J. Mitchell - Midnight City

She had been so close.

Nearby, she saw the outline of the glass cylinder, just out of reach. There had to be a way out. There had to be….

Mira pushed herself into a corner, keeping the creatures at bay with the flashlight beam, shining it in every direction as the things screeched and leapt for her, only to withdraw at the last moment.

And, as bad as things were, she noticed something worse. The flashlight, her pathetic source of protection, was beginning to fade. Its batteries were running out. When they did, she would be all alone as the darkness consumed her.

MIRA HUDDLED IN THE CORNER of the giant dark room, trying in vain to push her back farther into the wall. But there was nowhere else to go.

The Fallout Swarm screeched and clicked and scratched everywhere, shadows of dripping, putrid ooze full of claws and teeth darted in at her, only to be repelled by her flashlight.

But that wasn’t going to last much longer.

It would be over soon, and given how many of the things there were, it would be over fairly quickly. It was the one consolation she had. Strangely, there was only steeled determination now. Determination to stay alive as long as she could. It was the only semblance of a victory she had left.

And then the roof of the underground warehouse, far above, miraculously filled with bright light.

A huge door in the ceiling groaned mechanically as it opened, and the structure’s freight elevator began to lower downward toward the floor. Bright lights under it shone into the chamber with intensity.

It wasn’t as bright as Mira’s lantern… but it was bright enough.

The swarm shrieked in fury as one, a terrifying, inhuman cry that echoed back and forth between the room’s walls.

They scattered away, some forming wings to bat themselves into the air, or tentacles to scale the walls, retreating to the far corners of the room, away from the light. They swarmed there, gnashing their teeth, eager for the kill they had lost.

Mira ripped her gaze up to the elevator, stunned. She could see a lone figure riding it down. A figure she recognized, revealed in the machine’s light. And the sight of him made her frown. It was the stupid bounty hunter from the farmhouse. The one who’d interrupted her bath. He must have tracked her all the way here.

He saw Mira huddled in her corner, her flashlight fading. His eyes locked on to hers… and he smiled. Smugly, Mira thought. As if at the irony of her needing to be rescued by him.

Well, she didn’t, she thought, glaring back. She would show him. He’d be sorry he followed her all this way.

The swarm’s frustrated screams filled her ears, reminding her she had more pressing issues.

She looked back at the precious glass cylinder from earlier, spotted it again, several yards away, next to a stack of rotting wooden crates.

She smiled. Maybe it was going to be a good day after all.

One of the lights on the still-descending elevator exploded in a bright shower of sparks.

Mira looked up… and saw black shadows leaping from the walls and the floor, flying through the air and slamming into the lights, breaking them apart in showers of glass.

It was the swarm. While they couldn’t get through the light of Mira’s major artifact earlier, this light, though bright, they could force themselves to leap into.

More sparks as another light exploded. With every hit, the room was again plunging into darkness. In a few moments, Mira would be right back in the same situation she’d just gotten out of.

So much for the bounty hunter rescue.

Mira scrambled for the glass cylinder on the floor, just as the last light on the elevator exploded. Everything went dark, and the swarm screeched, hungrily closing in.

The bounty hunter wouldn’t last long. If she could just make it to the lift, maybe with her flashlight, she—

Sparkling red light burst to life in the huge room. Not as bright as the elevator lights, but enough to push back the swarm. Mira looked and saw the bounty hunter holding two old signal flares, one burning in each hand. He waved them at the creatures as they lunged at him, sending them wailing back into the shadows.

So he was more capable than she thought. How nice for him.

The boy leapt off as the elevator touched down. As he did, he dropped one of the flares on the platform to keep it clear of the swarm.

The other he carried with him, waving it at the horrible oozing creatures. She watched as he drew a shotgun from his back and ran toward her.

She didn’t have much time; he’d reach her soon. She turned and ran the opposite direction, toward the glass cylinder on the floor. Mira could see it just a few yards—

One of the creatures landed in front of her—two screeching jaws formed and pushed out of its body. She raised the flashlight… and then saw it was dark, the batteries had died.

She was defenseless.

Behind her, the sound of a shotgun filled the cavernous rooms like shots of thunder. The boy blasted the swarm as it attacked him, pumping the shotgun and reloading as he moved.

Mira had her own problems. She leapt out of the way as the thing in front of her pounced forward, barely avoiding its double jaws.

From a pocket, she pulled out a handful of quarters, each wrapped in light plastic marked with the δ.

The creature spun around, hissing and clicking as she pulled the plastic off each coin, and then gripped the first one between her thumb and index finger.

The thing scampered madly for her, shrieking and scratching across the floor.

With practiced ease, Mira snapped her fingers… and the quarter shot out like a bullet. When it hit the monstrosity, it exploded in bright sparks. The thing howled in pain, reeled backwards, stunned. Ooze from its body sprayed everywhere.

Mira placed the other quarters between her fingers, snapped them forward. They exploded into the thing like bullets, one after the other, sending it contorting and flailing backwards… then finally crashing to the ground, lifeless.

But there were plenty more to take its place, and Mira had no other Strange Lands coins within easy reach.

She twisted and ran, heading for the cylinder as the swarm writhed in a mass above her head, shrieking and darting toward her.

One of them knocked her to the ground, pinned her with its oily, leathery wings, and wailed into her face with three separate mouths.

Mira tried to get loose, but it held her tight. Its mouths parted, revealing dripping fangs, black tongues descending—

And then a shotgun blew the thing off her. It hit the ground, slid a dozen feet, and didn’t move.

Red sparkling light filled the air around Mira. She looked up in a daze… and saw the boy staring down at her, holding the flare above him, keeping the creatures at bay.

“Hey, you look familiar,” he said as he reached for her. “Are you following me?”

“Cute,” she said with disdain as he yanked her to her feet.

The swarm circled all around them. On the walls, in the air, looking for their opportunity, a mass of screeching blackness in the red shadows.

He handed her the sparking flare. She took it. She had little choice: it was their only hope for escape. “We move for the lift, don’t stop until we’re there, I’m almost out of shells.”

The cylinder sat a dozen feet away. Her eyes locked on to it. This was her only chance; without the lantern, she would never be able to find another one.

“Wait, stop!” she begged, resisting his efforts to pull her away.

One of the creatures lunged through their light.

The bounty hunter raised the shotgun, blasted it back, pumped the gun. “Keep the flare up!” he shouted at her. “If I have to drag you, I will, but I promise you won’t like it.”