Something dark fell from it. Reflex yanked Arron's head and shoulders back into the carrier.
“Cover!” he shouted, curling into a ball, for all the good it would do.
The explosion was a thousand separate noises: crumbling stone, screams, crackling dust, rising fire, and tearing metal. The carrier rocked sideways, hard, wheels lifting up off the ground and slamming back down again.
The noise rolled on, but didn't start over. Soon the sounds of shouting voices and running feet overwhelmed it.
One bomb, that was all. For the moment.
“What the hell?” demanded Lynn.
“Air raid.” Arron straightened up.
Lynn's face went chalk white. “Oh, God. Res, are you—”
A wailing siren cut the air. “Shhhh.” Arron waved her quiet. The initial wail was followed by the slow, measured beating of a gong.
Res and Lynn stared at him. “Call to arms.” He slumped backwards. “There's a war starting.”
“Out!” shouted Entsh from the cab.
“What?” said Lynn.
“Out! Out! We have to report for duty.”
“But we need …” began Arron.
“You need to find your own kind and get out of here,” said Balt. “We have to report, so you have to take your pet devna and go.”
Lynn opened her mouth again, but Arron laid a hand on her arm and shook his head. Not this time. Duty came first.
Arron climbed out of the carrier, followed by Lynn. Resaime, shaking ad over, climbed out after them.
“Good luck,” shouted Balt as the carrier engine's hum raised to a screaming pitch and it accelerated into the crowd, leaving them standing on the cracked pavement.
Everyone was running in different directions. Someone bumped into him, looked at him, and screamed. Arron tried to back away and collided with someone else, who shouted and shoved at him. A mother snatched a daughter out of his path. Someone shoved him sideways so hard he fed, hitting the pavement with his shoulder.
“Get away, Human!” she shouted.
He managed to look up and see Lynn. She and Res had made it into a doorway. Lynn stood over Resaime, shadowing Res with her body, so no one would see that the sister had the telltale blue tint to her skin that marked the t'Theria.
Arron got to his feet and forced a path over to Lynn and Res. He tried the handle on the door behind them. It gave, and the door opened onto a dim corridor.
No one needed any urging. Lynn and Res bundled inside.
The building was a market. Distribution stalls on one side, warehouse area on the other. Stairs ran up to the office area and quarters for the family who worked the place.
“Wait in here,” said Arron hurriedly. “Find something sturdy to get under and lie low. No one will be back until well after the attack's over. I'm going to go find help.”
Lynn nodded mutely. Res dipped her ears. Her skin sagged so badly she looked like she was ready for the Change.
Arron made himself turn around and walk out the door.
The world outside had gone insane. The streets were jammed with people. The frame cars and carriers, stuffed with sisters, most of them armed, couldn't move for the crowds, no matter how energetically the drivers shouted. The call to arms was now punctuated with general announcements. What snippets he could make out under the cacophony of the shore guns were about reporting to shelter or duty stations. He glanced up. Huge blue-and-grey multi-propped helicopters flew over the bay. He squinted toward the horizon and saw the black oblongs of distant war cruisers.
What's happening? Who's doing this? Looking at the ’copters didn't help. Straining to hear the PA announcements didn't either.
Arron stood alone on the edge of the chaos. For the first time in ten years, he felt totally cut off from the world.
Get it together, Hagopian.
Balt and Entsh had said he should find his own kind. Right now, that wasn't a bad idea. If he remembered right, Mrant Chavat was a fair-sized port. There might be a trader or embassite down on the quays. There might even be some Bioverse personnel. Somebody with a boat, or a van.
Arron raised his collar and hunched his neck down. He pulled his sleeves over his hands and clutched the hems from the inside so the cloth covered his hands. His trousers and boots were in one piece, which was something, but there was nothing he could do about his bare, hairy face, nothing he could do about a lot of things, except move fast.
One good thing, with an invasion on, Balt and Entsh's employers probably won't have the chance to grab us again.
Arron stepped into the mainstream of foot traffic. Mothers saw him and pulled up short, yanking their children into their arms and leaving holes in the crowd for him to duck through. People scrambled to get away from him, knocking down their mothers and sisters. Arron winced but let them fall. The only favor he could do everyone right now was get out of their way.