Reapers by Kim Richardson Page B

David.
    Jenny pulled another arrow from her
quiver.
    The men and women stood in some sort
of catatonic state. It was almost as though they were waiting for
something. Their empty black eyes were unfocused, as if they were
sleeping. Kara could hear quiet guttural moans and hisses rising
from them, like caged, restless animals. Maybe that’s what they
were now; someone’s animals, someone’s beasts.
    And just when she was beginning to
think that maybe they weren’t going to move, their eyes suddenly
glowed yellow with light shining from the inside, like their
batteries were fully charged.
    They attacked.
    The mad wave of screaming men, women,
and children spat and hissed like rabid animals. With their fingers
extended like claws, they thrashed toward her. Their faces were
distorted, as though a creature on the inside was trying to tear
itself free. Some invisible switch had been turned on, commanding
them to attack.
    Kara was frozen in place.
    She heard David yelling over the
shrieks of the creatures, but she couldn’t make out what he was
saying.
    A black-veined little girl
with yellow eyes advanced toward her. Kara wondered what she had
been doing here before the reapers got to her, before they took her
soul and left her like this. She stared at the charging abomination
that used to be a little girl. She knew that her soul was lost
forever, and she knew that she had to kill her.
    The girl lunged, aiming
her little claw-like fingers toward Kara’s neck. Instinctively,
Kara raised her arm as a shield. The
creature clawed at her arm and ripped out fragments of her cardigan
and M-5 suit. The girl grunted like an animal, and then screamed in
a language Kara couldn’t recognize. The creature raked at Kara’s
arm again and again. Its breath was rancid and smelled of sulfur.
Its yellow, animated eyes were wide in wild fury. It tore at her
viciously, trying to get to Kara’s face.
    Kara was barely aware of
the weight of her silver-blue dagger, but in a swift and calculated
swing she drove the dagger into the side of the girl’s neck. The
girl let out such a loud guttural howl of agony that it caused even
Kara to flinch. Blood spilled from the corners of the girl’s mouth,
and she dropped to the ground.
    Kara stared at the girl’s
dead body. Even though she knew this was no longer a girl, but a
newly created creature of the Netherworld, she couldn’t shake off
the feeling that she’d just murdered an innocent.
    David battled three large
man-creatures. He lunged toward one of the advancing beasts, his
sword crashing into its skull and sticking fast. Howling in agony,
the creature thrashed and writhed as David hammered his
gauntlet-clad fist into what he presumed was its face.
    But even as one fell,
others came at him.
    Jenny stood her ground,
shooting arrows like an automatic weapon. But even as dozens of the
newly animated creatures fell, more scampered over the fallen and
came toward her.
    Kara searched for Peter in
the midst of the chaos and found him slicing and dicing the horde
that came at him with surprising agility and strength.
    “Kara,
watch out!” shouted David.
    Something heavy plowed
into Kara, and she tumbled to her knees. Claws scratched at her
face and arms, and something bit her on the back of her neck. Kara
cried out, rolled over, and kicked a man-creature in the face.
There was a sickening crack, and he keeled over.
    Two more creatures, a
female and a male, turned on her. Blood stained their clothes, and
Kara realized in horror that it was other people’s blood and not
their own. Their spit flew in her face, and she retched at the
sickening, rotten smell. The creatures snarled and thrashed,
wild-eyed and crazed. They pinned Kara to the ground, biting and
scratching her sword arm, and tearing at her mortal
suit.
    More weight came crashing
down on her, and Kara could hear the different grunts and shrieks
from the creatures that were trying to get at her. She could hardly
move, and she knew that she was