Shut up and do it!
Jordan saw where he was looking, and they both moved toward it simultaneously when—
Silence.
The shooting and screams from downstairs had stopped.
There was no prelude, no hints that it was winding down. It had simply just…stopped.
They stared at each other, and he guessed her confused face probably mirrored his own.
What the hell had Steve’s people been shooting at? Was it the ghouls? But that didn’t make any sense. If the creatures had let them onto the island and then ignored them, allowing them to assault the house, why would they attack now?
What was that Steve had said just before the gunfire started?
“Here they come right now. Good luck!”
Except Steve wasn’t going to stop at “good luck.” He was going to say something else, but never got the chance.
Why? What was out there? What did he think was “coming”?
Whatever it was, it wasn’t anything Steve had expected. The screams and shooting were proof of that. So what—
Something flickered at the corner of Keo’s eye and he spun around, unslinging the Mossberg at the same time. A black object was moving outside the back window just a split second before it smashed its way inside.
Jordan ducked her head against the flying glass, but Keo didn’t have that luxury. He was too busy lining up a shot. Between raising the shotgun and pulling the trigger, he had just enough time to register that it was a man that had crashed its way through the window.
No, not a man. Not exactly.
It was a ghoul wearing a long trench coat, the flaps swirling around him (it) like some kind of cape. Its eyes glowed blue against the semidarkness of the room and it began standing up, lengthening its impossibly gaunt frame like some kind of contortionist.
It seemed to stretch and stretch, the coat fluttering around its painfully thin legs (Like chopsticks, I can break those with my bare hands, Keo thought), and although he was sure it was just the moonlight and shadows playing tricks with his mind, he swore the damn thing had to be well over seven feet tall.
He pulled the trigger, the loud boom! ear-splitting in the closed confines of the master bedroom.
He didn’t know how the creature did it, but it twisted its body to avoid most of his shot. But it wasn’t quite fast enough—it didn’t help that it was partially still straightening up from the floor when Keo fired—and half of the buckshot tore into its left side and the rest slammed into the wall behind it. Keo had fired without aiming, because there hadn’t been any time. He had simply pointed at the biggest part of the monster, even as Danny’s words echoed inside his head:
“If you see them, run the other way, Obi-Wan Keobi. Or shoot them in the head. That seems to work pretty well.”
The head.
Shoot them in the head!
He racked the shotgun and tilted the weapon up slightly, but before he could squeeze the trigger a second time, the thing moved.
No, that wasn’t true, because to say it moved meant Keo could see its body in motion. Because he couldn’t. Not really. Maybe it was the darkness and shadows and moonlight once again messing with his eyes, but Keo swore he only saw a black blur (Like back at the T18 marina…) just before the shotgun was jerked out of his hands.
It was so swift, so unmercifully forceful, that he hadn’t quite come to grips with what had happened until the creature’s pruned black flesh filled his vision, because it was now standing in front of him. Tightened black skin seemed to be vibrating in the dark room and suffocating heat emanated from its eyes, even as an icy coldness radiated from every pore of its flesh. Those things shouldn’t have been possible, the incongruent nature of hot and cold warring inside Keo’s head.
He struggled to understand what he was seeing and feeling, but all he could focus on was the thin trickles of coagulated black blood dripping out of holes in the creature’s trench coat. Except Keo couldn’t see gaping wounds through the openings—if they were there, they had somehow healed themselves. He wished his own injuries were that efficient.
Why was it even wearing clothes at all, he wondered. The sight of the fabric wrapped around its elongated frame was almost absurd, and for a moment Keo wanted to ask the creature if it knew what it was.
Then, unfathomably, the creature spoke.
“Keo,” it hissed. “I’ve been looking for you.”
CHAPTER 28
Daebak. It knows my name, too.
The sight of the creature standing in front of him, its blue eyes like twin otherworldly orbs, made Keo hesitate. He wasn’t sure for how long, though; it could have been just a second, or two, or possibly a minute.
He didn’t know how long he stood there staring back at the creature, replaying the sound of his own name coming out of its impossibly thin and blackened lips. But when he finally did manage to gain some semblance of control, the first thing he did was shout, “Jordan!”
But the ghoul reacted before Jordan could, and it pointed the Mossberg at Keo—no, not at him, but past him, and at Jordan standing over his shoulder. The fact that it even knew how to use a shotgun surprised him for some reason. And the way it held the weapon—as if it had been doing it all its life—made Keo more curious than scared, and he was pretty goddamn scared to begin with.
For the next few seconds, Keo didn’t know what Jordan was doing behind him. Maybe like him, she had frozen in place and was unsure how to respond to the sight of this thing in the room with them. Maybe like him, she couldn’t understand how it could radiate heat and icy coldness at the same time.
However long the next few seconds passed for the three of them, the monster must have no longer thought she was a threat because its eyes (Christ, they’re blue) shifted back to him, and Keo saw it clear as day and without a shred of doubt:
The creature was intelligent.
He was so focused on that (impossible) sudden realization that he forgot to reach down for his sidearm. Not that he would have had much of a chance, anyway. This thing had crossed the room in less time than it had taken him to rack the shotgun. Did he really think he could draw the Glock before it fired, taking both him and Jordan out in a hail of buckshot?
No way in hell. Not even close.
“If I’d wanted to kill you,” it hissed, “you wouldn’t have escaped T18.”
T18.
Back at the marina…
“You,” Keo whispered.
He didn’t know exactly why he was whispering. Maybe it was the sound of the creature’s voice—it was so low, as if just talking (hissing) was painful somehow, and he wanted to…do what? Match its pitch?
Crazy talk.
“You saved my life,” Keo managed to get out. Then, because he couldn’t think of anything else to say or do, “Why?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” it said, and cocked its head slightly to one side. “They’re coming.”
“Who?”
“The others.”
Others? What others—
Oh, right. The others.
“The door won’t hold forever,” it hissed. “There’s too many of them.”
“Keo?” Jordan said behind him. She sounded breathless, which made him wonder how he was sounding at the moment. “What’s happening?”
“I…” Have no fucking idea, he wanted to say, but finished instead with, “It saved my life. Our lives. Back at T18. We wouldn’t have made it out of there if it hadn’t shown up. I’ve been, uh, meaning to tell you.”
“And…now?”
It looked past him—at Jordan, or the door, or both—before settling on him again. “You’ll never survive the night. Not alone.”
Keo nodded. He didn’t know why he was so calm all of a sudden. Maybe it was the way the creature talked, or possibly it was the lack of animal urges behind its cool blue eyes. He had faced enough of the black-eyed ghouls up close and personal to recognize the absence of a soul behind the hollowed holes that used to be their eyes. This thing
standing in front of him was so far removed from those frenzied monsters that Keo wondered if he was dreaming, if this was all just one long (albeit very vivid) nightmare.
Wake up! Wake up, you idiot!
But he didn’t wake up, because he wasn’t asleep. This was real. Jesus, this was real.
“I agree,” he said. “We can’t survive alone.”
It pulled back the Mossberg, then held it, stock-first, to him.
Keo stared at the shotgun, then at its unmoving face, those pulsating blue eyes. He didn’t react for a long time.
Five seconds…then ten…
He reached forward and took the Mossberg back from the ghoul.
It lowered its hand, bony fingers unfurling at its side.
Behind him, Jordan might have shuffled her feet nervously, though it was hard to tell because he was so glued to the creature, on its every movement, waiting—waiting—for the first hint that it would prove him right, that it was, after all, just another undead thing waiting to end his existence.
“Now what?” Keo asked.
“You can’t climb,” it said.
“Is that how you got up here? You climbed?”
It nodded.
“Damn,” Keo said.
“Keo,” Jordan said, and he could almost hear her doing everything humanly possible not to scream out his name.
He turned around and saw her looking back at the door.
“They’re inside the house,” the creature hissed behind him.
Keo moved across the bedroom and pressed his ear against the wall. He didn’t have to wait very long. They were out there, on what was left of the second-floor living room. The unmistakable sounds of shuffling bare feet, the growing smell of their numbers swelling on the other side of the thick slab of wood.
Behind him, Jordan was staring at the creature in the trench coat, her shotgun pointed at the floor. She was gripping the Remington so tightly that her fingers looked ghost-white against the darkness. For its part, the thing looked unbothered by Jordan’s unwavering stare or the weapon in her hand.
“What are you?” Jordan finally asked.
It opened its mouth, as if to answer, but then it stopped and seemed to pause for a moment.
It doesn’t know, Keo thought. Or it’s not sure.
Instead of answering her, the creature hissed, “The marina. Get to it.”
“Easier said than done,” Keo said, walking back. “How many are out there?”
“Hundreds.”
“You attacked them,” Jordan said. “The soldiers on the first floor. That was you.”
It nodded.
“Why?” she asked.
Its eyes shifted to Keo. “I need him alive.”
Keo didn’t know if that was supposed to make him feel better or worse. He just hoped the creature and Jordan didn’t notice when he trembled involuntarily for about half a second before he could force himself to stop.
He looked back at the door instead. “Why haven’t they attacked yet?”
“They’re confused,” it said.
“Confused? By what?”
“Me.”
Well, at least I have that in common with them, Keo thought, and said, “So what now? What are they doing out there?”
“They’re waiting.”
“For what?”
“Orders.”
“Whose orders? Yours?”
It shook its head. “Someone else’s.”
Something else’s, you mean, Keo wanted to say, but bit his tongue.
“You’re not like them,” Jordan said. She hadn’t looked away from the blue-eyed ghoul…or lessened her grip on the shotgun.
“No,” it said, resting its blue eyes on her. Keo swore the damn things seemed to be glowing—pulsating. “I’m…more.”
“Can we wait them out?” Keo asked. “Until sunrise?”
“No,” it said. “The orders will come, and when they do, they’ll attack. You won’t survive to see morning. The marina is your only chance.”
“We’d never make it. It’s a long island and you said it yourself, there’s too many—”
It turned and began walking back to the window.
“Where are you going?” Jordan asked, and Keo thought she actually sounded terrified to see it leaving.
“Stay here,” it said, and before he or Jordan could respond, the creature leaped through the broken window and disappeared into the dark void beyond.
Keo ran over and looked out just in time to see it bounding across the backyard, then catapult over the iron fence as if it were a foot high instead of ten-feet-tall. The flaps of its trench coat fluttered in its wake before vanishing into the night.
Now I’ve seen everything, Keo thought, except even when the words popped into his head, he didn’t think it was true. He had a very strong feeling that tonight was just the beginning, that things were about to get…stranger.
Jordan appeared next to him. “Keo…”
“Yeah?”
“That just happened, didn’t it?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“I just wanted to make sure.” She paused, then, “It knew your name.”
“I noticed that.”
“Keo, it knew your name.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
“And it could talk.”
“I heard.”
“I didn’t know they could talk. Did you?”
“I…yes.”
“You knew?”
“I heard stories.”
“What kind—”
Thoom-thoom-thoom!
They spun around simultaneously as the dresser shook against the door.
“I guess they finally got those orders they were waiting for,” Jordan said breathlessly.
Thoom-thoom-thoom!
“The bed!” Keo shouted.
He started moving toward the king-size bed when a long, thin shadow fell across the floorboards in front of him. At first he thought it was just him or Jordan, but that didn’t make sense because he knew exactly where his shadow was, and Jordan was to his right, but this one was coming from his left and over his shoulder—
Keo turned around just as the ghoul flung itself from the top frame of the window and landed on the windowsill, impaling its bare feet on shards of jutting glass. For a split second, Keo thought it was the blue-eyed ghoul returning to finish him and Jordan off, having decided they weren’t worth the effort to save.
But no, because the eyes glaring at him were solid black and not ethereal blue.
The creature lunged into the room and Keo lifted the Mossberg and fired, punching a hole through the creature’s chest, flesh and muscle splattering the wall behind it, while the blast itself had enough force to throw the ghoul backward and to the floor.
“Keo!” Jordan shouted.
“The bed!” he shouted back, and racked the shotgun.
The ghoul was picking itself up from the floor when Keo shot it again, this time taking its entire right arm off at the shoulder joint. When that didn’t stop it, he racked and fired a third time, chopping one of its legs out from under it.
The creature toppled to one side, landing in a splash of its own thick pool of blood. Instead of trying to get back up on its remaining leg, the ghoul started crawling toward him, using its one arm to grab, fingernails digging into the floorboards, and pull itself forward. Then it repeated the process.
Keo stared at the absurd sight for a moment before taking a quick step toward the creature. It raised its head to look up inquisitively at him just before Keo fired, shattering its skull and splattering flesh and blood across the floor.
It didn’t have a head anymore, but the damn thing was still dragging itself toward him…
Keo’s stomach lurched and he took a step back before starting to reload the shotgun. He didn’t have to go very far, because even though it wouldn’t die, the ghoul had been reduced to a tortoise’s speed, sliding across the floor in almost slow motion.
“Keo!” Jordan sh
outed. “I could really use a hand here!”
She had cleared the pillows and blankets off the bed and was trying in vain to drag it by one bedpost toward the door. Looking at her straining, Keo wondered amusingly if Jordan would get to the door before the ghoul got to him—
“Keo!”
He slung the shotgun and hurried across the room, giving the back window one last look just in case another one of the creatures had managed to climb up the wall outside. When he didn’t see any further threats, he grabbed his end of the bed and pushed.
His left shoulder screamed and his right thigh throbbed against their bandages. Ripples of pain sliced up and down his body and he was probably bleeding again, and he was thankful he didn’t have time to stop and make sure—
Clack.
Keo spun back toward the window just in time to see the blue-eyed ghoul pick up the now-headless black-eyed one from the floor by its remaining leg and casually toss it through the window.
THOOM!
Splintered wood flew across the room and almost impaled itself in Keo’s face. He ducked just in time and watched as a pair of dark eyes peered into the master bedroom through the slit in the door.
THOOM!
Another piece slid across the floor, the slit on the door widening both horizontally and vertically. As if they knew exactly where the weak spot was, the creatures began slamming into the opening until it was big enough that one of the ghouls could begin to squeeze itself through, slashing its flesh against the edges.
Black blood arced through the moonlit room.
“The marina,” the blue-eyed creature hissed. “Now.”
*
The creature had gone to get an extension ladder, the same one Keo had used earlier to retrieve Gene’s water bottles. It was leaning outside the back window of the master bedroom and Keo climbed down first, doing his very best not to think about what awaited him below, but only knowing he had to get away from the room above him and the creatures amassed outside its door at this very moment.
THOOM-THOOM-THOOM!
He could feel the relentless pounding in his bones as he climbed.
The night air swirled around him, threatening to grab and toss him off the ladder. He spent almost as much time looking down, waiting for the inevitable black-eyed ghouls to appear out of nowhere, as he did looking up at Jordan as she maneuvered herself to follow him down.
Purge of Babylon (Book 6): The Isles of Elysium Page 31
