Clickers vs Zombies (39 page)
Read Clickers vs Zombies Online
Authors: J.F. Gonzalez,Brian Keene
“Before me is Raphael.” Clark’s voice grew louder. “Behind me is Gabriel. My right hand is the hand of Michael. My left hand is the hand of Uriel. About me are the flames of the Pentagram, and I am covered in the light of the six-rayed star.
I call upon the Gatekeeper, who gave to us the Nomos, which is the Law. I call upon the Doorman, who is the Burning Bush and the Hand That Writes and the Watchman and the Sleepwalker. I call upon the voice of the Tetragrammaton. I call upon he who is called Huitzilopochtli and Ahtu. He who is called Nephrit-ansa and Sopdu. He who is called Hathor and Nyarlathotep. I call upon he who’s real name is Amun. I call upon you and humbly request a closing. The woman with me in the circle is under my protection. By following the Law, and by naming you, I humbly ask for your aid. I humbly ask that you help me to banish this blight from our world, and consign them to the Void. I humbly ask that you protect us, and that we not be harmed or molested by the denizens of Hell, or the realms between, or the Thirteen, or the things that live in the wastes beyond the levels. I beg of thee, and hope that so shall it be.”
With a roar, a zombie bear lumbered out of the forest. Lowering its head, the beast charged, brushing past the other zombies. The humming noise grew louder. Around them, outside the circle, dust motes began to form, swirling like miniature tornados. As the bear barreled toward her, Michele sighted on it, biting her lip. When it was only a few feet away, she squeezed the trigger. The shot caught the dead animal in its shoulder. It reached the line and then crashed, as if slamming into an invisible wall. Blood splattered from its snout. Bared fangs snapped off and fell to the ground. The creature rocked backward and howled.
“You’re doing good,” Clark murmured. “Now comes the hard part.”
San Pedro, California
“Danny,” Jim whispered, “go to Mommy.”
“Kill them all,”
Ob ordered,
“but keep the Thurmond’s alive. I want to take our time with them.”
“Take him,” Jim said, thrusting Danny into Tammy’s arms.
Tammy staggered backward, clutching their son tight, and then ducked as the zombies came for them.
“Jim,” she hollered, “be careful!”
“You, too.” He ducked as a zombie fired a shot at him. The bullet pinged off a nearby stop sign. “Rick, go!”
Rolling across the pavement, Jim felt Mary’s still sizzling remains seep into his clothes. Only her skeleton and her head had escaped dissolving. The head lolled toward him. The entity inside of her tried to speak, but then her skull melted. Jim snatched the .45 from the ground and sprang into a crouch, aiming for his ex-wife’s dead boyfriend. He was aware of a presence standing next to him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Rick. The man had his rifle leveled at Anthony, as well.
“I’m going to strip the flesh from your brat,”
Ob warned.
“And feed it to you before you die.”
“Ob. Anthony. Whatever the hell you call yourself,” Jim growled. “I told you not to talk about my son that way.”
He and Rick fired at the same time. The volley of rounds erased Anthony’s head from the jaw up. His decapitated corpse stood there for a moment, jittering, and then dropped to the pavement in a shower of gore. Dimly, Jim and Rick became aware of their loved ones screaming.
A dead Clicker snatched the rifle from Rick’s grasp and snapped it in half. Enraged, the zombies charged.
Mount Shasta, California
“All-powerful Amun,” Clark shouted, “who walks between the levels and who is beyond the comprehension of all save the Creator, hear me in my plight! In the name of the Igigi and the Annunaki, I beg of you. Banish the Siqqusim from our level and close the gate. Ia Namrasit! Ia Kia Kanpa! Mashrita Zia Ashtag! Ia Uddu-ya!”
The soil churned faster, lifting into the air outside the circle and forming a whirlpool pattern. Sticks, rocks and other debris zipped past, spinning in mid-air. The zombies clutched their heads, wailing in fear and gnashing their teeth. They ripped at their hair and tore their skin open with their fingers.
“Ia verminus Ob…” Clark’s voice faltered.
Michele turned to him, and gasped in horror. Blood ran from his mouth, nose, ears and the corners of his eyes. His fingers, lips, and other extremities had swollen, bulging and pulsating from an incredible pressure within him. The humming noise increased, and her teeth began to ache. Dropping her pistol, Michele clamped her hands over her ears and stumbled toward Clark.
“Stay…back.” His hands flailed, warning her away. “Ia destrato Ob!”
Clark exploded in a cloud of wet, red pulp. Screaming, Michele shielded her eyes with her hands as bits of him rained down upon her, blotting out the circle. The hum ceased, and the dust cloud dissipated. Snatching up her weapon, which was now slick with Clark’s blood, she turned toward the zombies, only to find them all laying motionless on the ground.
Pensive, she approached the bear and nudged it with her toe. It didn’t move. When she placed the barrel of the gun between its eyes and pulled the trigger, it was still dead.
They all were.
Dead again.
Collapsing to her knees in the bloodstained remnants of the circle of protection, Michele McKenzie, the last Black Lodge agent left on Earth, raised her face to the sky and wept.
San Pedro, California
Rick, Jim, and their loved ones stood in the middle of the street, gaping as all around them, the dead died once more. The zombies collapsed in mid-charge, slumping to the pavement, unmoving. One of the monstrous Clickers toppled over onto a car, crushing the vehicle’s hood and setting off the car alarm, which blared in the sudden silence.
For a long time, they just stood there, blinking in confusion, bodies still tensed in anticipation of a fight. But as the minutes passed and their foes didn’t rise to confront them, they began to relax. Slightly nauseous from the leftover adrenalin coursing through their veins, both men trembled as they held their children close. Richard let a very upset Princess out of the SUV. She jumped and barked and licked their faces, tail wagging happily.
They retreated back to Tammy’s home, where they convalesced for several hours. Occasionally, they peeked outside, waiting to see if a new horde of zombies or a marauding band of Clickers would emerge, but the streets remained empty. Eventually, Richard was able to get a signal with his phone. Soon, he verified that the same thing was happening all over the world. The zombies had all been rendered mysteriously and suddenly inactive. Now, various military units were dealing with the remainder of the Clickers.
“Try to call your Mom,” Rick urged his son. When they couldn’t reach her, Rick assured the kids that maybe her cell phone service was still down.
But deep down inside, he felt the truth. Maybe the world hadn’t ended, but he and his children had suffered a personal apocalypse all their own.
Hours later, the ragtag remnants of a National Guard unit passed through. Their halftracks clanked on the pavement, and the diesel engines belched plumes of blue smoke into the sky. As they advanced through the neighborhood, survivors began emerging from their homes. Jim, Tammy, Rick, and the kids did the same. The guardsmen assured them that the threat of the Clickers had passed, for the moment, but that units were still engaging them on other parts of the coast.
After they had passed on, Rick stuck out his hand. Jim clasped it firmly. The two men shook.
“You’re welcome to stay for a bit,” Tammy told them. “I’ve got room, and Jim just lives a few blocks away.”
“No,” Rick said. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I think the best thing for us to do is go home and start picking up the pieces of our lives.”
“You going to be okay?” Jim asked. “I’m betting parts of the city are impassable. And you heard what he said. There might still be a few Clickers about, not to mention people who might be taking advantage of the chaos.”
“We’ll manage,” Rick said. “It’s not like we don’t have firepower.”
Jim nodded. “True enough.”
“Thanks again for your help. We really appreciate it. Stay safe.”
“You, too. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Maybe one day,” Rick replied, as Richard, Melody, and Princess got into the SUV. “Until then, I’m just happy we’re still alive.”
Jim, Tammy, and Danny stood on the sidewalk and watched them drive away. After the SUV had turned the corner, they surveyed the damage to the neighborhood. Dead bodies lay everywhere, along with the carcasses of dozens of Clickers. Most of the homes had broken windows or doors. Wrecked cars lined the street. Telephone and electrical poles lay like fallen trees. The air smelled of smoke.
Tammy reached out and gave Jim’s hand a squeeze. “Looks like you were wrong.”
“About what?”
“It’s not the end of the world after all.”
“Isn’t it?” He grinned. “It sure looks like it from here.”
She nodded, staring at the devastation. “Yeah, I guess it does. Danny, I want you to stay inside. Don’t go wandering off.”
The boy, who’d been inching close to a dead Clicker on the neighbor’s lawn, drooped his shoulder in resignation. “Okay, Mommy.”
“Do you really think we can rebuild?” Tammy asked.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” Jim said. “I think, in time, anything can be rebuilt. Like Louis L’Amour said, there will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.”
They each took one of Danny’s hands, and together, they walked back inside the house.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
J. F. GONZALEZ
is the author of over a dozen novels of terror and suspense, including
Back From the Dead, Primitive, Survivor, The Beloved
, and
Bully
. His short story collections include
The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales
and
When the Darkness Falls
. He also works as a technical writer and screenwriter. A Los Angeles native, he resides with his family in Pennsylvania. Visit him on Twitter @jfgonzalez or online at
www.jfgonzalez.com
BRIAN KEENE
is the author of over twenty-five books, including
Take The Long Way Home, Urban Gothic, Dead Sea, Dark Hollow
, and
The Rising
. He also writes comic books such as
The Last Zombie
. Several of his novels and stories have been developed for film, including
Ghoul
,
The Ties That Bind, Castaways
, and
Darkness on the Edge of Town
. Keene lives in Pennsylvania. You can communicate with him online at
www.briankeene.com
or on Twitter at @BrianKeene
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