Ex-Communication

Thirty-One Now

ON A GUESS , said Zzzap, maybe over there?

He pointed to the southwest. Even in the unlit night, the clouds piled up black over that part of the city. They flickered with sparks of light. Distant thunder echoed across the city.

Zzzap hung in the air above the corner of the Big Wall, just south of the After Death church. Stealth, Freedom, and Madelyn were on the platform below with half a dozen guards and First Sergeant Kennedy. Cerberus stood in the street behind them.

“I estimate it is centered over La Brea Avenue,” said Stealth. “Somewhere between Third and Wilshire.”

Looks like your boyfriend lives in the corner penthouse of spook central, if you ask me .

Captain Freedom cinched the strap of his glove around his wrist. He’d shrugged off the leather duster in favor of his full combat gear. “Are you sure about this, ma’am? The rest of the Unbreakables are on alert and ready to go. We can have them assembled here in five minutes.”

Stealth’s head shook inside her cloak. “A small group gives us our best chance of success while still leaving the Mount protected. The Unbreakables shall stay behind with Cerberus.”

The armored titan made a noise that might have been a grumble, but nodded.

Freedom nodded down at Madelyn. “And she’s coming because …?”

“The exes do not sense Madelyn because of her unique nature,” said Stealth. “This invisibility extends to items she is wearing or carrying. From what Maxwell has—”

“Corpse Girl,” said Madelyn. She pulled her mouth into a tight line. “I’m the Corpse Girl now.”

“From what Maxwell has said,” continued Stealth, “Cairax Murrain’s senses are similarly tuned to living things. Corpse Girl’s trip to North Hollywood supports the premise that her invisibility also includes the demon, which means there is a good chance it does not know we have the sword. She will carry the sword and perhaps give us an element of surprise. At the least, she will still be able to help control the exes in the area.”

Madelyn gave a sharp nod. She pulled her camo cap from her coat pocket and tugged it down over her hair.

Ummmm, I hate to once again be the voice of reason in these discussions , said Zzzap, but if Max has been lying about everything else, why do we think he was telling the truth about needing the sword to kill the demon?

“Maxwell is clever enough not to overcomplicate his story with unnecessary lies,” said the cloaked woman. “He believed we did not have the necessary tools to destroy Cairax Murrain, so there was no danger in telling us the truth.”

Cerberus’s armored head swiveled to look at her. “That’s what your whole strategy is based off? That’s kind of thin.”

“If you prefer,” said Stealth, “I can tell you that we have no other options and that the ‘thin’ path is better than taking no action at all.”

The titan sighed and shook its head.

“I can get behind the overcomplicated idea,” said Madelyn.

I love this plan .

“From what he told us, though, even with the sword, it seemed like a long shot,” Freedom said. He adjusted his helmet and pulled the strap across his chin. “The better play might be waiting here behind the protective seals.”

“Assuming the seals even work,” said Cerberus. “If all of this was a plan to get Josh and the demon together, the seals might just be clever graffiti.”

“We have more than just the sword,” Stealth said. “Based on the information Maxwell gave us, I believe we have all the requirements needed to kill the demon.”

Stealth and Freedom went from rooftop to rooftop. She moved in graceful bounds, her path traced through the air behind her by her flowing cloak. He attacked the air, every leap and landing a show of brute force and mass that shattered roof tiles.

Madelyn had another bicycle to help her keep up. One of the guards at the Corner platform had “volunteered” it. It was in much better shape than the one she’d ridden out to the Valley. She swerved around the shambling exes and tried to keep an eye on the two figures moving across the rooftops. She kept one hand on the sword. It was still tucked in her belt.

Zzzap flitted back and forth, keeping them all well lit. The ink-black clouds blotted out the sky and reminded him of a hero named Midknight who’d died during the uprising. Then he’d died again when Zzzap reduced the hero’s animated corpse to ash. It wasn’t a pleasant set of memories.

They had to go through the broad expanse of the Wilshire Country Club. It would take too long to go around. It meant a quarter mile of open ground with nowhere to hide. “No firearms,” Stealth told Freedom, “and no energy blasts. We must maintain silence.”

Freedom and Zzzap both nodded. Madelyn let her bike drop to the sidewalk. The cloaked woman flipped up and over the vine-threaded fence, and the captain leaped after her.

Zzzap hovered over the chain-link while Madelyn worked her way up the fence. As she got near the top, he passed his hands through the barbed wire and the coils melted away with a few sparks and sizzles. “You couldn’t’ve just made a hole through the fence,” said Corpse Girl with a smile.

Hey , he told her, the more fences there are in L.A. these days the better .

They plowed ahead. Zzzap’s brilliant form attracted every ex on the golf course. Madelyn ran ahead, shoving exes or tripping them. They were halfway across the green plain before the undead became too numerous for her.

Stealth made a quick movement with her hands and her batons swung into the ready position. “Keep moving,” she said. “Time is of the essence.”

Captain Freedom lashed out with his fists. Even his glancing blows sent exes staggering back. Stealth’s batons swung back and forth, up and down. Skulls and necks shattered around them.

Zzzap tried to clear a path for them and swung his hand at an obese ex. He missed severing its head. The fat of its jowls sizzled and the zombie turned into a pillar of fire. The burning flesh spit and popped, and the flames swelled as the dead man’s T-shirt caught fire.

Madelyn leaped away from the fiery ex. Freedom stepped forward and drove his boot into its chest. The overweight dead man staggered back and tumbled over. It kept burning as it struggled to get back to its feet.

Another rumble of thunder blasted across the greens. To the southwest, they could see lightning twist in the dark clouds, as if it didn’t dare reach down to the ground. A cold wind dropped down out of the sky.

This doesn’t look good , said Zzzap. I should run ahead and buy us some—

“No,” snapped Stealth as she brought her baton across an ex’s jaw. “We must stay together. Timing is essential if our plan is to succeed.”

Freedom dropped a dead man with a wide backhand, then grabbed a dead woman by the head and twisted her neck before she could react. “Just keep moving,” he said. An ex grabbed his arm and bit down, but the Kevlar weave of his jacket stopped it from breaking the skin. He slammed his fist into its forehead and it fell to the ground. “If we stop they’ll overwhelm us.”

Madelyn put her hands on an ex’s chest and tried not to think about the fact she was touching the dead woman’s boobs. She pushed hard, knocking the ex back into another one behind it, and then catching a third in the shoulder. The zombies dominoed, five of them crashing to the ground.

Zzzap made another pass and heads vanished off a dozen exes. One of the skulls popped like an overboiled egg. Their bodies dropped.

The far fence of the country club came into view. A hundred yards to go. The heroes smashed, tripped, kicked, and punched their way across the last stretch.

They reached the fence and Stealth vaulted up and over it. Three quick swings with her batons put down the trio of exes gathered on the other side. A few more leaps took her to the roof of a nearby house.

Freedom lifted Madelyn up by the arms, put one hand on her ass, and hurled her over the fence. She flew through the air and landed on top of the house near Stealth. The cloaked woman grabbed her by the wrist. A moment later Freedom hit the roof next to them. The tiles shattered and they heard a beam crack beneath him.

The shadows shifted and Zzzap hovered above them. Okay , he said, now for the hard part .