Path of the Horseman

by Amy Braun

  “About fucking time,” he said crossly. “The Soulless brought friends. There must be fifteen of them out there, and all the noise they’re making is drawing the Plagued.”

  I grimaced. When I could use my powers, the Soulless were a challenge at best. I could cut through Plagued like paper. But trying to pretend to be human would make things more difficult.

  “Your human collection’s getting woken up,” Simon went on, explaining why Josh was running around playing fire alarm. “You need to get out of here.”

  “Fair enough.” I was already slinging my machete over my back, holstering my knives, and grabbing my rucksack from the floor. “Is your shit ready to go?”

  Simon paused. “What makes you think I’m going with you?”

  I stopped at the door. “Are you kidding? You want to stay here and be corpse chow mien?”

  He scowled. “I never said that. But I’m not going with you. I’ll find a new place, since you shot this one to hell.”

  I walked closer to him. “Not a fucking option, lone wolf. If you stay here alone, you might as well leave Ciaran a billboard saying you’re here.”

  Simon flinched when I spoke the demon’s chosen name. Everybody knew that you never, ever, ever spoke a demon’s true name. Not unless you wanted to give yourself a helping of torture and death.

  “We need to check this haven thing out. Something about it doesn’t feel right.”

  “Because it doesn’t exist,” Simon pointed out.

  “Maybe, but if it does, Ciaran might be involved.” I paused. “We both know there can’t be enough humans alive to fill a haven of any kind.”

  Simon didn’t argue.

  “Besides, if Ciaran is gunning for us and has a plan for the rest of the humans, we need to find Kade and Logan. We’ll need them as backup.”

  “Whoa, no. I’m not going to look for them. No fucking way.”

  The humans were shouting in the hallway, listening to Josh’s orders. I didn’t have the time or patience for Simon’s whining.

  “We’re stronger together, Sime. We don’t have to like it.”

  He narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath, ready to go on a massive rant. The gunfire from down the hall cut him off. I spun on my heel and took off through the door and down the hall. Jerry and Laurel were standing at the top of the staircase, holding handguns and looking nervous. They jumped about a foot in the air when I leaped to their side, but at least they didn’t shoot me. I shouldered between them and looked down.

  Josh, Maddy, Ricardo, Theo, and Gwen were huddled at the very bottom of the stairs. Theo and Gwen were holding guns at the door Josh, Maddy, and Ricardo were struggling to keep closed. Six Plagued arms were lazily waving in the doorframe, reaching for anything human they could grab. Even with their combined strength, they couldn’t keep back the horde much longer.

  I bolted down the stairs and shoved past Theo and Gwen, pulling the machete off my back. I ran to the crevice of the door and slashed down with both hands. Two and a half Plagued arms were severed, easing the top of the door closed. Two more strikes lopped off the other three and a half arms, allowing the humans to shove the door closed. Josh locked it on instinct and Ricardo found a heavy step ladder in a service corridor to prop under the doorknob. It was a cheap solution, but it was all we had. The four of us stepped back to the nervous humans with guns.

  “That’s not going to hold the Plagued back forever,” Josh stated. “Let alone the Soulless. I couldn’t see them past the Plagued, which doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

  “Then let’s find another way out.” I looked at Josh. “Which one of you can fix the Rust Bus?”

  Ricardo raised his hand. “I can do it. But I need time.”

  “And I need a house in Tahiti, but wishes and horses, right?”

  Ricardo frowned. Definitely not the answer he was hoping for. Join the club, buddy.

  “There has to be another exit,” Maddy said, gripping her gun with white knuckles and staring at the door like it was about to bite her.

  “We don’t know how many are out there,” nervous-sounding Gwen said. “There could be hundreds. The only way we knew something was going on at all was because Simon warned us.”

  “How do we know he didn’t bring them here?” growled Josh, glaring at me. “He wasn’t exactly happy to see us, or you.”

  If looks could kill, Josh would be splattered all over the wall. “Shut the fuck up about my brother, asshole. He saved your life.”

  Josh didn’t cower away, but he didn’t argue with me, either. Another miracle could be tacked onto my list of wonders.

  “Simon knows this hotel,” Maddy intervened. “He’ll have a way out. Come on.”

  I considered telling her that Simon had no intention of going anywhere, but she was already hauling ass up the stairs. Theo and Gwen chased after her, and I refused to move until Josh followed them. Getting knifed in the back and left like a juicy steak for a pack of starving corpses was not on my agenda for today.

  Laurel and Jerry were standing next to Simon when we made it back to the top. I turned and closed the service door blocking the lower exit from the level we were on. I could still hear the Plagued hammering on the door below us. I was surprised to see Simon taking control of the situation. I’d been almost certain he was going to lock himself in his hotel room and wait until the bloodshed stopped.

  “Exits,” I rushed out, jogging to a stop beside my brother. “Name ‘em.”

  “That’s the main one,” Simon nodded to the direction we’d just come. “But I built another. It’s a fire escape that leads to the grounds.” He turned and started moving down the opposite end of the hall. I noticed the messenger bag he had hanging over his blue hoodie, held in place by his bow and the quiver full of arrows on his back.

  “We don’t know where the horde came from,” Laurel said. She was clinging to Theo the way a drowning person clings to a life preserver. “They could be waiting for us down that way.”

  “They could be,” Simon agreed. He looked over his shoulder and smirked. “But they probably won’t be getting far.”

  I thought back to Simon’s trap in the pool and grinned.

  We were the first ones to reach the large pane windows at the end of the hall. We looked through the dusty glass and down onto the cracked desert. Simon had dried out the lake, but there was a manmade dock he must have made under a large metal fire escape, so we wouldn’t be stuck in a trench when we climbed down.

  The fifty or so Plagued were another story, however. They lay on the side of the remnants of Lake Las Vegas, trying to climb the trench that was way too steep for them. Some of them were actually getting close to the dock. The moment they put their hands on a plank, a trigger must have been set off, because metal spears jutted out and pierced the middle of their faces.

  I looked at Simon, who was proud and smug.

  “When did you come up with that idea?” I asked.

  He grinned. “I had a lot of time on my hands.” He looked back when the humans caught up with us. We could still hear the Plagued hammering on the door. They must have broken through the one below us, because the slams were coming from the door leading to the staircase.

  Not good.

  Simon moved over to the side of the hallway and started picking up a heavy oak side table. I helped him with the other end and we carried it back to the window. We looked at each other and nodded, ready to swing the table back and forth to get momentum–

  There was a heavy crash underneath us. We all jumped and looked down the far end of the hallway. The Plagued had broken through the door connecting to the stairs. I was sure I heard some Soulless hissing and screeching their excitement.

  Josh lifted his gun, Maddy at his side with her Sig Saur. Their human friends stood next to them, but were way more nervous when they raised their guns.

  “Get that damn window open!” Josh ordered, but we were already swinging.

  After three good heaves, we hurled the table out of the
window. It broke with one loud shatter, and that was when the guns started going off. I pulled the machete off my back, Simon taking out his bow and nocking an arrow.

  Most of the monsters scrambling over one another up the stairs were Plagued, but I started picking out Soulless from the mix. They shoved aside or stepped on the slower corpses, speeding toward us like a freight train. The humans shot at the two of them that approached, but the Soulless absorbed the bullets entering their bodies, never once slowing down. Whenever Josh or Maddy took a shot at their heads– it was obvious they were the best shooters– the Soulless would duck or tilt their heads and let the bullets hit the walls.

  Maybe they’d have been able to kill the Soulless when they got closer, but with the piles of Plagued shambling their way up and into the hallway, we didn’t have time to wait.

  “Get moving out of the window!” I managed to shout over the gunfire.

  The shooting halted, and that was all I needed to happen before I got in front of the humans and charged the Soulless. The closest one skidded to a stop, confused about why I was running for him instead of away. He registered what I was doing and tried taking a swing. I took off his arm.

  While he howled, I swung the machete up toward his head. The Soulless was quicker and twisted to absorb the hit into his body. The machete crunched into his upper ribs just under his good arm, and though it might have hurt him, the blow wasn’t enough to kill him.

  And now my machete was trapped, which was perfect for another Soulless running for me to open his jaws for a bite.

  His fangs were nearly at my throat when a black arrow flew past my head and sank into the Soulless’ eye. His head rocked back once before he dropped like a bag of rocks. Nice kill shot, Sime.

  Rather than focusing on my brother, I decided to finish permanently killing the Soulless trying to take my machete away. He lunged for my neck too, but missed because I shoved my knee into his stomach. He buckled and I twisted my wrist, turning the flat of the blade against his side. I pulled, and it slid free with all the resistance of thick mud. I gave the Soulless another knee and flipped the machete in my hands. I swept it up like a golf club, and watched the Soulless’ head go flying.

  Fore.

  During my little display, the Plagued had gotten past the stairs. They were now half way down the hall, stomping quickly when they saw the fresh meat. There were so many crammed shoulder to shoulder that they had to wiggle to move anywhere. It was a zombie-shuffle-line dance.

  Part of me wanted to let loose a little power and poison every one of those undead bastards, but the sensible part of me remembered that a bunch of terrified humans were behind me. Possibly the last humans alive. They needed to stay that way, no matter what the cost to my ego.

  I turned back to the window. Maddy was halfway through the broken windowpane, watching me with wide eyes and gripping the rails of the fire escape tightly. Josh started shooting again while I leaned out of the window and looked down.

  The survivors were making their way steadily and carefully, knowing better than to put too much weight on the ladder. It was sturdy, but we were living in a post-apocalyptic world. “Sturdy” was a relative term.

  Simon was already at the bottom, switching his attention from the survivors descending to the dock, to the Plagued trying to crawl onto it, to me. I couldn’t see his expression, but his bow was out and ready. He was either really determined, or really, really pissed.

  “Better start moving, Maddy,” I said.

  When I looked over to check on her, she was already climbing down. Smart girl.

  The gunfire stopped suddenly and Josh cursed. I changed weapon hands and swung the machete out as I blindly turned. I missed Josh’s head, but the Plagued reaching out for him wasn’t as fortunate. I gave its neck a gash so deep I could see its trachea when its head flopped back. It couldn’t move its head forward, so I kicked it back into the crowd. Some of the other Plagued were knocked down with Cutthroat, but not nearly enough. They were so close, I knew that only one of us was going to have time to escape. I took a step forward and stabbed another Plagued in the head.

  “Got any grenades?” I shouted at Josh, concentrating on becoming a headsman.

  “Only a couple.” There were some sharp clicks, and then Josh’s rifle began shouting again. Plagued on the sides of me went down. When there was about ten feet between them and us, I stepped back and grabbed Josh’s arm. He glared at me, but never lowered the rifle.

  “Give ‘em.”

  That got his attention. If only for a second.

  “You’re not staying up here.”

  Aww. He actually sounded like he cared. Too bad I wasn’t in the mood for sweet-talk.

  I grabbed Josh again and pulled him toward the window. He dropped the rifle so he wouldn’t shoot me by accident, but I imagined his fingers were starting to get itchy.

  “Give me the grenade, and get the fuck down. Don’t give me the “no-man-left-behind” shit either. I’m not playing martyr. I’m buying you time.”

  Josh frowned, then looked out of the window. Maddy was about halfway down, glancing up and waiting for one of us to follow.

  “If you need a reason to haul ass, she’s it,” I said.

  That was all he needed to hear. Josh reached into the front pocket of his military jacket and took out a single grenade. He placed it in my hand and looked at me sternly.

  “Don’t blow yourself up.”

  “Good advice. Now get climbing.”

  Josh looked at me for another second, certain that he wasn’t going to see me again. Then he hooked himself over the ledge and started climbing down the ladder.

  Free from collateral damage, I swung the machete. It sliced open the face of a Plagued and cut across the chest of another one. During my heart-to-heart with Josh, the Plagued had gotten closer. I’d use the grenade, but I needed a little more space.

  My true nature needed to breathe.

  I pocketed the grenade, holstered the machete, and yanked my power out of my skin. It burst off me like a shroud of mist, black tendrils shooting toward the Plagued like spears. They pierced the heads of the Plagued closest to me, sifting through their glazed eyes and open sores, rising to their brains and liquefying them. The first ten I hit dropped like flies. I held onto the smoke, and moved it onto the next unlucky undead.

  To make things go faster, I condensed the black cloud of poison into darts and shot them into the next Plagued. They dropped fast from the needle that blew open the useless brain in their decaying skulls. Ten more taken care of.

  I let go of the power, knowing I’d have to get messy to make my noble little act to buy Josh time believable. Good thing I liked getting dirty.

  There was a lot more space now, so I was able to rush forward and pulled one of my nastiest tricks. I shoved my hands against the cold, spongy chest of a male Plagued wearing tatters for a shirt. The moment my fingers touched it, the smoke seeped into its skin. I concentrated and let it swirl inside the Plagued, turning into a ball and completely disorienting its nervous system to render it defenseless. The ball increased in size, sweeping up cells and organs, yanking them around to the middle of the dead thing’s chest. Bones shivered and cracked inward, something I could see on the outside of the Plagued. Its torso was taking on a weird, concave shape, and its arms and legs were beginning to wobble. Once I was sure I had built the ball large enough, I gave it a final push of pressure, and let it go.