by Jason Tucker
Instead of an angry dwarf or one of Giovanni's toughs, it was a little girl. The same little girl that was on the picture he'd found in the crate. She looked just the same as she had in the photo, except she no longer looked bored. She looked unsure, almost timid. Blood covered her pallid hands and mouth. Her once white dress looked like a Jackson Pollock study in red.
She tilted her head and stared at him.
Her mouth opened to reveal sharp teeth and suddenly she didn't look so fearful.
4.
Vincent huddled in a corner as far away from the Haitian as he could possibly get. He'd tried the door several times but the lock was strong and it wouldn't budge. He thought about turning off the light so he wouldn't have to look at the dead man. But he really didn't want to be alone in the dark with a corpse either. Instead, he just sat with his head down and prayed that he might be lucky enough to have a heart attack before Carlos and Giovanni showed up. They were going to make life miserable.
It didn't take him long to remember that he had some weed. Once he started puffing away on a joint it took the edge off a little. He relaxed a bit, stretched out his legs, and then chanced at glance at the Haitian, the poor bastard.
"What the hell happened to you, man?" Vincent said. He took another hit and thought he saw the Haitian move. His arm twitched. It was slight: but he was sure he saw it. He swallowed hard and kept watching. Maybe the body did things like that. Maybe it moved after death because of nerves or something. Vincent didn't know. He'd never had reason to try to find out something like that.
The Haitian's foot twitched.
"Fuck," Vincent said. He stubbed out the joint on the concrete floor and kept watching. If the son of a bitch moved again, he'd –
The Haitian's mouth opened and he groaned.
Vincent pushed himself further into the corner, told himself it wasn't real. Someone must've laced his weed with LCD or something because it couldn't be real.
The Haitian sat up. His chest heaved as he tried to take in air through his ruined throat with great wheezing gasps. He blinked a few times and brought his hand up to his neck. His eyes locked on Vincent and he opened his mouth as if to speak. No words came out.
"Hey," Vincent said. He took another hit and watched at the wound in the Haitian's throat began to knit itself back together. "I didn't do this to you. Just so you know."
The Haitian flopped over onto his belly and then pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He started crawling toward Vincent. He flicked the joint toward the Haitian and then turned around and tried to get his fingers beneath the door. Maybe adrenalin would kick in and maybe he'd be able to break the lock. Maybe –
He felt the Haitian's large, meaty hands clamp down on his shoulders. He tried to pull away but the dead man was just too strong. He struggled and pulled, but the Haitian wrapped his arms around Vincent's so he couldn't move. He tried to scream, but the man was squeezing too hard, like a constrictor snake. Breath rushed from his lungs like leaky balloon, and he thought he heard his ribs breaking. Stars darted in front of his eyes.
Maybe it was all just a bad dream.
Maybe he'd wake up.
The Haitian's teeth sank into the side of his neck. Vincent felt his own blood begin to spill out onto the floor. He heard it splash onto the cold concrete. It felt like the sting of a thousand tattoo needles driving into him.
He closed his eyes.
At least Giovanni hadn't gotten to him.
Thank you for reading this excerpt from Wetwork! Once again, the novella will be available in late May/early June of 2011.
About the Author
Jason M. Tucker grew up in a small town in the wilderness of New York's Adirondack Mountains. He left the mountains for the sunnier climate of San Diego, California where he works as a full time writer trying to make ends meet while keeping monsters at bay.
His collection of short fiction entitled Meat City & Other Stories from publisher Black Bed Sheet Books is available now in paperback and digital formats. A short digital collection, Blood, Magic & a Concubine: 3 Dark Urban Fantasy Tales is also currently available.
Find out more by visiting http://www.jasonmtucker.com
Upcoming Books
Novellas
Wetwork – May/June 2011
Breaking Glass – June 2011
Out in the Cold – September 2011
Novels
Blood – June 2011
How to Hunt Monsters – August/September 2011
Oh, Positive! – September/October 2011 (with Sheila David)
…and more to follow!