first two times we’d crossed paths would still be in effect. The ice in her voice told me I had presumed too much.“If you’re so set on killing me, why didn’t you do it the last time, or the time before that?” Sometimes you just have to dig. It doesn’t hurt to throw a compliment in either. “You’re certainly capable of it.”
She stared at me for a minute, her breathing slow and calm. “Contrary to what you may believe, I-” she corrected herself, “-Reven, is not your enemy.”
“Yeah, nothing says good guy like a horde of zombies kidnapping and murdering people.”
She sighed and dropped onto her ass, her sword still poised. “I didn’t say he was a saint, I just said he isn’t your enemy. You don’t need to be involved.”
The familiarity of her voice grated on me. “Tell me who you are and what your boss is doing here so I can determine that for myself.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. You just need to accept my word that despite how bad things look, what Reven is doing is the far lesser of two evils. A few more days without interruption, maybe less, and we’re gone.”
Considering my delicate situation, I didn’t want to piss her off, but I couldn’t let her master continue killing people whether she was telling the truth or not. “Baalth isn’t gonna let it be that easy. He has people out looking for you and when they find you, it won’t be his minions that come kicking down your door.”
“His minions like you?”
Ouch. “I’m just working off a contract, I’m not the help. My lease is up once you’re out of the picture, permanently or otherwise.”
“Then let us do what we need to.” I thought I heard a hint of desperation in her voice.
“Look, Karra. I’m not the one calling the shots. I’m just a grunt. You’ve got Baalth with a mad-on for you and my bosses are all over it. They don’t take kindly to people pillaging the locals. Neither do I.” Her eyes reflected a sparkle of compassion, but there was still a strong sense of determination in there as well. “To top all that off, you’ve got at least one more major player looking into your business.”
She tensed. “Who?”
I shook my head, the only part of me unaffected by the poison. “A boy has to have his secrets.”
She hopped to her feet in a huff, the tip of her sword drawing a tiny dot of blood. She stepped away and started to pace. “You always were infuriating,” she muttered.
Shit. Though it was obvious we knew each other somehow, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who she was. Worse still, she was a woman.
Given my history with women, not counting any of the numerous pay-for-play situations, the odds of my making it out of my current situation alive just dropped dramatically. To include my mother, there wasn’t a woman in my life who hadn’t wanted me dead at one point or another.
“Who are you, Karra?” Might as well find out just how bad things were gonna be.
She stopped her pacing and stared at me for a moment. “That’s not important, Triggaltheron.”
My heart skipped a beat. She’d used my given name which meant we’d probably known each other in Hell. That wasn’t a good sign either. As difficult as I am to get along with now, I was far worse when my uncle was still around. My life flashed before my eyes as I realized I was doomed. In brilliant colors, everything that ever meant anything to me ran across the screen of my mind.
Not surprisingly, all I saw were boobs.
Life had been good.
Paralyzed and all-around fucked, I didn’t see any reason to prolong things. “So, what now?”
“I should kill you,” she answered without hesitation, glaring down at me, her fingers tightening on the pommel of her sword.
Right then I knew I had a chance. I kept my mouth shut to avoid screwing things up. If ever there was an advocate who could talk me out of trouble, my mouth wasn’t it.
“But I’m not gonna.” I sighed as she sheathed her weapon. “I do, however, need to make sure you can’t interfere again.”
Oh crap.
She put her fingers to her covered lips and blew, belting out a sharp, piercing whistle, only slightly muffled by the mask. Unable to cover my ears, I winced, hoping my hearing wasn’t permanently damaged. She had a hell of set of lungs, let me tell you. I’m sure the set of size “C” amplifiers she had on her chest helped. Now that was a stereo system I wouldn’t mind wrapping around my ears.
Before the echoes of her whistle died down, a handful of zombies stumbled through the double doors and made their way over to us. I wasn’t sure what she had in mind, but I didn’t like the looks of it.
“Hey now, I’m all about exploring my wild side but I have to draw the line somewhere.”
Karra ignored me and gestured to the zombies. They bent down and grabbed ahold of my limbs. As they lifted me up, I wasn’t sure what to be more offended by: the fluttering reek that assailed my nose, or the constant barrage of profanity and incessant randomness that spewed from their dead mouths.
After a few seconds, the gibbering pulled ahead in the poll.
“Where are you taking me?”
Once more, Karra chose not to answer while the zombies carried me down the hall and out through the double doors. Along for the jostling ride, almost grateful I couldn’t feel anything, there was nothing to do but wait and see.
Picturing all the grim possibilities, I just hoped Karra’s imagination was nowhere as vivid as mine.
A half hour after having been dumped into the back of a moving van, crowded with zombie funk, and carted across town, I was yanked out and unceremoniously dropped on my ass. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the starlit darkness, night having settled in, but I could smell wet grass and fresh dirt. I rolled my head to the side, eyes searching, and groaned when I realized where they’d taken me; Rest Land Cemetery.
I didn’t like where this was headed. When I spotted the open hole in the ground a few feet from where I laid, I liked it even less.
“You don’t need to do this, Karra.”
She knelt beside me. “Yes, I do. You’re too stubborn to leave well enough alone.”
So what if she was right?
While the poison had just begun to burn off, my legs and arms tingling like they’d been laid in a pile of ants, I still couldn’t really move much. I thrashed around trying to get the feeling back, but it was useless. My limbs were rocks attached to my torso, swinging stiffly, out of my control. That didn’t stop me from fighting when two of her zombies grabbed me and dragged me toward the hole.
Actually, it pretty much did.
Belting out a scream, which would make Jamie Lee Curtis green with envy, they held me at the edge of the grave. Inside was an open concrete liner that looked anything but inviting. The remaining zombies, carrying the lid to the liner, trundled over and stopped beside the hole.
“Be good, Frankie,” Karra told me, frustrating amusement in her voice. She smiled through the mask and tossed my gun into the hole. It landed with an ominous thud.
“Don’t do this!”
She shook her head and motioned to the corpses holding me. She’d already made up her mind. There’d be no talking my way out.
Stiff in ways I could never imagine fun, the zombies lifted me in the air above them. Face down over the hole, staring into it with dread, they tossed me in. With the maw of the grave filling my vision, I mustered every ounce of my strength and forced my arm back. Screaming like a banshee, I felt the vague, disconnected bump of my hand connecting against something. I willed my fingers to close, and though I’m not certain they did, I felt a sharp tug which strained my shoulder.
There was a loud snap and I was yanked sideways just before I slammed into the concrete floor of the liner. I hit hard, my breath forced from my lungs. A split second later, there was a solid thump against my side as something tumbled into the grave with me.
I didn’t have time to wonder about it as I saw the liner lid moving across the hole, its bulk blotting out the stars. Brave man that I am, it took me all of about zero seconds before I started to beg, cry, and plead, all spewing
