by Sarra Cannon
The smell of them was overpowering. Like rotten flesh on crack. Bile stung the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down. She had to think of something or she was going to get eaten by these things.
Then she remembered Noah’s dad and her skin began to tingle.
At the time, she’d thought it was some kind of stress reaction to believe that she’d actually been talking to a mindless zombie with the force of her own mind. People had said a lot of things about her in her short sixteen years on this earth, but no one had ever said she had a strong mind.
Still, she had talked to it. Almost commanded it.
And it had listened.
As the taller ones reached her, she knew it was her only hope. Her only chance. She stilled her mind and closed her eyes, not wanting to see if their teeth ripped into her flesh anyway.
She focused on them, sending her thoughts to them.
Stop.
She practically shouted it in her head, putting all the force of her belief behind it.
When she didn’t feel her skin being torn from her body, she opened her eyes just a little and peeked out the one on her right. His face had gone slack and his eyes dimmed. They were still red, but less glowy.
She snapped her eyes shut and took in a calming breath.
You will not move. You will not touch me.
She opened her eyes again and took a better look. Both of the tall zombies were standing there, their arms limp at their sides and their eyes staring straight ahead.
Some kind of white-hot energy hummed inside her skin. She felt connected to them, as if there were an invisible rope of energy tying them to her thoughts. As long as she didn’t break that line, she could control them.
A gunshot off toward the back pulled her attention and she turned without thinking.
One of the taller zombies moaned and lifted his hand toward her.
Oh crap.
Karmen climbed onto a large desk in front of her and turned back toward the two zombies. She couldn’t let anything destroy her focus or she was gone.
She concentrated again, centering herself as much as she could. She focused on that bright light within, her skin growing so warm, sweat trickled down between her shoulder-blades. She commanded them to stop. To wait. To be still.
And they were.
Parrish
Parrish lifted her sword to the giant zombie.
He narrowed his red eyes at her, then reached out and took the sharp end of the sword in the palm of his hand. Parrish struggled against his grip, but the blade didn’t even slice through his skin. He yanked the sword out of her hands and flung it to the side.
Parrish’s jaw dropped open and her breath became short and shallow.
Noah rushed forward with his bat, but even a blow to the head didn’t phase it.
The giant zombie’s red eyes focused in on Parrish alone. He wanted her. The truth of it slammed into her. This thing had been sent for her and it wouldn’t stop until she was dead.
She was caught now between the side of the room and the zombie, with no real escape. All she had were her fighting skills. Skills she didn’t even know how or why she possessed.
Still, she had to trust that she knew these things for a reason. She had to believe in herself.
Parrish moved into fighting stance, ready to face whatever would come.
A strange coolness pulsed through her and she noticed with astonishment that the tips of her fingers were glowing with a bright blue light. She brought her palm in front of her face, fanning her fingers out and turning her hand around to study it. Deep inside her core, she could feel the pulse and energy of that blue light. She didn’t understand it, but somehow, she knew she could use it. Control it.
Following her instincts, she closed her fists and concentrated all of her energy into them. She felt the power flow down the length of her arms. It was cool and calming, growing brighter and more radiant. She thrust her hand forward, aiming at the giant zombie. A flash of blue shot out from her fingertips, sending him backward.
Ice hardened on her fingertips, then fell to the ground like crystals, melting as they hit the carpet.
“What the hell did you just do?” Noah shouted.
“I have no idea,” she said, her voice trembling.
She didn’t have much time to ponder what had happened, or to celebrate her victory. Karmen screamed and Parrish turned to see that the two stretched-out zombies had come out of their temporary comas. They reached out toward Karmen, their long arms stretching far in front of them.
Without taking time to think about it, Parrish launched herself toward the closest zombie. She jumped on top of a desk, then somersaulted across another, flying across the room and finally landing on top of the closest stretch-monster. He went tumbling to the ground, knocking down his partner as he fell.
Parrish quickly got to her feet again, grabbed a letter opener off the desk where Karmen stood, and shoved it straight through the eye of the first stretch-monster. The zombie let out a single piercing scream, its body convulsing for a moment before it went still and its eyes dimmed. The second stretch-zombie was climbing to his feet, but Parrish was too fast for him. She spun around with all her might and sent a flying kick straight into the zombie’s hip. He tumbled to the ground once more and she jumped into the air, coming down on his chest with both feet, trapping him.
Noah rushed up, bat in hand, and swung fiercely down at the thing’s head, crushing it instantly. Bright red blood splattered from its eyes, then blackened.
Parrish let out a huge sigh. They were all dead. It wasn’t over yet, because the sun was setting fast and soon the hordes would come out into the streets, but for now, they were alive and that was all that mattered.
She stepped over the stretch zombie. She turned toward the back of the room, determined to retrieve her sword before they left.
She made it halfway across the distance before the trench-coat zombie rose from the spot where he had fallen. Parrish stopped in her tracks, then turned and ran back toward the others. Whatever she’d hit him with earlier must not have been enough. It had only stunned him.
Trench stood and roared, the sound so low it vibrated the floor and walls.
He was so big and slow, it would take him some time to get to them, but he plowed through the debris like a truck.
“We need a plan,” Parrish said.
“He’s too strong,” Noah said, clutching his leg. He must have gotten hurt somewhere in the madness. “I can’t even begin to hurt it.”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “Watch out!”
Parrish rolled out of the way as a desk came down on the spot where she had been standing.
Trench lifted another desk high in the air.
Parrish wasn’t sure how she’d done it before, but she needed to figure out where that blue light had come from.
She breathed in, then held her palms out in front of her just like she’d done before. She reached deep inside herself, searching for it. Trusting that it was there and that it was real. A cold blossomed inside her and the blue light flowed from it like water. It was as if she’d untapped some secret well inside her soul.
Her fingertips began to glow a bright blue and when the light was bright enough, she thrust her hands forward, sending the cold energy toward the giant zombie. It hit him square in the back and he fell to his knees with a groan.
She summoned her energy again and sent it toward him again. This time, she was able to send a steady stream of light toward him and as it hit his body, a hard shell of ice began to form over him. He lifted his arm in protest, but the ice flowed over him and solidified, holding him to the spot.
“Run!” Parrish shouted. Noah grabbed Karmen’s hand and pulled her up, running to Parrish’s side. The three of them all turned toward the front of the office and ran toward the street.
Then she remembered her sword.
“Go, I’ll be right behind you.”
S
he jumped and ran through the debris, found her sword and ran back to the others.
Outside, the sun was almost completely gone, leaving the city in darkness. The street that was almost empty just a few minutes earlier was now beginning to fill with undead. Parrish searched the faces of the zombies in the street, looking for any sign of glowing red eyes like the mutants. To her great relief, she only saw slow, lumbering zombies with milky-blue eyes. Of course, her relief turned to hopelessness when she realized how many of them there were.
They poured from every entrance, every broken window, their mouths open and hungry. They had either smelled human flesh or been attracted to the noise of the fight. Out here in the middle of the street, killing them wouldn’t be as easy as it had been before. Instead of the handful they had faced earlier, there were now hundreds. They were never going to make it to Crash’s.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, raising her voice over the moans of the zombies in the street.
Tears ran down Karmen’s face. “I don’t want to become one of those things.”
“We fight,” Noah said, reaching out for Parrish’s hand. “We won’t ever give up.”
Parrish concentrated on the feel of Noah’s hand on hers. There was no denying the attraction between them. It may have taken the end of the world to bring them together, but she wasn’t about to let a few zombies spoil her chance of ever kissing him. She gave him a smile, then let go of his hand and turned to fight, her sword lifted.
Then, in the distance, the sound of machine guns.
Crash
Crash plowed through a huge group of Z’s, his Army-issue Hummer having no problem driving right over the top of the ones that had fallen. When he was surrounded, he moved to the guns he’d mounted on top.
Moving in a circle, he sprayed the area, whooping as dozens fell to the ground.
When he’d cleared a decent path, he hopped back down into the driver’s seat and punched the gas.
He’d brought the radio and a tablet with him so he could still see the cameras he’d hacked into. The three of his friends he’d come to rescue were just up ahead on the left side of the street.
It was a bumpy ride, but he made it to them just in time. A large group of Z’s was pouring from the buildings around them. He was glad to see them still standing, ready to fight.
Crash pulled up next to them and waved. He reached back and grabbed one of the guns he’d brought. An AK-47 assault rifle. He tossed it to Noah, then reached for another.
It took them an hour to clear the area, but when they were finished, there was a pile three bodies deep in every direction.
“Hell yeah,” he shouted, lifting his gun in the air.
He’d never felt so alive in his life.
He’d been playing video games since he was a kid, but nothing compared to holding a real gun in your hand instead of a controller. To be honest, he’d never been a big fan of guns when they were used to shoot real, living breathing human beings. But these Z’s? Man, he’d keep shooting till he’d killed them all.
Below him, Parrish laughed. “Having fun?”
“Are you kidding me?” He whooped again.
“You must be Crash,” Noah said. He reached his hand up and Crash clasped it tight. “You got here just in time.”
“I can tell,” he said, surveying the damage again. “So what was giving off that crazy heat signature? Was it just some kind of glitch or something?”
“I wish,” Parrish said. She slung the rifle across her shoulder, then leaned down to grab a backpack that was on the ground. “We’ll fill you in on that later. I think we’d better get out of here before any more of those things come after us.”
“You said you have a shower with hot water at your place, right? You better not have been lying, because right now that’s the only thing I’m living for.”
Crash took in the beautiful blonde standing to the side. She was even more gorgeous in person than on video. He whistled and ran his hand through his hair. He suddenly felt nervous and awkward.
“Uh, yeah, there’s hot water,” he said. “But first, there’s one more thing we need to do.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Barbie said. She even stomped her foot when she did it. So stinking cute.
“No,” he said with a laugh. “I’m not kidding. It shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.”
He looked up at the tall building to his right. Somewhere in there was the fifth. He was sure of it. They were hiding in a closet, scared of the noise.
Just like in his dream.
Parrish
Parrish watched as Crash hopped down from his Hummer and started toward the building across the street.
She had no idea what he had in mind, but after all he’d done for them, she was willing to go along with it. She just hoped they didn’t run into any more of the zombies with the red eyes.
They stepped over piles of dead rotters and Parrish tried not to think about the fact that at some point not that long ago, these were real people with jobs and families and hopes and dreams.
She didn’t understand what evil had killed them, or what greater evil had awakened them from death, but as long as she was alive, she would never stop searching for the answers. She would never stop trying to put an end to it.
She wasn’t sure how, but after tonight, she knew that she and these others were somehow tied to this plague. Not just because they’d survived it, but because something magical had awakened in each of them since it started. There had to be a reason for that. There had to be some greater purpose behind it.
The four of them pushed through the double doors of the building. Crash pulled a large flashlight from his belt and shined it around the room. There was no sign of undead.
“Hopefully all the noise we made drew any Z’s out from hiding in here, but just be careful as we’re making our way upstairs,” he said. He pulled a small tablet out of the back of his jeans, then looked toward the stairwell on the far side of the room. “You never know when one will jump out of a dark doorway or something.”
“Great,” Karmen mumbled behind them.
“Don’t worry, Barbie, you can come stand with me,” Crash said with a wink. “I’ll keep you safe.”
Karmen made a sound of disgust and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Thanks but no thanks.”
Parrish laughed and the sound echoed in the large entryway.
“Let’s get moving.”
Crash led them to the elevator.
“Wait,” Parrish said. “There’s no power.”
He just smiled and closed his eyes. He placed his hand on the elevator door and seconds later, it dinged and slid open.
“Wow, cool,” Karmen said, getting in. “So this is your special power? Kind of like a super hero?”
“Something like that,” he said.
Parrish felt this strange churning deep inside as the elevator started going up. Like they were heading toward something that would change them all.
“I dreamed about hacking in to computers and then suddenly, I was doing it,” he said. “I was always good with gaming and stuff and I loved computers, but I’d never been a hacker. I didn’t really know the first thing about it. Until I did, I guess.”
“The same thing happened to me,” Parrish said. “With martial arts and using swords. We’ve all gotten new abilities since this whole thing started.”
She glanced at Karmen. She might not be willing to talk about it yet, but Karmen definitely had some abilities she’d neglected to share with them. Once they got to a safe place, Parrish intended to question her about it at length. Maybe the key to understanding what was really going on with them started with understanding these strange new powers they all had.
“Special powers are very cool and all,” Karmen said. “But what does any of this have to do with us being inside this stupid building instead of halfway to your safe-house?”
Crash stopped the elevator on the fifth floor and Parrish glanced nervously a
t the door, an uneasy feeling trickling through her veins.
“Because like I said before, I’ve been dreaming of you guys,” he said. He ran an absent hand through his messy black hair. “I don’t know how to explain it, but somehow we all belong together. We’re connected. Can’t you feel that?”
No one said anything, but Parrish knew that yes, they were all feeling the same thing. Something important connected them. Something big.
“And we’re here because?” Karmen pushed.
Crash raised his eyebrows and touched the silver doors of the elevator. “Because in my dreams, there are five of us,” he said. “And I think the fifth person is hiding in one of these apartments.”
Parrish
Parrish felt the breath knocked from her lungs.
Five.
She was suddenly taken back to a dream of her own. A dream she’d been having just before her mother woke her up in the middle of the night, burning with fever.
There was a man. She’d been running through a strange forest, searching for him. There were red thorns on the trees and moss covered the ground beneath her feet. When she found him, it had felt like coming home. Like seeing an old friend again for the first time in centuries.
He’d said his name was Tobias. He’d put a purple stone in her hand and told her there were five.
“Five what?” she’d asked.
But her mother had started coughing and Parrish had been ripped from the dream with a weird feeling of loss.
“Come on,” Crash said. “Be ready.”
They each pulled their weapons from their packs and waited as the doors opened. A small hive of rotters waited in the hall. As soon as the elevator doors opened and Crash’s light landed on them, they turned, their mouths open. Their hands reaching.
The group went to work, slicing and hitting, killing each of the zombies one-by-one until finally, the hallway was empty. Out of breath, Parrish wiped the blood off her sword.
An uneasy feeling gripped her chest. Something felt off to her. Wrong.
