Wicked Hungry

by Jacobs, Teddy

  There’s a flash of red just outside the window.

  “Hey,” Jonathan says. “Are my eyes messing with me, or did I just see Karen outside your window, Enrique?”

  “I don’t know,” Enrique says.

  “I didn’t see anything,” Andres says. “Who’s Karen?”

  “You don’t want to know,” Jonathan says.

  “Jonathan, shut up,” I say. “Karen is my friend.”

  But really, he doesn’t want to know.

  “Whatever,” Andres says. “I’ve got to go help Mom, anyhow.” He walks out of the room.

  My two friends look at me expectantly. “Yeah,” I say. “It was her.”

  The front doorbell rings.

  “Don’t answer it,” Jonathan says.

  “What do you suggest, then? Should we just wait until the zombies come over to see what’s going on?”

  “Sorry I said anything. Run over there and get that door,” Jonathan says. “Quick.”

  It’s Karen. Alone. The zombies are still across the street, in the shadows, watching us.

  “Can I come in?” she asks. “I can only come in if I’m invited.”

  I turn around to see Enrique and Jonathan shaking their heads.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” she says. “Or you won’t?”

  “I can’t. I won’t. I don’t know.”

  “Let me guess, your friends don’t want me in there, do they?”

  I shake my head. “What happened?”

  She looks pissed. “Let’s see. We burned down a shed, ruined most of their pills. Then Zach and some strange, tall, pale guys showed up and we had to fight our way out of there.”

  “Big, tall, pale guys? Like football players?”

  “No way. They weren’t students. I don’t think they were even...”

  “Even what?”

  She bites her lip. “Human.”

  “But you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  “Good,” I say. “I was worried about you.”

  She looks back behind her. “But if you don’t let me in, I’m not going to be okay for long.”

  Behind her, the zombies shuffle and groan. They seem to have noticed Karen.

  “It’s not my decision,” I say. “It’s not my house — not my family.”

  She smiles a pained smile. “It’s probably just as well. I’m very... hungry right now.”

  “We can give you some tamales, if you like,” I say.

  She shakes her head, her smile showing canines. “You don’t understand, Stanley. I don’t need to eat. I need to feed.”

  “Oh,” I say. “Right. You want me to come out there, then? That’s what I am for you, right? Food?”

  Her eyes flash. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That’s what you think,” I say. “I talked to Morgaine. She told me how you’d marked me.”

  “Right. Wonderful. Did she tell you why we mark people?”

  “Yeah, like I said, because we’re food.”

  “Was that the only reason?”

  No, that’s not possible. Could she like me that much? So much to mark me for all to see? Mark me as hers? Am I that much of an idiot?

  “You’re not protecting me, are you?”

  She nods. “I’m doing my best, although you aren’t helping much. Look, let’s change the subject. Do you know about sigils?”

  “A little bit,” I say.

  “What? What do you know about them, Stanley?”

  “They give me headaches.”

  Karen sighs. “Stanley, someone needs to sit you down and give you a real education.”

  Behind her, the zombies seem stuck around thirty feet from the house. Then they take a few steps back.

  “What’s going on?” I ask her.

  She looks behind her. “The sigils. I drew some in chalk on the street that should help you out for a bit. But it won’t last very long. You’re going to need help. Do you know anyone who knows anything about what’s going on?”

  “Jonathan,” I say.

  She raises an eyebrow.

  “Really,” I say. “He knows a lot. He’s read plenty of books.”

  She shakes her head. “I mean someone with real experience.”

  “Like who?”

  “Like Blaine Whelan, or his wife. Or even Mr. Piper. Though I’d stay away from him.”

  “Blaine keeps on pressuring me to join a clan,” I say.

  “Stanley, promise me you’ll get their help if anything bad happens. If I’m not there.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask her. “What’s going to happen?”

  “Look, we don’t have time to talk about it. Those sigils won’t hold them for long, and I’m drawing the wrong kind of attention. I’ll try to draw them off for a bit. But promise me you’ll get help.”

  “Are you going to be all right?” I ask her.

  “Promise me, Stanley.”

  “Okay, I promise. But are you going to be all right?”

  “You’re too sensitive, you know that, Stanley? But it’s not me you should be worried about.”

  Then she turns into a nearly invisible blur, rushing off into the night.

  From far away I hear a howl, followed by another, and another. Wolves.

  My hackles rise, and I want to howl along with them. But I can’t. We’ve got more immediate problems. The zombies are shambling toward us again.

  “What do we do?” Enrique says, behind me.

  “We’ve got to hold them off somehow,” I say. “Or distract them. Get them out of here.”

  “Dude, you really think we should go out there?” Jonathan asks.

  But my phone is ringing again as I watch the zombies surrounded by sigils. How long before they try a different route?

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, stranger, it’s me, Meredith.”

  “Oh, hey, Meredith. What’s up?”

  “Don’t come by Carolina’s place right now.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  “Why do you think?” she asks.

  “It’s dangerous?” I ask tentatively. What does she know?

  Meredith laughs. “Are you afraid of the dark all of a sudden? Or is it Enrique? Or Jonathan? Since when is Lansfeld dangerous?”

  “Forget it,” I say. “I was just kidding.”

  “Stanley, you are one odd boy,” she says.

  “Takes one to know one,” I say.

  “So now I’m an odd boy?” Meredith asks.

  “No, actually you’re a beautiful girl,” I say. “Smart, too.”

  Jonathan is looking at me like I’m crazy. Enrique is rolling his eyes. The guys across the street line up at the sidewalk.

  “Thanks,” she says. “You’re kind of cute yourself.”

  “So why shouldn’t we go to Carolina’s place?”

  “‘Cause we’re taking a walk. In the cemetery. Spooky, huh? And then in the woods. Just me and Carolina. We’re going to go see where they’re constructing the mall. Zach’s been telling us about the pollution there.”

  Oh my God, how could it have slipped my mind? Meredith is an environmentalist.

  I feel a cold chill down my spine.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “What are you, Stanley, my mother?”

  “I just think—”

  “Stanley, I gotta go. Zach is going to meet us.”

  There’s a beep, and I’m disconnected.

  There are times when everything seems to go right, like months ago, when I made a basket in gym class. Or when Meredith and I kissed for the first time. And there are times when everything seems to fall apart all at once.

  I turn to Enrique and Jonathan. Together we look at the zombies across the street. It seems one or two of them have had the bright idea to try to walk around the chalked sigil. This means trouble. I look at my friends again. For a moment Jonathan looks like he’s going to say something funny. But maybe
he sees the look on my face, because all he says is: “Dude, are you all right?”

  “They’re going for a walk.”

  “Who, the zombies?”

  I shake my head. “Meredith and Carolina are going for a walk in the cemetery. And in the woods.”

  “Tell them to stay home,” Enrique says.

  “They’re already out,” I say. “Going to the site of the new mall.”

  “But,” says Jonathan, “what about the gateway?”

  “They’re going to meet Zach... to see some pollution in the woods.”

  “Stanley,” Jonathan says. “This is bad.”

  “Call them back,” Enrique says. “Right now.”

  “She won’t listen,” I say. “She’s with Carolina.”

  From far away come more wolf-calls. Something’s wrong. They’re angry. Their calls pull at my blood; my hackles rise; my hands tighten into fists, trying to fight the change. We have to do something, but I have no idea what.

  “Call Carolina,” Jonathan says. “Promise her anything. Just get them back.”

  “Right,” I say.

  She’s in my contact list now, so I thumb down to “Carolina” and push the button. But it doesn’t ring. It goes immediately to voicemail.

  “What do I do?” I ask my friends. “Leave her a message? Text her?”

  They shake their heads.

  “Hang up,” Enrique says.

  I hang up.

  Jonathan just stares at me.

  “What?” I ask him.

  “You just going to stand there, man?”

  “What am I supposed to do?” I ask.

  “Meredith kissed you — she’s like one of the most popular girls in the school, and she kissed you. No offense, Stanley, but we are kind of like outcasts, and she kissed you right in front of the entire school, and now you don’t know what to do? You’re just going to stand there while she—”

  “While she what?” I snap.

  “Let’s just let our imagination run wild,” Jonathan says. “Let’s see, while she gets kidnapped? Turned into a zombie? Or a werewolf—”

  “Jonathan,” I say. “Shut up.”

  “Or how about while she gets eaten by a vampire? Or maybe while she gets turned into a vampire? But why stop there? Maybe she’ll be possessed by something from that gateway? Or what was it Enrique’s great-grandmother mentioned? Human sacrifice?”

  My hands clench into fists, my teeth grind together, and I feel and smell the change all around me.

  “I said shut up!” I growl, but Jonathan is already quiet. A single horn note blows, far off in the distance.

  Across the street, far to our left, three of the zombies tentatively step into the street. And they don’t pull back.

  Not only that, but my phone is buzzing. I look down.

  There is a text message from an unknown sender.

  “THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.”

  Chapter 30: RUNNING IN THE WOODS

  Jonathan grabs the phone out of my hand and reads the message. “‘The ceremony is about to begin?’” he says. “I have a nasty feeling about this. Who sent you these messages?”

  I shake my head. “I don’t know. It says ‘Unknown Sender.’”

  “I need to go tell my brother,” Enrique says, and walks out of the room.

  “Hello, the zombies?” I say, but he’s already gone.

  I’m left with Jonathan, staring out into the night.

  “You don’t think this house has any of those sigils on it, do you, Jonathan?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “Nope,” he says. “The house itself is totally unprotected.”

  “How about yours?” I ask him.

  “I penciled things all over around the doors and windows. Had to be real careful so my brother Carver didn’t see me. If I’d known he was in this brotherhood thing, I would have asked him to help me.”

  “Never mind that now,” I say. Do you think you could put sigils on the doors here and on my house? We need to keep those zombies away.”

  Jonathan looks uncertain. “It’s got to be harder in the dark, and what will your parents think if they see me?”

  “By now my parents will be out trick-or-treating with Josh.”

  “And?”

  “They always trick-or-treat over by my aunt’s house. She’s outside of Lansfeld. They’ll probably stay there until Josh conks out. So we should have a few hours, at least.”

  “All right,” says Jonathan. He pulls out a book and starts looking through it, then nods. “Yes.”

  “Can you do it?” I ask him, looking across the street. The zombies that have stepped into the street have backed up, back on the sidewalk. Hurrah for Karen! She must have chalked up a storm on the street.

  “Yeah,” he says. “At least on the outer doorways. We’ll try to make a perimeter that they can’t get past.”

  “Do it now, then,” I say. “And I’ll watch your back.”

  But before I can follow him outside, my phone is buzzing again.

  I look down. Another text message.

  “THE GATEWAY IS ALMOST OPEN :)”

  Outside, Jonathan scribbles faint symbols around the doors and windows of Enrique’s house in the dim light of the streetlights. We could use the flashlights that Andres gave us, I suppose. They would certainly light up everything well enough. But wouldn’t they attract the wrong kind of attention?

  Next to Enrique’s garage, I catch sight of a tub of sidewalk chalk.

  “Dude,” Jonathan hisses at me. “Keep an eye out.”

  I glance back at the zombies. More of them are trying to get around the sigils.

  “I found some sidewalk chalk,” I whisper to him.

  “Great,” he says. “Make a bunch of stars and smiley faces.”

  “Ha ha,” I say. “Is this any time for jokes? They’re crossing the street.”

  “I’m serious. It’s a minor warding sigil. It’s all I can teach you in the time we have.”

  The zombies have found a way across, it looks like. Half the group is shuffling down the street to where a lone shambler is crossing. The other half still waits across the street. Watching us.

  “I don’t know what I’m more afraid of,” Jonathan whispers, as he scribbles furiously. “Those zombies, the vampires, Enrique’s parents seeing me out here, or...everything else.”

  There’s a drawn-out howl from not that far away. It’s not human. It’s not a wolf. It’s a cat.

  A familiar cat.

  There’s another howl followed by what sounds like a scream. And laughter.

  The hackles go up again on my neck. In fact, the hairs stand up on my entire body. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, my hands form fists, and my teeth clench. “Dude,” Jonathan says. “That’s what I get for saying I didn’t know.”

  I can’t even nod. There’s another scream, farther away, and Jonathan whips his head around. “What’s going on? Where are they?”

  Because the zombies are gone.

  The scream comes again, and Jonathan looks back at me. “Man, you okay? You don’t look so good.”

  “Just...fighting...the change,” I growl through clenched teeth, which seem to be growing longer and sharper second by second.

  My phone buzzes then with a third message.

  “HEY MURDERER, I HAVE YOUR CAT.”

  Cold sweat forms on my forehead. I look down the street. It must be Zach, but where is he? Where are they all?

  “Just a few more seconds, Stanley,” Jonathan says. “I’m almost done here.”

  That’s when the lights go out with a big boom.

  In the silence following it, in the full dark, I hear laughter.

  “Oh no,” Jonathan says. “Not a power outage. Let me just do one more sigil.”

  “Screw the sigils. They’ve got my brother’s cat.”

  In my pocket my phone buzzes. But out there, in the full dark, they’re rejoicing. Adrenaline fills my veins and for a moment I control the change, channel power into my muscles
. The flashlight is hard and solid in my pocket, and I pull it out.

  But I don’t turn it on yet. They’re in for a nasty surprise. They deserve one.

  Suddenly Enrique is with us, quiet, dark as night. As sharp as my eyes are, I still can’t see him. But I can smell him, feel his presence. Then he’s touching my shoulder with an outstretched hand.

  “Stanley, you all right?”

  “Enrique, they have Max.”

  “Max?”

  “My brother’s kitten.”

  “The sacrifice,” Enrique whispers.

  “We’ve got to get him,” I say.

  “Dude, it’s not a sacrifice. It’s a trap,” Jonathan says.

  “It’s my little brother’s kitten,” I say, snarling. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Go where?” Jonathan says. “Can you see anything?”

  “Use your senses, not your mind,” Enrique says. “Bring out the animal inside you.”

  “What are we, Jedi warriors?” Jonathan asks. “Give me a break.”

  “Stop squabbling and let’s get out of here,” I say. I can smell Max’s fear out there, close by. Wait a minute — is it getting closer?

  “No need,” Enrique says, looking out at the street. “Because they’re headed this way.”

  Shuffling forms approach us in the dark. I try to focus on them, but that doesn’t help — Enrique is right: I need to use my animal senses. The only way to see them in this dim light is to look at them like a wolf. The change begins, but I control it, my hands growing just a little, my nose moving outward into a snout.

  It hurts, but I’ve got to get to Max.

  The change stops, and I can smell the zombies approaching our chalking. They stop then, and Zach curses. I can just make him out now. And in his arms there is a writhing bundle.

  Max.

  The cat’s smell hits me like a slap in the face, the smell of his fear and pain. But not just that. He’s wet himself in fear. Rage fills me and my snout moves further out, my canines grow in my mouth as I grind my molars together.

  In the dark, Max’s eyes meet mine. For a moment he stops struggling in his captor’s arms and just stares at me. Then he makes this weak, plaintive meow, and my heart breaks.

  I’m already moving to leap when Jonathan grabs one of my arms, holding me back. “No,” he says.

  I pull away, but Enrique grabs me, too.

  What’s going on? Have I been betrayed? Have Jonathan and Enrique joined them?