She kept her movements silent and checked all four sides of the building. A mass of Damned was gathered along the main road. There were more along every side, but it was a much thinner herd. If she could get down to ground level and make a run for it, she was pretty sure she could find the others. The city was laid out with everything funneling in toward the monument. Eventually, she’d find her way there.
Zahra decided on a course of action, one that would swing her rather than drop her. She ran along what she guessed was the southern edge of the building, aiming for the southwest corner. She snapped open her hook’s clawed head. When she jumped, Zahra dug the claw into the rock, giving the cord enough play to make the plan work. She estimated she’d need to give the cord fifteen feet before gripping back onto it. The next part was going to hurt. Her hands were already raw, and this was bound to make things worse.
Her forward momentum took her away from the building, due west. Then, her weight took over, pulling the nylon cord tight. She swung around to the north down a tight alleyway. She took the landing in stride, hitting and rolling once before popping back up to her feet and sprinting away from the Damned. The handful that had been gathered along the rear of the building reacted too slowly, and Zahra quickly left them in the dust.
There were much fewer of them here. In fact, Zahra hardly saw any of them.
Weird.
She didn’t overanalyze why the darker path was devoid of life. Zahra just kept moving as fast as she could until she came up to another crossroad. Here, there were more.
Much more.
She skidded to a stop, cringing at the sound of loose pebble grinding beneath her feet. Ten of the Damned snapped their attention her way in a horrible display of choreography. They turned in unison.
They didn’t advance, though. Zahra had tucked herself into the recesses and hidden in the shadows. Her black clothing and filth-covered arms and face hid her well. Still, she wasn’t hiding behind anything. At least one of them should have been able to see her.
No eyes, right.
And the sulfurous stench was incredibly thick here too. If they couldn’t see, and they couldn’t smell her, then it meant they’d be listening for her. Zahra didn’t have time to play scientist. She needed to keep moving. Standing slowly, Zahra took each step with the utmost care. She hugged the building without scraping against its coarse surface and slinked around to the northern face.
The Damned didn’t change their focus away from the alley. None of them had noticed her escape.
Yet.
Zahra figured it was only a matter of time before she was spotted. It was going to happen too. The next section of the road and building contained little to no shadow. This is where her tired legs couldn’t fail.
She ran and reeled in her trusty hook.
Her first step alerted the army, and they turned to greet her. There were more up ahead, as well. Zahra unclipped her grappling hook again and used it as a club for anything that might get too close. If the blows didn’t kill them, the hook would at least knock them away long enough for her to evade capture.
She took a left, and within the growing haze, she spied a low wall to the north. Gunfire announced the presence of her team. With every muzzle flash, a body dropped. The Damned were here, too.
“Zahra!” Baahir shouted, waving frantically.
She drew her pistol but waited to get closer. She didn’t have many rounds left and needed to make them count. When she was within twenty yards, she let the rest of her magazine fly, connecting with ninety percent efficiency. Not all of them were ‘kill’ shots, but she cleared the area of the immediate threat.
Rabia stepped out and crushed the skull of one of the Damned with the stock of her heavy rifle. Then, she dropped her prized weapon at her feet.
She was out of ammo.
Zahra was, too.
She holstered her Glock and embraced her brother, getting nods from Rabia and Ali. They all looked terrible, but they were alive.
“He’s here,” Baahir said.
“Khaliq?”
“Yeah, and he’s alone.”
Zahra shrugged, thinking back to Feroz’s body in the scorpion pit. “I kinda figured that.”
“No, Zahra,” Baahir said. “He’s alone. Oddly, there aren’t any of the zombies in there with him.”
“Call them ‘the Damned,’” Zahra said. “I refuse to call them ‘zombies.’”
“Fine,” Baahir shrugged, “I suggest we move into the courtyard. The Damned won’t enter it for some reason.” Everyone turned and looked.
“It’s because they remember.”
They all jumped at the voice.
It belonged to Khaliq.
Chapter 103
Zahra
Zahra drew her gun, but remembered it was empty.
“Ayad!” Ali shouted. “This is all because of you!”
Khaliq seemed docile. “You’re right.”
“Wait,” Zahra said. “What?”
Khaliq held out his hands and turned completely around. “We are here because of me.”
Rabia’s eyes darted to Khaliq’s waist. He still had a pistol holstered there. He seemed to notice the attention the firearm was getting.
“It is loaded, but with only one bullet.” He gazed past the foursome. “I’d hate to waste it on any of you.”
“Bullshit,” Baahir countered.
“If you’ll humor me, I’ll show you why.”
At first, no one moved. But Zahra sensed he wasn’t bluffing. Khaliq was alone, and the status quo had changed. The four of them could easily overrun Khaliq and kill him with their bare hands.
And they were all, save for Baahir, armed with a knife.
No one advanced on the man.
“Tell us,” Zahra said, holding her ground. She was curious about what the man had to offer. Khaliq wasn’t an idiot — whatever was going on, it was bigger than she could imagine.
His entire attitude had softened as if his entire world had been deflated.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
He faced her. His eyes said it all. Khaliq Ayad was scared. “I see now that I’ve been misguided ever since I was a boy.” He sighed. “My family… My father and grandfather believed in something that I now know is false.”
The cavern went silent — all except the sound of hundreds of footsteps. Zahra turned and saw what was coming.
“Come,” Khaliq said, “they will not follow.”
Rabia spoke up. “How do you—”
“Because he said so,” Khaliq replied.
“Who did?” Zahra asked.
Khaliq turned but looked over his shoulder before stepping away. “Anubis.”
Zahra wanted nothing more than to shoot the man where he stood, but they required answers, and if Khaliq did have a change of heart, even if it was only to save his own skin, then they needed to hear him out. Any information about what was going on here was vital to their survival.
Zahra was the first to move. She was quickly followed by Baahir and Rabia. Ali hung back for a moment, but eventually scampered off as the Damned closed in. Zahra looked back several times and was flabbergasted to see that Khaliq had been right. The Damned did not enter the courtyard at the foot of the giant statue of Anubis.
“What did you mean when you said, ‘they remember?’”
They all slowed down, and then Zahra entered the strangest mass grave she had ever seen.
“The infected retained their memories,” Khaliq replied, “though, their personalities were lost forever. This will all make sense soon.”
Rabia glanced at Zahra. “I seriously doubt that…”
Fewer things in her life had made Zahra more uneasy than the sea of corpses. They were eerily similar to the ones she encountered up in the trap room. That realization sent a chill down her sweaty spine. Zahra reckoned that they had been placed there, postmortem, as sort of a strange totem.