Something Wicked This Way Comes
Page 6
“And remember….aim for the head.”
Chapter 29
Regina’s head snapped up as Dashiell said this and turned to follow the aim of his gun. A mist had sprung up from the damp ground, cloaking the region in a gray fog. There was virtually no light as the fog rose to blot out the stars. With no moon visible, that left Dashiell and Regina in an eerily dark world, where sound was magnified.
“Regina,” Dashiell whispered, his voice echoing loudly, “can your snipers see through this?”
“Depends Dash,” came the reply, sounding farther away than he knew Regina to be.
“On what?”
“On whether or not zombies show up on night vision goggles.”
The whole time, Dashiell had been scanning the scene with his eyes, looking for the telltale signs of movement in the mists. And he was straining his ears to try and isolate the shambling sound he could hear coming from all around them.
“Stay where you are, Regina. I’m going to try and offer us some protection.” So saying, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a handful of salt. He dribbled it out upon the ground, walking in front of where Regina was last standing and then circling around a large area.
Salt was a universal spell component, especially in circles of protection. And since salt was supposed to send zombies back to their graves, he had high hopes it would repel them.
He was about halfway through the circle, behind Regina, when a ghostly hand reached out of the mists and clamped onto his arm. Its grip was like cold steel, even through the protective spells woven into the jacket. Dashiell cursed loudly, causing Regina to spin around with a cry.
“Regina, watch your back!” The mists had started to swirl, revealing a circle of undead figures in various states of decomposition closing in on the pair. Dashiell turned his attention back to the zombie that had latched onto him, bringing his gun up, pressing it into the soft, melting flesh of the forehead and pulling the trigger.
The thing’s head exploded in a fine grey spray and it fell heavily to the ground. Dashiell’s exaltation was quickly quashed as he noted that the iron grip did not let up with the death of the zombie’s mind. Instead, it reverted back to its more natural state, the metacarpals still locked firmly on his forearm.
The unexpected weight jerked him off balance and he flailed his gun arm wildly to keep his balance. He failed and went down on his left knee.
Shots rang out from Regina’s gun as she rotated checking her nine, twelve and three o’clock, covering her half of the circle, sending a variety of the undead back to their graves.
Dashiell slammed the wrist of the hand holding his arm with the butt of his gun, but had to break off as another zombie reared up out of the mists. The zombie was moving its mouth toward his left hand, open wide, a rotting stench flowing from its gaping maw.
With a flick of his wrist, Dashiell hurled the last of the salt in his fist into the creature’s face, a good deal landing in that tooth-filled chasm.
The creature kept coming.
Chapter 30
Dashiell was frozen in a moment of silent horror as that gaping maw came closer and closer to his exposed fist, held out for feeding on, as if the now dead zombie clamped onto his arm was holding it out for its still moving companion.
Suddenly, Dashiell heard a loud report and the zombie’s head was ripped off at the jaw line. Its lower jawbone, filled with rotting teeth, hit the ground in front of his knee, unmoving. He said a silent thanks to the Gods and to the police sniper hidden out of sight who had remembered to aim for the head.
Dashiell wasted no more time, prying the dead hand off his arm and regaining his feet. Shots were ringing out as the snipers opened up on the undead and Dashiell and Regina joined in, whenever a walking corpse got close enough to pose a threat.
As the number of undead diminished, so did the fog surrounding Dashiell and Regina. They stood back to back, facing out into the thinning mists.
“What the hell happened Dash? You threw salt in that thing’s face and it just kept coming.”
“Well, Regina,” Dashiell replied calmly, shooting another zombie through the forehead, “apparently these zombies don’t subscribe to Haitian beliefs. It was worth a try. But I didn’t really expect it to work. At that point, I was desperate.”
“And what about the flame? It went out at pretty much the perfect time. Did you do that?” By now the numbers of undead were dwindling.
“In a manner of speaking. One of the last calls I made tonight was to a friend of mine. I asked him to drop by the local terminal for the gas company and cut the feed to the cemetery. Apparently, he got past security.”
“He was cutting it a little close, don’t you think, Dash?”
“Well, he doesn’t exactly have access to the place. Also, I didn’t want him to cut the gas too early, or else the witches wouldn’t be here. They needed to be involved in the spell. Although I’ll admit, it was a little close for comfort.”
With a final crack from a sniper’s rifle, the last body hit the ground. Dashiell looked around. The plateau was littered with corpses, and two very scared women laying on thr ground. Regina went over and cuffed them, then called for an EMT team when she saw that the older witch was apparently covered with burned flesh.
“Dashiell, what the hell did you throw at this woman, napalm?”
“Holy water actually. Not sure if it was the holy aspect, or just the water that did it though. She should be okay, though. The burns don’t look that bad. Besides, she’s not my biggest concern.”
“She’s not?”
“No. I’m much more worried about the one who got away. From what I could tell, she was the leader of this coven. She took the lead in the spell and was clearly the most experienced at wielding magic. And she’s still out there, somewhere.”
“I got a pretty decent look at her face, when I bluffed the younger one. I’ll have the department put out an APB on her and I’ll pass it on to the FBI,” Regina said.
“We’ll have to hope that’ll work. Although something tells me, we’ll be seeing her again. At any rate, we’re not likely to find her tonight. Think you can handle the clean up, Regina? It appears my role in this affair is over. I think I’ll leave the rest to the real cops.”
Regina smiled at his sarcasm. “Get out of here, Dash. And thanks for your help. We’d never have solved this one without you. I promise, I’ll make sure the Captain knows how essential you were to the investigation.”
“Thanks Regina.” He turned to go when she called out to him.
“Hey Dash! Don’t you want your bead back?” She toyed with the item in question.
“Keep it, Regina. I think you’re going to need it.”
Allan T Michaels
Superstition 1 - Something Wicked This Way Comes
http://allantmichaels.digitalnovelists.com/SWTWC
Superstition book 2 (in progress)
http://allantmichaels.digitalnovelists.com/FS