by Garth Ono
Shouts outside got his attention. There was rustling, then heavy footsteps on the hardwood decking outside. And Mongrel burst through the door like he owned the place. Prudence and Felicity followed.
"Sir, we have a big problem."
"You're timing sucks," Alex said, waving Mercy away. He looked past Mongrel, only seeing his three living minions, and no zombies. "Let me guess, you failed to kill the sheriff and his deputies?"
The drac didn't know what he was going to do about Mongrel. He'd been an amazing asset in the Zombie Lands. He was huge, fierce, and a vicious fighter. No one stood before his minion in a fight and lived to tell the tale. And then they crossed the Mississippi into Illinois. Since then Mongrel had failed at almost every task given him. Capturing Mayor Gilbert and her family was his only success.
Unfortunately, Simon appeared to be a lost cause. The mayor's daughters weren't good for much more than cock candy and serving as blood cows. Oh, they'd fight with all their heart, but they were weak and delicate creatures.
"This time it definitely isn't my fault, sir," Mongrel said. "I had the sheriff trapped in his office. He was minutes from gruesome death. And then, she showed up."
"The slayer?"
"Yes. Kate came charging down the street with a deputy. The rotters turned on them, abandoning their attack on the sheriff. That gave him an opening to escape out the front door."
"It was still you and a dozen zombies against two men and a woman!"
"Yeah," the minion said softly, eyes narrowing, hands curling into fists. "The cavalry arrived upon steel warhorses."
"What does that mean?"
"Head hunters. Shea, Victoria, and Haley rode up," Mongrel said. "Those are the three women I was riding with before you claimed me as your own. The same three women who slaughtered your horde that day down to the last rotter."
"Do tell," Alex said, feeling the rage coming alive.
It was his encounter with them that ruined all of his plans. They weakened him so much, that other vamps attacked and drove him out of his town. He lost his personal kingdom. Alex vowed vengeance on them, and now it looked like they'd delivered themselves on silver platters.
"So now we have four quite competent zombie slayers against us, as well as three cops," Mongrel said. "No offense, but the Gilberts aren't worth shit in a fight. Not even Simon. So the cops and slayers outnumber and definitely outgun us."
"Are you suggesting we should retreat back across the Mississippi?"
"That would be prudent," he said, and glanced at Prudence. "No pun intended."
Alex hated to admit it, but they did kind of frighten him. Vampires were the most frightening, most terrible creatures in the world. He hated the fact he wasn't as big, powerful, beautiful, or fearless as the vamps he used to read about.
If I keep running, I never will be, he thought.
"We're not going to run away, Mongrel," he said. "Call the mayor. Tell her to get us a large boat by sundown. We're going to take a little trip back into the Zombie Lands. This time, I'm going to ferry over a horde to be reckoned with."
"That's great," Mongrel said, grinning with wicked glee. "There's a marina not too far up the river. If the mayor can get us multiple boats, then we can bring back a lot more, a lot faster."
"Perfect," the vamp said. "I will establish a new Kingdom of the Dead in Tennyson, and we'll celebrate our victory by feasting on the blood of our enemies!"
Chapter 10
It was almost noon by the time Kate rolled up to her place. Three Harleys followed her, the thunder of their engines making that tranquil neighborhood vibrate. Kate noticed numerous faces appear in front windows, watching them cruise by in astonishment.
"I wonder how many 911 calls we just generated," she said.
Haley parked to the left of Kate, with Shea and Victoria beyond her. She looked Haley's big "hog" over as she exited the Defender. It was huge. The metallic blue and chrome, 2005 Softail Springer Classic was her sister's pride and joy. There were saddle bags for storage, with sheaths for a machete and an Uzi. Haley's firearms were currently hidden in the saddle bags.
Shea's cherry red 2008 Road King Classic was Kate's personal favorite. It had a grim reaper painted on the gas tank, and like Haley's bike had a sheathed machete and sawed off shotgun, which wasn't hidden.
Victoria rode a 2007 Ultra Classic Electra Glide, painted hot pink with lots of chrome. Besides the saddle bags all of them all had, Victoria also kept a machete, sawed off shotgun, and an Uzi strapped to her bike. And like Shea, she wasn't hiding anything.
Movement at the back of the main house alerted Kate that trouble was coming. Mr. Rose took about five steps toward them and paused. His jaw dropped. He hesitated, but continued toward them. Kate sucked in a slow, calming breath. She knew he'd object, so had already come up with a good story.
"Hey, Mr. Rose," Kate called. The other three women looked over their shoulders at him, before turning back to their stuff. "You know my sister, Haley. Have you met Shea and Victoria?"
"Kate! You know I don't allow riff-raff on my property," he called. "These biker chicks will have to leave immediately."
Before Kate could respond, Victoria turned on him and took two steps in his direction, before she stopped and struck a sassy pose.
"Well, shitfire. Spank my hiney and call me sweetie," the redhead said. "Aren't you a fine figure of man. What part of Texas are you from, mister?"
Mr. Rose froze, eyes huge as he looked her up and down. And then did it again.
Victoria was a sight to behold for any man. She had waist length fire-red hair, emerald eyes, and a body to shame a centerfold model. His eyes lingered on her left arm, with a full sleeve of entwined dragons and unicorn tattoos. Kate knew that was shocking enough for the elderly man, so was glad he couldn't see her tramp stamp: pirate skull and cross-bones.
"Uh. Lampasas."
Kate did a double-take. "You are from Texas?"
"Yes. I was born in Lampasas, but moved here with my family when I was just seven."
"A fellow Texas ex-pat. I'm from Fort Worth," Victoria said, suddenly all sultry sexiness. She moved with breathtaking grace, sidling up next to him. "Isn't it a crying shame Texas was swallowed up in the zombie curse?"
Mr. Rose had one arm around her waist and his other hand was splayed on her bare belly. From the look in his eyes, Kate wasn't sure he even realized he was holding her so intimately.
Kate watched incredulously as Victoria kissed him on the cheek, her hands all over his body. Mr. Rose clearly didn't know what to do, but didn't look like he wanted to stop her, either. Her hands were coming dangerously close to forbidden zones. And then Shea joined in the fun, pressing up to his other side.
His other arm went around Shea's waist, and then both hands slipped up the young women's sides. For a second Kate thought he was going to cop a feel. She wasn't sure what the two former strippers would do if he did. Maybe they wanted him to do it, but his hands stopped just short of inappropriate.
"You can make an exception for little ole me, can't you?" Victoria purred into his ear. She placed her hand over his. "After all, I'm here to help Kate with that nasty zombie infestation in your town."
Kate cringed. Mentioning zombies to him was never a good idea, but he seemed unfazed by it.
"We'd be very, very grateful if you allowed us to stay with Kate," Shea whispered sexily into his other ear, before kissing it. The fingertips of one hand slipped under his belt, but didn't push in too far. "And who knows what could happen."
Kate looked at Haley with alarm. Her sister was grinning.
"Do something," Kate whispered.
"What? Do you want me to sleep with him, too?"
"Too?"
"Shh," Haley said, and then stepped closer to the landlord. "Mr. Rose, do you mind if I take your girlfriends for a while? We have to unpack and get ready to do a little work. Maybe we can all meet up around the pool later for a bikini party? But it'll probably be tomorrow."
"Oh. Okay,"
he said rather breathlessly. "I, um. I, um. I have a thing to do anyway."
Kate watched as both Shea and Victoria kissed his cheeks, at the same time. He turned bright red, but didn't look displeased in the least. Mostly, he looked uncertain and excited. Mr. Rose turned and hurried to the safety of his home.
"I'm so going to be evicted when this is all over," Kate said, turning back to the carriage house apartment. "Bring your stuff up."
"Don't worry, sweetie, I'll take real good care of Mr. Rose," Victoria said. "You won't have any more trouble with him by the time I'm finished."
Kate's breath caught. She turned to Haley, who was smirking. "Is she serious?"
Haley just laughed. "Is it okay to leave our weapons down here?"
"Yeah, sure," Kate said.
She led them upstairs. The windows were open, letting in a nice breeze, but the apartment was still on the warm side. She closed the windows and cranked up both AC units. Victoria immediately pulled off her top.
"Where am I going to sleep?" the redhead asked. She looked Kate over. "With you?"
"Sleeper sofa," Kate said. "I thought Haley would sleep with me."
"Kinky. Are you from Arkansas?"
Haley laughed. "Eww. Hush up. You're going to make Kate kick us out."
The three biker chicks laughed. Shea pulled off her top, and then unzipped her thigh boots. Kate backed away from them.
"What are you doing?"
"Changing out of these wet, bloody clothes," Shea said. She looked at Haley, "You're sister is a prude." Then she caught Kate's eyes. "I guess I'm sleeping with Victoria?"
"Lucky you," the redhead said.
"I know, right?"
"Are they serious?" Kate asked Haley.
"They are never serious."
"You know we all live together, right?" Shea asked. "We share everything. Men. Food. Clothes. Showers."
"Stop messing with me," Kate said. "After you change, I'll show you the layout of the drac's bolt hole. It's an old tumbledown sawmill."
"How many minions does he have? How many rotters do you think he has left?" Haley asked.
Shea and Victoria quickly put on clean tank tops and pants. Shea wore a red Metallica tank and Victoria went with solid black. Kate was grateful they weren't cropped off. The more skin they covered the better. Maybe Mr. Rose could survive with his sanity intact.
"Mongrel's the only living minion I know about. Best estimates were he had at least twenty zombie minions," she said. "Most of those have been killed."
"Honestly, I'm not a hundred percent sure a vamp bite outside of the Zombie Lands will turn someone into a minion," Shea said. "But I do know he cannot create any new zombies on this side of the Mississippi."
That jived with what Kate knew. No one knew why everyone who died between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains became an undead zombie. Some called those thirteen states the Zombie Lands or the Cursed Lands, but they were officially the Zombie Territory and were ruled over by a Territorial Governor appointed by the President. So far, no one had become a zombie outside of a known cursed zone, of which there were many around the world.
"The Mississippi isn't that far away," Kate said. "Do you think the drac can Call zombies across it?"
"I've never seen a drac outside of the Zombie Lands," Haley said. "But I'm positive his bite is still just as effective here, so I would assume his other powers worked here, too. After all, Mongrel and the zombies are still obeying him."
Vampires could summon zombies. It still required him to bite the zombies to make them minions. Once bitten, living and undead were incapable of denying their vampire master anything. They were absolutely obedient. Kate wondered if he could control minions to the same degree as the undead.
"I agree. Let's make sure none of us gets bitten," Kate said. "I don't want to prove he can turn anyone this side of the river."
Kate went over the layout of the sawmill. Three years back there had been just three buildings still intact. Most of the facility was burnt down or rotted so badly it was falling down. She indicated where the overgrown road ran, pointed out two creeks winding through the forest, and where the high ground was in case they need to find a defensible position.
"Should we go see this afternoon?" Kate asked.
"Night would be better," Haley said. "Vamps can see better in the dark, but zombies cannot see any better than us. We'll have a better chance of reaching him."
"Exactly," Victoria said. "The objective is to kill the drac first. The rotters are twice as dangerous under his control. Once he dies, they are released and become regular dumbass zombies."
"One other thing," Shea added, looking Kate in the eyes. "Killing a minion after the drac is dead is considered murder. So we have to kill Mongrel before we kill the vamp." She paused, and then asked, "By the way, does Illinois pay bounty on minion heads?"
"They do if you wait a few seconds for his fangs to pop out," Haley said. "It would be so sweet to score two vampire bounties."
Chapter 11
Alex smiled. Finally something was going right. He asked his minion Nicole for a boat to ferry zombies across the river. She delivered two. The two pontoon boats would carry more than he really expected to summon.
"How many zombies will you be able to summon, master?" Nicole asked.
They were halfway across the river. Nicole was driving. Her three daughters drove the other boat. Alex and Mongrel would do the actual summoning and rounding up, while the female minions would ferry them across the river and lead them to the sawmill. Simon would take control of the zombies at the sawmill.
"That's the big question. It depends on how many are within my summoning range," he said. "Last time I did it I only summoned sixteen in three days of trying, but nine of those were summoned at once."
He didn't mention the one time he tried summoning them from the east shore and most were carried away by the current while trying to swim the river. No telling where they ended up. Someone downriver had to deal with them.
The thought amused him.
It was a dark and cloudy night. The worst part of the storm front was passing south of them. The wind was a little worse than normal, but wasn't making the crossing too treacherous.
They crossed over to an old public launch ramp and park. There was a small pier next to the ramp. The boats tied up there, and Alex disembarked with Mongrel. The women waited in the boats. Alex didn't bother going far. The forsaken, overgrown park that sprawled along the western shore was perfect for his purpose.
Alex chose a covered picnic table near the middle of the park. It was one of those concrete table and benches sites so familiar in the national park systems. He sat cross-legged atop it, closed his eyes, and centered himself.
And then he sent out his silent Call.
The vampire had to concentrate on the Calling. Any zombies within range, not already claimed by a vamp, would come. Nothing was more important than answering that Call. They would head toward him until they reached Alex, or he stopped the Calling.
It was over an hour before they began to trickle in. Only a few at first, but soon more and more shuffled up to the bench, dropped to their knees, and silently stared at the drac. Mongrel stood guard over Alex. The zombies wouldn't attack him, but head hunters might notice the Calling and decide to try for the $15,000 bounty.
"I think we have a full load," Mongrel said.
Alex's eyes were closed during the Calling. He "felt" the zombies around him, but had no idea if there was one or a thousand. Some vamps could Call zombies effortlessly and could feel each individual in their minds. His minion had to tell Alex when they had enough. Or in this case, enough to fill the boats.
It still took three hours to summon twenty-five zombies.
"Wow. That worked better than expected," Alex said.
He had to concentrate on keeping them in place and calm. They would attack Mongrel if he released his control. Alex had no fear of zombies. They wouldn't attack another undead being. But he had an ea
sy way to make them his absolute minions.
Alex had to go around and bite every single one of them.
"My minions, I am sending you to the other side of the river now," Alex addressed them. They knelt in absolute silence and attentiveness. "You will obey my minions in the boats and at the sawmill as you obey me. Defend the sawmill from intruders."
With that, Mongrel led the zombies to the pier, divided them between the two pontoon boats, and watched until the boats were halfway to the other shore before returning to Alex. The drac was sitting on the park table and already Calling more zombies into his growing horde.
Chapter 12
It was well past sunset when they turned off Old Mill Road and stopped. They'd waited in ambush at the edge of town for a few hours, expecting the drac to personally lead his horde against them in retaliation. When the drac was a no show, they decided he really didn't have enough zombies to attack.
And that was a good thing.
"It's not that far from here," Kate said.
The Defender was packed to the max with the four of them in there. Her friends brought all of their weapons and changes of clothes. They wanted to ride in on their Harleys but Kate convinced them their bikes were too loud and the vampire would hear them coming.
"Good job researching this site," Shea said. "We usually don't know anything about a site we go into."
"Why wouldn't you research every site before attacking?"
"Phone coverage is pretty spotty in the Zombie Lands," Haley said as she slipped out of the truck.
Kate and Haley held the doors while the other two squeezed out of the two-door four-wheeler. Victoria gave Kate a dirty look. All she had in back were two small jump seats.
"What kind of SUV is this? Ford? Chevy?" Victoria asked. "You can't afford a new, more comfortable model with an actual back seat?"
