Clickers vs Zombies (30 page)

“How can you be sure, sir?”

Clark tapped his chest. “Because I feel it in here.” Then he touched his forehead. “And in here. We’re it, Michele. We’re all that’s left. The closest thing we have to an ally are the Clickers, and they want to kill us just as bad as the Siqqusim do.” He chuckled. “At least the Clickers have a good reason.”

“We can’t be all that’s left,” Michele said. “Other agents must have survived!”

“If they did, then why haven’t they checked in? Granted, maybe they’re in hiding, or on the move, like we are. But we can’t assume that. We have to operate with the belief that you and I are all that stands between the total annihilation of all life on Earth.”

Michele stared at him, unable to speak. Tears welled up in her eyes. She blinked, and the world turned blurry. When she wiped the tears away, Clark was smiling.

“Come on,” he said, opening the car door. “Let’s go shopping.”

“Shopping?”

He pointed at a small, quaint storefront across the street. The sign above the door indicated that it was a New Age bookstore—not an uncommon sight in this region. The display window was full of books on crystal healing and love spells, and various fairy and dolphin-shaped incense burners. Michele cocked her head and frowned.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Clark explained. “We left in a hurry, and I’m going to need some things before we begin. This place looks like our best shot. Stay on guard. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Clickers this far inland, but there are bound to be some Siqqusim still about.”

Nodding, she followed him across the street, glancing around nervously as they approached the storefront. Both of them held their weapons at the ready, with the safeties off and a round chambered. When they reached the door, Clark bent his head and listened carefully while Michele watched the street, making sure the coast remained clear. After a moment, Clark took a deep breath and tried the handle. It was unlocked. The door swung open, jingling a tiny silver bell above it.

Clark tensed. “Shit.”

“I’ll be right there,”
a voice called from the back of the store.
“Come on in.”

Clark brought his weapon up and extended his arms in front of him. Then he stepped into the doorway. Over his shoulder, Michele saw an old woman dodder out of a back room and toward the cash register. Her hair was beautiful, as white as the snow atop the nearby mountain. Her fingers were adorned with rings of blue lace agate, amazonite, and bloodstone, and her earrings were quartz crystal. She wore a simple yet elegant dress. All of these—her hair, clothes, and jewelry—were covered in blood. Someone had flayed the skin from her face, revealing the glistening musculature and pink meat beneath. Her teeth flashed garishly with no lips to cover them, and where her ears and nose had once been there were now three ragged holes. Before Clark could squeeze the trigger, the zombie spoke. Michele recognized the tongue as Sumerian.

“Ssalmani-ia ana pagri tapqida duppira. Ssalmani-ia ana pagri taxira duppira.”

“Shoot her,” Michele cried, peering over his shoulder.

“I can’t,” Clark said. “She’s—”

“Ssalmani-ia iti pagri tushni-illa duppira
,”
the corpse continued, speaking so fast that the words ran together. “
Ssalmani-ia ina bi’sha duri tapxa-a duppira! Ssalmani-ia ana GISHBAR tapqida duppira!
”

“Michele, I can’t move. She cast a Sumerian binding spell. Shoot her!”

Michele tried to aim her weapon, but her superior was blocking the doorway. She glanced down and saw that Clark was standing in a pentacle surrounded by runes, all drawn on the floor in blood.

“That’s right,”
the old woman tittered.
“My host body was naturally adept at magic, though her idea of a binding spell would have been to take your business card and pin it to a cork board. So silly, these mortal flesh-bags. I simply opted for something much older. And now that it worked, I will take my time with you.”

The zombie reached behind the counter and pulled out a razor knife—the kind used for opening boxes. Humming, she lumbered toward them. Clark grunted, straining to move, but nothing happened. Michele saw the veins standing out in his head and neck, and the sweat bathing his forehead, yet he remained frozen like a statue, barely able to talk as the forces around him grew stronger. Michele knew from her studies that the only way to break this particular binding spell was to counter it or kill the spell-caster. Since she didn’t know Sumerian, there was no way of countering the spell. That left her with one choice.

“Sorry, boss.”

She shoved him hard, knocking the paralyzed man to the floor. Then, in one swift motion, she brought her gun up and fired. The first round hit the zombie just above her right breast. The creature slowed, staggered, and then charged forward, screaming obscenities.

“I’ll eat your eyes, you bitch! I’ll fuck you with this knife and then I’ll cut off his dick and fuck the wound with that. I’ll—”

Michele’s second shot pulverized the zombie’s teeth and blew out the back of her head. The dead woman flew backward, crashing into the counter. Glass shattered. Blood and brain matter splattered all over a display of Shirley MacLaine books. Michele approached cautiously, her weapon out in front of her. She stood over the body and prodded it with her toe. Satisfied that this time, the old woman was really dead, she hurried over to Clark and dragged him away from the crimson design on the floor. Coughing, he sat up and wiped his forehead with his shirttail.

“Good job,” he gasped, wincing. “If there’s a planet left after this, I’ll have to put you in for an accommodation.”

Michele grinned, helping him to his feet. “I thought you said that you and I were the only agents left?”

“Well, then it should be pretty easy to get approved.” Clark dusted his pants off. “Okay. Let’s search the rest of the store, and get what we need. We’ve got a long hike ahead of us.”

Michele paled. “We don’t have to go all the way to the top, do we?”

“No. Not at all. On the Western slope, just above the Buddhist monastery, there’s some sacred ground that the Modoc tribe used. That should suit our purposes.”

“That’s a relief.”

“It shouldn’t be,” Clark said. “Like I said before, it’s still a heck of a hike, and we’ll be out in the open and totally exposed. We should probably try to find a sporting goods store, too. Something tells me we’re going to need more bullets.”

San Pedro, California

“Are you sure we’re safe?” Tammy whispered.

Jim nodded. “I’m positive. We just need to stay quiet. We’ve blocked the doors and windows. As long as they don’t see any lights or don’t hear us, we should be okay.”

For now, he thought, but didn’t say it out loud. He looked at his ex-wife and his son, and his heart broke. The three of them were cowered together inside Tammy’s bedroom closet. They’d made a game out of it for Danny’s sake, allowing the toddler to bring along some toys and books and a flashlight. Jim’s plan was for them to wait it out inside the closet until the Clickers and the zombies moved on. After that…well, he hadn’t figured that part out yet.

They hid there for the better part of an hour. Despite that morning’s trauma, Danny was in remarkably good spirits, his fears and sadness eased by the fact that he had both parents there with him. Eventually, he fell asleep with his head in Tammy’s lap. She and Jim remained quiet for a while, until they were sure he wouldn’t stir. Finally, Jim cleared his throat.

“So, what happened? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really. I mean, I guess I should, but…”

“Can you at least tell me what happened to Samhain?” Jim kept his tone gentle but persistent.

She sighed. Jim saw the lines of worry and sadness etched in her face. He longed to reach out and touch her, to stroke her cheek with his fingers and look into her eyes and tell her that everything would be okay. Instead, he folded his hands in his lap and tried to listen simply as a friend and co-parent.

“When we woke up this morning,” Tammy began, “we didn’t realize anything was wrong. Anthony spent the night last night. He said he heard some police sirens, but we didn’t think anything of it, you know? I was making breakfast and Anthony was just getting out of the shower.”

“Where was Danny?”

“In the living room, watching TV. I’d just told him to come eat breakfast. Samhain came running, too, just like he always does.”

She paused, smiling. Jim smiled, too. The dog had a preternatural ability when it came to understanding the different human words for food. When they’d been married, the two of them had often had to spell words like bacon or hamburger, lest Samhain get excited.

“I opened the screen door, the one that leads out onto the deck, so Samhain could go potty. He started barking, but I didn’t think anything of it. I was still waking up. Hadn’t had my coffee yet. I turned around to get Danny his juice and Samhain’s barks…changed. He sounded meaner. More serious. I’d never heard him sound like that before. Then Danny screamed and pointed, and when I looked out the sliding glass door, Samhain was running toward a cat. It was injured—the cat, I mean. It was missing its tail and one of its back legs was broken, and there was blood all over its fur. But that didn’t stop it. Instead of running away from the dog, the cat charged him. Next thing I knew, they were fighting.”

She took a deep breath and shuddered. Jim reached out one tentative hand and rested it on her calf. He gave her a reassuring squeeze. Tammy looked up at him and smiled, but her eyes were dark and haunted. She patted his hand and then continued.

“Before I could do anything, a bunch of birds came down out of the sky. One minute, it was Samhain and this cat, and the cat was really laying into him. The next minute, there must have been two dozen or so birds dive-bombing him. Samhain yelped, and started to run for the deck, but they kept tripping him up. They…they went for his eyes…”

Her voice cracked, and Tammy began to cry. Jim squeezed her leg harder, blinking back his own tears. Between them, Danny continued to sleep.

“Anthony heard me shouting. He came running out with a towel wrapped around him. When he saw what was going on, he grabbed the broom and went outside. He…he started beating at the birds. By then, they had Samhain down on the ground. He wasn’t moving, Jim. I could see his tail and one of his front paws, but the rest of him was just covered in birds. And that was when I realized that the birds and the cat were dead. They had to be. Nothing alive could have moved around with the injuries some of them had. Anthony must have realized it, too, I think, because he hesitated. But then Samhain twitched, and Anthony moved toward him, beating the birds aside. The cat ran at him, scratching and biting his leg, and then one of the birds got under his towel…and…and it had his…in its beak…oh, God…he was screaming. I’d never heard him scream like that. And all I could think was that I couldn’t go outside to help him because I had to be there for Danny, and I couldn’t open the door because then they’d get in. And then the birds were going for his lips and nipples, and then Samhain got up and…he wasn’t Samhain anymore. He wasn’t our dog. And he bit into Anthony’s stomach…”

She bit her knuckles, trying to muffle her sobs. Danny stirred as she trembled. He mumbled something, smacked his lips together, and then went back to sleep. Jim slid closer, and put one arm around Tammy’s shoulder. She leaned her forehead against his chest. His shirt grew wet from her tears.

“I’m sorry, Jim. I know this must be hard for you to hear…but I loved him. I did. I still love you. I always will. You’re the father of our son, and you’re a good man. But I loved him, too. And he…and Samhain…”

Jim clenched his jaw and let her cry. She wept quietly, muffling herself against his chest. He reached down and stroked Danny’s hair, and felt the boy relax beneath his touch.

“Tammy,” he whispered after a few minutes had passed. “Where are they now? Samhain and Anthony? What happened to them?”

Sniffling, she sat up straight again. Danny groaned, stirring once more. When she spoke again, her voice was a monotone. She sounded tired and beaten.

“Samhain…charged the doors. He kept butting his head against the glass, trying to break in. Then Anthony got back up again. I could see right away that he was dead. It was in his eyes, mostly. They looked the same, but…different somehow. He said something to Samhain. I couldn’t hear what. And then they both just walked away. The birds and the cat left, too.”

Jim frowned. That didn’t make any sense. From what he’d seen on his way here, the dead were tenacious bastards, committed to killing and maiming as much as possible. Why would they have departed so easily when Tammy and Danny were still alive inside? He had no good answer, but he was relieved that, whatever the reason, his family had been spared.

His family...

“I’m sorry about Anthony,” he said. “I really am. I know you loved him. I know he made you happy. I could see it in your eyes, and hear it when you talked about him. And that’s all I ever wanted, Tammy—was for you to be happy. You may be my ex-wife, but you’re also one of my best friends. Even after everything. Hell, we get along better now, and talk more now than we ever did when we were married. You’re the mother of my son. If you’re happy, then he’s happy. That’s all I wanted for you.”