Swarm (Book 3) (9 page)

“This storm is mine,” she whispered in Maria’s ear. A feeling of utter bliss overcame her.

Zack knew he had to make a decision. It was daylight. He twisted around to look at Macy sleeping on the backseat. Stones was curled up next to her.

“Macy…” he said. She gradually opened her eyes. “I’m gonna go look for Laura.” Macy sat up and looked out the window. “You’re gonna stay here, okay?” said Zack.

“No. I don’t want to.”

“You’re staying here… listen to me carefully okay? Keep the doors locked. Don’t let anyone in. No zombies. No people okay? Nobody. Okay? Don’t let anyone in except me or Laura.”

She nodded solemnly. Zack reached over, pulled her to him by the neck and kissed her on the forehead. She grabbed him as he tried to move back, and held him for a while, before finally letting go.

“I’ll be right back,” said Zack, opening the door and stepping out.

The hill was steep, and it took a lot of walking before he reached the flat, expansive summit. He saw a figure in the distance – a strange isolated sight, up here, on this barren rock.

Although he knew she must be able to see him, she gave him no acknowledgement. She was walking very slowly. Her gaze was fixed slightly downwards. As Zack drew closer, he saw that she was holding something.

“Laura,” he shouted.

No response. The thing in her hands was round and looked like a ball of hair.

Is that a head?

“Laura,” he shouted again, this time with less conviction. He watched her for a while more.

She wasn’t a zombie. He could tell. So what then? Was this something to do with her psychic powers? His throat grew tight. A slight empty feeling rose in his stomach.

He came up to her side, and pulled gently on her arm. She didn’t look at him.

“Laura, I’m gonna take you to the car,” he said.

He pulled her gently, and found it easy to lead her wherever he wanted. He glanced down at the thing in her hands. Had she found it up here?

They walked in silence. The ground was rocky and uneven. Yet Laura never placed a foot wrong, despite never once looking at her feet.

Zack thought about the object in her grip. He had to get her to drop it. He stopped walking, let go of Laura and tried to pull it from her. She was holding onto it tightly, but after a few attempts he was able to yank it free. He tossed it aside, and wiped his hands quickly and thoroughly on his jeans. He took hold of her again, and glanced over at it. This time he could see underneath the hair – he saw skin, blood. He quickly looked away.

…

“What’s the matter with her?” Macy asked, as Zack closed the car door.

“I don’t know. She’s gone mad,” he looked at her, sitting upright in the passenger seat. Her legs were moving back and forth, as if she were still walking.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

…

Zack reached across, shook Laura and called her name, as he had done many times already. No response. Again. Her legs had stopped moving a few minutes after entering the car. That had been the only change in her behaviour. Zack moved back to Macy’s side and put his arm around her.

“Where are we going to live?” said Macy, breaking the silence. Her eyes gazed through the window at nothing in particular.

The question lingered in Zack’s mind. He knew what she was asking, but he couldn’t seem to concentrate. It was the wrong question – here, in this vehicle he couldn’t drive, in a place he didn’t know. He forced himself to go with it. To try and play along.

“Maybe we’ll find a nice island.”

“… Will they be on the island?”

Zack guessed that she meant the zombies.

“It will be just you, me and Stones… and maybe Laura if she gets better.” Zack felt a tightness in his throat.

“Will there be food?”

“Yeah. Lots of food. We’re gonna grow it.”

“You can’t grow food in sand.”

“It won’t just be sand. You’re thinking of a desert island. Our island will have soil in the middle and sand on the outside.”

“Will there be any other kids there?”

“Um… maybe. But you know, I’ll be there, and Stones will be there and Laura.”

“So it will be just us.”

“Yeah…”

“… That’s okay.”

“And… there’s gonna be pineapples. Lots of them.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly.

“And it’s gonna be sunny every day.”

“No. Sometimes it will rain.”

“Oh… yeah. Okay, sometimes. Not all the time though.”

“Zack…”

Zack opened his eyes. Laura’s were staring straight ahead through the windscreen.

“Laura! Can you hear me?”

“Yeah…” she said, blinking heavily, but not looking at him.

“I… I found you on that massive hill and… you were just out of it…”

“Oh…”

…

A cold sweat covered Laura. She was a foreign entity within her body, and it was rejecting her. Everything hurt. Nausea rose from her guts, and her throat. Her head ached. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t breathe. She needed to go back. She put her hand on the car door handle.

“What are you doing?” said Zack.

“Going up,” she mumbled.

“Wait.”

Laura got out, the cold wind hit her. It numbed her slightly, she felt a little better. Although standing up made her dizzy.

“Laura,” Zack shouted, having got out the other side of the car.

Laura began to walk up the slope. Zack came to her side and grabbed her arm. A sudden anger rose in her. She lashed out, turning, yanking her arm free, and pushing Zack back.

He landed on the ground.

She stared at him, lying there, looking up at her fearfully. She hated him. He was so stupid. She turned and started to walk again.

…

Up. That was all. One foot then the next. The storm pulled her closer. She could feel how it belonged to her, how it was made for her. She needed it.

Zack was by her side. Silent now. He had tried to stop her, but now he just followed. She did not care why.

The ground levelled. The climb gave way to an endless horizon. Her heart swelled. She wished she could keep climbing, on and on until she was amongst the storm. Everything looked different to before. The thick clouds let a little daylight through, and they had lost their purple tinge. The rocky terrain was clearer and yet somehow duller. There was less mystery, less room for her imagination. It was still special though, still closer to the sky than anywhere else.

Only being here did she truly know what it was that had been stolen from her, how much she needed this.

Maria!

She had been here once. She had been part of the storm too. They had been like sisters. Maria… what had happened? Laura felt a slight uneasiness. There had been a problem. Something bad. Maria… had attacked her… yeah… that’s what had happened. Maria had been evil too, just like Stacy.

Just like Stacy.

But it wasn’t the same. No… it wasn’t the same. Of course. That was clear. What she was feeling was a relief – the relief of leaving everything behind and being back where she should be. This was the right place, yes, but it wasn’t as she had left it.

Maria had been evil. And she had gotten rid of Maria. That was why the storm had embraced her! Yes! So if she killed Stacy too, then… then she would get the same feeling as before. The same bliss. The storm would take her once again!

Zack was talking to her. Perhaps he had been for a while. It didn’t matter. But she heard his words now. He wanted her to go back down. And for the first time he was right. That was what she needed to do.

…

Laura’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, as she turned the landscape this way and that, as the road slithered through the countryside. Her guts hurt so much. She would eat, drink, take pain killers – anything to get her body to shut up.

She waited, as the vehicle moved where it had to, as the windows drew the necessary shapes.

Finally she arrived. A large L-shaped building stood a short distance from her – its shape had it bent around a big garden, overgrown in many places but clearly well maintained at one point. She got out. She could feel everything so clearly, like the world had opened itself to her. She walked over to a large stone some distance away from the front door, then rolled it over and retrieved the key that was hidden there.

She went to the front door.

Two… I can feel two.

She pounded her fist against it and rang the doorbell. Groans rose on the other side. Laura felt her response come like some sort of muscle memory. She placed her hand against the door. The air filled with cracks and thuds for a couple of seconds, then there was silence. She stood still for a while, momentarily shocked by what she had just done. Then she accepted it. Pride and joy surged through her. She was getting more powerful. Clearly she was on the right path.

Laura put the key in the lock. The door swung open. Two bodies lay on the floor. Both with bloody stumps instead of heads. Blood and flesh clung to the floor, walls and ceiling.

“Fuck…” said Zack behind her.

Laura said nothing. She stepped over the bodies and entered the house.

Zack bit down on his jam and toast, covering himself and the table with crumbs. Stones was by his side, looking up at him pleadingly. Zack paid him no attention. He had found chicken in the freezer, and it was now cooking in the oven — Stones would get a little bit of that.

He watched Laura, opposite him. She was holding a box of cornflakes, and stuffing handfuls straight into her mouth whilst staring blankly at the wall over his shoulder.

“Laura… you should lie down after this.”

Laura flicked her eyes to him lazily, as if she had just noticed him, and then went back to staring at the wall.

“Laura!” Zack shouted.

No response. Zack came around the table and stood next to her.

“Laura. Your head’s all scrambled. Your… You went up that hill, and something happened to you.”

Laura’s eyes remained fixed ahead, her jaw moving up and down as she chewed her food.

…

Stacy looked out over the town. She could see it all really well. Laura didn’t scare her. Even if Laura did a little bit it didn’t matter. She was stronger, and cleverer than ever before. She was controlling more zombies than ever before. And it didn’t even make her tired. And her zombies had guns now. Not as many as she wanted, but still quite a lot. She was better at looking at zombie memories now. That was very good because they remembered a lot. They remembered if they had seen a gun. The zombies were good for getting things. They had got her a big metal tool too, and they had cut off the bike lock around her neck. Laura didn’t have zombies. Not like her. Laura didn’t have guns. Laura was stupid. Very stupid.

She felt a bit sad. Maybe she was an adult now, because things were less fun. Things were more serious. All this new cleverness was changing her, and she didn’t like it.

…

Zack watched as Laura got up. “Laura…” She headed out of the kitchen, and Zack knew she was trying to leave. “Laura,” he ran after her, “Laura where are you going?” She came to the front door and opened it.

She looked at him. “Stay here, I’ll be back.”

Zack watched her close the door, and stood there for a second. Then he opened the door again and watched her walk towards the car.

“Laura,” he shouted. “Stay… please.”

She got in the vehicle and started the engine.

The car trundled down the hill. Ahead lay a descent into a large, bowl-like valley, and in it lay a town. Nothing more than a collection of children’s toys at this distance – grey roofs, roads and dull colour from brick work and grouped vehicles.

The road snaked on, twisting and turning around trees and bushes, so that the town slipped in and out of view. Moments of peace. Moments Laura knew would collapse. The landscape carried her further and further down. Until finally she reached the level of the town. Everything grew darker. Laura could feel how the storm was getting stronger. How the clouds were blocking out the sun. It was as dark as night now.

She came to the first couple of buildings. The town enveloped her. And as she moved deeper into the surreal glow of its streetlights, she felt that it was beginning.

Then she saw them.

First one or two, arriving from side roads ahead of her. Then more. Then a crowd flowing out like a dark sea. All of them running towards her. She stopped the car.

The metal around her thudded and clunked rapidly. Laura ducked down. The windscreen smashed. She felt stinging in her skin. A prickling sensation covered her body, but she was unafraid.

Even bullets can’t stop me.

She closed her eyes, and focused on the crowd of undead. She felt their weight. Energy coursed through her, then out towards them. She felt them buckle, their structures loosen, their bodies drop to the ground, and then those behind, and then more.

As abruptly as it had started it was over. Laura had taken them out. She rose up, looking out the windscreen to see a road littered with bodies.

She reversed. Everything felt strangely quiet now. Laura came to a road that she had passed earlier. It called to her. She shifted into first gear and took it. A strange sort of peace seemed to have descended on this town. As if the buildings, old, rural and tall, were just a part of her favourite movie. A comfortable stream of images that she had seen a thousand times – how it ended she couldn’t remember, but it was a good ending.

Her eyes found themselves on the pavement. Her foot hit the brake. She stepped out and pointed her hands. She felt the energy rise inside her. Light shot out from her fingers and towards the brickwork.

Boom!

Everything shook around her. The explosion left a large gap. She ran through the dust, into the building and up a wooden staircase.

A long corridor stood before her. She ran along it, then turned back to face where she had just been. Her arms rose. More light flew out. Then more. Then once again. The dust cleared, leaving a gaping hole behind. The floor was gone. The walls too. She moved to the hole, and looked down it — checking that there was no way for them to climb up. Just to make sure, she fired downwards a few times, squinting slightly against the light and noise.

She turned, ran along the corridor and came into a large bedroom. Her hands pointed, she blew a hole in the wall ahead, then climbed through it, finding herself near stairs again. She ran up them, entered another bedroom, and headed to the window.

She saw a church, separated from her by a small graveyard. Laura saw a flash of blue shooting out from the spire. It smashed into her building, close to where she had been moments ago. A terrible dread passed through her. Something about this light… Something about that other-worldly glow – it was the coldest, most evil thing she had ever seen. If that light touched her, something terrible would happen.

Laura pushed her fists through the glass. Her light flew towards the church spire, warping the air around it. She urged it to hit. It curved away and thundered up into the sky.

Deflected.

Her position compromised, Laura ran. She blew a hole in the wall and jumped into another room. Everything shook, as another of Stacy’s blasts made contact somewhere close. Laura ran in straight line, using her light to go through wall after wall. She found herself at the head of some stairs. She ran down them to the ground floor, finding a door that led directly to the graveyard.

Through a small window, Laura glimpsed Stacy’s attacks peppering the brickwork above her. Laura took a deep breath. Any moment it could get her. She had to end this.

Finding the key in the lock, Laura opened the door and ran out into the graveyard and the rain. She pointed her hands at the spire. Her light flew through the air. Each attack deflecting away at the last moment. Her eyes remained fixed upwards. Her arms slowly lifted, as she drew closer, as she had to aim higher and higher.

Laura felt her power drain away – in a half second she became defenceless. Her stomach dropped. Though her hands remained pointed, nothing came. Laura began to run, her feet struggling for grip on the wet grass.

She hit the church entrance and got inside. Behind her, the ground outside exploded in a bright, electric-blue fury. Gasping for breath, Laura scanned the darkness around her. A slight warmth spread through her stomach. Then the same sensation flooded her whole body – it was back. She was back. Relief passed over her. Her focus returned to the fight. Should she go up? Or wait for Stacy to come down? She searched the moody shadows of the chapel. Finally she spotted the stone spiral staircase in the corner.

Her mind raced as she reached it and began to climb. She couldn’t use a blast at close range like this. But would Stacy? Was she stupid enough to kill them both? A simple idea hit her; the stairs would end soon. And they would fight.

She came to the top. Bricks and rubble littered the ground. In the wall lay a jagged, gaping hole, exposing rain, dark clouds, and – below – a flat roof of soaking concrete. Laura’s eyes were caught by a flash of blue. She instinctively threw her hands towards it. It curved away into the sky. Laura jumped out. She fell with the rain. A tremendous boom sounded behind her.

Her feet hit the roof. Through the darkness, she could make out Stacy on the other side of the building. Bricks dropped down like hail. Laura knew they would not hit her. She walked forward, slowly, getting closer.

A flash of blue. She knocked it away. Again it came. Again she deflected it, this time into a house some distance away, mixing bricks with light — a split second bloom in the darkness.

No more attacks. Stacy began to grow clear in her vision — soaking, with matted hair stuck to her face. Closer… closer…

Laura could feel the final moments, the completion of her mission, the way time would collapse and her fingers would tighten around this little girl’s throat. Stacy lifted her hands up. They glowed. Laura took a few steps back, ready to deflect. But nothing came. Stacy’s hands continued to grow brighter. Laura knew that this was something else. She pointed her own hands. They also began to glow. She felt a tension build inside her.

Blue light flew out towards her. She flinched. The tension inside her broke. Her own light came out too. The two beams met, creating a noise – deafening and brutal, giving off coloured lines like electric confetti.

Laura felt something pull through her body, whilst something else pushed against her chest. Her feet stumbled back. Her eyes could not see beyond the glare. She moved further and further back. Her whole body braced against the pressure.

Laura knew she was losing. She was being forced back. She could feel the strength of Stacy. She could feel that a slip, or a fall, or a moment of weakness would leave her open to Stacy’s blue death.

The pressure forced her back further… further…. The edge of the roof drew close. Laura felt her feet stumbling back towards it. She tried to step over it, so as to step off and drop down. But she misjudged it. Her body tilted back. The blue light flew above her as she hurtled towards the ground, and landed with a thud.

She got up and ran. Her muscles felt weak. It was gone. Her power. Her strength. Everything. The storm had left her. She jumped a wall and moved down a side street. An explosion shook the air above her, chunks of stone began to rain down. A huge pain erupted in her head. A piece had hit her skull. She had no doubt now – her mortality had returned. She had become prey.

She came to a bend in the alley. Turning it, she saw a figure illuminated by a streetlight.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

Bullets whistled past her head. She dodged sideways – through an open door and into a pub. She sprinted towards the bar. Windows smashed behind her. She leapt over and landed on the other side. Bottles shattered above, glass fragments and liquid rained on her.

She crawled along the ground and came to a doorway. She moved through it, turned a corner, stood up and ran. She burst through a fire exit, coming back out into a street.

Across the road, she saw a tall fence. She ran to a van parked in front of it and used her arms to jump and push herself onto the cold, metal roof. She stood, lined up her next move, then leapt towards the top of the fence, hitting it with her waist and falling over to the other side.

Her body landed on slightly soft ground. In front of her stood a building covered in scaffolding and with no glass in the windows. She got up, ran around to the other side, found a ladder, and began to climb, her hands taking one freezing rung after another.

On and on, she rose, leaving the ground behind, letting it shrink away. She heard gunfire. Faint under the sound of the wind. She didn’t look. The gun shots continued, growing in frequency and number. Some distance to her left, she heard soft thuds, as bullets embedded themselves in brickwork. Still, she focused on her hands and feet, knowing each rung made her a smaller target. She came off the ladder onto a wooden platform that ran around the building. This put her within the scaffolding itself —a strange tunnel of crisscrossed metal.

She ran, her feet pounding the planks. She slowed down to shift her weight as the building’s corner loomed. She took the bend and continued on, the glassless windows streaming by her side. Again, she came to a corner, and again she took it, which now put her on the opposite side of the building. A ladder lay ahead, stretching up further into the storm above. She grasped the first rung. No gunfire now. Just the sound of wind and thunder, as lightening illuminated the building’s bare insides.

Laura came to the roof. Exhausted, she fell and rolled onto her back. She looked up into the sky. This was it. If she could just rest here… It was mesmerising, as always, the silent wonder of the sky’s texture, the ethereal glow. She felt her breathing slow, and her heartbeat too. She felt calmer, safer. Still, she knew that she had to stay aware. She stood up and moved to the edge of the building.

She could make them out, figures climbing up. Nothing more than smudges in the darkness. She walked around the perimeter, checking each side, but found that there were no others. The zombies were only using one side. She looked up again at the storm. Her power had to come back quickly, she thought, otherwise they would overrun her. She sat down, cross-legged, and concentrated. No seconds. No minutes. Just this moment, growing to a crescendo, an end that would either have her win or fail. And on and on this moment grew.

No! What was she doing! She could wait no more. Surely they would climb over at any moment. She ran to one of the edges and saw that they were coming to the final third of their ascent. Turning back to the roof, her eyes fixed on a pile of metal poles. She sprinted to them and picked one up. It felt light, but solid enough to deal damage. She came back to the roof’s edge. The first zombie was close now. Its yellow-stained eyes shone out from the darkness. She thrust downwards, trying to knock it off.

It raised a hand and batted at the pole like a cat grabbing string. Laura kept jabbing. The zombie now used both hands, causing it to plummet towards the ground. She repeated the process, knocking a few more off with the same trick.

Then it came.

A surge. Like a head rush and an explosion. It had come back to her.

No more panic. No urgency. Clarity washed over her. She waited, allowing the zombies to come up. She didn’t need to use her light. Not for these. She would save it for Stacy. One zombie in particular became her focus. Laura watched it raise its head above the level of the roof. It held a gun in its mouth, a revolver. Laura’s hand moved quickly. The weapon was waiting for her, with the barrel of the gun clenched in its teeth; the handle and trigger were left outside of its mouth.

She wrapped her hand around the gun and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Chunks of flesh flew out into the darkness. The figure froze and gurgled. Laura pulled the gun free from its bite and placed it against the forehead.

Bang!

The zombie fell away. Laura moved to the next one.

Bang!

The zombie’s face lit up in the gun’s flash. It fell.

She would be smarter this time. She would save her energy, use it only when she had to.

Bang!

Two bullets left, but there would be another, another figure coming up with another weapon.

Bang!

Laura looked down over the edge. About halfway down, she spotted one with a gun in its mouth. But it wouldn’t be the first. She would have to deal with four or five others before it.

Then the dark figures stopped. Laura’s heart skipped a beat. She waited. They remained completely frozen in the darkness and the rain. Then they fell, dropping toward the ground. Laura felt a huge weight lift from her – something had happened to Stacy. Her presence wasn’t the same; it didn’t taint everything around her. Laura ran to the ladder. Was she dead, unconscious or powerless? It wasn’t clear. Laura clambered over the ladder, excitement and urgency coursed through her.