“I think he’s starting to wake up,” a familiar voice called from a world away.
Tex groggily came to, rubbing his eyes and startling when he saw human hands. Desperately, he tried to recall what had happened. He’d dispelled magic, and the casino….it had collapsed? There was something else, something about a storm.
“Tex?” The voice asked again.
Tex blinked wearily up at…Troy? The resemblance was there, between all his forms. The young man was staring at him with concern. Others were gathered around him. Tex easily identified RK, the albino, and Dolan, of course. A few others he didn’t recognize, though if it fit the pattern, they were likely the human forms of his friends.
“What happened?” Tex groaned.
“You over did it. How much do you remember?” Troy prompted.
“It’s blurry, like a dream.” Tex replied. “Give me a quick rundown of the situation.”
“First of all, look around you.” Troy said.
Tex looked.
They were in a giant basement. Plastic sheets had been duct taped to the ceilings and walls. All around him were people, maybe…two hundred? All of them huddled together, nursing bottles of water and liquor. He could see a bathroom and a kitchen were also down here, and there was a long line for the toilets. The kitchen was bustling, the cooks ladling soup into bowls and handing them out to a crowd.
“Looks like some kind of nuclear fallout situation.” Tex spoke aloud. “Where the hell are we? We beat Dolan, right?”
Dolan winced. “Yes, but we’re in the basement of the casino.”
“Ironic you used nuclear fallout as an example, because it’s quite similar to our predicament.” RK said.
“Alright,” Tex said, slapping himself awake. “Lay it on me.”
“We won but another Book user ambushed us.” Troy explained. “She lost control of the spell. Conjured a storm with transformative properties. Her command was for it to ‘create a forest teeming with life’.”
“Very open ended.” Tex snorted. “Fucking idiot.”
“Yeah, well, we’re in the middle of that stupid storm.” RK huffed.
“So just, like, fucking dispel it?” Tex shrugged.
“Can’t. The origin of the spell is her. We can try to dispel parts of it, but it’s a reality shift, so each use of dispel takes up large amounts of energy.” Troy explained. “And if you pass out outside…well, that’s the end of you.”
“That’s not to say Dispel won’t work,” RK interjected. “It will on nightmares. But there’s only four people with high enough energy to use it. You, Me, Dolan, and Troy.”
“And I’m exhausted.” Tex clenched his teeth. “Alright. What about the refugees? There were a thousand people in the Casino. Now we’re down to maybe two hundred. What gives?”
“Most of the Casino security were summoned beings. Combined with the people who were transformed in Blanks, objects and animals, the whole Casino erupted into chaos. Oh, and several sections of it collapsed because Dolan was holding it together with magic, which you Dispelled.” Troy said. “People tried to escape or loot what was left.”
“Where’d they go? Even without the security, there should be-oh shit, and the transformed people? We’re talking thousands.” Tex glanced around at the relatively meager 200 people in comparison.
“Well, quite a few were from other realities, so they went back there, presumably. The others ran. They made it to the parking lot.” Troy shook his head. “And, well, then the storm hit. If you’d care to peer through one of the basement windows…”
Tex got unsteadily to his feet, walked to the window and looked out.
Instead of seeing the city of Las Vegas, as he expected, outside was a small meadow where the parking lot should be. The ruin hulks of cars scattered about were rusting away into non-existence under the fall of rain. Tex watched the glass of a car’s window sag and melt away. Scattered throughout the meadow were twisted trees. A few seemed much more tree-like than the others, and Tex deduced that the twisted shapes would soon become normal, healthy trees.
Drops of condensation were streaking down the basement window, leaving behind wispy green stains that seemed to grow into the glass. As Tex continued to scan the area, he saw brief glitters of light between blades of swiftly growing grass – puddles, Tex realized.
The water wasn’t dissipating after transforming whatever it had come into contact with. And there was so much of it, that puddles were begging to form on the waterlogged ground outside. To make matters even worse, the lush foliage sprouting up out of the concrete was almost impossible to see through.
Tex knew that was he was seeing were just puddles that were too deep to obscure, which meant that there were a lot more puddles that just weren’t big enough to see – surrounding the casino with a sort of transformative mine field. And one wrong step meant spending the rest of your life rooted in place.
Beyond the small meadow were buildings, though they, too, were swiftly degrading. Vines and roots and plants obscured their image. He watched as the roof of a small gas station nearby, already covered in grass and small trees, sagged abruptly, caving in on itself. From a distance, he could see moving figures in the rain as a few people ran out. Almost as soon as they were exposed to the rain, the figures stopped and stiffened before twisting into the same eerie trees that were in the casino parking lot.
The rest of the city was just…more trees and buildings that seemed to be melting into the surrounding terrain. Las Vegas was swiftly turning into an enormous forest. Though….he wasn’t seeing much animal life.
Tex couldn’t bring himself to look away from what the apocalyptic nightmare that, under normal circumstances would be a scene of peaceful serenity. As he continued to stare out at the nightmare that could easily become his own future, his eyes were drawn to tree line that was growing up against the former casino parking lot. Shadows darted across the base of the trees as underbrush swayed. Something was moving in the new forest – something grotesque and… inhuman.
Tex shivered and looked away.
“When the rain came, it was like a wall of water.” Troy said solemnly. “Everyone caught out in it was turned into those weird trees.”
“And the cars and buildings?” Tex asked.
“The rain appears to be corrosive. Concrete becomes rich soil, glass melts. Plastic tends to last the longest, though that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows how long it takes that material to degrade naturally.” RK said.
“We can ride out in here, then.” Tex said.
“No.” RK pointed at the ceiling. “Look.”
Tex’s gaze followed RK’s finger. Off in the corner of the basement, the ceiling was bulging, sagging down and dimpling the clear plastic tarp that was covering it. The concrete was stained, dark brown in some places, and Tex thought he could see little roots poking through it in places. That wasn’t the only area of the ceiling that was rotting. Here and there, parts of the ceiling were sagging. The refugees were wisely staying away from those areas.
“How long?” Tex asked RK.
“It’ll hold until the next storm, then the entire ceiling will collapse, crushing people to death before they are able to be transformed. The rain will turn their corpses into rich fertilizer, and they’ll be the lucky ones.”
“Lucky ones?” Tex replied.
“What do you think lives buried under a forest floor? You want to spend the next couple thousand years as root fungus?”
Tex shuddered.
“So what’ll we do?” Came a woman’s voice as Tex realized that a crowd of civilians had formed around them.
“I just worked here… I… have a family I need to get back to…” the woman continued. She was young, likely a waitress, judging by the uniform. In her eyes was a growing panic.
“We escape.” RK shrugged.
“Into the rain?” The woman said, aghast.
“No, look.” RK pointed at the clouds overhead. “Those clouds are going to run out of water in a few minutes. Then they’ll begin drawing moisture from the atmosphere before raining again.”
“So we have a window to escape the storm.” Tex said. “How long until it starts raining, once it stops?”
“An hour and a half.”
“We can make it, then!” The woman said excitedly.
“Ah. Well, there’s a few complications to that.”
“Like?” A man next to her demanded.
“The monsters and the mist.” RK said. “Plus you need to walk a few miles in an hour and a half through soggy streets and the puddles are all transformative.”
“Monsters?” Another man asked.
“Look,” RK addressed the growing crowd around them. “We all know magic exists. We’re trapped in a magical storm. When the storm temporarily lifts, we’ll need to make a break for the city limits. But the storm creates monsters.”
“Monsters?” Came another voice from the crowd.
“The kinds of monsters that will turn you into something that will make you wish you had ended up as a tree,” RK replied in a forceful, matter of fact tone.
“Shit!” A quivering voice shouted. “So…what do we do?”
“Prepare. Plan your escape route.” RK said. “Then…run.”
“But we could…you know, get transformed!”
”RK gestured towards the sagging ceiling and the window that was starting to look like it was made more out of transparent lichen than glass. “How long do you think you have if you stay here?”
“You can see the future, right? How many of us make it?” The woman asked.
“Out of the 250…15.” RK said.
“15?!” The man shouted. “That’s-!”
“The best outcome. The worst outcome is 1. Me.” RK shrugged. “Actually, if I fuck up, the worst outcome is 0. But the people on the outskirts of the city survive, so…there’s that, at least!”
“My family lives at the center of town,” One of the survivors murmured. “Are they okay?”
Rk sighed heavily. “Probably not. Do you want to do the thing where you try searching for them futily instead of attempting to save yourself?”
“It’s NOT futile, it’s my goddamn family!”
“Look, if we defeat Mary Anne, we can undo all of this.” RK explained. “Only one of us needs to make it to her to do that.”
“So what’s the play?” Dolan asked.
RK looked around at the crowd of people that had gathered.
“Sacrifice play.”
Angry mutterings arose.
“Stop talking!” RK raised a hand. “Only one of us has to reach Mary Anne to win and undo everything! Even if we stay here, the roof is going to collapse and kill us all! We need to find the path that gets us there.”
“Well, hold on,” A man in the back said. “Can we at least have weapons?”
“A flamethrower?” Another asked hopefully.
“You think I keep a goddamn flamethrower in my casino?” Dolan replied harshly. “The safety violations!”
“Didn’t stop you from doing everything else.” The man pointed out.
“Yeah, you turned me into a buttplug!” Someone shouted.
“And I got turned into a fuckin’ horse!” Another man replied.
“I turned into a chick with huge tits!” A man said. “They were really heavy!”
“B-But! But…you all got better, right?” Dolan said plaintively. “So no harm, no foul.”
“My back still hurts from them tits!” The man shouted.
“You took me for half a million. Are you going to give us our money back?” A woman demanded.
“Whoa, whoa whoa! Guys!” Dolan held up his hands. “We’re in the middle of a miniature apocalypse. Let’s talk about compensation after we make it out.”
Angry mutterings filled the room.
“Actually, I can make flamethrowers.” Tex said.
“Make 15.” RK replied. “Hand them out to the people I tell you to.”
“There’s two hundred of us!” A man protested. “Only 15-”
“Only fifteen are capable of handling a flamethrower without lighting their group on fire.” RK explained.
He pulled out a map of the city and taped it to the wall. Then he started drawing on it. Lines exiting the city. Not a single one used the most direct route out. Then he set the marker down and turned to them.
“These are the optimal paths out of the city.” RK explained, pointing at the lines.
“Why not just walk down the street? It’s only a mile and a half away.” A woman pointed out.
“On foot.” RK reminded her. “This entire city is filled with nightmares. Also, if we took the most direct route, we’d run into a marsh that stretches half a mile. And, uh, let’s just say you wouldn’t want to go near it.”
“Nightmare?” Tex asked.
RK nodded. “Plus the water in the marsh is transformative.”
“Alright, what’s the next shortest…safest route, then?” The woman asked.
RK pointed at a line drawn in blue. “This one can get you out, but it’s a four mile hike. There aren’t many enemies on this route. But…”
“But it’s a four mile hike, which means we might not get out in time.” The woman finished for him.
“Exactly.” RK nodded.
“What about the shortest…most dangerous route?” Another man said.
“Would you let me finish explaining the pros and cons of each route first, then decide?” RK said, clearly annoyed.
“Sorry, go ahead.” The man replied.
“Wait, before you do that, can you tell me what you want me to transmute?” Tex asked, staggering to his feet.
“What you should transmute….” RK bit his lip. “Let’s see…Cars are no good. ATVs would be useful but…no, too many puddles out there. Best thing to do is transmute some water-resistant rubber waders and walk out. Don’t linger in puddles, because they’ll likely corrode too.” RK mused aloud.
“Umbrellas?” A woman asked.
“The water came down in sheets last time, they’ll work but probably only buy you a few minutes at most. What really kills you during the storm is the lack of visibility.” RK replied. “Tex, get working on those flamethrowers and about two hundred rubber waders. Full body if you can.”
Tex sighed and nodded before walking to the laundry room. Behind him, he could hear RK go through all the various routes and hazards they would encounter along the way. It really didn’t seem like a particularly viable situation, all things considered.
Voices rose and fell in the large room behind him as he got to work. The patter of rain against the windows-which were starting to sag rather alarmingly let him know he still had time. He worked as quickly as his still-exhausted body would let him. Running out of energy was the worst thing that could happen to a Book user in a situation like this. But he didn’t have to make it. RK could shoulder it this time.
He was on the last of the waders when the rain stopped. A little ways through the project, he’d decided water-proof dungarees made more sense and had to convert them. Three rows were laid out, along with raincoats and splash guards. He’d tried to work in flame retardant properties, just in case someone lost control of the flamethrowers, but he wasn’t sure how well they’d function. It was worth a shot if it saved just one life, though.
“Are we ready?” RK asked.
Behind him stood a crowd of people peering over his shoulder. Tex nodded and gestured to the flamethrowers.
“Better hand those out first.” Tex smiled, wiping sweat form his brow.
“You’re a life saver.” RK as a smallsmile cracked onto his face.
It was the first time he’d ever seen the albino smile, Tex realized. He sat down and watched the refugees pour in.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Las Vegas gets, on average, 4 inches of rain the entire year.
Over the last four hours, it had just received 6 inches. Normally, storm drains and sewers would carry it away to reservoirs. However, those sewers were now choked with marine plants and algae. The concrete walls began to break down. RK had not told anyone this, but in about two hours, the entire city would collapse in on itself.
If they did not leave now, there would be no survivors. No human ones, that is. Plenty of new trees and animals for the ‘forest teeming with life’ that Mary Anne had envisioned, however. As the survivors gathered for the long hike out of the city, things that were neither human nor animal moved in the ever-growing forest.
And one of those inhuman creatures spotted the heat of the humans.
It was not very intelligent, only functioning on basic orders its fibrous nervous system could provide. With a heavy, wet sliding sound reminiscent of a sack of wet concrete being dragged across asphalt, it pulled itself towards them, extending its conversion tendrils.
Master was going to be so happy.