We killed a lot of Day Stalkers the day they ascended on Lyons Estates. The rest left when Nito did. I would say I found them on the remains of highway whatever it once was called, but how did they get so far on foot? The only reason I put them together and associated them with Nito was because her apparition appeared in the car, warning and taunting me as if to say, “Turn around. Look what I have for you.”
The last time she brought them, she was physically there.
Of course, now the Day Stalkers were there, directly in front of me, blocking the road. There had to be hundreds, if not a thousand. I couldn’t see where they ended.
They had not spotted me yet. There was no way I could go through them, nor could I veer off the road because the wooded area was too thick. My only hope was to turn around and try to find an alternate route.
My fuel was low. I had just enough to make it back to Angeles City. I had to weigh my options, choose my battle, use the fuel to find an alternative route, and possibly have the car die out or try to make it through. Surely, I didn’t have enough arrows to fight. I was a dead man, even with my skills, if I tried to make it through them. I turned around the car and when I did, they noticed me.
I expected as they all stared my way for them to turn and I’d be like the pied piper and lead them away.
However, I watched them through my rear view mirror as they only looked briefly and then the horde continued on their westerly course.
Straggler Day Stalker swung out at my car as I passed him, even he too, kept his westbound focus.
I looked, eyes glancing to the map as I drove for some alternate route. Every time I would think I’d come across one, or see an old exit sign, it was overgrown.
About fifteen miles out, almost at the bait shop, my salvation arrived.
Sandstorm. Could I catch him? He trotted at a good pace down the road, and I turned the car sideways to block him.
I stepped from the vehicle, held up my hands and Sandstorm came to a halt.
‘Good boy, good boy.” I grabbed his reins and walked him back to the car, grabbed my crossbow, map, and bag, shouldered them both, and mounted the horse.
I lifted a marking pen from the bag, and circled where I believed I was according to the last exit sign I saw. After I replaced the pen, I leaned down to his ear and whispered. “We’re gonna go home, boy. Get me there.”
With a snap of the reins, we took off. We stayed the course, embedded deep in the wooded area that ran perpendicular to the highway, only having to divert a few times over old buried cars and buildings. I successfully made it past then ahead of the Day Stalkers at full speed, hoping that I wasn’t wearing Sandstorm down. I headed back on the road. Once there, we kept a steady trot all the way.
Worries of Savages consumed me as the sun began to set, just as I made it to the confines of Angeles County. Usually it was marked by a handmade sign, but this time there were three large hay carts and atop them, four soldiers.
I reined in Sandstorm when one of them called out, “Davis! He’s back!”
After dismounting, I walked toward the new barricade. Davis rushed through. At first he stopped, stared at me, and then he raced toward me.
I knew the anger would come. First he greeted me with gratefulness, grabbing on to me and embracing me.
“My God, you’re alive! Oh my God.”
“I’m fine. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
He placed his huge hand on my face
and said sternly, “What were you thinking? Huh?”
“I wanted to see if I could stop her. I’m sorry, Davis. I am really
sorry.”
Davis closed his eyes, stepped back, and nodded. “Okay. Okay. You’re alive. That’s what’s important.”
Davis looked bad. Worn, as if he had been out personally searching for me. He probably was.
“I shouldn’t have. It was stupid. Then I fell asleep. There’s something important I need to tell—”
“I thought they got you,” Davis said.
“Who?”
“The Day Stalkers.”
“You know?”
“Of course I know. We’ve been battling them all day. The attack came a couple hours after sunup. When you weren’t around, when we found a car missing, and you didn’t return, I thought they got you. There were a lot. We… got it under control. “
“For now,” I said nervously.
“What do you mean? We finished fighting. It’s clear.”
“That’s what I need to tell you. That’s why I didn’t have the car. I couldn’t get through the road. There’s a ton of them heading this way.”
Davis looked beyond me, then up to the sky and groaned. He didn’t need to say it, I knew what he was thinking. It was the same thing as I was. The Day Stalkers would be approaching, and sundown wasn’t far off.
Sundown meant Savages.
Savages and Day Stalkers at the same time. It was something that had never happened.