Samurai Zombie Hunter

by Cristian YoungMiller

  Kofi did try to call Van a few times in the following days, but Van didn’t answer. He knew that if it were really important, Kofi would come by. He hadn’t decided what he would do if Kofi showed up at his door, but Kofi never did.

  When Friday evening arrived, Van found himself more nervous than usual. Never before had Van worried about sex but tonight, deep into his 30’s, he felt like he was going to have sex for the first time. Busying himself around the house, Van thought about the website he had visited after watching Charles and his girl make love. He decided to visit again.

  Van typed ‘RateABull.com’ into his browser and the site popped up as it had before. Van scrolled through the featured video blogs seeing if there was anything that could help him. The topics were: How to Enlarge Your Penis; How to Find the G-Spot Orgasm; How to Last Longer in Bed; and Best Sexual Positions for…

  They all interested Van, but the ones that caught his attention the most were the Best Sexual Positions for… videos. There were: Best Sexual Positions for Small Penises; Best Sexual Positions for G-Spot and Female Pleasure; Best Sexual Positions for Athletic People; and Best Sexual Positions for Overweight People. Van opened up the Best Sexual Positions for G-Spot and Female Pleasure.

  The positions described within had names like ‘The Lap dance’, ‘Her on Top’, ‘Leg Earrings’, and the more familiar ‘Doggie Style’. Van studied them, committing them to memory. He opened a few more videos and mined them as well.

  When eight o’clock came, Van decided to get dressed. It took him 20 minutes, and ten minutes after that, he was ready to go.

  Opening his front door caused the man in the car across the street to sit up. The observer had already located Van’s car, so once Van was two minutes down the sidewalk the observer started his own car.

  Van crossed the street and unlocked his car door. Slipping his seat belt on, he pulled out his phone to check the directions. Lilly had suggested that he pick her up and had joked about having home court advantage. Van took this as another good sign, since she could only be referring to sex.

  Van drove the long trek up the Los Angeles freeways into Pasadena. Lilly owned a house off Walnut in a middle class part of Pasadena. Pulling up to the tree-lined street, Van looked for house numbers. Number 189 was a cute one-story beige house with an extended porch and green framed windows. Van parked the car across the street and headed up the driveway.

  On the porch Van looked back at the street. The car that he had seen parked across from his house was now parked a few feet from his own. Van ignored the annoyance and knocked on the door. Standing at the door, he felt his heart race. Tapping his foot was the only thing he could do to contain himself until he noticed that it had been a long time since he knocked.

  He knocked again. The rush didn’t return; worry took its place. He faced the parked cars again. Looking for movement in the black sedan, Van pulled out his phone. He dialed Lilly’s number and spun towards the door when he heard her phone ring.

  Lilly’s phone was still inside her house so he knocked again, this time harder. When that didn’t work, he tried the door. It was unlocked.

  “Lilly?” Van called, leaning into the house. “Lilly?”

  He looked down on the coffee table and saw her blinking phone. He slowly scanned the room and checked the house. When he found no signs of a struggle, he knew who to call.

  “Van?” Kofi answered.

  “You took her,” Van immediately said.

  “You have a job to do, Van. You need to do it.”

  “If you hurt her, I swear to god…” Van began feeling the need to kill.

  “She’s safe, Van. Just do the job that we were hired to do and you’ll get her back immediately. I promise.”

  Van paused when he heard Kofi say immediately. “I wanna talk to her. Put her on the phone.”

  “I didn’t hurt her Van. She’s fine. Just come and do the job you were hired to do and everything will be fine.”

  Van stopped talking and instead listened. He was waiting for something, anything that would tell him more.

  “Van?” Kofi asked.

  Van remained silent.

  “Van? You there?” Kofi asked again.

  Van closed his eyes putting all of his focus on what he heard through the phone. And just as he was about to give up, he heard it. It was a muffled scream. He knew they were together.

  “I’m coming,” Van announced before hanging up the phone.

  Van left the house and strode to his car. With his remote he popped open the trunk and grabbed his sword. Slamming the trunk behind him, he made for the car that had been following him.

  Without warning, Van leaned back and kicked his foot through the driver’s side window. The man inside threw himself into the passenger seat. Van unlatched the door and threw it open. The car alarm whirled.

  Ignoring the sounds, Van reached in and pulled out the driver like a doll. The driver slid out without resistance and in his hand was a handheld video camera.

  “Who are you with?” Van yelled into the driver’s face while clutching tightly on his sword.

  “I’m with TMZ! I’m with TMZ!” the scared man yelled back.

  Van caught himself and then looked down at the video camera. He realized this was paparazzi. Van let him go and the paparazzo collapsed onto the ground. Van headed back to his car.

  “Did you see that?” Van heard the paparazzo say into his video camera. “He picked me up like I was nothing. I almost shit my pants.”

  Van got into his car and pulled off. On the drive he considered what he would do. And with every passing second he grew angrier. On this trip, he noticed sedans and SUV’s caravanning behind him but, in his state of fury he didn’t care. All he thought about was getting Lilly back safely. And to that end, Van was willing to set the world on fire.

  More than an hour later, he peered ahead down the Pacific Coast Highway and found what he was looking for: Kofi’s familiar car was parked next to the plastered mudslide wall across the street from Kieran’s home. Van pointed his car at Kofi’s and hit the gas. On impact, only the airbag stopped him from sliding through the windshield.

  The caravan of cars behind Van screeched to a halt. Photographers jumped out of their cars and captured the event. As they did, a news helicopter shined its brilliant spotlight onto the area. Everything underneath glowed with a slight blue tinge.

  Kofi stumbled out of his car and looked back at his trunk. “What the fuck!” Kofi yelled.

  Van cleared his head and then spotted Kofi. He took hold of his sword and climbed out. “Where is she, Kofi?”

  “What the fuck did you do that for?” Kofi protested.

  “Show me where she is. I know she’s here somewhere.”

  “And what the fuck are you doing bringing them?” Kofi added, looking back at the paparazzi and up at the very loud helicopter. “Have you lost your mind, man?”

  “Give her to me or you’re a dead man.”

  “You’d kill me, Van?” Kofi replied, hurt. “You’d kill me for some fucking zombie?”

  “This isn’t about Kieran, this is about Lilly. Where is she?”

  “She is the fuckin’ zombie, Van!” Kofi yelled. “I told you they had a database. She was on it. She’s a zombie and she’s fed.”

  Van was still. “You’re lying. You’re lying!”

  “How would I have known where she lives if they didn’t tell me? She was being tracked. I saved you. Do you hear me? There are zombies everywhere. And that zombie in there is gonna get us all killed,” Kofi declared pointing at Kieran’s apartment. “Now do what you’re supposed to do.”

  Van let the information seep in. Lilly was a zombie. Van suddenly wanted her more. He clutched his sword and walked toward Kofi.

  Kofi, seeing Van make a charge, reached into his window and pulled out his own sword.

  “Are you kidding?” Van chuckled.

  “Van, you have to kill Kieran.”

  “Give me Lilly.”

  “I can’t
do that, Van, until you do your assignment,” Kofi said, holding his ground.

  Van lunged forward, swiped with his sword, and striped Kofi across his chest. Kofi stumbled backward holding his wound. Examining the blood, Kofi lifted his sword and retook his ground.

  “You have to do the assignment, Van. I can’t let you go.”

  Van, surprised at Kofi’s return, struck him again. This time Kofi blocked it with force and swung back. Van dodged and returned the strike, but this time Kofi blocked it and answered with cut down Van’s arm.

  “Don’t do this Van. Not for her.”

  Looking at the blood on his hand, Van felt a switch flip inside of him. He looked up at Kofi. For the first time he saw his friend for who he was: the enemy. He was the monster that had to be destroyed.

  Van balanced himself and pointed his sword. Like a master, Van sprang forward. He sliced to the left, knocking Kofi’s sword clear and cutting him across the chin. Kofi recovered and Van sliced right, again clearing Kofi’s sword, cutting him across the chest.

  Kofi stumbled back and, in a mad fury, Van sliced downward on Kofi’s sword, hitting the handle. Kofi let go of the blade and watched the tips of his fingers fall with it. Van rounded the blade about his body and swung it at Kofi’s neck.

  Finding himself in that moment, Van stopped. Feeling the human return, Van looked down and saw blood dripping from his sword. The tip had punctured the side of Kofi’s neck but it hadn’t penetrated. Kofi looked up at Van in horror.

  “Lilly!” Van yelled.

  Van pulled himself away from Kofi. He looked up onto the plastered mudslide wall. “Lilly!”

  Almost drowned out by the sound of the helicopter blades Van heard a bang. “Lilly!” he yelled quickly.

  “It’s coming from the trunk” one of the paparazzi shouted.

  Van looked back into the lights of the camera pool and then headed towards Kofi’s trunk. The two cars had intertwined in the collision and Van used his sword to pry the box open. What revealed itself within was a woman tied at the wrists and ankles, who was also muffled with tape.

  Van stared at his love. She lay dripping with blood from the collision. ‘Kofi was right,’ Van thought. ‘She survived. She is a zombie.’

  “Look out!” a paparazzo yelled.

  Van looked up to see Kofi, with his sword held high, running as fast as he could at Van. There was something different about him. Kofi looked like a wild animal. And the only thing Van could do to react was spin and lift his sword.

  On the steady point of Van’s steel blade, Kofi slowed. But when the tip of the sword peeked out of Kofi’s back, Van knew he had to complete the task. He thrust his sword into Kofi’s chest; it cut into his friends flesh as if it were butter, and the only thing that stopped it was the sword’s hilt. Van had just skewed his friend. Realizing it, he released the blade

  Shock covered Kofi’s face. He stumbled back and looked down at the sword handle sticking out of his chest. He then looked into the lights of the camera pool and up at the copter flying above. He stumbled back then turned and fell to the ground.

  Van turned his attention toward Lilly. There was blood everywhere. Leaning forward, Van delicately lifted his love out and cradled her in his arms. Conscious, Lilly looked up at him and cried.

  He carried his love to the passenger side of his car and placed her in. He then crossed back and got in the driver’s side. Before the cameramen and photographers descended onto the car, Van gently removed the tape from her mouth and brushed away the tears that rolled down her face. He untied her hands and her feet and tossed the ropes into the back. Still crying, Lilly fell onto Van’s shoulder and he comforted her.

  The rapid flashes of the photographers sprawled on the car’s hood, awoke them to the moment. Looking at the chaos outside, Van and Lilly sat up.

  “Let’s go.” Van reached around the exposed airbag and started the car. Slipping the car into reverse, it took a few depressions of the gas pedal before the car untangled from Kofi’s. Van’s car jerked back and the paparazzi sprinted out of the way.

  On the way back down the Pacific Coast Highway, Van passed a series of police cars headed in the opposite direction. Missing Van’s car, they stopped the paparazzi giving Van an unobserved shot back to the city.

  Other than the sound of a tire scraping on the fender, the car was quiet. There were many thoughts going through each of their minds, but the one that came out first was Lilly’s.

  “Why did you save me? Your friend was right. I am a zombie.”

  Silent tears again rolled down Lilly’s face. Lost in his own pain, Van didn’t see them. She had asked the question that Van never wanted to answer. It simultaneously made his skin crawl and his blood bubble with fear.

  In that question was everything that he had furiously guarded about his life. And in the quiet moments at the beginning of Van’s end, he heard himself answer it. “I saved you because I am a zombie too.”

  Still staring out the windshield, he felt his body start to tremble. He couldn’t control it. Everything inside of him was coming out and he couldn’t stop it. He tasted the salty tears entering his mouth and he could feel the cold stare of the woman at his side. He was exposed. He was vulnerable. And now the strong Van, the impenetrable Van, the old Van was no more.

  When he felt Lilly’s warm hand touch his arm, it was like a rebirth. His breath shuddered and he struggled to pull it in. A force overcame him, pulling his chin down and creating soreness in his throat. Van’s face crumbled into a whimper that loosed a lifetime of pain and sorrow. Everything hurt that Van had ever held back in his journey as a son, a hunter and a man in general passed through him in that moment and there was nothing he could do about it. So instead of fighting it, he pulled the car to the side of the road and fell into Lilly’s arms.

  Parked on the side of the road, the helicopter’s flood lights found them again. In the rear view mirror Van could see a dozen twinkling lights heading towards them but he didn’t care. Whatever they were after was done by the old Van. He was sure that the new Van would go free. And as the area around the car blinked red and blue with excitement, Van reached up and kissed his love. It was intimate. It was beautiful. And he no longer felt alone.

  *****

  Epilogue

  It was 6am when Van returned home. The police had questioned him five times about the event but in the end they let him go. They had concluded it was a rescue attempt of a kidnapped woman and, for that, Van was a hero. The police had offered to give Lilly a ride home, but during the last time that they were together at the station Lilly had asked if she could stay with him that night. She now had reason to be afraid of being alone, but she knew that Van would keep her safe. Van, of course, was only too happy to accommodate.

  Arriving home, Van surveyed the place. It somehow felt different. It felt like the house of a weaker man and he could barely remember who that man was. Van pointed Lilly to the bathroom as he went to the kitchen to get them something to drink.

  Reaching into the fridge, Van heard his phone ring. When he pulled the phone out of his pocket he froze. He felt his face go cold and the only thing he could do was answer the call.

  “You killed me, Van. You killed me,” Kofi repeated on the other side.

  Van was speechless.

  “You really don’t remember that night do you? At first I thought you were pretending but it really is all a blank, isn’t it?”

  “What night?” Van squeaked out.

  “The night you turned Kieran. It was that party, remember? It was late and he and I wanted to go. We came looking for you. He and I searched different rooms. But when I didn’t see him come out of yours, I followed him in. I found you eating our friend. Do you believe that? You were a zombie and eating our friend.

  “When you saw me, you gave me a look that I’d never seen before, so I ran. You chased me and bit me. You killed me once that night, and you finished the job tonight. Everyone saw you kill me. How could I explain that I’m still alive? T
he only thing that could survive something like that is a zombie. So congratulations, the human part of me is now dead.

  But you know what? Robert was right about one thing. There is a war coming. And now that no one will ever accept me as human, I’m gonna fight for my own kind. And I swear to you Van, I didn’t make much of a human, but I’m gonna make one hell of a zombie. Oh, there is a war Van. And I am coming on.”

  Van listened as the phone went dead. Lilly walked out of the bathroom and joined him in the kitchen. Seeing him staring at a silent phone in front of his open fridge, she put her hand on his arm. Van searched his soul for what he could tell Lilly, but all he could say were three words.

  “It has begun.”

  The end.

  * * * * *

  Enjoy this supernatural thriller excerpt from:

  Excerpt: Run From The Reaper

  Chapter 1

  Silence. A breath cuts through the silence; then again silence. A labored breath works its way over the silence, then more silence. Breathing. Breathing. A rhythmic pant takes away the silence getting louder and louder until you wish there was silence again. But it is too late. The silent part is over and now it’s time for the breath.

  In, out. It’s a heavy breath but not out of control. It’s measured. It’s patterned. The breathing has a purpose. It pulls in and it pushes out. The breathing doesn’t wish for a return of the silence. It is in control and that is what it wants.