by A J Donovan
Moments later he hits a person, and I’m not even surprised. The father of two teenage girls yells out in pain and clutches his stomach. Dark blood blossoms around his hands.
I grab his daughters and shove them out of the way so I have room to protect their father from the swarm of walkers that are about to overwhelm him. I let ice course through my arms and with the extra strength, I shove them back into the crowd of their friends.
I take advantage of the few seconds of space I’ve bought myself and press my hand against the floor. Ice flows down and out and I force it forward, towards the walkers. I look around to make sure no one will be caught in the ice and my eyes find Diana. She whirls and dances between the undead, blades flashing. She kills walker after walker but there are always more of them waiting for her.
Moments later the ice has spread far enough to reach almost all the walkers and I focus, making sure every one of them is stuck to the ground. I’m breathing hard but I don’t feel dizzy or sick. I’m getting better at this.
Diana nods to me and starts finishing them off. She takes her time, using a machete instead of a gun. She’s being smart, as always, saving bullets and keeping the noise to a minimum.
Gavin rushes to the man who was shot. His transformation to a concerned healer happens in a fraction of a second and I stare at him in shock as he kneels next to the man who was shot.
“What’s your name?”
“Paul,” he says.
His daughters run back to him now that the danger is gone.
“I’ve got you, Paul,” Gavin says. “I’ll fix this.”
“How?” he asks, rasping for breath.
Gavin doesn’t reply. He puts his hand over the wound and the pooling blood stops flowing. I can still see it, it is dark and terrifying and it should mean death for the man it came from. But Gavin is here. I can’t see anything happening from where I’m standing but Paul’s breathing steadies and his face becomes less pale.
Gavin’s shoulders sag and I realise he looks tired. Exhausted, even. One of the man’s daughters, who is about the same age as Gavin now that I think about it, runs over to Gavin and throws her arms around him. Gavin immediately stops being tired and basks in the girl’s attention.
Diana rolls her eyes and I laugh.
***
We re-join our group and the newcomers are welcomed warmly. The timing couldn’t have been better because Reggie is eager to get moving. We were going to wait a few more days before we left this area, but Reggie says there aren’t any other groups of survivors nearby. He says that a few of the guys went on a final scouting run and saw nothing. So we’re leaving.
I can’t help but think about all the other living people we’re leaving behind. The ones we didn’t find. They could be alone, scared, praying for someone to come save them.
It takes Leo’s calm words to convince me not to stay behind. He gives me a few reasons but the main reason is that they need me. I need to be with them in case they run into trouble. Over sixty people in one location is a feast for any walkers, especially any of the bigger hordes of undead we have barely avoided recently. The hordes are growing bigger every time we see them.
“You’re our strongest fighter, Jake,” Leo says.
Diana is clearly angry about something but she doesn’t say anything.
“We need you,” Leo says.
“Alright,” I say. “I’ll come with you.”
The sound of voices catches our attention. There are a few people gathered around Paul and he is telling everyone who can hear him about his brush with death.
“It was incredible! He saved my life!”
Gavin is nodding and smiling and letting everyone smother him in praise and gratitude. “It was nothing, really,” he says, still grinning widely at his gathered fans.
Reggie walks over and figures out what’s happening. “Oh, Gavin, my boy! You saved another life. This is fantastic. I always knew you were special.”
Leo joins his father but Diana and I stand back and watch the spectacle. After a few minutes of parading Gavin around the group, Reggie leads him back towards the vehicles and the majority of the group. “There are some people I want you to meet,” he says.
Gavin has no choice but to follow him.
“I don’t trust Reggie,” Diana says quietly. “I’ve said it before but I’m saying it again. Don’t trust him, Jake. That man is obsessed with power. Before the outbreak, it was money and violence. Now, he’s building up the size of this group and amassing weapons and powerful immunes. He’s not a good man.”
“He’s Leo’s father,” I say.
“I know. That’s part of the reason I’m staying.”
“Have you thought about leaving?”
She shrugs. “If I could get my aunt to come with me, maybe.” She sighs. “Eliza would never come, though. She would follow Reggie anywhere.”
“Would you leave without me?” I ask, half joking.
“Of course not. That’s goes without saying. And Leo. He wouldn’t leave with us but I know Reggie would do everything in his power to keep his son safe.”
She sighs again. “There’s no point talking about it. We both have people we care about, and most of them would refuse to come with us. For now, we’re stuck here.”
A howl pierces the blanket of quiet around our group and I forget whatever I was going to say next.
“Ready weapons!” Diana yells. We all know it’s far too late to think about hiding. There are several men and a couple of women who raise rifles in the direction of the noise. Rafael jogs over with Molly close behind him. They must have been in the middle of a conversation when they heard the howl.
I wonder what they were talking about.
Moments later, three beasts rush around a row of buildings and sprint towards us.
Rafael and Molly are ready to fight but I’m worried about their safety. Rafael’s recklessness will get him killed and Molly doesn’t have any direct offensive powers. I rush forward before they can move and I throw out my arms. Ice shoots towards them. I focus on the icy wave and the pieces of ice and mist come together to form huge icicles with razor sharp edges. One of the monsters jumps out of the way and another one dodges, catching a shard of ice in its shoulder. The third one is too slow and the icicle stabs directly into its brain.
A flock of birds dives from the sky and starts pecking at their faces. Molly’s eyes are narrowed in concentration and her fists are clenched tightly.
Rafael runs at a beast and bone blades spring from his arms. This is normal but after a moment I see bone spreading across his back and his chest like armour. I doubt it would stop bullets but it might protect him from the beasts’ lethal claws. He must have been working on extending his powers.
The beast is still more than a match for him. His bones barely scratch the beast’s armoured hide but it strikes Rafael’s chest plate once and it cracks. He stumbles and I duck past him to block the next attack. I cross my arms across my chest and reinforce them with cold power. I absorb the attack but it still sends me back a few feet and pain lances up my arms.
The beast snarls and lifts its paw to attack again. Suddenly Rafael is between us. He’s moving unnaturally fast. He slashes the beast’s neck, breaking the skin and cutting deep. Blood springs up but the wound closes over again in seconds.
I throw out an icy blast, knocking the monster off its feet and giving us a few seconds of breathing room. The beast jumps back up and then a gunshot pierces the air and a bullet flies past us. The beast’s left eye explodes and it collapses.
I turn and see Diana lowering a rifle. She grins.
The third beast stumbles towards us blindly. I start to move towards it but Rafael gets there first. He’s moving fast and yelling at the top of his lungs. He probably wants to prove that he is just as capable of killing them as the rest of us.
The beast’s movements change as he approaches. It must hear him coming. It growls, baring its razor sharp fangs, and lunges at Rafael. I yell out a w
arning but the beast is too fast and he reaches Rafael before the word leaves my mouth. Except he doesn’t. Rafael is gone. His speed is unbelievable, even by the standards of this new world.
The blinded beast doesn’t stand a chance against him at this speed. Rafael dodges and weaves in and out of clumsy swipes. Every time he hurts it, the monster heals itself almost instantly. He needs to cause more damage. I’m about to yell out that he should change his strategy but he rolls under the beast and drives a white blade into its underside.
I lose sight of Rafael but the beast howls in agony and then it shudders and falls onto its side. Rafael pushes himself out from the opposite side of the beast’s body and stands with a shaky grin.
“You always talked about how their skin was weaker underneath,” Rafael says to me.
“Glad I could help.”
Some people from the group start cheering and clapping, celebrating Rafael’s victory over our shared enemy.
“Everyone, please, we need to keep the volume down,” Reggie says.
I don’t know when he showed up again, but now that he’s here, he is more than ready to take charge. Something tells me it’s not a coincidence that he came back after the danger was gone.
“Rafael is a hero and we should all remember that. When we stop for the night everyone will have double rations and we can all thank Rafael for it!”
Everyone is ecstatic and cheers even louder than before.
As the cheering continues Reggie doesn’t try to stop the noise. He just throws his arm around Rafael and they stand together as people praise them.
I hide my frown and fake a smile, but I can’t shake the bad feeling. Reggie is playing a game of survival and politics and I don’t know what his intentions are.
Diana nudges my shoulder and when I look at her, I realise that she’s thinking the same thing. Some of the weight lifts off my shoulders.
We’re in this together.
***
Chapter 22 – Danger
Kim
I should have known the military camp was too good to be true.
They come for me in the early hours of the morning. My dreams are chaotic and confusing and they revolve around Matt, as they always do. I wake up suddenly and try to focus beyond my racing heart. I don’t know if I wake up because of the dream or if my power somehow warns me.
Whatever it is saves my life.
A rush of air enters the room. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m in danger, not until three disturbances in the shape of men sneak into the dark room. It’s too dark to see them, but I feel them with the air and I grab them tightly.
They gasp and start to struggle. One of them breathes in sharply. He’s about to yell for help. I feel the air fill his lungs, I know I could control it and end his life right now. I could tear him apart like I did to the beast. Instead, I take the air around them and wrap it around their mouths. They can’t shout for their friends now.
I calmly get up and pull on my clothes. I walk past them, to the table on the other side of the room, and I use a match to light a candle.
Three men I don’t recognise hang in the air before me, their guns lying on the floor beneath them, and they look terrified. The one in the middle seems to be angry, too, but mostly he’s scared. I hold the candle and approach him, stopping only a few inches from his face.
“What are you doing?” I ask him, releasing my control over his face.
He spits at me, hatred lining his features. I take a moment to be grateful for the air that responded to my surprise and disgust and protected me from his spit.
The saliva drops to the ground and I release the other mens’ mouths.
“Please don’t kill us,” the second man begs. I look at him for a moment and let a smile spread across my face.
“I won’t kill you,” I tell him.
The angry one tries to speak so I cover his mouth again. “Of course I won’t. I know you don’t want to hurt me.”
He shakes his head, as much as he can with the air encasing him. “No, I don’t!”
The angry one is struggling harder now but I don’t look at him. I squeeze him and stop just short of crushing his bones. He immediately stops struggling.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him. My voice is softer now. “If you didn’t want to hurt me, why are you here?”
He is sweating profusely now. He glances at his friends. “We were... It’s because you’re... you know... the powers,” he mumbles.
I reach out and put my hand on his face. “You were going to hurt me because I’m different?”
“I wouldn’t! Never!”
“So what were you doing here?” I demand. Suddenly a thought occurs to me. “Are there more of you? Are you going after the others?”
He doesn’t answer, but his eyes tell me everything I need to know.
“That’s too bad,” I say. “I really was going to let you live.”
“You-”
I throw him against the far wall and he slumps to the ground. He’ll live. I do the same to his friends and then pick up my boots.
I step outside. The predawn light is almost too dark to see anything. Before I can get my bearings, a scream cuts through the night. I run towards it, my mind flashing across all the women I’ve met here. It could be any of them. It could be Kayla.
I sprint past tent after tent and pull the air in close around me, ready for whatever or whoever might be waiting around each corner.
Are all the soldiers in on this? Or is it just a group of rogue men?
I’m too late for her. Kate is sprawled across the ground. The area around her is covered in her blood and her eyes focus on me for a single moment before their light fades. Her skin flickers through several shades of the rainbow before it returns to normal.
I take a moment to close her eyes and then I keep running. Time is fleeting and I know I could already be too late for the rest of them. I run into a clearing beyond the closest line of tents and run straight into a group of soldiers.
I decide to give them the benefit of the doubt. “Help!” I call. “A woman is dead! Someone killed her!”
They start laughing at me.
“What are you doing?” I ask, even though I know exactly what this means. They’re in on it. Everyone’s in on it. They’re getting rid of us, because they’re afraid. Because we’re different.
“She’s a pretty one,” one of them says to his friends. He moves towards me. “Maybe we could have a little fun before-”
He chokes. I smile at him.
His friends watch, confused, as he starts to cough up blood. He collapses and finally they react, cursing and gasping. I can’t help but enjoy enacting my own form of justice on these monsters.
I don’t bother speaking to the remaining six men. I flick my fingers and they are sent hurtling through the air. They crash through a nearby tent, landing painfully. I have no doubt I broke several bones.
Another group of soldiers comes running into sight, drawn to us by the noise I’ve been making. I sigh. I should stop playing with them.
I grab a makeshift wooden streetlight and rip it out of the ground. I raise it high in the air. A few of the men have just enough time to look up in terror before I throw it and send them flying like bowling bowls.
They start firing their weapons at me. Walls of air rise up on either side of me and they start yelling frantically when they see their bullets bouncing off invisible barriers. I continue picking up men and throwing them, trying not to throw them too hard. I don’t want to kill anyone. The air shifts around me and fits itself to my body like armour.
I feel unstoppable. A grin spreads across my face.
“She’s invincible!” someone yells.
I laugh and twirl my finger in the air and toss a mini tornado at the thickest clump of soldiers. The force of the twisting winds sends them in every direction.
“Kim, stop! Please!”
I turn to see Kayla clutching the side of a tent. She can’t get any closer to me
, if she lets go of the tent, the wind will knock her off her feet. “Please, Kim!”
“They killed Kate,” I say, and somehow my voice doesn’t get taken away by the howling winds. “They tried to kill me. They will kill all of us because we’re different than they are.”
Kayla starts crying. Guilt pushes past my confidence and righteous anger and the winds slow until there is barely more than a slight breeze surrounding us.
Kayla smiles through her tears. “Thank you for stopping. There are a lot of innocent people here, even if the rest of them are monsters.”
“I need to find Cole,” I say.
“I know. I’ll bring you to his tent,” she says. “He might not be there but it’s a good place to start.”
I follow her.
I don’t let my invisible armour dissipate. I know I’m not safe. I’ll probably never be safe. Safety was a part of the old world and it died along with that world when the outbreak took everything from us.
The camp looked so promising. It was full of soldiers that should have protected us and happy civilians that trusted the military to do their job.
Maybe I’m the problem. This place was fine before I got here. Maybe I don’t belong in a place like this. Safety and comfort are for other people. Normal people.
“I’ve heard other gunshots,” Kayla says. “They seem to be spread throughout the camp. I don’t think anyone else put up a fight like you did.”
“Did you see any of them?” I ask. “Did anyone escape?”
“The only person I saw was Maria. She was hiding in a bubble shield and she looked terrified.” Kaya hesitates.
“What is it?”
“I think they’ve been planning this for a while,” Kayla says quietly. “It looks organised and there are way too many different attacks happening at the same time to be a spontaneous thing. They must have been planning this for days, maybe even weeks.”
It’s selfish but I feel relieved when I realise that my arrival isn’t the reason that all of this is happening.
“Kill the freak,” someone snarls.
I spin around, but there’s no one around. No one jumps out either and after a moment I realise that the voice came from up ahead.