The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle

by Steven Till

  "NO! Leave it!" Nathan commanded. Boomer shook his massive head and huffed, then turned his attention back towards the north.

  Nathan looked at Daniel and saw pure terror on the kid's face. Looking down, he noticed that his skin was no longer dehydrated. His senses had sharpened and the fog in his mind was gone. Bataviah looked at Evelyn, who was now moving fluidly and looking at the world with the bewilderment of a child seeing things through new eyes.

  "The Sleep has lifted!" she shouted to Maalik.

  "We must go. NOW!" he exclaimed, turning towards Heinz Field.

  "Just hold the fuck on a second," Sam said as he grabbed Maalik by the arm. "What just happened to that dog? We don't move until we get some answers!"

  Maalik looked at the terrified faces of the humans. He felt for them. Nothing could have prepared them for this. There was no way they could comprehend. There was no time for them to reconcile what they saw standing in front of them, roaring at an unseen foe. He turned to Sam.

  "You would not believe me. Not now. You will soon find out though. The scourge that has stricken your world is on its way for us. She will be here soon and when she arrives, the Hell you think you are in will get unimaginably worse. I cannot prepare you for what you are about to witness, but you must trust me when I say that my kind and I will do all in our power to keep you and your companions alive."

  Sam stood, confused. "Who’s coming for us Maalik? We deserve to know. Either you tell us, or we're outta here."

  The snowstorm descended upon the group as suddenly as Boomer's transformation. Snow fell in white sheets as it began to cover everything it touched. Dark clouds rolled overhead like the churning waters of a black ocean. Boomer bellowed his monstrous bark more fervently.

  “We are out of time,” Maalik stated.

  He and Bataviah began to haul ass towards the elevated rail tracks; towards the spot where the tracks dipped down below street level. The humans followed, not wanting to be alone with three zombies and a giant wolf-dog monster. Nathan, Evelyn, and Ronnie brought up the rear.

  “Aw man, shit is about to get REAL, isn’t it?” Ronnie asked.

  “Yes,” Nathan answered. “She’s coming. I can feel her.”

  “Who?” Evelyn asked. “Who’s coming, Nate?”

  “The one who’s been chasing us all night.”

  Alison helped Theresa, who had tears streaking down her face. “What’s going on?” the woman asked in total panic. “How did that dog change into that… thing?!” She was out of breath from the running and from the fear which pounded in her heart.

  “I… I don’t know,” Alison replied, glancing back at the dog, who stood barking at the snowstorm. Dogs, and most animals for that matter, always knew when trouble was approaching. What could make that creature so unnerved? She was afraid to find out.

  “Keep moving,” she urged Theresa.

  The group caught up to Maalik and Bataviah, who were standing as close to the trolley tunnel as possible. Jammed underneath the tracks, dozens upon dozens of cars sat crumpled in a heap among broken slabs of concrete and debris. The two exchanged an uneasy glance, and then Bataviah knelt down at the manhole cover before her. She pushed several of the red bricks which circled the manhole. One by one, each brick depressed, sounding a loud, mechanical ‘click’ with each push.

  Moments later, Bataviah pushed the last brick in the combination. A loud boom sounded underground, along with a symphony of mechanical gears. Maalik turned and addressed the group. The urgency in his eyes could have been mistaken for panic.

  “The entrance to our bunker lies before us, underneath the cars. It travels under the rail tunnel and into town. We must clear the cars before we can escape.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” Carlos asked.

  Ignoring the question, Maalik pointed to a toppled semi-trailer one hundred feet behind them. It lay on its side; the door open. “All you, take every weapon you have and barricade yourselves in there. Shoot any zombie that tries to get in.”

  Before anyone could respond, Maalik and Bataviah walked towards the pile of wreckage.

  Daniel asked the question that they all were wondering. “They don't think that they can move all that, do they? Hell, they won’t be able to budge one of them.”

  What came next defied any and all logic that the survivors possessed. One moment the two strangers stood before the smoldering cars. The next, they shimmered as long black quills elongated from their bodies. Bones crunched and tendons stretched as their body mass doubled, tripled, and quadrupled. Long, razor sharp claws sprouted from their fingers. Their faces and ears elongated. Dagger-like teeth erupted from gaping mouths.

  “Wha… What. The. FUCK??” Sam uttered in disbelief.

  The creature that was Bataviah looked back at the stunned humans and let out a thunderous roar, then turned her attention back towards the hidden bunker entrance. She grasped the nearest car and hurled it twenty feet to the left. It landed with a crash. The wolf-creature that was Maalik did the same, throwing cars towards his left.

  “Go… GO, GO, GO!!!” Pete yelled, pushing past the others as he hurried to the safety of the trailer. The others followed as they kept glancing back at Maalik and Bataviah. The three zombies followed close behind. Theresa huddled behind a nearby garbage can. The sight of the werewolf transformation prevented her legs from moving. Too scared to move, too terrified to scream, she just froze there. Her fight-or-flight response shut down by the sight of these new monsters. Spotting a nearby garbage can, Theresa willed her legs to move. She made her way to the garbage and hid behind the piles of refuse and debris that surrounded it.

  “Eve,” Nathan grabbed Evelyn’s arm. “Stay here with the others.”

  An incredulous look spread over her face. “To hell with that. Whatever’s coming our way, we’ll face it together.”

  Nathan looked into Evelyn's eyes and saw the intensity with which they burned. He knew that it was futile to argue with her once she'd made up her mind. Reluctantly, he nodded.

  "Alright. Together," he said with confidence, although his thoughts were anything but.

  Nathan spun towards the trailer and came face to face with the muzzle of Sam's tactical shotgun. Behind it, Sam's confused and terrified face stared back at him. The old man realized that he was visibly rattled and he reigned in his fear; smoothing his face over with his usual cold, hard, expressionless facade.

  "Son, I've seen a lot of shit in my day," Sam started, a slight quiver in his voice. "But none of it can shake a shit-smeared stick at what I'm seeing now. First you zombie things, then fucking werewolves?! Jesus Christ, I wouldn't believe it if I didn’t see it for myself. Something is coming for us and I just want to know what it is we're dealing with exactly. You've kept us in the dark this whole time and if we're going to die today, then we deserve to know the Reaper that's coming for us."

  Sam was right. If they were to fight for their lives, knowing their enemy might mean the difference between living another day or dying an excruciating and spectacular death. Nathan knew why Maalik wanted them as ignorant to the situation as possible. If the humans were aware of just how fucked they were, then they would all freeze up, making them easy pickings for the Horde. That was a real possibility, of course, but Sam had a valid point. Nathan let out a long sigh and looked the man in the eyes.

  "There seems to be a single person responsible for the outbreak. A creature like me. Like Eve. But she holds more power than all these things combined. She is their queen. I've been calling her Sunshine, because she wears a knit hat with a smiling sun on the front of it."

  Sam processed this for a moment. "She's wearing a hat with a smiling sun on it?" he asked.

  "Yes," Nathan replied. "She's a little girl. Roughly eleven or twelve years old by my estimation."

  "So you’re sayin’ that a little girl is destroying the world?" Sam chuckled. "You gotta be fucking with me."

  Nathan didn't crack a smile. Not even a smirk. "That's exactly what I'm telling yo
u."

  Sam's smile faded. Nathan continued. "I need you to keep the others safe. Make sure everyone huddles in the far back corner of the trailer. Shoot anything that opens that door. I mean anything."

  Alison yelled from the back of the trailer. "Where's Theresa? She was right behind me!"

  Sam moved towards the bunker entrance and the large wolves than now cleared debris. Nathan raised his arm in Sam's path.

  "There's no time. I'll find her and keep her alive. Stay here."

  Nathan watched Sam back away from the open end of the trailer. He faded into the shadows as he back-stepped. Nathan closed the trailer door and grabbed a broken piece of re-bar that was nearby. In one swift motion, he threaded it through the door latch and bent it around itself into a loop. The humans wouldn’t be getting out. With a little luck, the nasties outside wouldn’t get in.

  The snow continued to fall around them; the trolley tracks and surrounding overpasses did nothing to shelter them from the onslaught of the Arctic storm. Maalik and Bataviah continued to clear away the mass of debris that continued to block the unseen passageway below the tracks. A sound carried on the wind of the storm; a low rumbling of trampling limbs.

  In the distance, a penetrating howl sounded through the pale haze of the falling snowflakes. Its echo reverberated across the river. Bataviah paused, registering the unseen wails originating from the empty skyscrapers of downtown. Throwing her head back, she belted a response.

  Boomer stood transfixed; his eyes peering northward. He pawed the ground anxiously. By nature, the dog was the most lovable ball of fur in the world. As he stood there waiting, he felt massive amounts of adrenaline, along with the virus which had mutated his DNA and had saved his life. The new power that surged through his body now instructed his instincts to destroy whatever emerged from the frosty gloom ahead. The rumbling grew louder.

  From the south, large gray forms began to emerge from the whiteout. More wolves. Lots of wolves. Hundreds of the hulking creatures surrounded them. They encircled everything from the blocked entrance to the humans now contained in the inconspicuous trailer. The rumble continued to grow louder. The wolves began to tighten their ranks, shrinking the circle as much as possible.

  An idea struck Nathan at that moment. He ran towards Maalik. “We need to put the trailer outside of the defenses. Outside of the circle,”

  The large wolf-form of Maalik ceased work on the debris and looked Nathan in the eye with a silvery gaze. Words sounded in Nathan’s head as Maalik communicated with his thoughts.

  [“We will protect the humans,”] he stated.

  “No, that will just give away their value,” Nathan continued. “If we pretend not to care about the trailer, the Horde won’t care about it either. The trailer looks like all the other debris. They won't even know they're there. Attention will be on us and your people.”

  Maalik weighed Nathans words. Looking towards the wolves that encircled them, he commanded the line to pull back. Immediately, the circle broke and the ranks folded the ring in on itself, constricting around the bunker entrance until it finally stopped. The large ring of wolves was now four smaller rings which provided a one hundred fifty foot safe zone.

  “Thanks,” Nathan said as he headed back to Evelyn’s position.

  “What are they doing? Why have they moved?” Evelyn asked urgently, pointing at the gargantuan wolves.

  “We’re going to bluff them,” Nathan answered. “The Horde shouldn’t pay any attention to the group as long as we ignore them as well. They should be safe, so long as they stay quiet.”

  Evelyn saw Nathan’s logic, and although it was a gamble, he was right. With all these werewolf creatures around, none of the zombies should give the overturned semi-trailer a second thought. She chuckled to herself. She had used a similar ploy in her last best-selling novel. Her heart warmed at the thought of Nathan gleaning his inspiration from her. He really does pay attention.

  “C’mon, let’s find Theresa,” Evelyn said.

  “Eve,” Nathan started, touching her elbow. “I love you.”

  She could see the fear in his eyes. Not the fear of what was coming for them, but the fear of losing her. She pushed thoughts of failure out of her mind and focused on the task at hand.

  “I know,” she replied with a wink. “Now let’s go, before I throw up.”

  Nathan paused. “Wait, where’s Ronnie?”

  Nathan looked around for his friend. He was usually pretty hard to miss, but Nathan had observed Ronnie slipping away piece by piece as time went on. Despite his best efforts, it was getting harder and harder to prevent him from chewing on the random corpse. The hunger was taking him. His humanity had been ebbing away since he turned. Ronnie was quiet the whole journey through the Mexican War Streets and Nathan was now wondering if he was undergoing the rest of his transformation.

  There he was. Standing against one of the large support struts that held Route 65 high above. He stood still, staring out towards the north. The large rubber dildo was still clutched in his hand.

  “Ronnie!” he yelled. “Dude, get over here!”

  The hot dog vendor turned towards them. The vacant expression on his face came to life.

  “Yo, yo! Sorry bro, I kinda zoned out for a minute there,” he called back.

  “Hurry up, we don’t have much time left!”

  Ronnie jaunted over to Nathan and Evelyn, the large black rubber member bouncing in stride.

  “Where do ya want me bro?” Ronnie asked as he hustled towards them.

  “We need to find Theresa. She got separated from the others and must have run off.”

  “Oh, she's right over there,” he replied, pointing to the garbage can which sat across the street, beyond the elevated trolley tracks.

  They looked in the direction Ronnie pointed and saw the petrified housewife huddled behind the garbage. She wouldn't survive long sitting there.

  "Ok great. You stay with the wolves and help them hold the line. We'll go get Theresa."

  “Sure thing man," Ronnie replied. "Man, this is some shit, isn’t it? I mean, I never thought I’d be standing here in the middle of a werewolf army, fighting zombies. Fucking awesome!”

  “Are you going to hang onto that the whole time?” Nathan asked, pointing to the sex toy dangling from Ronnie’s hand.

  “What, this? Hellz yeah I’m going to hang onto it! I’m the new Ninja Turtle, Dongatello!” Ronnie said with exuberance.

  “Fantastic. Stay here, help the wolves, and kick some ass, alright?” Nathan asked. “Buy us the time that we need, man.”

  A look of proud determination spread across Ronnie’s face. “You got it, brother!”

  Ronnie positioned himself in the front line of wolves and began performing his version of an epic movie-battle speech.

  “Hey guys, you ready to bitch-slap these fuckers back to Hell?” he asked.

  The wolves on either side glared at him with silvery eyes. The one to his left let out a snort.

  “That’s the spirit, boys!” he yelled as he hoisted the giant black dildo into the air like a broadsword poised for battle.

  Nathan and Evelyn ran towards Theresa. When they arrived, the haggard woman was babbling incoherently. Evelyn knelt beside her and gently touched her shoulder.

  “Don’t forget, you need to be careful. One scratch from your claws and she’s a goner,” Nathan reminded her.

  Evelyn nodded in understanding. "Theresa, it's me. It's Eve, can you hear me? It's not safe here. You need to come with us. We'll keep you safe."

  Theresa looked at Evelyn. "Eve?" she asked in a trembling voice.

  "Yes, it's me. We need to move now. You must stand up and come with us."

  The woman rose and took a few uneasy steps, leaning on Evelyn for support. When she raised her eyes to look around, the werewolf army sprawled before them.

  “Monsters...Monsters...Everywhere!” Theresa said in a panic. She halted, refusing to budge from where she stood.

  Evelyn knew they didn�
�t have time for this. She was leery of forcing Theresa to move, for fear of inflicting a deadly scratch. She helped the woman shamble towards the bunker as much as she dared, but if they didn’t start moving fast, they’d be out of time.

  The ranks of the wolves swelled as they became more restless with the impending battle. Their armor quills rippled and moved as muscles flexed and relaxed in anticipation. They pawed the ground with their immense claws. The rumble grew louder. It sounded like rolling thunder, but everyone knew that the storm that drew near was one of blood and death. There was no time to get Theresa to the trailer before the Horde arrived.

  Boomer barked ferociously. Nathan looked towards his loyal dog, who continued to stand beyond the defensive lines of the wolf warriors, barking at the nearing danger. He gave a loud whistle.

  “Boomer, come!” he yelled.

  The wolf-dog immediately turned and bounded for his master. The huge dog skidded to a stop before his master. His quill-covered tail swished back and forth. The quills sounded like faint wind chimes; a long, massive tongue flopped happily to the side of his large fangs.

  “Good boy!” Nathan praised, patting him on the head. “You stay with us. STAY! Protect us.”

  Boomer gave a grunt in understanding and took a defensive stance between the approaching thunder and his family.

  “Good boy, Boo,” Nathan whispered.

  Maalik continued to heave and dig at the massive debris pile. Batavia assisted, keeping a watchful eye to the north. The wolves were severely agitated now. The Horde was almost upon them. She could feel it. An instant later, all the wolves erupted in a single howl. A battle cry which reverberated throughout the skeletal towers of a once great city. All eyes watched the fallen gap of the roadway high above; then, it finally came. The deluge of tangled bodies of the Horde began to pour over the edge.

  “COME AND GET IT, FUCKERS!” Ronnie screamed.

  Bodies by the thousands rained down onto the snow-covered ground, as the Horde overflowed over the broken overpass. The wolves closest to the zombies lunged forward in one unified attack while the second circle stood their ground. Now that it was clear where the attack was coming from, the far side of the circle began to collapse in on itself. The defensive ring quickly became a large semicircle of intimidating creatures. Their ranks were now eight deep, providing a much more imposing barricade against the onslaught. Each row of the warriors took turns lunging at the onslaught, causing the phalanx to ripple in waves.