The Stars Never Rise

“My point exactly,” she shot back, but Reese only laughed, and I realized this was their routine—a way to make light of the death and violence that defined their existence.

The first degenerate hit the fence with the crashclink of chain-link, and my nerves crested in a burst of destructive energy like nothing I’d ever felt. Finn let go of my hand and moved over to give us more room. Reese charged forward with a growl of his own as the first monster landed on our side of the fence in an impossibly deep squat, and in my peripheral vision, Devi tensed, silently preparing for battle.

Reese grabbed that first degenerate by her ripped shirt, and while they struggled, the second and third demons launched themselves at the fence. The second cleared the metal entirely and landed on the ground in front of Devi. The third perched near the top of the fence, his long, bare toes curled around metal wire while his deformed and knobby hands gripped the metal rod defining the top edge.

Finn lunged forward and I followed, my pulse racing so hard I could near nothing as loud as my own heartbeat. He grabbed the degenerate’s wrist and pulled with a low grunt. The monster screeched and fell end over end to land on his back in the dirt. Finn was on him in an instant, his hand already glowing, and when I looked up, I saw that the front of the junkyard was alive with light now.

A glow faded from Reese’s palm as another built around Devi’s, and while I stood there like an idiot, Reese rose from the degenerate he’d just exorcised. “One!” he half shouted, and before the word had even faded from my ears, he’d pulled another demon from the fence.

“One!” Devi stood and kicked a deformed dead woman in the side, then grunted in surprise when another landed right in front of her.

“One!” Finn called. Then, “Nina, heads up!”

I turned just as the sixth degenerate dropped from the fence and snarled at me. I took a step back, flexing my left hand, praying for that light to appear while the demon advanced, snarling and snapping in anticipation. Finn stood behind him, the glow still fading from his palm and imprinted on my vision. He reached for the demon approaching me, but then one pulled him off his feet and he was suddenly ensnarled in another fight.

I was on my own.

“Two!” Reese yelled, and another bright glow appeared on my right, highlighting the degenerate just two feet in front of me now. His chin was too sharp and thin flesh clung to the points of his elbows. His eyes flashed with light, and I couldn’t tell what color they’d been before, but now they were black, as if the demon inside him had rotted the very color from his irises.

“Two!” Devi shouted.

The degenerate pounced, and I lurched to my right. I only meant to move out of the way to avoid being pinned. Instead, my feet hit the ground six feet away. Stunned, I turned and the junkyard spun around me, the glow from Reese’s palm streaking across my vision twice before I finally stilled, dizzy and confused. My intended 180 had become two and a half revolutions, as if I were stuck on my own personal merry-go-round.

I threw my hands out, trying to regain my balance.

The snarl and the flying shadow hit me at the same time. Pain slammed into my chest. My back hit the dirt. Jaws snapped near my nose for the third time in less than a day. I threw my arms up, and teeth sank into the left sleeve of my coat. Rancid drool dripped on my cheek, and I turned my head, shuddering in revulsion while my pulse raced in fear.

The demon shook his head like a dog with a bone, and pain ripped through my arm from wrist to shoulder. I shouted and tried to jerk my arm free before he tore it off, but he wouldn’t let go, and the ache in my bruised bones was fierce.

“Two!” Finn shouted.

Desperate, I swung at the degenerate’s temple with my free right hand, and to my shock, his head snapped to the side and his pointy teeth were torn from my sleeve.

“Three!” Reese called, and Devi echoed him an instant later.

The demon groaned, stunned, and I saw my chance. I pressed my hands into his chest and lifted him as far from me as I could, then tucked my knees and wedged my feet between us. Then I kicked.

The demon flew up and out, snarling in the air, arms and feet trailing uselessly. He crashed into the fence and I stood just in time to see Devi grab his shirt and shove him face-first into the ground. “Four!” she shouted, slamming her palm down on the degenerate’s back. The glow in her hand consumed the demon.

“Hey! That one was mine!” I yelled, and Reese laughed.

Devi shrugged. “Then next time exorcise it instead of playing with it.”

“I wasn’t…It nearly pulled my arm off!” I did fast math in my head, still trying to catch my breath. Three for Reese, four for Devi and two for Finn. “Wait, that should still leave—”

Something slammed into my back, and the earth flew up to meet me. My face hit the dirt, and air was driven from my lungs, through my throat.

“Nina!” Finn shouted. Footsteps pounded toward me, then stopped abruptly.