The entire valley was deep in shadow by the time they made it down to the Home Depot. The strangers had stacked the bodies across the main entrance to create an improvised and very disgusting barricade. Even the stray pieces of garbage left behind by the locals scavenging had been cleaned up. It was somewhat disconcerting for Claire to walk through a clear space that had been garbage strewn since the snow had melted.
Claire's palms were sweaty and her face felt hot despite a cool breeze. Her two companions seemed supremely confident but they hadn't looked into any of the lunatics eyes. That was going to change quickly though because there were two people standing in front of the main entrance. Behind them was what looked like a solid mountain of junk.
The person on the left, it was hard to tell what sex they were with that weird helmet, was big and held a spear taller than they were with innate malice. The person on the right was none other than Athena. The girl was still wearing the same smile as the trio walked up.
Before any of them could utter a syllable, Athena was speaking, " Let me guess. Your Boss wanted to offer you as a welcome gift? Well, that's sweet, but we'll have to decline."
Lucy and Ethel shared a look while Claire wilted inside with relief.
Better the asshole I know.
"Well," Lucy said, a barely concealed sneer on her face, "What does he say?"
In answer, the statue growled like a rabid dog and Lucy took a step backwards.
"But," Ethel sounded near tears, "It's getting dark."
"Aw, it is," Athena raised her head, "Hector, Artemis, get down here for an escort run!"
I suppose there's a Hercules, too. Jesus.
Claire hadn't noticed the knotted ropes hanging from the roof but she did when two people scampered down them like squirrels. Faster than she would have thought possible they were walking to Athena's side. Artemis was a little over six feet tall, had shapely hips, and swayed to great effect so it was easy to tell who she was. Hector was about the same height but with a slightly heavier build. He moved with an easy grace that reminded her of a gay stripper she had once known.
Hector started making all sorts of gestures with his fingers and it took a second for Claire to realize it was sign language. Athena replied in kind and laughed when he made a single, sharp gesture.
"These two'll take you back. Don't try talking to them. It's like talking to a pair of grumpy walruses."
Then Athena's smile disappeared and her face went stony as she produced a helmet and quickly put it on.
"Oh my God," Lucy stamped her foot in irritation and stormed off towards the hotel with her arms folded under her breasts.
Ethel followed and Claire was turning to do the same when a hand gently grabbed her arm. She turned to find one of the weirdos had appeared out of nowhere. He was making signs at Athena and for a long time they communicated in total silence. Claire was about to snatch her arm away when the man let go and turned to her.
"You can stay," he spoke slowly in a rough voice. "I am Achilles."
Up close, Claire discovered that he was taller than her first impression. Maybe 5'6", but his width made him seem shorter. Claire turned to find that Lucy and Ethel had never even looked back. It was a stinging reminder that Claire herself was an outsider in the group. The rest of them were locals but never had the line between them been so clear. When she turned around Athena and the unnamed psycho were climbing the front of the Home Depot.
"If you want guest-right," Achilles said, walking backwards to the nearest climbing rope, "-then you have to earn it with a climb. If you can not make it then I will personally take you back."
Achilles turned, pulled the rope taut, and quickly began climbing. It almost looked like he was running up the wall. The climb looked hard as hell and they all managed it with ease.
I should just turn around. For all I know they'll fucking eat me. I know what Richardson will do.
That thought made her lurch towards the knotted rope as though she had just risen from the dead. She imitated what Achilles had done and found that it was as hard as she had thought it would be. Halfway up, her arms were burning and her legs felt like water. Sweat started dripping off her nose and she raised her head to find Achilles staring down at her. He had removed his helmet to reveal a broad, hard-jawed face under a close-cropped head of black hair. His eyes were almond-shaped, nearly feminine, and blacker than night. Achilles was the first black person she'd seen in months but what came as a greater shock was the intense set of his features. Without a word, he extended his left arm down to her. There it stayed, his eyes locked on hers, and Claire suddenly got the feeling that he would wait like that all night if he had to.
"Come," Achilles said very softly, but the word came to her with crystal clarity.
Claire found herself gritting her teeth and really pushing her physical limits for perhaps the first time in her entire life. She reached up and a hand, seemingly molded from iron, grabbed the offered appendage. Another hand took a firm grasp on her wrist.
"Watch the wall."
Then Achilles was pulling Claire up with startling speed. Her feet scrabbled for purchase on the wall and then her chest was level with the edge of the roof. Achilles was standing on the low wall encircling the roof with the sure-footed confidence of a goat. Claire put her hand on the wall and pulled her left leg up. Once she had both knees on the wall, Achilles hopped backwards, but kept a grip on her hand. Claire carefully slid onto the Home Depot's roof and shifted onto her butt with a shuddery sigh of relief.
"Well done. What is your name?" Achilles asked, his dark face enigmatic as he stood over her.
"Claire Marie," Achilles nodded and something peevish sprang from Claire's mind. "Why didn't you ask me that before that damn climb?"
To her disgust, Claire immediately ducked her head in anticipation of a blow. When none came she looked up to see a tiny smile grace Achilles' stony face.
"The climb was to determine if you were worthy of guest-right. Once deemed worthy then, and only then, is your name worth knowing, Claire Marie."
Claire stood slowly and stared at Achilles as though he were a snake turned into a man.
"Well, what about Athena?" Claire looked around for the girl and found that she had disappeared.
There were four people on the roof but their shapes were blurred by the waning light.
"Liaisons to Others are not allowed to claim guest-rights if they are acting in that role. So it is acceptable if they ask Others they're names in order to better facilitate trading. Are you hungry?" Claire nodded, "Follow me."
Achilles turned and walked towards a door near the center of the roof. He moved with a weird, methodical, flowing walk that was vaguely feminine. The doorway was open and had the appearance of a yawning mouth of darkness. Achilles entered without hesitation and waited for Claire to catch up.
"The way down is dark and there is a turn," he said, offering her a gloved hand.
Claire took it and felt rigid pieces of something inside Achilles glove. He led her into the darkness with gentle, irresistible strength.
"Place your hand on the wall ahead of you. You will feel the turn."
Claire did as she was instructed and did feel the wall end abruptly thanks to Achilles slow pace. They carefully turned on the landing before making their way down a small stairwell. They came to a metal door and Achilles knocked twice.
"Achilles, son of David, son of Margaret," Achilles said in such a way that his voice filled the stairwell.
The door opened just enough for Achilles, weapons and all, to slip through. Claire went with him and blinked at the double-barrels of a sawed-off shotgun pointed at her head. A man stood there in similar attire to Athena, Achilles, and pretty much every person she'd met in their party. The man had a nasty scar that ran beneath the eyepatch on the left side of his face. A woman stood beside the man with a pump-action shotgun aimed at Achilles. The stock looked shaved and the barrel too short but what the hell did she know about guns anyway. The woman looked Hispanic, but she might have been black, the light wasn't bright enough to tell.
"Has she come into contact with Risen?" the man asked, his weapon held steady.
"No."
At the one word from Achilles, the man and woman bowed their heads before they stepped aside. Achilles let Claire's hand go and walked past them without a word. Claire did the same but stopped to stare in gap-jawed disbelief at what she was seeing. The room was pretty big and lined with lockers. Some kind of blue-green rods were scattered in the corners and throughout the room to provide illumination. Four of the rods were the compass points in a circle that Ajax stood in the middle of.
The giant was completely naked.
Ajax was as pale as snow, bald like Achilles, and made entirely of hard muscle. He stood with his legs spread and his arms raised to shoulder height. Athena stood with a shiny revolver pointed at Ajax's torso while a small figure circled the big man.
"What are they doing?" Claire asked Achilles as she stepped to where he had been waiting for her.
"It is the Rite of Entry. Any person who engages in battle with Risen must be checked before they are allowed access to the People."
"He's fine," the tiny person said, and Claire was shocked at how young the voice sounded.
"How old is he?" And on the heels of that thought followed, "But I saw him get bit!"
"HawkEye? She is sixteen." Achilles turned to her as they walked down the flight of stairs opposite the door to the roof stairwell. "We don't wear all this crap because we like to. Okay, most of us do not."
Claire snorted with laughter and clapped a hand over her mouth. Achilles turned to her with an utterly devastating smile.
"The walls are thick. Laugh as much as you want."
Claire came to the bottom of the stairs and face-to-face with a forklift. She was amazed that it still had enough juice to run. To either side of the wide entryway were tall sets of cabinetry with a pair of people squatting in front of it eating out of metal bowls. She had no idea what it was all for but before she could ask Achilles they came around the forklift. What she saw then planted Claire's feet while her eyes widened painfully.
Somehow, in the hour or so the "People" had been there, there was now a huge square cleared out in the center of the Home Depot. Inside of the square were at least thirty people. Most of them were gathered around sunken pits from which the orange-red glow of fire came from. The smell of roasting meat came to Claire and she took a step forward as the demands of her stomach overrode her shock.
Achilles grabbed her arm and pulled her back as a small group of people sprinted past her with a thin, muscular, white man yelling at them while maintaining their pace.
"Remember! Speed is life! Now-" the man paused to suck in breath, "Run! Run!"
"Who the hell's that?" Claire asked, watching as the small group turned the corner to their right.
"Shaka. He is the best runner we have and a Leader."
"Okay," Claire nodded in total incomprehension.
Achilles led Claire towards the central fire, the largest, where a hunk of meat was slowly turning on a rough-looking spit. The smell was making her mouth water indecently. A man and a woman monitored the roasting meat. A long table stood on the other side of the fire and huge platters of still smoking meat decorated it. Tiny, metal bowls stood beside each platter. A big pot of steaming soup was sitting on the other side of the platters.
Before they reached the table, a dark-skinned woman with a red dot between her brows was just... there in front of them.
"Claire Marie," Claire jumped because she hadn't realized that no one was actually speaking. The only sounds were the soft, barely audible movements of a group of unnaturally quiet people and the crackles of fire as well as roasting meat.
"Get up! You worthless piece of shit!"
Well, Shaka definitely isn't quiet.
"Grab a bowl, some meat, dip the bowl in the soup. We have no utensils for eating. I will be right there."
Claire slid around the Indian woman as she began speaking to Achilles in sign language. She followed Achilles instructions and was munching on the chewy meat when the man stepped quietly to her side. He passed her a bottle of water, she had to put her meat in the thick vegetable soup, and took a drink of the oddly flavored water.
"Xena challenged me to a sparring match. I have accepted. This way."
Damn. Does this guy know how to say please?
Claire followed Achilles to an area clear of fire-pits. It was a much larger version of the glow-rod circle upstairs. A dozen rods lined this circle and people were already starting to gather. Athena came up to them grinning like a clown with twinkling brown eyes.
"Xena still trying to kick your ass?" Athena nodded toward the dark-skinned woman windmilling her arms in the ring.
Achilles nodded and began handing his weapons to Athena. The grin never left the girl's face as she took the short spear and hatchet-thing. A man, nearly as tall if nowhere near as muscular as Ajax, handed Achilles an identical set. Achilles took them with a nod and strode into the ghostly ring.
"Are they going to kill each other?" Claire asked, turning to Athena.
"Oh, no," Athena answered without turning, "The edges are blunt. If they were beginners the weapons would be wood but those two are the best Warrior-Hunters among the People. That's why their Warrior-Hunter names are Achilles and Xena. Of course, I said she should go with Boudicca or Shiva, but she just looked at me funny. You ever watch the show?"
Claire nodded, "Hell, I almost went to a stupid convention."
"Me, too!" Athena grinned at Claire, "Well, our Xena makes that one seem like a Care Bear. Oh, they're about to start."
Claire turned back to see that the ring was surrounded by spectators. Shaka and his group were on the opposite side of the ring glistening with sweat. She felt someone come up behind her and turned to look up at Ajax. The colossus acted as though he hadn't seen her and stared into the ring.
Claire turned back to see Achilles and Xena circling each other with the tips of their short spears merely inches away from each other. Then Xena flicked Achilles spear-tip to the side and lunged forward. Claire gasped, and she was the only one who made a sound the entire fight, when Achilles ducked beneath the stab with barely an inch to spare. He rose with a thrust to her sternum. Xena spun around the blow and tried to club Achilles in the back with the blunt end of her hatchet-thing. Achilles counterspun to avoid the hit and attacked with a flurry of astonishingly quick strikes.
Then it was just like the last time Claire had seen Achilles fight. The movements were too fast, too fluid, for her to really keep track. If they had actually stood in one spot for more than a second or actually blocked an attack it might have been different. But the two were all over the ring in a whirlwind of strikes, counters, and last minute dodges. It was absolutely incredible.
Suddenly Xena was on the floor, one hand clutching her stomach, while Achilles held the point of his spear at her neck.
"Achilles," Athena said, but not as if she were calling him.
When Ajax repeated the name with Athena Claire knew what they were doing.
I can't believe they're chanting his name!
Achilles helped Xena to her feet and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Then he raised the spear and got instant quiet.
"Xena," Achilles began and soon everyone was chanting her name.
Claire drank some soup to keep from laughing crazily.
I'm in Wonderland. I hate rabbits.