Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness Ch.27
Title: Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness
By: Pink Rabbit Productions
Chapter: 27
Date: 5 October, 2010
Rating: R (for sex and violence)
Disclaimer: Hmmm, characters, not mine, situation, mine, though with the proviso that certain scenarios owe a major debt of gratitude to George Romero. Sex? Likely. Genders involved? Likely all female (at least anything on camera). Also there are likely to be very bad things in this story. I'm not one for prodigious amounts of gore, but this is horror and there is likely to be ickiness and things that might disturb some folks. Seriously. If it's gonna bother you, move along.
Summary: When the dead rise, civilization falls.
Author's Notes: Awhile back, just for fun, I did a faux movie poster that set Otalia in a horror setting and used some elements from an idea I've had running around for ages (what can I say---it was the Halloween season). See the poster here: http://altfic.com/artgallery/otalia/glafterworld01b.htm . Sooo, at some point, it seemed like fun to take a gander at writing them in that universe. I've quite deliberately tried to break away from my usual style and make it a bit faster moving, with frequent chapter breaks, deliberate cliffhangers, shorter scenes and more directed pov. We'll see if I can keep to one pov per chapter (well, they are short chapters...lol).
Dedicated to: My mom. Seriously. All of my growing up years, she would constantly throw me these what-if scenarios and press me to figure out logical ways to survive/get out of various emergency situations. Now, she never mentioned the zombie apocalypse, but I'm sure that was just an oversight or a desire not to scare a little kid (because, really, I grew up as the daughter of a top secret type during the cold war...I already had enough fear issues), but really, that odd little game was the genesis of...well...not just this story, but a lot of my love of writing. So, thanks mom.
Previous Chapters: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 |
Afterworld:
Into the Arms of Darkness
Chapter 27
"Mommy, please...we need you..."
Olivia's eyes snapped open as the words somehow penetrated her consciousness...or rather, her unconsciousness.
The first thing she saw was Emma's frightened features looming over her. She was talking fast, her small mouth moving, but the words sounded garbled and incomprehensible.
For just a moment, she wanted to scream at her daughter to let her die in peace. Jesus, didn't she deserve at least that much?
And then she processed the rest of what Emma had said.
Ava's daddy.
Fuck!
Gasping for air, she snapped her eyes open when they threatened to slide shut again, focusing on Emma with effort. Despite her best intention, her nose twitched and the demons whispered in her ear as a scent reminiscent of a good steak on a hot grill made her mouth water and her stomach growl.
Emma leaned closer, pulling on her shirt with desperate strength.
And Olivia realized what it was she was smelling.
Her own daughter.
AKA fresh meat, the demons whispered between giggles.
She almost screamed in terror, but Emma was speaking quickly, her tone frantic enough to override even the demons.
"...'n' Natalia's down there, but she doesn't know the bad men are there...'n' I think they've got her."
Pushing off all the voices and hungers and urges, Olivia fought to assemble a mental picture of the situation. Her daughter's new guardian was down there-where she'd sent her-either about to become or already a prisoner of a group of men who would break her to find out where Olivia and Emma were, and then break her for fun and entertainment. And when they were done, they'd throw her to the dead for one last laugh.
What a lovely thought, the dapper demon mused, make sure you're first in line. He sniffed at the palpable fresh meat odor coming off of Emma. Though the veal is certainly tempting if you need a snack beforehand.
Mentally shoving him aside, Olivia dragged in another lungful of air, willing away the death clinging at the edges of her vision. Maybe she couldn't avoid the worst, but she could sure as hell delay it as long as possible. The woman who was her daughter's only chance at life was going to die and men who were far more monstrous than anything dead would get their hands on her child if she didn't get the fuck up and stay alive long enough to kill every last one of them. "Emma," she hissed through gritted teeth. "There's a small knife on the nightstand...cut my wrists loose."
The knife was sharp, but small hands weren't strong enough to do the job quickly. Olivia twisted her hand, careless of the stress the angle put on her already scratched up wrists and grabbed the knife from Emma. A quick slash and her hands were free and she was pushing upright, body feeling strangely uncoordinated, like it wasn't quite her own. She expected pain and stiffness, but instead there were only the alien quivers, like an eye twitch that encompassed her entire body. She sliced the plastic ties around her ankles in a couple of quick strokes and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
Emma stood back, silently watching, her eyes so scared, probably sensing something alien had taken up residence in her mother.
Baby girl is right to be scared, the demons taunted. Walking around smelling like a big ole steak like that...somebody's gonna have to take a bite. And Mommy does know best.
"Emma." She spoke sharply, her voice deeper than normal and ragged. "Where did you see them?"
Emma flinched, but answered quickly. "They were in the woods...behind the SUV...and she was running that way."
Olivia managed a jerky nod as she tried not to think about the fact that her kid was scared of her. The demons gloried in the fear while the human part of her wanted to curl up and die. But it was the mother that gritted her teeth, ratcheted up her concentration and ignored the voices to focus on a plan. She could die of misery, or infection, or whatever the fuck got her first later. Right now, she needed to get down to the ground and using the stairs was out of the question. That would leave Emma with too little protection.
She quickly spotted what she needed under the window. Thankfully, the denizens of Springfield were as dull and reliable as ever.
Fire ladder.
She half expected her strength to fail when she moved to stand, but her legs worked just fine, twitches and all. "Need a weapon," she panted, trying to think of something. She didn't know where her handguns were, and besides, they were probably empty even if she could find them. She started tearing the room apart, hunting for something she could use.
She was still hunting when Emma disappeared out the door.
Olivia saw her go, but tried to ignore it. Probably running in sheer terror. Her baby was terrified of her. She checked the urge to chase after and bit back on the salivatory hunger.
Just as well, the demons pointed out, it's much more fun when they run.
The problem was, without Emma there to pull it back up, she was just going to have to do it without the ladder. Couldn't risk having that out there, nosiree. Even the demons couldn't argue with the logic, though they sniggered at her motives. Oh well, pain seemed to be a thing of the past, and she'd seen the dead keep moving on broken limbs plenty of times. She was gonna have to jump for it. She was about to throw a leg over the windowsill when Emma reappeared.
Her daughter thrust something silver and about eight inches long at her. "I knew where Natalia put the bag with your stuff in it," she said by way of explanation.
Bali song. Martial arts movies had loved them for the show one could put on flipping the folding handles around. She liked the eight-inch blade; razor sharp, carbon steel, good for slashing or stabbing. She stuck it in the pocket of her sweats, then grabbed for the ladder and threw it over the side.
"When I'm down," she told Emma, her tone sharp and brisk, "you pull the ladder up, then you get every weapon left upstairs and you lock yourself into the other bedroom-"
"But Mom-"
"Don't question me!" Olivia snarled, her voice sounding hard and bitter even to her own ears, like the bitch she'd been to plenty of people, but never Emma.
Never ever Emma.
She saw her daughter shrink back and felt her heart shrivel and threaten to die. "I'm sorry, baby...I just..." She stumbled to a verbal halt and reached out, fingertips barely touching auburn hair.
The demons suggested how easy it would be to claw her fingers into the silky strands and drag Emma's head back and then...
She wouldn't even fight, and okay, so that wasn't nearly as much fun, but it would be quick, they promised, painless. She could still be a good mother and have what she wanted that way. After all, no child deserved to live in a world like this. It would be a kindness.
Olivia stumbled back from her daughter with a soft cry. "Lock yourself in," she whispered raggedly, "and if anyone but Natalia comes for you, you shoot to kill-"
"But Mom---" Emma was crying, fat tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Anyone," Olivia ordered in a dead voice. She dropped the ladder, then turned back for the briefest second. "I love you...with all my heart. Remember what I said." A beat later, she was over and moving, her body feeling strange and unfamiliar, yet working amazingly well all the same. She hit the ground quickly, and glanced back up just long enough to see Emma pulling up the ladder.
Good girl.
Yeah, she'll be really good, a Reva-demon chuckled. Good and bloody and plenty tasty. Great. Her mother had apparently decided to take a vacation, but look who she'd left in her place. As if she needed more proof her mother had hated her.
"The fuck you say," Olivia shot back, feeling free to respond now that she was away from her daughter and didn't have to worry about Emma's last memories being of mommy losing her mind.
Oh, like you're going to be the one person in all of this to resist the siren's call, stay human, and not chow down on your loved ones? Gonna be the first person in nearly a year to just lie down and die and stay that way? Reva snorted mockingly. Because Olivia Spencer is so skilled at self control.
"Not gonna hurt them," Olivia panted as she set off at a trot. Her limbs flopped a little and the world swayed around her, but her bare feet didn't slow her-no pain, even on rough ground-and the myriad of cuts and bruises that marred her body from head to toe were almost completely forgotten.
You're hungry, Olivia, Reva taunted, and you've never resisted temptation in your life.
"Don't worry," Olivia snarled. "I've got the menu all planned out...main course of rapist...assorted other courses to follow...."
Reva rolled her eyes, but the rest of the demons shrugged. They were amenable...
* * * * * *
Dark Water. Not some delusional hallucination, but rather a private militia. Natalia recognized the type. They'd been through Springfield plenty of times. Probably one of the many that had been hired by the government when martial law was declared and there was still an illusion that everything was under control. Now they were just free agents looking after themselves.
And they were after Olivia and Emma.
"I don't want to hurt you." Their leader leaned closer, trying to mimic some level of sympathy and human compassion even though she could see the gleam of excitement in his eyes. This was fun for him. He reached out, running a hand over her hair, a thin smile curving his mouth when she twisted away. "Give me what I want and I'll be on my way." She felt rather than heard the man at her back chuckle. Clearly, he didn't believe it.
Neither did Natalia.
Not that she would have given them what they wanted under any conditions, but it made it easier to shake her head in refusal even when a backhanded blow left her seeing stars. She didn't try to resist, at least not yet. There were too many. At least five men, all in camouflage fatigues and carrying a motley assortment of firearms. Probably whatever they could scrounge up enough ammunition to keep loaded.
He peered down at the hunting knife they'd stolen from her, suddenly frowning as he made out the name burned into the bone hilt. He looked up, sharp eyes spearing her in place. "Josh Lewis." His eyes darted left and right, and he made a fast hand signal to his men. "Where is he?"
She shrugged. "Oh, he's around."
Another vicious backhand added another split to her lip. She tasted blood, then suddenly frowned as she realized where she'd seen him before. When she'd first moved to Springfield. Political poster. "I know you," she said very softly, and then her blood ran cold as she matched the scruffy mercenary in front of her with the dapper image from the campaign ads that were still around town when she'd first arrived. She'd never met the man, but she knew the hell he'd caused. "Jeffrey O'Neill."
"If you know Josh Lewis and my name, then you know what a bad idea it is to get on my bad side." He smirked and suddenly he was crowding into her pinning her against the side of the SUV with his body. His hands groped and slid over her body while his eyes showed his pleasure at the power he had over her. Then suddenly his smirk widened into a full-on smile and he shoved a hand inside her jacket to grab the garage remote out of the inner breast pocket.
He held it up for her to see. "Now what have we here..."
* * * * * *
TBC