Spearbound: Interlude

Ashley had an easy role: a scout assigned to watch over Lake Michigan, where nothing ever happened.

She joined the Chicago Collective the moment she reached the city. Her only thought back then was the phrase ‘safety in numbers.’

She honestly thought that the collective comprised all people in Chicago, so when she discovered there were plenty of other groups that rivaled the collective, she felt fooled.

Still, Ashley didn’t want to leave at the first instance of dissatisfaction. She wasn’t some highly desired elite for groups to fight over. She was a regular [Warrior], so she assumed her treatment and importance would be similar to whomever she joined.

The Kade Beckett incident changed all of those thoughts.

Ashley hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, but the discussions in the chat were detailed enough that it felt like she was there.

She knew vaguely that the leadership intended to test Beckett’s personality. It was some nonsense about growing the collective and other reasons she didn’t care to pay attention to.

The result wasn’t what anyone expected.

The incapacitation of most of the leadership left the Chicago Collective seemingly on its last legs. Of course, the collective still had over a thousand members, even after the recent exodus.

Ashley wasn’t sure why she stayed. It wasn’t for anything noble, like loyalty. If she had to make a guess, it was mostly likely indecision.

She sighed and scrolled through the chat on the interface. There wasn’t much for her to do except keep up with the gossip.

Her eyes glazed over the familiar topic of so-and-so leaving. She idly wondered if she should stop dawdling and enter another rift zone. There was a group that would take one on tomorrow.

Ashley made the mental decision to stop wasting time when a sudden gust of wind blew her several feet sideways, sending her falling onto her behind; she barely glimpsed a man disappearing into swampy Lake Michigan.

She stared with an open mouth in shock, unaware that it was possible for someone to be that fast.

Ashley eventually recognized that this was report-worthy. “Um, a male just ran out of the city. I think he was faster than a car… maybe a plane? Um, yeah, that’s it.”

She cringed at how nervous she sounded. That wasn’t usual for her, but words failed her. Almost literally.

Ernest: We are getting similar reports from others. Standby, backup is on the way.

Ashley looked around warily, seeing little in her immediate surroundings who would be of help. There were a few others stationed near Lake Michigan, but they were so spread apart that they could only send alerts before falling to a serious threat.

She sidled closer to the nearest person to her. It looked like the guy wasn’t from the Chicago Collective, but she didn’t care which group he was from.

Even in rift zones, she had seen nothing move so fast. She was aware whoever rushed out wasn’t a direct harm to her, but she, and likely her superiors, was concerned about why the man felt the need to rush out of the city that quickly.

The next few minutes were uneventful, but to Ashley, it felt similar to her first day on the job. She was hyperaware of every movement in the swamp before her.

Every rustle of the leaves on the trees, the ripples in the water from slight disturbances, and the soft creaks in the distance, all raised the hairs on her arm.

Ashley moved even closer to the man nearest to her. They weren’t over twenty feet apart at this point.

She fidgeted, unsure why she felt so creeped out, and sent another message. “When is the backup—”

Ashley’s breath hitched when a sphere of white-gold erupted so violently it seemed a new sun had formed on the horizon. Daylight inverted; shadows snapped the opposite way, stretching needle-thin across the ground.

The flash only lasted a second, disappearing to reveal a massive fireball ballooning upward, colors sliding from blinding white to tangerine to blood-orange.

As the column climbed, it slowly formed into a mushroom cloud, making Ashley’s heart drop. Anyone would recognize what that was.

She grunted when a pressure wave rolled over the swamp and slammed into her, pushing her several feet back before she regained her footing. 

“N—Nuke! Over the lake!” Ashley yelled, the terse message all she had the mind to send to everyone. The interface showed the rapid activity in the chat that came after.

She didn’t pay attention. She sprinted into the city, closely followed by the guy stationed near her. Her goal now was to get to a place that was controlled by the Beckett Organization.

They had two top ten rankers on the continent, and there would be no place safer for her.