by Logan Keys
The tears drop onto our hands.
I let them come in a rush and I plead with him. “Please. Stay. For me. Don’t go. I know it’s easy, so tempting to leave us all here and go where you think she waits for you…”
I don’t say her name. “I’m not going to be okay without you. You hear me?” I gulp back a sob. “Be here when I come back. I just… just… be here. Okay?” I wipe my eyes. “The people need us. They are in trouble. I’ve gotta go.”
I let go of his hand slowly, and turn toward the door. Without glancing back, I let my head fall and my shoulders slump, defeated by the lie that has hung between us for so long. I say, “She’s still alive, Jeremy. Liza. She’s alive.”
And I leave without checking to see if he understood.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Liza
Bodega is becoming a fog-filled scene of empty eyes and empty gazes. Everyone just shambles by me, not functioning on any level other dragging their feet. They act as if they’re set to repeat, and the scene is eerily lacking true humanity.
Everyone goes through their motions until eventually they all stop where they are.
I walk from one side of the island to the other, and everyone, every single person is like a mannequin, motionless, and staring at nothing.
I find Mimi near my bunk, her face slack, her eyes unseeing. “Mimi,” I say, my voice shaking with dread.
She’s hunched over, still, and unmoving. I turn to leave and her hand latches onto my arm.
Her face is unchanged, but her fingers chain my wrist, and she’s powerfully strong. “Liza,” her mouth whispers.
“Mimi…? Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
I tug on my wrist but she won't let go. I pull again, and it seems to set her off. Mimi lunges at me, snagging my smock with both hands. Her face is twisted into a venomous snarl, and her eyes are red.
She’s turned.
“No!” I scream, as she strikes, teeth biting for my throat.
“Liza!” a voice roars and the world shimmers around me.
I struggle with Mimi as she changes into a decaying zombie child.
“Liza!” the voice calls again and Bodega crumbles, the place ripping apart at the seams.
The image flickers from Mimi into someone else. The breeze that touches my skin feels fresh, real. Night appears as the day sheds like scales. I’m on a highway surrounded by chaos.
I’m awake.
I cry out as the zombie shoves me to the ground.
I’m awake.
This is real.
Phillip grabs me by my shirt and drags me out from underneath the snapping jaws, and stomps on the head until it bursts like a grape.
The Skulls and Cory are surrounded by a horde of the undead.
“Can you shoot?” Phillip asks helping me up and I shake my head.
Cory holds his gun up, his eyes wildly searching the growing crowd of the undead.
“Give her the sword!” he yells, his gaze not meeting mine.
Sword…he’d brought her?
Phillip digs through a pile of things and withdraws Spirit. She’s glowing and shiny. My fingers curl.
“Here.” He tosses her to me.
I catch Spirit. I heft her weight and stare in surprise. The tingling up my arm makes my knees quake with joy. I know already the brand glows more brightly on my arm. The power after feeling so powerless for so long, brings every cell of my being to life
I lift Spirit with both hands and face the horde. The Skulls are busy shooting waves of them down, but Cory and Phillip stare at me with surprise.
I long to jab my blade straight through Cory’s heart.
“No time,” he says, finally looking me in the eye from across the road. “Kill them. Focus your energy.”
He can make me do his bidding either way. For now, I bide my time, and all of that frustration and impotence I’ve felt for so long, I turn into a weapon as strong as Spirit herself.
The first zombie lumbers toward me. I hesitate, but then his bone-like hand reaches for Spirit and it’s like a fire in my veins. I react. I swing the blade.
She should be too heavy, but she moves with ease. It should be uncomfortable to hold her, but it’s as if she’s lightened just for me, become thinner and smaller. The blade is not as wide, now it’s more slender and feminine. The handle fits more easily in my palm. It’s as if the sword grows to fit the wielder. For Tommy, she was thick and heavy. For me, she’s no bigger than a Katana.
Spirit sings in the air as I bring her down across the chest of the first zombie. It crumples onto the ground, and I spin and slice across its neck, removing the head.
This sword slides through bone and corrupted flesh like butter. Without waiting, I spin left and right and do the same to the two on either side, and then more meet their end at the edge of Sprit.
Soon, it’s a blur of fallen undead and Spirit’s glow.
The word Revenge sizzles on my skin, a good kind of burning. My arms never tire as I cut and swing and repeat. Some, three and four at once with one long arc, I lance through them. The horde is thinning beneath the bullets. I help by making large swathes of space with my blade.
I don’t have time to see if Phillip and Cory are surprised. I feel the wolf eyes pinned to my back; Phillip wondering at the amazing feat that is this magical sword, and I sense Cory in my mind, the ever present being of control over me, who is amazed. But I also sense his approval.
I can’t think about it now. I’m too busy lobbing off heads.
Phillip makes a push on my side. “Come on!”
He has to pull me away from the fight as we work our way from the highway into tall dry grass. It hisses with the sound of our steps as we run.
The group makes it to a safe distance. “Where’s Leo?” I ask, and Phillip frowns.
“He’s gone. Ahead.”
“Alone?”
Phillip shakes his head. “Not completely.” He sighs like he has too much to tell me. “He’s staying away from the cities, the worst areas. The roads are most dangerous. I told Cory not to come this way.”
“Cory,” I growl turning to look for the monster.
Cory strides over, his face serious, the eyes tight between the scar I gave him that’s healed some.
“How long have I been… gone?” I ask Phillip, but before he can answer, Cory’s standing before me.
I lift my sword.
“Ah-ah, Liza. Remember last time?”
I do. I’d cut him. And he’d wiped my mind and made me a slave.
“How long?” I ask, hating the quiver in my voice.
Cory seems to measure me a moment. I’m covered in grime from the battle. He sees something there he doesn’t like. “Not long enough,” he says, and then I’m back in Bodega.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Dallas
This side of the city is littered with trash and smoke from the fires make everything hazy. Masculinity ekes out of every corner. That’s just cause their numbers are far larger. But the chaos is like a pheromone attracting more chaos.
My inner she-demon catches a scent. She goes on alert. Something about the human confusion is heady and makes her come alive. The brewing tension among the men makes her long for a brawl of her own.
She’s been a punching bag for so long that now, even if it’s not right, she’s seeking revenge in the land of testosterone.
Shade notices, but doesn’t say anything. Even when my walk changes, becomes silkier. My hands curve into claws and my teeth elongate. I know if I look in a mirror I’ll see red eyes glowing in the darkness. The demon in its form.
Most nights I come to life, trying to find my humanity, but it’s moments like this that my undead side is more alive than my human side. It’s more what I seek and accept. I am aware that I am no longer passive-aggressive Dallas, but the aggressive-aggressive monster within.
If you survive me like this, you’ll wish you were dead.
Shade is a shadow, but is he a demon?
I think that he’s not.
I’m alone in that with my hunger. And suddenly, I am very hungry.
Men come out of the woodwork. These are just the human ones. You can tell apart the military grunts from the specials. They sit by each side of the alleyway, talking, playing cards in the dim light, but while some gaze at me with knowing eyes, the others shift uncomfortably.
They see us and stiffen, a few let themselves stare at my assets, while others see me for what I am, death in the form of a girl. The latter’s eyes widen.
They still call the other side La La Land. Funny little name. But this side they’ve been calling: Fallout
Two names. Two sides.
Both lost causes without the other.
A perfect metaphor for the crisis the world is in.
As we get closer, things change. More soldiers with strange looks appear. Some are bigger than a man should be and there are eyes that shine in the darkness. Others move incredibly fast, I can’t see them change position. Not as fast as Shade though. One vibrates in his boots, ready to take flight or some such ability.
I keep my guard up. You never know what they’ve been gifted with.
A blind man shows me things in a glimpse. Impressions. I have to shake him off me. He’s slithering in and out of my mind like oil across glass. Once I have him gone, another shimmers in front of me, like he’s made of metal, but then he begins melting.
“Mercury,” Shades supplies, as the guy drips pieces of himself wherever he walks.
It’s kind of nice to not be looked at like before. These see me as a challenge, but some smile the smile and nod of welcome. We are the same. A brother and sisterhood of freaks. At another time, perhaps we’d latch hands, introduce ourselves. I sense they’d be a friend. Not all are hateful of women as their leader.
“Why are there so many more specials that are men?” I ask.
“Before there was you all, the vampires, they just went through the program equal numbers. It was torturous and girls died more often, not from pain, but genetic breakdown. Er… barriers. I’m no scientist, but maybe it was nature’s way since you’re the ones who can have children, I dunno. Something like ten to one on the death toll. The ability to fight infection should have been stronger in females, or so they said, but instead, it was like evolution decided there would be no…” He coughs. “Offspring or something.”
I roll my eyes. “How many women specials are there?”
“I’m not sure. But most of them are with the vampires.”
“Interesting.”
So, Joelle is the way to circumvent the natural selection of specials. That makes her more special than special.
“Sad and interesting. Are vampires sterile?”
I flinch inwardly. “I’m not sure. Probably. Maybe it’s a blessing,” I say. “I mean that there are only a few of us.”
He nods, getting my meaning. “You are kind of one in a million.”
I smile. “Why do I feel a wink in there somewhere?”
He smiles. “Because there is. You ready?” he asks again.
“How many times are you going to ask me that?”
“Bradford’s an acquired taste is all.”
I laugh.
Shade’s head catches on his neck to see my jaws in the moonlight. When wide, they make quite a spectacle. He makes a sound that’s not quite disgust. It seemed like pleasure.
Shade snags my arm and pulls me into an alleyway, and at first, I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead he’s checking to make sure the group passing by doesn’t see us.
“Why these?” I ask.
“The loyal ones. Raiders.”
“Raiders?” I snort.
“Shut it,” he hisses.
Shade’s really worried about these Raiders.
“What is a Raider?” I whisper.
“Originally? Marines. But they are special now, too. Alone they aren’t too much trouble but the thing about a raider is…”
“They don’t work alone. Got it.”
“Yeah, you would,” he says smiling. “You vamps are peas in a pod.”
He’s got me against the wall, and he shades me with this body. I realize they can’t see us.
Shade. Ha.
I get it now.
Shade’s mouth is next to my ear, and he whispers, “So you ready, my romantic one?”
He’s poking fun at my lack of romance. I know he can see me clear as day when I prick my tongue on my teeth in a smile. I let the blood coat my lips. My body reacts as it should, and I change all the more to that other thing. I’ve embraced it and what it can do.
He shudders in my hands, but not with revulsion.
I smell his need but I push him away and say, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Dallas
Bradford is a loud mouth braggart. I can tell without even getting close. He’s talking to someone up front and with my hearing so acute, I listen in. He’s explaining why he’s the best and knows everything for a few minutes. Even when we approach, he acts like by not acknowledging us right away, it keeps us in check.
Good.
Stay cocky, Bradley, I think.
My lip curls. He’s got himself up on a throne like a king.
Adrian thinks herself a queen.
I’m disgusted with all this pretend royalty.
And then I see the machine. It’s a lot bigger than I’d pictured. I thought of maybe a toaster sized thing or something. Like you could run away with it, steal it, lose it in the ocean. But this… it’s like I’m seeing something that’s not of this world.
Alien.
Like us.
Giant circular metal, and in the middle, is that frost? Are those shapes inside? It makes my skin crawl.
Bradford leans forward onto his knees. Crouched. He’s in running shorts which is weird in the soldier setting. He’s got a wife beater on.
My fangs are too long to close my mouth so I let them show. That makes him smile.
He slowly rises to his full height. I must admit it’s impressive. He’s not a small man.
“So, it’s true,” he says. “They got vampires over there. Didn’t I tell you, Shade?” Shade says nothing and Bradford’s cold eyes shift between us dumbly. No understanding appears. “Did you go over there, shadow man? Did you get a good look?”
I glance at Shade. So, he’d been using me.
I shrug when I feel him staring at me for reaction. Did he actually think I cared? I’m not worried if he had ulterior motives. He was fun while he lasted.
I look back at Bradford. “This line between sides is nonsense. We need to join together if you think to take Anthem. Stop being childish.”
If he is surprised by my bluntness on his turf, he hides it well.
Bradford shakes his head. “Not going to happen with Adrian at the head over there.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
I shrug. “We will remove her.”
“Who will? You?” It’s obvious he likes what he’s hearing.
I nod. “You would have to step down. My own leader will take over for all of the forces.”
Bradford snorts. “That little vampire?”
“The very same.”
He throws his head back, laughing. “This one… you… you.” Bradford wags a finger at me and faces Shade.
Shade stays tight lipped, looking ahead.
“Wait a minute,” Bradford says, glaring between us. “What the hell, man? You been hitting that? A grave sleeper? She drinks blood! That means diseases. Like rats.” His face shifts from the too dumb for words to a mask of pure disgust and vileness. “You might as well screw a zombie.”
I tighten my fists but stay still. I’ve learned a lot in this short life of mine, but one of the most important things is this: Let hate speak for itself. Hate’s a big talker. Likes the sounds of its own voice.
Bradford is trying to get me to make a move. “You mean to tell me all this time you’ve be
en jumping each other’s bones while I’m over here doing the hard work?” He comes forward and Shade is like a statue. Bradford gets a foot away from him and tries to look into his dark face. “You let her drink your crazy shadow blood and everything?”
I sigh. Loudly. Draw attention to myself.
He wants a fight, I’ll give it to him, but I’m not one for making a move until I know what I’m dealing with.
It works. Bradford is already stalking my way. “Blood sucker, what do you think of my place?”
“It looks more like a refurbished store room. Kinda dirty. Not surprising.”
He laughs again. Laughing and giggling like a fool. The king of fools. The fool of fools.
“You were right,” I say to Shade.
He tilts his head like, I told you so.
Bradford’s head snaps in his direction. “You a turncoat or what? You ready to join the vagina squad over there? They’ll make you stone when you least expect it.” He snaps his fingers.
“Joelle wants the machine,” I say in a bored tone.
“I wasn’t finished.”
“Let me help you then. Joelle wants the machine and you can shut the hell up about the rest.”
“Women!” he shouts at the ceiling and raises his hands upward. “Give me strength!”
“Why do you need strength?” I ask. “Is your jaw tired?”
Bradford’s eyes flare.
Shade moves closer, but subtly. He hasn’t seen this side of me. The side that has been near death on the losing end, but who has taken every single piece of herself back with the blessing of a dark gift.
I’ll own every bit of this new me. The she-demon. Because she’s the reason I’m still alive.
Bradford shrugs off the challenge. Stupid but patient at the same time. That’s a deadly combination.
He walks over and pings the frosted glass. “This machine? It’s now useless.”
“What is it?” I ask.
“She didn’t tell you? Your little vampire queen?”