Chapter 387: Closing Distance

Zeus kept them pressed in the mixed lanes.

The markings here were weak, and the traffic sparse, for a while. Then it stopped helping. The lingering ache in the seam was far more tiring than it had any right to be. Density dragged at their pace, long after they had left it behind.

Wukong stood at the front. "Ahead the road divides. Left is denser, right is empty."

"Right," said Zeus.

They took the empty road. It remained so for a short while. Then Hermes raised his hand.

"Back trail is tightening."

Athena measured the angle. "Sera’s line?"

"Wide net. Closing to us in stages." said Hermes.

Poseidon wiped at his brow. "We push harder."

"We push blind," said Hades, "blind speed makes a better trail."

Kratos fell to the rear unbidden. Odin took the weight in his gut and shook his head. "Another line moves wide on our flank. Not Sera."

Zeus felt it as well. The second pressure was neater, heavier. It had their scent and was focussing on them with intent. He could not tell what it sought but he knew when it found them. He could feel it in the way the pressure held behind them now.

"Move."

They dropped into a lower cut where the fog was thick and old. It muffled sound and shortened sight. Wukong sent a clone sliding along the left while killing it instantly with foreign pressure. Loki marked a false trail with his own twin on a spur and fed the real group forward.

The first recovery team nearly had them at the next intersection.

An armored pair peeled out of a side alley too fast to be safe. Athena met the first and drove him back against the wall with her spear. Kratos ended the second’s slide with a glance at the deck plates. Poseidon fed a short charge into the opening and shoved them forward three breaths later.

"Go."

They fought the next stand off briefly. No one had the luxury of style. They cleared the junction and forced a steep drop into older fog before the net could drive their pursuers back on the same trail. Behind them the broken contact point flared with recovery lights. The trail they had left the net to follow was clearer than before.

When they finally stopped on a dead platform overlooking a black gulf several of them were bleeding. Wukong’s shoulder was out of place until he forced it back. Hermes panted. Poseidon’s limp was returning.

Athena leaned on her spear. "They are adapting. The net is no longer only behind us."

Loki dabbed at his mouth. "Sera wants bodies. The second hunter wants something from us as well. He is not trying at random."

Hades looked out over the gulf. "Running blind will end one way or another. They corner us or we burn out and fall into their hands."

Zeus inclined his head. "Then we stop running blind."

Sun Wukong gave a sharp laugh. "Options?"

Athena was blunt. "We take shelter under whatever local lord can spare the coin and risk being sold. We force a longer blackout through the old roads and risk being caught napping. We split and risk being caught in pieces."

"No split," said Kratos.

"No sale," said Poseidon.

Odin tapped his staff against the stone. "Dead zones buy time. Not safety."

Zeus looked out over the gulf. Sera’s net pressed against their backs like a cold knife. The second hunter’s trail ran along their flank, just as neat and focussed. Zeus could not tell what the man wanted but he knew when it found them. He could feel it in the way the pressure held behind them now.

"We take the blackout route," said Zeus. "Short contacts only. No open engagements if we can help it. We find somewhere dense enough to hide the trail and sparse enough to leave again."

Wukong lowered his staff. "And if both hunters are waiting in the dark?"

"Then we hit the first one hard and keep moving." said Zeus.

Hermes checked the crossroads. "Immediate descent is clear for now."

"Move." said Zeus.

They dropped off the platform into the blackout fog in single file. The light failed quickly. Density took on an odd consistency, old Continuum waste floating like never-cleaned ash. Their trail was not as obvious here but neither was their direction.

Halfway down the first long slope Hermes halted again.

"Contact ahead."

Zeus raised a hand. The group halted.

The pressure ahead was not Sera’s net. It was the cleaner one, the one that had pulled ahead of them. It held its ground in the fog.

Behind them Sera’s net continued to press along the clearer trail they had left at the junction.

Wukong muttered under his breath. "Both sides."

Zeus nodded. "Yes."

Athena’s voice was even. "If we turn back we run into the net. If we keep going we meet him head-on."

Hades shifted his stance. "Then we decide which hunter we wish to meet first."

Zeus let the front pressure settle on him again and planted his feet. "We move forward. We do not walk into Sera’s recovery line. If this other one wants us, he can meet us in the open fog."

Kratos fell in beside him as they moved forward. Loki’s eyes narrowed. The others followed without comment.

They headed toward the pressure ahead.

Behind them the net drew closer with every step. Ahead of them the second hunter waited in the fog. The distance between them was closing from both sides.

And this time there was nowhere clean to turn.

In a clean white chamber far from the fog routes, Jehovah stood from his seat.

The latest report still hung in the air before him. Tohu had left Sera’s outer markers and pushed into active pursuit. The residual trail of the nine was being pressed from two sides. The pattern was no longer quiet.

Jehovah closed the report with one hand.

"Prepare a direct route," he said to the waiting servant.

The servant looked up. "You are going to Tohu."

"Yes," Jehovah said. "He has made enough noise. Now he can explain it to me in person."

The chamber lights shifted as a private pathway began to open. Jehovah stepped toward it without hurry.

Outside, in the blackout fog, the nine walked toward one hunter while the other closed in from behind.

And above both hunts, Jehovah began to move.