Love in the Time of Zombies

by Cassandra Gannon

  Christ, the lengths Joseff would go to for his mate grew more and more absurd. Annoying or not, though, he had to protect Caleb. If he didn’t, Joseff would lose even his tentative hold on Darcy. She’d never forgive him if either of her brothers died. In his mind, he could so easily imagine perfect topaz eyes looking up at him in disgust and betrayal. He’d sooner face the zombies.

  “Where the fuck are you going?” Brewer complained. He was the only other pack member in the room and appeared to be working his way through a vat of snow crab legs. “Outside where shit it exploding?”

  Caleb shook off Joseff’s hold. The iron handcuffs had about six inches of slack in the chain. “Fuck you. I’m not going anyplace, vampire.” Lavender eyes narrowed wrathfully. “Where’s the rest of my pack?”

  Joseff had no idea.

  The casino was huge and he hadn’t exactly been keeping a close eye on them. Mostly they’d been bait and, once he had Darcy, they ceased to matter. “They escaped.” He said without missing a beat. For all he knew, it was true. The pack did have that noble “save yourself” rule, after all. They might have hightailed it to Reno, by now.

  …Or they might have been eaten.

  “All of them escaped?” Caleb looked suspicious.

  Joseff shrugged. “They’re a very crafty group.”

  Brewer squinted doubtfully, adjusting the brim of his trucker hat. “They are?”

  “For shifters.” It pained Joseff to give them even that much fake-credit, but he tried to look sincere.

  “Well, at least they’re working together for once.” Caleb decided. He didn’t seem surprised that they’d leave him behind. The pack really was useless. Still, he hesitated before he asked, “Zeke get away, too?”

  “Sadly, no. Ezekiel is upstairs. He’s not going anywhere with you.”

  Caleb almost smiled at the news that Zeke hadn’t abandoned him. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Joseff seized hold of him, again. “Apparently, he’s forgotten that pack rule about dumping anyone who slows you down. He’s very insistent on you joining him immediately.”

  Now, Caleb was surprised. “He is?” He frowned like couldn’t imagine Zeke caring. “Why?”

  “Well, we’re in a very tall building that’s possibly on fire and is probably being infiltrated by zombies.” Joseff pointed out with exaggerated patience. “We think it might be a good idea to evacuate.”

  Caleb was still distrustful as Joseff dragged him along. “How did your men let the pack escape?” He asked, not giving up.

  “My men are idiots. That’s how.”

  “I know they’re idiots, but so’s the pack.” He deliberately dug his feet in, slowing the process. “How do I know they really got away?”

  Joseff played the odds. This was a casino, after all. Besides, he’d devoted far too much of his life learning the idiosyncrasies of the shifters to not understand Caleb’s thought process. “Look, I don’t know where your pack is. That’s the truth. But, I do know that Zeke and Darcy are upstairs waiting for us.”

  Caleb’s eyes narrowed.

  “They’re the ones you just risked your life to find during the zombie attack.” Joseff continued relentlessly. “They’re the ones you love most. They’re the ones who need you. And they’re the ones who aren’t going to leave here unless you come, too.”

  “They will leave if…”

  “They won’t.” Joseff interrupted. “Believe me, I’ve tried to convince them. Now, even someone with your single digit IQ should see the upside in getting Zeke and Darcy to safety and then worry about the others. They’re your younger siblings. We both know it.”

  Caleb’s lips pressed together in frustration.

  “It’s a simple yes or no,” Joseff persisted, “do you want to come with me and protect our family… or not?”

  Caleb closed his eyes. “Son-of-a-bitch.”

  Taking that as a yes, Joseff shoved him forward. “A wise choice. Now, stop whining and let’s get out of here, alright?”

  Not even Caleb could argue with that.

  Brewer could, though.

  “Sun’s still out.” To Joseff’s extreme annoyance, Brew followed them out of the restaurant and down the hall. “Whatcha planning to do, vampire? Run real fast until night falls?”

  God, how he hated the shifters.

  “Do you really think I’d be in this building without a contingency plan?” Joseff didn’t get out of bed in the morning without a contingency plan. He automatically headed for the elevator. His thumb pressed the “up” button a second before he remembered that no more lifts would be in service for a very, very long time.

  Damn.

  He could already tell it would be decades before he stopped missing electricity.

  Caleb sent him a bland look. “Wanna wait for the next one?”

  Joseff’s jaw ticked. “Move.” He turned and propelled the boy towards the stairs.

  “Darcy’s gonna be pissed if you deep fry yourself in the daylight.” Brew said casually following along. “Girl owns your ugly ass.”

  Joseff glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Such a shame there wasn’t room for that bastard on the helicopter. It would just be heartbreaking when he had to pitch Brew off the roof. “You know nothing about…”

  “Know you bit her.” Brew interrupted. “That makes you hers, doesn’t it? It’s basically a vampire handing a chick his balls.”

  “She told you I bit her?” Had she been mocking him? Joseff’s stomach sank.

  “She didn’t have to tell us.” Caleb snorted. “Her scent is all over you.”

  It was? Oh. Joseff found he liked that idea. A lot.

  The stairwells were crowded with people from the upper floors rushing down and people from the lower floors rushing up. Joseff shoved through the panicked members of every species imaginable, heading upward.

  “Just so you know, you hurt Darce, and Z and I will turn you into zombie-chow.” Caleb told him, raising his voice over the din.

  “I already heard that speech.” Joseff assured him. “Luckily, what’s between Darcy and me is between Darcy and me.”

  “Every ball-less guy in the world has got a story,” Brew jeered, “but yours just might be the saddest. When you drank from Darcy, you became her mate without ever stopping to make sure she would bite you back. Pretty damn stupid if you ask me.”

  “Did I ask you?” Joseff didn’t have time for their snarking.

  Liberty Hall Casino had been an ark in the middle of the zombie flood and they’d definitely sprung a leak. Anarchy reigned. Joseff nearly snapped a warlock’s neck and slammed a rock monster into the wall as he struggled to get Caleb to safety. Luckily, most people knew to stay out of his way, more afraid of Joseff than the zombies.

  Brew tripped a passing gargoyle for no reason that Joseff could possible fathom. “Whatever’s happening, it sure has spooked the herd.”

  Joseff was thinking the same thing. Wanting more information, he grabbed hold of a semi-intelligent looking blue reptile from a genus he didn’t recognize. “What exploded outside?”

  “It was some kind of truck bomb. It took out half the Golden Nugget.” The guy’s opalescent eyes were frantic. “They must have set it off so they could get in.”

  “The zombies set a bomb?” Joseff highly doubted that. He’d had his men capture one at the beginning of the outbreak, just to experiment with what they were up against. The creatures weren’t strategic thinkers. They just wanted to devour and kill.

  “No, not the zombies! The things in white!” The blue guy dashed away, clawing his way up the steps. “Don’t go out there!”

  Joseff’s mind did a quick database search of white creatures.

  Ghosts? The yeti? That damn thing wasn’t real, was it? A few days before he hadn’t thought zombies were real either, so Joseff wasn’t a hundred percent on anything.

  “Only humans do shit like truck bombs.” Caleb said flatly. “Maybe Scotlyn’s not the last of her kind, after all.” He met Joseff’s eyes
. “Get me out of these cuffs and let’s go see what the hell is happening down there.”

  That wasn’t a bad idea, especially if humans were roaming around. Joseff weighed the value of new blood sources against Caleb’s safety. Sadly, starvation barely registered on the scale compared to protecting Darcy’s brother. “We’re going up.”

  “To the roof?” Brewer guessed. “You planning to jump?”

  “I’m planning to use my helicopter.” Automatic gunfire sounded from the floors below and Joseff sighed. “That’s definitely humans.”

  “I thought we finally got rid of those fuckers.” Brewer complained.

  Caleb was already focused on fighting back. “Undo the cuffs.”

  “I don’t have the key.” One of Joseff’s men did and God only knew if whoever-it-was was even alive, anymore. Swearing in three dead languages, he looked down the stairwell.

  Twenty floors below, he could see things in white climbing the steps. Every being they encountered was mowed down in a hail of bullets. It was a slaughterhouse within the tight confines. No one was going to leave the stairwell alive.

  “Goddamn it.” Caleb seethed. “Get me out of these cuffs.”

  “I can’t.” Joseff shoved the boy ahead of him and then grabbed for Brewer, too. For better or worse, that bearded idiot belonged to Darcy. “Move.”

  “Joseff!”

  He looked up and saw Darcy leaning over the balcony a dozen floors up. “Get to the roof!” He bellowed. Jesus, was it really that difficult to understand the plan? “Where’s Zeke? He’s supposed to be with you.”

  “He is. Kinda. We split up to look for Pucci.”

  The word held no meaning for him. “What?”

  “Oh for fuck’s sake…” Caleb groaned. “It’s Scotlyn’s cat.”

  “What?”

  “She’s gotten loose in the building and Scotlyn’s frantic.” Darcy reported. “We have to find her.”

  “Who cares about a damn cat?!” Joseff roared.

  Darcy gave an elaborate shrug. “Scotlyn does.”

  It was like this entire experience was designed to test the limits of Joseff’s limitless patience. There was just no other explanation.

  “We gotta take out the lower levels of the stairs with dynamite.” Brew interjected, his attention on the invasion below. “Stop those armed bastards from getting any higher. They’re coming up too fast.”

  Joseff glanced at him. Christ, when Brewer Macready started making sense, you knew it was the end time. “You have dynamite on you?” With Brew it was always a strong possibility, although Joseff was irritated that his men hadn’t confiscated it. Allowing prisoners to have TNT seemed stupid even for them.

  “Hell no, I don’t have any dynamite on me. Would I still be here if I had goddamn dynamite on me?”

  “Without dynamite how do you suggest we take out the stairs with dynamite?!”

  “I don’t know! It’s just a good idea, is all. Do I have to think of fucking everything?”

  God, how he hated the shifters.

  “Joseff, what are you doing?” Darcy shouted. She was dangling so far over the railing, it was a miracle she wasn’t careening forward and landing on her head. Dark hair hung down in a waterfall around her worried face. “Hurry up!”

  He glanced back at her and then down at the things in white. They couldn’t prep the helicopter and take off in time. He knew it. Not unless something slowed the advance. Contrary to Hollywood’s opinion, enough bullets killed anything. Even vampires. No matter how Joseff ran the scenarios, they all ended in his death. This was a losing battle for him.

  Luckily, Joseff didn’t remain unconquered by worrying about the individual battles.

  He just wanted to win the war.

  “Caleb, get my mate out of here.” He said flatly and shrugged of his tailored jacket. He needed to buy Darcy enough time to escape. That was all that mattered. That was victory.

  “What are you doing?” Caleb demanded.

  “They’re just humans in some kind of protective gear.” The outfits looked like the CDC suits scientists wore to protect them from germs mixed with high-tech Kevlar. “I don’t need explosives.” Joseff handed Caleb the walkie-talkie and swung himself onto the railing, his jaw firmed in determination. The fall wouldn’t kill him, but it would be hell on his knees. “I can kill enough humans with my bare hands to slow them down.”

  Caleb really was a White Hat. Despite everything, the boy grabbed Joseff’s arm, trying to stop him. “Don’t you dare! There are other ways to stall them.”

  Joseff shoved him back and prepared to drop into the fray.

  “Stop!” Darcy screamed from above, seeing his intentions. “Joseff, please! Don’t leave me!”

  Joseff hesitated, his whole body jolting at her words.

  …Which gave Caleb enough time to catch hold of him, again. “You’re not breaking my sister’s heart, you dick.”

  “I’m saving her life.”

  Caleb’s eyes went up to Darcy and he swore under his breath. “Alright. We’ll do this as a team.”

  That was so absurd that Joseff could only blink. “A team?” He’d been kidding himself earlier. It was utterly impossible to understand how the shifter’s mind worked.

  “Scotlyn says we’re all a team, now.” Caleb was talking fast. “Her and Zeke and Me and Darce. We’re in this together. You want to be part of it or not?”

  Joseff stared at him. “No.” He said incredulously. “Of course I don’t.”

  “I wanna be on the team.” Brewer put in. “How come no one asked me? Why am I always the last to get invited to do stuff?”

  Caleb slanted him a glare. “Let me just deal with this jackass and then…”

  Joseff gave the kid a whack on the shoulder, regaining his attention. “Your job on the team is to take care of my mate.” He ordered. “Concentrate on that.” Despite his better judgment, he looked at Brewer. “You can have my seat on the chopper.”

  “You mean I didn’t have a fucking seat before?”

  “This is crazy.” Caleb snapped. “You said yourself our family is up there waiting for us, Joseff.”

  “I know they are. That’s the whole point.” He met Caleb’s eyes. “Get out of the stairwell and find another way to the roof. And tell Darcy I’m sorry.” Not giving Cale a chance to respond, he jumped over the railing.

  The last thing he heard before the chaos swallowed him was his mate screaming his name.

  Chapter Ten

  Bright side to the zombie apocalypse:

  The retirement plan you never set up suddenly doesn’t seem so important.

  Scotlyn wasn’t a dog person.

  That was the root of the whole problem. A cute little poodle wouldn’t have done this to her. It would’ve played with rubber balls and wagged its pompom tail and obediently gotten into its seventy-nine dollar designer pet carrier when she asked. Instead, Scotlyn had adopted a cat and now she was going to die.

  She chased Pucci into a hotel room. The door had been left ajar when its former occupants fled, so the cat easily slipped through the crack.

  “Pucci!” Scotlyn called, hurrying in after her. “Come on, sweetie, we have to go. Zeke is getting really annoyed at you.” She scanned the room, looking for telltale gray fur. “I know you’re in here.”

  “Scottie…” Zeke came stalking in behind her. “This is ridiculous. I’ll find you another cat. I promise. A better one. But, we have to go, now.”

  “Just give me two seconds.” Scotlyn dropped down to the floor and peered beneath an armchair decorated with purple mountains majesty. Sure enough, she instantly spotted Pucci crouching in the far corner, glaring with all the hatred in her feline soul. Scotlyn smiled in relief. “There you are.” She crawled forward to snag hold of the cat’s collar. “Come on, kitty. You’ll be fine. I swear you’re not going to the vet.” She dragged Pucci out and glanced at Zeke. “She associates the pet carrier with going to the veterinarian for shots. That’s what the problem is.”

>   “The problem is we’re dealing with a psychotic cat in middle of the end of the world.” Zeke corrected. He glowered at Pucci as Scotlyn wrestled her into her pink cage and got to her feet. “I have no idea what you see in that vicious…”

  The zombie caught them both by surprise.

  It crawled out from under the bed and attacked so fast that Scotlyn didn’t even have time to cry out. As she passed, its arm shot out from beneath the mattress knocking her to the floor. The creature had once been a teenage boy. She glimpsed it briefly as yanked her backwards.

  She saw Zeke’s eyes widen in horror. Felt her fingers automatically scrape across the floor trying to find purchase. But there was nothing either of them could do.

  The zombie’s teeth sank into her leg.

  “NO!” Zeke shot the creature. He emptied the entire clip into it, as a matter of fact. But, it was too late.

  Scotlyn stared at her bleeding calf and knew she was going to die.

  “No, no, no, no, no.” Zeke dropped to the carpet beside her, wildly surveying the damage. It wasn’t even that bad. Just a few small puncture wounds. It was going to kill her in the worst way possible, though.

  They both knew it.

  Scotlyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Go.” It was the only choice.

  “Oh God.” Zeke seemed dazed. His hand went to the bite as if he could somehow erase it. “No.”

  “Zeke, you have to go.” She reached over to snag Pucci’s carrier and thrust it at him. “Take care of my cat for me, alright?”

  “What?” He asked uncomprehendingly.

  “Get to the roof. You can still make it.”

  His eyes widened as he realized what she was saying. “I’m not leaving you!” He roared, leaping to his feet.

  “Yes, you are.” Scotlyn snapped. “There’s nothing you can do for me, now. Save yourself.” In that second, it was the only thing she could process. “First, you’re going to shoot me and then you’re going to go. Alright?”