Wrath of Night Chapter 4

Kincaid continues narrating his flashback to New York City 1975. "The heart rate monitor beeped in a normal rhythm.

Outside on the street, zombies converged upon the emergency response. Police officers uselessly fire their sidearms, but it doesn't stop the army of undead from tearing them apart.

And alive or not, I was still under Silex's control.

I can still hear the screams from that ambulance. The back doors flew open, and I emerged. I was covered in blood, not all my own.

Silex exited the building amid the carnage. The zombies that weren't feasting followed behind.

That's when I faded out.

I slept with the zombie hoard, lying on the floor of Silex's lair. While they would lay still, I twitched and shook.

From then on was a blur. Could have been weeks, could have been months. We would sleep during the day, but at night we were an army of undead.

If you could see me while I was asleep, you would see my eyes move under the lids. REM. It meant I was dreaming. Flashes of zombie carnage. Robbing a bank, and feasting on the bank teller.

Eating innocent people. Sleeping violently, because my heart was beating. One thing I know is I did terrible things. Unforgiveable things.

Silex approached us in the den, and spoke, 'Come! The Sun makes its exit. We have one more mission before the city is truly ours.'

The mission was to infiltrate and take down the New York City Police Department. We started with the 34th Precinct. Its walls would be covered in blood that night.

Silex arrived with his army in tow.

Inside the precinct, alarms blared. Uniformed officers rushed around. Rifles and grenades were handed out to everyone.

CAPTAIN REYNOLDS stands in front and addresses his squadron, 'Alright people, they're here. We knew this day was coming. Aim for the head. Show no mercy.'

The front doors began to shake. The concrete walls rattled. Bricks shook loose from the mortar. Then the blast. An explosion rips apart the doors. In rushed the army.

Shots were fired left and right. Some of the zombies are hit, but most keep moving forward.

Outside the precinct, the undead climbed the walls, and broke in through the second and third story windows.

Inside, one person seemed to have taken charge. It's Victoria Sanchez. Her aim was true, as she took out a zombie at the third floor window.

She cried, 'Someone cover the damn window!' and sent three more bullets into the brains of three more zombies at the door.

She ran into the hall. The barricades at the stairwell had failed.

'Shit!' she curses, as she runs down the hallway, and around the corner. Straight into a zombie.

The zombie grabbed her, and she screamed. But then she looks up at its face. Not dead. Human.

'Kincaid?' she asked.

I growled.

'Alex, stop! It's me.' Sanchez pleaded.

I hesitated, and shook my head. A flicker of recognition.

'Halt!' Silex commanded, 'Scatter!'

The zombies stopped attacking, and made a path for him. He walked through his troops, and approached the former partners.

'I see you have met my Lieutenant,' Silex said to Sanchez.

'What have you done to him?' she asked.

'Interesting isn't it? He is as much my minion as the rest, but his heart still beats. His body heals,' Silex informed her.

'This city will stop you. You're not going to get away with it,' Sanchez snapped back.

'Wrong.' Silex stated, as he pulled out his sword. Handing it to me, he commanded, 'Kill her!'

I brandished the sword.

Elsewhere in the precinct, Captain Reynolds and a few surviving officers had made a stand. But they were being flanked by zombies, and were running out of bullets.

'I'm down to my last mag,' stated the Captain.

Back in that hallway, Silex shouted at me again, 'I said kill her!'

I struggled, fought hard against the spell. My hands shook as I tried to regain control.

Suddenly I thrust the blade forward, stabbing Silex through the heart.

'And I said go to hell.' I spit back.

Silex was in shock. He fell to his knees, and then his lifeless body slumped to the floor.

Moments later Captain Reynolds stopped shooting. The undead army had fallen. He looked relieved, as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

The next day I packed my car, and said goodbye to Victoria. I threw a bag into the trunk, and slammed the hatch. I walked around to the passenger side to speak to her.

'Sure you don't want to stay?' she asked.

I shook my head, and replied, 'I can't. Not after what happened. Besides if there are more like Silex, I have to find them and kill them. It's the only way to atone for all I've done.'

I kissed her, then climbed into my car and drove off.

Back in my penthouse, I stood shirtless in front of the roaring fireplace. Of course I didn't tell her everything. In the fire, the Eye of Osiris glowed red in the embers.

I kept the amulet. I learned the spell. 'Ferra Vito Prava Nicto!'

But I only used it on myself. I darted into the fire, and grabbed the amulet with my bare hands. I thrust it into my chest. It burned into the flesh, and then almost immediately healed over. The safest place I could keep it was deep inside my heart.

I would become the scourge of darkness. The hunter of evil. The wrath of night.

I put my shirt back on, threw on my coat, and slid Silex's katana down the sheath on my back.