sees you, Selena . . . if anyone sees you—it’s a little girl. A child. They won’t understand and they won’t care.” Vonnie’s voice cracked with emotion.
“I know the zombies are horrific, but they don’t know what they’re doing,” she replied. Her words were taut and the crystal was much warmer now against her skin, even through the small thick pouch that hid its glow beneath her shirt. “They’re trapped.”
“You can’t save them all,” Vonnie told her. “Selena. You can’t save them all.”
“But I can save some of them. And I have to save as many as I can.” She looked at Vonnie, blinking back tears. “I’m the only one.”
She loved Vonnie, she owed her everything, but the older woman would never understand. She couldn’t see the terror in the zombies’ eyes, she didn’t feel their desperation. She didn’t watch their human lives pass through their memory, and into Selena’s, as she set them free.
She didn’t know that a human soul and mind was trapped for decades inside each hulking, flesh-starving body.
Vonnie wasn’t dragged out of her sleep by nightmares.
“I’m the only one. That’s why I have to go. Please, don’t make it any harder than it is.”
Her vision blurry, her stomach in knots, Selena ducked under Vonnie’s arm and pushed at the gate. She heard the last low cry of her name, and had to ignore it. Blinking rapidly, she heard the grate closed behind her.
Darkness surrounded Selena as she hurried down the stairs. In the distance, she saw orange lights shifting about with jerky motions, in pairs. The groans were laced with desperation as the gangas called for ruuu-uuuthhhhh: searching, always searching for a man named Remington Truth.
Given that Selena absorbed all of their human memories, these creatures who had been just as alive as she and Vonnie before somehow being turned into such horrifying beings, she still didn’t know much about their purpose. She did know that the zombies were programmed to walk the earth looking for the silver-haired man who had been one of the Strangers, a member of the Elite. And when they weren’t carrying off light-haired humans as candidates, they were tearing into dark-haired ones with their filthy claws and rotting teeth. That was how they fed. How they lived.
If one could call what they did living.
Selena’s throat burned. It was difficult enough to guide the souls and ease the pain of normal humans as they passed on, but to take on the pain and anguish of these other horrifying, cannibalistic ones . . . it was often too much. The battle between her horror for what they did and her need to save them—because she believed they weren’t in control of their urges—was a nightmare.
Yet, Selena couldn’t stop. She knew that every one she saved meant one less soul would be trapped in limbo—or somewhere worse—forever. Even one soul saved was worth the danger, worth being ostracized for, worth the constant internal battle she fought.
Selena blinked away the tears. Now was not the time to be distracted. They might be damaged creatures, deranged and mindless, but they were lethal in their desperation.
The terrain in front of her was clear and open, purposely, so that any approach could be seen from the walls. But less than a hundred yards out, trees and the buckled concrete of roads from days past made the ground uneven and provided shadows in which to hide. The overgrown remnants of an occasional building made low, unnatural humps in the land, tall grass shooting up and filling in amid the rubble.
Selena gripped her crystal, pulling it out from beneath her tunic and letting it hang free. She wasn’t ready yet to slip off its protective covering, and allow the rose-colored stone to glow in the night. Not until she got closer to a band of zombies.
By counting the lights of their orange eyes, which looked like staggering fireflies from her vantage point, she guessed that there were fewer than a dozen tonight.
“I know the zombies are horrific, but they don’t know what they’re doing,” she replied. Her words were taut and the crystal was much warmer now against her skin, even through the small thick pouch that hid its glow beneath her shirt. “They’re trapped.”
“You can’t save them all,” Vonnie told her. “Selena. You can’t save them all.”
“But I can save some of them. And I have to save as many as I can.” She looked at Vonnie, blinking back tears. “I’m the only one.”
She loved Vonnie, she owed her everything, but the older woman would never understand. She couldn’t see the terror in the zombies’ eyes, she didn’t feel their desperation. She didn’t watch their human lives pass through their memory, and into Selena’s, as she set them free.
She didn’t know that a human soul and mind was trapped for decades inside each hulking, flesh-starving body.
Vonnie wasn’t dragged out of her sleep by nightmares.
“I’m the only one. That’s why I have to go. Please, don’t make it any harder than it is.”
Her vision blurry, her stomach in knots, Selena ducked under Vonnie’s arm and pushed at the gate. She heard the last low cry of her name, and had to ignore it. Blinking rapidly, she heard the grate closed behind her.
Darkness surrounded Selena as she hurried down the stairs. In the distance, she saw orange lights shifting about with jerky motions, in pairs. The groans were laced with desperation as the gangas called for ruuu-uuuthhhhh: searching, always searching for a man named Remington Truth.
Given that Selena absorbed all of their human memories, these creatures who had been just as alive as she and Vonnie before somehow being turned into such horrifying beings, she still didn’t know much about their purpose. She did know that the zombies were programmed to walk the earth looking for the silver-haired man who had been one of the Strangers, a member of the Elite. And when they weren’t carrying off light-haired humans as candidates, they were tearing into dark-haired ones with their filthy claws and rotting teeth. That was how they fed. How they lived.
If one could call what they did living.
Selena’s throat burned. It was difficult enough to guide the souls and ease the pain of normal humans as they passed on, but to take on the pain and anguish of these other horrifying, cannibalistic ones . . . it was often too much. The battle between her horror for what they did and her need to save them—because she believed they weren’t in control of their urges—was a nightmare.
Yet, Selena couldn’t stop. She knew that every one she saved meant one less soul would be trapped in limbo—or somewhere worse—forever. Even one soul saved was worth the danger, worth being ostracized for, worth the constant internal battle she fought.
Selena blinked away the tears. Now was not the time to be distracted. They might be damaged creatures, deranged and mindless, but they were lethal in their desperation.
The terrain in front of her was clear and open, purposely, so that any approach could be seen from the walls. But less than a hundred yards out, trees and the buckled concrete of roads from days past made the ground uneven and provided shadows in which to hide. The overgrown remnants of an occasional building made low, unnatural humps in the land, tall grass shooting up and filling in amid the rubble.
Selena gripped her crystal, pulling it out from beneath her tunic and letting it hang free. She wasn’t ready yet to slip off its protective covering, and allow the rose-colored stone to glow in the night. Not until she got closer to a band of zombies.
By counting the lights of their orange eyes, which looked like staggering fireflies from her vantage point, she guessed that there were fewer than a dozen tonight.
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