“A freeze ray. It’s supposed to stop zombies.”
“What about me?” Raven asked.
“It’s just a prototype, so we only have one,” Harley said before handing her a crowbar. “The rest of us get these.”
“Gee, thanks,” Raven said, letting it hang at her side.
“You aren’t going to use those, are you?” Natalia asked.
Harley looked at her sideways. “How else are you supposed to kill a zombie?”
“I don’t think they’re zombies,” Natalia said. “Someone is controlling them, kind of like puppets.”
“Either way, they’re still dead, so they won’t feel a thing,” Harley said.
“I still don’t think we should hurt them,” Natalia said, unwilling to let it go. “They used to be people’s parents or grandparents…. I even saw kids. It’s just… I don’t know. It’s wrong, that’s all.”
“What about Smoke?” Max asked.
“What about me?” Smoke said as he flashed into view, blocking their path back to the shore.
Harley raised his crowbar as Sprig morphed into a white tiger and stood protectively in front of Max.
“I’d be careful if I were you,” Smoke said. He disappeared before popping up in front of Harley. Then he wrapped his hand around the crowbar before vanishing again. He reappeared back where he started and dropped the crowbar into the water.
Sprig roared.
“Before this is over, Von Strife is going to turn on you,” Natalia said. “He’s going to rip your soul out and stuff it into a machine, just like he did with Robert.”
“Von Strife doesn’t want to kill anybody,” Smoke said. “He’s saving us. Don’t you get it?”
“He is a liar,” Sprig said.
Smoke sneered at the faerie. “What would you know? You’re nothing more than a wild animal that can do a few parlor tricks.”
“Tell that to Robert,” Raven said as Sprig revealed her fangs.
Smoke closed his eyes and took two deep breaths. Then he looked straight at Raven. “Look, I’m here to help.”
“Sure you are.”
“The day is going to come when that faerie essence takes over your body,” Smoke said. “You won’t remember your name… where you live…. You won’t even recognize your own parents. Is that what you want?”
Raven only glared.
There was a chorus of groaning as a mass of bodies stumbled down the pier.
“The only person who can help us is Von Strife,” Smoke said.
“No, thanks,” Raven said. “I’d rather get my brains eaten.”
“Don’t say I didn’t offer.” With that, Smoke was gone.
“Get behind me,” Max said as the first zombie broke out of the fog. He reached down and twisted the iron ring on his finger. It shimmered before turning into the gauntlet.
“There’re too many,” Natalia said. She thought about jumping over the side of the dock, but when she looked down, all she saw was angry water swirling against the rocks.
“Don’t give up on me,” Max said. Blue flames ignited around his gauntlet. The zombies stopped, confused by the strange fire, but their confusion didn’t last.
The first zombies slouched as they ambled with arms raised. Rotting skin clung to their bodies, and some were missing ears, lips, and even eyelids. With each step they took, the world seemed to grow darker, more hopeless.
Natalia swallowed hard before raising the ray gun.
“Shoot them!” Harley shouted.
The zombie closest to her was enormous. The hair from his balding head had fallen away, revealing pieces of his scalp. He was missing one eye, and a black liquid dripped down his face and onto his white shirt. His arms flailed as he dragged his back foot toward her.
Natalia could smell the rot of death. She screamed, and then she fired.
Liquid ice sprang from the barrel of the pistol before hitting the dead man. Ice crystals spread across his chest, encasing his entire body. He howled as he tried to break free, but he couldn’t. Then he fell off the dock and into the raging water.
Natalia took aim and hit a second zombie. Then she shot at an old woman in a flowered dress who was missing most of her teeth, along with her left arm.
Max unleashed a stream of blue fire from his gauntlet, creating a wall in front of the zombies. The mass of the undead groaned louder, fearful of the flames that crackled in front of them. Sprig pawed at the air in warning, showing the undead her massive claws.
There was shouting coming from the end of the pier. The fog was too thick for any of them to see much of anything, but something was upsetting the zombies. As one, they turned before dragging themselves back to shore.
“Where are they going?” Natalia asked. The ray gun was shaking in her hands.
“I don’t know, but this is our chance,” Max said. He grabbed Natalia by the sleeve before stepping over the dying flames. Then he ran to shore.
The streets were filled with pandemonium as six costumed changelings drew the zombies away from the pier. A dozen of the undead lay frozen on the ground, victims of Nadya, the changeling who could turn moisture into ice. Yi was there as well. His body was shrouded in flames as he pushed the zombies toward a cliff that overlooked the water.
There was a blur of motion, and suddenly Ernie was standing in front of them. “What are you guys doing here?” He sounded upset.
“We came to help you fight zombies,” Natalia said.
The blare of sirens cut through the night. Ernie looked over his shoulder to see the first of the flashing lights. “You better go before the constables show up.”
“What about you?” Natalia asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Come with us.”
Ernie bit his lower lip. “I can’t,” he said. “I’m not going to leave anyone behind.”
“But—”
“We’ll be fine.”
“Natalia thinks a changeling is controlling the zombies,” Max said. “If you take him out, that should stop them.”
Ernie paused. Then he nodded. “Thanks.”
“Smoke’s here, too.”
“We’re ready for him,” Ernie said before taking off in a blur.
“Let’s go,” Max said as his gauntlet turned back into a ring.
“Yes,” Sprig agreed. “We should leave this place.”
“We’re not going to abandon them, are we?” Natalia asked. “We can help.”
“You heard him,” Max said. “They don’t need us.”
“Max!” Natalia shouted.
Max spun around as one of the zombies reached for him. The man’s hair and beard were wild, and patches of his skin were torn away, revealing yellowed bone. Max ducked out of the way, infuriating the dead man.
Something grabbed Max’s ankle. He tried to kick free and heard the crunch of bone as his heel connected with something, but he couldn’t see who or what it was. More hands grabbed at him. Max looked up to see the remains of an elderly woman whose arm was swinging like a pendulum while her other arm reached toward Natalia.
Sprig swatted at a zombie as it lurched for Max, knocking it to the ground. Natalia screamed. Before the undead woman could grab her, Harley tackled the corpse. Then the remains of a young girl in a white dress smeared with mud approached. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl as she dragged one leg, relying on the other for her momentum.
“Get away from me!” Natalia shouted as she flailed with her arms. The girl’s corpse tried to bite her but missed.
A rotting hand grabbed Max around the throat. The dead flesh felt like ice. Another hand grabbed his wrist. Max didn’t want to give way to panic, but the walking dead were more horrific than monsters and faerie creatures combined. The nature of their movement was disturbing, and the stench of their flesh was vile.
Sprig pounced, biting into one of the zombies before throwing it to the side. She roared. The sound had the effect of a bucket of cold water as Max woke from his daydream. Before scrambling to his feet,
he pulled away from the zombie that held his arm.
Max watched as one of the undead slipped an arm around Harley’s neck. Another wrapped around Harley’s waist. Then there were more, and Harley fought to stay standing.
All of a sudden, the zombies fell lifeless to the ground.
“What was that?” Harley asked as he kicked free from the fallen corpses.
“I think he did it,” Natalia said. “Ernie stopped the zombies!”
Max was breathing heavily. Then he smiled, but only for a moment. Corpses littered the streets and sidewalks, and the stench of death reeked in his nostrils. He felt sorry for whoever had to clean up the disgusting mess.
“We better get going before Oxley brings me in for another round of questioning,” Max said as Sprig nuzzled against him.
IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED
Obadiah Strange had promised a unique experience, and that’s just what his class had become. Instead of being tethered to their desks or reading archaic books, his students met in the SIM Chamber, a hyper-real holographic training room.
To the naked eye, the SIM Chamber was little more than a stark dome with iron grating for a floor. There were no paintings, wallpaper, knickknacks, or decor of any sort. However, once it was activated, the SIM Chamber could transform into anything from a lush rain forest to the dark side of the moon. There were no limits to the scenarios that the instructors at Iron Bridge could run.
“I’m curious,” Strange said from the observation platform inside the chamber. “Did anyone happen to read the front page of the Chronicle yesterday morning?”
Max caught Ernie looking at Yi and then Denton before turning back to Strange. Nobody said a word.
“I was fascinated to learn that our Agents of Justice have expanded their endeavors. Zombie extermination can be a nasty business.”
Natalia raised her hand.
“Yes, Miss Romanov?”
“I’m not sure they’re actually zombies,” she said.
“Is that so?” Strange asked with a cocked eyebrow. “And what makes you say that?”
“Well, zombies are driven by hunger for human brains, but… well, there were no fatalities.”
“So you did read the article?” Strange asked.
Natalia nodded.
“Any theories?”
“What if someone was controlling them?” Natalia asked. “You know, like puppets.”
“Interesting,” Strange said, scratching his beard. “There are, in fact, documented cases of changelings with the ability to control corpses, though never at this magnitude.”
“Like I said, it’s just a theory.”
Strange’s eyes lingered on Natalia before he turned his attention to the rest of the class. “Now then,” he said. “Today we’ll start our team exercises. I’ll need Max, Natalia, Yi, and Agent Thunderbolt to stay where you are. The rest of you can join me on the observation platform.”
“What about Sprig?” Max asked as the Bounder Faerie nuzzled against him.
“She’ll be part of the scenario as well,” Strange said. “The goal will be simple. All you need to do is open the box and bring the contents to me.”
“That’s it?” Yi asked.
Strange smiled, revealing his wooden teeth. “That’s it.”
As the rest of the class walked up a spiral staircase that led to the observation platform, the atmosphere shimmered. The SIM Chamber was gone and was replaced by a room that looked like an ancient temple.
Creeping vines covered the brick walls, and the floor was little more than compacted dirt and sand. There was a stream of light that came down from an opening in the ceiling, bathing a pedestal and the box it held in a golden glow.
“Hold on,” Max said, catching Yi’s shoulder before he could take a step.
Yi pulled away. “Hands off, Sumner. I’m not one of your Grey Griffin groupies,” he said as flames sparked in his eyes. Sprig morphed into a white tiger and started growling. Her ears were pinned back and her head was lowered.
“You realize the floor is covered with traps, right?” Max asked.
“So?” Yi said, setting his jaw.
“Look, I know you don’t like me, and that’s fine,” Max said. “But this isn’t a competition. Strange picked the four of us for a reason, so we’re going to have to work as a team. When it’s over, you can go back to hating me, but I don’t want my grade to suffer, and I’m pretty sure you don’t, either.”
Yi hesitated when Max extended his hand, but he shook it and said, “Fine, but you’re not in charge.”
Max resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he turned to Ernie. “It’s your call.”
Ernie frowned. It was as though he was trying to gauge whether Max was serious, but Max just stood there with Natalia and Yi waiting for Ernie’s instructions.
“Well,” Ernie said as he adjusted his goggles, “Natalia should probably check for traps in the faerie spectrum.”
Max nodded his approval, which appeared to put Ernie at ease. He looked around the room while Natalia pulled out her Phantasmoscope. “Yi, we could probably use a little more light,” Ernie said.
“No problem.” Yi’s arms burst into flames, pushing back the darkness.
“I’m not finding much of anything,” Natalia said. “There’s some trace around the box, but that’s it.”
“I could probably run fast enough to get there and back without triggering any traps, but something doesn’t seem right,” Ernie said, shuffling his feet.
After hearing a scraping sound, Ernie knelt down to rub the sand away. When he was done, he found a circular stone that was roughly the size of a car tire.
“I wonder if there’re more,” Natalia said.
Ernie remained on his hands and knees as he swept the sand away from a second stone. Then he found a third before he stopped. “It could be a path,” he said as he started to clear off a fourth stone.
Ernie slipped, putting his full weight on the stone. It started to sink, and then the ground started to rumble.
“That’s not good,” Ernie said.
The sand started to swirl before it fell away like water draining from a bathtub. “Get to the stones!” Ernie shouted.
Yi fell back. He was fighting against the sand, but it was sucking him under. Ernie knelt on a stone, which wasn’t a stone at all. As it rose out of the ground, like all the others, he saw that the stones were actually the tops of pillars that stood over twenty feet tall.
As Ernie reached for Yi, he had to pull his hand back. Yi’s entire body had erupted into fire. The more frightened he got, the higher the flames grew, and the sand around Yi started turning into glass.
Sprig morphed into a winged monkey with bright blue fur. Nearby, Max had latched onto one of the stone pillars. He was hanging over the pit of falling sand by his fingertips while Natalia scrambled to the top of a pillar a few feet away.
“Sprig!” Max called out as his fingers slipped. She pinned her wings back before diving. Then, as Max fell, she grabbed his wrists with her monkey hands, but Max was too heavy. Now, instead of Max falling to his death, they both were.
The spriggan morphed into a griffin with fur the color of honey. She beat her wings, fighting against gravity as she tried to fly to safety. It wasn’t working, but Sprig strained, her wings pounding as she started to climb. Then she flew to a pillar, where she dropped Max before morphing back into a winged monkey.
Max breathed heavily as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Thanks,” he said, patting Sprig on the head. She jumped in place, clapping her hands, and did a backflip.
Nearby, Yi had managed to scramble across the slick glass to join Ernie on his pillar. Natalia stood alone on another.
“Now what?” she asked.
Ernie turned to Max, his face a mask of confusion.
“It’s your call,” Max said, trying to reassure him.
There was a grinding sound before the entire room started to shake. Then the pillars started to drop. It was slow at fi
rst, but it didn’t take long before they picked up speed.
The ground trembled, and Yi fell. He screamed, and Ernie tried to reach for him, but it was too late. Yi was gone. “Somebody do something!” Ernie shouted.
“Go get the box,” Max said to his Bounder Faerie. Sprig nodded and took flight. The ceiling started to crumble. Some of the debris was large enough to crush the pillars, which crumbled under the weight.
Sprig zigged and zagged as she flew. Then, just as her fingertips touched the box, there was an explosion of light. The remaining pillars disintegrated into dust, sending Max, Natalia, and Ernie falling into the depths of the pit.
As the temple disappeared and the SIM Chamber came back into focus, Max was on his hands and knees. His breathing was shallow and his eyes wide as Sprig shuddered next to him.
“If I were grading you on effort, I might give you all passing grades,” Strange said. “However, effort isn’t enough. If this were a real expedition, we’d be attending your funerals tomorrow.”
He looked at his pocket watch before shaking his head. “I’d like to run the simulation again, but I’m afraid we don’t have time. I’ll expect a marked improvement tomorrow.”
The next two groups didn’t do much better than the first. Catalina’s Bounder imp ended up getting trapped in a hunter’s snare. He started screeching as he reached for Catalina, who was sobbing. Between the two of them, they attracted some kind of monster that looked like a panther with a serpent’s tail.
While the class wound down, Strange massaged his forehead. “We’re not as far along as I’d hoped, but there were some promising moments,” he said. Then he sighed. “Since we only have a few minutes, I believe Miss Romanov has something that she’d like to discuss. Is that correct?”
Natalia looked over to Brooke and then to Raven before taking a deep breath. “Have you ever heard of Walter Windham?”
“I knew him well,” Strange said. “Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that, well… I found some old articles that he had written on time travel, and I wanted to know what you thought about it.”
Strange frowned. He turned to Raven, who looked away. “You realize he wasn’t referring to time travel per se,” Strange finally said. “Rather, it involves traveling to an alternate reality.”
Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles #2: The Relic Hunters Page 11
