by Janie Marie
Arthur nodded. “Was anyone else restless?”
“No,” said Gawain. “Only David.”
They all turned to David, and Arthur studied him before he turned to the others. “Knights,” he said. “We are nearing Austin, Texas. The concentration of the infected humans is significantly higher here. It increases daily, and we have no clue as to why.
“In one hour, we jump. We will clear a perimeter before setting up base. David, Gawain, Gareth: you will scout ahead to locate any abnormalities.”
David and Gawain exchanged a look, both understanding this meant locate the source of the disturbance, and either destroy or protect it.
“Tristan, Geraint, and Bors”—Arthur said— “will go north after them and obtain a landing zone for Lucan and Dagonet to bring in supplies and set up camp.”
Tristan nodded and left with his team.
Arthur continued issuing orders. “Lamorak, you will take Percivale, Gaheris, and Galahad to clear the power and water facilities. Lucan has a map for you. Bed, Kay, and I will do a perimeter sweep before making our way to camp.
“Stay sharp. I do not know what is going on down there, but we could be up against something we haven’t come across yet. I don’t want any of you brushing this off. Watch each other’s backs. We are approaching midnight, so prepare yourselves. I want base set up before dawn.”
Arthur dismissed the others and approached David. “What do you think?” Arthur spoke softly enough that even with their heightened senses, the others would only make out murmuring.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I do not believe it’s bad, though. It seems to be calling to me.”
“I know what you mean.” Arthur placed his hand on David’s shoulder. “Just don’t get your hopes up, all right?”
“Of course.”
“Good, be careful now.” Arthur smiled and began to walk away, adding over his shoulder, “Gwen will have my ass if something happens to you.”
David felt Gawain’s gaze. He knew why his friend was worried. No one wanted him to be disappointed that yet again he would not find her, but David would never lose faith in finding his love. The wait was agonizing, but that didn’t matter. He would find her, and she would be everything. She already was.
There were so many times that he realized he was in love with a woman he had yet to meet. David smiled to himself as he imagined the eyes he often dreamt of. They were never clear, but he knew they were beautiful.
“All right,” said Arthur. “We are dropping on the northern edge of the city. Once we’ve established a base camp, we will work our way out. The way things are looking, we may not have to move out far; the infected are all moving in this direction.”
The cargo doors opened slowly, causing the violent winds to whip around them. The midnight Texas sky, free of clouds, greeted them. The lack of city lights left a blanket of sparkling stars scattered across its dark canvas. The silver moon was nearly full, providing a clear view of the streets below them. It was a breathtaking sight for any who could view the heavens. Unfortunately, the horror on the ground removed any wonderment.
“Okay, Tristan, your team is up,” said Arthur.
Tristan’s team stepped up, securing their swords and MK12 rifles. They adjusted their black masks, which left only their glowing eyes visible, and with only a nod from Tristan, they jumped from the open cargo door.
No parachutes were needed as they executed a drop from over five-hundred feet. They were certainly able to receive injuries, but this was a skill they had all perfected. Besides, their abilities mitigated any injuries they might receive from the fall.
David walked forward with Gawain and Gareth. He took one last look at Arthur and then jumped with his team.
A cat cried out from behind a stalled car in the middle of the unlit street. The light breeze made the humidity more tolerable, but the deserted road was far too dark and eerie for anyone to enjoy the slight coolness that darkness brought with it.
Vehicles had been abandoned in and around the road, some still stuck in the collisions that had forced their occupants to abandon them. Sadly, some of those vehicles contained their rotting passengers, or what was left of them.
With no warning, three thunderous cracks echoed through the block, and Tristan’s team, all dressed in black, rose quickly from their crouched positions, aiming their rifles outward, sweeping left and right for any threats.
One hundred yards behind them, three more claps of thunder greeted the quiet streets.
David rose and took in his surroundings as Tristan signaled the all-clear. David’s team continued their sweep and, once satisfied, nodded to him. He pointed north where he felt most drawn to go.
Gawain and Gareth didn’t question him and passed Tristan’s team without a word. They proceeded swiftly across the streets, finding nothing but emptiness. There were no visible signs of life. Lights were off, cars were still. Only the insects called out, oblivious to the horror around them.
Though they all had enhanced senses, they couldn’t hear everything. Still, a human’s heartbeat never failed to elude them.
David listened to the steady beating of a few hearts as he ran. There weren’t many, but none of them interested him. He only wanted to find whatever, or whoever, was calling to him.
The distinct snarls of infected humans had David coming to an abrupt halt. Gawain and Gareth stopped with him and searched their surroundings for signs of a threat, and that’s when he saw them.
Two hundred yards ahead, there were at least fifty decaying, infected humans, surrounding a small SUV. They grunted, growing impatient as their meal waited inside, weeping for her life. Growls and the sounds of cracking glass hinted that they wouldn’t have to wait much longer.
David nodded to Gawain.
Gawain lifted his hand to his earpiece. “Arthur, we are one mile north of the LZ and will engage a mass with a count of fifty.”
“Proceed. Notify me when you are ready to move on,” was Arthur’s brief reply.
“Let’s keep it quiet,” said David. “I don’t want to alert any more inf—”
“Zombies,” said Gawain, chuckling. “Just call them zombies, David.”
David ignored him. “I want to keep moving. The source of the pull is close.”
Gawain nodded. “Next time you will call them zombies.”
Gareth chuckled and armed himself with his sword.
David put his rifle away and exchanged it for his sword, as well. “Try to keep your speed under control. The mortal does not need to be more frightened than she is now.”
They nodded and approached the vehicle.
The smell of rotting flesh hit his nostrils, but he was used to it. The plague had been going for three months now, and most of the animated corpses were falling apart. There wasn’t a stench that could surprise any of them anymore.
David struck first and left three headless bodies in his wake before moving on. His movements were swift and precise—only dismembering, fatal strikes were given. He had killed so many infected humans over the past three months; there was hardly anything enjoyable about the nonexistent fight.
A young teen grabbed hold of his free arm while he was preoccupied with beheading two others. When he looked down at the creature clawing his arm, he noticed it was a boy, maybe around the age of fifteen. He was missing part of his left arm and had a sizable chunk of flesh removed from his shoulder.
David released himself from the boy’s grip and grabbed him by the throat. Rearing back with his right hand, holding his sword, he punched the boy’s face, instantly caving in his skull and nearly decapitating him in the process.
He let go of the boy’s body and let it fall to the ground. The boy was wearing a football jersey. The front read Panthers, and as the boy was knocked aside by another man, David noticed the name Gonzalez emblazoned on the back. It was a brief reminder to him that these were once people. They’d gone to school and had friends, but none of that mattered anymore. They were monsters now, just
like him.
David continued without giving any further thought to the lives these creatures had once lived. His haste was not a result of his lack of sport in this battle. It was from the pull in his chest growing more intense. Like a powerful magnet in the distance, it demanded he come to it. There was no choice for him but to obey.
Gawain matched his kills as the bodies dropped to the cooling pavement, but it was Gareth who made it to the vehicle first. Once he got there, the undead’s interest was clear: a young girl, no older than thirteen, was huddled on the floor of the back seat with her hands pressed firmly to her ears as she cried.
Gareth turned his attention to their targets and proceeded to remove limb after limb as they reached out toward him. He was far too quick—not a single finger was laid on him. Whereas the others only took killing blows, he seemed to enjoy creating a mess out of them. His clothing was decorated in bits of bloody gore that ranged from fresh and healthy muscle to foul, rotting flesh.
David shook his head as Gawain approached his younger brother.
Gawain pointed his sword at Gareth’s head in a casual manner. “Can’t you be a little more mature?” Gawain’s eyes twinkled with amusement as he shook the blood and guts off his sword, only to cause a small bit of flesh to fly at his brother’s face.
“And you say I am the immature one,” Gareth said as he wiped the bit of flesh off his own sword, flicking the rotting meat from his mask.
David grew impatient with them. “Check on the girl and let’s go.” The tugging sensation seemed to be frantically pulling at him now.
“All right, I’m going.” Gareth approached the SUV, and with his god-like strength, removed the door.
Her ear-splitting scream rang out, and Gareth quickly clapped his hand over the young girl’s mouth. Her strawberry-blonde hair was greasy and tangled. Dried blood stained her hair and face.
“Dammit, Gareth!” Gawain hissed.
“Sweetheart, we are not going to hurt you,” Gareth told the girl. “I need you to be quiet. Can you do that for me?”
David glanced around before turning back to see Gareth’s eyes swirling as he used his extra abilities to hypnotize her.
She nodded.
“Good girl. Now do you have somewhere to go?” His tone was soothing, and his presence clearly comforted the once hysterical teen. She still appeared incapable of forming words, though.
Growing frustrated with how long this was taking, David was about to cut in, but he stayed quiet as he watched Gareth’s eyes swirl into a misty jade color.
The girl nodded.
“Is it close?” Gareth asked. “Can you get there quickly?”
Gareth removed his hand from her mouth and let his eyes return to their normal, forest-green color.
“Y-yes,” she stuttered. “I was trying to go across the street. My uncle lives there.” She pointed to a two-story house.
David listened carefully and heard two healthy heartbeats coming from within the house.
Gareth released her. “I will walk you to your uncle. Let’s hurry.” He pulled her from her destroyed vehicle and led her to the house.
Gawain looked at David. “It’s stronger.”
“I know,” David said, scanning the street as he listened to Gareth speak to the man who thanked him for saving his niece. “It feels stressed. It’s moving, I think.”
Gawain nodded and they both looked in the same direction. “Yes, it’s definitely on the move.”
Gareth ran back. “It’s moving.”
“We know.” David kept his gaze aimed down the street.
Gawain smacked Gareth across the back of his head once he was close enough. “Try to be more cautious. You cannot just go ripping doors off cars and not expect to frighten a mortal. We might as well have showed her your fangs!”
“Gawain, enough.” David snapped. “Let’s go.”
With a roll of his eyes, Gawain shoved his brother, who was rubbing the back of his head.
David ignored their playful behavior and began to run at a slower pace. He felt a protective urge encouraging him to hurry, but it still moved, making him unsure which path he should take.
“We’re moving on, Arthur,” Gawain muttered into his earpiece. “The source of the anomaly is on the move.”
“Affirmative,” Arthur’s voice came through his communication piece. “David?”
“It’s not threatening,” he replied. “We’ll report when we find it.”
“Affirmative.”
David tuned out the others and concentrated on the force calling to him. He took a right and glanced around, noticing this neighborhood had more bodies than any of the other streets they’d traveled on.
A house was still smoldering, leaving only bits of the frame and fireplace. Clothing and other personal belongings were scattered throughout yards, along with decaying and bloated bodies that the Texas sun had caused to swell. Some remained more intact than others, enough to the point you could at least identify whether they had been male or female. Dozens of vacant cars lined the streets, most painted in blood with shattered windows, which left no doubt as to what had happened to their occupants.
Rapid footsteps suddenly broke the silence. The abrupt sign of life caused him to halt.
Gawain and Gareth stopped, flanking him, as all of them raised their rifles. David grew so antsy with anticipation; he could hardly keep himself stationary.
The runner was small, as evident by their light footfalls, but the all too familiar stumbling and scraping sounds that followed behind had him wary.
They prepared to open fire, but a shot rang out. It was followed by four more rounds, none of which belonged to any of them. They didn’t have to wait long to discover what was approaching. Twenty infected beings rounded the corner as a petite female broke through them.
David fired at the undead closest to her first, Gawain and Gareth taking aim at the others. The sounds of flesh smacked the concrete. They only stopped when the last body fell.
David lowered his weapon in a daze as he stared into the enchanting hazel eyes looking back at him. He knew those eyes.
She was his angel, and his heart was no longer his own.
The woman suddenly raised her gun and aimed at him. They were so stunned, none of them reacted as she squeezed the trigger.
A grunt and the sound of a body smacking the concrete immediately followed her shot.
David turned his head and found her victim on the ground. She hadn’t been aiming at him. In fact, she was saving him from an infected human. There, face down on the cement, was an overweight male whose skin had a slimy, gray pallor. She’d delivered a perfect kill shot, right between his eyes.
The incessant tugging in his heart grew stronger than ever, and David tore his shocked gaze from the disgusting blob that had once been a man and found the woman disappearing into the darkness.
His enhanced eyesight enabled him to still see her clearly, so he admired her petite but curvy frame as she ran back the way she’d come. Her long, dark hair blew in the wind, and he sniffed, picking up her sweet scent.
“David,” Gawain whispered.
He turned from the wonderful view ahead of him and responded. “What?” His voice sounded strange to him. This had to be a dream.
“Congratulations.” Gawain’s eyes shone and crinkled as he smiled, happy for David, who realized he was smiling like a fool. “Shall we go see where she lives?” Gawain suggested and took off after the mystery girl.
David shook himself out of his daze and turned to Gareth. “What?”
“Oh, nothing.” Gareth laughed before taking off as well.
They caught up to Gawain in a matter of minutes since David no longer cared to keep up their human façade if that meant taking longer to find her. As he and Gareth approached Gawain, they realized he was gazing at a single-story house.
David looked around it and noticed a small sandbox that held some battered toys as well as a tricycle on its side in the driveway. The yard was litter
ed with corpses, more than any of the other homes around it.
Gawain pointed to a large house across the street from the home that held their attention, and David hesitantly turned to follow his second in command. Hearing no signs of life, living or otherwise, they entered and made their way to the second floor.
Gawain walked up to the window that overlooked the street. David came up beside him and looked out to see the house. He looked at one boarded window to the next, hoping to get a glimpse inside, but saw nothing.
“David, a man greeted her when she knocked at the back window.” Gawain’s voice was soft, and any normal human being would have struggled to understand, but David heard clearly and his heart clenched as he waited for him to continue. “There were also two small children. She’s a mother, and I believe the man was her husband.”
David closed his eyes, lowered his head, and placed his hand on the wall to keep himself steady. He felt sick to his stomach.
Gawain grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the view that had held so much promise while Gareth sighed and went to the window to keep watch over the home.
David let himself get led to a neatly made bed and sat.
Keeping a hand on his shoulder, Gawain bent down to meet his eyes, but David couldn’t look at him, he could only stare at the window where his heart had been torn open. Never did it cross his mind that the woman he’d been searching for would be married or have children. Of course she would be married, though; she was beautiful. Still, he didn’t understand. She was supposed to be his.
“David, we will watch over her,” Gawain said. “We will keep her safe. We’ll keep all of them safe. I’m sorry, brother. Perhaps—”
David held up his hand. He didn’t want his pity. He needed to be alone. No one would be able to give him peace besides the woman who was across the street—with her family.
This wasn’t fair. He had spent centuries waiting for this very moment. Immeasurable love and happiness had been promised. She was supposed to complete his immortal soul and hold his heart for all eternity.
David refocused on his friend, though, and nodded. He was a soldier—a captain. He needed to keep that attitude. “I’ll take first watch,” he said, walking to the door. “Check the perimeter and inform Arthur of our location. Tell him we have located the target.” He paused at the door and sighed before looking up at the ceiling. “Tell him to have the others come set up post here. I will not leave her in danger.”