by Raymond Lee
“Both?” Hal guessed. “Zombies were definitely there, but they didn’t bring that vulture into the cabin.”
“You’re positive that’s where Raven was at?”
“There was Tylenol and a pitcher of water on the nightstand,” Hal answered, pausing to study the ground before continuing on. “He was caring for her there. His footprints were going in that direction from the moment he stepped into the woods. He was making a beeline straight for where he’d left her.”
“He ripped that zombie’s arms off.” Damian gagged but managed not to throw up. “How’d she escape him? Did she leave before he got to her?”
“I don’t know what happened for sure but I think she went out the window and hurt herself in the process. It explains the blood drops on the ground leading into the woods.”
“We don’t know it was Raven’s blood. Shit, Hal, we could be following the trail of a zombie.”
“No.” Hal shook his head. “They would leave a different type of trail. Raven went this way.”
“Well, that’s good news, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Hal said, picking up the pace. “The bad news is Cruz went this way too.”
“Sky!” Richards chased after the girl as she chased after the white dog he still wasn’t convinced wasn’t a wolf, his heart in his throat as he thought about all the noise they made crashing through the woods. If the dog or wolf or whatever it was didn’t turn around and kill her the infected would, or whoever the hell had butchered and skinned zombies outside the woods. His stomach turned as he recalled what he’d seen. He’d witnessed some shit since the outbreak but the skinned zombie was a whole new level of what-the-fuckness. His balls drew up as he thought about facing off with whoever had done that, or even worse, watching Sky run right into the sick bastard’s open arms. “Sky!”
“It’s Raven’s dog!” Sky yelled back at him, repeating what she’d told him after she’d first dashed toward the animal.
“Stop running!” he yelled, knowing any nearby zombies or other enemies could hear him if nearby but despite his long limbs and above average athletic ability he couldn’t catch up to the little girl or the animal so what else could he do? The dog rounded a cluster of trees, lost from view and Sky quickly followed to his dismay, also becoming obscured in the thick of the forest.
“Fuck,” he griped, pushing himself to sprint faster. Suddenly he heard a deep growl and his fear level spiked. “Oh shit!”
Knife firmly gripped in his hand, he reached the trees the two had disappeared around and turned, coming to a quick stop as he saw Sky standing still facing a smoky-eyed white man who appeared to have been a good match for Paul Bunyon in his previous life. The dog stood between them, head lowered as it continued growling at the zombie. The infected man looked past Sky and started to step forward. Richards immediately switched the knife out for his gun and aimed, knowing he wouldn’t reach Sky in time if the animal failed to stop the undead creature.
“I said leave us!” Sky snapped, her voice full of authority, and the zombie froze.
Richards’s finger also froze over the trigger as he watched the supposedly brain-dead creature look at her, blink, and turn to walk away. He remained frozen as the zombie walked out of view and the dog continued on, Sky following. The pair walked about ten feet before she looked back over her shoulder and asked, “You coming?” as if she hadn’t just ordered a zombie to leave and had it follow her command.
Raven slowly struggled to wake, her burning eyes refusing to open, her throat raw, mouth dry. She needed water. Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she also hadn’t eaten in a while. She stilled, suddenly aware something was off. Reaching out for the comfort of the dog, she found nothing but mattress and a tangle of sheets. Her brain screamed at her to wake up as her body tried to pull her back into sleep where she could continue to mend.
A floorboard creaked and her eyelids flew open. Cruz stood in the center of the room staring at her, a blood-soaked knife in his hand. “Hello, onion. I’ve been looking for you. It was kind of you not to lock the windows.”
Fueled by fear and pure survival instinct, Raven quickly sat up, kicked off the covers and snatched the katana off the dresser, oblivious to her aching body’s protests.
“Cut me, you cut him,” Cruz said, plowing into her.
She fell back onto the bed, nearly dropping the katana but managed to tighten her hand just in time. Unable to use it with him pressed against her, she pushed at his chest with her free hand. “Stop this, Cruz!”
“But he really wants you,” Cruz whispered in her ear. “Now be a good little piece of ass and stop struggling. On second thought, struggling makes it better.” He reached down between her legs and squeezed the injured flesh, drawing out a cry of pain. “First I’m going to use my knife and once you’re oozing blood I’ll let Cruz take his turn before I peel you apart.”
“Take that knife and fuck yourself with it,” Raven growled, bringing the hilt of the katana down on his head as hard as she could. She hit him three times as she continued squirming, making it as hard as she possibly could for him to violate her and the second he shifted enough for her to get a leg up she rammed her knee into his crotch and shoved him off of her.
She ran for the door, screaming as she was snatched back by her hair and flung against the wall. The breath left her lungs as her back connected with the wood paneling but she retained her grip on the katana, knowing if she lost it she lost every chance she had. Where was the dog?
Cruz stood before her, his head angled to the side as he stared at her with wide, glossy crazy eyes with irises as black as the pupils, and a creepy smile made all the more hideous by the layers of blood and gunk on his skin and clothes mixed with the bright red paint that had dried on him. “You’re not going to kill your friend.”
“You’re not my friend.” She nearly choked on the last word, recalling the good memories she had of Cruz.
“He’s still inside me. He can see everything. If you cut me with that thing I’m going to allow him to come through just enough for you to see the pain in his eyes.”
Raven’s eyes filled with tears and her trembling arm lowered. Seeing his creepy smile grow in response she tightened her grip and raised the katana more firmly. “I really liked you, Cruz, you were like family, but Sky is family, and I’ll kill you before I allow you to kill me and leave my sister all alone.”
The creepy smile went away as his nostrils flared. “You already left your sister alone you self-centered bitch. She’ll be maggot food soon enough because of you.”
Raven saw nothing but blackness as the world went dead silent. A moment later, she raised the katana, let out a roar of rage and ignored every protest from her body as she lunged toward the beast in front of her.
“Behind you!” Hal yelled.
Damian turned just in time to imbed his blade into the approaching zombie’s eye socket, giving it a twist to make sure he scrambled the bastard’s brain good enough to shut him down permanently and yanked the knife back, cussing as he only withdrew the handle and the creature he’d killed dropped to the ground with the blade still in its face.
“Aw, damn it, Kevin, you worthless piece of shit!” he yelled, flinging the useless handle to the ground before turning to watch Hal draw his knife out of the last zombie in the small group they’d been attacked by. “Kevin’s dead. Told you he was a bitch.”
“Yeah, well, Kevins usually are,” Hal said, flicking his knife to rid it of the majority of blood and gunk before wiping the blade on his pant leg.
“Oh, so you do know a Kevin that’s a bitch?”
“Everyone knows a Kevin who’s a bitch,” Hal answered. “Not many of them would name a knife Kevin though. Not many people would name a knife.”
“That’s because people have no je ne sais quoi.”
“You don’t even know what that means,” Hal said, continuing on down the path they’d been on before they’d ran into the group of infected.
“I wouldn’t have said
it if I didn’t know what it means.”
“Spell it.”
“Sure. K-I-S-S-M-Y-B-L-A-C—”
“I still have my knife and I can still stab you with it.”
“Rude.” Damian spotted a fallen branch thin enough to carry but thick enough to crack a skull and picked it up, willing to trust it more than the knives he’d taken off Trey after Kevin had failed him. “Are you sure we should have turned left back there? Shouldn’t we have found her by now if she came this way? How far could she get while sick and injured?”
A blood-curdling scream rent the air and they both froze and looked at each other before running full speed toward the voice they knew, caution thrown to the wind. Zombies, wildlife, and any other threats no longer concerned Damian as he and Hal raced toward the sound of Raven’s terror-filled scream. He pumped his legs faster than he ever had in his life, ignoring the stitch in his side as he prayed they’d reach Raven in time.
A cabin came into view as another scream was released, but cut off abruptly. Damian and Hal sped toward the cabin and burst through the door, Hal in front, to see Raven on her back atop a bed, face flushed red as a bloody, paint-covered Cruz squeezed her throat with his hands, his lips pulled back in a snarl as he growled, the sound unhuman. He turned toward them and Damian stopped breathing as he looked into eyes blacker than onyx.
“Sweet unholy mother of darkness,” he managed to get out as Hal withdrew the bottle of holy water from his coat pocket and splashed some on Cruz, hitting him in the face with the liquid. Cruz’s skin started smoking as he backed off of Raven, screeching in pain.
“Take care of Raven,” Hal ordered as he grabbed the branch out of his hand, moved forward, and hit Cruz in the head with it.
Damian rushed to the bed where Raven was now sitting up, her hand at the base of her bruised throat as she desperately tried to pull in air.
“It’s all right now,” he said, settling at her side, not even caring that she’d been bitten by a zombie. If Hal was wrong and she turned he didn’t give a damn. He just wanted her to breathe. He rubbed her back, noting she only wore a men’s oversized flannel shirt and trails of blood had dried on the inside of her thighs. “What happened to you, honey?”
Breathing better now, she buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed.
An ungodly sounding growl tore Damian’s attention from the blood between Raven’s legs and he turned to see Hal had somehow managed to get Cruz into a chair in the corner of the room and was pouring holy water down his throat as he pinned him in place with a knee to his groin and one hand wrapped firmly around the top of his neck, forcing his head back. The water bubbled and sizzled as it spilled over his lips to pour down his face. Hal started speaking strangely, his voice growing louder and more forceful as Cruz’s head whipped back and forth, struggling against Hal’s hold. Cruz’s eyes flickered from black to hazel as Hal continued speaking in the strange language and a cloud of thick black smoke started to rise from Cruz’s open mouth but was sucked back down. Damian watched the smoke rise and fall as if something inside of Cruz yanked it back every time it tried to exit his body.
Noticing he no longer heard Raven’s deep sobs he looked down to see her watching the crazy scene in bewilderment too. He pushed a lock of hair back from her brow. “You all right, sis?”
She shook her head and sniffed, but said nothing as she continued watching the smoke rise and fall. Damian kissed the top of her head, and wrapped his arms tight around her before turning his attention back to whatever Hal was doing.
His voice growing louder and taking on an angry tone, Hal started shouting the foreign words, his voice seeming to echo off the cabin walls as the words spilled out faster and with greater force. The smoke darkened, thickened, and started pouring out in a rush. Hal stepped back from Cruz’s body as the dark tarry mass pulsated and stretched in every direction at once, the words continuing to spill from him in a thunderous voice. Suddenly the pulsating mass spun, a horrible shriek tore from inside it and it went up in a ball of flame that disappeared in a blink. Only then did Hal stop speaking and move toward Cruz’s limp body.
“What in the white people demonic shittery was that?” Damian asked.
“I told you he was possessed,” Hal said, checking Cruz’s pulse. “It’s not a white people thing.”
“The fuck it ain’t,” Damian said. “I’ve never seen black people do this demon shit, even on Flakka!”
“Damian.”
“And why demons always got names like Lilith and Azazel and white shit like that? You ever hear of a demon named D’Keisha? No, you haven’t because there aren’t black demons and they don’t possess black folks because they know most of us ain’t ever had shit and we damn sure ain’t ever had any real power because of the white man—”
“Damian!” Hal snapped, glaring at him.
“I can’t help it!” Damian snapped back. “You know I start spouting whatever pops into my head when shit goes banana balls.”
Hal shook his head as he continued to monitor Cruz’s pulse. “Cruz is only half white, remember?”
“Yeah, well, his white side is seriously fucked up,” Damian mumbled as his heartrate started to drop back down to something near normal. “I need a vacation from this stress. You people are giving me ulcers. I feel the runs coming on,” he added as his stomach rumbled. “You guys are like family but you’re hell on the bowels.”
“Damian!”
“Oh, like you all don’t shit!” He huffed out an indignant breath and looked over at Raven, whose eyes were still glued to Cruz as he lay limp in the chair, pale and unconscious. Her face was scratched, her eyes were rimmed with red, dark bags hung beneath them. Her hair was a wild mess of faded blue with three inches of dark roots. The hair close to her skin was soaked with sweat. He picked a piece of a leaf out of it as he looked down at her socks, noting she’d bled through them.
“He’s coming around,” Hal said, crouching so he’d be closer to eye level.
Cruz’s eyelids fluttered for a moment then slowly opened. “Raven?” he said, his voice hoarse.
“She’s here,” Hal told him, his tone gentle.
Cruz looked at Hal, frowning in confusion before scanning the room. His already pale skin completely drained of all trace of color as his gaze locked onto Raven and his eyes widened in horror. “Raven. I… I…” He shook his head, voice cracking as tears spilled from his eyes.
Damian felt Raven tense and held her tighter, his stomach rolling with dread as he wondered if they really had arrived in time.
“It’s all right,” Hal quickly assured him. “Cruz, you were possessed by a demon. I exorcised it. It’s gone. You didn’t kill Raven and that wasn’t you who tried. It was the demon.”
“But I… I…he made me…” Cruz reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a scrap of cotton material, his hand trembling. He looked at it and burst into tears.
Damian looked at the panties in Cruz’s hand, looked down at the bloody tracks that had dried down the inside of Raven’s legs, and lurched forward. “I’ll fucking kill you!”
“Damian, no!” Hal quickly rose and grabbed him, holding him back. “Cruz can’t be faulted for what the demon did!”
“Fuck the demon! Fuck him! I’m going to beat his ass all the way down to hell!”
“It’s not his fault!” Hal yelled at him.
Damian shoved at him but couldn’t get past. He glared at the piece of shit who’d raped his friend and grinned as he saw a sobbing Cruz draw a gun out of another coat pocket and turn it on himself.
“No!” Raven shot past him, knocking the gun from Cruz’s hand as it went off, and hit the floor on her knees.
The shot went wild, hitting something in the bathroom, and Cruz dove for the gun.
“Damn it, Cruz!” Hal shoved Damian back and grabbed Cruz by the collar of his coat. He forcefully put him back in the chair and when Cruz struggled against him he punched him hard enough to knock him out.
Damian stood in shock,
looking down at Raven as she wept next to the panties that had dropped from Cruz’s hand when he went for the gun. “Why didn’t you let him shoot himself?” he asked.
“Please turn around,” she asked in a fragile voice as she grabbed the panties.
Damian looked at Hal and received a warning glare in return. They both turned away but Damian felt Hal’s watchful gaze on him as Raven pulled her underwear on, whimpering in pain. Damian clenched his fists, dying to pound them into Cruz’s face.
“You can turn back around now,” she said.
They turned to see her on the floor, a hand held out for help. Damian helped her to her feet and scooped her into his arms before carrying her across the room and carefully lowered her to the mattress.
“Raven, I’m so sorry,” Hal said, his eyes wet with unshed tears as he picked up Cruz’s gun. He blinked and they spilled over. He wiped them away with the back of his hand. “I failed you.”
“You just saved my life,” she said, looking over at Cruz. “And you saved his.”
“He doesn’t deserve to live,” Damian growled.
“Hal’s right,” Raven said in Cruz’s defense. “You saw his black eyes, that stuff that came out of him. Cruz didn’t do those things. There was even a moment when he seemed to fight through it long enough to tell me to run. He tried to fight it, but it was too strong. Hell, the thing even told me he wasn’t Cruz but I didn’t fully believe it until I saw Hal get it out of him.” She rested her back against the headboard, drained. “And he didn’t rape me. The thing inside him…” Her bottom lip trembled. “It… it made him… his teeth…” She broke down, lowering her face into her hands as she shook with heavy sobs.
“You don’t have to talk about it now if you don’t want to,” Hal told her.
Damian looked between her and Cruz, still knocked out in the chair, and threw his hands up in the air. “What the hell happened here?”
“That’s something I’d like to know.”
Damian and Hal both whirled around to find a tall white man with dark hair and a day’s worth of beard growth standing in the doorway. He was dressed in fatigues and had a gun leveled on Damian.
