Their uneventful hike ended abruptly. The turret guards did not allow them to cross Forty-Second Street.
“Hold it right there, dipshits,” demanded the well-hidden guard.
“Yeah, nice costumes,” shouted a second man.
For some reason, Kid Bolt flashed on the scene of the French castle from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Sadly, they did not have a Trojan Rabbit this day.
He kept himself from laughing at a movie he would likely never see again and yelled back at them, “We have something your boss might like.”
The first guard responded, “He might like your girlfriend if she took off that stupid cape.”
Star Cluster started to charge, but
Slo
-Fast held her back. Kid Bolt started to get anxious. He knew they were making too much noise.
***
A few blocks away, Miller leaned back in a cracked vinyl booth. He could not get up if he wanted and the noise coming from outside made him want to. The rustling, shuffling sound that haunted his waking nightmares started to get louder.
***
Kid Bolt did not like how the negotiations progressed. Ernest had advised them not to go in their costumes. However, Kid Bolt felt that as the Vindicator Corp, they were a symbol. Without their hero identities, they were nothing.
Powerfist
put his hand on Kid Bolt’s shoulder.
He said, “I’ll handle this.” Then to the guards across the street, he yelled, “Colin. It’s me Archie. I told you I would get their gas.”
The realization hit Kid Bolt in the gut at the same time that
Powerfist
hit him in the stomach with Dr. Sledgehammer’s hammer.
Barely able to breathe, Kid Bolt stammered, “You....betrayed.....us....”
***
Ernest Miller screamed for help as the lifeless, limping creatures flooded into his last hiding place. The first zombie grabbed him by his throbbing ankle and pulled him out of the booth. In an instant, a frenzy of hands and teeth tore at his weak and emaciated body.
Instead of calling for help, or shouting a warning, Ernest used his last breath to say, “
Yasmine
.”
***
“You dumb shit, where do you think I’ve been this past year?” asked
Powerfist
triumphantly. Except, Kid Bolt refused to think of him as
Powerfist
any longer. Now he was plain, unreliable Archie.
A coward and a liar.
Star Cluster started pointing behind them and yelling, “They’re coming!”
Kid Bolt dropped to his knees, but he was able to look around and see two small hoards. One shambled down from Grand Central and the other had followed
their own
path. He knew Ernest could not have survived.
The former hero Archie dropped his sledgehammer and ran towards the Tower. He cried, “Open the gate. Open the gate.”
“Get her out of here,” Kid Bolt demanded of
Slo
-Fast.
His large friend tried to pull Star Cluster away, but they were already beset. It took at least ten zombies to knock the big black man off his feet. Kid Bolt could no longer see Star Cluster anywhere amid the throng.
He grabbed his old friend’s sledgehammer and used it to push himself up. The hungry creatures turned their attention on him. Without hesitation, he slammed the hammer into the side of one of the barrels, puncturing it. Gas sloshed out onto his boots. A moment before the closest zombie could reach him, Kid Bolt, known as Rick Guerrero in a former life, valiantly stuck his
taser
into the flowing liquid and ignited the gas.
*****
Thanks for taking the time to read Severed Volume 2 – Myths & Legends by
Darren
Sant
& Sam Lang; we hope you enjoyed it.
You might also enjoy Severed Volume 1 – In the Beginning by Darren
Sant
& Sam Lang.
Look for more titles under the Trestle Press umbrella by
simply
typing Trestle Press in the search bar of your e-book store.