Read Online The Human-Undead War Trilogy (Book 1): Dark Intentions by Jonathan Edwardk Ondrashek - Free Book Online Page B

restrain her. He located thick chains and dragged his mother over to the largest grounded pipe he could find. He looped the chains around the pipe, then around her torso, wrists, and ankles. He rifled through old toolboxes, found the largest lock, and secured all the ends of the chains together, around her back so it would be more difficult for her to get loose.  
    Then he curled up beneath the stairs and cried himself to sleep.  
    When he awoke, his mother was still unconscious. He spared several hours to clean everything the best he could, trying to estimate the damage to the wall in the hallway. Luckily it was the weekend and he would be able to focus on repairs and nursing his mother back to health.   
    …If that was even plausible. He’d never heard of any type of disease that could explain her recent behavior. He was reminded of folklore, of a creature of the night. The resemblance to his mother’s condition was uncanny but impossible.   
    Such creatures didn’t exist.  
    When he returned to the basement, she was awake. Her eyes remained black but her demeanor was more complacent. Blood caked her skin in dark layers, hair matted to her head. Abrasions had somehow knitted themselves back together. No scratches, no bruises. She beckoned him.   
    He sat down cross-legged and just out of her reach. His lips trembled. He needed to hug her, to feel reassured that he hadn’t harmed her or invoked her disapproval.  “Mom, I’m—”  
    “I know, honey. I know. You did well,” she said. “I didn’t mean to attack you. You have to believe me. It’s just that…Well, I can’t control it.”  
    “What’s happening to you, Mom?”  
    “I’ve become an abomination even God would shun.” She glanced at the window above her and reached her arm out into a ray of sunlight. Smoke billowed and the stench of burning skin filled the room. She pulled her arm back in toward her body, pain etched onto her features. “I think I’m a vampire.”  
    He shook his head and held his ears. “Vampires aren’t real!” he screamed, tears streaming down his face once again.  
    She sat before him, wrapped in chains, dried blood covering her from head to foot. “Whatever it is, it’s an infestation, a disease—not something to turn a blind eye to and destroy. I want you to swear you’ll find a way to cure it. Can you promise me that?”  
    “I can get help for you, Mom. Just let me get you some help. A doctor, someone.”  
    “That won’t do. You need to kill me, Brian. Kill me and take what I’ve bequeathed upon you and cure this disease.”  
    “No!”  
    “Brian James Koltz!” She lunged. The chain holding her right wrist snapped. She plucked him off the ground, squeezing his neck. “I-I can’t control it any longer!”  
    Brian wrenched her hand away and stepped out of reach. He looked into her eyes. Unadulterated fear. Sorrow. Anger. There lurked an inner struggle she couldn’t possibly win. Her lips were pressed tight together. Tears streamed down her face as it twisted into something far more evil and feral.  
    She lurched once again. All of the chains confining her exploded, metallic links flying across the room. Brian ducked under her outstretched arms, knowing she wasn’t human anymore, knowing he couldn’t save her. He grabbed the shovel that rested against the wall, turned to face her, and swung with all of his might.  
    The spade sliced through his mother’s neck. Her head plopped to the ground, mouth agape, black eyes wide.  
    There was a brilliant flare followed by a cloud of smoke. Brian closed his eyes against the glare.   
    When he opened them again, a pile of ashes greeted him.   
    ***
    “I stayed home for a week. Cleaned the entire place. Hardly ate. I lied to anyone who happened by or called, told them my mother and I were both ill. Contagious. 
    “I discovered my mother had left me everything I needed to forge ahead on my own. Credit