7 days to die, p.16
7 Days to Die, page 16
Harper started firing wildly into the sky. ZAP! ZAPZAPZAP! Kelly just kept her eyes fixed forward. After all, it's not like she could stare it to death.
The sound of energy rocketing into the sky echoed around her. It sounded like Harper was missing every shot. A few times she heard the foul thing swoop down at them, Kelly felt the beat of its wings flapping just overhead, but Harper was keeping it at bay. For now.
They evaded it long enough to make it all the way to the notorious hill in the center of town. Just beyond the naked trees lay Chapel Hill, and the novelty attraction known as Split Rose. By the time they reached the thick tree cover, Kelly had a stitch in her side and severe shin splints. This immortal double standard was pissing her off. Why the hell do I still have to feel pain if I don’t have a body?!
Their pace slowed; Harper was fit but that sudden five-mile sprint would have knocked the wind out of anybody. Kelly doubled over in pain, panting like a dog. Harper turned to Kelly.
“Votoros don’t,” Harper took a deep breath before continuing, “usually fly under trees, we’ll be safe here.”
“Why don’t they just fly through them?” Asked Kelly.
“Trees and plants are weird, they're kind of in a middle ground. They’re alive, so to speak, and souls have trouble touching dead stuff. Doesn’t work the same for people but, what can you do?”
“This is so confusing.”
They took a second to collect themselves.
“Thank you,” Kelly said. “It was nice to see them again.”
While they waited, Kelly could hear the Votoro circling overhead, looking for a good place to strike. She didn’t feel safe, but if Harper wasn’t panicking, then neither would she.
“You said those things travel in hordes? Why is it still coming after us?”
Harper ushered them along, leading them up the hill as they talked.
“Votoros can act independently. But when they decide to work as a group, they pick a leader. I’m not sure how it works, but once a Votoro becomes a leader of the horde, its wings are cut off. I think it’s to show its allegiance to its family, because it can no longer exist without their help. And it can breathe fire.”
“Those things can breathe fire?!”
“Just the leader. No idea how that happens. Also, their skin turns to a metallic, chrome color. Needless to say, we’re lucky it's just the one for now. If we stay under the trees, it ought to be okay. Votoros can walk, but they really depend on their wings. If they don’t have enough space to fly, they don’t usually risk going after you.”
The trees grew denser as they trekked uphill. Before long, Kelly couldn’t hear the Votoro stalking them anymore. The snowflakes cascading between the tree branches hid Split Rose quite well, before Kelly knew it, she could see its outline poking through the haze.
“You know, you remind me of my daughter, Elise.”
This stunned Kelly. Harper has a daughter? Guess that explains the dadstache. Something was off, Harper’s eyes were dancing all around the landscape but avoiding her. This was the same charming guy who helped her at the boat docks on her death day, she knew he could behave like a normal person. Again, her gut was telling her to abort.
“She loved her family too. She was rambunctious, and sweet.”
What Keziah said to Kelly back at the shop suddenly struck her in a new light. Energy is flowing through us, but according to Harper our mortal bodies kept it at bay. Maybe our gut feelings are trying to tell us something.
She walked herself through Keziah's exercise again, letting her thoughts float away, not getting tangled in them. Before long that gut feeling started to behave differently. Her surroundings felt different. It was almost like Harper was emanating heat, like she could feel his emotion. His energy.
He was scared, but she also felt his anger. It was unexplainable, but she could feel that he was working his way up to doing something. Something he didn’t want to do. The hair on the back of her neck pricked up.
Harper clenched his fists; Kelly didn’t like where this was going. She stopped walking.
“Are you okay? We’re almost there.” Asked Harper.
“Where are you taking me?”
There was a beat while Harper weighed the question. He stopped to face her, the outline of Split Rose looming over his shoulders.
“To the colony, where else?” His voice sounded distant, shameful.
“Does the colony just happen to be in Cementon, or is there something else going on?”
Harper said nothing at first. “Like what?”
“Well, you’re usually the first to man-splain facts about the afterlife to me. But you haven’t mentioned the fact that the lake water affected me and not you. That I’m leaving footprints in the snow, and you’re not, or that I could walk into my apartment, and you conveniently ‘decided’ to stay outside.”
Harper closed his eyes, tears welling up at their edges.
You really screwed up this time, Flores.
“I meant what I said, by the way. That you remind me of her.” Harper sniffed, tears now rolling down his cheeks as he slowly approached her.
“That’s why this is going to be so painful, for both of us-”
“Stop it! Stay back!” Harper still had the staff, there was no way she could defend herself.
Even something as simple as screaming wouldn’t help, all it would do is attract more Votoros. As she backpedaled down the mountain, Harper kept walking towards her.
“Kelly, you don’t know how special you truly are. I have a gift, I’m a clairvoyant, but for people with abilities that’s a common one. But you… you have an ability never seen in a soul before. I’ve searched for you for years, almost a decade. I’ve sacrificed dozens of souls just to get you on this hill.”
“You’re wrong, I don’t have any abilities! I couldn’t even use that stupid staff!”
“No Kelly, you’re wrong!” She could feel the fear energy abandon him; he was coursing with pure, angry energy as he approached her. “I know that’s a challenging concept for you, but you can, in fact, be wrong. Didn’t you pay attention in class? Souls cannot interact with mortal objects, buildings, people. None of it! Just the earth.”
“So what?!”
Something slithered up her calves, she looked down. Two rickety tree branches were tightly wrapping themselves around her ankles. Suddenly, two more branches whipped down and snapped themselves tight around her wrists. The branches suspended her in midair, pulling on her limbs like a medieval torture device.
“You just walked into your old apartment building and had a full-blown conversation with your brother and sister! Don’t you see? A week ago, I thought I’d found the soul possessing this ability, I was so confident that I took my own life after doing so. But I was wrong. His essence didn’t work, the ability didn’t transfer to me. Either the necklace I found was a bust or I’d tracked the wrong person. I spent the first few days in Ravenwood studying you just to be sure. My followers pressured me to move on with the plan, but I knew something was off. I would have never known about my mistake unless you visited Ruby Falls yesterday.”
As Kelly tugged on the branches trying to free herself the branches just tugged back.
“The mist from the falls, it landed on your face. I watched it bead up and roll down your cheek. Kelly, water isn’t immortal, it’s connected to a spring in the mortal world. And, not to mention you were born on December the fifth.”
She ignored the birthday thing for a moment, she had no clue how that was relevant. “Okay I have this ability! Who cares? It’s useless!”
Almost a foot away from her now, Harper reached past his shirt collar and pulled out a necklace, and dangling on the end of it was a metal fang. The middle looked hollow and clear, like a syringe. Kelly recognized it from the museum. The Necklace of Apparro, traps the essence of a soul granting the wearer that ability.
“You have no idea what the right person could do with your ability. The good it could do in my hands.” Harper seemed to really struggle with what to say next. “The only solace I’ve found in this job is knowing that I’m doing it for the right reasons. I’d take a dozen more lives if it meant doing what needs to be done.”
She spat in his face. Harper ignored it.
Harper lifted the necklace from his neck, grabbed the fang and stabbed her in the neck with it. Kelly screamed at the top of her lungs; she’d felt intense pain before. Cuts, gashes, injuries so severe she’d spent the night in the hospital. This was something else.
The essence of her soul filled up the Apparran necklace, excess essence spilling all over Harper's hand and dripping down Kelly’s chest armor. Once it was full, Harper draped the necklace back around his neck and knelt to the ground. He gently scooped up a bit of snow with his fingers and put it in his mouth. It worked.
“I’m going to leave you here. I’m truly, very sorry about this. I didn’t know it would take this much out of me.”
As her essence dripped onto the snow below, Harper turned around and walked up the hill, disappearing into the distance. Once he was gone the hill was eerily silent, until the familiar sound of wings beating the air returned. Kelly had to fight to stay conscious, her head sagged, and her eyelids grew heavy.
The wings stopped and she heard something fall between the trees. Up ahead a Votoro landed in the snow, claws drawn, smile growing with each step. Kelly tried to wrestle out of the tree's clutches, but she was too weak. The Votoro crept towards her, it could have moved faster but it was playing with its food.
Just as it was inches from her face, ready to dig in, it stopped. Its face twisted in confusion. Kelly heard shuffling behind her, then something started to shake one of the tree branches wrapped around her wrist. She figured she was hallucinating at this point, because she thought she saw Rocco up in the tree, shaking the branch in an attempt to break it. The shuffling was moving faster now, and the Votoro took a step back.
Wielding a knife, Hart combat rolled underneath Kelly and charged at the Votoro, letting out a ridiculous war cry. The Votoro hesitated for a beat, deciding whether to run or fight. It took one look up at trees and realized there was only one option. The Votoro spayed its claws and growled like a lion. Hart didn’t hesitate.
Suddenly, Kellys left arm was free, then her right foot. She looked down and saw Penny hacking at the tree branch with a knife. Penny got to work freeing Kellys other foot. Up ahead, it looked like the Votoro had gotten the upper hand. It was dragging Hart around by his ankles, flying as low as it could to avoid the trees.
Before long Kelly was free. Once her feet hit the ground she ran towards Hart, but Penny grabbed her arm.
“You need an essence transfusion, you’re bleeding everywhere!”
“If we don’t help him, we’ll all be bleeding everywhere!”
Penny looked horrified, wearing a look of pure panic she’d only seen on her mother whenever the adult world came knocking. This was Kelly's wheelhouse.
Neck wound screaming with pain, Kelly ran after them. The Votoro didn’t hear her and turned right into her path. Kelly grabbed its feet and dug her heels into the dirt. It noticed and tried shaking her off, it almost succeeded until Rocco popped up behind her to lend his paws, helping her pull.
They were coming up on a dead tree trunk, its husk already snapped over and buried in snow. The Votoro flew through it, but thanks to Kellys ability she was unable to pass through and smacked into the tree. The force of the impact made the Votoro lose its grip on Hart, and whacked the hell Kelly's nose. Goopy blue essence drained out of it streams, but she ignored it for the moment.
Before the Votoro could get to its feet, Kelly climbed atop the trunk and jumped, landing on its back. While it was distracted, Hart stood up, and using all his momentum lodged the knife in its throat. Kelly felt the Votoro land on the ground, then fall to its knees. She climbed off its back as it melted into a puddle of steaming tar on the ground. As Kelly watched, Hart grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you okay?! God that looks bad.”
The adrenaline from the fight masked the pain, but she was starting to feel weak again. She pinched her nose to stop her essence from pouring out of it.
“Come over here.” Hart led her over to Penny.
Penny was sitting in the same position on the ground, still frozen.
“Forget me, I’d be more worried about her.” Kelly said in Penny’s direction.
Hart snapped his fingers at her.
“Penny, are you with us?” The snap did nothing.
Penny didn’t snap back to reality until she was face to face with Kellys wounds. Next to Penny's side sat a leather bag, and a clear bottle containing a soupy, purple liquid labeled Billow Allotrope. Kelly remembered Keziah talking about its healing properties back at her shop, she also remembered that possessing any was illegal.
“Hart, help close the laceration.” Penny grabbed the soapy bottle.
“Sorry kid.” Hart put his hands on either side of her neck wound and pushed them together.
Kelly winced in pain. Then Penny doused the wound in Billow Allotrope, it sizzled like meat on a griddle. After an agonizing moment, the sizzling stopped, the wound foamed a bit, and she could feel the tightness of a fresh scar form underneath.
“How’d you find me?”
“Footprints. God knows how, but you’ve been leaving in the snow.”
Kelly tried asking a follow up question, but her mouth was so cold at this point it was nearly frozen shut.
Penny could tell Kelly was stiffening up. “Hart, we need to get her some essence, she’s lost too much.”
Penny pulled a cloth napkin out of her bag and shoved both ends up Kellys nostrils. It made Kelly sneeze, splattering Penny’s face, but Penny didn’t flinch. It ached at first, but Kelly’s senses started fading. The only feeling she could still identify was the cold snow lightly landing on her face, which she could appreciate as a sensation only she got to experience.
The floor was wet and cold, but at least she was inside, wherever she was. As she sat up, she could feel the fresh scar on her neck pulling. If she just kept her eyes closed, maybe she could convince herself that this was a dream, and there was only a burst pipe waiting for her in the kitchen. Not a murderous lunatic.
But sadly, she was still dead. She was lying on a grimy brick floor caged in by wrought iron doors. There were other identical cells in the hallway, each one occupied by a collection of grey, withering souls. This can only be Katona. It finally happened; my life is over. Kelly half expected to see a dog holding the key ring outside her door. She sat up slowly, sore all over, and saw Hart, Penny and Rocco lounging around the cell with her.
It just occurred to Kelly that to save her they would have had to sneak past the border guards, cross the collapsed mine car tracks, and trek all the way across Cementon. So many things could have gone wrong, yet they found her anyway.
Stuck in a staring match with the wall, Hart sat off to the side fuming about something.
“I don’t know what to say,” Kelly couldn’t find the words. “I’m...”
Penny and Rocco smiled; Penny even looked like she might cry. Kelly went on, “without you I’d be- Well, I don’t want to say dead.”
Hart sniffled and discreetly wiped his nose clean.
He was clearly upset, and Kelly felt his feelings were valid for a change. They risked imprisonment to ensure that Kelly was safe, and the worst had happened. Other than her siblings, no one had ever shown her dedication or compassion. She didn’t know how to reciprocate. She wanted to get them each a gift or find some way to show how she was feeling, but being stuck in a jail cell limited her options to a simple ‘thank you,’ which was hilariously insufficient.
“I should have listened.” Hart finally looked over at her, “Keziah was wrong, I was wrong.”
A simple nod is all Hart would offer before he returned to staring at the wall. It looked as if Penny had been trying to say something since Kelly woke up, and she just now found the right combination of words.
“Kelly, sweetie, we all make mistakes.”
“Most people's mistakes don’t land their friends in Katona for the rest of their undead lives.”
“Well, that’s not exactly where we are, but I’m sure we’ll be there soon.”
“This isn’t Katona?”
“No,” said Penny. “This is a holding cell in Korff Castle. You two still have your original judgment day. My re-judging’s been moved up given recent events.”
“Moved? To when?”
“Well, I had about another two hundred years to go, but now they’re judging me tomorrow. But Kelly, there’s really something I need to ask you. Well Hart really ought to.”
“No.” Stated Hart. “You can ask.”
“What can you tell us about your parents?”
Here we go again. Kelly was an expert at dodging those questions, having been asked by nearly a dozen school administrators.
“What’s there to tell? They’re alive and I’m not. Anyway,” Kelly climbed to her feet. “Shouldn’t we be trying to get out of here?”
A symphony of laughter echoed throughout the hallway. Nearly all the pruned souls within Korff Castle mocked her.
“I’m guessing that’s more easily said than done.”
“We aren’t going anywhere for a long time.” Said Penny.
Kelly sat down, legs crossed, head in her hands.
“I’m sorry guys, I really messed up.”
Penny took a deep breath, then continued prodding.
“I can tell you’d rather not talk about it. But I really think you both need to hear this, and you’re the most stubborn pair of people I’ve ever met.” Kelly and Hart both huffed, like they’d tired of hearing that their whole lives. Kelly sure did.
“Back in the woods you passed out on us, you were going to fade away at any second. I was ready to give up because essence transfusions can only be performed by family members.”
Everything in Kellys mind stopped, the pity party hushed. All her attention was pointed narrowly at Penny now.
