Apocalypse Assassins: The Complete Series

by D. Laine

  “Then there’s nothing I can do, is there?”

  “Calvin—”

  “I’m not going to him. Not yet.”

  “Dylan, he can—”

  “No.”

  She huffed like she always used to do when I refused to play dress up with her when we were kids. The pout of her mouth mixed with the vehemence in her eyes was a warning I still recognized. But Mom and Dad weren’t here for her to run to now. There was no one to tell me to play nice and do what my sister wanted.

  I glanced at my watch to break up our stare down. “Our rotation is about over. Go get Jake and Thea to swap out.”

  Sadie glanced nervously into the woods before turning to walk away.

  I didn’t know what was more surprising, my sister dropping an argument, or the vast sensation that I was truly alone.

  The goosebumps were gone. The woods were silent.

  I knew nothing was out there now.

  Just as confidently as I knew that something had been out there a few moments ago.

  I’M OUTSIDE, in the same place I stood hours ago, when the familiar sensation washes over me. Goosebumps. A tickle. There is no weapon in my hands when I spin around this time. And instead of being greeted by silence, Thea’s voice calls to me.

  “Dylan . . .”

  I step into the woods, drawn to her voice like a doomed sailor under the spell of a siren. I know this. Yet I do not stop. I cannot stop.

  The voice changes.

  It’s now Sadie. “You let them take me. It’s all your fault . . .”

  Jake. “You will get me killed one of these days . . .”

  Maria. “You would have been a terrible father . . .”

  Thea again. “I never loved you . . .”

  A baby cries, blending in with the flood of voices assaulting me all at once. I press my hands to my ears to silence them. It doesn’t work. They grow louder, the cadence of their harsh words drumming in my chest. Blood covers my fingers when I pull them away from my ears.

  The tickle across the back of my neck intensifies, causing me to shake with trepidation. The voices finally fade as I turn. In their place slides a bone-chilling ripple of terror. My body is frozen in place, my feet stuck to the ground, either from fear or an outside force rendering me motionless.

  As I stare into the shadow-ridden woods, a dark form wanders closer. My hands flinch, reminding me that I am weaponless. I am under the mercy of this entity.

  It has the rough outline of a human, but no face and no clear lines or distinctions. It appears to blend into the darkness that surrounds it.

  No introductions are needed. I instinctively know what holds me captive.

  “What do you want?” I demand of the Watcher.

  “You already know.” Its voice is musical, calculating, and confident.

  “You won’t succeed.”

  “We will. Soon you will accept your destiny.”

  “What are you waiting for?” I spread my arms out wide. “You found me. What’s stopping you from taking me now?”

  The shadow drifts closer, and the octave of its voice drops to a threatening level. “It’s only a matter of time before you give us control of the vessel we created. We will weaken you physically and mentally until you beg us to take you. Then, and only then, will it be time.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “It’s already happening.” The shadow slinks away, blending into the darkness. Its voice carries to me. “You’re closer than you think . . .”

  I JERKED AWAKE, gasping for air. My fingers clenched the heavy throw blanket strewn across me as I peered around the small living room from where I lay on the couch. With minimal light, I could barely make out my surroundings. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I started to visualize shapes.

  Nothing but furniture. I was alone.

  “Just a dream,” I muttered, settling back into a comfortable position.

  A really fucked up dream. One that made me hesitant to fall asleep again.

  Unlike most nightmares, where I could only remember bits and pieces the next morning, I remembered everything about this one. Every. Single. Detail.

  The icky feeling still crawled across my skin, and I struggled for each breath like a bowling ball had been placed on top of my chest. My feet were still weighed down with lead.

  It may have been only a dream, but it meant something. I suspected it hadn’t been my subconscious that came up with some warped make-believe. It had been real, and the Watcher communicated with me. Threatened me. But it hadn’t taken me.

  A series of soft thumps sounded somewhere to my right. My pulse pounded in my ears as I lifted my head to peer over the back of the couch. Before I could find the source, the cabin door burst open, letting in a blast of cold air.

  I reached for my gun where I laid it on the floor by my head and scrambled to my feet as the door clicked shut. Finger on the trigger, I swept the room for moving shadows.

  Adrenaline chased off the lingering effects of the dream. My chest still felt tight, but my legs were ready to go. My ears picked up no sounds other than my own steady breaths. The room felt empty, which meant no one had come inside.

  Someone had gone outside.

  I risked a glance at my watch, and noted that I had only slept an hour. Jake and Thea were still on watch, and it wasn’t time to change out yet. I doubted it had been either of them at the door, and the others should have been asleep.

  A loud bang came from the hallway, signaling that I wasn’t the only one awake. Heavy footsteps pounded the floor, drawing closer. I adjusted my aim, ready for whoever or whatever was coming. I lowered my weapon with a heaved breath when Marcus barreled into the room with a flashlight.

  “Where’s Maria?” he demanded when he spotted me.

  “I don’t know. Maybe—”

  “Something is wrong.” He ran his hands over his head. His eyes widened with terror. “She’s in danger, but I don’t know from what. Our connection is . . .”

  “What?” I crossed the room toward him. “What happened?”

  “I just woke up from this fucked up dream,” he said. “I immediately sensed something wasn’t right with her, but our connection is fuzzy, like our wires are crossed somewhere. I can’t get a clear read on her.”

  “You had it, too,” I muttered. Had we all had the same dream?

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head to clear all thoughts of the Watchers. “Is she blocking you?”

  “No. It’s different than that. She’s been blocking me from something for a while, but I always feel like I hit a wall. Now it’s . . . like I’m hearing static.”

  I nodded like I understood, when I really had no idea what he was talking about. “I heard someone go outside. It was probably her. Maybe she just had to go to the bathroom.”

  Marcus started to nod, then his eyes widened to sizes I never thought possible. “The woods,” he whispered. “She can’t go near the woods.”

  He nearly knocked me over in his rush to open the door. Running outside without a coat and no shoes on his feet, he shouted Maria’s name.

  Sadie, Ewing, and Robbie wandered down the hallway at all the commotion. My sister led the way with a flashlight, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  “What’s going on?” Robbie asked.

  “I don’t know.” I yanked on my heavy coat, and quickly loaded up on weapons. “Stay here. I’m going to go find out.”

  “Dylan—”

  Steps from the door, I turned to pin my sister with a pleading look. “Sadie, please, just stay here.”

  “At least take the flashlight.” She lunged forward to place it in my hand. “Be careful.”

  I gave her a nod and pulled the door shut behind me, sealing them inside where I hoped they would be safe—if anywhere could be considered safe now.

  Marcus’s voice had faded into the distance. I couldn’t tell which direction he had gone. I took a guess, and headed toward the side of the cabin where I h
ad sensed something unusual earlier. I had mentioned it to Jake when we swapped out, but neither of us had known what to think about it. Now, I found Thea standing in the same spot at the edge of the woods, peering into the darkness.

  “Did he go this way?” I asked as I came to her side.

  “In there.” She pointed at a thick wall of foliage that marked the border of the woods.

  “Where’s Jake?”

  “He followed Marcus.”

  “Dammit.”

  I didn’t hesitate. Knowing my partner was in there somewhere, chasing down Marcus while he chased down Maria, gave me the boost I needed to step through the brush. I slowed a few yards in when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and swung the flashlight up.

  Thea squinted against the bright beam in her face. “He’s my brother.”

  “No way.”

  “I’m not going to waste time arguing with you over this. He’s my brother, and I’m going with you.”

  She started around me, and I grabbed her by the elbow. “I can’t be worried about Jake and you right now.”

  “Then don’t worry about me.” She hiked her gun higher, subtly reminding me that she could take care of herself. And when that still wasn’t enough to persuade me, she added, “My hearing is better than yours. I know which way they’re going. Do you?”

  “Fine.” She had me there. With a wave of my hand, I ushered her in front of me.

  With a satisfied smirk, she took the lead. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. Not because I was a chauvinistic pig. Not because she wasn’t capable, but because I had no idea what we would find in these woods. I had no idea how to protect myself or her out here—or if I could protect us from whatever we encountered.

  Thea showed no fear. She led me over fallen trees, under low-hanging branches, and across a small stream that snaked through the ground. Her pace was brisk, her persistence matching mine with every step we took deeper into the woods. Suddenly, she stopped. In the silence that surrounded us, I heard a rustling noise.

  “It’s Jake,” Thea informed me. “He’s lost, and he heard us coming.”

  “He’s okay?”

  Before she could answer, he stepped out from behind a broad tree and into the light, holding a hand up to shield his eyes. “I lost Marcus,” he said.

  “Did you see Maria?”

  “No. He was yelling her name so I just assumed he was running after her. What’s she doing out here?”

  “I have no idea, but Marcus and I both had dreams starring a Watcher.” I avoided Thea’s eyes when she whipped around to face me. “When we woke up, Maria wandered out of the cabin.”

  It was hard to tell with nothing but the flashlight to illuminate him, but Jake’s face appeared paler. “I felt what you felt earlier, a few minutes before Marcus came running outside. There was something in the woods. Do you think . . . could it be them?”

  Thea split a wide-eyed look between us. Then she shoved Jake in the chest, pushing him toward me. “Out of the woods now. Both of you.”

  She shifted to push me next, and I grabbed her wrists. “Thea—”

  “Get out of here.” She ripped her hands free and shoved me back a step before turning to Jake. “You promised me!”

  “I know what I—”

  Thea leaned into Jake, putting all of her weight and strength into moving him. “You can’t be out here. Not with the Watchers.”

  “Easy . . .” I took hold of her shoulders, gently pulling her off of Jake before he ended up getting pancaked by her newly acquired strength. “Nothing is going to happen to us.”

  She spun on me. “But they’re here!”

  “I don’t know if they’re here, but they’re definitely up to something,” I said. Glancing between Thea and Jake, I added, “I don’t think they can take us unless we give them permission.”

  “Why would anyone give them permission?” Thea wondered at the same time Jake asked, “What makes you think that?”

  “I don’t know,” I told Thea before answering Jake. “Something it said in the dream.”

  He nodded enthusiastically. “So we just hold out. That should be—”

  Thea’s hand smacked him in the chest, shutting him up. I thought she was going to resume her effort to force us out of the woods again, but she lifted a finger to her mouth instead. “Shh. Listen.”

  I followed the direction of her gaze, but didn’t see or hear a thing. “What is it?”

  “Someone is talking,” she whispered.

  “Who?”

  Thea listened another moment, then said, “I think it’s Maria. Come on. This way.”

  She took off fast, forcing us to hurry after her. A deep unease churned in my gut as I trailed behind her and Jake. Every instinct screamed at me to stop Thea, to force her behind me, to protect her.

  I acted too late.

  Over Thea’s head, a bright, blinding white light shot up above the trees. We froze in its unnatural glow, like animals caught in the headlights of a speeding car. The air around us thinned as if sucked into a vacuum. Tiny particles of ash paused their lazy descent to the ground. There was a brief moment of absolute silence when nothing moved—then a deafening blast.

  A white wave of intense light rolled toward us at lightning speed. Behind it came darkness.

  8

  THEA

  I was deaf. Someone had finally dropped an atomic bomb, and while we were all lucky to be alive, I would walk away from it without my hearing. It was the only explanation for the long, never-ending silence that followed the bone-shattering blast.

  Then I heard a hissing sound, like a tire losing air. And then a ringing. Mixed in with those unpleasant noises were voices. Not the imaginary type of voices that suggested I had a head injury to go along with the insane jolt of pain between my ears. But voices I recognized.

  I instinctively rolled over on the ground and put my head in my hands. Something touched my shoulder and I squinted up through spread fingers. Dylan’s blood-covered face peered down at me. His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear him clearly over all the ringing and hissing.

  I thought he asked me if I was hurt. I started to shake my head, then winced when pain exploded behind my eyes and stars filled my vision.

  Dylan guided me up into a seated position with gentle hands before moving on to something behind me. When the stars cleared, I saw that it was dark again. No blinding white light. Trees still towered over us, their maze of interlocking branches blocking out the night sky. The ground beneath me appeared undisturbed. Whatever knocked us out hadn’t touched our surroundings.

  Our flashlight lay on the ground, casting a dim circle of light around me. An explanation for why nothing else had been damaged when I felt like I had been hit by a train eluded me. At least none of us were seriously hurt. Instinctively, I knew no bones were broken. My face didn’t feel puffy or tender. I had no ill effects, other than my head hurting like hell and maybe a ruptured eardrum or two.

  A hand settled on my shoulder, and I looked up to find Jake kneeling down beside me.

  “You okay?” Though it sounded like his voice had to travel through inches of packed cotton in my ears, I heard him.

  I nodded.

  “What was that?” Dylan crouched down on my other side, staring warily in the direction the light had originated.

  Neither Jake nor I had an answer—or he was just as scared to say their name out loud as I was. The Watchers. It had to be.

  But what were they doing? And where were Maria and Marcus? If they had been closer to the explosion when it happened . . .

  Was explosion even the right word to use?

  I couldn’t hear their voices anymore. I had no way of knowing if they were still out there, if they were okay—or not. All I knew was that I wanted out of these woods. Now.

  “Come on.” Jake stood, and offered me his hand. “We’re going back.”

  Dylan jumped to his feet beside us. “And just leave Maria and Marcus out here?”

  “It’s too dark,�
� Jake reasoned. “We don’t know what else is out here. I think it’ll be best to wait until morning.”

  Dylan bit his lip briefly as he stared in the direction we had been walking before the light steamrolled over us. He finally nodded, reluctantly admitting defeat. Maria and Marcus were on their own until morning.

  As we turned in the direction of the cabin, I briefly touched Dylan’s arm. Such a small gesture, but one loaded with meaning. Only I wasn’t sure how it would be received after the way things had been left between us.

  Dylan’s eyes snapped to mine, and softened under my uncertain gaze. He shifted toward me, lips parted as if he wanted to say something. Then he froze. His body went rigid as he stared at something behind me. A moment later, alarm slammed into me—sent by Jake.

  Swallowing hard, I turned to see what had triggered them both. I prepared myself for something bad, but I never expected this.

  Maria stepped out of the shadows with the slow, purposeful grace of a lioness. At least it looked like Maria—but it wasn’t her. Not anymore. A leer twisted her lips, and her eyes shone a bright, reflective white similar to the light we had witnessed earlier.

  Her glare fixated on me. Dylan grabbed me by the crook of my arm and nudged me behind him. He and Jake each took a small step toward each other, creating a wall of solid muscle in front of me. I stared at their broad shoulders, unable to see much else.

  But my hearing had returned to nearly a hundred percent by now. So I listened.

  “It’s not her I want,” the Watcher inhabiting Maria’s body said. Even her voice had changed, reminding me of a monotonous clone now. “Her tainted blood makes her disposable, while you, as the two remaining pure vessels left in this area, are ideal.”

  Neither Dylan nor Jake offered a response, but both visibly tensed at the word “disposable.” They each had weapons, of course, but they were within clear sight of the Watcher. Neither would get a shot off before the Watcher made a move . . . whatever that move might be. I, on the other hand, had the ability to get my hands on my gun with no one noticing, except maybe Jake, if he was paying attention.