Page 84 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

That was possession.

I saw the way they moved. Not like muscles obeying old instincts. Like something in the air yanking them around. Like an angry spirit using a corpse as a puppet, violent and impatient.

I opened my mouth and the words came out as a shout, raw and immediate.

“They are spirit driven poltergeists,” I yelled. “Only fire will kill them.”

Eve’s gaze snapped to me, then to the rising dead.

Drathar’s smile widened. “Clever girl.”

The parking lot exploded into chaos.

The undead surged forward, faster than the hospital wave. They did not hesitate. They did not stagger. They rushed like a swarm, driven by something hungry and furious.

Faith pivoted, weapon up, firing into skulls out of habit.

It did not matter.

The corpses jerked, fell, then rose again, limbs snapping back into motion as if pain did not exist.

“That does nothing,” Faith barked.

“It disrupts the shell,” I yelled back. “But not the spirit.”

Eve’s hellfire roared, bright enough to paint the shield space in orange. She flung a wave into the nearest cluster, and the undead ignited. This time, when they burned, the movement stopped. The spirit force broke like a thread snapped.

A few bodies collapsed into ash.

Relief hit me hard, but it lasted half a second.

More kept coming.

Drathar’s hand lifted again, and the air rang with that invisible string pluck.

The dead rose behind the first wave, joining the surge as if it were a parade.

Dagna used the moment, of course she did. She slipped backward, eyes on Eve, smiling like this had always been the plan.

Eve saw her movement and lunged, hellfire ready to end it.

Drathar stepped between them.

Not blocking physically, just existing in the space in a way that made the air heavier, harder to move through.

Eve’s flame hit his ward and scattered, sparks hissing.

Drathar laughed.

Faith grabbed Eve’s arm, yanking her back before she could try something suicidal. “Eve. Stop.”

Eve’s eyes flashed. “She is right there.”

Faith’s voice turned harsh. “And we are about to be drowned in undead. Kill the zombies. Now.”

The undead were accumulating too quickly. Every second we spent aiming at Dagna was another spirit puppet clawing toward the hospital doors, toward the mundanes Delia was wiping, toward patients who could not run.

Nishi shouted to her hunters through comms. “Contain the perimeter. Do not let them reach the entrance.”