by Jeff Gunhus
“What help are they going to be?” Eva sniffed.
“Apparently, they are going to escort us to the lair of the Lord of the Zombies,” I said. “And help us steal his Jerusalem Stone.”
“Or die trying,” Ariel said with a smile. “Which is more likely the case.
T-Rex groaned. “If you’re going to hang with us, please don’t say things like that. We’re more sunny, optimistic people.”
Xavier stepped forward. “Statistically speaking, she’s right. It’s much more likely that we’ll die before we…” He caught my glaring look and stopped with a shrug. “Just saying.”
“Okay,” I said. “Master Aquinas says you know where we’re going. Let’s get on with it.”
Ariel waved her people forward. “That’s more like it. Let’s go find some zombies.”
20
Norway was our destination. The journey across Europe was long and uncomfortable. We traveled in the backs of freight cars, stuffed into whatever dark corner we could find. Ariel and her band of thieves, exactly a dozen of them, kept us well supplied with food and drink. I never asked where she got the supplies. We were out of money and my growling stomach overruled my guilt about eating stolen food. T-Rex said something at one point, but Ariel laughed it off, claiming that they only stole from Creach impersonating humans. I wasn’t sure if that was true or if she just said that to make T-Rex feel better. Either way, it worked for me.
All my friends had taken turns reading Master Aquinas’s letter. I could tell they all had a similar reaction and somehow knew the words had been from Aquinas herself. Once Eva had read the letter, she stopped questioning my decision to trust Ariel. Call it magic or a connection or anything else, the fact was that we each heard Master Aquinas’s voice as we read the letter, and so left the experience without any doubt that it was genuine.
Ariel’s thieves stayed well apart from our group, sleeping in other cars and serving as look-outs. Besides Ariel, the only ones that spoke to us were Mara, Tone, and Sahila, the three hunters who had confronted us in the town square. As we rumbled through the middle of Germany, I asked Mara why they hadn’t just walked up and told us they’d been sent by Master Aquinas. Why kidnap Daniel and challenge us to a fight?
“Ariel wanted to know what we were getting ourselves into,” she said. “Master Aquinas told us you all knew how to take care of yourselves, but Ariel thought we might be babysitting.”
“Babysitting? Really?”
“You have to admit, we took you all down easily,” she said.
“Until you didn’t,” I said. “It was Ariel who had a sword at her throat at the end.”
Mara shrugged. “Thanks to the two with Creach powers. Without that, we had you.” She pointed a finger at me. “Your devotion to your friends is your weakness. It’s going to get you all killed one day.”
“That devotion is the only thing that’s kept us alive this long,” I replied.
“You just keep telling yourself that and see where you end up,” Mara murmured as she leaned back and closed her eyes, signaling the conversation was over.
The comment made for a sleepless night as our train trekked further and further north.
Two trains later, and what seemed like an endless time stuffed away in uncomfortable places, Ariel passed word that we’d reached the end of the line.
We got out; there was a large sign saying we’d arrived in Bodon. A large map of Norway was helpfully positioned beside the sign, showing where we were with a big red dot.
“What’s that curved line going across the map under the red dot?” T-Rex asked, looking over the map with me.
“That’s the Arctic Circle,” Xavier said.
“Are you kidding?” Will said. “I knew we were going north, but not North Pole north. That’s crazy.”
“We’re still a long way from the North Pole,” Xavier said.
“But we’re heading that direction,” Ariel said, walking up behind us. “By the time we get to where we’re going, you’re going to feel like you’re in the North Pole. Only instead of nice elves, we’ll be up to our armpits in zombies. Come on. The others are going to find some warmer clothes for us. They’ll catch up.”
Ariel trudged off, Will, T-Rex and Xavier following close behind her. Eva and Daniel stepped up next to me.
“I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Eva said.
“Master Aquinas trusts her,” I said.
“Yeah, but she trusts you too,” Daniel said, slapping me on the back. “Just proves no-one’s perfect.”
“Thanks.”
“That’s why I’m here,” he said. “To keep your head from getting too big.”
I shuddered and it wasn’t from the chill in the air. I wrapped my arms across my chest as a feeling of cold dread filled me. Eva flinched next me.
“You feel it too?” I asked.
Eva nodded but Daniel looked confused.
“What are you guys talking about? What do you feel?”
“You don’t sense anything?” Eva asked him.
“I sense that I’m hungry. And not for another protein bar either.”
“But you feel it, don’t you?” I said to Eva.
She nodded. “Ren Lucre.”
“I don’t feel anything.”
I felt the pull of an invisible force, something cold and hard, like fingers wrapping around my bare bones. “He’s calling those with vampire blood,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” Eva whispered. “It’s more personal than that. He’s…he’s…he’s calling his family to him.”
I turned to Eva, feeling my eyes bulge as I stared at her. Of course. It was the blood of my aunt, Shakra, Lord of the Vampires, that flowed in her veins. Just as my mother’s flowed in mine.
A slight breeze picked up, blowing out of the ice fields to the west of us. The feeling of Ren Lucre’s presence seemed to drift away with the wind, as if it were dissolving into the air. Soon it was gone completely.
“It stopped,” Eva said.
“For me too.”
Daniel looked us both over. “Does this mean he knows we’re here? If he can sense you, then our entire mission is at risk.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “It felt more like someone shouting into the open air. Random. Desperate. Almost…lonely.” I shuddered as I said the word, remembering how vulnerable and sad the feeling had seemed.
“Yeah, well let’s just hope he’s still lonely and not celebrating an upcoming family reunion now that you two are in the country. That would ruin our plans in a hurry.”
“Are you three coming?” Ariel called ahead of us. “Or do you plan to stay here at the train yard all night?”
“Come on, let’s go,” Eva said. “Let’s promise to tell one another if we feel his presence again.”
I nodded and we hustled to catch up with Ariel. As we turned the corner from the main station, three of her thieves were standing there with winter coats, hats and gloves for us.
“Do I want to know how they got these?” I asked.
“I know you’re all weak-kneed over stealing things,” Ariel said. “So the girls bought these. A waste of money if you ask me.”
We pulled on the clothes thankfully as the sun was rapidly setting and it was already cold. An old supply truck pulled up, looking as though it belonged in a WWII newsreel instead of driving on the road.
“But this we had to borrow,” she said. “We plan on returning it when we’re done. It’ll probably be covered with zombie guts by then, but we’ll get it back to the rightful owner.”
“Zombie guts?” T-Rex said, climbing onto the truck.
“You’ll be fine,” Will said, following behind him. “I seem to remember that first night in Sunnyvale you did a pretty good job facing down the zombie hoard. And think how much you’ve been through since then.”
“I’ve never seen a zombie, but I’ve read a lot about them,” Xavier said. “You have to cut off their heads. Or at least stab them through the brain.”
/> “Just like on TV,” Will said. “Piece of cake. And they move around all slow and stupid. Aaarrgghhhh.”
“Except for the fast zombies,” Eva said. “They can sprint faster than T-Rex running down a pizza.”
“I think you’re underestimating how fast I can chase down a pizza,” T-Rex said. “Especially right now. One from Papagallos back in Sunnyvale.”
“Pepperoni and pineapple,” I said, my mouth watering.
“The best,” Will agreed.
Eva let us have the moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right. T-Rex chasing down the famed Papagallos' pepperoni and pineapple pizza you three are always talking about probably could outrun a fast zombie.”
“If there’s a pizza involved, I could outrun a cheetah,” T-Rex said proudly.
We grabbed a seat on the floor, beaming at each other, enjoying a light moment for a change. The three of us had been through a lot together. Elementary school, middle school, fighting hordes of monsters to save the world, the usual type of thing that brought friends together.
“Good, because fast zombies are about the same speed as cheetah,” Eva said. “Maybe even faster. So you better be able to imagine a lot of pizza. Otherwise the zombies are going to be the ones getting a good meal.”
21
Zombies. Thousands of them. Way more than I ever imagined there would be, they filled the valley floor beneath us. We were perched on a rocky outcropping about halfway up the side of the mountain wall on the south side, giving us a direct look at the gaping cave mouth on the north side. The sun was setting so a bright orange glow was visible in the low light, flickering from inside the cave. A gushing river came from the center of the mouth, wide and fast, but leaving plenty of room on either side of it for lines of zombies that were marching out from inside the mountain.
“There are so many of them,” T-Rex said. I felt him shivering next to me. It was freezing cold outside, but our parkas and other gear kept us warm. The chill he felt had nothing to do with the temperature.
“How could there be so many?” Eva asked.
“Especially so far up here,” Will added. “I mean, we’re miles and miles away from any kind of town or village.”
“They stockpiled,” Xavier said, a certain amount of respect in his voice. “Basic military doctrine.”
“What are you talking about?” Daniel asked.
Xavier pointed to the cave. “It does no good to leave your weapons and supplies out in the open where your enemy can see them. I bet you they’ve been sending zombies up here for decades, centuries even, and storing them here.”
“But zombies don’t tend to want to stay still,” Eva said. “They wander around, looking for food. It’s what they do. I doubt they’d stay in one place for that long.”
Xavier’s eyebrows pinched together as he thought about Eva’s point. Then, his expression changed, as he once again looked down at the valley, obviously impressed.
“See the orange glow inside?” he asked.
“It’s a fire,” Will said. “An enormous one by the look of it.”
“A fire…” Xavier said slowly, giving us a chance to catch up to him. “In an ice cave…”
T-Rex got it first. “They’re thawing them out. Like frozen sausages in the freezer.”
Xavier nodded excitedly. “Except these sausages walk around and try to find brains to eat once they’re thawed out.”
“Let me get this straight,” Eva said. “So you’re saying they stashed zombies in that cave for decades––”
“––or centuries––”
“And they froze them there for safekeeping?”
“Until right before they were needed for the war,” I said softly. “Ren Lucre is getting close to launching his attack.”
“But what good is a zombie army way up here?” Daniel said. “We’ve all seen zombies walk. They’re so slow. It would take forever for them to…”
His voice faded as we all took notice at the same time of the zombies at the edges of the main mass. These were sprinting, leaping over rocks, clearly moving faster than any of us could run. The sluggish mass in the middle was only that way because they didn’t have room to run. Once they were unleashed, they could swarm the countryside in no time.
“Bummer,” Will said.
We all nodded our heads. Total bummer.
“I think we found a way in,” Ariel whispered behind us. She and her thieves had spread out and scanned the area, looking for weaknesses. “Fortunately, their lair isn’t protected very well. Looks like they didn’t expect visitors.”
“Show us what you found,” I said.
We snuck backwards, none of us wanting to raise the attention of the zombies down below. It wasn’t until we were over the ridgeline with solid rock separating us that I finally relaxed.
“Those guys are fast,” T-Rex said, chewing his lip.
“Told you,” said Eva.
Ariel nodded. “It’s worse inside the cave.”
“There are thousands of zombies down there. All of them able to run us down in less than a minute. How could it be any worse?” Daniel asked.
“We could stand out here and talk about it, or I can show you,” she said.
If there was a question buried in what she said, she didn’t wait for an answer. She turned heel and marched down the back of the mountain. I noticed how lightly she walked, barely making a sound. It reminded me of Eva. In contrast, Will, T-Rex, Xavier and I made a racket, kicking loose stones with our toes and crunching through the thin layers of ice that blended into the slate grey rock.
Good thing there weren’t any sentries around because we would have been toast.
Soon, we came to a small opening in the mountain. Four of Ariel’s thieves stood guard. Those were the ones I could see anyway. I suspected there might have been others blending into the shadows as they stood watch.
We ducked our heads and followed Ariel into the hole. I wondered not only how they could have possibly found this entrance, but what made them think it might lead to the main cavern inside. As soon as we were in the tunnel though, I smelled the smoke from the fire in the main cave. If the smoke had a way out, then that meant there had to be a way in. The only question was whether it was big enough for us or not.
Down, down, down, we went, spiraling like a corkscrew, reminding me of the stairs that led down to our prison cells at the Colonel’s castle. Fortunately, we had tiny pen-sized flashlights that Ariel’s thieves had picked up somewhere. Without them, we would have been groping through pitch-black darkness.
As we went, the smoke grew more intense, stinging our eyes and threatening to make us cough. We pulled the fronts of our shirts up over our mouths to block most of it. The last thing we needed was seven people having a coughing fit as we snuck into the place.
I was right behind Ariel, my thoughts focused on what we were about to find beneath us, when she came to an abrupt stop. I ran into her and this caused a chain reaction down the line of people bumping into one another. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe. We weren’t really the finely tuned fighting force we ought to be to face these incredible odds. But then again, we never had been.
Ariel looked less than impressed. She scowled as she whispered, “Lights off. No noise from here on out.”
We dutifully turned off our flashlights. The second they were off, I noticed a faint red glow ahead of us, the same as we’d seen coming out of the main entrance. The smoke was heavy here, but luckily the tunnel was narrow but high, at least fifteen feet by the looks of it. The smoke was mostly above our heads as it streamed upward trying to find its way outside. I was able to lower my shirt from my mouth and take some deep breaths.
Only this time there was a terrible stench in the air, something so foul and revolting that I immediately wished the smoke would come back. The smell shouldn’t have surprised me; I’d been around zombies before after all, but I’d forgotten just how bad it was. There’s nothing quite like the smell of rotting flesh. All of our shirts were
immediately raised back over our noses.
Ariel crouched to the ground and held her finger to her lips. I could hear the crackle of a large fire ahead of us and a low, murmuring sound like a crowd chanting.
She waved me up next to her and I pushed forward, sliding against the wall. What I saw down below in the main cave was a nightmare unlike anything I’d seen.
The cavern was enormous, hundreds of feet from the floor to the ceiling. It stretched out so far into the distance that it faded into inky darkness. What made the place unique was that the walls and floor and ceiling were not made of the same dark rock as was outside the mountain. Somehow the inside of the cave was ice in every direction, visible because the zombie horde down below stoked enormous fires throughout the cave. When I say enormous, I mean they were fires as tall as two or three story buildings. Entire trees were dragged in from the mouth, and directed up long, sloping ramps so they could be tossed into the inferno.
I didn’t at first understand what the zombies were doing, but with one look at the water streaming from the walls into the river gushing river down the center of the cave, I got it.
“They’re melting the walls,” I whispered. “Xavier was right.”
“Look in the ice,” Ariel said.
I checked out a section of wall closest to us where a circle of zombies had collected. They clawed at the ice, scraping it away.
“What are they…”
But then something in the ice broke free. Just an arm at first. Then a leg. Seconds later the ice shattered as a zombie tore free from the wall. It was clad in animal skins, a heavy armored breastplate and a metal helmet. Once it was free, it roared and the zombies around it returned the call. Immediately, the group went to work on another dark smudge hidden inside the ice.
Realizing what I was seeing, I slowly looked across the cavern with new eyes. I hadn’t noticed it before, or maybe I’d thought it was just a trick of the flickering firelight, but now I saw it clearly. The walls everywhere were peppered with dark smudges, hundreds, no thousands, of them. Each dark spot was another zombie frozen in the ice, now being thawed out by the massive fires, and readied for battle.