by Sarra Cannon
The giant beast straightened and stilled as a thick layer of ice formed around his massive body. As the ice reached his head, he took one last gasp of breath. She planted the heel of her boot against the man’s back and pushed, using the leverage to pull her sword from its body.
Somewhere deep inside the block of ice, a red glow flickered and grew, exploding in a burst of light that shattered the zombie’s body into a million burning pieces.
She fell to her knees, exhausted. Was it finally over?
A hand touched her shoulder and she spun around, sword ready.
“Whoa, there, warrior princess, it’s just me,” Crash said. His arm was bleeding and his head seemed to be bruised, but he was alive.
“This is the last time we ever go into a hospital,” she said with a laugh, her voice still a little shaky.
“You’ll have no complaints from me on that one,” Karmen said as she fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor. The flames on her hands had disappeared and they were trembling violently.
Parrish stood and used a trash can to prop open the emergency room doors. Noah’s body was lying half-in, half-out of the room, his eyes still closed.
“Noah,” she whispered, kneeling at his side. “You have to wake up. We need to get out of here.”
She kissed his forehead and ran her hand across his bloodied cheek. If they had to, they would carry him out. Now that the ER was clear, they should be able to just walk out. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but it wasn’t dark yet. They needed to go now if they were going to find a safe place to hide for the night.
“Parrish,” Karmen said, backing away. There was an edge to her voice that filled Parrish with dread.
She stood and faced the figure standing near the exit on the other side of the emergency room.
“You should have gone,” Parrish said. “Or did you come to do your own dirty work this time?”
Lily’s face was flushed, tears running down her cheeks.
“I don’t have much time,” she said. “I know you can’t possibly understand why I did what I did, but I need to tell you something important.”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, traitor,” Parrish said. “You almost got us killed today. You lied to us. You betrayed all of us.”
“I know, and believe me, I wish I could go back in time and make this right, but I can’t,” Lily said. “I made my choice, and I can’t change it. The Dark One is coming for me now, and when she finds out I’ve spoken to you, she’ll punish me more than you could ever imagine.”
Chills ran down Parrish’s spine. “The Dark One?”
Lily shook her head and swiped at her cheeks. “I know you don’t understand what’s happening yet, but you will,” she said. “I think you’ve all already realized it, but this is not your first lifetime. You have been alive for centuries, reincarnating over and over again, bound by a spell to protect this world in case the Dark One ever awakened. You’ve lived here for a very long time, but you are not of this world.”
“I don’t understand,” Parrish said.
“The Dark One threatened to overthrow our world a long time ago. When you couldn’t defeat her, you banished her here, locking her in a prison of ice deep inside the earth,” Lily said. “She was powerless for centuries, but I messed up. Once in every lifetime, your mentor—a prophet named Tobias Prague— comes to check on you. He passes through a portal to make sure the spell is still in place and that the magical seal you put on this world is working as it should. A few weeks ago, when he opened the portal, I followed him, thinking I would use the information I learned to gain power in my world. When I came through the portal, I killed him.”
Parrish listened to the story, not believing that after all this questioning and searching, it was the enemy who was finally giving them answers.
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” she said. “I was scared. This darkness overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t fight it. Before I knew what was happening, my dagger had plunged into his stomach. As he died, he begged me to find you. To warn you, but the Dark One promised me so many things.”
Lily sobbed, every once in a while glancing back at the doors, as if she expected someone to come through at any moment.
“My actions created a crack in the magical seal you created long ago, allowing the Dark One to grow a single rose. A rose that infected the first human and spread through the human world, killing millions. With each death, the Dark One grows stronger. I pledged my life to her, believing she would give me something I’d been wanting my entire life. Power. Recognition. A sense of purpose.”
“You caused all this,” Parrish said. “All of this is your fault.”
“Yes. I did this,” she said. “But by the time I realized how wrong I was, it was already too late. I can’t stop what the Dark One has already set in motion, but you can. Parrish you are stronger than you could ever imagine. There are not many of your kind. Those who wield both sides of the power are extremely rare in our world. You must find the fifth. You must go to the Island of Memories and remember the guardians you once were. You are the only ones who can stop her now. Not just to save what’s left of this world, but also to save the people in mine.”
“Why are you telling us all this? How do we even know we can trust anything you say?”
“Because I owe you this,” she said. “I didn’t tell you my name because no one had ever given me one before.”
She touched a finger to the bracelet on her arm.
“You are the only friends I’ve ever known, and I will go to my grave knowing I betrayed you,” she said. “But it’s my hope that I can help you find the fifth and save your sister.”
Hot tears welled up in Parrish’s eyes and her breath caught in her chest. “My sister?” she whispered. “My sister is dead.”
“She’s alive,” Lily said. “But the Dark One knows where she is. She plans to use your sister against you. You have to go to New York and find her before the Dark One does. You’ll find the fifth there, as well.”
Lily glanced back toward the doors and shivered.
“I don’t have much time left,” she said. “I know you won’t believe me when I tell you I’m sorry, but I am.”
Behind her, the doors to the ER burst open and two rotters seized her by the arms and dragged her backwards.
“Take this stone,” she shouted, struggling against the zombies. She reached into her pocket and threw something toward them. Parrish grabbed it, turning it over in her palm.
“Take the stone to the island,” Lily said. “It will help you to remember. It will help you find the fifth.”
Lily disappeared through the doors, her screams still echoing through the building long after she was gone.
Parrish let her head fall into her hands.
Zoe was alive. She’d been alive all this time, still waiting for Parrish to come rescue her.
They had to get to New York. Somehow, they had to find a way to get to her sister.
“What did she give you?” Crash asked.
Karmen stepped forward and touched her hand to the stone. “I saw it in her bag earlier this morning before we left,” she said. “There are symbols carved into each side. I think each mark belongs to one of us.”
Parrish turned it over in her hands. Four of the symbols lit up, but the fifth remained dark.
They had to find him. They had to rescue her sister. But first, they had to get out of this hospital.
She secured the stone in her backpack and fell to her knees at Noah’s side. She placed her hands on his face and his eyes fluttered open.
A sob escaped from her lips and she leaned down and kissed him. “I love you,” she said.
He smiled and ran his fingertips along her jawline. “I love you, too,” he said. “Is it over?”
She nodded. “I think so,” she said. “Can you walk?”
She and Crash helped him to stand.
“I think so,” he said.
Noah wrapped his strong
arms around her. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her so tight she was afraid he was going to crack a rib.
“We never split up like that again, okay?” he said.
She nodded against his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt. “Yeah, that was a dumb idea,” she said. “Is everyone okay?”
“I’m bleeding all over the place, but other than massive claw marks on my arms, I think I’m going to be fine,” Crash said.
“I’ll look at it again when we get out of here,” Noah said.
“Did anyone actually find any damned antibiotics?” Parrish asked. “Because if we walk out of this place without them after everything we just went through, I’m going to scream.”
“We found one of those med carts in one of the rooms, but I’ll be damned if I’m going back in there now,” Crash said.
“Wait,” Karmen said. “Look.”
She pointed toward a well-lit room visible behind the nurse’s station.
Parrish laughed, tears of joy and disbelief falling onto her cheeks. “The meds room,” she said.
Karmen jumped over the counter of the nurse’s station and pushed through the doors toward the meds room. “It’s locked,” Karmen said.
Crash leaned over the body of a dead nurse on the floor at Parrish’s feet. He grabbed a badge clipped to the front of her scrubs.
“Try this,” he said, tossing the badge to Karmen.
She slid the badge through the scanner and the door clicked open.
Karmen clapped and let her head fall back. “Thank God,” she said.
Parrish smiled and pushed the door open. “Look for any name that ends with ‘cillin’. Like Amoxycillin, Penicillin, whatever.”
“Here,” Noah said.
The glass case holding the antibiotics was locked, but Parrish slammed the hilt of her sword against it and it shattered. She pulled the bottles of pills and all the IV bags out of the case and stuffed them in her bag, grateful for this one thing.
Banged up, bloodied, and bruised, the four of them made their way to the exit, pushing out into the amber light of sunset.
There was no sign of the girl and no rotters waiting for them. They had survived a great battle and come out stronger for it. As they searched for a house to sleep in for the night, Parrish cried tears of happiness, her arm linked with Noah’s.
She still didn’t understand everything that had happened, and there was still a great journey ahead of them but they were alive. Zoe was alive. And for now that was enough.
Because where there was life, there was hope.
“Zoe, sweetheart, I’m a friend of your sister’s,” the witch said. She knocked again, waiting for the girl to open the door.
She hated that the Dark One had sent her to do this task, but she was helpless to fight against the wishes of her mistress. She had strayed, and the Dark One had punished her, just as the witch knew she would.
She trembled, remembering the way her body had burned. At times, she wasn’t sure she would survive it, but the Dark One wanted her to live. She wanted to make sure the witch would never forget the consequences of betrayal.
She lifted her hand to the door again, the silver bracelet jangling on her ruined arm. Her entire body was ruined and burned now, her beauty taken from her. She waited, hot tears falling against her cheek.
But the girl didn’t come.
Frustrated, knowing this was her last chance to please the Dark One, the young witch placed her ear against the door. She listened for any sign of movement inside. There was no telling what that child had been through in the past few weeks. She could be comatose in a corner somewhere, barely able to hear what was going on outside the door.
If she had to, she would tear it down. One way or another, she was getting that little girl and taking her somewhere Parrish could never find her. She hated herself for this, but she would never risk being tortured again. She would rather die.
There were no sounds on the other side of the door. With the throngs of undead moving this time of night all around the city, this suite at the top of the Four Seasons was one of the quietest, most sheltered places there were. Zoe had been lucky.
“Zoe, please open the door. I’m here to help you.” The worst kind of lie, but she had no choice. It was her life or the girl’s, and the witch had plans for her life. She had chosen her side, and she intended to see this through.
When the child didn’t answer, the witch turned to the beast of a man behind her and nodded.
She stepped out of the way just before the zombie ran, shoulder-first as hard as he could, toward the door. Wood splintered and cracked, but there was no scream inside.
She had expected a scream of horror.
The zombie moved, his eyes red and vacant. He had been a man once, but now he was nothing more than a vessel. A servant of the Dark One, like so many millions out there now. Like her. It was her only purpose now.
The guardians were strong. They had survived so much, but the war against them had only just begun.
And if they somehow managed to reunite with the fifth, this little girl would help defeat them. Where there was love, there was weakness. She had learned that lesson the hard way.
The witch crawled through the hole in the door and looked around. It was dark, but she sent a conjured orb of light along the edges of the room, searching every nook and cranny where the girl might be hiding. The suite had a large living area and a separate bedroom. So many places for a small child to hide.
Sheets and comforters were piled on the floor, creating a little nest where the child must have been sleeping at night. The room smelled of feces and urine.
There was no sign of the girl now, though. Where could she be hiding?
“Zoe?”
The door to the bedroom was blocked completely. Every piece of furniture light enough for a child to move on her own had been pushed in front of the door, and the smell of decay just beyond it told the story of what she had been protecting herself from.
Her father. Parrish had mentioned he was here with the girl. He had died and risen as one of the Dark One’s servants. The witch could hear him in the next room, shuffling around.
She was about to instruct her two minions to clear the area in front of the door when something caught her eye near the window.
She moved quickly, increasing the power of her light.
Her orb moved around the edges of the room and the witch’s eyes followed it, searching for the girl. She had to be here somewhere. Hiding like a smart little thing. Not trusting anyone who wasn’t Parrish.
But when the light shone on the large window that took up most of the outer wall of the suite, the witch’s heart stopped beating for a full five seconds. She couldn’t breathe or move. All she could do was stand in the middle of the large room and stare at that window, her body trembling in fear.
There, across the entire center pane of glass, low enough a child could reach it, was a symbol drawn in blood. A spiral, the symbol for air.
The witch collapsed to her knees, unable to take her eyes off the glass. Tears rolled down her burned face. She had failed her mistress, and she would be punished again.
This was the symbol of the fifth guardian.
Somehow, he had gotten to her first.
The boy held his hand out, motioning for Zoe to join him on the roof. She was frightened and pale, but she seemed to trust him.
He wished he could tell her everything he knew, but couldn’t find his voice. All he could do was lead her, but they needed to move quickly. The Dark One would be searching for them soon.
Carefully, tears shining in her eyes, she placed her hand in his.
He helped her onto the roof, the night air cool against his skin.
“It’s been so long since I saw anyone alive,” she said. “Where are you taking me?”
He gave her a small smile, wishing he could tell her that everything was going to be okay. Only, he couldn’t promise that to her. All he could do was try to keep her safe.
/> He’d been wrong about who she was. She was not his leader. Not one of the guardians at all. But somehow, she carried the blood of a guardian in her veins. Blood that had protected her from the virus and given her the strength to survive this long.
And she wore the leader’s sign—an infinity symbol—around her neck.
He wished he had more time to ask her about herself and what she was doing in that room, but they were running out of time. She needed to follow him now, or it would be too late.
He held up his index finger and reached into his pocket, taking out a small spiral notebook. In a child’s hand, he wrote one word.
Home.
She met his eyes and shivered in the dark. “It’s cold up here.”
He pulled his black hoodie from his bag and helped her put it on. She was a little taller than he was, and a few years older, but the sweatshirt was still way too big on her. She looked so fragile and scared.
The boy held out his hand and nodded, encouraging her to come with him.
Zoe stared at him, and then looked out across the rooftops of the city.
“How will we get there?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”
The boy smiled. After two days of jumping rooftops, he’d gotten much better at it. So good, he barely needed to touch the ground anymore.
He wrote something else on his notebook and showed it to her.
We’re going to fly.
Her eyes widened and she stared at him, shaking her head. “That’s impossible,” she said.
He offered his hand again, tucking the notebook back into his pocket.
The girl trembled, wrapping the hoodie tighter around her small body. She stared into his eyes, as if trying to decide whether to believe him.
The boy lifted his arms into the air, his hands glowing with a dim blue light.
All around them, the wind picked up, blowing Zoe’s hair all around her face. Her eyes widened, and she spun around, her mouth open in awe.
“Are you doing this?” she asked.
The boy smiled and nodded. He raised his arms even higher, and another gust of wind blew over the rooftop.
