Failure to Gitfo: Fulcrum: Season One, #6

By J.J. Vega

Bule is a town under siege. Death controls the sky. The Horde swarm the ground. Jack and Corva are caught in the middle of it. The sensible move is to run. They should turn their backs and save themselves. However, what is sensible isn't always what's right... or possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Giant Coffee Blunderbuss
• Release date: Jul 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781943474103

Book preview

Failure to Gitfo

Fulcrum: Season One, Episode Six

J.J. Vega

The Giant Coffee Blunderbuss

© 2022 Jason van Gumster, All rights reserved

1

Death from Above

Jack edges his foot backward. No way he wants to throw down with—or, more accurately, get thrown down by—Thegn again. And neither should Corva. She came out on top last time, but last time Thegn didn’t have wings. With the open space out here and hundreds of grunts from the Umbrati horde spilling down into Lower Bule, the odds are more stacked against them than before.

Looking at her posture, though, Jack isn’t so sure that Corva realizes this. He shifts his attention to her shoulder, where Zeke crouches. The monkey is holding on like he’s bracing himself.

Corva turns her head and looks back to Jack and Lyia. Her voice is only a step above a whisper. The second he steps clear, you two run by him as fast as you can.

He catches Lyia giving a single silent nod in affirmation.

Jack looks back to Corva. But—

He stops himself, interrupted by the sight of Thegn looming right over them. Wasn’t he just on the other end of this rooftop? Smiling through the rot and decay in his teeth, Thegn swings his scythe at Corva. She takes a step forward and grabs the shaft of the scythe with both of her hands, stopping it with a hard snap.

The moment her grip sets, the smile on the old man’s face widens. Jack flinches at the sight. It’s almost unnatural how wide it is. It distracts Jack so much that he almost doesn’t notice Thegn’s wings stretching open.

From Corva’s shoulder, Zeke gets a fraction of a second to gesture with his head that Jack and Lyia should go now. A moment later, Thegn shoots upward with Corva still holding onto the scythe. Jack lifts his backpack to block the dust and sand kicked up by the force of those enormous wings beating the air. He looks up and catches a view of their silhouettes as they get smaller and smaller.

Turning his head back down, he sees Lyia already ten steps in front of him, bolting to Slim’s rooftop at a full sprint.

Jack hesitates, but resists the urge to look back skyward to see what’s happening. Shit. Can’t help her like this anyhow. He slings his go-bag over his shoulder and chases after Lyia.

2

Corva

Don’t pass out yet, little girl. You still need to tell me where your stash is.

It was the first active burg Corva had found since escaping Fareburne and she’d royally messed up.

She thought she was ready. She’d done everything Avó had told her to. Her bag was stowed just outside of town. She’d pulled out just enough seed to trade for food and supplies. Any markings that said where she was from were hidden. Still, it wasn’t enough. Corva didn’t know anything about haggling. About looking people in the eye. About how showing the slightest hint of weakness would paint a target on you. She was not at all ready.

But there she was, pressed against a wall and held off the ground by her throat. A scruffy street kid had his forearm pressed against her while his buddies egged him on. Even now, she can still smell his nasty breath. Feel the grime that covered his skin. Hear his raspy voice push across his chapped lips. He was only a handful of years older than Corva, just into his teens. But at that age, a few years makes all the difference. They were all bigger than her. Stronger. Faster.

They’d caught Corva’s scent the moment she’d stepped foot into town. Knew she was an outsider. Knew she was alone. That was before Corva had figured out that she had to make up a story about how she got to a town and why she didn’t have anyone with her. Mamãe is hurt and Papai sent me to town to get her food and medicine. Our caravan is headed north and they let me come in and trade for provisions; they’re watching from over there to make sure I do it right. Or sometimes she’d try to blend in with a group as they came into town.

This was before all of that, though. They pegged Corva as a mark and came after her the moment she made her first trade in the bazaar. Dragged her to an alley, took everything she had on her, and wanted more.

Her clothes were torn. Her nose bloody. Corva had tried to fight back, to resist, but the girl had never been much of a fighter. Running, evasion, hiding; those had always been her strongest skills. But those skills were worthless here. She was trapped. Outmatched, outnumbered, and out of options. Even if Corva told those kids what they wanted, they were going to beat her down for their own enjoyment, perhaps even worse. She could see it in their eyes. There were gangs like this back in Fareburne, but she’d always been shielded from them. Protected by Avó.

But the old woman wasn’t with Corva anymore.

Blood from Corva’s nose trickled down to her mouth. She could taste it. Salty. Metallic. Warm. Breathing was hard with that boy’s arm against her neck. Tears blurred her vision as she tried to look at him.

Corva tried to speak, but there wasn’t enough air. Choking sounds came out instead of words.

What’s that? The kid grinned, toothy and malicious. He reduced the pressure on Corva’s throat enough to let her slide down the wall, but only enough that her toes touched the ground. Only enough to let her talk.

The words came out strained. Hardly a whisper. Outside of town. Half a klick. South entrance.

He pressed his arm against her harder. You think we’re stupid? You came in from the east.

With his free hand, he delivered a punch to her stomach. Punishment. It didn’t matter that she was telling the truth. That she’d been extra careful and skirted the edge of town to come in from a different direction than the one she’d traveled from. It didn’t matter at all. They didn’t want to believe. Corva gasped for air, and spit and blood flew out of her mouth. It landed on his face.

One of the kid’s friends piped up,