What Zombies Fear 4: Fracture Page 18

  “Two hundred miles to go,” Marshall said through the walkie-talkie.

  “Think we can make it in an hour and a half. That’ll give us about an hour lead before the plane to clear the place out,” replied Victor. Renee reached up and grabbed the handle above her window as Victor pressed the accelerator pedal to the floor.

  Chapter 27

  Shelton

  Corbin Shelton watched the carnage unfold from the tree line. Tookes was almost unstoppable. It was clear that he was more powerful than they had thought. Lightfoot’s man Frederickson was the strongest mentalist Corbin had come across, but Victor shredded his shield as if it was tissue paper. Corbin had grown to respect Tookes in his power and his ability to inspire those who followed him. They were going to have to deal with Tookes, and they needed to do it soon. At the rate that he and his friends were gaining power, they would soon become a real, viable threat.

  Shelton waited until he saw Tookes kill Lightfoot, then teleported himself away before anyone realized he was missing. He reappeared just north of Madrid, Iowa, outside of one of the towns the E’Clei had set aside to allow humans to survive.

  As Corbin walked through the small town, he surrounded himself with an aura. Anyone that could see auras would think he was calm and at ease. He strolled down Main Street until he saw a human standing in an alleyway. Even in this relatively safe area, the humans were so timid. They hid from everything. “Hey, it’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you,” Corbin called out.

  “How did you get here? We have a dozen guns on you. Don’t you try anything,” the girl said, her voice quivering.

  “Oh, I’m not going to try anything,” said Shelton. “I’m going to eat you.” Corbin teleported behind her, put his hand on her, and the two of them disappeared, reappearing several miles outside of town in the middle of a cornfield. He bit into her neck and savored the warm, thick blood as it spurted out of her into his mouth with every heartbeat. The girl screamed, a loud piercing shriek, but Corbin ignored her. There weren’t any humans left this far out of Madrid; they’d all moved into the faux safety of the town. He savored the metallic flavor, the essence of the human, for several gulps before biting a chunk out of her neck. The neck was his favorite part. The meat tasted the best. It wasn’t stringy like arms and legs were. Instead, it was tender and soft. The skin was chewy in his mouth. Corbin clamped his hand over her mouth as he chewed, and when he’d swallowed most of the bite, he said, “Shhh, I’m trying to eat here. Don’t ruin it. I haven’t eaten in weeks.”

  Corbin leaned in and bit another large piece of her neck, veins and tendons stringing out between his teeth. The girl screamed again, long and loud, sobbing for someone to help her. Shelton stopped chewing, tucked the piece of flesh over onto one side of his mouth, and said, “I’m sorry to talk with my mouth full, but you really should stop. There isn’t anyone here to save you. You taste better when you’re alive, but as hungry as I am, I’d be willing to eat you after I kill you.”

  The girl stopped screaming. What was happening to her set in, and she went into shock. Her body stopped registering pain, and her eyes glassed over. “Thank you,” said Shelton. He laid her down on the ground and tore her shirt open. He trailed his lips down her body, across her breasts, to her abdomen. It was a shame that all the humans were so skinny these days; the fat ones were so much better. His teeth tore through the skin of her abdomen just below her belly button. The zombie spit that bite out and tore again, opening her stomach up. He buried his head in the warm cavity, inhaling the scent that was so quintessentially human. Of all the organs, the liver was best, but the victim had to be alive. Once the blood stopped pumping and started coagulating, the liver was worthless. As he ate his meal, he formulated his report to the leadership.

  When he was finished, he left the cooling corpse lying in the field. He’d been sure not to pass any E’Clei to her, ensuring that she would not reanimate. If the humans found her, they would think some animal had eaten her, keeping their illusion of safety. He knew they wouldn’t look too deeply into it; they didn’t want to know. Even now, the humans were still so naive.

  A few feet away, he washed the blood off his hands and face in a stream before teleporting west to Las Vegas. Las Vegas was the capital of the E’Clei invasion. They’d taken the city with very little violence, so almost all of the infrastructure was still intact. It was shocking to see the lights still on; the fountains at the Bellagio still flowed. He walked up the wooden walkway to the front doors of the Bellagio resort and opened them. Just inside, in the cool, conditioned air, two zombies stepped in front of him.

  “We are here to report,” Corbin said to them. “Do not keep us waiting. Gather the council.”

  The two zombies stepped aside, allowing Corbin to walk inside the casino. Before the invasion, the entire place would have been full of humans, wasting their lives on pointless vices. Homo sapiens were endlessly fascinating. Many of them spent their lives trying to be “good people” by giving to those in need and by attending their endless religious services, and then they would turn around and go to a place like Las Vegas. It was called “Sin City” for a reason. Endless opportunities for pleasure were only a few blocks away. The city had thrived off the need humans had to escape their reality by spending their money on alcohol, drugs, sex, and the potential for even more money. The hypocrisy was astounding. The building Corbin now stood in had been a hub of all the things wrong with humans. It seemed right that it was now the center of their end.

  Corbin sat in a chair and waited, trying to keep his patience. The council members were probably regenerating, but his report couldn’t wait. It was just a few minutes before he was summoned.

  “Come. We would look upon you.”

  Corbin walked through the lobby of the hotel, entered the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor. He leaned against the back wall of the elevator, still trying to stay patient as the elevator climbed the thirty-six floors to the top. Finally, the door opened up, revealing the luxuriously appointed penthouse suite. The entire top floor of the hotel was reserved for the council members.

  Lying on a bed against the far wall of the suite was a disgusting-looking human. Her flesh was mostly gone, and what little bit there was appeared pink and raw. She must have been using a huge amount of her energy just to suppress the pain indicators to keep the body from shutting down. Her legs were swollen so tight that the pink skin was shiny, as if it were ready to burst. Her intestines were loosely coiled within her ribcage, although there wasn’t enough flesh to contain them. Crusty yellow rags had been tied around her abdomen to hold them in while she re-grew the flesh around them. Corbin couldn’t imagine the amount of energy she was wasting rebuilding this body. The smell of rotten, burned flesh purveyed the room. The bed had blackened scales of skin and gore lying all around it where her body had sloughed off the damaged flesh.

  Flanking the bed on either side were the eight council members. They stood unmoving, staring at Laura.

  “It is good to see you, Laura,” said Corbin. “Why do you not take a new host?”

  “The humans must be made to see this host whole. They must not be allowed to claim victory, even if they only destroyed the body. Humans place much emphasis on the host, as if the vehicle defined who the person really was. The humans have so many flaws, and their endless obsession with outward appearances must be maintained, no matter how much energy it wastes,” Laura said. “Now, give us your report. What did you learn during your time with Tookes?”

  Corbin paused for a moment before speaking aloud. “After the underestimation in Atlanta, Tookes and his people were separated for a while. The teleporter Leo left, and Victor went after her. I got a chance to get close to Marshall. He is much more powerful than we originally thought,” Corbin said. “If he ever figures out how to use the rest of his abilities, he will prove very difficult to handle. Where Victor’s temper and passion for the living is something we have successfully used against him, Marshall is much slower t
o action. He weighs options and doesn’t make the mistakes his brother does.”

  Laura’s head moved slightly towards Corbin. “How strong is Victor?”

  “His abilities are stronger than any human I’ve ever come across,” he replied. “Victor was shielded by two strong mentalists and tore through the barrier like it was paper. His ability to predict decisions is getting stronger, and he’s now a combat veteran. He has grown as a leader, and his people will follow him into any battle.”

  “And the sister? She was unanticipated.”

  “Renee is still an unknown. Lightfoot’s men captured everyone else but her. I know that she was in Fort Hood, but I never saw her. What I do know is that she set fires and partially blew up a building. Clearly, she’s smart and resourceful. She spent most of her time with her daughters, so I know very little about her.”

  “Unfortunate,” Laura replied. “What of the teleporter, the shooter, and that other woman? The one that created the shield in Atlanta?”

  “The teleporter, Leo, is dead, so she won’t be an issue. The shooter was severely injured in the battle but did not die. Kris, the one from Atlanta, showed up with another woman I did not know and killed many of the humans at the base at the same time. Once she fully embraces her power, she could be as much of a threat as Victor could, especially if they’re together. I watched Victor violently kill Lightfoot before I left the scene.” Corbin paused. “The mission was successful, exactly as planned. Tookes destroyed the army base and all of the super humans that had gathered there. Fort Hood is no longer a threat. There are only a handful of super humans left in the United States outside of those Tookes has gathered.”

  “We have reason to believe that John’s family has a number of supers from Australia with them. Christian reported that they escaped Hawaii, causing major damage to our forces there.”

  Corbin could tell that Laura was angry. Christian had been the first. Being a Prime, Christian was the first lieutenant she created and was the most powerful of all of them. He was created solely with the original ancient E’Clei that had arrived on the planet.

  Comparatively, Corbin came from a different branch. James Watley, who was the last of the Primes created, produced him. Tookes had killed Watley shortly after arriving in Virginia. When Corbin was alone with his thoughts, he’d surmised that absorbing Watley’s Prime E’Clei was why Victor was so powerful.

  “What are my orders?” Corbin asked. His cover with Tookes was shaky at best. Corbin knew Victor was smart enough to figure out that he was the one who called Lightfoot and told him where they were and how to capture them. It wouldn’t be long before he figured out the rest. If she sent him back to Tookes, Corbin was sure he wouldn’t live very long. Given how violently Victor’s encounter with Lightfoot ended, he assumed he would suffer a similar fate.

  “Report to Christian in Hawaii. Help him clean that up. Get close to him. Report to me when you’re done. I want to know why he let them get away.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” said Corbin with some relief in his voice. He knelt down and pressed one fist to the floor and the other to his forehead. “As you order, so it shall be.”

  “It shall be as I ordered,” Laura replied.

  Corbin disappeared without moving from his prostrated position, leaving a swirling black mist in his wake.

  Chapter 28

  A Long Overdue Hug

  The van sped along the highway at its top speed of one hundred twenty-four miles per hour. Victor was down to a quarter tank of gas and knew he had about an hour to go to the airport. His goal was to make it without stopping, and so far, he had been successful.

  “Hey, Max-monster,” said Victor. “Can you ask Mr. Sean when they’re going to land?”

  “Sure, Daddy,” Max said as he reached up and put his hand on Victor’s shoulder. The road in front of him vanished, and suddenly, Vic was sitting in the interior of a large plane in a body that was not his own. With a start, Tookes saw that he was looking through Sean’s eyes on the incoming plane. “Whoa, Max! No!” he yelled, jamming on the brakes of the van. The group in the van lurched forward and slid to one side. Luckily, there wasn’t anything in front of him, and the van skidded to a halt.

  “Max! Are you crazy? I have to drive; we could have died,” he said sharply. As the words fell from his mouth, he realized that they came out much more sternly than he had intended.

  Max sat in the back seat, his bottom lip stuck out a little bit, and tears began to well in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” he said softly. “I thought you could talk to Mr. Sean.” The little boy kept his eyes down and began to play with the hem of his shirt.

  Victor tried to make eye contact with his son in the rearview mirror. “Max? Buddy, look at me please.” His son looked up from his shirt and locked eyes with his father. “I’m sorry I scared you, buddy. I was driving very, very fast. I was just afraid we’d crash, but I’m not mad at you, okay?” Mac nodded, and Vic paused before asking, “Can you talk to Mr. Sean for me?”

  Max nodded again and was silent for only a moment. “He says he’s fine.”

  “How long until he lands?”

  “He says he thinks about two hours.”

  “Okay, tell him we’ll be waiting.”

  Victor drove hard. The pair of vans weren’t going to make it much past the airport, but Victor hadn’t come this far by holding anything back. He dodged and weaved through the sand dunes that had blown over the road and made it to the airport in a little over an hour.

  “We have fifty-five minutes, give or take. We need to clear a runway and hopefully find some way to mark which one,” said Victor.

  “I’m going to take the kids and walk around a little. They’re so restless that I could scream.” Renee laughed. “Reggie, do you want to come with me?”

  The older man nodded and walked with Renee and the children a little way down the road. It wasn’t long before a small game of tag broke out, and Victor marveled at how easily “normalcy” changed for children. Going across the country had become just another way of life to them, and they had all adapted so easily to it. He was happy and very saddened by the sudden understanding that this was what their childhood would be like.

  “I’ll go hunt up some paint for the end of the runway, mate,” John said, pulling Tookes out of his own thoughts.

  “I’ll go with John,” Marshall stated.

  “Tookes, check the area for any zombies and take care of them,” called John, tossing his friend a pistol from the small of his back. “Try not to get yourself hurt,” he added with a grin.

  Victor walked towards the runway and started scanning the area for zombies. They were all lined up against the runway fence, and he saw that there were about fifty in total. Tookes stopped to look at the first one. With the fence between them, it felt pretty safe. Their fingers clawed at the air between the wires, desperate to get to him. Each of them pressed into the fence, harder and harder, as the zombies behind them pushed to get to the living man in front of them.

  Fingers stuck through the chain link, wiggling at him. Tookes surrounded himself in his aura and touched each finger with his. As he did, each zombie crumbled to the ground, and the next stepped up. Each time Victor touched an outstretched finger grasping for a bite, he pushed a little of his aura inside the zombie, killing the parasites inside. Without the parasites to control the brain, the empty husk fell to the ground. He walked down the fence, lightly touching each zombie that stuck its finger through the fence, and watched them fall like dominoes. As he neared the end of the row, one of the zombies pulled its hand back just as Victor was about to touch it.

  “Gotcha,” he said. Victor drove part of his aura into the zombie’s brain. Rather than stabbing wildly, he looked around a bit. He found the areas of the zombie’s brain controlling its movement and seized it. The corpse literally froze in place.

  Victor poked around a little more, learning more about how the parasite interfaced with the brain. This zombie had a lot of dead areas. Victor
surmised that those areas hadn’t had enough E’Clei to control. He looked through the zombie’s brain for several minutes before he sent a thought to the zombie. “What is your job?”

  “Tell superiors if we see the boy who controls us. Make more soldiers. Eat.”

  “Have you told them anything?”

  “We have not seen the boy. We will make you a soldier.”

  “I don’t think so,” thought Victor, firming up his aura. “I think you’re going to kill the zombies next to you. Take all their E’Clei.” The second part was an order, not communication. “Take all E’Clei from every soldier you can find.”

  The lieutenant must have been a weak one. Its face hung limply, sagging at the eyes, and its skin showed signs of wear. Victor had no trouble implanting the suggestion in the zombie’s brain. It wasted no time, turning to the zombie beside it. The lieutenant held his mouth to the soldier’s neck for several seconds, draining it of E’Clei.

  “Do not harm humans. Kill only E’Clei. Do not stop until all the E’Clei are dead and then kill yourself.”

  Victor walked back along the fence, shaking his head and wondering what he’d just done. He checked his watch. Thirty-five minutes to landing.

  “Max, how far out is Mr. Sean?”

  At the opposite end of the runway, Marshall and John were painting the landing strip. Marshall was working near a cart full of paint and painting supplies, marking a huge arrow, pointing towards the end of the runway, and John was painting the final “D” in a twenty-foot tall “WIND,” indicating that the pilot was going to be landing in a headwind, the best possible scenario.