Graveslinger

by Darren Compton

  "Jesus," Thomas said. As she mentioned it, he recalled seeing a few rats scurrying around when they were stuck in the cages: Every one of them seemed to carry the same stench of death as the walking corpses. They had kept their distance, and he merely thought they were nothing more than ordinary. He immediately looked around the room, grateful to find it free of rodents and that god-awful smell.

  Fiya handed him the wrapped pillow, just as delicately she would a child, and he took it, cradling across his chest. The draping comforter below worked to camouflage where legs could be. She looked back to Liama on the bed, who still looked confused. "It's okay. We're going to make any possible spies in the streets think you're with us, so they don't notice you're gone and start looking around for you."

  Liama cocked her head to one side as if questioning if the ruse would even work. She started to say something, but Fiya cut her off.

  "It'll be okay. They won't notice until they're up close, if they're the smart ones." She gave Liama a quick thumbs-up signal as she backed away toward the door, brightening up a little bit with a tiny curl of a smile. "We'll be right back."

  Still holding the wrapped pillow, Thomas leaned in and kissed his daughter on the head again. "Love ya."

  The three adults left room three, with Fiya locking the door behind her; that way, it wouldn’t see Liama close the door if something were watching. Thomas carried the wrapped pillow ─ as if it really were Liama ─ and even pretended to whisper into her ear as they boarded the bus.

  On the far end of the lot, a separate building filled with laundry machines was dormant with its lights on 24/7. Rutger had watched it several times for movement, but there was not a creep or a tumble. It had not been used in some time. In a square vent pipe that protruded from the wall with a hole only a few inches across, however, sat a decaying rat that had remained lifeless the entire visit. As soon as the bus roared back to life, the rodent corpse stirred.

  Late afternoon brought on a brief downpour of rain that cleared just as the three parked the bus outside of Timberwild Elementary, hidden behind a row of trees. Fiya enjoyed the luck of the rain masking the sound of the engine. The street extended from the school’s parking lot, snaking through a patch of woods, until leading into a small neighborhood. Though they intended to stay as hidden as possible, Rutger still brought the nose of the bus a little bit forward beyond the edge of the trees so they could monitor the school. At this moment, he wished he had taken one of the snub-nosed buses instead. At first, they were concerned someone could have heard the engine, but they saw no activity.

  The same chain-link fence that Thomas and Liama both climbed over the other night wrapped around the school grounds and cut across the driveways, completely blocking anyone from driving in. Where the driveways were, gates in the fencing were chained closed. Attached to the gate were several crudely made, almost as if they were written by children, “No Trespassing” signs.

  Rutger sat in the driver’s seat, leaning against the wheel and rubbing his beard. Thomas stood next to him. Thomas had suited up with two bandoliers loaded with shotgun shells and even picked out the shotgun he preferred to use. He pointed to the school while giving the best intel he could to Rutger. “Beyond that wing over there is the gymnasium, where all our cages were. I hope they’re still there.”

  “Why the hell was this school shut down in the first place?” Rutger asked, not really expecting Thomas to know the answer. It was more of a curiosity that popped into his head and was blurted out as a reflex.

  “I don’t know. I just know it looked abandoned for a while when I got here.” When Thomas finished answering, he realized Rutger had only asked rhetorically.

  Bobbing his head, Rutger said, “It’s a little strange there isn’t more security. Hinky.”

  Thomas squinted at the rooftops and didn’t see ghoul foot soldiers near the spotlight nor any on the ground. “It is odd. They had men on the roof when we left. I hope they didn’t ditch the place and go somewhere else.” He paused and then pointed with surprise. “Oh, there’s one!”

  A single ghoul in coveralls came around the back of the school, walking along the perimeter fence. He moved slow, keeping a straight line. He seemed not to notice the bus at all.

  “Or the sacrificial lambs have become the bait,” Fiya said from behind them, cold and tired. The fact that she hadn’t gotten enough proper rest to get rid of the jet lag was catching up to her. Repeatedly getting the fuzz tone when trying to dial the other Immortuos Venandi facilities also frustrated her, but she tried not to take it out on them. She continued, “It’s probably a trap. The bus engine alone is pretty loud, even in the rain. They may have heard us coming.”

  With a determined look and stoic posture, Thomas turned to Fiya and held up his chosen shotgun as if he were posing for an action-movie poster. “We’re armed now, and I’m much more confident with this in my hands than my bare hands.” This was a true statement. Thomas had very little fighting experience: The one time things had come to blows, he only got in one punch before getting in trouble for fighting at school. Though he was the one who got in trouble for it, his bully never seemed to bother him again.

  “I want that back when we’re done,” Rutger reminded.

  “Of course.”

  As Thomas continued to instruct Rutger the best path to take to get in and out, Fiya sat in one of the open seats and stared through the woods at the school. She thought about the kid, Liama, all alone in the motel room. Every second away meant a more significant risk, and at the same time, Fiya knew they needed to be cautious.

  She glanced toward the front of the bus and caught Rutger looking at her in the overhead mirror. A concerned look: the type a worried father would have while biting his tongue rather than nagging. She knew she felt awful and now wondered if she looked like it, too. Her mind reflected on how frequently he asked her if she had eaten. Did she look like she didn’t? Sure, every restroom break they took, she vomited in hiding, then rinsed her mouth with water to help get rid of the puke breath so no one would notice. Or maybe he had?

  During one of the breaks, Rutger noticed she still hadn’t touched the Blackhawk Hunter, so he loaded it for her. It sat in a holster on one of the seats, conveniently in her view.

  At that moment, she realized he could be looking at her that way, hoping she’d finally use it. It was a gift to her, but she felt perplexed at how insistent he was about her using a firearm, especially after putting down her own father with one.

  Rutger then broke his trance with Fiya in the mirror and looked back toward the school, listening to Thomas. “The cages themselves were kinda more like glorified chicken coops than actual prison cells. We won’t have time to pick the locks like I did to get out, but the crowbar should be just as effective to pop the wiring.”

  “I’ve never even seen all this fencing around a school, even when one was shut down. Playground for sure, but not the entire school. Not blocking the driveways and parking lots. That’s just so weird.”

  “It was definitely all here before I was.”

  Fiya shrugged. “Maybe it was scheduled for demolition, and this was the city’s way of trying to keep people out before it does?”

  Thomas mugged at her, nodding in agreement.

  Then Rutger cracked his knuckles. “No biggie. It’ll be fun knocking them down.”

  “Uh … knock them down?” Thomas asked, his voice dropping from confident to nervous.

  “Sure. Knock ‘em down. It’s going to be the fastest way. Did you think we were just going to sneak in and out? If they’re waiting for us, that’s probably exactly what they’re expecting. No, I’m going to ram ‘em down and catch them by surprise.”

  Thomas blinked a few times as he registered Rutger’s plan. It made sense but still felt surreal. Sneaking in and out would take extra time, and this way would speed things up so they could get back to Liama quicker. Sounded like a win to him, so he wasn’t going to argue.

  As Thomas took a seat and braced him
self, Fiya put on her battle mask.

  The lone guard walked the fence line, glaring above at a flock of birds squawking at each other as they flew south. The only other sign of life he’d seen were several squirrels and one deer, all of which scattered away when he came near. His first instinct—of what little human instinct that was left—was wanting to pet them, but he restrained himself as he felt the irresistible urge to rip and tear. The restraint came from Violess’s supernatural hold over him, like an invisible leash. He would only attack what she approved of attacking. Her taint flowed in his veins, using him like a monitoring device. Sometimes, he could feel her presence through him, watching through his eyes. The stronger her taint, the better hold she had; the more diluted, the more brain-dead and uncontrollable the ghouls became … like the kind let loose on the west side of the mountains.

  He lapped again, passing the spot the escapees hopped over and disappeared the other night. He paused to scan the area as if expecting a new clue to spring out in front of him and then continued.

  The driveway gate came into his view, and he stopped for a moment at the sound of an engine. First, he turned toward the far end of the school, expecting one of their own trucks moving about, but didn’t see any movement in that direction.

  Then, as the rumble of an engine became clearer, he turned toward the gate, and a flood of headlights burst through his lenses, blinding him. The school bus roared as it burst through the gate like a battering-ram and plowed the chain-link fence into the guard, cutting into him like a cheese wire.

  Other ghouls from inside the school felt a signal ring in their heads, and they flocked outside. They spilled out of the school like ants defending their hill, lurching but never sprinting because their decaying bodies couldn’t manage it. Several carried knives and some had crowbars—all primitive tools simple enough for ghouls to handle, even ones with strong demonic taint flowing in them.

  A headcount couldn’t be made, but Fiya assumed this had to be a small chunk of the town, anywhere up to a hundred, at least. Many still wore their work uniforms and civilian outfits, stained with sweat and blood, rather than the bland coveralls and burlap masks the guard wore. One wore pajamas.

  Part of her felt bad for what was about to happen, but she knew it was necessary. Once they were ghouls, there was no saving someone.

  Thomas gasped at the numbers, feeling glad about their decision to stash Liama at the motel.

  Rutger grinned like a madman as he pressed on the gas.

  The hatch on the top of the bus popped open, and Thomas propped himself up, aiming the shotgun at the nearest herd of ghouls who were close enough together for one shell to do the most damage. He took great pleasure pulling the trigger, feeling the kick in his shoulder, and watching several fall to the grass while others tripped over them. He pumped the shotgun and continued, doing his best to aim for the heads.

  Ghouls who weren’t immediately killed by the blasts were left in the grass or were rolled under the tires of the bus and crushed.

  As Thomas’s ammunition dwindled, Fiya prepared another shotgun for him. Once he was ready, he tossed the emptied shotgun back into the bus and took the freshly loaded one to continue.

  By the time they made it to the school, Thomas’s shooting and Rutger’s deliberately reckless driving took out nearly a third of the ghouls. Rutger stopped the bus right at the junction where two of the school’s wings met, including the one with the gym at the far end. According to Thomas, this was the quickest route in and out of the gym. He discovered the roll-up doors had been welded shut during his original stay, so they couldn’t use them to get them in and out.

  Fiya handed Thomas his first shotgun fully reloaded as he closed the hatch to get ready to go inside.

  The door cranked to the side, and the ghouls that were closest took another shotgun blast to clear that space.

  Rutger came out of the bus, swinging his axe, followed by Thomas, now taking more carefully aimed shots. Once they got a big enough opening cleared, Fiya sprang out of the bus with her sword, lashing out at any ghoul that dared come near her.

  She twirled the longsword from one ghoul to another with such finesse and grace, it was as if she was cutting through warm butter.

  Thomas and Rutger set their course to infiltrate the school, and Rutger turned to her and said, “We’ll be back. Make sure none of those bastards gets on the bus.”

  “Aye aye, sir!” She swung at another nearby ghoul who got too close to the bus door. This one looked like an ordinary man in plaid pajamas. Infected while in bed, the poor sap.

  Fiya watched Thomas lead Rutger inside while she dispatched two more civilian-dressed ghouls. When she had the moment, she pulled the bus door shut so none could sneak on while her back was turned. Then she resumed slashing and skewering every approaching ghoul, already feeling the strain on her wrist again and trying to ignore it.

  Something lurked on the school rooftop, watching her.

  The double doors weren’t locked. Thomas and Rutger threw them open as they ran into the school, ignoring any subtlety. A few more mindless ghouls attempted to charge their way, which quickly were dispatched with swings from Rutger’s axe and a single shotgun blast. Thomas then led Rutger around a right corner, down another hall. One more turn was expected after this. They sprinted in the dark hallways.

  Thomas increased speed, spreading the gap between himself and Rutger. Rutger realized he wasn’t up to his old speed anymore, but he kept his charge steady. Rutger kept Thomas’ bouncing silhouette in his sight, and then Thomas found the second right turn. “This way,” he whispered, loud and hoarse.

  Before Rutger could follow, Thomas dropped and rolled on the floor just at the next hall's mouth. He had just dodged a swipe from a werewolf standing in that hallway. Thinner than the other wolves they had tangled with, but it appeared healthy, at least in the dark.

  The werewolf looked at Thomas with a conniving smile, with bright teeth that somehow sparkled in the dark halls. The werewolf hissed, “Where’s your hall pass?”

  Rutger hadn’t lost momentum as he ran toward them, and he didn’t let the beast stop him either. “Here’s our pass!”

  When the werewolf turned toward him, it took an uppercut from the axe into its chin, splitting it in two. The lanky creature spiraled from the swing and hit the wall before it collapsed. Rutger didn’t hesitate to take a second chop at it before it could start regenerating. He chucked the axe into its neck again to break its vertebrae and then a third just to separate the head. Then he figured that was enough damage to buy them enough time.

  Thomas was already back on his feet and leading Rutger to the gym.

  “Holy shit, he almost got me,” Thomas huffed. They were both sprinting again, only Rutger stayed close to him.

  “She.”

  “She? How could you tell?”

  Rutger paused in thought as they got to a pair of double doors with annoying cartoonish letters above it that read Gymnasium. Then he answered, “Experience.”

  “Huh …” Thomas wanted to ask more. What did he mean by “experience”? That he knows what a male and female werewolf look like in the dark? Did he have naughty escapades in his past with a she-wolf? He shook this train of thought from his mind, repeating to himself that now wasn’t the time, as he put his hands on the handles for the double doors and said, “Here we go.”

  They threw open the doors, expecting a ton of ghouls to be standing guard, but there was only one. It seemed surprised and raised a pitchfork at them when Rutger ran up, dodged the pitiful attempt at a stab with the pitchfork, and cleaved its head open, spraying in a fountain of blackened blood against the doors.

  “I guess that she-wolf was the real guard,” Thomas said.

  “Yep. But still be cautious. I’m getting all kinds of hinky vibes.”

  Before them were cages, still filled with people staring at them with wide eyes. The gym echoed with gasps and cries. There was a terrible smell in the air, reminding Thomas that they haven
’t been able to leave this room for at least a week. Thomas had forgotten the smell: an awful combination of human body odor, urine, and feces. They were never allowed to go to bathrooms; they were escorted into the far corner of the gym and made to squat: utterly humiliating and demeaning.

  Thomas shook off the smell as much as he could to get to the cages, and Rutger followed. Rutger never flinched at the odor. He pulled out his bolt cutters and cut the locks while Thomas worked at them with the crowbar.

  “You … came back?” a familiar voice asked as Thomas approached. It was Javier, Thomas’ cage-neighbor, the one who originally thought Violess’s crew were ICE officers.

  “It was this or death,” Thomas replied, smiling the best he could. “There were a few close calls, too.” Thomas noticed Javier appeared energetic, despite his pale complexion. In fact, this was the liveliest he had seen everyone in here. Suddenly, everyone had hope.

  He went to break the next lock and noticed something peculiar about them for the first time. Metal had been melted and poured into the keyholes. “Did they do this after we left?”

  Javier opened his door, carefully. A sense of wonder came over him, as if the moment wasn’t real, until he touched Thomas’s shoulder. “Yeah, they were pissed you picked the lock with parts of a pen, so they soldered a bunch of metal in all our locks to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.” He paused, wincing. “It’s gotten messier.” Javier referred to his desperate pile of waste in the corner of his cage.