the shadows near the assassin.
“We’re not alone, Karra,” the person beneath the cloak spoke boldly with no pretense of subterfuge, his voice like a frigid, northern storm. He raised his hand and pointed right at us.
The assassin spun, drawing her second blade in a blur of motion as she dashed toward us. Outed-my hiding place, not my sexuality-I popped up and leveled my gun. Veronica rose up as well, her blades readied. She moved off to the side a ways, putting distance between us to force Karra to choose a target.
I knew how fast she was, so I didn’t waste any time trying to be precise. I hit the trigger in rapid succession and hoped she couldn’t outrun a bullet.
She couldn’t apparently.
She could, however, block them. Like flies on a cold day, she batted the bullets out of the air with her swords, reflecting them off into the darkness with but a flick of her wrist. She never even stopped moving forward.
Impressed by the display, I realized too late I’d stopped firing until she was right on top of me. I shifted to get a better angle as she closed. Veronica flanked. Before I had a chance to fire again, the assassin had dropped low and slipped passed me, one of her swords slicing deep into the meat of my forearm.
A searing pain exploded down the length of my arm followed instantly by another in my hamstring, Karra’s backswing connecting before she moved away. Surprised by the unexpected pain of a magically forged sword, I froze. Veronica dodged around me to give chase. A waft of bitterness assailed my nose as I watched my gun tumble from my hand, my fingers going numb. I recognized the scent from when she’d dropped McConnell. There was something on her blades. I hurried and examined the wound.
Though it was shallow, it bubbled with a black tar that festered around its edges, the ooze mingling with my blood. However disgusting it may sound, that was a normal reaction to my being struck by a magical weapon. What wasn’t normal was the sudden weakness and numbness that spread out from the wounds like wildfire.
Under no control of mine, my right arm dropped to my side lifeless. I growled as a light went off in my head reminding me about my leg, which too had gone numb. I collapsed in a heap a second later, my leg unable to support my weight. Whatever nastiness the assassin had on her swords, it was fast acting and potent. The muscles in both my arm and leg refused to obey. Rigid and without life, they were useless.
I rolled my head around when I heard the clang of colliding swords and shouted, “Poison on the blades.”
Though Veronica didn’t bother to acknowledge my warning, I was sure she’d heard me. Her posture shifted noticeably as she and Karra crossed blades, her stance becoming more defensive. The aggressive wide swings she’d used at first had reverted to short, snapping strikes, her blades held closer to her body.
I watched the two go at it for a few seconds as they circled each other, a ballet of silver flashes in the moonlight. To me, it appeared as though Veronica was the better swordswoman, though not by much. It was enough, however, to give me hope.
Using my good arm, I dragged myself toward my pistol, which lay a few feet away in the sand. The poison had apparently spread as my hip and shoulder had become stiff as boards. It made it hard to move, but the sound of steel clanging on steel drove me on. Once I retrieved my weapon, I looked around real quick. I found it strange the zombies hadn’t joined in, having expected them to have swarmed all over us by then.
Spotting the cloaked man, who had to be the necromancer Reven, I realized why they hadn’t. They continued in their blood draining, a handful of zombies gathered around the tub tearing the throats from their victims to speed the process. Reven stared back at me through shimmering yellow eyes that peered out from beneath his hood. He must have had faith his assassin could handle us because he stood there calm, unconcerned. So far he’d been right.
Out of spite, I felt the need to shit on his assumption.
My gun in my left hand, I turned it on Reven. Equally functional shooting with my left or my right, my aim was spot on.
At least it would have been.
Reven must have seen me setting up because he was on the move and heading for the darkness before I could even squeeze the trigger. A wall of corpses shambled to get between us. Meant for the necromancer who was long gone, the bullet slammed into the chest of a zombie that’d moved into the way. The impact wobbled it and punched a hole in its torso, but did little else.
To the zombie that is. While it didn’t bring down Reven like I’d hoped, the sound of my gun going off had unintended consequences.
No doubt surprised I’d been able to go after her master, despite my injuries, the assassin broke off fighting with Veronica to come to Reven’s aid. Her loyalty cost her. Given the opening she needed, Veronica stepped inside and put her dagger to use. I heard Karra cry out as the blade gouged a deep, red groove across her hip, just below the protection of the vest. She stumbled, one of her swords tumbling free as she used her hand to keep from falling. Veronica closed to finish her off.
Once more Karra surprised me with how fast she was.
In one fluid motion, the assassin ducked under Veronica’s follow up swing and flopped to her back on the ground. As she hit, she whipped her arm upward, loosing a handful of dirt. The spray of small rocks and sand struck Veronica flush in the face, blinding her for just an instant. It was long enough.
Karra kicked and swept one of Veronica’s legs out from beneath her, forcing her to spin away to remain standing. The move opened up her back which the assassin took full advantage of. A quick flick of her remaining sword sunk the tip into my ex-wife’s spine. Veronica twitched violently for a second, then collapsed face first as the poison made its way through her nervous system.
I screamed and pulled the trigger at the same time, wanting nothing more than to put a hole through Karra’s head. But once more, she batted my bullets aside with ease while she rolled to a crouch, retrieving her other sword. Furious, I emptied the clip as she bounded toward me, weaving from side to side, her blades intercepting every bullet that came close. The chamber clicked hollow just as she moved to stand over me. The tip of a sword settled into the hollow of my throat. Her cold brown eyes stared out at me from behind her mask.
“I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you force my hand.” Her voice was soft and quiet, but with an off-setting warble to it. It sounded odd, like she was trying to disguise it.
Her voice the least of my worries, I growled, meeting her gaze. “Like you did her?” I motioned to Veronica who lay still in the dirt. “Or McConnell?”
“Once the paralysis runs its course, she’ll be fine. The wizard is another matter.” I caught a hint of venom as she mentioned McConnell. I could relate, but it still didn’t excuse her for what she’d done. Not that my opinion mattered much at this point. She had the upper hand and it held a sharp, pointy thing to my neck.
“Tell me what your boss is up to and maybe I can leave it be.” My brain scrambled to find a way out that got Baalth off my back and didn’t end with me being dead.
Dead is bad.
She shook her head. I wasn’t getting anything, not that I really expected to. “Just stay out of our way and maybe you’ll make it out alive.”
Doubtful. If it wasn’t her killing me it’d be Baalth for letting her get away. I sighed. As usual, I was neck deep in shit and going down fast.
She had to have seen the reluctance on my face, but she pulled her sword away regardless. “Let it go.”
She sheathed her swords, but remained there for a few seconds longer, just staring at me. Her eyes were indecipherable. At last, loosing a deep sigh, she headed back to where the zombies were, ordering them to assemble. Those in line fell out and ambled forward while the ones in the holes climbed up and joined the rest. Once gathered in a smelly, gibbering mass, they collected the filled tubs and the whole group headed out into the darkness of the desert, leaving behind the ruin of their drained victims.
Karra cast one last look back at me before joining them. Moments later they were gone, only the distant muttering of zombies and the howl of dusty winds were left to echo in the chill air. A few minutes after that, even the sound was gone.
I glanced at Veronica and saw her body twitch, her back rising gently as she breathed. Relieved she was alive I dug inside my pockets with my functional arm looking for Candy’s phone. After an aggravating struggle, trying to stick my left hand into the right-side pocket, I came up empty. I groaned, dropping back onto the sand as I remembered I’d left the phone at DRAC. It was sitting on Abraham’s desk.
The cavalry wasn’t coming.
With nothing left to do but wait, I rolled onto my side to keep an eye on Veronica. Face down with her ass
