Infinity Chronicles of Nick

chapter 18

Stone fell back in his cage, screaming like a four-year-old girl who'd lost her favorite toy as he held his arms up to protect himself and beg for his life.

Nick tasted vengeance and honestly...

It was sweet and satisfying.

But it wasn't filling, no matter how much he wanted it to be. In fact, it was hollow and cold.

Even though he tried to tell himself Stone deserved nothing but the humiliation he'd heaped onto others' heads, that he deserved to die for what he'd done to other people, Nick couldn't buy it.

He finally understood what Ambrose had tried to tell him about Mike, Tyree, and Alan.

/ dont want to be like Stone and the others.

To have no friends. No decency. To not be able to enjoy anything because he was too busy being jealous and petty over other people.

Stone was pathetic. He was weak.

Most of all, he wasn't worth Nick damning himself for. In the end, nothing could be crueler-than leaving Stone to live his putrid life of false friends and petty jealousies. Friends who didn't really like him. Who only wanted to use him for what they could get.

Yeah, that was hell on earth and he wanted no part of it. While Nick could be happy wearing used clothes and living in squalor with his mother and Menyara, Stone couldn't be happy in a mansion with every over-priced toy and gadget his parents could give him.

How could Nick ever envy or want that? He doesnt deserve to live. Think of all the others he's tortured. The others hell torture in the future if you let him go-Nick pressed the tip of his sword against Stone's throat as Stone wet his pants and wept.

And still the voice in his head was unrelenting.

Spill the blood of your enemy and you w'll command armies.... You w'll be free.

No one w'll ever mock you again.

Ever.

He felt the cold hand of something evil on the nape of his neck, caressing him. "Do it," a soft, gentle voice urged. "Make yourself strong enough to command the respect of everyone you meet. Then no one will mock you ever again. You have to kill your enemies to have respect and be free of your past."

The mortent was right. The only way to be free was to kill his enemies and bury them deep.

But there was more than one way to slay them. Stone and his kind had already taken up too much of his past. Nick wasn't about to give them his future too.

All of a sudden, the dagger and book in his pocket heated up as something inside him was freed. Not by his hatred. Not by his need for revenge.

It was his sense of justice. A clarity of thought he'd never had before. He didn't want the respect of people who weren't worth wiping his nose on—people who weren't worth the spat-out gum attached to the bottom of his worn-out shoes.

The only respect he wanted was from himself and the people who really mattered in his life. The people who really loved and cared about him.

That definitely wasn't Stone or the mortents or any of the stuck-up snobs in his school or his principal.

It was from his mother and a bunch of Bourbon Street strippers who were raising him to be better. From people like Menyara, Liza, Bubba, and Kyrian.

Most of all, he wanted to be worth the respect and love of Nekoda.

"You got it." Nick stepped back and turned on the mortents. "My enemies aren't the bullies in my life." Honestly, people like Stone had made him strong and he was thankful for that.

He'd found strength in his pain. Strength of character and dignity. The strength to hold his head high no matter what cruelty the world hurled at him. The very things Stone and his ilk lacked.

His enemies weren't the pathetic buttwipes who mocked and hated him for things he couldn't help.

His enemies were the ones who told him lies under the guise of being his friends. The ones who wanted him to be like them. To ruin his life and throw away everything he'd worked so hard to become.

He heard the book whispering to him....

"Arrasee-terra. Gitana mortelay dohn. Erra me tihani vassau. Purmi."Letme see truth. Never let flattery or hatred blind me. This is my life and I w'll live it w'sely. For me.

Not for them.

Nick threw his head back as an electric wave ripped through him. It was like a heated wire that connected every cell of his body. For one brief instant, he heard the breath of the cosmos.

"Kill him!" the mortent leader screamed.

Nick felt his arm heal instantly as he threw their sword at them. Pulling out his own, he made it bigger, then turned and broke the lock on the cage door.

Stone ran out, screaming, leaving the others behind.

"You flippin' coward." Nick kicked back the first demon to reach him as he kept them from Tabitha, Erik, Madaug, and his mother.

Ian was crying again as he tried to get his mom to wake up and see him.

Nick drove back the demons, but it didn't last long. Worse, they used Tabitha, Eric, and Madaug to attack him because they knew he wouldn't hurt them. Not while they were being used.

/ need some way to shock them. ...

"Where's a cattle prod when I need one?"

There wasn't even an outlet here. Was it too much to ask for a lightning strike? Yeah, okay, so the sky was clear, but still...

He cut across the blob demon and spun to fight the woman. All of a sudden, he felt his hand heat up as an image of Ambrose and Caleb conjuring fire went through his mind.

If they could conjure fire, could he conjure electricity?

What the heck? Might as well try. Worst thing that could happen is he'd fail and be killed by his friends.

Which was looking like the most favored outcome anyway.

Please let this work.

"Karatei!" He threw his hand out and what appeared to be a bolt of lightning shot from his fingertips to Madaug. And it turned him into a goat. Ah, crap.

Madaug ran at him and head-butted him backwards into a demon. Nick shoved the demon away and regained his balance. He glared at the goat as it eyed him. "Dude, I'm trying to help you."

But the goat didn't care; he ran at him again.

Trying to avoid a goat butt to his groin, Nick was completely surrounded while Ian kept crying for his mom to wake up. "I wish / could wake up from this nightmare."

Growling, he tried again to blast Madaug with his powers. The goat squealed and shook.

Oh, please dont die.

It'd kill Nick to know he'd done that to him.

The goat shuddered, then finally dissolved.

Nick's stomach hit the floor. Ah, crap. But no sooner had he stepped toward the goat's remains than it snapped up and Madaug returned to being a teenager.

Relief tore through him that he hadn't killed him. But it was short-lived as the zombies kept coming.

And Madaug was still one of them.

Worse, undead zombies were filling the room, while Tabitha and Eric tried to rip his arm off.

Nick twisted away from them. I'm so dead....

He grabbed lan's hand and pulled him behind his back before lan's mom took a chunk out of the poor little guy. "Don't cry, kid. I'll protect you."

But v\ho's going to protect me?

Nowwould be a good time for these supposed powers I have to kick in and help. Really...

what were they waiting for?

He'd engrave an invitation, but by the time he finished it, he'd be zombie bits. His heart pounded as he realized how hopeless it was. They were growing in number and he was tiring at the same rate. Every time he swung with the sword, it took more out of him, and while they'd stumble back, he wasn't killing any of them. Honestly, he wasn't even slowing them down.

He was surrounded and they were hungry for what few brain cells he had left. But you know what? He wasn't about to give in or give up. If he was going to go out, it would be the way he'd come into this world.

Fighting for every single breath.

No one gets the better of me.

Ever.

Growling out loud, he fought the demons and zombies back with everything he had.

The walls around him shook and rumbled. Ian hid behind him, knotting his tiny hands in the tail end of Nick's shirt, as he tried to make it to a window or door so that at least the little guy would survive the night. But he was getting tired. His stamina was lagging.

A crash sounded to his right.

His stomach hit the ground as cold dread filled him. Expecting it to be more zombies, Nick backed away.

Out of nowhere, a huge gray extended-cab pickup truck that had metal plates welded to it like a cattle scoop came through the wall, narrowly missing him and Ian. It careened through the zombies at a breakneck speed as if it was a lawnmower after crabgrass.

Nick froze as the driving style reminded him of his favorite redneck savant. No, it couldn't be.... They were dead....

But even so a glimmer of hope ignited inside him.

A loud "Yee-haw" sounded as the truck doors were slung open and Bubba, Mark, Caleb, Nekoda, Simi, and Alex spilled out with weapons galore (well, not Simi; she came out bearing only a large bottle of barbecue sauce while licking her chops, and interestingly enough, she wore a large white lobster bib). Mark was armed with a flamethrower as he ran for the first group of zombies.

Bubba stood in the door and propped his arms up on the top of the truck with a crossbow so that he could snipe at them. "Head down, Mark!" he shouted before he let fly an arrow that landed right between the eyes of the zombie in front of Mark.

Nekoda ran to Nick with a cattle prod. "Here, I'll trade you." She handed it to him, then took Ian from him and ran with the kid to the truck so that Bubba could keep him safe.

Nick used the cattle prod to zap Tabitha, Eric, Madaug, and his mom. They staggered back as their brains rebooted and they became human again.

Tabitha recovered the quickest. Snarling in anger, she grabbed the demon nearest her and snapped his neck. "Turn me into a zombie ... you suck!" She jerked a set of sais out of her boots and went to town on their rotten hides.

How she remembered being a zombie, Nick had no idea, but he was too busy fighting off the others to worry about it right now. Eric pulled the metal belt off his waist, which turned out to be an iron whip, and took up a position at Tabitha's back so that he could guard her while Madaug took his mother to Bubba's truck to stay with Ian.

Simi was snapping off pieces of the zombies and laughing as she skipped around them, daring them to touch her. Meanwhile, Caleb, in human form, was fighting the three demons with moves Jet Li would envy.

Nekoda came out of the truck with a katana she brandished like a ninja queen. Nick froze as he watched her for a second. Dang, she was flexible and skilled.

He hissed as a zombie shoved him. Turning, he shocked it, then stabbed it with his sword.

And still they kept coming. Nothing they did seemed to matter. This new breed of zombie wouldn't be stopped. Not by hacking, burning, or stabbing. Dog, who trained them? The Ter-minator? Nekoda screamed.

Nick turned to see two zombies on her like the last piece of steak in a dog kennel.

His heart sank. They were going to kill her.

Do something. Because if he didn't, they wouldn't survive this.

You vJII have the power to command the dead....

Ambrose might have been on meth. Or he might have been telling the truth.

Hoping for the latter, Nick ran to help her. The first zombie he reached spun on him and bit him hard in the shoulder. "I'm really getting tired of this." Nick stabbed the zombie through the heart.

Still it kept fighting.

"Run, Kody!"

She refused. "Not without you." While he appreciated the thought, the girl was insane.

Nick put himself between her and them. "This isn't looking good for us. Is it too late to switch sides?"

Kody gave him a smile that made him weak in the knees and strong in resolve. "I have faith in you, Nick." And then she did the most unexpected thing of all.

She pressed her lips against his.

Nick was stunned as he tasted her. For an instant, time stood still as his breath mixed with hers and her tongue swept against his. This ... this was better than anything he'd ever dreamed and it made his entire body heat up.

Great, I would get my first real kiss three seconds before the zombies kill me.

His luck never changed.

Kody cried out as a zombie ripped her from his arms and slung her to the ground. A group of them descended on her.

Nick felt the book heating again in his pocket as it whispered to him.

To make the dead behave, Total dominion you must crave.

Huh? What crack was the book on?

But no sooner had he thought that than he finally understood. It was something Brynna had done a report on in school last year. At the time he'd thought it stupid, but he finally got it.

Visualization. In order to make something happen, to become something else, you had to see it clearly in your mind. That was the first step of achieving success. Vague dreams never amounted to anything. Only those that were fully seen could manifest.

Just like with the dagger.

Thoughts had power. Negative and positive. They influenced everything. They could em-power a person or rip them to shreds.

And hopefully, tonight, they'd save all their lives.

Closing his eyes, Nick saw himself like the character in the Zombie Hunter video game.

/ vJII fear no evil for I am the baddest beast in the land. I am the power they cant tear down.

And my w'll is law

They wll do as I say. The dead dont command me.

I command them.

Power, true power, comes from w'thin. Not w'thout. Laughing as the He-Man chant went through his head, Nick opened his eyes.

And everything looked different. There was a haze around the people and a dull glow over the zombies.

More than that, he could actually hear the zombies in his head. No, not zombies. What he heard were the evil souls that the mortents had summoned to take over the dead bodies and reanimate them.

The bodywas only a vessel. And it was time to empty it and send them home. All of them.

To make the zombies fall and vanish.

A simple spell and touch you must brandish.

Nick shook his head to clear that gibberish. "Really, book, your rhymes seriously suck."

Fine then, Malachai, you try rhyming in a language not your owi. You're lucky I'm even helping you. Not like I care whether or not you live or die. You know I can get a whole newmaster who'd be glad to have me... human. It spat that last word at him like it was the lowest insult imaginable.

Yeah, his book had some serious attitude problems. But at least it whispered the words he needed.

Ashes to ashes. Zombie head gashes. Dust to dust.

Return to your graves you must.

But the words sounded so much better in the book's native tongue, which were: Tirre Time. Grauzsa ton.

Dhani Dhani Madabauhn.

Thank goodness he only had to say the latter to kill them. Along with one more bit.

He had to touch them too. Gross, but effective, and the moment he said the words and put a hand on them, they fell to the ground like a bunch of bad actors.

Bubba and the others stood back as Nick made his way through them until the only ones left were the three demons who hadn't been banished.

The mortents glared at him.

"This isn't over, Malachai," the woman spat at him, her eyes glowing deep in the dim light.

Nick scoffed. "Oh yes it is. I banish your smelly arses back to the holes they crawled out of. You do not command me and you never will."

Evil laughter rang in his ears. "You say that today, but come tomorrow ... it's so much easier to go wrong than it ever is to go right. We will win this. You'll see. Before all is said and done, you will be on our side. This I promise you."

Nick didn't believe it for a second. "You should never underestimate the stubbornness of a Cajun guttersnipe. We wrote the book on cutting our noses off to spite our faces." Glaring at them, he used his newfound powers to banish them.

Tabitha wiped the blood off her sais onto her pant legs. "That's right. Get thee behind me, bitches. I don't got no time for you. Ha!"

Nick shook his head. "Good thing there's only one of you, right?"

Eric snorted. "You do know she has a twin sister?"

Nick didn't even want to contemplate that gene pool. Right now, he was merely glad to have the demons gone and his life not threatened.

At least hopefully not for the next hour or so.

Kody came running up to him. 'Are you all right?"

Before he could stop himself, Nick pulled her into his arms and held her. He just needed to feel someone close to him who wasn't trying to eat his brains or kill him.

And God, she felt great.

"Yeah, I'm all right. How did you get here?"

She pulled back to gesture toward Mark. "I was surrounded by zombies when he showed up with his monster truck and ran them down. He told me to get in and I didn't argue."

Nick laughed. "I think that's how I got sucked into all of this." But it didn't explain everything.

He went over to Bubba, who was packing up his crossbow and bolts into Mark's truck. It was so good to see him alive, even if he did have a gash and bruise on his forehead. Nick would have hugged him in relief too, but knowing Bubba he might shoot him for it. "I saw the truck blow up. I thought you were dead."

Bubba pointed to Alex. "I told you about those shapeshifters and their wicked powers."

Alex held his hands up. "You're lucky they worked. At my age, it's a rare thing that they do what I want them to, and they're what caused the truck to explode when I used them to get us out."

He turned to Caleb, who had his arms crossed over his chest as he cocked one arrogant brow. "Oh, they kicked my ass hard. I'll be limping for a few weeks, no doubt. But I'm a lot tougher than I look, and while they might have had me on the ground for a few, they weren't demon enough to keep me there."

Nick jumped as he heard something shattering behind him. Turning around, he saw Madaug at the gaming console, where he was smashing it with a pipe he must have found on the ground. He beat on it until both the machine and the disc were busted beyond repair.

Then he stomped both and ended up by jumping up and down on them.

Once he finished his tantrum, he went to his mom and hugged her close. "I'm so sorry for everything I did." He looked down at Ian and grabbed him too. "I'm so glad you're both all right. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. I love you guys so much."

Ian grinned. "Does this mean I can come into your room whenever I want?"

Madaug shoved at him. "Don't push it, E. I'm not that grateful."

Eric and Tabitha joined them. "Thanks, Nick," Tabitha said. "We owe you."

Nick shook Eric's hand. "I would say any time, but really, next time zombies attack, call Bubba. He's the one ready to believe you. Remember the number: 1-888-Ca-Bubba. 'If he can't fix your problems one way, he'll fix them another.' There ain't no Nick in that slogan.

After this, Nick's retiring to work for Kyrian as a go-fer. That's all I want to do. I don't want to know nothing about zombie slaying, duck urine, or anything else paranormal. Ever."

But Nick still had one person left to speak to.

Mark.

"How did you survive?" he asked as Mark left Simi, who was licking her fingers and joined them by the truck.

Mark flashed him a grin. "What? Did you forget the first rule I taught you, boy?"

Nick scowled as he tried to remember Mark's various rules for survival. "Duck urine chases away every living and unliving thing?"

"Nah, that's number six. Rule number one: I don't have to outrun the zombie. I just have to outrun you. How you think Eric and Tabitha got captured?"

Tabitha laughed. "Oh please. Inspector Gadget over there made a blowtorch out of Eric's art sealant and a lighter. I'm not sure the house is still standing, but he got us out of there and Simi covered the rest of our retreat. We'd have gotten away completely had Eric not tripped and I made the mistake of going back for him while Mark was hot-wiring a neighbor's car."

Nick laughed at more proof Mark wasn't completely insane. Never go back for the fallen unless you want to be captured or killed. Unless the fallen was Bubba, who usually had a larger calibre of weapons.

Mark sighed. "By the time I realized they weren't behind me, they were gone and I was sick over it. I really thought they'd gotten eaten. But luckily I saw your girlfriend under attack and, with Simi's help, was able to get her to safety."

Nick nodded as he ran all of that through his mind. He only had one question left. "So how'd they get Stone?"

"Stone was here?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah, the coward ran out and left us the first chance he got.

Alex curled his lip. "You know, he's what gives werewolves a bad name."

Madaug's mom let out a deep sigh. "You know, guys, I've had enough excitement for one night. Bubba, can you take me home? Ian needs to be in bed. Madaug and Eric need to be grounded, and I just want to forget that I ever heard of anything preternatural. At least until I have to get up in the morning and deal with the Dark-Hunters." "Sure."

Alex grinned at her. "So does this mean you're surrendering your Squire status, Mrs. S.?"

"Not on your life. It just means I need to rest." She lifted Ian up into the truck, then climbed in behind him. "Eric and Madaug ... get your butts in here."

Eric gave Tabitha a quick kiss. "I'll call you later."

Bubba opened the door to climb in while Tabitha and Mark got in on the other side. "Let me run them home, then I'll be back to grab the rest of you."

Nick nodded as Nekoda took his hand into hers and held it tight.

He, Caleb, Simi, Alex, and Nekoda stayed behind.

Nick went over to the game and sighed. "You know, it was a fun game. But for the whole zombie conversion thing, he'd have made millions on it."

They all froze as they heard something rustling in the shadows. Nick pulled Nekoda behind him as Alex flashed himself from their group to the source of the sound.

A few seconds later, he threw Stone into the light.

Nick glared at him. "You loser dork."

"Ah, shut up, Gautier. You're nothing but trash anyway."

Nick grinned. "Yeah, but I'm trash with a seriously modified cattle prod." He stuck the tip of it against Stone's hip and sent him flying.

But it had an additional effect that Nick hadn't expected. Not only did it shock him, it turned him from human to wolf to human and back again.

"What the—?"

Alex backed up as Nick looked at him. "That's the bad thing about being a shapeshifter.

You hit us with electricity and we lose control of our forms."

Gaping, he looked back at Stone, who would try to curse him during the few seconds he was a human as he flashed between forms. "How long's he going to do that?"

"You gave him a pretty good jolt. Probably an hour."

Nick laughed. "Bonus round."

Alex shook his head. "And on that note, I should get home too. I don't want to get grounded either. See you guys tomorrow at school." He disappeared into thin air.

Nick looked at Nekoda. "You're taking all of this weirdness in stride. Should I be afraid?"

"I almost got eaten by zombies tonight, Nick, and I rode in a truck with Bubba's driving.

Some guy flashing out of the room and another one turning into a dog isn't exactly the scariest thing I've seen in the last few hours."

Simi came up to lean against Kod/s shoulder. "Oh, the Simi thinks you've seen things much, much scarier than that."

Nekoda paled a bit, but didn't elaborate.

Nick pulled her away from the others so that he could speak to her with a little bit of pri-vacy. Gah, this was awkward. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but deep inside he was still afraid, even after everything they'd been through, that she'd shoot him down.

"Urn, Kody... I was wondering ..." He let his voice trail off as his fear mounted.

Just ask her out already.

Good grief, Nick, she kissed you.

Yeah, but she'd thought they were going to die. Now that they weren't dead she might be regretting that kiss. Wishing she'd saved it for someone who was better looking. Smarter.

Someone not dressed in a goober shirt.

"What?" she asked.

Man up, boy. You faced dowi demons tonight. Howcan you shirk now?

Then again, fighting demons was a lot easier than asking out a girl he really liked. They couldn't hurt his feelings.

With one word, she could crush him.

Just do it!

Taking a deep breath, he glanced away and spoke before he chickened out. "Would you like to go to the Cafe Du Monde with me tomorrow after school and grab some beignets? That is, if my mom doesn't ground me for life for letting Bubba tranq her?"

Time seemed to hang on forever before she spoke. "Sure. I'd like that a lot. But no more zombies, okay?"

In that instant, Nick felt like he could fly. "Yeah, all right. No zombies."

But in his head was the voice of Ambrose. You only learned part of lesson one tonight, kid. You have nine more to go. Do you really think making time w'th a girl is the thing you should be focusing on?

Honestly? Yeah. 'Cause when he looked into Kod/s eyes, he could see into the future.

There was something about her that warmed him, and after this night, he really needed that.

Especially given the challenges he would have to face in the future.

Lighten up, old man. This is my life, not yours, and I intend to make the most of it.

Ambrose flinched as he heard Nick's voice in his head with words that sent a cold chill down his spine. But he pulled back and left the kid alone to enjoy his victory.

"Unfortunately, Nick, you are living my life and God help us both, we're making all new mistakes."

He just hoped that this time they didn't kill everyone he loved.

As for Nekoda ...

Ambrose had learned long ago to fear anyone he let near him whose past and future he couldn't see. Anytime he'd made that particular mistake, the person had done their best to destroy him.

And in his gut, he knew Nekoda would be no exception.

A new face. A new chance.

But would it be enough ... That remained to be seen.