Redemption of the Dead (22 page)

It was hard
to hear, but it was something she had to take in. She and Joe had
talked about their exes in the past, but never got it out in the
open that the pain and longing were still oh so real. His story
confirmed it.

Joe
nervously tapped his fingers on the table. He looked like he wanted
to say something, but was too scared to.

Tracy reached across the table and
grabbed his hand, folding it in both of hers. She looked into his
eyes. “I’m sorry for being so mad at you. I was being
selfish.”

“No, you
weren’t—”

“Yes, I was. I was so selfish that I’m
. . . I’m jealous.”

His expression changed, slightly
surprised.

She smiled a
little. “You know that I understand where you’re coming from. I
understand that pain and what it’s like to have a hopeful future
ripped away from you, one that even goes beyond what happened to
the world, to suddenly go from being at the threshold of heaven to
being in the pit of hell. I thought maybe—”

“Tracy, I’m scared to
death.”

“Scared?”

“My whole
life since losing April, first in my world simply on the day she
left me that one weekend, to finding her as one of the creatures
and killing her myself, to coming here and thinking maybe, just
maybe, she was out there, that hope—I’m used to hiding, to keeping
everyone else in the dark while keeping April in the light of my
heart. Laying it flat out before you, Tracy, I miss her like
crazy.”

She winced
at hearing that, but understood completely and her heart went out
to him.

“And I’ve
been so focused on her that it’s wrecked so many things. To even
possibly have a life—what I mean is, I” —he paused, licked his
lips— “I met you and for the first time, that hope of a future
returned, that amazing hope that seemed forever lost had
returned.”

She couldn’t help but let her eyes
water at hearing that. She gave his hand a gentle
squeeze.

“Somewhere along the way, you got to
me, inside, where it counts. A part of me wishes I told you sooner,
but I’m also glad that I had a chance to confirm some things, check
things through, settle something.”

“Is it settled?”

“I’d be lying if I said
yes.”

“Oh.”

“But I’d be
telling the truth when I say that even if I find out she’s alive,
even if I talked to her, when all is said and done—I’d want to come
home to you, if you’d let me.”

Tracy
withdrew her hands and brought them to her face. The tears poured
out, overpowering emotions of gentleness, kindness and relief
consuming her. Inside, her heart ached but not for hurt. It ached
for him, for his pain that she shared because of Josh, the boy her
future had once rested upon, for the fearful thought of letting
herself fall into Joe’s arms and run the risk of losing him to
someone she had never even met despite what he just said—to the
amazing and comforting peace that came with those same words.
Though she refused to say it now, she knew that she loved
him.

Gentle hands
came around her shoulders then moved to her wrists to remove her
hands from her face. She was embarrassed to look up at him with red
eyes and tear-stained cheeks, but by the way he looked at her, she
was comforted knowing that he didn’t care.

Joe took her
by the hands and brought her to her feet so they stood in front of
each other. Oh so softly, he reached up and cupped her face in his
hands all the while looking deep into her eyes. With gentle strokes
of his thumb, he wiped her tears away, then pulled her in and
kissed her.

* * * *

One year ago
. .
.

Lucifer sat on his throne of stones and worms amidst the
platform amidst the Lake of Fire. Though he could place his throne
wherever
he pleased in Hell,
it was here that brought him the most satisfaction for it was the
screams of those he deceived that filled the pit. Each shriek of
pain and terror the damned emitted was a pleasure and a reminder of
victory against the One he swore war against. Now, with the portal
having served its purpose, an ultimate final victory was
assured.

The devil had known his
minions would traverse the portal twice. It was inevitable for the
One above always had a contingency plan. When the demons first went
through, no doubt they thought all would go smoothly in the Earthly
realm. Transforming to a downpour, the evil spirits were able to
rain upon mankind and possess every soul that came in contact with
it. Only those indoors or remained completely untouched by the rain
were not taken over, but to do so would be easy as each spirit had
the ability to infect another. Despite not being able to leave the
body they possessed nor divide itself in two . . . the demon still
retained influence over those they infected, depositing a little
bit of their power into the ones they bit. Not all the infected
would be as strong or stable as the others as a result, but the
ability to encompass the globe in darkness would be
achieved.

When the demons returned
through the portal, they came right after their departure for in
Hell there is no Time, only a single moment. This realm like its
counterpart existed outside what was perceived as Time. Only when a
demon or even the devil himself visited the Earth did the awareness
of Time surface.

One of the demons—Forthinus—reported the angel Nathaniel
was on his way to Hell
to
rescue
a
human
who
had
fallen
through
the
Earth
to
the
realm beneath. Nathaniel had been gifted with foresight and
long-range vision. He no doubt had witnessed the portal in use and
thus would be able to recruit those among both angel and
men
who
could counter
their attack. The only choice was to return, re-enter, give an
infusion of some of the devil’s power into the portal itself,
affecting all going through, transforming them into something
stronger, and for some of his devotees, something
larger.

Nathaniel wouldn’t risk bringing the host of angelic
warriors down to Hell to do battle and thus leave the Earth
unprotected. Sure, those believers in the One above would survive,
but those whom the angels had an interest in outside of those
believers would be left wide open for immediate attack. What
Nathaniel didn’t know, was whether they were there or not, a mass
possession was inevitable. It would happen too fast for them to
counter and so they would be at a loss.

In time—Earth Time—Lucifer
would step through a portal himself, a different portal, the one
created the day he fell like lightning from Heaven.

* * * *

21

The Lie

T
he zombie
horde
led by Dr. Moore poured
into the room, at least a dozen undead.

“Kill them,” was all Dr. Moore said,
gesturing to Billie, Sven and Bastian. The doctor’s face distorted
and turned dark gray, his hair falling off in patches, his clothes
growing baggy and filthy, hanging off a loose, skeletal
frame.

With arms raised, the doctor led the
charge against Billie and her friends. The two German brothers
immediately went to work taking on the dead hand-to-hand, breaking
necks when possible.

Billie
grabbed one of the chairs from off the floor and swung it at the
doctor. Dr. Moore managed to weave his arm in and around the legs,
locking it in place then yanking the chair away from her. He
reached out to grab her. Billie ducked and rolled along the floor,
then stood with a long shard of broken mirror in her hand. Even
just touching the mirror and knowing the evil it showcased made her
cringe, but she didn’t have a choice.

Dr. Moore
moved in; she lunged forward and jabbed the shard of mirror into
the side of the doctor’s neck, creating a geyser of smelly, black
blood.

She heard
Sven and Bastian’s shouts and grunts of combat as they fought the
creatures. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sven had picked
up a shard of mirror, too, his even longer and more jagged than
hers. She wasn’t sure what Bastian was using for a weapon and it
was difficult to see with all the bodies in the room.

Dr. Moore
grabbed hold of her by the shoulders and lifted her off her feet.
Quickly, Billie jerked out the shard sticking out of the doctor’s
neck and brought it down into his mouth just as he opened it in a
moaning shriek. The shard penetrated through the back of the
doctor’s throat, popping through on the other side. Billie drew up
her legs and kicked against the doctor’s chest, releasing his grip
and sending herself flying backward in the air, then landing hard
on the floor. The back of her skull hit the ground on impact and
stars danced before her vision. A big hand reached down and grabbed
her by the middle of her shirt, lifting her to her feet. She
shrieked, thinking it was one of the creatures, but was relieved to
see it was Sven at her side.

Four more zombies remained.

Sven pounced at the nearest one, using
his heavy weight to knock the creature straight over and drive the
long shard of mirror through its skull. Another two came at
Bastian, who dispatched the most rotten of the two by getting
behind it and ripping its head from its body. The other he took out
by kicking it to the floor then jumping high up and landing on its
head, crushing its skull.

The final
zombie stood there swaying as if not knowing what to do. Trying to
ignore the headache setting in, Billie again went for the chair,
picked it up, and brought it down across the creature’s back,
sending the thing to the ground. Once it lay there, she aimed her
shot, used the chair leg like a spear and drove it down into the
back of the creature’s skull like a javelin finding its
mark.

The three
stood panting; Billie’s nose was bleeding again so she pulled up
the collar of her shirt, pinched it off and leaned her head back,
not caring her middle was showing.

“Too many dead people,” Bastian
said.

“Yah,” said Sven.

Billie
sneezed, getting a spatter of blood all over her hands and inside
her shirt. Embarrassed, she adjusted her makeshift tissue and
pinched her nose even harder.

Sven was at her side, and she turned
away so he couldn’t see her in this state. He didn’t say
anything.

Taking the lead, Billie started toward
the door, this time her head bowed and looking forward for any sign
of more creatures.

Bodies
shuffled behind her. She turned around and Dr. Moore was back on
his feet. Snarling, Sven dove on top of the doctor and with his
palm further slammed the shard of mirror through Dr. Moore’s
throat. He then took his own makeshift blade and brought down into
the doctor’s eye. The undead doctor stopped twitching.

Sven and Bastian joined Billie by the
door and the three proceeded down the hallway.

“W
e need weapons, real
weapons,” Sven said.

“Yah,” Bastian said.

Billie caught herself saying “Yah,”
too, and felt like a goon.

The three continued down the hallway,
guard up.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Billie
said.

Sven said, “Mm hm.”

Having been
in a similar situation before with August back when they had been
taken to what they thought was a stronghold in a forest, but turned
out to be a den of zombies, she cursed herself for not being more
careful when it came to trusting anyone, even Sven or Bastian or
Isabel. They could still be part of some great deception that would
be hatched in its own time. She suddenly felt uneasy about her
companions.

Keeping her
voice to a whisper, she said, “Stop.” The two men obeyed. “Keep an
eye out, but we need a plan. We also just got thrown for a major
loop.”

“Thrown for loop?” Bastian asked,
clearly not understanding the metaphor.

“We thought we were experiencing one
thing with a certain kind of people then it turned out that wasn’t
the case.”

“Ah.”

“Let’s talk this out: why would a
zombie doctor take us through a storehouse filled with weapons that
are meant to fight the undead, actually show us these things and
explain them, then take us to a room and nearly kill
us?”

The two
men—always so alike—kept their eyes to the ground, the mental
wheels turning.

“The guy at
the beginning, the elevators of zombies so we had to take the
stairs, the walk-through, weapons—The mirror! Opposites. That’s it.
Yes!” Billie hopped on her toes then had to quickly stop when her
nose lit with a fresh blast of pain. “Ow.”

“W
hat did you think?”
Sven asked.

“Okay,
here’s what I’m thinking—obviously they were trying to kill us.
That just happened, but somehow they knew we were coming, so either
they have really good intel or someone told them.”