“Back at Los Alamos trading her blood to your Uncle for an annulment. Checkmate asshole.” Nix bit back, regripping his bat, ready to swing at José, but before he could, José smirked, and a man stepped out of the shadows.
“Not quite.” José said as the man that came out, bore a remarkable resemblance to Louis.
“Edgar.” Louis stated formally, his head going up a notch. Damn, the fight was going to be a lot more even than Nix had hoped. Well, there was no time like the present and Nix needed all the help he could get so he was hoping the element of surprise would work in his favour. He ran at José. He swung with his bat, striking out as the bat never made a connection. José smoothly dodging him. Edgar ignored Nix’s attack and went straight for Louis.
“You shouldn’t have bit the hand that fed you, Louis.” Edgar growled swinging his fist through the air, a fist that Louis sidestepped, swirling out of the way and kicking Edgar’s legs out from underneath him. Edgar managed to land on his feet.
“We shouldn’t exist, Edgar. You still don’t seem to understand that, even with your heightened brain function.” Louis bit back.
“And yet we do. But you have chosen your side, and you will suffer the same fate as them.” Edgar threatened before engaging with him again.
Nix left them to battle out their differences, no longer expecting any help from the weird zombieish human droid thing. Kenji came straight over to help him take down José, though, swinging his axe as José stepped away from the blade. The distraction was enough though. Nix clenched his fist tight, thrusting it straight into José’s face, the bones of his nose crunching beneath Nix’s fingers, blood spurting from it. Nix grinned.
“That one, was for Raelynn.” Nix said, shaking his hand out as it radiated with pain. He'd never punched anyone that hard in all his life, well actually he’d never punched any one ever. It felt good to finally tick it off the bucket list though and to do it to the one guy in the entire world he actually felt hatred for, was bloody awesome. He was hoping he would have some more time to do the whole team up thing on José, that way he might actually win but fate had other plans and unleashed the lesser horrors of the world on them. Zombies. Of course, fucking zombies because they were making an insane amount of noise and because he was trying to win instead of get his ass beat.
“I’ve got them.” Kenji breathed, racing over to three crazy, rabid bodies that were flailing towards them. He swung his axe and the accuracy of his aim had Nix cringing. Heads literally rolled. He wanted to clap a round of applause but considering José was finished sulking over his now-broken nose, Nix figured he should probably concentrate on getting him out of the way. The problem was, he had no idea how.
Nix narrowed his eyes at José and went to lunge at him again when the coward pulled a ’45 on him. Cheater.
“Now what, hero?” José snickered but he was underestimating Nix. There was one thing he would run at an armed man for and that was Rae.
“Now I do what heroes do. I improvise and get the girl, duh.” Phoenix replied before bending down and picking up a brick that was laying on the ground, hurling it at José, ducking as the shot he fired flew towards him. It missed, pinging against the metal fire escape at the back of the alley, right passed where Edgar and Louis were still battling each other, both of them with poles from the cluster of abandoned rubbish next to the dumpster. Nix turned back to José, smirking as the brick got him straight in the hand, forcing his gun from his grasp. It landed on the concrete with a clunk as Kenji interrupted their fight to kick the gun away from José’s scramble to get it. He winked back at Nix then went after the new trio of zombies, taking them out with the same efficiency as before, even jumping on one of the crashed cars to get a better shot at its head. Nix ran after José, who was now unarmed and from the frown on his brow, he was pissed about it. Nix ran at him, shoulder first to plough José into the brick wall next to them. José grunted, bringing his elbow down on Nix’s back. Nix grunted in pain before giving him a right hook that had him scowling and stepping back, holding his jaw, his swollen lip making Nix smirk. He was actually doing okay, but then if José was beating up women, he probably should have guessed it meant he wasn’t going to be any good in a real fight.
Nix wasn’t sure how long he fought with José, but he was exhausted, his muscles felt like jelly, his face bled with cuts and throbbed from bruises and although José had the same dishevelled look, he didn’t show any sign of slowing down. That was until another gunshot reverberated through the alleyway and had Nix’s bones chattering with the sound. A loud grunt came from behind him. He swung to the sound, his face contorting as tears welled. Edgar had José’s gun aimed at Louis, the barrel smoking and his face smirking as Louis collapsed to his knees. Blood poured over his drooping face from the gaping wound in his forehead, before Louis’s body fell to the ground with a thud.
Kenji bellowed out, “No!” Before running back to the alley from the carnage of bodies on the street and launched his axe at Edgar in retaliation. Edgar was caught off guard and the blade lodged itself in his stomach. Edgar grunted, his face stunned before he let out a deep breath and removed the axe, running off with the weapon and a face wide smirk. With his backup gone, Nix turned on José. He backed up against the wall, his cowardice in fine stature before Nix slugged him. Hard. He punched until he had no strength left to thrust then kicked him to the ground, taking out all his anger on José for everything he had done to Rae, to them, and even to Louis, for just being an overall douche. Breathing heavily, Nix pressed his foot on José’s chest, trying to ignore the blood spatters over his white button-up shirt. Kenji grabbed the dropped pole from beside Louis, closing his eyes with his fingers before handing the weapon to Nix who held the tip over José’s chest. He wasn’t about to let him get away and maybe, before zombies and before Rae, he would have let the guy go, but he was different now, he had a purpose and it didn’t coincide with letting José live. Not if he intended to promise Rae that she was safe. Which he definitely did. José coughed, sputtering blood over his face from his swollen mouth.
“Do it.” José snickered “Do it, for Rae. You know you want to.” He mocked and as much as Nix wished he could say he was debating the idea; he wasn’t. He took José’s advice and plunged the pole through his stomach, driving it through his flesh with as much force as he could manage.
“How does that taste?” Nix growled and Jose smiled as blood trickled from his mouth, down the side of his face
“Like blood.” He spat at Nix and Kenji growled.
“Looks like justice to me.” Nix corrected.
“I don’t want justice. I want one less asshole in the world, do it right, Nix.” Kenji sneered, pulling the pole out of José’s stomach and handing it back to Nix. He gripped the pole and looked down at José, whose eyelids were drooping slower. José turned his head to Nix with a tired smirk. He raised a shaky, blood-soaked hand to his forehead, tapping the middle slowly with his finger before his hand dropped to his side again. Nix narrowed his eyes. Fine. He was done and just wanted to go find his girlfriend. But he was going back with the news that José was dead not a maybe. Nix shoved the pole through the exact spot José had pointed to, blood oozing out from around the metal, pooling on the ground and staining the concrete. José’s eyes finally sealed close and the smirk was finally gone from his face.
“That was for your son.” Nix whispered, so distracted by the fact that he had just killed Rae’s nightmare that he didn’t notice who was waiting in the shadows that were creeping over the street as the sun went down, until it was too late. Edgar came forward from his hiding spot on the other side of the street and by the time Nix felt his stalkerish vibes, Edgar was aiming the gun at them. Nix had no time react before Edgar pulled the trigger, the bullet spinning through the air, whistling passed Nix to bury itself deep in Kenji’s stomach. Kenji’s hands grasped his stomach, his face scrunching together as blood leaked through his fingers, draining from his face. A pale, sweating Kenji collapsed to the grou
nd as Nix ran to him. By the time he reached him and looked up, Edgar was gone. Nix pressed his hand against Kenji’s stomach, trying to apply pressure to his lethal wound. Kenji’s body shivered, his skin temperature dropping as Nix’s lip trembled.
“What do I do? How do I fix this?” Nix whimpered.
“Get me to Jen.” Kenji whispered. Nix nodded quickly, tears streaming down his blood-soaked cheeks, the salt stinging the cuts on their way, but he didn’t care, all he cared about at the moment was making sure Kenji stayed alive long enough to see his sister and not getting eaten by zombies. Avoiding Edgar was probably another important priority but at that point, they all seemed at the top of the list so he concentrated on the one he knew he could help with. Getting Kenji back to Jen. He used every bit of strength he had left and hoisted Kenji up into his arms. Kenji wasn’t small and the weight had Nix’s legs shaking but he pushed through, his lean frame bearing the weight of Kenji’s limp body.
“Always dreamed of the day that some hunky man-candy would carry me like this. I always imagined I’d be marrying him and that I wouldn’t have a bullet through my stomach, but it's good enough.” He chuckled breathily, his eyelids fluttering. Nix laughed through his sniffles and picked up his pace down the street, his eyes checking every shadow for figures of zombies or worse; Edgar. Nix was moving as fast as he could but the sun was chasing them, night coming up quicker and although he didn’t like the idea of running through streets, barely hanging on to a bleeding out guy who would attract the zombies and trying to outrun a lunatic with a gun, he hoped that it would make it harder for Edgar to actually use his gun on Nix.
“You'll make it, just hold on please.” Nix begged as Kenji became silent and heavier in his arms.
“You’re too cute to be stupid, Nix. You and I both know; I’m not pulling through this one and I am okay with that as long as I get to say goodbye to my sister first. A kiss from the hottest guy to ever rock the man-bun wouldn’t go astray either.” Kenji sighed, a slight smirk on his lips as his eyes fluttered and his hand rested on Nix’s shoulder. Nix began to run, seeing the building only a few blocks away that he needed to get to.
“Stop that. You can't leave me yet. You can’t die on me.” Nix pleaded, his voice breaking. Kenji peered up at Nix through one eye with a weak smirk.
“Calm down, I’m not dead yet. I’m just resting for a second, this shit hurts.” Kenji said then used his shaking fingers to stroke Nix’s face. “Your skin is so soft. Sooo smooth.” Kenji sighed then coughed harshly, blood spurting from his mouth all over them both. Nix cringed, running faster, his breaths panting, his arms straining and sweat beading on his forehead. His legs burned but he had to get there.
“Just a little longer, Kenji. You’ll see your sister.” Nix promised as he came up to the building and tapped on the window with the secret knock. It opened to the barrel of a gun.
“John, let us in, quick. Kenji’s been shot.” Nix urged pulling open the window as far as it would go then awkwardly pushing Kenji through into Johns stunned arms. Nix climbed through after and slammed the window shut then ran over to where John was placing Kenji on a blanket on the ground. He was so pale, his lips white. Jen came out of the room at the back of the space, her eyes widening as she looked down at Kenji. She ran to him, falling over his body as she wailed, the most noise they’d ever heard from her.
“No Kenji. You can’t leave me too.” She whispered, finally speaking after nothing for the entire time Nix had known her. It put a wavering smile on Kenji’s face though.
“There's that sweet voice I wanted to hear.” He chuckled softly, coughing more blood as he did. John pulled Nix aside, his face scowling.
“What the hell happened?” He demanded in a hushed voice as Jen continued crying over Kenji.
“José had a gun. Edgar used it to kill Louis and shoot Kenji. I uh, I killed José.” Nix recapped. John looked over at Kenji then at Nix.
“We can’t save him.” John urged. Nix clenched his eyes shut then nodded.
“It’s worse than that.” Nix sighed. John frowned.
“There’s a worse?” He bit.
“We lost Edgar.”
***
Oblivious to what was happening back at the hideout, Rae and her father made their way up the stairs of the lab. The inside was just as deserted as the outside; no zombies, no people or staff. Nothing. An eerie silence in the clinical halls that had goose bumps crawling over her skin. Blood decorated the walls that used to be white and the floor was littered with bodies that used to resemble human beings. Stepping around them, Rae and her father searched room by room looking for Julian and Katherine. Rae’s finger was ready on the trigger, her gun aimed out in front of her as she rounded each corner with her father. They still didn’t know whether it was a trap and until she was sure, she wasn’t lowering her gun. Annoyed that nobody was making their play, despite inviting them, Rae looked up at the camera facing them.
“You wanted us here. Well come out and face us then!” She yelled, jumping as it had the zombies locked in offices around her, banging against the glass that held them. She sighed and turned to her dad with a shrug when the elevator ahead of them dinged. Rae spun; her gun ready but the elevator was empty. She frowned and looked at her dad. Andrew nodded and stepped forward slowly, his gun in front of his wary steps. He cleared the elevator then pointed to the buttons. Rae stepped in and looked for herself. All the buttons were covered, except one. The one that took them down below ground level. Taking a deep breath, Rae pressed it. The doors shut and they went down, her breath so heavy she was sure her dad must be hearing it, but if he did, he said nothing. She was about to see her mom. After years of thinking she was dead, to seeing her murder her son and she was going to be face to face with her. She wasn’t sure what emotion was going to win out, but her trigger finger was getting twitchy at the thought. When the elevator opened, Rae and her dad were ready with their guns aimed in front again. They stepped out into a small enclosed spaced with a huge glass wall in front of them and a door with a window in it, to their left. Rae’s eyes widened as behind the glass wall, snarling and growling were an entire room of zombies lashing out at the screen, trying to get to them. Raelynn expected them to open the glass wall and reveal that it was a trap after all but instead, a mechanical voice came over the speaker attached to the ceiling in the corner of the concrete room.
“Raelynn. Enter the door on the left. Andrew stay where you are. If you try to follow, we will release the infected.” The voice instructed. Rae shivered. She didn’t want to go alone, she didn’t want to leave her dad alone, not again, but she had no choice. She looked at her dad, who nodded once with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. She took a deep, shuddering breath and went through the door, quickly turning to look back at her dad through the window as the door clicked in place. Just as her door sealed her in, the glass wall holding the zombies up slid across, the horde falling over each other, scrambling for her dad.
“No!” Raelynn screamed, her hand bashing at the window as tears instantly warmed her face. Before she could try to get back out there and help him though, she was whisked away by strong arms. She was pushed through a dark hall and through double doors, opening up into an office where her mother stood behind her desk, Maria waited by the shelving unit and Julian unhanded her, to close the door. She went to run but he had her again within seconds, pushing her down onto a chair then tying her feet and hands to the wooden framing of it. Julian didn’t speak and neither did she as her father’s face throbbed in her mind. Julian pulled her gun from her grasp, before he grabbed a syringe and drew blood, his face stoic as the red liquid oozed from her vein, filling the vial he had attached. It didn’t take long to fill and as soon as it was done, Julian backed away, clutching the vial in his hands as Rae sat silent and fuming, her eyes dead and cold as she stared at the woman who birthed her. She was emotionless, her face a picture of perfection, stoic and silent, no wrinkles, no expression, a statue. She was more of a zombie than the creatu
res that were killing her father. Julian interrupted her thoughts.
“Thank you, Raelynn. I understand the lengths we took to get to this point were extremely unethical but when it comes to my daughter, I’m afraid my ethics become void. You see, your mother convinced me that your father wouldn’t let you give your blood and I do not take unnecessary risks, however I will keep my word and once I am free of this place and this god-forsaken laboratory, I will honour my deal to you and cancel your marriage to my nephew.” Julian said but Rae didn’t have anything to say. She couldn’t pass the lump in her throat. If she tried, she knew she would cry again and that was a weakness she couldn’t afford in front of her mother. She was pulled from her thoughts when Maria came over to her. Her face was red, covered in blisters and scarring, the skin loosening in some places as one half of her face sagged slightly. Her fuller figure, darker skin and black hair made her look so much like her father and she couldn’t help feeling sorry for the girl. Maria was a daddy’s girl; too bad her dad had funded the drug that ended the world but aside from that, Rae knew he was trying to make it better and she really did hope her blood cured Maria.
“It was nice to meet you. You’re very pretty Rae and I hope you make it out of here. I’m sorry that I can’t help you anymore.” Maria said quietly before kissing Rae’s cheek quickly and walking over to her dad who looked at Katherine.
“I'm done here, Katherine. You have your daughter and I have the blood I need for Maria, now keep your word and hand over the keys to the chopper.” Julian ordered, his gold chains rattling around his neck as his crisp white pants and button up shirt seemed disrespectfully clean amongst the horror that was the current world. Katherine nodded and chucked the keys at him. He didn’t hesitate, he grabbed Maria’s hand then left through a panel in the wall that was obviously another way out. Finally alone, Katherine came around from behind her desk to lean against the front of it, her arms crossed against her chest.
Survival Instincts (Book 1): Sacrifice Page 17