The attack on Gino occurred at night. The other two during the day.
I thought again about the attack on Gino. The zombies had headed east on foot. They had crossed the ridgeline connecting Horseshoe and Poison Mountains, farther to the south.
Poison? Not a good name.
I marked a line from Gino’s house through gaps in the hills. The line wiggled southeast toward San Diego Creek and across the draws and gullies.
I studied the map for clues. Where could the zombies have gone?
Horseshoe Mountain.
Varmint Gulch.
Ghoul Mountain.
Deadman’s Gulch.
Ghoul Mountain was next to Deadman’s Gulch. If those two places didn’t deserve a look, then I might as well give up and head back to Denver.
Something fluttered and landed on the roof of the 4Runner.
A pigeon?
I opened the door and peeked.
A crow stood, waiting. A filigreed message capsule gleamed on its right leg.
I scooped the crow and brought it inside the Toyota. Unless the Araneum was providing an exact address to the reanimator and his zombies, I had no use for their cryptic missives.
I unclipped the capsule and held it low near the floorboards, the darkest place in my 4Runner.
I opened the capsule and let it air out for a moment. I unfolded the swatch of vampire parchment.
It read:
Kill the girl. Continue with your mission.Araneum
My insides felt hollow. The brown dried-blood letters were bold, the slashing strokes conveying the grimness of the message. Nothing cryptic here.
The crow hopped onto the sill of the open window in my door.
I crumpled the message in my hand.
I wouldn’t, couldn’t kill Phaedra. The Araneum didn’t understand. She was a girl with big problems and had reached out to me, a vampire, for help. She had psychic powers; weren’t those important to the Araneum?
Despite the fact that Phaedra knew about vampires, I’d find a way to let her live.
I threw the wadded parchment past the crow. The wad hadn’t gone five feet through the sunlit air before turning into a knot of fire and smoke. Gray ash fluttered to the dirt.
The crow lifted one leg and gave a muted squawk to remind me about the capsule.
I screwed the cap back on. “You want it, go fetch.” I wound my arm and hurled the capsule into a stand of dense rabbitbrush.
The crow followed my hand and catapulted from the window. It aimed for the tumbling capsule and extended both claws. Midway through the capsule’s trajectory, the crow snagged it with a clink of claw on metal.
The crow gave its wings a mighty flap and soared over the brush and the quarry.
Bad form, Felix. The bird was only doing its job. You need to get on with yours.
What I needed was a nap. Fatigue wore me down, and a tired vampire makes mistakes. Those mistakes can mean no more vampire.
I didn’t have time to sleep or make mistakes. I had tonight to find the zombies before they picnicked on the rest of town. I headed to Morada and circled south along San Diego Creek.
According to the map, the road climbed and kinked past the local cemetery.
I couldn’t sneak around in the Toyota. The approach to Deadman’s Gulch was a seven-mile hike over open ground.
I left the 4Runner on the street outside a small apartment building, got my backpack, and followed the road on foot.
I removed my contacts. Dozens of red auras from small animals flitted around me.
The road crested where the cemetery sat on the edge of a plateau. From here, the view looked east across the breadth of the San Luis Valley. Strings of lights followed the perpendicular roads segmenting the flat valley floor. It looked spectacular in a sweeping panoramic sort of way, but I preferred watching moisture bead on the side of a chilled cocktail.
Farther south on the road, isolated houses sprang up on the left and right. A few cars passed on the road. With my contacts out, I could tell from the passengers’ auras they weren’t interested in me.
Green trash bins and aluminum mailboxes sat on the side of the road. Signs advertised ranches parceled into smaller lots. ACT NOW. FINANCING AVAILABLE.
Ghoul Mountain loomed before me like a gigantic tombstone. On the backside of the mountain, I would find Deadman’s Gulch.
Headlamps rocked through the dusty night as a vehicle approached. This far in the distance, they wouldn’t see me. I hiked away from the road and crouched behind a natural wall of big rocks. A Subaru station wagon rumbled along, slinging rocks against its chassis.
Now that I’d started my trek, I realized that I’d underestimated the time it would take to reach Deadman’s Gulch. I’d have to go cross-country as quickly and stealthily as possible.
Better that I go not in human form but as a wolf. I’d attract less attention if seen by humans. In the darkness they’d assume I was a big dog or coyote. Plus my senses were more acute and I could run faster.
I stripped and put my folded clothes and gun in the backpack, which I hid beneath a pile of rocks.
I cleared a spot on the ground and lay naked in the sand. I summoned the transmutation from human form to lupine. A warmth leached to the center of my chest. My kundalini noir coiled into a nervous ball of anticipation.
Shards of pain crackled along my bones as they stretched and twisted into shape. My skull felt as if a grappling hook had snagged the front of my jaws and winched them to a point. Needles pushed out where fur sprouted through naked skin.
Smells flooded my nose and separated into delicate aromas. Tiny sounds echoed in my ears.
I lay still for a moment to let the pain from the transmutation melt away. I turned onto my paws and stood on all four legs.
I crept from behind the wall of rocks and waited beside the road. Dust from road traffic remained in the air and I sneezed.
I remembered the route from the map. I’d head straight to the big mountain. From there I’d go south to the gulch.
The way clear, I loped across the road. My path took me between large dwellings surrounded by dirt and brush.
I caught the scent of horses. Made me hungry.
Horses behind a fence picked up my scent and whinnied in distress.
Dogs barked a warning. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf.
I kept my speed at a fast trot. To the left, on the low hills, coyotes stalked mule deer. I crossed the scent trails of rabbits, field mice, and skunks. The stars above grew brighter the farther I got from humans.
I reached the high ground east of the big mountain. To my left, a faint white glow splashed across the shrubs and rocks.
I raised my snout. The air carried the odor of rotting human flesh and a strange pungent smell.
Zombies.
That glow must be from their lair.
I’d creep close and discover their numbers.
I only saw the auras of small creatures: mice, a raccoon, and an owl swooping for a meal.
Zombies had no auras. In this darkness and even with my night vision, they could hide in the rocks and shrubs provided they didn’t move. But as long as I could smell them, I knew where they were.
I climbed down from the high ground and went hunting.
CHAPTER 36
The trail I’d been looking for disappeared into a flat gully. I stayed on the slopes. Should someone surprise me, I didn’t want to be channeled into any narrows. I wanted open ground for sprinting at full speed.
Tire prints appeared in the dirt of the gully. The zombies who had taken Cleto must’ve traveled this way. Large rocks had been placed along the entrance to the gully to make it appear that no vehicle could pass through.
The smell of garbage collected along the bottom of the gully.
How close was I to the zombies?
The gully continued east and I proceeded straight over the rise toward the glow.
Something to my left moved. I slowed and stared at a juniper tree. There was no wind. How did
the tree move?
The closer I got to the tree, the stronger the garbage stink. An odor of rotted pork and fruit.
When I got close to the tree, a zombie appeared from between the branches. I growled and bared my fangs.
Strands of filth peeled from the sores on his face and around his open mouth. A torn hat rested on his head. The cowboy zombie.
I picked up speed and circled past him.
He stepped away from the tree and followed. His naked feet crunched through dead cactus. He rubbed the sleeve of his right arm across his belt buckle to keep it shiny.
I slowed to a trot. I didn’t want to move so fast that I’d miss something important. If the zombie got too close, I could bound away.
We crossed the slope into the gulch. Another zombie waited. She stank of dead fish that had washed up and lain in the sun. She had hair the color of tumbleweed and pale eyes like the bellies of dead mice. A long blouse fell to the thighs of a pair of strong legs that ended in tall boots.
I recognized those boots. She’d been the one who had swung from the tree and smashed me on the head.
Cowboy zombie and I passed her. She reached into her blouse for her armpit. She flung a gob of hairy pus. I hopped and let it splatter on the rocks beneath me.
The white glow up ahead became brighter. The groan of an engine drifted through the silence.
Zombies gathered behind me, too many to count at a glance. More zombies circled on the high ground and more in the gulch. Where had so many zombies come from?
They moved quietly; the only sound came from the scraping of their feet through the dirt.
I reached the top of the rise. The engine sound got louder. The glow came from the windows of a house. It appeared much like the other human dwellings that I’d passed. It had large windows and a porch in front. The porch opened to a flat wooden platform. Another set of tall windows was under the platform, showing another level to the house. The house was well hidden until I walked right up the gulch. I trotted down the rise for the house.
Strong odors made me wince. More pungent smells stung my nose.
A zombie in a clean white coat appeared on the porch. His hair was neatly trimmed and combed. He walked onto the porch and looked at me. He remained still while more zombies staggered through a door under the platform. He was all too human-like but had no aura so he was definitely undead.
Was he the reanimator?
The Araneum had said man. So who was this zombie and why was he different from the others?
I trotted in front of the house. Tire tracks rose from the gulch to a large door on the eastern side of the house. This was where they stored their vehicle.
More zombies loomed in the darkness, appearing from behind the scrub junipers. They moved without speaking or gesturing to one another so I wondered how they knew what to do.
I continued past a large container on tall metal legs that smelled of gasoline.
Along the back, I found the source of the groaning sound. It was a big engine connected to cables leading from the house. I couldn’t think of the human word for the machine but I knew it provided electrical power.
This was the zombie farm. The smells of decay and poison. The secret road here. The many zombies.
I knew the location and layout. I’d return with human weapons and leave nothing but ruin.
Zombies stood before me in a half circle. More zombies closed behind me. They moved in loose order as if under someone’s command. Whose? I didn’t hear a thing.
I turned to my right and started up the slope. Zombies appeared from the brush. I turned right again to backtrack. More zombies.
I was penned against the house. Time to escape.
I chose a wide gap between two zombies. I tore into a sprint. They would never catch me.
The sound of more engines echoed from beyond the rise. A machine with four tires bounded to my right. A similar machine bounded to my left. The zombie riders were the large, well-fed hunters from the restaurant.
I couldn’t outrun these two. I spun around to find another way to escape.
A female zombie dove for me. She moved fast and clasped my left hind leg.
I landed on my side, snarling. I snapped at her wrist, severing the hand with one bite. The taste of rotted meat and bitter metals gagged me.
Another hand clutched my fur at the shoulders. Another grabbed my tail.
I scratched and snapped at the zombies. I’d tear apart one hand and another would take its place.
A zombie stabbed me with the stumps of his shredded wrists. He bit my left forepaw and clamped hard.
I ignored the hands clutching me and tore at this zombie’s throat. I chewed through his neck. Zombie yuck flowed into my mouth and I let go, shaking my head, hacking and overcome with nausea.
The zombie’s head remained locked onto my paw like a giant tick.
Zombies piled on top of me, hands gripping fur, legs, and tail.
I howled in fury. I pushed from the ground to shake the zombies off.
The zombies clinging around my neck suddenly let go. This was my chance to break free.
The female zombie in the long blouse and tall boots stood in front of me. She held the loop of a large metal cable. She lassoed my head and yanked hard. The loop bit into my neck, snagging fur and skin.
Hands clutched my legs and tail and pulled with renewed strength. More zombies joined the female zombie. They grabbed the cable and stretched my neck.
The more I struggled, the harder all the zombies held firm. The bones in my neck began to crack.
I fought the pain but unless I stopped resisting, the zombies were going to pull my head off.
I relaxed and hoped they’d do the same.
The zombies quit pulling but they held on to me.
Everyone knew what happened.
I had surrendered.
CHAPTER 37
The zombies carried me around the house. They climbed the stairs to the platform in front. The female zombie ran the cable through a metal cage on the platform. She dragged me inside.
When they’d pushed me into the cage, the door was shut. The female zombie made the cable loop slack and slipped it free.
Zombies stood around me, their eyes empty of life. I smacked my mouth to clean the foul taste from my tongue. I couldn’t believe that these simple, disgusting creatures had captured me.
I studied the wire cage. A real wolf could bend the metal door apart and rip it loose. As a supernatural I should be free without much trouble.
I growled at my captors. However nasty they tasted, I was going to rip the lot of them into pieces.
My neck and legs were stiff and clumsy with pain. Every ache told me how much I was going to enjoy destroying these zombies.
Cowboy zombie poked me with a long, smooth club. I snapped at the club and crunched it to pieces. He staggered from the cage, still grasping the other end of the club.
I flexed my shoulders and stretched my legs to ready myself. I raised my tail in alpha defiance and backed up to lunge.
An electric jolt punched along my spine. I jumped forward, and when my muzzle touched the metal door, another electric jolt snapped though my body.
I backed into the middle of the cage, surprised and worried.
The zombies made a gasping ghaw, ghaw-flinging spit from their disgusting mouths-that was as close as they could manage to a laugh.
What had happened? I looked around. A second cable connected the cage to the house. When I had touched the wires, that was when the electricity had gone through me.
The electric shock was too much even for my supernatural powers. One bite on the wires and I’d be flung on the floor, paralyzed from the electricity. How could these stupid creatures be so clever?
I paced in a tight circle within the cage. Barren ground and rocks surrounded the deck down to the gulch. Rabbitbrush and juniper grew around the boulders sticking out from the surrounding hills.
A layer of fresh smells wove through the zombie stink
. Animals on the move: mice, hares, doves in flight. And the scent of morning pollen.
Morning.
The skies to the east faded to lighter blue. Yellow light touched the summit of the big mountain.
The dawn was coming.
And I was out here in the open in this cage.
I stared to the eastern horizon. When the sun made its appearance, its rays would burn me to ashes.
I growled in frustration and fear. I barked and howled. I circled left, then right.
The zombies stepped closer, lifting axes and clubs with nails in them.
One by one, the stars twinkled for the last time and disappeared into the gathering light.
The sky to the east flashed green and became yellow. It would be light soon and then the sun, the great destroyer of vampire flesh, would take me.
CHAPTER 38
If I had no way to escape as a wolf, I’d do it as a vampire.
I lay on the plywood and tucked my legs close. The trick during transmutation would be keeping my writhing body from touching the electrified cage.
I cleared my thoughts of fear and let my mind expand into the stillness. The transformation came to me like water filling an empty shell.
A great force pulled from the inside of my skull to flatten my snout. My leg and arm bones felt like they were crushed by enormous stones. My senses were smothered by a storm of pain. Fur receded into skin and my flesh burned with the sensation of being dragged through smoldering brush. My paws molded themselves back into hands and feet in agonizing spasms.
The pain lifted and for an instant my mind was a smooth pool devoid of thought. My senses had turned dull and the complex smells simple. Staring into the landscape, my mind clutched at the names and purposes of the objects. A wire cage that rested on a wooden deck. Juniper. Rocks.
Zombies.
Someone clapped. A man cheered, “Very good.”
My muscles throbbed. My joints unfolded like they were breaking through glue.
I drew onto my naked butt and sat on the plywood sheet, careful not to touch the wire grid. I turned toward the clapping.
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