by Randi Darren
Her body wasn’t made to store fat.
She was, in essence, a Flesh Golem made into a War Golem.
“We’ll stop here,” Decima said, flicking her blinker on.
“Ugh, give me a warning next time?” Hillary complained and picked up the radio.
Like a mother and a daughter at times.
“Gas and snacks,” Hillary said with a bored air.
“Great, my ass is numb,” Carissa complained.
That has nothing to do with driving, you silly thing.
“Really? What… like what is this?” Hillary complained.
Glancing into the back seat, he watched Hillary rub her fingers at a white spot on the seat.
Right where Carissa had her rear end when Sam finally let her orgasm after holding her past the peak for twenty minutes.
“No idea,” Sam lied, then looked ahead as they pulled into the gas station.
“It’s… it’s like it’s sticky,” said Hillary.
As soon as the car stopped, Sam opened the door and got out. He really didn’t want to be in the car if Hillary figured out what it was.
Irene had only promised not to talk about it with an expressed guarantee she could get the same treatment later from Sam in the backseat.
Looking around, Sam was immediately struck with how deserted the gas station seemed.
There was no one in any direction.
Nor could he see anyone in the convenience store that the gas station was hooked up to.
“Hey, use a gift card,” Sam said as Hillary got out. Tapping on the window to get Decima’s attention, Sam made a ‘get up’ motion with his fingers. “Don’t go inside. We’re leaving. Quickly.”
“What? Why? I’m starving,” Hillary complained shutting the door.
Decima got out a second later, her head slowly taking in the area.
“Something’s wrong,” she stated. “Very wrong.”
“Yeah, I know,” Sam said.
Hillary only now noticed something was definitely off. Without a word she slotted a gift card into the reader and started to pump gas without a word.
“Gonna go tell the others. I’ll grab you two some snacks from the RV. I’m sure Stacia bought some extra at the last stop,” Sam said and moved over to the RV just as it pulled into the pump behind them.
Opening the door, Sam came face to face with Mitch.
“Hey, Uncle Sam,” Mitch said, stepping down onto the pavement.
“Hey, don’t go far. We won’t be long. Maybe a minute tops,” Sam said trying to downplay his sudden fear.
Moving into the RV, he quickly found Stacia, Irene and Carissa.
“Something’s off here. We’re not staying. Pumping gas and gone,” Sam said looking at each woman. “Use a gift card, pump what you can till Hillary’s done. Got any snacks for them, Stacia?”
“Hm? Of course I do,” Stacia said, then she looked at Carissa. “Gas, please. Use the card on top. Irene, quick sweep?”
“Got it.”
“Sure.”
Stacia was already riffling around in a duffel bag between the front two RV seats.
“What’s the problem?” Stacia asked as she started to pull things out.
“No one’s here. At all. No one in the store either. No one around. Ghost town. I know we’re in the middle of nowhere but… there’s not even a clerk inside,” answered Sam.
“Ah. You and Decima think it’s a trap then,” Stacia said, nodding her head. “That’s fair. We’ll just keep moving. We’re ahead of my planned schedule as it is. At the rate we’re going, we’ll hit the next big city in about four hours.”
“Great. We’ll stop there,” Sam said.
“Okay, yeah,” Irene said coming back into the RV. “Definitely things out there. Behind us and ahead at the same time. Feels like undead to me.”
Stacia stopped in her search and looked to be thinking.
Then she shook her head with a shrug.
“We keep going then,” said the Vampire. “There really isn’t an alternative. I mean, none of us can open a portal. Right? You two keep trying?”
Lifting her head, Stacia looked from Irene to Sam and back again.
“Yea, nothing,” Irene grumbled and leaned up against the wall of the RV.
“Honestly, I still can’t even reach my personal plane. Let alone open a portal elsewhere,” Sam admitted.
“Then we keep going and take it as we go. There’s no other roads leading away from here and we’re already on an alternate back route that no one should be on,” Stacia said with a heavy sigh. “Which means they likely have some type of fix on us. Following us and moving ahead of us.”
“Well, they’ll regret that,” Sam muttered, making a decision he didn’t want to. “I’m going to go hit my reserve so I’m ready for this. Hillary’s going to be worthless for a day or two, though.”
“Ah,” said Stacia, as she grasped what was about to happen. “I’ll feed her some of my blood. That’ll help charge her. At least keep her awake. She’s a Doppel, so she’s immune to me.”
“She is?” Sam asked, somewhat surprised by that.
He knew so little about Doppelgangers, it seemed.
“Yes. It was in one of the few books I found from my maker’s home,” Stacia said with a shrug.
Sam had to once again wonder at the fact that an entire sub-race of Vampires had been so drastically altered from what they’d used to be.
He’d watched some of the changes happen from his prison, but even he was somewhat unaware of how drastic this alteration was.
“Time to go!” Decima called from outside. That was immediately followed by Carissa and Mitch stepping into the RV.
Stacia held the bag packed with snacks out to Carissa.
“Swap with Hillary,” the Vampire said then turned forward, facing out of the RV. She turned the vehicle back on and pulled her seat belt down.
All of the windows and the windshield had a spell that was filtering the light, so she didn’t turn into a rotisserie chicken.
Carissa took the bag and went right back out of the RV.
“Mitch, I need you to sit up front with me,” Stacia said, as she pulled the RV into drive, her foot firmly down on the pedal.
Taking a moment, Stacia glanced at Irene with a meaningful look.
Clicking her tongue, Irene nodded and moved into the back of the RV as Mitch went up to the passenger seat.
Muttering under her breath about being cucked twice in the same day, she threw up an odd spell that shifted the visible spectrum and made a strange pop as well.
She just blanketed the rear of the RV against sight and sound for… oh… Mitch.
Hillary entered the RV and shut the door.
“Sup?” she asked.
“Go help Irene in the back with Sam,” Stacia commanded, twisting the wheel to the side as they started to pull away from the gas station.
“Time for me to take from the reserves,” Sam explained.
Hillary made an ‘oh’ face as she looked at him.
***
“Some type of police check,” Stacia said as they topped a small rise. “That what you felt?”
Irene nodded her head. “Yeah.”
Looking up ahead, Sam could see a number of police cars arranged across the street. There were also a number of police officers out and around the barricade.
“Looks like more than a check,” said Sam. He was flying high on being completely filled with Essence. Even though he’d only had to empty half of what Hillary had in her, she was now dozing in the back on the bed.
Mitch was sitting at the small table playing with some electronic toy Stacia picked up somewhere for him.
“Police check, my ass,” disagreed Irene. “Undead. All of them.”
“My spells work fairly well on undead.” Stacia shook her head and started to roll down the window as they got closer to the checkpoint. “Sam? Irene?”
“Most undead, it’s fine,” Sam said. “Anything without a soul t
hough… no.”
“I have a preference to working on undead,” answered Irene.
“Well, get ready then. Because that’s Carissa and Decima up there,” said Stacia with a sigh. “I’m expecting one of them is going to pull a gun pretty quick.”
“Was a stupid idea to put both of them in one car,” Irene complained.
“Didn’t have a choice. I needed Essence,” Sam murmured, trying to keep it low enough that Mitch wouldn’t hear it. “Remember?”
“I remember,” Irene grumbled. She seemed pretty annoyed at having to watch Sam with another woman.
Twice.
“Here we go,” Stacia said as Decima pulled up to the check point.
And immediately began firing. Carissa, who was in the passenger seat, lifted a pistol up and started firing as well.
Gassing it hard, Decima slipped through a gap between two cop cars by shoving them to each side.
“Oh, my shit. What—”
Irene stopped talking as she leaned out the window and held up a hand. Dark purple streaks of screaming energy jetted out from her hand and began striking everyone and everything.
Those who were hit by the spell had body parts blown away from them or were sent tumbling along the ground.
Only to get right back up and start heading for either the car or the RV.
“Zombies?” Sam asked. Looking up to the ceiling above, he figured that’d be the best place for himself.
“Get in the closet and cover yourself with the body armor there,” Sam commanded. Carissa had brought a number of vests in case they got in a shoot-out. She and Decima were both wearing one, as was Hillary. The rest were piled up.
Mitch did as instructed and went straight into the closet.
Moving to the door of the RV, Sam swung it open, even as Stacia gunned the engine to chase after Decima.
Holding the door open, Sam reached up and grabbed the top of it with his other hand. Levering himself upward, using more strength than humanly possible and against the force of the wind, Sam climbed up.
Getting atop the door, Sam flung a leg over it, then grabbed the top of the RV. Holding the door open with one hand, Sam got on the roof of the RV and let the door slam shut.
Standing there, he adhered his feet to the metal with Essence and looked back the way they’d come.
Swarming up out of the barricade and running after them was a large number of zombies. Some in policemen’s uniforms, and some not.
More than that, they were also bubbling up out of the surrounding areas. From the shrubbery, sides of the road, and even out of the ground itself.
It was a damn trap.
They’re following us somehow.
Sam snorted at that. Then he regretted not bringing a rifle up here. He could have easily been far more useful with one up here.
Turning around, Sam focused ahead, rather than behind.
Zombies were undead, and could run forever, but they weren’t exactly fast.
The wind ripped at his eyes and nose as they continued to pick up speed. To the point that Sam took a moment to put a small shield of Essence over his face.
This won’t be the last checkpoint. If anything… if anything it was just the first.
Stacia doesn’t need me to run a plan with her. She’s the smartest we’ve got. She’ll handle that part.
I’ll just remain here and do what I can to keep everyone safe. Because even limited to the Prime, I’m still the damn Torment of Lust.
Suddenly, the sound of sirens behind him got his attention.
Looking over his shoulder, he found there were a number of cop cars chasing them. They were speeding up and getting ever closer.
Zombies would be too stupid to get in a car. That means they’re… Ghouls?
Probably.
Ghouls.
Great.
Holding up a hand, Sam swung it upward, controlling a fist of Essence to slam up from the ground. A column of solidified earth shot up out of the road directly in front of one of the chasing vehicles.
Smashing into it at full speed, the front of the police vehicle was split right down the middle to the windshield.
Looking at the next closest car, Sam repeated the process.
Except this car juked to one side even as he cast the spell, dodging the column as it tore free from the ground.
“Hmph,” Sam grunted.
Grinning with one side of his mouth, he swiped his hand from right to left. A tree off to one side was torn from the ground and sent hurtling across the road.
It slammed into the side of a car and then went under it.
Bouncing to one side, then up and over the tree, the car did a slow front flip and started to skid along its roof.
It was blasted to one side as what looked like an armored car roared ahead to the front of the pack.
Holy shit.
The hell did the Lich do? Nuke the entire state?
Or is she getting help from the Angelics to portal hop them?
This is just out of hand.
A head and shoulders in full swat armor popped out of a window. Holding a rifle, they raised it up and pointed it straight at Sam.
Holding his left hand up, Sam made a flat plane of Essence that’d deflect the rounds wide away from himself. With his right hand, he tore another tree out of the area they were passing through.
Bullets pounded into the Essence plane and sprayed out wildly.
Hefting the tree, Sam tossed it across the road toward the armored car.
Slamming the brakes, the big vehicle dodged the tree but the man with the rifle was shaken wildly. His weapon slipped free of his hands and went slamming into the pavement. Clattering away, it vanished into the distance.
More police cars were racing up. Quite a few of them clearly had more than one person in them. All of them likely had weapons.
Fuck this and fuck them and just GO TO HELL!
Growling, losing some of his control, Sam grabbed at the road and the ground around it with massive hands of Essence.
Pushing with more force than he’d wielded in quite a while, Sam shot a massive chunk of road, earth, and rock straight up. Perhaps thirty feet wide and stretched for a hundred feet in either direction from the road.
Panting, Sam let his shoulders slump and leaned forward. That’d taken quite a bit out of him at a mental level, but his Essence tanks were still mostly full.
Watching from his position, he could see a number of cars simply smash right into the brand new roadblock.
More were turning sideways to see if they could drive around the massive obstruction.
Shaking his head, Sam realized this would buy them time, but not likely end the chase.
Suddenly the RV lurched forward, faster than it probably should be able to go.
Looking ahead again, Sam saw the car Decima was driving was zooming away. Like it was a race car with new tires and a full tank of gas to burn.
And the RV was right behind it. Keeping up as if it were nothing at all.
The girls are burning magic to get the cars moving.
Right.
Okay. We’ll… we’ll get into the city and… then what?
This isn’t over by a long shot.
We need to get to ground. Lose our problems and figure out how they’re following us.
Because they’re definitely following us and knew where we were going.
Sighing, Sam decided to stay up here for a while yet.
Just in case there were more problems.
He could deal with them better up here.
Beyond that, if they were heading for the city, they had some time to get there. Even at the speed they were traveling at, if they kept it up, it’d still be at least an hour away.
An hour where there was nothing between them and the wrath of a Lich’s servants.
Maybe the PID and the Para-national guard can help.
Maybe.
If they’re… even there.
In fact, the city could be one gian
t zombie apocalypse. Couldn’t it?
Folding his arms in front of himself, Sam stared forward, wondering what waited for them.
Dreading that knowledge at the same time.
Twenty-Two - Options -
“This isn’t a city,” growled Stacia as they rolled into the barely bigger than a town ‘city’. “I’m going to have a very unpleasant call to make when we get back. He swore up and down it was a city.”
“I told you he was just trying to get into your pants,” claimed Irene. “I told you up and down that’s all he wanted.”
“Going to feed him to my old coven,” Stacia promised. “That’s as close as he’ll ever get to my bed. Fucking asshole.”
“Whatever. Can we even stop at the motel?” Irene asked, looking at Sam.
“Maybe. I hadn’t seen the cars in a while before I came down. That’s the only reason I did. Come down that is,” replied Sam. “Doesn’t mean they’re not back there or still coming. Normally, I’d say they’d be less likely to act out in front of normal Humans but… a Lich probably just turned Miami into a zombie surplus store.
“I’m pretty sure all the normal bets are off.”
“Right,” Stacia said shaking her head. “Gas, snacks, driver rotation, and gone. Can’t keep doing this though. We need to get to a large city and vanish in it.”
“We could try vanishing here,” Irene said. “Find a nice big SUV and cram into it.”
“I mean… actually that’s probably the better idea,” Stacia muttered. “The RV and sedan are definitely something they’ll be looking for.”
“Right. Do we hit a rental place then and grab a big SUV? Steal one? Buy one?” Sam asked.
“We can launch the RV and the Sedan like we did the truck the last time,” Irene said. “Regardless of whatever else we do.”
“If we steal one, that’s a police report,” Stacia said. “Buying one would take time and a good deal of paperwork. Rental requires less paperwork but I hear they’re prone to being LoJacked. They all have their problems.”
“How about we just find me a nice lady to charm and I borrow her car for a while,” Sam murmured. “No paperwork at all, leave her with some cash, pay her for the car in full later.”
“Oh. Yeah, that’d work perfectly,” Stacia said.