False Idols (After the Apocalypse Book #3)

Chapter 2

"Where is it coming from?" The screams echoed too loudly through the night air.

"Not sure." Gauge stood in the center of our camp. His eyes were a little too bright in the light of the torch he was carrying.

"It's not one of us," Dawn, one of Seth's most devout followers, was hovering near the edge of the clearing. "We're all here."

Scream after scream carried across the wind.

"No shit." Liam, one of the few Church of Chaos members who had also been one of the Cube's Scavengers, cast a nervous glance in the direction of the looming former prison. "I think it's coming from inside."

"In the Cube?"

"Do you see any other buildings for 30 miles?"

"You don't have to be an ass."

Gauge held up one hand before the bickering could get worse. "I agree with Liam. It's got to be coming from inside the Cube."

The screams continued, now punctuated with a short shriek every 30 seconds or so.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep through this." Vera glared sullenly up at the Cube. Her long black hair had fallen across her face like a curtain. She pushed it back with obvious irritation.

"Maybe someone's getting eaten, ya think?"

"Eaten by what?"

"Who knows?" The speaker was a stocky brunette boy whose name I couldn't remember. "Either the super zombies or the flesh brokers, I reckon. Does it matter?"

"Flesh brokers aren't contagious," Vera mused sulkily. "And they won't be that hard too kill. I'm more worried about the super zombies."

"If the super zombies are causing the screaming then they sure are taking a long time to kill their victim."

The piercing cries continued.

"I'm going to go see who is dying," Vera announced. She cast a sideways glance towards Seth. "You coming?"

"Why not?" Seth shrugged as if he were bored. He looked down at me. "Stay here."

Vera sat down on the edge of a log that Gauge had chopped down earlier in the afternoon. She pulled on her lace-up knee boots as casually as the girls I'd grown up with inside the Cube had slipped on their little silk booties. She had a wicked looking long-bladed knife strapped to her left thigh. It was easily visible underneath the short skirt she was wearing. With her waist-length ebony hair, ice blue eyes and long, slender legs, Vera was exactly what I'd pictured the High Priestess of the Church of Chaos would look like. Dark, beautiful and oh so incredibly freaking dangerous. A very female, very sexual version of Seth.

"Pilar can come if she wants to," Vera said as she shot me an unfriendly glare. "Though she looks awfully pale. I think she's too scared to keep up with us."

I sucked a breath in through my teeth and willed myself to be strong. "I'll go with you."

Seth frowned down at me. He was giving me the same look I'd gotten as a child when I disappointed one of my parents. "You shouldn't let her bait you."

"She's not," I lied. My face was burning from a combination of physical exertion and embarrassment. Afraid the screaming was coming from our camp, Seth and I had run back to the clearing to find everyone in a state of confusion. The screaming was not coming from our camp, but now I had sweat running down my spine. It was a disconcerting feeling on such a chilly night.

Vera stood up and began stalking towards us. She moved with the same cat-like grace as Seth did. The fallen leaves that carpeted the forest floor barely seemed to move under her feet as she faced her brother. "Leave her here for Gauge to babysit. She's a lousy fighter."

"Pilar can make her own decisions." Seth calmly cast a glance at Gauge. "Besides, I figured Gauge would want to come with us."

"I can if you want me to." Gauge was easily 6 foot 4 and had arms thicker than the trunks of most of the trees surrounding us. His chest spanned too far across for most shirts. Tonight he was wearing his favorite uniform of sorts, a plain brown tunic shirt and blue jeans. He had an ax strapped to his hip.

Standing beside Seth, he looked utterly harmless. There was no viciousness in Gauge's warm eyes. If anyone could convince the people of the Cube that we weren't going to kill them, it was Gauge.

Vera narrowed her eyes at Gauge. "You're slow."

"Oh, I think we both know that's a lie." Gauge ran one huge hand through his shaggy, dirty-blonde hair and winked playfully at Vera.

She maintained her scowl for another minute or so and then the corners of her elegant mouth turned up. "You're impossible."

Gauge grinned at her.

The screams stopped abruptly. Silence filled the clearing.

"Maybe we should just bomb the Cube and be done with it," the short guy said. "Blast it and all its zombies off the face of the planet. Let God sort the humans from the undead." He let out a nervous chuckle that was far too loud for the still night.

Gauge's smile faded as quickly as it had come. He rubbed his forehead and then turned an unfriendly glare on the man who had just spoken. "Maybe you should go to sleep. Get some rest. Tomorrow will be a busy day."

"Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say. Like anyone could sleep out here." He glared at the clearing unhappily.

"Angel can." Liam pointed to a sleeping figure on the ground near the fire.

"Angel could sleep anywhere," the short guy replied. "Not me. No sir. I don't like being out in the open this close to the Cube."

"Shut up, Roggerio." Gauge shot Roggerio a nasty look.

Seth sighed. "On second thought, Gauge, why don't you and Pilar stay here."

"Hey, I can handle it," I said even though I wasn't sure I really could.

"I never said you couldn't." Seth held up one hand to stop me from arguing with him. "I want you and Liam to sit down and work on the maps of the Cube some more. We need to make sure they're as accurate as we can get them before we go in tomorrow morning. You two are the only ones who have ever been inside. I'm counting on you guys to make sure we can get in and out as quickly and efficiently as possible."

"You don't want me with you?"

"Stay here," Seth said. Vera sneered at me from behind his back. I was almost too tired to be angry with her. Almost. If I ever did decide to use my ability to control zombies for evil, my first evil deed was going to involve setting an entire horde on Seth's sister.

"Gauge, make sure no one decides to wander off into the night. Just on the off chance we're not as alone as we think we are."

"You think the screaming was coming from someone outside the Cube?" Dawn's eyes had gotten very wide.

"No, but just in case." Seth gave her one last reassuring smile and then he was gone into the trees with Vera on his heels.

Gauge surveyed the remaining group for a minute and then seemed to make a mental decision. "I'll stand guard. Liam, you heard Seth."

"Work on the maps." Liam rolled his eyes. "I've already worked on the maps. They're as good as they're going to get."

"Pilar, you agree?" Gauge asked.

I nodded. "Liam knows a lot more about the Cube than I do. He was a Scavenger for five years. He knows where they keep their dirty little secrets. I don't. I didn't even know the Cube had tunnels underneath it until Liam told me."

"Well then, I suggest we all go to bed. We've got a long night ahead of us and a longer day still tomorrow. I'll take first watch. Angel can have second and Liam, you can pull third."

"Good deal," Liam nodded agreeably.

"What about me?" Dawn demanded.

"Get some sleep. You have a hard job to do tomorrow." Gauge looked over at me and smirked tiredly. "We all have hard jobs to do tomorrow."

"The hardest." I walked over to my bedroll and laid down on the lumpy ground, thinking that I would never fall asleep and wondering whether Seth had found the person who had been screaming.