“Hello?” he said groggily. He didn’t bother looking for a contact, he hadn’t set any in the device, and he didn’t recognize anyone’s number.
“Gary?” The voice belonged to his ex-wife, Pamela. Hearing it always inspired a mix of dread and guilt in Gary.
“Pamela?” Gary said, clearing his throat. “Is everything okay? Is Holly okay?”
“She’s fine,” Pamela said. “We’re okay, Gary. Were you asleep? Is this a bad time?”
“No,” Gary said, finding the twitchy-eyed cat clock on his wall. It was nearly two thirty pm. “I was working late. I am just a little dragged out. What can I do for you, Pammie?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I found someone,” she explained. “I am with someone.”
Gary absorbed it. It made him sad, but he understood. “Well, uh, that’s great, Pammie. I am very happy for you. What’s his name? Is he nice? When did you meet?”
Pamela took an audible breath. “His name is David Spencer and he is a very, very good man. He is a plumber and Holly loves him.”
“So, is this getting serious?” Gary inquired further, going into his kitchenette. He searched the moldy dishes in the sink for a coffee cup.
“Gary, David and I have been married six months,” Pamela confessed.
Gary pulled his hands out of the grimy sink and froze. “What?”
“We had a small ceremony six months ago,” Pamela replied.
Gary wiped his hands on a crusty kitchen towel. “Jesus, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” Pamela said. “I know you are going through a lot.”
“I am a grown man,” Gary said. “I can take it, Pammie. I didn’t expect you to be alone forever.”
“Gary, there’s more,” Pamela said. “He is going to adopt Holly. He wants to be her father.”
Gary walked back to his couch quickly and sat before he collapsed. “Pamela, I am Holly’s father.”
“Gary, something happened with Holly. She has been very, very unhappy,” Pamela confided.
“What? What’s wrong with my little girl?” Gary said, afraid and ready to execute someone at the same time.
“Her schoolmates got their hands on one of your movies,” Pamela said. “Holly watched it with a big group of her friends and they ridiculed her.”
“Oh, Jesus,” Gary whispered. “Which movie?”
“I don’t know, but it wasn’t one of the tame ones,” Pamela said. “She is traumatized. She says that doesn’t want to be your daughter anymore, Gary. She doesn’t want your name.”
“Well, uh, there isn’t much she can do about that now is there?” Gary maintained. “Christ, she’s ten. She’ll understand this one day and get over it.”
“She’s eleven,” Pamela corrected him. “I know you cling to this notion that she is your little light in the window, but you haven’t seen her in over a year. You have never paid support…”
“I offered,” Gary insisted. “You told me to leave, Pamela. So I did. I walked away from everything and you told me the one thing I would always have was my daughter. And now, you’re taking her away,” Gary said, and his eyes began to cloud. “Jesus, she is the only piece of my soul I have left.”
“Gary, I forgive you, okay?” Pamela said. “I forgive you for everything and I still love you. But if you love Holly, let David be her father. He’s grounded and better suited for this. She needs him.”
Gary cried, covering the phone with his hand. He sucked it in, the best that he could, and answered Pamela’s distressed calling of his name. “Yeah, well, shit, okay. I didn’t even want a fucking kid. You pressured me. You think I wanted to bring someone into this shitty world?”
“Gary, you say or do whatever you need to get past this,” Pamela said softly. “I understand. But you understand this. I wait everyday for the news that you’re gone. Please, please get help. Holly is angry now, but if you clean yourself up, maybe you can be a father to her. Maybe you can help her from making the mistakes you made.”
“So David gets to walk her down the aisle one day and I get to be a fucking life lesson?” Gary growled back, angrily. “You know what; fuck you and the whole Spencer clan, okay? I have no one now.”
Gary clicked the phone off and threw it across the room. He kicked over the coffee table. He howled like a furry and cried. He pulled a tiny baggie of heroin out of his pants pocket. Gary tore it open and ingested it all greedily.
When the haze finally cleared, it was 5pm and time for breakfast.
***
Gary and Ella entered the slaughterhouse located in the Meatpacking District. It was large, clean and it had fresh white paint on the walls, but death still clung to the place. Gary was surprised that the old structure had survived renovations. The zombies were corralled into makeshift holding enclosures that were reinforced with new chain link fencing. Men in riot gear and toting weapons monitored the herding pens. The undead players began to chatter at the sight of Gary and his crew. One of the guards told them to shut the fuck up. Gary knew when you had this many zombies in one place, the main objective was to keep them from thinking as one.
Felix Gilling, Ella’s cantankerous old Assistant Cameraman, hauled equipment past Gary. Felix muttered under his breath and did not seem very concerned with the undead cattle in the building. The gun Stücke had given Gary rested under his windbreaker. Gary had purchased a shoulder holster for it.
Gary handed off his notes to the young and pretty production assistant assigned to him. Penny was her name, if he remembered correctly. She was beautiful and delicate. The girl had pale skin and dark hair. She reminded Gary of a princess from a fairy tale. The girl made Gary want to defend and protect her innocence. The kid did not belong on this movie set, but Gary wasn’t the one who had hired her.
“I brought the snack you requested,” the production assistant said, beaming like Snow White at him. “Chocolate fudge toaster pastries; the generic kind. Can I get you one?”
“No, not right now,” Gary said, avoiding her name in case he was mistaken about it. He would confirm it with Emma when they were alone. “I am okay for now. You can go see if anyone else needs a hand.”
She nodded, smiled again and left.
Gary noticed security cameras everywhere. He counted twenty or more in the rafters. He imagined Johnny Stücke studying the proceedings live in the safety of the penthouse. He pictured the monster lighting a cigar with another man’s hand as he watched.
When he had asked Stücke about this place, Gary was told that Stücke owned it and the director wondered what other dark delights this ominous structure had seen. The large building was a dramatic and appropriate possession for Stücke. It definitely fit the monster. And though the structure was brightened by the afternoon sun which blasted its rays through the upper windows, this slaughterhouse was one of the darkest and coldest areas Gary had ever entered. The building was waiting for blood.
“The places you take me,” Ella said, staring apprehensively at the zombies.
Dead faces studied the crew and security silently. Their gray eyes were absent of a spark but curious still, with all that was going on around them. Gary had to admit that the deceased all looked alike to him.
There had been a casting call circulated in alleys and other dark places where the zombies congregated. Stücke had seen to that chore, and Gary was glad about that. Gary was impressed that so many had shown up. He had never seen a group this large in one place. It was a little overwhelming.
Mike Cooke, who had been overseeing things since the night before, appeared from the back and he steered Gary and Ella toward the set, which was in a private slaughter room. They entered a large metal sliding door and navigated around rows of rusty meat hooks.
They found the clear center of the room. A young actress dressed in lingerie sat there on a cot and preened in a vintage compact mirror. Gary hadn’t met his actress yet. He had left her casting to Mike Cooke, with the only instruction that the girl had to be
a night thing. The notion of using a vamp was dismissed, because the suckers couldn’t be hidden in make-up. Stücke had made it clear that he wanted whatever was cast to pass as human. Many vamps could fool the naked eye. But video, film and especially HD showed the vampires for what they were; no matter how much powder you put on them. A furry was never in the running. There was a grey area with furries. Killing them in werewolf form was legal. Killing them in their human skin was murder.
Gary strained his eyes on the actress, trying to figure her type. She was young and extremely thin. She looked like a poster child for eating disorders. She had curly blonde hair and light blue eyes that suddenly caught a reflection of Gary in her small mirror.
She turned around, looked up and smiled at Gary and Ella. “Hi,” she said. She stood with a small hand outstretched and walked impishly toward them. Gary took her hand, noting how cold her skin was, and he gave her a gentle squeeze.
“I’m Suzie Young. I’m your leading lady.”
Gary and Ella introduced themselves.
“Could you give us a moment?” Gary said, tugging Mike away.
“What is she?” Gary whispered.
“Come here,” Mike replied, pulling Gary back to the actress.
“Suzie, honey, take out your dentures.”
The girl smiled and pulled out her false teeth. A row of blackened fangs resided beneath them.
“She’s a ghoul,” Mike informed Gary and Ella.
“A ghoul?” Gary said, looking closely at Suzie. And as he looked closer, he could see that heavy make-up had been applied to the girl’s skin. “I don’t think I have ever met one. And she’ll sell on video?”
“We did camera tests,” Mike said. “Stücke signed off on Suzie himself.”
Gary hauled Mike to the side once more. “Are you at all familiar with the breed? Do you know what a ghoul eats, Mike?”
Mike shook his head.
“Dead meat,” Gary informed his producer. “Ghouls eat dead things. Zombies and ghouls are natural enemies. Christ, Mike, anyone with common sense would know that.”
Gary was hurting already, and he was still recovering from the bomb his ex-wife had dropped on him days earlier. His soul usually scabbed up quickly, but he didn’t know if he was going to have enough patience to cover the shoot. He would try to smother his need in energy drinks and toaster pastries, but he was ready to flip out. And things hadn’t even started yet. He wanted to smack Mike, and Gary Hack wasn’t the violent type.
The director responded to a tap on his shoulder and Suzie was standing there, smiling with her fake teeth back in place. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hack. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. My kind, we got good hearing, you know? Now, you are right. Ghouls don’t mix well with zombies. But there are over the counter chemicals that mask our smell from them. It helps us hunt them. They won’t even know I am a monster. I promise.”
“What if you get hungry?” Gary said.
“I ate last night, right before dawn,” Suzie assured him. “I found a nice little nest over by Pier 84. I won’t need another meal for days.”
Gary looked to Mike, and the producer readjusted his sunglasses and shrugged. “See, man, it’s all good.”
“So, you cast a night thing in this, but you want me to look human? What’s the angle, if you don’t mind me asking?” Suzie said.
Gary and Mike looked to each other, and then Gary spoke to Suzie. “We just don’t think a human girl could stomach so much. And you, well, you are used to the zombies.”
“You eat them. So we figured your tolerance level would be higher,” Mike added.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Suzie said, going back to the cot.
Gary turned to Ella. “Why don’t you give Felix his marching orders?”
He then navigated out of the slaughter room and found himself back in the main hall of the building. The zombies were still quiet and focused, but were now shifting around nervously. One of them noticed Gary and he pressed his blue face against the fencing.
“Hey, you, man. The fat guy,” he called.
Gary regarded the zombie. “What can I do for you?”
“You in charge?” the dead man asked. He had died young and he wore street clothes. Probably a gang banger, but his color now belonged to the undead.
“I am the director,” Gary said.
“Yo, I didn’t sign up for this shit,” the zombie said. “You got us rounded up like animals. I thought this was a movie set. It feels more like a concentration camp.”
The other zombies began to mutter and nod in agreement. Gary could see the anxiousness begin to ripple through their numbers. He approached the young zombie and spoke more intimately to him.
“Listen, we have to do it this way to avoid a horde mindset,” Gary explained. “You know how it gets when a large number of you concentrate together. The hunger takes over. It starts guiding you.”
The zombie motioned to the armed guards. “How I am supposed to perform with those dicks pointing flame-throwers at me? Hey, man, I didn’t expect a star on the door, but I don’t like intimidation and shit.”
Gary edged a little closer. “It’s all for show, okay? If you are nervous about the security on set, it will keep your mind off of the frequency. Right? We are going to make a movie, and then we will release you guys in groups of three. You will leave with a little money in your pocket and rat in your belly.”
“No man, I changed my mind about this whole thing,” the zombie said indignantly. “Fuck it, I quit. You better open this box up, homie. I am leaving. Right the fuck now.”
The two big men that had taken Gary for his first meeting with Stücke stepped up to the cage. Gary had since learned their names. The militant looking white prick was called Morton. His black, smooth and silent partner went by Glass.
Gary immediately walked away once they got involved. Morton pulled a gun from his jacket and fired two shots through the fencing into the complaining zombie. The zombie screamed and smoke issued from the wounds.
“Fucking cocksucker!” the zombie bellowed. “He shot me with silver! They usin’ silver! It burns! It fucking burns!”
Two guards in riot gear hauled the zombie out of the cage. The undead protester’s pen mates raised their hands and back away slowly. They had no desire to taste the silver. Morton motioned to the men holding the zombie.
“Light his ass up,” Morton commanded.
The men released the zombie. The undead punk crumbled painfully to the floor. The men backed up and opened their flame-throwers. The poor dead bastard squealed louder and churned painfully on the floor for several seconds. He finally fell still as the fire continued to feed. A couple of other men approached, brandishing fire extinguishers. They stood nearby, in case the flames spread.
“Does anyone else wish to terminate the agreement you all signed?” Morton called out.
The zombies were quiet once again. They settled and turned away from the men.
Gary decided to go back to the main set and stay there. He turned and nearly ran into his assistant. She stared with wet eyes at Gary.
“That was horrible,” she said, fighting the urge to vomit. “I don’t want to be a part of this. I want to leave.”
Gary gripped her shoulders and pulled her close. He spoke to her quietly. “They aren’t going to allow that. You’re going to have to see this through. You finish this and then walk away and forget it ever happened.”
“I’m scared,” she confessed, and she suddenly looked younger; much younger.
Gary thought of his daughter. He removed the gris-gris bag from his neck. He put it on his assistant. “This is a talisman. The zombies can’t hurt you if you are wearing this. You’ll be safe, Penny.”
She looked at it closely and dried her eyes. “My name is Patricia,” she corrected Gary.
“Of course, yes, sorry,” Gary said, and then he shepherded her to the set.
***
“Oh, they are adorable,” Patricia said, smiling at the large cage of rats bro
ught to the set.
Felix Gilling was doing a final tweak with the lights. He turned to the young production assistant. “I wouldn’t get too attached to them,” he advised, with a black chuckle.
“Felix,” Gary chided the camera assistant. “Leave my girl alone.”
Ella stepped back from the camera and tripod and joined Gary. “So how are we starting?”
“We are going to roll in the first batch, let them loose at Suzie. We have the rats on reserve so the zombies can eat and calm down after.”
Mike appeared in the room and marched up to Gary. “Cum shots!” he declared.
“What about them?” Gary asked, amused.
The Night is Long and Cold and Deep Page 14
