Changeling: Zombie Dawn

by Steve Feasey

  ‘We’ll go on patrol now and make sure you’re not disturbed by anyone else.’ The demon nodded at its boss.

  ‘You’re not to hurt anyone, do you understand?’

  ‘Of course,’ the demon said. ‘Good luck,’ it added before rejoining its partner.

  Lucien nodded his appreciation to Hag. The team moved forward again until they were no more than a few metres from the Shield wall. Immediately before them was a vertical shimmering force that rose up to about the height of a bus before it began to curve away. The ‘wall’ stretched from one side of the street to the other, passing straight through buildings and continuing on the other side.

  ‘Why’s it so foggy in there?’ Tom asked.

  ‘It isn’t,’ Hag answered. ‘The Shield just gives that impression. If you think what it was used for, it made sense to have the movements of troops within the cordon kept hidden from those on the outside. In there,’ she said, pointing, ‘the sky will be dark and purple and clear – a little piece of the Netherworld brought right here to Earth.’

  ‘How big is it?’

  ‘Big enough,’ the sorceress said. ‘I shudder to think how many people are trapped in there, or what might have happened to some of them already.’

  There was a pause during which nobody said anything.

  ‘Exactly how long is it since Leroth was first transported here?’ Lucien asked.

  ‘An hour and four minutes,’ Tom said with a glance at his watch.

  The vampire turned to look at Hag. ‘How long does it take for a zombie’s victim to reanimate? How long until those that have died in there come back to life?’

  ‘That depends on the nature, and the outcome, of the attack. If the zombie has killed the person with a bite, the infection will quickly pass through the victim’s body. In those cases the reanimation could take place in as little as an hour, maybe less. If the victim survives the attack, he or she is still infected, but it will take longer.’

  Lucien frowned. ‘So those killed in the first wave could reanimate at any time.’

  ‘Great!’ Tom said, swearing under his breath. ‘We have no idea how many zombies Caliban brought with him in the first place and now they’re about to multiply by … well, we don’t know how much!’ He shook his head and pointed at the dome-like barrier. ‘We could be facing anything from one to a thousand creatures when we go in there, Lucien.’

  Tom looked down at the machete-like weapon in his hand. They’d all been issued with one, and he hoped it was going to be enough to stop whatever they encountered when they got on the other side of that wall. They were no ordinary blades: they were forged in the Netherworld from a special ore found only there and they were almost impossible to blunt. Even so, the Irishman wished that he were taking something a bit more military in with him – an Uzi or a Glock maybe. Even better, an M4 carbine with a tasty little 40mm grenade-launcher underneath – that’d suit him down to the ground. But guns, just like electrical equipment, simply failed to work in the Netherworld. No, this was going to be hand-to-hand combat, with all the gruesome horrors that entailed. He hefted the heavy blade in his hand and puffed out his cheeks. ‘Well, I suppose we’d better get inside and see exactly what we’re up against.’

  Lucien turned to Hag. ‘Can you breach the Shield?’ He was almost afraid to ask – their whole plan relied on the witch being able to do so, but it was no small task and not guaranteed by any means, however powerful she was.

  Hag turned from her contemplation of the Netherworld-filled dome. ‘I can,’ she said simply.

  Lucien inclined his head gratefully. ‘And how long for?’

  ‘It won’t be easy. That Shield was the tower’s greatest defence during the Demon Wars. It’s big, bad magic and Helde’s done a good job of getting it working again. But old Hag’s got a few tricks up her sleeve. I’ll get it opened long enough to let you and your team through, and back even – don’t worry about that.’

  ‘Could you hold a large section open longer than that?’

  The old woman frowned.

  Lucien gestured with his head in the direction of the shadowy figures on the other side of the Shield section closest to them. ‘I want to get as many of those people out of there as we can.’

  ‘What about zombies breaking out too?’

  He shook his head. ‘If there were any undead that close to those humans they’d have run by now. Besides, if any did get through we could pick them off. I’m afraid we’ll also have to be on the alert for anyone bitten but unchanged as yet … we’ll have to pick them off too …’

  There was a long pause while everyone digested this.

  ‘If I do as you ask,’ Hag said eventually, ‘and things go wrong for you inside, there’d be no possibility of you retreating to regroup. I’ll be too exhausted to create an exit for you. You’d all be stuck in there with a load of murderous zombies unless either you can stop Helde or they move the tower and the Shield elsewhere.’

  ‘That’s what I’m worried about. If I’m right, my brother plans to wreak havoc here then move on and do the same all over the world – we have to stop Helde here and now or it’s all over, so I don’t think we’ll be retreating and regrouping, Hag. Come what may, I think this one is going to play out right to the bitter end.’ He exchanged a heavy look with Tom, who gave a grim smile.

  The old woman nodded. ‘I’ll get as many as I can out, but it’s still going to be a drop in the ocean.’

  ‘Thank you, sorceress.’ Lucien turned to the rest of them. ‘OK, let’s go.’

  22

  ‘Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.’

  Trey mumbled something, shifting his body a little and causing the chains about him to clink and scrape against the concrete floor.

  ‘Trey, wake up.’

  He opened his eyes groggily to see Ella’s face in front of his own. She was so close to him that he could feel her breath on his lips, and he threw himself away from her, his heart pounding. His head was still foggy, and he had the vague recollection of terrible dreams filled with terrifying creatures. There was something else, something about his dad … and Alexa, but it was all too jumbled and muddled up in his head.

  ‘Have you thought about what I said the last time we spoke?’ Ella said, standing up and looming over him.

  Then it did all come back to him. The horror of Ella’s revelation that Lucien and Alexa were dead at the hands of Caliban. Instantly he felt himself begin to unravel from the inside. Tears filled his eyes and snaked their way down his cheeks, and he realized that the sobs he could hear were his own. Alexa was dead. The person whom he cared about most in this world had been killed, and he’d been powerless to help her.

  Because of Ella. Because of this insane person in front of him, the girl he loved was dead. And Lucien. If both Lucien and Alexa were gone, what about Tom? Were all his friends now dead? He groaned in utter despair. Ella. Ella had taken him away from the people he cherished when they’d needed him most.

  ‘Are you listening to me, Trey?’

  Trey’s voice was almost a whisper. ‘When I get out of here, I am going to kill you. Do you understand that?’

  ‘Kill me?’ Ella gave a small laugh. ‘Why would you do that?’

  ‘Because of you, my friends are dead. I’d say that was a pretty good reason, wouldn’t you?’

  She frowned at him for a second as if she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  ‘But that’s set you free, don’t you see? You’re no longer obligated to them. Now we can go forward, reform the Pack and—’

  ‘You really are insane, aren’t you?’ He shook his head and let out a short derisive snort like a bark. When he spoke again his voice had a hard, hateful edge to it. ‘It’s funny, I always thought madness took a bit longer to take hold, but you seem to have gone completely nuts in no time at all.’

  ‘Don’t talk to me like that. Listen—’

  ‘No! You listen to me, you crackpot!’ His voice caught in his throat, his emotions running so high he cou
ld barely think straight. ‘I hate you. Do you understand that? I felt sorry for you for a while back there – for what happened to your parents. What you did. And it’s obviously tipped you over the edge.’ He stopped and took a deep breath, doing his best to control himself. It would not do to Change right now because of a loss of control. If he did that he would become the kind of werewolf Ella had been when she killed her own parents. He needed to be thinking straight if he was to escape and exact his revenge upon her. ‘I am truly sorry about that,’ he continued more quietly. ‘But I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done now.’

  ‘Trey, you’re being—’

  ‘Look at yourself, Ella! You have me chained up like a dog! Doesn’t that strike you as even slightly ironic?’ He was shouting now, his voice echoing about the walls. ‘You want me to join you in starting up a new werewolf pack like the original LG78 that my uncle formed. But what happened to that, Ella? It went to hell! They started to in-fight – they became hunters and killers of humans, and those that tried to stop them were set upon by the rest of the Pack.’ He glared at her. ‘And what happened when your boyfriend, Jurgen, tried to form it all over again, huh? Have you forgotten how you got that ugly great scar on your arm? You are what you are because of him. Because he went crazy. Don’t you get it? You can’t control it. And don’t think for a moment that you can.’

  Ella went to say something, but stopped, her facial expression changing so that she matched his cold, hard stare.

  ‘You controlled it,’ she said.

  ‘I had the amulet.’

  Her blue eyes bored into his. Then she fished the silver chain from her pocket.

  ‘You mean this amulet?’

  Trey swallowed, ignoring the pain in his throat as he did so. The amulet had been his father’s and his grandfather’s before that, and now it was his only means of escape. The power and control it gave him would enable him to free himself and exact revenge on the person responsible for the deaths of Alexa and Lucien and Tom. After that, he didn’t care what happened to him. He eyed it hungrily.

  ‘Look at you,’ she said mockingly. ‘Look at how your eyes lit up when you saw this thing. Did you think it gone forever?’ She held it up so that she could examine it properly, the small silver fist at the end of the chain swinging back and forth in front of her face. ‘You see, I think this little bauble is what has made you into the lone wolf you’ve become. Because of this,’ she tapped the amulet with the tip of her finger, ‘you’ve turned your back on your own kind.’ She looked over at him. ‘It was given to you by the vampire, wasn’t it?’ She inclined her head, waiting for an answer. When none came she carried on. ‘It’s the thing that’s stopping you from realizing that you are a pack animal. Without this, you’d have to join us, Trey. Join us, or live like your uncle did – a pathetic old hermit who locked himself away every full moon and dreamed of the times when he ran with the Pack.’ She nodded to herself, her eyes staring off into the distance.

  In that moment, Trey knew exactly what she was planning to do. He cast his eyes about and saw the heavy hammer on the floor behind her.

  ‘Ella, don’t!’ he shouted as she knelt and reached out for the tool. ‘Please, Ella! You have no idea what you’re doing.’

  She held the hammer up over her shoulder, and Trey closed his eyes, unable to look.

  Alexa pulled gently on the outer door. She froze, hissing slightly through her teeth as the hinges made a low, rusty groan. But when no shouts or running feet came, she slipped through the gap and let the door shut behind her. She stayed quite still, allowing her senses to take in everything around her. She could hear muffled voices off to her left. She crept forward, rounding the large counter, and approached the door that separated the reception area from what she guessed must be the garage workshop on the other side. There was another door to contend with, and she wondered if it would be as noisy as the outer one had been. The voices on the other side suddenly became louder. She heard Trey shout out in anger, only to be answered by an equally loud female voice.

  Without another moment’s hesitation, Alexa yanked the door open and stepped through.

  She looked across the workshop to see Trey chained up in the centre of the room between two hydraulic car lifts. Blondie was kneeling in front of him, her back to Alexa. She had a hammer held high over her head. A shock of terror went through the sorceress as she realized she’d walked in on some bizarre ritual in which Trey was about to be bludgeoned to death. She summoned the first spell that came to mind – a bolt attack.

  ‘If you swing that hammer, it’ll be the last thing you ever do,Blondie.’

  Trey’s eyes snapped open and he looked for the source of the voice, hardly daring to believe his ears. Alexa stood in the doorway between the outer office and garage. A wave of euphoria tore through him, dispelling in seconds the extreme grief he’d felt only moments before. The steely look on the young sorceress’s face told Trey everything he needed to know – she most certainly wasn’t dead, and she hadn’t come to the garage for an MOT.

  Ella turned her head slowly and looked back over her shoulder at the raven-haired girl.

  ‘What are you doing here? How did you find us?’

  ‘Put the hammer down!’

  The two girls stared at each other intensely.

  ‘And what if I don’t?’ Ella said eventually.

  Alexa’s arm flew out from her side, her hand spread wide. The small silver ball of energy that shot from her palm streaked across the open space and struck Blondie’s wrist, causing her to scream out in pain and drop the heavy metal tool, which fell to the ground with a metallic clang. Ella clutched her burned wrist to her chest and sank forward, hissing in pain.

  ‘Then I’ll make you,’ Alexa said, inwardly congratulating herself on her aim. Not bad under pressure – even Hag would have approved.

  The young sorceress stepped into the room, moving cautiously and scanning the shadows all about her. ‘Are you all right, Trey?’ she said without looking at him.

  He could only stare at her in disbelief, his heart thumping against his chest, unable for the moment to speak. ‘You’re alive,’he finally managed.

  ‘Last time I looked I was, yeah.’ She glanced across at him. He looked awful. ‘How many of them are there?’ she asked, still peering about cautiously.

  ‘She’s on her own.’

  Alexa stopped. She turned to look at Trey properly for the first time. His skin was a sickly pale colour, and he was covered in scratches and small bruises. His wrists and forearms looked particularly bad – deep lesions marked the areas where he’d strained and struggled against the manacles he’d been placed in. She did her best to lighten the mood.

  ‘On her own?’ She shook her head and moved towards him, a rueful smile on her lips. ‘You really are something, you know that, Trey? Allowing yourself to be captured by the first blonde bimbo who bats her eyelashes at you. You’re not safe to be let out on your own.’ She smiled at him. ‘No, I think from now on I’m going to have to keep you in my sights at all times.’

  ‘That suits me just fine,’ Trey answered, returning the grin despite his battered state.

  Alexa shot a glance at Blondie, who was still on her knees, leaning forward over her injured hand. She was about to tell the girl to get up and unlock Trey when she saw her lower her head and slip something over it. Trey noticed the movement too, and his attention switched from Alexa to Ella. He cried out as he saw the silver links among the long blonde hair.

  ‘Alexa, RUN!’he shouted.

  He was too late. Ella rose to her feet, and Trey watched as the clothes she was wearing ripped apart and fell to the floor. Her body was already covered in thick white fur and she’d increased dramatically in both height and breadth. Her head snapped up, the wolf snout causing her face to distort and extend. She howled out in pain as fangs and claws erupted from fingers and mouth. The transformation took seconds, and before Alexa had time to react, the huge werewolf had turned and was glaring at her
through terrifying blue eyes that promised nothing but death.

  The white lycanthrope sprang forward with its head lowered and teeth bared. Alexa reacted by firing another bolt spell at the creature, hitting it in the chest where the fur turned black. The air filled with the acrid stench of burned hair. The lycanthrope howled in pain, but the wound did nothing to stop its relentless charge. It shot out a hand, fingers extended, claws ready to rip the sorceress apart. At the last second Alexa ducked, dropping her upper body forward and rolling beneath the attack. She vaguely heard Trey’s shouts of alarm. She was back on her feet and turning to see where the white nether-creature was, when the air was forced from her lungs in one great ‘Ungff!’ The werewolf’s shoulder hit her squarely in the solar plexus, and she stumbled backwards, her head connecting with the metal platform of the hydraulic ramp behind her and causing a bright starburst of pain to explode behind her eyes.

  She turned her head to see a blur of white fur. Only her ingrained reactions saved her from having her face torn off by the she-werewolf’s claws. She jerked her upper body away at the last second, feeling the air millimetres in front of her nose being cut through by those deadly talons as they narrowly missed her. Her head was painfully reunited with the metal structure of the ramp, and she shot her right foot out behind her to regain her balance, but there was nothing but empty space where the ground should have been. Alexa let out a startled cry and fell down into the pit beneath the metal structure that held the car, her ankle twisting painfully beneath her as she landed. She squinted up through the dark curtains threatening her vision to see the head of the white werewolf appear. There was a murderous look in the creature’s eyes, its lips peeled back to reveal two rows of deadly-looking teeth in what Alexa guessed must be a smile. The black fog swooped in again as consciousness deserted her and left her to her fate. The last thought Alexa had before she passed out was relief that she wouldn’t have to see the look of triumph in the lycanthrope’s eyes when it finally dealt death to her.