Twisted Fate

by Kate L. Mary

  “Too many,” Jim said from my right.

  I fired faster as I stepped forward, trying to make room for the rest of our group even though every nerve in my body begged me to shut the door so Meg couldn’t step in. Somehow, even without looking, I could sense it when she’d walked in behind me, and it made my pulse race faster, made me fire more rapidly, made beads of sweat break out across my body.

  The zombies dropped steadily, none of them getting close enough to make it within five feet of us. The growing number of motionless bodies littering the floor helped slow them as well, but even that obstacle wasn’t enough to stop one of them. I caught a flash of him as he dodged behind others, using his less intelligent brethren as shields so he could weave his way through the hall to us. I stepped forward and knelt and shifted, trying to get better aim, knowing that he was a hybrid just like the one I’d fought in the ring. Knowing how strong and agile and intelligent he was.

  No matter how I angled my body, I couldn’t get a good shot, and then he was there, swooping around the handful of zombies separating us and charging right for me. The shriek he let out seemed louder than the gunfire, and even when a bullet hit him in the arm, he didn’t slow.

  I only had a moment to register that it was Meg’s crewmember, Matt, before he slammed into me. My gun went flying, skittering across the floor, and I crashed to the ground. My already injured ribs throbbed, but I’d been here before. Head to head with a creature that had no business living, hurt and unarmed, desperate to fight so I could live to see another day.

  He was on top of me, snapping his teeth as he fought to get closer. I let out a sound that was halfway between a growl and a shout as I held him off, putting every ounce of energy into it and throwing him back. The zombie hit the wall, but he was up in a second and headed back my way. Only I was ready, and before he could take me down I rammed my shoulder into his stomach and slammed him back against the wall a second time.

  The hybrid shrieked again and fought, but I pressed him back, using all my strength to hold him in place as I grabbled for the knife at my waist.

  He was too strong though, and I found my grip slipping, found that my ribs were throbbing more than they had been before, found that the tingle I’d been feeling all day now made my legs shaky and my arms feel weak and nearly useless.

  One more shove and he had me on my back, and I knew even as I tried to shove him off that I wouldn’t be able to succeed this time. That the injuries I’d sustained at Jackson’s hands were too much and the bacteria that was in the process of eating my brain had taken too much out of me. This creature was going to win.

  A shot rang out and the zombie’s head jerked back as blood sprayed across the wall behind him. He dropped to the floor and I twisted around so I could see who had taken the shot. Meg stood over me, her gun still pointed at the creature even as her gaze scanned me for injuries.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling at my side.

  I swallowed so I could find my voice and then said, “I’m okay.”

  I tried to get up, but I found that my legs were wobbly and weak. Meg frowned as she tucked her gun away and moved to help me, and I hated that I needed it, but I did.

  The shots had died down, and when I was back on my feet I saw that only three zombies were left standing. Jim and Jada fired almost simultaneously and two more went down, leaving only one. Angus was already moving toward the thing, already putting his gun away as he did. He pulled a knife when he was still two feet away and the thing growled. It was an older zombie, decayed and slow, and it took almost no effort on Angus’s part to sink his blade into the thing’s brain.

  The air in the room was thick with the smell of death and gunpowder, and the floor was littered with bodies, but we’d succeeded. I looked around, surveying the people who had come with our group, and found the daughter of the High Priestess on the floor with one of her men. The sleeve of his robe was ripped open and blood pooled on his skin, as dark as the fabric draped over his body.

  Dragon knelt at his side. “If we move now, there still may be time to get you the vaccine.”

  The man shook his head and pushed himself to his feet, forcing Dragon to stand too. The priestess’s daughter did as well, her gaze moving over the room to Angus.

  “If he is meant to live, Angus will save him,” she said.

  “You were given the vaccine when you were bitten,” Meg pointed out. “Why deny someone else?”

  The woman’s gaze moved to Meg. “That was before the resurrection. Now that our savior is back, we must not be dependent on the drugs of man. If he has enough faith, God will heal him.”

  Angus, who had been in the middle of picking his way down the hall, paused so he could look over his shoulder. But I didn’t get a chance to see his expression, because all of the sudden my legs wobbled and my heart sped up, and before I knew it I was going down.

  Thirty

  Meg

  Donaghy went down so suddenly that it took me a second to register it. I dropped to my knees at his side, reaching for him as if I would be able to change his fate even though there was nothing I could do for him. There was nothing anyone could do for him, not anymore.

  “What is it?” I gasped.

  He shook his head as if to tell me there was nothing wrong, but the beads of sweat on his forehead told a different story. “Just my ribs. They were bad after Jackson got ahold of me and I think that bastard made them worse.”

  Donaghy nodded to the hairless zombie I had just shot, the one that had at one time been Matt, but the way he avoided my gaze told me he was lying. Or at least not telling the whole truth. It was the bacteria.

  Behind me, the others were moving down the hall, following my uncle who was already past the piles of bodies and had stopped in front of the last cell. I looked from him to Donaghy, feeling torn about what to do. He was hurt, but I wanted to be there when Star died, I wanted to see it with my own eyes so I could sleep at night and never have to wonder whether or not he’d really taken his last breath.

  “Go,” Donaghy said. “I’ll be okay.”

  I slipped my hand into his for a moment, ignoring how clammy it was, and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be back. Hang in there.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” he grunted out.

  I ignored the twist in my gut that reminded me that wasn’t true and got to my feet. The beep of the keypad told me that Angus was already typing in the code and I wanted to run so I could be there, so I could see Star, but the bodies littering the floor made it impossible to move too quickly. It was like an obstacle course, and I had to hop over them or take wide steps so I didn’t trip.

  By the time I’d reached the others, Angus had the door open and was already inside. No one else had moved, and I pushed past Jim and Jada so I could see what was happening. Al and Parv stood closest to the glass, but Dragon was there as well and I could tell that he was itching to get his hands on Star too. Not that he would steal this moment from Angus. We all knew my uncle deserved to be the one to take Star out.

  I looked into the room to find Star standing in the middle of the floor, a gun in his shaky hand. It was pointed at Angus, but that didn’t stop my uncle from stepping closer. I almost called out, almost told him to stop, but I knew it was no use because nothing could stop him now. Plus, I also knew—just as well as my uncle did—that Star would hesitate before killing his favorite test subject.

  “Stop,” Star yelled, his voice so shaky that it didn’t sound the least bit like him.

  “You ain’t gonna shoot me,” Angus said, his calm tone contrasting with the terror that dripped from the other man’s. “You and I both know that, so why pretend?”

  Star shifted his aim so the barrel was pointed past my uncle, but he must not have been able to see any of us through the barely cracked door, because it was only seconds before he was once again aiming at Angus.

  “Why not?” he said, “I’m dead anyway.”

  Angus took a step closer to him. “You’re
right ‘bout that.”

  Star squeezed the trigger without warning and the crack of the gunshot was so loud that it made my body jerk. His aim was wide though, and the bullet hit Angus in the arm, ripping across the tattoo on his bicep in a burst of red. He grunted in pain even as he lunged at Star, and the smaller man barely had time to look surprised before my uncle had slammed into him and he was on the ground. He ripped the gun from Star’s hand and threw it aside. It clattered across the floor, sliding under a chair and out of sight.

  Angus James sat on top of the once confident scientist, staring down at the man who had destroyed not only our family and the entire world, but who had held him prisoner for twenty years, who had tortured him, tortured his daughter, and killed the woman he loved. Until now I’d never thought of myself as a twisted person, but standing there at that moment, watching through the glass, I felt an overwhelming need to know that Angus was going to make Star suffer. To witness it, to hear his screams, to listen to him beg for mercy, to see his blood pool on the floor as the life drained out of him.

  “I been dreamin’ ‘bout this moment for twenty years,” Angus said, his gaze trained on Star. “Thinkin’ ‘bout what I’d do if I got my hands on you. Not just you, but your son too.” He paused and the corner of his mouth turned up. “I didn’t get the pleasure of rippin’ his throat out, but I gotta tell ya, seein’ his blood on the floor felt damn good.” He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “But not as good as hearin’ his screams did.”

  Star squirmed and his face grew red, but he pressed his lips together as if trying to stop the words from coming out of him.

  Angus lifted his eyebrows. “I know what you’re thinkin’ right now. You’re thinkin’ you ain’t gonna give me the satisfaction of listenin’ to you beg for your life. I know because I know you. I been watchin’ you come and go for twenty years, seen what you’ve done to people. How you’ve tortured ‘em, killed ‘em, used ‘em. You think that just ‘cause I was locked in a cell I wasn’t really a part of it, but I was. More than you know.” Angus paused and held Star’s gaze. “See, I’m the reason your most trusted scientist turned against you. Jane wasn’t just tryin’ to save our daughter that day. She was tryin’ to save me too. She loved me—” My uncle’s voice broke and he had to swallow before he could go on, but once he did his words came out steady and clear. “Which is why she told me all ‘bout the failsafe, why she betrayed you, and why she made it look like our daughter was dead even though she ain’t.”

  Star’s eyes went wide. “She’s alive?”

  Angus gave the man a little grin as he nodded. “She is, and I’m gonna make sure she stays that way.”

  His smile faded as he slid his hands around the other man’s neck. Star bucked and scratched at the fingers trying to squeeze the life out of him, but Angus’s grip was too tight, too strong. There was no way he could get free. I moved closer to the glass, my gaze focused on Star’s panicked face. It grew red and his eyes doubled in size as terror set in, and then the color slowly morphed until his skin had a slightly blue tint to it. His mouth opened and closed, his nails dug into Angus’s flesh until they drew blood. His feet skittered against the floor like he was trying to flee, but my uncle never eased up, never blinked, and never took his eyes off Star’s face.

  When Star finally stopped moving and his hands went slack, it felt like everyone around me let out a collective sigh of relief. Angus’s grip loosened, and he slid off the body of the man who’d tortured him for twenty years, but he didn’t look away or make a move to leave. No one else did either, and even though there was a definite feeling of relief inside me, there was something else as well. Confusion and disappointment, and a sense that we had all been robbed. This wasn’t how I’d thought it would end. I had anticipated blood, pain, screams, but not this. Not this quiet death. Star had deserved more than this for all the sins he’d committed, all the people he’d killed and plotted to kill, he had deserved to suffer.

  Parv was the first to move, and when she walked into the room and knelt at my uncle’s side, I expected her to yell at him or hit him, to tell him that he’d robbed us all of our chance for revenge. Only that wasn’t what happened. Instead, she hugged him.

  “It’s over,” I heard her say. Her words were so soft that I could have convinced myself I’d been mistaken if it wasn’t for the next thing out of her mouth. “We did it.”

  How? Of all the people, of all the pain, my aunt had been the one to hold onto her hatred harder than even Angus. She’d had a family stolen from her, a baby and the chance to ever have another one, and then her husband as well. How could she think this was justice?

  I moved before I could think better of it, pushing past Al and stumbling into the room, suddenly so blinded by my own rage that I felt like the whole place had been dipped in red.

  “Why didn’t you make him suffer more?” I asked, surprised by the way the words shook when they came out of me but unable to stop. “You made it too easy. After everything he’s done, how could you let it end like this?”

  My aunt pulled away from Angus, but her hand was still resting on his shoulder when they turned to look at me. The emotion in their eyes nearly took my breath away, because it wasn’t just pain anymore. It was a sense of deep relief that I couldn’t understand because I couldn’t feel the same way. Not after this.

  “I ain’t like him,” Angus said. “He deserved to die and I wanted to be the one to do it, but I ain’t a monster.” He pushed himself up so he was standing, pulling Parvarti up as well. “The good Lord knows Star tried to turn me into one. Twenty years he was at it, but he didn’t succeed. This here, what happened today, it proves it.”

  I turned my gaze on my aunt. “What about you? Don’t you think Star deserved to suffer just a little?”

  “He has an eternity of suffering ahead of him,” Parv said, “in hell.”

  The air left my lungs and I found myself leaning against the wall. Maybe they had a point; maybe it was better to be the bigger and better person, to hold onto your humanity. My uncle was right after all, we’d all spent the last twenty years trying not to become one of the monsters Star had created, and the thought that even in the end we’d been able to defy him gave me a sense of satisfaction.

  My uncle walked away from Star’s body without a second glance at it, stopping when he was standing in front of me. “You sure do remind me of your mama when you get angry like that. She was a spitfire, just like you.”

  “I’ve heard that a lot lately,” I said, my gaze still on Star.

  “I know you talked to your folks ‘bout what happened in Vegas.” My gaze flicked to him. “Hadley was angry after that. Real angry. And I didn’t think she was gonna be able to move on, not that I woulda blamed her. We got separated for a bit, not sure if you heard that part. She and your dad was off on their own, and it was months before we caught up with ‘em. She was like another person then, like her old self almost, ‘cause she let go of her anger. ‘Cause she figured out how to move on.”

  “How?” I whispered.

  “Your dad, you. She found somethin’ to make life better and focused on that, and that’s what I’m gonna do. What you gotta do.”

  Angus patted my shoulder as he moved past, and Parv did the same. I stayed where I was for a few seconds longer, staring at Star’s body and thinking about all the chaos and pain he’d left in his wake. My uncle was right. Focusing on what I had would help me move on. The problem with that was obvious, though. I wasn’t done losing. Not yet.

  I left the cell and headed back down the hall. Donaghy was still on the floor, and by the time I reached him he was sweating so much that his shirt was clinging to his chest. I knelt at his side and felt his forehead, but he wasn’t hot like he’d been before.

  “Can you walk?” I whispered.

  He nodded, but when he pulled himself up his steps were wobbly. I grabbed him before he fell, and between my support and the wall he was able to stay on his feet.

  “It’s not just my
ribs,” Donaghy said even though we both knew I’d never thought it was. “I don’t think I have much time.”

  I swallowed before whispering, “I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

  “I don’t think you have a choice.”

  Tears balled in my throat, trying to force their way out. Somehow, I managed to keep them down, but it wasn’t without a lot of effort. In fact, it took more strength than I knew I had.

  “We should say goodbye now, before it’s too late,” he whispered.

  He pulled me close, and when his mouth covered mine his lips were trembling. He wrapped his arms around my waist, but his embrace felt different. It was weak and stiff, not at all like the man I’d met in Dragon’s Lair.

  “I’m not sorry,” he whispered against my mouth.

  I lost my battle to keep the tears at bay. They streamed down my face when I squeezed my eyes shut, and I pressed my face against his neck as a sob broke out of me. I didn’t want to let him go, didn’t want to pull away from him, but the rest of our group was ready to leave and I knew staying here wasn’t an option. We had to get back, had to make Donaghy comfortable. It was the only thing left to do.

  Dragon had to help him walk as we headed out, that’s how bad it was. The maze that was the CDC felt endless on our way out, and it seemed that with each passing moment Donaghy found it more and more difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Not just that, but a strange sense of déjà vu came over me. This same thing had happened the last time we were here, Donaghy struggling to make it out as a killer raged in his body. Only this time there would be no miracle vaccine. No way to stop the thing that was slowly killing him.

  We’d left Star’s body where it was when we’d fled the hall, and Sabine had left the guard who wasn’t bitten to watch over it. I had no clue what The Church had planned, but I knew that the High Priestess would want to make a spectacle of Star, and the sick feeling in my stomach told me that my uncle had been right. It was better not to embrace the monster inside.