"That would be the wisest course of action," I told him.

"I forgot how much fun we have together," Tracy said sarcastically.

"Yeah just a barrel of f.u.c.king laughs, let's go," I said, pushing through the scrub brush. We were parallel to Azile, but we couldn't keep up with their unenc.u.mbered movement, add to that we had to have a factor of stealth in our travels. "Next place we live is not going to have bushes," I said, p.i.s.sed off as I ripped through the barbs of another bush.

"Thorn or bullets?" BT asked, referring to how if we did not have cover we would be out in the open.

"Why are you spoiling my b.i.t.c.hing session?" I asked.

The further Azile and the trucker walked down the road the more men they encountered. I was running out of ideas, although I guess that's not entirely accurate, running out of ideas would imply that I had some in the first place. The duo had stopped and the big man was moving quickly towards them talking animatedly. We were able to get alongside as they had as of yet not moved away, although it was easy to see that Azile's ruse had come to an abrupt end.

"This sucks," I said as I slowly stood from my crouching position, rifle at the ready. We would be able to do some serious damage before they knew what hit them. I could feel Tracy and BT rise next to me, next thing I knew I was forcibly put back into a crouch with the vise-like grip of BT's hand on my arm.

"I feel sorry for your p.e.n.i.s," I told him, rubbing my arm after he let go.

Tracy and BT both looked at me. "What?" they asked.

"Nothing...sorry."

BT pointed down the road, my heart thudded in despair as I watched Eliza striding purposefully towards the burgeoning group with Azile at the center. The group parted quickly as Eliza stepped in, no one wanted to be that close to the devil, not even the ones that had struck a bargain with her. The slap and the resulting bright red spot on the side of Azile's face was easily visible from where we sat.

"How did you get him to find you?" Eliza asked coolly.

"I do not know what you are asking?" Azile said placing her hand to her sore face.

"That makes sense." I said aloud. I had been wondering how it had been possible, the chain of coincidences was entirely too great. I did find it funny though that I was willing to wipe all of that away and blame it on a spell cast by a witch. What a weird f.u.c.king world I was now living in.

"Are you a lunatic?" BT asked softly, not believing that I would say anything with Eliza that close.

"Probably," I told him, my feelings slightly bruised.

Tracy gave me the stink eye, meaning that if I spoke again, she was going to twist my ear off my head.

"It matters little what you say you don't know. You have accomplished what I needed anyway," Eliza said as she looked around her. "Michael, I can 'feel' you...muted somewhat, but I can feel you. If you do not come out now, I will rip out the throat of this pretty little thing that you risked your life to save. Making your actions all for naught." Eliza placed her hand around the front part of Azile's neck.

"Mike?" Tracy started.

"You know I have to. Eliza is not one for threats."

"s.h.i.t, let's do this," BT said as he stood up with me and Tracy.

"Oh look," Eliza said as she pushed Azile away. "It appears that the prodigal b.a.s.t.a.r.d has returned. Come out here and take off whatever that is on your head."

I did as she told me and nearly shattered my knee caps as I fell to the ground. Luckily for me I was still on the gra.s.s of the shoulder. Eliza was ripping though my mind like a seven-year-old spoiled brat high on Red Bull through a Toys R Us. She was pulling thoughts off the shelves and letting them cascade to the ground, not caring the damage she was wreaking.

"You dared to defy me?" Eliza asked coolly.

Mike didn't even have the mental capacity to reply, especially with any sort of wit.

"You're killing him!" Tracy screamed as blood was running from Mike's nose.

"Not yet, but soon," Eliza said releasing her psychic grip upon Mike's psyche.

"How could you let this happen?" Tracy asked of Tomas, who looked away.

"Excellent," Eliza said as BT emerged from the woods. "With the three of you destroyed, the rest will capitulate quickly."

"I think you overestimate our importance," Mike said with his head hanging down. "And underestimate theirs." He got up slowly, a river of red still flowing freely from him.

"I'm sorry, Michael," Tomas said.

Mike looked over at him, still not able to reconcile who stood before him as the boy Tommy he had known.

"Will your apology allow you to sleep at night?" BT asked.

"I do not sleep anymore," Tomas said honestly.

"Good, I hope it's torture for you," Tracy said. "We should have left you up on the WalMart roof to die."

Tomas flinched as if the words had been a physical ent.i.ty hurled at him.

"Come here, Michael." Eliza said. "I had thought that I would like to stretch out your pain and misery longer, but now that you stand before me I only want your death which has eluded me for far too long."

Instead of running like his head wanted him too, Mike's legs betrayed him and brought him forward into the clutches of Eliza.

"NO!" Tracy screamed as she and BT rushed forward.

"NO!" Gary yelled as he stepped back.

The lag bolts sunk into the cement were moving as the heavy zombies repeatedly attacked the door.

"How is that possible?" Gary asked as he grabbed an aluminum chair and placed it up against the door as a prop.

"Force plus ma.s.s," Mad Jack said as he was thinking of how to delay the zombies, halting them at this point was an exercise in futility.

The best he could come up with on short notice and even shorter supplies was to wedge some two by fours against the door and the lolly column a few feet away.

Gary had put a couch parallel to the door and was laying magazines across it so he would have easy access.

"When you start to hear the support beams cracking you won't have much more than thirty seconds to get back to the shelter. You understand?" Mad Jack asked as he hurriedly went upstairs to tell Ron the status.

"Beams start to crack, thirty seconds to let everyone get back to the shelter. Got it," Gary said, making a clicking sound out of the side of his mouth.

Tony came down next followed by Justin and Travis. They wordlessly took up spots behind the couch as the booming of the zombies became louder; perhaps realizing that a viable food source was near.

"Any room for me?" Ron asked as he got to the bottom step.

Gary scooted over.

"Five Talbots ought to be able to do it," Ron said as a lag bolt tinkled to the ground. There was one more round of magazine checks and making sure the weapons were off safe.

"I'll stop the world and melt with you..." Gary began to sing. "What?" he asked as Ron looked at him severely.

"Nothing, just wasn't ready for cheesy 80's songs," Ron replied.

"Cheesy 80's song!" Gary said aghast. "That's a cla.s.sic!" He began anew. "You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time."

"Getting better all the time," Travis mumbled. The second lag bolt on the support bracket tore free. The door was groaning-the two-by-fours were creaking.

"This might be important, but Mad Jack said that once the boards start to crack, you have thirty seconds to evacuate and get back to the shelter," Gary told the group.

"You?" Ron asked.

Gary shrugged, the two-by-fours were beginning to bend under the strain, and light was spilling all around the door as the seal was broken.

"For honor, for freedom, and most importantly...for family," Tony said as he rested the barrel of his rifle on the back of the couch.

The two-by-fours blew apart, the heavy cellar door slammed against the wall. A bulker that seemed surprised it had made it through took a step towards the rifles and came face to face with oblivion, the heavy metal helmet proving incompetent as the bullets entered its face and went into the brain cavity destroying the nerve center of the beast. He was pushed to the side; even as he thudded to the ground another took his place. Travis' next shot pushed the zombie's head back as the bullet struck the metal plating, it locked eye contact on the one that dared shoot at him and began its fifteen foot traversal, Tony's shot caught the zombie on the bridge of the nose, the cartilage erupted; white, wet, soft material sprayed against the far wall.

The light was blotted out every time a bulker entered the bas.e.m.e.nt, as effectual as an eclipse. They grunted and groaned as they pushed through each almost wedging its enormous size in the doorframe. Rifle smoke filled the room quickly that and the blotted out light made finding targets difficult.

"Dad, we need to pull back!" Ron shouted.

"There is no 'pull back' its retreat from here, and we can't leave them out there," Tony said calmly to his son. "Get my grandsons to safety," Tony added with a resigned sigh. The bulkers had halved the distance to the couch.

"Dad?" Ron asked.

"Do it!" Tony uncharacteristically yelled. He said it as he fumbled in his jacket pocket, pulling out two grenades that Mike had brought back.

"What are you going to do with those?" Ron asked.

"What do you think? Get your brother and my grandsons to safety."

Rifle shots were now a continuous volley as aiming was not necessary. The cement rumbled from the weight of the bulkers as they pushed ever forward.

Even Ron had to admit the bas.e.m.e.nt was lost, the next line of fallen bulkers would hit the couch and drive them into the wall where they would be pinned and helpless.

"Let's go!" Ron shouted, tapping Travis, Justin, and Gary.

"Pops?" Travis asked after they had traveled a few feet away and he realized his grandfather wasn't with them.

"Holding the line!" Ron told him as he urged his nephew on. A tear fell onto the floor.

The four had just rounded the corner and where within a few feet of Mad Jack who was urging them on when they lost their footing. The floor jumped up to meet them and all went silent as a giant explosion ripped through the house bringing some of it down upon itself.

Mike stood no more than a foot from Eliza, no more able to control his movements than he had been that fateful night so many months before when she had given him the kiss of death. For that is what it had truly been, everything else that had happened had merely been in preparation for this moment. Tracy was held back by one of the truckers as she tried to get to his side. BT had a small a.r.s.enal of weaponry pointed at him, no one dared leave him to his own devices.

"I do not know why this moment has eluded me. You are not supernatural...there is nothing extraordinary about you. You are merely flesh and bone, weak like all men. I do not see your G.o.d rushing in to help you. You are abandoned, and alone."

"f.u.c.k you," Mike spat out, struggling to have at least that small victory as she held him tight within her mental grasp.

Kong watched fascinated, he knew that he would have been begging for her mercy were he in Michael's shoes, yet the man still fought. He hoped Mike's demise would be swift, but did not hold much stock on that a.s.sumption, Eliza held no ability for compa.s.sion.

"Would you rather I kill your pretty little wife before I dispose of you?" Eliza asked.

Mike was shaking with impotent rage. Eliza had his jaw clamped shut so that even a cutting remark could not be issued.

Kong almost made the fatal mistake of helping. The moment was beyond tense as three lives hung in the balance. Mike, with his arms pinned against his sides and his fists balled up, was still somehow able to unfurl his middle finger. It was pointing downwards, but the message was not lost on Eliza.

"Is that for me? Let me get a closer look." Eliza said as she wrapped a small hand around Mike's neck. She picked him up as if he were no more than doll. Mike's legs began to buck as she cut off his air flow.

"Stop!" Tracy screamed, trying desperately to get through the guards.

"Your turn is coming, do not be in such a rush," Eliza said, turning a cruel smile Tracy's way. "Although I may allow my men a little fun first."

BT punched the guard nearest him in the temple. The man fell to his knees, BT pushed past the other two that had been watching Eliza between leers at Tracy. BT rushed at Eliza, she saw him coming and gripped tighter on Michael's neck in preparation for the attack. As BT came at her, Eliza let loose a back hand that sent the man sprawling, his legs lifted off the ground from the force of the blow. He struck the ground in a non-moving heap.

Michael's vision was tunneling, his legs twitching violently in their death throes, his knee struck against Eliza's chest a small tinkle as if a wine gla.s.s shattered could be heard over the din. Two spirits seemed to pull away from Eliza as she shrieked in horror.

One was her twin in looks only, not countenance; the other was a Native America Shaman. He gained stature as he stood tall. Eliza backed up, still holding Michael by the throat using him as a shield to keep the doppelganger away. The shaman took in the scene around him, his eyes finally resting on the surprised face of Azile, who was still on the ground. He took his old gnarled hands and meshed them together. At first Azile did not understand his message, then it dawned on her.

The truck drivers had moved back as the event unfolded.

Azile stood. "I bind you, lost soul, to the one that has forsaken you."

Eliza's head whipped around. "NO!" she screamed. "Kill her!"

Azile looked around and quickly repeated her words. "I bind you, lost soul, to the one that has forsaken you."

"Kong, kill her!" Eliza yelled, even as her soul began to merge within her.

One of Kong's men raced towards Azile, a club raised high, Kong who had been momentarily stunned by the events came out of his daze and shot the man in the chest, the club clattered to the ground as he shouted.

"Anyone else approaches and I'll kill them too!"

The shaman repeated the hand clasping gesture to Azile.

"I bind you, lost soul, to the one that has forsaken you!" Azile screamed.

Mike fell to the ground as the force and shock of the spell took hold within Eliza.

"She's mortal?" Tracy asked, never looking around to gather an answer.