her grip was firm, and though it didn’t feel like she was forcing Cass any particular direction, she left no doubt where she intended everyone to go. Cass squeezed Wren’s hand in hers.

They weren’t running exactly, not even jogging really, but they moved so aggressively that Cass found herself occasionally having to surge forward a few steps to keep up. Wren kept up as best he could, though he stumbled several times and would have fallen at least once, if Cass hadn’t been holding his hand. After the third time, she finally just picked Wren up and carried him, doing her best to keep her gun hand as free as she could.

Further down the alley, a Weir hurtled around the corner and charged straight at them. Wick didn’t even break stride. He fired three times, pop pop pop , and hopped over the Weir’s body as it skidded towards his feet. Cass hazarded a glance over her shoulder and noticed Sky was nowhere to be seen.

“Eyes forward,” Gamble said, her voice even but full of intensity. “Just keep moving.”

“Where are we going?” Cass called.

“Wherever Wick takes us,” Gamble answered, and then switched over to comms. “Swoop, we’re in contact, what’s your location?”

Wick disappeared down an alley to the left and Cass heard a flurry of gunfire. Finn stopped at the intersection and pushed Painter up against the wall.

“Easy!” Painter said, but Finn didn’t seem to hear him. He braced his rifle against the corner of the wall and squeezed off two shots as Wick backed his way out, firing his weapon as well.