Salem, Wyoming; 9 October 2011, 1300 hours local; Countdown: 2 months, 23 days

Quentin McLintock had attended far too many of these over the past couple of years. He felt the tears flow down his cheeks as Jim’s coffin was lowered into the Wyoming soil. Jim’s death still didn’t feel real to Quentin. Even after seeing him laid out, Quentin half-expected the gregarious cowboy to be waiting for the team when they got back to Skull Island.

"Doesn’t seem like he’s gone," Sport said quietly.

"Nope," Quentin agreed, not trusting his voice for more. Quentin pulled his overcoat tighter. After the heat in Jerusalem, the cold of Wyoming seemed to bite even harder.

"At least his kid’s right in the head again," Sport said. The appearance of Jim’s former lover and daughter surprised Quentin. Coyote and Raven, the Native American totem spirits, came through with their end of the bargain. Quentin wondered if they knew their bargain was going to cost Jim his life, and if they told him.

"They didn’t need to tell him," an unfamiliar voice said from behind. Quentin turned to find a young Native American man in a dark suit. Billy trotted up to the newcomer furiously wagging his tail. Jess strode over following the pup. The man knelt down and rubbed the spirit wolf’s head. He looked up at Jess with disturbing golden eyes.

"You’ve been taking good care of him, little sister," the man said, "He looks ready for the fight."

"Wolf," Jess breathed. Quentin fought the urge to step back as he realized he was in a deific presence. If he noticed, Wolf didn’t show it.

"Why are you here?" asked Mateo, joining the small group, "Are you going to send my people harrowing off on another mission and culling another?" Everyone except Wolf shrank back at Mateo’s barely controlled fury. Wolf just stood as stoic as the mountains surrounding them.

"No, Mateo. From everything my brothers and sisters can see, this is the calm before the storm. None of the sides will be doing anything until it is time for the ritual. That is the only good news that I can give you," Wolf said.

"You didn’t answer my first question," Mateo said.

"No, I didn’t," Wolf answered. "The truth is I’m here to see my son and my little sister. This will be the last opportunity I have before you all travel to the City of the Dead. After that, I don’t know who will survive." Wolf knelt down and stroked Billy’s fur with an apprehensive look. He looked back up to Mateo. "You have almost three months before the fight. Take some of that time and make sure you go see your daughter. All of you should try and see your family. I don’t know who, or if any, of you will come back out."

Chicago, Illinois; 15 October 2011; 2100 hours local; Countdown: 2 months, 16 days

Castle sipped his cup of tea as he looked out across the Chicago nightline. He could feel the pull from the City of the Dead, even from this far away. It seemed almost unreal. After so long, so many machinations, the final day was so close. The sensation was almost intoxicating. So very soon, the entire world would be reborn and he would lead them as Xipe Totec’s chosen acolyte. Castle almost didn’t hear the door sliding open behind him.

"I hate this city," Mikhail grumbled, walking out to join his leader. The leader of the Champions had been in a foul mood since the death of Alan. Castle found that odd. Mikhail never seemed to get along with the now-deceased leader of the sorcerers.

"As much as I hate to admit it, this is the one place close enough to the City of the Dead where we could hide," Castle said, annoyed at admitting the truth to one of his subordinates. "The Americans are too talented at investigation to risk anything closer. We needed to get into America before they started shutting down the borders." Mikhail didn’t say anything for a long while.

"Damn the Guardians," Mikhail spat out, breaking the silence. "If they hadn’t interfered, the path would be set."

"That was my gamble. The Guardians warned me against doing it, but I decided to chance it," Castle said, correcting his subordinate, "I wasn’t expecting those meddlesome totem animals to involve themselves even more. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been wrong. Xipe Tzin comes to mind."

"You should have let me kill him as soon as he tried to usurp you," Mikhail said, leaning against the balcony.

"Maybe. That’s neither here nor there at the moment. How are our forces?" Castle asked.

"Good. We know have a hundred Champions backed up by nearly that many Warriors. The sorcerers have nearly two dozen ready to accompany us into the city. That should be plenty to deal with anything the Great Death decides to throw at us."

"And anything from Zombie Strike as well."

Washington D.C.; 20 October, 2011; 1000 hours local; Countdown: 2 months, 11 days

Jess hesitantly knocked on the door. The phone call asking her to come to Washington came out of nowhere. Mateo was reluctant to let her go scampering up to the capital while they were visiting Mercedes in Tampa. Jess had been forced to remind Mateo that she was an adult now, and one who fought the undead on a regular basis. A side trip wasn’t something she couldn’t handle on her own. Mateo grumbled, but still drove her to the airport.

Robyn Adams beamed at Jess as she opened the door. Jess almost leapt into the woman’s arms, but was frozen as her eyes swept Robyn. The bulge in her middle was small, but noticeable. Robyn solved the issue by grabbing Jess’s arm and dragging her into the apartment. As soon as the door was shut, Robyn engulfed Jess in a warm embrace.

"It’s so good to see you again Jess," Robyn said.

"You’re pregnant?" Jess asked, still in shock.

"Yes. That was one of the reasons I needed to leave Skull Island. And Mateo," Robyn said, her voice dropping to neutral as the two walked to the living room. Jess stopped as she saw the other woman. The woman was blonde, tall, and vaguely familiar. Jess hadn’t met her before, but she knew she’d seen this woman somewhere.

"And this is one of the other reasons I left," Robyn said, motioning to the woman, "Jess Montgomery, meet Sissy O’Connell." Jess took Sissy’s outstretched hand with trepidation. Sissy was a skilled zombie killer even before she’d joined Zombie Strike. After her recovery from the team’s first mission, Sissy became an even more feared zombie killer amongst the various zombie militias that dotted the American landscape.

"Hello," Jess said, not sure of how to handle things. From what Mateo said Sissy had been pretty emphatic about not having anything more to do with Zombie Strike.

"Relax, girl," Sissy said with a bright smile, "We’re not ambushing you. I’m not here to cause trouble. If anything, I’m here to help." Jess gave the two women a quizzical look.

"Jess, I know what’s coming," Robyn said, "I knew I couldn’t stay and distract Matt when he needed to be focused the most. I also know that Zombie Strike needs every trained person it can lay its hands on. So, I found Sissy and convinced her that her help was going to be needed for this as well."

"So why did you call me and not Matt, or even Quentin?" Jess asked.

"Because I missed you, silly," Robyn said, hugging the girl again. "Plus, I was pretty sure that you could use some ‘girl time’ before things got ratcheted back up." Robyn let Jess go and sat down. "Also, I just couldn’t handle talking to Matt right now. I get pretty emotional quick. It would’ve been bad." There was an uncomfortable silence as Jess tried to figure out what to say next. Fortunately, Sissy spoke next.

"Listen, none of us are ready to deal with the menfolk right now," Sissy said, "So let’s get some lunch and shopping in while we can. Tomorrow’s going to be too busy."

"What happens tomorrow?" Jess asked.

"That’s when we start teaching each other everything there is to know about shooting," Sissy said. "It’s okay if you didn’t bring your rifle. I made sure that we had one set up just for you."

Zombie Strike Part 11 Chapter 109

Jerusalem, Israel; 6 October 2011, 1700 hours local; Countdown: 2 months, 25 days

Quentin McLintock snapped the suppressed MP5/10 to his shoulder. The three-foot magenta centipede thing filled the holographic sight. He squeezed the trigger sending a stream of 10mm hollow points through the creature’s front end. It let out an inhuman screech of pain and collapsed to the floor. Quentin didn’t even have time to catch his breath. He quickly dropped the spent magazine and inserted another. He slapped the charging handle down and brought the weapon to bear on another of the monsters.

"Get down," yelled Chief Stahl. As Quentin fell to the ground, the former Ranger charged up with a machine gun. The chief snarled at the oncoming creatures before he brought the large weapon to his shoulder and let loose a long burst. Two creatures that looked like demonic crayfish were torn apart by the rounds. The rest fled back down the hallway. Chief Stahl fired another long burst to keep the monsters running.

"I thought we’d cleared out those nasties back in Italy," the chief grumbled as he replaced the drum magazine of his machine gun.

"No such luck," Quentin said. "Where’d you get the machine gun?"

"Israeli trooper didn’t need it anymore," the chief answered. Most of the IDF soldiers, like their civilian counterparts, fled when the zombies appeared. The sudden panic was almost enough for the Truth to complete a decapitation strike against the Israeli government. Almost. By the time Zombie Strike managed to chopper in, the few remaining IDF troops managed to fortify an office building and stash the few surviving members of the Israeli government. In response, the Truth unleashed a torrent of monsters upon the building. The Israelis were holding, but at a high price.

A pair of M&W helicopter gunships cleared an LZ for Zombie Strike. As Quentin jumped out of the helicopter, he wondered where an insurance firm acquired its own squadron of attack helicopters. The thought was pushed back as the monsters turned their fury on the newcomers. Unlike the IDF, Zombie Strike knew how to deal with most of the Truth’s unholy creations. The team formed line and poured gunfire until they entered the building. That’s when Quentin faced off with that centipede thing.

"Quentin, you’re on point," Mateo ordered, "We need to move quickly, but be careful. If you see Jocasta, alert the team. We need her alive." The former Israeli cultural minister turned out to be working for the Truth, although whether as a sorcerer or a minion no one was sure. They were hoping she knew where the City of the Dead was located, since she’d destroyed the only known prophecy with the location written down. Quentin slowly strode up the hallway ignoring the monster carcasses. Why couldn’t she have just used zombies or gollums like a normal Truth cultist?

Quentin led the team down the hallway as quickly as he dared. The last thing the team needed was to move to quickly and run into a pack of monsters. Almost before the thought went through his head, the left wall blew apart in front of him. Two seven-foot humanoids with red runes stepped out of the dust cloud. Their glowing red eyes locked onto Quentin with first surprise and then rage. Each swung a thick metal club at Quentin. He sidestepped the first blow feeling the wind whistle by. The second blow he blocked with his MP5/10. Quentin felt the submachine gun bend with the impact as he was driven back. Quentin tossed aside the mangled weapon and drew his warhammer. He held the gleaming weapon ready as the two monsters attacked again. The hallway exploded with sound as Chief Stahl and The Steve opened up. Like the chief, The Steve was using a drum-fed machine gun. The two humanoid monsters opened their mouths as if to scream, but nothing could be heard over the gunfire. They dropped their clubs and tried desperately to shield the bodies with their arms. It didn’t matter. In a matter of seconds, they were torn apart by the constant stream of bullets. As the two guns ran dry, the monsters’ corpses fell to the ground.

As they fell, Billy dashed past them into the still settling dust cloud. As Quentin’s hearing returned from the pounding it had taken, he could hear a woman’s furious screaming. Quentin watched in amazement as Billy dragged Jocasta across the carpet. She looked nothing like the perfectly dressed and composed woman from television. Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her hair looked like she’d touched the wrong end of an electrical cord. She had an almost crazed look as she punched and flailed against the spirit pup pulling her along.

"Very good Billy," Mateo said, "Quentin, would you please hold our prisoner?" Quentin easily grabbed Jocasta’s arms and forced them behind her. Her struggles were even less useful against Quentin. Mateo walked in front of Jocasta. As soon as he came into view, she stopped struggling.

"Something’s wrong," she said, "Why aren’t you marked?"

"What are you talking about?" Mateo asked.

"You were supposed to be marked!" Jocasta screamed, ignoring the question. "The path was supposed to be set!"

"That’s not how the path works," Quentin said, remembering some of the cryptic explanations from the Guardians. Where had those two ancient Aztecs disappeared to? Quentin shook away the question.

"What do you know of how the path works?" Jocasta demanded. Quentin turned to Mateo. The team leader just nodded.

"The Guardians told us," Quentin answered. Jocasta cocked her head back and laughed.

"The Guardians? They aren’t as powerful as they think they are. The Truth found the way to lock the path. To mark those who must be in St. Louis for the ritual." She continued to laugh as the Zombie Strike team members looked at each other. It made sense. Ever since the massive zombie outbreak, St. Louis had been a city of the dead. Jocasta’s laughing stopped suddenly as two forms appeared in their midst. The Guardians looked like two elderly Native Americans wearing little more than loin cloths and heavy leather cloaks. Jocasta looked at the pair in terror.

"Release her," the Guardians commanded, their combined voices filling Quentin’s head. He let go of Jocasta’s arms and stepped back. The Guardians focused on Jocasta. "You were warned against this. Now, you have paid for your arrogance. The path you wanted is not the path created. Return to your leader and tell him that he cannot force the future. Attempts will cause backlash." The Guardians vanished as suddenly as they appeared. There was an odd moment of silence as everyone traded stunned looks. Mateo broke the silence as he drew his pistol and leveled it at Jocasta’s head.

"Order your forces out of this land," Mateo demanded. The Truth cultist looked at him with a look of incomprehension.

"What? Didn’t you hear the Guardians? I need to return to Castle and let him know what was said," Jocasta said.

"No one said you had to be alive. We can ship your body back to them with a note," Mateo said. "We got the answers we needed. Stop your attack on Israel, and I’ll let you report to Castle alive and relatively unharmed." Jocasta contemplated Mateo’s offer for a few tense moments.

"Agreed," Jocasta said through clenched teeth. She drew out a small gold rod and closed her eyes.

"All is done," she said, almost as if the words were a chant. She opened her eyes. "All of my Champions, warriors, and pets will be gone within the half-hour. I’ll leave you to clean up the mess." She nodded her head at the gun in Mateo’s hand. He holstered the pistol and stepped aside. She walked down the hall and out of sight.

"You think we should have let her walk out of here alive?" Chief Stahl asked.

"Oh, we’re going to do just that, but the moment she steps out of this building, the IDF will put a bullet in her," Mateo answered. "We need to get back to Skull Island. We have a big fight that we need to get ready for, and a friend we need to say good-bye to."

Zombie Strike Part 10 Chapter 108 – Epilogue