by Cathy Gaitan
I squeeze Mercy’s hand and when Bea, Titus and Julia move forward with Oz we do as well. We’re in this together. Whatever is going on we’ll figure it out. We have to.
Mercy’s hand is trembling in mine. She wants to fight back as much as I do. We will, I tell myself. We just need to be patient. It’s not a quality I’m that familiar with but I’ll have to learn and so will Mercy.
When we enter the training facility it’s dark inside. The lights appear to have been blown out. There is glass scattered all over the floor beneath the overhead fixture. There are markings on the walls. They glow in the darkness. They look a little like eyes following us in every direction. It’s more than a little creepy.
Against the far wall I can hear the rattling of chains. Those chains glow as brightly as the markings. They must be reinforced with magic. I can’t make out any of the figures. They all just look like faceless bodies in the dark. The closer we get to them the more concerned I am about those chains. I know we cannot allow ourselves to be restrained.
I’m pretty sure the Witches are thinking the same thing because they’ve slowed their pace considerably. DaniElle is staring at the chains hard. She’s most likely trying to figure out how to break whatever magic is tied to them.
We’re almost at the wall now. I can see the Woodley brothers, Mary Mary, and Kailani. Denim and Paisley are there as are Torin, Molly and Tupelo. Toward the far wall I can just make out Wendell’s form and Devon beside him. I count heads. I think everyone is accounted for. I can’t be one hundred percent certain but it’s close.
Nobody says a word when we approach. In fact, they don’t even glance up. It’s so unnerving. It must be the magic tied to those chains. They act as though we’re not even here.
“Well, here is your group. As promised,” the robed Warlock says to Oz. “I believe you have something for me as well.” He holds out his hand. Not exactly what I was expecting. I figured Oz would be the one benefitting from this betrayal. How did he end up owing the favor? Oz is the one giving up the goods so to speak. That Warlock has a lot to learn.
Oz pulls out an envelope and hands it to the other Warlock. “Thanks for your help, Reavas, I added a little extra so you can find a good sturdy rock to hide under,” he says. “Because we both know the Dragon Lady is going to hunt you to the ends of the earth.”
Okay, so, Oz isn’t betraying us. Reavas is betraying the Dragon Lady. Maybe I was wrong this time but I’m still not putting all my trust in the Warlock.
Reavas laughs, “On the contrary. I think she may just reward me with a spa retreat.” His grin is anything but comforting. “After all, I’m delivering The Zombie Club complete with a nice little Witch trifecta as an added bonus. And you, Zephyr, are the cherry on top.”
“You think,” asks Oz conversationally. He doesn’t seem to be worried in the least. “How do you figure that?” He reaches behind him and Bibidee Bea takes hold of his hand. She reaches over to Julia and so on until we’re all linked.
Reavas smiles wider. “Ah, that’s cute. You’re going down together.” He pulls out his phone and snaps a picture of us. “I’ll probably get a bonus from the Witch for that one.”
“Too bad you won’t be around to spend it,” retorts Oz as he shoves power down the link and straight into me. One minute I’m scrambling to keep control and the next I’m staring at a blood soaked Reavas still twitching on the floor. Oz is standing over him and seems to be drawing light from the other Warlock’s body.
“What the hell did you do, Oz,” I’m shouting. I try to unlink but it’s as though our hands are locked in place. Oz is grinning at me. His eyes are a kaleidoscope of colors. He lifts his free hand to the scorch marks on the wall and they begin to serpentine across the surface sliding up and down then around the perimeter until they’re lined up like soldiers preparing for war.
“The Dragon Lady will be here in an hour,” he tells us. “We need to gone before that happens. She’s strong and getting stronger every day.”
“We need to fight her,” Julia Caesar yells. “We can’t let her continue to expand her power.”
“What we need is to grow our own magic,” Bibidee Bea responds. “Can’t you feel how strong we are together? With the rest of our group that power will be multiplied. Right now they are weak, though. We need to get them out of here and somewhere safe where they can recuperate.”
Julia hesitates at the mention of the others. “Fine.”
“We’ll set some traps for her,” says Oz. “But I doubt she’ll fall for any of them. She’s too good for that.”
Julia nods somewhat mollified. “We need to at least try.”
Oz turns to our group chained against the wall. He raises his hand over the chains binding the Woodley’s and the glowing disappears. It’s like the magic disengaged. A wave of his forefinger sends the chains falling to the ground. They all slide to the floor in unison as though the chains were all that was holding them up.
“What’s wrong with them,” Mercy asks. She tries to move toward them but we’re all still linked together.
“The Witch’s magic weakened them,” says Boom Hildie grimly.
“The Warlocks leached them of the power from the potion,” Oz explains. “Reavas discovered them in their weakened state and alerted the Witch.”
“Carmony,” Bibidee Bea calls out. “Grab hold of Abel’s hand.” She does as she’s instructed, lending him power through the link. It continues until we are all a single chain of Warlock, Witches, and Zombies. It took a long time but instead of being exhausted we’re strengthened. Stronger than we’ve ever been. It feels like all the power of the world is coursing through my veins.
Those scorch marks on the wall are dancing in place as though eager for direction. And Oz gives it them. He’s chanting in a language I don’t understand but for some reason do. He’s ordering them to the sky above Happyville. He’s demanding that they protect the airspace. None will enter. Again and again he says that. None will enter. Off they fly only instead of scorch marks they’re now the color of the sky.
We walk out of the training facility with hands still joined. The Humans have exited the sleeping quarters and are now fanned out in the surrounding fields. They have rifles and flame guns raised and aimed at us. Oz doesn’t stop his forward march. He simply raises his hand and disarms the humans with a downward motion. Another wave of his hand has them stretched out onto the ground on their backs.
Oz turns and looks at Bibidee Bea. “The Witch left her mark all over their minds. How do you want to handle this?”
“Can you wipe it,” she asks. I assume she means the mark.
“Yes, but it won’t leave much else,” he answers then glances at us. “They could be good candidates for a Zombie Army.”
“Will the exposure to the Witch’s mark endanger us,” she asks. Of course she would be interested in adding to the army when it also means eliminating soldiers from the Dragon Lady’s army.
“No. Once I wipe it they’ll basically be clean slates,” Oz replies.
“Do it,” Julia and Bibidee Bea answer in unison. He doesn’t waste time getting to it. He raises his forefinger and paints a circle in the air leaving a lighted ball. Within that circle he adds more than a dozen points of light then sweeps his hand toward the immobile soldiers. The lights find their mark onto the foreheads of the soldiers. There are initial screams and then silence as the light gets to work. This continues until all the soldier’s minds have been cleaned then the points return to the circle then disappear altogether.
“Let those that were detained do the conversion. They probably need the nourishment,” orders Julia. Oz releases Abel and the others from the chain to take care of it. Once it’s completed the initiates rise from their places on the ground.
Great streaks of red lightning flashes in the distance followed by loud cracks of thunder. Sparks appear in the sky above our heads accompanied by crackling noises. Carmony reaches out her hand for Abel and they quickly rejoin the chain.
> “The Dragon Lady is here,” announces Bibidee Bea unnecessarily. I think everybody already knew what those lightning streaks meant. We certainly had no doubt when a monstrous roar sounded.
“Give me the lead,” orders Bibidee Bea to Oz.
Oz hesitates. “I think I need to do this,” he says. “She’s been feeding off my kind.”
“She’s been doing the same thing to the Witches,” Bea argues. “For a longer period of time. Let me do this! I want a whack at that Witch!”
“You’re leading with anger Bea. That’s not the way to go at the Dragon Lady,” he shouts. “She will eat you up and spit you out.”
“I’m not scared,” Bea insists. “I’ve been waiting for this moment. Do not take this from me,” she demands. Something in her expression causes him to relent. Oz gives her the lead just as the ground begins to tremble beneath our feet.
A foot from where we stand the earth breaks open spilling forth huge spiders and dozens of venomous snakes. Behind them rises the Dragon Lady. She must have had some hella good reconstructive work because she does not look the same as the last time we saw her. She looks good. You know for a fire breathing, acid wielding, soul sucking, wickedly awful Witch.
“Bibidee Bea! I’ve been hoping to see you again,” she hisses. “I have so much to share with you. I’m glad to see Boom Hildie and DaniElle with you. Three birds with one stone.”
“Oh, great,” Bea answers cheerfully. “Is it one of the stones we left on your grave?”
The Dragon Lady lets out an enraged shriek. “You and your Witches are going down,” she promises.
Bibidee Bea laughs, “Bring it!” She uses Carmony’s power to set fire to the insects and snakes just missing the walking corpse.
This battle is on!
Chapter Ten
Dear People Magazine,
I’m pretty sure you botched the Sexiest Zombie award.
Please reconsider.
Mercy Mayhem Anonymous
Bibidee Bea
WWW (World Wide Witches)
This power chain is a rush! It feels like I’m high only better. High on magic. Remind me to never mention that to Mercy. If the Zombie nerd ever got wind of this she’d whine and beg until we let her take lead. Has anyone ever heard the phrase Nerd of the World? No? That’s because it goes against all laws of nature. It’s not meant to be!
The Tomb Evader throws a bolt of red lightning at us and I throw up a shield of purple light. I don’t know where that came from but bam! That lightning bolt ricochet’s back to the Dragon Lady with massive force and she catches it with her hand. What the hell?!! No joke. That Witch is scary strong but I’m not scared. I have a chain up my sleeve.
“Make it rain, Bea,” the Aussie shouts. So I do. That’s right folks! Purple rain. Only mine is acid and it stings like a mother. I should know. The hag blows it back to us! Foiled!! My team behind me are still hissing from the pain. Suck it up! This is war.
I throw some of Pink’s magic her way aiming straight for Deadzilla’s head but she ducks at the last minute and it ends up hitting her rent-a-Warlock. He walks around for a little bit minus his head which, I’ve gotta be honest, was tremendously creepy.
“It’s funny. For some reason I remembered you better than this,” Hag-itha cackles. Cackles! How predictable is that? She gives every Witch a bad name. She deserves to DIE!
“That’s funny. I remembered you deader,” I reply as I launch three consecutive grenades at her. Blast and damn! She’s wicked fast for a gravewalker.
She tries to zap me with a power blast straight from her gun. It just catches the tip of my foot making my head ring and jangles down the chain. I hear every whimper and her triumphant cackle. Yes. A cackle. Again! Frankly, she’s ruining the moment. Is it too much to ask for just a little more nasty?
“Give her the typhoon,” begs Boom Hildie. So I do. The wind howls, trees rip from the roots and fly at the dead crone’s head. She bobs and weaves like a prize fighter. She’s got moves. I ain’t gonna lie.
She pounds her fist to the ground making the earth roll under our feet and driving some to their knees but not me. She’s trying to break the chain. “You can never break the chain,” I shout just as I take a dive and, yep, let go of Oz’s hand. Oh, hell!
Oz reaches for me but Hexadeath anticipates that. She fist-pounds the ground again sending the earth rolling once more and pushing me further away from Oz and the rest of the chain. If she thinks separating me from the others makes me easy pickings she’s wrong. This Witch can stand alone!
When she tries to take me down again with another earth roll I wait for it to come then ride it like a wave. If she wants to draw me closer I’m all for it. This battle is about to get personal.
When I’m a few yards away from her she whips out another lightning bolt and hefts it at my head. I duck and shout to Oz. “Grab that stinking bolt and use Titus’ power to swallow it! Charge the chain.”
I point at the Witch and send my own power at her face. She ducks of course. Which is why I also sent one left. It’s her go-to side. Zap! Pow!! And hell yeah! I hit her where it hurts. Her shooting hand. Oz lobs a blast of purple at her but her Warlock brigade is here now. They easily block the shot.
No way are they taking this from me! I pull out the show stopper. I’ve never tried this in an actual battle but it’s too much to resist. I hope Mercy is paying attention because I created this with her in mind. I make a fist, lift my hand to my face and pull it down to my side. “Fighting,” I shout as I pull what are the equivalent of mystical ninja throwing stars out of thin air. They’re purple with orange colored acid flamed tips. I toss them at Spells from the Crypt and she pulls her best Matrix moves. I gotta admit they’re pretty good. She’s nimble for a corpse. Three stars slide by her. Two end up in Warlocks. The third boomerangs back right into her shoulder. She lets out an outraged roar.
I can hear Mercy in the background losing her nerd mind over these stars. “Yaaaas!!”
I’m still cruising toward the howling hag. I couldn’t slow my roll even if I tried so I just go with it. I pull out my favorite mystical Samurai sword, flaming of course, and prepare to take a swing at this Hell Breather’s head.
A Warlock jumps between us and tries to toss me some of his weak assed magic. I easily block it with my sword but Oz zaps him with a blast of power before I can separate the Warlock’s head.
As I raise my sword higher to take my swing the Devil’s spawn pulls out a bazooka and shoots it directly into my face. The sword absorbs most of the blast but I catch some shrapnel on my forehead and cheeks. I drop low to avoid another shot and take a swing at her leg. When she hits the ground with a shriek I dive at her.
I finally have her where I want her. I’m straddling her shoulders and raising my sword for the final swing. Can you hear that sound? It’s the executioner’s song. The Evil Witch is about to lose her head.
I swing down my sword and slice open…the ground. Curses!! The hag pulled a Houdini. She’s vanished out from under me.
Oz comes over and helps me up off the ground. “Are you okay? Your bleeding,” he rubs his finger over my cheek making it sting. He shows me the blood.
“It’s nothing,” I sigh. I’m so damn disappointed. When will I ever get another opportunity as good as the one I just had? I could have rid the world of evil. Instead I danced with the devil and got ditched on the dance floor. This sucks.
“Bibidee Bea you are a legit badass,” exclaims Mercy. “You went head to head with the Dragon Lady and lived to tell the tale.”
“My goal was not to just ‘survive’. I kicked her wicked ass! I should have her head as a trophy right now but I let her get away,” I growl in frustration. I’m so much better than this.
“Well, you got her leg as a trophy,” announces Titus pointing at the Witches bloodied severed leg lying in the rubble where she had lain. “And it looks like you got her pretty good with that ninja throwing star.” It stayed behind but its coated with blood and bits and
pieces of her flesh.
“Score,” Mercy crows giving me a high five.
I sniff. “I keep telling you, I’ve got mad skills,” I retort. When will they give me the respect I deserve?
“What do you want to bet she regenerates that limb,” Boom Hildie tells Australian Witch. She summons some tongs and a large plastic bag to collect and pack it. That’s going to help us get the upper hand with the Witch.
Julia takes a look around us and shakes her head in dismay. “They really made a mess of our town.”
Titus grips her shoulder. “But we’re all still standing. That’s the important thing. Everything else can be rebuilt.”
She turns and hugs him and I walk away because they’re bringing me down. Besides we need to clear that Witch’s mark from this town and that’s no small task. She tagged everything. She’s obviously believes in branding.
“Oz, Boom Hildie, Aussie, Titus,” I call. “We’ve got some cleansing to do.” Titus’ power mixed with ours should make this a breeze or at least easier. Plus, he won’t be hanging on Julia. Win-win.
*******************************************************************************************
Mercy Mayhem
I keep trying to conjure up one of Bibidee Bea’s ninja throwing stars but all I get are the standard type. No purple light or orange flame tips. I’m pretty sure she’s ruined those stars for me forever. Now that I’ve seen them nothing else will do. Standard is just boring in comparison.
Watching Bea go total Ninja Assassin right in front of my eyes is something I will never forget. I want to be that! I’ve decided to get serious about my ninja training. Maybe I’ll ask Bibidee Bea to school me. I need to know how to summon up badass weapons like her stars and sword. I feel like it could be crucial to my growth as a ninja warrior.
