Death Cursed (Death Touched, Book One)

Chapter 11

Nena stumbled forward, but caught herself and sprinted ahead with Jack at her side. They raced across the plaza, but a shadow followed along the ground like a plague as it touched anyone within its grasp. Zombie and witch, young and undead transformed into Kinder. Nena looked to her left and watched in horror as the young boy from before was touched by the creature, changing him into a monster. He dropped his ball and snarled at her with his long teeth.

They reached the tunnel and climbed inside, but so did their foe. The pair were thirty feet into the sewer when the Death Shadow rose from the brick floor, blocking their path with its darkness.

Jack narrowed his eyes and shoved his gun into her hands. "Stay here." Her mouth flopped open as he walked forward to face their foe. He removed his other glove and revealed that his dominant hand was also transparent before he shoved them both into his pockets. "I thought you were ugly as a human, but you're really ugly now." The Death Shadow hissed at him. He grinned. "You want to play, huh? Then come on."

The Corrupted lunged at him and stretched out its long claws to decapitate him. Jack drew his hands through the front of his pants. His palms were smoking from the loose bullets captured in his fingers. The momentum of his push threw them at the creature where they flew into its open mouth.

The Corrupted stumbled and grabbed its throat as the bullets slid down into its body. Glowing white circles appeared on its skin. It clapped its hands over the lights, but the glow sank through its hands and shot out like a beam that illuminated the walls. The Corrupted screamed as its body erupted in a ball of light, breaking itself into thousands of thin pieces of scorching flesh that burned away within seconds.

Jack turned around and grinned at Nena. "Not bad, huh?" Her mouth was agape as she gazed at the remains of the creature and the bright glowing lights that were Jack's hands. His good humor fled and he quickly slipped on his single glove before he walked up and took the gun from her. "Not the cleanest way to get rid of a Death Shadow, but it worked." He looked past her at the way they came and frowned. "Mostly."

She glanced over his shoulder at where he looked and her eyes widened. Two dozen Kinder stood at the opening to the tunnel. Their red eyes glared at their pair and they curled their lips back to reveal their long white teeth.

"Looks like we're not quite done here," Jack commented as Nena and he slowly backed up. The Kinder followed them step-for-step.

"The Death Shadow's dead, so why aren't they?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "It doesn't quite work that way. There won't be any new Kinder, but you have to deal with what it created."

Her eyes widened as the color drained from her face. "So what do we do?"

He grabbed her hand and turned her around. "Now we run."

The pair rushed down the tunnel and the Kinder gave chase like panthers after prey. They leapt onto the walls and ceiling and crawled their way after the companions. Some of them slipped into side passages and disappeared.

Jack glanced at Nena and the gun that stuck out from her coat pocket. "Use your gun!" he shouted at her as he slipped on his glove and reloaded a cartridge.

"But this doesn't do anything!" she reminded him.

Jack clapped the cartridge into his gun and shrugged. "You know that and I know that, but they don't know that. If one starts shuffling toward you just point the gun at it and shout 'bang.'"

"Seriously?"

They slid to a stop as shadows arose in front of them. Some of the Kinder had taken shortcuts and now blocked their path.