The Power and the Glory

Book 4 Chapter XV: Zombie-Hunters

Warning: contains gore.

I'm a storm on the horizon
Shattering the silence
You can run but you can't hide
-- Smash Into Pieces, Deadman

Irímé and Shizuki hid in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity. Occasionally faint noises reached them, too distant and indistinct for them to tell if the monsters were attacking someone else or simply wandering around the spaceship. Shizuki gradually stopped trembling. His tongue continued to rapidly dart in and out.

After a long silence Shizuki uncoiled and slithered down to the floor. He turned back into a boy. "They've gone. I can't smell them any more. And I smell fire." He looked hopefully up at Irímé. "Can we go see what's happening?"

Irímé hesitated. He weighed up their options. None of them were good. Outside were monsters which would try to kill them. Neither of them were armed. Irímé wasn't at all confident in his ability to transform into a dragon when he wanted to, and there was no room on the spaceship anyway. Shizuki was a child. If they went outside and were attacked they wouldn't have a chance.

The bathroom was small. There was the toilet stall behind them, the sink and its shelf, a towel, a window that couldn't be opened, and nothing else. Nothing to defend themselves with and nowhere to hide if the monsters broke through the door.

"Wait here," he told Shizuki firmly.

Shizuki shook his head. "Uh-uh. I'm coming too."

"It's too dangerous!"

Shizuki turned back into a snake and wrapped himself around Irímé's chest again. Irímé considered trying to pull him off, but gave up after a futile first attempt. Shizuki could hold on very firmly in this form, and his grip was almost painfully tight.

"If we see any monsters I want you to run as far away as you can," Irímé warned.

Shizuki thought for a moment, then nodded.

Moving the suitcase away from the door took a long time. On his first attempt Irímé pulled it too hard and it scraped noisily against the floor. He froze, waiting for a monster to charge at the door. Nothing happened. At last he gathered the courage to try again. This time he moved it very slowly, barely an inch at a time, so that it made no sound.

He unlocked the door and slid it open far enough to peer out. Shizuki tried to get his head around the door too. Irímé took one look at the state of the spaceship's seating area, pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket, and tied it around Shizuki's eyes. He hissed a complaint.

"Sorry, but you shouldn't see this."

The floor was covered with puddles and smears of blood. Something lay on the carpet. With a shudder Irímé realised it was someone's finger.

He tiptoed out of the bathroom, picking his steps carefully to avoid the blood. Shizuki had gone very still. He continued to flick his tongue in and out.

Irímé's foot landed in something that squelched. He looked down and promptly wished he hadn't. It was a chunk of bloody... something. He took a deep breath and fought back the urge to be sick.

If the monsters had left the spaceship then there was a chance it could be used to escape. Assuming, of course, that they hadn't damaged its controls. And also assuming there was someone still alive somewhere in the city who knew how to pilot it.

As he passed the door leading to the cockpit Irímé tried to see what state it was in. The door was open and the cockpit was covered in blood.

When they reached the main door Irímé removed the handkerchief. Shizuki raised his head above Irímé's to get a good look around. Then he slithered to the floor and turned into a boy again.