by Kirk Allmond
Now she needed to get inside that building. The bulk of the hole was higher up than she had wanted, but that wasn’t going to stop her. Renee took a few steps back and got a running start towards the wall. She ran as hard as she could, took three steps up the brick, and launched herself into the stairwell at the second-floor level.
As she flew through the air, she bowled over three men coming down the stairs to see what the explosion was. Renee quickly righted herself, brought her knife up through the belly of one soldiers, and drove the point into the nose of another, killing the second instantly. The gutted man folded in half and then rolled out of the hole in the wall. One of Renee’s knives was still in his stomach as he tumbled to the ground, landing with a thump.
Renee then crouched and leaped towards the third man, who had just gained his feet. She grabbed his jaw, swung herself around his back, twisting his neck with her momentum until it snapped. His body crumpled, and both of them fell to the floor. Renee struggled to get the man off her, finally escaping up the stairs to the third floor. The fire door was locked from the inside. Renee had been worried about this. She’d been hoping to get through the door after the explosion before it was locked. She could only think of one way in. She made herself visible and called out, “Help! The rebels are out here! Help!” as she banged on the door.
The fire door slammed open. Renee screamed, “Oh thank you!” and rushed into the man who opened the door. “They were trying to kill me!” She wrapped her arms around the man, feigning a hug, and then drove the knife deep into his belly before twisting the knife and heaving him upward. His intestines spilled out onto the floor at his feet. The soldier tried to gather them up and stuff them back inside but fell to his knees. Renee kicked him in the back of the head, causing him to somersault down the stairs and out the hole in the wall.
“Everybody out! The building is on fire!” Renee yelled down the hall.
Doors opened, and naked women came running into the hallway. Renee spotted Jordan, holding the knife Renee had given her. “Jordan, take them out through the lobby. Give me a thirty second lead.”
“Sure thing,” she replied. “Ladies, you heard Renee. Follow me.”
Renee took off towards the hole in the wall, disappearing as she went down the stairs. Outside, there were half a dozen men pointing their weapons up at the hole and two tending to the wounded on the ground. Renee leaped out of the newly created window and onto the closest soldier. As she fell, she drove her knife into the skull of the man beside him. Her weight carried all three of them to the ground. The knife flashed in the air as she slit the throat of the man who had cushioned her fall.
She was off like a flash, retrieving her other knife from the gut of the man who’d carried it out of the hole in the wall. With both knives in her hands, she made short work of the remaining rapists outside.
The entire encounter took less than five seconds. There were nine men laying at the base of the hole she’d blown into the wall. Six of them had their throats slit, two of them had pierced skulls, and one lay on the ground with his intestines splayed out all over the grass.
She was angry at the treatment of these women, angry at the abduction of her children, and angry with all these men for going along with a madman. The Tookes genetics were in full effect as Renee spat on the men and ran into the building through the single door. There was just one man inside. Renee appeared directly in front of him, her knife at his groin. “Run,” she growled. “Tell everyone you see that next time any of you touch a woman without her permission, I’ll come for them. This is a new world. In this world, justice comes swiftly. In this world, the strong take care of those who cannot care for themselves. Do not think women weak. Do not take this mercy as weakness. I am allowing you to live so you can spread the word.”
Horrified, the man ran off as fast as he could.
“You should have killed him,” Jordan said, coming up behind her. “He was the most sadistic of the bunch. He liked to leave marks.” She held her arm out. Bloody teeth marks were clearly visible. “He said if we ever escaped and someone saw teeth marks, they’d kill us.”
“That’s not something you have to worry about now. Did you see the stain on the back of his pants? He shit himself as he ran.”
Jordan smiled but only for a moment. “Renee, thank you for doing this, but we have to get out of here. There are still thousands of soldiers on the base, and none of them are liable to just let us go.”
The whole ordeal from explosion to escape had taken less than two minutes. Jordan was right; more soldiers would be here any time, and twelve naked women were not something difficult to spot.
“I saw the motor pool just a few blocks over. There’s a store on the way. We can get you all some clothes and weapons and get you in a truck. Grab their guns and let’s go.”
Renee led the naked women to the same store where she’d gotten her clothes. She peered inside the edge of the window. Inside, a man sat at a counter watching a tiny portable DVD player. Renee walked through the door fully visible. The man looked up, shock registering across his face. He probably hadn’t seen a woman outside the ladies’ dorm in a very long time.
“We need clothes and supplies for twelve women,” she said.
“I can’t do that. You have to go back to the dorm. Lightfoot will kill me.”
“Lightfoot isn’t going to be around much longer.” As if on cue, gunshots rang out from the direction of the parade grounds. “Hear that? My brothers are handling Lightfoot right now.”
The man held his hands up and walked towards Renee. “Take what you want,” he said. When he got within range, he launched a right cross at Renee’s jaw, knocking her back and stunning her. A second later, he had his gun pointed at her. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said.
Renee disappeared and dropped straight down. He squeezed the trigger, and the bullet narrowly missed her head. The invisible woman kicked her attacker squarely in the left knee as hard as she could, breaking the joint. He went down in a heap, screaming in pain. Renee appeared again and, ignoring his screams, said, “Ladies, get dressed. Grab backpacks and anything you think will be useful. You’re getting out of here.”
“You’re not coming with us?” asked Jordan.
“No. Lightfoot has my daughters, and my brothers are out there. I have to help them; they’re going to need a ride before the whole base arrives.”
Chapter 20
Fire
Victor concentrated on his own aura as he approached the grandstand area. He knew Lightfoot was up to no good, and he knew that he was going to be forced to make a move. Lightfoot wanted him to feel powerless and to know that there was no escape. Vic had always made his aura hard on the outer edge, like armor around himself. This time, he turned it inside out and thinned it down. He could make the tendrils much smaller this way. He pushed at the top of the dome, weaving the tiny bit of himself through the knot at the top.
By the time the men came to a stop in front of the grandstands, Victor had worked his way to the edge of the knot. He was through the dome and now waiting for the right second. Lightfoot walked over to where they were standing with a smug smile on his face. Two of his bodyguards flanked him. Vic knew he had to time this just right. He held his hands palm out towards Marshall and John, signaling them to wait. There wasn't much they could do anyways, shielded just like he was. Victor slowly sank down to his knees and drove his hands down into the dirt, feeling the cool earth surround his fingers. He felt calm and centered. There is no room in this world for zombies, even those who have abandoned their humanity willingly, he thought. He scooped up two handfuls of earth and rubbed his hands together, watching the dirt sift between his fingers.
Reggie watched as John and Marshall followed his lead and sank calmly to their knees. They'd seen him repeat this ritual a number of times and knew what it meant; Tookes was about to pick a fight. The two of them steeled themselves for what they knew was about to happen.
"Stand up," said Lightfoot. V
ictor remained on his knees. "Stand up, or I'll kill one of the children."
Victor looked up from his kneeling position and slowly rose to his feet. "General Lightfoot, if you harm my children, what will you have left to use against me? If you harm one of them," Victor said taking a step towards the general threateningly. Victor touched the shield that surrounded him with the palm of his hand. Pushing on it caused intense burning pain. He leaned his head just a hair from the shield and said, "What will protect you from me?"
"You can't touch me. I can kill one and still have your two other children to kill slowly. Maybe I’ll kill the boy so I can give the girls to my men. Some of the men have peculiar tastes, and I believe in rewarding a man with what he wants.” The man paused, and his smile grew. "Or maybe I’ll kill the older girl and save the boy. I’m sure there are a couple of my men who would find a use for such a cute little boy,” Lightfoot said, a smug look on his face.
Tookes bottled up his fear and felt adrenaline course through him. The fire in his stomach engulfed his consciousness, and his aura went solid red. There was no reasoning with this man. He was worse than the zombies, having willingly given up every shred of his humanity. Once again, it fell to Victor. Once again, Tookes found himself the only man willing and able to do what was necessary, to do what was right. That thought fueled his anger and steeled his resolve. He pushed the tiny thread of his aura through the knot on the dome above him and then expanded it rapidly. The shield around him shredded like a slow motion balloon popping. Rips appeared at the top, spreading down the aura encompassing him. To Victor’s eyes, hand-sized pieces of pink glowing energy floated down like feathers in the breeze, sizzling slightly before disappearing. The violent tearing stunned the man who had been shielding him. Victor knew how much attacks on his own shield hurt but couldn’t imagine how painful it was to have your entire aura destroyed in one blow. Good, he thought.
He wasted no time. Lightfoot had two other mentalists on either side of him, and Victor lunged for their leader. A double shield appeared around Lightfoot just as Tookes’ hands closed around Lightfoot’s neck and squeezed. The searing pain from the armor surrounding him roared through Vic’s arms, as if he was slowly pushing his hands into molten lava. Vic drove tiny needles of his essence into the men on either side. The irony was not lost that these men had inspired Tookes to learn the very technique that he used against them.
Human brains felt different from those of zombies; they were a mess of chaos and random thoughts. He could see thousands of thoughts, all the things that made a person who they were, jumbled up inside. Their immediate thoughts were solely to save Lightfoot, to continue their comfortable life here on the base. When Victor had wormed his way through their brains down as deep as he could go, he expanded the needles into huge tendrils, crushing their brains from the inside. He filled the inside of their skulls with his essence, liquefying both men’s brains at the same time. The two men slumped to the ground, and his hands closed around Lightfoot’s neck.
"Fire!" yelled someone in the crowd. Four men stood up and started shooting at anything close to them. The soldiers in their immediate vicinity started falling, but Victor didn't stop to wonder what they were doing. Whatever it was, they were helping his cause. The rest of the men in the stands drew weapons and gunned the four down. Tookes punched Lightfoot squarely in the nose with one hand, crushing it and sending blood flowing down his chin. He saw the soldier who had been shielding him getting to his feet. “I’ll be back for you,” he said, throwing the General to the ground. “Don’t go anywhere.” Lightfoot seemed unable or unwilling to comprehend how quickly things had gone downhill for him. He laid on his back covered in blood with a shocked look on his face.
Wasting no time, Victor pulled his aura tight around him and ran. He saw no sign of the kids; Max must have gotten them away. He cleared the first two rows of bleachers in one leap and launched himself onto the mentalist. "I told you I would kill you today," he said, driving his thumbs into the man's eyes. The man screamed and kicked when his eyeballs burst. It felt like smashing a warm, gooey grape. Tookes felt a frantic stabbing at the armor around his head. Then the man's eye sockets caved in, and then he was still. Marshall and John were free.
Victor picked up a rifle and hurled it as hard as he could towards John. The soldiers in the stand started to recover from the confusion and turned their guns towards Marshall, John, and Reggie. Victor watched dozens of guns turn on his friends and looked desperately for a way out of this. John fired his gun dry, not even making a dent in the number of people shooting at them. He was hiding behind Marshall, who was standing with his back to the crowd curled over his friend.
Reggie was walking slowly towards the trees at the edge of the field, as if he was completely unaware that more than a hundred men were aiming guns in his general direction. Marshall and John seemed to have the soldier’s attention. Victor wondered if the old man had finally snapped. He considered yelling for Reggie to run but didn’t want to draw extra attention to him.
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Behind the stage, Max held the hands of his two cousins as they lay down in the grass by the stage. Max thought very hard about hiding. He thought about little tufts of grass growing out of all of their backs and roots pushing down into the dirt. “Steve,” Max thought to the E’Clei inside his head. “We need to keep Maya and baby Holly safe. I’m scared.”
“We will help, as always. We will keep them from being able to see you, but you have to be very still and be very quiet,” replied Steve. Steve had been Max’s first zombie lieutenant. When Max’s own “bugs” had died off, Max ordered Steve to transfer all of his E’Clei into himself.
When a normal human was infected, the parasites moved up to the brain, taking control of synapses, using them to control the host body. The more parasites a human was infected with, the more brain function the microscopic E’Clei was able to control. Human beings use only ten percent of their brain; it was the unused ninety percent that held pathways allowing humans to do incredible things. Once connected, a human could run with incredible speed, heal themselves in seconds, communicate telepathically, and even control their own spirit.
In the small percentage of humans that were immune to the infection, a genetic anomaly slightly changed the brain chemistry, making the cerebral fluid toxic to the E’Clei. In those hosts, the parasites headed towards their brain, started connecting these unused pathways, and then died off. The corpses of the parasites acted as a neural bridge, leaving the connections intact, giving the human enhanced abilities.
Max was unique in ability to live in harmony with his E’Clei parasites, which was why the zombies wanted him so badly. Max had learned from Steve that the E’Clei, the name the parasites used for themselves, thought of humans as vehicles. They wanted humans as hosts, and Max was a threat. Max’s brain chemistry was different from that of his father; instead of killing them, being in Max’s brain was like swimming in a euphoric drug. The original E’Clei that had infected Max quickly realized he was different and sought to hide him from their counterparts, who had no interest in living together with their hosts and would kill Max and his traitorous E’Clei.
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Victor pushed his shield out towards John and Marshall but was unable to cover that much distance away from himself. If only Kris was here, Victor thought sadly. Kris! Genius! He didn’t have to shield John and Marshall. He inverted his shield, solidifying the inside, and pushed it out over a small group of the soldiers. Their bullets ricocheted off the inside, bouncing off the shield and ripping into the group of men under Victor’s dome.
The distraction bought Marshall time to get John up to the stage. Once John was under cover, Marshall leaped up into the crowd and started smashing heads. John spun, looking for Lightfoot. He squeezed the trigger as a large cut opened up across his chest. A man appeared in front of him, bleeding from a large hole in the center of his head, falling backwards as Lightfoot scrambled around the stage out of range.
An
other large cut opened across John’s back. He spun around and fired; another man appeared and collapsed, dead. John fell to one knee and fired the rest of his magazine as Marshall flew past, landing in a heap on the bleacher in front of him. Three huge men stepped down the stairs towards them.
“Tookes! We could use a little help here!” yelled John, pointing as another cut opened up along his arm. The force of the blow knocked John over sideways on top of the struggling Marshall.
“John!” yelled Victor. He ran towards his brother and friend.
Chapter 21
Thompson’s Station - Part 2
As Kris approached the town, gunshots were piercing the air in rapid succession. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. Kris pushed her sphere forwards, towards the town. It was easy to find Alicia’s heartbeat in the group of men with guns. Judging by the sound, they had been pushed back to the Methodist church half a mile down the street. Running harder was the only option now; she was still two miles away, and Kris wasn’t certain they would last very long. Kris remembered a conversation with Victor as they ran from the train towards the train yard in Charlottesville. He’d said to her, “All of us can run faster than a normal human. You just need to find your stride.” At the time, she thought it was absolute lunacy. Kris was never a runner and did everything she could to avoid it. However, she seemed to have finally found her stride and closed the distance towards the fight.
A small dent had been made in the shamblers, but a handler linked them all together. Kris had taken care of the teleporter, but the mentalist she had encountered only a few hours ago was still at large. If Kris were a betting gal, she would bet that he was the one controlling the horde. As her mind explored the church, she found the super that was handling them. He was in the church bell tower.
