The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) (38 page)

Finally my eyes focused, and I saw right above me the crucified body of Elish.

He hadn’t come back yet. I slowly rose to my feet and put my hand over his chest. I listened and could feel the faint beating of his heart. My eyes travelled to his hands, still nailed to the cross-hatched pieces of wood.

Elish’s hands had healed around the nails. I looked down at my own hands now holding tiny holes in the centers. It looked like weight and gravity had pushed me off of this crucifix, either that or my body had automatically tried to jolt me free.

And look at my hands. The digits I had re-grown were white with soft, new skin and the ones I had kept were still calloused and stained with dirt. It was an interesting sight to say the least, my hands and arms reminded me of a zebra.

To save his body the trouble I pulled the nails out of Elish’s hands and caught him before he could tumble onto the greywastes dirt. I leaned him against the wood we had been nailed to and left him to finish healing in peace.

I was done handling this the nice way. I was done talking and I was done wasting time while Killian fell further into danger. I didn’t know how long it had been but there were fresh corpses around me, and those ones looked more than just ripe.

I checked my back but of course my gun was gone, our bags were gone too. All that remained were our clothes and the contents of my pockets. I might be able to get the grenade into a pile of them but they all seemed to like clustering around their king.

I quickly walked towards Velstoke, leaving the crops of corpses behind me. There was no care left in me now, and no Elish to steer me into resolving this in a semi-peaceful way.

The town looked the same, nothing new had been burnt and I could spot several ravers in the distance perching on top of roofs. I was sure they couldn’t see me given their eyesight but since Jade had been Geigerchipping them, I didn’t know if their eyes would’ve improved.

My jaw gave a twinge and I realized I was clenching it. A dark anger was festering inside of me, an anger I realized I had been holding to my chest since Jade’s ravers had killed me and Elish. It was frustration mixed in with the distinct fact that I was tired of doing this Elish’s way. He was having a grand time making me his minion but that time had passed. We could very well have been dead for over a month if they had eaten parts of us. I didn’t know and I had no way of knowing.

I stalked to the road and started checking out the rusted out cars for anything I could use as a weapon. I could locate nothing but two good size rocks.

Good enough.

I followed the road, both rocks in my hands, and felt my breathing start to shorten. Each strong inhale I took only lit more anger inside of my chest, and by the time I passed the first building and saw my first raver, my anger coated the last of my lucid thoughts.

The first raver looked at me and snapped its head back as it gave a loud ear-splitting scream. Then, with its arms outstretched, it started to run towards me. It must be a new one; this raver was acting like the normal ravers I had known around Aras.

I threw the rock at it and caught it at the side of the head. Then, with my eyes mentally scoping out two more coming on either side of me, I finished its head off with a single bludgeoned blow. I cracked its skull and picked up the fallen rock as it fell dead to the ground.

The raver closest to me gave out a snarl. I closed the distance between us and spread my arms. Like one of those monkeys with the cymbals I dashed the rocks on either side of the raver’s head, feeling an inner satisfaction as I watched the raver’s face crush under my blow.

I whirled around as it fell to the ground, the third raver only several paces from me. I raised the rock as it lunged at me, teeth bared, and broke its jaw.

I stomped its head with my boot and carried on, my rapid breathing inflaming my body and filling me with burning adrenaline. Every sense inside of me was hyper-aware, I could hear each raver coming towards me. I could smell their stink and I could see them crawling out of the woodwork.

Bring it on.

I threw one of my rocks at a female one and caught her in the eye. Two more were behind her and four more running in from a long stretch of road to my left; five were in the buildings and those five, I assumed, were Geigerchipped. They were smart enough to stay…

There was a thunderous crack followed by a blast of air and heat on my cheek. I looked into that building and, sure enough, I saw one with brown eyes staring at me, half of his face skeletonized but slowly callousing over. He was holding up an AK 101, a legion gun.

I whirled around as I heard several approach me. Snarling beasts with not a sane bone in their bodies; bearing broken teeth at me, and fingers either missing or chewed down to the bone. The sounds of their screaming deafened me but it also fed the mania that had taken residence inside.

I punched the first one in the face and behind it I saw a raver with a half-decayed arm. The top part of his arm was skeletonized and the forearm scabbed and scarred. I ignored the other ones closely approaching me from behind, and with a hard shove, I pushed him to the ground.

Another bullet whizzed past me and caught a raver in the gut. I focused on the one I had on the ground and grasped the bone of his upper arm.

I could feel the tearing through my hand as I wrenched it from its socket. The raver hissing and spitting, no pain to be felt on their heavily irradiated bodies. I detached the arm and, not wasting any time, I whirled around and started beating the approaching ravers with it. I succeeded in bludgeoning them, and once they got onto the ground, I slammed my boots down to break their legs. Once the ones in biting distance were incapacitated I ran into the house.

The next bullet hit my shoulder. I felt a growl rise to my throat as I grabbed the raver who shot at me’s gun and pointed it away from my body.

The raver spat his mad language before he tried to wrench the gun away. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another one. So, before they could all mob me again, I snatched the gun away from him and shot him in the head.

Quickly I picked off the one in the doorway, and then a little one that was probably only three. I kicked his bloody body off to the side and picked off two women trying to escape out the back door. The Geigerchips were giving them fear again, amusing concept but of little interest to me right now. With a gun in my hand and the five in the house dead, I sprinted out of the derelict, dark building and back into the grey sun.

My eyes narrowed as I looked around. My finger held firmly on the trigger.

They were everywhere.

Fucking everywhere.

It must’ve been a month, I swear I must’ve been out of it a month at least. I swallowed down my annoyance as I saw the ravers spilling from the buildings and running in small clusters down the double-lane roads. Weaving past broken cars and jumping over tipped over utility poles. They were all coming towards me like a single consciousness, some with their hands outstretched, snarling and snapping. Others holding guns, their pupils fixed firmly on me with the goal in mind of total eradication.

I heard a squeak and a small snap inside of my mouth, then a hard piece of tooth that pricked my tongue. I spat it out and held the gun firm in my hands. I took aim at the ones holding guns themselves. Then, with them all surrounding me, I opened fire.

One shot, two shot, red shot, blue shot.
I picked them off one by one, hitting the ones who came close to me with the butt of my gun. With the armed ravers trying to make meat out of me I tried to angle myself near the hordes of them approaching. It was obvious to me now that though they were recovering ravers, their aim was awful. So I steered their bullets where they would most likely hit their own comrades rather than me.

I knew I was close to being fucked, but my raging mind and the dark void inside of me was refusing to give into this suicide mission I had gone on. In all respects though they were spilling from everywhere. Jumping down from roofs and lunging out of windows only to get up and beeline towards me and the horde that was closing in.

Then one got another shot in. I grunted as my chest snapped back like someone had just punched me. I looked down to see a hole in my jacket, over the upper part of my chest. I swore and picked that raver off with a shot to the neck.

He fell off of the roof and crashed through an awning before tumbling onto the ground. To my luck the group of ravers running towards me went to him instead, though that still left a good thirty of them chasing me.

I needed help. I looked around and tried to sprint towards where Jade’s throne room was. My mind scanned through all the ideas I had of how I could convince him to call them off, but the only plausible idea I had was to call the –

Suddenly an impact. I was thrown backwards and fell onto the dirt. I screamed from rage as I felt teeth close in on my shoulder. I raised my hand and punched the raver in the side of the head before pushing him off of me. Fresh blood mixing in with the faint aroma of the greywastes, and the all too familiar stink of ravers.

The one who attacked me jumped off and I heard him give off a shriek. I tried to rise to my feet but another one got me from behind. I felt his sharpened finger bones slash my back before his own teeth sunk into my newly knitted flesh.

I rose and threw him off of me but they were closing in. I looked around for an escape route but all I had was my backup plan.

The stupid dog was my only hope now, and if he dared take the ravers’ side I would take him behind these buildings and shoot him in the head. No matter how much Killian would hate me that dog would be toast. He was suppose to be our fucking guardian and he didn’t get to pick and choose when he did his job.

I pursed my lips together and whistled down like Perish had taught me a lifetime ago in Aras.

Like I had suddenly become burning hot every raver around me jumped back. I stopped whistling from pure confusion, and watched as they put their hands up to their ears. All of them letting out painful screams.

I whistled again and another wave of screams delighted my instincts. I rose, my lips still pursed, and watched in sadistic fascination as they started literally clawing their ears off with their fingers.

I picked up my borrowed gun and held it. I whistled as high as I could as the ravers shredded their ears to ribbons. Some even pulled them off of their heads whole only to drop them on the ground as if they were the sole cause of their pain. After their ears were gone they shook their heads in agony, raining me and their comrades in ruby droplets of blood.

I kept whistling, walking down the street as the ravers made way for me like I was a god sent down from the sky. Shaking their heads back and forth as chunks of flesh got ripped out of the sides of their faces. I didn’t stop whistling, I didn’t want to. I wanted to watch them tear their bodies apart by their own hands.

My eyes took me to the corner of an old industrial building as I heard a loud and hollow bang. A raver fell down dead to the ground, blood running down his head.

Then another bang and second one fell down. I watched the area and saw first-hand what was happening.

A female raver, with her hands coated in blood and her ears torn off, lowered her head and ran into the side of the building. I heard a low snap before she also fell down dead.

Oh, they’re killing themselves. How unfortunate
. I smirked and kept whistling, the echoing thunks and the sounds of snapping bones amusing every sense of my body. I watched them all with an almost orgasmic glee as they killed themselves one by one, unable to stand the high-pitched sound that no one but animals, ravers, and chimeras seemed to hear.

“What are you doing!?”

I looked to my right and saw Jade storming out of his Starbucks Palace. The half-raver was beside him… holding my fucking M16. “Stop tha-”

Jade froze when he realized it was me. He stared blankly; his mind unable to comprehend in what realm of possibility I could still exist.

But I had no patience for him or his questions. I stalked up to Big Shot and pushed him. “Give me my fucking gun or else I kill all of them.”

Half-Raver stared at me, then looked to Jade. “Jade?”

Jade glared at me, bearing his teeth like the closeted feral he was. “If he gives you the gun, you get the fuck out of here, now.”

In a flash, before any of them could react I snatched my gun from Half-Raver and pointed it at him.

To my surprise Jade let out a fearful cry.

“No! Don’t shoot him!” Jade cried. “Don’t shoot him!”

So the pet made a friend.
I glared at Jade and glanced behind me to make sure none of the ravers were going to attack me. It looked like they’d pissed off the moment I’d stopped the murder-whistle.

“I’m fucking done playing this game with you, Jade,” I snapped. “If you don’t come with me right now, I will make every single one of these mother fuckers kill themselves.”

“Jade?” the half-raver said quietly. “He makes your noise. Your people?”

Jade’s already pale face seemed to turn a new shade of white. He looked at me before his eyes shifted away. “I think so, Big Shot.” But then he shook his head. “No, I belong here. This is my town and my people. I won’t abandon them. Just leave me, I have made my –”