Chapter 36
It was an insane thing to think and stupid as well. Of course, death waited for them down there. The specter of death was everywhere. There were bodies in the streets and blood in the gutters. Above them, buildings were on fire, and a jet screeched through the darkness having just passed over a river in which there were more corpses than fish.
So why the hesitation? Why the “feeling?”
It was a question he couldn’t answer since he knew it wasn’t a feeling. It was truth. Death lay down that tunnel. As a scientist, he instantly questioned the thought. Hadn’t he tried to talk Maddy out of her “prophecy” regarding the ice axe not even a half hour before?
Somehow, this was different. It was so very different. “We should…” he started to say, only Wilkes grabbed him by the arm and began pulling him down the cement stairs. One of the mercs did the same to Maddy, only she jerked away, a look of revulsion on her face.
“Come on!” he growled and tried to grab her again.
He was sweating fiercely under his rags and his eyes were wide and wild. She could smell the disease in him.
“I can walk on my own,” she shot back, sounding something like her old I-can-open-my-own-door self.
Two steps below, Bryce caught the same smell; it surrounded the man like a cloud. “Your guy,” he said to Wilkes, “he smells like…” Wilkes jerked Bryce’s arm and gave him a warning look. Quieter, Bryce asked, “Did he get bit?”
“And scratched. Two hours ago. This kid just popped out from under this bed and went fucking mad on him, and now I don’t know what to do with him. Or any of these guys, either.” They were at the bottom of the stairs and someone had flicked on a flashlight. The beam of light flicked around catching glints from the trash and a sign pointing the way, showing that they weren’t in a subway station just yet, but only a long tiled tunnel.
In the light, Bryce picked out Victoria, disheveled and exhausted, staring at him with eyes grown baggy from lack of sleep. Crowded next to her were the new people: a softly gay man in his fifties and his much younger and far more rugged-appearing boyfriend. A quivering mother of fifty with two skinny teenage boys, one of whom held a sword of all things. The last was a single woman, dumpy and pale, with a panic in her dark eyes. She held the flashlight two handed, as if it were a sword as well.
“If this is them, does that mean we can go?” the mother asked. “Finally?”
“You coulda left anytime,” Wilkes replied. He marched past her, heading down the corridor. “Flashlight girl, up here with me. Agent Griff take the rear. Bryce and Maddy, no more running off. We don’t have the resources left to track you around the city. The rest of you fill in and keep quiet.”
Nichola immediately disregarded the last order. “Why the hell are we going down there? He said we’re going to the Fed plaza.”
“From here on out” Wilkes groused, “forget what anyone says but me, and I said keep quiet.”
“I’ll talk if I want to,” she shot back. “I don’t know you. I know that guy and he doesn’t look like he thinks this is the best idea.”
Bryce didn’t realize that he was wearing his emotions so openly. He shook his head and tried to affect a reassuring smile; he didn’t quite pull it off. “Just a bad feeling. I’m sure I’m being foolish.”
“You are,” Wilkes told him, and began marching down the corridor, his shoes making a lonely clacking sound. Bryce took a deep uncertain breath and followed. The others hurried to catch up.
“It’s safer to travel underground,” Jayson told Nichola in a whisper of red wine. He’d been nursing a hangover even while the group slept in the back of a church. A new-found bottle was helping somewhat. “There’s less zombies down here. And this here runs to the 4 and the 6 trains, which’ll take us straight to where we need to go. You should stick with me.” This last he said in a soft voice before raising his brows at the others.
“Why? Because you’re black?” She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t planning on sticking with anyone, except for maybe Bryce. He had been something else during the fight. Calm, precise, fearless. These were traits she could get on board with. Still, if it came down to it, she was going to run. There was nothing heroic about being eaten alive.
“You ain’t thinkin’ straight if you…” Jayson started to say, only just then there was a high shrieking scream from behind them.
They all jumped in fright and stared back where the stairs leading up to the city were not nearly as dark as the corridor. They were just gloomy enough to show a torrent of zombies pouring down them in a shadowy unending mass. There was no call to run and yet, in the next second, they were all running, pelting down the corridor at top speed.
The beam from the flashlight janked up and down making seeing anything difficult. Sid didn’t see six-year-old Tessa and ran right over her. She went down, as did Sid, her mom, Jayson and both Harrimans. Bryce and Griff did what they could to untangle the clawing, scrapping people and get them moving again.
By the time they did, the zombies were closer, coming on in a howling mass. When one of them fell, it was trampled into grey goo and did little to stop the momentum of the mob.
Still, the humans were faster and a hundred yards went by under their feet before Maddy and Wilkes led them through a wide mezzanine that seemed to have dozens of branching corridors or stairs attached to it. The two hesitated and Nichola blew past them at full speed. She knew the way and didn’t slow down even when she came to the metal turnstiles.
She had jumped enough of these in her time to fly over them, barely leaving palm prints behind. Maddy was slower. The Harrimans slower still and the slowest of all was Tessa, who was limping now, helped along by Griff and her mom.
In the very back was Bryce. He was barely winded from the run. Once over the turnstiles, he stopped with his spear at the ready, its point stained black. He hoped to slow them down long enough for everyone to make it to one of the middle tracks. There were four tracks all told, but there was no way to know if any of them had juice running through them.
While Mr. Harriman was still trying to ease his wife down off the platform, the first of the dead hit the turnstiles. Bryce worked methodically, going for the eyes with hard fast jabs. Three inches was as deep as he needed to go to hit grey matter.
A dozen of the creatures—the biggest dozen in reach—fell at his feet before the zombies flanked him. Then he was running for the tracks where Griff and Sid waited anxiously down in the filthy trough. On the next set of tracks, Maddy stood holding her climbing axe in one clenched fist. The others were strung out along the express tracks; Nichola was the furthest away, almost to the tunnel at the far end of the platform. Wilkes and his two remaining mercenaries were closer to Maddy, but backing away.
“Are the tracks hot?” Bryce asked as he dropped down.
“Ain’t no one volunteered to lick ‘em and find out,” Sid said, wearing a curdled grin. Gingerly he took a giant step over the third rail. Bryce and Griff leapt over easily, then backed away as the dead reached the edge of the platform. The beasts didn’t hesitate to judge depth or distance; they simply came on, falling down onto the first set of tracks.
There were so many of them.
The first couple of dozen didn’t have time to get to their feet before more piled on top of them. More fell on this third wave, crushing everything beneath them. It was one from the fourth wave that finally tested the rail. It rolled from the mound, stuck out a hand, and froze. There was a great Crack! and the tunnel was briefly lit by a strange blue light.
Then the entire pile began to wiggle and squirm like worms thrown on a hotplate.
“It’s working!” Griff cried. He grabbed Bryce by the shoulder and began backing away. “Come on spread them out.” The three waved their hands and retreated with the dead following them and dying in ugly clumps. A sickening cloud filled the air, but the smell was not what had Bryce suddenly nervous. That feeling of coming death was growing in him again. He looked back at Maddy and saw th
at she alone wasn’t giddy over the electrocution of the dead.
“It’s here,” she said.
They couldn’t see the demon, but they both knew that it was somewhere in the dark.
“We have to go!” Bryce yelled over the noise. “Everyone down the tunnel, now.” Griff heard the fear in his voice and started jogging with the rest, but Bryce stopped him. “Do you still have your gun?”
Griff gave him a partial shrug. “Yeah, but we’re out of ammo. There was an ambush and we almost didn’t make it.”
“What about Wilkes? Do you think he’s holding out on us?”
“No. He lost two men and that one guy got bit. I don’t think he’s going to make it. He’s got that weird look in his eyes, like he’s…” He stopped as he saw Bryce was no longer listening. Bryce was staring back down the tracks as a shadowy figure stepped over the third rail where the tracks entered the tunnel. It was so big that Griff thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Bryce saw it perfectly. “It’s the demon,” he said. “You should go.”
“Is that the same one? The one from before?” Griff had seen a great deal of horror over the last two days, but nothing scared him like the demon. Its evil knifed through the stench and the darkness and sent a shiver down his spine. He gritted his teeth and said, “We’ll take it together. All of us.”
There was no “taking” the demon, and the idea of “all of us” was something of a joke. Jayson and Sid were too drunk to fight; they were stumbling down the tracks. Wilkes and his men were too selfish; they saw the demon and were shaking their heads, backing away. They couldn’t be trusted. Victoria, the Harrimans, Nichola and the others were too weak or too afraid. They were clinging to each other, moving like frightened sheep in a clump behind the woman with the flashlight. She had become their leader and savior simply because of the light.
This left Griff and Maddy, and she was trembling at the sight of the creature. The best the three of them could do was slow it down.
All the spit in Bryce’s mouth dried up, so when he spoke it came out in a whisper. “Take Maddy and get her to the FBI. I might be able to give you a minute, so hurry.”
Griff wanted to protest, but it was coming closer. And Bryce was correct; it was too strong.
“You better run,” Bryce said and turned from the agent. It felt strange that he was the one facing the demon. The day before it would’ve been Griff fighting it. Now, things were different. He had changed which was great and all, but the demon had changed as well. Not only had it healed itself, it too had gotten bigger and its nails were no longer nails, they were three-inch long claws, each coated with disease. And its canines were no longer perfectly lined up with the rest of its teeth. They were longer now and deadly sharp.
Against the claws, fangs and the rock-hard fists, Bryce had a stick.
The demon smiled, showing off its fangs and staring past Bryce at the gaggle of fleeing people. It was in no hurry, which was strangely worrisome. Didn’t it want to eat them? Or make them suffer? Or did it think that Bryce would be easily killed and that it would have plenty of time to hunt them down?
“I won’t be that easy,” Bryce remarked, spinning his spear, praying the demon wasn’t bright enough to spot his bluff.
This sparked a grunt of amusement from the demon. It came forward, slowly, its dark eyes centering on Bryce, who waited, hoping that his fear didn’t show, hoping that he didn’t stink of it. He hoped in vain. His hands were slick with sweat and the hoodie was damp and clung to his back—his bluff wasn’t even fooling himself.
It took a good deal of willpower, but he managed to wait until the demon was within ten feet of him before taking his first frightened step back. Now, the demon grinned knowingly. It knew it was going to win.
“Like last time?” Bryce asked, trying to buy time for Maddy and the others. “You didn’t win then and you won’t win now.” The boast was hollow and they both knew it.
The demon came forward, moving silently and with so little extraneous motion that it seemed to glide at Bryce, who flailed badly with his broom-spear, stabbing and hitting nothing but dark air as the demon dodged. Bryce tried again to run the creature through while stumbling backwards at the same time. The point shot through shadow and nothing else.
Bryce was off balance and the demon took advantage of his vulnerability, slashing with its new-grown claws. It dug three deep furrows across Bryce’s neck, nearly opening up his jugular. As blood poured down the front of his hoodie, he threw himself back and felt the swish of claws just miss his eyes. A split-second later, the demon’s foot crashed into his chest and sent him flying. In the near complete darkness, he found himself on his back, his spear uselessly pointed across the tracks.
His head had cracked against one of the railroad ties and a hundred stars blazed across his vision. They were gone in a blink, leaving behind strange purple lines in the darkness, which masked the approaching demon. It was attacking again. Bryce squirmed back, and more by instinct than anything else, he lashed outward with a kick and struck the demon’s knee, stopping it just above him. Slightly stooped, it was perfectly positioned when Bryce brought the spear around like a baseball bat in a short, hard arc and connected with the thing’s jaw. One more hit and it would be dislocated.
Bryce swung again, but this time the demon was ready and grabbed the spear and yanked it out of Bryce’s hands. Effortlessly, it broke the spear in half, tossed aside the blunt end and leapt on Bryce.
“Do it!” Bryce hissed as it raised the jagged hunk of wood. “I dare you.”
Chapter 37
Bryce tilted his chin back, giving the demon a clear shot at his exposed throat. “Do it.”
But the demon wouldn’t. It could sense something was wrong. Bryce could as well. He could sense the shit out of it on the back of his neck where the tiny hairs were an inch from the electrified third rail and its fifteen hundred volts. The rail couldn’t seem to hold in all that electricity; it reached out and stung him like dozens of fire ants, turning those tiny hairs to cinders.
“You’re weak,” Bryce goaded, ignoring the stings. They were nothing compared to what was coming. He was a dead man one way or another, but if the demon were to stab him right then, they would both fry and that would be a win in his book.
The demon was too cagey. It knew Bryce was up to something and when it figured it out, it immediately jerked back. Its horrid grin spreading once more over its black face as it stepped away. The grin was a compliment; an unsettling one. There was a certain dark intelligence behind it that was frightening. They both knew it was Bryce’s master physically; the grin suggested that the demon was at least his mental equal as well.
It invited Bryce to get to his feet. Slowly, Bryce did, preparing for the attack that he was sure was coming. He was wary and the demon was as well and made no move until Bryce eased away from the electrified rail. It then lunged forward, eagerly, hungry to slay.
Without a weapon, the electrified rail was the only way for Bryce to defend himself and he quickly stepped back towards it. “Come on! Come get some!” The demon hissed, which made Bryce laugh. It felt good to laugh, even if it was just for a few moments. “Looks like we got a Mexican standoff, and with every second you hesitate, my friends get further and further away.”
As much as that sounded like the truth, there was still the terrible feeling in the air that death was close. In fact, the feeling was growing. The demon seemed to feel it as well. Its grin was back, wider than ever, as if it was expecting something of its own. A trick or a trap or a…
Bryce chanced a look over his shoulder. The fight had only lasted seconds and he could see Maddy and the others quite clearly. With the drunks and the old folks and the injured child, they hadn’t progress far down the tunnel and were nearing a place where the gloom wasn’t nearly so deep. Some fifteen feet above them was a grate of some sort that led to the street. On his first day in the city, Bryce remembered walking over one of these and feeling nervous, picturing hi
mself falling through. Even though people of much greater size tread them without hesitation, he had made sure to go around them.
Now, his eyes lingered on the grate. They were drawn to it and with his newly improved eyesight, he saw blackened fingers curl around the metal. There was a grunt like that of a wild boar, then a scream of metal as the grate was torn away.
Beneath the opening stood the woman with the flashlight. Her chest was heaving, as much from the run as from the horror that stood above her. She screamed and backed into Wilkes, who backed into the soft gay man. The woman should’ve run forward instead.
Down from the street dropped a hideous monstrosity. It was black, but unnaturally so. It wasn’t dark skinned like the demon, it was burnt black. The flesh of its face was peeling in sheets and most of its hair had been broiled away. What was left was magenta colored, straight from a bottle.
“Holy shit,” Bryce whispered. It was the female demon from the building he and Maddy had set on fire. It had tracked them down. Sid recognized the creature too and ran back the way he had come, a scream ripping from his throat.
“Stop!” Griff cried, putting his arms out to stop Sid. “We can fight it.”
Wilkes had been backing away. “Fuck that shit,” he said and then jumped over the rails and landed on the next set of tracks. The burnt demon jumped as well, laughter bubbling from her huge burnt lips. Wilkes turned and ran, and as he did, the woman with the flashlight tried to dart forward past the grate. Again, she made the mistake of stopping.
Down from the grate dropped a pair of zombies. One broke its leg on impact, while the other fell into the third rail and did a jitterbug death dance. More fell from the opening, filling the tunnel with their hideous shrieks. In front of Griff the group was disintegrating, running helter skelter back the way they had come. It looked as though they would run clean over Maddy and Griff. But what would they do when they got to the demon Bryce had been fighting?
Heroes of the Undead | Book 1 | The Culling Page 27