Chapter One
"I just don't understand why we had to go so far to rescue that... monstrosity."
Tahira looks up and glares at the girl who has spoken, Shyvonne, she thinks her name was. She's someone that Darrus and the others had met while she was trapped.
I don't think I'm going to get along with her.
"Just shut up, Von," Darrus instantly jumps to her defence. "Make yourself useful and keep an eye on the door."
"Any reason why one of the other several people in here can't do that?"
"Because you're the one causing drama. You've seen what's happened outside. We don't have time for petty bullying."
Bastet twitches in her arms, laying a paw across her leg. "I'm finding this one to be less and less annoying."
Tahira strokes her soft fur, trying not to think about the cure those doctors made from her blood. Cee, one of the other mummies, had become immune to the cure. In fact, it only made them stronger and angrier. Now they're rampaging outside, in a tiny little town with walls built up around it.
And I can't control any of them.
Due to her being cured, she can control mummies. Tell them what to do, who not to infect. But the ones created by this cure, she has no effect on them. She's essentially like everyone else in their group now, an item on the menu.
"So, what do we do then, Russ?" Fawn jumps off their bed and wanders into the centre of the room. "It was your idea to rescue the baby. I think we should chuck her out there and run while they're distracted."
Darrus stands up, his hands balled into fists. "Enough. We wait until the carnage has died down and see what our options are."
"I agree with Fawn," Shyvonne interjects. "Chuck the freak of nature out."
Bastet growls and wriggles, so Tahira tickles her behind the ears. "Ignore them. They're just jealous."
Pointedly, she looks up at them. Both are glaring at her with their jaws set. Shyvonne curls her lip and turns around, shooting Darrus a pleading glance.
Dallas surprises her by sitting down next to her. "Is Bastet okay? How is her leg?"
Tahira smiles. "She's fine. Probably just a bit annoyed with all the noise outside."
"Can I hold her?"
Bastet looks up at her with her golden eyes. "Let him. I do owe him for helping me find you."
"Sure."
Dallas' eyes light up, and he gently plucks the smoke-coloured cat off her lap. With one hand under her stomach, he uses the other to scratch her behind the ears, eliciting genuine purrs from Bastet.
Who knew a goddess would act so much like a regular cat?
"I hate to interrupt." Another girl stands up; she thinks her name is Ivory. "But we do need a plan. We have no supplies in here, apart from a few snacks. We'll need to go out at some point."
"And we will," Darrus says before anyone else can open their mouth. "Just give me a minute to think."
He gingerly wanders over to Tahira and sits on the empty spot on the bed. The two of them look at each other awkwardly, neither really knowing what to say. Tahira has been able to gather that he was in a relationship with Shyvonne. The thought makes her stomach churn with jealousy. It makes her angry that while she was suffering, he was having fun with another girl—one with a bad attitude, like Fawn.
"Are you okay?" she finally asks.
"Yeah. I'm more worried about you."
She ignores the dull ache in her muscles. "I guess I've been better."
He opens his mouth to say something, then ducks his head. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Not trying harder. I gave up looking, and I shouldn't have. I'm so sorry."
From the way his voice cracks, she’s certain he means it. Still, it doesn't erase the weeks where she was strapped to a gurney. Alone—apart from three mummies who wanted nothing to do with her. Her gaze flits down to Bastet.
But she left me too.
When she's alone, she'll ask the cat goddess what happened. She expected Bastet to come and rescue her almost immediately, even if Darrus couldn't. Instead, everyone left her there to rot.
"Tahira?"
His voice snaps her out of her thoughts. "Sorry. I'm just tired."
"After you've done absolutely nothing for weeks on end?" Fawn snorts. "I think you're just lazy."
"Why don't you fuck off and find someone else to be an asshole to?" Her tone comes out more aggressive than she would have liked, though seeing the flash of surprise on Fawn's face is priceless.
"I think you need to go outside and die. Like you were always supposed to."
"And anyone else who is cured?"
"No. Just you. You're a monster. Half mummy? That's unnatural." Fawn rolls their eyes with a scoff.
Tahira feels the anger bubble up inside her. "Everyone who gets cured is half—"
A hand is placed over her own, and Darrus shakes his head. "Don't waste your energy arguing with them."
Tahira wants to claw their eyes out, but she forces herself to relax. "So, what is the plan?"
"We wait until the initial carnage dies down. At some point, everyone left will be hiding. Hopefully then we can sneak around and leave."
"You think we can just walk through the gate?" Ivory squeaks as she paces around the room. "We'll be on foot with no food or—"
"Depending on the situation outside, we'll see if we can get some supplies," Darrus says gently. "But there's a chance that there will be too many mummies for us to do that. We have to work with what we've got."
"Chosen one," Bastet meows. "I'll stay with you as you escape. My nose is sharper than yours."
Tahira gives her a silent nod. She doesn't want the others to think she's crazy for talking to a cat.
"Tahira," Darrus slides closer to her, making her heart pound. "Do you want to try and sleep?"
She shakes her head quickly. "No. Anything could happen any second."
His hip is inches away from hers now, and she finds her body overheating. He blinks at her with his brown eyes, full of guilt. "Do you think you can walk?"
"I think so."
"Good." His eyes are back on Shyvonne, who is leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. "Are you listening to what is happening out there?"
"Eddy is," Shyvonne snaps.
The quiet man stands against the door with one ear pressed to it. His unhappy expression tells Tahira he's been eavesdropping on their conversation.
"Don't be surprised," Fawn says. "Now that the zombie is back, he won't pay you any attention."
"I didn't realise that zombies could be so ugly," Shyvonne says with a dry laugh. "Though she was probably like that before the transformation."
"I am right here," Tahira snaps. "I'm not deaf."
Ivory suddenly stands up, moving away from the door. "Do you hear that?"
Everyone goes silent. On the other side of the door, the sound of footsteps can just about be heard. The steps are hard, as if the person is limping.
Bastet wrinkles her nose. "It doesn't sound like a regular human."
Shyvonne lets out a dramatic sigh. "This is ridiculous. We should just throw out—"
"Shh!" Tahira hisses. "There's a mummy behind the door."
Her voice deliberately gets louder with each word. "Then go make friends with it."
There's a loud groan, and then the door starts to shake as it gets pounded on. Shyvonne goes white and backs up against the beds, finally keeping her mouth shut.
"It knows we're in here now," Fawn mutters, deliberately glaring at Shyvonne.
"Quiet," Darrus warns. "That door should—"
The sound of splintering wood fills the air, and everyone freezes. A crack appears in the middle of the door and slowly grows. Dallas moves closer to Tahira, clutching Bastet to his chest.
"Chosen one, this one will attract more!"
Tahira looks at the floor helplessly for a moment. "Grab whatever is here and pack it. That thing will get in and bring more with it."
"That’s our only way out, you stupid cunt!" Shyvonne says. The door buckles from the weight of the mummy. It starts to cave in at the centre, and the sound of growling is louder now.
"Grab your stuff," Darrus orders. "We'll take this one step at a time."
Tahira straightens up as everyone shoves things into backpacks. Her group is packing essentials, such as food and blankets. Shyvonne and Ivory are less experienced with fleeing. They're both packing their belongings rather than things they actually need to survive.
Darrus gently takes her hand to pull her up. "Stay by me, okay?"
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" she jokes.
A ghost of a smile appears on his lips. "You can next time."
Her face heats up, so she pretends to adjust her jacket. "Are we going for a vehicle?"
"I think we have to. The people out there who have been cured... can they turn back?"
Tahira shivers as she remembers Cee reanimating. Something about that cure is off; as soon as they are cured, they turn back. Only this time, they're meaner and will kill instead of infecting. All those people outside the walls who have been cured will end up dead, for real this time.
"I don't think so. Still, a vehicle can't hurt if they do turn back."
His eyes survey everyone in the room. "We might need two cars. Our group is a little bigger than when we first met."
Tahira locks eyes with Shyvonne. "Mm-hm."
Even though she expects it, it still surprises her when the wood from the door explodes into pieces and a mummy stumbles in. The first thing she notices is the blue eyes, which means it's a mummy with the wrong cure in its veins. Eddy is the first to react, plucking his baseball bat off the floor and whacking it around the head. The mummy screams and crumples to the floor.
"Dallas, Ivory!" Darrus shouts. "Go first!"
The two youngest members of the group look terrified as they run past the downed mummy. Eddy hits it one more time when it attempts to stand up. Fawn and Shyvonne follow, and then Tahira and Darrus. For one panicked moment, she forgets that Dallas has Bastet, until she hears her meow from ahead.
"They haven't noticed you yet!" she meows. "You only have a few more seconds!"
The stench of rotting flesh and blood fills the air as they make it outside. The town no longer looks like the safe, quaint paradise it had been when she first arrived. Instead, blood covers the pavements, and body parts are scattered around randomly. Torn clothes and various belongings lay on the floor, their owners no longer needing them now that they're a mummy. Most of the windows and doors have been completely smashed in, with mummies wandering in and out.
"They're coming!" Ivory screams.
Gargled screams and groans drown out every other sound as more mummies notice their little group. She doesn't hear Darrus shout at her to move until he's pulling her along. Eddy rushes past them to catch up with Fawn, who looks genuinely terrified. He takes their hand and starts leading them to the left.
"There!" Darrus' shout almost deafens her.
He points toward an abandoned car in front of a house. By the looks of it, someone else had gotten there first but hadn't been able to break in. Two of the doors are wide open, and she can see a backpack on one of the seats. She risks a look over her shoulder and sees a horde of mummies catching up to them, their arms outstretched and covered in blood. Many of their eyes are blue and fixed on her. As they've been newly turned, they can still move quite quickly.
"Help!"
Ivory's scream can just about be heard above the groans of the mummies behind them. Two have grabbed her arms and are pulling her backwards. No-one goes back to help her as teeth sink into her skin and tear at her clothes. Her desperate shouts turn to screams of agony as she’s buried beneath the mass of bodies.
"Get in!" Darrus instructs.
She doesn't realise they've reached the car until Darrus pushes her into the back seat. He climbs in after her, his eyes wide at the number of mummies behind them. Dallas is in next, thrusting Bastet into Tahira's arms and then slamming the door behind him. Shyvonne crashes into the closed door, then darts onto the front, clambering into the driver’s seat.
The horde closes in fast—too fast. Eddy and Fawn barely make it, throwing themselves into the last seat as the door slams behind them. The second the door closes, a mummy throws itself at it.
"Von, drive!" Darrus screams.
His shout snaps her back to reality, and she starts the car. More mummies surround them, and Dallas screams.
"Knock 'em over!" Fawn screeches.
The car doesn't have much momentum at first, but Shyvonne quickly picks up speed. She knocks a couple of mummies out of the way before blasting forward. Their bodies go limp as they fly over the hood and smack onto the concrete behind them.
"Where's Ivory?" she shouts above the screams of the mummies.
Eddy shakes his head, making her punch the wheel. It honks from the blow.
"Concentrate, Von!" Darrus snaps.
"It should have been that stupid zombie! Not her!"
"Shut up and drive!"
Tahira is too distracted by the mummies around her to pay attention to their argument. They claw uselessly at the windows as the car passes. Some lose limbs or get dragged underneath the vehicle.
Bastet slithers onto her lap and curls her tail around one of her wrists. "As long as this one keeps driving, we should be fine."
"Can they get in?" she blurts out.
Dallas glances at her and loops his arm around hers. "Do you think they can?"
Darrus answers for her. "Not at the speed we're going. We should be okay for now."
The cat goddess nudges her hand. "What he said. Take a moment to gather your wits. I have a feeling that the rest of this journey won't be a pleasant one."
Exhausted as she is, there's no way she can rest now. There are too many mummies out there making a racket. She doesn't like hearing the crunch of their bones as they're crushed under the wheels. Or the sound of their blood splattering against the windows.
"I think we're near the entrance!" Shyvonne shouts, picking up more speed.
Tahira looks out the window but sees only mummies and grime. How Shyvonne knows where they are is impossible to guess.
"Watch out!" Darrus leans forward to shout. "There might be—"
He's cut off as the mummies spread out. A figure comes into view, but screams as the car slams into them. Their eyes are wide as they're knocked to the side, and their pupils are visible.
Human.
"Oh my God!" Fawn points behind them. "They were human, you asshole!"
Shyvonne's hands shake. "What?"
"That wasn't a mummy! You just killed someone!"
"Shut up!" Darrus growls. "Keep driving until we're clear. Don't think about anything else!"
Luckily, Shyvonne complies, though her movements are slower. Eventually, the crowd of mummies starts to thin out. The streets they go through are empty, save for the occasional mummy. Tahira finally leans her head back and takes a deep breath.
***
The car ran out of fuel ages ago. Still, no-one has moved or said anything. What Shyvonne has done has finally hit her, and she's now sobbing uncontrollably in the front seat. Even Fawn hasn't come up with any ideas to get Tahira kicked out. This is clearly the first time that Shyvonne has ever killed something, despite her tough demeanour.
"Chosen one," Bastet meows urgently. "We can't stay here forever."
Tahira acknowledges her by brushing her fingers across her cheek. She then leans over to whisper in Darrus' ear: "We're sitting ducks here."
He inhales through his nose. "Fawn, Eddy, see if you can find any supplies. The rest of us will look for another vehicle. Von... sit tight."
As they all awkwardly exit the car, Shyvonne opens her door. "I... I killed somebody, Russ."
Despite his awkwardness, he stops. "It was an accident."
"But I killed them. They're gone."
"There were so many mummies, Von. No-one saw them until it was too late."
Tahira nudges Dallas away as Shyvonne sobs harder. The two of them take in their surroundings. They're on a motorway again, on an exit that is devoid of vehicles. Bastet hasn't said anything about mummies, so she's assuming they're safe.
"I knew that witch was faking it." Bastet suddenly growls with a lash of her tail.
Tahira looks over her shoulder and sees Darrus embracing Shyvonne, who has mysteriously stopped crying. She buries her face in his chest while he stands there, visibly awkward about the whole thing. Despite knowing that Shyvonne is only doing this to prove a point, jealousy still flares up.
"I never liked her," Dallas mutters, making Tahira jump. "I don't know what he saw in her."
"I don't really know either." She forces herself to look away. "I'm glad you're okay though. And you did a really good job of looking after Bastet."
His eyes immediately drift to the floor. "But her leg..."
"I'm sure it was an accident."
"Still, I should have been more careful."
"It wasn't him," Bastet meows. "I have Anubis to thank for that."
The two of them creep across the empty road, their eyes peeled for anything that might move. Although many of the cars they come across are empty, they’re unusable. A couple have flat tyres, others have no fuel, and one has had all the doors removed. She's not sure if this is thanks to the former residents of the town they just left. Eventually they wander back to try going in a different direction.
Darrus clears his throat awkwardly as they approach, no longer hugging Shyvonne. "Find anything?"
"Nothing," Dallas mutters. "We're gonna look this way."
"We need to be quick. The mummies could catch up to us."
"Do you think they'll chase us?"
"I hope not."
Dallas wanders ahead slightly while Darrus drops back to walk beside her. The walk has made her slightly out of breath after being used to being immobile in a gurney for hours on end.
"How are you doing?"
"Very tired," she admits. "I hope we find a car soon so I can sit down."
"If you want, Dallas and I can keep looking while you…"
"No thanks. I don't really want to be stuck with the others."
His eyes shift to the pavement. "I'm sorry. I know Von is a bitch."
"Her attitude isn't your fault."
"It kinda is. If I hadn't slept with her, maybe she wouldn't be like this."
Despite her best judgement, Tahira can't help the shiver that sneaks up her spine. The thought of those two together makes her skin crawl. If he had found her sooner, maybe she would have been the one to sleep in his bed. Her cheeks blush at the thought. When she first met him, she didn't think she'd end up liking him. After all he did to her, she thought they would remain at a distance. Now, her heart aches for more.
"I... I don't want you to sleep with her again," she blurts out.
He looks up at her in shock. "No, I won't."
"I really like you, and I want to be with you." Her confidence has disintegrated by the end of her sentence. Her eyes dart to the floor to avoid looking at him.
"I'd like to be with you too, officially, I mean." His hand slips into her own. "I won't let you get used for experiments again."
"I think I've found one!"
Dallas' voice grabs her attention. He's bouncing in front of a small car that only has two doors. Apart from a few scratches, it looks perfectly functional.
Darrus grins. "Have you tried to start it?"
"No, but the keys are already in there."
Darrus drops Tahira’s hand to jog toward it. The door opens with little difficulty, and he climbs inside. A second later, the car starts up with a hum. "Yes!"
Dallas bounces on his heels. "Do you want me to get the others?"
"No." Darrus grunts as he climbs out. "You two get in the back, I'll go find them."
Tahira's aching knees are thankful for a place to sit down. The car’s interior isn't exactly comfortable, as the seats are made from a scratchy material. However, it's much better than standing up.
Bastet moves onto Tahira's lap. "I need to go check on Sekhmet and Mafdet. I won't be gone long."
Tahira mutters a quiet: "Okay."
The grey cat curls up on her lap, her tail wrapped around her face. Within seconds, her breathing slows until she's peacefully asleep. Anxiety fills Tahira at the thought of Bastet leaving her again, but she squashes it down.
She's here now. That's what matters.
***
That’s it for this week! Keep an eye on my website as I’ll announce the pre-order for Curse of Anubis #4: The Dead Kingdom soon. See you next week.
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