Under A Winter Sun Johan Dahlgren (digital e reader .txt) 📖

don't know, but whatever it is, it was smart enough to distract us while those things crept up on us.”

Jagr nods. “So, what now?”

A sudden movement behind Jagr draws my eye. “Hildr, what are you doing?”

“That fucking thing killed my brother. I'll destroy it.”

“Hildr, no.”

Before she can touch the controls to the door, it slides open on its own.

In the doorway stands her brother, his enormous sword pointing at the floor.

I'm Afraid I Can't Let You Do That

“Skallagrim, you're alive.” Hildr sobs with relief.

Finn steps forward to greet the returning warrior but stops dead in his tracks.

Behind Skallagrim, hundreds upon hundreds of the centipedes stand in perfect ranks. Like soldiers behind their general.

I grab Hildr's shoulder and pull her back. “I'm not so sure about that.”

Finn scowls. “Skallagrim?”

Thin metal spikes protrude from the skald's head at odd angles. One of his eyeballs has been pierced and goo runs down his face. His remaining eye glows from within with an eerie blue light. So does the tattoos all over his body. It's the same blue colour as the lights on the centipede clamped to his neck with its shiny metal legs buried deep in his flesh.

“Grim?” Uncertainty creeps into Hildr's voice.

The thing that was her brother raises its arms, tilts its head to the ceiling and releases a long, hissing gasp of air. Then it points at us, and the centipedes charge.

“Draugr,” Hildr whispers, and I can't help but agree with her. That thing can't be alive, yet it moves like it is.

“Hildr, get down.” I try to push her to the ground. “Let me shoot it.”

She stands firm and shakes her head in denial. “No, Perez. He's my brother.”

“Look at him. That's not your brother anymore.”

“Hildr, for fuck's sake.” The desperation in my voice reaches through her dazed mind, and she drops to her knees.

“Goodbye, brother,” she whispers, and I open fire over her head. I empty what remains of my magazine and Skallagrim's face explodes into pink mush.

He doesn't even flinch. The faceless corpse steps into the passage and raises the black sword above its head to bring it down on Hildr's head.

“Kill it.” Jagr fires on the undead thing. I eject my magazine and slide in a fresh one.

Jagr's bullets tear through its flesh and splinter its bones, but the thing doesn't care. The sword sweeps down in a vicious arc to cleave Hildr's skull.

There's a sudden blur followed by the clang of steel on steel. The black monomolecular blade strikes the floor with enough power to force it a foot into the metal. The front end of Finn's machine gun slides across the floor and crashes into the wall. He has used it as a club to parry the blow and saved his stepmother from certain death. I bet they will have to reassess their relationship after this.

I fire a quick burst into the control mechanism of the door, and it slams shut on the advancing centipedes.

Hildr rolls away as her erstwhile brother lets go of the sword and lunges for her throat. Finn grabs one of the thing's outstretched arms and breaks it against his broad knee.

You do not want to get into a hand-to-hand fight with Thorfinn Wagner.

The abomination that was Skallagrim doesn't make a sound as it turns and grabs Wagner around the neck with its unbroken arm. Wagner's face turns a horrid shade of purple.

“Skallagrim, no,” Hildr tries to pry the thing's fingers away. It's no use.

“Move away, so we can shoot it,” Jagr screams as she scrambles to get a clear shot at the rampaging giant.

“No.” I bat her rifle down. “You will hit Wagner.”

The undead giant squeezes harder and harder around Finn's neck, and I can hear something crunch. He will die soon if I do nothing.

I release my rifle and pull my knife. 'Always bring a knife to a gunfight', as my mother used to say. I flick it open and slash at the arm holding Finn. The hyper-sharp blade cuts deep, and the tendons of the thing's fingers come undone. The thing hisses again and Finn tumbles to the floor.

Jagr raises her rifle. “Now let's kill this fucker.”

We all fire, but it ignores the rounds. Chunks of flesh tear from its body, but it keeps coming. It swings its broken arm like a flail and knocks the priest sliding down the hall.

How are we supposed to stop a mind-controlled zombie?

Mind-controlled. I am so stupid.

“Hold that thing still,” I call to Hildr and Wagner. If anyone can keep it immobile long enough, it should be them.

Wagner is still on his knees, yet he grabs hold of the zombie's legs and holds on with all he's got. Hildr grabs the unbroken arm.

I duck around the thing's side and get behind it, jump up, kick off against the wall and land high on its back.

Where its head should be is only a mess of metal spikes and red mush. The centipede has buried deep inside his body to get to his motor functions.

I reach into the gore and dig around in the slimy mess.

There. Metal.

I grab the base of the centipede's legs and pull with all my might. I plant my feet against the giant's shoulders and push with my legs. Like a vile cork out of the world's most disgusting bottle of wine, the mechanical centipede pulls from his flesh. Organic tubes and feelers come slithering out like tapeworms. When the last tendril comes loose, the body collapses and takes me down with it. I land on my feet, but I slip and go down on one knee.

The bug thrashes in my hands, trying to stab me in the face with its gory metal spears. I have a good grip on it, but it slashes my lower arms to shreds.

“Ready to kill this fucker?”

“Ready.”

“One, two, three,” I count and throw it against the wall as hard as I can. Jagr empties her magazine into it. The priest is back in action and fires in its general direction. I'm impressed he doesn't