The Unimaginable World by Amber Riel (ereader with dictionary txt) 📕

Vivid nodded.  “I was wondering when you would need my help,” she said, placing a hand on his chest and drawing circles with her finger.  She glanced at me as if she knew she was ticking me off.

I dropped my mouth at how rude she was being then I quickly pulled myself together.  “Bones, stay here with Ziles and Anna.  I’ll be back,” I told my dog which obeyed.

The city was a disaster like Grim had said.  Fires had destroyed cities and bodies of zombies filled the ground.  I shook my head.  I followed behind Vivid and Thorn, watching for any unwanted friends.  A few distracted zombies fed from another corpse.  Thorn nodded toward Vivid to do something.         

The demon nodded and walked over the zombies.  She pulled the one away from the others and locked eyes with it.  The creature’s teeth chatted as it tried to bite her.  She just smiled and then sighed.  “Hades will be pleased with the sight of this,” she laughed.  “Can we keep this one as a pet?”         

“Are you kidding me?” I asked.  “We have mortals to watch out for.  We can’t risk their lives because you want to keep a damn zombie.”         

“I was just joking.”  We watched as she sprouted wings and threw the zombie in midair.  She jumped and spread her wings while her arms reached out and grabbed the zombie.  That was when I realized that her hands hand transformed into long sharp claws and fangs filled her smile.  She torn the zombie to shreds, throwing it up into the air again but this time catching the remains in her mouth.         

“Not surprised,” I told Thorn, “a demon that can transform and then eat the creatures.”         

Thorn nodded.  “Well at least we know she can do more than what I thought.”         

“She can do more than flirt,” I replied, kind of jealous.

Thorn looked at me and kind of smiled.  “She’s not my type,” he replied.         

I sighed.  “You’ll have to tell her that yourself.”         

Thorn nodded.         

I turned my attention toward the zombies which had finished there meal and turned their attention toward us.  “Dead meat, heading this way, you think we could bring back some for Ziles.”         

Thorn nodded while he pulled out his crossbow.  “He probably would rather be here and get it while it’s moving but I’m sure he won’t mind if we bring some back for him.  We’ll probably have to wait though… we don’t need the children to watch that.”         

I nodded and drew two swords from my back.  “Let’s end this.”  I hurried over to two of the zombies and sliced each of them from their heads to their feet while Thorn shot a couple with his crossbow.  I was glad that I was immortal because when they bit me I didn’t have to worry about turning into one of them but I felt horrible knowing that the zombies instead of being the ones in our world were once mortals and living souls.  They had names and personalities.  They had friends and family.  They went to work or to school.  They had lives but because of me all of that was gone.         

In the process of fighting, a couple of humans ran into the scene and helped us fight.  Luckily, they hadn’t been bitten or even scratched.  Vivid had quickly transformed back into human form before either of them had raised any questions and helped us fight.  When we knew the zombies were dead, I sat down on a bus bench and looked around what used to be a city.  I shook my head.         

“Either of you bitten?” Thorn asked.         

“No, man,” one of the two humans answered.  I noticed that they both were males and had to be somewhere in their late teens or early twenties.  “I’m Edmund Countmore and this is Gus Simon,” he introduced himself and the other guy.         

“I’m Thorn Allitwine and these two ladies are Quill Huntington and Vivid-”         

“Vivid… I can be connected with Aphrodite from Ancient Greece,” she told Edmund, flirtatiously.         

She’ll flirt with any guy, won’t she? I thought and sighed.  I shook my head, wishing that she would just stop talking to people.         

“Really now?” Edmund asked, laughing.         

I shook my head with annoyance.         

Vivid just laughed.  I had a feeling that she learnt how to be flirtatious from her mother.         

Thorn examined the two humans.  “Is there any others?” he asked.         

Edmund shook his head.  “No… My girlfriend was at the hospital getting ready to have our child when this thing started and well neither she nor the baby survived.  Actually the hospital was the first placed bombed.  I was on my way there when it happened.  Those things just came out of nowhere and began destroying everything in sight… killing people left and right.”         

Thorn nodded.         

“I ran into Gus, here and we’ve been trying to search for others,” he replied.  He began laughing.  “Actually we know our skills from watching zombie movies and stuff.  ‘We call them Walkers,’” he laughed.         

I raised an eyebrow then exchanged a look with Thorn.

“You know the Walking Dead?” he asked.         

I shook my head, burying my face in my hand.  “The mortals think this is a joke,” I whispered to Thorn.

“This is serious,” Thorn replied.  “This is survival, not a game.”         

“But-”         

Thorn shook his head.  “Listen you two are welcome to come back with the three of us but I will warn you that this isn’t a game and lives are at stake.  There are things that you two are unaware of as well about us and when you find out you’ll probably want to scram… but we are here for your protection.  We’re not too worried about ourselves.”         

“Why not?” Gus asked.         

“It’s a long story.”  Thorn took a moment before continuing.  “Now are you two coming or staying?”         

“We’ll go but first we know a few places where we can thing supplies like food, water, ammo, and stuff like that,” Edmund replied.         

Thorn nodded.  “Please take us there then.”         

Edmund nodded.

We walked into a store which had been ransacked when the invasion had begun.  The most of the shelves in the isles had been knocked over or destroyed.  I walked through one isle with the shelves still standing and grabbed some medicines like aspen and painkillers.  I knew we would need them at some point in time for the mortals.  When I had finished, I found Thorn going through bullets and then he picked up a few and handed them to me.         

“Are those the right kind of bullets for any of your guns?” he asked.         

I checked them out then nodded.  “Yeah… thanks.  I could use these.  I mean right now my guns are full and loaded but I know that in the future I’ll need them.”         

He nodded.  “I guess the mortals were fighting each other for this stuff before the whole place was over run.”

I nodded in agreement.  “We’re going to need a bigger vehicle,” I told Thorn with a sigh.  “I mean there are more of us now.  I’m sure Vivid would fly if she had too but I honestly don’t see that happening with her flirting with you and Edmund over there.  Ziles would probably run but we don’t need him getting tired.  We need him to be stay strong so he can help us fight.”         

“We’ll find something,” Thorn agreed.  “There’s probably a car lot around here somewhere.  Maybe we could find big van or RV or something.”         

I nodded.

A few hours later, we had found a double decker bus which worked to our convenience.  I knew Thorn knew it would be a good option for us to take, seeing that we didn’t know how long it would be when we met up with more mortals if we were that lucky.  Once everyone was in side, Edmund jumped into the driver seat and drove off.  Thorn gave him direction to where the others were.

When we arrived at our small camp, we climbed off the bus after Edmund had placed it into park.  “We figured it would be better to have a vehicle that could fit everyone here,” Thorn told the others.         

Anna and Ziles nodded.         

“And this is Edmund and Gus,” he explained as the two new comers climbed out and waved at everyone.

Bones tilted his head and examined them.  He stood up and made his way over to them sniffing their clothes.         

“What the heck is that thing?” Edmund asked, jumping back from Bones in fear.         

“My dog,” I answered.         

“You’re aware that your dog is dead right?”         

I nodded.  “He’s actually a blood hound… a skull hound where we’re from.”          

“A skull hound?”         

“Yeah that’s what they’re called.  His name is Bones.  He loves hunting, especially zombies.”         

Edmund just stared at me confused and somewhat afraid.         

“We aren’t mortals,” I began.         

“What do you mean?” Gus asked.         

“We’re bounty hunters… part of the order in our world,” I continued then I looked over at Thorn.         

Thorn nodded for me to go on.         

I turned my attention back toward the others.  “Thorn and I are actually immortal.  Ziles,” I spoke pointing to the werewolf who had found the jackpot of zombie meat we had brought for him, “is a lycanthrope or werewolf.  Vivid is a demon-goddess from Ancient Greece… that unknown daughter of Aphrodite.”         

Edmund and Gus exchanged looks then looked back at me.         

I took a moment before I continued.  “Our job is to keep our world from colliding with your world which because of me the two worlds have clashed.  Those zombies I tried to keep in our world but it didn’t happen.  One zombie slipped through before I could stop him.  There’s no telling how long it’ll be when we stop the invasion if we can.  Zombies are the hardest things to destroy once they’re created.  They have animal like minds which is why once someone becomes a zombie they don’t act the same… as a matter of fact they are creatures that like to eat and devour anything they come into contact with.”         

“Are there mortals in your world?” Gus asked.         

I shook