Fate's Surrender (Eternal Sorrows Book 3) by Sarra Cannon (android based ebook reader txt) 📕

reach inside it and turn down the Dark One’s control, maybe she could take over.

She had no doubt one of those special rotters could take out a bunch of the regular ones if it were working on their side.

It didn’t take her long to locate one. A beast of a dude with half his face ripped off. He was a little toward the back, but as he made his way to the compound, he merely flung the normal-sized rotters out of his way, like they were dust-bunnies.

You’ll do nicely, she thought.

She stretched out a hand, giving herself over to instinct. After all, even though no one had properly trained them on how to use their abilities, some part of her had to remember.

She focused on the Beast, stretching her magic toward him and sinking it deep inside his mind.

Unlike Tank’s mind, this one was mostly empty. There was no strategy to speak of. There was only hunger and a strong, clear desire imprinted on its brain.

Find and infect the guardians.

The fervor behind it made her shiver. This thing wanted them dead with a vengeance, but he was not going to get his way today.

Karmen pushed her power into its mind and turned the Dark One’s orders down so soft, the sound of them almost disappeared entirely. Instead, she filled its head with a new thought.

Protect the compound at all costs. Keep the people safe.

The Beast stopped mid-stride, pounded his flat palm against his forehead two or three times, and then shook his head, as if trying to shake her voice out of his mind.

Karmen dug deeper, finding a well of power inside her that she imagined plugging into. She took one deep, centering breath in, and then let it out slowly, imagining her power traveling across the top of the zombie horde to reach the Beast. She plugged the other end of that power into his head and tried again.

First, she suppressed the orders from the Dark One, making them as quiet as she possibly could.

Then, she gave her own command, pouring all of her own confidence and passion into it.

Protect the compound at all costs. Keep the people safe.

The Beast pounded his head with his own fists several times and then let out a roar that shook the ground slightly. Everyone on the roof stopped for a moment, searching for the source of the sound.

Someone screamed.

“What is that?”

Karmen ignored the chaos and waited, knowing that she’d either just turned the tide, or doomed them all by pissing that thing off.

When the Beast finally started moving again, though, he grabbed rotters by the skull, one in each hand, and crushed them with a single, easy motion, and dropped them to the ground at his feet. Then, he moved onto the next two he could grab, until a mountain of them lay around him.

Karmen let out the breath she’d been holding.

Somehow, she’d managed to turn the tide at least a little bit. For how long? She didn’t know. She had no idea if the Dark One could turn him back to her will in an instant, or if he belonged to Karmen for good, but what she did know was that for now, they had a Beast on their side.

She picked a pair of binoculars off the ground and scanned the crowd again, searching for another set of red eyes.

Eleven

Parrish

Parrish scaled the chain-link fence near the guard’s hut, ignoring the men who yelled for her to stop.

They probably thought she was crazy, but she was beyond caring what anyone else thought of her right now. They’d been so careful to keep their powers hidden, too. All that was about to be for nothing, because the way Parrish figured, these zombies were really here for them, right?

So, what better way to make sure the compound stayed safe than to leave it and then let them all know where to find her? If she could at least draw the super zombies away, she could buy the rest of the compound time to deal with the normal ones.

Of course, she probably should have come out here with a better plan than just to wade through an ocean of rotters, searching for red eyes. There were more of them than she’d anticipated, and they were so close together she hardly had any elbow room to even swing her sword.

She had a few tricks up her sleeve when it came to her magic, but she didn’t want to have to use it when she was still so close to the compound. Instead, she took her time, carving small pockets of space for herself in the crowd, using whatever means necessary.

Kicks, jabs, punches.

At one point, she even had to use one of the rotters as a shield against a group that pressed in too close for comfort.

She didn’t stop moving, even for a split second.

Hands grabbed at her, tugging on her clothing and her braid, but she pressed on, setting her sights on a city bus that had been abandoned and parked at the other end of the street across from the mall.

Parrish had no idea what she would do if she just happened to run into a crazy powerful super zombie somewhere in this throng, but she was in too deep to turn back now.

She really wished she’d had the good sense to change into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt before she came running out here, but instead she was wearing a pair of black workout shorts and a black tank top, neither one of which provided even minimal protection against these things.

Her entire body was going to be scratched all to hell, but as long as she avoided getting bitten, she would be okay. If Noah recovered okay, she’d get him to heal the scratches, no problem.

A few seconds ago, she’d heard the machine gun start up near the gate, and smiled. That had to be Noah and Crash finally getting their butts in gear and helping out, which meant the