As it turns out, Aeriel isn’t the only one who pouts. We’d gone no more than thirty feet or so, when Daniel abruptly stops and kneels, his head bowed.
“This isn’t the time for praying.” He picked a helluva convenient time to invoke his religious powers. He kneels – immobile – for almost ten minutes before I lose my patience. I stomp over to him with my hands on my hips and try to peer over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
He stands so fast that I’m forced to take a few steps in retreat or risk falling on my ass. Before I can open my mouth and tell him what I think, he flings something at me and it hits me square in the face.
It’s cold, wet, slimy, and smells like burnt pennies. I snatch whatever it is off my face and lunge to my feet, my hackles raised like a cat dunked in cold water.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I dangle the wet, squishy thing at him a few seconds before my eyes inspect it. Absolute horror surges through my body and I drop it so fast, it sends plumes of dust into the air when it hits the ground at my feet.
“That, Princess-” Daniel growls into my ear. “That is what’s wrong with me.” He waits long enough for me to peer down at the offending object again before he stalks off, boots crunching heavily on the hardened earth.
A body-less face peers up at me and nightmares from the time I watched Fright Night converge on me like mosquito on sweat. Cold chills erupt across my body and a lump forms in my throat.
It’s disgusting.
The skin – once a healthy tan – is now charred and flaky. The skin around the eye-sockets is ragged, and fingernail marks fan out into her cheeks and forehead. She – what once was a ‘she’ – was young, no more than a teenager, when she died and reanimated. Her swollen lips are brown, flaky, and peeling – puss oozing from the cracks. The edge of the skin is ragged, like it was torn from her skull, and a shiver races down my spine.
What really freaks me out is the set of dentures hanging from the one earlobe still attached. Another deader latched on to this one’s ear and ripped her facial skin from the bone. The horror stories I’d enjoyed before the End didn’t prepare me for something like this. Freddie Krueger, Mike Meyers, The Chainsaw Massacre, and The Evil Dead were scary movies. But that’s all they were – movies. This is life. This is my life now.
Aeriel steps up beside me and stares down at the putrid flesh. Her face shows no sign of the emotions she feels, if she feels anything at all. She tilts her head in a birdlike manner and the movement reminds me that neither she nor Daniel are human.
“Why is he mad?” I ask.
Aeriel’s eyes slowly leave the ground and travel up to meet mine. I’m surprised to see the unshed tears pooled in her eyes.
“I don’t understand you two.” Throwing my hands up, I use my boot and move sand around to cover the empty face. I can’t give the girl a proper burial, but I can do this much. “Two perfect immortals concerned with the lives of us puny mortals. It makes no sense.”
Saying nothing, Aeriel places her hand on my shoulder and prompts me to turn and face her. Tilting my head back, I comply. I’m tired and I’m not in the mood to fight with her.
“No, you don’t understand,” she murmurs softly. “And that’s your biggest shortcoming.”
“Then, tell me,” I ask.
Author's Note : Sorry this chapter is so short, but hopefully you'll forgive me after the next update 😉
Please don't forget to vote. (I'm not real happy with this chapter, so any suggestions would be very appreciated.
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Genesis 2.0 (Monster Apocalypse Survival) Sci-Fi/DarkFan/Horror
Science FictionThe End was the Beginning. Adapt and conquer, or die. Sixteen-year-old Andrea Collins survives by the skin of her teeth: always on the move, and trusting no one. Until the one day, the truth hits her - and he has wings. Taking advatage of Creation'...
