by Sarra Cannon
“If we go back in there, we have to face Lily and that giant,” Parrish said. “But if we stay here, we have to face hundreds of rotters. I don’t know what to do.”
With the lights out, Karmen feared the worst. It meant that somewhere in this building, Crash and Noah were being attacked. And they were losing.
How had this whole day gone to hell so fast?
She couldn’t believe they’d been right about Lily. How could someone from their own group betray them like this?
She remembered the darkness she’d felt when Lily had grabbed her arm that day in Baltimore when they’d come across the huge horde of zombies in the smoke. The strange cloak she’d found. The stone with five sides and strange symbols. All the signs had been there, but no one had realized the horrors she’d had planned for them.
The rotters in the lobby of the emergency room had all caught on that there was food in the room, and Karmen could hear them stumbling over one another to get to the doorway. They didn’t have time to think. They needed to act.
“We stay here and fight,” Karmen said. She swallowed a thick lump of fear in her throat and focused on that small flame that lived inside of her.
She could feel the rotters growing closer, their moans growing louder.
She connected to the power inside of her, feeding it with her fear and giving it new life. Dark red flames ignited on her palms, quickly surrounding her hands and spreading a red glow through the room.
The fire didn’t burn her at all. It made her feel stronger.
A rotter lunged toward her and she lifted her hands. The flames shot out from her palms, igniting the zombie’s tattered clothing. The creature whimpered and fell to the ground near her feet.
“Holy crap,” Parrish said, lifting her sword, a smile tugging at her lips. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.”
Blue flames engulfed the blade as Parrish swung forward, pushing her way into the crowded room. She sliced the heads off six zombies in a single motion, their bodies flashing blue for a moment and then frosting over with a thin layer of ice.
Karmen drew in a focused breath, her jaw tense and strong. She would not run screaming or cower in fear. Ever since her powers had first manifested, she’d been afraid of them, scared that using them meant she was giving up on the old world and her old life once and for all.
But what had her old life ever brought her but sadness and fear?
The new world was terrifying and full of nightmares, but she was strong here. Together, they could change this world and make it right again.
All she had to do was embrace the part of herself she’d been denying for the past few weeks.
Remembering what she’d seen Lily do to the rats back in the apartment, she brought the heel of her hand up to her mouth and stepped forward, her fingers pointing out toward the next group of rotters lumbering toward them.
She rounded her lips and exhaled, praying it would work for her, too.
The flames billowed out in a cloud of heat, engulfing every zombie in their path. It reminded her of a time when she’d watched her brother and his friends play with lighters and cans of hairspray, except this time, the flames were twice as powerful.
The zombies screamed as they burned, many of them falling to their knees in front of her as they clawed at their own flesh.
At her side, Parrish continued to slice through the crowd, the blue flames dancing on her blade and growing brighter with each kill. Together, they stepped over the bodies of the dead and destroyed the rotters in their path.
But there were so many of them. Hundreds more blocking the exit.
And somewhere in the crowd, a low clicking sound was growing louder. It was almost a growl, but slower and much freaking creepier.
Karmen searched through the semi-darkness, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. Her eyes locked on a zombie in the middle of the crowd, the red of its eyes piercing through the room.
“There’s another one,” she shouted. “There, in the center.”
“Shit,” Parrish said, swinging at another group. “There’s too many to fight. If she makes it to us, we’re—”
But she didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence. The zombie with the red eyes leapt onto the counter at the nurse’s station, and then jumped halfway across the room, knocking Parrish to the ground.
Karmen screamed and ran toward her friend, but a rotter who had fallen grabbed her leg and pulled her to the floor. Her head smacked against one of the waiting room chairs, and she nearly lost consciousness.
She was aware of the fingers clawing at her jeans and the blood now dripping through her hair and across her temple, but she had to struggle just to keep her eyes open. Parrish had dropped her sword, killing the blue flames that had provided so much light to the room, and now Karmen’s own flames had gone out. She couldn’t focus enough to bring them back.
She pulled her way forward, using the bodies of the dead to crawl across the floor to her friend. The only light in the room was from the revolving door at the entrance to the ER, but the windows were grimy from so many rotting hands clawing at them for the past few weeks. Still, it was enough to see the teen boy with his hands wrapped around Parrish’s neck.
The boy opened his mouth and long tentacles slithered out, snaking their way toward Parrish’s face as she screamed.
The rotter that held Karmen’s leg tugged and pulled her backward. She rolled over and kicked it as hard as she could, severing the hand from its wrist. As soon as she was free, she scrambled to her feet, nearly tripping again over the bodies that carpeted the floor.
She regained her balance and jumped forward, grabbing the boy’s waist and pulling him off Parrish. She fell onto her back, the zombie struggling against her chest. He was stronger than she expected, but she had him around the waist and she wasn’t letting go.
“Kill this thing,” she shouted.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Parrish reach for her sword and stand up, but the tentacles from the boy’s mouth were now snaking through his hair toward Karmen. She nearly fainted at the sight of them, desperate not to ever find out what those tentacles would do if they touched her.
Parrish stood over them and plunged her sword into the boy’s neck so far that the tip of her blade touched Karmen’s cheek. Thick blood poured onto her neck and shoulders as the thing twisted and twitched, grabbing at the blade. Karmen wiggled out from under it, and when she was able to stand, she started kicking at its head over and over until it stopped moving.
“How many of these things do you think there are?” she asked.
“I can’t even begin to guess,” Parrish said.
Karmen breathed in and out, reconnecting with her power. She focused on the anger pumping through her veins. She focused on the fire that fueled her soul.
She set her sights on the dozens of rotters left on the other side of the ER, and once more, her hands turned to flames.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s kill the rest of these, find the guys, and get out of here before we have to find out.”
The moans of dozens of rotters echoed through the hall behind him.
Noah spun around, but without the lights, he couldn’t see where they were coming from.
“Crash, we could really use some electricity right about now,” he said.
“I’m working on it,” Crash said. “I’m not feeling so good.”
Noah tore off his backpack and searched inside for his flashlight. When he flipped it on, Crash was dusting ashes off his jacket. His arm was bleeding pretty badly.
“Here,” Noah said. He handed Crash the flashlight and placed his hand on top of the wound. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting a healing energy pass from him to his friend. Crash’s arm frosted over slightly, and the bleeding slowed.
“Wow, you weren’t kidding about that,” Crash said. He flexed his hand and nodded his head. “Thanks.”
“The lights? We need to find the others, and I think we’ve got some z
ombies on our tail.”
Crash reached out to place his hand flat against the wall. A few seconds later, the lights flickered on, but went back off.
Noah reloaded his shotgun, the moans growing louder around the corner.
“Come on, man, we gotta hurry.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Crash said.
Noah blasted the head off a rotter as it turned the corner. It fell in a bloody mess on the floor, but more followed. He shot again, taking four more out before he had to stop and reload. He could just barely see them in the dim light, but it was enough.
Crash finally pulled through and the lights came on.
Noah unloaded the shotgun again, and the dead bodies seemed to slow the rest down for a second. “Let’s keep moving. Maybe we can brace these doors closed and keep them back.”
Crash nodded and pushed through the double-doors, but what they found inside was ten times more terrifying than a group of rotters.
A towering beast of a man stood at the other end of the hallway, its hand on the doors leading into the ER. Noah pumped his shotgun and aimed directly for the man’s head. The pellets ricocheted off the zombie’s skin and embedded into the drywall.
Noah’s heart skipped a beat. If bullets wouldn’t touch this thing, what the hell were they going to do? He had a feeling the girls were on the other side of that door, and he wasn’t about to turn and run, but they were going to have to go through this beast to get to them.
The zombie turned toward them. He balled his hands into fists and lifted his foot to stomp hard against the tile floor.
The ground beneath them shook. A picture fell off the wall and shattered, scattering glass across the floor. Noah crouched and pressed his hand against the wall for balance until the earthquake subsided.
“Pile the dead bodies against the door to keep the others from getting through,” he said. “I’ll see if I can handle this guy.”
Crash got to work, dragging bodies and piling them up in front of the door.
Noah dropped his shotgun and peeled the backpack off his back. He didn’t need anything slowing him down right now.
The giant zombie walked toward him. It was slow, but the ground shook slightly with every step it took. Noah had no idea how to fight something like this, but he had to try. He had to get to Parrish and make sure she was okay.
He took in a deep breath and focused everything he had on summoning his strength. If he was strong enough to lift a car, he could deal with this guy. Maybe. Fear tightened in his chest.
He gritted his teeth and ran full force toward the beast, leaning his head down and barreling into it with his shoulder. The beast stumbled backward, but got its footing and pushed back, tossing Noah into the air. His head slammed against the wall and he fell to the floor in a daze.
Struggling, he pulled himself up and tried again. This time, he reared his fist back and punched the zombie in the gut. It was like punching a reinforced steel door, his knuckles cracking against it.
The beast grabbed him by the waist and lifted him off the ground. Noah struggled to get free, but had nothing to grab onto except the man’s wrists. It wasn’t enough. The zombie threw him across the room. He crashed into the pile of zombies at the double-doors.
Crash reached to help him. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” Noah said, stretching his shoulder out. “I can’t seem to hurt this thing.”
The beast walked toward them again, and with each step, the ground shook, the ceiling raining dust down on them.
“Maybe we could try to run past it?” Crash said. “He’s slow. If we could just get by him, we’d be in the clear.”
“It’s just going to follow us,” he said. “We need to put an end to it.”
“How?”
“I’m thinking,” he said.
He wished Parrish were here. Her sword might be able to do a lot more damage than a gun. Wherever she was, he prayed she and Karmen were alright.
And what had happened to Lily? Was she still with them?
He had to focus.
“Every monster has a weakness,” Crash said. “It’s a rule of thumb in gaming. Even the most impossible boss fight has a trick to it.”
“This isn’t a video game,” Noah said.
“No, but it applies in real life,” he said. “We just have to figure out what it is.”
“Yeah, in the next thirty seconds or so,” Noah said. “No problem.”
The beast was nearly to them.
“That thing you did to my arm,” Crash said. “The frost. Can you use that on him? Freeze him, maybe? That might at least give us some time.”
“I don’t know,” Noah said. “I can try.”
Noah reconnected with his healing energy. It seemed like the opposite of what he needed to be doing, but he was out of options.
He breathed in and when he let his breath out, it was cold as ice. When he looked down at his palms, a light blue frost had covered them. Amazed, he lifted his eyes to the giant beast of a zombie.
He ran straight for him, but this time instead of punching him or hitting him, he dropped and slid across the floor. The zombie reached forward, expecting to grab him. The momentum of the motion made him stumble off-balance as Noah slid past.
He quickly stood and placed his palms flat against the zombie’s back, pushing all of his healing energy into the thing. The light around his hands grew so bright, he had to squint and turn his head away.
The energy poured through him in waves, pulsing as it flowed into the beast’s body. The man fell to his knees and then dropped forward on his hands. He let out a loud rumble of a roar as the light flowed through him and a layer of ice formed across his flesh.
Noah pulled his hands from the man’s back and stumbled two steps back, steadying himself against the wall. A massive headache exploded behind his eyes.
But he didn’t get a chance to rest. He’d thought it was over, that the beast was down, but a loud cracking noise forced his eyes open. The beast broke through the ice and wrapped a hand around Crash’s throat, lifting him from the ground. He threw him against the stack of bodies and Crash’s eyes closed.
Noah screamed and ran toward the beast, focusing all his strength on taking this thing to the ground.
But the beast stood and turned, lifting Noah like he weighed nothing. He pulled back and threw him across the room.
Noah soared through the air, terror gripping his heart as he slammed against the double-doors. He felt something crack and then, as if someone had turned out all the lights, his world went black.
An earthquake shook the hospital.
Parrish stumbled against a group of rotters, hands tangling in her hair and dragging her to the ground. One zombie leaned over her, its mouth open, ready to bite. She raised her sword straight through its chin, not stopping until it came out through the other side of its skull.
She yanked the sword down and rolled over as the zombie fell to the floor where she had been.
“What was that?” Karmen asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to finish these off and go find the guys,” she said.
She stood and sliced through the heads of five zombies, knocking the last of them to the ground.
She wiped the blade of her sword against the back of a rotter and stared at the carnage. They had killed hundreds, but there would be more. She was sure of it.
“Let’s go,” she said.
She ran back toward the doors leading to the hallway, prepared to face Lily and the behemoth on the other side, but something sailed through the doors just before she reached them.
“Noah,” she cried. She fell to the floor in front of him, her hands shaking in terror.
In that moment, all her memories of their lives together flashed in front of her eyes. Everything that had come back to her when they’d kissed the night before was there. If he was dead, she would have nothing left to live for.
She pulled his head into her lap and stroked his hair, her tears casca
ding onto his face.
He was still breathing, but he’d been badly hurt. Her head snapped up, realizing what must have happened. She had run from that beast, leaving him there in the hallway for Noah and Crash to find. This was her fault.
She leaned down and kissed his forehead. If he didn’t wake up, she would never be able to forgive herself.
The floor shook and through the half-open doors, she saw the giant beast lumbering toward her.
Parrish shrugged out of her backpack and propped it under Noah’s head. She stood, steadied herself against the wall and lifted her sword. Just when she’d been feeling weak and thought she’d reached a point where she couldn’t possibly go on, a new light had switched on inside her. Power and strength coursed through her veins.
She would not let this beast hurt anyone else.
The beast stopped just short of the door, his eyes locked on hers. He tightened his fists again, and as his mouth opened, Parrish shouted for Karmen to hold onto something.
The ground lurched beneath her feet, debris falling from the ceiling. She crouched low and waited it out. When the earthquake had passed, Parrish steadied herself and stepped forward.
Rage boiled her blood. She wasn’t going to wait for this thing to come after her. She was just going to take it out before he even realized what hit him. He was going to pay for hurting Noah.
Parrish moved her sword to her right hand, switching her grip so that she could pull the sword back behind her head, the blade facing forward. New flames engulfed her sword in a burst of light. Blue and red danced together against the steel as she ran toward the beast.
She had no idea if she could kill this thing, but she was certain this was who she was. This was who she had always been.
And if this was going to be the end of her, she was going to die trying to protect her friends.
The beast lifted his arms to shield his body, but Parrish used that to her advantage. She leapt into the air, grabbed his arm with her free hand, and catapulted herself up and over his head. She somersaulted, tucking her legs close to her body and spinning through the air.
She landed softly on the tile floor behind him, pulled her sword back, and plunged it straight into the base of his neck.
