She smiled and in her normal voice called out a single word.
“Rematch.”
At Fayte's vocable, Ellie gave a bloodcurdling scream that drew everyone's attention directed to her. Most especially the Zombie King. It was distraction enough. Fayte had already flipped Penny's lighter open. When Walker-Prime looked back up, one roman candle shot had already cleared half the distance between them. The bright burning shot struck the undead fiend square between the eyes!
He toppled over dropping all of his lines to the cages to the ground. They began to slide over the cliff, when the demon screamed out.
“Parker! The lines!”
The blonde broke her illusion of confinement and jumped from her knees, diving to catch the streaking chain and hemp across the dirt. They moved like snakes, spinning and curving until Parker grabbed them up into her fists.
“Release them now!” he commanded.
Parker did as she was bade. She ripped on the ropes hard, pulling the pins loose from each of the three cages in quick succession.
The walkers began stumbling out of their cages. Each looking up toward their king for direction! Tren realized that within each of the cages, were pig troughs. They were still dripping wet and dotted with bits of flesh and gray matter.
Oh shit, he thought. He started putting two and two together from what Fayte has told him. The Zombie King had upped his game as well. Brains bring them back. And if they are still hungry . . .
He yelled back to Fayte. “He's fed them brains!”
The King laughed even as he was trying to get the burning ash out of his eyes.
“Attack! Attack and I shall heal you all! Go my loyal subjects! Feast!”
The walkers turned and looked upward at the group staring back at them. Several of them started pounding their own fists into their hands. And then . . . they began to run!
She nodded, she had seen the troughs too. She had taken this into account too as a possibility. This was one of her bottom draws, lying in close competition to the shortest straw. The second to the worst case scenario, worst being all of the noise brings even more walkers traipsing into this briar patch. She eyed the oncoming storm, and again made some quick calculations.
Zombies follow the storms, she thought. They needed to end this quickly and decisively. The storm was a virtual dinner bell, and she would be damned if they were caught in the middle of it.
She raised both hands into the air and smiled at her five brotherly protectors. She left her arms drop, as was her signal, and gave them her three-word command.
“Raise Cain, boys!”
The Junction City boys and Byron pulled out their weapons, and charged the field, downward into the literal hell. When they reached the clash-point they watched as the first runner to meet them dropped like a heavy stone. They only heard the report of Ellie's sniper rifle, when the dead Zom had fallen, causing several of the others to topple over them. The twins used this to their advantage, swinging true with their bats and paddles, finishing the undead as they fell. Now, in the thick of it they rushed back to back, each taking on walkers as they approached in their line. One by one the walkers fell. Byron and Rhyce played to their strengths at being the heavies of the group. They took turns, grabbing up walkers from behind. As they attempted to shake their sub-doer off, the other would grab the zombie by the face, roll them into the crook of their arm, and snap the neck.
Callen and Tren realized that these fights were not as easy as their previous run-ins. These zombies were smart. Maybe not as smart as them, but they reacted. They dodged. They parried. They attempted to maneuver them into weaker positions.
Byron's whole demeanor changed. Rhyce realized that his must have been successful in bringing Carlos out. This was affirmed when he grabbed another Zom by the lapel, and yelled out like crazed Celt. He headbutted his undead adversary several times. The walker fell to the dirt like a broken toy, its forehead caved in.
“Hey! Carlos!”
Byron spun around. Rhyce was even able to see the difference in his eyes. They were not the soft eyes of the one he had gotten to know. There were murderous red giggles of glee trapped in them, and Carlos was hell-bent on getting them out.
Fayte kept lighting her candles off, each one shooting six to ten blasts depending on the number of duds that did not go off. She aimed them expertly, placing her hits at precise points to put those monsters at the mercy of her boys. Her crazy mixed bag of zombie killing uncles. All the while she kept her eyes on the still reeling Zombie King. However, his queen had other designs. She began her stride down the hill top, and walked around slowly toward Charlie's direction.
Fayte allowed her roman candle to completely spend it self, before running to Charlie.
“Your turn momma,” she said simply.
Charlie gave a cursory glance around. Her Fayte was safe where she was as long as the boys continued to hold out.
“Keep them covered, baby. I'll be right back.” She grabbed the girl by the face and gave her a quick hard kiss on her cheek. She pulled out her Glocks and went running up the hill. Jace had managed to keep the zombie on this side at bay, from his vantage point, but he was beginning to run out of bullets. His zombies learned quickly that they were in the firing line after the first three were dropped. They had begun to change up their tactics, keeping themselves in motion, and switching from one side of the path to the other. A couple of them still caught bullets, but since they were not head shots, they merely looked angrily at their wounds and doddered on. Jace was ill-prepared for hitting moving targets that were expecting his attack. He lost nine shots to the dirt and clay, before taking inventory. He had four bullets remaining. Jace would just have to wait until Charlie engaged, so that he would have some square opportunities for proper-take downs.
Then the tremors in his hands started again.
Oh dear God. Not now. Please not now. He had been separated from Charlie too long. The tremors came on so quickly this time that it hurt. He laid the gun down, and motioned over to Ellie. He showed his hand in all of its throes. Ellie nodded back. She adjusted her strategy to alternate firing between both sides. Jace ran quickly over to her, diving to stay low. He quickly produced his remaining ammunition and put it in Ellie's hand.
“I'm toast, Ellie.” he shook his head solemnly. She put her hand on his. “It's going to be okay, Jace.” She reached down and pulled Charlie's bowie knife out of her own belt. She passed it to Jace.
“You've got my back right?” she asked.
“Forever and always, sis.” He sat up kept his vigil, scanning the area around him. He would not let anything happen to his little sister. Ever. He just wished he could do something more for Charlie.
At that moment, a low guttural sound came the siblings' left. Jace jumped up and came face to face with walker that looked more human than zombie. He could see the intelligence trapped within his half healed eyes. These eyes no longer looked warped and shattered. In them was focus. In them was death!
Jace pushed the inhuman back away from his sister and maneuvered himself between the two. Using the handle of the bowie knife he swung and punched his opponent across the jaw three times. He only succeeded in moving the zombie's face to the left and then to the right. The zombie centered himself and started to chuckle. He had not felt a thing. Without thinking, Jace flipped the knife up in his hand and shoved the blade upwards into the neck and through its drug enchanted brain. Its smile died instantly. Jace collapsed back down with his sister.
“Nice one bro. Thanks.” With that Ellie returned to aiming, attempting to make her last twelve shots count.
***
Undead Parker was out of her mind into the throes of her addiction. She tasted blood on the air and found that she wanted it. She wanted it more badly than anything she had ever coveted in her living years, and she had wanted much more than she deserved. She remembered why she had gotten in selling drugs in the first place. She coveted all of the things her friends and classmate had always shoved
in her face. They taunted her with their state of the art toys and cars. She wanted that life so badly. She wanted to throw her own wealth and status in their faces, and selling the high end street drugs seemed the fasted way to do that.
She looked over the battlefield, occasionally ducked the stray Roman candle fire that veered in her direction. She still had her wits about her, but she did not know how long she was going to keep them. She knew they came and went, much like the tide. Only…
She remembered again the taste and the euphoria that came from being with her Zombie King. What was he feeding me? And why did it make me feel so much better, so much more alive?
These thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Charlie. She was swinging though the crowd, only she was missing more than she was connecting. The ZK’s army was a bit more of a challenge than she had expected. They were not merely animated automatons that reached out and only had one movement. Forward! No. They reacted quickly to her strikes. They dodged and rolled. Their Havoc enhanced bodies tapped into each of their inner strengths and made them faster, more unpredictable.
Parker studied her and crouched down like a lioness in waiting. Yes. She would wait it out, and let the undead army wear her ass out. Then, and only when Charlie had spent herself. Then she would take that girl’s throat out with her own undead teeth. That would show her king she was more worthy of his affections. Maybe then he would reward her. Give her that ambrosia that would keep her from feeling that aching, clawing need and banish that awareness forever. So was the train of thought of the Undead Parker.
She started to circle around, to put herself in prime position to strike when she felt Charlie was at her absolute weakest. She slipped and got entangled in entrails and tumbled down to the bottom of the quarry. She landed and screamed. The body of another zombie had been drug down the hillside with her, covering her in bits of flesh mixed in with the dirt that stuck all over her body. Parker pulled herself up off the ground. The landing was jarring, and it took a moment to get her bearings. When her vision corrected, her eyes landed on something that shocked her to her soul. The Zom that she had entangled herself in, had smashed its head against the rocks, and broke it open wide. Its contents spilled out over ground and had separated from its rotten skull.
Her gaze was held in place at the scene, like a bird in a vise. She cocked her head and realized a familiar smell was on the air. I…know this scent…
It was sweet and vulgar and ruin all at the same time. The sweet smell of death. Of brains.
She drew closer to it, the allure overpowering all of her other senses. She scooped them up, and tasted of them. She swallowed, and then…realization.
The girl in the dress. The memories clawed themselves back up to the front of her mind. The empty head. The girl in the pretty dress. The one she picked out for her sister.
My sister.
She stifled a scream lest her master hear her. She sobbed, silently and open mouthed. The chemical in the brains had brought her back, if only for the moment. Parker was back, and all was indeed not all right in the world. She looked down at the brains, in disgust. Contempt was rising beyond its boiling point.
That fucker is going to pay for what he did to us!
She commenced to finish off her meal of brains, choking them all down, hoping it would be plenty enough to buy her the time she needed. She walked out to where she knew he could see her. She bowed to her king, her signal that she was about to complete her mission. Capture Charlie and bring her before him.
Yeah, right. She smiled a deviant smile and ran to catch up with her ‘prey’.
It did not take her long.
She found her, beaten and exhausted. She was still surrounded, four on one, her zombie attackers trading her punch for punch. One had even scavenged a long pipe and was giving her a run for her money. Her sword was chipped and scratched from where she had tried to defend herself against the heavy swinging attacks. Charlie had managed to dismember several of them, but that did little to slow their onslaught. The last of the four collapse don her sword as she punched through She fell to the ground exhausted. Parker was quick to step on her feet and grab her hands tight into her own fists. She wrung the sword out from her wrists. Only a heavy yell from across the dirt yard stopped their advance.
“Enough!” The Zombie King bellowed. He started his way down from his makeshift throne. He surfed down the hill, controlling his descent with style and panache. Landing without missing a beat, he took his stride slowly toward the girls, triumphantly. He flicked his heavy coat behind him so that it snapped audibly, with a flourish.
“So, Charlie. I have you now.”
Parker looked over her shoulders with bloodlust in her eyes.
“Leave her to me girl! I told you she was mine!” The Zombie King’s words were laced in finality. She swung her head back around to bear against Charlie, but allowed her expression to melt into the saddest of smiles. Charlie looked Parker dead in the face. She stood expectant, even daring for her end to come. She opened her eyes wide and glared defiantly. Her untamed fire was all she had left in this world, and she would let it burn wild to the bitter end.
Parker waited until she felt her king just within two body lengths away. She looked up to mouth her final message.
Use me. Kill us. Please.
Charlie could only nod, wide-eyed. Hope sprung through like break a dam. It was a faint trickle at first, but grew in the realization of the gift that Parker had just given her. In moments she felt her strength build again for one final strike.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Parker allowed herself one last smile. She released her grip on Charlie’s sword arm and closed her eyes
Charlie leaned back hard and fast and broke loose from Parker’s remaining embrace that had her immobilized. Her fingernails scraped into and across the dirt as she swooped her sword back up into her palm. She brought up her sword just as Patient Zero leaned over to knock Parker off of her. Charlie winced as she drove the sword straight through her skull, out the back and dead center into the Zombie King’s chest.
Even as the other marauding walkers ran and continued the attack, releasing their piercing cries at their enemies, all was quiet for a desperate moment in Charlie’s bubble. Time stood still in a breathless Polaroid picture. Time then resumed as the Zombie King broke the silence.
“Gurk!” was the only sound the undead fool could manage.
Charlie ripped the sword out with a satisfying, primal scream. The wounded walker-prime staggered back, clutching his chest. Parker’s body fell down on its side, never to rise again. The intelligence and consciousness in her eyes faded to black for the last time. Charlie gave Parker only the shortest of glances to acknowledge her sacrifice and then pushed herself off the ground onto her feet. Patient Zero still on two feet, but clearly weakened by the wound. She rushed to face him. He staggered backwards and tried to jump at her, lunging with both arms outstretched. She countered with a side kick to his chest. He ran right into it, doubling the effect. He caved in on himself, not from pain, but from the force Charlie had managed against him. In his doubled-over state he had the wind knocked literally out of his sails. Twice.
The Zombie King felt himself blacking out. Charlie wasted no time. She refused to let up. Out of breath, she scooped up the pipe that had been left from her previous attacker. She gripped it like a baseball bat and swung up and across the monsters chin, spinning him over and down into the bottom of the pit.
She dropped her weapon and fell over again to the ground, exhausted. She could no longer contain herself with the Herculean effort she had executed. Rolling over from the pain, she vomited. She crawled to the edge of the pit to witness for herself the end of the battle. The King had already righted himself from his fall, and had begun to stretch toward hand holds above him. He was not finished with Charlie yet!
Charlie screamed. “Boys! Plan B!” The Junction City Boys had followed Charlie’s lead, double teaming walkers as they attacked. The each chose and end and
swung each of the walkers flying high into the pit. With only a couple of them left to fend off, they had made a game out of it, and were clearly enjoying themselves way too much. They tripped the final two, rolling them over the precipice, barely containing their laughter as falling dead growled and rasped on the way down.
Charlie’s yell had gotten their attention though. They looked down and came to the same conclusion that she had. They would never stop. They would never surrender, even if they were more intelligent than the zombies that had fought in the past. Their hunger could never be sated. Eventually they would return, and all of this noise was bound to draw even more walkers into the fold. This needed to end now. The Zombie King was coming, offering her nothing more than a fate worse than rape.
Three focused Roman-candle bursts struck the inside of the pit wall, sending dirt and a small measure of rocks tumbling down over the climbing walkers.
Cross yelled back from across the pit. “What you say Charlie?”
She cupped her hands. “PLAN B!”
They scrambled to pull the dynamite out of their packs. Fayte ran over from her hiding spot from the fence and tossed the lighter into Tren’s waiting hands. He gave each of his brother’s in arms each one stick and lit them all.
A big smile crossed Rhyce’s lips as his, the last baton, was lit.
“FIRE IN THE HOLE!”
The Zombie King look up sharply, just in time to make out four spinning sparklers fly out to all corners of the pit.
“Holy Hell,” he whispered.
Each stick exploded just as the entire group dived and covered their heads. Rocks cracked and broke, flying in all directions. The entire pit hiccupped into a small mushroom cloud of dirt and dust, obscuring all vision.
Charlie’s hearing throbbed and ached. The explosion echoed in her ears on repeat, slowing winding down from its fiery crescendo, until all that remained was a dull throbbing. It was minutes before enough of the sand was carried away on the winds to show the final result of the Zombie Kings’ first and final battle.
Zombies Don't Ride Motorcycles Page 31