Nikki took another drink. The beer was cold, sending alcohol dancing across the scene in her head, but it didn’t change anything. The fat man, blood spewing from his nose, his mouth, his eyes, and his horizontal legs trying to walk on air, burned themselves into her memory.
“Did you see the blood on his face?” Nikki asked.
“Yeah,” Tammy said, sliding out of her seat. “I’m going for another beer. Want one?”
“It was gushing,” Nikki said, ignoring her. “Gushing.”
Tammy walked behind the bar, slid open the cooler, grabbed a Bud Light and sat it in front of Nikki. “I had a customer the other night with a nosebleed,” she said. “Nice guy, cute. Kinda dorky.”
“And?”
Tammy shrugged. “I don’t know. His friend was worried because he’d just taken an Ophiocordon. Something about it sending too much blood to his junk and not enough to his brain.”
Nikki grabbed the beer and took a drink. “Were either of them worried about it?”
Tammy shrugged and opened another beer. “I don’t know. They were pretty drunk, and I was showing these off pretty good,” she said, pushing her arms under her breasts. “They tipped well.”
“Did the man mention anything about his nosebleed?”
Tammy shook her head. “No. He just had a hell of a time stopping it. This might not sound attractive, but watching a drunk nerdy guy flirt while drinking beer through a straw because he has a paper napkin shoved up his nose is actually pretty cute.”
A large body stood between them.
“Miss Holleran, Miss Dankenbring,” a police officer said. Dan, Nikki remembered, his name was Dan. “I have your statements, and I’m sorry you young ladies had to see something like this. You can go home now. If you’d like, I can have an officer take you.”
Nikki shook her head. “Thank you, Officer Dan, but I need to be alone right now. I can take Tammy home if she’d like.”
Tammy shook her head. “I’m good. I just need sleep.”
He nodded. “Understood. Just remember we’re out there. I hope you’re okay to drive.” Nikki nodded and Officer Dan walked away.
The yellow glow from streetlights glistened off Hooligans wet parking lot as Nikki and Tammy walked across the asphalt, the storm long since gone.
“What do you think that was?” Tammy asked, stopping in the middle of the lot, fishing a cigarette out of her purse. The rush of the Ophiocordon must be wearing off, Nikki thought. “I mean, the fat guy. I saw him when he came in. Hell, I seated him. He looked fine. What do you think happened to him?”
Nikki shrugged. “I don’t know. He just. He just started to sweat blood.” Tears welled in her eyes. “It was awful,” she said, stopping, words choked in her throat. “Just awful.”
The yellow-orange flame of a cheap convenience store lighter erupted in the night as Tammy lit a Pall Mall and took a long, slow drag. “Not awful,” she said, smoke rolling from her mouth. “Totally fucked up. We will never – never – see anything like that again. I guarantee it.”
“I hope you’re right,” Nikki said, pulling keys from her purse and stepping toward her scooter. “And at least he’s not dead.” She paused to look at Tammy who stood in the full light of Hooligans parking lot. Things weren’t right; they weren’t right at all. They were very, very wrong.
“Shit, Tammy,” Nikki said. “Your nose is bleeding.”
Bad Day for The Apocalypse is available from Amazon here!
Bravo Two Zombie (Book 3): The Final Solution Page 33
