Page 35 of Reaper's Quest

Raven shot me a nasty glare for what felt like the umpteenth time. Was it because I had interrupted Aoes? My actions clearly hadn’t ruined some surprising story conclusion.

Aoes snorted. “Rather ironic, isn’t it? Becoming the very thing you all sought to collect in those early years?”

If Bogart’s groupusedto collect monsters, where did their focus now lie? And…was Ubel part of Bogart’s group or part of the competition?

The name did seem somewhat familiar.

Aldine shook his head. “Are you saying none of our kind have made it past the bridge before now?”

“Didn’t say that at all.” Aoes’s head turned slightly, as if he intended to glance back, but paused and never fully committed to looking our way. “I helped one or two get inside, like I’m now helping you.”

Aldine straightened. “If they managed to get into the citadel, and then didn’t finish the job, what happened to them?”

Aoes stopped beside an arched opening on the right, beyond which stood a long climb of steps. “Not exactly certain, but I suspect you’ll draw your own conclusions when you get inside and see what awaits.”

He stepped through the gap and started climbing the stairs.

“I don’t appreciate that answer.” And yet, I followed the group up the steps.

If a trap awaited, I’d be there to foil it.

A door blocked the top of the climb, and beside the door, a metal holster for the wooden torch stuck out of the wall.

Aoes set the torch in place, swung the door inward, andslid a second barrier out of the way. He ushered us into a tight room surrounded by shelves filled with boxes, barrels, cloth bags, and dusty liquid-filled glass bottles.

Raven frowned. “Convenient. Your secret smuggler’s tunnel leads into a perfect stash space.”

Aoes smiled—the kind of smile that gave away truths.

The storage room, the tunnel, the door, and the path outside of the citadel barrier… All of it clearly by design. How could it not be?

Aoeswasa smuggler, and he had probably been a smuggler longer than a lifetime. Longer than Raven or I had been alive.

Aoes slid the camouflaged hatch back into place against the wall, hiding the tunnel door so only a solid wall of stocked shelves remained.

Banging sounded in the next room, and the far door swung open.

“Aoe…s.” The word sounded sloppy and sluggish, and…

A zombified thing shuffled into the storage room. Once a man, his baggy graying skin and stringy hair painted a picture of death and dying. He opened his mouth, a gravely gurgle escaping, as he stretched out his arm and reached for us.

“Aoe…s.”

10

Everything inside of me screamed,It can’t be!

And yet, it was.

A zombie.

Coming straight for us.

I jerked back, slamming against the storage shelves.Mentally, I searched all the various tactics I had learned. Not a single one addressed how to handle zombies. Superior Grim had never even discussed the topic. As if zombies weren’t a thing. Only, one stood right in front of me.

“Earl, what are you doing, man?” Aoes grabbed the zombie’s arm, swung him back toward the outer room, then released. “I told you to watch the bar.”

Zombie Earl, a sickly individual with semi-grayish skin, thinning hair, rounded ears, and glossy, opaqueeyes, slogged forward, his potbelly bouncing and spilling from his once white, now dirty-beige shirt.