As he moved his hands to his wounds, Caitlin kicked him into the third and they both tumbled to the floor.
The Mad who Caitlin had thrown the woman into shoved the corpse aside with a screech, rose to its feet, and clawed at her.
Caitlin took a step back, and the creature swiped at her again.
She took another step back, and her attacker followed.
His confused look melted into the ravenous gleam of rage.
“I could do this all day,” she said and swung the sword into the top of the Mad’s leg. He cried out in pain and fell to one knee.
“I dub thee, Sir Deadbeat. Arise, Sir Deadbeat.” She touched the sword to either shoulder.
The Mad scrabbled and almost caught Caitlin’s thighs. She rolled her eyes but panicked as Jaxon moved to leap forward.
“Back, Jax. I got this.”
She took one last pitying look at her assailant.
“Just when I thought we could be friends.”
With a final show of strength, Caitlin drew Moxie back with both hands and drove the blade through the Mad’s neck. The head clung to the body at a strange angle, but the light died in his eyes.
“I should really keep count in case Kain ever thinks he has even more numbers up on me,” she mused.
She ran forward and no longer waited for the Mad to come to her. There were nearly twenty in total, and they scrambled down the hill of cars like logs down a stream. Their movements were so slow and cumbersome that she had no trouble and soon, there was nothing but a pile of bodies left on the ground.
Caitlin leaned down closest to the Mad who had the least amount of dirt on her garb and wiped Moxie on it to clean the blood and goo off the blade.
“You’ve served me well. Now, let’s see if I can keep at least one friend near me at all times,” she murmured as she shoved the sword into its sheath.
Jaxon barked.
“And you, too.”
She took a moment to catch her breath and was almost at the end of the street when she heard a voice whisper. When she turned her head, there was nothing there.
Her pace increased a little as she turned right and headed in the direction she believed the library to be in. A group of Weres watched from the shadows of the cars, about to make their own way over the pileup toward Caitlin.
Silver Creek, Silver Creek Forest, Old Ontario
Only a handful of Silver Creek’s citizens remained. The pair—whom Mary-Anne had learned were named Clive and Alison—led her through the deserted streets, past the market square, over the parapets, and toward the living quarters that the governor had once dominated until Caitlin brought liberation.
The room provided a full view of the town. The vampire’s eyes were better than those of the others, and even now, she could see one or two Mad simply roaming the streets.
“It’s really all fallen down the shitter, eh?”
Clive nodded solemnly. “It had to happen sometime. We all knew it would. The Madness is more than a disease and seems to have a will of its own. It wanted to get into the town years ago, but it bided its time and waited until we had enough hope to open the gates. Then, it snuck in and took its turn. Once it gets in, the Madness doesn’t leave.”
“A bit like you in the bedroom, eh?” Alison chipped in and elicited a chorus of laughs from the others. This was the first time Mary-Anne had heard anything from her, and her opinion of the woman had already raised.
The others in the room were a strange collection. A half dozen in total were gathered there, some with bulk and brawn and others so skinny that if they turned sideways, they might disappear from sight. Yet they all had one thing in common.
They were all as ancient as the great trees of the forest.
“So what happened?”
Mary-Anne sat with them in a circle surrounded by blankets and soft materials pilfered from the remains of those who had skipped town.
They told her of the first incidents and about how quickly the Mad had spread and how there was little anyone could do. Dylan and the Revolutionaries had worked tirelessly to try and protect the townspeople, but every time they made any progress, more cases would pop up.
“That’s what you get with such a tight-knit town. We’re like a box of gophers—”
“Or rabbits,” one of the other old men snapped, and the words whistled between his toothless gums.
“Or rabbits,” Clive nodded. “We’d been kept in a box for too long, and that doesn’t sit right with the world. You can’t block the outside world from coming in forever. We may think we can, but there’s nowhere that nature doesn’t touch.”
Alison shuffled on her ass and adjusted her blankets. “Nature, schmature. You really think any of this shit is natural?”
He fell silent.
“So, where did everyone go?” the vampire asked
A woman to her left leaned forward—to the protest of her creaking bones—and filled her in.
She related Dylan’s speech about the “great book” they had found which gave them all the hope they were looking for.
“And not a few hours later, they were all off. Packed, saddled, and ready to go.”
“Well, I’ll be… I didn’t know Dylan had it in him.”
“None of us did. After the Madness became unruly, we’d started to think he didn’t have the cojones to take the town on a trajectory to safety. But he’s definitely his sister’s brother, all right.”
Mary-Anne smirked. They were right. There was something in the Harrison blood that she hadn’t seen in many years, something she couldn’t quite put a finger on but felt nonetheless. She wondered, if there really was a great beyond, if their parents looked down and smiled. Maybe they had been built of the same material and could have served the world if it hadn’t been so cruel to them.
“So that leaves you guys,” she said. “Why are you all still here? Don’t you have the hope to live on and see the world?”
One by one, they chuckled and shared knowing glances.
“It’s too late for us,” Alison said.
Clive straightened his legs. “We’ve had our travels already. We’ve seen the world, and we didn’t like it.”
“You’ve all traveled? I thought you’d all been born and raised here and didn’t want to pull your roots from your hometown.”
The toothless man shook his head with a smile. “Oh, deary, not at all. We were with the first convoys to leave the big city and make our way into the forests. Granted, that was some time ago, but we still remember the fear of the journey.”
“The woods were treacherous,” Clive added. “Every shadow seemed to have a face. Every branch was a limb waiting to reach out and get you. Even though we journeyed tightly together, we still lost many along the way, ain’t that right, Vic?”
The toothless man, Vic, nodded. “Far too many.”
“So if this isn’t your hometown, where did you all come from?”
They took it in turns to list their memories of their childhood, the city they had once known as New Toronto, and the mess it had become in a matter of days.
“Imagine the situation here but on a much grander scale,” Alison explained.
A group of the survivors there had packed up and traveled in convoy into the woods. Some of the strongest men and women that they had ever known had found a clearing, made it larger, chopped the wood, fought off the Mad, and created the town they now sat in today.
“It was meant to be an outpost, a place farther out from the twin cities where we could look to expand the world—create branches of communities. But that all fell to shit over time, way before the governor even got into power. The communications came less frequently until they stopped altogether.”
“And what of the twin cities?” Mary-Anne asked as she recalled the hazy silhouettes of a city she had seen across the water with Caitlin. “What was the other city’s name?”
Alison’s brow creased as she wracked her brain. They all fell into thought. “I don’t remember.”
“A book that contains the elixir that’s kept the Mad holed up in our jail cells alive for this long. They offered to leave us the recipe for the elixir, but do you really think we have the energy to gather ingredients and mix potions? Do you think we want to be anywhere near the Mad if we can help it?” Alison shook her head firmly
“But you followed me there,” she said and raised an eyebrow.
Clive looked at Alison. “We wanted to make sure you weren’t another Mad roaming the town. We saw you climb in over the gates and were pretty impressed and…if we’re honest…panicked slightly at the idea that the Mad had learned how to scale the walls.”
They laughed. Even Mary-Anne laughed at the absurdity of it. After having seen countless Mad struggle to even run or walk, the idea of them climbing over the walls was pure lunacy.
“I’m telling you, the book will lead them nowhere. They’ll get a few miles away, and the Mad will get them all. You mark my words. The last time I saw people trust in the power of words in a book, the World’s Worst Day Ever came. Even after that, there were believers. And even then, the second apocalypse came, and now, the Madness stalks our every move.”
“Was the book a thick tome? Leather-bound and ancient-looking, filled with scribbles and dog-eared pages?” Mary-Anne asked.
“I didn’t get the privilege of looking inside,” Alison said.
Clive added, “It belonged to the short guy with the strange look.”
The vampire saw it clearly in her mind. It was the same book Stump had used to find the recipe to prolong humanity as the body yielded to the Madness. It had been used to help the governor, and Dylan had found a way to utilize it for those who had fallen to Madness in Silver Creek.
It was an honorable idea, Mary-Anne thought. Although, despite his best intentions, they were no nearer to an actual cure. Perhaps there really was something in there worth listening to. Perhaps something that Stump or one of the others had read in her absence had given them enough hope to actually pack up and leave the very town they all fought so hard to protect.
“How long ago did they leave?” Mary-Anne asked.
“Ooh, now that’s a question,” Clive said.
“About twenty-four hours ago,” Alison answered.
“Good, then I still have time to track them down.”
“Good luck,” Vic scoffed. “You may be young, but you’re hardly a basset hound. What will you do? Try and sniff them out?”
Alison rolled her eyes. “She’s a vampire, remember? She helped chase away the governor that time when Caitlin went missing for ages.”
Vic concentrated hard, and wrinkles gathered on his forehead as he tried to remember. “Nope, it doesn’t ring a bell. Say, if you really are a vampire, do you fancy doing us a favor before you leave?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t you dare ask her to convert us into vamps to prolong our lives. The last thing I want is to be stuck inside this body for another several hundred years.” Alison smirked. “Maybe if we were a bit younger, but no. Not now.”
“Oh. Fine.” Vic sighed.
“Or how about this,” Clive said. “Do you mind doing a final sweep of the town? We heard some Mad on the way to find you that came from the opposite direction of the jails. Thanks to Sully and Dylan, we have a selection of swords, but I’m worried the sound will attract Mad from the forests to our gates and we don’t have the manpower to stop them if a horde smashes through.”
Mary-Anne looked around at the pitiful group of elderly residents. In her days as a vampire, she had grown numb to the idea that normal people aged and crept closer to death at an alarming rate. Now, though, she felt a stirring of pity in her heart. There was a group of people wanting nothing more than to live and survive in the town they had grown to love. What reason wouldn’t she have to help them?
Damn, Kitty-Cat. You’re starting to rub off on me.
She stood. “Of course. Anything for those who have served this town from its humble beginnings. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some Silver Creek-ians to track.”
“Oh, no. I don’t like that,” Alison added. “We prefer Silver Creekers.”
“No one has ever called us that,” Clive tutted.
Mary-Anne laughed, wished them all luck, and hurried into the town.
Chapter Fifteen
The Broken City, Old Ontario
Caitlin had the library in her sights when she finally heard them.
The sound of stealthy pursuit was unmistakable this time. She turned to catch a glimpse of something dark moving behind the glass in a nearby building.
“Jax? You saw that, right?”
Jaxon’s ears were up. His gaze darted from window to window of the building ahead.
“That’s what I thought.”
Curiosity got the better of her, and she convinced herself that it was simply another Mad she could add to her kill count and totally piss Kain off. Caitlin half-drew Moxie and proceeded.
As she approached, the sound of footsteps was unmistakable. She moved as quietly as possible and ducked into the building and a large marble reception area coated with dust.
“I can hear you,” Caitlin whispered. “But where are you?”
Jaxon sniffed the floor, then froze. His nose pointed toward the far wall where movement flashed near the door leading to the stairwell. A leg disappeared upstairs, and the sound of running followed.
“There you are.” She smirked, gave chase, and sprinted upstairs. “Jax, stay close.”
The dog obeyed.
When she reached the second floor, the footsteps stopped. Caitlin entered through a door and her breath caught.
She was in a makeshift bedroom. The windows were all blocked and painted with only a few slits of transparency which revealed the library at the end of the street. Blankets and bean bags had their contents spilled.
A woman stood in the center of the room, and her chest rose and fell as she caught her breath.
“Was I chasing you?” Caitlin asked.
The woman shook her head. “Actually, no. You were chasing him.”
She pointed to where two skinny men stood side by side with swords pointed directly at her back.
“Oh, this will not end well for you,” Caitlin said through gritted teeth. “I recommend you put the swords down.”
They looked uncertainly at each other. The woman nodded, and they lowered their blades.
“That’s better.”
“Look, I’m sorry for the ruse. We mean you no harm.”
“Oh? Then what do you mean?”
The woman sighed, and her shoulders sagged. “We need your help.”
“The library is there. Your kin are inside. What do you need my help for?”
“Those are not our kin. These are our kin.” The woman pointed behind Caitlin once more.
When she turned, she was surprised to see that a dozen men and woman now blocked the doorway. Even worse, several wolves slinked out of several hiding places across the room.
“You mean…”
The woman nodded. “That’s right. You know it’s actually quite insulting to call a Were human, right?”
The Sewers, The Broken City, Old Ontario
Kain lay quietly for a while and listened to the sounds of the children through the wall. He wondered if Cynthia had told them where he was and if they listened for him right now, excited to have another resident in their little piece of the world.
Don’t be stupid, Sudeikis. Cynthia wouldn’t risk the little ones blabbing by accident to another Were.
But what if they did? Was he really any safer in there than he had been back in the jail cell? If the kids blabbed, he’d be screwed. If Cynthia were caught, they’d both be royally screwed.
The hours blurred into empty frustration. Kain didn’t dare to
sleep, and the knot in his stomach tightened as the time passed with no indication of what was going on beyond his hiding place. For all he knew, the Weres could have left the damn sewers. There could have been a flood, a typhoon, or even an earthquake.
You would have felt an earthquake, genius.
As he was about to give up all hope that he’d see the other side of the wall again, he heard Cynthia’ singsong voice soothing the kids before they ran out of the room. A moment later, the door opened a crack.
“Are you still alive?”
“Barely.” Kain stretched and felt his joints crack. “You took your time.”
“It’s only been two hours,” she replied and opened the door to reveal her grin. “That’s a new record for this sort of thing.”
“You’ve done this before?”
“Not quite.”
She led him out by the hand and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Was there any trouble?”
Cynthia shook her head. “I bumped into the big man but managed to talk my way out of it. He didn’t seem convinced that I hadn’t hidden you, though, and I’m sure he’ll be here soon with some guards to check. We’d better make this quick.”
“Make what quick?”
“You’ll see.”
She led him through the kids’ bedroom, out into the main room, and back to the dining area.
The little ones were now lined up quietly against the wall. In their place in the chairs were several Weres Kain had known for years and one or two whom he was less familiar with.
He froze.
“Don’t worry,” Cynthia reassured him. “They’re with you.”
“Well, technically, we’re with Cynth.” A burly Were with scars across his cheek grimaced. Dark tufts of hair protruded from the V of his collar, and he sported a gold tooth. “If we were to take a vote on who’d have chosen to stand by your side, I don’t think you’d have anyone in this room right now, Sudeikis.”
“Oh, come now. He’s not all bad, Zach,” a female Were whom Kain recognized as Sasha crooned and batted her eyelids. “He’s got a golden heart, really.”
“And the courage of a jellyfish.” Another laughed at his own non-joke. Kain scowled at Jimmy, a Were with a sensitive reputation. Kain had heard stories of Jimmy crying after several failed attempts to hook up with the limited number of single female Weres in the sewer.
The Caitlin Chronicles Boxed Set Page 81
