What Zombies Fear (Book 2): The Maxists (15 page)

I watched John scramble up the side of the parking garage and quickly run across to the other side facing the four story building almost a mile away.

Leo took off at a slow run. Slow for her was still faster than an Olympic sprinter. But it wasn’t impossibly fast. We surmised that her speed used whatever power the zombies could detect, so the slower she ran the less of it she’d use. Still, I was in a hurry. I had this odd nag at the back of my skull telling me to go home. I hoped everything was alright. I came here to do a job and I was going to do it.

“
Tookes, I smell guns. From this far away, I smell lots of guns,” John whispered over the radio.

“
Frye told us there was a depot here, could that be it? Can you sniff them out once we’re in the building?”

“
I dunno mate, I smell ‘em everywhere. Its’ all I can smell, it’s all around us.”

“
Marshall! Keep an eye out, I think this is a trap.” I said under my voice.

“
You got it Vic.”

Into the microphone “Leo, any sign of anything?”

“
No, nothing here,” she whispered. “The lights are off in the building. I don’t see any movement. Wait. John, 3rd floor, north side, 4th window from the left.”

“
Tookes, movement all across the 3rd floor,” said John.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. Something was very wrong. I wanted to tell Leo to teleport back here, pick up john and land him in the truck and let’s get out. I wanted to tell John to shoot everything that moved. I wanted to tell Marshall to level that building, but I needed to protect my friends. Trina told me about them tracking our powers just before this. I don’t believe in coincidences, I believe in psychology. Trina said something about it because it was on her mind. It could have been on her mind because she was from here and that was how they were planning on springing this trap. She was a particularly strong super. It makes sense that they would make this facility their base of operations.

“
Where does Frye fit in all this,” I said out loud.

Marshall asked, “What Vic?”

“
I’m trying to puzzle this all out. If there were a group of humans in that building, I’d see them from here, I think. I can’t find a single living human in that building.” I went on to explain why I thought Trina told me about them tracking our powers, because that makes me think that their plan involved in using that against us. This was all coming together for me.

“
I believe that the supers here are planning a trap for us. They’re waiting up there, in the dark, until they feel our powers.” I continued. “What I don’t know is where Frye figures into all this. I don’t know why Frye would send us here and let them know we are coming.”

“
What about Bookbinder? He would have told them we were coming,” asked Marshall.

“
Shit. I hadn’t thought about that. But still, where does Frye fit in? He pushed us to come here for some reason. Does he want us dead? Does he really think we can wipe out this many supers?” I asked. ”Maybe he was hopeful we’d get most of them. We’re in a world of hurt here Marshall.”

“
Uhh, Vic. Your eyes are glowing.”

“
What?” I asked.

“
Your eyes, they’re glowing blue. Like the color of Max’s eyes, but yours are putting light off.”

“
I have no idea. I don’t feel anything.” I looked down at my hands, clearly illuminated in the blue light from my eyes. My aura was also the baby blue of Max’s.

I focused on my aura, willing it to ‘be normal’. It faded for a second, back to its normal blue/purple, the state that typically meant I was about to get into a fight, before blinking back to baby blue.

“
They dimmed for a second, but now they’re back on. I hope they can’t feel that,” said Marshall.

I spoke into my radio, “Leo, get back here. John, you as well.”

As I spoke, I John came over the radio “Tookes, they’re coming.”

“
Leo, grab John and get to Marshall and I now!”

About one second later, Leo appeared holding John. I heard a gun fire. John spun and shot the bullet out of the air and then there were shots from everywhere. My aura grew to encompass the four of us, I had no idea what was happening and I was powerless to stop it. The bullet’s bounced off of my aura like some kind of energy shield.

“
Holy shit, I’m bullet proof,” I said as four super zombies landed surrounding me. They began punching at the shield that surrounded us. Each time they hit, I felt a stab in my head, like a small pin prick somewhere on my scalp. It was there for the bullets too, but much less. If I hadn’t been focusing on that feeling I wouldn’t have noticed the bullet’s hitting at all. The punches were annoying. Every time it was like having a needle stuck into my brain.

I stepped back, the wall of blue that apparently only the zombies and I could see moved with me, exposing Marshall’s foot.

“
Guys, move with me. We’re getting to a truck. I don’t know how long I can keep this up, I don’t know what it is and I don’t know how to control it,” I said quietly.

The four of us backed slowly, en-masse to the closest truck, but when I got inside the truck, the protective bubble closed around the inside of the truck rather than the outside. One of the supers stepped to the truck, ripped the hood off and started ripping parts off the engine, rendering it useless.

“
I can’t protect the truck, only us. I have no idea how this works.”

One of the supers, a tall blonde surfer looking guy in an Armani suit stopped hitting the shield and spoke. I could hear him clearly in my head, but the sound of his voice through the shield was muffled, as if we were underwater. “
Tookes, you can’t keep that up forever, we will beat you down. Then we’re going to eat your friends while you watch.
”

“
I don’t even know what I’m doing, but unless there are more than four of you, I’m not that worried,” I said boastfully.

“
There are a lot more of us,
” was all he replied.

“
John,
” I whispered to his mind “
Can you get your gun barrel outside? Will it go through
?”

John pushed the barrel of his H&K assault rifle at the edge of the field, but all it did was warp and stretch around the tip.

“
No, mate. No luck.” he replied.

Just then, Bookbinder landed on the top of the field. When his feet touched the blue energy, it was like hundreds of needles, all poking my brain from hundreds of different angles.

“
Charlie!” I yelled. “Its’ good to see you.”

“
You too Sir.” For a brief moment I had a thought that maybe Bookbinder was immune. “But now I’m going to eat you and then I’m going to go eat your friends.”

“
Charlie, why? We were friends; we were on the same team.”

“
There’s nothing of Charlie left.” replied Zombie-Charlie.

“
Then I don’t mind killing you.” I replied.

My aura started to absorb Charlie. Starting with his feet, it flowed up around his boots and started slowly up his legs. He pulled away, screaming, but the blue energy kept holding him. He pulled harder; yelling in pain, as the blue light slowly crept up his legs. I heard his pants tear and with a huge heave, he ripped his legs from the sockets, flying upward into the sky.

When he tore free, blood spattered along the top of the shield and disappeared and the stumps that were his legs disintegrated, slowly sinking, almost melting in the field.

The energy field was noticeably smaller after Bookbinder’s assault. My brain was on fire. My legs were getting weak.

“
Guys, I can’t do this much more.”

Marshall stepped outside of the field. The zombies immediately opened fire, but the bullet’s had very little effect. He picked up the first explorer, the one with most of its engine missing by the back bumper and using it like a club, smashed the nearest super into a mushy wet spot in the parking lot. Leo disappeared from inside the bubble, reappearing right behind the super who’d spoken to me. She disappeared and reappeared one foot forward with both blades buried in its head. She made the blades appear inside the zombie. As she dropped the eight inches to the ground, she twisted the handles, cracking his skull open and spilling the contents out.

There were two supers left beating on the shield. John turned around backwards and backed out, leading with his body he had no trouble getting outside. He fired the H&K from one arm and his pistol from the other.

Six more supers landed behind John. He turned to shoot one, removing the top of its head before anyone had a chance to say anything. The next one of them hit him in the back of the head with a closed fist. John flew forward, face first into the asphalt and then slid along the pavement, unconscious.

“
One down, Tookes.
” Thought surfer dude.

“
Leo, get him out of here. Hide him far away.
”

Leo appeared next to John, put her hand on his head and they both disappeared and a second later Leo was back.

“
Come here fucker. You can cheap shot people all you want, can you take me man to man? Just you and me, no weapons? I’m going to rip your head off with my bare hands.” I hadn’t felt this in a long time. There was a burning rage inside my belly, rage for killing zombies. I hadn’t felt this since the bridge after Candi died.

My aura shrunk down to just a rough outline of me and tinged with purple, forming a suit of armor. With that thought, the blue light solidified into a blue suit of armor like a medieval knight. I thought again, this time about military body armor and it took the form of a soldier’s combat armor. Surfer guy appeared directly in front of me and smashed his fist into my chest. Just a small pin prick in my head. I watched him select his next move and swung my fist as hard as I could, where he was going to be. I connected with his jaw, leaving a glowing blue spot. He reeled from the blow, stepping backwards a few feet. I advanced and watched him feint right and then swing with his left. I swung my right fist at his hand, crushing it. It was a broken, mangled mess. He held his hand up and we both watched as it straightened and reformed. Not wanting to miss my opportunity, I drove for his neck with both hands. I had my hands around his neck, my aura flowing in his mouth and out his nose and back into me. I could feel him weakening; I could feel his energy fading, being overcome by mine.

The weaker he got the harder I squeezed until finally, with a yell I twisted and ripped his head from his neck.

“
You sons of bitches want to fuck with me? I shouted? FUCK YOU!
” I yelled.

“
Let it all hang out. Let’s show these motherfuckers what we are made of,
” I said.

Marshall grabbed the un-wrecked truck in his other hand. He smashed the two trucks together like he was clapping demolishing two zombies just as six new supers landed. Leo was everywhere. It was like there was three of her. She appeared over them, disappearing and reappearing so fast she literally hadn’t faded out of one spot before she was in the next. Ten more appeared.

I stepped up to a tall brown haired guy in another charcoal suit. He grabbed my arm. I focused my aura into him; he crumpled to the ground within seconds. My legs wobbled, but I kept going. The next zombie in line grabbed me, with the same effect. I poured my aura into him, killing him. As he fell to the ground, I stumbled, landing on my knee. I couldn’t keep this up, so I changed tactics. Unfortunately, so did they.

Marshall threw the first truck at three standing in a line, crushing them as it flew up into the tree. Twelve more supers landed.

“
There has to be an end to them. We have to be making progress,” I thought to Leo and Marshall.

The more of them we killed, the more of them showed up. For every one we killed, three more showed up. We were quickly becoming overwhelmed. No matter how fast we moved, no matter how many we killed.

“
Leo! Grab Marshall and get to John, then come back for me.” Leo and Marshall dispersed and all of the zombies converged on me.

All fifty super zombies were converging on me, when I heard Max’s voice, weak and faint in my head. “
Dad. Help.
”