Magic and Decay (11 page)

We fled.

With makeshift weapons in hand, we sprinted after Ivy
and Ryder as fast as we could go. Eden and
Kiran
brought
up the rear and tried to keep the Zombies back. Their force-field was decidedly
weakened and some of the stronger Feeders broke through. Either Eden or
Kiran
was there to take their heads when they did, but I
worried that if enough got through that they wouldn’t be able to.

“Nice, Eden!”
Ivy shouted
back at her. “You’re like the Red Queen from
Alice in Wonderland
!”

“I’m not a villain!” Eden shouted back on a laugh.
Another Feeder broke through the invisible barrier and she sent a laser beam of
Magic straight through his jugular. The beast crumpled to the ground in a
lifeless heap.

Maybe she wasn’t a villain, but this had to be the
most unorthodox way to be a hero ever.

“Off with their heads!” I hollered over my shoulder.

“She has a point, Love.”

Eden growled at her husband. And then took another
head.

The ground become more difficult to sprint through as
grass and hard-packed dirt turned to sand. My lungs burned with the effort to
outrun the Zombie horde behind me. My muscles ached and my toes were numb from
the poor choice of heavy boots I wore.

Hendrix’s hand went to my lower back and pushed me
along to help me keep up. Ivy and Ryder had just as much of a struggle.

The sand was fine here and difficult to run through.
But our lives were on the line and we were so close.

I could hear the horde shrieking behind me. Their
heavy footsteps tore through the grass and then quieted once they hit the sand.
Eden and
Kiran
shouted for us to run faster.

As if that were remotely possible.

Suddenly, Hendrix’s hand stiffened and he stopped
helping me run. And by that, I mean, he shoved me face first into the sand.

I thrashed around for longer than I should have, but I
was panicked and taken off guard. I lifted my head and sputtered gritty sand.
My arms and legs felt especially heavy now that I’d stopped moving them and my
lungs burned from the run and the coolness of the air.

I rolled over to give Hendrix a piece of my mind, when
I discovered the reason he had pushed me.

A huge, snarling Zombie had broken through the horde
and the force-field and managed to get by Eden and
Kiran
.

Hendrix stood at the ready, with his heavy piece of
wood poised like a baseball bat. He kept his shoulders aptly
tilted
and his feet spread apart for the strongest stance.

As soon as the Feeder stepped into his strike zone,
Hendrix let the Apocalypse-style bat fly. The wood and nails, connected with
the Feeder’s head and hit a home run.

It was the most disgusting thing I had ever watched.
The protruding nails dug into the rotting temple of the Zombie and Hendrix’s
momentum cracked something in the Feeder. I watched the life disappear from his
crimson eyes. The body dropped and Hendrix’s arms went with it.

He glanced at me over his shoulder and took a big sigh
of relief.

I gave him a shaky smile. “Thanks for throwing me on
the ground?”

He grumbled something not very sweet and then held out
his hand to me. Once I was on my feet, he quickly tried to retrieve his weapon
from the dead guy’s head.

Hendrix stepped on the Feeder’s chest and yanked. The
nails made a sickening crunch as they pulled out of the frail skull. I watched
with no small amount of disgust, as they came away dripping with blood, brain
matter and fragments of bones.

And that was enough for me.

I decided right then and there to hitch a ride with
Ivy. I was so over this.

Once Hendrix had his weapon in hand we took off again.
Ivy and Ryder had made it further down the beach and were about to reach the
pier when a Feeder rushed them from the side.

Ryder didn’t hesitate; he swung out with a big piece
of wood similar to Hendrix’s and connected with the Feeder’s head. He didn’t
have quite the power behind his blow that Hendrix did, but it was a solid
effort.

The Feeder stumbled off balance but didn’t die. Ryder
swung out again and hit him in the mouth this time. There was a small explosion
of blood and teeth but still the Feeder stayed on his feet, determined to get
to Ivy.

Hendrix and I sprinted over to them. Sand kicked up
behind me and dug into all the places underneath my clothes I didn’t want it to
go. My skin had been sticky, filthy and bloody before, but now sand coated my
clothes and whatever skin it could find. I tasted it on my dry tongue and
refused to touch my hair or try to run my fingers through it.

The ocean looked like paradise from here.

Just before we reached Ryder, the tip of his weapon
broke apart on the Feeder’s head. Wood splintered into tiny pieces and left
behind a sharpened stake. The Feeder stumbled from the impact and this time
fell to his hands and knees.

Ryder didn’t hesitate. He took the newly fashioned
stake and jammed it into the back of the Zombie’s head.

And that was all she wrote.

The dead body collapsed into the sand and darkened the
smooth surface with the open flow of blood.

Ryder took a step back, panting and wild-eyed. His
chest heaved up and down while his hands landed on his narrow hips and his
shoulders sagged.

I could see from here how much of an eye opening
experience that was for him. He had never killed something, let alone in such a
violent, unbearably grotesque way.

The first time was always the most traumatic.

“We have to keep moving,” I told him when we finally
caught up to them.

He nodded. Ivy nodded. They looked too horrified to
speak.

We pushed on, so close to the pier.

Eden and
Kiran
were right at
our heels, encouraging us to keep moving.

Their Magic held strong,
er
strong enough, for us to make it to the dock. We all stepped onto the slick
wood and slid about three feet before we caught the railing and held tight.

The wood had been worn down and glossed over through
the years. The narrow walkway was wet with salty sea spray and dark from the
constant barrage of waves. Whoever built this hadn’t made it quite high enough.
As we ran, we gripped the rails and endured the constant gush of waves over our
shins.

My jeans were sticky with salt water after just a
short while on the dock and my shoes were completely soaked. The water felt
good at first, especially on my sore toes. That sensation lasted about three
steps before I hated the squishy feeling in my unforgiving boots and the danger
of slipping and sliding along the lengthy platform.

The Zombies caught up easily but then fell back once
their uncoordinated feet hit the slippery wood. Several of them slid right
under the rickety railing and into the shallow waters below. I watched over the
edge, anxious to see what would happen to them. Could they swim?

Of course, they could.

It wasn’t graceful by any means, but they were able to
keep their bodies afloat as they pursued us from the water.

Not all of them fell into the water though. Eden and
Kiran
picked off as many as they could from the back of the
line.

The force-field had disappeared completely. At least
they had enough Magic to still do damage.

“Will you eventually run out?” I shouted back at Eden.
Now we had to contend with the crashing, violent waves, as well as the
cacophony of sound from the horde of Zombies behind us.

The sky started to lighten on the eastern horizon and
some of the stars disappeared behind a whitening sky. If we could get to the
boat, we could say we survived the night.

“It’s coming back!” Eden hollered. “Just get to the
boat!”

No problem.

We reached the end of the dock and Ryder swung over the
side and then helped Ivy. The railing created a small, slippery obstacle, but
the ladder was coated in slimy seaweed and barnacles. Ryder’s feet slipped
first and he dropped. I lost all of the breath in my lungs as I watched him
catch himself with the undersides of his biceps.
Ow
!
That would bruise.

His gray eyes widened with surprise and fear, but he
held on. That was a close call. His wet Chuck Taylors finally found their
footing and he shouted instructions for Ivy to follow. Just as she carefully stepped
onto the ladder, the horde caught up to us.

It was a tight fit, but somehow Eden and
Kiran
and Hendrix and I were able to go to work. This
crowbar was definitely not my favorite weapon. Not even close.
 
But I didn’t have another choice.

I swung and hit, swung and hit. My abs burned from the
force I put into each swing, but I ignored the pain and focused on surviving.

Blood and brains coated my hands and made my crowbar
slippery. I learned to duck and swing, lunge and swing and all kinds of fancy
moves on the fly.

“Go!” Eden screamed at us when there was the smallest
break in rushing horde. They were diving over the pier railing now, trying to
get to Ivy. The ocean pushed them back toward the shore, but they were
determined.

Hendrix went first. His feet slipped and his arms
flailed before he caught himself. He shouted for me to be careful, but it
wasn’t that simple. He waited for me to follow so he could catch me if he had
to.

When it was my turn, I took my time, or as much time
as I could. My nails dug into the wet, rotting wood. My feet refused to
cooperate when my boots slid across the creaking rungs. I closed my eyes and
said a quick prayer.

Finally, I found a system that worked. I had to wrap
my arms around each rung as I slowly worked my way down, but eventually the
swaying bow of the boat was under my feet. I stepped onto it and then tumbled
the rest of the way into an ungraceful pile of tangled limbs on the damp floor.

I tried not to feel embarrassed.

Eden and
Kiran
joined me
almost immediately. Of course, they didn’t have any issues getting down the
damn ladder.

I wanted Magic.

Hendrix beat a Feeder off the side of the boat and
then tried to unknot the rope that tied us to the dock. When he didn’t get it
in three seconds,
Kiran
stepped in and cut the rope
with his Magic.

Ryder went to work on another Feeder that reached us
and Hendrix joined him. The rumble of the boat’s engine helped me take my first
full breath all night. Eden’s Magic went to work again bringing our escape
vessel to life.

I looked out into the sea leading up to shore and
stopped breathing again. The horde had followed us into the water. Their ugly,
decaying heads popped out of waves and sneered at us with their disgusting
teeth.

Not all of them made it. The stronger ones could cut
through the waves with a Zombie version of the breast stroke. The weaker ones
disappeared beneath the surface of the water and didn’t pop up again.

Maybe they would wash up on shore later. I wondered if
drowning would be enough to kill them.

I hoped so.

I jerked back when we took off. All of the Feeders had
made it into the water by now, but we would be faster than them.

Or at least I hoped so.

Ryder and Hendrix were still beating them off the
sides of the boat while
Kiran
took the wheel. I
pulled myself off the floor and moved to sit next to Ivy.

“Is that all of them?” she asked as soon as I’d taken
my seat.

“What do you mean?”

“The Zombies?
Are they all in
the water?”

I looked back at the shoreline and found it empty.
Heads bobbed up and down in the tumultuous waves. The sun began to burn low on
the horizon.

“They’re all in. I don’t see a single Zombie standing
on the shore.”

I turned back to find Ivy giving me a sly smile.
“Good,” she said.

I didn’t think it was so good. Those damn animals
could move. The water didn’t slow them down at all. Their inhuman speed that
gifted them on land followed them into the water.

“Why is that good?”

Ivy turned to kneel on the seat and leaned over the
side of the boat.
“Because I can finally be of some use.”
She dropped her hand into the cold water and swirled her fingers around and
around.

Mesmerized by the gentle caress she gave the ocean, I
watched her. The water bubbled where she touched it, slowly at first, but not
for long. Soon the water burst into an angry boil. Waves came next, so strong
and turbulent our small boat rocked precariously as we navigated the large
waves in pursuit of Ivy’s ride home.

“What are you doing?” My voice was just louder than a
whisper.

“The only thing I’m good at.” Light joined the violent
waves and boiling water, lightning bolts of it. They spread out beneath the
murky surface like fingers of a god. Fast, deadly and hot, they sizzled beneath
the water promising pain and retribution.

The entire time, Ivy’s fingers moved in slow figure
eights that belied the emotions of the water. She was as calm and collected as
ever.

Finally, she pulled her hand back and flicked the
excess water off her slender fingers. She turned around and crossed her legs.
Her elbow rested on the side of the boat and her head dropped into her palm.
She looked exhausted.

I looked like I’d just witnessed a miracle.

“What did you just do?”

She smiled tiredly at me.
“Contributed.”

I spun around and looked out at the now normal Gulf
surface. Not a single Feeder could be seen. The heads were no longer visible
and nothing seemed to be in pursuit of us.

Wow.

She wasn’t kidding.

“Why didn’t we start with this?” I asked, still
feeling absolutely dumbstruck by her power.