CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Things were escalating quickly. A group of zombies swarmed around the Ko mansion. A few warlocks had made their way there when the zombies first began to swarm, hoping that Mr. Ko was powerful enough to protect them.

Archibald Pierce and his wife, Lonnie, stood protectively over their daughter, Connie. The twins, Ronnie and Donnie, were up for consideration as potential members for Bishop's chapter of the E.V.S, but Chad couldn't stand the mischievous boys.

Arthur stood in a corner, nervously looking out the windows as the zombies got closer and closer. Amos stood beside him looking even more terrified than his son did.

It was Gabriel who finally broke the anxious silence. "They've breeched the back door," he announced as he rushed toward them. "We need to get out of here."

"This is what we get for staying out of the war," Arthur mumbled.

As several zombies made their way toward the warlocks, Chad knew he needed to take action. "Everyone, cast your strongest protection shields around yourselves right now," he said firmly.

"What is your plan, boy?" Archibald asked.

"Just trust me," Chad replied. "Do not let go of those shields."

"This is a living room," Ronnie said, kicking a zombie in the chest as it tried to grab Donnie.

"Meaning it's not for you!" Donnie added as he punched a different zombie in the face as it tried to attack Ronnie.

The front window shattered as Zombies walked straight through the glass. Lonnie screamed when two zombies grabbed her by her long, brown hair.

"Mom!" Connie shouted in horror. The twins flew into action, throwing anything they could get their hands on at the zombies.

"Not that one!" Chad insisted, snatching a stunning blue vase out of Donnie's hands. "It's imported! Use the brown one on your left. It's tacky anyway."

Donnie shrugged and clocked a zombie in the head with the ugly brown vase. Chad took satisfaction in watching the hideous monstrosity shatter.

Amos was nearly torn in half by one of the zombies. Arthur began casting spells to try to help his father. The power and precision behind his magick was impressive, although Chad would never admit it. Still, he was surprised to realize that Arthur White had that kind of power inside of him.

A zombie tried to grab Chad's shoulder. "Ugh! Don't touch me, you filthy, smelly, vile thing!" He shouted dramatically before casting a spell that set the zombie on fire. "I am not letting a bunch of reanimated corpses ruin this outfit!"

"Whatever you've got planned, do it now, Chad," Mr. Ko said firmly as he used a spell to knock a zombie away from Gabriel.

"Shields!" Chad shouted before he took a deep breath. He focused on accessing his full power as everyone tried to protect themselves. His eyes turned blood red and he began to glow from power instead of from body glitter. Using every ounce of energy he could summon, Chad unleashed an exceptionally strong spell. Every single zombie in the immediate area spontaneously combusted in an instant.

"Holy crap!" Arthur cried in shock as his shield protected him from the explosion.

"What he said," the twins agreed in unison. The living appeared to be uninjured, but the zombies were gone.

Chad collapsed onto the couch, his energy completely drained. Everything began to spin as his vision blurred. He was too weak to do more than smile as his father looked at him with pride. "Excellent work," Mr. Ko said.

"We have to get out of here before more of them show up," Gabriel said urgently.

"The others won't come here now," Amos said. "They'll feel the remnants of the destructive spell your son just cast and run in the other direction."

"We'll head to the basement," Mr. Ko decided. "It's a sacred space. They won't be able to breech it if we activate the protection wards."

"Then why weren't we down there to begin with?" Arthur demanded.

"Arthur, don't question Mr. Ko," Amos scolded him.

"Come," Mr. Ko said, ignoring Arthur's question. "The entrance is right this way."

~*~

Ellyn saw the zombies gathering outside and desperately tried to wake herself up. She wasn't in the mood for another vision. Unfortunately, she found that she was unable to escape this one.

She cursed as realization sank in. "The world's going to end and Dad's asleep," she said. "Too bad. He's going to miss a great show." She grabbed her purse and fled the house.

Getting through the zombies was the easy part. Most of them were walking around aimlessly. Ellyn had discovered her necromantic abilities several years earlier when she accidentally raised her dead mother's corpse. She knew how to lay zombies to rest, but she tried her best not to do it as she made her way through the chaos. She knew that she was going to need to conserve her strength if she had any chance of stopping the end of the world.

Following her instincts, she found herself in front of a building which had several zombies surrounding it. She walked inside without the zombies noticed her and quickly spotted tunnels leading into underground caves.

She wasn't entirely surprised when she found Aideen immediately. "Ellyn? What are you doing here?" Aideen asked.

"I'm here to save your life," Ellyn informed her. "Dad's asleep. He'd be awfully upset if the world ended without him."

"I appreciate the help," Aideen replied.

Arnie and Evan were still with her, and Dylan joined them. "Thank Gods," Dylan mumbled as he realized that they were all alive.

"Have you seen Melissa? Or any of the others?" Arnie asked.

"No, you guys were the first ones I found," Dylan replied as he healed Armie's arm.

"We need to keep moving," Evan said. He looked at Ellyn and asked, "Do you know how to use a gun?"

"Aim, click off the safety, and pull the trigger?" Ellyn replied.

"I guess that's good enough." He passed her a handgun and added, "Try not to shoot yourself in the foot."

They started making their way through the chaos. For a while, the five of them fought against the zombie army together, but then someone came into the area that Aideen recognized all too well.

Seeing Lewis Ashford standing before them, Arnie immediately moved to torch him. Aideen grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Don't," she said, an edge of panic entering her voice.

"He'll go after Beth," Arnie argued. "She'll freak out and lose her warrior edge. She'll be a sitting duck, Deenie."

"Don't destroy his body. Beth won't handle that," Aideen insisted.

"Then how do we stop him?" Arnie asked. He didn't get an answer, however, because Lewis grabbed him by the throat, picked him up, and flung him as hard as he could into Evan, causing Evan's head to meet the wall and knocking them both unconscious for the second time that night.

"Deenie, watch out!" Dylan shouted as Lewis headed toward her. Lewis tossed one of the other zombies at Dylan, who was instantly pinned under the confused creature.

When he reached Aideen, Lewis grabbed her. "This isn't happening," Aideen said aloud.

Ellyn shot Lewis in the arm, causing him to release Aideen briefly. She pulled out a lighter and was about to set Lewis on fire when Aideen shot her a pleading look. "Not fire. We have to lay him to rest. We can't destroy him," she said as Lewis grabbed her again.

Ellyn stared at her in shock. "You're kidding, right?" She asked.

"No. Please don't destroy him, Ellyn... Please."

Ellyn paused. "You two had a thing, didn't you?" She asked.

"What? No, of course not." Aideen struggled to free herself from his grasp.

"Don't lie to me, okay? I won't judge you, but I hate liars," Ellyn said.

Aideen sighed. What was the point of lying to Ellyn? She'd come there to save her at the risk of her own life. She deserved a little bit of honesty.

"Yes," Aideen admitted. "He was my first love, but no one knows, especially not Beth. Please don't tell anyone."

"If we live through this, I won't tell." Ellyn shook her head. "I guess I'll have to do things the hard way."

Ellyn pulled a knife out of her bag and, to Aideen's shock, slit her left wrist. "What the hell are you doing?" Aideen demanded. "Are you crazy?"

"Absolutely, certifiably, but that's not why I did this. You won't let me torch this guy and he's going to kill all of us if I don't do something, so I'm laying him to rest." She touched her bleeding wrist to Lewis's third eye. He immediately tensed and released Aideen before freezing in place. "Blood to flesh, you are mine," Ellyn said. "I command you to rest and never rise again!" She said something in what sounded like Latin. Lewis walked calmly out of sight.

"What did you just do?" Aideen asked.

"I bound his corpse so that no one else can raise him. He's walking back to his grave now, and when he reaches it, he'll calmly lay back down in his coffin and rest."

"Thank you," Aideen replied softly.

"It makes sense now," Ellyn said with a shrug. "I had the dreams because I had to be here, and Lewis sent me the message to save you because he knew what was coming and didn't want to be the one to kill you."

"I don't think I would have been able to bring myself back if Lewis killed me."

"I think you're right."

Aideen tore part of her t-shirt and wrapped Ellyn's wrist in it, but she continued to bleed. "You need a healer," Aideen said.

"I'm okay," Ellyn insisted.

"You're bleeding out, Ellyn." Aideen walked over to Dylan, who was still pinned and struggling to free himself. He looked relatively uninjured as Aideen ripped the zombie off of him.

"Thanks, Deenie," Dylan said as he got back on his feet.

"No problem," Aideen replied. "Go heal Ellyn. She just saved my life."

"Then I guess we owe her," Dylan replied. He healed Ellyn's wrist almost instantly.

Arnie and Evan were conscious and back on their feet. "Now what?" Arnie asked.

"Now we find the rest of our friends and get the hell out of here," Aideen replied.

"That sounds good to me," Evan said as he reloaded one of his guns. "Come on."

~*~

Jade wasn't sure how much time had passed when she regained consciousness, but she found herself in a small, dark room with Cierra, Beth, and too many zombies to count. Cierra was doing a surprisingly impressive job of shooting them as Beth focused on splitting their atoms. Jade stood up and quickly joined the fight.

"You're good with a gun," Jade said to Cierra.

"I hate zombies. They're disgusting and smelly and I'd rather not have one touch me," Cierra replied, shooting another one and blowing its head off. It wandered out of the room in confusion.

"Where's everyone else?" Jade asked.

"I have no idea. Beth and I woke up here." She paused, watching Jade shoot another zombie. "You're pretty good at this, too."

Jade shrugged. "I'm from New York. Guns aren't exactly new territory for me."

They fought their way out of the room and found themselves in a cave with no obvious exit except for the entrance, which was now blocked by several zombies. "Great," Beth said. "This is just what we needed."

Jade and Cierra started shooting again, while Beth made a nearby zombie explode. The army's numbers quickly lessened, and for a while everything was going well, until Jade felt a familiar energy coming up behind her.

"Jade," a voice whispered as a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"No," Jade said softly, shaking her head.

"I've missed you..." The voice said.

In a horrified whisper, Jade said, "Spencer..."