Death's Awakening (Eternal Sorrows, #1)

by Sarra Cannon

  The boy preferred to go out the window. He let down the long home-made rope he’d made with torn bedsheets and his mother’s old dresses and climbed down. He shot down the rope so fast, any onlooker might have missed him. He was a streak of black with his black skin and his black jeans and t-shirt.

  When he reached the street, he crouched down and looked around, still as a statue, but ready to race back up the rope if he caught any movement in the shadows. After a few minutes, he relaxed a little bit, then looked over at the little red wagon. It would slow him down, but think of all the food he could put inside.

  He bit his lip. What should he do? If he got into trouble, he would have to leave it behind.

  Better not to take the risk.

  He clutched his stomach and waited for the sick feeling to pass. His head pounded and his mouth was so dry.

  He would just fill his bag to the limit. It would be enough.

  With lightning speed, he raced down the street, leaving a trail of disturbed trash in his wake. It took him less than five minutes to get to the supermarket. His legs could take him faster than any car, especially now that the streets were blocked with wreckage.

  He’d noticed he was fast the day after his mom died. At the time, he’d been sure he would be next. He’d spent that day huddled in the closet in his mother’s bedroom. The sweat poured off of him, because his mother hated to spend money on air conditioning, even on the worst days. He’d stayed in the closet with a blanket over his head, not wanting to think of the rotting body in the next room.

  When he’d finally crawled out, his muscles had ached with the pain of so many hours spent with his legs curled up tight toward his body. He stretched and felt the blood flow back into his poor limbs. Ever since then, he’d been able to run fast. He wasn’t sure why. It just was.

  And he’d gotten faster. With every day that passed, his legs seemed to move just that little bit faster until he was running faster than he’d ever dreamed.

  The boy stopped in front of the large supermarket he’d gone to once with his mom on the bus and pulled his backpack from his shoulders. He reached inside until he found his flashlight. He switched it on with a click. He only used it when he absolutely needed to go inside a dark, new place. Back in his room, he had a stash of batteries, but he didn’t want to waste the light.

  He turned the beam toward the front door, careful to check for any of the infected who might be lurking inside in the darkness. Not seeing any movement, he opened the glass door and walked in, his backpack slung across one shoulder. As an afterthought, he reached down and jammed a small rock in the door to hold it open. Just in case.

  Today, he was lucky. He was glad he’d made the longer trip. Cans lined the shelves, untouched. He filled his bag to the brim, but it wasn’t big enough. Maybe he should have brought the red wagon after all.

  He looked longingly at a shopping cart. If he could only fill one of those with food and water, he wouldn’t need to leave his apartment for a very, very long time.

  Licking his lips, he decided to fill the cart with as much as he could push. The cart would slow him down, but if he ran into trouble, he could grab his pack and make a run for it. Then, he could always come back for the cart later when it was sunny again.

  Half an hour later, he was pushing the cart down the street. He couldn’t run with all that extra weight in front of him, but he kept a steady pace, and two hours later, he could see the white rope hanging from his window in the distance. His heart leapt and he smiled a toothy smile.

  Home.

  That night, for the first time in a week, he ate until his belly was full.

  Parrish

  Oh my God.

  Parrish couldn’t believe her eyes. How could this be happening? It was one thing to see a bunch of strangers stumbling around outside, but this? Someone who had been in her house a dozen times? Someone she’d lived across from for the past six years? She thought she was going to be sick.

  Behind her, Noah paced.

  His sneakers squeaked against the pristine white tile.

  Parrish stepped closer to the glass, then raised her hand to her mouth, willing her stomach to stop churning. Noah’s father stood on the other side of the Plexiglas, his hands leaving a greasy film where they beat against the divider. His skin was dull grey and dark purple sores dotted his arms and face. His eyes had the same milky film she’d seen on the other infected.

  She dared another step closer, hoping to see some light of recognition in Dr. Vincent’s eyes. Would he know her? Could he still speak? Was it even still him?

  One more step and the man’s focus seemed to shift. His milky eyes turned toward her and he growled at her like a rabid dog. Drool dripped from his cracked lips and he began to beat hard on the glass.

  Parrish backed away, turning her head. She didn’t want to look anymore.

  Noah put a hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away. She leaned against the top of a desk, breathing in and out. Her ears felt like they were filled with cotton and she struggled to straighten her vision. She should really try to keep it together for Noah’s sake. This was his dad. He deserved better. But she couldn’t control her reaction. Her stomach churned and the room began to spin.

  “You said you wanted to know,” Noah said.

  She nodded, but she was afraid to speak. Afraid her voice would crack or grow hysterical.

  She glanced over at Noah’s father again, not wanting to believe it was real.

  Noah leaned patiently against the edge of a desk, giving her time to take it all in. His head hung low and he picked at a frayed spot on his jeans.

  God, how hard must this be for him? What if she’d had to see her mother raise up from the dead and turn into one of these snarling, hungry animals?

  “How long has he...you know...been like this?”

  “Since the day before you moved in,” Noah said. “He’d been sick for a few days and then his heart just stopped beating. An hour later, his eyes opened again. I got lucky and was able to trap him inside the room.”

  “Does he still know who you are?” She had so many questions, she wasn’t sure what order to ask them in. She was anxious to know everything Noah knew, but she kept it to one question at a time. She wanted to give him a chance to explain. It was hard to believe he’d been carrying this on his shoulders this whole time.

  “I don’t know,” he said. He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  His voice trailed off and Parrish searched his face.

  “Shit. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”

  Noah shrugged, then looked over at his father, pain written across his features.

  Parrish looked down at her hands. They were shaking.

  “So, what do we do now?” Her voice cracked.

  Noah didn’t answer her, and the question hung in the air between them.

  “We need to talk about the evacuation order,” she said finally. “I completely understand if you don’t want to leave your dad here. I have no idea what’s going on with Karmen’s family at this point or if she’s hoping to find them, but my sister might still be alive in New York. I had planned to go up there and try to get here, but now—”

  “Come on,” he said, nodding toward the stairs. “Let’s go wake Karmen up and talk this through.”

  She followed him up the stairs, chancing one last look at the zombie behind the glass.

  Karmen

  Karmen scrambled backward, knocking over the lamp on the end table.

  Her eyes opened wide, remembering the image of her brother’s decomposing face.

  “Hey, it’s okay,” Noah said. “You’re safe. We’re at my house. Everything is okay.”

  Karmen looked around, then rubbed her eyes. Her pulse raced, but as she focused in on Noah and Parrish, she realized where she was and started to calm down. Todd wasn’t here. She pushed the blanket from her legs and studied her skin, searching for bite marks.

  She sighed with relief and relaxed back into the cushions on the co
uch. She was okay.

  Then she moaned. Crap. What happened to all her stuff?

  “What happened? Did you grab my clothes and things from my house?”

  Noah sat on the coffee table and shook his head. “No, sorry,” he said. “When I found you, you were passed out cold and there were muddy footprints all over the carpet. Did you see any rotters over there?”

  Karmen swallowed. She didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to tell him about Todd. She felt stupid enough as it was for even going over there alone.

  “No,” she lied. “I can’t believe you came all the way over there and didn’t grab any of my bags.”

  She stood up and slammed her hands against her legs. This seriously sucked.

  “Can we go back?”

  “No way,” Parrish said. “Not today, anyway. It’s going to be dark soon.”

  “You never should have gone over there by yourself in the first place,” Noah said. “What were you thinking?”

  Karmen rolled her eyes. “I was thinking I was tired of wearing the same clothes for a week straight.”

  Parrish, at least, had been wearing layers. She had a skirt, a t-shirt, socks, a vest, and a tank top.

  “There’s something else we need to talk about first,” Noah said. “Come over here and sit down, please.”

  Karmen crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat back down on the couch. She hoped she wasn’t about to get another lecture from them about staying inside. She wasn’t going to ever go out on her own again. They could count on it.

  Parrish handed her a sheet of paper and Karmen read it, her eyes growing wider with every line.

  Her face broke out in a huge smile and she jumped up on the couch, cheering. “I told you someone would come for us,” she said. “Yes!”

  She shook her butt and danced, but then looked down and realized the two worry-warts were sitting there looking all depressed.

  “What?” she asked. “You can’t seriously be upset about this. After everything else we’ve been through, this is good news folks. The government is still around. We’re being rescued. What’s not to love?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Parrish said. “If we go to the safe zone, we’re giving them complete control.”

  “So?” Geez, that girl could find the negative in any situation.

  “So, we won’t be allowed to leave, no matter what it’s like there,” she said. “They could turn it into a slave camp and we wouldn’t be able to protest.”

  “A slave camp? Are you being serious right now? Why would they do that?” Karmen asked.

  Parrish shrugged. “I’m not saying that’s the best example or that they’re going to do that to us, I’m just trying to make the point that they will own us.”

  “They’ll also take care of us,” Karmen said. “Food. Water. Safety in numbers.”

  “My main worry is that they said no weapons,” Noah said. “What will we do if the camp we’re in gets overrun or something? We’ll be sitting ducks without any kind of weapon.”

  He had a point, but Karmen thought both of them were worrying too much. “The soldiers will have weapons,” Karmen said. “We won’t have to take care of ourselves or kill the zombies. They’ll do it for us.”

  The room grew silent and Karmen let out a long sigh.

  “Are we debating whether or not we’re going? Or just talking through how we feel about it?” she asked. “Because I’m going. With or without you guys.”

  No one said anything, but Parrish and Noah exchanged another look.

  Karmen was tired of their meaningful looks. She felt left out and she hated it. She wondered if any of their other friends would be at the camp. She was dying to know if Kate was okay. And Melinda. Maybe they would be there.

  But were Noah and Parrish really thinking it was a bad idea?

  She stared down at the evacuation notice.

  They had to go. “This is our chance at some kind of normal life,” she said, laying back against the couch.

  “Life isn’t ever going to be normal again,” Parrish said.

  But Karmen still wasn’t ready to believe that.

  Crash

  He was having another one of those very real dreams.

  This time there was some kind of camp. A military unit of some kind. Tanks. Hummers. Jeeps. Even a Bradley. In the distance, he could hear jets flying overhead.

  There was a long line of people waiting at a check-point. Doctors examined each person, then either admitted them or sent them away. Crash wasn’t sure, but it looked like some kind of quarantine procedure.

  A disturbance near the back of the line made everyone scatter. Z’s. Zombies. Dozens of them. No, hundreds. They came marching through, drawn to the smell of human flesh.

  The soldiers did what they could to contain the threat, but there were just too many of them.

  The camp was overrun in less than an hour. Bodies littered the floor of the parking lot.

  That’s when the three of them arrived. In his dream, Crash could see them as clear as if they were standing right in front of him.

  A beautiful blonde with legs for days. A tall guy carrying a large backpack and a shotgun. A girl, dressed very cool and punk in her combat boots and skirt.

  These three were his purpose. The ones he’d been waiting on. The ones he’d been preparing for all this time. Somehow, he was connected to them. Somehow, he had to find them.

  Just before he woke up, a sign appeared in the dream. McLean Memorial Hospital.

  He knew it. It was in one of the rich suburban areas in Virginia, west of D.C. Crash lived in Trinidad, one of the more dangerous spots in the nation’s capital, but it was cheap and it was home.

  When he awoke, he felt filled with purpose.

  Somehow, he was going to have to get in touch with those three.

  He got up from his small bed in the corner and woke up his computers. Then, he started work on trying to hack in to the military’s communications hub.

  The Witch

  The witch studied the purple stone.

  Three of the five symbols were connected with a small rope of light. It had been that way from the beginning. From the first moment she’d held it in her hand.

  Overnight, though, a fourth symbol had become connected to the other three. The Dark One had said they would soon meet up with the fourth. The rope connecting them was thin and dim, but it was there. Only the fifth remained completely disconnected and alone.

  The witch was running out of time.

  The Dark One would not be pleased with her. The group would soon become four and their powers would strengthen. Their journey toward each other had already begun in some small way. They would be drawn to each other, even if they didn’t know why. Circumstances would bring them closer and they would feel a strong pull to find each other. It was simply the way the magic worked.

  When the guardians sealed the Dark One deep inside the earth, they made a sacrifice. Instead of going back to their own world, they would stay here. They would live and die and be born again, over and over for eternity. Their powers were dormant. Sealed inside of their bodies until they were needed.

  If the Dark One ever awakened, the guardian’s powers would also begin to awaken.

  By now, all five of them would have discovered some level of new ability. They might not recognize it for what it truly was, but soon they would begin to piece it all together. And if the five of them ever joined up, their memories would come back to them. Their purpose would become clear and their powers would become strong.

  She couldn’t let that happen.

  The Dark One needed more time. More strength.

  Once she was free, the guardians wouldn’t be able to stop her. Not again. The witch’s job was to keep the guardian’s apart until her mistress could free herself.

  As the magical seal on this world began to break apart, the witch discovered new abilities of her own. Just as the Dark One said she would.

  The tracking the Dark One tol
d her about was something she’d been practicing. She had learned to meditate and concentrate on the souls of the guardians. First, she had learned to concentrate on their mark. The girl with the violet eyes had her own mark on the purple Fatalis stone. An infinity sign.

  When the witch concentrated on this symbol, the girl’s face became more clear in her mind. Eventually, she had even learned to see the girl’s body. Her surroundings. And most importantly, her dreams.

  Soon, she would be strong enough to connect with all five of the guardians this way. And this is how she would find them.

  This is how she would defeat them.

  Parrish

  They needed blankets and warm clothing.

  If they were going to try to pack up everything they might need over the next few months, Parrish knew they had to be thinking about what would happen once winter hit.

  Especially her since she might be on foot and heading north soon.

  It was possible she could look for things on the way, but it would be better to at least have a few sweatshirts or jackets packed away just in case. All of her winter clothes were packed away in the attic. Even if they had time to go over to her house so she could grab a few of her belongings, it would take too long to search the attic for the right boxes.

  Maybe Noah had some things they could use instead.

  Parrish had been working on the packing list alone in her room while the others slept, but she ventured into the hallway just to see if Noah was still awake.

  A sliver of light shone out from underneath his door, so she took a chance a knocked lightly.

  Noah answered right away. He was dressed in loose pajama pants and a black sleeveless shirt that showed off the muscles in his arms.

  “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “Do you have any sweatshirts or extra blankets that might pack up easily?” she asked. She looked past him and saw an open journal on his desk. She didn’t realize he’d been keeping a journal. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

  He shook his head. “It’s no problem,” he said. “I think I might have a few things that would work. You want to come in?”