48

I set up at the remaining end of the bridge. I had to link my spell to the echoes that Kent was going to call up. I built my septacle, my seven-pointed star, in sand, and used chalk to scratch the symbols for concentrating the magic. Kent set up at the base of the bridge on the last spit of land. Once he had set his septacle, he began the steady work of calling up the echoes of the bridge. Kevin was next to go, he worked his septacle alongside Kent's, and technically, he had to finish up first. Kent's spell would only stretch to the barrier unless there was a way through. This was a twelve kilometer long bridge, and we'd be really pushing our limits to get these spells to work.
Once the hole and the echoes were set, I would cast the linking spell and both Kevin and Kent would tap the power in me I couldn't touch, and pour the magick into their spells to create a solid 'ghost' of the original bridge. Cobb was supposed to create a glamour to hide the ghost and obscure any magickal trace. The coordination was a little tricky, but Kevin and Kent had worked together for years which helped immensely. My job would start when Kevin and Kent finished. Cobb would be last, assuming we all got our parts done and nothing interfered.
I listened to Kevin and Kent's chanting, and scanned the area with binoculars to see if I could see the creature before it got close enough to effect us with the fear aura it projected. A scan of the are over the water and back landward showed nothing around us, and a scan of the sky showed nothing flying around us either. Cobb was fiddling with something back at the car and I looked through the binoculars to see what he was doing. He pulled his duffel-bag from the car and was hauling it away from the car into some heavy brush along the remains of the bridge.
I got out my father's old T/C contender. It's a little bolt action pistol that came in many calibers, and my dad liked the heavier ones for target shooting. WIth a scope on it was close to a rifle in accuracy. I got out four bullets and put the first of the 7.62mm rounds into the chamber and closed the action. I set the other three about an arm's reach from my knee and upright so they would be easy to spot and pick up. I may not like guns but I grew up around them and know how to use them as well, as did a lot of kids after the magick came back and society was forced to rediscover some old skills in order to survive. In Halifax you'd be hard put to find someone who hadn't seen any practice with a rifle or shotgun.
There was a sudden flapping nearby and a dark blur skimmed past me and dropped on Kevin. He grunted under the impact and then I heard screams and a snapping bone. I ran to the edge of the bridge that overlooked where the two of them were set up and I braced against the edge and aimed downwards, seeking a target to shoot. Cobb came running and had a sword in hand as he leapt to the policemen's aid. The fear suddenly rolled out of the creature and Kent wailed like a lost soul and dove away from Kevin. I saw Cobb stagger into view and he kept trying to go towards the creature. I grabbed the pistol more firmly and the spell that I had put on the pistol to banish fear steadied me, and I lined up on the creature, looking for an open shot.
Kevin was still screaming and I pulled the trigger to scare the thing off him. The bullet hit the concrete near it ans spalled cement chips into the air, peppering the thing, surprising it and causing it to leap airborne and look my direction as it heard the roar from the T/C pistol. I loaded up another bullet and just finished closing the chamber when the creature flew up over the ragged, broken lip of the bridge and arrowed straight for me. There was no time to aim and I punched with the pistol, and pulled the trigger when I felt the muzzle impact something.
The roar of the pistol was almost drowned out by the scream of the creature as the bullet plowed through it. It staggered sideways and smashed into me as I tried to relax and roll with the impact. Its momentum carried it past me and I scrambled up, covered in a sticky, bloody mucus, and looked back to where the remaining two shells might be. By a bit of luck, they were untouched and still upright. I Picked them both up and worked the bolt action, the spent casing flipping out over my knuckles and away. I dropped a round into the pistol and slammed the bolt home and slapped it down as I simultaneously brought the weapon up and aimed at the creature.