Demon Ember (Resurrection Chronicles Book 1)

by M. J. Haag

  Ghua’s eyes met mine, and his lips peeled back into a sharp toothed grin. I wished he would just go away. Glancing at the clock, I noted the time and turned back to the pot. I watched the pasta boil and let my mind wander as the two conversed in their language.

  For the next eight minutes, I considered what was happening to the world outside this old house. What had caused the hellhounds and shadow men to appear? The obvious answer was the earthquakes. But why and how had the earthquakes brought them? The mysteries of our world were still being solved every day. But usually only small discoveries. How had we missed an entire species of intelligent beings? I glanced at Drav and considered the possibility that he was an alien.

  The water started to boil over, distracting me from my thoughts. I turned down the heat and spooned a noodle out to test it, carefully blowing on the steamy shell before lifting it to my lips. It was still a little too firm when I bit down.

  Ghua’s chair clattered to the tiled floor as he stood with a growl. I jumped, startled, and turned to stare at him with wide eyes. He spoke sharply to Drav, gesturing at me, then left the room. I glanced at Drav. He stared at the empty hallway. While I didn’t mind Ghua leaving, how he left made me nervous.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  Drav studied me for a moment.

  “No. You stay.”

  He left the kitchen, presumably to talk to Ghua, and I dug out a strainer for the noodles. By the time I finished up the mac and cheese, both men had returned to the kitchen. I set out three plates and spooned equal portions to each plate.

  After opening a can of mandarin oranges, I drained the juice and found a bowl to put them in. Both men watched me set the bowl in the middle of the table, but neither reached for the food even after I sat.

  I glanced at Ghua, who looked annoyed. Did they think I’d poisoned it or something? Picking up my spoon, I scooped up some noodles. Drav watched with interest but made no move to eat. Ghua watched Drav, his eyes narrowing a fraction. I shoved the hot noodles in my mouth and wanted to sigh happily. It was, by far, not the most elegant meal, but it reminded me of home. Of happier times, eating and sharing with Ryan. Or rather, fighting with Ryan to get the last bit.

  “Eat,” I said, feeling uncomfortable with their hesitation.

  Drav gripped the spoon, scooped some up, and carefully lifted the bite to his lips. I watched as he chewed slowly then with more enthusiasm. After he swallowed, he went for another bite. I followed suit.

  Ghua ignored the spoon and scooped his cheesy noodles up with his fingers. He didn’t look bothered by the heat and ate with gusto. Whatever had upset Ghua seemed to no longer be a problem. Eventually, Drav gave up on the spoon, too, eating faster without it.

  When they cleared their plates, both looked at me expectantly.

  “It’s all gone. Sorry, guys. Try the oranges.”

  We finished our meal, and they started talking, mostly in their language. I set the plates on top of the other dirty plate beside the sink and considered washing them. The world was going to shit, and the owner would never return. Who cared about clean dishes? Yet, as I looked at the neatly folded towel, I couldn’t walk away. I emptied the sink of the cold water and quickly cleaned up the mess we’d made. When everything was back to the way we’d found it, I left the kitchen for the living room.

  The couch called to me, and I cuddled up. The murmur of their voices lulled me, and full from the warm meal, it didn’t take long for me to sleep.

  A jostle to my arm woke me. I groaned and opened my eyes to find Drav bent over me like he was getting ready to pick me up.

  “I can walk,” I said.

  He didn’t move away.

  “Back off, I can’t get up.”

  He grunted and took a step back. Once I stood, he led me through the house to one of the bedrooms with a neatly made queen-sized bed. It looked very inviting. Tired and ready to go right back to sleep, I headed for the bed, but Drav stopped me with a tug at my shirt.

  It took a moment to understand why. When I did, I pulled my shirt out of his hand.

  “Nope. It’s staying on. It’s not dirty.”

  Drav huffed but let me climb into bed with my shirt on. He took his off, however, and snatched me around the waist when he joined me.

  I fell back to sleep within seconds.

  Fifteen

  Sweat coated my neck and chest. Not a pleasant sensation to wake to. Drav held me closely, one hand under my shirt, fingers spread so his thumb rested just under my bra line and the tip of his pinky touched the waist of my low riding jeans. The position felt entirely too comfortable despite the sweat.

  I grabbed his hand and untangled it from under my clothes. He pressed closer to me, his breath tickling my ear.

  “Mya, no,” he said, trying to put his hand back.

  “Drav, no. You don’t get to touch me whenever you want. It’s rude. I thought we talked about that.”

  He sighed and rolled away. Cool air brushed over me as he got out of bed, and I breathed in relief.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Not yet,” I said, sitting up.

  Bare chested, he stood by the bed, watching me with green eyes that were becoming less unsettling. His gaze moved over my face. Now that I’d met another of his kind and had someone for comparison, I realized Drav didn’t look at me the same way as Ghua. Ghua watched me with open curiosity, like a visitor at the zoo. Drav studied me with an expression that said I meant something more. The idea made my stomach dip and dance.

  “I’m going to use the bathroom. Without an audience,” I said, needing to escape his scrutiny.

  He didn’t try to follow me when I left the room. I closed myself in the bathroom and looked in the mirror. My cheeks were flushed and my stomach was still twisting and dipping at the way he’d held me. Why had Drav taken an interest in me? Every person he’d encountered since we’d met, he’d killed. He said he hadn’t killed me because I was a girl, but what about all the infected females? He’d never hesitated to behead them.

  I splashed water on my face to settle my confused thoughts. It didn’t really help much. After using the toilet and washing my hands, I hesitated to leave. Had I been smart enough to grab my bag when I’d left the room, I could have brushed my teeth and taken a few more minutes for myself. Instead, I did a quick swish and rinse with water then opened the door.

  Drav stood in the hallway. He wore his too small shirt again.

  “You might want to look in the closets for something that fits better. That looks weird on you.”

  He didn’t do as I suggested. Instead, he followed me to the kitchen. The window near the sink gave a view of the dusky sky. Another day almost gone. What day was it? Did it even matter? There weren’t any schedules to cling to anymore. Just the drive to keep moving. To get to the cabin and ensure my family was safe. The sooner we ate, the sooner we could leave.

  I took the eggs out of the fridge and dug some sausage out of the freezer for a big breakfast. Well, dinner, since the sun was close to setting. While the sausage fried, I grabbed my bag and brushed my teeth. Ghua had taken a seat at the table by the time I returned to the kitchen. Ignoring him and his scrutiny, I scrambled some eggs and grabbed three clean plates.

  Neither said anything as I set the food before them. Drav again watched me pick up the fork and waited until I’d taken the first bite before trying his own food, which seemed to annoy Ghua. I couldn’t wait to leave him. The company of one shadow man was enough for me.

  When I finished eating, I took my plate to the sink, washed it, and filled up the water bottle that I’d kept in my bag.

  “We ready to go?” I asked Drav.

  He glanced at the now dark window.

  “Yes, Mya go outside.”

  “Good.” I moved toward the door and, with disappointment, watched Ghua follow Drav.

  Outside the house, Ghua gave Drav a clap on his back and then walked away, heading in the direction of Oklahoma City. Drav motioned for
me to start through the trees, continuing our way north.

  “Everything came from the south, didn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why is he going back that way?”

  “You talk and I learn.”

  “What the heck does that mean?”

  “No word for why he is going back that way.”

  “Ah.” We really needed to up his vocabulary. Just not while we were walking in the zombie infested dark where hellhounds might also roam.

  We traveled in silence for an hour before we came to our next major highway. Most roads came and went, barely discernable in the weak moonlight. This highway differed not because of the divided lanes but because of the distant light. Drav didn’t try to stop me as I continued toward the far-off beacon. It wasn’t until we’d moved much closer that I saw floodlights illuminated the on and off ramps and the over pass. A generator rattled loudly, somewhere near the center of the bridge, the noise blending with the hum of electricity. Excitement bloomed in my chest. Humans had put this here.

  Movement to our left caught Drav’s attention. He stepped in front of me and stopped our progress.

  Frustrated, I leaned to look around him. Before I could ask what he was doing, an infected came sprinting into the light near the on ramp. Its awkward gait and the loose way its arms swung at its sides gave me the shivers. A gun shot rang out. The infected jerked backwards, as if hit in the head, and fell. On the bridge, a person stood and walked to where it had gone down.

  “There’s people, Drav,” I said.

  “Mya, no,” he said quietly, turning to look down at me with a scowl.

  “You seem to like me well-enough. You might like more people if you just try,” I said. It wasn’t just my desire to be with my own kind that prodded me forward but the need to see who guarded the bridge on the route my parents and Ryan would have taken to the cabin.

  “Mya, no.”

  “What if we stand by those trees and just watch for a while? Maybe you’ll change your mind,” I said, hopefully.

  His gaze swept over my face.

  “We go by the trees,” he said, nudging me toward their safety.

  Grateful not to hear another “Mya, no,” I willingly complied. Once hidden in the shadows of the barren branches, I watched the lit area for signs of the shooter again.

  It took a few minutes before I spotted movement. A single figure walked the length of the overpass from the edge of the light to the right to the edge of the light to the left. As I watched something to our right caught my attention. A glint of grey moved against the black, and it made my stomach dip in fear.

  “Can you see what’s over there?” I asked Drav, pointing.

  “A human.”

  Relief flooded me that it wasn’t another shadow man. I didn’t want to have to go through the whole boobs and no penis thing again.

  “How many humans are out there?”

  “No words,” he said, and I quickly counted up to twenty.

  “Seven humans.”

  Goosebumps broke out on my skin from my head to my toes. Seven seemed like such a little number. But seven survivors in one place…seven who had set up lights as if they knew it would keep them safer from the hellhounds and from—I glanced at Drav and felt a tinge of guilt that I seemed safe with him while others were not.

  However, the number showed me a possibility of surviving without Drav and gave me hope.

  “Drav, my parents would have driven this way. I want to ask these people how long they’ve been here and if they saw a red car with two men and a woman.”

  “It’s not safe.”

  “Why? They won’t shoot me. You stay here. I’ll come back when I’m done talking to them.” I only managed a step before he blocked my way.

  “Stop. Wait.”

  Drav turned and pointed toward a light coming from the south. A car.

  “We got a live one,” a man yelled. The phrase echoed what Charles and his group had said when they saw me. It boomed in the dark from somewhere near the bridge. Were these people military, too? Part of the Tinker evacuation?

  I looked toward the bridge and saw the man on the overpass move to the center of the lit area. He held his arms up, waving the car to a stop. When the car approached, it slowed.

  The man waited until the vehicle stopped then walked to the driver’s side. He leaned toward the window and stayed there. It remained hard to see more detail from our distance and impossible to hear anything.

  “Can you hear what they’re saying?” I asked quietly.

  “No.”

  Disappointed, I watched and waited. After a moment, the person on the bridge straightened and pointed to the north. Another moment passed before he backed away from the car and the driver’s door opened.

  “I really wish I could hear what’s going on,” I said. “The car made it here okay. There doesn’t seem to be any hellhounds around. Let’s just move closer. I’ll be safe in the light when I talk to them.”

  “Wait,” Drav said again, not taking his eyes from the bridge.

  “You’re really starting to annoy me, Drav.” I almost said he couldn’t stop me from doing what I wanted, but it’d be a lie. He’d stopped me before, and if he wanted to, he’d keep stopping me.

  Frustrated, I crossed my arms and continued to watch the driver get out of the car. As soon as he left the car, another man, this one held a gun, stepped from the shadows to the north.

  “Is he pointing the gun at the driver?”

  Drav remained quiet as we watched the original person on the bridge step forward and open the back door. Several times he went to the back and took a few steps away, as if unloading something. The enraged driver stepped forward and talked with his arms. His voice rose, and I caught some of what he was saying.

  “Bullshit…supplies for everyone…it’ll come…”

  Several scenarios ran through my head but the one that made the most sense was that the men on the bridge were military and collecting supplies for the evacuated survivors. But if that was the case, why take from a single person? There were plenty of supplies in the city from what I’d seen. That is, if they were brave enough to face the infected to get the supplies.

  Maybe the person in the car had come from the survivor camp. Maybe he was delivering supplies to these guys? I mean, they had light and a generator, but with no houses nearby they had no convenient food source. Of course they would need supplies, too. But he said supplies for everyone. I wasn’t sure what to think.

  As soon as the back door closed, the driver got into the car and squealed north, blaring his horn. The man with the gun pointed the rifle at the vehicle. Fear seemed to solidify into a heavy ball in my stomach. Who were these men? The original man called out for him to lower his weapon.

  “He just brought the infected to us,” the man with the gun called.

  “All the more reason to save the bullets. Back to your post.”

  His words reassured me slightly. Still, I second-guessed my need to approach them. I would find out if my family went this way when I got to the cabin. But, what would we do next? How long would my family and I be safe at the cabin? Charles mentioned a safe zone but not its location. I needed to know where.

  “We go, Mya,” Drav said.

  “No. I think they’re with the military. They can tell us where the survivors are, so when I find my family, we’ll know where it’s safe for us to go.”

  Drav turned to look at me. Something in his gaze made me feel really guilty for saying what I had. Did he really think I’d want to stay with him after I reached my family?

  “Drav, I—”

  A branch snapped behind me. Drav’s head jerked toward the sound.

  Sixteen

  “I know you’re out there,” a voice said softly. “I heard you talking.”

  Drav’s lips pulled back to show his teeth.

  “Drav,” I whispered, reaching out to grab his hand. “Please don’t kill him. Please let me talk to him. Then we can go.” />
  He looked down at me.

  “Not safe.”

  “It will be. I promise.”

  He grunted and then vanished.

  “I’m over here,” I said, nervously. I worried Drav would change his mind.

  A rustle of movement came from further within the trees. A moment later, a man dressed in dark clothes stepped out. He carried some kind of rifle loosely in the crook of his arm and looked me over carefully before speaking.

  “Where’d you come from?”

  “Oklahoma City. I’m looking for my family. How long have you guys been watching the bridge? They would have passed through this way the night the hellhounds attacked.”

  He made an odd sound between a laugh and a snort.

  “Hellhounds. That about sums them up. And they strike every night, sweetheart. How’d you manage to get this far?”

  “I avoid the roads,” I said, not knowing what other excuse he’d buy. I certainly wasn’t going to admit Drav had helped me. Based on what Charles had said and all the killing that Drav had done, this guy wouldn’t have believed me.

  “Who were you talking to?”

  “Myself. I know noise attracts those things, but sometimes the quiet’s worse, you know?”

  He didn’t say anything. His eyes just slowly traveled the length of me once more, then he tilted his head, considering me.

  “They would have been in a red car. Two men and a woman.” He still didn’t say anything. His silence and Drav’s warning were making me nervous.

  “Never mind. I’ll just keep going.”

  “Can you pay the price?” he asked, finally.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Supplies for passage, little lady. But, in your case, information. Although, I might be willing to trade for something else.”

  My heart leapt to my throat as I realized I’d misunderstood everything.

  “You’re not with Tinker.”

  A harsh smile twisted his lips.

  “Fuck no. Like we wanted to be herded into some over-crowded fence like a bunch of animals. We’ll take our chances out here. There are plenty of opportunities out in the woods. I mean, look at you.”