Lumen Graves's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The green ring held, but Lumen watched one lantern fade. The lamp on the far side burned weaker than the rest. A thin brown haze crept across its glass. Beyond it, the dead pressed close. They had found the weak spot. One zombie clawed at the seam where the light thinned, testing where the shadow leaked through. If that bulb died, the gap would open, and the ring would break. Lumen crawled to the fading lantern. Grime coated the glass, choking the beam. They rubbed it with a sleeve. The light brightened, then dimmed again. The problem was inside, not on the surface. The bulb was simply dying. Lumen had no spare. The reserve pack still read full, but full power meant nothing through a burnt-out bulb. "It's going," Lumen said. "This one's done. I need glass. A fresh lamp." Rambo stood at the ring's edge, knife drawn, watching the dead crowd the weak point. He had held the whole post upright with his bare arms an hour ago. Now he pointed his blade past the shadows. "Two streets over. Big store. Windows full of lights." His voice stayed flat. "You want a bulb, we go take one." "We'll lose the ring the second we step out." "Then we run fast." He didn't wait. He kicked a zombie off the steps and cut a path into the dark. Lumen grabbed the reserve pack and followed, out past the safe green glow. They ran through black streets. Dead hands grabbed from doorways. Rambo swung his knife and dropped them. Ahead, a tall building glowed. Its huge sign still burned, and its wide windows spilled bright light onto the street. The dead would not stand in that glow. Lumen and Rambo pushed through the doors into the bright aisles. Inside, shelves held rows of bulbs and fixtures. Lumen tore open a box and found a fresh green lamp. But something else caught their eye by the counter. A long blade rested there, shaped like a spotlight, its edge glowing pale blue. It threw a narrow beam wherever it pointed. A light you could carry. A light you could swing. "That," Rambo said, and grinned. He tossed it to Lumen. "Now you can fight in the dark too." They ran back with the bulb and the glowing sabre. At the chapel, Lumen slammed the fresh lamp into the dying socket. Green light flared. The gap sealed. The dead fell back from the whole ring again. Lumen stood, sabre in hand, its beam cutting a line across the cobbles. The chapel was safe. But the bright store still burned two streets away, a second island of light in a black town. If one building could hold a room of glow, Lumen thought, they didn't need one lamp for every street. They needed to link the lights that were already there.