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She stood now just ten feet from the barrier. Almost within reach were children crying, screaming soundlessly, begging.
And just beyond them a lovely teenaged girl, with arms raised, who now fired bright beams of light. The dazzling green beams struck the barrier and passed through the transparent force field.
The people outside never realized their own danger until the left-hand beam burned through a National Guard Humvee.
And then, yes, everyone then knew that death was coming not just for their children, but for them, too.
Like a herd of panicked cattle they surged away from the barrier, screaming.
Connie Temple did not move. She couldn’t. She had to watch this final slaughter. A witness, even if she died for it.
On the left and on the right, the first of the children inside burned. And the first of the adults outside screamed as hair caught fire and limbs fell severed to the ground.
And something large pelted down the hill, a monstrosity, a nightmare creature.
THIRTY
25 MINUTES
YEA, THOUGH I walk . . . valley of the shadow of death . . .
Orc was not a great runner. He weighed hundreds of pounds. His gravel legs were not quick.
His staff will comfort me . . . Angels and so on . . .
But the downslope helped a little. And the smoke didn’t bother him so much. Maybe his throat was different.
I will fear no evil . . .
She didn’t hear him coming.
The Lord is my shepherd . . .
A hundred yards left.
Her lights burned slowly toward the center, and she threw her head back and laughed and laughed as the crowd outside panicked and ran and died and the crowd inside crawled over one another like desperate animals to escape the slaughter and were cut in half.
Thou art with me. Not just thy staff.
Thou.
Orc hit Gaia like a truck.
She flew. Hit the ground facedown amid the panicked children. The impact rolled Orc into the barrier, squashing a girl beneath him. He hit the barrier and it sent a shock through him, so he jumped up, raging against it, searched for Gaia, saw her rolling onto her back, saw her face distorted with fury, saw her raise her hands.
He was off balance, trying to get to his feet, when she fired.
Both beams hit him mid-chest.
Orc collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
He lifted one massive stone fist to try and shield the patch of human skin that still covered part of his mouth.
People inside and out scattered in panic. The air was filled with screams.
Orc was on his knees. Two holes had been burned right through him. He looked at Gaia, who stood now, enraged, and advanced on him.
“I’m not scared of you,” Orc said, slurring the words like in the bad old days when he was a drunk. “I’m going to dwell . . . I forget . . . forever.”
