by Steve Feasey
These people have seen things that will haunt them forever, Trey thought. He turned and looked at the girl by his side. Let’s try and find your father and help put an end to this madness. He sniffed the air, and the synaesthesia he experienced in his lycanthrope form transformed the smells and scents around him into vivid pictures inside his head – a pictorial landscape of olfactory information. Lucien’s scent was like a silvery-black fog, whilst Tom’s was more solid in appearance and had a distinct golden colour. His mind’s eye painted these colours and shapes on to the landscape around him so that he could clearly make out the path the two of them had taken up the street.
Their scents are still very fresh.
She nodded, and the two of them set off after the others.
31
The carnage around the dark tower was, as Lucien had said it would be, much worse than anything that he and those with him had come across on the way there. During the short journey from the Shield’s perimeter they’d had to fight off several frenzied attacks from already reawakened dead and even as they did so, more of the creatures were reanimating all around them. They passed two or three streets and walkways that spurred off the main road and led up to the football ground itself, and these were full of zombies all heading in the direction of the colossal sporting arena that loomed over the houses and shops around it. Luckily, the people inside the stadium had managed to close the doors and barriers that provided entry to the ground, but the revenants seemed to sense that the place was teeming with human life, and were drawn to it like iron filings to a magnet. Lucien glanced up one of these walkways and could see thirty or forty zombies converging on a glass-fronted entrance hammering unrelentingly at the smoked glass panels. Lucien knew that the draw of the stadium to the undead creatures was working in his group’s favour, and that their progress would be much harder and slower if all these zombies were roving the street they were making their way along.
But there were still zombies roaming around and in many ways these were the most dangerous. They would skulk in shop doorways or behind parked cars that lined the roads, and it was Tom’s job, situated between the vampire and the Maug demon, to draw them out. He sang an old Irish folk tune in a loud voice as they walked, the sound of the human voice luring the stragglers towards them so that they might be put to rest by the swinging blades.
‘I don’t think they like your singing, Tom!’ Lucien commented at one point when a trio of zombies had come running up the road towards them. The zombies moved quickly, but in an erratic and jerky manner, as if the signals from their brains were being sent in short, broken bursts. When the undead creatures were almost upon them Lucien and the Maug sprang into action, the vampire catching one of the attackers by the throat and holding it at arm’s length while he dispatched another. Then he shoved the first zombie off, releasing his grip on its neck, and swung the blade again to intercept the creature as it renewed its snarling, gibbering attack. The revenant’s head joined those of the other two on the road at the group’s feet.
Tom was about to make a smart remark about Lucien’s own vocal skills – it was often joked about back in the apartment that the vampire had the worst singing voice any of them had ever heard – when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He turned in time to see the body of a man they’d just passed reanimate, the zombie jumping to its feet and rushing at him, both arms outstretched before it. The Irishman pivoted on his foot, bringing his machete up in a vicious upward arc that sent one of the creature’s forearms spiralling off into the air before hitting the ground with a dull thump. The creature didn’t falter for a second; it was as if the force of the blow and the subsequent loss of a limb was of no consequence to the revenant. With its one good arm still outstretched, it raked the Irishman’s face with hooked fingers until Tom brought the machete down from its elevated position, burying the blade deep in the zombie’s head, cleaving it almost in two. Gore spattered up into Tom’s face, and he wiped it away with his sleeve as the creature sank to its knees, dead for the second time that day.
Lucien heard the commotion, and turned to look at his friend just as the zombie fell to the floor. ‘Are you all right, Tom?’
‘Everything’s dandy. Just had to fight a little rearguard action is all. It’s about time I had something to do – I’m running out of songs to sing.’
The two friends grinned shakily at each other, but as they did so Tom spotted something over Lucien’s shoulder that caused a bolt of pure terror to tear through every cell in his body. The vampire, noting the sudden change in the Irishman’s facial expression, turned to look in the same direction. But beyond the carnage that was all about them he could see nothing that might have caused such a reaction.
‘Tom?’ Lucien said.
‘He’s here. He’s out here on the street.’
Lucien turned to look again. ‘Who?’
‘Your brother. Caliban. I just saw him go into a shop door up there.’ Tom nodded in the direction he was still staring.
Another zombie – Tom guessed it had been a woman, but it was difficult to tell with the state of the thing – clambered out of the back of a VW Beetle car and came charging at the group, shrieking loudly and attacking them from the front with mindless abandon. The vampire almost distractedly swung his heavy blade to behead it.
‘Did he see us?’ Lucien asked, referring to his brother.
‘I don’t think so,’ the Irishman said with a shake of his head. ‘He had his back to us. He seemed in a hurry … agitated.’
Lucien nodded. ‘He’s hunting. Witnessing all this bloodshed has ignited his hunger. He never was able to control his lusts.’ As he said this there was the sound of a human voice calling out to them, and the group spun about. The look of fury on the vampire’s face as he spotted his daughter running towards him was terrifying to behold. Trey, in his lycanthrope form, was loping alongside her, his eyes scanning in all directions on the lookout for any sign of danger.
She stopped in front of them, breathing deeply through her mouth.
‘What are you doing here?’ Lucien snapped.
‘We’ve come to help.’
‘Did I, or did I not, specifically tell you not to come here?’
‘Yes, but I never agreed I wouldn’t.’ She gestured with her head at the huge lycanthrope by her side. ‘Anyway, we’re here now.’
The vampire looked from his daughter to his ward. ‘Hello, Trey. I would say it was good to see you, but that hardly seems appropriate given the circumstances.’
‘He’d been captured … kidnapped.’ There was an accusatory tone to Alexa’s voice that was clear for them all to hear.
The vampire considered this for a moment, then looked back up at the werewolf. ‘It is good to see you. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.’
Trey shook his massive head, and when he broadcast his thoughts it was to the vampire alone. There’s no need to apologize, Lucien. Thank you for sending Alexa out to try and find me. It was my fault that we came. I persuaded her to bring me. I have to be here, you know that. He looked about him at the chaos. This is the beginning of the end that the legend spoke of. The legend about me.
The vampire’s gaze fell to Trey’s broad chest.
‘Where is the amulet?’ he asked.
Around the neck of a friend of mine. She’s dead, buried beneath the rusting wreck of a car. He stared intently at the vampire. / don’t need it any more.
Lucien smiled gravely at the teenage wolf. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but stopped, turning instead to glare once more at his daughter, who smiled sweetly back at him. ‘If and when we get out of this, you are grounded for a month!’
‘But—’
‘Look,’ said Tom in a loud voice. ‘Right now we’re in the middle of a zombie swarm, the devastation of which has drawn our sworn enemy out of that tower and into one of those buildings up ahead. Would it be too much to ask you two to shelve this little altercation and concentrate on how we put an end to this nightmare?�
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Lucien sighed. He glared at his daughter one last time before turning his head to look in the direction Tom had just indicated. ‘We’ll have to split up. One group must go into the tower to try to find and neutralize Helde, while the other group goes after Caliban. I was hoping that they would stay together in there,’ he said, nodding at the black citadel, ‘but it looks as if they’ve separated.’ He frowned, and turned to Alexa. ‘I’m assuming the effort to maintain all of this,’ he looked up at the dark purple sky overhead, ‘requires an immense amount of concentration.’
Alexa knew what her father was thinking.
‘She’ll have to enter a deep, trance-like state. She’ll be vulnerable. I’m guessing she was counting on Caliban to look out for her.’
He nodded to himself, working everything out in his head. He looked at his daughter again as something occurred to him. ‘Have you encountered any undead on your way here?’
‘Just one, but Trey quickly dealt with it.’
‘Did it attack you?’
‘It seemed unsure. It didn’t come at me like the ones we saw you dealing with just now.’
Her father nodded. ‘It’s as I thought – you’re only half human, so the zombies’ reaction to you is not the same as it is for Tom. Nevertheless, I don’t want you out here in the open. I want you, Trey and Tom to go into the tower to find Helde. Kill her. Bring this Shield down and stop this infection spreading further. I will go after my brother then come to help you.’
I’ll go with you.
‘No you will not, Trey.’ He held a hand up to stop the teenager. ‘You and Alexa make a powerful team. You’ll need to look out for each other in Leroth.’
‘You’re not going after him alone!’ Alexa said, staring in horror at her father.
‘I have the Maug here to help me.’ The demon shifted from foot to foot as if embarrassed by the vampire’s reference to it.
Wait a minute, Trey transferred his thoughts directly into the heads of Lucien, Tom and Alexa at the same time but his eyes were fixed on the Irishman. The infection is spread from a bite or zombie blood entering the human bloodstream, like through a wound. Is that right …? The others turned their heads, following Trey’s horrified gaze.
‘What?’ Tom asked in a strange voice, his hand reaching up, fingers tracing the cuts on his cheek that the zombie had made just before he’d dispatched it. He didn’t need to ask them if the gore which had spattered him as he lopped the creature’s head off had got into the wounds – he could see it by the look on their faces. ‘Ah shit …’ he said.
We need to get moving. We need to eliminate Helde before the infection takes hold of Tom.
Lucien placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘You’re not going to turn into one of them.’
‘Oh, I know I won’t. I’ll use this on myself before I let that happen.’ He lifted the machete in the air with one hand.
Lucien stepped forward and hugged his daughter, looking up at Trey, who was standing behind her. ‘Take good care of her,’ he said to the lycanthrope, who nodded back at him. He watched them turn and walk off in the direction of the tower. Once they’d gone some distance he addressed the huge Maug demon standing by his side.
‘I want you to go back to the football ground where we saw that huge gathering of undead and dispatch as many of them as you possibly can.’
‘But you just told Alexa—’
‘We can’t have that many zombies roaming about the place if we’re successful in pulling this Shield down. You’ll be able to eradicate most if not all of them without too much trouble.’
‘But—’
‘I will be fine. Now go.’
The vampire watched as the demon shuffled away. Turning, he directed his attention to the shop his brother had entered. He had the element of surprise, for now at least. He nodded to himself, and walked off up the road towards the stop.
32
Trey, Alexa and Tom paused for a moment, peering into the darkness that was the opening into the solid rock that formed the outer defences of Leroth. Trey had been inside these passages before, but on that occasion the entrance had been created by Gwendolin, in a different location to this one. There was no natural opening to the tower; entry and exit could only be gained if a portal was opened from the inside.
Although nothing was said, Trey was aware that the other two were looking to him for guidance. There’s a series of tunnels inside. The last time I was here Charles had a map, but we’ll just have to see how we get on. He paused before reluctantly adding, I’ll lead the way.
The werewolf stepped into the darkness and immediately reeled as the stench hit him.
Trey didn’t need his acute olfactory sense to tell him that this was where the zombies had been waiting: the bloated, rotting stink of them filled the air, so strong it made him gag. When he’d recovered he looked behind him and beckoned for the others to join him. Reluctantly he latched on to that fetid smell – to Trey it appeared as a greenish-brown miasma that disappeared off up the passage to his right.
‘What in the name of all that’s unholy is that smell?’ Tom said as he stepped in behind Alexa.
Death. We need to go to our right.
‘Can you see anything in here, Trey?’ Alexa asked. ‘I could give us some light if you want.’
/ can see well enough to get us safely through. I don 1 think it’s a good idea to light ourselves up in any way. If anything is lurking ahead in these tunnels it would know we were coming. Just place your hand on my back. Tom can do the same to you and we’ll go in single file.
In this way they slowly made their way forward, Trey following the trail and retracing the path that the zombies had taken through the maze of corridors. Something else had been with them – something that had escorted them here to wait for their release. Trey had no idea who or what this escort may have been, but its scent reminded him of the waft that is thrown up when a large rock or log is suddenly turned over – the smell of damp, mouldering earth and burrowing insects. There was something else to it, something ancient and primeval, and this caused an involuntary shudder to knife its way down the lycanthrope’s spine. They walked on, Trey following the trail until he detected the merest hint of a breeze coming from somewhere up ahead. His first instinct was to hurry towards it and escape the stench which still made his stomach roll and lurch, but he slowed to a halt instead, causing Alexa and then Tom to stumble into the back of him.
‘What is it?’ Alexa hissed.
I think there might be an opening ahead, Trey said, broadcasting to both Alexa and Tom.
‘Good, then let’s go.’
Wait.
Trey allowed himself to remember the last time he’d been in this place, and the terrible things that had happened here. Then, he’d been with the young sorcerer, Charles, and they’d been attacked upon leaving the tunnels and entering the inner bailey on the other side.
There’s a bailey beyond these tunnels that we have to cross to get access to the tower itself. It used to be guarded by small winged demons, but Charles killed them all when we were last here. There are two doors, which can only be opened with sorcery set into the base of the tower, one on either side. I didn’t come in this way before, but I’m guessing it’s directly opposite the exit of these tunnels.
Trey knew that the trouble with using the spell was that his emotions were laid bare to those he was communicating with, and that Alexa and Tom would be all too aware of the paralysing sense of fear he was experiencing right now at the thought of returning to that black tower. Mixed in with the fear were the feelings of guilt and remorse at how his friend had been killed by Caliban and his sorceress Gwendolin, and how Trey had been powerless to help him.
Alexa placed her hand on his back, and he could feel the warmth of it through his fur. ‘It’ll be OK,’ she said.
‘We should get moving,’ Tom said in a low voice.
Trey and Alexa could clearly hear the discomfort in their friend’
s voice.
The Irishman leaned his forehead against the cold tunnel wall, resisting the urge to lift his fingers to his cheek. The side of his face that had been gouged by the zombie was already burning with a heat that made it pulsate with pain, and he could feel the infection spreading down his neck. His joints were beginning to ache, as if he was in the early stages of influenza, and he was shocked by how quickly these symptoms had manifested themselves. There was one thing of which he was certain: things were going to get much, much worse. He tightened his grip on the handle of the machete and tried not to think about what the outcome would be if they could not get to Helde in time. Part of him wanted to scream at Trey and Alexa to get moving, to stop procrastinating and get into that tower. But the military man inside him knew that they were doing the right thing: proceeding with caution to ensure that they did not simply hand over the element of surprise to their enemies. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his mouth.
Are you all right, Tom?
‘I’m fine,’ the Irishman said. ‘Don’t you worry about me, lad.’
He’s not fine, Alexa said to Trey, and he guessed that she was ‘broadcasting’ only to him. I can feel the heat coming off him. The infection is taking hold.
Trey looked round at his friend. Even in the darkness, he could see how terrible Tom looked.
Let’s go. He turned, ready to lead the way again, when he caught the merest suggestion of movement up in the deep shadows overhead. He was about to bring this to the attention of the others when they were attacked.
The passageway was filled with the sound of the werewolf’s roar as he felt the muscular tentacle tighten round his neck. With one jerk he was lifted up, his feet leaving the floor as the suffocating grip on his neck was increased. Trey managed to get one hand between his throat and the constricting appendage, pulling as hard as he could to allow himself to breathe. With his other hand he attacked the thing, raking his claws into the blubbery flesh until another tentacle wrapped itself about this wrist and yanked his arm up and back. He could see more of the tentacles falling from a vast black mass overhead, reaching for Tom and Alexa.
