Read Jade: Earth's Last Hope Against the Undead Online

Authors: Kenneth W. Cain

Tags: #young adult paranormal romance, #vampire paranormal romance, #young adult action adventure science fiction fantasy suspense, #teen adventure fantasy, #teen 16 plus, #young adult 16 and up, #zombie hunters undead army corpse virus dead kill, #zombie apocalypse adventure, #vampire action romance, #teen and young adult paranormal and urban fantasy

Jade: Earth's Last Hope Against the Undead (9 page)

BOOK: Jade: Earth's Last Hope Against the Undead
8.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

"What're you looking at?" Trent asked.

She doubted her frown hadn't been perceived.
"Nothing. Let's get back to the house."

She wished he hadn't come. Keeping him alive
was an added responsibility for her, but one she'd see through.
She'd grown so fond of Trent.

She liked the way his dimples showed when he
grinned. The way his eyes gleamed on her. He was so handsome.

"So why all the secrecy?"

She turned to him and pulled his hand to
stop him. "It's those warehouses over there. They call them blood
farms. Something's going on over there and I think it's the reason
Hiru sent us out this way, you know, like she..."

He smiled. "What?"

More sheepishly now, she answered. "Like she
sent you toward me and then us toward the tree." She looked into
his dark eyes. "Like all of this is happening for a reason."

He turned away from her and stared off
toward the warehouses. "I know what you mean."

She took his other hand now, and turned him
back to her. "Do you, Trent?'

They stared into each other's eyes for a
long moment and then she moved forward to kiss him. He shifted
forward to meet her. Their lips met with a gentle spark and they
kissed slowly at first. Then, as the heat rose, it became more
passionate. Each breath came fast, between parting lips that rushed
back together. Never before had she felt as woozy as she did now in
his arms.

And as fast as it happened, it ended. He
turned away and pulled her behind him. They retreated to a corner
in the house and there they snuggled for a long time. Because it
was so warm and comfortable, she fell asleep in his arms.

When she woke an hour later, Trent was gone.
For a while she looked for him, but no one knew where he'd
gone.

He left me.

No, that didn't make sense. Why would he
leave her? There had been a connection between them. She'd felt it.
Surely he had too.

Or maybe you forced it all and scared him
away.

That wasn't Trent's style. Then again, it
hadn't been her style until only recently.

She pushed her way through the doors and the
afternoon light seized her. She walked aimlessly, worried, yet
determined. Her path brought her to the warehouses, where she
paused to study them.

Nothing
.

Then she did see something. Or at least she
felt something. That Trent might have come to this place.

But why?

She considered everything, all which had led
to this moment in time. What could possibly cause him to think to
go to this place?

Because Hiru controlled this, as well.

And if she had done this much, then surely
she had sent Trent to his demise.

No, that couldn't be true. She'd sent him
there for a reason, to lure her in to take care of matters. Jade
had it in her mind to leave him there. Something inside of her
could no sooner deny saving him than finding the purpose behind
those warehouses.

She seethed, and hurried back to fetch her
sword. When she returned, none followed. They hid inside, believing
whatever she meant to do would be no good for them. With
determination and passion filling her, she headed across the fields
toward the warehouses.

 

 

The closer she got, the more she saw that
someone—or rather many someones—had been there. Rows of neatly
marched footprints lined the dirt surrounding the warehouse. She
studied them, noticing how their path seemed constant, always
heading out into the fields. Several wheel prints marked the path
of carts, meant to carry harvests to the warehouse.

What do vampires need with food?

A door popped open, putting her on guard.
From out of the darkness emerged a single person at first. Then
another, and another—all of them zombies. They wore headbands
similar to the one Trent had once worn.

Arms lifted, they attacked her, mouths agape
and moaning.

Drawing her sword, she sidestepped their
attack and sliced through their necks with ease. But they kept
coming, several dozen of them running for her all at once. She
maintained her poise, and one by one she made sure they wouldn't
come again.

After nearly thirty zombies, she had a
moment to rest. She studied the corpses, how the bands seemed to
control their actions as they had Trent's.

So, they haven't really saved us from
anything.

And she'd actually believed they had. It
sickened her now to see what they'd done with the remaining
zombies. What were they to them?

Attack guards?

Yes, that was it. They were meant to keep
intruders away during the light hours. They'd failed at this
task.

She tracked the zombies' path back to the
doorway and stared inside. Nothing but extreme darkness lay beyond.
Then she saw something else in that void. Several tiny lights
blinked red and green: the headbands the zombies wore.

Beyond the lights of the harnesses, in the
darkest recesses she saw something else, too. They stared back at
her, their glowing red eyes piercing through the gloom and studying
her.

Dusk came slower than usual it seemed. She
hid among the wreckage of an airplane, watching the warehouse
closely to see what they might be doing there. Just as the sun
began to settle behind the range of mountains and pine trees in the
distance, several blinking lights streamed across her vision.

She focused on them.
These aren't zombies
.

The fact they were alive meant something
bigger was happening. The humans moved as one, beginning their
daily chores on the farms, some harvesting while others prepared
dinner, the aromas already finding her from this distance. Among
these people she spied one familiar to her, the doctor. He walked
among the others, mindlessly performing the tasks imparted to him
through the harness.

Surrounding the humans were several more
zombies who guarded the area, unmoving and seemingly more dead than
usual. Still, they hadn't depleted this resource during her
intrusion earlier.

For a while longer, she only observed,
looking for Trent so she could extract him as soon as possible. But
she didn't see Trent anywhere.

When night came, she could see the humans
eating. Their masters, at least a couple dozen vampires, also fed,
despite seeming on guard at every moment due to her earlier
intrusion. They sucked at the humans' necks with disregard and the
humans didn't even seem to notice.

So that's what this place
is, them feeding the cattle and then taking their share?
It sickened her.

The vampires carried with them their
weapons, patrolling the area as if ensuring she'd gone. That meant
they'd soon expand their search. Knowing this, she stayed her
ground. If they wanted a fight, she'd be ready for them. They'd
likely taken note of what she'd done to their zombie forces,
though, and wouldn't be so anxious.

After dinner, they dragged a sick-looking
man out of the warehouse. The vampires didn’t feed off of this man,
and they didn't appear interested in healing him either. Instead,
they threw him to the zombie horde.

The zombies fell on the man, the sounds of
their slurping and chewing reaching Jade even from this distance.
It made her stomach twist with revulsion. None of the other humans
ever faltered, their harnesses keeping them fully controlled. When
the zombies finished and turned on the others, their harnesses
suddenly blinked back on and they once more took their posts
guarding the surrounding area.

For a long moment nothing else happened and
then the corpse of the fallen man began to stir. Two vampires, a
male and a female, helped the new zombie to his feet. They fitted
him with a harness and in that instant transformed the man into a
mindless corpse, willing to see to their every bidding.

She hadn't seen any sign of Trent, which
made her nervous. The time had come for action. Like it or not,
she'd go it alone for the sake of saving Trent.

From out of the wreckage, she emerged and
they saw her almost right away. Seconds later, the horde of zombies
attacked as a unit and she awaited their assault.

When they were within a dozen yards, she
spun and brought her sword around in a full circle. The second time
around, she spun faster. And then she spun again, taking only a
flicker of time with each spin to register where she needed to
swipe her sword next in order to remove the heads. Less than a
minute later a handful of zombies remained.

She stabbed one directly in the forehead.
The next she punched with the hilt of her sword upon drawing her
blade out of the other's skull. She immediately turned and throated
the zombie. Then she took the last two heads with one swipe of her
blade and stood on guard.

Seeing how dangerous she was, the vampires
sent the humans next. They approached as a horde, but rather than
kill any of them she tried to use her sword to fend off their
attacks. She focused only on her true targets, the vampires. And
seeing she could mitigate their human servants easily, they
prepared to attack.

She burst through the crowd of humans. Some
still came, as she shoved or kicked them away.

First came a male vampire, swift and
headfirst, a large hammer in his fisted hand. She spun, thrusting
her sword up in an arc. Her blade pierced his heart and time seemed
to freeze. He sputtered in flight as she pulled her sword free,
ready for the next assault. His body crashed against the earth,
where he clawed at the ground as if trying to draw life from it.
Seconds later he exhaled his last breath as death took him.

Two women came for her, one with a sword and
another with a bow. An arrow cut through the air and Jade slid to
the side. It missed her by less than an inch. She shoved the one
with the sword away and kicked the other as she climbed on top of
an old cart.

There, two more vampires attacked, one male
and one female. She squatted, swiping her sword around in a high
arc. The steel ate away their faces and in the few lapsed seconds
before the next wave of attack she stabbed each vampire deep in
their heart. Their weapons fell to the side, having never even been
used against her.

A crowd of humans stood around the cart,
snatching at her. She somersaulted over them, landing near a
vampire with a sword.

The vampire swung her sword at Jade, and
weapons clashed, Jade's sword severing the vampire's blade with a
clang. The vampire's face was a mask of dreadful awe when Jade's
sword sent its head rolling through the dust.

Now three vampires attacked, each of them
without a weapon and baring their fangs. She charged the one that
stood out from the others, gutting him. Immediately she spun,
slicing the necks of the other two. With all of them momentarily
disabled, she pierced each black heart with steadfast
precision.

BOOK: Jade: Earth's Last Hope Against the Undead
8.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo
Elizabeth's Spymaster by Robert Hutchinson
Interregnum by S. J. A. Turney
Savor by Duncan, Megan
Ghosts & Gallows by Paul Adams
A Little Lost by Burnett, R.S