by Tristan Vick
Panting, he asked, “Are you alright?”
Saeko touched her black and blue throat and took in a huge gulp of air. She gave Kevin a look of gratitude.
He nodded back, as if to say, “Anytime, babe.”
Kevin turned and picked up the duffel bag he had left in the doorway. “Let’s get the hell out of here before more of them come this way.”
Saeko looked around cautiously. She didn’t want to get ambushed again. Not like that. If Kevin hadn’t been there, if he hadn’t shown up right when she needed him, she didn’t know what would have happened—but she suspected it wouldn’t have ended nicely for her.
Off in the distance, the zombies all stood in a circle around the one caught ablaze. Several others had caught on fire too, and soon the undead were roasting quite nicely.
Knowing that this might be their one and only chance to make a clean getaway, Saeko and Kevin linked hands and dashed across the parking lot. Ducking behind cars, they kept low and hurried toward the shelter of some nearby apartment buildings.
Ducking around a corner, they hid themselves in the stairwell of somebody’s porch.
“It worked!” Saeko exclaimed, throwing her arms around Kevin and kissing him frantically.
“Like moths to a flame,” Kevin said between kisses.
Taking his hand, Saeko checked around the corner of the building to make sure the coast was clear, and, seeing that it was, she pulled Kevin behind her and ran down the street—away from that dreadful hotel. “Come on,” Saeko said. “We have to hurry. It’s already starting to get dark.”
“Where are we going?” Kevin asked.
“Anywhere but here,” she replied.
PART 3
AMERICA
NEAR FORT ERIE AND BUFFALO, NEW YORK
LAKE ERIE
19
Something Wicked This Way comes
Erie Beach, Dance Hall Ruins, Fort Erie
Clank. Clank. Clank-itty-clank. A loose karabiner dangled from the end of a thin rope that whipped around in the breeze and clanged against a naked flag pole. The flag pole stood beside the ruins of a concrete structure large enough to have been a club house or a dance hall. In fact, it was the very skeleton of the once famous Lake Erie Dance Hall, fallen into disarray, nothing left but rubble and concrete slabs. Now a haunt for adventurous kids and stray cats.
Clank. Clank. Clank-itty-clank.
Everett Lincoln, a forty-nine-year-old construction worker, now happily retired due to the zombie outbreak, with dark brown skin and a bit of gray spackle to his receding hairline, often liked to sit on the end of the old concrete structures of what remained of the foundation that led out to the old pier to do a bit of fishing. Contented to keep to himself, he liked the security of the surrounding trees of Erie Beach that lined the cove and prevented the monsters from spotting him. It was his own personal safe-haven where he could relax and fish in peace. Nothing bothered him much here except for the occasional pesky horsefly or mosquito.
All things considered, he counted himself lucky. He’d survived the worst of the outbreak and now enjoyed a life of leisure. Every day was a fishing day, and he didn’t mind being alone so much. In fact, he felt that people were all around bad news and tried his best to avoid confrontations at every chance. Keeping to himself was for the best, and it had guaranteed his survival thus far. No sense in trying to fix what ain’t broke, he told himself.
Setting down his tackle box, he pulled out a fresh hook, strung it on the end of his fishing line, and when it was secure he threw back his rod and then let it fly.
Soaring through the air, the baited hook, which was an artificial fuzzy caterpillar, plopped down into the water with the tiniest splash. Everett picked up an old Cleveland Indians baseball cap, red with a giant black letter C on it, and put it on. It was his lucky cap. At least, he always got a catch whenever he put it on. Pushing the brim up, he adjusted the hat and sat and watched the water, waiting for something to bite.
Out of nowhere a melodic voice sang, “Now Lord of Death she reigns below, and from her ghostly realm, she sees what children dwell in fear, and claims them for her own.”
Startled, Everett snapped his head toward the sound of the voice and gazed upon the angelic sight of a beautiful naked woman gamboling about on one of the adjacent concrete struts of the ruins. She daintily skipped along on her tippy-toes as she sang to herself, then spun around, like a ballerina, her arms raised high above her, her dirty blonde hair flowing in the afternoon breeze. She giggled to herself, like a child would have done, and then stopped and gazed out at the ripples that danced across the lake. She seemed to get lost in them.
“C-can I help you, miss?” Everett called out timidly.
The woman didn’t seem to hear him though. She was a thousand miles away.
“Excuse me, miss?”
Slowly her head turned and she looked at him with piercing blue eyes. There was a delay, but eventually she smiled. It was one of the most spellbinding smiles he’d ever seen. And he wasn’t just saying that because the rest of her was just as mesmerizing. Well, as mesmerizing as any naked woman might be. He wouldn’t know, since he was technically still a virgin.
“You’re not one of them, are you, mister?”
“I beg your pardon, miss?”
“The voices.”
“Voices? I apologize, miss. But I’m afraid I don’t know about any voices. Are you hearing voices?”
“Are you my friend?” Jennifer Hurley asked Everett.
“Well, I think that maybe I am, miss.” Blushing, he added, “At least, I’d like to think I could be.”
Excited, Jen gestured for him to stay right where he was, said, “Wait there,” and then turned and ran down the long concrete slab, her bare breasts bouncing as she went. Before he knew it, she’d entered the thicket of trees and disappeared into the shadowy darkness of its viscera.
Everett peered into the patches of shadows between the trees but didn’t see anything. No movement. Nothing. So he waited. After a moment, he had the strange sensation that she was standing in the depths of the darkness watching him. Or maybe she had simply run off.
Just then the beautiful blond with crystal blue eyes and pink erect nipples shot out from between two large trees so abruptly that it startled him. He chuckled to himself, gulped down his nervousness and forced himself to have a little backbone as she pranced up to him without a care in the world—she was the freest spirit he’d ever encountered. There was a childlike innocence about her, something quite angelic, he felt.
Stopping before him, she smiled at him and rubbed her bare toes across the smooth cement. Everett couldn’t help but eye her from head to toe, admiring her womanly figure. She was stark naked, after all. And, well, he was a man. He especially appreciated her round breasts and pink areolas that fanned out around her perky nipples.
“What’s your name, darling?” Everett asked.
“Jen,” she said in a discreet voice. The sort of voice a child would answer in when they were too shy to speak up.
“Nice to meet you, Jen,” Everett said, tipping his hat to her. “Everett is my name. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Are we friends now?” Jen asked.
“I suppose we are.”
“Good. Because I can only show my friends my secret.”
“Secret?”
“Can I show you something?” Jen asked excitedly.
Everett didn’t know how to respond, so he said the first thing that came to mind, “Sure.”
Jennifer slid her left hand down around the hump of her breast, then down her side, and across her taut abs. Her fingers danced playfully along her golden skin until they stopped at her navel, then, making sure Everett’s eyes were fixed on her fingers, she slowly slid her hand down to her pelvis. Running her fingers through her pubic hair, suddenly they slipped in between the folds of her labia as she slowly touched herself. Spreading her fingers, she pushed aside the delicate folds of her vagina and revealed to him t
he pink glistening sanctuary behind the fleshy curtains.
“Hurk!” Everett choked, and then a thick coppery taste suddenly filled his mouth. He felt a sharp pain drilling into his neck and reached up to touch it, still uncertain as to what had pricked him. His fingers brushed up along an old rusty iron bar—a slim rebar, plucked from the rubble of concrete no doubt—that jetted out from his jugular. Looking at the woman in shock, Everett yanked the rebar out of his neck and staggered back.
Blood squirted out of the open wound and he tried to press his hand tight against the gaping hole in his neck to try and stop the bleeding, but red liquid simply sprayed between his fingers with each pulsating beat of his heart.
Everett had been so entranced by the woman’s beauty, so preoccupied with his lustful attraction to her naked form, that he hadn’t even noticed the rebar hidden behind her back in her other hand. The angel had suddenly shed all pretense of innocence and revealed herself to be a terrible and vicious viper in disguise.
Quaking, Everett took another step back to distance himself from his attacker. His eyes already overflowed with tears from the terrible realization of it all as she stared back at him with crystal blue eyes that sparkled with a bemused sort of delight. She grinned at him, watching him intently as his life drained out of him. It was the sort of preoccupied curiosity a child might exhibit the first time they tortured an insect, burning the wings off of a fly or melting ants with a magnifying glass, simply to see how the hapless creature would react to the dreadful pain.
As Everett’s blood spurted out from his neck wound, it splashed across her tits and painted her in a glossy crimson, but she seemed unfazed by it all. In fact, it seems to arouse her desires, and he watched his blood drip down her chest and abdomen, down to where her fingers worked furiously on her clitoris as she seemed sexually stirred by his ruin. Without warning, she let out a deep moan and climaxed.
Her orgasm caused her knees to buckle momentarily, her hand squeezed tight between her quivering thighs, then slowly she stood back up, brought her glistening wet fingers to her lips, the fruits of her juices mixed with his, a most terrible nectar not fit for even the most depraved, and she licked them clean. Sucking on her index finger, she fiddled with it in her mouth and smiled at him with a most diabolical grin.
Everett’s chest filled with dread as his heart emptied out and he took another step back. Losing his footing, he fell off the edge of the concrete crosspiece of the old ruins and toppled over backwards into the water. Unable to swim, he merely sank below the surface, watching her gaze down at him through the shimmering veil of liquid from above. Sinking even further below, he watched as his blood dyed the water pink, and then everything faded to black. Everett’s last thought was, “I’m dying.”
Jennifer Hurley watched until the body had sunk out of view, and then, without a care in the world, daintily spun around on her heels and skipped back toward the ruins of the old dance hall, singing, “Now Lord of Death she reigns below, and from her ghostly realm, she sees what children dwell in fear, and claims them for her own.”
20
Desperate Measures
Joey’s Meat Market, Near Buffalo, New York
Holding onto Alyssa’s torso, his arms wrapped under her arms, Jared Barns looked over at Ulysses Noble and said, “Help me get her onto the table.” Effortlessly, they hoisted Alyssa’s petite body up and then gently set her down onto the pine table that sat in the middle of Joey’s butchery.
The place looked as though it had been looted long ago. All the meats were long gone and nothing edible remained. Just the displays and sales stickers and a broken cash register that lay open on its side on the floor.
“Now what the hell do we do?” Noble asked.
Barnes looked around then said, “Wait here,” and went behind the front counter and into the back. Emerging almost as quickly as he had gone in, he reached under Alyssa’s arms and said, “Help me move her to the back.”
Doing as requested, Noble helped carry her toward the back. “Why, what’s in the back?”
“A meat freezer,” Barnes replied.
“A freezer?” Noble echoed.
“That’s what I said. A meat freezer.”
As they shuffled into the back room, Noble saw the large walk-in meat freezer meant for holding entire sides of beef. The ceiling even came equipped with meat hooks. It was a little strange to see it completely empty though, he thought.
Both men carried Alyssa’s unconscious body into the freezer and then gently set her down on a pile of cardboard boxes that sat in the far back corner. Resting her head on one of the boxes, which was labeled seasoning and spices, Barnes turned back to Noble and said, “I saw a generator around back. Try and get it working so we can crank this thing up.”
Quickly setting to his task, Noble headed out the back and found the generator. Soon enough he got the thing running. Checking the tank, the needle pointed to half full. They might get two hours out of it if they were lucky.
Barnes looked around and found a pail on the ground, grabbed it by the handle, and then took it into the back room. There was a water cooler in the back, and although the big blue jug sitting on top was empty, he knew that there might be some water left inside. Quickly, he unfastened the jug, then took out his canteen. Tipping the cooler over onto its side, some water drizzled out. Enough to top off his canteen but not enough to fill the pail.
Ditching the pail, Barnes returned to the freezer, walked over to Alyssa and whispered, “Sorry about this.” Then he dumped the contents of his canteen onto her until she was thoroughly soaked. Even with freezing water being poured on her, she didn’t stir, which he knew was a bad sign. But, then again, drenching her wasn’t meant to stir her awake—it was meant to help her freeze more quickly. He didn’t know if it would stop the spread of the virus, but short of proper medical aid at a state of the art medical facility he didn’t know what else to do.
Noble came back inside, found the thermostat on the wall in the back office, and called out, “What should I set the thermostat to?”
“Just all the way up,” Barnes shouted back.
Ulysses Noble shrugged, as if to say it couldn’t hurt to try all things considered, and twisted the dial to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Stopping in the doorway of the freezer, Jared Barnes turned around and looked down at Alyssa resting peacefully in the corner. He only prayed that this gambit would work out in their favor so that he wouldn’t be forced to do what he’d have to do if this whole thing failed.
“I sure hope this buys us enough time,” he muttered under his breath. Slowly, Jared Barnes closed the large steel door of the meat locker and sealed her in.
PART 4
JAPAN
BUNKYO REGION, TOKYO
MIDTOWN: TOKYO DOME
21
Tears of Prometheus
Tokyo Dome, Midtown Tokyo, Japan
After weeks on end of killing zombies, Kevin and Saeko had been getting quite good as slayers. She had taught him a lot of sword techniques, and he was quick to learn.
During the two months of roaming the city, of fighting, scavenging, of drinking the water from toilet tanks, and of rummaging through the belongings of vacated apartments and houses, they had found a couple of rare samurai swords in a local antique shop. Kevin had joked about it being a his and hers set, sort of like a wedding gift.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he talked about how they’d grow old together, slaughtering the Frosties, as they called them, until their dying day. Somehow this banter turned into an impromptu marriage proposal, and to his astonishment Saeko had said, “Yes.”
Now this. This he couldn’t bear.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
Not her. Never her. Not like this.
22
Black and Blue with Blood All Over
Tokyo Dome, Midtown Tokyo, Japan
Coughing, Saeko spat up blood. It mingled with her saliva as it filled her mouth, and she choked on the thickn
ess and coppery taste. It gushed out of her mouth and nose and trickled down from her ears. Wiping her chin with the back of her hand, she examined the glistening red smear and then, vision blurring, she let her exhausted arm fall to the ground.
Looking down at her torso, she couldn’t believe her eyes. The zombies were tearing her apart, one piece at a time. She’d already gone into shock, which gave it a strange out of body, ethereal, kind of feel as she watched them tear her apart. The skin of her abdomen was stretched and pulled taut until, finally, it snapped like a rubber band. Strands of her muscle tissues dangled from the mouths of the monsters as they tore out her internal organs and gorged themselves on her flesh. She watched in numb shock as hungry hands ripped out her intestines as if they were sausage links.
Of all days to die, it had to be this one. The day Kevin has proposed to her. Now she watched as if detached from her body, a mere ghost, observing her body get devoured. First it was her left arm, then her organs. If she was lucky they’d eat her brains next and put her out of her misery once and for all. If she was lucky.
Soon enough she’d join their ranks as one of the eternally cursed—cursed to feast upon the living—in what she could only describe as that all too morbid feast of the living-dead. Of all the goddamn days in the world, I had to die on this one.
That’s when she heard Kevin’s scream echo throughout the stadium.
23
Death and Denial
Tokyo Dome, Midtown Tokyo, Japan
Bursting upon the scene of Saeko being torn apart like string cheese, Kevin shouted, “NOOO!!!” as loudly as his lungs would allow. Springing into action, he charged the monsters and let loose a gut-wrenching scream, “SAEKO!”