Tales of Chills and Thrills: The Mystery Thriller Horror Box Set (7 Mystery Thriller Horror Novels) (53 page)

“Then that means—”

“Yes,” Mara said. “That means Samuel has
it. And if he doesn’t, we’re all going down in this reversion.”

Major sat back and folded his hands on
his lap. He smiled at Mara.

“And you let him go They have needs to
fulfillout there, carrying our key out of this place, to fend off the horde?”
Kole said.

“It was a test,” Mara said, pointing at
the door, “and now Major has his proof.”

Kole turned his head sideways as he
looked at Mara. It never occurred to him the horde pursued Samuel because he
was carrying the talisman. The creatures tried to devour Kole because he
attacked them, but it was the talisman they were meant to isolate. If given the
opportunity, the horde would have torn Kole apart, but not Samuel. Their role
was only to contain him, protecting the talisman.

“So I guess it’s time we get him back
here and find out how he’s going to slip us the hell out,” Kole said.

Chapter 12

The horde responded to the opening door
with a consistent, sludgy movement. The creatures slithered toward the
stimulus, dragging remnants of clothing and tattered flesh behind them. Samuel
placed a hand over his eyes more out of reflex than necessity. No sunlight
existed here to play with his vision. He saw Major, followed by Kole and Mara,
stepping outside the cabin to stand shoulder to shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled.

Mara stepped down and ran to the opposite
side of the cabin, drawing a portion of the fluctuating mass to her. Major
yelled something to Kole, who dashed in the other direction, creating a narrow
gap between the undead. Major looked at Samuel and waved him down.

Samuel noticed there were only one or two
creatures remaining at the base of the tree. They both paced tight circles,
bumping into each other, mindlessly moving like forgotten leaves tossed by the
winter wind.

Major waved again, his motion more urgent
this time.

“Damn it,” Samuel said.

He turned for one final look at the path
extending out of the Barren, blinking several times in hopes he could burn the
features of the landscape into his memory.

He tied the loose end of the rope around
the trunk of the tree, threading it over the top of the branch that held him
aloft. He then checked to make sure the other end held fast around his waist.
Like an expert rock climber rappelling down the face of a mountain, Samuel
gripped the rope in both hands. He backed off the branch, using his feet to
push outward while allowing the rope to slide through his hands. Samuel cried
out as the friction of the rope on his palms began to burn. He descended in a
lazy arc from the last push, and the rope slackened as his feet landed on the
ground. Three of the creatures shambled in his direction, angling in a way that
pushed Samuel toward the cabin. He cut the rope from his waist and ran to the
steps of the cabin, where Major stood with his arms crossed on his chest. Kole
came around the cabin from one side, and Mara appeared on the other. Like a
drain clogged with blackened sludge, the horde oozed back out and around the
cabin, encapsulating it. The creatures moved forward, tightening the noose,
letting them know it would be best if they opened the door and went back
inside.

“C’mon,” Major said, waving over
his shoulder.

He opened the door and stepped inside,
followed by Mara and Kole. Samuel stopped and turned to face the rope dangling
from the tree. He watched it sway back and forth, writhing like a snake. Samuel
looked at the cloud above, and then to the unseen trail in the distance, before
entering the cabin and pulling the door shut behind him.

***

“I saw a path. East.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Sure it does,” Samuel said. “It’s going
away from the cloud.”

“That thing will eventually swallow this
entire locality. Going east on the path only buys us a little more time,” Major
said.

Mara and Kole sat on the floor, waiting
for their heartbeats to subside after the dash around the cabin.

“Unless you have a plan for getting us
out of here, I’m not sure what choice we have,” Samuel said.

“You have something that will allow us
all to slip with you. Get us out of the path of the reversion and land you in
another locality. It might be a world degenerating faster than this one, but
it’d be a different locality either way,” Major said.

“I don’t have much on me,” Samuel

He didn’t trust Major and was not about
to submit to a search. Samuel thought about the fact that Major let him leave
the cabin, knowing full well the horde would try to contain him. The old man
knew Samuel wouldn’t make it out of the Barren.

“Then it shouldn’t take long to determine
which object is the talisman.”

Major stepped forward with a smile
cracking the lower half of his face. Samuel stepped back into the wall without
thinking. He felt the rough planks nibbling at the fabric of his shirt.

“What are you doing?” Samuel asked.

Mara stood and looked at her feet. Kole
jumped up and moved beside Major.

“Just let us look at your shit. No need
to get your panties in a bunch,” Kole said.

Samuel exchanged glances with Mara. He
saw a flicker of fear in her eyes.

“I don’t need help from either of you,”
Samuel said.

He separated his feet to match the width
of his shoulders. He bent at the knees and balled both hands into fists. Major
stopped his approach and held both hands in the air, palms facing out.

“Calm down. This doesn’t need to be
messy. Once we determine which object is the talisman, you can try to punch a
hole that slips all four of us out of here. I know how it works, and I can show
you.”

“No,” Mara said. “It’s a trick. They’ll
leave us.”

The men looked at her as she trembled.

“What?” Kole asked with a sneer.

“Don’t give them anything, Samuel.”

Major chuckled and shook his head,
treating Mara like an insolent child. He turned and spoke to Samuel.

“We’re going to find the talisman, I’m
going to show you how to use it, and then you’ll get us all out of here just
like you were doing in the tree. Except this way will work. There’s nothing on
that path out there but painful emptiness. More nothing until the reversion
claims the last pathetic creatures here. It’ll churn us in the cloud along with
the horde and the wolves. If you’re fine with that, then so am I. I’ve been
punched through enough localities. I’m tired.”

Kole stepped between Major and Samuel.

“Give Major the talisman, you little
bitch.”

When Mara’s eyes met Samuel’s, she knew
what he wanted her to do.

She lunged forward, placing her hands on
Kole’s forehead and plunging her thumbs into his eye sockets. She felt his
warm, moist eyeballs against the pad of her thumbs as he screamed in pain.
Samuel raised a knee upward until he felt it stop against Major’s pelvis. The
old man dropped to the floor and pulled his knees to his chest while writhing
in the fetal position. When Samuel looked back at Kole, he was on his knees
with Mara draped over his back. She removed her thumbs from his eyes while
dragging her nails across his face. Samuel watched the crimson lines appear
like whiskers. Before Mara could utter a sound, Samuel grabbed her by the wrist
and spun for the door. He pulled it open to reveal the horde exactly where they
had left them. Black orbs in gray faces lifted at the change in the
environment. Samuel dashed forward, pulling Mara with him. They stepped outside
the cabin, and before Samuel could slam the door shut, he heard Major.

“They won’t let you leave,” Major said.
His voice sounded shaken, defeated.

“We can try climbing the trees and get
back on the path to the other side of the Barren.”

Samuel knew this would not work but he
was not going to give up or let Major determine how he was going to leave the
reversion. Samuel would rather be torn apart by the horde than leave his fate
in Major’s hands and he was not about to leave Mara to Kole’s wrath.

Major’s laugh slid into a ragged, choking
cough. Kole remained on the floor with his hand over his eyes, blood seeping
through his fingers.

“I’m not talking about the undead.”

Samuel looked at Mara with his head
sideways and eyebrows raised. Before they could speak, a distant, muffled
howling came from the west, riding the black cloud that hovered above the
Barren.

***

“We’ll never catch up to them.”

Major pulled himself upright and placed a
hand on Kole’s shoulder.

“We won’t have to. The pack will eat
their flesh and leave the rest.”

Kole rocked back and forth, his eyes
running with a watery pink mixture of tears and blood. He blinked and wiped his
face with the back of his hand. The lines drawn into his flesh by Mara’s nails
turned black as the blood coagulated and dried on his skin.

“She’s not like us. We knew the time
would come when we’d have to force the situation. We can’t slip three,” Major
said.

Kole huffed and dabbed his face with the
collar of his shirt.

“She tried gouging my eyes out. I want to
hurt her. Bad.”

Major stood and swayed as the nausea
radiated from his groin into his lower abdomen. He sat down again.

“Samuel is like us,” Major said, ignoring
Kole’s desire to inflict pain. “He slipped into this locality under the same
circumstances as we did.”

Kole shrugged, nurturing his wounds and
festering revenge. “So what?” he asked.

“Nothing. I’m not sure it means a thing,”
Major said. “But unless you or I get our hands on the talisman, well . . .”
Major’s voice trailed off.

More distant howls reverberated off the
mountains, resonating back to the Barren, trying hard to puncture the
oppressive silence.

“They’re coming,” Major said.

“Did you call them?”

Major leaned his head back to rest on the
wall of the cabin. He did not answer.

“That means you did,” Kole said. “I sure
hope you know what you’re doing, old man. Ain’t like these are trained canines
sniffing for drugs.”

“Well, I’ve been trying to dig my balls
out of my abdomen since he kneed me. Do you have any better ideas?”

Kole wiped another drop of blood from
behind his ear and decided to shut up. Major had been beaten down by a man, but
he had been bested by a woman, a flimsy girl.

“Yeah, me neither,” Major said. “Besides,
the pack don’t know the deal. They’re only working on animal instinct.”

“You sure about that?” Kole asked.

“What’s it matter?” Major said.

***

“Don’t stop,” Samuel yelled as they
dodged the oncoming horde that tried to reconfigure itself and block the path.

They sprinted for the tree, but several
of the undead arrived first, making it impossible for them to climb the rope.
Samuel recalled the view of the landscape, adjusting the altitude to fit where
he was on the ground. When the howls rolled in underneath the dark cloud,
Samuel pushed his legs to pump even faster.

“The pack. The alpha male. They’re back.”

“What are you talking about?” Mara asked
as she followed Samuel, struggling to keep his pace.

“We’ve got to get back on the path and
find ourselves another shelter.”

Samuel didn’t have time to consider why
the horde was now allowing him to move freely. He was focused on getting
Mara to safety.

Deva was accelerating the unwinding of
the universe, pushing Samuel toward the cave in the east where the two would
meet. Deva’s powers grew stronger the closer he was to the last open
portal in a reversion. In this place, that spot was the cave. Meeting
there would give Deva more influence on the outcome, much like cell
phone reception improves closer to a tower. So anything that happened in
that cave would favor Deva. If the cloud swallowed Samuel before
he got to the cave, it could dump him into an infinite number of unknown
universes—and it could take Deva thousands of cycles to find Samuel again. Deva
accepted the calculated risk.

Mara could only make out a word or two as
Samuel ran, projecting his comments into the heavy, dead air. The horde started
to recede as Samuel and Mara put space between them. No new creatures appeared
from the west, which led Samuel to believe they could outrun the horde created
by the cloud. He pushed the image of the alpha male from his mind, as well as
the inevitable reversion that crawled ever eastward. He kept on the path, which
was only visible for ten or fifteen feet into the distance. Samuel thought if a
new group of the undead stumbled upon the path he’d have no choice but to run
at them.

 “Up there,” Samuel heard Mara say as he
dodged right to miss a low-hanging branch.

He saw the outline of a structure about
ten feet from the path. Samuel traced the shape with his eyes and knew it was
another cabin, almost identical to the ones he already discovered in this
locality. When he took a few more strides, his hunch was confirmed. Samuel
slowed and let go of Mara’s hand. She leapt to his side as they both
stood in front of the door.