"How far is that?"
"Ten miles."
They might make it. But probably not. And it didn’t sound like the van would help me get to the city anyway. "Okay, go on," I said.
I stood in the living room, watching out the window as they climbed into the van. The sun was slowly gliding down behind the houses across the street. The exhaust from their tailpipe caught the late afternoon sun. Gray and smoky, it dissipated quickly behind them.
They drove slowly, as if the sign warning children were at play was still valid. Over the hum of their engine, I heard another sound. Shuffling footsteps.
A mass of the dead, aimlessly marching, appeared at the top of the cul de sac. But when they caught sight of the van, the zombies became animated. They stumbled forward, some falling, disappearing under the wave of bodies surging down the street.
They surrounded the van.
The reverse lights flared—barely visible through the crush of corpses. The tires squealed and smoked as they tried to motor away.
Bodies went under the van. It tipped to one side. The zombies clawed at it, pushing their arms though the broken windows.
I sprinted to the door and flung it open. The stench of them hit me. The father and son screamed. My heart pounded in my chest as I ran through the tall grass to the street. I froze.
What could I do?
I had to try to help them, I had to do something. Find what powers them and take it away, like the cords that drew the skeletons to Emmanuel. I reached out with my chi, trying to find a similar mechanism that controlled these zombies.
My influence drifted down the street toward the group.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the powers around me: the radiance of the trees, the hum of the grass, the blank spaces where nothing but cement lay.
Black, thick fear radiated off the two men. A purple hue of confusion simmered in its depths. They didn’t even know how they’d gotten in the van. This shouldn’t be happening.
I sent them to this fate. I told them to drive away, and now they would be torn to pieces.
I found no cords like those that had drawn the skeletons to Emmanuel. Each zombie shone with its own inner light.
Metal screeched—the van was torn open. The sickening sound of flesh wrenching apart followed as the zombies pulled the men free and began to devour them.
My eyes snapped open, and I could see less. The men’s bodies were hidden by the crowd of zombies around them. But I could still feel them—their final terrified moments. I could feel the satiated beings, too. This flesh gave them a respite from the horror of their existence. So hungry all the time.
I recoiled, pulling my influence back into my body. As I pulled the power back into me, the zombies looked in my direction. They'd noticed it. They'd felt me.
About fifteen, those who weren't close enough to the father and son to get a good bite, began to stumble toward me. They still starved, the scent of blood and tearing of flesh increasing their appetites.
Fear rocketed through me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I backed toward the house and tripped over the curb, landing in the knee-high grass.
I need to be running, not sitting on my ass!
I turned, scrambling on my hands and knees for a couple of steps before getting my feet under me and running to the house.
I slammed the door and locked it, the sound of the deadbolt a false reassurance of safety.
The tall grass swished against their tattered clothing. I could feel them coming. Their intense hunger wafted in the air along with the stench of their decaying bodies.
Could a zombie ever be satiated?
I needed to call Dimitri and Megan.
But instead I walked to the living room, stopping in the archway, and watched through the bay windows as they closed the distance between us.
A male with thin shoulders, hollowed cheeks, yellow skin, and sunken phosphorescent green eyes put a hand up against the glass. He was missing three fingers, leaving just the index and thumb. The stumps were crusted brown with dirt and dried blood. Pus from the festering wounds smeared the glass.
Another creature came up behind, bumping into him—once a woman in a skirt suit, now a sexless decaying mass of flesh draped in rags. Then another and another, until the pressure built and the glass shattered.
It splintered across the floor, catching the afternoon light and looking almost like diamonds.
I stood there, heart hammering and adrenaline rushing through my system. Pitch black fear circled me, but that diamond red center burned with power.
I raised trembling hands toward the zombies as the first fell through the window.
Power built inside me, a pressure that needed release. It surged out and formed a wall between me and the creature. His mutilated hand pressed against it but could not pass.
Zombies piled against the second window, and I pressed my power to it. When the glass shattered, it fell straight down instead of exploding inward, landing in a pile at the baseboard.
Go. My thought sent a wave through the air, forcing the zombies to take a step back. The one already in the house turned to climb out the window. His bare foot caught on the broken glass and tore off a section, but he kept going, falling out into the yard.
I stepped forward.
I forced my power through the wall and felt the grass underneath it, their bodies pressing against it. I took another step and pushed harder. Go, I commanded.
The zombies stumbled back as if pushed by a physical thing. They were four or five deep at both windows now, and they fell on top of each other.
I stretched my influence forward and they fell, rolling through the high grass as I forced them down the lawn. Some tried to stumble to their feet and claw their way over the others to reach me, while some gave up and let me tumble them away.
Standing at the window, the glass crunching under my boots, I pushed them one last time, stopping my wall of influence at the grass’s edge. Go, I commanded, feeling that word vibrate through me, and a wave of influence hit them hard, some falling back a few steps, others hitting the ground.
They didn’t walk away, though. They waited at the edge of my power, some groping at it while others dumbly watched me.
"Go!" It came out a whisper but arrowed through the air and hit the wall I’d constructed, bulging it out and blowing the zombies back.
Those already on the ground skittered across the pavement. Others arched through the air and flew as far as the opposite lawn.
When they rose again, all of them focused their attention back on the van, leaving me.
Twenty creatures surrounded the van still. Some licked blood from the pavement while others continued to gnaw on chunks of flesh and bones.
The zombies who had followed me walked past the van and kept going. I stared at the remaining creatures, the pathetic disgusting beings who had torn those two men apart. It was my fault? I sent those men to die?
Or maybe that herd would have found them in the house?
Guilt, pain, and self-hatred churned in my gut. But I also felt power. I'd controlled those men. I'd blocked those zombies. And in time, I could learn to control them, too.
Dimitri and Megan’s auras glowed in the pitch black of the basement. I laid down between them.
My mind burned, images flashing: those two men in my power, influencing Suki into telling me the truth about this plague, the way I stopped that child zombie from attacking her father, and how I'd just pushed those zombies away.
How could I control zombies the way I'd controlled those men? Not just force them away from me but command them to act for me…become my puppets.
A shiver of disgust rippled through me.
Who was I to control anyone, to steal their free will? I’d caused those men’s deaths!
But zombies did not have human emotions—all they knew was hunger. Maybe I could take that away from them…
Dimitri rolled toward me, still asleep. The sun must be hovering at the horizon. He wrap
ped his arm around my waist, pulling me close, and inhaled.
Power undulated between us. My ancestor had controlled an army of vampires.
Why couldn't I command a horde of zombies?
Megan and Dimitri woke at the same moment, the color of their energies changing. "I have a plan," I said.
"Great," Megan sat up. "What is it?"
"We're going to the city. I'll tell you more when we hit the first zombie.”
"What do you mean?" Dimitri asked.
"Trust me," I said.
"I do," Megan answered.
Dimitri did not respond. Darkness obscured his face, but a color I’d never seen before swirled in the depths of his aura—a flash of silver in the sparkling blue. Like a fish that’s turned sideways for a moment but then disappears again in the blink of an eye. "I thought you would follow me anywhere," I said to Dimitri.
"Of course," he answered. "I trust you." The silver was gone, just the steady blue of him.
"Let's get going then."
Dew clung to the grass as we walked to the street. "Do you want me to carry you?" Dimitri asked. "It would be faster."
"Can you hear them?" I asked. "The zombies."
“There are many by the highway. A mile to the west.”
"Can you find any smaller groupings?"
"Yes,” Dimitri tilted his nose up as if to catch the wind. “There are some not far from here."
"I think they are trapped in a building,” Megan said. “The sounds are muffled.”
"Let's go there first so I can test my theory," I said.
Dimitri picked me up, and as he blurred through the night, I again pressed my face to his chest, protecting it from the harsh wind that he created.
He stopped in front of a brick building with large, darkened windows. "It's a school," Megan said, her voice soft.
Bedford Elementary was engraved above the metal front doors.
"Kids," I said as Dimitri lowered me to the ground. I bit my lip. Should I start with kids? Will it make it harder, or easier? Only one way to find out. “Okay, let's see how this goes."
Dimitri and Megan flanked me as we started toward the front entrance. Megan ripped one of the locked doors off the hinges and stepped into the dark space. A wave of stench—rot and death—flowed out.
That ball of light Suki made out of her energy would be super useful right now. As if my thoughts had willed it into existence, a sphere brightened in front of me, illuminating a hallway lined with lockers and classroom doors.
Muffled sounds came from our left, and we started toward them. We came to a T in the hallway and continued to follow the low moans and shuffling whispers of clothing.
My light hung above me as we made our way past more abandoned classrooms. The noises grew louder. At the end of the hall, wooden doors locked with a thick, metal chain rattled.
The closer we got, the harder it shook.
I slowed down, not exactly sure how to proceed. The stink of rotten flesh thickened.
How long had they been locked in there?
I stopped and sent my light ahead. A sign above the doors read Gymnasium. A pool of dried blood seeped into the hall. Flies buzzed around it, dipping down to the hardened puddle and then raising up again.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the smell almost overwhelming, throwing me off my game, making it hard to concentrate. "Megan, give me your hand.” She intertwined her cool fingers with mine, grounding me.
I could see their energies now. Thirty people. Most of them children. A couple of taller figures must have been teachers.
They were hungry. So damn hungry. I shivered, their need seeping into me.
Dimitri's hand landed on my back, his influence calming me. I brought all of my power to my center, concentrating on it before slowly letting it out of my body and moving it through the doors. I blanketed them in it.
Stop. Just stop.
They stilled. The chain on the door silenced.
I could see their life forces. They were located in their brains. A light pulsed in each of their skulls. Now what?
Megan squeezed my hand. "Darling?" she said.
"Hold on," I whispered, not wanting to break my concentration, unwilling to open my eyes yet.
I felt them. They weren't human. But there was something there. Something I recognized. What was it? Move, I thought, step aside. I pushed against their bodies, and they stumbled to the side, moving out of the way of the door.
But how long could I hold them? And how many more could I control?
Drop.
They fell to the ground, piling onto each other, the light in their skulls never changing. Could I extinguish it? Could I destroy them all?
A thrill of fear passed over me. I didn't want that much power. I didn't want to be able to kill them. Even if they were dangerous, even if they were undead. I didn't want to extinguish that light.
I opened my eyes. Megan still held my hand but she stood right in front of me. "Darling," she said again, her voice loud. I blinked. "You're bleeding.”
Dimitri's hand still lay on my back. Hunger wafted off him—I hadn’t distinguished it from the zombies. The scent of my blood shook his control.
The chains rattled again. The zombies had risen. I'd lost my hold on them when my concentration broke.
Dimitri stepped away from me but his hunger lingered on my back—a whispering heat, too hot for comfort. His chi dragged at him, too. Thrust your fangs into her neck—drink your fill.
"We need to find you some humans," I said. Wet warmth pooled on my lip. I brushed my free hand under my nose—it came back smeared with blood. "It's nothing," I said. "Not much, I mean."
"Are you feeling okay?" Megan asked. She squeezed my hand. I nodded. "You sure?"
"Yeah, I think." I looked up at the doors, at the shifting movement, the rhythmic rattling of the chains. "I think I can control them."
"You stopped them," Dimitri said, his voice tight.
"You need to feed," I said, releasing Megan’s hand. Dimitri’s pale blue eyes burned—so alive—in a face hard as marble. He turned away from me and started down the hall, his influence trailing behind him, the same bright blue as his eyes.
Chapter Fifteen
It didn't take us long to find humans.
Dimitri stopped and raised his nose to sniff the air. Megan did the same. Her top lip rose, exposing her fangs.
The vampires bodies vibrated with tension, ready for the chase. Predators on the scent of prey.
They blurred away from me. The front door on a house down the block flew open.
The suburban house looked like the rest—large and squat, with a paved driveway, darkened windows, and overgrown yard.
A short, high scream pierced the silence of the night.
I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself.
Megan and Dimitri wouldn’t take too much. These humans had the same chance of survival they did before we arrived. Right?
I sat on the curb and rested my head in my hands. The long grass waved in a gentle breeze. An owl hooted. A sliver of moon gleamed in a cloudless star pocked sky.
The low, tortured moan of a zombie’s call broke the peace.
My gaze darted to the street—it was a cul de sac, the tarmac curving out of sight. The shuffling footsteps and low guttural noises grew louder.
I reached out with my influence, stretching it around the bend and found them. Forty or more. Many of them used to live in these houses. How did I know that?
I stood up and faced the empty street, waiting for them. What should I do? Run away? Call for Megan and Dimitri? Try to control them myself?
They came around the corner—rotting former neighbors. The breeze brought their stench to me. I swallowed back bile. Fear simmered in my aura and raised the hair on the back of my neck. Run? No.
Closing my eyes, I threw my influence over them, like a cosmic blanket. The light in their brains radiated behind my closed lids. I raised my hands in front of me like a crossing guard.
Stop.
They did.
Their energy shone phosphorescent green—like the back of a nocturnal animal’s eyes when you see them in the dark. But this wasn’t evolution; this was magic. A spell. But not just a spell…
Blood trickled over my lip.
Turn around.
They pivoted, stumbling, some tipped over. They swayed in my thrall.
Walk away.
I gave them a shove. They started forward—those same shuffling steps, the low guttural moans starting up again.
I pulled my power slowly back to me. As I released the ones in the front of the pack they wavered, but the those behind them kept coming, pushing up against them so that they stumbled on. When I'd released the last one, they were on their way. Where? I didn't know. Away from me.
I smiled, tasting coppery blood. My chi came fully back into me, that bright red center returning to a hard little diamond of influence. As the last of it reformed the pulsing center of me, my legs wobbled and then gave out.
My knees struck the pavement. I swayed for a moment then tipped over, managing to get my hands out before my head hit the street.
My knees radiated pain and blood dripped from my nose. My breath came in raspy pants. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Rolling onto my back, I looked up at the sky. Was the night sky the same in every dimension?
Dimitri appeared above me. He looked better—no more burning hunger in those cold blue eyes. "Darling.” he said my name like it was special. He was special. I smiled a sloppy grin. "What happened?" He crouched next to me.
"I did it again,” I said.
Megan kneeled next to Dimitri. “You controlled zombies?"
"Yes, they came around the bend, and I sent them off. I sent them away."
"Why are you on the ground?" She reached under my shoulders to help me up. "You're bleeding again." Megan used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe at my face.
"I know. Not sure why that keeps happening."
"It can't be good," Megan said.
I laughed. "You never know."
She frowned. "Darling, you need to feed. You're depleted. Traveling through the dimensions takes it out of you. I'm sure that controlling undead creatures does too.”
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