Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3)

by Sarra Cannon

  The mist snaked around them in all directions, cutting off access to any other streets.

  Beside him, Parrish gasped. “She’s blocking us in. We’ve got to run.”

  “Looks like there’s one possible path left to us,” Noah said, running his finger along a side street. “Here.”

  “We’re like rats in a maze,” Karmen whispered.

  Crash realized she was right.

  New York City was one giant maze right now, and the Dark One was toying with them. One wrong move, and it would all be over.

  So, what was the right move here? There was only one route, but maybe that was just the way she wanted to force them to go.

  “I don’t like the idea of going the way she’s sending us. Let’s get closer and see if we can run through it,” Crash said. “It’s just mist, right?”

  “Doubtful,” Karmen muttered. “This is a bad plan.”

  She was probably right, but were there any good options at this point rather than to face whatever this was head on?

  As they approached the mist at the end of the alley, it rose into the air and solidified, turning into a solid block of ice that extended all the way across the street and went up at least three stories high.

  “Dammit,” he said, spinning on his heels. “Try this other way.”

  They ran that way, too, but the same thing happened. She was boxing them in and only giving one possible route forward.

  How were they going to get through this? He was sure that if they went the way that was open, something terrible would be waiting for them there, but what choice did they have?

  Maybe they could go up? He had no idea how they’d cross from building to building once they were up there, though. If they went up, their only option would be to fight until David found his way to them, and if he and Zoe got stuck somewhere along the way, they were all screwed.

  No, they had to keep moving forward.

  It was the only way.

  As if to prove his point, something very loud and very big seemed to be coming from the direction of the only open pathway. A super zombie? Or a horde? He couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t want to find out when they were boxed in like this.

  “We have to get through this ice,” he said, gathering sparks of lightning on his fingertips. “Karmen, if we work together, maybe we can melt this wall.”

  “I can help, too,” Parrish said, fastening her sword behind her back and conjuring flames in both palms.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “Noah, watch our backs. I don’t like the sound of whatever she’s sending our way.”

  All three of them concentrated their power on the wall of ice, and slowly, it began to melt.

  “Hurry up, guys, we’ve got something big headed this way fast. Hear that?” Noah asked.

  Crash didn’t even turn to look. If they didn’t get this wall down in the next few seconds, they’d be trapped here indefinitely.

  He closed his eyes and focused, not only on the heat he could put into this wall, but also on the surge of power coming from the two girls at his side.

  When they were all focused on the same task, it seemed like their power was amplified.

  “Can you feel that?” he asked. “Karmen, take my hand.”

  She did, and the moment they touched, the flames in Karmen’s other hand roared to life, bigger and stronger than ever.

  Parrish stepped over, touching the side of her arm to Karmen’s, and the wall practically disintegrated.

  Water ran into the streets, then disappeared into a nearby drain.

  There was no time to celebrate, though. Hundreds of Z’s rushed at them from behind, and from the sound of it, they had a super zombie with them. They needed to get back out onto the bigger roads so they would be more flexible in their fighting styles, so the group followed him as he sprinted toward Third Avenue.

  They would have to face zombies from both sides now, but at least they wouldn’t be boxed in with nowhere to go if things got bad.

  Crash took inventory of the zombies standing on the street as they finally emerged onto Third. A woman in a black business suit. A cop in full uniform. A priest. A child who couldn’t have been more than six years old.

  These things used to be people, but now their jaws snapped like hungry animals.

  “Run,” Noah shouted.

  Parrish drew her sword. “Here they come!”

  They all moved into action, Crash stunned a few nearby rotters with his lightning power and then stepped forward to put an end to them with his hunting knife. As the first zombie fell, Crash pulled the knife back, then plunged it straight into the eye socket of another.

  And just like that, they were back in the thick of it, fighting with everything they had and clinging to what was left of hope.

  Thirty-Seven

  Noah

  They’d broken through the ice wall just in time.

  Noah shouted for everyone to run just as a horde of zombies emerged from the street behind them. He couldn’t see the super zombie yet, but he could hear it.

  Every footfall shook the ground around them, rattling the debris and glass on the street.

  The group moved into action, clearing the rotters on Third Avenue so they could find a better position to face this horde.

  Parrish took charge, directing everyone as she struck down several rotters nearby.

  “Karmen, focus on the horde. Stun the first wave and hold them back as much as possible while we clear this area,” she said. “Crash, seek higher ground and charge up your lightning. Noah, you’re with me.”

  He nodded, reloading his pistols and joining her as she ran up on top of a cargo van to get a better vantage point.

  So far as they’d fought, they realized it was almost always better to get to higher ground as quickly as possible. The rotters couldn’t bite them if they stayed toward the center of the car, and it was easier for Noah to get a straight shot from higher up.

  He didn’t hesitate, taking aim and downing ten rotters in seconds. Thanks to Tank back in Philly, he’d gotten some extended magazines for these pistols, so he could hold about sixteen bullets in each one.

  He made the most of each shot, aiming for the head and never missing his mark.

  They made quick work of the ones on Third while Karmen focused on holding back the horde.

  “I can’t hold these guys forever,” Karmen said, her voice strained.

  “Crash,” Parrish shouted. “Now.”

  With a power Noah still could hardly believe, Crash threw lightning bolts toward the crowd on the side street. Several rotters in the front row caught fire and stumbled forward before falling onto the sidewalk.

  Others shook and groaned until they fell in a heap on the street.

  Everyone outside of Crash’s range, though, pushed forward, running over the bodies of the fallen.

  Noah took aim toward the horde and brought down as many as he could, while Karmen gathered flames in her hands and lit the sidewalk and street on fire.

  These basic rotters weren’t that difficult to deal with anymore, even in these larger numbers, as long as they had the space to spread out.

  But the hulking man who rushed forward out of the crowd was no basic rotter. He was a beast just like the one Karmen had tamed back at the compound. Maybe bigger.

  Their plan with any of these super zombies was to have Karmen do her best to turn them to their side.

  This one, however, went straight for Karmen at the start, moving so fast, Noah barely had time to react.

  “Beast heading toward you, Karmen,” he shouted. “Watch out.”

  Unlike with Parrish and the motorcycles the other day, he hadn’t sensed this hit coming, but since they’d practiced his shielding several times at the beach house, he’d still been able to throw up a basic shield before the Beast made his hit.

  Karmen screamed as the hulking brute swept her to the side with the back of his hand. Her body flew backward and hit the side of an abandoned truck. But it was Noah who took the
pain of it.

  He cried out and fell to his knees on top of the van. He struggled to keep the shield up as the Beast approached Karmen again, but he would not fail his friend.

  With his strength and healing, he could take a beating much better than any of them.

  At least for a while.

  If pain was his greatest burden, he would bear it with pride.

  But luckily, he didn’t have to take another hit. The Beast stepped toward Karmen, fist raised, and then stopped as if frozen in place.

  “You’re mine, now,” Karmen said, smiling as she stood.

  The Beast turned on the swarm of rotters behind him and roared.

  Thirty-Eight

  Karmen

  Karmen smiled at the giant Beast of a man.

  She hated that any human had been turned into such a grotesque thing, but at the same time, she’d really hated to leave the other one behind at the compound the other day.

  As someone who had always felt small and weak, having this huge Beast on her side, fighting for her, made her feel strong and invincible.

  What she would have given to have been able to sic a dude like this on her father. She could have daydreamed about watching this thing tear him apart for months, but right now, she needed to focus on the fight at hand.

  They still had a horde to contend with, but her pet would make quick work of it. She commanded him to attack the crowd still surging in from the direction of the alley, and the Beast turned and did exactly what she asked.

  Parrish and Crash joined in, both rushing forward to fight hand-to-hand.

  “How are you feeling, Noah?” she called out.

  “I’m hanging in there,” he said, lifting his shirt to show a large bruise covering his ribcage.

  He placed his palm flat against his skin and a blue frost appeared for an instant. He relaxed his shoulders somewhat and lowered his shirt.

  “Thanks for the help,” she said, cringing at the sight of that bruise. A hit like that might have killed her, but Noah had seemed to take it all in stride. “I’ll repay you, I promise.”

  “I’m counting on it,” he said.

  A zombie grabbed the sleeve of her shirt with its bony hand, and she conjured a flame in her palm and stuffed it right in the thing’s face. To be sure it was dead, she also pulled out her hunting knife and slid the blade into its heart.

  “You have to aim for the head,” Crash said.

  “Do I, though?” she asked as the rotter fell to the ground, its face burned to a crisp.

  Crash shrugged. “Well, maybe not when you burn their brains from the inside out.”

  She tried not to smile, because fighting zombies wasn’t supposed to be fun. But at the same time, she was fighting with the people she liked most in the world. And she had to appreciate a guy who could make her smile even when her hand was covered in rotter blood.

  Still, they needed to pick up the pace a bit and stop fooling around. They’d probably killed at least five hundred zombies since they’d first come off the boat, but they’d only moved a handful of blocks in an hour or so.

  At this rate, they’d be fighting long past nightfall.

  The group fell back into their rhythm as they fought the horde to the very last and started their way up Third Avenue.

  David and Zoe were headed their way, but she wasn’t sure where they’d end up meeting. The key, Parrish said, was just to keep moving. As long as they did that, no matter how slowly, they’d meet up somewhere in the middle and fight their way back to the boat.

  If the boat is even still there.

  Karmen pushed that thought out of her head, and did her best to focus on holding back another wave of rotters with her growing mind control. It didn’t take as much concentration as it once had, which had to mean something, right?

  So far, she was holding up okay, but if they hit the point of exhaustion, they were toast.

  Karmen could hardly believe they’d made it this far alive, but they were moving too slow. The wreckage here on Third Avenue was harder to maneuver around, too. Cars were packed together like matchsticks, as if everyone had the same bright idea to flee the city at the same time.

  What a mess.

  And to think they were just a few blocks from some of the best shopping this town had to offer. She used to come here with her mother every Christmas to shop for gifts and check out the decorations, but there would be no Christmas here this year. No fashion week. No marathon.

  Nothing would ever be the same again.

  She pushed back the emotions she felt as she stared at the ruined city. There was no time for nostalgia now. They had to keep moving forward.

  Karmen tried to keep her eyes off the cars as they all fought their way forward, remembering the small child who’d almost bit her arm the first day of their journey outside their neighborhood. Any zombies still stuck in their cars were going to have to just stay there.

  But then, thinking about the piles of cars in the middle of the street gave her a brilliant idea.

  “Why don’t we go on top of the cars?” Karmen asked. “We could run across the tops of them, and as long as we don’t get too close to any of the ones trapped inside, none of the others can reach us. The cars are too close together. My pet Beast can take care of any rotters on the sidewalks and stuff.”

  “Go,” Parrish said, slicing through a rush of rotters with more than just her sword. Her blue light made it five zombies deep before it faded, and at least twenty or so fell to the ground.

  Karmen pulled herself onto the hood of a blue Toyota. The metal bent slightly under her weight, but it held her just fine. Noah stayed behind to clear the rotters with Parrish while Crash climbed up behind her.

  Her Beast kept doing what he did best, crushing rotter skulls between his fists with a single blow.

  In a way, she kind of hoped Lily sent a few more so she could have some extra little pets to help them out. But then, she realized just how awful of a thought that was and took it back.

  If she could have saved all of these people their fates as zombies, she would have.

  Carefully, Karmen balanced herself on the hood, walked a few steps forward, climbed onto the roof, and then back down to the car’s trunk. Piece of cake. She just needed to get into the rhythm of it, and then they could make quick work of this entire street.

  As long as she stayed in the center of the car and didn’t fall, she’d be fine.

  She made a point, though, to keep her eyes off anyone trapped inside. It was just too tragic to think about.

  “Let’s go,” she said, getting the hang of it enough to break out in a run.

  The others climbed up behind her as the Beast ran alongside, taking out any zombies along the path. It was the fastest they had moved all afternoon, but Karmen had a sneaking suspicion their struggles in the city so far were nothing compared to what they would face ahead.

  Thirty-Nine

  The Witch

  The Witch stood on the rooftop and looked out over the city. She could feel them now. The guardians.

  She’d missed them at first, because she’d been so focused on capturing the fifth that all of her mental energy had gone to finding and tracking his magic. The moment one of her lookouts had alerted her to Zoe’s presence, she’d sent an entire horde after them.

  Not to kill them, of course, but to capture them as her Mistress commanded.

  The Witch still hated that there was a child involved in all of this, but it couldn’t be helped. There was no reason to hurt the girl, though. It was the fifth the Dark One wanted, after all.

  What use was the little girl to her now that Parrish was in the city?

  The Witch was good with children. She always had been.

  Taking care of the little ones was the one thing she’d enjoyed about her time living with the Council of Fire.

  Her favorite little one had been Marilon.

  She was the most beautiful child the witch had ever seen. Honey-colored skin and dark, questioning eyes. She’d h
ad a pure heart, always eager for hugs and quick to smile.

  Marilon had been taken in as a baby, deserted in the forest like so many girls back in those days. It was the witch who had given her a name, even though it was forbidden to do so. She’d been careful never to speak it out loud, but she’d always used the name in her head.

  It meant ‘wished for’, and to the witch, that’s what this child was. Forbidden to interact with men or to have children of her own as a ward of the Council, the witch had taken on the children she watched and cared for as her own.

  But she’d never loved anyone as much as she had loved Marilon.

  Even now, decades later, she wiped a tear from her eyes as she thought of the little girl. What the Council of Fire had done to her had broken the witch’s heart forever.

  Watching her death had been like watching the death of love.

  The witch had vowed never to love anyone again. All she’d ever wanted from that moment forward was to gain power, so that someday, she could punish people who did things like kill children.

  And yet, here she was, searching for a child to turn over to the Dark One.

  She wondered if she could get away with hiding Zoe once she found her. If the Dark One wanted the fifth, maybe the witch could convince her Mistress she’d found him but not the child.

  He would be like the other guardians, she was sure. Young, too, but nearly an adult by the standards of this world.

  Besides, the body he had now would just be a shell of his true self. He was ancient, according to her Mistress. The eldest of the guardians before they came here to be reborn.

  She would turn him over, but what about the little girl?

  What would the Dark One do to her?

  The witch shook her head. It wasn’t her job to look after the child, and she needed to keep her mind on what was most important.

  How many times would the Dark One have to torture her before she learned to obey?

  This was her path to power and fame. To making sure the Council of Fire back home knew who she was and what she was capable of.