Afterworld: Trouble Follows Trouble

"Holy fuck," said Chad, emerging from the woods. "Well, that was big."

"You, sir, have a keen grasp of the obvious," I told him. Like Jason, he'd been a college kid when everything had gone to hell, and he thought it was hilarious when I sounded like a professor... which I often did, sometimes by accident and sometimes as a bit.

"Thank you," he said, looking pleased. "So keen to live up to your expectations."

"Quiet," said Ishanna, and a moment later I heard it: a soft chittering, somewhere out in the trees. More than one source, out there in the trees. 

Mary looked at me and then sighed through her nose. Devon and  Jenny exchanged a look, then moved apart from us, scenting the air and studying the forest around us. 

"Oh, shit," said Jenny quietly. "Murder-squirrels. Get ready..."

They came in a wave, small packs moving in and out. They were small and fluffy and brown, and would have been cute if they hadn't been trying to eat us. Probably they'd been too lightweight for the fall from the storm to hurt them much. Beside me, Mary was breathing out cat-sized predators as fast as she could shape them from her breath. On my left, Ishanna was stepping back and Jason had moved in front of her, squeezing his fists in a way that made his spines extend. That was smart; Ishanna wasn't really equipped for this kind of assault; Jason was. Chad swallowed, but held his ground. 

I dropped the sword just like I'd dropped the bow a minute earlier. It wasn't the right tool for the job. A flamethrower would have been better; a flamethrower also would have been suicide. The best I could do was a knife I'd had since my early teens, a simple design with a finger-guard.

They swarmed over us.