Page 100 of Remnants
Jackson’s dark gaze finds mine, his stare igniting a fire in my chest. He smirks knowingly, turning his back on the oncoming zombies to stand in front of me. “They’re nothing compared to you, little one.” He traces the curve of my face with his knuckles, then captures my chin. “They should be the ones afraid. Show them who you are.”
I nod slowly, my eyes locked with his, the cruelty reflecting back at me. I know what he’s asking me to do. It’s what I’ve been building my stamina for. What I’ve been training for.
He shifts back, his head bowed, as he gives me room to walk forward. My gift easily fills my body the second I think of it, slipping through my veins like an injection of warmth. It helps with the cold, burning away the chill until I’m toasty in my skin. I walk past the others, adding more space between us until the hoard closes in on me.
“Stay back,” I warn them, wanting to make sure there’ll be no one between me and the zombies. Even if I’ve gotten better at controlling when my gift triggers or not while it’s active, I don’t feel like testing that now. I build my gift up, drawing more of its strength from my gut until I’m scorching with it, and then I slap my hands to theground and send it outward.
My gift flies free, racing through the sand and rocks under the dead men, reaching farther and farther as I continue to feel them there, even around the corner where more are still coming from the caves. The beach trembles. Quakes.
“Rae! On your left!” Dane shouts at the same time as I unleash my gift.
Anyone standing above my gift crumbles to the ground.
An arm drops in front of me, but I keep going, feeding more into my gift as it eats away at what’s left. This time, I notice the strain for what it is when it happens.
“That’s enough,” Aiden says, crouched beside me but careful not to touch me just in case.
I reel in what’s left, panting for oxygen as the cool air soothes my skin.
The beach is littered with bones and human tissue. Nothing moves.
Even the fog has lifted, as if the radiating heat of my gift burned it off, leaving a clear, star-filled sky above us.
And an entire stretch of beach showing just how many I’d destroyed.
They were far easier to use my gift on than the GE agents at the Guild, likely because their bodies were already partially decayed. Thank fuck for that.
I stand slowly, wary of the effect using my gift so much might have on me, when invisible hooks snare my limbs, my hands, my body…
Locking me in place.
Chapter twenty-seven
Kellan
Thegroundrumblesbeneathmy feet, a tremor slithering through the earth as Raegan spreads her gift hundreds of feet in three directions. I bend my knees automatically to keep my balance as the next one rolls through. The horde of death doesn’t seem to notice the trap being laid before them. They shuffle forward, jerking and stumbling erratically, like their bodies aren’t quite right, making their movements stilted and awkward.
Aiden eyes the cliff, scanning the reddish cracks through the sand and where it meets the hard rock, while the other two are laser-focused on Raegan. Dane’s hands fidget and clench at his sides, a look of concern pinching his face like he’s worried for her. Jack, on the other hand, is staring obsessively at her, his dark blue gaze flicking to the impending damage and then back to her with a wild, bloodthirsty look in his eyes.
Dane yells suddenly, snapping my attention to the zombie that’s now within reaching distance of her. I lunge forward, but I’m not close enough. She demanded we keep our distance, and we obeyed,but now I won’t make it before that monster grabs her…
The guttural moans shudder, and then one thud hits the sand after another. The zombie about to reach her is already on the ground, its wretched body twitching even after its insides are gone. Are their souls still trapped there without the shell to hold them? Is it tied to their bones, or whatever pieces of them are left?
The sand itself dusts to finer particles that easily lift in the breeze, sweeping over the long stretch of collapsed bodies.
She did it.
Hundreds of them.
Hell knows how many exactly, but she took them all out.
Dane rushes to her after Aiden commands her to stop. They’re all down enough that none of them can move from where they’ve fallen.
Raegan rises halfway and then hesitates.
“What’s wrong?” Aiden asks, his hand going for her arm to help her.
Her hand glows red.
