The ganger began to gag. "Get him out of here or he will die," Seeks-the-Moon said. Another of the gang members raised his rifle and pointed it at the spirit, but Kyle turned his weapon toward him.

"Please do as he says," Kyle said. "I don't know how to use this rifle well enough to only wound you."

The ganger blinked, and turned toward the one on the ground, and then began to back toward me car. The others took this as the sign they'd been waiting for, and began dragging their gagging and hacking leader back and into the car. They all piled in quickly, and the car jerked forward even before all of them were fully inside. The last ganger fired a couple of random shots toward them, but they went wide and impacted in the storefront behind them. Kyle waited until they were at least a block away and then gathered the power for a small, showy spell he'd known since school. It was harder to cast while maintaining the barrier spell, but it was well within his ability. A split second later, a flash of blue and silver fireworks erupted at the rear of the car. It was only light and sound, and did no damage, but the car jerked as it accelerated again, then quickly turned down a side street heading west.

Kyle dropped the barrier spell, and turned to look in the direction the beetle spirit had been. There was no way the creature could have missed the display of magic, and that, plus the clustering of people, might have been enough to send it for others.

He and Moon turned down the nearest street and made their way quickly past the row of houses along it In a few places they saw signs of movement from behind partially shuttered or boarded windows, but for the most part there was only silence. One block farther east they turned north again, watching for signs of pursuit and seeing none. Then, Kyle realized, they were only a few blocks from Beth's house.

He stood outside for a moment and stared at the building. It looked the same, little changed from when he'd fallen asleep on the small porch. Beth's car was several doors down, one of its windows smashed and some of the dashboard electronics taken. One of the tires had been punctured too.

A house three doors away looked like it had caught fire and either burned itself out, or been put out. The buildings next to it were only slightly damaged.

Kyle climbed the short steps to the porch, Seeks-the-Moon directly behind him. He looked in the front windows, and saw the living room as he'd left it more than a week ago. There were no signs of anyone inside.

He went to the door and keyed in the access code. The locked clicked and the indicator turned green. It was open.

Slinging his rifle to leave both hands free for magic, he then pushed the door open and stepped inside. The air was stale and musty except for a sweet smell of something rotting. He immediately recognized the odor-garbage not emptied for a few days.

He glanced up the stairs, and then walked slowly toward the kitchen, glancing into the living room and dining area as he did. There was no movement. Only silence.

In the kitchen, he found evidence of activity. The cabinets had been looted, and it was obvious that most of the canned and nonperishable foods were gone. He immediately turned and rushed past Seeks-the-Moon, then bounded up the stairs.

In Beth's room, he found the dresser drawers hanging open, with various items of clothing half hanging out of them. He searched through the piles on the floor and what was still in the drawers. Satisfied, he dashed back downstairs again and into Natalie's room. Her clothes were similarly strewn about, and Kyle searched through them too. When he'd confirmed his suspicion, he stood up to find Seek-the-Moon staring at him from the doorway.

“They're not here,” Kyle said, slightly out of breath. "But they were."

Seeks-me-Moon nodded. "I saw the kitchen."

Kyle shook his head. "That could have been anyone. But some of their clothes are gone too. None of Natalie's underwear is here, and only some of Beth's is upstairs. They obviously packed before leaving."

"Ah," said Seeks-the-Moon, shaking his head as he walked toward the living room.

"What?" Kyle asked loudly, but got no reply.

Looking down at the mess of clothes and toys, he felt a wave of relief at the signs that Beth and Natalie had been here and gone elsewhere. Beyond the lines to safety, he hoped, though he'd seen nothing to tell him that.

"Kyle," Seeks-the-Moon called out from the front of the house. "There's a message here for you."

Kyle rushed out into the hall and into the living room.

Seeks-the-Moon was pointing at an easel that had been propped up against the far wall. It bore a large pad of plain white paper on which a message had been written in green crayon. It read:

Kyle-

We're fine! We're going with Ellen and some of her friends to find a safe place to stay. I'll come back and leave a message when we know where we'll be. We're safe!

Beth

It was dated five days ago.

Kyle, suddenly unable to stand, collapsed onto the couch. He'd never warned Beth about her sister, and now she and Natalie had gone for safety with people who were quite possibly the very creatures that had the city living in fear.

He read the message again, and men a third time, before he buried his face in his hands and wept.

The stores and homes along Irving Park Road, from Lake Michigan out to the Des Plaines River, had been dynamited or bulldozed to mark the northern edge of the Chicago Containment Zone. Beyond the piles of debris, backed by powerful searchlights on makeshift towers, sat elements of Eagle Security, the Illinois National Guard, and the United Canadian and American States Army.

The lights cut bright slices through the night air and played across the wide open area that had been a main street, picking out the desperate and foolhardy as they tried to sneak or dash across the exposed area. As he watched the roving searchlights, Kyle wondered if the fugitives truly believed they'd find sanctuary or reprieve when they reached the barricades. From what he could see, they found neither, Anyone who made it across was forcibly subdued by men in heavy combat armor and unceremoniously escorted back the way he'd come.

Sometimes, depending on exactly who made it across, the troopers would open up with tear gas or stun rounds until the transgressor retreated. Sometimes, as testified by the occasional limp body on or near the barricade, the offender was simply shot. Kyle noted that almost invariably, of the half-dozen or so he'd seen while walking the line from Ashland to Sheridan, the dead were orks or trolls. The troopers were afraid these people might actually be able to get past the wall of debris.

There were thousands, maybe tens of thousands, gathered along the line. They were packed and stacked deep into the side streets that intersected the demarcation line. People were camped where they could, others overrunning and occupying houses. Most simply slept in any empty spot, atop what worldly possessions they dared carry with them. People shouted, argued, and cried as the spotlights panned over them and the helicopters roared overhead. Through powerful speakers, the soldiers ordered the people to pull back. The government wanted them to go home, but they couldn't- they had nowhere to go. Their homes were infested.

Draped in a bright yellow rain poncho he'd pulled from Beth's closet, Kyle walked the line, searching carefully through the side streets, looking for Beth and Natalie. He showed pictures of them to anyone who would stop and listen. Most just stared back at him glassy-eyed. Some cursed him in the name of one of their own lost loved ones. A few smiled sympathetically and looked at the pictures. But no one had seen the child or her mother. Seeks-the-Moon was busy doing the same.