by Art DeForest
“Hinky?” he said derisively. “Care to be more specific?”
“I can’t really tell you more than that. It’s this mojo I’ve got in my head, telling me where to go. I just wanted to give you a heads up so some overeager cop doesn’t shoot at us when we go in, loaded for bear...or zombies.” I replied.
Alex snorted. “Cops try to stay out of that area; it’s too damned dangerous. You’re more likely to come up against the locals, and they might be better armed than you are.”
“I hear ya,” I said, chuckling in agreement. “At least you’ll have some idea of what’s going on when the shooting starts.”
“I’ll have STAC in the area for backup. Just in case.” Said Alex, his tone becoming serious.
“Sounds good.” I replied, “I’ll let you know what we find.”
I was already geared up, so I headed to the ready room to brief my people. They were all there except for Money and John, of course. I felt a pang in my heart at having to leave them behind. Given the earliness of the hour, the Dreadnoughts were sucking down coffee like it was nectar from the gods.
“Good morning, boys and girls!” I said, trying to sound chipper.
My salutation was met with general grumbling and comments like, “What’s so good about it.” We were not morning people, in general.
“Given who you were hanging out with last night when we left, I gotta wonder if you were just hanging out or letting it all hang out?” Tommy asked with a leering smile and wiggling eyebrows.
That got a weary chuckle from the room anyway. “None of your business, I growled, my face going slightly red.
“Come on, boss.” Said Petey with a goofy grin on his face. “We want details.”
“You want details? Okay. We’re going down to Englewood and breaking into a large building in hopes of finding a bunch of undead and their necromancer leader.” I said, with a scowl on my face.
The grins fell immediately from their faces on hearing my pronouncement.
“You found where this necro is holed up then?” Asked Lori with a surprised expression on her face. “That was fast.”
“Siobhan helped me use some of my new mojo to help narrow it down.” I replied, nodding “There’s something supernatural going on in that building. It’s like there’s a shield around it that stops any magical senses from penetrating, so we get to go down and check it out the old fashioned way.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Said Lori in speculation. “We’re two down and going into an unknown situation. That doesn’t sound optimal to me.”
“It’s not,” I said bluntly. “But we’ve worked short before and probably will again.”
I looked around the room. The expressions varied from slight boredom to trepidation. “Look, guys; this Ahriman creep has my wife and daughter. Yeah, I know they’re dead, but I can’t stand the thought of them being some jerk’s meat puppet.” I sighed before continuing “Having said that, I’m making this voluntary. I won’t force you to go. I can’t guarantee that there’ll be any bounties worth the trouble, so you may be doing it for free. It’s up to you with no hard feelings if you bow out.”
Ray sat up from his slouched position at one of the tables. “So let me make sure I’ve got all this. This necro of yours has summoned zombies to our favorite bar. He summoned wights to ambush us at the graveyard and he’s using your dead wife and daughter as bait to get to you. Does that about cover it?” He asked seriously.
“He probably raised those baby vamps we’ve been playing with here lately too,” I added in helpfully.
He stood up and looked around the room. “Okay, I’m in. This fucker has got to go down. Anyone want to back out?” He asked.
His question was met with a chorus of things like, “Oh, hell no.” and, “This fucker’s going down.” amidst the clatter of chairs sliding back across the linoleum floor as the Dreadnoughts stood in support.
A profound gratitude swelled in my chest as the team stood to face me, fierce expressions lighting their faces. “Best. Team. Ever!” I said with shining eyes. “Let’s go kill this fucker.”
+++
We pulled up in front of the building as the sun rose fully over the buildings to the east. It looked like a school that was probably built back in the ‘70’s, but there was no name on the front, and the marquis out front didn’t hold any announcements. As described by Siobhan’s minion, there was a wrought iron fence around it, shielding the grounds from casual trespassers. A walkway led up to the front entrance, but all the windows were dark.
Much to our relief, it was early enough that there were no people in evidence to watch us make entry. Figuring that any bad guys that might be inside already know we were there we lined up in our assault formation right at the front door.
With John down, we needed another big body to stand beside Petey on the front shields, so I took up a shield and moved into position. There was some grumbling about the stupidity of leading from the front, but it quickly quieted down.
To me, it made complete sense. Not only was I big enough to handle a shield efficiently, but I also had my undead control mojo to fall back on. Hopefully, that would make a difference.
I tested the door and found it locked as expected. Motioning behind me, I brought Ray up to pick the lock. No need to destroy property if we didn’t need to. Lori and Ray moved then to grab one of the double doors each. On my signal, they pulled them rapidly open. Petey and I rushed in and took a knee, shields ready. Tommy and Jake were right behind us, Shotguns tracking over our heads, seeking targets.
The only thing that reached out to grab us was the smell. Decay and excrement with a chemical overtone assaulted our nostrils. “What the hell is that smell?” I muttered as we continued to scan the area.
“Smells like a meth den.” Whispered Ray as he and Lori followed us through the doors. Being former Chicago PD, I guess he would know.
“That’s all we need.” I moaned quietly. “Tweaker zombies.”
“Crap,” said Tommy. “How will we know the living from the dead? Tweakers and zombies look pretty much the same.”
“Tweakers will probably cower or try to run.” Said Ray. “Zombies will be coming at us.”
“Good point,” I replied. “Try not to shoot any humans unless they try to shoot us first. Remember, drugs and guns go together like peas and carrots.” I said in my best Forrest Gump impersonation. “Alright, let’s move.”
We were in a wide hallway with institutional, linoleum flooring. Dirt and graffiti covered the walls. Bits of trash and other things I didn’t want to think about too long, littered the floor. We cleared each room as we came to it, prepared to be attacked by a horde of undead at any instant.
Nothing. The building remained quiet as a tomb. The further down the hall we went, the worse the tension and sense of foreboding became Finally, the hall ended at a T-junction with smaller hallways leading off to the left and right.
“Hold,” I said quietly. “Let me try something.” Closing my eyes briefly and accessed my mojo. To my shock, there were no tentacles to follow. I’d even lost my link to Siobhan. Part of me started to panic at that, but I took a couple of deep breaths and regained my composure.
Whatever spell that had been cast here must be more of a dampening field that stopped any detection within it, rather than a shield that protected those inside. At that thought, I started to feel trapped. What if it stopped me from turning undead as well? I hadn’t had that ability for long enough to be dependant on it, but it sure was a nice backup.
“I can’t get anything with my mojo.” I said quietly “Whatever spell that’s on this place is stopping me.”
“Wonderful,” muttered Tommy from behind me. “So, which way do we go?” he asked.
Falling back to plan B, I sniffed the air. “The smell seems stronger off to the left,” I said, motioning that direction towards a pair of swinging doors at the end of the hallway. We eased down the hallway, the chemical smell becoming stronger and stronger as
we went.
After clearing the one room on the hallway before reaching the double doors, we formed up to make entry. “On my mark. 3...2...1...GO.” I said tersely.
Petey and I pushed through the doors, taking up our low positions behind the shields. The rest of the team followed in good order, and I heard the swinging doors close back into position in the silence that followed.
The only light in the large room, I’m guessing it was a gymnasium, was cast dimly by some grime encrusted skylights in the ceiling. The chemical smell overwhelmed all the others. I was kinda grateful for that.
The floor was littered with plastic containers and metal cans of varying sizes and shapes. In one corner, several tables were set up with various machines and containers. Hoses ran from one to the other. Other containers, apparently full, lined the walls to either side.
Oh yeah, the middle of the room was full of bodies. They were laying on the floor, scattered around the room haphazardly and unmoving. In the dim light, I couldn’t tell if they were alive or dead, druggie or zombie.
As I took it all in, a voice came from the far corner of the room, opposite the equipment and hoses. “Ah, I see you’ve found my little hiding spot.” Said Ahriman as he stepped into a small pool of light cast by an overhead skylight.
Our attention and weapons all focused on him as he stood there leering at us. “I would not advise firing your weapons in this room.” He said with a feral grin. Things might become a bit...explosive if you do.”
Crap, I’d fucked up. We’ve all heard stories of houses and hotel rooms exploding while people were cooking meth in them and I’d just led my guys right into the middle of one. “Put ‘em down,” I muttered as I slowly stood behind my shield to face Ahriman.
“Where are my wife and daughter?” I asked through gritted teeth, trying to maintain my composure.
“Obviously not here.” Chuckled Ahriman, gesturing around the room. “As I said before, you must come to me in order to assure that your loved ones rest in peace. They are both quite beautiful. I will enjoy them both immensely if you do not do as I command.” He said as his smile took on a greasy, leering quality.
I tamped down hard on my rage as well as the urge to pull my .45 and put two bullets in his brain pan. After the incident in the parking garage, I figured he wasn’t really there anyway. “Where and when?” I ground out.
“Oakwoods Cemetery.” He said promptly. “And just to make it dramatic, be there at midnight.”
He started to fade out at that point, but just before he vanished completely he said, “Oh, and come alone, or you will never see your wife and child again.”
After he had faded into invisibility, we stood there for a moment in silence. That’s when I felt the spell that enfolded the building drop out of existence. Immediately, the forms on the floor began to stir. Crap.
With my mojo once more unsuppressed, I could feel the zombies hunger spark to life as they oriented on us. There were at least fifty of them in the room. “Back out people. We can’t take all these guys with knives and axes.
The rest of the team moved back, followed by Petey and I as we kept our shields between us and the potential ravening horde. We were in a tight spot. If this many zombies got out among the general public, we could have a full blown zombie epidemic on our hands in no time.
By the time we got out the swinging double doors the small horde of zombies were getting too close for comfort. I stopped at the entry and accessed my orb of power, willing the zombies to stop their advance. Trying to affect that many undead was hard, to say the least. As it turned out, it was too hard. Zombies at the back of the room were still moving forward, even though I’d managed to stop the ones closest to us.
As I stood there concentrating with all of my might, I reached into a pouch on my vest and pulled out one of Smoke’s handy thermite grenades. “Are you nuts?” Came Lori’s incredulous voice behind me. “You’ll bring this whole building down!”
“Hopefully not the whole building,” I replied. “Everyone get the hell out now. I can’t hold them back for long, and we can’t let them get out of this building.
“What about you?” Said Lori urgently.
“I’m going to throw this grenade and run like hell,” I said as I pulled the pin. The zombies were starting to overwhelm my powers. “Everybody run, now!” I shouted as I cocked my arm back for the throw.
The motion ended all arguments as everyone, but Petey turned and ran back down the hallway to the junction then headed out the main entrance. “Get going, Petey,” I said through gritted teeth as my power began to crumble.
“I got your back boss,” was all he said as he fended off a zombie that had managed to start moving our direction. “Damned brave, stupid noble idiot!” I thought as I threw the grenade towards the chemicals on the back wall.
“Run you idiot, now!” I shouted. I followed word with deed and turned to sprint down the hallway. Petey was right beside me. We made it about halfway down the main hall towards the entrance when the world heaved around us. A force like the fist of god slammed into our backs and sent us flying down the hall. That’s the last thing I remembered before the world went black.
11
The jostling movement sent spikes of pain through my head. As my eyes cleared, I couldn’t figure out why I was looking down at a pair of massive legs and combat boots moving across a dirty floor. I shook my head to try and clear it. That was a mistake as whoever was trying to drive the spikes through my skull, picked up a bigger hammer. A low moan escaped my lips.
“It’s okay boss. I got ya.” Came Petey’s rumbling baritone.
Well, that explained the big legs and combat boots. “Put me down you big oaf,” I said, starting to struggle weakly. The big arm wrapped around my legs just tightened a little further, immobilizing me quite efficiently.
“Just a sec boss. We’re almost out.” Croaked Petey through the smoke as it became lighter around us.
Suddenly there was shouting, and hands are grabbing at me. My head swam as I was laid on the sidewalk. As the scene came back into focus, I saw the team standing around looking concerned. Lori was crouched beside me, peeling an eyelid back to look at my pupils. I batted feebly at her hands. “I’m fine,” I said grumpily, raising a hand towards Jake. “Help me stand up.”
Jake looked over and got a nod from Lori before he offered a hand. Traitor. When I was once more vertical, I looked around and saw Petey leaning against one of the Suburbans. He was rumpled, and smoke stained but seemed to be okay.
I staggered over to him, as a marching band quick timed it through my cranium. “You okay?” I asked.
“I’m okay.” He said nodding.
“Thanks for getting me out of there,” I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Next time follow orders! I said angrily then, shoving him up against the vehicle.
Or rather I tried to shove him against the vehicle. The mountain of muscle didn’t even move an inch. He just gave me a lopsided grin. “I got your back boss.”
Knowing a lost cause when I saw one, I turned around to face the rest of the team. “Everybody else okay?” I asked as I scanned the faces and took in the billowing smoke emanating from the other side of the building.
“We’re okay.” Piped up Tommy. “On the other hand, You’re an idiot.”
There wasn’t any heat in his words, however, so I just flipped him the bird and got back to business. “Let’s clear out of here before the fire department arrives,” I said turning once more to our vehicles. “Lori, get ahold of Alex and let him know what’s going on,” I said as I reached for a passenger door.
As we headed back towards headquarters, my phone started ringing. Fishing it out of my vest pocket I saw Siobhan’s name on the screen. “What’s up?” I said after hitting the accept button. “You’re supposed to be asleep.”
“Asleep? How can I sleep when I lose the sense of you, then get it back, only to lose it again!” Her voice grew ever louder as she worked her way to the end of the s
entence.
“Yeah, sorry about…” That’s all I managed to get out before she overrode me.
“Then, I get a call from my people telling me that the building you entered had just exploded! Do you know what that does to a girl’s nerves?! She shouted “And then,” She paused dramatically. “You don’t even call to let me know you’re okay. What the hell’s up with that Dale?” She said as her tone went from one of anger down to that of a hurt little girl. My insides twisted in shame. No doubt just as she planned.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, my head hanging a little. “You had to know I was alright, though.” I finished lamely.
“You’re not alright.” She said softly then. “I know you’re injured.”
“It’s just a bang to the head,” I responded. “I didn’t quite get out of the building in time.”