WITCH SHIfT

Mar

It was four in the morning and my phone was going off. I reached over the still sleeping form of JP and grabbed it. It was Carolyn. I quickly answered it. “Sis, are you ok?”

“Yes and no, I’m here and I lost my posse about five miles back. I don’t know if I lost them or if they decided to wait for reinforcements. I’m earlier than I thought is your guy going to be able to get me or should I park the car and try and walk my way in?”

Shit I didn’t know. When I looked over at JP he was awake and texting on his phone. “I believe it’s being taken care of?”

“Ok, I will wait here. Mar, they are going to have quite a few people. I’ve stopped as many as I can but this doesn’t look good. Do you think we should evacuate?”

“No, I couldn’t even if I wanted to, and I don’t.” I didn’t because people like us needed a place like this to feel some semblance of normality. “We make our stand here.”

“Ok Sis, was just checking.” She said laughing. “Oh shit, who are you?”

I heard all this through her phone and I began worrying. “I am Biatro, but my friends call me B. I am your escort into town.”

“Wow that was quick. Mar, this B guy is here. I think I am all set.” Carolyn Said and I smiled. JP rolled back over and went back to sleep. Mr, big help was already snoring and I smiled.

“Ok Sis, will see you soon, be safe.”

“You too baby Sis,” she said and I could hear the humor in her voice.

I hung up and pushed JP hard enough to get him to rock back and forth. “I’m awake,” I announced.

“I’m not,” he groaned back.

“I’m too excited to sleep. But if you would rather sleep than…?”

Before I could finish he was wrapped all around me and pulling me into him even harder. I was smiling as his lips met mine and his hands began roving over my body.

“Carolyn, I am glad you made it in safe,” I said joining the rest of the family at the breakfast table as we began calling it.

“Me too, Walkers are some weird ass people. Let’s just say next time I would rather drive into town.” She said smiling and coming around to hug me.

I hugged her back and then looked at everyone. Harper was gone. “Where is Harper?”

“Your friend is already at the station coordinating with police on where the threats are coming from. Every road into town has humans coming in. Even with the roads blocked or under water they are coming in on foot. Mar there is over a thousand people bent on attacking this town.” My dad said and my knees began shaking.

What could we do about a thousand or more people? I would have asked that question except JP came walking in looking refreshed and wide awake, asshole. “Alright people here we go, it’s D-day. We all know where we need to be. Let’s get going and try not to kill anyone if we can avoid it.”

“Oh my god is he always this awake in the morning?” Carolyn whispered to me.

“He got laid last night,” I said back.

“Oh, you naughty girl,” she said smiling.

I was smiling as she said it and I couldn’t help but think he was much more awake then I was. That’s it, no more morning nookie for him. Everyone was getting up and breaking up. Carolyn was going to try and get some sleep while we were all coordinating since she had been up for over twenty four hours. I left with JP and headed for the command center which was just the parking lot of the police station to help fill in gaps.

JP

Mar’s sister made it in safe, check. I had a nice night with my girlfriend last night, check. Now all we needed to do was take out the human threat and we could all live happily ever after. Even I knew that was stretching things with as many humans coming in and no word from my parents on what they were up to.

The command area was buzzing as Mar and I arrived and I saw Charlie deep in conversation with the Sherriff. We made our way toward them and Charlie broke away and headed toward us. “The dwarves have the mountains locked down tight. We’ve already had casualties but nothing life threatening yet. The bad news is we have a break in the area around route three where the largest force was coming through.”

“How long does Crestor give us before they get close?” I asked trying to get a gauge on timing.

“Well they are on foot but this group looks trained. They should be on the outskirts of town in an hour.” Charlie confessed.

I shook my head. I should have been here sooner. I couldn’t change that now. “Mar and I will be on that one.”

“Not alone you won’t.” Charlie said puffing up. I didn’t have time for his older brother shit.

“He’s right,” Mar said beside me. “If one of us gets hurt we will need someone to get help.”

It wasn’t her words it got me it was her tone that said she was worried about me. I nodded. I needed to start thinking about two of us now, and if she thought having Charlie along was a good idea then I wouldn’t argue.

“Oh I like this,” Charlie said smiling.

“Shut up you and get in the truck,” I said smiling back.

I turned to say something to Mar and B was standing next to her. Well shit, I hate it when he does that. “Hey B, thanks for getting Carolyn for us.”

Mar jumped. She didn’t know B was there either. He was freaky like that.

“What is your plan for the humans coming in?” B asked in a no-nonsense way.

“Spell the weapons not to work and then freeze them in place if possible and if we can muster that much power.” I said thinking it through a second.

“I believe the weapons idea will work but I don’t know about the spelling to freeze. I believe they have some sort of plan. I was close enough to them when I rescued Mar’s sister to feel a magic coming from them. I don’t know what it is, but it felt strong.”

With B’s words I began to think. If they were in league with witch’s, and were condemning them to the public, none of this made sense. “Charlie,” I asked as I looked at my brother?

“Even our parents wouldn’t go that far,” he said and I had to believe him. Of course I believed him because I couldn’t see them stooping that low in their opinion, where as Charlie might have thought they still had some sense.

“Alright, we play it by the seat of our pants. We try the two spells and if they don’t work we improvise or run.” I said it and everyone, including B, nodded.

We drove a couple miles out of town on three and parked and waited. B disappeared on us and we had a good view of most the area that was in front of us. Our visibility would affect the spell and from here we had a good view.

All of a sudden B was with us again and he looked tired. I was hoping these runs weren’t wearing him out because we might need him for evacuation if it came to that. “They are on the ridge watching you.”

“Shit, rotten bastards,” Mar said getting frustrated. Just then a bullet hit the ground about fifty yards ahead of us. I was glad we hadn’t gone any farther.

“Should we move back?” Charlie asked.

“If we do we will lose the visibility we have. I think we stay behind the truck and keep watching, not much else we can do till they try and force the issue.” I said wondering if they would, knowing they would have to if they wanted to make a run at the town.

“They won’t wait too long,” B prophesized, “the shifters will start closing in on them.”

“I hope they are careful, guns kill shifters as easily as anyone else.” Mar said and I wouldn’t condition that because a lucky shot could kill a shifter but with their healing rate they were the best option for dealing with the wings of the attack.

“Must be the humans know that too.” Charlie said pointing.

We watched as figures began leap frogging from cover to cover as they began coming closer and closer. Random shots were fired and while they didn’t take a lot of time to aim, the bullets were definitely getting closer, and still a lot hid far enough away that we couldn’t spell them all.

Just then a bullet hit the side of the truck. They were close enough to kill someone now. We would have to do something with the ones we saw and the rest would have to wait. I took Mar’s hand and gave her the word ‘Debilito’ to use.

She pulled power from me and I could feel the power growing between us and then she screamed with an unearthly voice ‘Debilito’. I could feel the power flood the field in front of us for the entire length of our vision.

The good news, no more shots rang out. The bad news, they dropped their guns and began running as fast as they could while pulling knives from hidden places in their coats. Mar was sagging against me a bit and I knew that another spell right away would exhaust her. Of course if we didn’t do something we would be gored soon.

Just then all the rest of the humans crested the summit we could see and they still had fully functional guns and they were following behind the group that was rushing us. She wouldn’t have enough juice for more than one more spell. Shit what do I do?

“Mar,” I said getting her attention. “Same thing, one more time. Pull all you need from me.” I ordered and to her credit she didn’t fight me, she just nodded.

“Damn it JP, this is not the time to be politically correct.” Charlie screamed.

He jumped in the truck and fired it up. ‘Must be the bullet didn’t hit the engine’, I thought as Mar pulled magic from deep within me. Then she yelled again and then all of a sudden I was done and my body collapsed right where I had been standing and she fell with me. I had no idea what happened next.