Dove: A Zombie Tale (Byron: A Zombie Tale Book 2) (17 page)

A flurry of emotions rushed into my chest. “You idiot!” I screamed, leaping from my perch on the floor next to John. I stabbed my finger at Byron. John’s problems melted from my consciousness, replaced by seething anger. “After everything I went through to restore you to health! You go and do something stupid like that? What the hell were you thinking? You’re an idiot!”

“Hello to you, too.” Something about the tone of his voice tugged at my mind. He sounded worried. “What’s going on here?”

John looked up for a brief instant, then studied the floor at Byron’s feet as he wiped tears from his eyes and cheeks. “Nothing, boss. What happened out there?”

“Where are the others?” Byron avoided the question.

I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “They’re in the rotunda. Why?”

“We need to get the hell out of here. Now. We don’t have time for me to explain a dozen times, so let’s go find them.” He didn’t even wait for John to get up before he headed off down the corridor at a trot.

I offered John my hand. “What do you think that’s about?”

John shrugged as he brushed the dirt off the back of his pants. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good.”

Without another word, we followed Byron down the hall.

“Took you long enough,” he accused as we entered the well-lit rotunda. He stood behind the main console, staring at a security screen. “Everyone here?” He didn’t even look up. “Good. We have a serious situation.”

“Yeah, I know,” Aunt E interrupted, “there’s a big flesh-thingy outside.”

“Not anymore. We have bigger fish to fry than that.”

Her eyes flashed wide. “What? How is that even possible?”

“Look at this,” Byron pointed to the screen in front of him and took a few steps back.

The ground rumbled beneath our feet as we all one-by-one walked around the console to see what he pointed at. Gasps and expletives released from each person as they looked at the screen. Aunt E crossed herself and prayed to the Virgin Mary. As my eyes absorbed the images on the screen, I couldn’t help but think that my sanity had finally cracked from all of today’s stresses. The creature filling up the monitor defied any form or logic or sense.

“What is that?” My voice cracked.

“According to my Symbiots, what we are looking at is one of the things that brought them here. They call it a parent host—it is one of the creatures that brought the first of their colonies here. It has been lying dormant underground.”

“So what? Your colonies are some alien species?” Evan’s face pinched tight with anger.

“It would appear that is the case. Aliens that have been here on earth for a very long time.”

“How long is a very long time?” Sammy blurted.

“I don’t know, and neither do my Symbiots.”

“That’s just friggin’ wonderful,” Jake shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “Zombie apocalypse—Alien invasion. What next? Are the dinosaurs going to make a return also? Add a Jurassic nightmare on top? What about vampires? Werewolves? Bigfoot?” His voice grew louder and louder with each new question. The thing in the monitor stopped in its tracks. Tentacles, or something like them, dangling from its mouth all turned in the direction of the camera. They shot like rockets toward the prison, passing by the camera.

Glass shattered overhead, several distinct crashes followed by more.

“Why not just add mummies or inter-dimensional beings to the mix?”

A head floated into one of the cell blocks from above, attached to one of the tentacles. It blinked as its mouth worked open and close.

Byron slapped his hand over Jake’s mouth and pointed out at the thing, signaling everyone to remain quiet and duck down behind the console.

~ ~ ~

Dammit, Jake! Shut up! I hoped my eyes spoke the message to some effect as I stared him down. His rant may have just cost us the only chance of survival we could hope for under the circumstances.

It is coming, Byron.

Yeah, no kidding. I wanted to say something snarky, like Thanks, Captain Obvious, but knew this was no time for it. Any noise could alert those things to our presence and worse, our location.

I peered above the console. A dozen more tentacles wormed their way down through the overhead skylights.

Jake tapped me on the hand and I turned in his direction. He gestured—two walking fingers, staircase. I couldn’t understand what he wanted to say and shrugged at him, holding one finger vertically across my lips to shush.

The tentacles scanned the cell block, examining each and every cell. The first one that came in floated in our direction, searching the rotunda. As it entered, the other heads broke off their searches and followed the first. They fanned out, hovering inches above the floor, studying it.

They are looking at chemical traces of your presence. Your shoes all leave residue behind. So does your skin—oils, skin cells, and other secretions. They will find you in a few moments.

Almost as if my Symbiots had coordinated with the heads, they all whipped around the console. The monitor screen erupted with motion as more tentacles shot out from the beast’s maw. The camera bounced, danced, then fell before the screen turned to static. Something had knocked the camera from its mount.

Glass crashed above in all directions. Pushing away from John, I jumped onto the console, swords in hand, and hacked at whatever tentacles I could reach.

Two heads fell to the ground and I brought the swords down on another pair. The severed tentacles retracted with a nasty snapping sound, like a broken, meaty rubber band.

“Move!” I shouted as a terrible roar reverberated through the place. It drowned out my voice and everyone stayed hunkered down behind the console.

Swinging like a madman, I lopped off head after head. Tentacles retreated. For every one that left, five more appeared. Soon, the rotunda swam with them.

People finally rose from the floor, swinging and striking. Hacking and slashing. Trying to extricate themselves from the tangled mass of disturbing tentacles writhing through the various openings in the prison roof.

Jake ran, heading through a doorway tucked in behind the console. John and Esmerelda followed with Sammy in tow. Dove ducked through as I chopped several more heads from tentacles. I lost count at how many swarmed around me. I could not win this battle by chopping away. I needed to escape. With one final swing, I leapt through the doorway, ready to shove the door shut behind me. It slammed as I passed the threshold. A thick steel bar slid into a cradle on the inside to lock it.

“Come on!” Jake bellowed. “We need to keep going deeper.” I slipped the swords into their sheaths and jogged after the group as tentacles banged against the barred steel door behind us.

“Where are we?” I asked.

Jakes voice drifted back to me. “We’re heading for the underground solitary cells. Only a handful of people know about these areas.”

“How do you know about them?”

Dove answered. “He used to work here as a guard. You missed that conversation while you were outside invoking the wrath of some Great Old God upon us.”

We trotted down an iron stairway and I ignored her snark. “Is there a way to get outside the walls?”

Jake’s voice drifted back again. “We can access service tunnels down here that link up with some of Philly’s sewer and utility lines.”

Sammy turned to look at Dove. Something passed between them in their expressions. “What am I missing, guys?”

Dove slowed a little until I caught up with her. “We did this before. This morning, in fact. We used the sewer tunnels to get out of the church and convent we visited in North Philly. Not exactly the best route for escape, if you ask me.”

“That straight-up sucked!” Sammy added. “Might as well just walk into that thing’s mouth slathered in marmalade.”

“I think we may have some marmalade in the packs we collected at Esmerelda’s restaurant.”

“Dammit!” Dove shouted. “We left all our supplies in the Rover.”

The ear-splitting sound of tortured steel being torn apart wound its way down the corridor. Jake dove through a door to the left. “This way!”

We followed single file and he slammed the door shut behind us, barring it like the last.

The ground shook beneath our feet.

“What the hell is that?” Dove shouted.

“That thing digs,” I told her. “It came up right under my feet out there.”

“Hold up! That monstrosity from hell can tunnel and we’re driving ourselves underground? What’s to stop it from—”

She never finished her question as the brick wall to her right gave way, falling outward toward the earth beyond and toppling into a cavernous void. Tentacles poured through the opening, wrapping themselves around her arms and legs. Others grabbed Jake and Sammy. John, Evan, and Esmerelda kept running, not turning back and pouring on more speed.

I stopped and drew my weapons, chopping at the thick appendages constricting around my companions. Heads fell and tentacles snapped back, I kept chopping, using my enhanced senses and muscles to avoid injury to anyone but the beast outside.

Screams filled the tunnel. Vaguely human in nature, they reminded me of a parrot’s imitation of a human scream. The noises came from the mouths within the tentacled heads. I hacked faster.

“Byron!” Dove’s voice carried above the din of screams. Before I could react, she flew backward out through the hole in the tunnel, dragged by the tentacles restraining her. Jake and Sammy followed, their cries disappearing into the blackness beyond the subterranean tunnel.

“John! Evan!” I screamed after them, but they disappeared from the tunnel with the Klang of another steel door.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I jumped through the gaping hole and into the blackness beyond.

chapter thirteen

I remember the
sensation of flying backwards through the air. And then, the world became darkness. My head hurt from the pressure of the absolute silence surrounding me.

“Hello?” Something between an croak and a hiss escaped my lips. I tried to cough—to clear my throat. “Hello?” Still unintelligible.

A moan, not unlike the sound I myself made, resonated to my left.

I lifted my left arm, tried to turn my head. Neither worked. A heavy, viscous liquid held me in place, resisting all my best efforts at moving.

“Is anybody there?” I called again. The words formed into more recognizable sounds. “Sammy? Jake? Byron?”

Another moan answered my call. Someone else had to be here. Could there be hope?

“Who’s there?” I fought against the liquid, but it easily resisted all my efforts.

A long, bawling moan. A chill ran down along my spine. The sound bore no semblance to anything human. I could feel cold, tingles creeping into my cheeks.

“Sammy?”

Schlorp! Something pulled free of the gelatinous liquid holding me in my place. Something off to the right.

Split—split—split—split!

Running feet approached me.

“Dubh!” An unfamiliar voice called to me, booming in the relative silence. It stood just off to my right. “Dubh. Ehr ewe okee?”

I couldn’t understand what it said.

“What? I don’t understand. Who?”

A hand grabbed me around the left arm and pulled me upward while another wiped at my face. I wanted to slap it away. Who? What? In a moment’s time, I felt my feet touch ground that seemed firm but pliant.

“Let me go!” I yelled. But the hands persisted in clawing at my head, my face, my ears.

“Dove?” Sammy’s voice made me snap my head in his direction.

“Sammy? What’s going on?”

“Hold still, dear. And stop fighting me. You’re covered in goo.”

Light assailed my eyes, blinding me and stinging my brain. Details came into focus. We had only dim light in the space, but it seemed enough to be able to discern our whereabouts. The only problem is that none of it made any sense.

It seemed a vast cavern of sorts. A thick, gelatinous goo comprised the ground upon which we walked. The walls I could see were leathery, covered in places with hair or fur. As my nose became clear, the horrid stench of the place overcame me. I hunched over, fighting the urge to vomit.

“Whoa!” Sammy called as he straightened me up. “Easy there. I know it’s not the best smelling place in the world, but hold it together.”

“Smells like we climbed into an elephant’s colon.”

“I don’t think you’re too far off the mark,” he replied, shining his light around.

I examined the floor surface and gasped. A face gazed up at me from below. Sightless eyes stared into nothingness—a Goner. “Are you messing with me right now?”

Sammy shook his head. “No.” He shone the beam of his light all around, then lit me up. “I wish I had a mirror to show you what you look like.”

I studied his appearance. “Same here, pal.” His dread locked hair matted to his head with strings of black goo threading between them. His clothes exhibited new holes with no visible evidence of fraying or tearing. They reminded me of acid burns from the chemistry classes I took ages ago in high school. “Sammy, where are we?”