Among the Fallen: Resurrection (24 page)

“Fuck!” she scorned as she looked down both ends of the street at the sea of decaying heads, all silent and all ready for the moment she dropped.

Chapter Seventeen: Riot

Alex hung clutching at the cage as her heart pounded within her chest, her stomach sick with nerves as the cadavers waited silently and patiently just feet below her. Suddenly, her breath turned to steam and the smoke that poured into the sky quickly froze, the metal framework she hugged so anxiously, glistening with frost and sparkled like diamonds as the city all around turned dark and grey. The windows in the streets glowed red and all the streetlights in the area suddenly exploded leaving Alex deeply nervous as she knew only too well what was coming. She clawed her way deeper into the cage, wrapping her legs around thick iron poles and grabbed chains, weaving them around her wrists as the church bells suddenly cried out in the distance. A sudden blast of wind coated the cadavers below with an icy fog and Alex’s teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, awaiting the Wraiths arrival as its cloak appeared all around her.

“Remarkable organism that you are wearing, do you not think, Alexandra?” a familiar voice bellowed from above. Alex peered past the metal and steel and saw her guide perched on the top of the bridge, its cloak flowing in the wind and playing in the air. His minions were standing quietly, guarding each end of the bridge and just staring at her as she clamped the metal frames with dear life.

“Some constructive advice really would be useful about now!” Alex sneered, panting and puffing with obvious exhaustion. “Or better yet, some HELP?!”

The Wraith nosily peered over the edge at the carpet of decaying people that stood waiting unwearyingly below; his eyes flaring up then dimming again as the Bound suddenly twisted and looked upon his master clearly confused.

“They cannot reach you, Alexandra, why do you need help?” it said innocently with complete seriousness. Alex only grunted and begun to claw her way up the side of the bridge, clambering carefully without looking down. Her guide stood staring out over the infested streets patiently as she suddenly appeared, grasping at the metal and cautiously standing herself up. The creature gazed upon her intently as she got her breath back, the Blind walking along the overpass and gazing sightlessly into the congested boulevard with heavy steps. Alex grumbled and wiped her face before nervously putting her hands in her pockets and pulling out her cigarettes, desperately trying to calm her fraying nerves.

“What happened to them?” she asked inquisitively. “And don’t say Hell, Demons and shit, I need to know what I’m dealing with here!” she barked. “How many of these things are there? Is everyone like this?”

The Wraith watched below as its cloak danced merrily in the wind just a few feet above the zombie-like people, watching as its playful shadow cast the rotting cadavers in a surreal and eerie darkness.

Alex huffed in disappointment and turned her back on him, starting to walk away.

“Do not concern yourself with these natives, Alexandra! They are not significant and do not bare any effect in the needed result. Stay away from them, they are nothing to do with us!” the Wraith bellowed heartlessly.

Alex turned and stared at him with an angry frown, insulted by his ignorant lack of compassion towards her people. She looked over the side then the other, gawping down the end of the street as more cadavers entered from alleyways and slithered through windows. She took a lungful of her cigarette and then flicked it over the side as the Wraith just watched her intensely; her cigarette exploding with glowing ash on the head of a cadaver below.

“I still could have used a little help down there; I don’t know what I’m doing, I aint no fighter!” she scowled intensively.

“We cannot help you, if you fail to eradicate the five, if we facilitate in any way; we win by default, that must not happen!” the Wraith growled as its eyes flared in seriousness. “I can only advise you, they will undoubtedly know!”

Alex stood profusely and defiant, glaring over towards his underlings as they stood watching the swarms below as if they were in some way amused by it all.

“How will THEY know?” she asked unnervingly. “Am I being watched?”

The cloaked demon turned to her slowly, the chains that hung from his flesh rattling as the leather rasped; his glowing eyes peering over his black leather seamless collar with growing intensity.

“You are being watched by many, Alexandra. In the same vain that we always know where to find you.” it scorned. Alex pulled a face of slight perplexity and rubbed her head in torment.

“So the powers that be… urm… your bosses? Whatever they are… they know you’re here and talking to me… right?” she asked in an attempt to flush out some truths from the outlandish creatures.

“Of course, we are acting within the boundaries of the rules, Alexandra!” the Wraith grumbled. Alex turned and faced the Gagged almost arrogantly, his teeth gnawing his strap relentlessly, every now and then drooling as he gasped for breath in a panic.

“I saw a man, hiding behind a vent, in the street I mean, who was that?” she asked as she tried to describe the mysterious encounter as best she could, lacking the imagination and words to put it across successfully.

“Veniams or Fabres” the Wraith growled intensely. “Engineers that keep the city alive until it can self-sustain itself, innocuous mostly; they have no business with you and will not interfere!”

Alex rubbed her head with a frown of bewilderment, sighing with torment as the Fallen watched her and the plague below.

“It all sounds like some fucked up dream, fairy tales and nonsense, will it ever end?!” she mumbled solemnly as the night begun to take its toll.

“At sunrise when you’re victorious!” it answered almost immediately. Alex lit another cigarette and stared out over the street, tapping at the ice that had formed on the bridge with her foot.

“If I were to fail, all this spread and humans died or whatever, what happens to me?” she said selfishly, attempting to grasp at all the available options. The Wraith’s minions suddenly turned towards her, glaring at her as their painful faces glistened with frost under the red sky, awaiting their master’s response with unflinching loyalty.

“You will become a Fallen, but as a failed challenger, a representative of the Earth realm, you will be an outcast, a traitor!” the Wraith growled. “Every other Fallen that breathes your air will hunt you down like a parasite!”

“Why me?!” she mumbled. The Wraith turned and looked upon her frown with an intensive stare.

“Why not that guy?” she said pointing into the crowd below. “Why not him? Or him, or her?! Why ME?!” she grunted aggressively. “If I were alive when all this shit happened, would I still have been chosen?!”

Her guide looked down at the floor then raised its head slightly, staring at Alex with an intimidating glare. The Gagged stepped passed her and slowly scrutinized over the creatures below, his teeth grinding the leather as his drool and blood dropped into the crowd beneath.

“I do not have all the answers, Alexandra, my knowledge is restricted!” he said as he turned his back to her defiantly. Alex scowled and her teeth ground viciously. Suddenly, the flesh on her arm split and a bone blade snapped out; blood poured to the metal at her feet and she stormed up behind the Wraith angrily. The guide tilted his head slightly and glared belligerently as she stormed up behind him, the Wraith’s eyes glowing as he deliberately allowed her abrupt approach. Suddenly, she leapt on his back and pushed her blade into its collar, sinking her knife-edge into its throat savagely.

“How about you give me some answers or I’ll cut your fucking head off! I aint got time for your convenient lack of knowledge!” she growled into its skull with growing anger. The creature turned its head and stared at her calmly and rebelliously, almost amused yet strangely proud of her antagonism. His comrades stood startled and the Blind growled like an animal, stepping forward and pausing as Alex pushed her blade closer to the Wraith’s throat. Suddenly, its cape wrapped around her ripping her off and the Wraith snarled grabbing her by the throat, holding her over the side of the bridge treacherously. Her bone blades shattered like glass and the fragments fell into the crowded streets, her arm instantly healing as she grabbed its wrists trying to pull free. She struggled feverishly as the pressure crushed her windpipe and spine, her vision clouded and her head suddenly feeling weightless as she gasped for air.

“Do not speak, Alexandra! LISTEN!” it said antagonistically. “I am not here to answer your questions!

I am not here to help you…”

“Why… why are you… here?!” she croaked as blood poured from her mouth, her throat collapsing under its intense pressure. The Wraith pulled her in close and his foul breath burnt her face, the smell making her stomach vehemently wretch as it glared into her face bitterly.

“I am to make sure you get to where you are supposed to be” it barked, spitting into her face. Alex shut her eyes tight as the glare from its eyes burnt her eyeballs, their wet surface instantly drying and blistering painfully. “You do as your told, and you do it when you are told, at present your still human, but work with me, Alexandra; and you will become more!” the Wraith snarled furiously before throwing her into the crowd below.

The Wraith stepped away from the edge and stared down as she vanished into the masses, its eyes growling in bitterness as the cadavers suddenly came alive and huddled over the spot where she fell; waiting patiently and confidently, pending the inevitable while his eyes glowed cruelly. The creature turned to his minions satisfyingly and snarled.

“Impressive Human!” he growled proudly as his followers simply gave a nod of obedience and loyalty. The creature turned and glared back into the dead army as they huddled around her, her deafening and agonizing screams echoing through the street before suddenly going quiet. The Fallen watched patiently as the dead feasted voraciously below, watching and waiting. His minions stepped further onto the bridge and too watched tolerantly, turning to their master every now and then as the hordes ripped her apart with unremitting desperation. The Wraith merely glared upon them as the riot raged on, the Bound turning and looking at his master clearly concerned, obviously not sharing his superior’s confidence in her.

Suddenly, his eyes glowed intensely as there was a scream of anger from the savage streets, the hordes beginning to drop in their masses as Alex fought her way through the boulevard. The Fallen stood and watched her proudly before looking down one final time, eventually disappearing over the rooftops and back into the darkness.

Alex scrambled across the ground as fast as she could through their legs, the pain of every bite they managed to get was excruciating. Her arm was thread bare and skeletal and her body fought frantically to repair as the creatures tore more and more lumps from her. Her vision was clouded with blood and dirt and she was frantically crawling as fast as she could towards what appeared to be a car, a truck maybe; it was just a few feet away, but might as well have been a mile. As she slowly got closer and closer, she screamed in agony and sobbed in pain, pulling the creatures off her and pushing them away frantically before eventually scrambling underneath the car. The cadavers suddenly paused and stood upright, waiting long-sufferingly without a sound as their meal trembled in agony beneath them.

She shut her streaming eyes and held her face in anguish as her wounds healed, her arm slowly rebuilding with tendons and arteries whipping over bone. The pain was unbearable, but as each moment passed, it slowly subsided as each wound restored and vanished. All over her arms and legs, shoulders and back, the gaping bite wounds closed and re-fleshed mysteriously.

Alex suddenly opened her eyes and simply scanned around her, the feet of a thousand cadavers all around at every angle, waiting tolerantly for her to come out. She wiped her tears from her face as her bottom lip trembled, her mind blank and her stomach sick with panic. These things were going to tear her apart the moment she crawled back out and a plan was desperately needed. It was becoming rapidly obvious to Alex that however these creatures were tracking her; it was something beyond sight alone, maybe smell or some kind of extra sense; but whatever it was, it was telling them to wait and that’s exactly what they did.

She looked to her left and saw a shop just a few feet away through the army of feet that lingered creepily; it was the closest point and at present and her only option. She thought for a few moments as her breaths slowly returned to normal, her panic levelling to just worry and severe concern.

All of a sudden, she noticed the cars gasoline tank right above her face and smiled insanely, her mind swiftly pulling a plan from the depths of her own growing madness as she took out her lighter. The cadavers stood silent and amassed; the roads and sidewalks invisible under the motionless crowds that had swamped the boulevard. The sound of the dogs howling echoed throughout the distant streets as the crows bickered with one another from the rooftops; buildings creaked and crumbled, lightening scorched the horizon as thunder thrashed the crimson skies.

Suddenly, the car exploded into a pillar of flame and the ground heaved, bodies were thrown high into the air and limbs fell down into the streets as blood rained all around. The shockwave shattered shop windows and pushed over the dead in a perfect circular formation, their tattered clothes erupting into flames as smoke flooded the street; the crows screaming in fright and leaping to the air in terror as car alarms bellowed into the night.

The wreckage quivered with heat as smoke spewed into the air, its metal buckling and interior polluting the air with poisonous fumes as the ground burned with jittering corpses. Suddenly, the debris started to move and shift as a small shape crawled its way through the firestorm. As Alex lurched through the furnace, her skin vaporized and her muscles blackened; crying and stumbling, she scrambled over the burning bodies and climbed through the shop window, her healing body fighting against her boiling blood. As the blackened skeleton threw off its burning jacket and kicked away its melting trainers, it squealed with suffering which suddenly switched to an insane laughter, then back into an agonizing cry.