He saw the hesitation in their gray eyes. They probably thought they had strength in numbers and could easily defeat him. He’d need to use a show of force to scare some of them off and better even the odds.
Instead of tossing the net off of him or wasting time with pulling it off his body easily, The Lich Lord began laughing and willed his hands to burst into bright red flame, spreading onto the net and quickly consuming it.
The move was impressive, both visually and emotionally, for the zombies, who took at least a step back. At least one turned to flee.
“Where are you going? I need you to stay for awhile so I can destroy my former homeroom buddy like I used to do when we were teens. I seem to remember stuffing you into a locker during gym class and giving you such a bad wedgie you had to go to the nurse. Am I remembering correctly?” The Lich Lord asked.
He could tell by the pained look on the zombie’s face he was right.
The Lich Lord had learned many things from being one of the first and surviving this long. He’d been able to find a safe place, The Promised Land, and work on his powers. Figure out what he could and couldn’t do.
He’d also been inside Darlene Bobich’s head, if only for a brief spell. He’d learned so much from seeing what she was capable of and what was in there that she hadn’t tapped into yet.
Another zombie took a step back and The Lich Lord put up his arms for effect even though he really didn’t need to. He liked when people thought he was doing something special that had to do with his powers.
“No one is leaving just yet,” he said and willed each zombie in turn to be rooted to the spot where they stood. That would scare the shit out of them. If they still had to worry about such human things.
“I knew you were lying,” the lead zombie said, trying to fight the superior power holding his feet in place. He still had access to his hands and mouth, which weren’t going to do him any good.
The Lich Lord shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“How are you doing this?” one of the zombies asked, as if he’d get a straight answer and The Lich Lord would teach him how to do it. They had no idea their time was so short.
“How many more of you are hiding in the shadows?” The Lich Lord asked.
When no one spoke up, The Lich Lord pointed at the zombie who’d spoken last, even though he didn’t really have to, and thought about putting pressure on his head until it popped.
The head popped like someone had taken a sledgehammer to a watermelon.
The Lich Lord smiled, remembering the comedian who used to do that very thing in his act a long time ago.
“I will ask once more and then another random head will be popped like a zit.”
“Six more are waiting in the wings in case this goes south,” one of them said.
“Then the other six, who are too cowardly to come out and take it like the men they wish they were, need to run away.” The Lich Lord spun in a slow circle, his voice increasing. “I will give you the choice, cowards: step into the light and die quickly or run and face the consequences. For I shall hunt you down and mount your writhing bodies on the highest building so the sun will blanch your skin and destroy you slowly. You shall again feel the pain you thought you’d never feel.”
“I wanted to be your friend in school. I asked you to play Dungeons & Dragons with us,” the lead zombie said.
“I was too busy getting laid in high school to worry about some stupid game.”
The zombie actually smiled. “And yet… you call yourself The Lich Lord, an obvious homage to the very game you were too cool to take part in. Were you a secret, closeted player, perhaps? You and the other stupid jocks and cheerleaders in a campaign to find the keep on the Borderlands? Fighting against the giants? A mission to Ravenloft?”
“I have no idea what you’re even talking about. Another geek who played your game told me about it. I took it. It sounded much better than everyone calling me Mark. You know why? Because I’m no longer that dumb jock. I’m no longer that highly intelligent doctor, either. I’m bigger than all of you combined. I’m going to be the last one standing and I’m looking forward to standing on your bones to do it. I shall create a new, better world,” The Lich Lord said.
“We could help you.”
The Lich Lord shook his head. “I’m bored already with you.”
He turned and snapped his fingers as each head exploded in a shower of gore, leaving only the lead zombie frozen in place.
The Lich Lord knew about the six hiding and felt them leaving the scene as quickly as possible. So typical.
He hadn’t been lying when he said he’d mount their bodies as a warning to any other zombies trying to take what he’d accomplished.
“I’m going to string you up first,” The Lich Lord said.
The zombie started to plead for his miserable life so The Lich Lord froze his lips shut as well.
“There’s a part of me… there’s… I can sense her again,” The Lich Lord said and spun around again, trying to lock in on Darlene Bobich. He could feel her close, only for a second, but she had opened up and let him know she was nearby.
He received the specific message about what to do and who needed to do it, all within another second.
The Lich Lord grinned when he couldn’t connect with her again. He’d been given instructions and a message and there was nothing more he could do tonight except find the perfect building for all of these hanging bodies.
Chapter Six
Tosha didn’t know the names of the three new women who’d been added to her group and she didn’t care. Apparently her little stunt of putting a bullet in Jeremy’s head had scared off the dudes from working with her.
At least she had Bernie and newcomer April to watch her back.
“Welcome to the newbies. Thanks for volunteering, and if you didn’t you might want to lie and say you did,” Tosha said. “If I’d known you were coming, I would’ve bought each of you a bright new red shirt.”
None of them seemed to have gotten the joke.
Tosha sighed. She knew this was going to be a long day.
They were standing inside the lobby of The Ocean Center, which was Tosha’s unofficial office and the starting point each day for her team. They’d have a briefing for where they were headed and she’d figure out what equipment they needed before driving one of the vehicles to either the north or south bridge to cross over to the mainland.
Tosha unlocked the box sitting on the table with her key and pulled out a sheet of paper.
“Here we go,” Tosha said and began reading the meticulously hand-written note. Each night, after traveling around and doing his thing, The Lich Lord would lock a set of directions or instructions inside the box for Tosha’s eyes only.
It was always one of two missions: search a particular area or grid, detailing a specific place that had some important items stored there, or to check out a group to see if they were friendly or not. Usually, if she got this mission, it meant The Lich Lord had already made contact with at least one of them and set it up for Tosha and her group to bring them back to the school during the day and, eventually, into The Promised Land.
She always found dead bodies in the areas she had for the day and knew he’d already cleared out a few who didn’t think working with them was a good idea.
Tosha knew she was being led each day to somewhere relatively safe, collecting the neat piles The Lich Lord had spent the night putting together.
“Holy fucking shit,” Tosha said when she read the note.
“What’s the matter?” Bernie asked.
Tosha smiled and shook her head. She had to read it again for the words to sink in.
“Shit. Tell me what mess we’ve gotten into today,” Bernie said.
The other women shuffled and looked uncomfortable.
“This is really good. I can’t believe it,” Tosha said and put the note back in the box and locked it.
Bernie put her hands on her hips. “Seriously, bitch,
you’re not going to share with us?”
Tosha laughed and clapped her hands. “Nope. This is going to be a fun day for once. We’ll need to get three drivers and an armed escort to where we’re going and for what we’ll be collecting.”
“Tell me now or I’m not coming,” Bernie said.
“No problem.” Tosha turned to April. “If she doesn’t go with us, you’re my second.”
“I… I don’t know what that means exactly,” April said.
“It means Tosha stares at your ass all day,” Bernie said.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tosha said.
* * * * *
April had been sequestered in the relative comfort of The Promised Land for over a year. She’d been one of the original groups taken in when it was nothing more than Main Street and a few makeshift walls to keep the zombies out. Her sister, Carlie, had been by her side since this mess had all begun and they’d been separated from their parents in Jacksonville.
It was exciting to go back outside of the protective walls and she sat up front in the school bus when they’d driven out of the gates and over the bridge, taking in all of the sights like a tourist. She opened the bus window and sat up, fighting the urge to stick her head out and smell the crisp, clean air.
Tosha, sitting across the aisle from April reading a dog-eared paperback, laughed.
“You act like you’ve never been out in the real world. Didn’t you fight zombies to survive?” Tosha asked and slid into the seat next to April, getting very close.
April blushed.
“I had to do a lot of awful things to survive,” April said and looked back out the window, biting her bottom lip. “Sometimes the zombies aren’t the worst part. Sometimes you wish there were only the zombies trying to do awful things to you.”
Tosha snorted and went back to her own seat, opening the book again.
April looked at Tosha and frowned.
“You got a fucking problem?” April asked.
Tosha looked back at Bernie, who was also in the bus with them, taking a power nap in the back row. “I’m not sure who you’re talking to.”
“You, bitch.”
April stood, holding onto the seat as the bus driver swerved on the road.
Tosha waved her hand and put her head back down to her book. “Relax, hun. You’ll get used to us calling each other bitches and sluts and whores. We’re chicks. We talk trash because it’s fun and we’re bored. I snorted because you’re tough but you think too much. You got soft playing house with your family and trying on the latest and last goth fashion. I give you two weeks with me before you go through the cycles.”
“What cycles?” April asked and sat down. She wasn’t much of a fighter unless provoked, which she thought Tosha was doing. Maybe she was testing her and April had no idea if she’d failed or not. Tosha was unreadable with her actions and words.
“Bernie will tell you if she ever wakes up,” Tosha said.
“I’m awake, bitch.” Bernie walked up and sat down behind Tosha, yawning. She looked out the window. “Where are we going?”
“I told you. It’s a surprise. I’ve been instructed where to go and what we’re doing,” Tosha said.
“I don’t remember coming out this far or securing the area. What if we’re attacked? What if the zombies are massing?” Bernie asked.
“Stop worrying. All you do is freak out whenever we do anything fun,” Tosha said. She glanced at April and winked.
“Excuse me for not wanting to get raped by a zombie,” Bernie said.
“They barely get hard anymore. You worry too much,” Tosha said.
“I think we’re here,” the driver said.
Tosha put her book down and clapped. “This is it.” She stood and waved for April and Bernie to get ready, going to the front of the bus and pointing at a narrow lane between trees.
April was excited. This would be her first real mission with Tosha and her crew and she knew this was going to be a big one. She wondered if Tosha got this animated every day.
“Just keep following the road and don’t take your foot off of the gas no matter what,” Tosha said to the driver, leaning into his ear and smiling as she spoke. The man was clearly distracted by her being so close but he nodded.
The bus, in the lead of the caravan, drove slowly around a sharp curve with a straightaway ahead leading to a large building surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.
“Don’t stop driving,” Tosha said again. “No matter what. We’re going to be safe.”
The front gate was wide open and the road led inside the compound.
On both sides of the road and surrounding the compound, as far as April could see were zombies.
Rows and rows of zombies, all standing still and watching as the bus approached.
“Get us inside in one piece and I’ll blow you later,” Tosha said to the driver as he took his foot off of the gas.
He quickly recovered and kept going.
Chapter Seven
He’d spent the night watching the patrol pattern on the wall and was impressed by not only the number of guards but the weapons they carried and the staggered pace. Whoever was running the show over the river knew what they were doing.
He toyed with the idea of finding something seaworthy and floating across for a better look but decided sitting in a tree with a pair of binoculars was close enough for right now.
The fact they had electricity and weren’t hiding the fact they had it told him they were secure in their fortress. Mitch knew the side on the ocean would be heavily fortified as well, and he wondered how far north and south they’d conquered.
Mitch knew he wasn’t going to walk over the bridge and be welcomed with open arms; although, if he showed them he wasn’t a threat… he shook it off. He was better off staying outside and observing from a distance to see what they were about.
About an hour after darkness he’d gotten a glimpse of something moving at an exaggerated pace across the bridge and down the main road but it was just a man-sized blur.
By the time Mitch got down from the tree he was perched in whatever it was had been long gone. He shrugged it off as something he couldn’t explain, filing it in the back of his mind like so many other things over the last few months.
Maybe I’m tired again. I’m seeing things, he thought but knew it wasn’t that easy to forget about it. He’d decided a long time ago, even before his military career had begun, to roll with the punches and stay on his toes. Take whatever life threw at you and don’t over think.
Aim, pull the trigger and worry about the rest later.
He’d set an imaginary perimeter of a quarter mile to make sure nothing snuck up on him. He was in a park but most of the trees had been upended due to a storm, trunks in the water. The grass was up to his waist in spots and he didn’t want to think too hard about what could be hiding in it. He’d seen more than enough gators on his journey already, but the snakes and other predators were also getting plentiful without man to parse their numbers.
The machete he carried was good if you saw the snake or animal first, either to scare it away or cut its head off. But a snake in the grass biting you would be fatal if it was the wrong kind, and Florida was filthy with the wrong kind now.
His thoughts wandered to his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, doing recon on a city or village and watching for hostiles. Unlike every movie or TV show you’d see, Mitch had never actually pulled the trigger on anyone overseas. Sure, he’d had so many potential threats in his sights and he’d followed them from the safety of a rooftop or across a river like this but he’d never actually shot his weapon.
The snipers he was in radio contact with would do the final strike and Mitch would see a head explode or an explosion seconds after he gave the call as a spotter.
It was never his turn to do it and he doubted he’d be able to kill without so much as a thought. He didn’t begrudge anyone or look down on the snipers. He just knew he didn’t have the balls to
do it.
Mitch had done it so many times to the zombies he’d tried to stop counting. Did they really count, though? They weren’t human anymore. They were nothing more than the enemy and he’d been fighting this war on his own for too long.
What if, across the river, there was a city of allies who would take him in? Let him sit on top of their walls and kill zombies from a safe distance, then go back to a home with food and electricity, and be a part of something greater?
He’d been clearing out the surrounding area for many weeks. He’d actually been helping these people, even though they didn’t know it yet.
Mitch needed to find the redhead and convince her he was on their side and hope for the best.
By the time morning was upon him, another warm and bright day, his legs were stiff and his thoughts wandering and incoherent. He’d slept a few minutes at a time. He didn’t like the feeling of being exposed. Anyone on the other side of the river with a set of decent binoculars would be able to spot him and he worried about zombies, though he hadn’t seen nor heard one all night.
He heard the multiple engines before he saw movement.
Half a dozen school buses were rumbling over the bridge in single file.
Great. I have no way of keeping up, Mitch thought. I don’t even have a bicycle. Where are so many loud buses going?
Mitch grabbed his gear and started running, hoping they’d follow the main road out and not turn. If he could somehow grab onto the bumper of a bus or at least keep them in sight down the road until they maybe turned, he’d have a better shot of following them.
The lead bus had stopped so they could unlock the gates.
Mitch smiled when he saw it was the redhead he’d followed.
He took a deep breath and began running, hoping they didn’t see him and no zombies were attracted to the sound of the engines running.
Dying Days 7 Page 4