by RS Black
A snappy retort was right on the tip of my tongue when I felt the prickle of sonar brush against me.
“Dora, let’s—”
“Shh.” I placed a finger against my lips. “Stop talking.”
His brows twitched but he did stop to listen.
Now that I was aware of the movement, I noticed the pitch wavering like the swell of a wave. Up and down, over and over again.
“You feel that?” I looked at him.
But I knew he did the second I saw him brush at the fine hairs on his arms, which were suddenly standing on edge.
“Sounds like some sort of a frequency wave.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Two guesses where it’s coming from, first guess doesn’t count.”
We both turned toward the cave entrance across the gully.
“I vote no.” He clamped his lips and crossed his arms in a way that made his biceps look twice as large.
“I’m not leaving him. He wouldn’t leave me.”
“I’ll follow you if you can explain how two sets of zombies got the jump on us without us noticing. I don’t trust him, Dora.”
“You don’t have to, Luc, but I do. And I’m going.”
Just as I was set to trace, he tried to grab my hand.
“Don’t!” I jumped out of the way. “Don’t touch me. I’m hopped up on Pestilence—I’ll knock you down into the valley if you do.”
Narrowing his eyes, he yanked my hand into his and I felt the power surge leap into him.
But maybe because he’d been prepared for it, he was able to clench his teeth and hang on. The surge didn’t last long, but it was enough to break him out in a wash of sweat and turn his normally bronzed skin ashy.
It actually felt good to release some of that adrenaline, helped me to feel not so wound tight as I normally did after a fight with Pest juicing me up. “You okay?” I touched his shoulder.
Jerking his head, he muttered, “Hang on.”
Then he traced us both to the cave.
Chapter 20
“Shit!” He cried out and clapped hands over his ears.
The vibrations in here were sonorous, moving through us with such force that I felt my insides quiver like jelly. Blood rushed immediately to my head.
The smell of death was bad enough, but the thick crush of bodies rapidly running our way was even worse.
The entrance of the cave wasn’t very wide. If he and I stood side by side, we’d easily be able to defend ourselves.
“Nothing passes, you hear me,” he barked out.
Those were the last words spoken before we were set upon. My fan wasn’t the greatest in such an enclosed space. Not the most practical of weapons—you needed room to flourish and brandish such a romantic piece of equipment. But with such limited space to move in, this job would require I get down and dirty.
Pestilence pulsed through my body in waves, oozing through my pores in a green rolling mist. I was bone-deep cold as his power rushed through me, but each time I used him, I was better able to control my reaction to that violent level of freeze. Curving my fingers, I flexed my elongated black claws and puffed out a jet of white fog from my mouth. The thrum of the fight filled me, and with a final leer I got to work.
It was easy enough to rip off their heads since most of their skin and muscle was already gone. What wasn’t easy was avoiding the bites.
One of the cannibals latched onto my elbow as I was yanking its comrade’s head off.
“Damn. It.” I growled when it ripped a chunk of meat out and swallowed my flesh with a slurpy sigh, then headed back in for more.
This zombie was missing all the flesh on its jaw so that it looked like it was giving me a perpetual bloody smile. I was just reaching for it to rip its head off when another one—a teenage female wearing torn fishnet stockings and black Doc Martens—crawled over the body of an emaciated old man before wrapping its legs around my middle, forcing me back into the wall as it hooked its rotten arm across my throat. Smiling zombie licked its teeth with a tongue that flickered around like a serpent’s. The thing that struck me most about these undead wasn’t actually the smell or putrescent flesh, it was the cloudy blue eyes that hinted at no soul within.
They were mindless killing machines; that more than anything bothered me. These zombies were so stereotypical as to be a cliché. But I had no more time to ponder it when Smiler wrapped his fingers around my wrist and jerked up. Shuddering, I jabbed my good elbow into chubby fishnet girl who was cutting off my air supply.
Zombies were immune to pain—they were dead, they felt nothing. But the law of physics worked just as well on them as it did on the living. My jab was enough to force her to crawl higher up, giving me the leverage I needed to flip her over my shoulder.
Gasping, I briefly touched my aching windpipe. Luc was dealing with his own horde while trying to maneuver his way back to me.
“Dora, I’m coming.”
“Just fight!” I huffed, sinking my claws into the neck of the smiler so that his teeth could no longer reach me. “I’m fine.” I yanked hard and it was nothing to separate the bottom jaw from the top; without the flesh and very little muscle left, even a human could have decapitated him.
Luc spun around, slamming his palm down on the back of a zombie wearing a moth-riddled blue-jean jacket. The zombie fell hard to the ground. Planting his boot on the zombie’s neck to keep him immobile, Luc whipped a flip knife out of his pocket, and in one swift move, he severed the head of the female who was now suddenly on him.
Ichor splashed everywhere and I swear, that smell is so much worse than the rest of the bodily fluids. A sharp burst of pain flared up the nerves of my arm. Grimacing, I flexed my fingers, and even while Luc should be focusing solely on the mass surrounding us, he kept flicking glances at me.
I shook my head at him, knowing what he was thinking. I had this and I wasn’t going to let a bite stop me, even if my arm was currently tingling and the tips of my fingers were going numb from the toxin of that bite as it spread its way through my bloodstream. Sweating, I knew if I didn’t shift focus from my pain to the fight, I’d go into zombie shock again. Growling, I pushed off the wall. Barreling my body into a duo of them, I pinned one claw into a short brunette girl’s neck and the another into a man who looked sort of like a heavier version of Antonio Banderas.
He especially was frantic with his need to get at me, snapping and hissing. His eyes weren’t nearly as cloudy or opaque as some of the others, and based off the faint odor of male cologne still on him, he was much fresher than the rest of them.
Lust slithered inside me for a second when his head rolled; the demon obviously had a thing for Antonio. Who knew?
As soon as I kicked him away from me, another took its place. This was really starting to feel like fighting an uphill, losing battle.
“Asher!” I cried, wishing I knew where he was, if he was okay. We’d barely made any forward progress and if he wasn’t even in here, then maybe it was time to get the hell out of Dodge.
I could have sworn I heard my name echo faintly in return. Heart racing with a sudden rush of adrenaline, I realized he was definitely still in here somewhere. I was a female Wolverine, slashing and clawing my way through zombie after zombie, almost on autopilot with my need to find the priest.
I was at the point in the pain process where it was so unbearable that I was completely in shock about it. Finally Luc managed to work his way to me and we were once again side by side, moving slowly but inexorably farther in.
He was breathing just as hard as I was, but we’d developed a system that was working. Luc, whether I wanted him to be or not, was definitely aware of the struggle my painfully shredded left arm was going through, so anything that came at us from the left, he managed. I felt bad that he was usually battling two or three to my one, but we were definitely moving faster.
His blade was a constant swirling motion of deadly precision, and it made me proud to fight with him by my side. Luc hadn’t been in the field for so
long that I’d always worried he might have gone soft, but the way he separated head after head after head from zombie bodies let me know the man had never stopped his training.
My claws dripped with blood as I sank them in one neck after another, figuring out that because most of the bodies were so badly decomposed all I really had to do was make sure I got my nails in under the hyoid bone and pull up. Heads rolled in succession.
We were almost at the end of the tunnel, which was now littered with bodies. The horde had definitely thinned out at this point and the ultrasonic vibrations were growing worse, setting my teeth on edge.
“Shit,” Luc murmured, and I knew immediately he referred to the group of about ten zombies that were coming from around the bend. He looked at me, his breathing heavy and his clothing ripped and torn, hanging on him by threads. The hair he’d had pulled back earlier was now hanging free and loose around his face, the rubber band lost in the struggle back there somewhere.
He stopped, hanging on to my elbow, and I’d die before I ever told him that the room was definitely spinning, my stomach was sour from all the smells around me, and I wasn’t too sure I could take another step without dumping Pestilence off into something.
“I think they’re the last big bunch we’ll have to wade through—you think you can hang on?” His eyes looked worried and I shrugged, giving him a thumbs-up with my good hand.
“I’ve got this, boss.”
His raised brow told me he knew a bluff when he saw it, but at least he gave me my dignity and didn’t mention it.
“One.” He started the count.
The shuffle-step of the undead was practically upon us now.
“Two.” I squeezed his fingers one final time before letting go.
We never got to count to three—the group was upon us and they were hungry. Luc wrapped his arms around one and violently shoved it into three more, using it as a wall of sorts to push them back. That act helped me pull one toward me, giving me the element of surprise so that I could quickly and efficiently dispatch it.
But though we’re strong, we’re not invincible. I stumbled when I took that man’s head off, landing on my butt in the very center of the killing ring. My body felt like a jagged block of ice, my vision was swimming, and I was definitely not doing good.
With a roar, Luc slapped at a body bearing down on me. His skin was a dusky shade of gray as his demon surged violently to the surface—it was frothing and angry and all I could do was sit and stare as he twisted head after head off. Finally there was just one blond-haired female left. She was dressed in a green blouse and tan slacks and wearing only one shoe, and half her head was caved in. Attached to the lapel of her shirt was a wilted red mum. Luc sank his blade into her neck. She never gasped or muttered a grunt as he sawed off her head. The sound was sickening, the sight even more so—a wet tear that squished putrid blood under his claw tips.
When he turned, I quickly shot my eyes to the ground and vibrated with the tension of knowing he was in full demon mode and I couldn’t have fought him right now if my life depended on it.
My breathing and his were the only things I heard for several long minutes until finally I sensed his change, sensed he’d gotten himself under control once more.
Luc’s hand was on my shoulder. “Dora?”
“I’m good.” I sucked in two sharp breaths, not wanting to let him know just how bad I was hurting. We were close to the source of the vibration now. The frequency was so strong that my stomach revolted. If I’d eaten anything today, I would have been puking.
He helped me to my feet, peering at me with a frown. “You’re bleeding.” He touched my arm where the bite wound was now bleeding profusely.
“Just a scratch. Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged it from his grasp. Last thing he needed was to worry about me. Besides, we both knew I could heal myself if I could just dump out Pestilence. Thing was, I was hesitant to touch Luc right now because his skin was definitely sweaty and ashen-looking.
“Well,” his deep voice said, “we’re here. Wherever here is anyway.” Ahead was a large room that glowed a muted yellowish color from the walls themselves. Black shadows danced on the walls—there were definitely more zombies back there.
But I could also now hear the definite grunts of a man, my man, fighting by himself inside. I couldn’t see him, but I knew Asher was here. I wasn’t going to leave him, not now.
“Dora, we need to get out of here, this place is overrun.”
“We cleared this area, Luc.”
“Yeah, for now. How many more do you think we can handle though?”
I narrowed my eyes as I watched the shadows grow larger and larger upon the walls as the bodies drew closer. And just as I opened my mouth to respond to his question, I saw Ash.
My priest was surrounded by a circle of twenty, if not thirty, zombies. The Gray Man stood beside him. The fiery blade was in Asher’s hand and he looked like a god of war the way he wielded it, snicking it through one neck after another after another.
He must have sensed my presence, because he looked up for a split second and I saw a flash of anger and then resignation. “There’s a generator that’s making them go berserk. It’s in the second”—his blade arced over his head, leaving a trail of brilliant sparks in its wake as he sliced through two necks at once—“room to the left. Shut it down!”
As if sensing my energy reserves were running on empty, Pestilence pumped just enough of his energy into me that I was able to shake off most of the malaise. It was odd to me that the demon I’d never wanted in the first place was becoming the one I depended on almost entirely now. Ever since Lust had come up against Wrath, she’d grown silent and dormant. In a strange juxtaposition, if it weren’t for Pestilence now, I’d likely have never survived the Order’s latest attempt to off me.
Running, I made for the dark room that was a good twenty degrees cooler than the entry had been, ramming my claws through a nearly scalped female zombie as she came at me.
Luc finished her off, twisting her head off right as I pulled my claws out. Another stream was headed our way.
“Go.” Luc pointed to a darkened cove ahead of us. “I’ll hold them off. Shut that damn thing off.”
I nodded just as the first zombie latched on to him, then more came and he was completely obscured form my sight. His grunts were the only thing letting me know he was still alive. I only hoped that whatever this generator was, shutting it off would also flip the off switch on the undead freaks.
The cove wasn’t much of a room so much as a small carved-out section of rock. The buzzing was the worst here.
Wincing, I grabbed my skull as every cell in my body rioted, crashing and sliding in chaotic movement against one another, threatening to rip my body apart. I must have stood there longer than I’d thought, because somehow Luc was now beside me. He was covered in so much ichor and gore that he was barely recognizable. I really hoped that blood wasn’t his.
He was panting, but looking not much worse for wear. I grimaced as the sound waves pounded me over and over, battering my already bruised body so that I felt like whimpering like a whipped puppy.
“Shut it off. We got to shut it off.” Luc slammed his hands on his ears. Blood slid down his nose as his eyes manically searched for the generator. “There.” He pointed just as I spotted it too.
For a weapon of mass destruction, the thing was ridiculously small. It was round and black and no bigger than a marble.
“How do I stop it?” I stepped inside the room, clinging to the rock with my claws as my body froze up, not wanting to take another step inside. The closer I got to it, the worse the pain was becoming. Grinding my molars, I swallowed my immediate gag reflex.
Luc shook his head, then looking around, he yanked a jagged chunk of rock out of the wall and ran to the marble, where he slammed the rock over it. It fractured, and now the low-wave sound grew exponentially.
I screamed. “We gotta destroy it. I’m ripping apart.”
I wasn’t lying. My body was literally buzzing, my molecules threatening to burst apart at the seams.
Wiping the blood off his upper lip, Luc lifted the rock, but I noticed his hands were shaking now. The power was getting to him too. The buzz kept growing louder and louder.
Why was it growing louder? It shouldn’t be… it should be…
“Luc, wait!” I yelled, trying to get my thoughts out. “It’s a sonic bomb, Luc. We need to make sure when we rupture it that the final pitch emitted is contained, otherwise we’ll blow apart.”
Nodding, looking as bad as I felt, he pointed to the stack of bodies behind us. “Bring in as many as you can.”
Running back out of the room, I picked up one of the nearest heads and ran back, repeating the process about five times until I had a circle of heads around the device. Tongues drew out of mouths as the zombies searched frantically for some way to get to us. Hanging on to the hair of one zombie as it chomped and groaned, I immediately got an idea to place the rheumy-eyed brunette directly on top of the device.
“Give me your stone,” I demanded of Luc, holding the head as far from my body as possible.
Blood was oozing thick and black from both his ears now. Grimacing, he tossed the rock at me. Walking to the generator, I slapped the zombie head with the rock.
“Open your mouth, freak!”
It snapped open, and I shoved its face forward so that its mouth was over the power source. It bit down. Then it started gasping and grunting as if trying to shove the foreign object out.
“Hold on,” Luc murmured and then ran back out, bringing two zombie bodies with him a moment later. He dumped them on top of the head. The ring of zombies did help to mute the high-pitch frequency some. “Do it.” He leaned against the rock and gave me the thumbs-up.
With any luck, this would be sufficient.
I stepped on the on the back of one of the prone zombies and knew that I had a very narrow margin to swing with. There was just enough space between our puzzle pieces of bodies to get in a true hit on the head biting down on the bomb.