Wake of the Dead | One

Chapter thirty-one

"What's the plan?" Tom finally asked, his voice a hushed whisper. "I've come up where to put my own people. Casimir, Samantha and Jackson will follow Killian to take on the biggest of the hoard after we take out some from a distance. The other half of us will split and watch their backs from the right and left."

Renier knit his brows together, crossing his arms. Killian couldn't help but notice how tense everybody had gotten the moment they caught sight of those horrid, razor-sharp claws on Renier's gloves. The younger man hadn't brought anything else with him. His people didn't seem so worried, but Killian wasn't completely sure he would be okay. But if Jackson was confident in his leader, Killian knew he should be too. His cousin had seen a lot more of what Renier was capable of than he had. 

After what felt like forever of waiting in suspense Renier said, "That could work. Watch each other's backs, stick to the plan. If something goes wrong...well, figure it out." With that very uninspiring speech, the group began to move out. Killian continued with Jackson, Casimir and Samantha to the largest of the hoard, huddled around close to the front of the clothing store. Casimir had decided to use his shotgun instead of his bow, cocking it and taking the first shot. Immediately, chaos erupted. 

Swallowing back the sudden terror overwhelming him as at least a dozen biters whipped around to glare at them with their dead eyes, Killian raised his crossbow and took a few steps back. "Clear out of the way, I need a good shot!" He yelled, a snarl wrinkling his nose. Samantha and Jackson had brought their melee weapons. Jackson with an axe, Samantha with a bat. Jackson took a swing at one of the biters, decapitating it. A disgusted bile raised up into Killian's throat, but he swallowed it down. Biters snarled all around them, a collective howl of anger and, of course, hunger. 

Casimir took a step back beside Killian, glaring at him from the side. The recoil was so loud that Killian's ears almost popped, and it was definitely jolting to say the least. A biter's head a few yard ahead of them blew off, dropping dead to the ground. Killian quickly loaded an arrow into his crossbow and aimed, "Jackson, move your ass!" Jackson ducked, and Killian took out a biter that was heading right towards him. Six biters crowded around Jackson and Samantha, while three were headed towards Killian and Casimir. 

"Duck," Jackson snarled. Samantha did as he said, and Jackson swung his axe into the side of a biters head, while Samantha broke another biter's knees. Suddenly, a heavy forced tackled Killian down to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He barely put his hands up in time to shove a biters frantically snapping face away, narrowly avoiding being bitten. It was much larger than him, much stronger. He thrusted one hand under its chin around its throat, trying to stop it. The creature turned its head, opening its jaws wide to take a chunk out of his arm. 

Struggling desperately, Killian shoved his foot into the biter's stomach, sending it stumbling to the side. He grabbed a knife from his belt, jamming it into the biter's face. The knife didn't go in deep enough, but Killian had something to push back with at least. Clenching his teeth, his muscles screamed with effort as he tried to push the creature away. It was fast, scarily fast. "Casimir, help me!" Killian gasped. His eyes met Casimir's, but the other man didn't move. He just stared. "Help me, damnit!" Killian yelled again, more desperate this time. A sickening look of superiority fluttered across Casimir's face, and with a sinking stomach, Killian watched him turn away. 

The biter was pinning him down, snapping still. Suddenly, something tackled it to the side off of Killian. Razor-sharp claws glinted in the sunlight as Renier stood face-to-face with it. The biter let out a loud, ear-splitting shriek and leapt towards the younger man, to duck-and-rolled to the side and back onto his heels. The biter sprang at him, and Renier...leapt towards it. What the hell was he doing? But Killian watched in awe as Renier lashed his claws across the biter's face, breaking its lower jaw. The creature stumbled, its nose wrinkling with rage. Renier grabbed it by the jaw hanging off of its face, and jammed the metal claws into its eye socket. The monster dropped to a heap on the ground, and Renier stood, panting softly. 

After the initial shock of his rescue, Killian scrambled up onto his feet and grabbed his crossbow off of the ground. Renier rushed off without another word. Jackson let out a loud grunt nearby, and Killian turned to see him swinging his axe down on a biter's face, splitting it down the middle. He kicked the biter away with his foot, breathing heavy. A goofy grin spread across his lips, "Hey cousin, funny seeing you here." 

"Duck, idiot." Killian said bluntly, aiming for a biter creeping up behind his cousin. Jackson did as he said, and Killian let the arrow fly into its forehead. The creature dropped dead, and in a matter of minutes, the rest of the lot was cleared out. Jackson lifted his axe, nose wrinkling with disgust at all of the gore left on the blade. 

Everybody was counting to see if anybody was missing, but Killian widened his eyes as he saw a familiar face laying on the ground not too far away. "Dominick!" Hiking his crossbow over his shoulder, Killian ran over and dropped to his knees, his heart sinking as he saw a pool of blood gathering beneath Dominick's head. A large chunk of his neck had been bitten out, rather gruesomely. The flesh was mangled, shredded. Another bite was on the young man's arm. His eyes were sightless, dead. "Dominick," Killian's voice cracked as he shook his friend's shoulder. "Come on, get up." 

Killian's words rang hollow in his own ears, a hard lump balling up in his throat and making it hard to breathe. His eyes were wide, pulse racing. The only thing he heard was the blood roaring in his ears, his heartbeat and voices echoing around him. They were far, far away. Almost like he was at the end of a tunnel. This had to be a dream, right? A desperate scream broke through the silent air, and Killian hadn't noticed it was his own until his throat felt like it was being ripped to shreds and his heart shattered. "Dominick, you have to get up. We did it, we won. You have to come back," Hot tears welled up behind his eyes as a choked sob escaped his lips. "I promised I'd hunt with you." 

Jumping as a hand tried to pull him back, Killian shoved whoever--whatever it was--away from him. The corners of his vision was growing dark, no matter how hard he breathed he couldn't seem to get any oxygen. "Dominick!" Killian reached out to grab his friend--the only friend besides Jasper that he'd had--but somebody finally managed to jerk him away. It was a pair of strong, gentle hands he didn't recognize. He ripped away from them, stumbling back to see that it had been Tom that reached out for him. He felt cold, like all the life had been drained out of him. Dizzy, not being able to stand. It was his fault, it was all his fault. If he'd been with Dominick, he could have saved him. 

That's when he heard it, the sound of a shotgun being reloaded. "No, no!" Somebody wrapped their arms around him to hold him back, covering his eyes and turned him around. "No, stop! Don't kill him!" Thrashing against Tom, Killian fell to the ground just as a gunshot rang through the parking lot. A sharp, high-pitched buzzing sound deafened his ears. All he could see was Dominick's face, the bite on his neck, the blood. The bodies around him; everything was wrong. This couldn't be real, none of it could be real. Shaking, Killian felt his arms grow weak, and everything else became a blur. But the last thing he remembered was the cold, almost sadistic glint in Casimir's eyes as he stared down at Dominick's body.