Read Path of the Horseman for Free Online

Plagued
sneaking to my back. I pinned its skull in place with my boot so I
could put my machete through the left side of another Plagued’s
skull, and watched it exit the right side. Then I stomped down, and
shattered the cranium of the unlucky bastard under me.
     
    “Bitch at me later!” I yelled back. “Get me
out of here!”
     
    “You’ve got powers!” Simon retorted. “Use
them!”
     
    There had to be a dozen Plagued surrounding
me now. They weren’t making much noise, but I could see their
rotting, weathered faces and smell the sourness of death coming
from their open sores.
     
    “I just walked fifteen miles to find you!
Pull your own weight for once!”
     
    Simon’s laugh was bitter and harsh. I
couldn’t see him anymore. I didn’t know if he was still shooting
arrows into the Plagued, or if he was just watching me shove them
around like I was the unfortunate asshole in a zombie mosh pit.
     
    “That’s rich, considering you clammed up
halfway through!”
     
    My temper became a lit fuse reaching the
powder keg. I could have drained myself with my powers to
permanently kill these undead bastards, I could have cut them to
ribbons with my blades, or I could have let them bite me and poison
themselves. But human bodies were fragile, and I had worn mine out
from lack of food, running, fighting, facing a demon, and trudging
all the way through two cities to find my brother. I was not in the
mood for Simon or his shitty truths.
     
    I punched two Plagued and kicked another,
snarling as they reached out to grab me. I knocked down their arms
and shoved out my hands, feeling smoky power tear out of my
fingertips. I flexed my fingers and stabbed out whips of fume,
letting it enter their mouths and work its way into their dead
brains. I sent the smoke into their skulls, and gave them a fever
of one hundred and seven.
     
    Stretching my power the way I was, I could
only infect six of them. Even as their brains started melting and
they dropped like flies, I could feel myself weakening. When I
finally let go, my vision went dark and I pitched forward. I caught
myself before I blacked out, but it didn’t matter when the Plagued
dog-piled on top of me.
     
    The weight of so many bodies crushed the air
from my lungs. A putrid mix of sour rot and dead blood filled my
mouth and nose. Rough, stubby fingers pushed aside my rucksack and
blunt teeth dug into my back. The Plagued couldn’t infect me, and I
felt them convulsing as my blood poisoned them, but they were too
stupid to figure out I was killing them for good. All they tasted
was flesh, and they wanted as much as they could get.
     
    I tried to move, to form some smoke, anything
to get the undead fuckers off of me, but I couldn’t so much as
twitch under all the literal dead weight. I fumbled for my weapons
as flesh was pulled from my back. I gritted my teeth as they gnawed
on my back, shoulders, and legs. They shivered as they ate me,
fighting the venom in my blood for a few more mouthfuls of
flesh.
     
    I hated being in a human body. The agony of
being eaten alive made it so fucking hard to think. Every time I
tried to work up a plan, a Plagued would clamp its teeth into my
body, putting down the pressure and pulling until my skin was
stretched like a tough elastic band. Agony electrified my brain and
stopped me from remembering what I was trying to do.
     
    The only way to get out of here alive was to
let go, and not care about how much more power I would lose. I
relaxed as much as possible and breathed deeply, letting the black
smoke of disease mix with my blood and filter out of my pores. The
Plagued started collapsing off of me, poisoned the instant my smoke
touched them, with more taking their place. The bastards were
oblivious to the venom I was putting in the air. They’d walk
through fire to get their dinner.
     
    But then they stopped. I heard the dull
thumps of bodies collapsing, though they didn’t sound as heavy as
they should have. The last set