The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle

by Steven Till

  "Monsters...MONSTERS!!!" Theresa screamed as she watched the wolf army meet the tidal wave of the dead.

  ****************

  Sam’s shotgun shook as he kept it trained on the trailer door. He had moved everyone back as far as they could. Using the various boxes of goods that were already in the trailer, they had built a crude barrier to hide behind. The old man peered down the barrel of his gun, which jutted out through a small hole in the cardboard fortifications.

  The loud battle cry of the wolves had sounded. The terrified humans had no idea that the army of lupines had arrived. Nor did they know the extent of the war that was about to ensue outside. Daniel, Suresh, and Carlos stood on either side of Sam; each clutching a firearm to their trembling bodies. Pete sat with Alison in the back corner. He held onto a large machete for dear life. Alison sat with a vacant expression, too scared to even react. Between hyperventilated breaths, she recited the Lord’s Prayer in nothing more than a panicked whisper.

  “Hey,” Pete whispered. “Hey, knock it off! They’re going to hear you!” he chided Alison.

  “Shhhh!” Sam hushed. “Everyone shut the fuck up for God’s sake!” Sam commanded in the most forceful whisper he could manage.

  A single green glow stick illuminated the back of the trailer. Sam turned towards the others. He looked at them all there, huddled around the chem-stick in the back of a sideways trailer, petrified at the prospect of their impending doom.

  “Nathan told me what’s out there before he closed us in,” he said, keeping his voice just louder than the inhuman screams and carnage outside.

  “All this was caused by some little girl that he calls Sunshine. He says that she’s patient zero, that she’s controlling all those zombie-things,” Sam continued.

  “He doesn’t know why this girl is chasing him or what she wants. He told me to keep us in here and to shoot anything that opens that door. So that’s what I’m going to do. We’re going to hunker down here and stay put until he comes back for us.”

  “Are you sure he’s coming back?” asked Carlos.

  “Eve trusts him,” Sam responded. “That’s good enough for me.”

  The group sat in the eerie green glow of the chem-stick and waited to see if they were going to live or die.

  ****************

  The giant black dildo connected with the zombie’s face as Ronnie continued to go slap-happy with it. His method of using the dildo to stun his enemy allowed him to follow up with a decapitating blow with his free talon. So far, it was actually working. To his left, he caught a glimpse out of his peripheral vision. A zombie was sailing through the air at him, ready for an aerial strike.

  The wolf next to him saw this and stepped forward, the quills along his right forearm flipped forward and seemed to extend out past the large claws. Whey they finished their shimmery movement, they had formed a long quill-blade around the hand. The wolf thrust it upwards into the flying zombie’s torso, impaling it. Reaching with its left claw, it grabbed the creature by the shoulders and pulled, cleaving it in half. Black blood rained down as the two halves of the thing fell onto the ground in a squishy thud.

  “Holy shit, dude! That was fucking awesome!” he exclaimed to the wolf. “Look at that crazy shit, yo!” he exclaimed, pointing to the quill-blade that protruded from the wolf’s forearm. “You’re like a Transformer or some shit!”

  The wolf ignored Ronnie’s babble and continued to thrust its quill weapon at the never ending flow of zombies. The defensive arc formation pulsed and rippled as wave after wave of the demons continued to barrage them. Nathan stole glances at the battle as they moved. Theresa had shut her eyes, which made it more difficult to move her. She stumbled and tripped every couple steps, slowing them down. Evelyn kept a close eye on their exposed flank. So far, no attacks from behind them. That was good, but she doubted it would last.

  Sure enough, within just a couple moments, zombies began to leap from the road overpass to the train overpass. They dropped down well behind the defenses and were now closing in on the debris pile.

  “They’re flanking us! They’re behind the line!” Evelyn screamed at anyone who would listen.

  Boomer bolted to the rear, towards the zombies who had just dropped from the tracks. He lunged into the air and clamped his massive jaws down onto one creature’s head, crushing it into pulp. The quills on his tail rearranged to form long deadly spikes at the end. He twisted his body, whipping the spike-laden tail towards the other four zombies. Two of them became impaled. They clawed at the tail with their talons, but the dog’s quill armor was too tough. Another massive bite to another’s leg. A second swish of the tail threw the two impaled zombies airborne towards Evelyn and Nathan.

  She caught one of them mid-air by the head and used its inertia to spin into a hammer throw. Squeezing hard, she felt the thing’s skull splinter as black blood and brains spurted out. Completing another rotation, she flung the dead zombie far into the thick of the battle on the other side. The other body fell next to Nathan, who stomped his foot down onto the bewildered zombie’s head. Theresa screamed.

  “I’m going to help Boomer, you get her into that bunker,” Evelyn shouted over her shoulder as she ran to help their dog defend the flank.

  “Ronnie! Go help Eve!” Nathan yelled.

  Ronnie heard his friend through the growls, howls, cries, and screams of the wolves and the zombies. He darted out of the fray, black cock in hand, and raced towards Evelyn’s aid.

  “I gotcha, bro,” he said as he sailed toward Evelyn and Boomer.

  Nathan scooped Theresa up in his arms, taking care not to scratch her. They needed to move fast. He ran towards the two wolves who now hurled cars and debris at the Horde like ballistae.

  "Stay here. Stay low. The wolves are our allies; they will keep you safe," Nathan said as he placed the housewife on the ground. He piled nearby debris around the woman to form a makeshift foxhole.

  “Maalik,” Nathan yelled. “Theresa is behind you. She got separated from the others.”

  Maalik paused to look at the petrified human huddled in the small foxhole. He bent down and nudged her arm with his immense snout to reassure her, then returned to chucking cars at the undead army.

  Several creepers jumped onto Boomer’s back. The dog shook, but the attackers hung on. They clawed and tore at his hide, but his quill armor withstood the blows. He plumed his quills outward, impaling the creepers with thousands of the sharp prongs. The dog pushed off of the ground with all fours and flipped onto his back, crushing the zombies underneath. Writhing on the ground, Boomer’s quills shredded the unfortunate creatures beneath him into pulp. He hopped up onto his feet and shook again, casting the dead innards off like water.

  Evelyn grasped a stop sign in both hands, wielding it like a battle axe. She swung it above her head and down across her front. The force of her swing decapitated a large swath of the dead in a single blow. Skull tops and corrupted brains spilled everywhere. She used the follow-through of her attack and brought the stop sign axe straight down. The sign cleaved straight through another of the dead soldiers.

  Nathan surveyed the battle. Ronnie, Evelyn, and Boomer continued to hold their own at their back, but it wouldn’t take long for more of the Horde to figure out the weak spot and exploit it. Along the front line, he was impressed at how effective the wolves were at killing these things. They utilized the same strategy that he had seen before; take out the legs to immobilize, then destroy the brain for the kill. For every wolf that fell, they took at least two hundred of the zombies down with them. Even with those phenomenal numbers, there was no way that they could hold out against the thousands of zombies that continued to berate them. The Horde was beginning to spill around either end of the defensive arc. Their numbers were failing. More undead were falling from the trolley tracks above. Soon, Evelyn, Ronnie, and Boomer would be overrun.

  “Maalik! We need to compress the line and surround the entrance!”

  The wolf leader roared and the arc
again moved as one. It collapsed down to a tight circle that surrounded the entrance to the sanctuary below. The wolves were now in ranks eight rows deep. The Horde fell in on it like a river crashing against a dam. The wall of bodies crushed against the wolf lines. Caws dug into the asphalt beneath. The close circle bulged inward from the force of the Horde, but they held; pushing back the tidal wave of Hell.

  Shit, Nathan thought. Ronnie, Evelyn, and Boomer were still trapped outside of the defensive ring. They continued to vanquish the onslaught of dead, but the forces that bore down on them continued to gain in numbers. Soon, they would fall if they didn’t get help soon.

  Nathan grabbed a nearby pipe and used it to dispatch several zombies who had made it through the defenses. He watched as two of them jumped onto one of the wolves. One sat atop the wolf’s shoulders and jammed two talons into its eyes. It wailed in pain as the second zombie grabbed the lower jaw. The first yanked its talons out of the eye sockets and clamped strong hands around the upper jaw. The two zombies worked together and tore the wolf’s head in two. For as graceful and efficient as the wolves were at dispatching their enemies, the zombies were as equally cunning.

  Nathan took his pipe and wedged the free end into the one creeper’s mouth. Clasping the ghoul’s head by the ears, He dropped to his knees, pile-driving the zombie’s face into the pavement. The pipe erupted out the back of the skull. Without hesitation, Nathan turned to grab the other advancing zombie by the shoulders. He heaved the creature over his head and performed a suplex, impaling the creature onto the pipe that was planted into the first one. A swift stomp with his foot put an end to the monster.

  Nathan looked up just in time to see Bataviah charge at him. He crouched down as she sailed over his head and barreled into the group of zombies that approached Nathan from behind. She picked one up by a leg and used it to club the others back into the torrent at the front lines. She dropped the bloodied and broken zombie on the ground; her large, padded foot squished in brains as it came down upon its head.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Bataviah gave a grunt and went back to the bunker entrance. Maalik was hacking at limbs and torsos with his quill blade when she returned. More and more of the Horde trickled through the lines, forcing Maalik and Bataviah to stop clearing the entrance while they dispatched the oncoming threats. The two wolf generals worked in tandem, each taking turns hurling large pieces of debris at anything that came near them.

  Nathan positioned himself over the frightened Theresa. He planted his feet on the foxhole rim and stood guard over the human, killing any zombie that would get through their defense. Glancing at Maalik and Bataviah, Nathan watched in awe as the two moved as one. They anticipated each other’s moves. Their monstrous bodies flowed together in a balletic dance of destruction as blood and disemboweled zombie guts fell to the ground with the falling snow.

  Sunshine stood at the precipice of the roadway and peered down at the battle below. Parting around her, waves of her minions continued to pour over the broken ledge. She saw the wolves collapse into a tight circle around a large pile of debris where the trolley tracks dipped below the street. In the center of the circle, two wolves dug at the wrecked metal, while a single zombie stood alone, protecting a human woman. It was Nathan.

  Outside of the circle, two other zombies fought her children alongside a different kind of wolf. It was the woman. The one Nathan searched for. A smile emblazoned onto Sunshine’s pale face. She took a step out over the air below and leaned forward. Before she fell, limbs reached out from both sides and interlocked, catching the zombie queen. She took another step forward and again, arms and legs twisted inward to form a ledge for the 11 year-old to walk on. As the bodies continued to feed the battlefield below, others writhed and interlocked themselves into a macabre staircase of horror down from the overpass.

  Step by step, she walked upon the fallen children of Earth. Such arrogance they had. Such contempt and disregard they held towards their Eden. They destroyed this precious gift that they had received. They squandered it. They used it all up. Now she was going to avenge the planet. She was going to purge Paradise of this parasite called Humanity.

  Sunshine’s foot hit the pavement. Instantly, the staircase collapsed, the bodies rising to join the fray before her. With incredible speed, she sped towards Evelyn, leaving a trail of black, wispy smoke behind her. Sunshine stopped just short of Evelyn. She floated in mid-air on a pitch-black cloud. She reached out with her claw and grasped her prize by the head. Just as quickly as she arrived, she, and Evelyn, were gone. Boomer turned just in time to see a flash of bodies disappear in a black whirlwind. Lady was gone. Ronnie noticed the distracted dog, and then noticed that they were down a person.

  “Dude, where’s Eve?” Ronnie asked the dog. He continued to pummel his undead brethren that swarmed them while Boomer attempted to pick up a scent.

  Sunshine moved at breakneck speed. The ensuing battle moved in slow motion as her and Evelyn drew near the entrenched werewolf defenses. The butchering was unfathomable. Blood and body parts, wolf and zombie alike, flew through the air like confetti at a ticker-tape parade. Intestines and entrails fluttered like streamers as they exploded from various zombies. The wolf ranks held the majority of the attack, yet the sheer numbers poured over the wolf legion in spots. Maalik had ceased clearing debris and stood back to back with Nathan over the terrified human who shook and screamed in her foxhole. They took turns slashing, ripping, and dismembering the never-ending onslaught of hell spawn. Bataviah feverishly continued to toss debris out into the bloodied battlefield.

  They were going to lose. Nathan saw the Horde cascade over the broken overpass. The zombie ranks were replenishing faster than the wolves could dispel them. More and more of Maalik’s kin fell. It was only a matter of time before the lines collapsed and they succumbed to the overwhelming numbers of the Horde. The only good news that he could see, was that the humans in the overturned trailer were safe. Their ruse seemed to be working. The zombie army paid no attention to it.

  “Hurry the fuck up, Bataviah!” Nathan shouted over his shoulder.

  The female wolf let out a roar in acknowledgement. Nathan caught a glimpse of something within the Horde. Black smoke puffed and billowed throughout the zombie ranks. He could see a mass of bodies in front of the wolves begin to interlock and rise up into a crude platform. Another quick burst of black smoke erupted atop the newly formed pedestal. When the smoke dissipated, Sunshine stood high above the defensive circle. She extended her arm outwards towards him. There, hanging above the battle, Evelyn kicked at the air, attempting to break free from Sunshine’s clutches. The zombie queen’s grotesque claws appeared disproportionately larger than what they should have been for the eleven year old body. She held Evelyn by the head, dangling her over the edge of the pedestal like a ragdoll.

  “EVE!” Nathan screamed.

  Sunshine began to speak. Her voice boomed over the sound of the battle as if she spoke through a supernatural megaphone. Her voice was a corrupted mix of child and woman.

  “Your time in Paradise is at an end,” she hissed. “I have taken this world from you. Now I shall rape your souls and strip you of your pitiful hope. I will reap your sorrow and sow your tears; I will feast upon your agony and reclaim what is mine!”

  In one effortless motion, Sunshine wrapped her other large talon around Evelyn’s waist and pulled. In a loud, wet, crunch, Evelyn’s body ripped from her head. Before Nathan could register what his eyes saw, her lifeless body sailed through the air, landing in a bloody heap before him.

  “NOOOOOOO!”

  From between Sunshine’s knotted fingers, Evelyn peered out at Nathan with terrified eyes. Her spinal column remained intact and hung from her severed head like an aberrant kite tail, swaying bloody trails in the air. Evelyn was undead. Her brain remained intact and was aware of what was happening to her. Nathan stood and watched the horrific scene; his fiancé’s anguish burned into his mind.

  A deafening roar s
ounded to Nathan’s left. Boomer sailed through the air towards Sunshine. His powerful jaws closed around her outstretched arm, ripping it off above the elbow. The little girl screamed as black smoke poured out of the bloody stump. The severed arm still clutched Evelyn’s head in a death grip and Boomer held tightly to the arm in his mouth.

  As soon as he hit the ground, Boomer turned and bounded through the falling lines of wolves and zombies. His quills puffed out like a blow fish, mincing any zombie that got too close. He reached his master and gently laid the arm and head onto the ground. Nathan pried the fingers open, releasing Evelyn from the death-grip. He picked her up and looked into her eyes, which darted around to and fro.

  “I’m so sorry…” he said, as black blood-tears streamed down his face.

  Sunshine retreated into the sea of bodies of the Horde. At the same moment, Bataviah yelled above the chaos. She was now in human form.

  “Retreat to the bunker!” she cried.

  Nathan turned in time to see Bataviah slip through a small hole in the debris and down to the subterranean tunnel that was the entrance to the bunker. The opening wasn’t big enough for the wolves to enter in their current form. They’d have to change back to human to escape.

  A strong hand grabbed Nathan’s arm. It was Maalik, back in human form.

  “Go now!” he commanded.

  Nathan didn’t hesitate. He cradled Evelyn’s head in one arm, scooped Theresa up in the other, and ducked down into the tunnel.

  “Boomer, come!” he called back.

  The dog sniffed at the hole. Realizing that he couldn’t enter in his current state, the dog returned to his cute, little, furry form. He followed his master into the tunnel.