The Unimaginable World, Amber Riel [top 20 books to read txt] 📗

to split up into groups and search for any mortals who haven’t been bitten or scratched,” he told everyone.         

“I want to be in your group,” Vivid told Thorn with a flirty smile and devil like eyes.         

I wanted to yell and scream at her to leave him alone but I just bit my lip.         

Thorn sighed.  “Fine.  Ziles, Vivid, Quill, and I will be one group.  Elisa, Wickham, Axel, and Imhotep are the next group.  Inforabore, Wavira, Wells, and Dane are another group,” he continued till everyone we knew had been broken up into groups.  “Now, we have no way to contact each other,” he continued, “but if we’re lucky we can find each other and help one another out.  It’s going to be a while before this thing ends but when it is over everyone is to meet up back here.  We just have to hope that there still are living mortals around.  Everyone understands what’s going on?” he asked.         

No one spoke.  We all just nodded our heads and then broke up into our groups.

 

          

We traveled sometime down a road.  There were no signs of zombies or even the mortal populations.  That could have been a good thing or a bad thing considering.  Bones wandered ahead of us but managed to stay insight.

It was silent for a while until we heard the chilling sound of a scream from a distance.  We stopped and looked around.

“It came from that direction,” Ziles spoke nodding his head toward the northeast.

Thorn nodded, drawing his cross bow from his back.

I drew a sword, not wanting to waste any more ammo from my guns.         

We hurried in the direction where the scream.  We had our trail and we weren’t going to lose it.  We wondered onto a camp ground.  The fire was about to go out and the tent which had been placed under a couple of trees had been destroyed.  The scent of fresh blood had filled the air.

“We'll stay here and search the grounds,” Thorn told the other two.  “Ziles and Vivid, I need you two to search around the woods for anyone or thing you can find.”         

“But I want to stay with you,” Vivid’s voice was sad and whiney.         

I rolled my eyes at her words.         

“Quill and I will be fine,” Thorn replied.  “Now go.”         

Ziles nodded and left with Vivid dragging herself behind.         

I shook my head.  I looked at the fire and examined it.  “Someone was here recently but most of gotten frightened by something,” I observed.  We both had a good feeling what the ‘something’ without having to mention it.         

Thorn nodded.         

Bones had ignored us and sniffed around the tent.  He slowly began growling which caught our attention.

The tent began moving.         

Thorn and I each held our weapons up not taking any chances.         

“Please!  Please don’t hurt me!” a woman’s voice cried while she slowly worked her way out of the tent.  Tears had streamed down her pale mortal skin.         

I exchange a glance with Thorn.         

“Were you bitten?” Thorn asked.         

The woman shook her head with fear.  “My husband… is he alright?  He was here fighting off that… that thing,” she couldn’t get her words straight which revealed how terrified she was.         

“Quill, examine her for any bites or scratches,” Thorn ordered me.         

I didn’t bother to hesitate.  I quickly placed my sword in the sheath which lay on my back and walked over to the woman.  “I’m not going to hurt you… just checking to make sure you’re alright.”         

The woman nodded.         

I pulled up the woman’s sleeves revealing scars but they were old and clearly not from a zombie.         

“I fall a lot,” she replied, clearly hiding a cold secret.

“All those from falling… do you carry knives on you or something?” I asked, trying not to pry but knowing she didn’t want to tell us the truth.         

She looked away.         

Once I had finished, I turned to face Thorn.  “She’s fine,” I informed him.         

He nodded.  “I’m Thorn Allitwine and this is my good friend Quill Huntington,” he introduced us to the woman.

She nodded.  “I’m Anna Quinn,” she replied.  She looked around.  “Where is my husband?” she asked again.

Thorn took a deep breath.  “We don’t know.  He was gone before we arrived,” he explained.         

I nodded.  “We have a couple of others with us who are looking and they might find him,” I added.  He might not be alive anymore though, I thought.         

Bones sat off to the side where Anna hadn’t even noticed him.  He just stared at the mortal with interest.

“I heard a dog growling… do you have one with you?” she asked.         

I pointed to Bones.         

She glanced over at him then looked back at me and nodded it.  It took her a moment when she looked back at him and opened her mouth to scream.

Thorn hurried over to her and covered her mouth.  “It’s okay,” he whispered to Anna.  “He’s not going to hurt you.”

“But that’s not…”         

“It’s okay,” Thorn kept reassuring her.         

Bones just stared at her and tilted his head.         

“He’s my dog,” I told her, wondering if we needed to explain what exactly was going on.         

Thorn nodded.

Explaining to a Mortal

It took me a little while to explain to Anna the situation of what had happened and that our two worlds weren’t meant to clash the way they have because of the zombies.  Thorn stood near a tree, looking out for anyone or anything which might just pop up.  Bones sat with him, watching and waiting for something to happen as well.         

“So you can’t die?” she asked, confused.         

“Well, actually I can die,” I replied.         

“But you said that you were immortal and immortals can’t die,” she responded.         

I sighed.  “Well yes and no,” I began.  “You see immortals can die but not as easily as you mortals can.  We’re immortal because of the fact that we can survive anything that you mortals can’t.  Now if God decides that he doesn’t want us immortals to live anymore then he will send a death dealer-”         

“What’s a death dealer?” Anna asked.         

“Oh right, mortals don’t know our terms… a death dealer is a way of saying the angel of death… or also well known as the grim reaper,” I answered.         

She opened her mouth but didn’t reply.  She just simply nodded to show that she understood.         

“Anyways if a death dealer shows up and is to touch us then we’ll die… as far as I know that is the only way us immortals can die for sure.”         

She nodded.  “What is your dog?  A walking skeleton?”

I nodded again.  “Hints his name… Bones.  He’s a good companion.”         

Anna looked over at Thorn and Bones then over to me.  “Do you think my husband’s still alive or-?”         

I could see the tears welling up in her eyes again while she stopped herself from continuing the question.  “I’m sure he’s fine,” I told her, knowing that most likely he wasn’t.

She nodded.         

Vivid and Ziles arrived back at the camp empty handed although Ziles was covered with blood.

“Sorry it took so long,” Vivid said while she took a seat across from me and Anna, “but we ran into a few zombies and well Ziles couldn’t resist in devouring them as you can tell by the blood.”         

Ziles let out a little laugh.  “Best meal I’ve had all week,” he replied.         

I shook my head and sighed.  “Anna, this is Ziles and Vivid,” I told the mortal.         

“You’re a cannibal?” she asked Ziles in horror.         

Ziles shook his head.  “I’m a lycanthrope… lycan… or werewolf… whatever you want to call us.”         

“A werewolf?” Anna asked, beginning to hyperventilate.

“It’s okay,” I told Anna, trying to help her breathe.  “He’s with us and he doesn’t eat mortals.  Actually it’s in their code to protect them from harm.”         

Ziles nodded.         

Anna tried to calm down.         

“I’m a demi-goddess,” Vivid replied.         

“Demon,” I muttered under my breath.         

“Excuse me?” Vivid asked.         

I looked at her and faked a smile. “Nothing.”  I stood up and walked over to Thorn and Bones.  “I’ll take this shift,” I told Thorn.         

Thorn shook his head.  “I got it.”         

“But you’ve been here almost all day,” I told him with a slight smile.         

“I know but I don’t mind keeping watch,” he replied.

“I’ll stand guard with you.”         

“If you insist,” he spoke with a sigh but I caught his smile.         

I looked around the woods, wondering if it was going to be a peaceful night or if something bad was going to happen.  “I don’t think Anna’s husband is alive,” I told him in a whisper.  “I mean I don’t want to tell her that but what is the odds that we’re going to find him alive and fighting off a zombie?  We both know that there’s no chance.”         

Thorn looked at me with sadness in his eyes.  “I agree with you but we have to try to be hopeful for the mortal.”

I nodded.

 

          

The next morning, we helped Anna pack everything from her camp up and placed them into the dark blue trailblazer.  None of us spoke a word about the night before or what was ahead of us when we got closer to civilization.  I noticed that Ziles’s claws were beginning to grow which meant that the full moon would be around sometime during the next few weeks or so.         

Bones jumped into the back of the car and wagged his skeleton tail, ready for the ride.         

I sighed and looked toward the direction which we were heading when I noticed someone walking toward us.  The person was walking slowly and that was when I realized that it wasn’t a mortal, at least not anymore.

“Oscar!” Anna exclaimed at the sight.  She began running toward the zombie when Ziles jumped her and knocked her to the ground.         

“Sorry but that’s not him,” he told her, “at least, not anymore.”         

Anna began crying.  “Oscar!  Oscar!  My husband!” she screamed.         

Ziles tighten his grip around the