Part 7 (1/2)
Before she could respond, she heard it. Faint, in the distance, but unmistakable: ”Ruuu-uuuthhhh.” ”Ruuu-uuuthhhh.”
d.a.m.n.
Her palms went damp and her fingers cold. Selena turned away from the wall. If she was going to have a chance to intercept the zombies, she had to do it now. Quickly, before the rest of the search parties got beyond the walls with their sticks and bottle bombs and all the other weapons. Got to go. Got to go.
”Jennifer's looking for you,” she said. ”Over there.” She pointed east, over and beyond Theo's shoulder toward the milling cl.u.s.ters of people-and when he automatically looked away, she darted. Slipped into the shadows.
”Selena!” he shouted, and she glanced back to see him looking at the wall of cars and garage doors and old roofs, as if she'd somehow discovered a way to slide inside.
Good. Let him look for her while she found another way out.
The search parties had begun to leave the protection of the walls by the time Selena located one of the smaller entrances. Her crystal on its long leather thong hadn't begun to glow yet, but its temperature had started to rise. She felt its warmth against the hollow at the base of her breastbone. Not precisely a comforting feeling but a familiar one, nevertheless. A peek down at it confirmed that it wasn't burning ... Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
The zombie moans had grown louder, and by listening intently, Selena confirmed that they were coming from the northernmost direction. Fortunately, it was on the opposite side of Yellow Mountain from the river's swimming area, which was where the search parties would head first, then likely split into east and westerly directions.
But the fact that Hannah Tendy had dark hair, and that the gangas gangas had been programmed to kidnap blond people (and do what they wished, which was to maul and feed on their flesh), gave Selena little hope that if the little girl was out there, things would end well. had been programmed to kidnap blond people (and do what they wished, which was to maul and feed on their flesh), gave Selena little hope that if the little girl was out there, things would end well.
And she didn't really want to be the one rus.h.i.+ng out to ease the zombies into the afterlife in the wake of something like that.
The small north-side gate opened easily to a set of steps that led to the ground below. Gangas Gangas couldn't climb stairs, so all but the main entrance to Yellow Mountain were accessed thus. couldn't climb stairs, so all but the main entrance to Yellow Mountain were accessed thus.
Selena was just about to pull open the grate when a familiar voice came out of the darkness. ”Selena, don't.”
”Vonnie,” she said, turning to her best friend, her mother, her savior. ”You know I have to.”
The older woman's arm came down to block her from the gate, strong and solid. ”Not tonight. Just ... not tonight. There's nothing you can do.”
”Yes, there is. I can't let them-”
”Have you forgotten Crossroads? They might see you.”
Selena's voice rose and her throat burned. ”Of course I haven't forgotten-”
”Then leave it. Tonight. Just leave it. You're still injured from last night; and if anyone sees you, Selena ... if anyone sees you-it's a little girl. A child. They won't understand and they won't care.” Vonnie's voice cracked with emotion.
”I know the zombies are horrific, but they don't know what they're doing,” she replied. Her words were taut and the crystal was much warmer now against her skin, even through the small thick pouch that hid its glow beneath her s.h.i.+rt. ”They're trapped.”
”You can't save them all,” Vonnie told her. ”Selena. You can't save them all.”
”But I can save some of them. And I have to save as many as I can.” She looked at Vonnie, blinking back tears. ”I'm the only one.”
She loved Vonnie, she owed her everything everything, but the older woman would never understand. She couldn't see the terror in the zombies' eyes, she didn't feel their desperation. She didn't watch their human lives pa.s.s through their memory, and into Selena's, as she set them free.
She didn't know that a human soul and mind was trapped for decades inside each hulking, flesh-starving body.
Vonnie wasn't dragged out of her her sleep by nightmares. sleep by nightmares.
”I'm the only one. That's why I have to go. Please, don't make it any harder than it is.”
Her vision blurry, her stomach in knots, Selena ducked under Vonnie's arm and pushed at the gate. She heard the last low cry of her name, and had to ignore it. Blinking rapidly, she heard the grate closed behind her.
Darkness surrounded Selena as she hurried down the stairs. In the distance, she saw orange lights s.h.i.+fting about with jerky motions, in pairs. The groans were laced with desperation as the gangas gangas called for called for ruuu-uuuthhhhh ruuu-uuuthhhhh: searching, always searching for a man named Remington Truth.
Given that Selena absorbed all of their human memories, these creatures who had been just as alive as she and Vonnie before somehow being turned into such horrifying beings, she still didn't know much about their purpose. She did know that the zombies were programmed to walk the earth looking for the silver-haired man who had been one of the Strangers, a member of the Elite. And when they weren't carrying off light-haired humans as candidates, they were tearing into dark-haired ones with their filthy claws and rotting teeth. That was how they fed. How they lived.
If one could call what they did living. living.
Selena's throat burned. It was difficult enough to guide the souls and ease the pain of normal humans as they pa.s.sed on, but to take on the pain and anguish of these other horrifying, cannibalistic ones ... it was often too much. The battle between her horror for what they did and her need to save them-because she believed they weren't in control of their urges-was a nightmare.
Yet, Selena couldn't stop. She knew that every one she saved meant one less soul would be trapped in limbo-or somewhere worse-forever. Even one soul saved was worth the danger, worth being ostracized for, worth the constant internal battle she fought.
Selena blinked away the tears. Now was not the time to be distracted. They might be damaged creatures, deranged and mindless, but they were lethal in their desperation.
The terrain in front of her was clear and open, purposely, so that any approach could be seen from the walls. But less than a hundred yards out, trees and the buckled concrete of roads from days past made the ground uneven and provided shadows in which to hide. The overgrown remnants of an occasional building made low, unnatural humps in the land, tall gra.s.s shooting up and filling in amid the rubble.
Selena gripped her crystal, pulling it out from beneath her tunic and letting it hang free. She wasn't ready yet to slip off its protective covering, and allow the rose-colored stone to glow in the night. Not until she got closer to a band of zombies.
By counting the lights of their orange eyes, which looked like staggering fireflies from her vantage point, she guessed that there were fewer than a dozen tonight. She'd dealt with more, but any number over five was frightening and chancy.
The familiar fear clogged her throat and her hands had gone clammy. Selena was suddenly acutely aware of the breeze that had been so refres.h.i.+ng earlier, but now felt like an icy blast. The last bit of warmth from the wine that had made her so loose had disappeared, leaving her taut and edgy and her heart pounding.
No matter how many times she did this, no matter how important it was, how critical ... Selena still felt the fear. As if to remind her of the dangers, the wounds on her chest tightened and ached. And a gash along her back that had healed long ago, twinged.
But she went on.
Now she could smell them in the air-the musty, death smell of old flesh and the putrid rot of their breath. Like swamp and garbage that had been sitting in the sun, baking, for days.
But this was nothing. When they got closer, she'd hardly be able to breathe for the stench.
Selena's hands were cold and clammy and she automatically curled one around the crystal. It was hot now, like a stone that had been tucked amid the ashes of a fire and then withdrawn. The thick pouch protected her from the heat, but she'd soon remove it so that the rosy glow could beam through the night.
She stopped in a shadow about three hundred yards from the wall, and even farther from the troop of gangas gangas. The blossoms from the small cl.u.s.ter of apple trees had already dropped their petals and tiny buds had begun to form. The crushed and rusted form of a car sat a few feet away, and what looked like an old sign leaned against it. It was too dark to read the faded letters, but she knew there was a large fancy R R on it. on it.
The creatures were somehow taller than the humans from which they'd come-taller and broader and thicker, as if their original bodies had been stretched and stuffed to make them larger, causing their skin and skeletons to protest the mistreatment and begin to tear and protrude.
Selena counted eight zombies. Too many. Too many.
She shuddered and swallowed. Time to move closer.
From behind her, then, suddenly in the night, came a loud clanging sound.
Selena froze and turned, her heart skipping a beat. A great beam of white light shot into the air from behind the walls, accompanying the ringing bell.
That was the signal. They'd found the girl Hannah.
Selena felt a wave of relief so strong that she nearly doubled over, her fingers brus.h.i.+ng the rough bark of a tree next to her. They'd found her. She was safe.