Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Karmen

"We have to turn around," Karmen whispered, searching for Parrish's arm in the darkness.

"If we go back in there, we have to face Lily and that giant," Parrish said. "But if we stay here, we have to face hundreds of rotters. I don't know what to do."

With the lights out, Karmen feared the worst. It meant that somewhere in this building, Crash and Noah were being attacked. And they were losing.

How had this whole day gone to hell so fast?

She couldn't believe they'd been right about Lily. How could someone from their own group betray them like this?

She remembered the darkness she'd felt when Lily had grabbed her arm that day in Baltimore when they'd come across the huge horde of zombies in the smoke. The strange cloak she'd found. The stone with five sides and strange symbols. All the signs had been there, but no one had realized the horrors she'd had planned for them.

The rotters in the lobby of the emergency room had all caught on that there was food in the room, and Karmen could hear them stumbling over one another to get to the doorway. They didn't have time to think. They needed to act.

"We stay here and fight," Karmen said. She swallowed a thick lump of fear in her throat and focused on that small flame that lived inside of her.

She could feel the rotters growing closer, their moans growing louder.

She connected to the power inside of her, feeding it with her fear and giving it new life. Dark red flames ignited on her palms, quickly surrounding her hands and spreading a red glow through the room.

The fire didn't burn her at all. It made her feel stronger.

A rotter lunged toward her and she lifted her hands. The flames shot out from her palms, igniting the zombie's tattered clothing. The creature whimpered and fell to the ground near her feet.

"Holy crap," Parrish said, lifting her sword, a smile tugging at her lips. "Okay, then. Let's do this."

Blue flames engulfed the blade as Parrish swung forward, pushing her way into the crowded room. She sliced the heads off six zombies in a single motion, their bodies flashing blue for a moment and then frosting over with a thin layer of ice.

Karmen drew in a focused breath, her jaw tense and strong. She would not run screaming or cower in fear. Ever since her powers had first manifested, she'd been afraid of them, scared that using them meant she was giving up on the old world and her old life once and for all.

But what had her old life ever brought her but sadness and fear?

The new world was terrifying and full of nightmares, but she was strong here. Together, they could change this world and make it right again.

All she had to do was embrace the part of herself she'd been denying for the past few weeks.

Remembering what she'd seen Lily do to the rats back in the apartment, she brought the heel of her hand up to her mouth and stepped forward, her fingers pointing out toward the next group of rotters lumbering toward them.

She rounded her lips and exhaled, praying it would work for her, too.

The flames billowed out in a cloud of heat, engulfing every zombie in their path. It reminded her of a time when she'd watched her brother and his friends play with lighters and cans of hairspray, except this time, the flames were twice as powerful.

The zombies screamed as they burned, many of them falling to their knees in front of her as they clawed at their own flesh.

At her side, Parrish continued to slice through the crowd, the blue flames dancing on her blade and growing brighter with each kill. Together, they stepped over the bodies of the dead and destroyed the rotters in their path.

But there were so many of them. Hundreds more blocking the exit.

And somewhere in the crowd, a low clicking sound was growing louder. It was almost a growl, but slower and much freaking creepier.

Karmen searched through the semi-darkness, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. Her eyes locked on a zombie in the middle of the crowd, the red of its eyes piercing through the room.

"There's another one," she shouted. "There, in the center."

"Shit," Parrish said, swinging at another group. "There's too many to fight. If she makes it to us, we're—"

But she didn't have a chance to finish her sentence. The zombie with the red eyes leapt onto the counter at the nurse's station, and then jumped halfway across the room, knocking Parrish to the ground.

Karmen screamed and ran toward her friend, but a rotter who had fallen grabbed her leg and pulled her to the floor. Her head smacked against one of the waiting room chairs, and she nearly lost consciousness.

She was aware of the fingers clawing at her jeans and the blood now dripping through her hair and across her temple, but she had to struggle just to keep her eyes open. Parrish had dropped her sword, killing the blue flames that had provided so much light to the room, and now Karmen's own flames had gone out. She couldn't focus enough to bring them back.

She pulled her way forward, using the bodies of the dead to crawl across the floor to her friend. The only light in the room was from the revolving door at the entrance to the ER, but the windows were grimy from so many rotting hands clawing at them for the past few weeks. Still, it was enough to see the teen boy with his hands wrapped around Parrish's neck.

The boy opened his mouth and long tentacles slithered out, snaking their way toward Parrish's face as she screamed.

The rotter that held Karmen's leg tugged and pulled her backward. She rolled over and kicked it as hard as she could, severing the hand from its wrist. As soon as she was free, she scrambled to her feet, nearly tripping again over the bodies that carpeted the floor.

She regained her balance and jumped forward, grabbing the boy's waist and pulling him off Parrish. She fell onto her back, the zombie struggling against her chest. He was stronger than she expected, but she had him around the waist and she wasn't letting go.

"Kill this thing," she shouted.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Parrish reach for her sword and stand up, but the tentacles from the boy's mouth were now snaking through his hair toward Karmen. She nearly fainted at the sight of them, desperate not to ever find out what those tentacles would do if they touched her.

Parrish stood over them and plunged her sword into the boy's neck so far that the tip of her blade touched Karmen's cheek. Thick blood poured onto her neck and shoulders as the thing twisted and twitched, grabbing at the blade. Karmen wiggled out from under it, and when she was able to stand, she started kicking at its head over and over until it stopped moving.

"How many of these things do you think there are?" she asked.

"I can't even begin to guess," Parrish said.

Karmen breathed in and out, reconnecting with her power. She focused on the anger pumping through her veins. She focused on the fire that fueled her soul.

She set her sights on the dozens of rotters left on the other side of the ER, and once more, her hands turned to flames.

"Come on," she said. "Let's kill the rest of these, find the guys, and get out of here before we have to find out."