Zombie Games Book Five (End Zone) (17 page)

“Who cares,” replied the woman. “She should know how powerful he is. She should honor him, as we do.”

“
Where do I find this Abaddon?” I asked, hoping that I had a chance to show this character how I really felt about his zombie apocalypse. Because of him, my parents were dead and so were most of my friends and family. If anyone needed to pay, it was obviously that guy.

“
Don’t worry,” she replied. “You’ll be meeting him soon enough.”

Bryce and Company

“You’re shitting me,” said Henry. His cheeks turned pink. “Oh, forgive me, Father. I’m just shocked, is all.”

The priest smiled. “It’s quite all right. Given the
circumstances, I understand your particular choice of words.”

“When are they coming?”
he asked, staring back into the dark hole.

“Well, you’ve
all probably seen the first signs,” he said solemnly. “The storms, the earthquakes, the blood in the water, and now the darkness that has settled upon us.”

“That’s why the sun hasn’t risen?” asked Paige.

“Yes.”

“Uh, about this bridge to Heaven,” said Justice, peering over the edge. “Is that really at the end of this hole?”

“I’m not exactly sure how it works, but there is indeed something on the other side. Did you feel the vibrations in the floor earlier?”

“Yes,” replied Kristie, slowly moving towards the hole. “What was that, exactly? Oh… wow… that’s deep.”

Paige walked over and looked down. “That doesn’t look like a bridge to Heaven to me.”

“
I agree,” said Kristie, backing away. “To me it looks more like something out of a horror movie. And that thing that flew out of the hole… that definitely wasn’t an angel.”

Paige turned to the priest.
“Did you happen to notice the over-sized bat flying around the mall? The one with twelve inch fangs and beady red eyes.”

“No,” said the priest. “I’m happy to say that I didn’t come across such a thing.”

“If this is a bridge between Heaven and earth, why would it unleash something that tried attacking us?” asked Henry.

“You’ve heard the old fables about the ‘troll’ bridge?”
asked Father Brambati.

Paige snorted.

“It’s my understanding that the bridge has many guards, not all of them friendly,” he said.

“Makes sense to me,” replied Bryce. “As crazy as it sounds, it does make sense.”

“Unbelievable,” said Paige. “It took a bat out of a hole to make you believe this stuff?”

“And a priest,” he replied.

“What’s going to happen next?” asked Kristie.

“Well, we
need to find the child, quickly.”

“
You’re talking about Adria, right?” asked Tiny.

He
smiled. “I’m not sure of the child’s name. Tell me about Adria.”

Tiny explained how they’d found the baby. “And the guy, or demon, whatever the hell he was… sorry Father, he believed that she was the ‘Chosen One’.

He rubbed his chin and nodded. “Well, he could probably sense that she was special and a threat. Where is Adria?”

“We don’t know,” said Kristie.
“Somewhere in the mall.”

“Let’s start searching,” said Tin
y, picking up his gun. “Kristie, you and Paige come with me. We’ll take the top level. Justice, why don’t you and Bryce start at the bottom and we’ll meet in between.”

“I’m coming too,” said Nora.

“You’ve been through a lot and I think you should stay here with Henry,” replied Tiny. “In case the kids come back this way.”

“Whatever you say.”

***

They split up and Paige followed Tiny and Kristie up the motionless escalators.

“I’m thankful that the lights are working, but these escalators are killing me,” she said, after they reached the highest level of the mall.

“I’m surprised
that there
are
lights,” said Paige. “They weren’t working last time we were here.”

“Somebody must have switched
on the generators,” said Tiny.

“
So, mom… did you notice that Nora’s acting weird?” asked Paige.

“Nora has always been weird,” said Kristie. “Hate to say it.”

“Well, something is up because normally she isn’t so agreeable with everything,” said Paige.

Kristie sighed.
“All jokes aside… she’s been through a lot in the past few days, Paige. She found her dad’s body and a demon possessed her boyfriend. That’s a lot to digest, you know? I think it’s safe to say that Nora has earned the right to act a little weirder than usual.”

“I suppose,” she replied. “It’s just that…”

“What?” asked Kristie.

She hesitated.

“Tell us what’s on your mind,” said Tiny. 

“Well, what if the demon jumped out of Billie
’s body and into Nora?”

Kristie stopped walking. “Don’t say that
.”

“Think about it. He obviously did it to Billie. Why wouldn’t he do it to Nora if he needed to?”

Kristie turned to Tiny. “What do you think?”

He sighed. “As far as I’m concerned, anything is possible
at this point.”

Kristie
closed her eyes rubbed the space between her brows. “Well, I think we’d better watch Nora closely. If Travis is controlling her, then…”

“Oh hell
,” said Tiny. “I’d better warn Gramps and that priest, just in case.” He handed Kristie his gun. “You keep looking for the girls and I’ll be back up in a minute.”

Kristie looked at the gun
uneasily. “Okay, but you know how I am with these things.”

He unlocked the safety. “Aim and shoot, babe, aim and shoot.”

“Okay.”

“And keep the gun down
unless you actually have a target, mom,” said Paige, moving out of her way.

“
Oh, sorry,” she replied. “Just get back up here soon, Tiny. I’m sure we’re being overly paranoid anyway.”

“Let’s hope so,” he said.

Cassie

“So, you’
re saying that Abaddon, A.K.A. Lucifer himself is involved with the zombie apocalypse, because he’s trying to flush out the ‘Chosen One’ and destroy her… I mean,” I smirked. “Me.”

“Give it a rest, you’re not the one we want, sweetheart,” said the man
, smiling coldly. “Now, unless you want me to shoot one of you in the head, you’re going to accompany us back to the hole.”

Since he had the gun and I had no other option at the moment, I decided t
o play nice. For now. “Fine. Just don’t start shooting people.”

“Do as you
’re told and I won’t have to,” he replied.

“
Where is the other girl, Allie?” asked the woman.

“She’s long gone,” I replied. “I sent her away.”

“We don’t need her anyway,” said the man. “We have the child.”

“
So, um… where have all the zombies gone?” I asked, trying to distract her.

“Do yo
u really care?” asked the woman.

“
Yes. It’s weird.”

“
If you really must know… Travis sent most of them into the parking lot and away from the hole.”

“Why?” I asked.

“So they don’t fall in. Their entrance into the other realm might anger
him
, should they somehow survive the fall.”

“
Lucifer?” I asked.

“Of course,” she s
aid. “Anyway, once he enters this world, zombies will be the least of
your
worries.”

I swallowed hard.
“Enters? Uh, when will that be?”

“
Once the child is sacrificed,” she replied, her eyes glittering.

I glanced at Kylie
, who looked ready to bolt. I mouthed the word ‘no’ to her and she sighed.

When we were about to round the corner leading to the hole, the woman stopped abruptly and then shooed us back.

“What is it?” asked the man.

“
There are two people with the priest,” she said. “I don’t recognize either of them.”

He walked around us and peered around the corner. “I don’t either,” he said, frowning. “
Look, why don’t you go over and find out while I watch these two?”

“
Fine, but this doesn’t feel right,” she mumbled, disappearing around the corner.

“How’s Adria?” I asked, whi
le the man’s eyes shifted from me and Kylie, and then back around the corner.

“She needs a diaper,” replied Kylie.

“I’m sure,” I said, trying to decide the best way to disarm our captor. “I think we can find one for her somewhere in the mall.”

John turned around and smirked.
“Don’t waste your time, kid. She won’t need a new one where she’s going.”

I clenched my jaw.

The guy was a real tool.

He seemed to notice
and enjoy my irritation. He smiled even wider.

I tried to remain calm.
“So, what’s going on over by the hole?” I asked, my eyes darting to his gun, which I knew would be mine soon enough.

He looked around the corner again. “Just some old man and a
dark-haired girl.” His face darkened. “Shit, now who in the hell is
that
dude?”

With John’s attention diverted,
I launched, getting him with a side-kick to his kidney.

With a loud grunt, he flew forward
and landed on his stomach. He lost hold of the gun and it slid across the linoleum.

I
ran over and grabbed it. “Get up,” I ordered, pointing the gun at him.

Wincing, h
e stood up slowly and then glared at me.

“Hands in the air,” said Kylie
, now standing next to me.

I smiled. “You heard her.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Do it!” I hollered
, glaring at him.

He raised them
in the air.

“
Okay, let’s go join the others,” I said. “Turn around and walk towards the pit. You try anything,
John
, and I’ll make sure
you
end up in that damn hole.”

Muttering something under his breath,
he started moving forward. As we rounded the corner, I sighed in relief when I noticed Tiny, Henry, and Nora.

“Oh no,” said Kylie. “That guy who’s with them is friends with Billie, I mean Travis.”

“Father Brambati,” I said, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve met that guy. Something tells me he’s spewing lies to Tiny and Henry now.”

“They need to get away from him,” said Kylie, holding Adria closer. “He’s dangerous.”

“Guys!” I hollered, as we moved towards them. “Watch out for the woman and the priest! They can’t be trusted!”

Tiny stepped away from Father Brambati and
Henry raised his gun towards the woman.

“Thank God,” said Tiny, grinning widely.
“You guys are safe! Kristie has been worried sick!”

Henry smiled
as I approached. “Well I’ll be damned. Somehow I just knew you’d make it here, Wild.”

I smiled grimly. “Apparently the mall
was on the way to wherever that prick in the truck was headed. He practically dropped me off at the front door.”

“What happened to him?” asked Tiny.

“Not really sure. He took off.”

Henry
frowned. “Huh. Strange days indeed.”

“Tell me about it. Speaking of strange, h
ave you seen Billie?”

“He’s gone,” replied Nora
. “As in, dead.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Long story short,” said Henry. “Billie actually had been possessed by Travis, and he’s probably still falling down in that pit over there.”

“You got him?” I asked.

His eyes twinkled. “Damn right.”

My eyes went back to Nora
. “I’m really sorry about Billie, Nora. Are you doing okay?”

“I’m a survivor,” she replied.

“Damn right you are,” said Henry.

I smiled.

“So what in the hell is going on with these three?” asked Tiny, eyeing them suspiciously. “You say they were with Travis?”

“Yes and they all want to kill Adria,” snapped Kylie.