Kelly Mendig - Three Days to Dead

I grabbed the closest weapon within reach—an iron candlestick sporting a half-melted red pillar—and swung. It connected with the side of Wormer’s head. He grunted and lost control of the gun to Alex. It was more of a glancing blow than the knockout I’d hoped for, but it did its job. Alex gripped the gun by the barrel, eyes wide, like he couldn’t believe he wasn’t dead.

“Get off him, asshole.” I shoved Wormer with my foot, and he fell sideways. The bloody footprint left behind on his shirt surprised me. I didn’t even feel the glass.

I readied the candlestick again, hoping to deliver a coma-inducing blow.

“Watch out!” Alex shouted.

Too late. Something hit my neck, sharp as a knife thrust. Lightning exploded behind my eyes, and every nerve ending was on fire. My heart raced, and I could barely breathe fast enough to compensate. I lost muscle control and fell to my knees. A hot flush broke across my skin. Then the agony ended as abruptly as it began, and all I felt was cold. I shrieked as I fell.

Broken glass cut into my right arm. I smelled sizzled flesh. A flash of something long and black entered the periphery of my vision. Cattle prod. Nice move. Didn’t see that one coming.

“We’re better trackers than you realize, little girl,” Tully said.

Little girl? I rolled onto my back, hoping for a good opening, but he gave me none. He stood out of arm’s (and foot’s) reach, the cattle prod in his left hand and a revolver in the other. Pointed not at me, but past me. Over my shoulder, Alex was sitting up with both hands braced around the butt of his acquired gun, muzzle pointed at Tully. His hands trembled ever so slightly.

“Put it down,” Tully said.

“Hell no,” Alex replied, but without the necessary force. His fear was betraying him. “You broke into my apartment. You’re intruders. I can shoot you.”

Tully’s nostrils flared; he didn’t like the threat. “My superiors know where I am. If I don’t check in on time, they come here looking for me. You don’t want that.”

“He’s not kidding,” I said. My hand investigated my neck and found a quarter-sized burn.

The gun’s aim didn’t move, but I came under Tully’s scrutiny. “We know you’re helping a fugitive named Wyatt Truman. Why? Who are you?”

He didn’t know me, which meant the brass didn’t know about my resurrection. I didn’t know how Wyatt kept it secret, but he had. Advantage one for my team. Behind Alex, Wormer groaned. He seemed to be struggling to sit up. Maybe I’d whacked him good after all.

“Where’d they take Wyatt?” I asked.

Tully’s nostrils flared. “Do you really think you’re in a position to ask me questions, lady?”

“Yes.”

He fired. I felt the heat of the bullet as it passed by my cheek. Behind me, Alex cried out. I twisted around, coming up on my hands and knees, stomach knotting as I prepared for the worst. Alex lay on his side, one hand pressed against his right temple. Blood oozed between his fingers, but he was very much alive. Alive, aware, and swearing colorfully enough to make even me blush.

I lunged for the gun he’d abandoned. More lightning, this time in my lower back. Cursing my own idiocy, I collapsed by Alex’s feet. My stomach muscles spasmed. Bile scorched the back of my throat and left a sour taste in my mouth. An unexpected whimper tore from between clenched teeth.

The jolt ceased. I didn’t move, choosing instead to simply breathe. Stupid; goddamn stupid.

“Still think you’re the one asking questions?”

A sardonic retort formed in my mouth, but thankfully died a quick death before I could utter it. I needed my wits about me, not volts of electricity coursing through my body. “No,” I hissed. “You’re in charge.”

“Good girl.”

I drew my knees up to my chest and rolled, hoping to sit up. A sharp kick to the middle of my back felled me again. I took the hint and stayed low, choosing to roll onto my back and prop up on my elbows. I disliked the prone position, but at least I could glare right into Tully’s eyes. It also gave me a better view of the room.

Pale, but very much alive, Alex scooted closer to me. Blood stained the side of his face, neck, and shirt collar. Wormer loomed above us, once again in charge of his own firearm, and apparently very much in favor of using it.

“Now,” Tully said, “let’s try answering my questions. Who are you?”

Smug. I hated that. Self-preservation took a backseat to annoyance. “I’m the thing that the shadows fear.”

Confusion creased his forehead. It was a line Triad members used jokingly amongst ourselves. We hunted the creatures that haunted others’ nightmares. Tully seemed to understand the reference. I could see imaginary wheels turning in his mind.

“Truman tell you to say that?” Tully asked.

The burn on my neck began to itch. If I was lucky, it would heal fast and freak Tully out just a little bit. “Wyatt didn’t tell me to say anything. He never expected us to be separated.”

“That right?” Tully circled to my left, positioning himself closer to Alex and farther from me. The cattle prod bounced in his hand. “Don’t make me ask your name again.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “I’m disappointed in your partner, Wormer,” I said, tossing the silent Hunter an over-the-shoulder look. “He doesn’t recognize me. That hurts my feelings, Tully; it really does.”

They exchanged looks, sharing their confusion. Time ticked onward. They couldn’t stay and question us for very long. The scuffle and gunshots should have aroused the neighbors. Surely someone in the building would know to call the police and report suspicious activity.

“Her name’s Chalice,” Alex said. “She works in a coffee shop. We’re not who you think.”

“You’re not?” Wormer said. “Guess we’ll just have to kill you, then.”

“Cut it out,” Tully admonished. “We don’t kill humans, and you know it.”

Tactical slip. Wyatt would have reamed me a new one for saying that in front of a civilian. Admitting to not killing humans blatantly said that you killed something else.

Tully studied me, still trying hard to see past the unfamiliar exterior to the person hiding inside. “We’ll take them with us. We can’t break her here; we’ve already made too much noise.”

“No, leave her here,” Alex said. “I know things; you want me. Not her.”

Wormer nudged the back of Alex’s head with the muzzle of his gun. “What things do you know?”

Alex glared at Tully, but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I know that the downtown power outage two years ago was caused by gremlins, and not what the public was told.”

My mouth fell open, but the pair of Hunters misinterpreted my annoyance as shock. Tully crouched down, putting himself at eye level with Alex. Still out of my range, though. The candlestick lay nearby, within arm’s reach.

“Who told you that?” Tully asked.

“I’ll tell you everything,” Alex said. “Just leave Chalice here. She doesn’t know anything.”

“Oh hell no,” I said. “Alex, I know you feel terrible about Chalice, but trying to be a hero and save me isn’t the way to atone for it. She wouldn’t want you to get yourself killed.”

Tully pointed the gun at me. “I thought you were Chalice.”

“And I thought you were an asshole. Too bad only one of us is right.”

Tully swung the cattle prod toward my left arm. At the last moment, I blocked it and kicked him square in the groin. The second direct hit in five minutes sent him to the ground like an anvil. I twisted the cattle prod out of his grasp with the intent of using it on Wormer. Turned out I didn’t need it.