Page 3 (1/2)
Ahead and off to the right, the river Kendra had noticed froeoiant obsidian block
"I don’t recall a river in the area on the maps I studied," Elise noted
"The Rainbow River runs round," Caift from the Rainbow Serpent"
"Rainbow Serpent?" Kendra asked
"One of our most reverenced benefactors," Camira explained "An entity of treine revved, and the jeep raced across the distance to the house before sliding to a stop The jeep with the boys had al in to park beside theround
"Seth says he’s hearing voices," Trask said
"Like dead voices?" Kendra asked With help from the de other things, enabled him to hear the minds of the undead
"Exactly," Seth said, brow furrowed "It’s weird They’re not talking toAt first the voices were distant Now they seem to be all around us"
"Do you have zoaze ide eyes Her"I don’t know much about what’s buried here I don’t like to speak of the cursed ones"
"We don’t usually discuss such things," Berrigan agreed The ed Her honey-blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a khaki shirt with h she had to be nearly fifty, she was very fit and walked with a spring in her step
"Laura," Vincent called
"Hello, Vincent, Trask Welcos to the rest of you as well" She joined them beside the jeeps, hands on her hips "I trust you’re all travel weary and ready for a rest"
Trask gestured at Seth "Seth says he hears the undead all around us"
Nodding, Laura shot a brief glance at Camira "At least one of us has some intuition," she muttered
"Excuse me?" Trask said Caan’s knife froed it into Ca for us in the house Subdue Berrigan Don’t kill hi ainst the side of a jeep, levering one arm into a painful hold behind his back Laura withdrew her blade, and Caround
"Into the jeeps," Laura co the keys froan--he’s under the control of a narcoblix"
Trask took Berrigan’s keys, then passed the gangly young ed him into the jeep in a head-lock Trask and Laura started the engines while the others scrambled back into the vehicles Kendra boosted herself over the side without opening the door, ending up in Laura’s jeep with Seth, Mara, and Vincent
As the tires spun, spraying grit and dust, an arrow thudded into the side of the jeep, causing Kendra to look back at the house Zo fro, a few on all fours In the ri in a suitcase beside Vincent Scanning the house again, Kendra saw the archer on the balcony, a striking wo smirk, Torina, her former captor, locked eyes with Kendra for ainto ato avoid crossbow bolts fired by Elise and Mara
Through the front door caray, his face wrapped in fabric He dashed toward the jeeps with astonishing speed, easily outrunning the zoripped in each hand
"The Gray Assassin?" Vincent exclaimed "Who isn’t here to kill us? They don’t want us kind of dead, they want us extre around the yard as the jeeps accelerated away from the house Some had been crouched in holes or trenches, others beneath bushes, one in a barrel full of water The sha corpses approached from all directions, their hideous bodies in various states of decoines and swerved to plow directly into the zo to block their escape Kendra closed her eyes as grotesque bodies went flying
A stocky zoed at Laura’s jeep, catching hold of the side briefly until Vincent hacked off the freckled hand with a machete Seth snatched up the severed, bloodless hand and chucked it out the back
And then the zo behind them The Gray Assassin continued after them, but, quick as he was, he was noLaura took the lead, with Trask close behind, as they raced toward the distant obsidian monolith
Chapter 3 Dreamstone
Seth wished he had kept the zombie hand What a perfect souvenir froht of the Dawn! Instead he had thrown it out of the jeep al all of those zombie voices must have temporarily scrambled his reason
The voices had been creepy Hundreds of whispery, yearning zoer than their drive to feed It had sounded like the zo Until the , Seth had worried that hethe the zombies to lay low until the opportuneand controlling the dead, and also served as right-hand man to the Sphinx If Laura hadn’t helped them make a speedy escape, they would have all been zo the Rainbow River, Seth continued to mourn for the lost hand He could have hidden it beneath Kendra’s covers He could have tied a string around it and left it dangling from a showerhead He could have displayed it proudly on a shelf in his room He quietly vowed to keep all of these possibilities in ain
Enor hundreds of feet into the air "Those trees are huge!" Seth exclaimed
"Those are karri," Laura answered loudly "A species of eucalyptus, one of the tallest types of tree in the world"
"What happened back there?" Vincent asked
"Caht she ad with dozens of zoan is under the control of a narcoblix?" Kendra asked "Do you knohich narcoblix?"
"He’s back at the house," Laura said "His name is Wayne"
Kendra looked over at Seth, relief in her eyes He had been concerned about the sa their ene bu behind them, Seth could detect no pursuers
As they ca karri trees, the obsidian eological marvel looked like a black lossy brick