Grabbing the hedge clippers, he cut a piece of hose to make a siphon, then drained the riding mower and poured the gas into the scooter.
As soon as it was gassed up, he grabbed the keys off the wall hanger, the helmet that was covered in cobwebs, and pushed the scooter away from the house. His heart pounded with every step he made. Any minute he expected to be caught.
But luckily, no one saw him. The police were too busy dusting for prints, talking to people, and standing around chatting to notice a kid rolling a bright red scooter across his backyard.
Actually, that was a scary thought. How oblivious could the trained experts be? If he didn't need them to be inattentive, it would horrify him. And later, when he looked back on this, he would be horrified. But right now, he kept his thoughts focused on his mom and brother.
With a relieved breath as soon as he was a block away, he got on the scooter and started it. It roared to life and shot down the street at a speed a rusted-out tanker would envy, but at least it was faster than walking.
And it would get him to the cemetery in time.
"I'm coming, Mom." He wasn't about to let anything happen to her, or even his brother. Ian might make him insane, but Madaug was the older brother and it was his job to protect Ian.
Even from brain-eating zombies.
Nick paused as a tingle went down his spine, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. There was something ...
He saw an image in his mind of Madaug, looking really goofy with a red Power Rangers helmet on his head while riding a red scooter, sneaking awayfrom the house. He didn't know where it came from, but it was there as crystal clear as Bubba who was standing next to him.
"I think Madaug's doing something stupid."
Bubba scoffed. "And that would be different from normal, how?"
"Police! Stop!"
Nick looked over to where two officers had their guns drawn. His jaw went slack as he saw what they were focused on.
It wasn't Madaug. It was more zombies. Nick cursed.
The police didn't fire until the first zombie reached a cop and sank its rotted teeth into the officer's head.
Nick couldn't breathe as he saw more of them coming. "Oh my God ..."
It was an army of the undead and they were moving straight at them like a pack of ugly hyenas. Why didn't they stumble like in a Romero flick?
No, they had to be attacked by super zombies. Leave it to me.
"There goes the neighborhood," Caleb said. Nick shoved at him.
"Mark!" Bubba started for the house, but it was too late. More zombies were coming in from the back and they'd already gone inside where the others were. The house was now completely occupied by their enemies while civilians ran screaming only to get overtaken by the zombies.
Nick grabbed Bubba's arm to stop him from going in after Mark. "We have to go."
Bubba's features turned to stone. "Don't worry. I've seen that movie too. You go in to help your friend and they eat you instead. Mark's smart. He can escape. I believe that."
Simi got out of the SUV. "The Simi will go gets him. You get to safety and I'll take care of them old nasty zombies." She pulled a bottle of barbecue sauce out of her coffin-shaped purse.
Nick wasn't sure about that either. "Simi—"
But she was already halfway across the yard, sauce in hand and whooping with eager delight.
Bubba shoved Nick into the car by his face.
"Arm! Watch the arm!" Nick shouted as Bubba's grip sent pain all the way through him.
Caleb climbed in beside him as Bubba got in, turned the truck on, and slung it sideways into the street. He didn't even slow down as he plowed through as many zombies as he could hit.
They growled and hissed as they tried to grab and hold on to the truck to get to them. But Bubba's swerving sent them flying.
Nick cringed as one took a header into a tree and splotted like a multicolored bug on a windshield. "I'm so glad my mom's not awake for this. She'd skin all of us."
"Dang," Caleb breathed as he crawled over the seat into the front. "How many zombies are there?"
Bubba swerved to hit another one—at least Nick hoped that one was a zombie and not some poor innocent pedestrian. "You gotta figure there's three hundred years of dead in New Orleans. While Mark and me have taken out a few dozen over the years ... that makes for a lot of zombies."
Nick scowled. "But how could one bokor raise that many? Doesn't it suck juice out of them or something?"
Bubba shook his head. "Yes, and blood, unless they've made a pact with someone a lot more powerful."
"Someone like a god?" Caleb asked.
Bubba nodded at Caleb. "Yeah. Someone like a god."
Nick hissed as a pain shot through his skull. It was so intense it made his nose start to bleed.
Bubba snatched his head around. "You okay?"
Nick had no idea as he pinched his nose closed. "I feel sick. Real sick."
"You throw up in that backseat, boy, and I'll make you lick it up. I swear it. I'm still making payments on this thing and it's hard to get the smell of vomit out of the upholstery."
But it wasn't that kind of sick. Nick's head was spinning with images he couldn't understand. He saw fire and felt an unbelievable anger swelling.
It was his, yet not his.
Bubba looked over at Caleb. "He ain't turning into a zombie, is he?" "No," Caleb said, scowling. "But he is turning kind of green.
You got a bag or something in case he hurls?"
Nick ignored them. "We have to drop off my mom and find Madaug."
"What?" they asked simultaneously.
Nick caught Bubba's gaze in the rearview mirror as Bubba looked back at him. "Something bad's about to happen."
"Boy, in case it has slipped your oh so astute attention, something bad has been happening all day."
Caleb turned around in the seat. "Maybe we should go on then and find Madaug first."
"No." Nick looked at his mom, who was already going to be hotter than a nest of hornets flung against a house. "We take care of my mom first—she's my number one priority. I have to make sure she's safe."
"And then what?" Caleb asked.
"Then we break major zombie aaa ... sss."
CHAPTER 16
Nick had his head against the glass, watching the road pass by as he struggled to keep from being ill. What was wrong with him?
"You're fighting me. Stop and you won't be sick."
He looked around the car to see if anyone else heard the voice in his head. His mom was still unconscious. Bubba was listening to the radio while Caleb sang along to Iron Man under his breath.
And as Nick looked at Caleb, he saw his friend's form change before his eyes. It was like he could see under Caleb's skin and that Caleb was no longer human. He was ...
"A daeva. A midlevel class of demon. Not innately evil. They were soldiers of an older time and place. Protectors or messengers for the ancient gods. In the case of Caleb, he was a feared general who is still capable of summoning and commanding legions of demons.
"FYI, Nick, not all demons are bad. Like people, they're complicated life forms with varying personalities and quirks. Filled with complex emotions, some are malevolent and some are good. In the case of Caleb, he's your protector. He would die to keep you safe.
"So before you judge him about being born a species he couldn't help any more than you could help yours, you should know that he's stayed in the background as a silent bodyguard who didn't step forward until he was needed to keep you safe.
"Really, do you think he's enjoyed being in high school with you and the others when he didn't have to be?"
Nick saw an image of Caleb with wings, his flaming orange hair long as he stood at the helm of a thousand demons, leading them to battle. His skin dark red, he had yellow eyes like a serpent's and he fought with the strength of a titan.
Nick shook his head. I'm going crazy.
"No, you're becoming aware of who and what you are. Of ever
ything around you that has always remained hidden—just as I promised you you would."
Who are you? Nick asked silently.
"Ambrose ... and I'm also here to protect you. Listen to me, Nick, and I'll teach you everything you need to fight the creatures who are going to come for you. The ones who'll ruin your life if you continue to live without the ability to see them and fight back."
Nick scowled. / dont understand. Whydidyourun from me at Madaug's?
"I wasn't running from you. I was trying to save your friend before the mortents hurt him. But like you, he didn't listen to me."
Yeah, right. Why dont I believe this?
"It's true, Nick. Remember the little girl in the alley? The one who attacked you?"
Duh. Not like I could forget that Wes Cravenesque encounter anytime soon.
Then again, they'd done something to him that he had forgotten it. But now he remembered every single detail.
WTH?
"I told you they were called mortents. They crawled out of their hole, and this time, they claimed your friend Madaug and his family. They want to use his video game to control the living—because the living still possess their souls and their free will, living zombies are immune to our silkspeech and powers of manipulation. We can't control them like we can the dead. If the mortents can get the game from Madaug, they can use it to control you in particular, and they can build an army out of the living to attack the world."
Why me? I dont understand why this is happening and why theyd give two spits about controlling me. I cant even walk across the floor wthout getting grounded.
"Nick, you are key to some of the rawest, most potent powers ever created. The battles for your possession will scar you in ways you won't know until it's too late. If you listen to me, I can save you."
I'm key? Dude, you seriously have me mistaken for someone else.
"No, I don't. I, better than anyone else, know exactly how powerful you are and what you can do. And deep inside, you feel those powers too. You've spent your whole life denying them. Saying it was Menyara or a sixth sense. It's not a buried sense. It's your birthright and you have got to embrace it or you will lose everything that matters to you."
And if I dont believe this crap?
Images of a dark, frightening hole flashed in his mind. He saw himself in the future looking a lot like Ambrose. Alone. Bereft.
Tortured.
Most of all, he was inhuman and cruel. "If they can turn you evil, they will be rewarded and you will be ruined. And everyone you love will pay the price. "Everyone."
Nick shook his head in an effort to dispel the horrific images. Terror choked him as he feared becoming the monster his father was. Of becoming the creature he'd just seen. / dont want to be evil.
"You can't just say it and make it so. It's not that easy."
Of course it is. My mom tells me all the time that we decide between good and evil. What we are is completely up to us.
"And things drive us to make decisions that are beyond our control. Just like your mother. You know how much she hates dancing and yet there she is every night, right on time, often working double shifts to bring in more money. For you. And you haven't been betrayed yet, Nick. You don't know what that's like. What it does to you. The scars it leaves that never fade."
Not true. Alan, Mike, and Tyree had all betrayed me. "And you want their blood for it." / want to bathe in it.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about. That's the evil that's seducing you. The malevolent power that is crawling through your blood tempting you onto a treacherous path that will cost you everything you love and hold dear. You have to let that anger go before it's too late. Vengeance always turns inward and it will consume you until nothing's left but an empty hole that nothing can fill."
Nick bristled as he saw that night again—the glee in Alan's eyes as he pulled the trigger. They shot me!
"And they will pay, but not by your hand. Trust me. Karma has her own plans for them and what she has in store is more painful than you could ever dream."
/ dont know about that. I have one great imagination. And letting it go is much easier said than done.
Ambrose laughed in his ear. "Believe me, I know."
All of a sudden, Nick saw Ambrose in the car beside him.
Translucent, he manifested on the other side of his mother, leaning against the car door as if he really was another passenger.
His dark eyes filled with absolute misery, Ambrose reached out and touched Nick's mother's cheek. There was so much anguish on his face and tenderness in his touch that it made Nick's stomach clench. Ambrose touched her as if she were a ghost who'd haunted him for centuries.
Most of all, he touched her as if she were unspeakably precious. Someone Ambrose had never thought to see again. Even Ambrose's lip quivered while he brushed his hand through her hair.
You love her, Nick sent his thoughts to Ambrose.
Ambrose nodded, then met his gaze so that Nick could see the sincerity burning in his eyes. "I would do anything to keep her safe. Anything to keep you on the right path."
And it was then Nick knew he could trust him. There was no way to fake that depth of emotion. He meant every word he said. Even though it kind of grossed him out that his father's brother loved his mom he believed Ambrose was trying to help them.
The look on Ambrose's face seared him. "Will you trust me, little brother?"
/ guess. But only as long as you don t betray me.
Ambrose gave a cocky grin. "I'm the last person who would ever do that, Nick. I would sell my soul and give my life to keep you from becoming what I am."
Nick nodded. Then tell me what I need to know
"You're going to have to learn to take control of the zombies.
Nick laughed out loud, which caused Caleb to jump in startled alarm and glare at him. "Sorry," Nick said out loud. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Caleb snorted before he relaxed. "It takes more than you to scare me. Must be amusing in that head of yours, Gautier. But remember the rest of us aren't in there with you."
Yeah, only Ambrose seemed to have that power.
Nick returned his attention to Ambrose. Car lights shone through his body, making it shimmer in the darkness. Can Caleb not sense you?
"Only if I allow it."
And obviously, he wasn't allowing anyone but Nick to see and hear him right now.
What are you? he asked Ambrose.
"We"—he indicated the two of them—"are the last of a cursed race. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it's our prime nature to hurt others. When they're weak and hurting, we swoop in for the kill. But I'm hoping you have enough of your mother in you that you'll learn to curb those impulses and learn to let the things go that I never could."
Nick hoped so too. / dont want to be anything like Adarian.
That eerie red tint returned to Ambrose's eyes—not that Nick needed a reminder that the creature next to him wasn't human. "Neither did he and he's not quite the jerk you think he is. In time, you'll understand him better than you'll want to. And together, if we're lucky, we'll keep you from following in his footsteps. In the meantime, I have to teach you everything I know as quickly as I can."
What's the rush?
Orange flickered in his red eyes, like dancing flames. "My time's running out and soon I won't..." His voice trailed off. You wont what?
"I won't care anymore. About anyone or anything ... not even you." Ambrose took Nick's hand and manifested an ornate gold dagger in his palm. The pommel held an elaborate pattern that looked like a circle of ancient birds spiraling out. And on the cross hilt was a bloodred ruby that seemed to be radiating warmth. Nick frowned at it. What's this?
"The seal of the Malachai. With that dagger, there's nothing you can't kill. Gods, demons, zombies ... you name it or, more to the point, stab it and they'll all fall to you."
Why are you giving this to me?
"In part so that it won't tempt me, and so that you can cut through the zom
bies who'll come for you tonight." He took Nick's hand and laid his palm over the center of the dagger. "Close your eyes and imagine it the size of a pocket knife."
Do wiat?
"Trust me, Nick."
Nick did as he said and the moment he had the image in his mind, the dagger shrank. Gasping, he opened his eyes to see it no longer than his index finger.
Ambrose handed him the sheath for it, which was a matching size. "You can carry it with you anywhere you go. To make it bigger, just imagine the size you want it. It can be a sword, a dagger, or a knife."
Are you serious?
He nodded. "It'll even go through airport security. No creature or machine will ever detect it." Howis that possible?
That familiar sadness returned to Ambrose's face. "I'm going to show you things you never thought possible. Show you a world you never dreamed existed. And for that I'm sorry. But it has to be done and better I show it to you than you learn it the way I had to."
It was obvious from his words and demeanor that he was a summa cum laude graduate from the school of massive groin kicks. And as Nick watched him stare at his dozing mother, he couldn't help wondering one thing. Howold are you?
Ambrose sighed before he answered. "I've lived hundreds of years."
Nick gaped in awe. Ambrose didn't look a day over twenty-four. Was it really possible to live that long?
Then again, Ash had. And with that thought came another one that he was dying to know, even though in his gut he already had a good idea of what the answer was.
What about my dad? Howold is he? 'Cause right now, Nick was going to bet he wasn't the midthirties he appeared to be, either.
Ambrose took his mother's hand into his and held it to his heart. "Much, much older than I am."
He'd suspected it, but the truth hit him like a cheap gut shot. He tried to imagine what it would be like to live through centuries. It had to be a lot of fun.
And extremely lonely.
Will I live that long?
"With luck, and I hope you live those years much happier than I have." Meaning?
"Meaning, I need you to focus. If you want to save Madaug, you need to listen to me or the mortents will eat both of you Pop-Tarts for breakfast."
Infinity: Chronicles of Nick Page 20
