Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ORION
Once I was finally out in the sunshine, the cool air blissful in my lungs, a group of speedies spoiled my joy.
Assbugs!
Ten of them, evolved versions, crying that word.
“Eat!”
“Hell yeah!” Trev roared, rugby tackling two zombies at a time.
“What is he doing?” Paige said, high-kicking a zombie in the chin. The man’s remaining teeth exploded out of his mouth.
I dodged a speedie’s grab, spinning to hit it in the neck with my axe.
Not a clean cut.
I brought out a screwdriver, sticking it in the eye five times to make sure it went down for good.
Between us, we cleared the ten zombies easily, though rather messily, all of us covered in gore. Especially Trev. Blood and brain matter ran down his face beside his big grin.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I feel awesome, mate. That blew away some cobwebs.” He cracked his knuckles.
“Here.” Paige handed him a Snoopy handkerchief.
“Oh my goodness,” I said. “Where did you get that?”
The pack’s medic loved all things Peanuts. “Found it about two months ago. Cute, right?” She wiped the troll’s face. “My poor baby.”
“Are you talking to me?” Trev responded with pure delight.
“No.”
“Sorry. I’ll find you a new handkerchief.”
“Damn right you will.” She finished, jutting out her bottom lip.
Trev put his big purple arm around her. “I promise.”
Paige rolled her eyes but smiled. It was sweet to see them like this, the pair of them smitten from the moment they’d met.
“Maybe we’ll find some hot water and that thingy with ridges,” I said.
Trev cocked his head. “Ridges, mate?”
“Do you mean a washboard?” Paige said.
I clicked my fingers. “That’s it.”
She stepped forward to ruffle my hair.
Ouch! Talk about rough.
“You really are a sweetie.”
My forehead creased while I ran my fingers through my hair. “Please don’t do that.”
“Sorry, sweetie. It’s nice hair to ruffle up.”
I smiled, not actually offended. “I’ll take the compliment.”
“You should. Mine’s like straw. You’re one lucky guy.”
Trev nodded. “People would kill for that shade of red.”
“They would?”
“Yeah, mate. That’s one of those uber shades.”
I arched a brow at him. “Why are you praising me so much?”
They looked at each other.
Paige bit her lip. “We were being discreet to spare you the panic.”
“I think he’ll panic,” Trev said.
She nodded.
Now I started to panic. “What is it?”
“I tried getting it out,” Paige said. “Obviously, it didn’t work. What was I thinking?”
Trev shook his head.
I lifted my hands. “What’s in my hair?”
“Don’t quite know how it got there, mate,” Trev answered. “Baby wipe might help.”
“I’ll get one.” Paige opened her rucksack.
“What…” I reached up, touching something sticky.
“Bird shit,” Trev confirmed.
My fingers came back white. “Oh.”
“Oh? That’s it?”
“What did you think I’d say?”
The troll shrugged. “I expected more of a scene.”
“Why? It’s not the worst thing I’ve had in my hair.”
“Oh.”
“Now the ‘oh’ is on the other foot.”
Paige opened the baby wipes. “Want me to clean it?”
“If you don’t mind.”
She cleaned me up, taking her time with each strand.
“No need to be so disappointed,” I said.
“This is just an unexpected outcome. A good one. We don’t want to see you run around in a flap.”
“You won’t. Not nowadays. The past me might have, but not this fae.”
“Good to know, sweetie.”
Bird poop in my hair wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun time. Especially when I stank already, my skin a blanket of grime. But there were worse things in this world. Much worse. Like iron chains and death by teeth, seeing survivors torn to shreds before my eyes, or even zombie vomit in my hair.
Stars. What a horrendous morning that had been.
I had been running during the sunrise of a hot day, the temperature already brutal from a seven-day heatwave.
After escaping the jaws of three speedies, I had ended up taking a pause in some dank corner of the city behind a restaurant, abandoned meat and vegetables rotting around me, along with true dead bodies, flies swarming everywhere.
Not the best place to recharge, but a quiet spot.
Or so I’d thought.
A slowie decided to wander out of the restaurant’s back door, me not noticing until it loomed over me, its mouth wide open.
Before I could move, it spewed a torrent of rotten gore into my face.
As thick as molasses, it took five days to get it out of my hair after a week of rain finally fell on London.
The memory of the stench still made my guts hurt.
Bird poop did not compare in the grander scheme of things.
“Anyway, some fae believe it’s a lucky sign,” I said.
“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” Trev responded. “Must be a balance thing. Unlucky to get shat on, therefore giving you a dose of luck from thereon out.”
“Yes. I think that’s it.”
“If we’re done with the poo talk,” Miko interjected, “let’s keep going.” He gave my head a curious look.
“Poop-free,” I responded.
“He is,” Paige added.
Miko turned away and led the party into a high street filled with vehicles and bones—the usual debris. A high concentration of weeds cracked the concrete sidewalks and the asphalt roads. And many buildings were strangled with ivy, covered in moss.
The high street of this Hertfordshire town was one arm of many parts, streets branching off in various directions around a main hub area with a library, post office, and bandstand.
“Not many biters here,” James said.
A few slowies, no speedies. More actual corpses than walking ones.
Miko stopped outside a bicycle shop, turning to us. “What do you think?”
“A good idea, sir,” James answered. “Bikes were useless back in London, but we might have better luck out here. Whoa! Look at that hat!”
From a sports shop next door, its window completely caved in, James retrieved a white cap covered in gold stars. He switched his current cap, striking a pose.
“Gorgeous.” Cate clapped gently.
“Those gold stars really pop in the sunlight,” Paige added.
“Looks wonderful,” I said.
“Bikes.” Miko’s one word rippled through all of us. A deep, firm command to get our feet moving.
I scratched my palm, hesitating at the threshold to the shop.
“What’s wrong?” Miko asked.
A slowie appeared from behind the cash counter, moaning hungrily.
“Allow me,” Trev said, making short work of the zombie.
“Thank God he kept his face clear of goop this time,” Paige muttered.
“I can’t ride a bicycle,” I replied to Miko.
“Okay. Don’t worry. See that one over there?” He aimed his torch into the dusty corner of the dark shop to reveal a two-seater bicycle. “That’s ours.”
“Really? Can you manage that?”
He folded his arms. “Can I manage what?”
Why did I feel like I’d slapped his face? “Peddling with me.”
“As easy as riding a bike.”
I glowered at the fool. “As hilarious as always.”
Miko winked and went to fetch the bicycle.
Basil wheeled a bicycle past me, saying, “You have missed out on some wonderful rides through the Emerald Mounds by being so stubborn.”
I ignored him. Whenever I visited Faery’s stunning green hills five miles inland from my beach hut, it was for picnics and quiet time. Certainly not for working up a sweat peddling up some of the steepest inclines in the realm.
No. No. No.
I’d rather ride with Miko anyway. Be close to him, have my hands on him once again.
“This one should be sturdy enough for me,” Trev said, wheeling out the biggest bicycle in the store. “I love me some sturdy steel for my troll arse.”
I chuckled, following Miko back outside a few seconds later.
“Climb on,” he said, throwing a leg over the bicycle.
I mirrored his position, legs on either side of the frame.
“Okay back there?”
I pressed my bum into the narrow part of the seat. “Yes.”
Miko checked the map, tracing a finger north. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
After an awkward stop and start through the rest of the town, we finally made it to some clear country lanes, really letting the bicycles stretch their wheels.
The weather remained glorious, the wind wonderful in my hair.
I held onto Miko, enjoying every single moment of this ride.
He cycled up and down hills, passing the odd vehicle and slowie.
When he went downhill, I smiled. I loved the sense of freedom, the speed, and the rolling English fields and hills were a treat for my eyes.
They reminded me a little of home, of Faery’s countryside I used to explore as a child. Running free without any concerns other than picking flowers, crossing rivers with steppingstones, and chasing butterflies in lavender meadows.
An uncomplicated time.
My eyes grew hot, tears threatening to break free. I kept them at bay, suppressing my pining for home.
I would go back one day, but with a living Miko.
Even though we were now heading closer to Dunstable, a loophole waited out in this idyllic scenery to be discovered. Possibly to do with my fae blood.
A twist to save the alpha.
And then, with Dawn over, the Faery gates would open once again and I’d take him to meet my parents.
Papa’s greeting would be warmer than Mama’s at first. My mama wasn’t exactly enamored with me being gay, but after meeting Miko, I think we’d see a change in her attitude.
She’d see a strong man, someone to take care of her son.
I hoped. I wanted to repair our relationship, get my best friend back. Stop this painful rejection that tore at my insides. Show her that love was always love, no matter what.
Miko took another hill, passing a rotating windmill. There were dead animals in the fields around it, a couple of slowies lumbering around. Still no sign of speedies, Lance, or any blood magi.
This wasn’t the luck of the bird poop.
Or was it?
Maybe my sense of unease was misplaced. Maybe things were easing up.
Absolute rubbish!
As the afternoon light gave way to approaching twilight, the sky awash with pretty colors, we paused by a heavily fortified house.
Metal panels covered the windows and doors of the detached building. An overgrown garden almost reached my height, and a strange hum came from within the house. Kind of like bees or wasps.
Strange.
The wolves all sniffed the air.
“A lot of biters inside,” James said. “Too many.”
“And a werewolf,” Miko added.
“You got that right, brother.” A man appeared on the patched-up roof, as if from thin air. A thin wisp of gray hair crept across his otherwise bald, pale head. He wore ripped green cargo pants and a dirty white jacket stained with blood.
There was something in his right hand I couldn’t make out.
“Hold the bike,” Miko said to me. He walked closer to the house, pausing at the closed garden gate. “What’s your name?”
The man took a few beats to answer. “Alpha, eh? Ain’t seen one of your ilk in ages.
Last one was Esther Warhol. Went to a book signing cos I always admired her brain as well as her face, you know?
Amazing woman. She died leading a charge against a horde in Leeds.
I got away, came down here trying to get home to Southend. Ended up in this shit hole.”
Apocalypse additions aside, this was a better place to be than London.
“She was a great alpha,” Miko answered. “I worked with her a few times.”
“Richie Chase,” the werewolf said. “Of the Theroux Pack.”
“My condolences over the loss of James Theroux,” Miko said.
“Yeah. Cheers. Miss that bloke.”
“A great man.”
Every wolf dipped their head in respect.
The rest of us echoed the sentiment.
What was that thing in Richie’s hand? It wasn’t a gun, I knew that much.
“Miko Reyes. Alpha of—”
“Know who you are, sir. Alpha of the Reyes Pack. It’s an honor.” He saluted Miko with his free hand.
My mate folded his arms. “What’s going on here?”
“Walkers trapped like fucking rats.”
That was the first time I’d heard zombies called walkers.
I didn’t like the energy Richie projected. Something was seriously wrong here. I laid the bicycle down, taking a step forward.
James stopped me, gently taking me by the arm. “Stay there.”
“Is that a fae?” Richie’s eyes found me. “Interesting. Thought you’d have better sense to get out of this world.” He clocked Basil. “Both of you.”
I kept my mouth closed, my focus on Miko.
“Why don’t you come down and talk?” Miko suggested.
“Nah. Good up here. This is where I wanna be when it all goes down.”
“When what goes down?”
Richie let out a long breath. “This world is fucked, as you know, judging by the state of you. There’s no point to anything anymore.
Friends, lovers, family, they all mean shit now.
They all find their way between the teeth of these bastards at some point.
” He stamped a foot on the roof tiles. “I’ve lost so much.
It hurts so bad. So fucking bad. I can’t go on anymore.
I’m exhausted, worn down to the bare bones. There’s nothing left for me.”
Miko took another step forward. “You can join us.”
“Why? Because I’m a wolf?”
“Yeah. What do you say?”
“Nah. I’m good, sir. I can see you’re all fighting to survive still. Good for you. After two years of this shit, I can’t get perky for life anymore. Sorry to piss on your evening, but you stopped to talk.”
“What’s in your hand?” Miko asked.
“This?” Richie held up a square device resembling a small radio. “Detonator, sir. House is stuffed with walkers and explosives. See, I’m going out with a bang. Taking some of these with me to do my part. The fewer walkers, the better.”
Miko stepped back. “You can’t do that.”
“Think you’ll find I can, sir. And will. Been busy planning this finale, and you ain’t shutting this party down. Want a quick exit? Come join me. If not, I suggest you ride away. Boom time in thirty seconds.”
Oh. My. Stars.
Miko reacted quickly, leading a frenetic ride away from the house.
“Goodbye, shit hole!” Richie roared.
At first, I thought his explosives had failed. A soft pop came from behind me, nothing more than that.
But then the boom tore through the air, pounding in my ears, a powerful ripple of kinetic force flinging me from the back of the bike.