The Zoey Chronicles: The Awakening (Vol. 1) Read Free Page A

feet away, in front of his men, and the next he was standing a breath away from the scarred man. He lashed out with his huge arm, but the scarred man was also quick, and deflected the blow deftly, before sweeping his legs and knocking his opponent off his feet.
     
    Or at least that’s what I thought happened. But the next moment it was the scarred man on his back, and then everything was a blur. The men moved too quickly. It was like watching two snakes fight. One would lash out, and then a fraction of a second later he would bring his arms up to defend himself. The other would block the blow and then strike one of his own, before blocking another blow, all in the space of less than a second.
     
    All I could perceive were the sounds. Harsh, flesh-on-flesh sounds and the grunting of powerful men floated around the clearing. Coupled with the wolf-like growls and the hyena-like cackling of the crowd, it sounded like something you’d watch on the wildlife channel.
     
    After about half a minute of blurry, unbelievably quick fighting, the men stopped and fell away from each other.
     
    Both were mortally wounded. That was clear.
     
    The big man had a gaping red wound in his shoulder, which he rubbed out uselessly as blood poured out. His face was a grimace of pain, and both of his legs had been mashed to pulp. He tried to sit up, but immediately fell back and moaned out in agony.
     
    The scarred man’s face was a mask of red. Red tears fell down his cheeks. His pink scar had turned a dark crimson. It almost looked like he was wearing scarlet lipstick. His clothes were torn to pieces, like a bear had just clawed him, and his legs too were destroyed, the bones sticking out visibly through his tattered flesh.
     
    The crowd was silent.
     
    The big man was the first to go, his eyes falling shut after minutes of whimpering and moaning. His men crowded around him like piglets around a sow, bending down and pleading with him to stay alive. “Without you we’ll lose control, master,” one said. He stared up at them with blank eyes. He looked dead even before he closed his eyes.
     
    The scarred man managed to sit up, his face contorting in pain. “Listen to me,” he said to the group. They turned and stared at him in awe. Even though he was critically injured, I think they were still scared of him. “This ends here. The Council of the Undead is no longer under you’re control. Your master is dead, and I hold the key. Tell your friends that this is over. Tell them that no longer will they talk of killing humans. We can hunt them. But no longer will we talk of killing all of them. Do you understand?”
     
    The men looked around at each other. I hadn’t realised before, but they weren’t all men. There was one woman. She was short and had a sword strapped to her back. The hilt of the sword was shiny black with a diamond set in the bottom. The diamond didn’t glisten, but just glowed a dull green colour. She pulled out the sword and walked over to the man. “We will find the key,” she said, and stabbed the man through the heart. He fell back and his eyes closed. “We will find the key.”
    ~

I woke to Ben’s big blue eyes. “Zoey,” he said. “Zoey, are you okay?”
     
    The sun burnt down, and I winced as it hurt my eyes. I tried to sit up, but the pain in my shoulder flared and I immediately fell back. “How long have I been out?” I said. I was sure that it must’ve been a few hours or more. The dream seemed to last forever. It wasn’t like other dreams. Dreams were meant to fade when you woke up, but I could remember this one vividly, like it was a film in my mind.              
     
    Ben looked confused. “What do you mean?”
     
    Again I tried to sit up, but the pain in my shoulder was too much. It was a dull thudding, and with each thud it spread down my arm and back up again, causing my whole left side to ache. I fell back. “I feel like I’ve been out for hours,” I said.
     
    “Zoey,