Quantum shift, p.28
Quantum Shift, page 28
part #1 of Phase Shift Series
“You should have said, ‘Spencer, sir’” Troias corrected in the same gentle voice. “It’s polite to say, ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am’ when you’re speaking to your elders, and you’re, what? 23? 24?”
“Twenty-five,” Spencer corrected sullenly. Troias cleared his throat, and the kid quickly added, “Sir!”
“Better,” Troias nodded. The young men looked lost, beaten, and scared; Troias had dealt with kids like that before. The best way he’d found to handle them was to make sure they knew that he was bigger and scarier than whatever was currently terrorizing them, and that started by forcing them to be respectful.
“So, Spencer, why the mafia routine?” he asked with a smile, allowing a tiny bit of his stone-face to slip through. I can take all of you. The young man gulped and shivered slightly, but Troias felt a strange heat rising from the boy at the same time. The big man never lost his smile and pushed on his stone-face a bit harder. You think you can take me?
Spencer took another step back, and the feeling of heat faded. “What…what do you mean?” he squeaked in a high, raspy voice. “Sir?”
“Well, I met some of your crew, here, a week or so back,” he gestured to the men cowering behind their apparent leader. “They tried to take my money. Didn’t work out for them very well, though.”
“You!” one of the young men shouted, then gulped as Troias turned his gaze to the man. “I mean, I remember you, sir. He’s the one we told you about, Spence,” he continued, turning to face the leader. “The one that scared us all off and stole our guns.”
“You did leave them behind,” Troias shrugged. “I technically picked up after you. The guns are stored safely; you might even get them back, depending on how this conversation goes.”
Spencer stared at the big man, his eyes widening. “You’re the one who crossed the river, sir,” he whispered. “The one that killed that…dinosaur thing that ate Steve and Ollie. Was that you, sir?”
“I had help,” he nodded, gesturing over his shoulder at Annalise. “What do you think, Annalise? These boys aren’t going to give us a problem, are they?”
The woman chuckled. “I’m surprised none of them have wet themselves,” she replied, letting the M2’s barrel rise up and away from the men. “I don’t think there’ll be any issues.”
“Thanks, ma’am,” Spencer mumbled. “Sir…we don’t want any trouble…”
“But you’ve been causing trouble, haven’t you?” Troias interrupted mildly. “The thing is, I don’t think it was your idea. I think this trouble is someone else’s fault. Am I right?”
Spencer swallowed and looked around frantically. “We can’t say anything, sir,” he whispered desperately. “Our families…they have them, sir. We have to do what they want.”
Troias’ gaze hardened, and the young men shrank back as his anger accidentally spiked his stone-face. One of the young men sobbed pitifully, and Troias hurriedly pulled the energy back, easing off on them.
“Who took your families?” Troias demanded gently. “Maybe we can get them back for you.”
“Don’t say anything, Spence!” one of the men yelled. “You know what he’ll do!” another called. Troias sighed, glanced at Annalise, and looked at the fallen man. The woman bit her lip, then nodded and disappeared into the Humvee.
“I can see that you’re scared of whoever this is,” Troias smiled easily. “I don’t blame you; you’re worried about your families. The thing is, if it were me, I wouldn’t be scared. I’d be pissed, and I’d want to take them back.”
“We tried, sir,” Spencer said pathetically. “We can’t use our Facets like they can, though, and our guns…they don’t work very well, anymore. They didn’t even bother to fight back; they just waited until we used up our ammo and then laughed. We…there was nothing we could do, sir.”
The young man turned despairing eyes up to face Troias. “We don’t want to act like this, sir,” he said brokenly. “We weren’t like this before. Now, they make us find survivors and bring them to their place. The young men join us; the girls and older men don’t come back out again.”
Annalise had exited the Humvee during the speech and knelt beside the wounded man. He recoiled, but she murmured something soothing and touched his shoulder. She grimaced in pain, and he saw her clutch her own stomach, but the young man’s moans died away, and blood stopped pouring from the injury. “Best I can do without better equipment,” she grunted, her hand pressed to her stomach and her teeth gritted. “He’ll live, though.”
“You…you healed Jimmy?” Spencer stammered disbelievingly. “But…why, ma’am?”
“Because you’re not bad kids,” she grunted. “You’re just in a crappy situation.”
Troias’ eyes had narrowed, though, as he put the pieces together. “Let me guess,” he said to Spencer, a touch of anger coloring his words. “Paul is one of the guys forcing you to do stuff, isn’t he? And they’re set up in the Catholic Church?”
Spencer’s eyes grew wide as the man spoke. “Y-yeah,” he agreed haltingly. “Paul keeps an eye on us, makes sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be. He can hear stuff from a long way away and send messages with his spells, so he keeps his boss up to date on what’s going on.”
“Which means he might know what we’re saying right now,” Annalise muttered to Troias, her eyes clearing as her transferred wound healed and the pain faded. “Something to think about.”
Troias nodded. “He might,” he acknowledged. “But I’m guessing spells are like abilities; he can’t use them all the time. If that’s true, I’ll bet he just does random checks on the Brigade. The odds of him checking right now aren’t great, unless he heard your pistol and decided to see what was going on.
“That doesn’t matter,” he shook his head. “Here’s what we’re going to do. First of all, do you boys want to get your families back?”
“Of course, sir,” Spencer said tiredly. “But…”
“No but’s,” Troias cut him off. “Annalise and I can help you with that. We can make this place safe for you, so Paul can’t hear you and these guys can’t just march in. We can get you lights, and running water, and even food. We can fix your guns so they work again, as well.”
“You…you can do all that?” Spencer asked disbelievingly.
“Take a look at our equipment,” Annalise told him, drawing her pistol and holding it up for him to see. “See? No rust, no wear, no cracks in the metal like yours have.” She held up her arms. “No smell, either,” she added, turning her nose toward her armpits. “We’ve got hot and cold running water, and soap.”
“We can do the same for you,” Troias told them. “In return, you have to swear an oath to follow me.”
“Why would we do that?” one of the men demanded.
“Because you want to live,” Troias said flatly. “Even if Annalise and I let you live today, what happens when the next pack of wolfweres comes along? Or a bunch of hodags break into your place while you’re sleeping? Heck, the schools across the river are overrun by giant spiders; imagine waking up inside a cocoon one morning.
“If we don’t work together, we’re just food,” Troias said, raising his voice to the sullen men. “Food for the monsters, and food for those stronger than us. If we all work together, though…” He grinned wickedly. “The monsters become food for us.”
He walked into the center of the group, shaking his head. “Tell me you don’t want to save your families,” he told them. “That you don’t want all of this – scraping for survival, watching your buddies get killed day after day, being nothing but servants for those who are stronger – you don’t want it all to go away. Imagine going to bed tonight knowing that you’re safe, that the ones trying to hurt you are gone, and that your families are safe, too.
“That can actually happen!” he told them. “It’s not a dream; that’s how Annalise and I live every day. We sleep well, we eat well. We train, we hunt, and we work to keep what we have, but what we have is ours!”
“So, we become your servants instead of theirs,” one of the boys complained bitterly. “How’s that any better?”
“Because there’s an oath binding us,” Troias smiled. “And it keeps us both honest. The first thing you swear is not to hurt or allow any hurt to come to anyone else who follows me. That’s the most important part. The second part is that you’ll follow my orders…unless doing that would break the first part of the oath.”
“So, you couldn’t order us to do something to hurt ourselves or each other,” Spencer said slowly. “If you did…”
“The oath is broken, and you don’t have to follow me anymore,” Troias shrugged. “It’s that simple. And the third part is that you’ll work to build and improve the community around you. You’re swearing an oath to be the kind of people you want to be, ones who help instead of hurting, who make things better instead of worse. Do you want to live like you are, or do you want to make it better?”
“I’ll swear,” Spencer said softly. His had straightened. “I’ll swear, sir!” he said loudly. “I’m tired of living like this. I’m tired of being afraid all the time. I want to be strong, and to do something good for a change.”
He turned to the other men. “Do you remember how it used to be, before all this?” he demanded. “We had jobs. We had families. Scott, we used to volunteer down at the shelter with Mrs. Stockton. What would she say about us now? She’d be ashamed!”
The man Spencer called Scott hung his head. “I’ll swear,” he said softly. “You’re right, Spencer.” He glared at the others. “You think we’re helping our families like this? I can tell you that we’re not! You think they’re being treated well, like the men tell us, or do you think they’re slaves, just like we are?”
The others began muttering at this, and Spencer spoke up. “We’ve never been strong enough to do anything about it before, but this man fought that giant dinosaur! I saw him chop its freaking head off with nothing but that fancy spear! If he can make us strong, too, then I say we join him!”
One by one, the Brigade rose to their feet, promising to swear. Even the wounded man agreed, and at that, Troias’ eyes narrowed. “Just so we’re clear, you can’t fake the oath,” he told them bluntly. “We’ll all know if you say it and don’t mean it, or just mouth the words.”
“And what, you’ll kill us if we do?” one of the men muttered.
“Nope,” Troias said calmly. “You can walk away, but then, you’re on your own. And we’ll watch you; if we even think you’re heading to the church to tell them we’re coming, and risking all these men’s families…” Troias trailed off.
“Then I’d kill you myself,” Spencer said, a flash of orange flame rolling off his right hand. “And I wouldn’t lose an ounce of sleep over it.”
The other men muttered their agreement, and the speaker went pale and swallowed hard. “I was just asking,” he muttered. “Geez.”
“And, breaking your oath has very bad consequences,” Annalise added. “We haven’t gotten to see it happen, yet, but my totem tells me that it’s the kind of thing that you’ll only do once, and you probably won’t get the chance to do it again.”
Spencer nodded. “I’m ready,” he said bravely. “What’s the oath?”
Troias taught it to them, and as one, the men repeated after him.
“I vow not to harm Troias Drakos or his followers, or to allow him or his followers to be hurt.
“I vow to obey Troias Drakos and any officers he places over me, unless doing so would violate my first vow.
“I vow to work to better myself and my community, unless doing so would break my first or second vows. This I do swear.”
The rainbow light swirled up from nowhere and coalesced about them all, even the wounded man, and a moment later, Troias’ notifications lit up with the announcement of his new followers.
“First thing we have to do,” he told them loudly, “is get you men cleaned up.” He turned to Spencer. “Walk into the building and think about making it a fortification in my name,” he instructed.
The man opened his mouth as if to speak, but he shrugged and walked over to the building, disappearing through the front door. A moment later, the entire building seemed to shimmer and straighten; color returned to the faded bricks, and holes in the masonry filled themselves in; broken glass repaired itself. Troias concentrated and added a light directly within the entrance, the only place he could see well enough to place such a thing from the outside, and he heard Spencer whoop with excitement from the inside.
“Guys, there’s a light in here!” he shouted. “An actual light!”
The young men rose to their feet and rushed into the place, with Troias, Max, and Annalise following slowly behind. Troias was thinking furiously; he didn’t really want to name Spencer a Seneschal – while the young man was earnest and eager, that didn’t make him an ideal leader of a community – but Troias didn’t really want to have to build out this place by himself, either.
Sergeant it is, then, he thought with a shrug, mentally offering the rank to the young man. A moment later, a notification popped up that Spencer had accepted the position, and Troias assigned him a hundred build points to use to fix up the place. As he walked into the messy, unkempt structure, Troias sighed heavily.
“Ugh, boys are just gross,” Annalise muttered, looking around at the discarded food wrappers, empty water bottles, and articles of clothing tossed randomly about the place. “This looks like freaking Delta House.” Troias gazed at her with one eyebrow raised, and she shrugged. “What? John Belushi was a genius, what can I say?” He shook his head and snorted a laugh.
“Um, sir,” Spencer said, walking over to the pair cautiously. “What does this Sergeant thing mean? And what are build points?”
“Being a Sergeant means you’re in charge of these men,” Troias told him. “They have to follow your orders, unless a higher-ranking officer overrules them.” He looked around. “And I think that first order should be to clean this place up. You want to bring your families back to this mess?”
“Umm, no sir,” Spencer shook his head. “We’ll get right on that. But the build points?”
“I gave those to you to fix up the place,” Troias grinned. “Think about upgrading the fortification, and you’ll see what I mean.”
Spencer’s eyes went vacant and suddenly grew wide. “Thank you, sir,” he stammered. “I…I don’t…”
“I’d suggest hot and cold water first,” Annalise spoke up. “It’ll make cleaning all this easier. Maybe lights in the rooms, and climate control. Oh, and a kitchen. If your families are coming here, you’ll want a kitchen.”
Spencer’s eyes unfocused, and Troias could almost see him selecting things as Annalise said them. “Before you get too far,” Troias interrupted him, holding up a hand, “let me see your gun.”
“Oh, yes, sir,” Spencer said quickly, pulling out a battered and rusted pistol. “It’s not in very good shape, sorry.”
“Well, we’re fixing that,” Troias chuckled, updating the weapon and handing it back to the young man. Spencer stared at the weapon’s pristine appearance and oily black sheen. “Do you have a car?”
“Um, yes sir,” Spencer nodded. “There are police cruisers parked in the garage, but they don’t work…”
“Show me,” Troias smiled. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”
Several minutes later, Troias had updated two cruisers and one SUV, sacrificed the rest, and updated the gas pump in the garage so that it worked. He gave Spencer instructions to where he could find the guns they’d liberated from the Brigade earlier and assigned him another fifty points so he could update the weapons.
“Now, we’ll be back in a bit, and when we return, I’d like to see this place fixed up, you guys cleaned up, and everyone locked and loaded, ready to go get your families.”
“Yes sir!” Spencer replied eagerly, almost snapping a salute at the older man. “Can I ask where you’ll be, sir?”
Annalise sighed. “If I’m not mistaken,” she said, rubbing her eyes tiredly, “we’re about to pay a visit to Paul.”
Chapter 17
Breaking a Vow
Troias walked openly up toward Paul’s house, his glaive held nonchalantly in his right hand, a smile plastered to his face. The house was a two-story farmhouse design, dark grey with burgundy shutters and a white railing around the small, front porch. A window stood open directly above the door, granting access to the roof, and Paul sat on the peak of the building, his unruly, blonde hair flying in the gentle breeze. He was wearing a loose, black shirt and jeans, and he sat on a flat platform that had obviously been built onto the top of the house for that purpose.
“Welcome back,” the man called cheerfully, waving at Troias. “Just you? No dog and lady friend this time?”
“Just me, Paul,” Troias called, stopping on the sidewalk where he could see the man easily. “I just want to talk.”
“Ah, an interrogation, then,” Paul nodded. “I was wondering if it was that or an execution, to be honest. Although, I guess that one doesn’t necessarily preclude the other.”
“So, you were listening,” Troias nodded. “Did you get a message off to your boss already?”
“Well, technically, I wasn’t listening,” Paul corrected. “It takes a lot of energy to listen that far, to be honest. I usually get closer when I want to hear what those hooligans are saying.
“It was easy enough to deduce, though,” the man shrugged. “I heard two large booms, some screaming, and then a single gunshot later on. My guess is that you shot out the windows of the place, smoked them out, and executed their leader, Spencer. I’m sure the rest fell into line right away and told you what was really going on.
