Legion's Arc

Chapter 3 of 22

Legion moved through the high branches of the moss-draped pines. Below, four people walked in a line. Diana led them. Behind her came the three brothers with their guns. James walked point, his rifle up. Seth checked his shells. Brandon watched the trees, and his eyes almost found Legion twice. The swarm ran ahead of them, low and quiet, thousands of small bodies flowing over roots. It smelled the warm blood of the four humans. It wanted them. Legion held it back. They were headed for a small camp in the clearing. A dead fire. Two collapsed tents. Diana's things. Legion knew this because part of it remembered being a man who read maps and marked trails. That part fought to keep the hunger down. The rest wanted to open its jaws. One fat rat slipped from the pack. It waddled into the open, round and slow, its belly dragging the moss. It stopped in the trail. It looked up at Diana with small black eyes. Diana froze. She stared at the little creature. It did not run. It only watched her, the way a person watches a face they know. "There," Brandon whispered. He raised his pistol. Legion felt the man's aim like a cold line. In that moment the human part of it broke through. Do not let them find the swarm. Do not let them near Diana. Save her again. The command shot down through every rat at once. The swarm turned. It did not attack. It pulled back, away from the camp, deeper into the dark trees, dragging its hunger with it. The fat rat in the trail turned last and followed. Brandon fired. The shot cracked bark near Legion's mass. Rats scattered and screamed. Seth ran forward, gun up. James grabbed Diana's arm and pulled her low. "It ran," Seth said. He was breathing hard. "It saw us and it ran." "It knew we were coming," Brandon said. He looked at Diana. His face was hard now. "Or it knew her." Diana said nothing. She clutched the checked shirt to her chest. She had seen the little creature look at her. She had seen the whole swarm turn away, just like before. She knew now it was choosing to spare her. She could not say why. She could not tell these men. James stood and brushed off his knees. "Camp's empty," he said. "But it's close. It circled back here for a reason." He looked at the bundle in Diana's arms. "Or something here it wants." Diana's hands tightened on the shirt. Far off in the pines, Legion stopped running. It had saved her a second time. But now the brothers understood. The creature ran from guns. The creature came back for the woman. They would use her to draw it out. And Legion had shown them exactly how.