The Undead World (Book 5): The Apocalypse Renegades (38 page)

“It’s not so bad.” Neil pointed outward. “Look how far away they are.” It was true, the zombies were half a mile away, stretching out like a long, gray wall. “We can probably zip out the front if we hurry.”

That plan was dashed when they ran to tell Grey that there were zombies to the east of them and he said: “They’re to the west, as well, and from what I could see, north and south, also.”

They were everywhere, all around them in countless numbers. It was as though the barn sat in the eye of a storm.

“What on earth is going on?” Deanna asked.

“Maybe it’s some sort of migratory behavior,” Neil conjectured.

Jillybean looked at him in an ugly manner. “Are you blind or stupid?”

This stunned everyone into silence except for Jillybean herself. “Don’t be mean. Mister Neil is nice,” she said.

“He’s an idiot,” Jillybean replied. “Look at that circle. Look at the spacing all around us. You don’t need binoculars to see that’s not natural in any way. But with binoculars, there’s no question.”

While the adults stood around gaping, Jillybean put a pair of binoculars to her eyes, and then gasped. “Wow,” she whispered.

“What?” Sadie asked, reaching for the glasses. When she looked through them, she saw the zombies standing in a long, circular line that curved out of sight around the edge of the barn; they stood twenty deep.

“That’s strange, they’re just standing there…” Her words caught in her throat as something else, something magnificent entered her field of vision.

It was either a man or an angel. He was tall and fair, with yellow hair that streamed behind him. He rode upon a midnight black stallion of great size that seemed faster than the wind. In his right hand he held a spear tipped with silver and upon his muscular body he was armored in shining metal.

None of this was what had stopped Sadie’s mouth. The armor and the spear could be explained. What caused her to choke on her words was the fact that the man had wings. Two beautiful white wings arched from his back. They flowed and snapped in the wind with a sound like a boat’s sail in a tempest.

As Sadie gaped, he seemed to grow in the binoculars as he turned his stallion toward the barn and charged. Closer, she could see that it was no angel. It was a man, who was a sight to behold, as he came galloping up to the stunned renegades most of whom retreated into the barn.

“Cowering won’t save you,” he said in a clear voice. “These are the lands of the
Azael!
You may either surrender to me or die by
their
hands.” The man pointed out with his long spear back toward the zombies which were being herded closer by other winged horsemen.

The group of renegades, sixty-three in number, was wretched looking; barely the size of a platoon, made up of the meek and misused. They had two thousand rounds of ammo, which had seemed like a lot, however, there were easily twice that many zombies.

In fear, the renegades looked to Neil. “I don’t think we have a choice,” he said to them. “We fight.”

The End

Author’s note:

I certainly hope you have been enjoying The Undead World series as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If so could you please leave a review for it on Amazon and perhaps a mention on your face book page. Reviews are the single best way to help an independent author.

I have a second zombie-apocalypse series: The Apocalypse Crusade. It is a slow motion decent into hell as seen from the eyes of a number of great, new characters: Dr. Lee, beautiful and brainy, she is the lead scientist hoping to cure cancer. Ryan Deckard, chief of security: he has his hands full, first with sabotage and then with a whole mess of zombies. Lieutenant Eng: Chinese scientist/spy who is willing to kill an entire country to get his name on the cure for cancer. Chuck Singleton: lets love ruin his chance at getting the miracle cure for cancer and misses out on becoming the next man-eating creature. LT Pemberton of the NY State Troopers: sacrifices his men in a last ditch effort to contain the creatures.

I bet you’re thinking that it sounds like a whole lot of fun and you’d be right!

But if you’ve read it already(and loved it, of course) may I suggest The Trilogy of The Void

The first book in the series, The Horror of the Shade was inspired by one of the paranormal events that I’ve been connected with. Quite simply, it was a two second ghost sighting, witnessed by me and two of my brothers. So how is that extrapolated into a trilogy? Step one: Remove me and my two brothers. Step two: Change the ghost to a demon, add a hot, but diabolical witch. Throw in a hunky seventeen-year old and his hell-powered schizophrenic sister and you’re in business. Oh, I forgot to mention there will also be: Gypsies, exorcisms, blood, bullets, a nice sprinkling of sex, sin, murder, and a couple of trips into the wonderful vacation spot known as Hell...and did I mention sex? Right, check that off the list. Step three: Churn these all up into non-stop action, until you realize what you have is nothing more than a family in dire peril. What is this story about? What every story is about: people. People in love, people in danger, people fighting for their very souls.

What follows is chapter 1:

When Adrina woke that morning with sweat chilling her pillow and her heart making sporadic, spastic thumps in her chest, she knew it would be bad. Even before she sat up the anxiety was on her. It seemed almost as if a cloud of fear hung in the air making it difficult for her to find her breath.

She puttered around the kitchen of her small apartment, waiting for
it
to happen. There was nothing else for her to do but wait. What would happen, would happen. There was no avoiding it. And she wouldn’t even try. If she did, it would only make things worse.

Her growing anxiety made her feel she had to pee frequently, and she found herself sitting on the toilet for half the morning, staring blankly at the tile pattern of the floor. It was all very neat and straight.

Adrina called in sick to work. She was on the cleaning staff for a swanky New York hotel and knew she’d be useless that day. It was better if she were alone, fewer people would get hurt.

“You know that won’t matter a bit!” she scolded herself. No, it wouldn’t matter, but she knew this wasn’t about the hotel, or any of the service staff she worked with. This was far more personal.

With her nails long bitten down to nubs, she began to pace. To the window, to the door, to the bathroom. With each trip to the window, she would peek out hesitantly, afraid of what she might see. Always the same dull view.

On one of her many trips to the bathroom, she gazed for some time at the tired, scared face in the mirror. She had been pretty once, but that had been many years before, and at 68, her black hair had long been replaced by grey. Now that was being replaced too, and a smattering of white hairs stood out from the rest. Looking at them, a sigh that was almost a death rattle escaped her—she didn’t notice.

With each trip to the door, she walked almost tiptoe across the carpet, listening for any sound in the hall. She thought about scooting a chair over to the door, so she could look out through the peephole, but she knew she would look ridiculous. In her youth she stood five feet tall, but she had been shrinking steadily for twenty years and the peephole was all but useless to her now.

The day dragged on, and it was not until after dinner that
it
finally came. There was a loud knock on the door and Adrina clutched her hands to her scrawny chest; she wasn’t expecting anyone. Except that she was. In her heart, she knew that hiding in her apartment wouldn’t stop what had to happen. She was about to open the door and there’d be someone standing there and she would
know
. She would know something that she couldn’t possibly know.

Today it would be about death, there was no question. Maybe one terrible death, maybe more, perhaps a lot more. It had always been this way when she was this keyed up. Someone was going to die.

“Let it be me, let it be me,” she repeated to herself as she walked down the little hall. Adrina thought she was ready for death however, in this she was terribly wrong. She paused at the door, afraid of what was to come, but the sound of another, more insistent knock, made her face her fears and turn the knob.

“Hello, Mother.” Adrina’s son Tomas stood in the doorway. He looked terrible; never in her life had she seen someone with eyes so bloodshot. He had great dark circles under them that were swollen and puffy. Clearly he had not slept in a long time, and the dark circles made his sallow skin appear sickly yellow. His normally neat black hair stood out uncombed and his face was unshaven...

Facing away from Adrina, Tomas knelt on the hardwood floor of a barren room. It was a room she had never seen before. The wood flooring was glossy and looked polished, and was spotless, without a trace of dirt or dust. Adrina stood behind her kneeling son, holding a heavy, heavy gun in her right hand. It felt like she must have just pulled it out of a freezer; it was almost painfully cold. Her vision focused on the back of Tomas’ head; his hair was just beginning to show a few grey hairs.

Emotionless she nudged the barrel up against his head and pulled the trigger. It was loud and a spike of pain shot through both ears, she didn’t care—she seemed beyond caring. The bullet blasted out of her son’s face, spraying the room with blood and gore. About the edges, her vision clouded and tunneled, so that only when he toppled over onto a girl, did Adrina realize the walls were a harsh stark white.

Tomas’ blood stood out brightly against the white. It trickled down...down, slowly down. Adrina’s eyes followed the blood until it slid to the flooring where it gathered with more blood in a pool. Tomas sprawled face down over the body of a girl who was pale as death. His blood pooled around her and steam rose from it.

...”Hello, Tomas,” her voice was a hollow whisper. The nervousness was gone and in its place was only stunned disbelief.

“I need your help badly,” Tomas said desperately. He walked in uninvited and began to pace the room, frantically. He seemed to be looking for the right words. “Mother, I...” he stopped in midsentence, his eyes on the carpet as his mind worked.

The images of the future spun around in her mind. The cold, cold gun; the blood flying; the pale girl wearing what looked to be a long pillowcase. It had to be wrong!

It’s never wrong.

Her mind went over the vision a second time. Tomas had been kneeling and facing away, it could have been someone else. It had to be someone else.

He’s wearing the same shirt
, a voice inside her said.
It’ll be today
.

“I don’t think I c-can hel-hel-help you that way,” Adrina stammered, her voice still with only the strength of a whisper.

He looked at her sharply. “What way? What do you know?” he demanded and this question focused her quickly. She couldn’t tell him of her vision, no matter what. How this could get worse, she didn’t know, but it would be, if she tried in any way to avert his fate. Somehow it would be worse.

“I, I, I don’t have any money for you, if that’s what you want.” It was all she could think of to say. It was a poor cover up and Tomas saw through it.

“Why would I want money? Don’t play stupid with me, Mother! I know you have a gift...powers...or clairvoyance or something. That’s the reason why I’m here.” He was angry and stared hard at her. In a moment however, his exhaustion doused the anger and his shoulders slumped. “You know things you shouldn’t. You see the future, right? I’ve known since I was a kid,” he added quietly.

“You call it a gift?” Adrina’s voice became strident. “It’s not a gift, it’s...”

“You can tell me in the car,” Tomas said cutting her off. He gripped her shoulders with both of his hands and gave her a slight shake. “I need you to come with me. You’ll come, right? It’s Emily.” His red eyes looked suddenly very sad, his face drooping in misery. “She needs you... your kind of help.”

Adrina didn’t think she would be much help to Emily. In the vision, the body on the floor had to be her granddaughter and Adrina was sure she was dead at that point. She’d been so pale that Adrina hadn’t even recognized her, and she wondered again how this could get any worse.

She drew in a long breath. “I’ll come and I’ll do what I can, but...but, I won’t, I can’t...” There was no way she could kill her own son. How was she supposed to help? She didn’t even know what she was supposed to do, other than pull a trigger. Her mind started to replay the vision and she shook her head, hard.

“Good. Do you need anything to...to...you know, bring anything?” he asked. Adrina was confused and thought Tomas meant luggage.

“Where are we going?” The image of the heavy gun had never left her, its grip had been like ice. “Is it cold there? Should I bring a coat?”

“We’re going to my base on Governors Island,” he paused, thinking. “It will be cold, yes, you’ll need a coat. Bring your heaviest coat and your...do you need anything to, you know...” He looked at her expectantly, his red eyes darting about her face. “You know, to cast a spell or something”

“A spell?” she cried. First with the vision and now with Tomas talking spells, Adrina suddenly worried that Tomas might have gone insane. He certainly looked it. She also realized with dawning horror how this could get worse. If she interfered in some way, even by accident, he might go on a rampage, killing who knows how many others. “No. No I don’t think I’ll need a spell,” she said calmly with a forced smile.

Her abrupt mood change caused Tomas’ brows to come down in consternation. “Mother, listen to me. Something has happened to Emily. I don’t know what exactly.” He paused blinking repeatedly, trying to hold back tears. “I think maybe... she might be possessed by a...” he looked away from Adrina now, shaking his head back and forth slowly as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying. “By a demon I think,” he finished in a whisper.

He wasn’t crazy and worse he was telling the truth. Adrina
knew
it. For the second time in ten minutes, she
knew.
Goose bumps broke out down her arms and back and she shivered momentarily. There was a demon. How was this possible?

“It’s important you tell me everything you know,” she said.

“Everything? Ok, ok, well, there’ve been weird things going on in that house for a while. Really, since we first moved in. Small things, like the furnace wouldn’t stay lit and things would go missing and sometimes there are odd sounds in the house. Like that. But...but it was the other day, Friday? What day is today?” he asked her.

“Monday dear,” she replied calmly. Her voice was calm but her body was beginning to shake. It started in her arms and hands, but soon even her chest felt like it was vibrating. She went to the couch and sat down.

Tomas blinked a few times and then rubbed at his eyes. Adrina could imagine how gritty they must feel. “Lord, it was Friday night. That long.” He sighed, a deep tired sigh. “Emily had a friend spending the night, and I guess something happened.”

His mouth hung open and he shook his head in bewilderment. “I don’t know what. I was in bed with Mary, when I heard a scream. It was a scream like someone was scared to death...and...and...and it was coming from the attic where Emily’s room is. I was up and running out of my room when I heard racing footsteps on the backstairs. I stopped. I figured the girls were going to come tell me about a mouse or spider or something. However, it was Emily’s friend. She sped down the stairs right past the second floor landing and down the next set of stairs in a blur.”

“I went to the landing and was about to call down when I felt the cold coming from the attic. It was like winter up there. I was shirtless, because it had been a warm night, but the cold made me start to shiver. I went up the stairs and everything was dark, so I turned on the hall light at the top, and... and.” He stopped talking. Adrina saw that he too was shaking. His eyes were large and far away, seeing whatever it was in the attic. “And the hall is only about fifteen feet long. And Emily’s room is on the far right. And there are a couple of other rooms and...and...and.”

“And what was in Emily’s room?” Adrina prompted him.

“I went to her doorway and there she was lying on the floor and it looked like she was on fire, you see?” He turned to his mother, nodding his head to get her to agree with him.

Adrina was horrified at the thought of her granddaughter on fire. “Why was it so cold if she was on fire?”

Tomas shook his head. “I thought she was on fire, so I ran to her, thinking to smother the flames, but there were none, there was only smoke. I was just putting my hands out to grab her when I touched it.” He had his hands out in imitation of himself, they were shaking badly, and for the first time Adrina noticed that he had a bandage on his left hand. He balled them up and held them to his chest. “I screamed. I know I screamed. It was the coldest thing and...and...the deadest.” His eyes were far away again. He started to weep. “It sucked on my hand. It was dead, it wanted me.”

Adrina watched him cry, feeling bewildered. She didn’t know what he meant by his last sentence and she was sure she didn’t want to. Her arms reached out for him and he cried against her for several minutes. When he had settled somewhat she said, “What happened next, I need to know.”

He blubbered again but this time savagely, “I am such a coward! I almost ran away and left Emily. I had fallen over when...when I touched it. If I hadn’t I would have ran, I know it.”

A dreadful thought occurred to Adrina. “Did you get her away from it?”

“Yes.” The exhaustion was back, sucking the energy out of him and with it came an uncaring attitude. “It was like smoke that seemed to start about a foot over her. It was over her...her...her chest. So, I sort of crept to her feet and pulled her to me. I was so scared. I just picked her up and ran.”

Adrina slid closer to her son. “You did everything you could. No one could have done better.”

“But what do I do now?” His red eyes looked into her black ones. “How do I save her?”

“Save her? I thought you said you grabbed her and ran.”

“I did, I did, but she hasn’t woken up... she’s in some sort of coma. It’s the demon! Emily is freezing cold to touch. They have these electric blankets on her constantly, but she doesn’t get warm. And when you touch her...” He paused, his fingers in the air touching something that wasn’t there. “You feel the heat pull out of you, like she is sucking it from you somehow.”