Blood 4 Life

by M. Lorrox

  She stops near a tall rack of camo pants. “I’m looking for some new cargos; my old ones got a big rip in them.”

  Eddy looks around at some coats. “What kind of cargos?”

  “You know, cute ones. Like the anime chicks would wear, low on their hips.”

  Oh. Yeah. Eddy can imagine the type; he’s seen girls wearing things like that on the internet.

  “What about you? You lookin’ for anything?”

  He’s rifling through some shirts, then he stops, chuckles, and pulls something out. He holds it up. “Definitely this tactical turtleneck. What color do you think this is—dark black, or slightly darker black?”

  Jess laughs. “Nice. Sure glad CJ is hip with the times.”

  “Yeah.” He puts it back. “Um, I might get a shirt with a bunch of pockets or a vest. Or maybe a larger quiver or some new arrows.”

  She gives him a funny look, leans over, and whispers, “In case you were shopping for later, we probably will only be using guns.”

  “Oh.” Eddy didn’t think of that. “I don’t have my bow anyway. Guess I forgot.”

  “Well, you won’t need it. Craig and Bill will have plenty of things for us to blow away zombies with.” She smiles at him and raises her eyebrow as she tilts her head. “Vests are cool. They’re over there.” She nods toward the side wall.

  He walks over, and Jess stays by the pants. He finds himself overwhelmed with the variety. Chest rigs? They look more like suspender belts… Hmm, hydration packs. Cross-body-draw gun vests. MOLLE vests? Ah. Here we go. He finds some fabric “travel vests” with a lot of pockets. They’re not as thick as some of the other tactical gear, but they look sturdy. Forty-eight bucks… Not too bad, I guess. He tries on a couple and finds a good size.

  David does a little shopping himself; he’s picking up some more ammo and some empty military ammo cases. He’s running out of room in his arms to carry it all, so he brings it all up to the front register. He walks up behind Joe, who is busy studying the blades on display and on the walls behind the counter. David sets down his ammo and cases, then places his arm on Joe’s shoulder. “What are we looking at?”

  Joe glances up and smiles. “There’s this really cool Damascus dagger.”

  “Oh yeah? Oooooh, she is a beauty, isn’t she?”

  “Yeah. And look—” Joe points to a large black knife with a cord-wrapped handle, sitting on a nylon sheath. “The handle is made of paracord, and those grooves, those are for lashing the blade to a stick to make a spear.”

  “That is cool.” How much is it, fifteen bucks? That’s not too bad. He squeezes Joe’s shoulder. “I think we might need a pair of those, don’t you?”

  Joe smiles. “Definitely. Thanks, Dad!”

  “What are you getting?” Jess sets a pair of pants on the counter.

  David looks up. “There you are. Joe and I think we better have a couple of these knife-slash-spear blades.”

  Jess bends down to look, and reads “stainless” stamped unevenly on the blade. “Hmm. Make sure it’s quality stainless, though.”

  David nods. “Good point. What have you got there?”

  “Pair of cargos.”

  “Well, I’m buying Joe the knife. I’ll give you fifteen toward the pants.”

  She smiles. “Thanks, Dad!”

  David calls Crazy Joe over, and the family inspects the knives. David holds one up. “Are these good stainless? Or the cheap foreign garbage?”

  CJ grabs a bullet-shaped fridge magnet that doubles as a bottle opener from behind the counter. “See here, quality stainless won’t attract a magnet.” He holds the magnet to the blade. It doesn’t attract. “That baby’s good to go, bud!”

  David smiles. “I had no idea. That’s a clever trick.”

  CJ winks and looks at Joe. “You remember that now; it’ll save you from that foreign shit.”

  Joe smiles awkwardly. “Okay…thanks.”

  David laughs. “We’ll take two of the knives, and this ammo stuff.”

  “Good, good.”

  CJ rings up everyone’s purchases, and they pay.

  Outside, while David is securing his bags in the back of the truck with bungee cords, Eddy pulls Jess aside.

  “So, we’re going to meet your cousins at Grove Arcade?”

  “Yeah. Not for a while, though, but I figured we could get my dad to leave us there.”

  “Cool. I like that place. I’ll tell Tomo to meet us there.”

  Jess throws her head back and groans at the sky. When she’s finished, she looks back at Eddy. “Tomas? C’mon!”

  “You said there’ll be two trucks, right?”

  “Yeah. SOOO?”

  “So, don’t ride with him if you don’t want to.”

  Jess squints her eyes at Eddy, distrustful of his seemingly simple logic. “Deal.”

  Charlie drives Mary’s Mercedes, with her in the passenger seat and Minnie with Valentine in the back. The only information Mary gave to Charlie was that she needed to run an errand in town. Now they’re on their way, and Charlie is annoyed.

  “Alright, Mary, so where exactly are we going?”

  “I’d like you to take me to the farmers’ market.”

  Charlie looks at her, confused. “It only runs Saturdays, and I bet yesterday will be the last one after the attack.”

  “No, I mean to where it happened. Sadie said that the area was guarded. I’d like to see for myself.”

  “Why is that?”

  She gives him a sour look. “I think it’s important for the House to hear some firsthand accounts of these unexplained…attacks. I’ll be asking Sadie to present her experience during the assembly, and I’d like to see the area for myself, so I can better understand her story.”

  He tries hard to not let his annoyance show. Promoted to be the Council’s chauffeur… He checks his rearview mirror and sees Minnie in the backseat, smiling. “Minnie, how’s it going back there?”

  “Good, Daddy. It’s really comfy. Valentine likes it too.” She grabs one of his handless arms and rubs the end of it on the smooth leather.

  Charlie smiles.

  Most of the time, Minnie rides with Sadie in her rather ridiculous Jeep. It makes up for its lack of comfort with obnoxious power and general badassery. Occasionally she’ll ride with Charlie in his gas-saving mini sedan, but it’s cramped in the back where Minnie sits.

  This Benz is nice, have to admit. He drives without saying anything for a few minutes, then turns from the main drag toward the old warehouse district.

  He hasn’t driven this way in a while, and he’s surprised by its desolation. There’s not much going on. It reminds him of the small city that Asheville was a century ago. Ironic. A hundred years of development feels like it got undone in less than one.

  Charlie approaches the warehouse where yesterday’s disaster took place. The building itself is engulfed in flames; the fire department and some military vehicles are parked at the edge of the lot. There’s fencing all around the building and parking area, although it’s busted down in a few places.

  Mary squints as she looks at the burning building for a moment, then she traces her eyes along the fence. “It looks like the fence was broken out of in a few places, and into here by a truck or something, but it looks like it’s down over on that far side as well. Will you drive over there, please?”

  He drives along the grass at the edge of the lot, far from the building and the other vehicles. He glances into the backseat. “How are you doing, Minnie? You know we’re perfectly safe, right?”

  Minnie studies the flames shooting out the upper windows of the farmers’ market. “Daddy!”

  Charlie looks in the car’s mirrors and hits the brakes. “What is it?”

  “Inside! Mommy left the cash box!”

  He exhales all the tension that had just exploded inside him. “That’s alright, Minnie. I’m sure Mommy knew what she was doing.” He continues driving toward the spot Mary had pointed to. When he reaches it, he stops.

&
nbsp; Mary unbuckles her seat belt. “Wait here.” She gets out of the car and walks over to the fence. She inspects the points of failure—in this case, it seems that the fence was broken at a seam of the chain-link fencing. It looks like twist ties were used to attach one roll of fencing to the next.

  She looks at the ground. Footprints and scuff marks. No tire tracks. She looks beyond the fence. There’s another fence, about fifty yards away, and beyond it is a still-active shipping company. The fence looks intact along the edge. To her right is the road they took to the farmers’ market. To the left is a line of trees, and beyond, her old and sharp vampire eyes can see another fence, another active shipping area, a space of wide-open land, and then more trees beyond that.

  When she gets back to the car, Charlie and Minnie are talking to Valentine about where the leather of the seats comes from. Charlie is rubbing the seat, and he looks up to Minnie’s cute, little, concerned face. “So you see, Valentine will never be in any danger. The leather here is from animals that are slaughtered for food, and nobody would ever even dream of trying to eat a unicorn.”

  “Never?”

  Mary joins the conversation. “I’ve lived all over the world, and no one would dare to even hurt a unicorn. You know they’re magical, right?”

  “Yes. But maybe they’d think that because they were special they’d be more delicious?”

  Charlie laughs. “No way! A unicorn would turn any attacker into a mouse.” He uses his hand like a little creature and pretends it’s scurrying around the backseat, and then he climbs it up her leg. “And the mouse would run away as fast as its little mouse feet could go.” The little hand-creature runs up her side and tickles her.

  Amid laughs and cries of joy, “Daaadddyyy! Sstopp it!”

  He stops, and Minnie keeps giggling. He looks at Mary. She smiles at Minnie, but her brow sags. He turns to face forward again and reaches to put his seat belt on. “Are we ready to move along?” He knows that Mary once had a daughter, but she had died in a tragic accident.

  Mary rubs her eyes. “Yes, thank you.” She takes a breath and regains her composure. “You can’t really tell what direction they came from; the fence was weak where they broke in. Whoever built it cut some corners.”

  Typical. Charlie looks in the mirror and tries to find Minnie. “Dear, put your seat belt back on.”

  “Okay, Daddy.”

  Charlie drives out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

  Mary sighs. “They need our help, Charlie, they really do. They’re just not ready for this.”

  He shakes his head. “Nobody was ready for this, not even us vampires.” He thinks about Peter, an old friend from the old world who had moved out to the northwest coast a few decades ago. He was likely overrun with the rest of the humans, but maybe not. Maybe he and his kid got out of there.

  Mary can tell Charlie is thinking about the people lost to the zombies. “It’s such an awful thing that happened. If we only knew ahead of time what to look for, how to fight the outbreak. So many lives could have been spared.”

  Charlie just drives. Thank you, Chair of the Obvious Committee. Go ahead, get to your point.

  Mary puts her hand on Charlie’s arm. “I know that this is a really tough decision for you, but in case it helps, I’d like to share a thought I had with you.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “I’m on the Council now; I can promote good strategies. Sadie is a true politician and great orator: she can rally the other elders. And you, Charlie, are a great warrior. One of the most respected and honored knights—for all your sacrifices and for shedding the light on the evil and corruption that used to breed in the House. If we all stood together, there’s nothing we couldn’t accomplish.” She gives his arm a final squeeze. Damn, he’s strong.

  Charlie glances at Mary. She looks sincere. He pauses. “Mary, everything in the world I need to accomplish…is sitting in the backseat.”

  Mary is flooded with thoughts and emotions, and she looks out her window.

  Charlie turns on the radio and drives home.

  David drops the kids off at Grove Arcade, a local landmark with boutique shops, restaurants, and cafés, as well as galleries and craft stores. It’s a frequent date-night location for both adults and teens, and on the weekend, it’s bustling with people sipping coffee, chatting, and walking their dogs in the open areas.

  The kids hop out of the truck, and David calls out through the passenger’s window. “So, just making sure, you don’t need a ride back home?”

  Jess turns back to him and shakes her head. “Nah, we’re going to hang out here for the afternoon, might grab a movie and pizza later. We’ll stay safe, though, downtown and indoors.”

  Eddy listens in from a few yards away. All lies.

  David is still concerned. “And afterward? How will you get home? Mike might come by the house later for some beers, but Mom could come and get you.”

  She motions over her shoulder. “Joe and I will get a ride with somebody else, maybe Eddy, or I think that kid Tomas is coming too.”

  “Well, call if you need anything. And listen: stay with the others…stay safe.”

  “You got it, Dad.”

  He drives off, and the kids walk toward the huge building with their backpacks. Eddy is thirsty; he should have had some of his juice before they left the car. He hurries for the doors to the inner lobby.

  Joe starts walking quickly to catch up. “Hey, wait up!”

  Inside, and out of the sun, Eddy pauses and sets down his bag. “Sorry, I got really weak all of a sudden. Give me a sec.” He pulls out one of the many bottles of he brought along, opens it up, and chugs some down.

  Jess watches. “Are you hungry? Did you have breakfast?”

  Eddy shakes his head. “No, I forgot. Left in a rush.”

  “Oh. Well, I want a coffee. Let’s hit up that place with the really good bagels.”

  “Good idea.” Eddy puts the bottle away and walks after them. “Oh, I need to text Tomo. When are Craig and Bill picking us up?”

  Joe answers, “I dunno, an hour or so. We’ll head out after lunch.”

  “Cool.” Eddy texts Tomas.

  Sup dude, Jess Joe and me are going zombie hunting today. You in? Meet me at the bookshop at the Arcade in an hour, and keep it on the DL.

  Eddy smiles. That should do it.

  At the café, Jess gets a coffee while Eddy grabs some food. She sips her latte and asks him, “So, what’s up with you and June?”

  Eddy’s mouth is full of bagel and cream cheese. He chews and swallows in a rush. “What do you mean?”

  Jess looks at him in disbelief. “You know, what’s the deal with you two?”

  Eddy looks at Joe.

  Joe shrugs and pulls out his phone.

  Eddy looks back at Jess, who’s now tapping her finger on the table, staring him down.

  Eddy acts annoyed. “I mean, we’re friends, that’s all.”

  Jess keeps tapping her finger. “REALLY?”

  “Yes…?” He points to her hand. “You can stop it with your finger.”

  She stops.

  “I mean, we’re not ‘a thing’ or whatever. She and I wouldn’t work anyway. It’d be messy.”

  Joe laughs and slaps the table. Jess and Eddy both glare at him.

  He feels the heat and looks up. “Oh, sorry, I was just reading through this epic Twitter war. Ben, the guy who played Ray in those movies about the time-traveling secret agent, well he made this joke about a zombie he saw that looked like it could be that chick Kate that his character had gotten all sexy-times with in that last movie, and—”

  Jess cuts him off. “JOE. We don’t care.”

  Joe dismisses her with a wave. “Whatever.”

  She looks back at Eddy and mocks him. “It’d be messy… What are you, a pansy? She clearly likes you, and you two are great friends, so what’s the problem?”

  Eddy squints at her. “She doesn’t like me, and if she did, she shouldn’t.” I’m a va
mpire; she’s normal. I could live hundreds of years, she can’t. No use in that relationship, even if I’d want it. He looks at Jess and sees her frowning. “Look, her dad and my dad are super close, and she’s almost like a sister already. It would just be weird, really weird.”

  She shakes her head. “Whatever you want to tell yourself.” She drinks more of her coffee.

  Eddy returns to his bagel. He’s had only two bites of it, and he’s starving. He tears another big hunk from it.

  Jess stands up. “I’m going to go check out the magazines at the bookstore.” She kicks Joe in the foot. “Joe, come with.”

  “’Kay.” He gets up while still reading on his phone.

  Eddy watches them walk away. It’s not like I can just date people. There’s that whole family secret thing. June could understand, though… I bet she’d understand. He shakes his head. I wish I could tell her. An idea lights up Eddy’s eyes. She has to know about tonight. She has to know that I’m trying to protect others. Then when I tell her what I really am, she won’t be afraid of me.

  Eddy pulls out his phone and calls June.

  -Rinngg-

  “Eddy? What’s up?”

  “Hi, June. I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

  “That’s nice, I’m very good, thank you. Dad and I just got the truck fixed, and we’re about to grab some lunch.”

  She’s such a good mechanic. “Nice job! He sure is lucky to have you!”

  “Yeah, he sure is… It uh, took a lot of work.”

  “I bet. Listen, I wanted to tell you something.”

  “What is it?”

  “Well, it’s a long story, but zombies attacked the farmers’ market yesterday, and a lot of people got hurt.”

  “What about your mom? And Minnie? They’re fine right?”

  “Yes, they’re fine. But the thing is, the town isn’t as safe anymore.”

  “Oh, well I’ll be sure to stay safe with Dad at home…and at school I’m around a lot of other people, like the teachers, and, umm, you.”

  “The problem is, there are too many zombies for everyone to be safe.” He takes a deep breath and bites the bullet. “I decided to help Jess and Joe’s cousins today and take out a bunch of zombies.”