Jade: Earth's Last Hope Against the Undead (6 page)

"Subdue them," this vampire said.

Jade drew her blade. It flashed like a
snake's tongue, stinging them one at a time. They parried the first
few toying thrusts of her sword, but then she became deadly. She
lunged forward, running through the first vampire, who collapsed,
stunned as he watched his thick, black blood seep over his hands.
He collapsed to the surface. The third, behind and a little to her
right, met his demise when she reversed the direction of her sword
and drove it behind her, eviscerating the attacking vampire with a
backward upward thrust that sliced him from pubis to throat. His
undead guts spilled just before he fell atop the other.

Two down Jade thought, spinning back toward
the female.

Jade raised her bloodied blade. "You let us
go. You hear me?"

The vampire smirked. "If I must."

The vampire's bright orange eyes drilled
into Jade's for one final moment before she took to the air and
vanished.

Trent clawed up from underground, turned,
and shut the hatch. Looking at her, he said, "You're some bad-ass
now, aren't you?"

She giggled. He still made her feel
lightheaded at times. "Whatever they did to me, for whatever reason
makes this come easy to me."

His eyes took her in. "Are you sure they
didn't...you know," he traced his hand over the place the straps of
the head harness had been, "put one of those on you."

"No." But then she didn't really know what
they'd done to her. She'd checked everything out, but there weren't
any visible wounds or scars "Whatever they did was by other means."
Her eyes searched Trent's. "The doctor said they programmed me.
What does that even mean?"

"Well . . . "He glanced back at the hatch.
"I'm not sure, but if they could control me with that harness, they
must have found some way to tap into your brain."

He paused, looking back again. "Are you sure
they aren't controlling you?"

"I don't think so."

"Well then, let's get the hell out of here.
We need to put some distance between this place and us fast. That
underground lair gives me the willies. And it won't be safe for
long."

She didn't answer; she only hurried to catch
up to him. They walked together that way for a long time, Jade
always by his side but ever alert.

By midnight, they came upon an old shack in
the woods and stopped for much needed rest, and hopefully food
since they hadn't eaten since before leaving the tree.

Jade went in first, blade drawn. The door
gave way to a dark room, lit only by what little light peeked
through the dirt-covered windows. Nothing waited for them in that
darkness.

They hurried in and shut the door behind
them. A quick survey of the cabinets produced a few old cans of
food, most of which had expired. Jade took one of the cans, set it
on the table and punctured it with the tip of her sword, stabbing
an x in the top leaving points of metal lid that could be pushed
down to create an opening.

Starting a fire to cook the soup might draw
attention, so they passed the can back and forth, pouring the
contents into their ravenous gullets. Ancient Spaghettios had never
tasted so good.

"So, why do you think they gave you this
power?" Trent said.

She sucked at the edge of the can filling
her mouth with noodle rings. Sauce dripped down her chin as she
spoke. "No idea. Guess they think I'm special or something."

"Special how? Like Special Ed?"

She had actually been a special student
before all this, but still laughed. "Careful or I'll open you up
next."

But then Trent did something that surprised
her. He scooted in close and placed his rough hand on her chin.
With one finger he wiped away the sauce and licked his finger.
Afterward he kissed her lightly on the cheek, so sweet and fast she
barely noticed until his lips were gone.

"What was that for?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Just because."

"Because what?"

"Because you came for me I guess." He turned
away. "Let's not make it weird or anything."

And that was good, too. She didn't want to
make it weird. Truth was, she liked how things were now. In fact,
she liked it a lot. She wished with all her heart he'd kiss her
again. But he didn't, and soon they retreated to their separate
makeshift beds and rolled away from each other while they
slept.

She woke to a rumble. As she listened, she
considered it could be her stomach, but then realized what it had
been.

Trent stirred. "What is it?"

"Zombies."

When she'd said this word in the past, it
had felt like her stomach had swallowed her heart. It always took a
long moment before she could regain her senses, or even breathe for
that matter. Not anymore, though. Now the horde of zombies excited
her.

She grabbed her sword and headed for the
door.

"Where are you going?"

She smiled. "To take care of them."

"No, wait."

She was already out the door. She glanced
back once and saw his pasty face in the window. Seconds later she
attacked.

She ran for them, and they for her. She
flicked her sword out to her side and crashed into the horde, her
blade a circular lightning bolt. Eight zombies fell dead, their
heads removed from their torsos.

The next wave came. Her blade zigzagged
through them like an Olympic skier attacking a slalom. One by one
the dead-walkers fell victim to her sword, and soon enough
Trent was by her side, fighting along with her.

Some forty minutes later, a few remained,
struggling to maneuver over the pile of corpses. She took her time,
approaching each of them without worry or concern.

"Sorry. Needed to be done," she said.

She lifted her blade and thrust it through
the skull of an undead man. It came away with a sick, sucking
sound, and the man twitched for a split second before going
still.

"I'm not sure I understand," Trent said.
"But you cut through them like a knife through butter." He paused.
"It's, uh, a little scary."

"Scary?" She laughed and crossed to an
undead woman, beheading her with a quick swipe. "Scary how?"

His eyes widened. "Did you even see what you
just did?"

Jade looked down at the woman. "Yes." But
all the same, she didn't. She shook her head. "Listen, I don't know
what's going on inside of me. But I do believe it isn't something
to fear. It's a gift."

She crossed to the last and took it down
fast. The man collapsed to his knees, slumping as his head rolled
free.

"Sure is," Trent said, shaking his head.

They packed up what food they had left and
headed west. Trent wanted to put more distance between them and
that strange tree.

"So I was thinking," she said after a long
while, "about how those bands work and all."

"Yeah?"

"What purpose would they have in creating
those things?"

"I don't know," Trent said, but she was
certain somewhere inside he did know. He just couldn't access that
knowledge right now.

"The doctor indicated it pretty much turned
you into a robot." She rethought matters. "No, not a robot. More
like they put you in a trance."

"I didn't feel a thing. And I don't
remember…"

"See, that's just it. What's the purpose of
putting people in a trance?" She dragged her feet as she walked, in
part because it helped her think. "I mean it seemed they could get
you to do almost anything. Like the band made you susceptible to
suggestion."

"Yes. That sounds about right."

She hummed. "But why?"

He grinned. "We may never know."

She stopped and threw back her hair. "Well
that's just it. I think we need to find out. It's the key to all of
this: why they made me what I am and those damn headbands. It's
everything, and we must find out why they did it."

"Okay then." He urged her onward. "We will.
Let's just worry about getting to another shelter before dark.
Sound good?"

She nodded, but then added. "We don't have
to worry, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

She smiled brightly. "You saw what I'm
capable of doing. I'm just saying that I won't let them hurt
you."

Now he stopped, looking her up and down.
Finally, after an awkward moment, he slugged her arm playfully.
Then he clasped his hands together and batted his eyes. "My
hero."

Well after dark when they reached
Harrisburg, they decided it was as good as any place to settle in
for a spell, although Jade's new urges left her restless and unable
to relax.

They'd encountered very few zombies along
the way and Harrisburg itself resembled a ghost town.  Despite
the fact the vamps had evidently wiped out many of the zombies, the
few apprehensive people who braved the streets always looked wary,
especially of someone like Jade. How could she blame them? Anyone
who carried such a big sword must appear troublesome.

These few stragglers kept to themselves
mostly, slithering into dark houses like bugs skittering away from
the light. Seeing this even now when the zombies were all but gone
bothered Jade. What troubled her most was that there seemed no
purpose for her. Who was she supposed to protect, for what cause
and from what monster? She needed to—

Just thinking of it, she drew her sword and
ran her fingers along the blade.

"Put that thing away, will you?"

She looked at him. "Why?"

He waved at their surroundings. At least a
few pairs of eyes could be seen peering out at them. "You're
frightening the kids, dear."

She sheathed the sword, followed by a
distinct sigh. "This is boring."

"Hell yeah it is." He led her toward some
abandoned buildings. "And boring is good." Now he looked back at
her. "Don't you remember when you thought boring was good?"

She did of course, but recalling it she
couldn't fathom why she'd ever been so frightened. It wasn't okay
for them to continue hiding like rats in the sewers and other
unpleasant places. This was their planet, and they should have the
right to go wherever they pleased.

Still, she nodded.

"Good then." He opened a door for her.
"We'll be okay in here for the night. Next stop is Pittsburgh, so
rest up. Tomorrow we begin that long journey."

"Why bother?"

"For one thing, I know someone there who
might be able to help us."

"A professor?" she asked.

"No."

"A doctor?"

"Not quite."

"What then?"

"A vampire," he said.

Already, the statement troubled her. But she
said nothing about it, and barely spoke at all for the next few
hours while she contemplated the matter.

Sleep the following day came early. All the
walking exhausted both of them. When they woke they wasted no time
continuing along their way. It wasn't until much later when Jade
finally worked up the nerve to ask.