“I have to.” I took her hand. She was worried about me, but I was mostly worried that I was wrong, and it wasn’t after me at all. If the Nachtmar was after a different potential host…“Promise me you’ll keep moving.”
She pulled me in and gave me quick kiss on the lips. There wasn’t any time to enjoy it. “Be careful.”
And then our tires struck the top of the parking garage and it was time to go. “I will. I love you.” No time for hesitation, I took Abomination in hand and leapt out the door. Pain shot up my legs, but I managed to not spill over. Extending one hand, I waved at the Hind as it rolled away, blasting me with rotor wash. Julie waved back, hiding the fact that she was terrified, but for me. She was never scared for herself.
It wasn’t until they lifted off that I realized that she hadn’t promised to flee like I’d asked. “Oh, please don’t go stubborn on me this time. Run, Julie, run.” The chopper turned away and I lost sight of her. I jumped when Ed tapped me on the shoulder. He was so damn quick that I hadn’t even seen him go out the opposite door. “What are you doing here?”
Edward shrugged like I’m a sword master, what was I supposed to do in the sky?
There was a breeze. Then it was calm. Then another breeze. The dragon was flapping its way here, pissed off, on fire, and filled with a thousand years of nightmares that it really wanted to share. “Let’s go.” We had to get out of the open. The fastest way to do that was down the nearby car ramp. Every step was agonizing, but I limped and cringed along. Gretchen’s energy drink wasn’t helping much, but I could stop and whine about it when I wasn’t in imminent danger of getting squished. “Mosh is inside, downstairs.”
Ed just grunted. He didn’t care about the particulars. He just wanted the opportunity to stab a dragon. Tanya had no idea what a catch she’d made.
I got on the radio. “Come in, MCB. This is Owen Pitt with MHI. There is a dragon inbound toward the Taj parking garage. Repeat. Dragon. Anybody listening?” The ramp led down to the next level. It was darker here. The escaped nightmare fog clung to the floor, so thick that we couldn’t see our feet. The fog had no smell; it was simply moist and dense. However, the air smelled like oil smoke. Grant and Archer’s distraction had been nearby. Even if somebody was listening to the radio right now, I was probably the boy that cried wolf. “I say again, there’s a dragon about to land on the Taj parking garage. I’d recommend shooting it down. Stricken, if you can hear me, you’ll know I’m telling the truth real quick.”
There was nothing. Back in the real world, they might still be jamming, or they might have all been killed by the spilling of the nightmare world. Thinking of that…I looked toward the unseen floor. It reminded me of the glycerin fog of the nightclub where Green had got his foot sawed off. Would the Nachtmar stay in dragon form, or would it turn into something else and come at us sideways? Would it pick a new vision, or would it be too proud to give up the epic nightmare skin it was wearing?
There was a sudden roar and a crash as the dragon slammed into the concrete above us. That answered that question. The Nachtmar screamed its fury and filled the sky with an arc of fire. It illuminated the entire garage through the open sides. He probably didn’t realize he’d done me a favor, because the reflection made it easy for me to spot the enclosure that led to the casino. “Over there!”
Limping along, I tried to ignore the rumbling as the dragon shifted above. The jackhammer strikes that were making concrete flecks fall from above were its claws as it moved toward the ramp. Car alarms began going off, only to be silenced as the Nachtmar flicked the cars over the edge in annoyance.
Ed was half my size, so it wasn’t like he could help me as I hopped along nearly as effectively as Lacoco had, but he was also really fast, and I was just holding him back. He ran over to the door and opened it for me. Ed began fiddling with the door mechanism with a knife. I had no idea what he was doing. “Mosh is down a few floors.”
“Great war chief,” Ed agreed. “Go save.”
“Save everybody,” I agreed. Edward pressed something into my hand. It was a small leather bag. “What’s this?”
“Give Tanya for Ed,” he answered cryptically.
The dragon was coming down the ramp. Even with its wings tucked in tight and scraping along the walls, it was a tight squeeze down the path that could hold two buses side by side. Its head came around the corner first, undulating on its long neck. The beast was craggy, armored in plates, and covered in spikes the size of rhino horns. It was lightless black, but at the edges where the plates met was just the hint of red light, as if a great internal furnace was leaking heat through the cracks.
It was so imposing that for a moment I was frozen with fear. I was no stranger to terrifying beasts. This was something different, something that gnawed at the very edges of your psyche. I shook my head and broke the spell. In those few seconds it had drawn itself fully into the garage. Cars were crushed beneath its feet, or struck by a horn or tooth, lifted effortlessly, and rolled out of the way.
There was no way we could escape that thing. It was just too big, too powerful, and there was nothing standing in its way it couldn’t just plow through. But I still had to try.
I entered the casino. Edward shut the door behind me…
With him still on the other side.
“Ed?” I turned back. There was a small glass window in the center. He was watching me through it with sad yellow eyes. Time to go. “What’re you doing?” I grabbed the door, but the handle wouldn’t engage. He’d disabled it with his knife. “Ed!” I pounded on the door. “Come on! Ed!”
The orc tilted his head to the side, studying me. The dragon was growing behind him, plowing its way through the fog and the parked cars. He took off his ski mask, revealing his real face. Ed gave me a little bow.
This was his fight. His greatest challenge. His sacrifice.
“Ed, you obstinate asshole!” I kicked the door. I kicked it again. It was too solid. I pulled Abomination around to blast the lock open.
Edward just shook his head disapprovingly. I was wasting time.
His time. He was buying me time.
I lowered Abomination. Edward nodded. Thank you.
All orcs are born with one gift, one area where they could achieve absolute perfection. Ed was the most lethal mortal thing I’d ever seen at hand-to-hand combat. Each orc was the best at one particular thing, but how could they know for sure if they never tested it? Orcs needed challenges, and Edward had finally found one worthy.
Edward turned around, drew his swords, and faced the onrushing nightmare dragon.
Surprisingly enough, it came to a grinding halt, tilting its massive head quizzically. Having a single tiny creature stand up to it with nothing more than a few sharpened pieces of metal was unexpected.
The Nachtmar had no idea what it was getting into…
The brave orc gave me one last look through the window. Go.
I wouldn’t fail him.