by James Master
Starke almost choked on his soda when he heard the gun report and watched Jessica disappear into the lower levels of the construction yard. He tried to track where the naked beauty was running off to but was unable to due to the poor quality of the telescope. Next time, he thought, I'll have to raid someone else. Starke watched the two as they just sat and talked. He was a little surprised that Roland wasn't going after Jessica. Maybe he was trying to smooth things out with Ashley. After a half hour of inactivity, Starke decided to call it a night, setting down his telescope. He leaned back on the wall facing away from the building and facing the door to the room he was in. Closing his eyes, he tried to go to sleep but awoke moments later to hear footsteps approaching the door. He raised his revolver in time to be stunned to see Jessica standing in front of him in all her naked splendor.
“Starke, you pitiful fool, it is your master. So, stop staring and get me a car. I need to get to the Lucas Oil Stadium. The finale is beginning and I must prepare.”
Starke had used the car he had been driving in since he left Rochester. Driving down 32nd street, he glanced across the car at the nude lady he had once tried to sexually assault. The Master must have noticed because it laughed in Jessica's voice. “You know, for a priest, you sure are a horny man.” Starke looked back on the road and chuckled. “Celibacy just makes one want it more.” The Master crossed her left leg over her right, saving Starke the view of her nether lands.
“I can almost taste the lust you have over this mortal, but I caution you. If you dare mess with her after I release her and risk contaminating Roland's child, your own progeny will suffer the consequences. Now get me to the Lucas Oil Stadium, my patience wanes.” Starke looked over once more at her perfect breasts before turning his attention to the needs of his master.
*** 9 ***
The first rays of daylight struck Roland at exactly four minutes till seven. Still naked, he looked around to find Ashley snoring right next to him. He stood, trying to make no sound, and slowly made his way to the ladder. It was still leading down to the second level, neither of them had remembered to pull it up considering the events that night. Climbing down the ladder, he looked around the empty building for another ladder that would take him to the ground floor. He didn't want to try to take the ladder down, lest he risks waking his companion. He shook his head, his last companion. Roland walked in only his boots and socks finding no ladder. He glimpsed over the edge of the floor down to the ground and thought he might be able to risk jumping when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Whirling around, he cursed himself for not taking his revolver with him.
“Hold on Roland, it's just me!” Ashley jumped back when Roland spun in order to confront her. Ashley couldn't help herself, she peeked at Roland's privates. He wasn't born yesterday so he realized that she was trying to sneak a look so he turned to his side. Blushing and laughing a little, Ashley handed Roland his pair of shorts he had left on the upper floor. They made their way down to the car by use of the ladder. As Roland pulled on different clothes he went over his plan for tonight. Ashley listened but was hesitant.
“Roland, did it ever occur to you that this is a trap? The thing actually told you to come there, it expects you to show and what's more, he knows you will!” Roland nodded and patted his revolver on his hip.
“Believe me I know what I'm doing.” Ashley shook her head and laughed. Roland was puzzled by her actions, watching her hop onto the hood of the car she began to cry. “What's wrong Ashley?” Roland said as he sat on the edge of the hood, inches from Ashley. She wiped her eyes and looked at Roland. He saw true fear in her eyes and was almost afraid himself.
“Roland, this is suicidal. Plain and simple. I know you want to get Jessica back. Maybe you feel that she is your responsibility or maybe because you have feelings for her. Going to that dome is going to be the death of us.” Roland rested a hand on her leg trying to comfort her. He was about to try and say something, but she cut him off.
“Don't even try and tell me to stay here. I will not do that. I don't know what your feelings for Jessica are, but mine are too strong to ignore. I love you Roland and I am staying by your side wherever you go.” She hopped off the hood and opened the passenger door to the car.
When Roland looked at her, he saw the tears, the scared look in her eyes, but also saw the love, courage, and tenacity that resided inside Ashley. He loved her for it. She looked back at him, wiped her eyes on her arm, and spoke.
“Now let's go get that princess bitch back.” She sat down in the car and waited for Roland to hop in. It didn't take long before he obliged her.
Chapter Fourteen
*** 1 ***
Starke and Jessica, or better said the Master in a Jessica meat-suit, arrived at the Lucas Oil Stadium’s parking lot. Starke stopped at his master bidding and waited for further instructions. It looked over to Starke and told him what it wanted of him. Knowing better than to argue or protest his command he almost did anyway, but finally decided against it. His son’s soul was in danger and he would try and do anything to change that, even if it was to turn himself over to Roland and the bitch. Starke took a gulp from the bottle in the cup holder. He started to drive off down the road the way he came to find the man he loathed. Starke swore aloud and took another gulp from the bottle, weaving around the abandoned cars.
He had tried starting the car, but to Roland's frustration he found out that it had been sabotaged. Ashley popped the hood and they saw that the engine was severely damaged. Slamming the hood down, he shouldered his pack and his rifle. Ashley grabbed her pack and whatever she could carry. They started walking down the street when Ashley noticed that some zombies were standing inside of the buildings watching them. She jumped back in automatic fear and Roland turned to see what had spooked her.
Roland had drawn his rifle to his shoulder and fired. The window of the shop shattered and the zombie dropped, undead to the ground. Another zombie filed into the spot in place of its fallen brethren. Roland fired again killing the one that had stepped into the other zombies place. Ashley was surprised to see yet another zombie shamble into the empty spot. Roland lowered the rifle and glanced down at Ashley. Ashley shrugged and walked slowly forward towards the store front. She got about six feet away before they started moaning. Roland took hold of her shoulder and pulled her back. She looked from Roland to the zombies in the store then back to Roland.
“Why are they just standing there?” Roland moved to where Ashley had been standing moments before. He watched as the zombies stood absolutely still, but they followed Roland with their eyes as he stepped closer. He brought his rifle up close to the broken window bringing the muzzle about an inch from one of the zombies face. Ashley looked on more confused than ever as the zombies didn't appear to be afraid of the weapon. Roland fired the weapon point blank at the zombies head causing it to explode. He watched the other undead stand as still as ever despite their comrade's demise.
Ashley walked towards the door of the building and before Roland could say anything, she flung the doors of the store open. She was instinctively scared of the zombies that crowded the open doorway, but she knew or rather thought she knew that she shouldn't be afraid of anything. She stepped back from the door watching the reactions of the zombies. Sunlight had suddenly crossed the threshold of the store pouring onto the undead. The moaning started to become frenzied as the zombies shambled backward from the light. Ashley laughed as the undead fell over themselves. Roland watched in wonder as the monsters finally got back behind the line between sunlight and darkness.
“Interesting. I wonder.” Roland said as he knelt and shuffled through the contents of his pack. Ashley looked between what Roland was doing and on where the zombies were. They seemed scared to cross into the sunlight, but that didn't mean they couldn't. She watched as Roland pulled out a coiled-up rope. Ashley laughed when she found out what he was planning. Roland created the lasso easily and started to walk up to the undead.
“Roland, you don't plan to seriou
sly lasso one of those things?” Roland nodded as he tossed the loop into the mass of zombies. He tugged the rope and closed the cinch around the undead head as it moaned in surprise and grasped the rope with both hands.
Roland began pulling the rope, dragging the zombie towards the sunlight. To Roland's surprise, it started to struggle to get free from the rope. Roland pulled harder on the rope, finally getting some leverage. The zombie tripped on one of the other zombies and fell face first into the sunlight. The moaning from the captured zombie turned into a high-pitched shriek. Roland kept dragging the zombie into the light despite the screams. Ashley covered her ears and stepped back as the zombie had given up the struggle. It was as if Roland was pulling a screaming rag doll across the pavement.
Roland was able to drag the zombie to the sidewalk deciding to stop. The zombie by that time stopped screaming. Ashley thought it had ruined its voice box. Roland dropped the rope, rubbing his hands together. He brought the rifle up and aimed it at the zombie. Ashley looked at the face of the zombie and felt a pit in her stomach grow with uneasiness. It wore a silent scream. It reminded her of that painting of the screaming person. Ashley had seen it in one of her art classes, but she couldn't remember the title or the artist. The silent scream was ended by a round from the rifle. Roland wiped a bit of gore from his boots against the sidewalk.
“That was horrible. Why are they afraid of the light?” Roland shook his head to Ashley's question.
“Maybe it has something to do with the temperature rising. It only started to get hotter when the zombie outbreak started. Maybe somebody up there is on our side.” Ashley poked Roland on the shoulder and motioned for him to look at the store. They both looked up to see the zombies staring at them. They both had an eerily determined gaze. None were moaning. A shiver went up Roland's spine as the first zombie entered the sunlight. It began to scream as the other had when it was shot by Roland’s rifle. Another followed the first getting only a foot closer to the zombie killers. Then the ones closest to the windows started piling out of them. Roland started getting a bad feeling. He looked behind them into another building to find more zombies following the others example.
Roland knew a lost cause when he saw one and pulled Ashley with him into the city. The zombies started shambling towards the pair of adventurers but stopped after a while. Roland looked when they had jogged past the intersection of the street. He saw the zombies, screaming, looking at them. Roland decided it was safe to walk from here, but kept looking over his shoulder to make sure they stayed their distance.
Ashley and Roland had walked three blocks before Roland stopped and shook his head. Ashley stopped and looked at him. “What's the matter, Roland?” Roland laughed because it was so stupid a problem.
“Ashley, I have never been here, do you know where we need to go?” Ashley shook her head, “My family was here when I was a kid, but I don't know where the stadium is at.” Roland laughed again.
“All right, we need to find a map or get to a high enough location. I forgot to check where we should be heading when we were at the construction yard, but other matters were far more pressing.”
Chuckling as he walked past her to the building in front of him. Ashley followed him until they reached the doorway. “Wait a minute Roland are you really wanting to go in there? What if they’re in there? There isn't any sunlight.” Roland stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He thought about it for a second, then took his hand off the knob. It was true what she said, it would be pretty stupid to go in there now, probably stupid to go in at all no matter what the time. Stepping back from the door, he sat on an abandoned car. Ashley sat next to him and took a water bottle from her knapsack. Drinking half, she handed it to Roland who accepted and drank the rest. She looked at the sun, blazing from directly above them.
“It must be getting hotter every day. It seems like it at least.” Roland shook his head. “No, you're right it is getting hotter each day. I have a sneaky suspicion that it has something to do with the zombies and the demonic entity that resides at the stadium. Man, this is getting to be something out of a weird supernatural daytime soap opera.” Ashley laughed, stopping when she heard a familiar voice.
“Like demons out of Hell, so are the Days of Our Lives.” Roland jumped off the car, drawing his gun as he crouched behind the car. Ashley, not having such great reflexes, had only time to jump off the car before she stopped dead in her tracks. Starke was across the street, hands in the air as he approached Roland and Ashley. Roland fired his gun in the air right above where Starke was walking.
“Stop where you are Starke! Hands where I can see them.” Starke stopped advancing but wagged his hands in the air. “Already complied with that one old chum! Why don't we just act nice and cool and talk this out like normal people?” He had somehow produced a white handkerchief in his left hand. Waving it in his hand like a flag he said, “I want to parlay! Like in one of those Johnny Depp movies. You know, the pirate one? How about it?”
Roland got up from where he was crouched and slowly walked towards Starke, keeping his gun trained on his head. When he got to where Starke was standing, he pistol whipped the grinning man across the face, dropping him to the ground. Ashley jumped when she heard the dull thud of the gun connecting with the head.
“Is he dead?” Roland turned and grinned at the girl. “No, he isn't. Boy, did that feel good. Help me get him over by that car over there.” Ashley hurried over and helped Roland drag the man that they had been chasing for days.
*** 2 ***
Starke woke up hours later with a throbbing headache. He remembered the hit that Roland had dealt him but nothing after that. He was able to move his head but found that he couldn't turn his body or move his arms or legs. Fear gripped him for a second, but he calmed himself down or at least tried to as he saw the zombies staring at him. He heard a voice that he recognized as Roland's. It came from above him.
“That is all they do in the day time. It's like they are afraid of the light. I tried dragging one out, but it only shrieked like something was burning it, but that's the thing. It didn't burn or die when it hit the sunlight. Others came out to avenge their fallen brethren. They came out a couple feet, shrieking as they did.”
Starke breathed easier when Roland said they were afraid of the light. He could see the sun from where he was but didn't like what he saw. It was beginning to set. If he was correct, that would mean that he only had a little time before they came out of where they were hiding. He stayed silent, knowing that Roland was bound to ask him questions. Why else would he still be among the living and not part of the unliving?
“First things first Starke. I want some answers from you, truthful ones. Now I know that I can't tell when you’re fibbing so Ashley and I will take a vote when we are through and if either of us thinks you've lied then we will just leave you here to die. Deal?” Starke was surprised with Roland. He thought better of his captor. This was going to be an interesting trip after all.
“Looks like we have an accord, where would you like to begin?”
Starke heard whispers above and behind him as the two were deciding where to start. That meant that Starke was tied to a car and they were probably sitting on the roof. He heard Roland's voice and a cough. “Did you kill my brother?” Starke, for some morbid reason, thought that Roland might have forgotten about that.
“Nope, I only shot him in the leg with a nail gun, took his gun, then ran leaving him behind as a distraction for zombies. My actions may have led to his death, but I did not directly have anything to do with his death, technically.” Roland laughed a bit, Starke didn't think it was a light nice laugh either.
“You know Starke, you are one sick individual. Here is the next one: Who or what is the thing that is possessing Jessica?” The man tied to the car considered the eyes of each of the zombies that watched him with hungry glares. The Master isn't here, Starke decided, but it’d be good just to be cautious on the matter.
“He is my Master, I sort of do his
bidding.”
“What bidding is that Starke? Doing his wash?” Starke laughed at that one, imagining the scene. Starke at the laundry mat with bloodied clothes while others watched him with horror across their faces.
“No that would be fun, compared to what I was tasked to do and that was to bring you to Indianapolis. Any way possible.” There was a pause that was filled with more whispers.
“Is that why you killed Eddie, Starke, to get me here?”
“Again, let me stress the point that the zombies killed poor Edward. But to the question, yes. You needed something to get you here and that was the only option at the time.”
“What is the thing that is possessing Jessica? I don't want to hear anything about how he is your boss. I want to know what it is.”
“Roland, you never fail to amaze me with your clarification. Quite frankly he is a demon that is wanting to be free of the chains that are binding him from walking the earth.” Starke could almost see the stunned look on his captor's faces. If he could have seen their faces he would have known that the information he told them didn't stun them in the least.
“Starke last question before we decide whether to let you go. What is your demon friends plan?” Again, Starke looked at the zombies’ eyes to try and determine if He was here or not. Starke didn't think He was, but still whispered the answer to Ashley and Roland.
“I will tell you this, he wants to be free. He will do anything to get his freedom, anything. What his actual plans are and what he is capable of, well, you must let me go with you to know those. That line is dangerously getting closer to me, you might want to decide.” He watched as the sunlight line was inching slowly over to the place Starke was laying. The zombies shambled up to the line but again didn't cross it. He heard Roland and Ashley whisper for a good minute before he saw Ashley in front of him. She spits in his face. The spit rolled down his cheek unable to be wiped off. It felt nice and cold on his sunburned skin.