Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 378: Feed The Fire

Another shot hit close to Zubair, sending up shards of rocks into his face.

Lachlan roared from the truck, busy with three men at once. Alexei was freezing the barrels of rifles and snapping them off. Sera had two men down and was working on a third.

It seemed like no one was watching Zubair.

But Elias was, though. "Don’t," he said quietly. "We don’t know what it will do."

Zubair bared his teeth. "We know what not doing it does."

His creature had already told him.

He bent.

He grabbed the man by the collar and dragged him closer, away from the open street. The man thrashed. Zubair held him down with one knee.

"Please," the man said again. "Please—"

Zubair forced his mouth open.

There was no dainty bite. No slow sip. He put his teeth into the man’s shoulder and tore the meat away. Skin, muscle, blood, cloth. It filled his mouth with heat and salt and iron. He chewed. He swallowed.

The man screamed once, high and shocked, but Zubair didn’t stop.

He grabbed lower, fingers digging into the man’s ribs until he found the gap between them. He tore them apart. Flesh parted. He reached inside, found the thick meat of the chest, and ripped more out.

Yes. That is strength. That is why she never tires. That is why they don’t stand a chance against her, no matter how many men they send. Take it all. Eat what they give you. Dominate them.

And so, Zubair ate.

He ate muscle, not just skin. He bit through cartilage. He spat out cloth and kept the rest.

He dug until his hands were red up to the wrist. He did not stop when the man went limp. He pulled free a piece of liver and swallowed it whole. Warmth hit his stomach like a flare.

Elias said his name again, sharper. "Zubair."

Zubair lifted his head.

The pain in his arm was gone.

The hole from the bullet had closed. The skin was whole. His shoulder no longer ached. His breath was steady.

He exhaled.

Fire came out in a solid wave.

It was hot, bright, fast. It rolled across the street and hit three of the newcomers at once. They didn’t have time to scream. The fire caught their clothes and hair and burned up their arms. They dropped their weapons and rolled, but the fire clung.

Zubair stood.

Blood ran down his chin. He wiped it with the back of his hand. It didn’t bother him like he thought it would. He looked at his hand, at the red there, then at the body under him.

Better. This is what you were made to do. Stop pretending to be less.

Elias stared at him, breathing hard. "It worked," he said, like he was talking to himself. "It actually worked."

"It was always going to work," Zubair said. His voice was rough but strong. "You just refused to say it."

He stepped forward again. Fire flicked across his fingers without effort. It came when he called it.

One of the newcomers raised his rifle to shoot Sera in the back. Zubair flicked his hand. Fire leaped and hit the man in the face. The man went down without a sound.

Sera looked over, took in the scene—the half-eaten body, the blood on Zubair’s mouth, the stronger fire—and smirked. "Finally," she said. "I was starting to think nothing was going to get through to you."

Lachlan laughed from the truck. "Told you it was better fresh."

Alexei didn’t comment. He was still working. He froze the legs of two men trying to run, then shot them in the head with dropped weapons so they would not get up later as something else.

More of the newcomers saw Zubair now.

They saw the torn body at his feet, the blood, the way his fire no longer sputtered. Their line faltered.

One turned and ran. Another dropped his weapon and raised his hands. He looked like he wanted to say something, but Sera got there first and opened his throat with her hand.

See how fast they break, the creature said, pleased. Power makes them honest.

Zubair threw another sheet of fire. It burned clean across the front of a car and crawled up the windshield. A man hiding behind it screamed and tried to roll away. Zubair followed him and burned him again.

Elias moved in behind him, checking Zubair’s arm one more time. "It sealed," he said. "Completely."

Zubair nodded. "I told you. We were doing it wrong."

"That was a person," Elias said, but it didn’t have heat to it. He was a doctor, but he was also alive because Sera had done the same. "I guess we’re past that line."

"We crossed it when we stopped dying," Zubair said. "This just makes it clean."

The last of the newcomers tried to regroup near the edge of town. There were fewer of them now—maybe eight still on their feet. They looked at the burned trucks, the frozen street, the torn body, the blue men, the woman with blood on her face, and they understood.

They started to back away.

Zubair stepped toward them.

Fire built over both his hands now, even the one that had been useless. It moved easy, like breath. He didn’t have to pull it. It was there.

He threw it.

The fire spread in a wide arc and cut off their retreat. They stumbled into it. They burned. Those who tried to escape the fire ran straight into Sera or Lachlan or Alexei and didn’t get past.

In less than a minute, it was over again.

The street was louder than before because of the burning, but there were no more men standing.

Zubair looked down at the body he had eaten from. He waited for revulsion. It didn’t come. He only felt warm, steady, right.

Elias watched him. "You’re going to have to do that again," he said quietly. "Not now. But later. If we keep fighting like this."

"I know," Zubair said.

You will, the creature said, satisfied. You will ask for it next time.

Sera bent and picked up the packet she had taken earlier from the General. She tucked it into her coat. "Whoever sent these ones is going to notice they didn’t come back," she said.

"Good," Zubair said. He rolled his shoulders. There was no pain now. "Let them come."

Alexei looked toward the dark road again. "They will."

Lachlan jumped down from the truck, still large, still blue. "Then we eat again."

Elias opened his mouth to disagree... but not a single sound came out.