No Mere Zombie: Deathless Book 2 (14 page)

Cyntia prowled the jungle behind Trevor, hair bound into a simple ponytail. The Ka-Ken wore some of the clothing they’d liberated from the last group they’d encountered. Irakesh was still digesting that lot, but it was wise to take opportunity whenever it was found. Consuming more victims would not only increase his strength, but also afford more knowledge of this new world.
 

He didn’t like relying on Trevor and still didn’t trust Cyntia. She was timid, but also calculating. The way she watched him was exactly the same he might have reserved for a more powerful deathless, always searching for an advantage but playing the dutiful servant until the right moment. He’d considered killing her, but had not for two reasons. It might upset Trevor, and he was just beginning to make progress with his new vassal. Also, she could have enormous potential if he could turn her fully.
 

Such a thing had been exceedingly rare in his own time. Even Ra had only turned a few champions, and that had required all of her considerable charms to accomplish. If he could do such a thing, it would win him much prestige in addition to a powerful ally.

“Cyntia, circle around behind them. Trevor and I will approach. When they are focused on us attack from behind. I know you find the act distasteful, but you should feed on any you kill. It will increase your strength and help you protect Trevor,” Irakesh ordered, as reasonably as possible. The first step was getting her to feed indiscriminately. It would increase her power dramatically and would teach her to love feeding. He could use that eventually.

Cyntia gave a nod, disappearing into the shadows. It bothered him that she could use something so similar to his own power, almost as much as her near immunity to his shaping. It made her dangerous, though that would be true of Trevor eventually as well. He’d already shown more independence then he should have been capable of, but also an ability to troubleshoot problems that would make him an invaluable advisor once he was properly trained. Such a dangerous dichotomy.
 

Irakesh marched through the jungle, stepping over ferns and around the trunks of unfamiliar trees. He made no effort to disguise his progress, allowing the nearby soldiers to see him. Trevor trailed after, slipping through the jungle with the skill of a lifelong hunter. Where had he come by that? Irakesh would need to ask when the opportunity arose.

“Hello,” Irakesh called, raising his hand in a friendly wave. The soldiers fanned out, shooting each other glances when they realized they’d been spotted. “You’re the first people we’ve seen in days. Thank god. We could use your help.”

He drew up short in a small clearing, waiting as four men and two women lined up along the edge. They looked ready to flee back into the jungle, each cradling a rifle. Most had pistols at their sides as well. Those weapons would be exceedingly useful.

“Who are you?” a beefy man asked, stepping fully into the clearing. He was bald, with a bandana tied around his forehead to block the sweat. His bearing screamed soldier, but he was too relaxed. Too sure that Irakesh was no threat because he wasn’t armed.

“My name is Irakesh. The man behind me is Trevor,” he offered, taking a step closer. It had the desired effect, all six soldiers brought their weapons to bear, ready to gun him down if he did something that displeased them. He ignored the weapons, plastering a smile on his face. “We are deathless and we are hungry. Your group will satiate that hunger. When you are dead we will take your memories and your weapons. If there are others you hold dear, we will pry their location from you and visit death upon them as well.”

It was a bit dramatic, but he’d always enjoyed such flourishes. What was the point of being deathless if you couldn’t terrify the unblooded?

The man’s jaw sagged open, eyes widening. Irakesh grinned as Cyntia materialized behind one of the soldiers, a stocky woman with a pump action shotgun. The
 
woman shrieked, drawing the attention of most of the others.

The man who’d spoken and the other woman both had the presence of mind to fire at Irakesh. Unfortunately for them he was no longer there. He split his focus, triggering two powers at the same time. First, he blurred behind the leader so quickly that his passage kicked up a wind that swirled some of the large green leaves littering the jungle floor.
 

The second was more difficult, but also more fun. Irakesh left a perfect illusion of himself standing where he’d been before blurring. Rifles cracked as the fools desperately tried to bring him down. The bullets passed right through his illusion, giving the impression that he was completely immune to their weapons.

Irakesh extended wicked black claws, like a werewolf’s but smaller and more precise. He reached around to slash the leader’s throat, seizing the man’s rifle as he fell. The memories he’d ingested didn’t tell him what type of gun it was, but he understood that if he pulled the trigger it would belch a hail of small metal balls. So he aimed the gun at the next soldier and did exactly that. The man went down in a spray of blood, body jerking from multiple impacts as the gun roared.

Trevor sprinted low across the clearing, slamming the woman on the far right into the bole of a tree. Her spine cracked, spilling her limply to the ground. Her shotgun tumbled away, caught by Trevor before it could hit the ground. He brought the stock smoothly to his shoulder, aiming at the next soldier. The man spun to face him but it was far too late.
 

Trevor stroked the trigger and the gun roared. The force of the blow picked the man up, hurling him back several paces. He didn’t rise. The move impressed Irakesh and not just because it demonstrated that Trevor had the skills of a warrior. Most new deathless would have fed on their first target, unable to pull themselves away to focus on the rest of combat. Trevor had done so without hesitation, quelling his instincts in favor of tactical sense. He was strong willed, perhaps too strong.

“Excellent work,” Irakesh called, surveying the bodies littering the clearing. A few still moaned, but none were any threat. “Now it is time to feed. We will need our strength for what is to come.”

Chapter 23- Pursuit

“Which direction?” Liz asked, turning to face Blair. He wore a set of camouflage fatigues complete with a matching cap. They were a little too baggy, but choices had been limited. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, just like her own. They cut the sun to a manageable glare, though she still found herself squinting. Part of that was dealing with the cacophony of jungle sounds, so overpowering to her new senses despite being nearly a hundred yards away.
 

“That way,” he said, nodding in the direction of the jungle stretching down the hill behind the village. It was the same one where Irakesh had left the horde of zombies to slow them. “The feeling is faint. I’m guessing he’s at least a day or two ahead of us. Maybe more. I was hoping we’d be able to pick up a trail too, but there are just too many competing scents.”

“Yeah, all I can make out is monkey pee and flowers. Jordan, you’re a soldier. Any suggestions on how we can catch this guy?” she asked, turning her attention to the blonde giant. He wore a very similar uniform, but it was tailored to fit his well defined frame. Where Blair was merely muscular, Jordan was a wall in clothes.
 

“I’ve never been a jungle guerrilla, but I know warfare. You want to catch this guy? We need to figure out where he’s going and get there first. Following him allows him to set all sorts of fun traps and to lead us wherever he wants us to go,” Jordan explained, resting the barrel of his automatic rifle against his shoulder. Liz still had no idea what kind of gun it was, but she knew from her brother that it was a high caliber just based on the size.
 

“So how do we catch him, then?” Bridget asked, peering around the village nervously. It was littered with the carnage from their battle. Liz didn’t blame the petite woman for being nervous. She was nervous herself.

“We need a vehicle, but that will come later,” Blair interjected, already starting towards the jungle. “If he’s in there, then he’ll have to move at the same pace we do. Once we’re on the other side, somewhere in Columbia, we can find a jeep or a boat or something. We know this world better than he does, so that gives us a small advantage.”

“Agreed,” Jordan said, striding after Blair. Liz trotted after, and Bridget brought up the rear. “There’s an airport in Panama where Mohn keeps some of its aircraft. There’s no way they had time to change security, so if we can get there I can probably find us a helicopter. Maybe even a jet. Assuming any of it survived the CME.”

“That might work. If the Mother’s memory is correct, we’re looking at San Francisco, so if Irakesh goes by land he’ll have to pass through Panama. We can follow him that far, then fly north if we haven’t caught up to him by then,” Blair said as Jordan fell into step beside him. It surprised Liz how friendly the two had grown since Jordan had risen as a werewolf. He’d dogged their steps for months, even destroying Trevor’s house back in San Diego.
 

Liz fell back a few paces to allow Bridget to catch up. She eyed the other woman sidelong, part of her irked by the woman’s perfect hair and creamy skin despite the humidity. It made her feel so, well, ginger. “Walk the shadows. Try to stay a little ways behind us. Paranoid maybe, but Irakesh might have left some surprises and if he did I want to be ready.”

“All right,” Bridget agreed, giving a tight nod. The shadows enveloped the tiny brunette, covering not only the sight of her but also her scent. Liz jogged along the road, taking a sharp right into the jungle after Jordan and Blair. They were a good forty or fifty feet ahead, moving swiftly as they passed beneath the thick canopy. None of them knew the jungle well, but she hoped their new senses would alert them to danger.

They moved north for several hours, marking the sun’s passage as it occasionally broke through the jungle to illuminate a patch of dim undergrowth. Blair moved unerringly forward, clearly focused on some distant goal none of the rest of them could see. Sometimes they travelled along a path; at others they wound through the thick undergrowth.

Blair finally paused in a clearing, kneeling next to something. Jordan dropped back next to a tree, rifle cradled in both massive arms as he scanned the area. Ever the perpetual soldier. Liz glided into the clearing, crouching next to Blair.

“What did you find?” she asked, pitching her voice low. It was swallowed by the cacophony of the jungle, monkeys chattering, water dripping and a hundred other sounds.

“There’s blood on these leaves,” Blair replied, holding up a scarlet-stained leaf for her perusal. “Someone was killed here. Maybe several someones. I think it happened as recently as yesterday, but I’m not a forensic scientist or anything. Just my gut call based on how it smells.”

“What do you think- ,” Liz began, but the jungle exploded around them. Bullets ripped through the clearing, catching Blair in the chest. He was blasted backwards, rolling through undergrowth as the barrage continued. Liz dove for cover, huddling behind a tree. A bullet punched through the bark near her head, setting her ears ringing.

“Liz, see if you can get behind them,” Jordan bellowed, popping out from behind the tree where he’d taken cover. He sighted down the barrel of his rifle, squeezing off a noisy trio of shots. Then he dropped back into cover. A woman screamed in the distance and a shape plummeted from a tree. The next time Jordan fired it came from the opposite side of the tree.

Liz closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She summoned the shadows, feeling their cool embrace wrap around her. She glided silently through the jungle towards the gunfire. It came from at least four different places she could identify. There were probably more that she couldn’t. What the hell had they stumbled into?

She leapt into the air, seizing a thick branch. She used it to swing herself atop a perch in a neighboring tree. It afforded her a great vantage. There were five opponents, each carrying an old carbine rifle. Those she recognized. They were .308s, the kind her brother used for hunting. Although they were incredibly accurate they didn’t hold many rounds and sucked at close range. They were also slow to reload.

Their opponents were spread out along the jungle floor, which meant she now had the high ground. They seemed unaware of her. Perfect.

Don’t kill them.
A voice rang through her mind, powerful and clear. She recognized it as Blair, though the voice was much stronger than it had been even a few weeks ago.
I will handle this
.

He must have sent the message to all of them. Bridget hadn’t attacked despite having time to get into position, and Jordan huddled behind his tree waiting. Liz relaxed, deciding to wait and see what Blair would do.

He rose to his feet striding towards his assailants. His wounds had already healed. Another burst of gunfire lit the clearing, but Blair blurred to the right as the bullets ripped apart the foliage where he’d been standing. He blurred again, landing next to the root of a tree so thick that it blocked his body below the neck. What was he doing?

Blair extended a palm as he gazed up into the trees, then closed it into a fist. Tendrils of blue light shot from his hands, very similar to the ability Ahiga had used on her back in Acapulco. All five assailants went limp, weapons tumbling to the jungle floor as their bodies followed. Blair walked forward, stopping in their midst. None rose, though she could still hear their frantic heartbeats. Bridget appeared near Blair a moment later, already having shifted into a terrifying silver beast. Great, she’d be naked later. Again.