Harmony's Dream - 1997
Karen Only!

Friday 9 May

Just after midday, Karen receives a phone call. She answers it but there is only a heavy breathing on the other end. She is about to hang up when a voice she recognises chokes out "Karen... help...". It is Angie. Karen says "where?" and Angie manages to choke out a location, "Squat... 2 streets.... along Johnson.... from Brunswick.... right". Karen shifts into the Umbra and puts to test whether she can combine the Gifts of Unicorn and the Silent Striders. It takes her a couple of kilometers to get the hang of it, but eventually she is jogging along at 100 kilometers per hours through the Umbra. She finds the street that Angie told her, but can't immediately see a squat. The street is quite short, ending in a school. On the left are some houses, but none seem squattered. On the right are a bunch of shops and showrooms, most of which have for sale or to let signs on them. Karen checks these out and finds that the last one has been forced and the door is a bit ajar.

She sticks her head in. The front show-room is bare of everything but carpet and the windows have been white-papered. She hears noise coming from the doorway leading to the back. Cautiously, Karen moves down that way, through a small kitchen. She can see out the back is a sort of patio, roofed and walled with decaying wooden planks, covered in a light web of ivy. As she moves further out, there is a sharp crack and the doorsill next to her splinters. Karen chooses to stop there. She can hear the sound of someone moaning. Looking cautiously around the corner, she can see some feet, as if someone was sitting just around the corner. Karen makes a quick decision and leaps around the corner, intending to grab the gun. Unfortunately, the gun does not belong to the owner of these feet, but to Angie, who is ten feet further away. The feet belong to a body in a pool of blood, a young man.

Karen takes in the look on Angie's face and the blood coming out her nose and leaps for the gun. Angie dodges out of the way and Karen runs into the wooden structure, making it shudder. Dust falls from above, sparkling in the sunlight. Angie is up the other end of the porch and the gun is slowly moving towards her head. Her face shifts and she says "Keep back, I will kill her. I know your heart and soul and can break them." Karen leaps toward Angie, intending to grapple her gun hand. The gun swings down towards Karen and fires, and she feels a brief burning as the bullet passes through her and then the wound heals. Angie's face looks surprised for a moment and then it shifts back to her own expression as Karen slams into Angie and pins her against the wall, holding the gun away from them both. She sends out an urgent cry for help to her pack.