Chapter 2: 2. Slow

Callum felt the hand of death on his shoulder as a putrid smell invaded his nostrils. I’m going to die! Callum knew that in a second or two a Gob would chow down on him. Because of that, adrenaline pounded through his veins as all hope seemed lost to him.

His left eye burned as a pale blue light emanated from the back of both of his hands. Time seemed to slow down, allowing him to notice two large circles forming on the backs of his hands. Ten smaller circles broke the circle on his left hand up and each of them had a heart inside of them. The same thing happened on his right hand, except instead of hearts, the small circles had stars inside of them. As soon as they appeared, two of the stars vanished!

Callum felt strange, as if something was just wrong with the world. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw the Gob flying through the air with its jaws wide open! However, it was doing so in slow motion and he was gaining ground on it!

What the hell is happening? At that same moment that Callum had that thought, a card came out of his chest and landed in his left hand! As he kept running, eager to put more distance between himself and the gob, he stared at the card. What seemed to be the back of it looked like a sun shining during a solar eclipse. However, the front was a different story.

 

Time? Callum’s thoughts became a mess as he recalled the strange woman holding a card just before she disappeared at super speed. Does this have something to do with what’s happening right now?

It seemed to make sense considering the Gobs were moving in slow motion, which seemed to fit the Slow ability of his card. Not only that, but two stars had vanished from his hand, which matched the ability’s cost to use showed on the Time card. It doesn’t say how long it lasts. So I better not waste this chance! Because he knew he was living on borrowed time, Callum ignored his questions for later. His feet pounded on the road as he turned the corner and saw the library just up ahead.

Someone had clearly moved cars to create a makeshift barrier that protected the gated entrance. However, behind that barrier was the woman from before speaking to an old man of African descent. There were others with them. Most of them held knives and baseball bats as they stared in his direction. It was then that Callum realised the Gobs were still close behind them.

Whenever I get too far from them, they escape the effects of Slow! This was what allowed the creatures to keep up with him. The woman and the old man stared at him with disbelief in their eyes every time they saw the Gobs move in slow motion.

“He’s a Walker! Quick, help him!”

The old man’s deep voice called out as the people rushed over the ruined cars to Callum’s rescue. As he tried to run past them, the woman who had led him there grabbed his shoulder. She thrust a hammer into his hand as she stared into his eyes. At that moment, Callum realised the others had slowed down once they got too close to him. However, the woman seemed unaffected by that.

“You have to fight too!” She said with a low growl as she spun him around to face the gobs. “We’ll take the one that’s fallen behind. Leave these two to the others.”

Callum wanted to complain as she dragged him beyond the two gobs that had been hot on heels. As soon as they were far enough away, they heard furious squeaking and shouting from behind them. The gob they were headed for suddenly leapt towards them! Only to fall victim to Callum’s Slow effect.

“Hurry, bash the damn thing!”

The woman shouted as she stabbed the creature multiple times. Callum stepped to the side of its head and grunted as he swung the hammer. There was a long, drawn squelching noise as it sunk into the gob’s eye socket! Although it sickened him, Callum did not let up and furiously bashed the creature’s skull.

“Look out!”

Callum glanced at the woman who was pointing at his right hand. When he looked at it, he noticed the blue light was fading to black.

“What does that mean?”

“Your power is running out! Whatever ability you used is about to end!”

Callum groaned internally when he heard that and rapidly put some distance between himself and the gob. As soon as the lines on both of his hands fully turned black, time returned to normal. A pained squeak filled the air as the gob crashed to the ground and thrashed its body. Black blood oozed from the wounds the pair of them had caused as the creature died.

“Ugh! What’s that smell?” Callum said as he used his left hand to pinch his nose.

A deep frown set on his face as his eyes watered. It smells like rotting onions mixed with garbage that’s been left out in the sun! Callum had to swallow back the bile that threatened to erupt from his throat as he glanced back towards the library. The other two creatures were thrashing on the ground as the people around them beat and stabbed them. The sound the gobs let out was pathetic. As if they were trying to plead for their lives.

However, Callum did not feel an ounce of pity for those things. He had seen and almost become a victim of their cruel hunt. He doubted those creatures felt anything for their prey, so why should he feel any different?

“By the way, I’m Rachael. Never got the chance to introduce myself before.” The woman said as she offered her right hand to shake.

“Callum.”

He took her hand in his own as he studied Rachael more closely. Because he was actually paying attention to her now, he noticed she had the same markings on her hands. They look like tattoos.

“Well, I guess I should introduce you to Tom. He’ll be glad to have another Walker around here.” Rachael said as a pleasant laugh escaped from her throat.

“Walker?” Callum shot her an inquisitive look.

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“Yeah, a Dreamwalker. Don’t worry about it. Tom will explain everything.” Rachael showed a smile that spread wide across her delicate face as she looked down at the dead gob.

Suddenly, the corpse glowed with a white light that turned into orbs before flying into Rachael’s body! Callum’s eyes went wide as Rachael’s smile grew at that event. When the light show ended, Callum shot her a questioning gaze.

“Fragments. Well, that’s what we call them. We gain them every time a Walker like us kills one of these things. You should think of them as something like money around here.” Rachael said before chuckling as she saw his puzzled expression. “You’re wondering why we need money here, right? Don’t worry, Tom will show you the ropes. Come on, looks like they’re done over there.”

A few people nodded at Callum as he walked past. What’s up with the look in their eyes? Some of them had ugly expressions on their faces, while others looked almost reverent. Rachael just shook her head when he looked at her for an explanation. Because of that, Callum let out a sigh. It was clear that he would not get answers from her just now.

Tom turned out to be the old man he had seen Rachael talking to earlier. He wore a stern expression on his face as he barked out orders to clear the bodies from the street. At that moment, Rachael suddenly sprinted forward. Callum cocked an eyebrow in her direction as she joined two others crowded around a guy laying on the ground. Callum had to look away from the mangled flesh that was the remains of the man’s right arm.

I guess the gobs got a last meal. Callum sighed as he wondered what these people could do for the man. It’s not like they can take him to a hospital or anything. This isn’t the real world. As he thought that, he suddenly realised that something was wrong with his mindset. At some point, he had stopped thinking of this place as a nightmare.

It felt like every fibre of his being was telling him that everything that had happened was real. That this was a real world! Just not the one he was used to living in. That’s not possible! Right? Panic spread through his mind like a disease as he took a long, hard look at everything and everyone around him.

In his experience, his dreams and nightmares would be blurry if he tried to focus on minor details. But everything here was clear. Too clear for a normal dream. The realisation that he was not dreaming sank in like a ton of bricks. Callum’s knees trembled as he glanced at the man’s wound again.

He’s going to die! Callum swallowed the lump of saliva in his throat as his mouth dried out. That could have been me!

At that moment, a young girl let out a long wail. “Daddy!”

Callum’s gaze must have looked haunted as he turned to face a girl, no older than seven running down the stairs past the gate from the library. Her bright, yellow summer dress was in stark contrast against the gloomy atmosphere of that place.

“Daddy! No!”

The girl screamed louder as rivers poured from her eyes. Her arms shot around the wounded man’s neck and clasped him tightly. As if that would enough to keep him there with her forever.

“Do something! Please!”

The girl wept as she turned her pleading eyes on Tom. Callum noticed the defeated look on his face as Tom could not bring himself to look at the little girl. It was evident that he felt guilty for what had happened to man. Though, it did not help that his breathing was becoming ragged. All eyes turned away from that sight. As if it would somehow make the loss of the man’s life easier to deal with.

“Sarah…” Rachael said as she let out a sigh and placed a gentle hand on the girl’s head.

“No! My daddy won’t leave me! You can do something! You can save him! Dad always says you guys can perform miracles!”

Callum felt sick to his stomach by the girl’s accusatory tone. If he had not been there, then her father would not be laying there dieing in front of her eyes. It’s all because I led the gobs here. But what else was I supposed to do? Let myself die instead?

No matter how he tried to convince himself, the guilt would not let go of him. As if it were reacting to his feelings, the image of the Time card appeared in Callum’s mind. No, there’s still something I can do.

A determined mask came over Callum’s face as he took a step forward. The girl’s eyes turned to meet his own gaze as her hand grasped at her father’s hair. Rachael was about to say something to him when the look he gave her made her pause.

“I need everyone to step back for a moment.”

Callum’s voice was calm and steady. Like a placid lake during spring. The others looked towards Tom as if they wanted to argue about what Callum had demanded. However, Tom’s stern gaze was fixed on Callum.

“Do as he says.” Tom said as he nodded towards the bystanders. “Rachael, you take Sarah.”

Rachael shook her head as she reached out and pulled Sarah away from her father. The young girl screamed even louder when she realised she was being removed from his side.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Rachael said in a low voice while chewing on her lip as she passed Callum.

Callum took a deep breath as all eyes became fixated on his figure. So do I. He stepped forward to stand next to the man before crouching down and placing a hand on his chest. Rewind!

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