Part 32 (1/2)

Harbinger stood. ”Shot the h.e.l.l out of me with silver bullets.” He raised his arms, displaying his battered leather bomber jacket. ”You should have told her to shoot me in the head. I don't just wear this coat 'cause it looks cool. This is one-hundred-percent-genuine minotaur hide.” He thumped it for emphasis. ”Bulletproof.” Earl smiled his predatory grin. His eyes were glowing gold. ”You're looking good, Marty, for a dead man.”

Undead were swirling all around. The humanoids were wearing helmets of hardened steel, only their lower jaws open and chomping. I shoved my muzzle into an onrus.h.i.+ng zombie's mouth. The jaws clamped down automatically and I fired, the bullet ricocheting around inside the bucket, pulping the skull to bits. A zombie bear intercepted Franks, knocking him to the ground, slicing him about between the razor sharp legs. The Fed, unperturbed, jammed his guns into the intersection of the bear's protected head and body and severed the neck with a slew of 10mm rounds. The bear collapsed, crus.h.i.+ng him beneath.

Hood and Harbinger were circling each other. The Condition's high priest was speaking. ”A dead man, Earl? On the contrary, I've never been more alive.” He waved one hand, and it warped into a foot-long shadow blade. His other hand twisted into a three-fingered claw, wide as a shovel head.

”I'll have to remedy that,” my boss replied. ”I'll get it right this time.”

”You destroyed my old body. Rather admirably at that, but the spirit that was residing there came from this vessel. Think of it as trading up for a new model car.” Hood swung the shadow blade and Harbinger ducked under it.

I kicked the legs out from under another zombie, slammed the AK under its chin, and blasted it. I moved to help free Franks, but with a bellow, he pushed the giant bear off him and heaved it aside. He sprang to his feet and slammed his fist through through an approaching zombie's helmet. HATE came out clutching a handful of brain and the zombie dropped like a sack of potatoes. A goat-dog thing charged Franks, snapping at his legs, but he punted it across the clearing and into the burning trees. an approaching zombie's helmet. HATE came out clutching a handful of brain and the zombie dropped like a sack of potatoes. A goat-dog thing charged Franks, snapping at his legs, but he punted it across the clearing and into the burning trees.

”I'm invulnerable in the dark, and this little fire isn't nearly enough,” Hood stated proudly as he swung his blade hand. Harbinger bounded over it, flying through the air at his foe, his own hand opened into a claw, swinging with a roar through the ornate robes. Earl rolled through the robes, cras.h.i.+ng into the ground as all resistance gave way. He was up, bewildered at the empty fabric in his hands. A twelve-foot solid shadow rose behind him, and he screamed as a black spike was driven into his back.

”Earl!” I shouted.

”Stay back!” he ordered, b.l.o.o.d.y spittle flying from his mouth. Harbinger spun, tearing through the shape to no effect. One whipping tendril struck him across the abdomen, launching him back into the darkness. He hit the ground closer to the fire.

The shadow surged under the robes, the fabric rising into a man shape, and then settling into the form of Hood as he strode toward Harbinger. ”You have no idea how much I've looked forward to this.” I shot Hood square in the back of the head. The bullet zipped out his forehead. He paused, looking back at me slyly. ”Patience. I'll be back for you.”

Earl rose. He was shaking badly. There was a hole in his chest, and it gradually closed, pinching off a trail of blood. There was a loud series of booms booms from the main building, like the sound of launching fireworks. ”This whole owning-the-night thing ain't fair,” Earl said as he pointed at the sky. ”And if you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.” from the main building, like the sound of launching fireworks. ”This whole owning-the-night thing ain't fair,” Earl said as he pointed at the sky. ”And if you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”

The sky lit up with a brilliant fireball. It drifted slowly toward the Earth. Then there was another, and then several more, appearing in rapid succession. The compound visibly brightened as the parachute flares and star sh.e.l.ls floated downward. The compound's mortars were filling the sky with burning phosphorus light.

”That's cheating, Earl.” Hood smiled, seemingly eager for this fight.

Flickering shadows played across Earl's features as more sh.e.l.ls rained from the sky. ”My daddy always said that if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying hard enough.”

Franks twisted the head off of the last zombie, and immediately began walking toward Hood. The shadow man paused between the two foes, glancing warily between them. The new illumination revealed that the zombie elephant was turning around, coming back for another pa.s.s.

Hood nodded slowly, determination hard on his craggy face. He studied the sky, watching the fireb.a.l.l.s. ”This won't be enough to save you.” He wrapped his hand around his talisman. It glowed with a black lightning that was eerily familiar. He seemed to grow in size, density and darkness, like he was sucking energy from his surroundings. His voice was low and terrifying. ”A bureaucrat's Frankenstein and the redneck Wolfman are no match for the Lord of the Shadows, High Priest of the Dread-”

”Shut up already,” Franks said as he walked forward. Tendrils of blackness shot from Hood's hands, las.h.i.+ng into the Fed, knocking him easily aside. The ground swelled under Hood, like a rising bubble. The dirt ripped wide open, revealing a giant rolling slug of tar. Packets of reflecting eyes glared in every direction. The shoggoth had returned.

”Owen! Get the ward to Milo. He knows what to do!” Earl shouted as he ducked and dodged under waves of black energy. ”Go!”

I did as I was told and ran for the workshop. It was our only hope. No matter how tough Earl and Franks were, I knew they couldn't defeat Hood and his minions. The roars and cras.h.i.+ng intensified behind me. Gunfire and explosions continued to rock the main building as the bulk of the undead kept up their a.s.sault. I sprinted through the artificial wall of darkness, holding my breath like it was a poisonous vapor. I cleared the wall within a few steps, and there was the workshop. I leapt over numerous undead that had been blasted or scorched into pieces. ”Milo! I need your help!”

Milo's head popped up on the roof from behind a stack of discarded LAW rocket tubes. ”Owen, what's going on?” he shouted.

I reached into the satchel that was bouncing against my side and hoisted the stone above my head as I ran. ”Activate this thing!”

”I'm on my way down,” Milo exclaimed.

I started to lower the stone, but it disappeared from my hand in a blast of wind. The stone was gone! The stone was gone! Jerking my head up in surprise, I was shocked to see one of the flying undead, the stone encircled in its talons, as it beat its mighty wings and gained alt.i.tude. I screamed in frustration. Jerking my head up in surprise, I was shocked to see one of the flying undead, the stone encircled in its talons, as it beat its mighty wings and gained alt.i.tude. I screamed in frustration.

BOOM!.

The creature's leg exploded with a terrible impact. The entire talon fell, severed, still clutching the ball. Running, I caught it all in my outstretched hands. I looked up to see Grant on the rooftop, his head poking up from behind the scope of a Barrett M82A1.50 caliber. ”Move your slow a.s.s, Pitt!” he shouted.

The roll-up garage door was closed. The man-door next to it flew open, and Milo was there, holding a giant flamethrower that had the burninatorand a cartoon dragon painted on it. ”Let me see it,” he cried as he shrugged out of the flamethrower straps.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!.

Grant had opened fire on something. I turned to see the zombie elephant come swirling through the black wall like an undead freight train, lumbering right at the workshop. I slammed the ball, severed talon and all, into Milo's outstretched arms, and pushed through the door. I closed it behind me and, for some unknown reason, threw the dead bolt. Milo gave me a look that indicated the idiocy of what I had just done, then he snapped out of it, and started swiping his hands over the numbers.

”Hurry,” I suggested.

”You think?” he responded, beady eyes intent behind his gla.s.ses. ”Oh, it's been a long time.”

I began looking for something that could stop a zombie elephant. There had to be something. I paused in front of Milo's giant wall of weapons. What gun for armored zombie elephant? Man, what kind of messed-up job do you have to ask yourself that kind of question? What gun for armored zombie elephant? Man, what kind of messed-up job do you have to ask yourself that kind of question? Then I had my answer, sitting right in front of me on a giant wheeled tripod. I grabbed the handles of the device and began to push the heavy weight across the linoleum. ”Is this loaded?” Then I had my answer, sitting right in front of me on a giant wheeled tripod. I grabbed the handles of the device and began to push the heavy weight across the linoleum. ”Is this loaded?”

”Of course,” he responded absently. Milo stood in the center of the room, studying the ward intently. ”The ward is like a puzzle, but with coordinates based on ley lines, and the letters are subst.i.tutes, but the hard part is that it's in German...Now what was that-”

The roll-up door collapsed as the pachyderm from Hades rammed its way through. Milo looked up in time to see the looming threat bearing down on him, 15,000 pounds of undead fury. I cranked the mighty harpoon gun toward the beast, grabbed the trigger, every bit of the circular sight filled with gray rotting flesh, and pulled.

Leviathan discharged. The concussion of the harpoon gun actually lifted me off the floor. Driven by a mighty charge of gunpowder, the six-foot, machined-steel spear drove right through the armored bucket of the monster's head, a roll of cable unspooling through its entire body and out its backside. The beast jerked as the harpoon embedded itself in a steel support pylon. The huge weight dropped instantly, cable pulling right through the decaying flesh, and it fell to the side, taking down row after row of shelves in a mighty crash.

I picked myself up from the floor. The room was filled with smoke from the gun's charge. I coughed. ”Milo?”

No response.

The elephant's head had been torn off, rotting neck no match for gravity, and was dangling like a pinata on the taut cable. The body was on its side, limp, storage shelves crushed beneath it. Right where Milo had been standing- He was under it! I ran over to the monster, trying to figure out some way to get under the body. If he was between the metal shelves, he might still be alive. There was no way I could reach him. I needed something to pry up an edge of meat. ”Hang on, buddy! I'm coming for you.” I spotted a crowbar, and started to work it under one leg. I ran over to the monster, trying to figure out some way to get under the body. If he was between the metal shelves, he might still be alive. There was no way I could reach him. I needed something to pry up an edge of meat. ”Hang on, buddy! I'm coming for you.” I spotted a crowbar, and started to work it under one leg.

Then I heard a strange noise, m.u.f.fled beneath the corpse. Like somebody was trying to start a lawnmower, or a weed whacker, or...

A chainsaw.

I automatically stepped back as the powerful device caught with a roar. There was a terrible racket as Milo attacked the elephant from underneath. Thirty seconds later the chainsaw erupted out the elephant's flank, spraying fluids, and a disgustingly coated Milo came crawling out from the stomach. He took a mighty gasp of air as his head pushed through the skin. He killed the chainsaw and tossed it. I grabbed him by the hand and tried to pull. Milo pushed me back, reached deep inside the guts, and pulled out the ward stone.

”You okay?”

”Shus.h.!.+” he sputtered through a face full of rotting elephant blubber. His fingers flew across the stone. There was movement at the torn-open door. I glanced over to see more undead coming. A winged beast landed right in the entrance, hopping forward on its one remaining leg. This was it.

”Bingo.”

Milo moved the last letter into place. A visible shockwave traveled outward from the stone. The air bent in a violent oval. It washed across my body, but I felt nothing. The wave hit the undead and they simply exploded, flesh parting, bones and sinews flying like shrapnel. The wave expanded outward, surging across the compound, a tsunami of destruction, obliterating undead on impact.

There was a terrible wail, a scorching-evil distorted cry, like when we hit the shoggoth with thermite, only far worse. The shoggoth fled before the wave, screaming in pain the entire way.

That left just one thing...

Milo tumbled out the elephant, sliding in a pile of squishy entrails. ”Ew...this is karmic payback for making Newbies do the Gut Crawl, that's what this is.”

I picked up the discarded flamethrower, hoisting the heavy pack onto my back. A thick tube led from the pressurized napalm pack to the heavy-duty nozzle gun labeled the burninator. Its operation seemed pretty self-explanatory. I snagged a portable spotlight with my other hand and headed for the exit. ”Grab anything that makes light and follow me.”

The star sh.e.l.ls were slinking across the sky. The noise of the battle was tapering off, gunfire and explosions ceasing as the undead on the outer edge of the ward's area of effect were driven off and their cultist handlers retreated. The wall of artificial darkness was still standing and I ran straight through it, heedless of danger. I tripped over a dismembered zombie and fell, sprawling over more bodies. Struggling upright with the heavy flamethrower in one hand, I turned on the brilliant spotlight and s.h.i.+ned it outward.