by Mark Tufo
“Mike, I’ll vote however you want me to,” Paul said, coming up to me.
“I can’t tell you how to vote. It’s your lives on the line,” I told him.
“I trust you like no other,” Paul told me. “I vote yes.”
Erin placed her arm around Paul’s waist. “As do I,” she said.
“Do you people not understand what you’re doing?” Tracy screamed, “You are sentencing him to a certain death. Whether by Durgan or Eliza, Mike will not survive this!”
She was pissed. I briefly thought about going over to calm her down, but she’d just as likely pitch me over the side.
“We should all be fighting as one,” she continued adamantly.
“Tracy, there won’t be a fight,” Alex said to her pacifying her a bit. “Eliza will merely burn this place down. I would think that Mike would be honored that some of us survive rather than all of us perish. I vote yes.”
“You’ve all lost your minds,” Tracy said bitterly before storming off.
“I agree with her Mike,” BT said. “I say no.”
April, who looked like a jackrabbit getting ready to bolt, slid a few inches behind Mad Jack. “No,” she said meekly.
“Do I get a vote?” Eddy asked Joann.
She was about to say no. I stopped her. “It’s his life too, he should have a say.”
“Yes,” Eddy said beaming. “The crazy man can beat anyone.”
“Then I say no,” Joann said, not looking as Eddy scowled at her.
I looked to a staunch ally, Meredith. She shook her head and ran to catch up to her aunt.
“Interesting,” Mad Jack said. “I either decide the vote or tie it up.”
“Really?” I asked. “I didn’t think it was that close.”
“Nine ‘no’s’ and eight ‘yes’s’”.
“Damn, I had no clue,” I told him truthfully.
“Then how do you vote?” BT asked, rejoining the group.
“There is only one choice,” Mad Jack said. “Logically speaking, Mike’s willingness to fight Durgan is our only chance of escape. Albeit it sounds like it might be a slim one, it is a chance none the less.”
“Don’t shower all the confidence on me at one time,” I told him. Mad Jack looked at me with a blank stare, he didn’t get it.
“I vote yes,” Mad Jack said.
“You’re kidding me? So it’s a tie?” I asked.
Mad Jack nodded in the affirmative.
“It looks like the decision is yours, Talbot. What will you do?” Tracy asked with a sheen of tears in her eyes. She already knew my answer.
“I will fight, because that is what I do,” I told the group.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE - Tracy’s Journal Entry 1
I cannot believe the pig-headed stubborn man that I married. My mother was right when she told me not to marry a Marine. ‘Marry a Navy man,’ she told me, ‘they’re much more pliable.’ He’s been huddled up with BT going over strategy on how to fight that steroid induced crazy bastard Durgan. He’s barely even looked over at me. Good, I hope he knows I’m mad at him for what he’s doing. I have absolutely no doubt that my husband will kill Durgan, but what good does that do his family, I ask you. Either way he dies. I’d rather burn with him, but not my babies, no, not that.
Eliza’s coming!
CHAPTER THIRTY – Talbot Journal Entry 15
“What have you decided, Michael?” came Eliza’s question. Her tone betrayed nothing of which way she wanted me to answer.
“My only condition as it has always been Eliza, is that if I agree to fight, when I win you honor your end,” I told her.
“Will you believe what I have to say?” Eliza asked. That she had a small measure of mischief in her words was not in doubt.
“There is the locket,” Tomas said.
“What locket?” Eliza and BT asked at the same time.
“The Blood Locket that Mr. T holds,” Tomas answered.
Eliza’s gasp of surprise was amplified in the small space she now inhabited.
“What do you have?” BT turned to me.
“My brother gave this to me before I left the house, he said he had no idea what it was for but that I might need it,” I said as I pulled out a large white gold locket with a rose and a blood red jewel on its face.
“You possess the Blood Locket?” Eliza asked. It was the first time anyone had heard a tremor in her voice.
“It looks that way,” I said, turning the locket over in my hands. I pulled away quickly as something snagged my finger. A fat bead of blood welled on my thumb, “Damn, again?” I questioned, sucking the wound. The locket opened to reveal an ancient picture of Eliza.
“You will give it to me now or die!” Eliza fairly shrieked.
“It looks like I’m going to do that anyway. So I don’t necessarily see the reason to relinquish this,” I said, thrilled that I had set Eliza back on her heels. “What does this locket do?” I asked the question of Eliza, but it was Tomas that had an answer forthcoming.
“She is bound to the locket…” Tomas started.
“Tomas, you are walking down a dangerous path,” Eliza growled.
“No, Sister, you started down this path when you decided to open up your world to me.”
“You will not betray me, Brother.”
“I will do as I wish, Sister.”
It was unclear what was happening behind the closed door, but it was Tomas who spoke next.
“Do not think that I cannot wrest control of these zombies from you Eliza.”
A muffled thud and cry of pain carried through the steel door.
“Eliza, help me,” a pain tinged plea came from Durgan.
“Fool!” she spat. “I did not tell you to attack him. I would always take side with a wayward brother over that of a slave.”
“I was only and always trying to help Mistress,” Durgan begged.
The door to the roof crashed open. Eliza strode through, Tomas right behind her. In the darkness of the hallway was the huddled form of Durgan.
“Michael, I will honor our arrangement,” Eliza said with a rage fueled voice as she approached us.
BT discreetly grabbed the locket from my hand which had gone slack at the sight of Eliza. He clutched it close to his chest. I knew vamps had many more powers than mere humans. I hoped her sight wasn’t too enhanced as I grabbed the truck keys in my pocket; this might work, they were sort of goldish.
“That’s far enough, Eliza,” I told her. Any closer and Mr. Magoo would have caught my ruse. Eliza did not stop her forward progress. It had been a long time since she had taken any orders from anyone, least of all a sworn enemy. “Travis, give me your shotgun.” Travis did not hesitate as he handed over his weapon. I dropped the locket (keys, careful to place my body and my foot in a way that made her viewing difficult, if she got a good look we were screwed) onto the roof and pointed the shotgun straight at the piece of jewelry. I had no idea if this ploy would work until Eliza stopped in mid-step.
“Will she die, Tomas, if I destroy this locket?” I asked. (Oh pretty please!)
“She will not be the same,” Tomas answered.
I could tell Tomas was watching in amusement as the white around my knuckle spread with the incremental amounts of pressure I applied to the trigger. The inner debate waged within me.
It was Tomas’ next words that stopped me from blowing that ‘locket’ to hell where it belonged. “I do not, however, think that you will like the outcome.”
“What would that be?” I asked, never looking up.
“I would be in charge,” Tomas told me solemnly.
“You’re much more powerful, aren’t you Tommy,” I asked, but it was more of a statement.
“Yes.”
“Is there anything of Tommy left in you?” I asked as a solitary tear was migrating down my cheek.
“No.”
Eliza appeared to have missed the entire conversation; her complete attention was focused on the golden locket lying on the tarred r
oof. Durgan dizzily made his way onto the crowding roof as zombies began to pour through the opening. Eliza or Tomas still controlled them as they did not attack but made a ring around us, the stranded humans.
Eliza snapped out of her trance. “Do not be so confident, Tomas,” she said to her brother. “Now Michael, I believe you have what is rightfully mine.”
“I do, but I have decided on another set of terms,” I told her.
“I grow weary of this,” Eliza said. A cheetah would have been amazed at her speed as she grabbed the locket and was back in her original spot just as I blew a hole in the surface of the roof, damn near taking my foot off.
“I was expecting that. I just didn’t think it would happen so fast.”
“Kill them,” Eliza said before she looked the piece of jewelry over.
The zombies began to close the circle up, hunger intensifying their movements. April fainted outright. It was Mrs. Deneaux that was the first to fire. The front line of zombies dropped quickly as the rest of the group took to arms. Rifle fire crackled, smoke rose into the air, human shaped monsters dropped by the dozens. Missed shots from fifteen feet were a rare occurrence, and then the zombies were eighteen feet away and then twenty. I held up my hand for a cease fire. It wasn’t that the zombies were retreating, they just weren’t advancing anymore.
“Clever Michael,” Eliza said coolly.
“I watched Interview with a Vampire,” I told her. “You vamps move pretty fast.”
“Where is my locket?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I can still kill all of you now and then sort out the pieces later,” she told me ominously.
“Do you really want to look through zombie offal for something you obviously value so much?” I asked her. Can a vampire be a germ-a-phobe? I mean I doubt it, they suck the blood out of people. Who’s to say where that neck has been, or what disease is running rampant through that person’s veins. “And it might not even be on us,” I threw in for good measure.
“You lie, I can smell it on you,” Eliza said.
“The lie or the locket?” I asked.
“Both. But you are right, I would rather you hand me the locket on your knees rather than search among these diseased vermin.”
“Well at least we agree about the vermin part,” I told her. “Let’s make a straight up trade, all of us leave here and you get your locket.”
“Where is the fun in that?” Eliza asked me.
“I think it sounds like a lot of fun,” Mad Jack piped up.
“Me too actually,” BT added.
Gary raised his hand in acknowledgement also.
“Enough!” Eliza said forcibly. “That is not an acceptable bargain. Someone must die here today.”
“There’s always you,” Justin said a little louder than he intended.
“Oh my pet,” Eliza said turning her head to face him. “You do not know what you have thrown asunder. I could have brought you on an incredible journey. You could have danced across the graves of everyone who has ever wronged you.” Justin pulled his gaze from Eliza. She laughed. “Silly boy, it is a shame you will never see the dawn of a new day.”
“I will fight Durgan,” I said.
“No Talbot,” Tracy said obstinately.
“Hush,” I said, putting my finger to her lips and hoping she wouldn’t bite it off. “I will fight Durgan but when I kill that asshole, we ALL leave unharmed and unpursued.” (Now that I said and wrote that word I’m not sure if it’s actually a Webster’s Dictionary approved word. Oh well, it’s not like anyone besides me will ever see this.)
“Those were not our original terms,” Eliza said.
“It’s called leverage Eliza. I have a little bit and I plan on using it.”
“If anyone on your side should step in and alter the outcome, our agreement will be null,” Eliza said, speaking directly to BT.
“No one will,” I said turning to face my friend.
“What? I haven’t even done anything,” BT said guiltily.
“And you won’t, right?” I asked him.
“But what if he’s beating the crap out of you, can’t I at least kill him before they get us?” BT asked. I gave him the sternest look I could muster, but it didn’t do much considering it was aimed at his sternum. “Alright, I won’t do anything even if your spindly ass is getting spanked and or demolished,” he grudgingly conceded.
“Thanks man,” I said sarcastically. “Eliza, do you agree to this?”
“I will let everyone including yourself leave here unharmed, IF you kill him.”
“What about not pursuing us?”
“That will be my leverage Michael. You can all leave here and I will let you go, but not forever.”
“Don’t take the deal, Dad,” Travis entreated.
“I welcome the opportunity to put a spike through your chest, Eliza,” I told her. Eliza sneered. “Swear it, Eliza.”
“I swear it on the Blood Locket, Michael.”
“Tomas?” I asked.
“She is bound,” Tomas said.
I pulled the locket from the barrel of the shotgun where I had stowed it once the zombies stopped approaching. Eliza gasped.
“It would have been the first thing destroyed,” I told her.
Eliza walked purposefully over to me and took the locket from my extended arm, making certain that her ice cold touch came in contact with my hand.
“We could still have some fun,” Eliza told me as she kept her hand wrapped around my wrist.
“I’ve already dated enough cold heartless bitches in my lifetime, thank you very much,” I said, trying to control the fear that was threatening to run away with my nerve.
“Very well. It is a beautiful day to die,” she said as she released her grip.
“I’d actually prefer a good rainstorm, maybe some hail and a crap load of lightning. It’s that whole flair for the dramatic,” I told her.
“Even at the end, you jest. You are a unique individual, Michael. I will almost miss you.”
“My mother told me that once.” It was the first thing I could think of.
“Dude?” Paul said.
“Too far?” I asked him.
“A little bit.”
“You will surrender your weapons now,” Eliza said as she stepped back next to Tomas.
“Whoa, that wasn’t part of the agreement,” I told her.
“Yes, as a matter of fact it was. When you die, the rest of your group will surrender to me. With their weapons they will not be so willing to follow through.”
“I say we just go out fighting now Mike,” Brian said.
A few others thought the same.
“We voted on this already, either we’re all in or we’re all out. I’m prepared to fight to the end by myself or with all of you by my side.”
More zombies began to funnel through the breech point in response to Brian’s call to arms.
“We’ve voted,” Alex said. “With Mike we have a chance. I’ve said my piece and I am at peace with the decision. I am prepared to meet my Maker.”
“I’m not sure if I should be honored or not with that comment Alex.”
Alex shrugged his shoulders.
“Well at least you clarified that, buddy,” I told him.
The small pile of rifles and pistols we produced could have kept a guerilla unit in Southern Peru stocked for a few years. I honestly don’t know how we could have carried all this armament and still move effectively. Now I know why the ladder bowed so much under BT. Sure, a good part of it was his bulk, the rest had to do with the two rifles and three pistols he contributed to the pile, plus the five hundred or so rounds he had stashed on him at various locations on his body.
“Got anything else on you?” I asked him softly, pretty much just kidding.
When he smiled at me diffidently, I didn’t even want to know where that one might be hidden, best not to think of things like that.
“I will give you some time to say your prayers to your fa
lse God,” Eliza said as she strode back through the roof door, her entourage of zombies on her heels.
“That’s not like her,” BT mused, coming up beside me.
“I agree but there’s no sense in trying to figure it out. A normal woman’s motives would be impossible to figure out.”
“And she’s not normal,” BT concluded.
“Let’s start working on some contingency plans while we have a chance,” I said, getting the group into a circle, except for April who had not yet decided to stop napping.
“What if Durgan beats you?” Perla asked.
“He won’t,” Tracy said.
“Okay, but what if he does?” Perla asked again, “We can’t just leave our fates up to her.”
“Personally, I’d rather let the zombies eat me,” Cindy said.
That’s how you know Eliza is one mean mother, when people would rather get eaten alive than spend any time with her.
“Could we survive a jump off the roof?” Joann asked, “I mean, we’d land on all those zombies below us.”
“And then what?” BT asked peering over the edge. “Even if you didn’t so much as bruise a muscle from the forty foot drop you’d still have to make it through close to a hundred feet of zombies.”
“Plus I’ve got a feeling that we won’t be anywhere near the edge,” Mad Jack said, “Eliza’ll have us surrounded.”
“Okay, who’s got what?” I asked the group as I pulled out a Glock 26 from a concealed holster.
BT hoisted out a seven inch barrel .357 Magnum. Erin had a stubby .22. Travis had a small .32 revolver, and Justin produced a sling shot. Hey it was a weapon, not a great one, but just ask Goliath how effective they could be.
“Sorry man,” Brian said. “All I had was that rifle. We won’t be able to put up much of a fight with these anyway,” he said, getting depressed at the notion.
Mrs. Deneaux came into the center of the circle, a small Derringer in her hand. “It’s not for them, sweetie,” she said, placing the barrel up against April’s head and her still prone body.
“That’s even worse,” Cindy said.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Mad Jack said.
“What will God think if we take our own lives? That is a mortal sin!” Perla was nearly crying again.