Free Undead Chaos by Joshua Roots

banished you last time. I give you my Word once again that if you release her, you and I will settle this. Just the two of us.”
    Banks blinked and grunted, but with less animalistic fury.
    “Tony,” I said in a low voice, “she’s a child. A child. ”
    His attention shifted to the small package in his arms. The girl’s red hair was pulled into pigtails and she wore a cute purple cotton dress that was soaking wet. Her lower lip quivered and tears joined the water that streaked down her chubby cheeks. Banks stared at her, then back at me. He mewled like a lonely kitten and slowly knelt down. He stroked the girl’s hair, mumbled something in her ear, and released her.
    The instant she was free, she raced to her mother’s unconscious side. She fell on top of the motionless form and sobbed into the woman’s blouse. The guard next to me glanced at her, then opened fire. The bullet plowed into Bank’s chest, jerking him sideways.
    “No!” I yelled.
    Another guard opened fire, but missed, blasting a hole in the wall behind his target. Banks’s face twisted in rage and he bellowed incoherently at me. He turned and, as two more rounds barely missed him, lifted the heavy wooden table off the floor. He emitted a loud roar and heaved the table through the window behind him. He leaped through the opening as several more bullets slammed into his back.
    I stumbled to the damaged window in time to see him land on a sedan three stories below. The roof caved in and there was an explosion of glass. Banks rolled off the top, dropping to the pavement next to the remains of the table. He took off into the woods behind the hospital at a full sprint.
    I tried to perform a trapping spell, but there was no response from the earth below. I made several more ineffective attempts before the gray body plunged into the trees and vanished.
    As he disappeared, a wave of nausea swept over me. I knelt down, panting while the world spun on its axis. LaDell came up beside me.
    “I made a mess of things, didn’t I?” I asked, breathing heavily.
    “It could have gone better.”
    “You okay?”
    LaDell grimaced. “That zombie packs a punch, but I can live with a dislocated shoulder and a couple busted ribs.”
    “We need to contact the Council and get a Hunter on Banks.” I struggled to keep lunch down.
    “Hunter?” LeDell asked.
    “Professional tracker. They specialize in finding people or paranormal things that try to stay hidden.” I wiped sweat off my brow with a shaky hand. “We also need to get Simeon some medical attention. The burns on his hands were awful.”
    “He’s gone, dude.”
    I blinked in surprise. “What?”
    “Up and left. He and that hottie took off right after you did. They were terrified.”
    “Dammit,” I muttered. Not only was an undead corpse on the loose, but the best person to help was gone.
    The scene around me collapsed into madness. Medical personnel tended to the injured mother and the guards screamed profanities at LaDell and me for our interference. I stared out the window as defeat sank in. LaDell and several other innocent people had been hurt by Banks and hundreds of others endangered during our chase. Worse of all, I’d jeopardized the life of a little girl.
    Everything that had happened was my fault.
    Then it dawned on me that wasn’t entirely true. Out of all the asinine events at the hospital, one of them had nothing to do with me.
    Adrenaline shot through my veins. I stood, marched up to the shouting guard that had fired the first shot at Banks. I drove my fist into his face, silencing him instantly. He flopped onto the hard wet ground. I winced and flexed my hand.
    “That was stupid,” LaDell said, gazing at the limp guard.
    “Yeah, he’ll probably press charges.”
    “No, I mean the way you hit him. You should have used the bottom part of your palm, not your fist. You could have broken the teeny bones in your sissy hand.”
    I stared at my large friend, then chuckled. Best to enjoy