Wrath of Hades (13 page)

CHAPTER 12

About six months
after dad died, mom and I moved for what seemed like the hundredth time. I don’t really remember where we were or where we were going, I just remember stopping at this really creepy motel in a town that was nothing more than a spot in the road.

Something about the place made my skin crawl because I felt like I was being watched. I couldn’t go to sleep. I was afraid something was going to come into the room.

In the middle of the night, I heard mom crying. I asked her what was wrong. She said something about missing dad and being lonely.

I told her she wasn’t alone. She had me.

Mom hugged me and told me to go back to sleep. She rolled back on her side.

I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.

Mom cried all night long.

             
              --Raven Weir’s journal

For a long time, Raven sat in the park wondering what she should do. The idea of calling Poseidon and telling him she had changed her mind about staying with him and Medusa sounded really tempting—a little too tempting. But running away wasn’t the answer, even if it’s what she really wanted to do. Instead she pushed the thought aside and pulled herself up.

Her muscles protested the abuse and threatened to shut down. Between the two practices and the fight, Raven wasn’t sure she could take anymore. The idea of cutting through the cemetery sounded really good, but only briefly, because the thought of possibly running into a zombie was not pleasant, but a very real possibility. She didn’t have th
e energy to deal with a zombie, and she didn’t bring her cellphone with her. It was still on the charger in her bedroom because she didn’t think she needed it out in the backyard while she was training with Hercules. So the only alternative was taking a walk the long way around the lake.

As she limped along, Raven’s mind drifted through the events of the last few days, and she
wondered where she went wrong. The first thing she thought was she had put too much trust in Ethan, and she should never have let her heart get involved. That was probably her biggest mistake.

“I have to fix myself,” she said to herself. “I can’t fix Ethan. I’m not even sure there’s a way to fix him. Does he even want to go back to the way he was before the attack on him?” She sighed.

There was one thing she was changing for herself. She wasn’t crying about Ethan anymore. No more just saying she was going to do it either. She was done with crying over Ethan because it didn’t change what was happening. It just made her more depressed and that was dangerous for her because it clouded her senses, leaving her open to attack.

Raven limped
down the sidewalk, wondering why no one had come looking for her. Being out alone wasn’t something she did very much anymore. But now she no longer had Ethan concerned about her safety, she guessed none of the others were concerned either, which was fine with her. Ethan and the others had been a little too smothering with their over-protective behaviors. Being alone was fine with her.

Something scrapped against the cement. It sent a weird shiver down Raven’s spine.

Raven paused and glanced over her shoulder. Nothing was there. She shook her head and frowned. She didn’t see anything but she knew it didn’t mean something wasn’t there. Raven grabbed the silver disc and rubbed it with her fingers trying to calm the sinking feeling in her stomach. She limped away as fast as she could.

“
Raa-aaven!” Her name drifted on the cold late afternoon breeze.

Raven’s blood chilled. “This is not happening. This is not happening,” she muttered over and over.

“Raa-aaven!”

“
Raaa-veee-eenn!”

She slowly turned, looking in all directions. The street was still clear. Not even a car could be seen.

SCRAP!

SCRATCH!

Raven’s heart beat tripped in the matter of seconds. She knew there were at least two zombies. She just didn’t know where they were at, which was more nerve wracking than just the knowledge they were there.

The odor of rotting flesh drifted to her. Raven gagged and covered her nose.

“Raaa-veen!”

“
Raaa-vee-een!”

“
Raa-vv-ennn!”

“Fine.
You want to do this now?” Raven looked around her again. “If you want to fight, then show your dead body selves!” She hoped she sounded braver than she felt. “I’ll pound your rotting faces into the ground.”

From three different directions, three different zombies lumbered toward her. The bodies didn’t look very old from the distance, but the closer they got, the worse they smelled.

Raven wanted to close her eyes and pretend they weren’t there, but she knew it wouldn’t work. They were real and she was trapped by three rotting corpses.

“
Raa-veen, diii-ee!” moaned the one closest to her. His jeans were covered with dirt and grass stains. The bits of red t-shirt still clinging to the body flapped in the breeze, revealing deep claw marks covered his chest. The same claw marks covered the right side of his face. In his left hand he carried a large axe, a very large, sharp-looking axe.

“I really wish you would come up with something different than the same old song and dance. I’m really tired of everyone saying they want me dead.” Raven looked around for a water source, but she was too far away from Pinewood Lake. At the far corner block, she saw a red fire hydrant. She looked at the zombies getting closer and closer. She looked back at the hydrant. “It’ll have to do and I hope it works.”

Raven envisioned the water pouring out of the hydrant. She reached for it with her hands and pulled it toward her, but nothing happened.

The zombie with the axe was almost to her. The other two weren’t very far behind.

Again, Raven tried envisioning the water coming out of the red hydrant and rushing toward the zombies. She reached for it again with her hands.

Again, nothing happened.

“I’ve jinxed myself! This is so ridiculously stupid!”

“
Raa-veenn diii-ee!” The zombie raised the axe over its head and swung down at Raven.

She twisted her body to the right to avoid being hit by the sharp edge. Raven miscalculated the zombie’s speed and the blade came crashing down across her left shoulder. It cut through the skin and bit into the bone before it bounced off.

Raven screamed.

The zombie raised the axe to take another swing at her.

Raven tried to move her left arm, but it wouldn’t respond. Her stomach rolled in protest to the blinding pain.

Her legs trembled.

Her heart skipped a few beats.

Raven knew she had to fight.

She had no choice if she wanted to stay alive.

Raven threw up her right hand and grabbed the axe handle. Twisting as hard as she could, she managed to rip it out of the zombie’s hand. Raven spun to gain momentum. The axe buried itself deep into the zombie’s stomach, forcing it to step away from her.

“Raa-vvee-eenn m-mmmus-sst ddiii-iiee.” The voice came from her right.

“
Raaaa-vv-eeenn diiii-iiiiee!” said another voice to her left.

Slowly Raven turned around. She didn’t like the idea of turning her back on a zombie, but she didn’t have much choice because the other two had finally caught up with her.

Both zombies wore remnants of jeans and t-shirts in various colors and covered with dirt and grass stains. The aroma coming from the two wrapped around Raven, making it hard for her to breathe.

Raven put her good hand over her mouth and nose. “What is with you guys?  When did knives become a standard feature in coffins? I’m definitely going to have a long talk with the funeral home people.” She stared at the gleaming butcher knives the pair carried. “You know, it’s bad enough you’re not r
esting quietly in your graves, but now you’re playing with knives? Bad zombies! Bad, bad zombies!”

Taking advantage of the first zombie’s preoccupation with the axe embedded in his stomach, Raven slipped past him. With her back to the trees, she now had the three zombies facing her from one direction instead of three different ones.

The two new zombies quickly moved in to close the gap between them, and Raven realized her idea of outrunning them wouldn’t work. These zombies were faster than the previous ones she had encountered. Plus, her injuries were serious. She doubted she’d be able to run more than ten feet before she collapsed.

“
Diii-iiiee!”

“Yeah, yeah.
Come up with something new. The song’s no longer a top ten hit on any chart.” Raven gritted her teeth against the new wave of pain. Black spots danced in front of her eyes.

The zombie closest to her made a slashing motion with the butcher knife he carried.

Desperate to be rid of them, Raven made a shoving motion at them with her good hand as if she was trying to shove them out of her way. She felt a surge of energy rush through her arm and out her hand.

The blast threw her backwards.

Her hair twisted and snagged on the tree limbs, leaving long, black-blue strands floating in the breeze like party streamers. Some of the limbs scrapped her face while others snapped under the force of her body crashing through them and fell away from her, covering the ground with the broken twigs and the dead remains of leaves. 

Raven felt an odd pressure in her mid-section and then her back hit something hard forcing her to a sudden stop. All the air rushed out of her lungs and she sat there stunned.

A sickening way of dizziness swept over her.

Raven closed her eyes and focused on breathing.

It hurt to breath.

Raven opened her eyes.

Another wave of dizziness crashed over her, but she managed to keep her eyes open. Slowly she looked around, finding herself surrounded by limbs of various sizes she wondered what had happened to cause the tree to fall.

Zombies.

She had three zombies to worry about.

Raven tried moving her feet, but nothing happened.

She looked down.

She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

It took a couple of minutes for her brain to process the information.

She tried moving the fingers on her right hand. Her muscles were a little slow responding, but her fingers moved. Slowly she moved her hands up to her stomach. They skimmed over the torn and blood spatter shirt and came to rest on the jagged limb protruding from her stomach. Blood covered the entire section of limb. Raven moved her hands to where her body and the limb were connected.

Her breathing turned into short panting gasps for air. The limb was really sticking through her.

Her hands were covered with blood—her blood.

Something tugged at her left foot. Raven looked down.

One of the zombies was under her, grabbing at her foot. Raven tried to raise her foot, but with the damaged stomach muscles she couldn’t.

“Raaa-vee-eennn diiiii-iiiieee!”

Raven looked up to see the other two zombies shuffling toward her. They were all showing signs of damage, but unlike her, they were still mobile.

“Raa-veee-nnn diiii-ieee!”

“Not today. Not if I can help it,” said Raven in a pain filled whisper. She didn’t have any choice. There was only one thing she could do and she just hoped he would come. “Please. Help me, Poseidon.” The words weren’t very loud. He had to hear them, was all she could think between the waves of shock and pain inching their way through her body.

She waited.

Nothing happened.

The zombie below her kept grabbing at her foot, finally it caught the bottom of her shoe and yanked. Raven’s foot slipped out of the shoe. The zombie went crashing to the ground.

The other two zombies reached the first one. The one with the axe in his stomach bent down and picked up her shoe. He stared at it before looking up at her.

Raven could have sworn he grinned at her, but it had to be her imagination.

“And what do we have here?” Poseidon stepped out of the shadows. He looked up at Raven, his eyes widened then narrowed. A huge trident appeared in his right hand and he turned his attention to the zombies. With a well-practiced ease, he leveled the tips of the trident at one of the zombies.  A blue light streaked out of it, hitting the zombie dead center in the chest. It made a horrible screaming howl before it disappeared. In rapid succession, Poseidon quickly repeated is actions, effectively disposing of the zombies.

“You came.” Raven’s voice was weaker and little more than a whisper. “I don’t want to die, not again.” A tear rolled down her cheek.

“You are not going to die. I forbid it. Do you hear me? I forbid it!” Poseidon put his hand out in front of him palm down. He closed his eyes. His forehead wrinkled under his intense concentration. The ground trembled. Water seeped up, pooling under Raven. Poseidon opened his eyes. The water spiraled up toward Raven, surrounding her in a water cushion. “I’m going to sever the limb from the tree.”