Thirteen Roses Book Three: Beyond: A Paranormal Zombie Saga (17 page)

‘Did Etienne tell you why you are helping us?’

‘The leader tells me only what I need to know.’

‘How convenient. We are blackmailing him, and all of you. We have a vital piece of the machine hidden far away and without it, your devices will soon cease to function. The zombies will pour in like the sea and sweep you and your petty pathetic hierarchy away.’ He took a deep breath and let it out. ‘What magic do you have?’

The doctor met his glance for a brief second and looked away, face paling. Luke leant closer. ‘I will make your life a living hell.’

‘I have some basic conjurations, mostly for attacks and infections. Let me consult my books.’

He scurried away to the desk at one end and dug into a drawer there. Luke turned to the others who stared at him, wide-eyed. ‘You are kidding, right?’ Bayleigh asked.
 

He couldn’t help laughing and turned to Alex. ‘Have you told Bayleigh about meeting the Father yet?’

Alex shook his head. ‘So, I met God.’

Bayleigh gave him an appraising look and shook her head again. ‘This entire thing is one massive set up, isn’t it? Either that or a huge guilt dream because of dad. One of the two.’

Luke stepped closer until her breath played warm against his neck. She was pretty in an absent sort of a way. Not the kind of girl you’d look twice at in the street, but spend an evening or two with her and things would change. He looked down into her eyes and she stared right back, showing the strength that made him give her the sword that hung at her waist.
 

‘This is all real. Alex met the Father. I don’t like the term God, it ties him to religions that are as meaningless as the wind.’

‘The wind’s plenty meaningful if you’ve lived through a hurricane.’

‘Ahh, but you can hide from a hurricane. You can choose to live somewhere hurricanes never happen. You can build a shelter beneath your house and go there when you think one is coming. Hurricanes only matter if you let them matter.’

He leant back on his heels, folding his arms. Bayleigh nodded reluctantly. ‘Fine, so the Father exists. But half the known world believes in him, so that’s not such a big deal. No one believes in magic.’

Luke snorted. ‘I think you’ll find there are plenty that do. It may be that you don’t come across them in your everyday life. I struggle to believe you find it easy to be chatting to an angel about the existence of God but flounder when we bring magic into the equation.’

‘It’s just… magic? Abracadabra and all that?’

Luke was stopped from saying more by the return of the doctor bearing a suitably unwieldy book. ‘I believe I have something.’

‘Seems there’s a lot of believing going around.’ Alex said.

Luke raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you still struggling with that word?’

‘There are others I’d prefer.’

‘Alex doesn’t like believing in things. He’d rather know or not know.’ He muttered aside to Bayleigh, who gave them both a confused look. Luke sighed. It was proving tricky finding people who shared his sense of humour. The doctor fussed around Ed, removing the bandage entirely and placing his leg on a sheet of what looked like tissue paper.
 

They gathered around the bed and Bayleigh took Ed’s hand. Luke peered over the doctor’s shoulder at a page filled with scrawled handwriting. It looked like ancient Sumerian, but could easily have been Incan for all his expertise. The doctor had a small vial in his other hand and uncorked it with thumb and forefinger.
 

He took a deep breath and glanced at them. ‘This may take a while.’

They remained silent and he began by tipping a little of the contents of the bottle onto Ed’s leg. He chanted, the words slow and stuttering to start. His voice grew in confidence as the words came more quickly. A wind blew up, strong enough to ruffle Luke’s hair and tug at his shirt. The lights went out and were replaced by a dim purple glow that rose up from the drops of liquid on Ed’s leg.
 

Bayleigh gasped and let go of Ed’s hand, staring at her own with a creased forehead. She gritted her teeth and took his hand again, panting like she’d just run a marathon. Alex wore a look of deep concentration, no doubt trying to find the scientific explanation for what he was seeing. Luke was pleased, in a way, that meeting the Father hadn’t changed Alex. Despite being given absolute proof of a world beyond that which his science explained, he hadn’t gone the other way and become a mindless believer.
 

The blue glow spread out to cover Ed’s body. When it reached his hand, it flowed up to cover Bayleigh as well. She groaned in a way that made Luke flush. Alex blushed and looked away from her reddened face and open lips.
 

The doctor still chanted, his body stiff and his legs twitching beneath his trousers. The bottle dropped from his hand and spilled onto the bed spread. Luke scooped it up, screwed the lid on, and slid it into his pocket. The air in the room made his hair stand on end and he felt the magic like a caress that stroked inside his skin. His horn stubs itched and he scratched furiously at his scalp.
 

The light grew brighter as the doctor’s voice rose in volume. He was close to shouting, every word strained and on edge. Luke squeezed his eyes closed as the light blossomed into a brilliant white. It flashed against his eyelids and he covered them with an arm.
 

The chanting stopped and the light vanished. Luke opened his eyes, blinking as the lights in the room came back up and everyone took a collective deep breath. He let his out slowly and stared at Bayleigh. She smiled like, well, like she’d just had really amazing sex. She looked amazing. He thought of Sara and his amusement at Bayleigh’s pleasure drained away.
 

Where was she? Stupid question. She was in the Dome, doing her job. Only she didn’t have a job anymore, because there were no humans. And no humans meant no subjects. So she was probably lounging around in her wraparound dress, making eyes at all the out-of-work demons. He shoved his hands in his pockets and sneered. He was becoming more human every second and could now add jealousy to his list of useless attributes. He refused to consider what it meant that he was comparing Bayleigh to Sara.
 

Alex took a step back from the bed and sat on the floor with a thump, blinking. ‘That was impressive.’

The doctor staggered away, dropping the book on the floor. He reached the wall and slid down it, robes tangling about him. His eyes flickered once or twice and he toppled gently onto his side. Luke knelt beside him. His pulse was strong. He stood and shrugged. ‘I’ve never seen it hit someone like that. I don’t think he’s done much magic before.’

‘What the hell just happened?’ Bayleigh asked.
 

Luke grinned at her as she frantically stroked her hair in an unsuccessful effort to make it stay flat. ‘You just got involved in a spell that wasn’t meant for you.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I’ve no idea. How do you feel?’

‘I feel amazing. Completely amazing, like I…’ She trailed off and blushed and both he and Alex burst out laughing. She blushed harder and stuck her middle finger up at them.
 

Without warning, Ed sat bolt upright and looked around, blinking furiously. Bayleigh grabbed his hand again. ‘How do you feel?’

‘Fine. Hungry. Where are we?’

Bayleigh looked across the bed at Luke and smiled through tears. He turned away, clearing his throat. ‘Now would be a good time to leave, don’t you think?’

He reached for Ed but the boy pushed him away. ‘I can walk, thanks very much.’

Luke raised an eyebrow and stood back as Ed put his feet on the floor. They all took a deep breath as he stood and looked around, frowning. ‘What?’

‘Your leg was broken, badly.’

He looked down at his rolled up trouser leg and the patch of white withered skin. ‘No shit?’

‘Really not.’

‘What happened?’

‘Magic.’

Ed looked at him with wide eyes. Luke scooped the book off the floor and waved it at him and Ed’s face broke into a huge grin. ‘Cool.’

Luke chuckled and headed for the door. Alex pushed himself to his feet and followed after. Luke heard him mutter something to Bayleigh that made her laugh loudly and stop just as quick. He glanced back. She was blushing again and Alex looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
 

He turned back to the corridor, ignoring the burning in his chest roused by seeing the two of them laughing together. This had turned out far better than they had any right to expect.
 

As if the Father could hear his thoughts, which of course he could, everything went very wrong.
 

Etienne appeared through the wall with a face like thunder and pointed at them. ‘Where is the device? I will have it returned to me, WHERE IS IT?’

As his voice died away, a gunshot came from behind a door that lay between them and the robed leader, followed by shouting. Etienne’s concentration broke as he stared at the door. His mutter carried to where they stood.
 

‘The tests.’

He vanished back through the wall and, moments later, soldiers replaced him. Luke watched bemused as they ignored them and plunged through the door from which the sounds of shooting had come. Etienne came last and did the same thing. Luke looked at the others with raised eyebrows, then followed Etienne through the door.
   

Jackson

He stared at the gun. He’d been here before, a long time ago. Before he got a serious business, back when he thought stealing cars was a serious business. He’d been scared then. He wasn’t now.
 

He jumped to the right and the gun went off. The sound was deafening in the tiny room and he glimpsed the robe flinch and cower. Jackson raced around the shooter and grabbed his arm. He slammed it straight down onto his raised leg and felt it break as it struck. The gun dropped to the floor as the soldier shouted in pain.
 

Jackson smashed his fist into his face, smashing his gas mask. The man dropped, blood streaming through the cracked plastic, and Jackson drove his boot into his side for good measure. The man doubled over and Jackson noted absently that he wasn’t turning. Not yet.
 

Jackson scooped up the gun and went for the robe. The guy was still cowering, trying to hide behind the bed. Jackson got him by the lapels and hauled him into the open.
 

‘Run this past me again, to make sure I’ve got it right. Every person in these beds is a cripple?’

The man nodded, ducking his head at the same time until his neck all but disappeared.
 

‘So what are you going to do with the ones who are still alive when the plague runs out?’

The man whimpered and Jackson slapped him. His huge hand striking flesh sounded almost as loud as the gunshot and the robe’s head swung around. ‘Answer me.’

‘We just change the solution and they fall asleep and don’t wake up.’

‘You’re gonna do that now. We’re gonna go to every room and—’

He stopped as his phone buzzed. He held the robe at arms length and stared at his phone. Message from David. They had the piece from the machine, down in the cavern. Jackson smiled and nodded. Good. He texted back, told them about the plague. That should relax them enough to hand it over when he told them.
 

‘Where’s the solution or whatever?’

The robe waved a hand to the far side of the room and Jackson shoved him in that direction. The man stumbled and dropped to one knee.
 

‘If you can’t do it, I’ll shoot you in the kneecaps and leave you in here for when these two wake up.’

The man whimpered but scrambled to his feet, scrounging about on the tray at the bottom of the machine. He stood brandishing a syringe which he went to attach to the bags hanging off the machine.
 

‘Not her, you twat, she’s already dead. The others, come on.’

He turned to the door and froze as he heard the thump of soldier’s feet in the hallway outside. Shit. What were they doing in here? A voice boomed out and he recognised Etienne’s arrogant tones.

‘We know you’re in here. Come out now and we can find a way to settle this.’

A low growl came from behind Jackson and he turned in time to see the woman climb off the bed. Her apparently wrecked legs touched the ground and she stood quite happily. Jackson swore. Then a smile spread over his features. This could work. The zombie stood for a moment then lunged at the doctor. As tempting as it was to let it feast, he crammed the gun in his waist band and stepped closer.
 

He grabbed the zombie’s shoulders and turned her around. She clawed at his arms as he pushed her to the door and yanked it open. Staying well out of sight, he shoved her into the corridor.
 

There was a moment’s silence, then the roar of gunfire made him take a step back. Scraps of zombie came flying into the room and he winced and shook his head. Hopefully they now thought the commotion in here was because one of the tests had escaped. They’d still check, though.

He hefted the dead soldier and checked him. He was stiff and ready to turn. Jackson propped him up. He was almost a head shorter than Jackson so there was no chance of escaping behind the corpse, particularly not with the way these bodies collapsed. But if he could just come to life…

Right on cue, the soldier twitched and began clawing at his arms. He pushed it through the door and used the time it took for the soldiers to turn it into zombie mash to scramble under the bed. It was a hospital bed with huge steel bars on both sides and a hydraulic mechanism filling most of the space, so he settled for going round the far side and tucking down as far as he could go. It would give him seconds at best, but all he needed was a gun.
 

He thought for a moment about the demon. What would he think of Jackson murdering a bunch of soldiers? He shrugged. He didn’t much care.
 

The doctor still cowered in one corner, but as the gunfire ceased he rose from his hiding place and raced for the door. Jackson swore and shoved the bed at him but it was locked and barely moved. Then the doctor burst through the door, waving his arms and shouting. Jackson prayed for gun fire. But God was silent and into the silence fell the cries of the doctor.