Epilogue 3.24

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---Em---


     What is it with ruins? First, there was the desert village where we hid from the glowdarks. Then there was the urban jungle where Gail, Mya, and I played zombie-slayer for six months. Then the demon-infested Valynar with its pterodactyls and flying cockroaches. Quite frankly, I'm all ruined out.

     "Been a while since we've been on a hunt together," says Mya, balancing her katana over her shoulders as she walks along the crudely paved street. We pass by one dilapidated building after another, all of them sprinkled with volcanic ash. Many of them are surrounded by interlocking stone walls, that become more and more mazelike as we progress. Thankfully, our footprints in the ash mark our trail. Breadcrumbs, in case we get lost. Just, you know, not the edible kind. Can't afford to waste any food.

     "This isn't a zombie hunt," I say, although I feel just as tense as if it were. "Colby's on our side. He's just... brainwashed, that's all."

     Mya picks up her pace to keep up with me, sliding her katana back into its sheath. We pass by what looks to have been a mausoleum. Bits of ash flutter down from the sky, like snow. "Look, I don't mean to doubt you—"

     "Then don't." We come to a dead end. Great. Eloise is nearby—I can sense it. I'm not sure how I can sense it, and that scares me a little, but it's best not to dwell on the little things. If the devil's in the details, I'd prefer to keep him there.

     We head back the way we came, this time branching off down a different path. Here, it's not just the buildings that've been blanketed in ash. There are people—at least they look vaguely like people. They've been mummified by the ashes, preserved Pompeii-style for who knows how long. Some of them we spot through the windows of the houses. Some of them we walk right past, almost brushing against them as we make our way down a narrow alleyway. In their semi-decomposed state, they could almost pass for zombies.

     "Poor things," says Mya, frowning as she notices a mummified child with its parents standing by the crumbled remains of a fountain.

     "You do have to question their decision to build a settlement at the foot of an active volcano."

     "At the doorstep to paradise, you mean."

     "You think they knew?" I sidestep a mummified old man.

     Mya looks the mummified man in the eye. "Maybe they are in a better place. Maybe we all find paradise in the end, whether we make it to Ganeden or not."

     "Right. With our luck, someday we'll all wind up in a post-apocalyptic heaven."

     As if to agree, one of the mummies grunts. Mya and I back away from it. She grips her katana. Come to think of it, this mummy isn't like the others. The ash hasn't settled over it yet, and its skin has a muddy texture to it, as if it were made of clay.

     Groaning, the mummy lumbers towards us. Mya wastes no time; she decapitates it as soon as it comes within arm's reach of us. Then the ground starts to rumble. We back up against a wall.

     The stump of the mummy's neck starts to bubble. Mud squirts up from the stump, ballooning until it forms a new head. Likewise, the decapitated head sprouts a new body, with spikes jutting out all over. Now there are two clay mummies, staggering towards us with their arms outstretched.

     "What the hell?" I look around for something to use as a weapon.

     Slits open up along the mummies' faces right about where their mouths would be, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth.

     "You reckon these are the golems Melody mentioned?" asks Mya.

     "I don't think it matters."

     "It would provide a sense of closure."

     "Does it count as closure if they eat us?"

     They get close enough that Mya's left with no choice but to slice and dice. She's hacks away at the golems until they're writhing in pieces on the ground. I grab her shoulder.

     "Forget it—we need to scram before they regenerate."

     She nods. We run, turn a corner, and find our escape blocked by at least a dozen golems. I sift through the ash until I find some sort of pipe that I use to beat the golems with. By some stroke of luck, we manage to break through the barricade, only to run into yet another cluster of enemies. And by the time we do, the golems behind us have regenerated, trapping us.

     Mya braces herself as if preparing to charge headfirst at the golems. Before she can, the golem's start exploding. Their muddy innards splatter against the walls.

     Colby.

     He clears a path for us. No time for questions—the three of us flee, weaving through the maze. We duck into one of the houses and use a couple of tables to barricade the doors. Mya doesn't put her katana away; she remains ready to strike.

     I turn to Colby. "Where's Eloise?"

     He wipes the sweat from his brow, panting. "Beats me."

     "What did you do to her?" I demand, through clenched teeth.

     "Nothing," says Colby, backing away from the door. "Yet."

     "If anything happens to her—"

     "We might actually make it out of this alive," he says. "But that doesn't work for you, does it?"

     I frown. "Olivia said—"

     "I'm not having this argument again."

     "Good. Neither am I. Mya—knock him out."

     She lunges at him. Colby flicks his wrist, and she goes flying headfirst into the wall. Maybe I should've thought this through. Nah—no time. I swing my fist at him, but he dodges and knees me in the gut. Then he holds out his hand and starts to squeeze his fingers together. A violent pain erupts in my head, and I crumple to my knees.

     I scream as the sharp ache digs deeper and deeper into my brain. "Stop! Make it stop!"

     Colby relaxes his fingers. The pain releases me, and I topple over. He kneels down in front of me. "I'm doing this for your own good," he says. Then he heads off into another room. I hear a door slamming behind us.

     I bite back the pain and scramble over to Mya. I help her back up to her feet. "You okay?" Mya nods. She's got a nasty bump on her head, but she'll live. "Come on."

     We chase after Colby. We catch up at a spot where two of the streets intersect. Colby pauses right in the middle of the intersection, glancing back over his shoulder.

     "Why do you have to make this so difficult?"

     No need to mince words. I move in for the attack. He tries to crush my mind again with his telekinesis, but nothing happens. Maybe he's out of juice. I tackle him to the ground.

     As we're struggling, kicking up a flurry of ashes everywhere, a scream rings out. It's Eloise. We both look up, and she comes running out of one of the houses up ahead of us. Two golems stagger after her. I look at Mya, but she's already running to Eloise's aide.

     I do my best to keep Cody pinned to the ground. We wind up rolling clear of the intersection in our struggle. When I notice the intersecting street, separating Colby and me from Eloise and Mya, I get a really bad feeling.

     A second later I find out why. Chekhov's volcano: if you mention a volcano, you've got to erupt it. A pillar of black smoke rises from the mouth of the volcano, and the wind carries it our way. And then the lava comes rushing down the side of the volcano. The lava channels through the maze, flowing right down the intersecting street.

     Mya, who's just finished temporarily incapacitating the golems, looks over at me across the river of lava cutting us off from each other. Eloise holds her hand.

     Then the lava starts to spill down the street towards Colby and me. "Keep Eloise safe!" I shout at Mya over the sound of the still-erupting volcano. "I'll find a way around and meet up with—"

     I feel another sharp pain as Colby kicks me in the head. He takes off, turning a corner and vanishing from sight. The lava inches uncomfortably close to me. The heat scalds my skin. My body starts to melt.

     Eloise lets out a screech.

     The lava pauses, just long enough for me to scramble back to my feet. We stare at each other for a moment, and I'm not sure what to feel. But I nod and then sprint as fast as I can away from the ever-encroaching lava.

     The lava chases me downhill, and I keep running until I bump right into Melody, just outside of the mausoleum we passed earlier.

     "Melody?"

     "The others are inside," she says.

     "How'd they get there? I thought Ace and Liluye couldn't..."

     "I carried them."

     "You what?"

     She nods at the oncoming lava. "No time to explain. Get inside—quick!"

     She holds open the door, and we slip inside the dome-shaped mausoleum just as the lava comes rushing past.



Author's Note:

Every story needs an erupting volcano, don't you agree? 

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