Metahumans vs the Undead: A Superhero vs Zombie Anthology (24 page)

I’ve got to get off this roof
, Angela thought, feeling the fire inside rage.
If this thing is allowed to team up with the baron, I’m doomed
.
She made a move toward the roof’s ledge, but the pain doubled, crippling her.

She screamed as her body stiffened. Her back straight, arms extended out with her palms up, her body prepared to unleash Hell. “Dusk!” If she ever needed her shadow to swoop in and lift her up, it was now, but she was far too busy trying to keep the hungry dead away from Angela’s warm flesh.

Angela looked down at the nine symbols on her abdomen and watched as the characters swirled together, her skin twisting with them like spiraling water down the drain. She screamed again as a gnarled horn protruded from the void followed by a bald, rock-hard head.

As more of its body emerged from her abdomen, Angela realized the creature was built much like a golem. Large rock plates covered its shoulder blades and chest; in the seams, trails of molten lava flowed and pulsated with a vibrant orange glow. Halfway through the portal, the demon lashed out with a boulder-sized fist at a male zombie that had managed to slip by Dusk. The undead’s forehead collapsed under the blow and its body crumpled to the rooftop.

It’s here to help?
Angela wondered. She screamed one final blood-curdling wale as the hell spawn stepped out of the gateway and flexed its muscles in front of the zombies.

The creature stood before her, lumbering nearly two feet above her. Smoke wafted off its body, snaking its way into the air. The creature’s muscles were finely chiseled and long blades of rock protruded from its elbows, their cutting edge polished and ready to cut through bone.

The stone demon turned around and stared at her with glowing eyes, they—along with its nose—were hollow like a jack-o-lantern’s, with a mystical fire burning inside them.

“RUN!” it bellowed, then turned back around to face the threat.

“I should have known your father would send reinforcements,” Baron
Samedi
said.

All her muscles could do after the dimensional rift was quiver and quake. The violation of her body often left her too weak to chase after the demons that escaped, allowing them time to wreak havoc on mankind. Unable to move, she watched with unblinking eyes as the beast charged into the army of the dead. It grabbed hold of the closest zombie with its massive right hand. Bones cracked and flesh split. Black, tar-like ooze spilled forth between the demon’s fingers as it crushed its skull and hoisted it into the air, knocking several other zombies off their feet. It tossed the mass of decayed flesh into the crowd and impaled a one-armed, male zombie with the horn atop its head. With the flick of its head, the impaled body launched into the air and crashed into the crowd.

Baron
Samedi
stood his ground as the behemoth charged. With its head low, the demon blindly ran headlong at the baron. With a smile, the baron unsheathed the hidden blade inside his cane and raised it over his head, moonlight reflecting off the sharpened metal. The
cemetary
man stepped to the side, dodging a fatal blow, and brought his sword down. A clang echoed in the night and sparks danced into the air as the metal struck the rocky flesh.

The demon laughed as it circled around. The zombies who were fighting Dusk instinctively turned and moved toward their master as if sensing the danger.

“It’ll take more than a pitiful blade to sever my head,” the demon teased as it prepared to charge once more.

“Well then, by all means, try that again,” the baron said, and motioned for his minions to step aside.

As one, the zombies obeyed.

The demon ran its foot across the rooftop as a bull scrapes the ground in a mock charge, then let loose a mighty roar before sprinting forward.

“
Otorize
lagè
sa
a,” Baron
Samedi
spoke in his Creole dialect as his left hand traveled along the blade of his sword. As his hand passed over it, the metal ignited in a purple flame.

As the demon’s horn came within striking distance, Baron
Samedi
sidestepped and brought his sword down. The demon hooked its arm and deflected the blow with the blade attached to its left elbow.

“Fool!” The demon kicked outward with its hoofed foot. The blow struck the baron in the midsection and was powerful enough to lift him off his feet.

The walking dead flooded around the baron to protect and help him to his feet. One-by-one they were tossed aside like rag dolls or cleaved in two by the blades on the demon’s elbows.

An image of countless souls wandering aimlessly along the river of death, lost without the baron’s guidance, flashed in Angela’s mind.
I have to do something
, she thought as the pain finally subsided.

Dusk was by her side, standing vigilant for when the zombies decided to continue their assault against them.

The baron managed to get back on his feet and block a slashing strike from the rock demon’s blade. The sound of metal clanging echoed in the air, and the force of the two weapons colliding caused the baron to lose his balance and stumble backward, his strength obviously no match for the hell spawn’s. Without a chance to secure his footing, he was forced to deflect another strike, this one taking him off his feet.

The dead swarmed around the demon, jumping on top of its broad shoulders and back. Their teeth gnawed against the rock, too stupid to realize it had no effect, but it bought Angela the necessary time she needed to take flight. With the flap of her wings, she was airborne and flying straight toward the demon.

“Keep your head down, Baron,” Angela said, her right hand extended outward, her claws long and ready to decapitate anything in her way.

With her fingers on her right hand pressed tightly together, the four claws merged and tapered to a point. Spurts of blackish goo splashed upon her face as several zombies lost their heads as they shambled into her path. As she flew over the fallen baron, she prayed he didn’t strike, impaling her on his sword as she tried to save his life.

“Ungrateful brat!” the demon roared.

As she came within striking distance, the demon arced its elbow, bringing its rock sword around for an attack. The shadow claws met the blade and sliced through it, separating it at its base. The creature stood straight, shock etched on its face. With her momentum uninterrupted, Angela flapped her wings to lift higher off the ground to compensate.

The shadow claws passed through the demon’s rock neck. She spun around and spread her wings out and tilted them slightly so as to stop in midair.

It’s done
, she thought as she glided down.

When her feet touched the ground, the demon dropped to its knees and its head slid off to the side. A geyser of molten lava erupted and splashed onto the crowd of undead. Their decayed flesh and worn clothing ignited in hellfire, and spread across the rooftop.

The baron took several steps away from the growing puddle of hot liquid. “Am I supposed to thank you now?”

The supernatural lava was already cooling; the brief standstill would soon be over. “A little gratitude would be nice,” she said, eyeing the crowd of zombies. Those not set ablaze and writhing on the rooftop circled around her, their hungry gaze fixated on her.

“Though I am grateful, I still must take you out of this world.”

“If you do, then there will be no one capable of standing up to my father.” Angela stood ready, right elbow cocked outward, her shadow claws still pressed tightly together. She was ready to decapitate the first zombie brave or stupid enough to get close to her.

“Your father is in chains,” the baron argued.

“But his reach is far.”

A withered husk of a female stepped up, her frail arms reaching for Angela, its hands limp at the wrist. Without taking her eyes off the baron, Angela swung her claws around. Long strands of white hair fluttered into the air, cut in half as the shadow claws sliced through the leathery skin at the creature’s neckline. The head tilted to the right before falling from its perch.

“I’ve made my choice,” Angela said, slicing the head off another zombie brazen enough to step toward her. “I will not be my father’s instrument of death.”

“You act as if you have a choice in the matter.”

“There’s always a choice!”

Baron
Samedi
took a fighting stance. “The war is never-ending. Over time, you will grow weary and give in to the darkness. You will be the downfall of mankind, the bringer of Armageddon.”

“Never.”
This is getting us nowhere
. She scanned the rooftop. Surrounded on all sides by mindless, rotting corpses, the only path left available was up.

Dusk decapitated three more zombies, but four more walking dead willing to take their place quickly filled the temporary void created by her attack. They simply stepped over their fallen brethren, their bodies swaying as they tried to decipher their next move.

There’s too many
, she thought, then flapped her wings and lifted her feet off the rooftop.

“Stop her!” the baron ordered.

Her movements weren’t fast enough and there were too many for Dusk to keep at bay. With one consciousness, the dead rushed in, their dirt-ridden fingernails clawing at her ankles and calves. No matter how hard Angela flapped her wings, the added weight forced her down.

Pinned, the dead clawed, bit, and tore into her flesh. As they chewed the morsels of flesh, her regenerating powers kicked in and healed her wounds in time for another hungry zombie to take its share.

One raked its fingers across her abdomen, tearing into the infernal symbols in search of her more delectable parts. Almost instantly, the undead man’s hand ignited in flame. He mumbled incoherently as he lifted his hand and gawked at it, dumbfounded by what was happening. The fire traveled quickly, starting at the cuff of its brown suit and up along the dead man’s arm. He flapped his arm and stood, groaning, but the fire continued to consume his rotten flesh. He stumbled off through the crowd, setting others ablaze upon impact with them. They danced together in a drunken stupor as the fires ravaged their decaying flesh.

Enough!
Angela let loose a scream as her shadow claws extended and arced across her chest. They sliced through festering flesh and bone. Tar-like sludge and slivers of grayed flesh rained down.

Baron
Samedi
rushed toward her as she still lay on her back. As the flame-engulfed blade was raised over his head, she flipped her legs upward, and somersaulted to her feet. The sword came down as he was within striking distance and she met the attack with both hands, her shadow claws catching the blade. The heat of the purple flame radiated her face as she overcame the shock of the blade not breaking.

“How is it my claws did not slice your sword in half?” she asked as they pushed against one another, neither giving their opponent an inch.

He smiled. “The spell I cast upon the blade makes it indestructible.”

“No matter,” she replied as she swung her left arm back, then drove it straight toward the base of the baron’s neck.

Baron
Samedi
broke their standoff by jumping back, the shadow claws just grazing the right side of his face.

What the . . .
Angela was surprised to see black smoke escape from the slits in the baron’s cheeks rather than blood.
He may not be a demon, but he sure as hell isn’t human. If I have to kill him, it’ll be easier on my conscience.

“You will find this body difficult to destroy,” Baron
Samedi
said as his wounds closed.

“Cutting off the head of my enemies has worked for me thus far. Guess I’ll just have to start there.”