27 – The Carrion Eater

The Emperor glassed four city blocks worth of the brier patch.

Looking at the mountain of a bird glaring at them, Erika wasn’t sure it would be enough.

It moved in a lethargic, sluggish manner, like footage captured on a slow-motion camera. Both wings rattled, shaking off more crusted remnants of rock and stone. The boulders rolled and tumbled down its feathers, cratering the ground where they landed around its feet.

“Physics won’t let that thing fly, right?”

“It’s a god, Rick,” Anna snapped, wrapping the driver’s wound with dressing from a glove-compartment first-aid kit. “Something that large can’t exist, so I don’t think it gives a shit about physics.”

Both sounded on the verge of hysterics. Erika couldn’t blame them. Her heart pounded in her chest, feeling tight. She was far, far out of her depth. Had the maggot been the same? It had been large, massive even, but she hadn’t been able to see all of it inside that ziggurat.

Something about its appearance set Erika’s hackles on edge. The feathers were far more feathery than the metal blades of its lessers, but mottled and rotted away in places. Underneath, visible in those vacant patches, its skin looked like articulating metal plates, layered over the top of one another to allow them to move. Pipes and cables strung between the gaps, metallic and organic at the same time. Its beak, large and round and hooked at the tip, opened wide with a long, segmented tongue warbling as it bellowed.

The acrid smell of rot and decay washed over the caravan, propelled forward by the deep, rumbling bass.

Erika’s chest clenched as the rumble worked its way into her heart and the stench forced its way up her nose. Fight or flight kicked in, tilted towards flight, as she scrambled back across the seat. Delilah flopped over behind Erika, dropping completely. Rick let go of the steering wheel, sword snapping to his hands sans sheath.

The loss of control jolted the SUV. Erika hit the back of the passenger seat, breaking her out of her panic. Her heart still thundered in her chest, but she looked around with more clarity.

The entire convoy, spread out in the clearing The Emperor made, stilled like the SUVs were frightened animals. The professional SWAT team, still picking off the handful of birds that hadn’t fled in the face of that monstrosity, broke ranks. Three of them leaped from their car, dashing in mad terror. Two others turned their guns on the Carrion Eater as if their little pellets could harm a mountain.

Rick jumped forward, leaving the car still rolling forward.

Erika clapped her hands. “Snap out of it,” she shouted—gagging as she opened her mouth but forcing through the stench.

Their stupor broke. Rick stilled, though with his sword out, he wobbled, glaring, almost like he still wanted to rush forward. Their driver stopped thrashing and clawing at Anna, but Anna’s expression remained a harsh glare.

“Something about that…” Anna said slowly, staring through the windshield. “That noise triggered something in the back of my head. I could only hear it for a second before a loud ticking noise took over.”

Erika didn’t have a clue what she was talking about and didn’t have time to find out. She fumbled with her heavy pistol, dropping the magazine. She hadn’t even fired the regular bullets she brought and now was swapping to The Warrior’s black bullets.

Her hands felt cold and clammy, coated with a thin layer of greasy sweat. The heavy spring in her pistol’s slide fought against her as she tried to extract the bullet in the chamber, forcing her to take a moment to steady herself.

She didn’t know where Sofia and Leslie were, or The Art or The Adjustment, for that matter. Glancing back over her shoulder, through the window, she watched as one of the fleeing SWAT guys got picked off by a lingering bird. The two others ran straight into the brambles, clawing through them even as the thick thorns penetrated their ballistic armor as if it were nothing more than tissue paper.

A driver jumped from another SUV, stopped by The Fool’s golem even as The Fool fought against the rocky hand holding him in place. The golem couldn’t stop someone else from fleeing on the opposite end of the convoy. Even The Lust broke off, racing on bare feet across the still-glowing glassy terrain just to get away from the Terror Bird.

People were dying and she was fucking about.

Teeth grinding together, Erika jumped out of the ruined side of the SUV, boots sizzling against the ground. She thrust her black bullet magazine into her Desert Eagle, raised it straight up into the air, and pulled the trigger.

The single, regular bullet she had been unable to remove from the chamber fired off at nothing, but Erika wasn’t trying to hit anything. She felt more than heard the gunshot with her ear protection, but it still worked. Everyone broke out of their fight-or-flight, staggering and jolting—more than a few threw up, including The Hanged Man, while others managed to restrain their retching to gags.

Even Erika felt better than she had a moment ago, steadier and surer, like she had shaken off the lingering terror. Her gunshot did not rid the world of that mottled rot, however.

“Agent!” The Emperor called out. She stood atop the lead SUV, arms crossed with her off-shoulder coat billowing in the fetid clouds, her pose unchanged since before Erika fired her gun. “Your plan?”

Erika ground her teeth—not in anger, but in concentration. She stared up at the bird, over the top of its long, rounded beak with the sharp hook at the point. A creature that large couldn’t possibly lock onto her gaze, but she felt like it saw her and her alone amid the caravan.

It lifted a leg, scaled and scrawny, resembling that of a chicken. Its talons clamped down, sending a shockwave through the brambles like an explosion. Erika had to shift her stance, leaning into the blast to avoid being thrown back.

“Shoot it in the mouth,” Erika shouted back to The Emperor, leveling her gun in its direction as the wind died down. She wondered if she could hit it from this distance. It was massive, but it was also far off. The rush of wind every little movement it made might throw off her aim or even the bullet.

She might have been able to break through the wind, but if she focused on that, she might not be able to focus on the thing that mattered.

It lifted itself up, standing even taller than it had been. “If that don’t work,” Erika said, lowering her aim just a little to the much larger target, “shoot it in the stomach.”

A second blast hammered her chest as it put down its other leg, but Erika was more prepared this time, holding her hand out to use as a windbreak. It didn’t help the others—Leslie braced himself against the side of a neighboring SUV—but Erika remained rock steady…

As did The Emperor. “And if that fails?”

“Fuck if I know.”

The Emperor nodded, accepting her answer. Erika doubted she had a better plan; them wanting to do this on their own made her want to laugh now that she had seen the thing.

It lifted its wings, spreading them out. Gusts of wind blew over the brier patch as it shook them back and forth—not flapping, but more stretching. It tilted its head back, turning its head to present its profile like heraldry on a flag. It opened its mouth wide, framing the red sun between its beak, as it let out a sharp, higher-pitched caw.

Erika didn’t feel that sensation of terror and dread that had driven everyone into a flurry before.

Not until it clamped its beak shut, and everything went dark.

Headlights from the SUVs lit the clearing, but the red mist still in the air stopped their light from reaching the edges of the bramble patch.

Everything went silent. No thundering booms, no cries from the bird. Erika couldn’t even feel the light rustle of wind that might have come with its movements.

Erika turned slightly, lifting her ear protection off her head to strain for any sign of the Carrion Eater. Dread settled in as the only thing she heard was the renewed panic and alarm from her friends and allies.

“Sound off,” The Hanged Man shouted, stepping into the headlights of one car as he tried to regain control.

The Fool swapped out his earthen golem for the fire elemental, brightening the clearing but still failing to pierce the gloom enough to see the Carrion Eater.

If it was still there.

“It did not escape,” Nya said, wispy voice coming from somewhere behind Erika to answer her unasked question.

“Where is it?”

“Still there. Still out where it was.”

“You said we were looking for something underground.”

“You are.”

Erika ground her teeth, peering into the darkness despite the futility. “Could we hit it if you aimed my arm?”

“Sounds clunky, cumbersome, and ill-advised for someone who has never wielded firearms before.”

“Not even willing to try?”

Nya let out a short, clipped laugh. “You have three shots.”

Erika pursed her lips, flicking a glare over her shoulder.

The moment she did, she caught a flicker of movement from behind Nya. A pale-skinned woman shot out of the darkness, over the top of the SUV, and crashed down onto Erika. The back of Erika’s head knocked against the ground, sending her vision swimming. Six hazy figures slowly collapsed back into a single tattooed face.

Jack stared down at her, grinning with a wide-open, blissful smile. “нⷩeͤeͤ… нⷩeͤeͤ… Yoͦuͧ aͣrͬeͤn’́ᴛⷮ s͛uͧрⷬрⷬoͦs͛eͤdͩ ᴛⷮoͦ вⷡeͤ hͪeͤrͬeͤ.” She grasped at Erika’s arm and leg, trying to pick her up.

Her fingers gripped tight, digging into Erika’s clothes and skin. A quick twist was all it took for Erika to break herself out. She rolled a step away, shoving against the ground to push herself up.

The Adjustment flew in from the side, carapace cracking as her fist connected with Jack’s head.

Jack’s head jerked in a cant as the blow forced her to widen her stance, but her eyes didn’t leave Erika. “Iͥ waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ s͛eͤeͤ yoͦuͧ rͬiͥрⷬрⷬeͤdͩ aͣndͩ ᴛⷮoͦrͬn aͣndͩ eͤaͣᴛⷮeͤn… вⷡuͧᴛⷮ hͪeͤ s͛aͣiͥdͩ noͦ… Yoͦuͧ aͣrͬeͤn’́ᴛⷮ s͛uͧрⷬрⷬoͦs͛eͤdͩ ᴛⷮoͦ вⷡeͤ hͪeͤrͬeͤ… Whͪaͣᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ dͩoͦ—”

“Bitch!” The Adjustment shouted, clenching her cracked hand into a fist. She slammed her fist into the back of Jack’s head, knocking the woman forward a step, before she lashed out with her other hand—a trail of webbing streamed out from the tips of her fingers. “Remember me?”

“Noͦ.” Jack grasped at the thin strands, trying to peel it away from her face. The more she pinched and tugged at the threads, the more seemed to be there.

Erika stepped forward, only for The Aeon to come crashing down, fists clamped together as he slammed Jack straight into the glassy terrain.

“We got her,” The Adjustment grunted with a heave of her threads, webbing Jack against the ground. “You focus on getting the lights back on.”

Erika hesitated; Jack wasn’t someone she thought anyone could handle. Even her own efforts had been mediocre at best.

Rick stepped forward, sword held in a reverse grip. Raising it high up, he plunged it down, skewering Jack through her ribs.

That ended Erika’s hesitation. Jack had been stabbed through the chest before, so she doubted they would keep her down, but Erika had a job only she could do.

“Nya!” Erika shouted, turning back to the ruined SUV.

Nya stood with that ghost superimposed on top of her, making Erika hesitate again. Mind already reeling, she didn’t get a chance to even consider the implications when, as one, they lifted their arms and pointed off to one side.

Birds swarmed at the edges of the darkness, light glinting off their metallic feathers. The Emperor unleashed blasts of flame while the remaining SWAT team, Leslie, and Anna all fired their weapons to keep them at bay. Except, that wasn’t quite accurate. Their efforts took down dozens that veered into the clearing, but the majority of the glimmering feathers in the darkness stayed in the darkness, just swooping around the moment they came near.

It was like they were afraid of approaching, or like they were trying to escape but could not.

Erika started to turn back to Nya, only to suck in a sharp breath as she caught a glint in the muzzle flash that did not come from a bird. A sharp, edged line stretched from one end of the clearing to the opposite. It terminated in a sharp, hooked end that slowly lowered, closing around everyone.

Realization settled in; why they were here, why they could not escape.

“Noͦ ᴛⷮiͥmͫeͤ foͦrͬ ᴛⷮoͦys͛.” Jack’s fingers clamped around Rick’s sword, squeezing at first, then simply lifting, wrenching it up and out of her own chest. Webbing and threads tied her down, but they strained and snapped as she moved. “Cͨaͣn’́ᴛⷮ aͣlloͦw—”

“Grenade!”

Erika’s eyes widened at hearing Sofia’s voice cut through the din of battle. The moment she heard the low bloop, she dove away.

A wet, liquidy thump followed, slamming into the ground precisely where Jack sat. Pale yellow glue exploded outwards, drowning the woman, coating Rick, The Adjustment, and The Aeon, and even slopping all the way to Erika’s legs, splashing over her stomach and arms where she dove to the ground. It hardened, locking Erika in place. Every movement broke little bits of the glue—she could feel it—but the stuff just reattached to itself, keeping her from moving.

“Fuck,” Sofia shouted.

Erika didn’t even know where she was, and frankly, did not have time to find out. That edge did not stop closing around them.

Right elbow stuck to the ground, Erika grasped hold of her gun with her left hand, pulling it the short distance the same way she pulled items from her armory. She raised her arm upwards, and pulled the trigger.

A violet-edged black orb shot from the barrel of her gun, moving quickly, though more at the speed of a baseball than a bullet.

All sound died. Wind rushed overhead, tugging Erika towards it despite being glued to the ground, but it moved without that familiar whistle. The rattle of the gunshots, the roar of The Emperor’s afterburners, the alarmed cries of everyone in the arena… all vanished, pulled into the sphere.

Light from the headlights bent away from where they shined against the glassy clearing, drawn upwards despite the cars themselves remaining firm against the ground. As the moving sphere pulled the light toward it, it illuminated something above, something so high up, the light hadn’t come close before.

A surface, ribbed and slick, segmented like a vertebra, formed a tunnel around the clearing. It led directly upwards like a tower of keratin. Long, slender struts that looked extruded rather than grown bridged the two halves of the massive clamp. Hydraulic pistons pulled the two sides together, moving so slowly as to be geological.

The violet-black orb carried on, fizzling through cables that dangled like saliva, warping spines of filaments that jutted from the sides of the maw. It shrank with distance, releasing its hold on the light and wind, until it became nothing more than a tiny, lone star in the black night.

Erika’s heart sank as even the star vanished, swallowed by the darkness.

Her hair moved on its own, lifting slightly, followed by the rest of her. The glue held her down, but it felt like someone shut off gravity. Cars and people outside the range of Sofia’s grenade weren’t as affixed, slowly and gently carried off the ground.

A high-pitched drawing sound pulled up the tunnel, only to be released into a whummph that forced Erika down, thrusting her against the ground. A sub-bass ripped into her sternum as the first hint of red-orange light wormed its way through a crack high overhead. A wet drum thrummed with a reverberation like she was stuck at the bottom of a well with all the sound bouncing off the walls.

The walls ripped back and away, bringing light to the clearing once again.

The Terror Bird sqawlled in the distance, still far away, still where the mountain had sat. Its beak, wide and open in the air around that red sun, began to crumble and disintegrate, drawn inwards into the head of the bird. A black sphere dotted with little white stars expanded outward from the point where the beak met the bird’s head, encompassing the creature’s entire head. It tried to pull back.

The sphere collapsed.

A chunk of the Carrion Eater’s face vanished in the collapse, removed. The rest of its head remained like a waxing moon.

The bird fell, collapsing with limp limbs at a glacial speed, but it fell.

Erika slumped back, weight from the gun in her hand feeling far heavier than it had before despite that pressure that forced her down having vanished. The birds, trapped in that beak, scattered and fled now that the way was clear. More dotted the skies in the distance, but they didn’t look like they were approaching… for now. With the birds gone, the gunshots died off, leaving a heavy silence over the clearing.

Someone cheered. Erika didn’t know who—the glue still kept her from turning—but it didn’t sound familiar. Whoever it was didn’t end alone; half the clearing let out a loud, relief-filled shout.

Something didn’t quite sit right with Erika. She glanced up at the Carrion Eater, still falling in the far distance, and realized what she just thought.

“Nya!” Erika shouted, throat feeling like she had been screaming non-stop for three days despite not having made a noise since Rick stabbed Jack. “That thing… what is it called?”

Nya tilted her head, black eyes boring into Erika. “You mean the Carrion Eater?”

Erika’s head thumped back against the ground. “Fuck,” she hissed, word unheard under the sound of her allies celebrating. Dread confirmed, she chewed her lip. She tried to sit up, couldn’t, and wrenched her arm. The glue didn’t break, but glue did. The mass clinging to her sloughed off like it forgot what it meant to be sticky. She did the same to her legs and back and finally stood.

Rounding the main mass of glue—not freeing Jack if she was even still down there—Erika moved toward the ruined SUV. She got a thumbs up from The Adjustment on the way, but the spider’s enthusiasm fell as Erika didn’t even acknowledge her on her march to Nya.

“Is it dead?”

Nya just smiled. “I heard a phrase once. That is not dead which can—”

“Just say fucking no and be done with it,” Erika ground out as she looked around the clearing.

Her eyes met the slit pupils of The Emperor; even The Hanged Man couldn’t help the relief of the others from infecting him, but The Emperor simply stood and watched. Lips pressed together, Erika lightly shook her head.

With the lightest sigh, The Emperor turned away from the still-celebrating humans and supernaturals, unhinged her jaw, and blasted a path toward the Carrion Eater.