Not as old as him by any means, but stil someone comfortable with their powers who knew them intimately.
He’d fought it earlier. This time, the bokor had reinforced his or her strength. And because these zombies had no living force or wil of their own, they were far more dangerous than the students had been.
Unlike the students, they had no attachment to life anymore.
No lingering compassion or reason. They were evil souls summoned into the bodies of the dead.
This was the blackest of magick. The kind that not even he dealt with. Only a true dark spirit like the Malachai could summon an army this size and control it.
These were mindless kil ing machines.
Kind of like the Charonte, though Caleb had to give Simi credit. Unlike the others of her species he’d known in the past, she was holding her human guise and not breaking it to chow down on the zombies. Someone had trained her wel .
Growling low in his throat, he hit the zombie holding Madaug. The zombie’s skul broke, leaving its mandible to hang from a strip of tendon as some kind of cold green ew slimed his hand. It felt like two-day-old snot.
“Oh, gross!” Caleb wiped his hand against his shirt.
“Zombie goo.”
“Ooo,” Simi breathed. “I wonder if it tastes like chicken?
What do you think?”
Caleb scowled. “I think I’m never eating guacamole again as long as I live.”
Ignoring them, Nick beat the other zombie back until he was able, with Simi’s help, to shove Madaug into the store.
“Hey!” Caleb snapped as he realized Nick was about to lock him on the outside with their attackers. He pushed the door open and glared at him. “No man left behind.” Nick scoffed. “This ain’t the army, boy. It’s every man for himself. Fal behind. Get eaten.”
“I’l remember that the next time you’re the one on the outside and I’m the one in the store.”
Nick flashed an evil grin at him. “Yeah, but then the rules wil change.” He grabbed the door as another zombie tried to open it. “Ah no.”
“What?” Caleb asked.
“You left the keys outside.”
Caleb groaned at his stupidity, then helped Nick hold the door closed as more zombies swarmed. “What kind of idiot doesn’t have one of those flipper lock things on their door?” Nick gave him a duh stare. “Bubba. ’Cause al someone has to do is break the glass and then they can switch it open and be inside the store. You know Bubba’s Code: Always use keys.” Which was why he had so many on his key ring.
Caleb felt his muscles bulge as he held the door tight while the zombies tried to pul it open. “I swear, Nick, I should throw you to them. After al , I don’t have to outrun the zombies. I just have to outrun you.”
“That’s cold, dude.”
Maybe, but if the zombies got in, he was going to sic Simi and her barbecue sauce on them, humans be damned.
“Stand back,” Madaug said.
Nick looked over his shoulder to see Madaug with a rocket launcher. Oh, no way. Where on earth had he found that?
Was it loaded?
What a stupid question. It was in Bubba’s store. Of course it was loaded and functional. And probably modified to take down half the city block whenever it was fired.
Nick widened his eyes. “That’s not what I think it is, is it?” Madaug shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think you better duck.” They’d barely moved before Madaug fired at the zombies outside. The rocket exploded in the door, sending glass and zombie parts everywhere. Green and red ooze streaked through the night.
Simi actual y licked her lips as if dying for a taste of it.
Nick gaped as more zombies headed for them. “Dude, for a genius that was real y stupid. Now we have no door and, I could be wrong, but they look to be multiplying.” They heard the zombie converts they’d locked in the hidden room earlier—yel ing for release—from the surveil ance monitor Bubba had turned on earlier to make sure they were al right. Wel , some were. Others were in the room crying for their mamas.
Meanwhile Bubba and Mark were outside whooping and hol ering in al their glory as they fought off the undead. Nick ran to the back to get the ax.
I really need my arm functional again . Or better yet, a genetic implant that left him with one arm as a chainsaw like Ash in Army of Darkness . Now that he could definitely use right now.
Then again, he’d settle for both arms working.
A chil went through him as an image flashed in his mind of him being attacked by …
Not a raven, but the raven had been there, watching like a freaked-out guardian. And Nick’s arm had been whole and working. … The images were in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t focus on any one of them in particular. Just fleeting glimpses that were gone as fast as they’d appeared.
Had it been a dream?
But the memory felt real.
“Yee frickin’ haw!” Bubba shouted.
Running back to Madaug and Caleb, Nick looked to see Bubba stunning the zombies with the cattle prod before he beat them with his bat. The man was having way too much fun while Nick was stil worried about dying.