by Leyton, Bisi
High Father nodded. “Beraz, release him.”
Beraz complied, but not before kicking Felip repeatedly. “You never address High Father directly. Only the Seven Elders or his immediate bloodline can do that Dog. Don’t forget it.”
Clutching his arm and panting wildly, Felip vanished into the woods.
Bach resisted the urge to go after him and complete what his grandfather started. Do it. No one will miss him, the dark told Bach. We need him alive to release the others, he reminded himself.
“I have missed you so much Father.” His mother kissed High Father’s forehead.
“How long were we sealed away sister?” A muscular blond haired Dy’obeth, asked her.
“Over a thousand years. Karvas, you look like you haven’t aged a day.” Bach’s mother ran her fingers over Karvas’ face. “You look as ready and as strong as ever.”
His mother had a point. For people who’d been imprisoned for over a thousand years, they looked remarkably young. While his mother appeared to be in her thirsties, Beraz and Karvas could pass for twenty-five while High Father appeared to be in his fifties.
“Is that all?” A Dy’obeth girl who looked to be Wisteria’s age, with pale skin and fire red hair commented. “It felt longer.”
“Who is this girls?” Her mother squinted. “She is new to me.”
“Maniko,” High Father replied. “She is Beraz’s intended mate.”
“Really? What happened to Voneir?”
“She…” Beraz halted.
“She surrendered her essence, so her mate could survive in Ajana,” High Father explained. “It was the greatest Love-Death I’d ever witnessed. So pure, so painful and only could’ve been better if she’d died at his hand.”
“Huh?” Bach muttered.
“Your son doesn’t understand our ways.” Beraz laughed. “I suppose Family are too milk-hearted to carry out a Love-Death.”
“There’s no greater symbol of love among our people than to die for the one you love,” High Father explained. “Her essence was drained for decades to replenish him. She only lasted three hundred years before she—expired.”
“How many of you were lost in Ajana?” Bach’s mother asked.
“Over half,” Beraz revealed. “But there are still more than enough for us to take down the Dogs—once we are fully regenerated.”
“After being sealed in Ajana for so long, it could take several weeks until you are,” his mother warned dejectedly. “Until then, you should be careful. The Family cannot find you here.”
“Hide from the Dogs?” Beraz scoffed. “Even in my weakened state, I can destroy them.”
“Beraz, do not underestimate—” his mother advised.
“Why is she talking to me like this? A woman?” Beraz sneered.
“The woman who saved your life, big brother.” His mother’s eyes darkened. “You would be smart to remember that.”
“Or what?” Karvas laughed. “You are in no position to—”
“Enough. Karvas, Beraz, we all owe Coia.” High Father stroked her hair. “Beloved, you have done well. For that you will not be forgotten.”
Chapter Five
This is not normal
Journey back to the Isle Of Smythe
The boat sailed toward Pottingham’s dock as the sun was starting to set. Wisteria swallowed hard. It’d been years since she’d been outside the walls of the Isle of Smythe at night. Granted, she was in the company of three ex-soldiers, so she did have the best chance of surviving. She’d no clue what was out there, but Hailey’s shot that morning would attract biters to town.
“Relax. We’re going to be fine.” Aunt Jenny squeezed her shoulder. “Worst case scenario, we duck into one of the pits you trackers rave about.”
“I don’t know where the pits are in Pottingham.” Wisteria hadn’t been around when they were dug. It made her feel helpless.
“Don’t worry. Lara does,” Sabine interjected.
Both Sabine and Aunty Jenny worked within the walls of the island and almost never left. Sabine was a doctor and Aunty Jenny, a primary school teacher, so their reassurance didn’t mean that much.
“Yeah, but if anything happens to her, we’re in trouble.” Wisteria realized.
“So, we better make sure nothing happens to your mum,” Sabine examined her guns before holstering them. “Here.” She handed Wisteria her samurai sword.
Taking it, Wisteria wondered why she’d agreed to come on this. Answers, she remembered her mother had promised her answers about her past.
When they neared the dock, there was movement in the dark.
“It’s probably a dog,” Aunty Jenny whispered as Sabine moored the boat back at the location from which they left.
“Not a dog.” Wisteria pointed.
Through the overgrown weeds in the streets, a tall, scrawny man shuffled toward the boat from the bottom of the road. His eyes were red and thick black blood spewed from his mouth down his chest. His skin looked grey with junks of it rotting off his face.
“Ah hell, a biter.” Sabine jumped off the boat onto the dock before it was tied up and charged at the infected man holding a machete.
No, Sabine should wait until it was clear about how many fleshers there were. Wisteria wanted to call her back, but didn’t want to make any more noise in case she attracted more biters. Instead, she went after Sabine.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Aunty Jenny stopped her. “What’s Sabine doing?”
“She’s not even going in the direction of the car,” Wisteria noted.
“She’ll be fine.” Her mother jumped of the boat and started tying it up. She didn’t seem concerned. “Get Wisteria to safety.”
Sabine sliced off the biter’s head as two more staggered out on each side of her. She seemed to be having fun.
The other women got out of the boat and crept toward the rundown SUV, parked at the end of the dock.
“We’ve a problem,” Her mother uttered as they reached the car. “A flat tire.”
Wisteria’s eyes dropped to find that the rear tire was completely flat.
Her mother massaged her temples. “Get in. We’ll drive it like that. We need to pick up Sabine.”
Sabine was fighting three more biters.
“Get in Wisteria.” Her mother hissed.
“No, you need to change the tire or the noise will attract more biters. We need to get out of here as quietly as we can,” Wisteria suggested.
“I know, so get in and we’ll speed off.” Aunty Jenny reached for Wisteria. “We’ll be in Smythe before—”
“If we speed out, the sound of the flat tire is going to make a lot more noise and bring more biters onto the roads. With a flat tire, Mum’s more likely to hit them and the more we hit, the more noise we make and the more we damage the car. We’ll attract even more biters and we can’t mow down a swarm, eventually they’ll stop the car. Unless you’re sure there aren’t that many biters in town.” Wisteria hoped that was the case.
“Dammit.” Her mother smashed the steering wheel. “She’s right.” She got out and headed to the trunk. “Hailey fired a gun in Woolmer this morning, so there’s a good chance there’re more biters around.”
“What are we doing?” Sabine jogged back up to them. “Let’s go.”
“We’ve a flat tire,” Wisteria spoke as she looked around. “We need to change it.”
“Please tell me you’re joking?” Sabine squeaked. “Lara, this place is crawling with biters.”
“Then, you better keep them off me, long enough to change the tire.” Her mother opened the trunk and moved the pile of weapons to the side before lifting up the mat and taking out the spare tire and jack.
“I’ll cover the other side of the vehicle. Lara you keep on working on that tire.” Aunty Jenny climbed on to the roof of the car. She attached a silencer to her rifle.
“You think?” Her mother quipped as she wheeled the tire to the side of the car.
While the last of the sunlight vanished
, Aunt Jenny picked off the biters with her rifle, as Sabine returned to curing the infected by hand.
“Get in the car.” Her mother instructed as she worked on the tire in the dark as even a little light would bring more of the infected. “Last thing I need is you getting dizzy and fainting.”
Then Wisteria caught the stench of decaying flesh and rotten blood—biters. From the intense disgusting odor, the creatures were a couple of feet away. Spinning around, she came face to face with what used to be a twenty-something man, but now a flesh-eater. Its dead eyes were fixed on her and his dirt incrusted hands stretched out to grab her neck as he let out a deep groan. Without thinking, she swung her sword at the flesher, slicing off its left hand before going for its neck. Her sword got stuck in its neck and she tugged twice to remove it.
The flesher dropped, but another biter, a fat man, kept coming at her.
Stepping back, she stumbled to the ground, but leapt up and drove her blade into the biter’s head.
It shuffled forward and fell to the ground.
“Use this.” Her mother tossed her a black box and a dart rifle. “Save your strength.”
Wisteria caught the box, but missed the gun. It flew over her head and slid down the street.
“Focus girl,” her mother gasped.
“I am.” Wisteria ran after the weapon, but was cut off as three more fleshers emerged from a nearby car. “Crud.” Running toward them, she sliced off a biter’s hand and grabbed the dart rifle. Opening the small black box, she found five cyanide darts.
Normally, they tried to avoid using darts because they weren’t replaceable, so normally they were used when they could be retrieved.
Loading the first dart, she shot the nearest biter in the head. She loaded, aimed at the second, fired and missed. Firing again, she missed again. Focus, Wisteria. Once upon a time, she would’ve been able to down the biter with one shot. Now she wasn’t so sure. Taking a deep breath, she fired at its head again and the dart whizzed by. She fired once more and hit the biter in the chest. Good enough. The poison would still kill it. The final infected, the one with one hand, was now inches away from her. Crawling back, she loaded the last dart, shot at the biter and missed.
The creature reached for her leg and hoisted her upside down. Wisteria dropped the gun and grabbed her sword. Swinging upwards, she cut the creature’s other arm off and she crashed to the ground.
A loud booming gunshot rang out into the night air and the massive biter fell.
“No,” Wisteria cried as she jumped to her feet. “Sabine?”
The woman was pointing a gun at the fallen biter. “Are you okay?”
“What did you do?” Wisteria grabbed her dart gun and ran toward her.
“Bloody hell, Sabine.” Wisteria’s mother sprang to her feet, abandoning the tire she was changing.
“I thought I attached the silencer.” Sabine examined her gun in shock. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
“Really?” Wisteria wanted to cry.
A chorus of groans filled the dark air.
Looking round, Wisteria tried to determine where the sounds were coming from. It sounded like—everywhere.
“Hurry, Lara,” Aunty Jenny pleaded.
“Keep those creatures off me and I’ll get the tire changed,” her mother barked and returned to finish the tire.
“We’ll try.” Wisteria grabbed the small bag of darts from the SUV. Climbing onto the roof, she dropped the bag by her feet. “This won’t last long, if we don’t leave in like ten minutes.”
“That isn’t helping Wisteria.” Her mother seethed as she removed the tire from the car. “Do what you can.”
The two other women continued to slice and stab the biters while Wisteria aimed at the nearest biter.
“Don’t get up there, Sabine’s a better shot. Stay in the car,” her mother ordered.
Immediately, Sabine limped back to the SUV and climbed up. “I twisted my ankle, but I’m fine.”
“I was doing okay,” Wisteria protested.
“Then why did Sabine have to risk firing a gun to get you out of trouble? Get in the car and lock the doors. We’ll take care of this.” Her mother placed the new tire over the rim.
“I can take care of myself,” Wisteria argued with her mother. “I can—”
“Now,” her mother commanded.
Giving Sabine her gun, Wisteria complied. She didn’t have the strength to argue with her. Moreover, this wasn’t the place to have a debate, it was the place to keep quiet and out of sight.
Once inside, she locked the car doors and watched Aunty Jenny battle the nearing biters with an axe. Sabine also did her best to thin out the growing swarm. Suddenly, Wisteria looked in the opposite direction at her mother who was still working on the tire. She saw a pair of biters shuffling toward her mother, but her mother couldn’t see them. Unlocking the door, she grabbed her sword and dashed to the pair of infected men. Stabbing the first in the forehead, she cut off the head of the second in two swings.
Three more biters appeared from the darkness and ambled toward her. Before Wisteria could take a step forward, the three biters fell as darts appeared in the heads.
“I told you to wait in the vehicle.” Her mother gripped her arm. “This isn’t a game Wisteria. Get your butt in the car now. Everyone in now, I’m done.” She stomped to the car jumped in and started the engine.
“They were coming after you.” Wisteria sped after her.
“Good job.” Sabine hobbled down from the roof of the car. “You did the right thing. I see why you were such a good tracker.”
“Don’t encourage her.” Her mother started the car. “We’ve got to go.”
Wisteria slid in behind the passenger seat. Sabine sat next to her while Aunty Jenny got in front and her mother drove.
“Sabine watch the right side, Jenny take the left.” Her mother zoomed through the roads of Pottingham village, now teeming with biters, thanks in part to Sabine’s gunshot.
“This isn’t normal,” her mother noted. “The trackers were out here yesterday. They wouldn’t have come this far if there were this many biters in the village. Even Hailey’s shot wouldn’t attract so many unless—”
“A swarm might be moving through,” Wisteria guessed.
At times, thousands of biters or a swarm travelled in the same direction and would overrun almost any community.
“I—I hope not,” Aunty Jenny stuttered. “I heard—they can be quite unpleasant.”
“If we encounter an overrun we’re as good as dead, so keep your eyes on the road,” Sabine stated.
“And keep quiet.” Her mother drove while swerving to miss the biters now crowding the streets. This feat became even more difficult with her lights off as a precaution against attracting any more biters.
Finally, they reached the main road that led to Norton. Getting there, they saw the street packed with flesh eaters. There seemed to be no way for them to move forward.
“This is a swarm.” Wisteria realized aloud.
“Hold on.” Her mother reversed the SUV, but stopped as a crowd of hundreds of infected moved toward them.
“We should use the gas to cure them,” Wisteria proposed. “We’ll have to hold our breath, but it’ll get the biters out of the way.”
The scientists on the island developed a poisonous gas able to kill the infected. As a tracker, her mother normally kept a few cases in the car.
“I’d use the gas if we didn’t have to drive into it, otherwise the gas will kill us too,” her mother countered.
“We’re dead anyway.” Sabine sounded amused. “We might as well do it.”
“Not necessarily.” Her mother parked the vehicle.
“What are you doing?” Wisteria asked.
“Get the gas.” Her mother moved up to the skylight.
The biters began banging and scraping against the sides of the car.
Wisteria reached over into the trunk and grabbed the bag with the cans of gas. She handed a can to
her mother.
Removing the wax used to cover the can, her mother tossed it into the swarming biters outside. “More.”
Wisteria kept handing her mother the gas cans until there were none left.
With the last one gone, her mother slid down, locked the skylight and sat behind the wheel. “Okay.”
By now, the windows on the car were covered with the bloody hands of the biters struggling to get in.
“Could some of the gas get inside here?” Wisteria wondered aloud. “Is this even going to work?”
“Yeah, it will. If it doesn’t kill us first.” Sabine yawned. “If it does, we’ll go in our sleep.”
“You think—” Wisteria’s eyes became heavy. The next thing she remembered she was opening her eyes and squinting to adjust to the sunlight.
They were still parked on the Pottingham Street in the SUV, but now rays of sunshine were shinning through the darkness. She must have passed out after being exposed to some of the poison gas. Her head pounding, she struggled to see what could be blocking the windows. When her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw all the bodies of the biters pressed against the glass. By the look of them, they’d been cured by the gas.
Peering through the rear window, she saw hundreds of cured biters scattered on the motorway as a few unaffected ones staggered across the street.
“The worst of the swarm has passed,” her mother whispered.
Wisteria jumped. “You startled me.”
“Shh.” Her mother started the SUV and drove forward. “There’re still some biters around.”
The vehicle rocked as they moved over the fallen infected.
“Lara, can you see through the bodies blocking the windows?” Sabine asked as she looked all around.
Sabine had a point. Six biters were strewn across the windscreen. It was a wonder Lara could see at all. “I’ll move them,” Sabine groaned as she shook her left foot. “Dammit.”
