by J. Thorn
She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Need to what?” Saw asked.
Dax stood up. “He said it’s hopeless.”
“Why?” Saw asked.
“Because the Masters have joined forces. They’re coming to kill me and anyone with me,” Dax said.
Alex looked up at him. “How are we supposed to fight off all four Masters?”
“Four?” Zoe asked.
Alex filled in the gaps for the two girls who’d been sleeping, telling them about what Papa Midnight had said.
“We’re not abandoning you, Dax,” Zoe said. “But how are we supposed to defeat them all?”
Dax shook his head. “I don’t know. But I know we’re close to the Angel, and we can’t give up now—even if Papa thinks we don’t have a chance. I respect the old man’s opinion, but we’ve come too far. We have to find the Angel.”
“Hell yeah,” Saw said, standing up. “I’m not about to roll over for some bitch.”
Alex and Zoe looked at each other.
“You in?” Dax asked the two girls. “I can’t do this alone. I need all of the Casket Girls.”
They smiled at Dax.
“We’re in,” Alex said.
They’d finished packing the truck and headed back onto the highway in the dark of night. Dax found himself looking back often. He could feel the Masters getting closer. He kept imagining fire torching the sky in their wake, the undead armies marching in pursuit.
Dax’s head continued to ache, but he hadn’t had any more visions. The constant throb in his head intensified as they drove north, though, getting ever closer to finding the being who they’d been told would help defeat the Masters—the mysterious Angel.
He thought of the children, too. They might be dead already. He could quite possibly be leading the Casket Girls to their own graves. But whether the kids were alive or dead, Dax was going to find them. Maybe the Angel could help. Maybe…
“When we get there, wherever ‘there’ is, how do you think we’re going to find this Angel dude?” Zoe asked, breaking the silence. “Assuming he’s a dude and not a dudette.”
“I have a feeling we aren’t going to have to look,” Dax said.
“And do you know what you’re supposed to do when you find him?” Alex asked.
Dax shrugged. “I really don’t know. He—I’m pretty sure Papa hinted to me that the Angel is male—is going to partner with us, or help us. But I honestly have no idea. I do know that we need to find him.”
“Papa Midnight didn’t tell you how?” Alex asked.
“Not specifically, no.”
He winced, a siren blaring in his head.
“You all right?” Zoe asked from the driver’s seat.
“I got him,” Alex said. “Just pay attention to the road.”
Leaning over, Alex put her arm around Dax. He didn’t even feel her embrace. The siren grew louder, and his head felt as if a construction worker was inside, trying to jackhammer his way out.
When he looked up, his eyes fell on a dirt road up ahead.
There, a voice inside of his head said, cutting through the high-pitched buzz.
Dax shrugged Alex off and leaned forward, both hands on the dashboard.
“There!” he said, pointing at the dirt road.
“What?” Alex said.
“Turn there! Turn, damn it!”
Zoe hit the brakes too hard to slow down, tossing Saw around in the truck bed. She jerked the wheel, sending the back end into a tailspin as the tires hit the dirt. Dust kicked up behind them.
“Sorry,” Zoe said, looking in the mirror.
“Fuck you!” Saw said. “Pull over, and you get your ass back here and let me drive!”
“No,” Dax said. “Don’t stop.”
He sat back in his seat. The alarm in his head had subsided—becoming more of an annoyance now than painful.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
“We’re close. Very close. Keep driving.”
They continued down the dirt road, and the signal in Dax’s head would flare up when it wanted him to turn. He saw nothing but a dirt road lined with fallow fields, but Dax trusted the beacon, feeling as though the Angel was guiding him to the place where they needed to be.
He looked down at the floorboard, clutching the sides of his head when the noise in his head disappeared.
“Look!” Alex said. “Dax, look!”
Slowly raising his head, Dax faced forward.
Miles of farmland stretched out to the horizon—offering nothing but dusty, barren fields, except for one thing.
A tree.
41
A single patch of overgrown wheatgrass brushed against Dax’s skin as he approached the tree. He stepped around the grass and looked down at the dirt road beneath his feet. Kneeling down, he ran his hand through it. He picked up some dirt and rocks, closing his hand before letting it run through his fingers and back to the ground. He then raised his head and looked at the tree.
It felt like a dream, but this was real. He’d made it. The tree stood exactly as it had in his dream. Autumn had yet to knock the leaves off the trees, and yet this one stood with bare branches as frail as an old man’s arms. Looking both ways down the dirt road, he saw that the rest of the landscape also resembled the one in his dream. Nothing but flat, empty land for miles. He could tell, even in the dark.
Alex approached, standing beside him.
“It’s just like in my dream,” she said.
“Mine, too,” Dax said.
“Do you think we’ll see Papa Midnight?”
Dax shook his head. “Only if we’re dreaming. And I don’t think that’s the case.”
“What do we do now?”
The buzz flared up again, intensifying in Dax’s head. “The Angel is nearby. I believe the kids are, as well. I can feel it.”
“Then we have to find them. We have to—”
Screams ripped through the night. Not the cries of men, but of beasts. Dax hadn’t heard them in days, but the sound was unmistakable.
Screamers.
“They’re here,” Dax said.
“Come quick,” Alex said. “Back to the truck to arm yourself.”
Dax followed Alex. Zoe and Saw stood at the tailgate. Zoe rifled through a bag while Saw stood in the bed and loaded the crossbow.
“I guess I’ll finally see how good you are with that thing,” Dax said to Saw.
The bolt clicked into place and Saw held the weapon up, ready. “Fuck yeah, you will.”
Zoe found a sheathed dagger in the bag and handed it to Alex. She pulled out a second one, which whistled as she drew it from its sheath.
“Here,” Alex said, offering the weapon to Dax. “Take mine.”
Dax held up his right hand. “Keep it. I’ll be fine.”
Zoe grabbed another bag and tossed it over the side of the truck to where it landed on the ground at Dax’s feet.
“What’s this?” Dax asked.
“Let’s see how you fight, motherfucker,” Saw said.
Dax kneeled next to the bag and opened it. He pulled out a stake chiseled from a dense piece of oak. The tip had been whittled to a sharpened point, and a Celtic cross had been engraved near the handle, the lines of it rounded and worn.
“Where did you get these?"
“I told you,” Alex said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. We came prepared.”
“Catch,” Zoe said.
She tossed a harness down to Dax. Fashioned from black leather, the harness had several compartments built to hold stakes. He put it over his shoulders and tightened the straps. Once he’d secured the harness, he kneeled next to the bag again and loaded up with more oak stakes like the one he’d first pulled from the bag.
When he finished, he closed his eyes and brought a hand to his forehead. He thought of the children, seeing their faces in his mind.
We’re going to save you.
The Screamers bellowed, pulling him from his thoughts. He
grabbed two more stakes out of the bag, one in each hand, and then stood up. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a barn on the horizon, several hundred yards behind an old farmhouse. Their eyes’ glows danced like sparks of flame as the Screamers emerged from behind it—the same barn from his dream. Although Dax couldn’t explain it to the Casket Girls, he knew the kids were inside of that barn, along with the Angel.
But between him and the structure stood a dozen Screamers.
“Stay tight, and hold your ground,” Dax said to the Casket Girls. “Let them come to us.”
Zoe hopped out of the back of the truck and positioned herself next to Dax, sandwiching him between her and Alex.
“And don’t get cocky back there,” Dax said to Saw. “Only fire if you’re sure you have a shot.”
“Don’t you fucking worry about me. I was born for this. I don’t plan on missing.”
I hope you’re right.
The Screamers fanned out in front of the tree, now only twenty yards away.
“Why did they stop?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know,” Dax said.
From the middle of the pack, a female Screamer stepped forward. She had dark brown hair, and had been in her mid-forties before being turned.
“This is your last opportunity to surrender,” the Screamer said to the Casket Girls. “We only want the man. Give him to us, and the three of you can walk away.”
Dax glanced at Zoe and then Alex. They both winked at him. Before either could say a word, though, a raspy, cocky voice came from the bed of the truck.
“Go fuck yourself, you stupid bitch.”
Dax heard a click as a bolt flew from Zoe’s crossbow. It split the air over his head, heading for the Screamer who’d delivered the ultimatum. The bolt was headed straight for her heart when the Screamer stepped out of the way at the last moment. It missed her chest by inches, striking another Screamer standing behind her. The creature shrieked as it hit the ground, landing on its back with the wooden bolt jutting out of its chest. The vampire’s orange eyes faded.
“That’s one down,” Saw said, reloading her crossbow.
The Screamer sneered. “You will regret your decision.” She arched her back and raised her arms, flexing her biceps as she let out a guttural yell.
In response, the other Screamers raced forward at Dax and the Casket Girls.
42
Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and Dax felt his head clear as the creatures came at him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alex rear back her sword. She spun once and brought the blade across one Screamer’s neck, severing its head. Another fell to his right, one of Saw’s bolts sticking out of its chest.
Two Screamers ran at Dax, their arms out as if trying to tackle him. He kicked one of the creatures in the gut and then drove a stake into the heart of the other. He pulled the beast in close as he watched the glow in its eyes fade, and then dropped the body to the ground.
A snarl sounded from behind him, and when Dax turned around, the creature he’d kicked lunged at him. He couldn’t move fast enough, and the Screamer grabbed him by the neck, slamming him into the side of the pickup truck and knocking the stake from his hand. The vampire squeezed harder, and Dax couldn’t inhale. He used his upper body strength to grab the creature’s wrist before flipping him around and pinning his assailant against the door. Dax pushed the Screamer’s head through the passenger side window, shattering the glass. The beast screamed, but didn’t give up.
Dax felt his hold slipping. Raising his leg, he kneed the vampire in the groin. The creature dropped one hand from Dax’s throat, allowing him to grab a stake from his harness.
Using his left hand, he kept the vampire’s head inside the cab, arching its back over the top of the door. He brought the stake down into the Screamer’s chest then, stabbing it in the heart. The beast screamed, its body going limp as the fire in its eyes died.
“Not bad.”
Dax turned and saw the leader of the Screamer horde facing him. He turned to her and drew two stakes from his harness.
“My Master is going to be quite pleased when I deliver you to him.”
Dax gritted his teeth. “Come on, then.”
The Screamer sprang forward. She moved faster than the others, but Dax managed to sidestep her. He spun around, holding the stakes out and pointing them at her chest. She faced him and smiled, and the two combatants began moving in a circle, squaring up.
“You know you cannot win,” the Screamer said. “Why do you always insist on taking others down with you?”
Hoping to catch her by surprise, Dax lunged forward and swung the stake. The vampire moved as Dax followed through with the jab, driving the tip of the stake into the hood of the truck. The Screamer grabbed him by his shirt collar and threw him ten feet into the air. He landed on his back in the dirt and grimaced.
He tried to stand up, but she stepped on his chest, pinning him down.
“Surrender.”
“No,” Dax said.
She slid her boot from his chest to his throat, and Dax gasped.
“This is your last chance,” the Screamer said. “Surrender, or—”
Someone whistled.
She turned, and Dax heard a hissing sound.
Blood splattered onto Dax’s face as one of the bolts from Saw’s crossbow impaled the woman’s forehead, blowing out the opposite side of her skull.
Alex ran over and swung her sword then, severing the Screamer’s head. It dropped to the ground, rolling to a stop at Dax’s shoulder. He stared into the creature’s eyes as the light faded and her body fully collapsed into the dirt next to the truck.
When he looked up, he saw that all of the vampires had been destroyed. Alex stood above him, blood dripping from her blade. Zoe was nearby, her sword also stained—blood splatter on both of their faces.
Saw marched over to the lead Screamer’s head.
“Fucking cunt.” She placed her boot on the vampire’s cheek, bent down, and pulled the bolt out. It made a wet, sloshing sound as the shaft slid out of her brain.
Dax looked up at her. “Nice.”
“Told you I wouldn’t miss.”
She offered Dax her hand and pulled him to his feet.
“Thanks,” Dax said.
“For helping you up, or for saving your ass?”
Dax smiled. “For saving my ass.”
She grinned and loaded the bloody bolt back into her crossbow.
“What now?” Zoe asked.
“We have to get to the barn,” Dax said. “We have to see if the—”
A slow clap came from the direction of the tree, interrupting Dax. A figure stood in the shadows. Dax couldn’t see the Screamer, but its glowing eyes were unmistakable.
“Hello, Dax.”
Dax gritted his teeth as he heard the familiar voice. “You son of a bitch. Show your face.”
The Screamer stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight.
Isaac.
“You’ve come a long way, my friend,” Isaac said. “Your skills have matured.”
“I’m not your fucking friend,” Dax said.
“He’s Isaac, isn’t he?” Alex asked.
Dax looked at her and nodded. “Yes. And he killed the strongest woman I ever met.”
“Not that strong,” Isaac said, grinning. He moved closer, examining the bodies on the ground. “You put down a number of my soldiers. I’m gonna hold you accountable for that.”
“Hold this,” Saw said. She’d moved up beside Dax, aiming the crossbow at Isaac’s chest.
Isaac shook his head. “Believe me, darling. You don’t want to waste that bolt.”
“No one fucking calls me—”
Isaac waved his hand in the air and the crossbow flew from Saw’s grasp. He then held his hand out and closed his fist.
Saw grabbed her throat.
Isaac raised his arm, and when he did, Saw’s feet lifted off the ground.
“Stop this!” Dax said, barking at I
saac. “It’s me you want. Let her go.”
“Right,” Isaac said. “That is true.”
He waved his hand again and Saw screamed. She flew backward, slamming into the side of the truck. Her body went limp as she crumpled to the ground.
“Morgan!” Zoe said, her friend’s real name slipping out as she ran to help. Alex remained at Dax’s side, both hands on the hilt of her dagger.
Dax grabbed two more stakes from his harness.
“Don’t worry. She’s still alive,” Isaac said. “For now.”
“Is she breathing?” Alex asked.
Zoe placed her hand on Saw’s chest. “Yes. But barely.”
Isaac wiggled his pointer finger at Zoe, scolding her like a disobedient school girl.
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” Dax said. “You and me.”
“Oh, believe me. I wish we could finish this right now. Unfortunately, that is not what Master Ambrose wants.”
“I don’t give a shit what he wants,” Dax said, approaching Isaac. “I’m going to kill you right now. Once and for all.”
“I don’t think you will.” Isaac made several hand gestures toward the barn. Screamers walked down the dirt road toward the truck. As they came closer, Dax realized they weren’t alone.
“Jesus,” he mumbled.
Each Screamer led a different child.
Monica.
Darius.
And Gabby’s kids—Anthony, Kim, Kanesha.
Another familiar face appeared at the rear of the pack, escorting Darius. The shorter Screamer’s eyes flared as they met Dax’s.
Kevin.
Dax spat, disgusted by his own memory of his allowing Serafino to turn the boy in the Riverwalk Mall. He fought back the tears as he saw him now, thoughtless and holding Darius captive.
You failed him, Dax. Isaac spoke from inside of his mind.
“What do you want?” Dax asked.
“For you to kneel before me and surrender.”
Dax bit his lip. He stood tall still, his chest out and his chin up.
I suggest you do not refuse. Isaac was inside of Dax’s head again. I’d hate to have to do this in front you, and the other children.
Isaac raised a finger, and the Screamer holding Kanesha came forward. The other kids began to cry as the Screamer dragged the pre-teen girl to the dirt road where she stood before Isaac and Dax.
