by Art DeForest
“What did you have in mind.” I asked warily.
“I want you to take off the amulet and try to compel me again,” she said. “I want to see if it is the amulet, or some inherent power of your own.”
I hadn’t taken the medallion off since that day in Iraq, so I was a little reluctant. It was good to make sure, though, so I reached up and slowly pulled the finely wrought golden chain over my head. I turned and set it on the table by the front door, where I left my keys at night. Straightening back up, I turned my gaze to Siobhan. I didn’t feel any different, but I gave it my best shot.
“Come here.” I said forcefully once again.
Siobhan actually seemed to lean towards me for a second. Of course, that could have been my imagination...or libido. She grinned after a moment then walked over to me once more. “I still felt a compulsion, but not as strongly.” She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I came because you just sound so sexy when you’re being all commanding like that.” She cooed as she leaned in to kiss me once more.
I gently pushed her away after a moment. Damn, she was a good kisser. “That still doesn’t explain who’s coming after me, though. I said as I disengaged from her embrace.
Siobhan backed up with a devastating pout on her lips before sighing. “I don’t know who exactly, but I do know that the zombie attack tonight was aimed directly at you.”
“How do you know that?” I asked, my eyes narrowing suspiciously
“One of my people just happened to be on the roof of a building across the street from the bar.” She said innocently. “He saw a freight truck pull up to the alley entrance of the bar. Imagine his surprise when the driver opened up the back doors of the truck, and a mass of zombies trooped out and walked directly in the back door of Smitty’s.”
“Just happened to be on the roof?” I questioned. “Siobhan, are you keeping tabs on me?” I asked gruffly.
Siobhan’s eye grew wide, and her bottom lip quivered. “I worry about you, love. Your job is just, so dangerous.” She said as she tried to hug me once more.
I intercepted her arms this time and stayed on task. Yay me. “Did your guy get a description of the driver, or maybe a license plate number?”
Siobhan shook her head. “He was too far away, and it was too dark for even one of my kind to make out,” she said.
“This just doesn’t make sense,” I said in frustration as I absently reached down and put my medallion back on. “Who’s powerful enough to raise a dozen zombies and control them well enough to put them in a truck and drive them across town?” I asked in frustration.
“Perhaps someone who wants their amulet back.” She said, tapping the amulet with her polished nail through my t-shirt.
“I threw a grenade into the hole I found this thing in. It brought down the whole ceiling.” I said, shaking my head.
“Never underestimate the power of the ancient dead, Dale,” Siobhan said knowingly. “There are powers out there that not even one such as you can comprehend,” she said solemnly.
“It was a long time ago,” I said, almost plaintively. “Why is he just now coming for me?”
“You may have injured it when your grenade exploded,” she said thoughtfully. “It may have needed all this time to recover and gain strength.”
“Great” I said sarcastically. “You mean this thing might be getting stronger the longer it hangs around?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” she said. “My observer also mentioned that he could feel a presence from the driver of the truck. Almost as if he were being called.”
“Wonderful,” I said. “I need to get this guy, sooner rather than later.”
“I need to get some sleep, Siobhan,” I said looking down into her eyes once more.
“Indeed,” she said with a mischievous smile on her face as she took my hand and tried to lead me off to the bedroom.
I held my ground and pulled back. She turned around and flowed into my arms like it was an invitation. Her smile dropped when I said “Alone.” Her obvious look of sadness and disappointment twisted something deep in my core. “Look,” I said with a sigh. “I care about you, alright? But I need to concentrate on getting whoever’s coming after me before he succeeds.”
Siobhan stood there for a moment, cradled in my arms before reaching up and kissing me lightly on the lips. “I will give you time,” she said softly. “Be careful love.” Then she was gone.
I stood there for a moment bemusedly before sighing and running my fingers through my hair. “I need a shower,” I told myself as I head towards the bathroom. “A cold one.”
6
“Daddy help! The bad man is coming!” Shrieked Emily. I felt like I was trying to run through quicksand and the hallway kept growing longer and longer. “Emily!” I bellowed in response. “Hold on sweetie! Daddy’s coming!”
The tortuous run finally ended and I burst through the door of my daughter’s bedroom. There was blood everywhere. The shell pink walls were streaked and splattered with it. The small bed with the frilly My Little Pony bedspread had a large puddle of it in the center. The teddy bear, thrown haphazardly on the floor was torn apart. More blood soaked the soft brown fur as if hands already drenched in blood had torn it apart.
My daughter was nowhere to be seen.
A terrible, soul tearing, scream echoed through the house. “Dale! God Help! Where are you? Why aren’t you here?” The terrible screams and accusations continued as I ran as fast as I could through the ever-lengthening hall trying desperately to get to the master bedroom at its end.
The doorknob felt like ice as my hand grabbed and twisted it. I lunged in, eyes darting around the room for my pleading, screaming wife. Standing in the middle of the room was a creature made of shadows and darkness. Terrifying red eyes glowed out of the creature’s head, and my wife and daughter were clutched in his massively clawed hands. Emily was limp in the monster’s grasp, flopping around, like a rag doll.
Sam, my wife, was very much alive. She struck at the monster repeatedly, but her hands passed right through it. All the while she glared at me and screamed. “Why won’t you help us! You should have been here!”
I was frozen in place. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I stood in helpless terror as my wife was engulfed by the incredibly distended maw of the shadow creature. When she disappeared with one final scream of rage and terror, the creature looked up and met my gaze. I’ve never felt such hate and evil.
Abruptly the shadow monster moved. He lunged across the bedroom at me. I stood paralyzed, unable to move even a finger as his fanged maw engulfed me as it had Sam. Everything went black.
I landed on the floor beside the bed with a thump, fighting madly to escape the entangling blankets trying to suffocate me. With a roar of rage and loss, I finally tore them free and threw them across the room.
My body was soaked in sweat and my face was wet with tears. I sat huddled on the floor for a minute trying to recover. One sob managed to escape me as I rocked back and forth, staring at nothing.
That nightmare still happened too often. Okay, I guess I have to talk about it. I’d been out of the Corps for just over a year when it happened. I wasn’t home to prevent it. I came home from the warehouse job I had working for a company that provided parts and machinery for the coal mining industry. I had to work late that cold November night. It was pitch black outside when I pulled into the driveway, and the headlights from my truck illuminated the front of the house and the front door, hanging half off its hinges.
The house was a disaster area. Furniture was overturned, the upholstery shredded. “Sammy, Em, where are you!” I screamed. The silence was the only answer. The police never found the bodies. All that remained was the blood, splashed and smeared all over Emily’s bedroom. The coroner said that nothing could have survived that much blood loss.
The case was put down to a robbery gone wrong, possibly a druggie, high on PCP, looking for money to pay for his next score. I knew they were wrong. I had s
een claw marks on the walls, and PCP didn’t explain why the bodies were missing.
That was the night I started hunting. I’ve been looking for the fucker that did it ever since.
I finally got myself pulled back together, at least as much as I ever am, and headed to the shower. The warm water was like a balm that soothed the tense muscles caused by my nightmare. Two cups of coffee while sitting in brooding silence at the kitchen table wasn’t helping much, so I finally looked up at the clock on the wall. 9:27am. I told the team to take the day off before we parted company last night, but I figured there might be some paperwork or something at the office I could do to get my mind out of the dark alleys it had wandered down in the night.
Combat boots, jeans, and a black t-shirt. A black leather jacket that concealed the .45 under my shoulder well enough, and a pair of shades to cover my bloodshot eyes. I was ready to go.
The Mustang snarled awake as I turned the key and Twisted Sister was screaming out of the speakers about how they weren’t gonna take it anymore. Perfect music for a commute through the streets of Chicago.
The office was quiet. Not much monster activity at 10:15 am on a Tuesday. I threw a half-assed wave at Jenna as I started around her desk towards the back. A delicate hand touched my sleeve, and I looked down at her. “You doing okay Dale? Heard you had a rough night. Even for you.” She said with a sardonic smile.
I tried to return her smile. I’m not really sure if I pulled it off or not. Either way, Jenna understood. She was awesome that way. “I’ve definitely had better,” I remarked. “Messages?”
She only had one slip of paper for me. Alex wanted me to call when I came up for air. No rush.
I got out my cell as I hit the office and pushed the button next to Alex’s name. Thank god for modern technology because my memory for such things sucked. Trivial Pursuit, I was hell on wheels. Phone numbers and birthdays? Not so much.
The phone rang twice before Alex answered. “‘Bout time you got in.” He groused by way of greeting.
“It was a long night.” I greeted back.
“I know, I was there.” he said sarcastically.
“It got longer,” I said tiredly. “Siobhan was at my place when I got home.”
“Oh ho!” Said Alex enthusiastically. “Someone finally gets lucky?”
“Keep dreaming pa,” I said shortly. “I managed to fight her off...again.”
“How much longer you going to be able to hold out big man?” he asked seriously.
I sighed into the phone. “Honestly, I don’t know,” I said in a rare moment of candor.
“It’s like that, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah, but I did get some interesting information out of her,” I said, raising up out of my funk a little.
“Do tell.” he responded
“Siobhan had somebody who just happened to be on top of a building across the street from the bar. Apparently, some guy pulled up in the alley and let a whole bunch of zombies out of the back,” I said.
He whistled in surprise. “Well, that explains a few things.” He said after a minute.
“Like what?” I asked.
“A cemetery across town was vandalized last night. The reporting officers were kinda wondering where the corpses had gone,” he said with a hint of amusement. “I don’t suppose this guy of Siobhan’s got a license plate number, did he?”
“Too dark and too far away,” I said in frustration. “All he said was that it was a freight truck.”
“Okay,” said Alex, “I’ll check and see if any were stolen recently. Maybe that will give us a lead.”
There was a brief pause then like Alex was collecting his thoughts. “It feels like someone’s out to get you Dale,” he finished solemnly.
“You’re not the first or even the second to suggest that,” I said with a sigh.
“Siobhan and who else?” He asked
“Lori may have remarked about it also,” I said
“Did she ask about me after I left?” He asked hopefully. Alex has had a thing for Lori for years. Most guys did if they spent any amount of time around her. She seemed to have a black belt in romantic jiu jitsu, however. She deftly fended them off with a smile and a few kind words, leaving them wondering what hit them. Eventually, they would get over it and settle down to enjoy her friendship.
Not Alex though. I had to give him credit for determination anyway. “Not in your wildest dreams dude,” I said trying to put a smile into my words. “She’s so far out of your league that you’re playing different sports.”
“Yeah, you’ll see. I’ll wear her down eventually.” He said confidently. “So who’s trying to kill you and why?”
I wasn’t sure I was ready to share about my medallion yet. I wasn’t sure that having a piece of jewelry that let me control and possibly attract undead would go over too well in certain circles. “Who knows. I probably killed someone’s pet zombie or something.” I said, trying to sound casual
“Probably,” Alex said with a snort. “I swear you could piss off somebody just by walking past them three blocks away.
“Did you check out the cemetery?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah, not much to see. It was a pretty obvious zombie rising if you know what to look for. You know, pushed up dirt and bits of old wood right over the graves. I’ve never seen one that affected so many graves, though.” He said wonderingly.
“Whoever raised them definitely seems to have more juice than your typical Necro,” I said seriously. “I’ve never seen a zombie leave a meal to attack someone else. That’s got to take some serious mojo.”
“No doubt.” Replied Alex. “Usually the necros don’t have enough juice to control the one or two they managed to raise and the zombies end up doing our job for us.”
“No such luck this time, it appears,” I replied. “Let me know if you turn up anything on the freight truck. Otherwise, all we can do is stay on guard and wait for the next attack.” I said in frustration.
“I’ll keep in touch.” replied Alex. “And Dale. Watch your back.” He finished. I was actually a little touched by his concern.
“Will do. Thanks” I said as I clicked off.
After that, I went down to see what Smoke was up to. I found him in his workshop. Imagine if a computer lab and the local National Guard Depot got married. Their child would be Smoke’s workshop. It was clean and organized, but it was just weird seeing computers and electronic components sharing space with various guns and other instruments of destruction.
“How’s it going?” I asked as I walked through the door.
He didn’t say anything at first, all his concentration focused on the job in front of him. Finally, he stepped back and turned around. “Good,” he said with a smile. “Come check it out.”
I walked up and stood beside him. Situated in the vice was one of the Saigas. A shorter version of the suppressor he’d been working on was mounted to the front. It was also blackened to match the rest of the gun. “I think we have a battle ready version now.” He said proudly. “I shortened it and increased the amount of dampening material. It’s a bit shorter but just a little bit bigger around. Should do the trick, I think.”
“Nice,” I said with a grin. “Do I get to play with it?”
“Sure,” He said returning my grin. “Let’s see what she’ll do.”
We decided to run the kill house. It would be a good test to see if the added length hindered movement significantly. The Saiga did its job admirably. The extra weight on the front end took some getting used to, but the POP, POP, sound it made was a big improvement over its usual cannon like BOOM.
“Go ahead and make up enough for everyone,” I said with a smile. “This should appease Alex. At least a little bit. I’d like them as quick as you can safely do it too. If you don’t mind.”
“What’s the rush?” asked Smoke with a raised eyebrow.
I told him about the conversation I’d just finished with Alex. “Something tells me we’re going
to be making a racket inside city limits again and probably sooner than we’d like.”
Smoke nodded. “I can get three more made up by this evening,” he said consideringly. “That’ll give each Dreadnought shooter one to play with.”
“Good enough, thanks,” I said and headed back out.
The rest of the day was spent on doing paperwork and making phone calls. I called the team members, just to make sure they were doing okay and to let them know about what we were speculating on as to our new adversary. “So, watch your back,” I said to each of them seriously. Of course, every time I said it, the response was something similar to. “Hell, as long as you’re not around we should be fine.” Assholes.