Zombies Sold Separately

THIRTY-NINE



Friday, December 31

Minutes from midnight


Time was ticking past.

The more time that passed, the more frantic I felt to find the Sorcerer.

Imagine by John Lennon began pouring from enormous speakers everywhere and chills rolled through me as thousands of voices joined in on the lyrics.

I looked up at a giant clock on a countdown screen and my heart started thrumming. “Little more than three minutes until the ball drops.”

“Amory will feed off the energy of so many souls gathered together in one place.” Desmond’s eyes appeared intense, focused, as he searched the square with his gaze. He looked nothing like the harried, distracted artist I’d met just days ago.

“Where is Amory? We are running out of time. What if we fail? What if he escapes back to the Otherworld?” My thoughts swirled as the panic I’d started to feel earlier only grew more intense with every word Lennon sang. Every word that brought us closer and closer to the ball dropping.

“Imagine all the people living life in peace…”

Peace. There would be no peace if we didn’t stop the Sorcerer.

Screams jolted me.

I cut my gaze to the direction from which I’d heard the sounds of raw terror and pain.

There were too many people. I couldn’t get a good look—but then I saw colored lights starting to flash in the night.

My eyes burned white-hot with my fury. It was already happening.

Lennon’s words of peace continued and I held on to them as if they might make a difference in what happened tonight.

We’d hoped to take on Amory before he made it here and that hadn’t happened. We had to take him here.

He had to be close. The exchange of essences was already happening and Zombies were already being left to rip apart anyone who wasn’t a Sentient now inhabiting a Host body. If we didn’t stop the Sorcerer, half a million Zombies would tear the city apart.

Trackers started appearing around us, bringing in Amory look alikes. One group. Two. Three. Four. Four different Amorys.

Where was the fifth?

“And the world will live as one…”

I looked toward the countdown stage as the last line of “Imagine” trailed off.

The former president and his wife pressed the button to drop the enormous Waterford crystal ball from the top of Times Square One.

Three huge screens below the ball started showing the one minute countdown. The loud sound of a ticking clock filled the air as the countdown began.

59, 58, 57 …

And then I saw him.

I saw Amory.

The Sorcerer was on the stage, striding toward the center.

45, 44, 43 …

“There!” I shouted and started running in that direction, dragging Desmond with me as I pushed our way through the reporters and other people crowding the inside of the barricade.

30, 29, 28 …

A blast of orange light from the Sorcerer.

Everyone was blown from the stage.

I didn’t have time to think about them and whether or not they were still alive.

21, 20, 19 …

Amory stood at the center of the stage and spread his arms wide.

Desmond, Colin, and I reached the base of the stage, to Amory’s right.

Power crackled between Amory’s hands like bursts of static electricity as the oblivious crowd started the final countdown aloud.

10, 9, 8 …

Desmond made it onto the stage.

Green sparks dripped from his fingertips.

Amory spotted Desmond.

Shock crossed Amory’s features.

The surprised expression on Amory’s face was replaced by an obvious realization that Desmond couldn’t be a threat. After all, he’d taken Desmond’s powers.

7, 6, 5 …

I glanced at the crowd. Thousands and thousands of glowing stones being held up even as some exchange of essences was starting to happen. The rest of the changes were imminent. The exchange was inevitable.

If we didn’t capture and contain Amory in a stone, he was on his way to a mass overthrow of our city.

Amory held open his arms again.

4, 3, 2—

Desmond shot an immense burst of power at Amory.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

The sound of thousands of voices pounded the air.

Fireworks exploded and exploded from the top of Times Square One.

Amory stumbled back from the power of Desmond’s magic, his concentration on his spell broken.

He whirled, fury on his face.

“Auld Lang Syne” echoed throughout the square. Voices of those who hadn’t a clue what was happening joined in on the traditional New Year’s song.

Desmond’s gaze was focused, intent, as he tossed the keystone on the stage between him and Amory.

Both fury and arrogance were in Amory’s eyes.

Instead of coming to a stop between the Sorcerers, the stone rolled to the edge of the stage.

The stone tumbled off.

The stone had fallen off the stage!

Adrenaline pumped through me. I started toward the stone.

Something grabbed me. Something strong. Holding me back.

I drew one of my Dragon-clawed daggers and whirled. The Zombie went for my throat. I ran my blade through its chest.

That was only enough to cause it to stumble back. I jerked my weapon out from its chest. No time to finish it off.

I realized the entire stage was surrounded by Zombies. Two more Zombies walked in front of me. I dropped and rolled between them and was back on my feet and diving for the stone.

A second before I would have grabbed the stone I realized my mistake.

No protective cloth.

I looked at the stage and saw the cloth lying between Amory and Desmond.

“Start spreading the news…” Frank Sinatra’s original rendition of New York, New York carried over the confused chaos of the mass of people.

A battle raged between the Sorcerers. The green glow of Desmond’s magic stretched out, meeting the brilliant orange light of Amory’s power at the middle of the stage.

Something grabbed my shoulder.

I reached for the hand, twisted my body, then flipped the Zombie over so that it flew away from me and slammed into a barricade.

Even through the countdown I heard more terrified screams.

It was happening. Happening too fast.

If we didn’t stop Amory he would seal the new Hosts. Something that I didn’t think could be undone in a mass way.

Desmond was the only one we knew who could save us and he had to live to do that.

Sinatra continued to sing.

I focused my air element on the cloth and swept it through the air, straight to my hand.

Another Zombie was in my face and I gutted it.

I went for the stone yet again.

Pain burst in my left shoulder and I screamed.

I was pinned up against the stage.

The cloth fluttered away from my grasp.

My gaze riveted on the Zombie that had just impaled me with a slender metal pipe.

Stars sparked behind my eyes as I reached up with my good hand and drove my dagger into the Zombie’s brain.

Tears would have been flooding my face if I could cry. The pole was too long for me to pull out myself and I couldn’t move.

“Help!” I shouted, forcing my words on the air so that another Tracker could hear.

Colin appeared beside me.

His mouth was set in a harsh line. He grabbed the pole. “You could bleed to death if I take this out.”

“I’m Drow.” I gave a loud grown. “I’ll heal. Just do it.”

He took a firm grip on the pole and jerked it from my arm.

I screamed again. It hurt so badly that I could feel myself starting to black out from the pain.

Blood flowed down my bare arm, flooding over my suit.

“I’m fine.” I stumbled away from Colin. “Have to get the keystone.”

The bursts of green and orange light filled the air like a pyrotechnics show.

People in the crowd who hadn’t been changed into Hosts obviously thought it was part of the show from their laughter and shouts of appreciation. They continued to sing along with Sinatra.

But more panicked sounds, more shrieks of terror, were starting to fill the air.

Blood pounded at my temples.

I had to hurry.

The Sentients were taking over Host bodies. Amory’s mere presence was allowing the change to begin.

I held my arm to my chest, gritting my teeth, and almost passed out again when my knees hit the ground.

With my good hand I reached for the cloth and clenched it in my fist.

My head was yanked back and I cried out.

A Zombie had a tight grip on my hair.

Colin came up from behind the Zombie and beheaded it with his sword.

Screams came from all around as those close realized this was no show.

At once the Zombie released my hair and I dropped onto my one hand, the cloth still in my fist.

I shifted my body so that I was balanced on my knees and snatched the stone up in the cloth.

Blood continued to pour down my arm from the wound and I felt lightheaded. I could bleed to death if I wasn’t careful.

Stumbling, I somehow managed to get to my feet.

I tossed the stone onto the stage.

It rolled between the two Sorcerers.

Desmond’s multicolored bursts of magic like small lighting, laser-like charges appeared out of his fingers and struck Amory.

Amory looked stunned as a multicolored sparkling liquid gel form of him began to be pulled slowly from his body. The gel was attached to him and was being stretched out toward the keystone.

Desmond’s power must have been drawing his essence out.

A supernatural tug of war.

It was happening so fast Amory had a look of horror on his face.

“No!” he bellowed when he saw the stone. His image shot back into himself.

Suddenly out of Amory’s liquefied form his magic flew out, full of sparks and multicolored laser lights, and the same amoeba and plasma appearance of Desmond’s multicolored magic.

Amory’s magic came at Desmond’s in such a powerful blast it lit up Desmond’s entire body. I saw Desmond’s form start to be pulled out of him—just like Amory’s had.

I held my free hand to my shoulder, pressing against the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood as I nearly held my breath. I could do nothing but watch this supernatural tug of war. A tug of war that held the earth in the balance.

Sinatra sang on, as if there and oblivious to what was happening.

Desmond thrust back at Amory with an even brighter glow.

The battle between them looked evenly matched, their magic meeting at the middle, over the keystone.

But then Amory took control.

In the bright flare of light, Desmond appeared to grow pale. His features slackened as he weakened under Amory’s assault.

Desmond’s liquefied image moved from his body again, only more fully, and began stretching out toward the center of the stage, where the stone was.

It broke free and the floating blob form continued to move toward the stone.

I released pressure on my shoulder.

I grabbed my buckler from the center of my weapons belt.

Raised it and flung it at Amory.

The buckler bounced off a shield protecting Amory and landed on the stage instead of returning to me.

A shield. The Sorcerer had shielded himself.

My hopes sank.

I glanced at Desmond who was struggling against the pull of Amory’s magic.

Then renewed determination strengthened Desmond’s features. His image began to retract back into himself.

Amory gave a cry of rage and I saw a renewed glow coming from him.

Desmond’s image wavered.

Something needed to happen. Desmond couldn’t do this himself no matter what he’d thought. He was losing the battle.

We were losing the battle.

Waves of agony made me weak.

Still I hurried, running on the asphalt beside the stage.

I ran to the left of the stage, until I was behind Amory.

Every jostle of someone from the now screaming crowd made me come close to passing out.

I held back a shout of pain when I used my air element to raise me to the level of the stage.

On my knees and one hand I scooted onto the stage.

I looked at Amory’s backside as I rested on my haunches.

My vision swam as I watched the powerful ripple of muscles beneath his tunic as he fought. I noticed the shine of lights on his bald head.

I reached across my body and drew my remaining dagger. Slowly I got to my feet and started toward the Sorcerer.

“Nyx!” Colin’s shout morphed into a roar as an enormous Dragon rose beside the stage.

The Dragon breathed fire and smoke at Amory. It rolled over his shield, showing that the Sorcerer was completely encompassed.

There was nothing I could do.

Maybe it was the pain that had made me forget that the Sorcerer was shielded. Or maybe it was something inside me that didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t do something.

I stood behind Amory feeling impotent as I cradled my arm to my chest.

The stage trembled from the power of the magic battle raging.

A battle that looked like it wasn’t going well for Desmond. Not the way his face had paled again.

My grip on my elements felt weaker and I didn’t know how much longer I could stand.

I looked at Amory’s feet. The stage he was standing on.

And wondered why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. If I could catch Amory off guard, maybe that would be what Desmond needed.

Dizzy from loss of blood, I braced myself with my feet shoulder-width apart. I raised my good arm as I called to my earth element.

I imagined the earth cracking open as everything began to shake and rock. Then I called to my water element, drawing water from the closest main.

Water, earth, and asphalt exploded through the stage where the Sorcerer was standing just feet from me.

The stage bucked and I fell to my knees.

Amory shouted in surprise as he lost his footing.

He started falling through the gaping hole in the stage.

The orange glow of his magic wavered. Amory had lost concentration.

Desmond’s power strengthened.

The thick green glow of Desmond’s magic reached Amory and encompassed him in a bubble.

Amory cried out as the magic caught him and held him above the rent in the stage, keeping him from falling into the hole I’d created.

Desmond’s power pinned Amory’s arms to his sides.

Laser-like illumination shot from him, striking and lighting up Amory.

And then Amory began slipping from himself.

I watched, transfixed at the image of Amory being pulled again from his body straight toward the stone.

“No, no, noooooooo!” He gave a painful, agonized cry.

Amory’s entire body shuddered and trembled.

“Yes.” The word came from Desmond with the sound of vengeance and determination behind it.

The image of Amory reached the stone.

And then it was sucked down, whirling, like water down a drain into the stone.

“New York, New York … New York…”

Sinatra’s powerful ending strain sailed through Times Square as the Sorcerer vanished.