Alone (Book 2): Lone

by Prunty, Mercedes

  At first we all just stood there in our two teams, me and Dwayne at the front showing force, with our army behind us, Christian and Katherine came to the front but I noticed how the others stayed alert and ready to move to protect their leader if needed.

  “So we meet again my traitorous Queen”, he smiled, his face already dripping with blood as if he had fed on something or someone on the way. Katherine smirked at me and Dwayne.

  “Right little thing they got going on here”, She giggled, her eyes taking in everyone around us.

  “Turn away now and we won’t kill you”, I said hoping they would take the offer and leave, I knew they wouldn’t and I knew in reality it was our people that were more likely to suffer than theirs but I had to try right?

  Katherine laughed a high pitched wail, “Stupid humans always think talking will fix things”.

  “At least we are humans”, Dwayne snapped flexing his muscles.

  “She ain’t and neither is she”, Katherine said pointing to me and to Kaley, her eyes board into Kaley’s and I knew she wanted her for some reason.

  “You leave her alone”, I hissed, “It’s me you want to kill”.

  “You didn’t throw me across a room just by looking at me, she did. She needs to be punished”.

  “Fuck you”, Kaley shouted out and I knew that would only rile the woman more.

  “Katherine stop this”, Lara said appearing from the crowd, “You were never like this, you used to be such a caring person”.

  “Yeah till the world went to shit Lara and you betrayed me”.

  “Betrayed you? I never did anything to you it was you who betrayed me, keeping me prisoner and locked up, beaten and abused”.

  “You wouldn’t turn, you know humans are the extinct race now, we are evolution, we are the new world”, she said, she truly believed it in her mind that they were the better race.

  “You are wrong and deep down you know it, it’s only because of him you are this way and it has always been because of him”.

  “Don’t blame him”, she hissed.

  “Why not? He got our sister pregnant and killed by an alien looking freak, and I know before the world turned to crap that you and him were having an affair”.

  “Jealous are we because he didn’t want you?” she laughed before her face turned sour, “And that alien freak was our nephew, that bitch who is your so called new best friend killed him. It’s us you should be supporting, not her”. She pointed at me now, I could feel the anger and the tension in the air, I knew it wouldn’t be long and the tension would snap and we would all be dragged into this new war.

  Lara gave up trying to reason with her sister, “Do you know what Katherine I don’t care anymore, do what you want you always used to”.

  “Oh I will do what I want, first I’m gonna kill you, then I’m gonna kill the little girl and then the zombie Queen over there, she’s gonna get it last, she can watch all you idiots die first”.

  I breathed in and readied myself, I knew it was coming, I could hear the clicking getting louder and louder in my mind.

  Christian looked over at me and spoke so everyone could hear, “Let the best beast win”. And with that the signal had been given and the whole place went into a frenzy.

  Chaos erupted all around us as people charged from both parties their weapon’s raised, the half creature breeds using their strange abilities, some charging into the throng of bodies, blood was already littering the roads, the white snow turning blood red. I ran forward into the fight, there was a half breed not too far from me, he grabbed two men, one by each arm, he bit down into one of their necks and tore their throat out spilling blood over him, the other one screaming and trying to batter the monster with a baseball bat was next, his neck twisted and broken, he lay lifeless in the snow watching the fight go on with dull opened eyes. The half breed turned and I recognised him instantly as the security looking guy from the castle, muscles upon muscles, I just hoped they would bulk him down and make him slow. He spotted me coming causing him to smile with blood dripping from his disgusting mouth, he lunged just as did I. We collided in the middle of our playing field and knocked each other back, I fell onto my back and swung my body and my legs so I could stand back up as quickly as possible, the half breed too was back on his feet. Taking a hand out from behind his back he took out a sword he had taken from the castle, he swung it freely around him trying to put me off going near him but I was fast. I rushed him and ducked under a blow from the sword, skidding my feet so they slid in the icy snow, brandishing my claws I struck them out like daggers at my side then as I swung my body round and up from under his blow I struck him in the arm tearing it clean off from the shoulder down.

  He roared with pain and clutched at his now sword less and armless stump, the sword and arm flew in the air and landed at Kaley’s feet, this made her smile and she winked at me. She lifted one hand in the air and the arm still holding the sword lifted into the air, she pointed the blade at the half breed and then with such invisible force she flung it forward with her gift, within seconds the sword had flown back to its owner and landed deep into the cavity of his chest. He clutched at the sword and tried to pull it out with his one remaining arm but he wasn’t like me, he couldn’t heal that much of a wound, he fell to his knees and then onto his chest driving the sword deeper still until the handle was pretty much sticking out the other side of his body.

  I looked at Kaley, her face determined. I knew she wasn’t going to listen to me about keeping her gift until Christian was ready but now witnessing the carnage already it might be a good thing for her to use it, we would find a way to take him out without her gift if it came to it. Somehow.

  Arms grabbed me from behind and I spun down low kicking my feet out and knocking down another female half breed, this one I had seen at the dinner table but hadn’t really taken much notice of her until now, her eyes were bleeding with anger, her decaying teeth rasping and snapping at me. She didn’t really have much strength like the others had but I had to admit she was fast, even as she fell from my kick she was twisting her body so she landed in a fighting stance, she then slashed at me with a small ceremonial dagger. I blocked her blows and struck her in the chin with my foot dislocating her jaw, she yelped out and tried to click it back into place, “Bitch”, she hissed.

  She jumped at me again slicing and driving the blade into my back as I tried to turn to miss it, the slice stung and as I looked down I noticed she had chopped some of my hair off, “Bitch”, I hissed back and punched her in the nose. Her nose exploded over her face, blood gushing down her chin and over her blackened teeth.

  Hissing at me she jumped at me again but I lifted my claws up and twisted them into her gut as she landed, blood gurgled from her mouth as she tried to talk. I drew them out and let her fall to the ground with a crunch and a splat.

  “Get off me”. I knew that voice.

  Turning I spotted Katherine and she had Kaley in an arm lock, keeping her hands and face looking away from her so she couldn’t use her gift against her. She laughed and whispered something into her ear all the while lifting her other hand with a knife, “No”, I cried out and ran for the two girls.

  Smack! Lara made it to them first and kicked her sister off the teenage girl, Katherine reeled with shock. The two women now fell onto the floor fighting, Katherine punching, kicking and snapping her jaws at her sister, whilst Lara struggled with the weight of the half breed now on top of her. Kaley grabbed Katherine’s hair and yanked it hard pulling her off Lara, Lara jumped up and picked up the sword I had given her at the castle, it had fallen from her grasp. Katherine turned to hit Kaley but the girl ducked down and Lara went to jab with the sword. Katherine wriggled out the way just in time but a look of pure shock settled over her face at the fact that her human sister had just tried to outdo her.

  “Oh you wanna play sister, bring it on”.

  “Oh I’ll bring it”, Lara said and drove the sword down again, this time it connected but didn’t do mu
ch harm, it hit the half breed’s wrist and she cried out in pain and a line of blood surfaced across her mottled skin.

  “That’s it, I can’t fight like a human anymore”, and with that Katherine took of her gloves and revealed her swollen infected finger tips, she pushed the infection round her body and made it change her, her skin greyed and flapped as it would have when the acid rain first hit, her eyes reddened and dripped with blood, veins popped out her head and she howled, howled into the air like a rabid beast then she lunged for her sister once again.

  Lara swung the sword and Katherine blocked using her own arms to block with, the creature inside her no longer thinking like a human would about protecting the body and arms at all costs. She howled in pain and anger as flaps of skin fell off from the hit. She sprang up and crashed into her sister sending her flying into the air, the sword flew from her grasp and she landed with a heavy crunching sound on a driveway of a nearby house. Trying to stand up she collapsed back down, her leg bent at an awkward angle, she cried out in pain but tried it again using the garage door as a rod to pull her up. Katherine howled and raced again at her sister, Lara spotted the sword just a few feet away and jumped as far as she could to reach it, her finger tips just brushed it from the landing and she cried out as her leg smacked painfully on the ground but it didn’t deter her, she reached out to the handle and snatched it up turning round just as Katherine landed, bringing the sword up and ramming it into her neck. Katherine gasped and chocked for air as the blade had cut off and blocked her airways, as she struggled she slid further and further down the blade shaft until she was face to face with Lara. Lara paled but sat strongly, she twisted the blade and her sisters head popped off with a tearing sound, blood leaked all over the poor girl and she just sat there now dazed and confused by what had happened.

  The other half breeds all paused for a moment as Christian howled in rage at Katherine being killed, he ran forward to the woman who still sat there broken and lost in her own thoughts, I went to move but Kaley was there, she flung out her power but another half breed jumped in the way and took the push and was flung up into the air landing on top of the wood shed and breaking it to pieces, splinters of wood and logs rushed out.

  Christian was still charging at Kaley other bodies flinging themselves in front of him to protect him as Kaley tried over and over to hit him. He reached her and backhanded her across the face, she flew back and smashed her head against a wall and was knocked unconscious.

  “No, No”, this was not meant to happen.

  I ran forward with anger filling my body making me pump my legs faster, I charged and jumped aiming to stab my claws into Christians exposed back but someone else stood in the way and took the brunt of it, my claws literally slicing them in two. Christian turned to me and grinned, then he backhanded me and sent me flying in the opposite direction to Kaley so that I was now nowhere near her to help her.

  CLICK, CLICK, CLICK!!!

  The noise echoed all around my brain and I let out a scream of shock as I finally realised what it was, a flash of clawed feet running through the forest, jumping past trees their claws scarring the bark as they passed, their dark skeletal figures moving like blurs in the snow. The saliva dropping from their crushed in jaws, the howl as they knew I was in trouble, their eyes flaming in madness.

  A flash back came to my mind of Kaley telling me to open it and to let the creature out, I hadn’t heard her finish the sentence as she had said, “Call to them!” Them being the Crushers.

  BANG, CRASH, SMASH, “ARGH”, screams echoed around the camp as the Crushers I had once commanded turned up unannounced, they slashed their way through the half breeds that were closest to them, one, my second in command as I liked to call him grabbed one by its arms and legs, they looked at me for the go ahead, “Kill the other infected half breeds but leave the girl”, I told them and showed them a mental picture of the ones I wanted gone and with it they tore the half breed in half, his guts spilling out from his torn torso onto the snow. The crushers howled with delight and whilst some feasted on the remains of the fallen infected the others set to work fighting the monsters I couldn’t reach.

  Christian glanced at me and then left Kaley on the floor unconscious walking over to where I lay, “I knew it, I knew there was something you weren’t telling me, I knew there was a reason I couldn’t connect to your mind and it’s because you were already connected to theirs”.

  I just spat at him as he neared me and I got to my feet.

  “We could make a great team you and me, we could be in charge of the world, you with those Crushers and me with the other half breeds. I could be your King and you my Queen, why don’t you just call them off the hunt and we will leave”.

  “Go to hell, I don’t need the world, I just need this place”.

  His face clouded over, “We could have been incredible together”.

  “No, you would have been an abomination on the world and I could never allow that, you have killed enough innocent people and now it’s time for you to stop”.

  “And who’s going to stop me”.

  “We are”, Lara said from behind him, she was standing up right with a now semi-conscious Kaley, she was leaning up against Kaley as her leg was so mangled but she held the sword with such demeanour I knew even if it killed her she would try to stop him.

  He grinned even wider, “Bring it”.

  The fight took hold of us once again, Kaley had to push Lara to the side as Christian turned on both of them instead of me, I guessed he thought they were the weaker opponents. He went to back hand Kaley again but she held out her hand and he stood there almost frozen for a moment as she forced his body to stay completely still, as the Crushers were playing with all his half breeds, there was no one to stand in his way to stop her power. The only part of him that could move were his eyes and he made sure to close them so she couldn’t get into his head. Lara lifted the heavy sword and took a step forward but she fell to her knees the pain now becoming too much for her to bare.

  His eyes laughed at her even though his mouth didn’t move as he flickered them open to see what the noise was, I took to the stage and walked over to Lara and picked up her sword, then I grabbed her arm and hoisted her up so she could lean on me for support.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “He’s yours”, I smiled, “This kill would mean more to you than to me, I think it should be you who gets to finish him off”.

  Nodding she hopped with me, until we reached him, his eyes now holding something sort of like fear, she lifted up the sword and breathed in deeply, “This is for my sisters”, she howled and drove the sword home into his chest.

  Kaley finally let him go and he fell to the floor, “This isn’t the end you know”, he swallowed sharply and his breathing was already becoming shallow, blood appeared around his lips as he coughed.

  “Maybe not but it’s the end for you”, I smiled.

  “I know where it is you have to take the girl”, he said trying to lure me in to keeping him alive.

  “Funny that, so do I”, I smiled back at him.

  His face dropped at my answer, “You can’t know, Albi said he never told you”.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Albi knew where it was but he just didn’t want to say because he didn’t really want to take her, he knew something you don’t”.

  “I know exactly what it is”.

  “You can’t, he said she never showed you and he never told you”. I had no idea what he was muttering about but I knew it was a ruse just to let me keep him alive.

  “Well I know now, is that enough for you?”

  Knowing it wasn’t working he changed his plea, “Please save me I can help you all I need is some of your blood”.

  I just sighed, “Not this again”, but as I turned to put him out of his misery, he moved, faster than I had thought a dying man could go. He wrapped his arm around me pulling me to him and he bit down on my shoulder, I felt his teeth tear at my flesh and I
cried out, angling my claws I stabbed them into his abdomen but he didn’t let me go, instead he sucked at my blood in the hope it would fill his veins and heal his wounds like it did mine.

  “Get off me you creep”, I shouted and tried to stab him again but he moved his body so I only tore a surface wound on his skin.

  Kaley appeared beside me and locked onto his vision but he moved me so she could no longer look into his eyes, she lifted her hand to shower her gift down upon him to stop him moving but in doing so it made it so I couldn’t move, I was stuck with his wet mouth suckling at my torn skin, his tongue desperately trying to lap up my blood. Kaley had no choice but to drop her guard letting us both move again, as she did this he threw me forward making me crash land into her, she went sprawling with me on top. Spinning on my heel I watched as he took the sword from his chest and ran with rage at me, his blood seeping from the wound and spreading over his top and chest like wildfire. Racing to me he brought the sword down.

  “Nooooo!”

  I recognised the voice before I saw the face, Callum. Running in front of Christian he punched him square in the face, using all of his own creature strength in that punch sending the vile man back, he slipped in the snow crashing down and cracking his skull on the pavement below, blood gushed out but that didn’t stop Callum, he pounded his fist down on his face again and again and again until all that was left was a gaping, raw and bloody mess of meat, skull and brains.

  When Callum finally stood back I rushed to Christian, picking up the sword I brought it down over his neck and took his head clean off, there was no way I wanted this bastard coming back, not if his plan worked and my blood could heal him. I fell to my knees and watched as slowly and surely now his mind control was gone the rest of the camp and the Crushers slowly took all the other half breeds out. Leaving only mangled, broken corpses in the street.