by Tristan Vick
“Hold it!” Gen barked in a hoarse voice, rubbing his throat. Rising back up to his feet, Gen dusted off his suit and then looked Rachael right in her eyes, staring at her like a cursed mummy, and grinning at her with bloodthirsty intent. “Perhaps we can finish this another time.”
Rachael pointed toward the city, and said, “Leave. I won’t ask again.”
“Have it your way,” Gen said in a disappointed tone, as if his mother had just told him to stop torturing small animals and come in for dinner. “But just know, if we ever cross paths again, I will skin you alive and then rape your skinless form until there’s nothing left to take but your life, and in that moment, when you’re begging me to grant you a swift death, I will whisper in your ear…never.”
“If I ever see you again,” Rachael rejoined, “I will tear out your beating heart with my bare hands and shove it down your throat.”
Off in the distance, in the midst of Maya’s ruthless foot soldiers, Saeko Sakaguchi coughed and then sat up.
Completely caught off guard, Maya startled and jumped back, as if she’d seen a ghost. As she watched Saeko stagger back up to her feet, she noted that the bullet holes had stopped bleeding and the flesh wounds had all but vanished. “But how…? How is that even possible?”
“If I were you,” Saeko said, “I’d leave while I still could.”
Just then, Commander Endo hollered out, “Incoming!”
Saeko shielded her eyes as the flash grenade went off. If it wasn’t for her ability to recover instantly, it would have stunned her, too. Instead, she easily shook its effects off.
With Maya’s soldiers stunned, Saeko sprang into action. She dispatched one soldier after another until none were left standing. Saeko turned to Maya and pointed her sword right at her, as if to say, you’re next.
Maya turned and ran to her car. Still disoriented from the flash grenade, she stumbled toward a hot pink Toyota Crown. Her hand trembled with fear as she pushed the start-up button. Slamming the shifter into drive, the customized sports car tore away and zoomed down the dirt road.
Maya skidded to a stop next to her master and flung open the door for him. “Get in!” she shouted.
As Gen turned to leave, he paused momentarily, pulled out his cellphone and tapped a button. Turning back around with a psychotic grin stretched across his face, he looked at Rachael through his layers of gauze one last time. “Enjoy the parting gift,” he said, and winked at her.
Departing with haste, Gen waved over his shoulder as he climbed into the car. As soon as he slammed the car door shut, the engine roared and the tires spat out a spray of gravel before finding purchase. The hot pink car tore down the road making a hasty get away.
Rachael jogged up to Saeko and helped her to her feet. As they both watched the red taillights disappear around a bend, Saeko said, “Good riddance.”
Without warning, two CH-54 Tarhe heavy lifting cargo helicopters came roaring over the trees. Each carried a single steel shipping container and flew up to the village gates.
“We have incoming!” Commander Endo shouted over the rumble of the choppers.
Hovering over the gates, both helicopters suddenly dropped their cargo. The metal shipping crates slammed into the ground with an earthshaking thud and then the choppers rushed off, the roar of their rotary blades fading into the night.
“This can’t be good,” Saeko said, reaching for her sword.
Rachael nodded her head in agreement and drew her longsword as she inched cautiously toward the nearest container.
Suddenly the locks on both containers unbolted automatically and the doors swung open. Rachael stopped dead in her tracks and tensed up as a chorus of ravenous moans called out from the blackened mouth of each container. Peering into the darkness of the nearest container, Rachael waited with bated breath when, suddenly, the milky glazed over eyes of an entire host of living dead appeared.
54
Lyssophilia
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, U.S.A.
A long banquet table stretched down the length of the dining hall of the main prison. The inside was lit up with torches along the walls. Fancy candle chandeliers hung from the ceiling, adding to the glow, and down the center of the table was a train of stout candles that shared in illuminating the faces of the guests.
The table was set in the finest silverware, all of it ornate and embellished with floral patterns of gold pressed upon silver. White cloth napkins folded into origami swans marked each place setting on either side of the table where the guests were seated. The entire event looked like a banquet setting for a great king of a bygone time.
Gordon Longstaff and Alyssa Briggs sat next to one another and looked around the room. Among the selected guests was the captain of the vessel, a government official, a woman who looked like a doctor, and some beautiful women and men who looked like they had been either models or athletes.
Alyssa leaned over and whispered into Gordon Longstaff’s ear. “Does that woman look familiar to you?”
“Which one?” he inquired, scanning the room and tipping his hat to one of the models who made eye contact with him.
“The doctor in the black rimmed eyeglasses sitting at the end near Jennifer Hurley.”
“Wait a minute…” Longstaff began, but before he could finish his sentence, Alyssa interrupted.
“She looks familiar to me, but I can’t put my finger on it….but I do have the feeling I’ve seen her before.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice rang out.
Everyone turned to see Jennifer Hurley enter the room with her characteristic hip swing. Her outfit was as lurid as it was revealing. It looked as though she had taken scissors to a polyurethane dress and shredded it in all the right spots to allow the maximum exposure of skin without showing anything distasteful.
Jen took her seat at the head of the table and looked out at everyone. Scanning their faces, she informed them, “I know what you are all wondering. Are you my guests or my prisoners? Some of you are here by your own choice. Others are here by my choice. Any of you are free to leave the island at any time. I will not stop you. But I have a proposition for you all, if you’ll just hear me out.”
The captain, a large, barrel chested man with a reddish beard tinged with white, cleared his throat and stood up.
“Ah, yes, Captain William Young, what is on your mind?”
The captain tugged on his white officers’ uniform and said, “With all due respect, ma’am, you hijacked my vessel, confiscated my cargo, and have forced me and my crew to stay here for over a week now. Now you say we’re free to go. What sort of game are you playing at?”
“Straight to brass tacks! I like a man who doesn’t beat around the bush,” Jen informed, batting her eyes at Captain Young. Arching her back, Jen pushed out her chest and then waved her hand in the air, “Oh, garcon!”
At her beckoning, a fleet of waiters rushed in and placed appetizers on the table. There were crab cakes, a dozen different styles of cheese, seeded crackers, and small dishes of the finest caviar.
“Before I explain, feel free to help yourselves to as much as you like.”
“We can eat later,” the caption grumbled. “Right now I think you owe us all answers.”
Jen smiled. She turned to one of the female models and pointed at the male model across form her. “You two take off your clothes, get on this table, and fuck each other’s brains out.”
Without a word of protest, the elected two stripped bare. Then the man helped the woman up, and following her, climbed onto the table. She took a position on all fours; he knelt behind her, buried his face in her ass and began the lewd display.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Captain Young demanded to know.
Alyssa reached over and placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t antagonize her,” she whispered. “She’s not what you think she is.”
“Listen to the woman, Mr. Young. She knows what she is talking about.”
Captain Young looked down a
t Alyssa and saw the worry behind her eyes. Reluctantly, he sat down. Looking up, he saw the male model penetrate the woman from behind and he looked away in disgust. The woman chirped and whined as the man ravished her.
Longstaff reached underneath the woman’s flopping breasts to get at some of the hors d’oeuvres and, having amassed a small pile on his plate, he stuffed his mouth full and looked over at Alyssa who eyeballed him. “What?” he said, crumbs flying from his lips.
“Nothing,” Alyssa huffed, and then folded her arms and turned toward Jen. “Why, exactly, did you bring us all here?”
“Ah, yes. I suppose I do owe you an explanation. You see, I have assembled you all here because you each have unique skills and knowledge. I have need of your services.”
“What if we refuse?” Captain Young asked, folding his arms in protest. His crew shared nervous glances but bit their tongues.
“Would you dare refuse your Queen?” Jen asked in all seriousness.
“Queen?!” Captain Young bellowed. “Ah-ha-ha, Queen of what exactly?”
Jen stood up, her crystal clear blue eyes fixed on Captain Young. “Queen over Death. The Queen of Blood and Lust. The Queen of the Undead, and the rightful inheritor of the Kingdom of the Living Dead!”
Just then Jennifer Hurley clapped her hands and another troupe of waiters came into the room with the main course on silver platters. But they were not human waiters, they were zombies dressed in black and white uniforms with clean white gloves and little red bow ties.
One of the women models screamed and got up to run. In her fearful retreat, she smashed into one of the zombies and knocked the tray of food onto the floor. The clangor distracted the other zombies and they all turned their white eyes toward her. The zombie the model had run into grabbed her by the neck and leaned in to take a bite when Jenifer whistled.
All the zombies froze and awaited further instructions.
Jen glared at the girl menacingly and then, after a few moments, she smiled. The girl let out a sigh of relief.
“Eat her,” Jen said, unexpectedly.
The zombie that held her by the throat moved to take a bite out of her neck when suddenly a gunshot rang out. The zombie fell to the floor, killed by the bullet that left a large gaping hole in its forehead.
Everyone turned to see Longstaff blow the smoke away from the muzzle of his gun, then he twirled it like a gunslinger of old, and slammed it back into its holster. Sitting back down, he looked over at everyone and shrugged.
Amused, Jen rocked in her seat and cackled. Then she clapped her hands and addressed her servers. “Tut-tut, my darlings. Our guests are waiting.”
Slowly, the zombies obeyed their mistress and served everyone. After they had completed their task, Jen clapped her hands twice more and they all took their leave, going out the way they had come.
Captain Young inspected the juicy ribeye steak sizzling in front of him. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of ruse? How do I know you’re not just luring us here to murder us?”
“Oh, but I am going to murder you!” Jen laughed.
Terrified gasps filled the room as everyone shot her nervous glances.
“Maybe I misspoke,” Jen said, clearing her throat. “I tend to get carried away with these things, you know. What I meant to say is, one among you here will certainly not be leaving this room alive. You see, I have had one of your meals specially prepared. Let’s just say it’s a meal so wonderfully wicked it’s to die for!” Jen cackled uncontrollably, clutching her knees and rocking in her seat like a little girl. Suddenly, all attention was brought to the sex show playing out on the table when the male model, in mid thrust, grunted and finished inside the woman, who moaned out in pleasure.
Everyone turned toward the momentary distraction, and watched as the man pulled out. Exhausted, both he and the brunette model dripped with sweat and paused to catch their breath after their marathon bout of sex.
“Did I tell you to stop?!” Jen barked angrily.
The man and woman looked at her then back at each other, shrugged, and took a new position and continued on with their mandatory intercourse.
“Sorry about that,” Jennifer said, sounding embarrassed. Everyone shared more confused glances as they tried to figure out why she’d feel sorry for them because her peepshow ended prematurely. “Now, where were we? Oh, yes, one of your meals is poisoned,” she informed them. Jen smiled at everyone and then sang out, “Bon appetite!” Carving out a large slice of rare meat, Jen took a bite of the delectable meal.
“I’ve had enough of this madness and this obscene dinner party,” Captain Young bellowed as he slammed his fists down on the table. Standing up, he growled, “If anybody needs me I’ll be in my quarters.” Captain Young stormed out and didn’t look back.
“Doctor,” Jen said, addressing the petite brunette woman wearing black spectacles. “You’ve been awfully quiet this evening. Penny for your thoughts?”
“Oh, you know me, Ms. Hurley. I’m just here to study your unique power over the monsters. That’s all.”
“Ah!” Jen exclaimed, as if she’d just had a brilliant idea. “Ever so modest. I hate to push my weight around,” Jen began, “but would you be so kind as to strip for me and make love to that ruggedly handsome gentlemen over there?” Everyone looked toward whom Hurley was pointing at. All their eyes locked onto Gordon Longstaff.
Alyssa stood up and growled, “Over my dead body!”
“That can be arranged,” Jen hissed. Her eyes grew narrow as she gazed menacingly at Alyssa.
Gordon Longstaff glanced at all three women and gauged whether he should get involved, but decided it was probably best to let them try and resolve the issue themselves.
“It’s your choice,” Jen informed raising her hands to call back her fleet of flesh eating servants.
“No, wait!” Alyssa exclaimed. Unbuttoning her shirt, she said, “I have a better idea.”
Jennifer Hurley raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
“I’ll do it. I’ll have sex with him. Right here, right now.”
Gordon Longstaff stood straight up and kicked his chair back. It tumbled onto the floor and before anyone knew it the barrel of his gun was trained on Jennifer’s forehead. “Nobody’s going to be doing anything they don’t want to do,” he asserted.
“Really?” Jennifer laughed and leaned back in her chair in a casual fashion that revealed she wasn’t in the least bit worried. “What are you going to do about it…hero?”
“I was thinking I might just put a bullet between your pretty eyes,” he answered.
Jen licked her lips and eyed him up and down as if he were a tasty treat. “Sure. But heed my warning, hero. If you kill me then who’s to save you from all of them?”
“All of who?” Captain Young asked, looking around the room at the terrified survivors.
Jen clapped her hands and the doors on all four sides of the dining hall flew open and a flood of her undead servants poured in. Circling the table and the guests, the monsters took their positions and waited for further instructions.
“If you shoot me dead,” Jen continued, “I won’t be able to control my little darlings here, and they are every so very hungry. I should know. After all, I keep them that way.”
Gordon looked at Alyssa who nodded at him to put his gun away.
“So, hero, what will it be?”
Longstaff let out an agitated grunt and reluctantly holstered his gun, fetched his chair, and sat back down at his place at the table. With folded arms he glared at the witch with an evil eye, but it only seemed to arouse her.
“That’s what I thought,” Jen said in a smarmy, unctuous reply, exerting her power over him and rubbing it in his face. Waving her hand, as if she was trying to brush away a pesky gnat, Jen let out a long, drawn out sigh and said drearily, “I’m bored with this conversation. Let’s talk about something less dull, shall we?”
Looking around the room at all the stern faces, Jen realized nobody was in the mood for
idle chit chat, so she turned back toward Alyssa. Looking at her then glancing at the Cowboy, she said, “So, are you two fucking?”
Shocked by the personal nature of the question, Alyssa said, “It’s none of your bee’s wax.” Without warning, Alyssa’s mind flashed back to four years ago when she happened upon the grisly scene of Levi Hurley. His body had been disemboweled, his intestines wrapped around his neck like a noose and then stuffed down his throat. He hung pinned to the wall, placed in the formation of a crucifixion, with a blood halo painted over him. A star reminder not to cross Jen. Ever.
Regrettably, Alyssa was well aware of what Jennifer Hurley was capable of, and now she possessed an undreamt-of power that allowed her to control the living dead and bend them to her will. If she had amassed an army of living dead, she could rule the world. There wasn’t anyone or anything that would be able to stand in her way.
Alyssa feared that there was nothing anyone could do to stop her. All they could do was obey this so-called Queen of Blood and Death. What other option did they have? She was literally the most powerful being on the planet—and she was as mad as a hatter.
“Eat up!” Jennifer said, scanning the ashen faces of all of her dinner guests.
The attendees all looked down at their food hesitantly. One woman, another model wearing a skimpy red cocktail dress, leaned over the side of the table and hurled. As if this was a completely normal dinner party, Jen went back to cutting her steak and enjoying her meal, comfortable with the fact that she had poisoned one of her guests, the centerpiece was a marathon orgy, and a horde of zombies dressed as waiters served the food then stared at them from behind hungry white eyes.
Cutting another piece of steak, Jen brought it delicately to her lips and gently bit down on it with her front teeth. Blood oozed out from the strands of meat and dribbled down her chin. Wiping the greasy blood off with a napkin, she chewed the bite and looked over to see Gordon Longstaff staring at her with a hate filled glare. Excited by his intense gaze, Jenifer Hurley swallowed her meat, licked her lips, and then winked at him wantonly.