Less Than Human, Part 1

Stacks of litter trembled as insects swarmed throughout, searching for a lost morsel of sweet. The trees were twisted and skeletal, stretching out in a caricature of agony and reaching for the skies in the vain hope for a rainstorm. There were a couple of old cabins, their roofs caved in under the weight and strain of nature and time. Once, this was a place of leisure, perhaps a favorite location for families seeking a release from the day-to-day. Now, it was a reminder of how far things had fallen, and perhaps a warning that the worst was yet to come.

Helena poked at the meager fire with a long stick, mimicking the actions of Tiberius, in hopes of keeping the flames alive. She was tall and slender, with a sheet of silvery hair hanging down to her waist. Normally, she kept it clean and shiny, but at the moment it hung from her, looking tangled and frayed. Twigs and cockleburs had taken residence in the tresses. Helena was not a vain creature, though; she was, at the time, much more concerned with their survival.

She heard a rustling from behind one of the cabins, and she stood. Her eyes, the color of amber, went wide and trembled slightly with fear. She licked her lips and took a few steps away from the fire, ready to run at a moment’s notice. Her eyes relaxed, as did her posture, as she recognized the figures.

There were four of them; three tall and slender, with silvery hair, just like Helena, but broader in the shoulder and definitely masculine. The fourth was about two feet shorter, and seemed rumpled and sloppy despite his obvious joy. Helena’s colleagues, Tiberius and Cassius, were talking to one another in soft, serious tones. The other one, a Celestial like herself that she did not know well, was named Magnus, and like always he brooded silently.

Reid followed Tiberius and Cassius, laughing a slovenly, braying laugh on occasion. She’d seen those like Reid in her time here; they were once known as mentally challenged but had now taken up the more modern term of “subhuman”. Reid’s demeanor was childlike, and he looked upon the Celestials with a sort of reverence usually only associated with worshipping a deity. He was kindhearted and loving, and Helena was fond of him. Tiberius and Cassius enjoyed his company as well; according to her colleagues, there had always been “precious little happiness” in the humans. Magnus, meanwhile, steered clear of Reid, and often warned that his simple nature would be their downfall.

“Any news?” Helena asked, hopeful. It had been 72 hours since the humans had begun their assault, and many of the ships had already fled. The Celestials that hadn’t been massacred were on the run, keeping ahead of the kill squads that came for them with unrelenting aggression. Tiberius and Cassius believed that they might be able to locate some of the ships that had been used for research purposes. Magnus, who apparently had experience with some of the human crafts that were still in their infancy, went along. Reid joined them as well, to serve as a sort of lookout.

Tiberius was the oldest, with a silvery beard hanging low from his jaw. He regarded Helena with an expression of hope. “The ships that were there were in no shape for flight. But we did manage to salvage a communicator.” He held a small, egg-shaped device in his hand. “I made contact with one of the other ships. They can’t return due to damage, but they are trying to reach another to make a safe extraction.”

Cassius smiled. “It’s good news. We didn’t come across any of the humans, either. I’m thankful for that.” He glanced in Reid’s direction. “I was fearful of what could happen if our lookout was going to have to play his role.”

Reid didn’t look in their direction, instead staring at the fire. “When I was younger, mama would cook marshmallows on fires and make s’mores,” he said, thoughtful. “They was the best thing I’d ever ate. I could sure go for a s’more right now.” He smiled at Helena. “I wish I could make you one, miss. You’d love it, I’m so sure of it.”

She smiled sweetly at him and stroked his hair. “Perhaps another day, kind Reid.” She noticed that the others wished to speak with her. “Could you please make sure that we have enough food in your truck? It is good for us to have an inventory.”

“Yes, yes, I will do that,” Reid grinned, and he bustled away, looking very pleased with himself and his usefulness.

“We’ve got to keep moving,” said Magnus suddenly, standing on the far side of the dwindling fire. His face was ashen, and his eyes peered around distrustfully. “The humans will monitor our communications. They know how to track our signals. Carrying that device around with us is twice as dangerous as keeping the simpleton. We should leave him here and go.”

“We will not just abandon him here in this empty place,” Helena said. She spared Reid a glance. “He has been our only friend and ally. Without him, none of us would even be here.”

“She is right, Magnus,” Cassius affirmed . “Until we are certain that Reid is in good hands, he is staying with us. If the humans were to find him, their punishment would be severe.”

“And what if they find us all because he slows us down?” Magnus demanded. “He doesn’t even understand what we are facing. He still thinks that everything is as it had been!”

“Peace, Magnus,” Tiberius said. “If we begin panicking and thinking rashly like the humans we will make a mistake. Remember what you are.” His face was devoid of emotion. “As for our little savior, his ignorance of the situation at hand is best served. If he were to know the accusations against our kind, how then would he react? The poor soul would truly be lost.”

Magnus frowned, and just as it seemed he had a response, he threw his hands up and stormed away to the edge of the campground.

“I worry about him,” whispered Cassius, looking after Magnus with a dreadful expression. “He is one of us, but at the same time, he is not. He thinks far too much with emotion. It is unnatural.”

“He has been working directly with the humans for far too long,” Tiberius concurred. “We must do what we can to help him. He might not behave like us, but he is of us. If they find him, they will kill him as well. If we are able to prevent it, we must do so.”

Helena frowned. She’d rather liked Earth when she had first arrived, but now, it was looking far too dangerous. Humankind had been so thankful when they’d first come. Now, for whatever reason, they’d turned savage and brutal. Most of her former colleagues were dead, butchered in their homes and in the streets. The humans cried out angrily for them. The ones she’d known had never acted so horribly.

Reid was walking back, his eternal placid smile glued to his face. It was his childlike nature that made him so unlike the others of his kind. Helena found his demeanor to be wonderful. His intelligence might be lacking, but his kindness and loyalty outweighed any mental deficiencies he possessed.

“He is in danger as long as he is with us,” Tiberius said, and Helena could tell that he had been reading her thoughts. She turned away, ashamed; it wasn’t proper to read thoughts without permission. Tiberius did not apologize. “I know you care for him, Helena, as do I. He has been as good a friend as I have had since coming here. But the humans won’t give him leniency because of his handicap. They’ll punish him.” He took her by the hands, turning her away from the approaching Reid. “Once we are somewhere safe, we have to abandon him.”

“You’re right.” She looked over his shoulder, toward Magnus, who was still stalking about, looking furious and frustrated with everything. “It feels wrong that we would lose Reid, who is as innocent as a human could be, yet we keep that one, who has been corrupted.”

Tiberius said nothing.

——————————————————————-

The van was loaded with all sorts of provisions, and Reid was quite pleased with himself for keeping it so organized. His boss, Mr. Landers, often called him soft-headed and feeb but also admitted that despite his stupidity, Reid knew how to keep things in order. He’d usually follow this by saying but I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then and start laughing, and Reid would join him, because thinking about blind squirrels actually finding nuts seemed pretty funny to him.

He liked his new friends very much. Helena especially, because she was so pretty and she didn’t look at him the way most pretty girls did. She’d call him “sweet” and sometimes even touch his face. He loved her very much, and even though he was pretty sure she’d never be with someone as stupid as he was, Reid very much hoped that one day he could marry her.

Cassius was a good friend too, always smiling at Reid’s jokes, even the ones that Mr. Landers thought were dumb and childish. He also told Reid how useful he was being, and that always made Reid feel good, because most people didn’t bother letting him know he was doing a good job at all. Most people wouldn’t even talk to him. Mr. Landers said they didn’t want to catch his “stupid”. Reid didn’t think that it worked that way, but he would often make sure he didn’t stick around them too much. He didn’t want to be blamed for that.

Tiberius wasn’t so nice to him, but he wasn’t mean, either. Mostly he just acted like Reid wasn’t there at all. He was polite, always making sure to thank Reid for anything that he might do for him, but he still made Reid a little anxious, with his always-serious face. He never looked mad. In truth, Reid thought he looked very sad. He remembered his mama would talk to him whenever he felt bad. He wondered if maybe Tiberius just needed a person to talk to.

Reid kept away from Magnus. He was scary, always looking so mad with everything in the world since Reid had first met him. He also shouted, not like the others. Mr. Landers used to say when people were mad they were “gonna spit fire” and Reid always thought that it was funny. He didn’t think it was so funny now, because Magnus looked like he might actually spit some fire, and Reid was afraid he would spit it at him.

Reid was driving along the backroads, his eyes focused on the road, never wanting to look around, like Mr. Landers had told him he had to do. But that was before he had a Celestial sitting in the seat next to him, looking over a map in the way that a person might study a big book in school. Cassius always concentrated so hard on the maps when he looked at them. He’d ask questions from time to time, and Reid could usually answer him. He knew this empty place, back before it had fallen apart. Even though there was nothing out this way but haunts and memories, he still liked it.

“This is all camp ground?” Cassius asked him, peering out the windshield.

“Hunting ground, now, yep,” Reid replied, pleased with himself for knowing. “Used to be all kinds of buck and doe up in these parts.” He tilted his head sadly. “Don’t see ‘em too often no. I hope they aren’t gone, like most stuff.” A wistful smile played at his lips. “I kind of liked deer.”

Cassius nodded. “You have a good heart, Reid. I hope that the deer are still here as well.”

The truck jolted slightly, and Reid glanced in the rearview mirror. “Sorry,” he said in a soft voice. His face was no longer so pleased. “These roads are full of holes. No one ever came this way and tended them. I suppose they were too busy with learning the fancy new things that you fellas brought here on your spaceships!” He laughed, a loud, honking sound that was piercing in the cab of the truck. “I always wanted to go on a spaceship, ever since you all came.”

“Perhaps one day you will be able to,” Cassius said.

“Nah, not me,” Reid answered. He looked frustrated. “I tried to apply to go off-world. I would have loved to drive on a whole ‘nother planet. But they wouldn’t let me.” He gently drove around a gray, skeletal tree limb in the road. “Mr. Landers says subhumans can’t be trusted to start things the right way. Said I’d probably blow up the colony before it could even be colonized.”

“Like most humans, Mr. Landers is a great, bloated fool.”

Reid squawked in surprise, and Cassius even jumped. Magnus was hovering between the seats, ducking low; his intense amber eyes scanned the road. “S-s-sorry, Magnus, sir, I didn’t know you were there,” Reid stammered. “I dint mean t-t-to holler like that, no sir, I dint.”

Magnus smiled, but he looked neither friendly nor amused. Cassius frowned. “Cease this, Magnus. You’re frightening him.” There was an edge in his voice.

“He should be frightened, considering what lies ahead,” Magnus replied. He regarded Reid for a moment. “Your employer, Mr. Landers, is a fool, Reid. Not because he called you subhuman. You are classified as such. He is a fool, because Mr. Landers, like the rest of them, believes that subhumans would make things worse. Those that call themselves regular humans…they would be the ones that would destroy.”

“Y-yes sir,” Reid affirmed, just wishing that Magnus would no longer speak to him.

Cassius rose from the seat. He had to hunch over, and he swaying slightly with the movement of the truck, but fastened his eyes on Magnus. “Stop frightening Reid. He’s not scared of what lies ahead. He’s scared of you.”

Magnus met the gaze, and Reid could feel the tension crackling around him. Neither Celestial backed down from each other. Reid slowed the truck, afraid of what was about to happen.

“Magnus, allow Reid to drive, please,” came Tiberius’s voice from the back of the truck, serene and placid. “We have much ground to cover, and he knows the roads.”

Magnus smiled, and again, Reid could tell that there was only fury embedded in his features. He glanced down toward Reid with the same intense glare that he had been giving the road. “If I frighten you, Reid, understand that I mean you no harm.” He turned and moved toward the back, shuffling and ducking.

But know this as well, subhuman, Reid heard in his mind, in a voice that clearly belonged to Magnus. Fearing me is the wisest thing that you could ever do.

———————————————————————————-

It was an hour later when Reid spotted the patrol car.

Cassius was still looking at the map. Reid couldn’t tell what made the map so interesting to his new friend, but he was glad that he’d found something that he liked. As he glanced in the mirror, he spotted his other friends, seated quietly in the back of the truck. Tiberius and Helena were talking. Magnus appeared to be asleep.

The patrol vehicle was driving quickly along the road, zipping in their direction in the opposite lane. Reid could spot the signal lights even if they weren’t flashing. He found it a little peculiar that there was even a patrol car out in these parts, where virtually no one lived. He supposed that perhaps the policeman might be someone like him, who remembered the past in these parts and would be thankful for a chance to revisit.

The car grew closer, and Reid waved his hand, smiling widely.

“What are you-” Cassius began, and before he could finish, his amber eyes widened, and a rush of voices pierced inside Reid’s mind.

He signaled them, I told you he would do something like that, we never should have kept him so long, snarled a voice that sounded like Magnus.

We are doomed,came the voice of Cassius, sounding distraught.

No! Not now, not when we are so close! projected Helena.

“Calm yourselves!” bellowed Tiberius, and it took Reid a moment to realize that this voice wasn’t only in his mind. “You’re losing control, your thoughts are overflowing and anyone can hear them!” He regarded Reid with his own harsh stare. “I apologize for that intrusion, Reid. Please, watch the road.”

Reid did just that, keeping his mouth shut despite the barrage of questions that were now flooding his mind – questions not from someone else but of his own. He glanced in his side mirror, and noticed that the brake lights on the dwindling patrol car were blazing red. He grew more surprised that the dome lights began flashing, an intermittent red-white-blue pattern that singed his vision.

“Um, I have to pull over,” Reid mumbled. He glanced at the speedometer and could see that he wasn’t driving past the limit. He wondered if maybe he had a busted taillight. “Shouldn’t take real long, though. I just know that Mr. Landers is going to spit nails when I show him the ticket.” He said spit instead of the word Mr. Landers used. Many of the words Mr. Landers used weren’t appropriate.

“You can’t stop,” Cassius said, and Reid noticed a slight crack in his friend’s voice. When he hazarded a glance toward the Celestial in the passenger seat, he saw that his amber eyes were wide with fear. “Faster, Reid. You have to get away from them.”

“I can’t do that. It’s against the law. I could go to jail.” But as he looked around, Reid could see that Helena, beautiful Helena, shared the same pained expression as Cassius.

Tiberius leaned forward. “I know you are scared of jail, Reid. But I am afraid for you if you do let those men stop this vehicle. You must attempt to get away from them.” The caterwauling siren swelled in volume. Tiberius put his hands on Reid’s shoulder. “With haste, my friend.”

And Reid turned to the side mirror, watching the rapid approach of the cruiser, and the flashing lights were full of menace. It filled his heart with fear, and he suddenly needed to use the bathroom very, very badly. He opened his mouth to explain to them that he couldn’t run from the police, he just couldn’t, that only criminals ran from the police and that he wasn’t a criminal, when a voice filled his mind like a thunderclap and set his eyes wide.

What they aren’t telling you, Reid, is that the humans in that car behind us, won’t just send you to jail. They will kill us. One by one. How they do it really doesn’t matter, just as long as they bring back our bodies to parade before everyone else. So you might want to ‘put the pedal to the metal’ as they say. Harsh laughter seemed to rebound throughout his head, and Reid desperately wanted Magnus to stop all of this. Reid pressed down hard on the gas, and the delivery truck lurched ahead.

Magnus, meanwhile, continued. I don’t know why they didn’t tell you this. I think maybe Tiberius is just as bad as Mr. Landers. Oh, sure, Mr. Landers might call you names and tell you just how stupid he thinks you really are, but Tiberius…oh, Tiberius calls you friend and then keeps the truth from you. He thinks you can’t handle it, I suppose. But the truth is that your people have started killing my people all over the world. There is a fantastic chance that we four are the last of our kind on your planet. And we need to get home. Do you want them to kill us, Reid?

Reid was crying. Tears plodded down his round cheeks. “N-no. I don’t want them to kill you. You’re my f-f-friends,” he moaned between sobs.

Tiberius rounded on Magnus, still sitting in the back, his eyes intent on Reid. “Leave him be, Magnus!” he roared.

Then drive! Leave them all in the dust and drive! came the voice of Magnus, roaring in Reid’s head, and Reid squawked a garbled scream, and he pressed harder on the accelerator, watching the road through tear-blurred vision and pushing the engine to its furthest.

Tiberius hauled Magnus up, his usually serene eyes blazing. “What did you do to him?” he demanded. “You blocked me out. Tell me what you told him!”

Magnus scowled. “I told him the truth.” He shoved Tiberius away from him and dusted himself off, furious. “I had to tell him. It was the only way to save us.”

The muffled speaker from the patrol car crackled and whined to life, and the driver was demanding Reid to pull the car over. Reid was shaking his head and sobbing, so bitterly unsure of what was going on but only knowing that he had to drive, that he must not let them be caught.

“I can stop them!” Magnus boomed, his eyes full of malicious light.

“No!” Tiberius denied. “Cassius, Helena, we must stop him before he makes things worse!”

“Worse?” Magnus spat. “You are an old, deluded fool if you think that fighting back will make things worse. They’re slaughtering our people!”

Reid heard voices rise, and the fighting continued. He heard Helena side with Tiberius, and Cassius was still next to him, shouting as well. Reid kept crying, unsure of how to proceed. He wanted his friends to live. Why would the police want to kill them? He had to know why. He ha to know what they had done to be wanted dead. And he opened his mouth, but the words caught in his throat as a new sound pierced the air, cracking like thunder.

Gunshots.

“No!” Reid bellowed, and he heard another pop, this one from the rear tire. The delivery truck skidded, and on instinct, Reid jammed down on the brakes. The truck lurched, and as it began to tip Reid realized that he had made a drastic mistake. Cassius was shouting in his ear, no longer in argument but in shock. Reid shouted in dismay as his vision seemed to jerk sideways. His head slammed against the doorframe, and the world went black. In the recesses of his mind he could still hear Magnus, howling with fury, roaring that death was upon them.

——————————————————————————

Reid woke. His vision was edged with brilliant twinkling lights, and he felt like throwing up all over the place. He was suspended in his seat, dangling sideways. The seatbelt had held, but now it was pinching him. He reached to his hip, undoing the clasp, and barked a shout of surprise as he tumbled down. His shoulder flared with new pain, taking the brunt of the impact.

A hand touched him on the other side, and he turned to see Helena. Her eyes were huge like saucers, and her lips trembled. Her voice entered his head, and even though it was from her, it still felt unnatural and intrusive. I apologize for speaking to you this way, Reid, her voice quavered. I am so afraid to move. I do not wish to die. I wanted to go home, not die here.

He took her hand and squeezed it, not knowing really why other than from what he had seen others do for those in fear. “I will do what I can,” he replied in a whisper, but even to him the promise felt empty. What could he do? He still didn’t understand why the police would want to kill his friends at all, and he wondered if maybe they were mistaken. The Celestials had been on Earth for quite a while, and the police had never wanted to kill them before.

Let me help you up, Helena projected, and he took her hand and allowed himself to be led into the back of the truck.

The provisions he had so meticulously prepared for them were scattered everywhere. It reminded Reid of a video he had once seen of a town that had been ravaged by a tornado. Cassius was kneeling beside Tiberius, who was lying quietly and seemed to be asleep. Magnus was leaned against the back doors, his teeth pulled back from his lips and his orange eyes glowing.

“Is he okay?” Reid asked, gesturing toward Tiberius.

He is unconscious, came the voice of Magnus, sounding rushed and furious. It might make his impending death less painful. We will see, I suppose.

“Why do they want to kill you?” Reid asked.

“YOU IN THE TRUCK!” boomed a voice laced with static. “COME OUT SLOWLY AND WITH YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! THIS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A BAD MOMENT FOR ANYONE!”

“What do we do?” Helena asked, sounding very timid and small.

Reid felt a moment of inspiration. “They want you, right? To kill you? I don’t know why, but maybe I can talk to them. Maybe they will listen to me, and it might give you time to run.” He smiled despite himself; he felt very intelligent, and those moments for him had so far, been rare. “Maybe they will even let you go.”

Magnus shook his head, but Cassius looked to Reid hopefully. “Maybe Reid can distract them and we can get away. It’s possible.” Magnus looked between the other lucid Celestials and snorted, but didn’t disagree. Cassius looked to Helena and nodded grimly. He reached to Reid and shook his hand. “Thank you, friend. We might have a chance.”

Reid felt awkward, but he moved toward the front of the truck, stepping awkwardly. It felt strange having to pull himself up to get out of the vehicle, and he began to wonder what Mr. Landers would do when he finally was able to return the truck. He was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be a very fun conversation, and he felt a little nervous just thinking about it.

He had to push up on the door and shoulder his way up and through. By the time he emerged from the hole, he was red-faced and panting, and sweat was trickling from between his shoulders. He swung his leg over the top, and collapsed in a heap. That wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked, he thought.

“HANDS IN THE AIR, NOW!” The sheer volume of the bullhorn forced Reid to clap his hands over his ears, and he let out an involuntary wail of fear. Wide-eyed, he turned in the direction of the voice, looking upon a pair of uniformed men. The one holding the bullhorn was also brandishing a dull-colored handgun, while the other was directing a high-powered rifle toward Reid. Neither looked particularly calm, and Reid removed his hands from his ears and reached toward the the clouds.

“I ain’t got a gun! I ain’t got nothing but me!” Reid didn’t realize how high-pitched he sounded until he was truly frightened, and there was a part of him waiting for the guns to go off, from the way that the policemen were staring at him. He couldn’t keep the flow of words from leaving his lips, as terror had taken over. Oh God don’t shoot I dint do nothing don’t shoot I’m a dummy not a bad guy!“

The policemen shared a glance, and the one with the bullhorn stood on tiptoes, looking toward the truck the way that a person might look at a firecracker that didn’t pop when the fuse ran out. “THE OTHERS IN THE TRUCK NEED TO EXIT THE VEHICLE, SIR,” he said into the amplifier. “YOU ARE NOT THE PERSON WE ARE AFTER. THEY ARE WANTED FOR QUESTIONING.”

They lie, Reid, came Magnus in his mind. They lie, and though you might be addled, you can smell the lies in the air. They have come to kill us. Distract them.

“They ain’t carrying no guns neither!” Reid squawked. “They’re my friends, and they don’t need to go with you! They’re good!” In his mind the words were strong, perhaps the strongest he’d ever spoken to a person of authority, and for a moment he half-expected the policemen to nod to each other, put their guns away, and drive away.

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, SUBHUMAN,” came the response, and Reid’s heart sank. “SO STOP WITH YOUR BABBLING OR WE’LL THROW YOU IN THE CAR, TOO. DO YOU WANT US TO ARREST YOU? DO YOU WANT TO BE A CRIMINAL?” Reid could see the way that the man was standing, the same way that Mr. Landers stood when he was getting ready to tear into Reid for doing something foolish. It made him feel small and unimportant. “IF THEY DON’T COME OUT OF THE CAR, WE WILL GO IN AND DRAG THEM OUT, AND IT WON’T BE ANY FUN. DO YOU HEAR THAT, YOU GLOWHEADS? WE WILL DRAG YOU OUT, AND WE WILL MAKE IT HURT!”

Reid stood, tottering slightly, and gestured frantically toward the policmen. “No, they’re good, don’t do that, please don’t hurt my friends!”

We’re going to have to run, Reid, came the voice of Cassius in his mind. Keep them occupied if you can. Thank you, friend.

The back doors opened roughly, banging against the battered pavement and echoing in the empty sky. Reid turned toward the sound, and the policeman on the bullhorn cursed and began running toward the back of the truck. The rifle-toting officer bustled around the car door, face red with fury, keeping his weapon high.

Reid licked his lips frantically. They wouldn’t make it to cover without more of a distraction. His plan hadn’t been great after all, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He could see Cassius ducking through the opening in the door, moving slowly because of the hindrance of his great height, and he knew that he wouldn’t get more than a couple of steps before the policemen were upon him. He screamed at Cassius, wanting him to get back in the truck.

Cassius was fully exposed, and Reid saw his fiery eyes go wide with terror, and he began running toward the forestry, moving in great, leaping strides. The policemen didn’t yell for him to stop. They didn’t even shout that they were the police, like they did in the shows that Reid’s mama used to like watching. Instead, they raised their guns, and in perfect synchronization, opened fire upon Cassius.

A few of the bullets whined, bouncing off of the cracked asphalt and into oblivion, but most of them struck their target, and Reid began screaming again. His friend was lifted in the air, looking very much like a marionette pulled sharply up, and crashed to the ground. Dark blue stains spread across his white tunic and saturated the ground below.

Reid tore the loose side-mirror from the door below him and threw it at the officers, still screaming, his words rising high and unintelligible, his heart filled with sorrow and pain and rage. The mirror struck the rifleman in the shoulder, sending him sprawling, and the cop with the handgun turned, his eyes wide with savage joy, and he began firing again…this time upon Reid.

Reid tried to duck, and he felt the sharp breeze as a pair of bullets hissed past his face, but then there was a sharp tug at his right shoulder, and he felt himself being pushed back. Pain erupted at the sight, and he roared. He felt back, tumbling from the truck and landing hard on his back, shoving the air from his lungs. He saw a swelling patch of red stain his coveralls at the shoulder, and his gaped.

I been shot. It was the only thought in his mind, repeating over and over again, until even that thought was forced away, popping like a bubble, and replaced instead by the thoughts of another….the thoughts of Magnus, which came out in a single word.

ENOUGH.

The air around Reid felt hot and thick, like summer humidity after a storm. But there was something charging within the thickness as well, buzzing soft at first, but swelling in intensity, rattling his teeth. His wound grew hotter and he grimaced against the worsening pain. His skin rippled with gooseflesh. His eyes trembled in their sockets.

And the delivery truck rose from the ground.

That last bit was enough to free Reid from his shock, and he scooted backward upon the pavement, heedless of the throbbing agony of his shoulder. The truck hovered, rotating slightly, dangling from unseen wires. Reid licked his lips and watched. The trucks couldn’t float. He was pretty sure that Mr. Landers would have told him if they could.

I will show you hurt, announced Magnus, his voice reverberating in the air, sharp like a crack of lightning, and Reid held the sides of his head at the magnitude of those words, rebounding throughout his mind like flaying shrapnel.

There was a cry, and Reid watched in awe as the rifleman was hoisted into the air. He was shooting wildly, and his legs kicked. He began screaming hysterics and dropped his weapon, which struck the ground and burped stray rounds into the wilderness. He was holding his head, too, and his eyes were wide and watery, and Reid realized that the policeman was sobbing. Their eyes met for a brief instant.

Help me, the policeman seemed to be saying, and then he was thrown.

He hurtled through empty space, arms pinwheeling and legs flailing. An unspoken scream choked him, too full of fear and horror to manage its way from his throat. He slammed into the windshield of the cruiser, imploding the glass inward. His legs twitched once, twice…and then went still.

“Hopper!” the other policeman screamed, staring toward wrecked mess of the car, his eyes wide and uncomprehending. “Hopper, my God, no!“

You speak of Gods, boomed Magnus. You know nothing.

The truck crashed back to the asphalt, booming, blocking Reid’s view. There were more gunshots, but they seemed impotent in the presence of such unknown and encompassing power. Reid struggled to his feet, hopping like a crow around the edge of the truck, terrified of what he might see but unable to resist something beyond his imagination.

There was another cry, and Reid watched as the handgun that had shot him scuttled across the pavement, twirling slighty before resting. It looked like a toy once it was out of the grasp of the policeman, and Reid scooped it up, staring at it with befuddlement.

“Please help!”

The policeman was on his backside, walking crabwise on his hands and feet away from the towering Celestial. Magnus approached in soft but deliberate steps, his fiery eyes locked onto the aggressor, his pale hair flowing in the gentle breeze. Raw power seemed to ooze from him, and the air possessed a staticky charge.

“The gun! Give me back the gun!” The policeman’s words were thick through his own sobs. “He’s going to kill me! For God’s–”

And the words choked off, and he was lifted in the air, an unseen hand grasping him by the throat and hoisting him. His legs dangled and kicked, and his own hands raised to his throat, fighting off a grasp that by all rights should not even be there. Magnus was gripping empty air in front of him as he stalked forward, his mouth curved in a sinister scowl.

Cry out to your God for help, human, Magnus projected, and the words seemed to come from all angles, ambushing them. Your kind destroys, and then cries out when destruction falls upon them. Your kind seeks to rule, and to dominate, and once you’ve no other option, you fall to your knees and cry out for mercy.

The policeman rasped unintelligible words, and then gasped and choked. Magnus was inches from his, amber eyes piercing through him.

“You shall have none.”

The policeman was thrown into the trees, and with a sickening crunch, smashed into a huge trunk. His body tumbled, bending at unspeakable angles, and landed in a heap.