BI – Chapter 8: Boyerton Town Square (Patreon)

Theo

I didn’t bring it up immediately. I didn’t want to worry anyone, but my guts were churning. 

Trina had identified the ring. How? I knew she’d never so much as seen a demon, let alone killed one. That left only her heritage. She was born to two classers. We’d always wondered if that would manifest somehow, and now it finally had. 

Silver linings; it could’ve been a lot worse. I’d always been afraid she might suddenly be able to throw fireballs and dreaded a call from the elementary school explaining that she’d burned down a building. This was positively mundane by comparison.

On the one hand, great! If she could identify anything an identifier could, then we wouldn’t need to collect the damn things like candy when the demons started attacking again. On the other, the idea of her being used for the talent horrified me. She was only five years old, and putting the potential burden of identifying anything the demons dropped felt like a pressure she certainly didn’t need. 

Rio and I weren’t the only classers who had kids, either. If this was true for any demon slayer’s child, then who knew what might come of it? Either way, I didn’t want to be the one to let that particular cat out of the bag. 

I’d give the ring back to Dane later and let him know I had found an extra identifier in my old stuff or something. It didn’t hurt that the ring was excellent for him. All electric damage increased by thirteen percent sounded powerful, and I didn’t think he’d even think twice about the little lie. I had no reason not to trust the secret to him… but this was my daughter. Any and all precautions seemed appropriate in a situation like this. The less people who knew a secret, the less likely it was to get out.

At the same time, it would be helpful to find out what that Set staff was. It might be a force multiplier for Dane if it was even close to as good as my Nature’s Brow. It was sitting in the back of the truck, too. The darn thing was one of the first items Rio had collected and we’d been wondering for years. Still, I decided I’d get Rio’s opinion before making any attempts to let Trina try and identify it. 

I drove slowly into town. We lived up a gravel road that connected to a relatively large highway. I couldn’t think of any bridges on it, but until now, I’d never really paid much attention.

Fortunately, there weren’t any on our particular stretch of highway, though I knew there were at least two on the way to the city.

My phone rang about halfway into town, and I picked up by putting the call on my truck’s speaker.

“Mom! Are you guys doing okay?” I asked, relieved to hear from her, while simultaneously irritated that she wasn’t Rio.

“Oh, we’re fine! I was calling to make sure you were, though. I don’t want you and Rio caught up in all that demon business again. I wanted to offer to let you stay with us while the authorities get all of this settled.” 

I thought about it. We had considered doing just that if something like this happened. Rio wouldn’t be able to go. She’d be a pretty bad mayor indeed to leave when the town, and the entire area seemed to be falling apart, but I could potentially take Trina there.  

Mom lived in Illinois, about halfway between the Missouri breach where we lived and the big one in Indiana.

“I might take you up on that, Mom. Nothing is happening there, is there?” I asked. 

“You mean like the bridges and the buildings? Nothing like that here,” she confirmed. 

Mom was more healthy than she’d been a long time. I’d spent a couple long vacations with my parents and Rio’s too, ensuring they got an extra dosage of my healing aura for months at a time. I did not want to see my mom suffer from cancer.  Incidentally, we also got free babysitting for Trina for a little while, as our parents were ecstatic to see her whenever we visited. 

“Well, consider me interested. I hope this all blows over, but I might bring Trina anyway. I’ll have to talk it over with Rio.” 

“There’s always room for Trina here. We might let you stay if you keep your room clean,” she joked. 

“Ha, ha,” I said as Dane and Trina both snickered. “Say hi to Grandma, Trina. Dane’s on the line too, Mom!” 

“Hi, Grandma!” Trina squeaked. 

“Ah, hello there,” Dane said awkwardly. He’d never really met my parents before. 

“Dane! It’s good to finally meet you. We’ve heard so much! I… was sorry to hear about you and Cambria…” 

Dane’s face darkened a little as he glared at me. “Thanks for that. I’m… sorry about it, too.”

“Well, if you’re worried about your safety there, you’re obviously welcome to come stay with us as well. There are no demons here,” she insisted. 

God, I hoped she was right. 

I wrapped up the call with the usual goodbyes as we got closer to town. I probably would be bringing Trina her way in the future. The further I could get my daughter from the breaches, the better.

We weren’t alone as we reached a small traffic jam of cars slowly filtering into town. The area was rural, and most residents would probably hole up in their homes during a crisis rather than gather in town. 

Despite the traffic, it didn’t take us long to reach the town square. Unlike most towns, Boyerton actually had a square. It was a little park surrounded by a road and bookended by two stoplights with parking all the way around. Looming over it all was an ancient water tower built directly behind one of the smaller shops, but close enough that it felt like a banner with its cracked paint declaring the town to be Bo ton. The y, e,and r, of Boyerton had long since faded to illegibility. 

Brick buildings lined each road, clumped into one long row of shops and stores, each with their own stories. A custom repair store, a diner, a coffee shop, a used clothing store, a tire repair place, and three different antique and resale stores… the list went on. None of the businesses were the same as whatever they had been when the buildings were erected, but they all had that timeless mom-and-pop quality. 

I loved them. I reveled in going through old nick nack stores like these and finding ancient things that no one had used in half a century. While I’d still been working, I’d filled my desk with old things that struck my fancy. Rio humored the hobby, but I didn’t think either of them really got it. Worse still, she’d managed to convince Trina that I was weird! The jerk.

Glass windows and shingle-roof awnings that did less to protect pedestrians from rain than paper umbrellas lined every sidewalk. It was bright and sunny today, which felt like a good omen. 

The only thing out of place in the scene was the gigantic crowd surrounding a gazebo on the right end of the park. This had to be where the gathering was happening. I beamed as I immediately spotted Rio standing on the gazebo with one of her aides and a megaphone addressing the crowd. 

Finding a parking place was a chore, but we had to pass through the square to get to the parking lots behind the buildings. Every last spot on the roads surrounding the square had long since been filled. When we finally found one, we had to walk for almost five minutes to return to the square. Trina, obviously, was riding on my shoulders. Normally, she’d be laughing in delight, but the mood of the people walking beside us was enough to dampen the five-year-old’s spirits.

Something was wrong, and she could feel it even if she didn’t know what it was. I took a moment to be proud of the girl’s situational awareness. Then again, maybe not. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that all of these people were afraid.

We met back up with Seok, Taemi, and Narae, but Narae was engaged in a heated conversation on the phone while we walked, presumably with their other daughter Haru. The girl had left for college only a year or so ago.

When we got a little closer, I was finally able to hear what Rio’s assistant was saying. 

“We are encouraging you to call anyone and everyone you know and make sure they gather here in town! This is not the sort of disaster that you can wait out in your homes! The more people we have together, the better our chances should we be attacked. We have confirmed that there are demons returning to the surface from multiple sources. All citizens able and willing to carry firearms are encouraged to do so!”

I blinked. They were returning to the surface? I wondered where that info had come from. 

“Is this just the mayor being panicky again!?” someone shouted, and I winced. 

The aide seemed to take even more offense than I did, but Rio didn’t even twitch. She had cried wolf once or twice, but usually in ways that resulted in guns being more readily accessible to her constituents. We lived in a pretty pro-gun area as it was, so that wasn’t too much of a fight. Rio’s detractors constantly called attention to the ‘wasted money,’ and delighted in mockingly calling her a doomsday prepper. That was, of course, when they were being polite.

“Bridges are falling all over the country. One has already fallen here in our county. Most importantly, the Mayor found demons just beneath the bridge and fought off an assassination attempt just hours ago!”

“Wait, what!” I shouted. Assassination attempt!?

“This is not a drill, people! Call your friends and family and get them into town! This isn’t like COVID! Your homes are not safe this time! If the demons come again, you will be in danger if you don’t gather together! Even if you aren’t willing to come to town, then at least gather together with your neighbors and stockpile your weapons.”

Rio finally held up a hand and the crowd’s shouts actually quieted down a little, to the point where she didn’t need the megaphone her aide was using. 

“This location is not safe! Most of the city is gathering at the community center. The building is thick concrete and should be more than capable of housing most of the town. It was built specifically for an emergency like this!” she said, her voice somehow loud enough to be heard even near the back of the crowd where we stood. 

“We want to encourage everyone to–!”

I winced as the awful sound of screeching metal suddenly drowned out whatever my wife had to say.

The sound only grew louder as all eyes turned upward in alarm. 

The water tower was tilting.