Zombie Rising: The Fourth Kelly Chan Novel

by Gary Jonas

  Next stop, Tally’s.

  We left the house. The cops were still snoozing in their cruiser and now I knew why. Victor had roofied them like Brand before checking out the house. We got to the truck and I stopped just before opening the door.

  “Shit.”

  “What?”

  I looked back at the police. They were out cold.

  “Get in the truck. Now.”

  “Yes, your highness.”

  We got in. I started up the engine and pulled away as Brand said, “Sorry about that. What’s up? Who was listening to us?”

  I smiled. “You’re good. Better than me, because I’m being an idiot. Sleeping cops means there’s a good chance Victor’s still around. He probably spied on us from the shadows in the bedroom after I thought he left. Hell, I imagine he watched us the whole time we were there.”

  “So the vampires know where we’re going?”

  “Bet on it.” I pulled onto Zuni. The street was quiet. So far, so good. But.

  “They’re going to come after us now for the claim check, aren’t they?”

  “You can bet on that, too.” Speer Boulevard was abandoned. It was the middle of the night after all. But.

  “And they can control our minds.”

  “Well, yours.” I’d taken a potion that morning to prevent that, as I had every day since my first encounter with Victor. Amanda brewed it up for me. A potion a day keeps the vampires away. As a matter of fact…

  “Check the glovebox for a vial with an eyedropper for a top.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Brand rummaged around as I turned onto a suspiciously empty I-25. The Colfax exit was just ahead. “I don’t see…oh, wait, here.”

  “Good. I want you to take one small drop and put it on your tongue.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just do it.”

  “No, tell me what it is first. I don’t take—”

  And that’s when the black Hummer appeared out of nowhere and rammed us from behind.

  Chapter 9

  I tried to keep my truck on the road. “Take it because that!”

  Too late. Brand had dropped the vial on the floor. “Okay, okay!” He scrambled after it.

  The Hummer rammed us again. I barely managed to make the Colfax exit. I glanced in the rearview to try and get a glimpse of the driver. Too many shadows in the cab.

  Wham. My truck stuttered with the next hit. This wasn’t like vampires at all. They were stealthy, quiet. I expected a swift attack in front of Tally’s, not this. It could be Watchers, but they attacked from the shadows like their masters.

  Brand came up with the vial. He unscrewed the top, squeezed the dropper bulb and plopped a drop of potion onto his tongue. “Jesus! Did a dragon shit in this or what?”

  “I don’t ask, I just mix it with orange juice.”

  Speeding down Colfax, the Hummer came around next to us in the oncoming lane. I looked over to see the passengers. They wore hoodies and stared straight ahead. Of course.

  They tried to ram us from the side but I turned onto a side street barely wide enough for one car. The Hummer hit my rear bumper but missed the turn. I figured they’d go up a block and try to cut us off. I turned right at the next street, then right again.

  “Now will you tell me what I just took? Besides essence of demon’s ass?”

  “It’ll prevent any vampire from controlling you like Victor did.”

  “Awesome.”

  “As soon as it kicks in.”

  “When will that be?”

  I turned left back onto Colfax and sped down the other way. We were about four blocks from Tally’s. “No idea. I never took it straight, and you’re bigger than I am, and it’s actually calibrated for me.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah. Let’s hope there’s not a welcoming committee outside Tally’s. If the potion hasn’t kicked in, they might use you against me and I’d hate to have to kill you.”

  “Nice vote of confidence. I’m ready for them. And the assholes in the Hummer. Who were they, anyway?”

  “No idea. But I don’t think they were vampires. Not their style.”

  Cars lined the curb in front of Tally’s so I parked across the street. The building was nondescript, a place you’d walk past without giving it a second thought. However, the front was well-lit – no shadows for an unwelcome guest to pop out of.

  Brand grasped that at once. “At least we have the light to our advantage. If vampires or Watchers come for us, we’ll see them.”

  “As long as the potion’s kicked in, I say bring it.”

  He gave me his wickedest smile. “Me, too. And let Victor be at the forefront.”

  “No objections there.”

  We got out of the truck and I winced at the damage. No time to evaluate. Brand pulled our katanas from the back seat and handed me mine. I strapped it to my back but Brand kept his out.

  “Put it away.”

  “Why? If they’re coming, I want to be ready.”

  “Tally’s doesn’t mind their customers being armed. Actually, they prefer it because that keeps things civil most of the time. But, they don’t like to see you coming at them with a drawn weapon. Makes you look like a threat.” And Tally’s had some nasty ways of dealing with threats.

  Brand sheathed his katana and we headed across the street, listening for the Hummer’s engine or the rustle of cloth or a footfall that might give away a different enemy.

  Nothing. How disappointing.

  Inside, the typical late-night customers studiously avoided eye contact. One old woman muttered to herself. Wisps of foul-smelling orange smoke escaped her mouth with every word. The other customers gave her extra space.

  The guy at the front of the line finished his transaction. He passed us carrying a plain white pizza box. The aroma of pizza cancelled out the old lady’s foul breath, along with every thought but eating. We all turned to watch him go, and Brand moaned and started to follow. I grabbed and shook him and he looked absolutely bereft.

  “Something smells that good, it can’t be good, no sir,” the old lady muttered to herself. I have to say, the pizza smell sure beat her breath.

  When her turn came, she pushed a wad of crumpled bills and a claim check through a slot in the plate glass window that separated the surly clerk from the rest of the unwashed magicals. The clerk, a girl in her late teens (or at least that’s how she appeared) with stringy black hair and a dozen face piercings, gave her an atomizer. The woman stepped aside, opened her mouth and sprayed in a pink mist that smelled like cotton candy.

  “Aaaahhhh.” The orange smoke pouring out of her mouth turned chartreuse and smelled twice as foul. “That’s better.” She strutted past the line and held the door open for incoming customers.

  Two Watchers and a vampire.

  Chapter 10

  Brand tensed beside me, wicked grin already in place. He reached for his katana but I stopped his arm.

  “Not here. Outside, after.”

  “Hey! Cut it out. No trouble or I’ll call security.” The girl sitting behind the counter glared at Brand. He winked back at her.

  The three silently took their place in line behind us. No customers came in after them. I imagined a vampire or maybe a couple Watchers stood outside convincing any customers to come back another night.

  The vampire’s skin deflected the fluorescent lights overhead while her dark hair drank it in. The Watchers flanked her – a burly guy on the right and a slender woman on the left. We shuffled forward as customers claimed their goods. The female Watcher leaned forward and spoke in my ear.

  “Relax, Kelly Chan. Tonight, we’re allies.”

  “Then why did you try to kill us on the road?”

  She looked perplexed. “That wasn’t us. What happened?”

  “One look at my truck will tell you. Are you the Watcher who found the sick vampire?”

  “I am.”

  Brand turned and faced her. “How is he now?”

  The vampire placed her hand
on the Watcher’s shoulder, silencing her. “Worse. That’s all I’ll tell you until we know more about what’s on that claim check.”

  The customer in front of us cleared out, carrying a canvas backpack containing something that squirmed and actually yodeled. Between the yodels came crunching noises as a red stain blossomed across the bottom of the backpack.

  “Ok, trouble, you’re next. What do you want?” The clerk eyed Brand.

  “Not him, me.” I slid the claim check through the slot in the plate glass.

  “Shit. Of course it’s you, Kelly fucking Chan.” The girl rolled her eyes before looking at the claim check. Her eyes skimmed the blank slip as if she could see the letters without moonlight. “Um. This isn’t yours.” She opened a drawer and tossed the paper in.

  “It’s part of an investigation. I suggest you tell me what the receipt’s for and what needs to be claimed.”

  “Or? You and bohunk gonna slice me up?” She tapped on the glass and it shimmered and crackled. “Try it.”

  The vampire shot forward, grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled it through the slot to the shoulder. Color drained out of her cheek where it pressed against the glass.

  “Don’t mind if I do.” I drew my katana.

  “Neither does the bohunk.” Brand drew his.

  “You don’t know who I am.” The clerk glared up at the vampire.

  “And you don’t know who I am.” The vampire met her stare with a look that could freeze magma.

  I waited for the steel door behind the clerk to open. We should have drawn a couple of security guards by now.

  Brand raised his sword. “Last chance. What’s on the receipt?”

  “I’m not—”

  My blade came down cleanly through her forearm. The vampire staggered back but regained her balance almost immediately. The girl’s chair rolled backward a few inches. She kicked off the floor and the chair rolled the rest of the way to the closed metal door behind her. She banged on it with the stub of her arm.

  The curiously non-bleeding stub of her arm.

  The vampire hissed and I turned. She held the rest of the arm by the wrist. And the arm was having none of it. It thrashed and twisted around until it gripped the vampire’s wrist and squeezed. Her hiss turned to a howl as I heard both radius and ulna snap like dry wood. The slender Watcher grabbed the arm and tried to wrench it off her master.

  “Let it go! It’s only squeezing harder!”

  I turned my attention back to the real threat. The clerk sat grinning in her chair as I waited for the metal door to open up for a pack of demons or at least a basilisk. She pointed her arm at us like a cannon. Where there should have been bone and blood and gristle, there was only a pitch-back hole.

  A moth crawled out of the hole. Then another. Two gray-brown millers.

  “Brand.” I touched his shoulder as he watched the vampire and her Watchers struggle with the severed arm. “We’re leaving now.”

  “What?” He followed my gaze back to the clerk. Six, seven, eight moths crawled along her arm. One took flight.

  “Now.” I took two steps toward the door.

  Too late.

  Moths shot out of the girl’s stump like water from a firehose. They flew at the glass where the last thing to go through most of their furry little minds was their asshole. But not all hit the glass. Thousands more made it through the hole by the time I reached the door.

  The warded door that wouldn’t open. Brand slammed his fists against the glass as the first wave of moths reached us. They landed on every inch of our bodies, and the little fuckers had teeth. Pinpricks of blood dotted my skin after I slapped them away. Moths tried their best to climb into my nose and mouth, to chew my eyelids off. Brand spat out moths and swore next to me, slapping at his arms and face.

  All at once, the moths stopped coming. I turned to see that the male Watcher had his body pressed against the hole in the glass. I watched a million moths crawl over each other on the other side. He smiled at the vampire – problem solved.

  Until his face twisted in agony as the first few moths who chewed through his body erupted from his back. Blood-soaked, these pattered to the floor around his feet. The rest came through clean and fast.

  I charged the glass, hoping to break it and stop the girl. I kicked the pane with everything I had, but I couldn’t make the smallest crack.

  And then the moths started pouring out of the severed arm on our side to join the others. They filled the room in seconds, until we were in a blinding storm of wings and gray powder and tiny biting mouths. I pounded on the glass until I felt Brand’s arms go around me as he pressed a cloth against my face. He pulled me to the floor where we curled into a ball, trying to protect each other from the carnivorous moths crawling all over our bodies. All I could think was, Death by moth. How embarrassing.

  “What’s going on out here?” A man’s voice cut though the living storm, followed by two sharp hand claps. “That’s enough of that.”

  Light reappeared as the moths vaporized into smoke that quickly dissipated. Brand and I were covered in a thin sheen of blood. Lucky for us, our skin healed almost as quickly as we were bitten. The Watcher lay curled up at the vampire’s feet. She resembled an old wool suit forgotten in an attic for the moths to find. Her skin was chewed through in patches. The vampire stood in the middle of the room looking unharmed. Bitch. There was no sign of the other Watcher.

  “I want my arm back.” The clerk sounded more annoyed than upset.

  “All in good time, my dear.” The man’s voce came from the opposite side of the glass.

  I stood up and saw Santa Claus in a dapper gray suit. The man was short, stocky though not fat, with a neatly-maintained white beard flowing over his chin that just brushed his chest.

  The way he smiled let me know I was on his naughty list. “Kelly Chan. Remind me to ban you from my shop.”

  “No worries. The service here sucks anyway.”

  “Mr. Tally.” The vampire bowed. “My apologies to you and your clerk.”

  “Miranda.” Tally nodded. “I would have expected better manners from you.” He looked down at the girl. “And you, Tia.”

  Tia rolled her eyes, an obviously practiced skill. “They started it. Did you really want me to turn over someone else’s goods to them, Uncle Iver?”

  Miranda’s eyes widened just a fraction. “We only wanted to know what the receipt said. We’re not thieves.” Miranda aimed her charming and fangless smile at Tia.

  “Just vandals.” Tia glared at me. “My arm, please, someone?”

  “Of course.” Miranda toed the Watcher. She groaned and sat up. A perfect bodyguard, the Watcher had thrown herself on the arm. She picked it up, staggered to her feet and carried it to the window.

  Tia wheeled her chair back to the slot, took the rest of her arm and pressed the cut ends together. An errant moth tried to wiggle out between the ends as her skin knitted itself whole. “Oh, no you don’t.” She bent and snapped up the moth in her teeth.

  Miranda’s smile showed the tiniest bit of fang this time. “Now that we’ve made amends, may we please have what we’ve come for? What’s on the receipt?”

  Tally patted his niece on the shoulder. “No.”

  Miranda pouted. “Mr. Tally. Iver. You know we have an agreement.”

  “Which is the only reason you’re still alive. But, the agreement’s been made null and void by abusing one of my own. You know the rules.”

  “It’s unfortunate, but we didn’t know—”

  “Out of my shop. Now. All of you.”

  “But—”

  “Let it go, Miranda.” I put my hands up, palms out, showing Tally I meant no further harm. “Like I said, the service here sucks. Come on, I have a better idea. Brand?”

  The whole time, he’d stayed curled in a ball on the floor.

  “Brand?”

  “If he’s dead, we can use him.” Tia looked down through the glass. “Even if he’s not all dead.”

  I bent down a
nd touched Brand’s back. He flinched. “You got a thing about bugs, sweetie? One too many times watching Temple of Doom?”

  “Not bugs. Sandstorms.” Brand stood up. Under the blood, I could see how pale his skin has gone. He looked at me, embarrassed. I took his arm as we made our way to the door.

  “Don’t forget,” Tia sounded cheerful behind us, “here at Tally’s, we keep score.”

  Outside, Miranda clamped her grave-cold hand on my shoulder. “Now what?”

  Before I could remove her hand permanently, a familiar black Hummer pulled up, blocking the way to the truck.

  “Now that.”

  Chapter 11

  The driver killed the engine and the doors opened. Inside the Hummer, I could hear music playing on someone’s phone – DJ Trixster 13 to be specific. Two figures stumbled out, wearing hoodies and jeans as tattered as our clothing. In the streetlight, their bare feet and skin looked gray through the holes. The hoods obscured their faces except for gleaming teeth in identical rictus-wide smiles.

  Brand and I surged forward, katanas drawn. The bastards would pay for what they did to my truck. I swung at one and Brand stabbed at the other. My stumbling target suddenly moved like a striking snake, or a Drunken Master. He ducked his head under the katana and went for my waist. He knocked me down with unbelievable strength. He lifted his head.

  “Who are—”

  The hood slid back. My attacker’s eyes were dull as milk. His skin was ashy. He wasn’t smiling – the skin was gone from his nose down, revealing all his teeth. He opened his mouth. The dry husk of his tongue lolled out as he bent to rip my throat open.

  Then fwoom – his head went flying. Brand gave me a hand up as I pushed the body off me.

  “I had him, Brand.”

  “Yeah, you did.” Brand’s cocky smile told me he believed otherwise.

  “And thanks for your help,” I said, turning to see why Miranda and the Watcher had their thumbs up their asses. The vampire stood watching us while the Watcher stared at her.

  “Miranda?” The Watcher touched her arm but the vampire didn’t respond.

  “Holy shit.” Brand was crouched down studying the remains of our attackers. “I don’t believe this.”