Ruth Hilton and the other remaining adult villagers were grouped around the community hall in a defensive ring. The children were all inside it. Nobody knew quite what to make of Jay’s story, but there was no disputing she had seen Quinn Dexter.
Torchlight sliced round the empty cabins and muddy paths. The wooden slat walls shone a pale grey in the beams. Those whose rifles were equipped with nightsights were scanning the surrounding jungle.
“Christ, how much longer before the hunting party gets back?” Skyba Molvi complained. “They’ve got enough fire-power to blow out an army of Ivets.”
“Won’t be long,” Ruth muttered tightly.
“I see him!” someone bellowed.
“What?” Ruth spun round, every nerve hotwired. Targeting lasers stabbed out, forming bright ruby and emerald zigzag patterns in the air. A magnetic rifle trilled. A patch of ground forty metres away bucked as the slugs hit, forming deep narrow craters, and surrounding vegetation caught light.
The firing stopped.
“Bugger; it’s a dog.”
The breath rushed out of Ruth. Her arms were trembling.
Children were shouting from the hall, demanding to know what was happening.
I should be in there with Jay, Ruth thought. Fine mother I am, letting her wander off into the jungle while I’m busy moping. And what the hell did happen out there anyway?
Horst came ploughing out of the jungle, arms spinning madly for balance. His clothes were torn, face and hands scratched and grazed. He saw the beams of light sweeping out from the hall, and shouted at the top of his voice.
Ruth heard someone say: “It’s that idiot priest.”
“Drunk again.”
“That bastard could have saved Carter.”
Ruth wanted to shrink up into a little ball that no one could see. She was sure everybody could smell her own guilt.
“Demons,” Horst cried as he ran towards the hall. “They’ve unleashed demons. Lord save us. Flee! Flee!”
“He is drunk.”
“It should have been him, not Carter.”
Horst staggered to a halt in front of them, his body aching so badly from the exertion he could hardly stand. He saw the disgust and contempt in their faces, and wanted to weep. “For pity’s sake. I promise you. Quinn is out there, he killed Powel Manani. Something happened, something came.”
There were angry murmurs from the crowd. One of them spat in Horst’s direction.
Ruth noticed her torch was dimming. She slapped it.
“Why didn’t you help Powel, priest?” someone asked.
“Ruth?” Horst begged. “Please, tell them how evil Quinn is.”
“We know.”
“Shut up, priest. We don’t need a worthless piss-artist telling us about the Ivets. If Quinn shows his face here, he’s dead.”
Ruth’s torch went out.
Alarmed gasps went up from the others as all the torches began to flicker and fade.
“Demons are coming!” Horst yelled.
Fierce orange flames shot out of one of the cabins fifty metres away from the hall; they licked along its base then raced up the stanchions to the roof. Within thirty seconds the whole structure was ablaze. The twisting flames were ten metres high.
“Holy shit,” Ruth whispered. Nothing should burn that quickly.
“Mummy!” a child called from the hall.
“Horst, what happened out there?” Ruth cried.
Horst shook his head, a bubbling giggle coming from his lips. “Too late, too late. Satan’s beasts walk among us now. I told you.”
A second cabin began to blaze.
“Get the children out of the hall,” Skyba Molvi shouted. There was a general rush for the door. Ruth hesitated, looking at Horst imploringly. Most of the village clearing was now illuminated by erratic amber light. Shadows possessed a life of their own, leaping about at random. A black silhouette fluttered between the cabins in the distance behind the priest.
“They’re here,” she said. Nobody was listening. “They’re here, the Ivets!” She tugged her laser rifle up. The green targeting beam pierced the air, sending relief flooding through her. At least something bloody worked. She pulled the trigger, sending a barrage of infrared pulses after the elusive figure.
The children swept out of the hall like a wave, some of the older ones scaling the flimsy metre-high side walls. Cries and shouts broke out as they tried to run to their parents.
“Jay!” Ruth called.
A line of flame streaked along the roof. It was an unerringly straight line, Ruth could see the wood turning black an instant before the actual flame shot up. Maser!
She worked out roughly where it must be firing from, and brought the laser rifle to bear. Her finger punched down on the trigger stud.
“Mummy,” Jay called.
“Here.”
The laser rifle bleeped. Ruth ejected the drained power magazine and slammed in a fresh one.
Several other people were firing into the jungle. The neon threads of targeting lasers lashed out, chasing elusive phantoms.
There was a concerted movement away from the hall, everyone crouching low. It was pandemonium, children wailing, adults shouting. The woven palm wall of the hall caught fire.
They could kill every one of us if they wanted to, she realized.
Jay rushed up and flung her arms round her waist. Ruth grabbed her arm. “Come on, this way.” She started towards the jetty. Another three cabins were on fire.
She saw Horst a couple of metres away, and jerked her head in a determined gesture. He began to lumber along after them.