The Dark Trinity (Book 1): Shuffle (37 page)

“Are you sure he’s coming back?” asked Carlos.

“Eve trusts him,” Sam responded. “That’s good enough for me.”

The group sat in the eerie green glow of the chem-stick and
waited to see if they were going to live or die.

****************

The giant black dildo connected with the zombie’s face as
Ronnie continued to go slap-happy with it. His method of using the dildo to
stun his enemy allowed him to follow up with a decapitating blow with his free
talon. So far, it was actually working. To his left, he caught a glimpse out of
his peripheral vision. A zombie was sailing through the air at him, ready for
an aerial strike.

The wolf next to him saw this and stepped forward, the quills
along his right forearm flipped forward and seemed to extend out past the large
claws. Whey they finished their shimmery movement, they had formed a long quill-blade
around the hand. The wolf thrust it upwards into the flying zombie’s torso,
impaling it. Reaching with its left claw, it grabbed the creature by the
shoulders and pulled, cleaving it in half. Black blood rained down as the two
halves of the thing fell onto the ground in a squishy thud.

“Holy shit, dude! That was fucking awesome!” he exclaimed to
the wolf. “Look at that crazy shit, yo!” he exclaimed, pointing to the
quill-blade that protruded from the wolf’s forearm. “You’re like a Transformer
or some shit!”

The wolf ignored Ronnie’s babble and continued to thrust its
quill weapon at the never ending flow of zombies. The defensive arc formation
pulsed and rippled as wave after wave of the demons continued to barrage them.
Nathan stole glances at the battle as they moved. Theresa had shut her eyes,
which made it more difficult to move her. She stumbled and tripped every couple
steps, slowing them down. Evelyn kept a close eye on their exposed flank. So
far, no attacks from behind them. That was good, but she doubted it would last.

Sure enough, within just a couple moments, zombies began to
leap from the road overpass to the train overpass. They dropped down well
behind the defenses and were now closing in on the debris pile.

“They’re flanking us! They’re behind the line!” Evelyn screamed
at anyone who would listen.

Boomer bolted to the rear, towards the zombies who had just
dropped from the tracks. He lunged into the air and clamped his massive jaws
down onto one creature’s head, crushing it into pulp. The quills on his tail
rearranged to form long deadly spikes at the end. He twisted his body, whipping
the spike-laden tail towards the other four zombies. Two of them became
impaled. They clawed at the tail with their talons, but the dog’s quill armor was
too tough. Another massive bite to another’s leg. A second swish of the tail
threw the two impaled zombies airborne towards Evelyn and Nathan.

She caught one of them mid-air by the head and used its
inertia to spin into a hammer throw. Squeezing hard, she felt the thing’s skull
splinter as black blood and brains spurted out. Completing another rotation,
she flung the dead zombie far into the thick of the battle on the other side.
The other body fell next to Nathan, who stomped his foot down onto the bewildered
zombie’s head. Theresa screamed.

“I’m going to help Boomer, you get her into that bunker,”
Evelyn shouted over her shoulder as she ran to help their dog defend the flank.

“Ronnie! Go help Eve!” Nathan yelled.

Ronnie heard his friend through the growls, howls, cries, and
screams of the wolves and the zombies. He darted out of the fray, black cock in
hand, and raced towards Evelyn’s aid.

“I gotcha, bro,” he said as he sailed toward Evelyn and
Boomer.

Nathan scooped Theresa up in his arms, taking care not to
scratch her. They needed to move fast. He ran towards the two wolves who now
hurled cars and debris at the Horde like ballistae.

"Stay here. Stay low. The wolves are our allies; they
will keep you safe," Nathan said as he placed the housewife on the ground.
He piled nearby debris around the woman to form a makeshift foxhole.

“Maalik,” Nathan yelled. “Theresa is behind you. She got
separated from the others.”

Maalik paused to look at the petrified human huddled in the
small foxhole. He bent down and nudged her arm with his immense snout to
reassure her, then returned to chucking cars at the undead army.

Several creepers jumped onto Boomer’s back. The dog shook,
but the attackers hung on. They clawed and tore at his hide, but his quill
armor withstood the blows. He plumed his quills outward, impaling the creepers
with thousands of the sharp prongs. The dog pushed off of the ground with all
fours and flipped onto his back, crushing the zombies underneath. Writhing on
the ground, Boomer’s quills shredded the unfortunate creatures beneath him into
pulp. He hopped up onto his feet and shook again, casting the dead innards off
like water.

Evelyn grasped a stop sign in both hands, wielding it like a
battle axe. She swung it above her head and down across her front. The force of
her swing decapitated a large swath of the dead in a single blow. Skull tops
and corrupted brains spilled everywhere. She used the follow-through of her
attack and brought the stop sign axe straight down. The sign cleaved straight
through another of the dead soldiers.

Nathan surveyed the battle. Ronnie, Evelyn, and Boomer
continued to hold their own at their back, but it wouldn’t take long for more
of the Horde to figure out the weak spot and exploit it. Along the front line,
he was impressed at how effective the wolves were at killing these things. They
utilized the same strategy that he had seen before; take out the legs to
immobilize, then destroy the brain for the kill. For every wolf that fell, they
took at least two hundred of the zombies down with them. Even with those
phenomenal numbers, there was no way that they could hold out against the
thousands of zombies that continued to berate them. The Horde was beginning to
spill around either end of the defensive arc. Their numbers were failing. More undead
were falling from the trolley tracks above. Soon, Evelyn, Ronnie, and Boomer would
be overrun.

“Maalik! We need to compress the line and surround the
entrance!”

The wolf leader roared and the arc again moved as one. It
collapsed down to a tight circle that surrounded the entrance to the sanctuary
below. The wolves were now in ranks eight rows deep. The Horde fell in on it
like a river crashing against a dam. The wall of bodies crushed against the
wolf lines. Caws dug into the asphalt beneath. The close circle bulged inward
from the force of the Horde, but they held; pushing back the tidal wave of
Hell.

Shit,
Nathan thought. Ronnie, Evelyn, and Boomer were
still trapped outside of the defensive ring. They continued to vanquish the
onslaught of dead, but the forces that bore down on them continued to gain in
numbers. Soon, they would fall if they didn’t get help soon.

Nathan grabbed a nearby pipe and used it to dispatch several
zombies who had made it through the defenses. He watched as two of them jumped
onto one of the wolves. One sat atop the wolf’s shoulders and jammed two talons
into its eyes. It wailed in pain as the second zombie grabbed the lower jaw.
The first yanked its talons out of the eye sockets and clamped strong hands
around the upper jaw. The two zombies worked together and tore the wolf’s head
in two. For as graceful and efficient as the wolves were at dispatching their
enemies, the zombies were as equally cunning.

Nathan took his pipe and wedged the free end into the one
creeper’s mouth. Clasping the ghoul’s head by the ears, He dropped to his
knees, pile-driving the zombie’s face into the pavement. The pipe erupted out
the back of the skull. Without hesitation, Nathan turned to grab the other
advancing zombie by the shoulders. He heaved the creature over his head and
performed a suplex, impaling the creature onto the pipe that was planted into
the first one. A swift stomp with his foot put an end to the monster.

Nathan looked up just in time to see Bataviah charge at him.
He crouched down as she sailed over his head and barreled into the group of
zombies that approached Nathan from behind. She picked one up by a leg and used
it to club the others back into the torrent at the front lines. She dropped the
bloodied and broken zombie on the ground; her large, padded foot squished in
brains as it came down upon its head.

“Thanks,” he said.

Bataviah gave a grunt and went back to the bunker entrance.
Maalik was hacking at limbs and torsos with his quill blade when she returned.
More and more of the Horde trickled through the lines, forcing Maalik and
Bataviah to stop clearing the entrance while they dispatched the oncoming
threats. The two wolf generals worked in tandem, each taking turns hurling
large pieces of debris at anything that came near them.

Nathan positioned himself over the frightened Theresa. He
planted his feet on the foxhole rim and stood guard over the human, killing any
zombie that would get through their defense. Glancing at Maalik and Bataviah,
Nathan watched in awe as the two moved as one. They anticipated each other’s
moves. Their monstrous bodies flowed together in a balletic dance of
destruction as blood and disemboweled zombie guts fell to the ground with the
falling snow.

Sunshine stood at the precipice of the roadway and peered
down at the battle below. Parting around her, waves of her minions continued to
pour over the broken ledge. She saw the wolves collapse into a tight circle
around a large pile of debris where the trolley tracks dipped below the street.
In the center of the circle, two wolves dug at the wrecked metal, while a
single zombie stood alone, protecting a human woman. It was Nathan.

Outside of the circle, two other zombies fought her children
alongside a different kind of wolf. It was the woman. The one Nathan searched
for. A smile emblazoned onto Sunshine’s pale face. She took a step out over the
air below and leaned forward. Before she fell, limbs reached out from both
sides and interlocked, catching the zombie queen. She took another step forward
and again, arms and legs twisted inward to form a ledge for the 11 year-old to
walk on. As the bodies continued to feed the battlefield below, others writhed
and interlocked themselves into a macabre staircase of horror down from the
overpass.

Step by step, she walked upon the fallen children of Earth.
Such arrogance they had. Such contempt and disregard they held towards their
Eden. They destroyed this precious gift that they had received. They squandered
it. They used it all up. Now she was going to avenge the planet. She was going
to purge Paradise of this parasite called Humanity.

Sunshine’s foot hit the pavement. Instantly, the staircase
collapsed, the bodies rising to join the fray before her. With incredible
speed, she sped towards Evelyn, leaving a trail of black, wispy smoke behind
her. Sunshine stopped just short of Evelyn. She floated in mid-air on a
pitch-black cloud. She reached out with her claw and grasped her prize by the
head. Just as quickly as she arrived, she, and Evelyn, were gone. Boomer turned
just in time to see a flash of bodies disappear in a black whirlwind. Lady was
gone. Ronnie noticed the distracted dog, and then noticed that they were down a
person.

“Dude, where’s Eve?” Ronnie asked the dog. He continued to
pummel his undead brethren that swarmed them while Boomer attempted to pick up
a scent.

Sunshine moved at breakneck speed. The ensuing battle moved
in slow motion as her and Evelyn drew near the entrenched werewolf defenses.
The butchering was unfathomable. Blood and body parts, wolf and zombie alike,
flew through the air like confetti at a ticker-tape parade. Intestines and
entrails fluttered like streamers as they exploded from various zombies. The
wolf ranks held the majority of the attack, yet the sheer numbers poured over
the wolf legion in spots. Maalik had ceased clearing debris and stood back to
back with Nathan over the terrified human who shook and screamed in her
foxhole. They took turns slashing, ripping, and dismembering the never-ending
onslaught of hell spawn. Bataviah feverishly continued to toss debris out into
the bloodied battlefield.

They were going to lose. Nathan saw the Horde cascade over
the broken overpass. The zombie ranks were replenishing faster than the wolves
could dispel them. More and more of Maalik’s kin fell. It was only a matter of
time before the lines collapsed and they succumbed to the overwhelming numbers
of the Horde. The only good news that he could see, was that the humans in the
overturned trailer were safe. Their ruse seemed to be working. The zombie army
paid no attention to it.

“Hurry the fuck up, Bataviah!” Nathan shouted over his
shoulder.

The female wolf let out a roar in acknowledgement. Nathan
caught a glimpse of something within the Horde. Black smoke puffed and billowed
throughout the zombie ranks. He could see a mass of bodies in front of the
wolves begin to interlock and rise up into a crude platform. Another quick
burst of black smoke erupted atop the newly formed pedestal. When the smoke
dissipated, Sunshine stood high above the defensive circle. She extended her
arm outwards towards him. There, hanging above the battle, Evelyn kicked at the
air, attempting to break free from Sunshine’s clutches. The zombie queen’s
grotesque claws appeared disproportionately larger than what they should have
been for the eleven year old body. She held Evelyn by the head, dangling her
over the edge of the pedestal like a ragdoll.

“EVE!” Nathan screamed.

Sunshine began to speak. Her voice boomed over the sound of
the battle as if she spoke through a supernatural megaphone. Her voice was a corrupted
mix of child and woman.

“Your time in Paradise is at an end,” she hissed. “I have
taken this world from you. Now I shall rape your souls and strip you of your
pitiful hope. I will reap your sorrow and sow your tears; I will feast upon
your agony and reclaim what is mine!”