Part One is Here

Steph – Thursday: Plague Day

She pushed open the door and peered out into the corridor. There was no one there, just as she’d expected. She’d been listening at the door for a good half hour and she’d heard nothing, but it had still taken her that long to summon up the courage. She slipped out and rushed toward the lift at the end of the hallway.

She hammered the button and waited, skipping from foot to foot. The door opened and she stepped in, hitting the ground floor button repeatedly until the doors slid closed. She sighed and rested back against the lift. She had maybe ten seconds until she reached the ground. Her eyes felt scratchy from her sleep and she shook her head, trying to clear it. How had she slept for so long?

The doors slid open and she froze. Mr Moore stood across the lobby by the front door. Was he one of them? He couldn’t be, he was way too nice a guy. But she’d seen Sandra out the window on the lawn and she’d been one, lurching about like some crazy person. What was happening? She wished David was here, he’d explain it all. He always knew what was going on.

‘Mr Moore?’

She said it quiet enough that he didn’t notice and she stepped closer. He growled and spun and she screamed at the change in his face. He looked ninety and his eyes were sunk deep in his skull. He reached for her with hands twisted and bent into claws. She shouted for help and took a step back but her heel caught on the rug and she tripped.

She landed hard on her tail bone and howled, tears filling her eyes. Mr Moore launched himself and landed on top of her. He was clumsy but his hands were sharp and strong and pinned her to the carpet. When he opened his mouth the smell that emerged made her cough. Bile filled her throat. What was happening?

His head went down, out of view of her eyes and the next thing she knew was a sharp, piercing sensation in her left breast. Then the pain kicked in and she screamed and screamed until everything went black.

The End… of book one. Books two to seven are written and will be released in Spring 2015.

PLEASE HELP!!

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Thanks for reading and I hoped you have enjoyed 13 Roses so far. On Monday will be the first of a few short stories I intend posting before getting back into a longer story.

Part One is Here

Alex – Saturday: 5 Days to Plague Day

Alex’s wife, Lisa, was pretty. Ever so slightly lopsided and with a slightly larger nose than he’d like, but pretty nonetheless. Kali, on the other hand, was beautiful. She was the colour of chocolate and had a face that was perfectly symmetrical. Her smile seemed to promise things and despite the crisp Indian accent, they were things he thought he’d probably never even imagined. She had eyes the colour of night. He’d thought they were brown to start with, then the light had caught them and they’d glowed so dark blue they were almost black. And her body…

Luke grabbed her arm, snarling as he dragged her toward the church.

‘There’ll be clothes in there, find some and put them on.’

Kali’s eyes widened, searching Luke’s face as though she would find the answer there to why he was being such a dick. Alex almost reassured her that he was always this way, but he had the feeling the two of them had known one another far longer than he had.

They raced into the church, which was disappointingly ordinary inside and found something for Kali to wear in a duffel bag hanging on a set of hooks. She took the robe off and dropped it on the floor, entirely unselfconscious about being naked in front of the two men. She even turned to Luke with a look that made Alex shiver and said. ‘Sara sends her regards. She misses you.’

Luke turned away and Alex, blushing red, did the same, but not before catching her eye. She gave him that smile again and he stopped turning, unable to take his eyes off her. She kept smiling, taking a long while to pull the t-shirt over her head. Even with it on, her figure was on display and his face grew hotter. She finished getting dressed slowly, not taking her eyes off his.

Luke cleared his throat and grabbed Alex’s arm. He pulled him away across the church and smiled. It wasn’t his normal smile, nor the evil look he seemed to enjoy so much. This was a forced smile, dragged up from somewhere but reluctant and overworked.

‘What’s wrong?’

Luke stared, eyebrows rising and then he let go and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. His face relaxed and when he opened them, his eyes bored into Alex. ‘Is that better?’

‘I don’t know. You look better, sure, but—’

‘I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong. Kali over there is a succubus. You’d do well to steer clear of her. She is very sexy and very beautiful and will happily ensnare you with the sole motivation of eating your soul. Your only consolation will be that the last few minutes of your life will be very pleasurable.’

Alex grinned and Luke shook his head. ‘That isn’t as nice as it sounds. Trust me, someone doing anything to your soul is bad enough. Eating it is on the outer limits of what you can handle before your brain goes pop.’

‘I wasn’t grinning about that, I haven’t heard the word succubus in years, not since I played Dungeons and Dragons.’

Maybe he should ask Kali whether Luke had a mental issue or something. He turned to walk over to her and Luke’s hand wrapped around his wrist. ‘When will you start believing? You saw what I did to those soldiers’

‘And believe you me, it was impressive. But the whole God thing and now succubus? I mean, really?’

Luke smiled more naturally this time. ‘I really will enjoy watching your face when it hits you. When you can no longer deny it, it’s going to be so much fun.’

Luke shoved his arm away and stalked across the church. Kali was clothed now, though managing to look even more alluring in a tight t-shirt and tight jeans and just tight everything. That she had no underwear on made it even worse. Alex gritted his teeth. He needed to focus on the cure, on the formulas. There were so many things he had to remember that weren’t on the board. Pages of stuff he hadn’t thought Luke needed to hear.

The crazy man grabbed Kali by the arm and dragged her across the church toward the altar. She struggled for a brief moment, but something he said stilled her. Alex rushed over. Why was he being so unpleasant? He couldn’t believe he was still wondering that, but Luke had just rescued her, so that had to count for something. Why rescue her and drag her about like she was worthless?

As he grew closer he heard what they were saying.

‘The Father didn’t send you, don’t lie to me. Who sent you?’

The smallest of worry lines marred Kali’s forehead, but made her no less stunning. If anything, the addition of humanity made her even more desirable.

‘It was him. He was worried about your behaviour here so far, he—’

‘So who’s watching me? If you’ve seen my behaviour, who else has?’

She cast her eyes to the ground and looked up at Luke through long dark lashes. ‘Everyone. There’s a screen in the Dome. It’s on all the time so you can just go and watch it.’

Luke burst out laughing. ‘So I’m the entertainment. Where has the Father gone?’

‘He’s still at the Do— oww!’

Luke slammed his hand across her cheek and let go of her wrist. She dropped to the floor, knees making a dull thump that chased her cry of pain around the church.

‘The Father wouldn’t put up a screen. He wouldn’t make this a spectator sport, not for you or anyone else. Who did this?’

She looked down again, shaking her head. Luke knelt beside her and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. Alex stepped closer. ‘Look, Luke, surely we can do this nicely, you don’t need to hurt her.’

Luke waved his hand in dismissal and Alex hesitated.

‘Who did this?’

Kali’s mouth stayed shut. Luke stared at her for a moment and Alex caught a glimpse of his face. His eyes flared, golden light spilling from the edges and his mouth was so tight his lips all but vanished. Alex took a step back as Luke surged to his feet and turned. ‘You want proof? You want to be enlightened?’

He hauled Kali up by the arm and dragged her over the altar and past it to where a huge golden cross towered above them. Kali writhed and whined and the sound wasn’t entirely human.

‘I don’t want proof. Whatever you’re doing, stop it, I don’t want proof.’

Luke turned back, sneer on his face. ‘This isn’t about you. I just thought you might be interested.’

Without another word, he spun back, grabbed Kali by both arms and lifted her, slamming her against the cross. The moment she touched it a hissing sound filled the church and she screamed. Smoke rose from her back and she struggled and kicked. He gagged as a smell like burning hair filled his nostrils.

Luke held her there, every muscle tense. The hissing grew louder and Alex backed away as her face changed. The beauty was gone, just like that, replaced with red scales and a nose almost flat to her face. Her eyes shifted, melting from the front of her face out to the sides and her mouth grew wider and wider.

He put his hand over his mouth, gasping as she changed completely. She looked like a lizard, the colour of blood and five feet tall. Her jaws extended and she snapped at Luke. He wagged his finger in front of her. ‘Uh, uh, none of that. You are here now, corporeal and entirely present and either I get my answers or I break your neck, understood?’

The soft melody of her voice had become a deep croak. ‘Take me off this damned cross.’

‘I think you’re the damned one.’ He pulled her away from the cross and threw her to the floor. She came straight back up, mouth snapping as her nails scratched on the stone floor.

‘Who sent you? Who sent you to watch me and who framed me in the first place?’

‘That’s a lot of questions, which would you like answered first?’

‘It doesn’t matter, you’re going to answer all of them anyway.’

The laugh that emerged was thin and rough and scraped across Alex’s brain. He was already struggling to stay something resembling sane, and the voice didn’t make it any easier.

Kali, assuming she was still called Kali when she was a giant lizard thing, hisses again. ‘The Father sent me.’

Luke grabbed her around the throat and shoved her against the cross. The acrid smoke billowed up and she screamed. The sound faded and rattled in her throat as her struggles weakened. He held her there until her legs hung limp at her sides, then tossed her to the floor.

‘My patience is at an end. You will tell me what I wish to know now.’

She laughed weakly and ran a scaled forearm over her lips. ‘Trust me, Luke, the person who sent me here is far scarier than you.’

‘Do you know who I am?’ As he roared, golden light spat from his eyes and the shadow he cast from the flickering candles moved independently, creeping forward to crouch above her.

‘I know who you were. But that was a long time ago. You’ve been neutered by your time as a Guardian. Everyone knows it except you.’

Luke took a step back, head shaking back and forth. Kali clambered to her feet, mocking smile on her face. ‘I mean, come on, would you have let the Father send you here before he let you back in? You’re a shadow of who you were. Why do you think Sara let you in? She felt sorry for you, Luke, and she knew you were going. It was time for you to go.’

Alex cringed. Luke was going to hit her. He could see the tension in his shoulders as he wound up to it. Then the tension drained and his head dropped onto his chest. His voice was soft, defeated. ‘So you will tell me nothing?’

Kali sighed and rolled her shoulders. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t. Worse will happen to me if I do. Had it not been my master, it would have been someone else. There are a lot of people with a grudge against you.’

Luke nodded and turned to Alex. ‘We better get going. We need that cure.’

Alex let out a long breath and nodded. This was a better ending than he’d expected. Luke met his gaze and he saw another flash of gold and stiffened as Luke turned back to Kali.

‘Oh, something you might want to pass onto your master. I may be weaker than I was, but I’m far from defeated. Tell me, Kali, what are you most afraid of?’

The succubus stared at him in horror for a brief moment, before a figure appeared before her. It was huge, twelve feet tall and covered in thick red hair. It could have been a bear, only it was human shaped, long-legged and narrow-waisted.

Luke said only one word as he watched the thing grab Kali around the throat and lift her off the floor.

‘Az.’

Next installment Thursday 30th October

Part One is here

David – Thursday: Plague Day

Peace and quiet was all he wanted. He could still be in his empty London, lulled to sleep by the lapping of the Thames while reciting the alphabet to ensure he didn’t forget it. Being brought back was bad enough, but being brought back to this was evil, pure and simple. What had he ever done? He’d done nothing. He was innocent.

The two receptionists were closing in, hands stretched out towards him. They would have been pretty not long ago. One had long black hair and her skin was darker than the rest, a sort of coffee colour with too much milk in. He shifted uncomfortably as he imagined them naked and not zombies.

He giggled and slapped himself around the face. That was going too far. They were dead and rotting and would never be pretty again. He could imagine all he wanted, but they were about to eat him. For some reason though, the fear that had driven him here from Regent’s Park had evaporated. It was all a bit funny now.

Their uniforms were funny, still so neat and prim, but collecting a dusting of dead and flaking skin on the upper half. They looked like they’d just walked through an ash cloud. He could have had both at the same time. He’d never had two women at the same time. He never would now, he reflected morosely, not now he was barmy. He giggled again.

One of the receptionist’s clawed hands closed around his wrist and the paralysis broke. He roared and yanked his hand free, then drove his fist straight into her face. The nose broke and warm, watery blood gushed over his fingers. He vomited into his mouth and swallowed it down, the bile burning as it returned to his stomach.

The zombie staggered away and he turned to the other, lashing out and catching her on the side of the head. She too took a few steps back, but came straight forward again. He raced off down the corridor and found the fire extinguisher. David hefted it in one hand, the grin back again.

He drew a mental picture of himself, half-Joker, half-Superman and turned to the zombies. In the seconds it took them to reach him, he realised how easy life was without fear. Then he caught a whiff of their stench and the fear crept up his spine like a midnight spider. The one with the broken nose came first and he almost ran.

The blood ran down her face and her yellow teeth showed through a dull pink. The blood soaked the front of her uniform and as she growled at him, it sprayed from her mouth. He jumped to one side and swung the extinguisher as hard as he could. The zombie hadn’t moved and it struck her head bang-on.

Her skull exploded. All he saw of it was her face, squashed together for a moment, then flying outward, one eye coming straight at him. It hit him on the chin and bounced to the floor and he followed it with sick. Her teeth were scattered among the blood and fragments of skull. Bits of brain matter dripped into it from the remains of her skull. Her body tottered and dropped.

He backed away, frantically scrubbing his chin with his sleeve. The smell was a hundred times worse, like standing directly above a blocked drain and he gagged. The other zombie was entirely unbothered and bent down beside the corpse. He’d been able to handle everything else, but when her long black hair dragged in the blood and she used one clawed hand to scoop what was left in the skull and cram it into her mouth, he whimpered and ran.

He raced down the corridor to a glass fire door. Through that and down the stairs inside, he arrived in the basement, which was either a great idea or the worst he’d ever had. Actually, coming to the hotel was probably the worst, but this might follow a close second.

It was dimly lit and quiet and he rested against the wall. He couldn’t get the image out of his head, of her pale tongue licking the soft grey matter. He slid down and covered his head with his hands. Did he really deserve this? All he’d done was cheat on his wife and lie to the person he was cheating with. Millions of people did it every day. So where were they? Why was he the only one stuck in London surrounded by the grossest zombies known to man?

Perhaps there were others. He didn’t know for sure he was the only one still alive. If there were others, they’d be hiding the same as him, so of course they’d be difficult to find. Maybe some of them would be women. He thought about Steph. Maybe she was still alive.

His heart leapt. How hadn’t he thought of this before? Maybe there were lots of people still alive, all hiding in their basements and ducked down below their windows. He could bang on doors until someone opened one. There was no way he was the only one deserving of this, no way at all.

He had to get out of the hotel. He had to find Steph. She was still alive, she had to be and she’d sort everything. And a blow job would put so much right.

He returned to the stairs and crept up them and out the fire door. He was walking with purpose now and had his breath back. His head thumped and his stomach rumbled but he could do this.

He entered the corridor in which he’d left the zombies and paused. The sound of eating, wet and crunchy reached him and his hunger fled. He tiptoed until he saw her, bent low over the body of her companion. He crept closer still and she sat up sharply. He gasped and almost dropped the fire extinguisher. She looked at him with dark, sunken eyes and he braced his feet. Then she bent and put her face back in the guts of the other receptionist.

He stared for a moment, waiting for his brain to catch up or do something other than scream. When he decided it was pretty much stuck on a loop, he set his feet apart, raised the extinguisher and brought it down as hard as he could on the back of her head.

Most of her skull mixed and mingled with the guts just beneath it and he ran before he could see any more. He kept running all the way to the exit before he stopped and looked at the extinguisher. It wasn’t a bad weapon, but it was pretty heavy and he didn’t like the idea of lugging it all the way down Regent’s Street.

He looked around the lobby and spotted the umbrella pot. The umbrellas looked too flimsy, but there were two walking sticks in there. One had the thick rubber end and was next to useless, but the other was more of a tapered stick, with a sharpish end and a comfortable handle. He could stab with that, through eyes and mouths and his mind just kept on screaming.

He grabbed it and set off, through the exit and down onto the street. Nothing had changed. The sun was dipping and he’d half expected the zombies to head home once work was over, but still they meandered this way and that.

Within moments of his arrival on the street, those closest to him turned and their growling rose in volume. He set off, running at a pace he thought he could maintain. He put one hand to his chest, reliving for a second the horrible feeling of being stuck in London with pneumonia, barely able to breath and having to rest every five seconds.

Now though, he had energy and he had a reason and it carried him rapidly down Regent’s Street. Oxford Circus was predictably busy and he slowed as he reached it. There had been arguments here and there were gatherings of feasting zombies, pulling apart their comrades. As far as continuation of the species went, these guys weren’t the smartest. Not that they needed to worry, there were hundreds just in this small space. And he had to get through them.

He banged his hand against his forehead as he finally looked at the cars and buses in various states of repair littering the street. Some were ploughed into shop fronts, others against lamp posts. A few were stopped in the street, with no visible signs of damage. With a silent shout of joy, he rushed across to a BMW slewed sideways across the road. The door was open and the keys hung in the ignition.

He jumped in and noted with relief that the engine was switched off. The driver had gotten long enough to get out and run before he or she was zombiefied. Unless they were still alive. Unless they were one of the lucky ones like him.

He turned the key and giggled as the engine roared to life. Every zombie in a twenty feet radius turned to stare at him and he hastily yanked the door shut and checked the windows. He slipped it into first and pulled away. And stalled. He cursed, thumped the wheel and turned the key. The car grumbled and he went cold, then it sparked up again.

He was more careful this time, pulling around the car in front and weaving slowly between the others. He’d gone maybe fifty feet when the first zombie threw itself on the bonnet. He stamped on the brakes and it slid off and landed on the floor in front of the car. With his lips pulled back from his teeth, he put his foot down. It sounded like driving over dead branches, only with damp ground beneath. His stomach turned over.

He accelerated, weaving as carefully as he could without going too slowly. Within a couple of minutes, Piccadilly Circus came into view and he allowed himself a moment of triumph. He was going to make it. The junction was rammed and he took to the pavement, scattering zombies this way and that. It was like being in a Bourne movie. He giggled and put his foot down, screeching back onto the road and stamping on the accelerator before hauling it round a bus.

A woman stood in the middle of the road. Blood streamed from her face and shoulders and without thinking he hauled on the wheel. The car shot sideways, mounted the curb and slammed straight into the base of the Statue of Eros. His head hit the wheel and the world span and began to go black.

He glanced over his shoulder at the woman and saw the tell-tale skin and eyes. She was a zombie. It was just a zombie. The next moment she was swamped by her greedy compatriots.

Davis tried to get his seatbelt off, but his hands were thick and clumsy and the world was still spinning. His arms refused to do what he told them. He stared at the door for what felt like hours until he finally found the locking mechanism. He pushed it and heard the satisfying thunk of the car locking. Then the world went black.

Next Installment Monday 27th October