Death's Awakening (32 page)

She didn’t
understand what evil had killed them, or what greater evil had
awakened them from death, but as long as she was alive, she would
never stop searching for the answers. She would never stop trying to
put an end to it.

She wasn’t sure
how, but after tonight, she knew that she and these others were
somehow tied to this plague. Not just because they’d survived
it, but because something magical had awakened in each of them since
it started. There had to be a reason for that. There had to be some
greater purpose behind it.

The four of them pushed
through the double doors of the building. Crash pulled a large
flashlight from his belt and shined it around the room. There was no
sign of undead.

“Hopefully all
the noise we made drew any Z’s out from hiding in here, but
just be careful as we’re making our way upstairs,” he
said. He pulled a small tablet out of the back of his jeans, then
looked toward the stairwell on the far side of the room. “You
never know when one will jump out of a dark doorway or something.”

“Great,”
Karmen mumbled behind them.

“Don’t
worry, Barbie, you can come stand with me,” Crash said with a
wink. “I’ll keep you safe.”

Karmen made a sound of
disgust and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Thanks but
no thanks.”

Parrish laughed and the
sound echoed in the large entryway.

“Let’s get
moving.”

Crash led them to the
elevator.

“Wait,”
Parrish said. “There’s no power.”

He just smiled and
closed his eyes. He placed his hand on the elevator door and seconds
later, it dinged and slid open.

“Wow, cool,”
Karmen said, getting in. “So this is your special power? Kind
of like a super hero?”

“Something like
that,” he said.

Parrish felt this
strange churning deep inside as the elevator started going up. Like
they were heading toward something that would change them all.

“I dreamed about
hacking in to computers and then suddenly, I was doing it,” he
said. “I was always good with gaming and stuff and I loved
computers, but I’d never been a hacker. I didn’t really
know the first thing about it. Until I did, I guess.”

“The same thing
happened to me,” Parrish said. “With martial arts and
using swords. We’ve all gotten new abilities since this whole
thing started.”

She glanced at Karmen.
She might not be willing to talk about it yet, but Karmen definitely
had some abilities she’d neglected to share with them. Once
they got to a safe place, Parrish intended to question her about it
at length. Maybe the key to understanding what was really going on
with them started with understanding these strange new powers they
all had.

“Special powers
are very cool and all,” Karmen said. “But what does any
of this have to do with us being inside this stupid building instead
of halfway to your safe-house?”

Crash stopped the
elevator on the fifth floor and Parrish glanced nervously at the
door, an uneasy feeling trickling through her veins.

“Because like I
said before, I’ve been dreaming of you guys,” he said. He
ran an absent hand through his messy black hair. “I don’t
know how to explain it, but somehow we all belong together. We’re
connected. Can’t you feel that?”

No one said anything,
but Parrish knew that yes, they were all feeling the same thing.
Something important connected them. Something big.

“And we’re
here because?” Karmen pushed.

Crash raised his
eyebrows and touched the silver doors of the elevator. “Because
in my dreams, there are five of us,” he said. “And I
think the fifth person is hiding in one of these apartments.”

Parrish felt the breath
knocked from her lungs.

Five
.

She was suddenly taken
back to a dream of her own. A dream she’d been having just
before her mother woke her up in the middle of the night, burning
with fever.

There was a man. She’d
been running through a strange forest, searching for him. There were
red thorns on the trees and moss covered the ground beneath her feet.
When she found him, it had felt like coming home. Like seeing an old
friend again for the first time in centuries.

He’d said his
name was Tobias. He’d put a purple stone in her hand and told
her there were five.

“Five what?”
she’d asked.

But her mother had
started coughing and Parrish had been ripped from the dream with a
weird feeling of loss.

“Come on,”
Crash said. “Be ready.”

They each pulled their
weapons from their packs and waited as the doors opened. A small hive
of rotters waited in the hall. As soon as the elevator doors opened
and Crash’s light landed on them, they turned, their mouths
open. Their hands reaching.

The group went to work,
slicing and hitting, killing each of the zombies one-by-one until
finally, the hallway was empty. Out of breath, Parrish wiped the
blood off her sword.

An uneasy feeling
gripped her chest. Something felt off to her. Wrong.

But she trusted Crash.
If he’d dreamed of this, then it must be okay. She was probably
just still shaken up from the long journey and the fighting. She was
looking forward to getting back to his place and being able to rest
for a while.

Crash stopped in front
of the last apartment. The door was unlocked.

The four of them
stepped inside. The hairs on the back of Parrish’s neck stood
on end. She stayed there near the door as Crash crossed the room and
opened a closet near the bedroom.

All of them pointed
their flashlights in that direction, waiting with their breath held
tight in anticipation.

The door creaked as it
opened. A pile of blankets and pillows spilled out onto the floor and
inside the closet, someone was crying softly.

Crash been right, there
really was someone hiding in the closet.

The fifth.

Parrish watched as he
stretched his hand out, then pulled someone to their feet.

A young woman stepped
out into the room, her long black hair falling past her waist.

The witch took Crash’s
hand and stepped into the room.

She’d been
waiting for them. And they had come for her, just as the Dark One
said they would. They would see her as one of their own now. A
friend. An ally in these dark times.

She glanced over the
faces of the four guardians. They looked so young for ones who had
lived so many lifetimes.

She shivered and Noah
grabbed a blanket from the floor. He wrapped it around her shoulders
like a cloak, then ushered her toward the door. She leaned down just
before they left and picked up a bag of her things, the Fatalis stone
tucked safely inside.

Each of them introduced
themselves, then told her all about the battles of the night. Crash
told her how he’d dreamed of bringing them all together. How he
knew she would be there, hiding in the closet.

The witch did not
speak. She wanted them to believe she was scared. Weak. That they
needed to protect her.

The five of them walked
as a group into the hallway.

Bodies of the undead
littered the path to the elevator.

Sacrifices in the name
of the Dark One.

None of the guardians
had died tonight, but there would be more opportunities. Especially
now that she had taken the place of the fifth.

The witch kept to the
back of the group, lovingly stepping over the dead. And as she
walked, flowers began to grow up from their bodies, with blooms dark
as blood. She opened her palm and let the soft petals caress her hand
as she followed the guardians toward the elevator.

As they all turned to
watch the doors close behind them, the witch smiled at the sea of
beautiful red flowers.

A sign that the Dark
One was pleased.

The boy yawned and
climbed out from his hiding place inside the closet.

He’d finally
fallen asleep despite the noises outside in the night. He’d
been dreaming. Something important, but he couldn’t quite
remember.

Only that there were
red flowers.

He walked to the window
and looked out, but everything was exactly the same. No one dared to
wander the streets of New York, even during the day.

The boy knew he
couldn’t be the only one left alive in the city. Someday, he
hoped to meet others like himself. Survivors.

He opened a fresh
bottle of water and sipped on it as the sun came up, trying to
remember exactly what he’d been dreaming about.

And why he suddenly
felt more alone than ever.

Continue the story with
 
SORROW'S GIFT
 
Book 2 in the Eternal Sorrows series
 
Coming Fall 2013

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Thank you so much for reading Death's Awakening. I have always been
obsessed with stories about the end of the world. I especially love to see
the apocalypse as it's happening, rather than skipping forward to the future.
It's interesting to think about how characters will react to the end of the
world, so this was a super fun book to write. Also, zombies!!! Who can resist?
I hope you'll continue to follow the guardians' journey as they learn more about
their past. And their destiny for the future.

I would really appreciate it if you would take the time to leave an honest
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especially to indie authors, as they help other readers find the books
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