Page 51 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

“I agree,” whispered Mae.

I reached into the pit of my stomach where I knew the beast lived and I tugged, even though I dreaded the pain that would rip through my body as the animal emerged. My bones cracked and stretched. My muscles ached as hair sprouted all over my body. I found myself standing next to Mae on all fours, my head almost level with hers. At least I was a giant wolf, though I didn’t know how I was supposed to combat whatever was going on in the cemetery.

The light was leading us into the glen.

“The Glen of the Fae,” Mae said. “I was worried about that,”

What I couldn’t figure out was what she thought we were going to do once we came across whatever was making that racket.

“If we don’t do something soon, the whole town’s going to hear it and the sirens are going to go off. They’ll come to find out what’s going on.”

The lights calmed down in Mae's hands as a high-pitched shrieking started. What was she doing? We needed her power here; I still had no idea what I was expected to do. I mean, I could bite and claw, I supposed, but I’ve never been much of a fighter. A single lucky win against a monster did not a warrior make.

I glanced over at Mae. She must’ve seen the worry in my eyes.

“I’m texting Hilda,” she said.

This seemed to be a good time to wait for backup, but as I looked up the path, I realized it was too late. Standing behind me on the path was a fully formed skeleton. To its left was another skeleton; to its right was another skeleton. As I slowly turned in a complete circle, I realized that the dead had risen out of the ground and were surrounding us, moving forward in a slow circle.

“Stay calm,” Mae said, her voice shaking.

I had nothing to say; my legs shook as they approached us. Their bones rattled against each other. There was no doubt they were the living dead.

“These are the remnants of the Fae buried here,” Mae said. She crossed her purple and green lightning, sending out a blast toward them and taking out a couple of the zombie skeletons. I turned and growled at the ones to my right, but they didn’t seem to care about my growling; they simply kept walking slowly towards me.

“They’re being kept alive by magic and they’re secreting saliva They will transfer their poison to you if you let them bite you,” Mae said.

Great. That was exactly the news I wanted to hear today.

I nudged up against her, trying to get her to grab onto me. The only way we were going to get out of there was by busting through the lines.

It was almost as if Mae could read my thoughts.

“We can’t just run away,” she said. “We have to do something about this. There’s no one else who’s going to do anything about it.”

But we were surrounded by zombie skeletons and we were vastly outnumbered, so what were we supposed to be doing about it? I barreled toward those nearest to me, knocking them down. I watched their bones rattle apart and fall in a big pile on the ground, but they rattled back together and rose up to meet me.

Multi-limbed creatures formed from the skeletons, with protruding tentacles and skulls that were filled with gnashing teeth.

“Oh my God,” Mae said, blasting a row of five skeleton creatures that were coming toward her. “We’re not going to make this.”

It seemed the more bones were knocked out, the more and more bones came to play, and suddenly the monstrous beasts that were surrounding us. One of them lashed out it’s gaping maw straight for my face.

Chapter 38

I dodged the massive bone beast as it was about to attack me. The bones formed into giant claws, one on each side of a massive neck that was now sporting more than a dozen heads, all with extensions reaching out. Whatever was animating the dead, it was definitely doing it with one purpose in mind, and that was to turn other creatures into what it was. The living dead.

With a giant roar, a massive cougar jumped into the center of the fray. It must have been Branson. We stood next to each other, growling together. I wanted to ask him where Matheus was, but I couldn’t talk and we had enough to deal with. Just as quickly as he had arrived, Branson bounded off. I saw that Mae was surrounded. He ran toward her to knock out some of the bones that were gathering around her.

Hilda, Trina, Anita, and Drake all came running. Trina was pale white, looking horrified, and I could only imagine what it would be like to fight in this environment with her children at her side. I’d be more worried about protecting my children than I would be about protecting myself, but right now, we had to protect each other.

“What can we do?” Mae shouted at Hilda.

Hilda created vines and used them to tear apart the bones as they were forming into another beast.

Drake and Anita stood back-to-back and flung what looked like fire balls at the zombie creatures. It was a pretty impressive move. Trina was blowing up the bones and keeping them slightly at bay, but there was no way we were going to be able to fight them off much longer. The clacking of the bones and the high-pitched keening, was bringing the bones to life. More and more were coming from the ground every moment.

Hilda and Trina rushed to my side. “We need to form a circle together. It’s the only way we’re going to survive. We are gravely outnumbered.” Hilda said.

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