“Something like that,” I replied.
Lopez glowered at Clarke. “Their mission is classified. Finish your food.”
“We should know about what we’re going in to face,” he replied, trailing off, disparaged.
“We have our orders.”
Feeling bad for Clarke, but grateful for Lopez’s intervention, I told them, “Know that what we do today is important. If we don’t contain the threat, then what you’ve seen will spill out and attack the civilians. We can’t do this without you.”
Clarke grunted, but the tension in his shoulders eased.
“So,” Kaleb said in between chomping on his food. “How long have you guys been serving your country?”
I hid a smile at that. He’d watched too many Earthside movies.
Jackson put her head on her hand. She looked smitten with him already. “Five years for me. My dad served. And my two brothers. It’s in my blood.”
Kaleb winked in her direction, not realizing the impact he had. There weren’t many wolf shifters walking on this side of the portal. And their looks, their demeanor, their charm, stood out like a walking fantasy on legs. I’d gotten used to it having also seen the other side to them. Chauvinism, arrogance, narrow-mindedness. But then again, Kaleb was an anomaly in that regard, too. Jackson didn’t stand a chance with those baby blues of his.
“Three years,” Stevens answered, proud of himself.
“Four.” Young added, surprising me.
“Ten,” said Clarke.
Rye looked up from his food, all eyes on him. “What?”
“How long since you enlisted?” Clarke emphasized.
“Oh. About eight years. Dude, don’t disturb the most important meal of the day.” He shoved a sausage into his mouth.
Everyone looked toward Lopez. He frowned. “Sixteen years.”
“Yeah,” Young nodded, “Lopez is the oldest of our group.”
“And your superior,” Lopez snarled. “Remember that.”
“Sure, sure. How about you, agent? How long you been FBI?”
I recalled the fake data on my file. “Four years.” I pointed toward Kaleb. “Him the same.”
“Wow.” Stevens scrunched up his nose as he worked it out. “You’re young to be leading in a team on something of this scale. You must be good.”
“I’m good with weird. How about we leave it at that?” I softened it with a smile. And he smiled in return.
“Come on,” Lopez said, grabbing his plate. “Let’s wash up and get our kit ready. It’s almost time.”
Jackson sighed. “Time to fight the fight. We’ll have your backs out there.” She got to her feet. “Nice meeting you, guys.”
“You too,” Kaleb and I said in unison.
The others followed, Rye still eating his from the plate as he walked away. A few others from the opposite end of the table drifted off, leaving us alone.
“They have no clue what they’re walking into, do they?” Kaleb pondered as we watched them leave.
“They’re trained for this,” I replied half-heartedly.
“For zombies? For magic? For all the horrors Dreven could throw our way?”
“No.” I nudged him. “I was trying to feel less guilty for marching them in there today. Thanks for keeping it real.”
He laughed. “Sorry. But you need to drop the guilt. Keep telling yourself how worse it would be if Dan hadn’t involved us in this. We’re here to solve the problem, not add to it.”
“Yeah. I know. It just sucks.”
“Like this sausage.” He picked it up on the plastic fork. “I don’t like the food over here.”
“It’s sustenance. Eat your sucky sausage.”
“You could suck on my sausage?” he offered.
“How about you use your head voice from now on? I like it so much better.”
“Hey,” he shrugged, “what can I say? You can take the shifter out of the boy, but not the boy out of the shifter.”
“What?” I laughed.
“I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s early. And I had to keep my damn wolf on a leash when the younger soldiers kept making googly eyes over you.”
“They did not.”
“The one blushed. Both of them fought for your attention like young pups. My wolf didn’t like it. But the man in me.” He put a hand on my leg “He feels somewhat smug.”
“Like women don’t fall over their feet to get to you,” I scoffed. “But you don’t see me getting jealous.”
“Oh, you get jealous.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. I know you well, remember? You used to go all pouty when I flirted with women before we got together. You’d be all, ‘Come on, Kaleb, it’s time to go,’ or ‘Kaleb, we need to leave.’” He chuckled. “I’d live for those moments.”
“You’re such a dick.”
“One you’re now mated too,” he reminded me, shoveling up the last of his food.
Looking across the horizon, the mist of the morning skimmed the ground. Dread filled my stomach. Kaleb had done a good job at distracting me until now. He always like to use humor to do so—often the filthier the better in his mind—but the energy darkened as the time drew near.
“We’re both going to get out of this alive today,” I ordered, needing to hear his agreement.
“Yes, we are.” He took my hand in his. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Hanley gave his soldiers a pep talk.
All of us waited at the border of the shield, armed and ready for the mission. Hanley paced, his chest puffed up with pride. He faced his soldiers with determination, reminding them of the formation, the strategy, and our purpose. When he came to a standstill before his subordinates, he looked upon them with honor.
The Lieutenant General told them to remember their duty, and to fall back onto their training when doubt hit. He motivated them, gearing up each one to rid them of fear. With careful words, he focused his solders, giving them the inspiration they needed to go into battle and end the threat. And I’ll be damned if I wasn’t buzzing from the pep talk, too once he’d finished.
We’d assigned every soldier going with a blade, sitting in a harness on their backs. Their guns had flashlights, and their belts and packs loaded with extra ammunition. Uniformed, they had on their helmets, their vests, ready to go in.
The IET had forgone the helmets. We hadn’t trained with them, and it’s not like we were expecting a bullet to the head. Or we might be. Maybe we should wear a helmet in case a bullet ricocheted off a zombie?
Stop it. You’ve faced worse. Pull yourself together.
We had our vests, our own guns. I’d also changed into my combat gear and lost the leather jacket.
Mayra had formed a hole in Dreven’s shield. Zax and Libby marked it by standing at the edges where she’d formed the gap. They stood about fifteen feet apart from one another, their weapons of choice being something sharp and poised on their shoulders like sentry guards.
“Bring my soldiers back to me, Agent Vane,” was all Hanley instructed, saluting. But he didn’t give me time to do it back. Off he went to man the comms from the tent, ready to take over if we failed.
It was time to go in.
Bernard stepped through first, guiding Mayra in behind him. Kaleb and I followed. Grady shouted to the soldiers going in with us, instructing them to stay close. He ordered everyone to move in fast toward the main entrance of the mall. And to not engage with the zombies who stood in their clusters, hair and clothes swaying in the breeze.
Everyone stayed silent, each move purposeful as we made our way across the parking lot toward the mall. Zax and Libby caught up to us, staying close with the IET.
Only synchronized steps echoed against the ground. I kept my blade in its harness, keeping my hands on the army issued weapon Grady had given me. I’d trained with such a weapon—something Dan had made sure of when he had me assigned me to the FBI while on Earthside. And I’m not only talking training with a standard issue.
>
Leading the way, the IET stayed in front, shadowed by The Bodyguard Six who refused to leave our side.
We walked in sync among the zombie collection. Men and women with varying ages from sixteen to pushing seventy. Some of them wore bloodied hospital gowns, others the clothes they were killed or buried in. I had to push down the revulsion as we drew near. They’re dead. Gone. No souls, remember? And focus on the end game. Whatever Dreven had up his sleeve, the dangerous mage had made it through to Earthside. If we didn’t contain the threat, the entire world was screwed and it would be game over for life as they knew it.
Focused, we continued to move, fluid like waves cascading toward the mall’s entrance. Grady’s hand motions kept everyone at pace as we focused on doors that would provide us entry to the abandoned space.
My skin tingled.
“Something’s here,” I said to Kaleb at my side, keeping my weapon aimed and ready to fire.
He scoured the area, the anticipation putting us on edge as we crept closer to our destination. A movement caught my eye.
“Something just moved.”
“Keep going,” he urged, his weapon hailed.
I tripped over something, and he caught me. Looking back, I saw nothing. But energy nudged me hard on the shoulder—so hard I almost fell flat on my face. Kaleb caught my arm.
“You okay?” He kept me at pace with the others, catching up to the other IET members in the front.
“No,” I whispered, getting a few strange looks from our army cover.
‘Push it to me,’ he said in my mind.
I’d forgotten about our new way of connecting. I took a breath. ‘I think it’s my gift warning me something’s here.’
‘Try not to stare at me like you’ve lost your mind when you do this,’ he chuckled. ‘People will get suspicious.’
‘Mind-talking 101. Okay, I get it. But Kaleb. Something is here.’
He scented the air, and I caught the edge of a growl in his throat. A breeze foreign to the current weather made the leaves sway.
‘See?’
Laughter bounced around us, bringing an oppressive energy with the wind. Grady kept everyone moving, our focus on the mall entrance that still seemed so far away.
A crackle of lightning erupted from the ground, dancing around our zombie friends. Every one of their eyes flickered with light, some of them convulsing upon the rumbling ground.
“Go! Go! Go!” Grady ordered, snapping us to attention. He waved everyone toward entrance. Everyone sprung into action, picking up their pace.
A shadow moved toward us. Something shifted. The lightning dissipated and the laughter faded into the air. Magic hovered, and we weren’t waiting around for it to make its move. But one thing was clear to us all as we raced toward the mall door.
The zombies had woken.
21
Guns rang out like hell fire as one by one the monsters awoke.
“Head toward the mall!” Grady ordered. We followed, almost consumed by the batch of roaring dead who swarmed.
A drooling zombie, his cheek part-gone exposing the jaw bone, reached out. He roared, grabbing Mayra’s arm. She yelped, her eyes wide with fear among the fray.
I crashed the blade through the dead guy’s arm, the tie of his business suit swinging when he aimed for me. Someone fired at his chest. He fell back a few steps, crashing into a few others, so I left him to it, aiming for the mall.
Grady kept the orders coming alongside Lopez, both of them ensuring everyone focused on our destination.
We continued to move, and the groaning dead kept coming. The zombies threw themselves into the crowd of soldiers. Someone screamed, the sound of it echoing in my ears. I turned around, trying to help, but saw nothing, smelled nothing, but rotting bodies around us eager to take us down. A soldier fell down in front of me. Three zombies screeched in pleasure, falling upon him, trying to bite. I raced forward but Kaleb pulled me back.
“Keep moving!” He refused to let go, stabbing a zombie in the chest who reached for my hair. But the soldier who’d fallen was now back on his feet, his arm bleeding. Others close by assisted, but the bite mark on his arm seeped blood.
“Get inside!” Grady ordered when we reached the doors. “Assess and hold!”
Bernard had gone ahead, ripping open the chains that barricaded the entrance. No one questioned his show of strength, all of them too focused getting out of the zombie storm alive.
Everyone piled into the lobby of the mall, taking positions, and helping the injured. The morning light spilled into the lobby providing us with some visibility, and the flashlights on the weapons gave us the rest.
Soldiers stood back to back, some poising their weapons towards the darkness, others firing at the zombies to keep them out of the lobby. I harnessed my blade, and fired alongside the others, trying to keep back the groaning, grabby horde. Bernard slammed the doors shut, holding them in place while Zax slid a long piece of debris through the handles.
The zombies banged at the door, their hands stroking the glass in promise they’d get to us soon. But the barrier kept them at bay for now.
Grady held up his radio and bellowed. “Stay with your nominated sub-teams. If you fall away from the group then radio your position. Agent Vane will lead half of you in, I’ll lead the other half. We’ll circle around and arrive at the first meet point. After that, we’ll move in and assess the second floor. Remember your training.” He waved me over as the soldiers held position and tended to the injured. “The blue prints from this entrance specify we have two department stores, dual levels, and twenty-two smaller stores between here and our first point. I’ll take on half in, you guys take the other.” He reviewed the soldiers, and nominated his half. “The Bodyguard Six will come with you.”
“And Bernard will come with you,” I told him, making the decision on the spot. Grady might have served in the military, but he was now part of the IET. “No negotiation.”
He frowned, but wasted no time by disagreeing. The growls from outside ramped up the urgency. “Head directly for the exits on the lower level and barricade where you can.”
“Shops will have fire exits to the outside. They’ll have ways of getting in.”
“They’re fire doors. They can’t open them from the outside. But we’ll deal with that as we clear each store at a time. We’ll check the exits, make sure they’re closed. We stick with the original plan of assessing each one, checking they’re clear. When we get to the stroller point, we’ll clear the south, north and west points before going up to the upper floor.”
Another crash from a zombies smashing against the door had me—and a few others—jolting round, weapons hailed.
“Bernard!” I waved him over. He made haste to join us.
“What is it?”
“You go with Grady. Watch his back. And we’ll meet up soon.”
Uncertain, his lips formed a thin line, but once he’d sought Kaleb he seemed reassured him somewhat. Bernard was over protective of my weak ass, and any other time it would have made me smile. But I wasn’t sending Grady alone with the humans. He looked at Grady. “I’ll watch your back. But the sooner we reunite as a team, the better.”
Grady nodded in agreement. “Move fast. We’ll meet at the first point.” He grabbed his weapon and kept it close to the chest. To those he was to lead in, he shouted. “Let’s move out! Take down as many as you can like we showed you. Aim for heads and legs to slow them down. Keep your radios to hand. Stay with your group. Focus on getting to the meet point. Let’s move!”
“I’ll stay close to Mayra,” Libby reassured me when I joined them. I half-smiled, happy for once she’d kept her snark at bay.
I aimed my flashlight at Grady and Bernard’s back, watching them leave. Part of me wanted to yell at them to return. The IET should stick together. But our newest recruit was in his element here. He’d created the strategy. Now we had to trust him and follow it. Bernard would keep an eye on him.
A rank odor filled the a
ir, and my skin tingled. Seeing them leave urged me to get us going. Even if it was to enter the darkness that swallowed the stores in the distance. The windows above us no longer let in any light, years of neglect creating a film of dirt, dust and moss build-up. And it was time to enter the creepy shadows to go zombie hunting.
I swallowed, taking the first step as cold fear filled me to the brim.
Lopez gave orders based on my lead, and off we went, a chorus of weapons hailed and footsteps filling the silence.
The mall itself had seen better days. Broken glass lay everywhere. Recesses reeked of urine and goodness knows what else. Where the flashlights hit the walls, graffiti stared back. Someone had left the place to go to rot and ruin. And it had become an empty shell of what it once was—the mall boom no longer making it an interesting investment opportunity.
We entered the first department store, old shelving and rails left behind. More debris crackled and crunched as we stepped inside, our flashlights leading the way. We crept along, the soldiers movements more like a dance. I gripped hard onto my weapon, my heart racing in my chest. Fighting I can handle—bring on the monsters. But creeping in the dark, with many nooks and crannies available to hide the zombies, I freaking hated it.
I heard laughter in my head. ‘I’ve seen you go at big bad wolves,’ Kaleb pushed to me in his mind, ‘You’ve ripped the wings off a sociopathic raven shifter. Staked an old Head of House vampire. And now you look petrified.’
“Everyone hates zombies,” I muttered out loud.
“Amen to that,” Zax said from behind me.
A reluctant smile tugged at my lips. “See? I’m not unfounded in my fears.”
The giant of a soldier called Rye frowned at our chatter. I ignored him, the scraping of someone’s boot against the ground having me spinning on my heels. I aimed my weapon at Private Young’s face. He frowned.
“Sorry,” I said in a rush.
‘Good one!’ Kaleb laughed.
“Kiss my ass,” I told him and he chuckled his life away. Lopez wasn’t impressed “I’m not talking to you,” I snapped, my nerves on edge.
Death Be Rising (The Terra Vane Series Book 7) Page 13