Dove: A Zombie Tale (Byron: A Zombie Tale Book 2) (21 page)

Swinging with wild abandon, I mowed my way through the crowd. At least twenty heads fell at my hands, and more approached.

“Where are they coming from?” I shouted.

“I wanted to ask you the same question. Did you see anything up ahead.”

Two more fell. “Nothing. There aren’t any creatures.”

Something slammed onto my back. A Goner, teeth bared and ready to claw me apart. Its milky eyes glared at me in the darkness. I drove one blade through its eye socket and it fell dead.

I searched the ceiling and spied an opening about fifteen feet above me. Another creature slipped through like laundry through a chute. I met it with steel death, driving my sword up through its throat before it reached the top of the rock eater.

Spinning away, I scanned the side of the beast closest to the wall and found Dove’s hands reaching up for me. I couldn’t see her face, but sensed the living blood within her. My arms shot out like rockets and grabbed her wrists, hefting her out of the pocket and up onto the rock eater’s body.

She landed and wrapped her arms around me in a gigantic hug.

“We don’t have time for thanks, right now,” I growled as another two Goners dropped through the hole in the ceiling. I released her and swiped at the nearest one. As I turned toward the other, my sword struck the steel of her Katana as it chopped through the creature’s skull.

“Let’s get out of there,” she called behind her as she moved toward the creature’s rear.

“Good idea. These things are not stopping.” I examined the hole, trying to see up into it and perceive any details. Nothing.

I leapt from the creature’s hind quarters to the smooth tunnel floor below as Dove climbed down.

“I wonder where that opening went,” I asked as she reached the floor.

“What opening?”

“The one the Goners fell through.”

She gave me a stunned expression. “What do you mean? I thought they came from the rock eating thingie.”

“No. They fell through the ceiling. I had one land on my back, which made me look for it in the first place.”

“Where does the hole go?”

I grimaced at her. “That’s what I wondered. Where does the hole go? Furthermore, could we use it to escape back to the world above?”

Screams resonated through the tunnels. I recognized the sound—the screams of thousands of tortured souls. Another of the rock eater’s approached.

“Answers that question,” I called above the din. “There are more of these things, and at least one more is coming. We need to find some way out of here before the next rock eater gets here, or something worse. Show of hands—who is for trying the new tunnel out?”

“You mean the one you mentioned with the Goners falling out of it?” Sammy didn’t miss a trick.

“Yeah, that one.”

“What about heading further down this tunnel?” Jake asked.

“Or heading back the way we came?” The expression on Evan’s face sent a chill down my back.

“We can’t head back, Evan. We don’t know what lurks in those tunnels back there. Plus, we know about the large golems. I would rather deal with a few Goners than another golem or one of those rock eaters. We know those are back in that direction. We know Goners are coming from that tunnel ahead. Given the choice, I choose the Goners.”

Jake pursed his lips and tipped his head. “I guess. But what if there is something more in that direction? What if the Goners aren’t the only things we have to deal with?”

“It’s a risk either way, Dad. We’re living in a new world with unimaginable things. There could be worse things up that tunnel. There could be a colony of survivors. We don’t know what lays ahead. We only know what is behind us. I say we keep moving forward. As long as that forward direction takes us to Ohio, and then Tennessee.”

“Hear, hear!” Sammy called. “The sooner I get out of this defunct excuse for a city, the better.”

“Sammy, I thought you loved it here. Isn’t that why you chose to live here instead of New Jersey?” Dove’s question made him frown.

“I didn’t choose to live here. This is the only place I could find a decent cardboard box. It was either here, or Camden. I mean, honestly, which would you choose?”

“He’s got a point, there,” Esmerelda chimed in.

“Okay, people. So what are we doing? Are we going ahead? Or are we heading back?” I needed to bring them back to the matter at hand as another round of tortured screams filled the air.

“Ahead,” Dove called.

“Up and out,” Sammy added.

“Just get me to Tennessee,” Roger said.

“And don’t forget Ohio.”

“Dad? What do you think?” John asked.

“As long as we have each other, what do we have to lose?” Jake responded.

“Then it’s settled?” I asked.

They each nodded one by one. “Forward it is. Let’s go to the tunnel and see if we can kick some Goner butt!”

~ ~ ~

Byron leaped up through the opening in the ceiling as we all circled around and watched. A minute passed. Then two. I cast a sideways glance at Sammy. His pursed lips and flat brow betrayed the nervousness coursing through him.

Another magnanimous roar echoed through the cramped tunnel. The other rock eater drew closer with each instant we remained down here.

“Byron!” I called up, half trying to keep my voice a whisper and half not caring. “What do you see?”

No response.

“Do you think something happened to him?” Roger asked. The panic in his eyes seemed almost comical, but the quiver in his voice set my own nerves even more on edge.

“I don’t know,” I responded, trying to mask the agitation I felt at such a stupid question. Honestly, he knew about as much as I did at that moment.

No Goners came through. We all stood there staring into a dark hole hoping that it meant some small measure of salvation.

“Should we follow him? Check on him? Something?” Evan’s voice drifted toward me from the back of the group.

I craned my neck to catch his gaze. “And how do you suggest we get up there?”

He frowned and turned away. I had to admit, though that his was not a bad idea. The mechanics of it, though, required planning and time—two things we did not have in abundance.

“We have to do something,” Jake barked. “Standing around staring at the ceiling is a sure-fire way to get us all killed by that rock eating thingy. Especially when he finds out his buddy here is dead.”

“Jake’s right,” Aunt E added. “If we stand around, we are Goners. And not the kind we’ve been fighting.”

“I say we figure out some other way out of here,” Sammy said. “Standing here is just stupid.” He looked around the faces in the group. “Who’s with me?”

A chorus of agreements resonated in the cramped space. I couldn’t believe their willingness to abandon Byron like this.

“So what’s the plan, Sammy?” Jake asked.

“We go back to the prison, find a safe place to hide out, and plan our next steps from there.”

Jake gave a thin smile, his eyebrows pinched tight. “I like it. It sure as hell beats standing around here waiting on someone who could be dead by now.”

“Wait, you guys,” I called as the group of them started to move off. “We can’t just leave him here like this. Would you want us to leave you behind?”

Jake peeled away from everyone else. “Hell yes, I would. Go and survive. This is the end of the world, in case you haven’t gotten the news flash. And right now it’s sink or swim—fight or flight—die or survive.” He paused. Would I want you to go save yourselves instead of waiting for me? Absolutely, yes. And I think it’s what Byron would want us to do, too. He’s not responding to us. For all we know, he is dead or inside another one of these thing’s stomachs. The point is, we need to do something, and that something is survive.”

He turned his back to me and walked away through the crowd. Most everyone else turned to follow him. Aunt E stood staring at me, her hand extended.

“Sabrina. Are you coming?”

I gave her a hard stare, my lips squeezed tight, and shook my head.

“Are you serious? You’re going to throw your life away waiting for this guy?”

“Aunt E, I think this is the best chance we have at surviving. I have a feeling the prison is going to be a dead end.” I gave her my best dramatic expression. “Don’t go, please. Stay here.”

“Sabrina, I’m going. You need to decide whether you are coming with us or not. If you stay here, you’re alone. I think we have safety in numbers.” She reached her hand closer to me. The rest of our company peeled away, turning their backs on us. Aunt E watched them leave, and turned back to me with her request plastered on her face. “Come with us, Sabrina. Don’t do this.”

I let out a great sigh. “I’m staying. I think this is our best chance. I’m sorry.”

She paused, her face contorting with a mixture of fear and worry. “Sabrina…”

I turned away and stared back up at the ceiling as a tear rolled down my left cheek. “Sorry, Aunt E. I’m staying.”

Another roar shook the tunnel. The rock eater would be here any time.

“Come on!” Jake shouted, turning back and waving us to follow. “Let’s go.”

Aunt E turned toward Jake and dropped her arm to her side. “Sabrina…” Without another word, she ran after the others.

My cheeks felt hot as tears flowed free across them. I did my best to hold back the sobs threatening to wrack my body. I stared for a few more minutes at the place she had stood. Did I make the right choice? Should I have left, too? Is Byron coming back?

My stomach twisted into a knot. The air became dense, too dense to breathe. My heart raced. What had I done?

A deafening roar stopped my heart. I whipped my head, turning my attention down the tunnel and finding only the inky pitch of absolute blackness.

The ground beneath me moved, shifting and shaking in random, unpredictable movements. The ceiling drew closer, dropping toward me at a steady, but slow rate.

My mind swam. How could the ceiling fall so slow? No, not the ceiling—the floor. The body of the rock eating beast I stood on was rising.

A rumble rippled through the beast’s flesh beneath my feet and the body canted upward at a sharp angle. I leapt for the hole in the ceiling, only about two feet above my head now, and grabbed for anything I could hold onto. A scream filled my ears as the surface beneath my feet disappeared.

chapter sixteen

I broke through
the hole into a subway tube. The bioluminescent organisms on the walls were enough to allow my Symbiots to see the space with ample clarity. The rails still held that sheen of constant friction and use, but no electricity hummed through them. If not for my enhanced vision, I would be in complete darkness.

I marveled at how close the rock eaters had been to the subway tunnel. Only a few feet of solid bedrock separated the tube below to the one above.

Scanning the length of track in either direction revealed no evidence of life. Instead, the place abounded with signs of undeath. Goners shuffled about in random fashion. Some walked along the tracks, some bumped into walls, and others occupied a nearby platform, shuffling or standing, or just sniffing the air for any tell-tale signs of their next human meal.

Moans surrounded me as I turned away from the opening in the floor and headed toward the platform.

“Can you keep them off me?” I asked my Symbiots.

We do not know. We should be able to, but not all the other colonies are responding the same way to our warning toxins. We can no longer guarantee to keep you safe from other colonies.

“Great,” I muttered.

As if to emphasize my Symbiots point, a clawed hand swiped at me with a terrible growl. I turned away from the attack and faced a snarling mockery of humanity. Flesh no longer covered its face, exposing its teeth. Bone peeked through patches of blackened, rotted muscle. Whatever hair remained on the creature hung in clumps of shriveled meat and sinew or from flaps of hanging skin.

I whipped a sword from its scabbard and severed the creature’s head from its neck, cleaving a clean path between the vertebrae. The skull fell to the ground, its teeth still gnashing, but the body remained upright. I stared in disbelief as the creature continued advancing toward me, swinging wild arcs with its arms.

“What the hell?” I grumbled, dodging away from the creature and crashing into another one who wrapped his arms around me. I broke its grasp and spun on my heels, whipping the sword through the top of its skull. Bone fragments and rotted brain struck the far wall. But even this creature reached for me again.

“Do you see this?” I asked as I trotted away from the searching corpses. They swiped with random, blind movements, but it still unsettled me that these beasts did not fall like so many of their brethren.

We do and we do not understand. The colonies are separated from each other. We tend to colonize the brain in order to gain control over the sensory and motor systems. Somehow these colonies have found a way to still control the body without the brain.

“No kidding, Captain Obvious. What the hell do I do now?” I hopped onto the center island platform as more Goners came in my direction. Moans echoed through the tunnel and reached me from the world above as others shuffled their way into sight from the stairways leading to the street.