Ex-Communication - Ex-Heroes 03

by Peter Clines

  Stealth’s head shook inside her cloak. “A small group gives us our best chance of success while still leaving the Mount protected. The Unbreakables shall stay behind with Cerberus.”

  The armored titan made a noise talking to?”3">Freedom nodded down at Madelyn. “And she’s coming because …?”

  “The exes do not sense Madelyn because of her unique nature,” said Stealth. “This invisibility extends to items she is wearing or carrying. From what Maxwell has—”

  “Corpse Girl,” said Madelyn. She pulled her mouth into a tight line. “I’m the Corpse Girl now.”

  “From what Maxwell has said,” continued Stealth, “Cairax Murrain’s senses are similarly tuned to living things. Corpse Girl’s trip to North Hollywood supports the premise that her invisibility also includes the demon, which means there is a good chance it does not know we have the sword. She will carry the sword and perhaps give us an element of surprise. At the least, she will still be able to help control the exes in the area.”

  Madelyn gave a sharp nod. She pulled her camo cap from her coat pocket and tugged it down over her hair.

  Ummmm, I hate to once again be the voice of reason in these discussions, said Zzzap, but if Max has been lying about everything else, why do we think he was telling the truth about needing the sword to kill the demon?

  “Maxwell is clever enough not to overcomplicate his story with unnecessary lies,” said the cloaked woman. “He believed we did not have the necessary tools to destroy Cairax Murrain, so there was no danger in telling us the truth.”

  Cerberus’s armored head swiveled to look at her. “That’s what your whole strategy is based off? That’s kind of thin.”

  “If you prefer,” said Stealth, “I can tell you that we have no other options and that the ‘thin’ path is better than taking no action at all.”

  The titan sighed and shook its head.

  “I can get behind the overcomplicated idea,” said Madelyn.

  I love this plan.

  “From what he told us, though, even with the sword, it seemed like a long shot,” Freedom said. He adjusted his helmet and pulled the strap across his chin. “The better play might be waiting here behind the protective seals.”

  “Assuming the seals even work,” said Cerberus. “If all of this was a plan to get Josh and the demon together, the seals might just be clever graffiti.”

  “We have more than just the sword,” Stealth said. “Based on the information Maxwell gave us, I believe we have all the requirements needed to kill the demon.”

  Stealth and Freedom went from rooftop to rooftop. She moved in graceful bounds, her path traced through the air behind her by her flowing cloak. He attacked the air, every leap and landing a show of brute force and mass thaF2IQ">“

  ANOTHER RUMBLE OF thunder echoed across the city as Max finished his circle and stepped back. “This should do it,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder. “Sorry, George. Time for you to go.”

  Cairax Murrain turned to them. A pile of dismembered exes had grown near the demon. The heads still shifted and twitched. Their lack of leverage muffled the click-click-click of their jaws. “At last,” it said. “Claim your prize, dearest Maxwell, and then both sides of our contract have been fulfilled.”

  Smoke poured from St. George’s mouth and nostril. The tattoos were tingling under his shirt. It felt like they were moving. “You don’t want to do this, Max,” he said. “I know you’re better than this.”

  “Sorry,” the sorcerer said. “I guess you don’t know me.”

  St. George scowled and sucked in a little more air.

  Max shook his head. “Don’t waste your time. It still won’t do anything.”

  “It’ll make me feel better.”

  “If I cared how you felt, I wouldn’t be trading your soul to a demon. But, if it helps, your body will change just like this one did. I won’t be tricking anyone into thinking I’m you or any of that sort of—”

  A shot rang out and the air blurred by Max’s head. Something appeared near his temple, a small lump of gleaming metal. Two more reports echoed across the street. St. George could see the trails as the rounds slowed down and came to a halt.

  Max turned and plucked one of the bullets out of the air. “Well,” he said, tossing it aside, “I guess the cavalry’s shown up after all.”

  Stealth leaped off the pet store remember falling asleeppiof picture, her cloak billowing out behind her. A Glock thundered in each hand and half a dozen rounds traced their way to Max. She hit the ground running, and another six rounds led the way.

  The sorcerer held up three fingers and the bullets dropped to the pavement.

  Cairax Murrain stretched up to its full height and stepped forward. “Ahhh, how truly wonderful,” the demon said, “the star-crossed lovers, reunited for the end. George Bailey, trying to live up to the impossible example of his parents, and Karen Quilt, desperately running away from the legacy of hers.”

  Stealth froze, just for a moment, and Cairax beamed its shark’s smile at her. It pulled back a massive talon to swat the cloaked woman and a brilliant light from above washed the darkness away. The demon looked up and blinked its leathery eyelids.

  Zzzap had one hand out. The air rippled around his brilliant palm for a moment and then a burst of energy struck Cairax in the face. It splashed off the monster like the spray from a garden hose. The demon roared and swung at the gleaming wraith. Zzzap flitted away and fired another energy blast.

  Stealth raced past them and dove at Max. The sorcerer cut his hand through the air and a tornado blast of wind sent her hurling away. She hit the pavement near the line of exes, rolled, and threw herself back at him.

  Max brought his hand up again, but before he could gesture the Glock spun in her fingers and smashed down on his knuckles. He yelped, stepped back, and Stealth drove both of her boots into his chest. She flipped over in a whirl of cloak and Max flew back to crash against a Honda.

  Stealth looked up at St. George. “Are you unharmed?”

  He nodded. “I might be two inches taller, but other than that, yeah.”

  She holstered one of the pistols and a black-steel blade appeared in her hand. It lashed out twice, but the red cords binding St. George resisted. Her face shifted beneath her mask and she brought the knife down hard on the line.

  “I think they’re magic,” he said.

  Stealth turned with her pistol out and fired two shots at Max. The bullets clattered to the ground between them. The sorcerer slashed his hand up and the cloaked woman was hurled into the air.

  St. George breathed out more flames, but Max waded through them. “Don’t get your hopes up,” he said. “I told you, there’s only one way this can end.” He pushed his sleeves back up and yanked open his shirt. The tattoos on his chest and arms were blurred, as if they were trembling on his skin.

  He marched after Stealth.

  Zzzap dodged another claw and hit Cairax with two more blasts. A nearby car caught fire, but the demon’s skin just steamed like a wet sidewalk on a hot day. Getting hit with enough raw energy to superheat steel didn’t seem to be slowing the thing down at all.

  It was time to try something drastic.

  Zzzap steeled himself for the wave of nausea that always came when he touched solid matter in his energy form. He dipped a little lower in the air. Cairax Murrain’s talons lashed out and ripped through his side.

  The claws passed through Zzzap and left the gleaming wraith shuddering in the air. It wasn’t just the churning stomach he usually felt. It hurt. A lot. He , but Freedom couldfaoflet out a cry like a hiss of steam and static. The pain left him dizzy and lightheaded and cold. Guts open to the air cold, if he had to guess. He glanced down at his hands and saw his fingers blur into a thick shape at the end of his arm.

  The demon raised its talons. The skin was charred and smoking, but the fingers flexed without effort. They filled out and healed as it studied them. “Not accustomed to being touched, are you, crippled one?”

>   Its tail sliced up through the air.

  Zzzap dodged the tail and pushed himself higher into the air, out of the demon’s reach. His head spun. He focused on his hands and tried to get his fingers to re-form.

  Cairax reached over and picked up a dust-covered motorcycle. It could’ve been a toy. The demon swung its arm back and whipped the bike up at Zzzap.

  He spun in the air and dodged it, but Cairax had already grabbed an oversized pickup truck. The vehicle went up over the monster’s head with a squeal of metal and rust. Zzzap thought about blasting the truck, but he was still fuzzy.

  Captain Freedom landed between them. His boots rang out against the pavement and kicked up a cloud of dust. His arm swung up and leveled his monstrous sidearm at Cairax.

  About time, said Zzzap, clenching his hands into fists. I’ve been going easy on him so you’d have something to do.

  “John Carter Freedom,” said the demon with a grin. “What a pleasant surprise. Such a deliciously bright soul. So proud despite the many, many lives lost in your name. What hope does such a failure of a man have against me?”

  Freedom set his jaw. “You’d be surprised.”

  Lady Liberty roared. A triple blast of white flame exploded against the monster’s chest and knocked it back. Cairax Murrain shrieked and the truck crashed to the ground. The huge officer leaped clear and fired another burst, catching the demon in the side.

  Cairax fled, a flailing, squealing mass of long limbs and thrashing tail. Freedom stalked after it. The pistol thundered again and again. The monster stumbled away, arms up to deflect the blasts that tore chunks of flesh from its body. When the weapon ran silent, the captain let the drum drop free and pulled another one from his belt.

  What the hell? said Zzzap. Are those napalm rounds or something?

  Freedom shook his head while he reloaded. “Blessed ammunition,” he said just before the demon’s claw caught him in the chest. The huge soldier flew back and slammed shoulder-first into a tree trunk.

  Cairax straightened up and snarled at the huge officer. “For that, your skin shall be my victory sash,” it growled through gnashing fangs. “And you have my word you will live to see me wear it.”

  St. George watched Stealth empty her pistols at Max. The rounds spun off in random directions or dropped to the ground. She attacked with her batons and they sparked off the air around the sorcerer.

  Their fight carried them away from the bound hero. St. George took another breath and pulled hard on the cords. They were the immovable object to his irresistible force.

  “Hang on,” someone called. “I’m coming.”

  He looked over his shoulder. Madelyn pushed through the crowd of exes. Even more of them had been drawn to the sounds of battle. At least three hundred of them crowded Max’s barriers on the north side of the street. None of them reacted to the dead girl shoving them out of the way.

  She got to the barrier and stopped. Her brow wrinkled, and for a moment she looked like a bad mime working with a wall. “What’s this?” she called over to St. George. “Some kind of force field?”

  He nodded. “It’s keeping the exes out.”

  Madelyn frowned and leaned into the barrier. “Good thing I’m not one of them, then,” she said.

  “I think you can go over it,” he said. “The others did.”

  Her pale fingers stretched wide and she pushed harder. Her hands inched forward. She took a heavy step, the movement of a deep-sea diver, and then another. On her third step she stumbled forward and grabbed the side of a car before she fell over. The sword tucked through her belt clattered against the body panels.

  “Once again,” she said, “Corpse Girl for the win.”

  She loped over to where St. George was strung up. “You can’t break these?” she asked, looking at the lines. She tapped one holding his leg and rubbed her fingers together.

  He shook his head. “Magic. Something to do with blood.”

  “Gross.” She grabbed the cord and pulled. It didn’t budge. She swung her legs onto the line, hung on it, and heaved her hips a few times. It didn’t even quiver.

  Zzzap flew past the demon and gave Captain Freedom a quick once-over with infrared, X-rays, and the visual spectrum. There were three red lines across his chest where the demon’s claws had shredded his body armor, but the huge officer didn’t have any broken bones, and Zzzap didn’t see any of the hot spots he associated with internal bleeding. The man was built like a Mack truck.

  He heard Cairax stomping up behind him. He spun, and put some distance between himself and Freedom. Cairax reached for him and he put a blast of heat and light into the demon’s eyes.

  Cairax Murrain didn’t blink. It lashed out with its talons and followed through with a swing from its tail. The stinger tore through the air and missed Zzzap by inches. He let off another bolt of raw power that singed the demon’s horns.

  The monster laughed at him. The needle-like teeth sounded like knives being sharpened. “Poor little cripple,” it said, “do you think your pale heat is anything compared to the fires of the Abyss?”

  Apparently not, said the gleaming wraith. So I guess there’s no reason to hold back.

  He threw both palms forward and the night turned to high noon.

  The blast washed over the demon like a tidal wave. The pavement around it turned to liquid tar and boiled away. A manhole cover melted to slag. So did a nearby car.

  Freedom threw his arms across his face. So did Madelyn. St. George clenched his eyes shut and felt the heat of a sunburn on his face. Even Stealth and Max paused.

  The world turned white as light and heat poured out of Zzzap remember falling asleepabofA c. The paint on the buildings caught fire, and then the concrete itself. The air roared. A dozen nearby exes charred and collapsed into dust that was whipped away by superheated winds.

  When it was over the wraith sagged in the sky for a moment. His brightness faded. Then he seemed to take a deep breath and straighten up in the sky.

  What was left of Cairax Murrain swayed back and forth in a crater stretching across four of the street’s six lanes and part of the sidewalk. Steam boiled from a few long-dead sewer pipes that glowed red-hot. The gravel and sand beneath the road had fused into a glassy surface.

  The body was a twisted thing of gristle and charred bone. Three of the horns were blackened stumps. One eye had boiled away, the other had taken on the dull hue of an ex. The molten floor of the pit had cooled around its ankles. Zzzap wasn’t sure if the faint hiss was breathing or the sound of sizzling meat.

  Then the scraps of muscle bubbled and expanded. Flesh wrapped around the skeletal frame. A new eye swelled up and filled the empty socket.

  Son of a bitch, said Zzzap.

  Cairax Murrain shook its head as the last patches of purple skin healed across its frame. The floor of the crater shattered as it pulled one leg free and then the other. It looked up at the gleaming wraith and its face split in a grin of tusks and fangs. “A valiant attempt, my poor little cripple,” it hissed, “but this is such a marvelous host Maxwell has found me.”

  The demon stalked forward, its long legs carrying him up and out of the pit.

  Captain Freedom tossed aside his cracked helmet. He knew he’d never get another one in his size—double extra large was custom headgear and there were no more quartermasters. He shook his head, blinked a few times, and glanced around. The arm of his coat was singed and smoking. Zzzap was fighting Cairax Murrain—the demon had Regenerator’s powers, all right. And then Freedom saw what he wanted by the rear tire of a truck.

  He snatched up Lady Liberty. There was no sign of the drum he’d been loading. Depending on where it had landed, the whole thing might’ve cooked off during Zzzap’s light show. He pulled a fresh one from his belt. He only had one more drum left after this one. Half his ammo gone already.

  The drum locked into place. Freedom leaped into the air and his boots slammed into the demon’s back right between the shoulder blades. He grabbed one of the long
spikes running down Cairax’s back to steady himself and slammed Lady Liberty’s muzzle against the scaly neck.

  He pulled the trigger and the demon roared. The twelve-gauge rounds, blessed and anointed by the last known priest left in the world, ripped huge gouges out of the purple flesh. The kickback was enormous. No firearm was meant for continuous point-blank fire. A normal man would’ve lost fingers to the bucking weapon, and possibly shattered his wrist.

  Then Cairax reached up and wrapped its spidery fingers around Freedom’s arm. The demon twisted the huge pistol up and away. The captain held on to the spike for a moment with a steel-like grip, but the demon tore him away. It pulled Freedom off its back.

  Freedom dangled by his arm for a moment, then lashed out with a kick that cracked two of the demon’s teeth. He pulled his boot back and lashed out again with his heel. It connected, but Trader Joe’swo peoplethe demon pulled him away, holding him at arm’s length.

  CAPTAIN FREEDOM SAT up and felt something flare in his side. A broken rib, maybe two. Fractured at the very least. He’d had enough of them over his career to know the feeling.

  The sky flared with blue lightning and he heard the clicking of teeth beneath the rumble of thunder. Whatever had been keeping the exes off this city block had vanished, and now they were shambling toward him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some of them stumble toward the demon. Cairax was swatting Zzzap and didn’t seem to notice.

  Freedom risked a glance behind him past the glassy crater. Stealth and Madelyn had St. George free. The sorcerer was down. They were about ninety seconds from being overrun with exes themselves.

  Lady Liberty had maybe five or six rounds left in her, plus one drum on his belt. He didn’t want to waste the ammunition on the undead, but he also wasn’t sure how much longer he’d need to hold off the demon.