Chapter 114 - Counting On Her

  Maggie ducked her head as another shockwave rocked the building, knocking a spray of dust down from the ceiling above. She wanted to scream, to cry out, maybe even to go find a quiet corner somewhere to hide out. But she couldn't. Her patients were counting on her. If she panicked, it would surely spread to the rest of them.

  "You doing okay over there?" Marion asked.

  "As well as can be expected, I guess," Maggie replied. "This sucks."

  "It absolutely does," Marion replied. "It doesn't really get any better, either."

  "How do you handle it?" Maggie asked. "I mean, you were a police officer before everything went to hell, right?"

  Marion snapped her a nod. "Yep."

  Maggie shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around it. "Did you have to deal with crises like this back then? I’m guessing not. I mean, Boston was pretty quiet, right?"

  Marion laughed, then stopped herself and waved a hand, smiling. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just I've never heard anybody call Boston quiet before. Not something a cop would say, anyway. But anyway, I don't think anybody alive had to deal with crises like we've been facing. Not before the Event, anyway."

  Thunder boomed outside. One loud crack, followed by a second, and then a third right behind it.

  "And that would be my boyfriend," Marion said with a grin. "Three lightning bolts back to back like that, that's gotta be Alex. Nobody else can cast spells that fast. See, the higher up you rank the spell, the stronger it gets. Sometimes that means the spell hits harder, sometimes the cooldown timer is shorter, sometimes both."

  "How does it work for the healing spells?" Maggie asked. That felt more pertinent to her since she had a tier three Heal crystal socketed. Ranking the thing up was going to be tough. So far, the only place they'd found white crystals was a dungeon that, according to Cameron, was a complete nightmare. Not something Maggie wanted to go near ever, if she could avoid it.

  "The cooldowns for Heal actually get longer as you rank it up," Marion replied. "But each cast gets stronger as the tier goes higher. Basically, if you have a tier eight Heal spell like I do and need to hit somebody with a tier four Heal in order to cure them, the cooldown won't be as bad as it would be if I was healing somebody with a tier eight level injury. I hope that makes sense."

  "I guess it does, if you look at it from a gaming perspective," Maggie replied.

  "How's that?" Marion asked. “Sorry, not a big computer gamer. I’ve always been an outdoorsy girl.”

  Maggie blinked. It had seemed to her like Marion knew everything about everything. The idea that there was something she knew that the other woman didn't was a bit of a shock, but kind of a welcome one.

  "Well, in a game, healing is a matter of restoring health, right?" Maggie said.

  Marion nodded, still following her.

  Maggie went on, "Okay, so if a person has taken twenty-five health points of damage, then it's going to require about the same amount of magical energy to repair that, regardless of what type of spell is being used to do it. You might use five spells that each healed five points, or one twenty-five point spell. Either way, it's about the same amount of effort."

  The building shook again, knocking down yet more plaster from the ceiling. That one felt like someone or something had been thrown into the wall. What the hell was going on out there anyway?

  Maggie was torn between wanting to know the answer and not. She was at least modestly safe as long as she remained locked in the infirmary. Their patients were already Cleansed, which meant none of them were at risk of transforming. The guards posted outside the infirmary door ought to be enough to deter anything but the most concerted attack, too.

  But while she was safe inside, people like Cameron, Alex, and all the rest of the Harvard defenders were risking their lives. That didn't sit right. Maggie wanted to do more. And each rolling boom of thunder or crashing sound made her stare in the direction of the fighting.

  "You worried about Cameron?" Marion asked.

  Maggie turned toward her, startled. "Well, yes. I'm worried about all of them out there."

  "But Cameron in particular, right?" Marion asked again. A small grin was spreading on her face.

  Maggie felt her face flush a bit. "We're not dating. It's not like you and Alex."

  "I know,” Marion said. “But I've seen how you look at him. It's okay. I get it. Cameron is quite a catch. Not my taste, but I can see why you'd be interested. What do you say we take a peek out there and see what's going on?"

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "But we were ordered to stay in the infirmary to take care of patients," Maggie protested.

  "Sure, and we’ve done that. They’re all healed up and doing well,” Marion said, her voice far more gleeful than it ought to have been, in Maggie's opinion. "But as you pointed out, I used to be a police officer before all of this went down. I absolutely suck at sitting on my hands while shit is going down. Come on. Let's go see what's up."

  Marion didn't wait for Maggie to agree. She was already moving toward the door. Maggie hesitated. Shouldn’t she stay put, like she was told? She’d be safer if she did, for sure. That thought somehow didn’t make her happy, though. It made her feel guilty instead, because other people were out there risking their lives for her, while she hid. It was time to change that. Marion was right. They couldn't just sit here while people were dying.

  The four guards posted outside the infirmary straightened as Marion and Maggie emerged. One of them, a burly man with a nasty scar across his cheek, opened his mouth to protest.

  "We're going to assess the situation," Marion said before he could speak. Her voice carried the absolute authority of someone who'd spent years giving orders that people followed. "You four stay here. Guard the patients. Don't let anyone in unless it's one of us or someone we send."

  The guard glanced at his companions, then back at Marion. He clearly wanted to argue, to point out that they'd been ordered to keep Marion safe too. But Marion was tier eight, which made her one of the most powerful people in the entire city.

  He swallowed whatever it was he was going to say and just nodded instead. "Yes, ma'am. We'll hold this position."

  "Good man," Marion said, already moving past them.

  Maggie hurried to keep up as Marion strode down the hallway. The building shook again. Maggie spied flashes of purple light through a window. More Lightning Bolts? Hopefully so, anyway, because that would mean Alex and Cameron were still out there fighting off the enemy. The sounds of combat grew louder with each step she took toward the doors.

  When they reached the main door, Marion just pushed it open without hesitation. The scene beyond stole Maggie's breath.

  Harvard Yard had become a battlefield. Werewolves were everywhere!There were at least a couple dozen of them engaged in brutal combat with the defenders. The wounded and dead littered the ground, both human and monster. Blood stained the grass and pavement. The north wall was breached, its defensive line completely shattered.

  But the defenders were fighting back. A tight formation of fighters Maggie didn’t recognize held the center of the Yard, their shields locked and spears thrusting out at any werewolf that got too close. Those had to be people from Marion’s base downtown. Harvard's own defenders were scattered around the perimeter, some on the walls, others fighting in small groups on the ground.

  And there, in the middle of the mess, two figures fought against something massive and golden-furred, a werewolf of truly monstrous proportions. Was that the enemy leader? Maggie couldn’t be sure, but she recognized the people fighting it.

  "That's Alex," Marion breathed, relief flooding her voice. "And Cameron. They're both alive."

  Maggie's eyes locked onto Cameron. Even from this distance, she could see he was hurt. His movements weren't as fast or as fluid as usual, and his clothes were even more shredded than they'd been earlier. But he was still in the fight. The thing they were battling was enormous. It stood at least eight feet tall and moved with terrifying speed and power.

  "We can't help with that fight," Marion said, echoing Maggie's own thoughts. "That's tier eight territory. We'd just get in the way."

  “Aren’t you tier eight?” Maggie demanded.

  But Marion shook her head. “I am, but just for Heal. My best other crystal is only tier five.”

  "Then what can we do?" Maggie asked.

  Marion scanned the battlefield. "What we do best. We Heal the wounded and Cleanse the bitten. The more of our people we can keep in the fight, the better our odds. Come on, let’s get to work out there.”

  "Marion!" A male voice called out from nearby, desperate and pain-filled.

  They both turned to see a man staggering toward them, clutching his left arm against his chest. Blood seeped through his fingers. Maggie didn’t recognize him, but she’d seen enough injuries like that to know he’d been bitten. He might turn into another foe at any moment, unless Marion could Cleanse the curse away.

  "Clark!" Marion was at his side in seconds, Maggie right behind her. "What happened?"

  "Werewolf got me," Clark gasped, his face pale and slicked with sweat. "During the eastern assault. Johnson said to get to you for Cleansing, but I got turned around, and then there were more of them, and—"

  "Let me see," Marion interrupted gently, pulling his hand away from the wound.

  The bite was bad. There were deep punctures in his forearm, and the flesh and muscle there was badly savaged by the attack. He hadn’t turned yet, though, which was a hopeful sign. Maggie remembered hearing that during the first attack, some people had turned within minutes of being bitten.

  "How long ago?" Marion asked, her hands already beginning to glow white.

  "Maybe ten minutes? Fifteen?" Clark winced. "It's starting to hurt worse. Am I going to turn into one of those things?”

  “Not on my watch,” Marion said. "Focus on my voice. You're going to be fine."

  She placed her glowing hands over the wound and cast Cleanse. The white light intensified, spreading over Clark's entire arm. He gasped, his back arching, and for a moment Maggie thought something was going wrong. Then Clark slumped forward, breathing hard but clearly relieved.

  "It's gone," he said wonderingly. "That pressure in my head, it's all gone."

  "The curse is cleared," Marion confirmed. "But the physical damage is still there. Maggie, you mind taking this one? I want to conserve mana if I can.”

  Maggie stepped forward and activated her Heal spell. She'd only done this a handful of times, but she focused on what the spell was telling her. It was a strange, almost intuitive thing, the sense she had now about how to direct the energy, where the worst damage was, and how to repair it.

  Her Heal washed over Clark's arm. The deep punctures closed, the torn muscle knitting back together. It wasn't perfect. Marion's higher-tier Heal would have done a better job. But it was enough, for the time being. The wound sealed, leaving only pink scars behind.

  Clark flexed his hand experimentally, then grinned. "That's amazing. Thank you both."

  "Don't thank us yet," Marion said, already scanning the battlefield again. "Get back out there. Your team needs you."

  Clark nodded, drew his sword, and ran back toward the fighting without another word.

  Maggie watched him go, then turned to Marion. "We make a good team."

  "We do," Marion agreed. "I Cleanse, you Heal. We can save a lot of people like this."

  Another explosion of sound drew their attention. Cameron and Alex had driven the pack leader back, but more werewolves were pressing in from the sides. The defenders were being pushed hard.

  "Come on," Marion said. "Let's find more wounded. We've got work to do."