Children of the Plague

Chapter Twenty: Junior

~Chapter Twenty: Junior~

Two blocks from the MPC, the first pack of husks saw Lanni and gave chase. She led them into a bank lobby for a bit of privacy and killed all five of them with uncomfortable ease.

Leaving the bank, the sounds of the city reminded her briefly of happier days, when she didn’t know what it was like to impale, behead, or disembowel anyone. Gulls squawked overhead, and with a little imagination the wind gusting through the dead buildings could have been ocean waves attacking the dunes on the Isle of Palms.

The cries she heard weren’t all from gulls, and the wailing wasn’t just the wind. In the lulls between gusts, distant shouts, screams, and growls of feral humans became more distinct. Some, it seemed, were not so distant. Six husks introduced themselves as she stepped out of the ATM vestibule.

They, too, fell to her spear with little difficulty or time, but their dying shrieks attracted more attention. Most of them came from the north or west, either alone or in small groups.

Secrecy was no longer an option, so she ran. She had become quite a good runner, and even though her split-toe tabis weren’t made for speed, she soon left her pursuers behind.

Only to find more everywhere she turned.

The small groups chasing her merged into a single pack, and as others joined the chase, the pack had become a hoard. Dozens of skinny, filthy, mostly naked wild people chased her like greyhounds after a rabbit.

In short order, an offspring joined the party. Stronger and faster than Lanni and the husks, it crashed through the mob, killing a few, and dispersing many of the rest. It couldn’t see her, of course, but the husks were chasing something, and the moment she stopped to fight, it would have her. They would surround her, overwhelm her, and eat her.

On a normal day, she would have killed them. But normal days were over. Unless she escaped this mob, found the host, and killed it, this would be the new normal.

The incoming waves of intruders had forced her farther south than she wanted to go, and as she ran around another corner, she realized that she had been herded back towards the MPC. The area immediately around her was clear of husks, so she ducked into the shattered Starbucks to hide and rethink her strategy.

She climbed through what used to be the front window, dropping to the floor with her back to the low brick wall. Ignoring the tiny cubes of shattered glass digging into her hip and shoulder, she listened to the rapid slap, slap, slap of bare feet coming closer.

Barely three feet in front of her face, bright yellow claws convulsively scratched grooves into the dirty tile floor. They were attached to the biggest offspring she’d ever seen, at least this close up.

She almost laughed aloud. This enormous creature of nightmares was enjoying a nap on the warm tiles in a patch of sunlight, just like Goldie, her pet boxer used to do in their kitchen. Also like Goldie, it appeared to be dreaming about running.

Killing, more likely.

It flexed its arms and legs, and the skin on its chest rippled, splitting open just enough to show some of its megalodon-like teeth. Goldie never did that.

Yep. Definitely killing.

Judging by the sounds outside, the husks pursuing her had rounded the corner and slowed to hunt for her. She considered herself lucky for stumbling into the offspring’s lair. The husks wouldn’t intentionally come anywhere near the thing. So why did she still hear them panting and grumbling just a few feet away? They must not have seen inside.