by Tristan Vick
“Hector?” Rachael called out. “Where are you, babe?”
Her chest filling with panic, Rachael rushed out to the living room. Stopping in front of the television, she looked at the small bundle of blankets with two eyes peering out and let out a massive sigh of relief.
“I can’t see, mom!” Hector complained.
Rachael looked back over her shoulder to see what he was watching. It was an old Looney Tunes and Bug’s Bunny show rerun. Apparently, Wiley E. Coyote was after the Roadrunner again.
Plopping down on the sofa next to him, she snuggled up to her darling boy and rubbed her fingers through his hair and then pulled him tight to her side. Together, they stared into the white light, but before everything faded away, she leaned down and whispered into his ear, “I love you, my Prince. Forever and always.”
74
Distressed
Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, U.S.A.
The sight of so much suffering, so many unable to save themselves from the dire straits of a terrible situation, was too much for him to take and Kevin yelled out, “Stop this! This is evil! There’s no reason for any of this.”
Rising up out of her chair like a phantom rising from a grave, Jennifer Hurley scrutinized Kevin with harsh eyes which flickered with the intensity of a hot blue flame. Reaching up, she wrenched her hair, pulling out strands between her fingers and then let out a terrible scream. “How dare you presume to lecture me, your Queen!”
“You’re no queen of mine,” Kevin said bitterly.
All the monsters started moaning in chorus and chomping their teeth. As the Queen of the Living Dead lost her composure and became enraged, the monsters grew agitated and more restless.
Frightened, one of the male models got up to flee, but before he could get five steps he was pulled into the throng of hungry monsters’ grasping hands. He cried out, but his scream was quickly silenced by a flurry of chomping teeth, a spray of his own blood, and his subsequent disembowelment.
The blonde model, looking around nervously, didn’t notice the pallid hand reach out from behind her and was suddenly pulled back. She screamed out for help; she reached for Kevin and caught herself by his shoulder at the last-minute. He steadied them both and tore her away from the clutches of the bloodthirsty zombie.
Realizing things were escalating way too fast, Gordon Longstaff made a quick decision to set the situation right. “My dear,” he said in a soothing voice, extending his hand like a gentleman for the Queen.
Jennifer stopped her temper tantrum and looked over at Gordon who stood, dressed in the black clothes she’d picked out for him, looking fiercely handsome.
“My tired boots need to turn in for the evening and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t need the company of a beautiful woman to keep me warm. Besides, the party is a bust. I think we should retire for the evening, if, that is, my suggestion is to your liking.”
Of course, he lied. It wasn’t what he wanted. Not by a long shot. But two people had already died this evening and he could see that it was only going to get bloodier. Besides, by his reckoning, it was better to roll with the punches than try to take on a person with godlike powers. If it meant him having to play house with the world’s most deadly psychopath for an evening, then so be it. Given the circumstances, he’d rather do this one thing than see other innocent lives succumb to her terrible blood lust.
Jennifer brushed her hair behind her ear and blushed. “So, you think I’m beautiful?”
“One of the seven natural wonders of the world, my Queen,” Gordon said in his most reassuring voice.
Jen smiled at him. Then her face grew gravely serious. “Tell me, cowboy. Am I more beautiful than your beloved Alyssa Briggs?”
Normally, such a question would have caught Gordon off-guard, but he had prepared himself to address such an inquiry, presuming it would arise sooner or later. “My Queen,” he said, “Alyssa is but a homely country girl. Good in the sack, but not much to look at. Compared to her, you’re a genuine goddess!” Of course, every single word was a lie simply meant to appease the Queen’s vanity, but she was completely blinded by her narcissism.
Jennifer grew calm again and then looked at everyone who was busy glancing back and forth between her, Gordon, and the restless zombies that seemed to be slipping free of her spell. It wasn’t that she couldn’t control them, she could. But the stress of having to act sane in front of everyone when it was obvious that she was the least sane person on the face of the planet was all rather vexing for her. She felt utterly exhausted.
Taking his hand, she linked her arm through his and said, “Shall we adjourn for the evening?”
Gordon smiled back at her. “As my Queen wishes.”
Jen looked back over her shoulder one last time at all the solemn faces and smiled. “Take the evening off, everyone. I’ll most likely kill you all in the morning,” she said whimsically.
The zombies slowly stood up and took formation; then, as if by mind control, they marched single file out of the room. Jen and Gordon trailed right behind them, bound for her personal chambers.
Kevin bit the tie on the knotted rope with his teeth and tugged. Luckily it wasn’t a secure knot and loosened rather quickly. Wriggling out, he freed his wrists and let the rope fall to the ground. Then he rushed over to the girl still desperately trying to lick up her own urine. Grabbing her by the arm, he picked her up off the ground and pried her away from the humiliating task she was performing. Pulling her into his chest, he pressed his chin into the top of her head and hugged her tight. “It’s over. It’s all over now.”
The girl buried her face in his chest and began sobbing uncontrollably.
“What’s your name?” Kevin asked her. But she was obviously traumatized by it all and couldn’t gather her composure enough to answer him.
“She’s Veronica Hall,” the blonde model said. “And I’m Lisa. Lisa Miller.” Lisa gathered her clothes in her arms and covered herself. Looking over at Kevin, she whispered, “You have to help us escape. We can’t bear to stay another day in this place. It’s a living nightmare. It’s like Alice in Wonderland at the Mad Hatter’s tea party, only this tea party never ends, and the Hatter is a fucking psychopath.”
Still balancing Veronica on his chest, Kevin looked up and locked his gaze onto Doctor Hemingway. Without breaking eye contact he asked, “When is the next shipment coming in from Japan?”
“Shipment?” Hemingway echoed, brushing back her hair and pushing her eyeglasses back up the bridge of her nose. “How do you know about that?”
“When you spend a week on a small boat with the second in command of the Yakuza, you hear talk. Rumor has it that Jennifer Hurley is purchasing Biters to build herself an army.”
“You’re not wrong,” Doctor Hemingway informed him. Looking away, she drifted off for a moment, lost in thought. Even though the wrinkles around her eyes alluded to the fact that she was well into her forties, her face had a vibrancy about it. She had passed her prime a little less than decade ago, but she was now entering a new era as an intellectual woman unrivaled in terms of her cunning and medical expertise.
Jennifer Hurley could have all the power in the world, but that wouldn’t mean squat if she didn’t have the brains to know how to rule it as well. Which is why Doctor Hemingway had made the deal with her five years ago, when they had first met. Snapping back into the moment, she answered Kevin’s initial question. “The next shipment is in about twelve days. Why do you ask?”
“I have a plan. Can you get a message out for me?”
Doctor Hemingway tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and raised an eyebrow. She gave him a long hard stare. “A message to Japan, you mean?”
“Is it possible?”
“It’s not…impossible,” she informed him. “Just risky.” Looking over at the other women, she added, “If we do this, we’ll have to be discrete about it. If the Queen finds out, it’ll be off with our heads. And I, for one, prefer to keep my head.”
“We’ll be careful,” Kevin reassured her.
“What’s the message?” Lisa inquired.
Addressing Doctor Hemingway, Kevin said, “I need you to send this message to Tokyo exactly as I say it. Tell them…Given enough time, even burns heal. And…I forgive you. You have to say it exactly like that.”
“Who’s it for?” Doctor Hemingway inquired.
“Don’t worry about that. They’ll know exactly what it means once they hear it. Trust me.”
“Then what? Will they come for us?” Lisa asked.
Still holding Veronica, Kevin smiled up at Lisa with a heartening grin. Trying his best to instill the right amount of assurance and maybe ease some of their fears, he replied, “I’m betting my life on it.”
75
Abandon Ship
Off the Coast of Alcatraz Island, U.S.A.
Jimmying with a couple of hairpins that she found in the bathroom, Alyssa fondled the door lock, trying to get all of its tumbler pins to click into place. After several attempts, she applied pressure, twisted the wedge hairpin, and the door finally opened.
She smiled to herself at the small victory and thought it sure was nice that Gordon had taught her how to pick locks so they could get better access into abandoned apartments while searching for supplies. She couldn’t even count how many times the skill had come in handy—and after four years of practice, she’d become quite adept at it...even if she did say so herself.
Turning toward Frank, she said, “Come along girl, we’re getting the hell out of here.
Cautiously, Alyssa peaked her head out of the door and into the open hall. There were no guards. Without hesitating, she stepped out into the hall and walked to the staircase at the opposite end of the corridor. She looked down at Frank to make sure the corgi was still with her; Frank whined softly. Alyssa merely raised her finger to her lips and hushed the little dog who looked back up at her with big brown eyes.
Alyssa began to climb the spiral staircase when she heard Mia Nishimori’s voice. Tensing up, she stopped midway and waited, unsure what would happen next, but luckily for her, Mia’s voice passed by without any inconvenience. Alyssa let out a quiet sigh and strained her ears to hear what Mia was saying.
Listening in on the conversation, she could make out Mia giving orders to the captain of the vessel to head back to Japan, and she realized her window of opportunity to get off this boat was fast closing. Suddenly, her chest felt heavy as panic began to set in. She realized that she needed to act as quick as possible, otherwise she’d find herself stuck here indefinitely.
Although things were still a bit hazy from being drugged and abducted. Alyssa still wasn’t even sure why she was here in the first place. She was small fish. And it was perfectly clear that Mia had no real plans for her. The best Alyssa could figure was that Hurley wanted Gordon all to herself and was simply getting rid of the competition. Although, she was a little surprised by the fact that Hurley just didn’t have her killed. But, then again, she suspected that Dr. Hemingway had played a role in saving her life.
After the voices of both Mia and the captain of the ship trailed off and she heard them exit the room, Alyssa ran up the stairs, discretely poked her head out of the top of the stairwell, and took a quick look around. She could see a patrol guard standing outside, making rounds along the outside of the ship, but her luck seemed to be holding out as there was no sign of anyone in the main cabin. Better still, nobody was watching the ship’s stern.
Making sure to take soft steps, Alyssa shuffled to the back door, carefully slid it open, and then walked across the deck to the end of the yacht. The frothy wake of the boat trailed behind the vessel as she looked out across the bay at the San Francisco shoreline quickly shrinking away from her, and realized that she’d have one hell of a swim to get back.
“You there!” a voice called out. “Stay where you are!”
Alyssa looked up; a guard on the level above her had appeared out of nowhere and spotted her. Frank barked angrily and signaling the rest of the ship that something was afoot. Suddenly, Mia Nishimori appeared next to the guard and gazed down at Alyssa suspiciously, as if she were gauging what Alyssa would attempt to do next.
Almost as if by instinct, Alyssa turned and leaped overboard. Frank barked and then took the plunge along with her. Both Alyssa and Frank quickly fell out of view and were completely enveloped by the white foam of the boat’s wake.
Bobbing back up, Alyssa spat out the frigid salt water and started dog paddling. She looked back at the ship to see if she was in any immediate danger and locked eyes with Mia Nishimori.
The security guard next to Mia stepped forward, raised his gun, and took aim at Alyssa and Frank, but Nishimori raised her hand and stopped him from firing on them.
“No,” she said with a subdued smile. “Let them go. They mean nothing to us.”
Secretly, however, Mia knew two things would come of letting Alyssa escape. First, Alyssa would go back to rescue her one true love, the Cowboy. Second, that Kevin was the kind of guy that would try to help them all escape. By cutting Alyssa loose, Mia increased Kevin’s odds of surviving the week in the mad woman’s clutches.
76
Savage Dawn
Aokigahara Forest, Near Mt. Fuji, Japan
A veil of mist filled the spaces between the emerald green stalks of towering bamboo and settled onto the mossy ground of the forest like a white blanket. Saeko stood amidst the shady grove in her high school uniform, a pleated navy-blue and green plaid skirt with a white blouse top and a forest green sash tied into a bow at the collar.
Her olive skin bristled with goose bumps all up and down her body as the cold morning air washed over her and caused her tender purplish nipples to stand erect and protrude through the thin white blouse that clung to her with the dampness of the forest’s thick humidity. Stepping into the sun rays that pierced the leafy canopy above, she let the light warm her and sighed a drawn out breath that was two parts relief and one part longing for a lasting tranquility like this one.
The faint, leafy fragrance of bamboo lingered in the air and refreshed her. The sound of the nearby babbling brook soothed her. She didn’t know why she was here in the bamboo forest outside Aokigahara where she had spent so much time. She didn’t even recollect how she had come here. It was all hazy to her.
Nearby, a twig snapped and Saeko’s whole body tensed. She remained perfectly still as she waited for signs of whatever it was that had startled her.
From out of the ghastly fog came the horde. A loathsome throng of nomadic zombies which wandered aimlessly in packs through the wastelands of the cities and the desolate forests—like ravenous wolves—devouring anything and everything with a warm-blooded pulse. Things of pure evil.
Suddenly she felt a strange sensation, a tightening in her abdomen, and then wetness between her legs. She looked down at her legs; blood streamed down the insides of both of her thighs.
Saeko hyperventilated, confused and scared as to what it all meant. Instinctively, she reached up her skirt she felt herself to try and determine what the damage was. Bringing her fingers back up to her face, she examined the glistening crimson which coated them. Saeko covered her mouth with her other hand and stifled a scream.
Before she could begin to make sense of what was happening, she suddenly felt an awful cramp in her abdomen so cripplingly painful she felt like hurling her guts out.
Another contraction, and she grunted. She looked up, fearful that the zombies had heard her, but they seemed oblivious, and continued on their way. Then another contraction hit her. This time it hit her so hard she staggered backward into the thick stem of a large bamboo and barely caught herself as she fell into it. With each consecutive contraction, all she wanted to do was curl up on the ground into a tight ball and cry. Instead, she vomited.
Saeko wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then gathered herself and brushed the pleated skirt down, ignoring the bloody smudges she left on the fabric. That’s when she heard h
is voice. A voice filled with pain and anguish.
“How could you?”
Saeko spun around to find Kevin Benjamin Russell, the young man who had stolen her heart and then shattered it, standing before her. He was wearing a charcoal gray raincoat and nothing but black clothes underneath. His eyes looked sunken with depression but concealed a rage that wanted to break free—a rage fueled by the fact that Saeko had caused him unimaginable grief.
“How could you take my child away from me?”
Saeko’s eyes flooded with bitter, salty tears. “I didn’t mean for any of that to happen. I didn’t mean for you to…”
“You killed them!” Kevin interrupted. Drawing out a steel sword from under his jacket, which glinted menacingly in the dim light of the forest, he stepped toward her with cold steely eyes that were just as sharp and penetrating as any blade. His ominous look caused her to cautiously back away from him until she felt her back pressed up against another stalk of another bamboo tree. She had no escape.
Kevin scanned her body and his eyes caught on her abdomen. Saeko looked down and suddenly she realized she was pregnant. It didn’t make sense, why hadn’t she noticed anything till now? But it was obvious as day, she was with child. Looking back up, she noticed Kevin eyeing her unborn child greedily.
“No,” Saeko protested. She raised her hands and reached out to touch Kevin’s cheek, but it was futile. Flinching, she felt the hot blade slice into her belly. She looked down to see Kevin pull the sword back out, wipe his blade clean, and then sheath it. Without warning he thrust both hands into her body and she screamed out. “AIEE!!!”
The agony was merciless and, in her mind, it seemed as though her own screaming had become disembodied, as if she were hearing someone else’s voice call out in pain, from a distance. Saeko fought to stay conscious as Kevin tore out a small, blood soaked fetus from her womb. Raising her trembling hand, Saeko pleaded, “Wait…”