Created (Book 1 of the Created) (21 page)

The new life that was flowing within me was washed away when
the master plan of this edition of The Running took shape in the form of
Tristan, John and Haley, the three wolves from school, and they were pissed.

Veronica and I both stopped.

Two hundred yards.
Two hundred
yards separated us from the zombies. Two hundred yards separated us from the
three wolves.

Together in the middle of the road, Veronica and I watched
as four screaming zombies and three grinning assholes converged on our
position.

"A plan would be great right now," Veronica calmly
stated, but she was rattled and past the point where tired became exhaustion.

"I was waiting for you," I smiled.

My action made her smile. "Well, do you have one?"

"Nope, but I'm not going to be anything's easy
target," I said as I began to use my last bit of remaining energy to
sprint toward the snapping zombies.

Veronica yelled as she ran. "What's the plan?"

The zombies were within fifty yards.

I took a peek over my shoulder to see if the pursuit had
begun. "When we get to the zombies dart into the woods to whichever side
you want. On flat open ground we don't stand a chance.

The wolves took minimum time transforming before giving
chase, but the wolves possessed superior speed. The distance was seventy five
yards and disappearing fast.

Screaming growls and the sound of heavy paw falls were
nearing at an incredible clip behind us.

The zombies were the more immediate threat; in two steps, I
would be within the killing reach of their implanted razor sharp claws.

Veronica passed me then exploded through the nearest two zombies,
taking off the head of one with a forearm to the chin and sending the other
sprawling into a service ditch on the side of the room. She sprinted into the
woods to the left with Tristan and Haley trailing close behind. The two could
have closed the distance easily, but the fire of hatred didn't burn as bright
without the leader of the pack with them.

The zombie head that Veronica dislodged was still biting at
the air as it spun around on the pavement.
 

She would be fine or at least I hoped she would. The two
wolves pursuing her were no match for her if she was at full strength. She was
weakened and near collapse, but Veronica was smart and tough, traits that
neither of the wolves possessed.

I had unfinished business with John and something to prove
to everybody watching. Exhausted as I was, it was time for me to make a stand.

The first zombie lurched at me as I leapt sideways to allow
John to sail past. The wolf nipped at me as I barreled into the off balance
zombie at full speed, smashing the zombie onto the ground. The weight of the
wolf stepping onto the body of the zombie tore loose an arm, while at the same
time sent John tumbling. The wolf screamed a very loud human scream. The scream
was one of immense, mortal pain.

I had fallen when trying to avoid the attack of both
creatures. Using my own momentum to carry me away from the battle zone, I had
rolled across the pavement to an area of momentary safety. Too tired to spring
into a standing position from my roll, I watched from a kneeling position
twenty or so feet away as John writhed in pain.

The fallen zombie was still viable, but was having
difficulty getting off the ground.

His colleague was already within my comfort zone. Damn, I
need more time, I thought. I moved at the instant the male zombie swung.
Fortunately, I caught the outstretched arm of the zombie as I dodged the
attack. The move allowed me to get behind the slower monster for the fraction
of a second that I needed to dislodge the head. I avoided the metal mandibles,
which the zombie was intent on using to take out a significant chunk of my arm.
Wrapping my free arm around the neck of the zombie, I
wretched free the head.
  

The liquid spurting from the dead adversary was not blood in
a traditional sense, it was thick and heavy with the stretch of acid as it flew
from the body. Several drops landed on my shirt burning holes through the
cotton material quickly. Dropping the zombie head to the ground, I ripped off
my shirt and began to wipe the acid from my skin.

John was busy rubbing his once thickly fur coated body on
the pavement to relieve the torture the viscous liquid was inflicting upon him.

I needed to finish him while he was dealing with his wounds,
but had become distracted with a GVZ instead. Confident I had removed the acid
from my own skin, I turned my attention to a rather loud moan. Looking up, the
zombie had picked himself off the ground and was charging at full speed toward
me. Reaching down, I ripped free an arm from the dead GVZ at my feet. The
approaching zombie would be on me in a second. Using the arm as a spear and the
claws as the razor sharp tip, I flung the makeshift weapon. The zombie was
driven back on contact. The claws of the spear penetrated the forehead. The
velocity of the spear drove deep into what I assumed was still a brain,
dropping the zombie in his tracks.
 

John was no longer tending to his wounds. He was standing
though favoring greatly his right front shoulder. The wolf circled me with the
gash out of sight, but the limp was an evident sign of the extent of his
injuries. The acidic yellow blood spilt around me burned my nostrils as I
inhaled. The smell of the zombie acid masked the stinking wolf blood that could
be seen pooling onto the blacktop.

Tired to the point of being unable to stand, I made an
attempt at diplomacy as my wobbly legs fought to maintain my balance.
"John, no one has to die here. We can end this and walk away. There
doesn't have to be a winner."

John stalked closer. "This is not about winning and
losing. This is about the vampires treating us like scum for all the years.
Treating us as if we don't exist, how dare you! How dare you insult me? In the
world outside of this base, we are ruled by another, but inside this kingdom we
are Gods. We are Lord and Master. Bow before me and allow me to begin what will
begin the elimination of your kind. We will prove ourselves worthy and the
government will no longer need the dirt dwellers that you really are."

He was buying time to allow his healing factor to begin
working, but so was I. I had to risk seeing if I could defeat him before his
strength returned. Already the tide of blood falling from his wound was
beginning to ebb.

John was larger and now due to my weakened condition faster.
I had to find the advantage that could keep me alive.

Underestimating how fast John could heal, I was taken aback
when his slow stalk had become a jogging circle that tightened with every pass.

I would swing to the full length of my arm's reach whenever
he ventured too close to widen his circle again.

John was becoming more aggressive as he moved closer to the
kill. Cautiously, he looked for an opening. The gnarling and laughing was as
much psychological as part of a physical attack.

Every time I thought he would try to take a chunk of flesh
or snag a piece of loosely hanging fabric, I would escape unscathed. Then he
would laugh. The laugh was different than the human form of laughter. It was
hyena in nature though a tad colder, crueler than the maniacal chatter heard
throughout the African Savannah.
     

The tense situation had to reach a conclusion soon because
we were both weary and worn. Finally John opted for a fight rather than
continuing his game. The circling stopped and he lunged aggressively. I swatted
him off of me as I stepped away. The defensive maneuver and the game moved on.
Five minutes lapsed as we danced again. He circled, then nipped then circled
then he would swing. He tried again. This time I was feeling capable of
enacting vengeance.

John extended his huge form in a dive at my legs. He calculated
that I would lean away from the attack and had adjusted his body to make sure
he inflicted damage by going for my sluggish legs. Unfortunately for John, he
guessed wrong. I exploded vertically as he dove. It became a race to adjust
faster. I won. I clawed at air as I somersaulted in midair in an effort to come
down on top of the wolf. The tail was not my indented target, but the
fingernails of my right hand found the furry appendage. Grabbing the tail
allowed me to stop John from turning to retaliate at his pace and react at the
one I dictated to him.

He was ferocious as he bent around to snatch at the arm
connected to his tail.
 
Instead, he was
met with a snout full of dead zombie arm. I had let go when I had got the
desired result. The shock and force of the strike stunned the massive creature.
John crumpled drunkenly sideways to the pavement, howling under the immense
pain of the acid in his eyes and face.

My enemy struggled to breathe as he labored to get off the
hard surface. This was my opportunity to finish him if I desired, and I
desired. This was my chance to create a place within the society for me.

John turned in my direction as his senses dictated. He knew
that if he couldn't rise, this could spell the end. The spirit was willing, but
the body was currently too damaged to stand. His next tactic was unexpected. He
phased back to human to see if he could recover or influence me, but in doing
so sealed his fate as he lost the added protection of being a massive beast to
his state as a fragile human. His body bore witness to the smashed face with
the broken bones already swollen and black. The skin was split along his arm in
a deep gash that displayed a huge bright red scar that appeared infected as
yellow pus bled rapidly from the wound.

He struggled to make words as his breathing was too rapid to
speak fluently. "Plea...se do...
nt
... k...k...
kil
...l m...e."

I circled him as he tried to phase back to the wolf
unsuccessfully.

I lifted a dead zombie from the pavement and stood over him
as he uttered a final interrupted plea. "
Ple
...as..."

The body felt light. Resurgence flowed through me as I
brought the full weight of the GVZ onto John. He screamed initially then
stopped when what remained of the zombie was hammered into his human frame time
and time again. The yellow fluid poured onto him in copious amounts, burning
the body as large swaths were coated in the acidic blood. Sections of his skin
slid off his frame onto the pavement exposing muscle and then bone.

Gagging at the putrid smell of wolf blood, urine, melting
flesh and acid, I continued my onslaught. The zombie body was breaking apart
from the repetitive pounding. Soon I was left with only a portion of the torso
attached. The arm I had used had long since broken off. I had already been
burned a hundred times over from the spray of the blood flying from the zombie.
Still, I took the torso in hand and brought the remainder against the unbroken
parts of his flesh. My wounds would heal, I lamented with each agonizing groan
caused by the acid burrowing through my skin.

John's eyes were open, but they hadn't blinked in minutes.
They hadn't moved since his body had shuddered and trembled violently after my
attack had completed.

I knew he was dead, but I kept taking my frustrations out on
the former wolf. Reaching through his exposed shoulder into the cavity of his
body, I found what I was seeking. Extracting the still heart was effortless.
Though filled with blood, I had no desire to eat or even drink from the organ
since the odor was foul. Instead, I closed my hand around the red muscle until
it burst. I held the heart in my hand until all of the blood drained out.
Wiping the waste from my hands onto my pants, I admired my fallen foe. In the
distance, I heard a wolf bay in the direction in which Veronica had taken.

Certain John was dead, I eased into the woods primarily with
the hope I would find Veronica alive because at the moment I was a complete
waste of a vampire. Weak and slow wasn't going to help her. I struggled to
cross into the ditch to gain access to the road. Scrambling up the far bank of
the ditch another scream was heard, this time a female voice. Whatever I had
left was what I was about to give to save the one who had so many times saved
me.

My muscles were strained, and I worried a couple of times
when I leapt over fallen trees or sped through openings one of my muscles would
tear, but none ever gave away. My running was at best intermittent. I would go
from human speed to a burst of vampire speed then start over.

I paused deep in the forest as I listened for a sign of
where the three might have headed. Trying to catch a scent in the wind, I grew
concerned when all I could smell was wolf.

Before me I detected movement, and the smell grew stronger
as a shadow before me slithered behind trees and brush as I waited. There was
more movement. This time it was more direct and at least a hundred yards away.
Any eye shine would be diminished on the cloudy night. A branch snapped the
quiet. I listened. Something was strange as footfalls sounded in the forest.
The sound was of two wolves approaching and the scent denoted one.

Daring not to move forward I watched, smelled and listened.
The wolf crept a little more. A per chance misstep by the wolf gave away the
fact that there were two who attempting to deceive me to gain an advantage.

As they drew nearer, I detected the nature of the wolves.
They were part of the hunting pack that had chased Veronica; they were Haley
and Tristan.

If they are here, then where the hell is she, I whispered to
myself?
 

A wolf screamed like a woman then laughed less like John the
hyena and more like a sinister human. The scream was a way of luring someone in
to save the damsel only to find that he was indeed the one needing to be saved.
I had fallen for the bit, and now I was close to becoming the one that needed
saving.