Smoke on the Water

by Bianca D'Arc

  Did she mean…? Donna shot a quick look at John, but he had all his attention focused on the woman standing so calmly at the side of their table.

  “I’m really very put out with you for interfering with my playthings.” She tapped John on the shoulder as if she were some belle at an old-fashioned ball. Her smile was brittle and her eyes didn’t look altogether sane. Donna felt a chill creep down her spine. “You’d better watch yourselves or you might end up becoming one of my toys.” Her gaze turned ice cold.

  She turned and walked out of the restaurant without even waiting for a response. Donna turned to John only after Dr. Bemkey was gone.

  “What the hell was that?”

  John’s lips thinned as he frowned. “That was trouble with a capital T.”

  “She knows who we are?”

  “At the very least she knows what we are and what we’ve been doing. She may not know our names, but she knows what we’re doing down here.”

  “I think she threatened us.” Donna was shocked. “She seemed mad as a hatter too.”

  “Yeah.” John sat back in his chair and twirled his wineglass. “She’s crazy like a fox. And she needs to be run to ground.”

  “What?” Donna was afraid she understood what he meant all too well, but she needed confirmation.

  “She doesn’t seem stable and she issued a death threat. She doesn’t know we’re immune. But if she’s running around threatening people, she’s even more dangerous than I’d anticipated. In this kind of state, she could be capable of anything. We need to take her down now. As soon as possible.” His gaze was hard as he looked out over the lake without really seeing it. He seemed focused on something much different and much deadlier.

  They’d been on dessert when Dr. Bemkey had come over, so there was nothing keeping them at the restaurant. They paid the check and left the restaurant in short order. John had a faraway look on his face as he no doubt made plans that didn’t include Donna. Or, if they did include her, only in a peripheral way. Donna was worried. She didn’t like the idea of him operating out there all alone.

  Originally, they’d thought they would watch, wait, and gather intel, taking out zombies along the way until they were ready to strike at Dr. Bemkey’s lair—with help from the main team. Now, it looked like John planned to move up the timetable and forgo the promised help from the rest of the combat-able operatives on the team. Donna didn’t know for sure, but she thought she knew John well enough by now to know the way he thought.

  He drove them back down the cliff toward the cabin on the lakeshore without speaking much. Most likely, he was already planning the call he’d make when they got back to the cabin.

  “Yes, sir. She came right up to our table, bold as brass, and issued a death threat.” John was on the phone with Matt Sykes, pacing from window to window in the main room of the cabin. They’d returned only moments before and John had immediately phoned in his report to the commander. “No, sir. I don’t know how she knew who we were. She claimed to have seen us on the beach. It’s possible she observed Donna that first night when her so-called pet chased Donna from the lakeshore. I’m not sure how she could’ve seen me unless there are some really well-hidden cameras there that I couldn’t spot.”

  Donna listened to John’s end of the conversation but she could figure out what was going on easily enough. John looked tense, like a coiled spring waiting to strike. She’d seen him like this before, when they were under attack. This was his moment. His element. This was what he’d been born to do.

  “Yes, sir. I’m going out there tonight to take another look around,” he said into the phone. She didn’t like the sound of that at all. “No, sir. I won’t take action unless it seems feasible and secure.” There was a pause. “I understand. Thank you, sir.”

  He disconnected the call and stowed his phone in his pocket. Then he turned to her. “He still can’t spare anyone to help.”

  Donna’s heart sank. “I heard you say you were going out to do reconnaissance?”

  “Yeah. Just a sneak and peek. I won’t go in unless I think it’s safe enough to do so.” He armed himself from the box of ammunition the cleanup crew had restocked before they left.

  “What if there are more zombies?” She hated the note of fear in her voice.

  “I think we took out the bulk of them last night. Chances are she doesn’t have that many of the creatures roaming around out here or there’d be a lot more missing people. Even way out here, if large numbers of people had gone missing, someone would have noticed by now.” He prepared as he spoke, strapping on his utility belt and other gear. “Near as I can figure, she made the first few and then they went out and made the others. That takes time. I think we put quite a dent into her supply of playthings last night.” He emphasized the word the crazy doctor had used to describe those she had killed.

  “I can’t believe she called them that.” Donna was still shocked and a little disgusted with the woman’s attitude.

  “She’s bonkers, babe. Which is why she needs to be taken down. The sooner the better. If she’d shown any sign of being more rational, I’d feel better. As it is, people in this kind of state are too unpredictable. We need to stop her.”

  “I can see that, but it won’t stop me from worrying about you.”

  John stopped in front of her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. This is what I do.” He held out his arms and she walked into them, grateful for his reassurance.

  She wanted to cling to him but knew she had to let him go. “Just be careful out there, John.”

  “It’s only a little recon. Depending on what I find, I’ll either go in and take her down or come back here. No harm, no foul.”

  Everything looked quiet to John’s trained eyes. Not too quiet. Just a normal foggy, creepy night on the lake. The ambiance was right out of a classic horror movie, but it didn’t bother John. A little fog never hurt anyone. It was what might be hiding in the fog that could be the real problem. But his sixth sense told him nothing at the moment. Nothing stirred in the fog that shouldn’t be there. The place was clear.

  He’d crossed onto the estate’s grounds twenty minutes before and had circled the big place twice. Nothing appeared out of place. If his third circuit of the grounds turned up nothing again, he’d go in closer. If he could take down his mark tonight, he would. That woman had to be stopped. The sooner the better.

  He moved closer. He could see in the windows. There was no activity on the first floor even though there were lights on in almost every room. Security lights, most likely, on timers. The first floor didn’t look lived in. The only place he could discern traffic was near the stairs. Footprints marred the lush pile of the carpet there, but nowhere else.

  There was a balcony running along the back of the house that faced the water. If he could get up there, he could get a good look inside the second story. John looked for a likely tree and found one that wasn’t ideal, but would do for his purposes.

  A few minutes later, John was peeking into the upstairs windows. Bingo.

  The doctor was moving between what looked like her bedroom and a dressing room, changing from the elegant dress she’d worn to the restaurant into something more casual. She tossed the dress over a chair and finished buttoning an expensive white shirt over equally pricey khaki pants. Both had little men riding polo ponies embroidered discreetly on them. The woman had a lot of money and didn’t mind throwing it around. Her house was testament to that.

  He looked around. The sun was almost completely gone now and the fog on the water had thickened even more. There was a chill in the air, but John didn’t let the sinister atmosphere disturb him. The fog would cover his activities.

  He had the perfect opportunity. Dr. Bemkey was alone in the house as far as he could tell, with no zombies around to defend her. He was going in.

  He turned back to the window, but the light had gone out. The doctor was gone. She’d headed downstairs. Rather than take the risk of making a racket by going through the upper floor and
stalking the woman down the stairs, he retreated to the tree so he could approach from the ground.

  John dropped to the ground and thought about the most likely entrance he’d scoped out before. There were a set of glass double doors in the center of the back side of the house. John had used a tree at the end of the balcony closest to the woods.

  “John!”

  Donna’s shout froze him in his tracks. He whipped around to find her running toward him from the tree line. What in the world was she doing? John went to her, surprised to see she had her pistol in one hand. Immediately, he looked around. The fog had moved in closer to the house. It obliterated almost everything, but he could see…movement. In the fog. Shit. The zombies had snuck up on him after all. He pulled his weapon and met Donna in the swirling mist.

  “I saw them come up from the water.” She spoke in an urgent whisper.

  “Honey, you were supposed to wait at the cabin.” John took only a moment to roll his eyes at her so she’d know he was only kidding. “Not that I’m complaining.” He kept his voice low as they edged back toward the trees.

  “I was watching the sunset over the lake when I saw something strange. John, they’re actually hiding in the lake!”

  “Son of a bitch.” He shook his head. “That’s a new one.”

  “They don’t need to breathe,” she went on in a whisper. “They can stay in the water all day while the sun is out and only come out of the water at night.”

  “I don’t think they’ve seen us.” They’d reached the tree line safely. John tucked Donna next to him under the cover of some thick branches as he watched the proceedings.

  A cluster of dripping zombies paraded past them toward the house. A light clicked on in the upstairs room and the French doors opened to reveal Dr. Bemkey standing like some Eva Perón–wannabe on the balcony, ready to address her people.

  “See that old guy at the front of the pack?” John whispered in Donna’s ear. So far neither the creatures nor their creator had detected them. He wanted to keep it that way.

  Donna nodded. Her eyes were glued to the action on the back lawn of the estate, but she was attuned to John’s every word.

  “Judging by the file photos I’ve seen, I’d say that’s Dr. Bemkey’s ex-husband. File said he left her for his secretary. I’d say the blond bimbo in the bikini is probably her.”

  “The others all look like fishermen. Mr. Bemkey isn’t too damaged, but the rest all have bad bite marks. Dr. Bemkey probably made her ex her first victim and he made the others.”

  “I believe you’re right.” John was counting heads, trying to assess troop strength.

  “Look at that big one. He looks like the fishing guide that advertises on those billboards.”

  “Bubba’s Bass Tours.” John remembered seeing that billboard as they drove here. Sure enough, the big guy from the sign looked a lot like the zombie that stood head and shoulders above the rest. Tall as well as wide, this guy was imposing. The creatures stopped beneath the balcony, all looking up at the woman above them. “Here we go. Evita’s about to address the peons.”

  Donna stifled a laugh but John could tell she was nervous. Her body trembled in the chilly mist as she pressed against his side. She wasn’t snuggling too close, but she seemed to need the bodily contact. He could understand that. This was a situation unlike any he’d ever been in before.

  “My creations.” Dr. Bemkey’s voice floated down to them from the balcony. “Our time has come. Men have come to destroy you, but I want you to destroy them instead.”

  “Oh, shit.” John felt his stomach drop as he reflexively checked his ammo supply.

  “Your mistress wants you to go to the fishing camp. I want you to kill. Kill them all!”

  The zombies began to stomp their feet and make those inhuman sounds. A few began to chant the word “kill.”

  “This can’t be good.” Donna looked from the zombies to John and back again. They were getting riled up into a frenzy.

  “I counted twenty-three of them. I think we can take them, if we’re smart about it.”

  “That sounds like an awful lot, John. Are you sure?” Donna’s eyes were wide and fearful as she looked up at him in the misty darkness.

  “The fog can work to our advantage. You just can’t let too many of them track you at once.”

  “Now, my lovelies,” Dr. Bemkey shouted from her balcony, “go now! Kill them all! Make me an army.”

  “Our time just ran out.” John dragged her close for a quick kiss. “No matter what happens, I want you to know…I love you, Donna. It’s crazy and it’s sudden, but I love you more than any woman I’ve ever known.”

  “John…” Her reaction was a mixture of shock and what looked like joy, but it was dark and misty. And they had bigger fish to fry at the moment. He shouldn’t have said anything, but he couldn’t help himself.

  “Go, sweetheart.” He turned her around and pointed her toward the cabin. “Get all the ammo we’ve got left and meet me on the porch. I’ll be right behind you. I just want to divert some of these guys first.”

  “Why?” she asked even as she took a step away, toward the cabin.

  “Divide and conquer. We’ve got to get them into smaller groups so we can pick them off and they don’t overwhelm us. I’ll start that now while you get the ammo. We’re going to need every last dart.”

  “Be careful.” She gave him a pained look even as she sprang away through the trees toward the cabin.

  John watched her go for only a moment before she was swallowed up by the swirling mist. John turned back to find the zombies heading slowly toward the tree line. All but one. It looked like Evita had held one back from the class: her ex-husband.

  “Go jump in the lake,” she ordered him and John wasn’t all that surprised when he turned around and walked right back into the lake. Fine. That left twenty-two creatures for him and Donna to deal with. They’d handle Mr. Bemkey later.

  Chapter Seven

  John came in hot, creatures on his trail as he hit the porch running. Donna was waiting there for him, bless her heart, with every dart and weapon in their small arsenal. She handed him a fresh clip before she said a word and he slammed it into his empty dart rifle.

  “I’ll reload this empty for you.” She grabbed the empty clip he’d just taken from the weapon. Her small fingers deftly reloaded the clip with its deadly cargo and handed it back to him.

  “You’ve got the pistols?”

  “Yeah.” She turned to show him her hip where one of the pistols rested in its holster. She handed the other to him.

  “You keep it.” He tried to hand it back.

  “You fire faster and more accurately than I do. You need it more,” she argued. “I’m good with the one I have and I packed plenty of ammunition in my bag.”

  He saw she had a canvas bag slung across her chest. It was the one that had been loaded with their pistol rounds.

  “Open the bag. Let me see how much you have in there.”

  She turned the other way and lifted the flap on the rectangular bag. It was half full. She’d divvied up the pistol ammo to his satisfaction. She had about three quarters of their supply and he had the rest.

  “Good. I want you to start down by the lake. Beware of anything coming from the water. There shouldn’t be any left in there except Mr. Bemkey, but you never know. Start at the shoreline and work your way inward. Don’t let anything get past you. We need to keep the zombies away from the other cabins. The line we don’t want them to cross is from the lake to our cabin. I’ll watch the woods on this side, you take the area from the lake to about halfway to here. We’ll meet in the middle and overlap.”

  “All right.” She looked scared but willing to do her part. Damn, he loved her courage and spirit as much as he loved her.

  “Drop tags as you go if you can, but don’t let it slow you down. We can always go back later to drop the transmitters.”

  She nodded, handing him the last clip and watching him stow it in a pouch on his
utility belt. They were armed as well as they could be. He looked at her, wanting to say something meaningful but he saw her eyes widen as she peered over his shoulder.

  He spun.

  Damn. The zombies had found them.

  “Be careful. Head for the water. I’ve got these guys.” He gave her a quick kiss and vaulted off the porch. He hit the ground running, already firing darts at the zombies coming toward him.

  They spent the next few hours zigzagging through the woods between the cabin and the lake, shooting zombies left and right. Some went down easy, some were more canny. Most were wearing fishing gear of one kind or another and John surmised that most of the victims had been fishermen, attacked while out for a day of leisure.

  John met up with Donna every fifteen minutes or so as their paths intersected in the woods. The bulk of the creatures had come through the woods farther away from the waterline, as he’d hoped. So far, they were doing well. None had gotten through their defensive line. John still worried for Donna’s safety when she was out of his sight, but there was no help for it. They had a job to do and, so far, Donna was holding up well.

  He was so proud of her. She’d stolen his heart with her smile and her personality. Her courage under fire impressed the hell out of him and only made him love her more.

  The girl in the bikini had no doubt once been beautiful. Her silicone-enhanced breasts were now a thing of the past. The bikini was lopsided with prominent chunks of her flesh missing. She’d been chomped on by the zombies and the result wasn’t pretty. Not at all.

  Donna watched her disintegrate with a feeling of compassion. The girl—even if she had been a home-wrecking bimbo in life—hadn’t deserved to die that way. Nobody deserved to die like that.

  As she fell into a pile of goo at Donna’s feet, something silver glinted in the grass, catching her eye. She bent down to take a closer look, using a stick to push the tattered remains of the bikini aside.