Metahumans vs the Undead: A Superhero vs Zombie Anthology (31 page)

He scanned below for the source of the sound.

Another crack went off and he thought he caught a quick flash in his peripheral.

Swiftly, he flew off the rock and headed toward where he thought the flash came from.

The gun went off again. Axiom-man adjusted his course.

Below, a couple of people coated in shadow ran down the street. A little further away, a handful of creatures shuffled after them. Beyond the undead, bodies dotted the ground.

Axiom-man kicked up the speed, swiftly flew over the running people’s heads, and landed on the other side of them, ready to face the creatures head-on. Six zombies stumbled toward him, four male, two female, all in various stages of decay, the worst mostly tattered flesh and bone. Eyes fixed on him, the dead rallied around, hands already pawing at the air, eager to get a grip.

The sudden memory of having been in this position before, Axiom-man found his attitude and posture adjusting. It was time to do what needed to be done or more lives would be in danger. Two of the undead men grabbed his arms from either side. With a mighty pull, Axiom-man yanked them in front of him, slamming their bodies together. The men’s heads smacked into each other and cracked upon impact. Black blood leaked from the fractures in the skulls. Another push and pull and the two bodies collided again, their heads gushing open, black blood and gray matter spilling out. The undead bodies went limp in his hands. He dropped them, ready to take on the female coming toward him.

Her spacy glare reminded him that the undead were merely shells of human beings, a kind of machine simply running on autopilot, just going through the motions.

The zombie woman’s mouth was open. He put his hand out to stop her. Her head and mouth changed course and went immediately for his fingers. Axiom-man snatched his fingers away and jumped up into the air, delivering a hard kick to her chest. Ribs cracked beneath his foot on impact. She tumbled backward. He landed on top of her. Another kick, and he sent her head flying off her body like a soccer ball.

Two undead men and one undead woman remained.

Axiom-man quickly scanned the street, checking to see if the two folks running from the undead were still around. He couldn’t see them, but that didn’t mean they were gone.

He had to quickly refocus his attention on the
zombified
man that clawed at his stomach as if he was trying to dig through to his intestines. With a shove, Axiom-man pushed the man’s hand away, spun around and
backfisted
the zombie in the head. The creature dropped. Before he could check if the monster was dead, the remaining female came, a blonde, one whose wax paper-like skin hung to her skeleton as though it was a silk nightgown on a hanger. He reached around and grabbed her by the back of the head. Taking off high into the air, he brought her body up then dove straight toward the ground and slammed it face down into the pavement, shattering her face and mushing it to a pulp. There was no way she was rising again.

The last undead just stood there, his gaze empty. Axiom-man prepared himself for an attack, but instead the creature just slowly shuffled from foot to foot.

Attacking me or not, he has to die,
Axiom-man thought.

He let his eyes fill with blue energy, then sent a quick zap through the air and shot the creature in the head. The zombie hit the pavement and moved no more.

“Okay, need to find those people,” he said, “make sure they’re all right.” His feet left the ground. A second later, something grabbed his ankle and tugged him back down. The zombie he wasn’t sure was dead or not still had some fight left. Landing, Axiom-man pulled his foot away, planted his feet firmly, and delivered a hard punch to the side of the zombie’s head, causing it to swivel on its neck almost a full three-sixty.

Axiom-man was already in the sky before the thing hit the ground.

Now, from this high vantage point, he could survey the area for any more survivors and hopefully confirm the two he just saved were indeed okay.

The lot of Mike’s Ice N’ Burger Hut was empty, not a single car. The KFC parking lot across the street had just one vehicle, a rusty old truck with a smashed window, but no sign of life. Even the undead seemed to be absent at the moment.

To the left, two bodies were scaling the high and steep rock face leading up to the town’s water tower.

I was just there,
Axiom-man thought. He flew in for a closer look. When the people came into focus, he was relieved to see it was the same two he just rescued.

Below, shambling through the field toward the rock, were several rows of zombies, traveling in a staggered line.

Axiom-man bent forward and flew to the
rockface
, landing on a small outcrop of rock just as the two folks climbed their way to the same point. When they arrived face to face with him, they were void of expression, almost as if they had expected him to catch up with them.

“Don’t mean to startle you,” Axiom-man said, “but—”

“You didn’t,” the man cut in. His wavy black hair blew in the breeze.

The redhead with a face covered in freckles eyed Axiom-man up and down. “Let’s keep moving.” She glanced down to the rock’s base where the zombies began to gather.

“Good idea,” the man said.

Axiom-man held out his hands, palms up. “Let me take you.”

The man looked at the redhead then down to his feet. “Yeah, whatever.”

Axiom-man stepped forward, reached around both of their waists, then floated to the top of the rock. He landed when he was sure it was safe and that nothing had somehow stumbled its way up there from the other side.

He let go of them and took a couple of steps back.

“Thank you,” the woman said. “I’m Ivy.” She gestured to the man. “This is Ross.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Axiom-man said. He didn’t want to spend too much time on pleasantries, so he cut right to it. “When did this happen?”

“Those things?” Ivy said.

Axiom-man nodded.

“Yesterday, late. There were a bunch of them. From what I know based on what Ross told me and what I saw, it seems quite a few of those things came down from the hills and made their attack.”

“Probably easy things to beat, to a point,” Ross said, “but I saw folks going up to them, probably thinking they were just people in makeup, acting weird. You know, for show. I mean, if this town does anything right it’s
drinkin
’, so seeing people acting stupid is nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Especially when you know everyone,” Ivy said. “Either go up and laugh with them, or see if they’re all right if they look like they’re having trouble or something.”

The groans of the dead called from below. Axiom-man peered over the edge. Some had made it a few feet up the rock to where it was more level, like stairs. They hadn’t figured out the steeper parts yet.

“Then—?” Axiom-man asked.

“Don’t know,” Ross said and put his hands on his hips. “Seems their numbers just grew. Anyone who approached them were quickly mauled, some even devoured. Other folks just went missing. Some of the boys and I pulled out our rifles and tried to rescue who we could. Problem was, the things wouldn’t stay down. Only a couple did, but I don’t know why.
Maybe’d
hit them in their Achilles heel, if they have one.”

“The head,” Axiom-man said immediately. If these dead were vulnerable the same way as the ones in the parallel universe, then by removing the head or killing the brain, the creatures would die and stay dead.

“How do you know?”

“Experience.”

“Do tell.”

Ivy said, “In the end, that’s what we do? Try and, what, shoot ’
em
in the head?”

“Yes,” Axiom-man said. To Ross: “Still have your gun?”

The man shook his head. “Lost it while running.”

“Know where?”

“Somewhere up on Hillcrest.”

“And that’s—?”

He glanced back over his shoulder and did a nod in that direction. “Up and over, more at the top of the hill, past the lights, a bit on the other side of the church with the big silver spires.”

“I’ll try and retrieve it,” Axiom-man said. He glanced over the edge. The dead were still far below. Ivy and Ross were safe for now.

“Thank you,” Ross said and, after a second of hesitation, held out his hand for a handshake.

Axiom-man shook it, then flew into the air.

Up and over, up and over,
he thought as he kept around twenty-five feet above ground level. He could make out most of the street signs from his vantage point and only dipped lower if he needed a closer look.

“Searching for a rifle for somebody. This is a new one,” he said quietly.

Zombies roamed the street below, most just aimlessly wandering up and down the streets in search of their next meal. No sign of human life anywhere.

Finally, Axiom-man found Hillcrest and flew up and down the street, searching for Ross’s rifle. Nothing. He even checked the neighbouring streets. Aside from the dead, parked cars and a bit of trash, there was nothing to be found.

He kicked on the speed and flew back to where Ross and Ivy stood waiting for him atop the enormous, steep rocky hill.

“Get it?” Ross asked.

Axiom-man shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Great,” he said. “Thanks a lot.”

“Hey!” Ivy shouted and gave Ross a hard nudge in the arm.

“It’s okay,” Axiom-man said. “It’s all right.” He crossed his arms. “Do you folks have anywhere safe you can go?”

“We were trying to make it out of town,” Ivy said. “That’s when you found us.”

“No car?” They shook their heads. “You’d be better off staying inside.”

“
Nuh
-uh,” she said. “Not sure if you noticed, but some of the houses have their windows smashed. Those things are relentless if they know we’re around.”

True,
he thought. “Where were you headed?”

“Baker’s Narrows,” Ross said. “There’re some cabins there. Probably some folks there that would accommodate us or, maybe, we could find one that’s empty. We figure those things haven’t made it that far and if we lock ourselves in, we’d be safe until this blows over.”

“
If
it blows over,” Ivy said.

“All right,” Axiom-man said. “I’ll take you. But first, Ivy, you said the creatures came from the hills.
Which
hills, exactly?”

“Next to the mine, or thereabouts. That was where people first saw them.”

Axiom-man glanced past the roads, boulders and high rocky hills to the shadows of the smokestack and mineshaft at the edge of town.
Then I’ll head there,
he thought. “Here,” he said and held out his hands, “let me take you where you need to go.”