Death Weeps Part 12

I had an a.r.s.enal of the dead at my disposal. What could happen?

Even Parker's ambiguous details, my future in the hands of some Precognitive I'd never met, couldn't faze me.

The guys went for the door, itching to escape the hot tunnel.

"I'm gettin' a.s.s-sweat here guys! Let's get the h.e.l.l out of Dodge!" Jonesy wailed.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Nice visual Jonesy, so wanted to know that detail."

"Okay Princess, you never sweat?" Jonesy asked, spearing her with his comment and Sophie gaped at him in shock.

It wouldn't be the first time.

"No b.u.t.t hair, doofus," Tiff said by way of explanation, spitting her gum out on the dirt floor of the tunnel in a wet blob.

"Oh. My. G.o.d. Seriously? Did you just say that?" Randi asked in disbelief.

Tiff shrugged. Dive-bombing her head forward she replied, "So? I got five brothers. a.s.s. Hair. Figure it out. It's like a d.a.m.n greenhouse effect or some c.r.a.p like that."

All the guys were silent. Silently dying.

Mia saved it by saying, "I think that is the least of our concerns." She indicated the Door That Would Not Budge.

Yeah. Let's get back on track with something that didn't skewer the guys.

Alex laughed, breaking the awkwardness of anatomical differences. "I'll get it, no problem." He walked over and jerked the solid bra.s.s bar off the hooks that held it. He carefully laid it on the dirt floor of the sphere tunnel. His eyes studied the locks at all four corners and his eyes fell on Archer.

"Get over here and do your Lock-Manipulator mojo, Lewis."

Archer jogged over, and with a jumping run he leaped, slapping the top locks with the flat of his palm. The tumblers moved, cooperating smoothly with the magic that allowed him to manipulate any lock ever made. In whatever world, apparently.

He nailed the ones that restrained the bottom. Alex took hold of the portion of the door that slid along runners of a contrasting metal. He grunted, saying, "h.e.l.l, these have to weigh a ton!"

Literally.

Finally, he opened the door and stepped out.

I was nailed with the freshest air I'd ever smelled, the coolness of it like drinking a tall gla.s.s of ice water, at once refres.h.i.+ng and perfect.

Jade gave a small smile and Bry said, "Tiff, pick that gross gum up." He stabbed a finger at the wad languis.h.i.+ng in the middle of the tunnel floor, dirt clinging to it like a magnet of apple green goodness.

"Nah, posterity bro. Gives them something to think about."

Wonderful. Tiff, predictable as usual.

We walked outside and the buzz of the dead rose to a chorus. Tiff and I looked at each other. Turning to John I asked, "Can ya tune-up? I can't think, pal."

John scrunched his face together and a well of silence filled my head where the voices of the dead had been, the tide of death receding for the moment.

Tiff gave me an uneasy glance. "What?" I asked.

She lifted a shoulder and everyone that was outside turned to look at whatever was making Tiff uncomfortable. That was noteworthy.

Tiff and Jonesy shared that trait, never feeling a minute of discomfort, even when they should have.

"They seemed... sad," Tiff said, toeing a strip of the tall gra.s.s that had an edging of snow clinging to its base.

I turned to the markers, rows upon rows of dead bodies. I nodded in agreement. Their collective voice had that quality.

"Sometimes death is sad, I guess," I responded, a sudden melancholy gripping me.

"Death grieves," Jade agreed, picking up on my mood, her bare hand held in mine. Her Empath nature boosted our mutual understanding, my feelings a conduit to hers.

Mia and Bry stood close together, their bodies touching. She looked around, everyone quiet for once, even Jonesy.

A miracle.

Mia spoke for us, the ma.s.s of graves encircling our group, nearly reaching the crest of the hill where an old forest began.

"Death weeps," she said in a quiet voice.

I nodded. That was exactly it.

Alex went to the door and began to shut it behind us, Archer locking it after it rolled to closure with a musical clang of finality.

"Okay! I give up! This is effing miserable," Jonesy railed at the elements. "It's colder that a witch's t.i.t on the shady side of an iceberg!"

I barked out a laugh and replied, "Sounds like you've been hanging around Gramps too long."

John c.o.c.ked a brow, huffing it through the woods. We'd walked the better part of a day and were tired, thirsty and hungry. Not in that order.

"Buck up, Jones," Bry said, "we'll find some kind of watering hole or something...."

Ever-faithful that something would crop up in the wilderness. That was the Weller Motto. At least some things were consistent, even in another world.

"Yeah! That's the mojo I'm talking about... besides, I've got a whole pack of gum!" Tiff said like she'd discovered the winning lottery ticket.

The group let out a collective groan. "p.i.s.s off joy-suckers, more for me then." She stalked ahead to where John was. But he'd pulled up short, his hand raised beside his head in the universal "halt" gesture.

"Quietly," he hissed and us guys got on point just from Terran's tone of voice alone.

Jade stood behind me, peeking out around my body, her hand a warm presence in mine. What could be happening out here in the middle of nowhere?

Quite a bit apparently.

My eyes scanned between the holes made by the branches and saw close to a hundred men, pretty rough lookin', with weapons and purpose. Their clothing was a strange combo of jeans, b.u.t.ton down s.h.i.+rts and tunics that looked like they were made from... animal hide.

h.e.l.l... they'd hang those a.s.s clowns out to dry in my world. Wearing dead animals for clothes? Totally whacked. I guess they didn't work up a sweat about the environment here. Huh.

My eyes swept the open meadow, catching sight of a group of four. Two chicks and two guys. One of the men was a ginormous sucker, as tall as Terran and nearly as big as Alex. The other guy was dressed in clothes that were really bizarre too and the small girl had hair so red I could see it clearly from here, the taller girl was muscly lookin', solid. She had that martial arts look to her, wary. Ready.

Then I felt them; their combined energy crashed into me.

The dead engulfed the meadow, their bones strewn everywhere in a ma.s.s grave, their need to reconnect to a singular body a plea that almost drove me to my knees. Jade felt the echo of it and gasped, s.n.a.t.c.hing her hand away.

Tiff turned, her Affinity for the Dead ringing in her body like a chime struck. "What is that?" she whispered her gaze locked with mine.

I felt like I was trying to breathe underwater and John left the border of the forest, moving toward me. "What?"

I gave a wheezing response, "The dead... they... they're everywhere but nowhere."

"They're broken!" Tiff said, feeling the tip of the iceberg compared to what resonated inside me.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Jonesy ranted and Bry elbowed him to shut up.

Archer frowned and Mia drew closer. In a few seconds, the entire group of teens surrounded me where I stood, pegged by the call of the dead.

Finally, with John's psychic Null power dulling their screams, I was finally able to reply, "Tiff's right. They're... not together, their bodies are broken and chucked all over the place."

"Why?" Alex asked, casting a glance at the a.s.sembly of ragged fighters, filthy and fierce in their uniformity. Then he looked at the small band across the meadow from them. They looked like a different group entirely.

None of it looked good to me.

"War. There was some kind of... battle or something," I explained and Jade was careful not to touch my bare skin. She didn't want to share any part of the onslaught of this dead. They felt different than the dead of our world.

Tiff walked closer to where I stood. "Who did it, do ya think?"

My eyes absorbed the huge contingent, then the smaller. "I don't know. But it's a safe bet that the group over there was part of it." I said, jerking my chin in the direction of the Loser Faction. I had a random thought of Carson Hamilton fitting right in like peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly, as Gramps would say.

The sweat on my palms gelled and I wiped a trembling hand against my mouth, exchanging an uneasy look with Jade. Trouble followed our group no matter what. Landing our a.s.ses in a parallel world hadn't changed the group dynamic.

John watched as the larger group closed in around the smaller. The biggest male of the smaller group, clutched a woman that looked part wild against his body. It was when the leader of what looked to be a criminal group touched the woman's braid that the male holding her stiffened and all h.e.l.l seemed to break loose.

A small faction of the losers grabbed the male, the lone female stood facing the leader. Even from a distance you could see her defiance.

Touch it.

I moved forward. As the big dude was held by several of the others, the leader raised his fist and struck her so hard she staggered back, falling to the ground, her golden head bent against the frozen backdrop of ice and snow.

I looked at my friends. Seeing the identical expression on their faces I decided for us all, "I was never much for chick beating."

"Me neither," Bry said, his hands clenching into fists.

"Yup, I'm in... let's tag their a.s.ses!" Jonesy shouted.

"I like it," Alex agreed, already moving into the openness of the meadow, the girls trailing behind.

Except Tiff, she came beside me. Tiff and I listened to the low drone of the dead at our feet, everywhere we stepped held the murmur of their discontent.

n.o.body mentioned the odds of a handful of teenagers against seventy guys that looked seriously dangerous.

Courage is ignoring your fear.

CHAPTER 8.

I turned when we were within four meters of the group, my heart lodged inside my throat like a heated, vibrating lump. They had seemed somehow less when we'd been near the tree line. But now... in the open meadow, they looked more.

Dirtier.

Scarier.

Larger.

Just more.

I moved forward just as another group broke into the meadow and Jonesy said, "Holy s.h.i.+t! Look at those guys!"

We did.

They weren't human. I was trying to quantify what the h.e.l.l they were when Alex piped in with, "Those guys are Water World dudes."

John said, "Would you shut up? Kinda getting ready for something major and you're referencing cla.s.sic movies?"

I stared at them. They all looked like Alex, but even bigger, taller.

And then there were the gills. They came toward us like a slow moving wall of muscle, flesh and weaponry.

Our whole group of teens backed away as they came. Somehow, they were scarier than the filthy group.

Jade whispered, "What are they?"

I shook his head, I didn't know.

"Well h.e.l.l, this is turning into a cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k!" Tiff said, snapping her gum.

"Shut up, Tiff," Bry said off-handedly.