How to Fail at Escaping an Alpha Orc (How to Fail #3)

23. Chapter Twenty-ThreeDaria

Chapter Twenty-Three

Daria

R unning a mile and half through the woods with a legion of zombies, sorry, undead, was certainly an experience. Ok, truth time. Having an undead carry you on his back as the rest of them ran a mile and a half back to the cabin was undoubtedly an experience. I knew my strengths and running was not one of them. And since we were short on time, it really was the most practical thing. At least, that’s what I told myself.

We returned to the cabin in ten minutes, and it was pure chaos. We then paused several yards away from the back of the house so that I could survey where to jump in. I tried to call the others, but unsurprisingly, no one was picking up. I could see fighting all over the grounds and even inside the home. If it weren’t for Harris bringing yellow armbands for us to wear, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. He really was smart, or he had done this several times before. However, I needed to find him and bring back reinforcements to help Marcus. I hated leaving him behind, but he was right. I would only be in the way.

I jumped off my undead friend. “Thanks, buddy.” I looked around at the rest of them. They stood at attention, swaying and snarling. The snarls were really their way of trying to talk. I didn’t have full control to give them back their humanness with my magic spread so far out. “Ok, the guys without, I repeat, without the yellow armbands are the bad guys. Feel free to bite and tear them up. Have fun and stay safe.” I tapped a couple of undead. “You two stay by my side. I’m a romance book lover, not a fighter.”

The rest of the undead ran to the chaos. Angie suddenly materialized next to me. “Whew, you’re okay. Those zombies are disgusting.” She looked at the two undead standing beside me who seemingly glared at her with clouded eyes. “No offense.” She looked back to me. “How can I help? I feel like such a spectator. I want to physically karate chop someone in the throat. In the movies, ghost can blow people across rooms. I can’t even blow a hair.”

My eyes widened as an idea popped into my head. I felt so stupid for not thinking about it before. “My powers have increased, maybe it’s time to try something you’ve never been comfortable trying before. Possession. Starting with one of the undead. You can be more strategic with the fighting that way and grab weapons.”

She reared back and looked at both of the undead with a grimace. I already knew this wasn’t the most appealing option for her, but we didn’t have time to find a model for her to navigate. “Come on, girl.”

She raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. I don’t even know if I know how to do this.”

“It’s like riding a bike.”

“Lies and deceit.”

She huffed and then held her nose before disappearing her body into one of the undead. Suddenly, the undead man seemed to come to life. His face was surprised, and he looked down at his hands and body. “Eww, eww, eww. This feels so gross. Cold and clammy,” Angie said, only her voice sounded like a soulless wailing.

“This is so disturbing,” I replied. “Okay, go grab a weapon and come back. Look for someone and tell them to go to the cemetery and help out Marcus because Rorrick is there.” I had a gun that Marcus insisted I take, but she needed her own.

I took the small handgun out of my side hip holster and looked to my remaining undead companion. “Looks like it’s you and me. Let’s stay here until Angie comes back with help for Marcus.”

Shuffling to my right caused us to turn, and there stood Lopez. Of course, he would find me. He was bloodied and tattered but still standing and grinning at me. My heart seized with fear. Just my luck.

He shrugged. “Now, why would I want you helping the orc? Let Rorrick tear him to pieces.” He extended a hand in my direction. “Now come on, sweetheart. Time to take you to where you’ll be living. Not as nice as this, but you’ll get used to it.”

I took the safety off my gun and pointed. Lopez only laughed. “Bullets don’t kill me, little mama.”

I knew that was a lie. If I shot him in the brain, he’d be dead. I fired and missed, not even hitting him, although I did make him jump. I never said I was a good shot.

Lopez tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. “You missed, bitch. Do you really want to make this hard? Life could be fairly comfortable for you, but if you put up a fight, I’ll make sure you’re the gang’s toy.”

I wanted to vomit. Absolutely not. I suffered no delusion that they would treat me like trash whether I was agreeable or not. If I left with him, it would be over for me. They wouldn’t be able to find me if Marcus didn't survive. And if they ever did, I wouldn’t be the same. I shivered despite myself. I looked to my undead friend.

Lopez snorted. “Oh, you think I’m afraid of some zombies? They might look scary, but they’re easy to kill.” He did a come-hither motion. “Send it my way. I’ll tear it apart as easy as paper.”

I needed a plan, but I was running out of time and ideas. Suddenly, intense pain ripped through every part of my body. It took my breath away, and I keeled forward. Then, just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared. It could only be one thing. Marcus was in trouble.

I called out to him through our telepathy. He pretended to be fine, but I knew better. Rorrick was hurting him. I had to get back to him.

“Times a ticking,” Lopez said, giving me an impatient stare. “Drop the gun before I make you drop it. I’m much faster than your poor aim or clumsy zombie.”

Damn it, where was Angie? I’d have to follow Lopez, but I would move slowly. In the meantime, I’d push my energy to Marcus so that he could survive. I sighed, dropping my gun, but I remained in place as I focused on moving my magic through our mate bond.

“Now use those feet and move this way,” Lopez started. “Or do you want me to pick you up?”

I gritted my teeth and slowly walked toward him, my undead following. “Leave the zombie,” Lopez spat.

I made a production of turning and touched my undead’s chest. “Stay, please.”

The undead groaned in what felt like displeasure. “It’s okay, buddy.”

“Come the fuck on!”

I spun around, frowning. “Don’t curse at me. I’m coming.”

I began to walk again, limping this time to justify my slow movement. I would not go quickly to my demise. Lopez swore angrily again and stomped toward me. “Fine, I’ll carry you.”

Several shots suddenly rang out in the air, and Lopez stumbled forward, dropping to the ground. The Angie-possessed undead appeared behind him with her gun aimed at the demon. She fired again and again until her clip was empty.

Lopez lay unmoving on the ground. Maybe guns did work on demons? Could he have been trying to trick me so I wouldn’t shoot him? It certainly worked. I could have kicked myself for being so gullible.

Angie looked over at me with a concerned face. It was disconcerting to see an undead with so much facial expression. “You okay?”

I nodded. “I’ll live.”

“Sam’s on the?”

Angie’s sentence was cut short as Lopez shot up in one movement and sliced her gun-holding hand clean off with a machete I had not noticed on him before. Perhaps it had been hidden underneath his shirt? His movement was so fast my eyes could not even track it, and Angie staggered back, screaming and looking at her injured arm.

I didn’t know what would happen if Lopez decapitated the body while Angie was still inside it, but I wasn’t risking it either. “Angie, get out of the body!” I shouted. I then turned to my undead friend. “Kill him!”

Lopez, whose back was to me, swiped his machete across Angie in a blur of movement. In one blink, the head of the undead fell to the ground. The body falling after.

My heart stopped. Waiting for Angie to reappear by my side, I twirled around, expecting her to be there.

Nothing.

“Angie?” I said weakly. Still no response.

Had she still been in the body? I felt sick, the pit of my stomach dropping. If she was still in there, it was possible her soul would leave the realm. The one thing I did know was that the undead were not tied to souls. As much as I had wished for her to ascend, this was not the way I envisioned it. I hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye. I refused to accept this as the end. She had been my best friend in life and even after. I wasn’t ready nor prepared to let her go.

Anger burned inside of me. I needed my gun. As I bent over to retrieve it, I heard an ear-splitting scream. Looking up, gun now in hand, I was horrified to see my other undead biting Lopez in the face. It was like something out of a horror movie. The undead pulled back, yanking out one of Lopez’s eyes in the process, which he then proceeded to eat. I wanted to vomit, but I had more important things to do.

Lopez covered the bloody socket with a hand as he waved his machete in front of him, slicing into the undead. Not wanting to lose another opportunity, I shot him several times until I finally hit what I was aiming for. His other eye.

Lopez screamed in rage, lowered his machete, and fell to the side. Bullets might not have killed him, but they maimed him.

“You blinded him. Good. That asshole,” Angie stated, appearing beside me.

I jumped, almost shooting my gun at her, not that there were any bullets left. Sighing in relief, I lowered my gun. “I thought you were gone.”

She shook her head, giving me a satisfied smile. “Oh, no. When he chopped my hand off, I freaked out and disappeared into ghost purgatory. He is so lucky I can’t feel pain.”

I nodded slowly, looking back at Lopez, flailing his arms in front of him as if hoping to grab someone or something. He’d have no such luck. I wondered if demons could regrow eyes. The two undeads were now both beheaded and, hopefully, gone on to glory if their ghosts inhabited them. When I said I’d help them cross over, putting them in their corpse and then having them get beheaded was not what I had in mind. Hopefully, they weren’t one of the ghosts.

Angie placed her hands on her hips. “So, what are we going to do about demon dude?”

As if knowing we were talking about him, Lopez turned in our direction, jumped to his feet, and ran to us. I fired again, but nothing came out. Like I thought, I was out of bullets. I threw my gun at him before turning and running. I had no idea if he could sense me, being blind, or if his eyes could come back, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I ran as fast as my legs could, jumping over rocks and anything that could trip me. I refused to be that girl who tripped on air running from her pursuer.

A loud warrior’s cry came from behind me, and, against my better judgment, I turned slightly to see Sam jump in the air and drop kick Lopez in the back. The demon fell, face first, in the dirt, and Sam jumped on top of him. Taking his head between his hands, Sam twisted and the sickening crunch of Lopez’s neck cracking rang in the dark. Sam then tossed the head to the side, got up, and stomped on it several times until it was so smashed and misshapen I couldn’t tell it was a head anymore.

My stomach turned, but at least it was all over. I was not built for all this violence and gore.

“That was kind of gross and hot at the same time,” Angie stated. “What is wrong with me?”

“Many things, but we don’t have time to go over them all.” I then looked at Sam and frowned, sadness washing over me.

Sam had a large smile, looking like a little boy who had scored a home run. My eyes burned with building tears as I looked at his childlike grin. “Teamwork makes the dream work. You ladies did great.”

“Well, thanks for saving us!” Angie shouted. “I mean, we did most of it, but thanks for coming through in the last inning.”

Sam nodded, still pleased with himself. “We kicked their ass back there. I almost died a few times. Definitely going to need a healer. Most of the gang is dead or tied up. I think my brother got off easy from all the fighting. I’m going to rub it in his face.” He finally looked at me, losing his smile. “What’s wrong? We won! Your bond with Marcus is still there, right? I’ll go get him.”

I opened my mouth to tell him, but Angie spoke up first. “Why is there a blue aura around you?”

I sighed and pointed to the ground behind Sam, where his body lay.