There were another hundred stipulations Zoe should add to the list. She’d have to report this to… to someone. Whatever Mr. Carter was, he was against the necromancers. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy. And I will use that enemy to defeat my enemies.
“For now,” Zoe added. She’d think of how to break Eva away from the man after their current crisis was over. Eva mentioned the man saved her from death. That surely created a strong connection.
“As amusing as your baseless accusations are, they aren’t the only issue. The anti-zombie potion kept me from becoming a zombie, but it has left me with massive headaches, shaking, sweating, and general exhaustion. I am in no state to speak on anything tonight.”
Zoe looked the girl over again. She hadn’t moved from leaning against the metal. The sweat she had thought to be from worry over Juliana hadn’t stopped. The girl was telling the truth about this, at least.
“First thing in the morning. I will be at this gate as the sun rises. If you are not here, I’ll hunt you down. Confidence in your wards or not, all wards can be broken.”
“That is grim, but agreeable.”
“I wouldn’t hunt you down to kill you, Eva, if that is what you are thinking.”
“Not that, that my wards might be brought down. Still, even if someone hammered against them all night, I should be fine. I’ll have someone watching over me as I sleep.”
Zoe frowned at that, but didn’t say anything. Baby steps, she told herself. She pulled out another business card. “Just if anything happens.”
“Don’t aimlessly wander the prison, you might not survive.”
“I appreciate the warning.”
Chapter 020
Wayne Lurcher had never been one for passive action. The very phrase was an oxymoron he couldn’t stand.
And yet here he sat, in a meeting room, listening to Rebbecca Halsey panic. The dean had called an emergency meeting to try to figure out what went on last night and what the damage was. If the senile woman had any clue, she would realize that no answers would be found in a meeting with the faculty.
Especially because the only one who might have any answers at all was absent.
He cast a sullen glance at the empty seat next to him. Zoe had gone off to a meeting of her own. He only hoped she knew what she was getting into.
Wayne didn’t trust Eva Spencer. He had a bad feeling in his gut when they met with the girl’s father. The feeling got worse when she ran away in the alley. Every time he had seen the girl outside of class and half the time when she was in class, his gut said there was something wrong.
The girl was trouble.
At least that meeting might be productive, Wayne thought as Yuria stuttered out a report of her actions last night.
Wayne ticked off two more students’ names as Yuria finished her report. Five students dead was five too many. At least with her report finished, all the students were accounted for. There wouldn’t be any more ticks on his list.
Townspeople were another matter.
Halsey would be relieved of her post, he was sure, if not imprisoned. Zoe had warned her about the zombies in the house, the suspicious characters wandering town, and even the crypt full of skeletons a few miles out-of-town. The old woman had done nothing, probably at the insistence of the slimy secretary standing just behind her.
Of course, he wasn’t wholly innocent in the matter. He knew the dean had done nothing. Could the kids have been saved if he had taken more drastic measures? Maybe. Maybe not.
“And Zoe’s report?” Halsey glanced at the empty seat next to Wayne. She lurched to her feet, one hand darting over her mouth. “Oh no, where is Zoe? She didn’t…”
“Baxter is fine,” Wayne said as he took to his feet. That the old bat didn’t notice her missing until just now made hackles rise on the back of his neck. “She is dealing with a couple of students, one of whom was injured last night.”
“Oh.” Halsey sat down, patting her chest and taking deep breaths. “That’s good. She’s with children then, are they alright?”
Wayne shifted his feet to one side. He didn’t want to come off looking uncomfortable, but this topic unsettled him. “Baxter and I were patrolling the same areas last night, I will supply the report for both of us.”
He started with the regular stuff, the same things all the other teachers mentioned. The routes they took, number of deceased redeceased, and if they knew anyone. He reluctantly mentioned the two students Zoe had been forced to dispatch.
Then he got to the more worrisome topic. Zoe asked him to leave Spencer’s name out of it. He would, but only out of respect for Zoe.
“A third-party intervened last night. They engaged the necromancers behind the incident, though did not manage to eliminate them. I do have descriptions,” Wayne passed around papers describing the men. “Baxter got them from said third-party while I tended to the aforementioned injured student.
“They were my main concern, you will have to get additional details on the third-party from Baxter herself at a later date.” He glanced around the room, daring any to request more details. Secretary Orgell looked like he wanted to speak, but he stayed silent.
“The injured student was Shalise Ward, first year, Rickenbacker three-one-three. She had injures consistent with being bitten by human teeth as well as several other injures. Before you go marking her off,” he said as a few of the instructors moved their pens to the sheets in front of them, “she is alive and well.
“I inspected the wound myself and found no trace of rot or infection.”
“Preposterous,” Twillie jumped to his feet, “there is no cure for a zombie bite.”
“That is what I said. However, the third-party insisted they had a potion to halt the effects. The other members of Rickenbacker three-one-three confirmed that Ward was bitten by a zombie and administered a potion soon after. Ward herself was regrettably, though understandably, unconscious.”
Wayne glared at Twillie until the man retook his seat. “Baxter is watching over her at the moment, just in case this ‘cure’ doesn’t take.”
Wayne retook his seat. Everyone continued staring at him. He didn’t blame them, but he’d said his piece. Wayne glanced at Kines and nodded for him to start his report. The last one of the meeting, thankfully.
Eventually, Kines took the hint. He had had a rather tame evening, being one of the ones assigned to watch over the dorms.
The meeting wrapped up shortly after. Halsey wanted to reconvene in twelve hours to decide future actions. In the meantime they were to speak with each of their students, check in on them and make sure they were alright. The parents of students who were ‘directly affected’ by the night’s events would be getting personal visits from Halsey during that time.
Wayne ignored that order. He had few students and had visited them all already. The closest any got to danger was Jordan and Maximilian. They had a run in with a small horde of zombies as they ran back to the dorms in search of friends. Jordan managed to hide the two of them with chaos magic.
Jordan was a point of pride for Wayne. The young boy showed remarkable bravery and talent for a thirteen year old. Most importantly, he was not a troublemaker unlike a certain other instructor’s students.
Rather than visiting his students again, Wayne elected to return to town and continue sweeping it for any remaining creatures.
The familiar wrongness of between almost overwhelmed his gut in the brief instant it took to appear in town. Getting Zoe to agree to learn that spell had taken months of prodding. When she finally relented and learned from him, she spilled her lunch the first several times. She had told him that she never intended to use it again.
Unfortunately for the both of them, its sheer utility outweighed the sickening sensation it caused.