The Creeping Dead: A Zombie Novel (38 page)

“Yeah! We’ll kick his butt!” said Alessandra.

“I can take him, easy,” said Salvatore, the adolescent bravado probably for Dharma’s benefit.

Mike reached into his wallet. “Here’s some money for groceries.”

Dharma shook her head. “I got this.”

“No,” said Mike insistently. “You’re all guests in my house. I buy the grub. House rules.”

“Okay,” smiled Dharma.

Mike handed her a bunch of bills that she folded and stashed into her shorts. She kissed Alessandra on the forehead and ruffled her fingers through Salvatore’s hair, causing him to blush. “I’ll be back a little later. It shouldn’t take us too long to lock everything up tight.”

Dharma left Mike with the children.

“How about we watch some TV? Whatever you want.”

The children jumped up and darted to the living room. Salvatore commandeered the remote.

Mike stood in the doorway, overseeing. Dharma had bought him a little time.

His phone rang in the kitchen. He went to answer it. “Y-ello.”

“Michael, it’s Nancy.”

“Hi, Nancy.”

“I need all hands on deck. We’ve got to lock the pier down before the storm.”

“Nancy, I have the Russo children with me.” He lowered his voice. “Their father is dead and their mother is in jail.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good, but like I said, it’s all hands on deck.”

Mike looked at the phone, perplexed, wondering if she had even heard what he had said. “But, Nancy…”

“But nothing. Get your sorry carcass in here and help me. Bring the damned kids, if need be.”

Before he could answer, she hung up.

Mike placed the phone back and walked into the living room. Salvatore and Alessandra watched some kind of music video.

“Hey, who wants to help me close down Blackbeard’s Pier?”

* * *

Linda MacAteer awoke on her couch to the sound of her phone ringing, clutching an empty bottle of merlot, a storm raging inside her skull. She looked at her designer clock. It was 10 a.m. The voicemail picked up the call, but after a minute, the phone starting ringing again.

“All right, all right, I’m coming,” she groused as she carried the empty bottle over to the phone. She picked it up.

“Hello,” she snapped. “What?...Who?...The CDC…now?...I’ll be right there.” She slammed the phone back down on the small table and placed the empty bottle on a coaster next to it.

That prick Yost called the CDC.
Bastard.
He couldn’t just die, leaving this world and her in peace.

She ran into her bedroom, yanked her closet doors open, and threw on a pantsuit. She hastily brushed her hair and slipped on her shoes.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Her mind raced with explanations for a locked unit full of carnivorous residents with no vitals.
How could residents be alive and have no vitals? We thought our equipment was broken. We had a batch of new nurses and nursing students; we figured they were green.

No, that wasn’t it.

Alan Yost had hid the fact that these residents didn’t have vitals. He must’ve been receiving kickbacks for keeping beds full. I had no knowledge of any of this. Yes, we must transport these residents to a secure medical facility with negative pressure rooms. HAZMAT suits all around.

She grabbed her car keys and jerked the front door open, slamming it behind her as she raced down the stairs to her car parked in the driveway.

As MacAteer opened her car door, she noticed a car at the base of her driveway blocked the exit. Her skin went cold when she saw the driver side door left ajar, and she realized whose car it was.

She looked around for Yost. He must’ve arrived sometime in the night, when she was out cold in a wine-induced coma in her living room. There was no doubt that he was turned by now. He had to be.

She wouldn’t be able to pull out of her driveway with his car blocking the way. She cautiously walked down the driveway, her heels making loud footfalls on the blacktop.

When she reached Yost’s car, she looked around again before sticking her head in.
Dammit.
No keys in the ignition.

As she pulled her head out of his car, MacAteer heard a gurgling, growling sound. She spun around and saw him standing there, pale as a ghost with the tell-tale raccoon eyes, baring his teeth at her.

She saw his set of keys clipped around one of his belt loops.

“You asshole!” she shouted at him. “You had to call the CDC, didn’t you? A parting shot, I guess.”

He just stood there, staring at her, his lip curled up in a sneer.

“Well, I guess it’s just as well. I mean, I pretty much handed you down a death sentence…You couldn’t just leave well-enough alone, could you?” She looked up at the dark, overcast sky. The wind picked up, and she stood downwind of Yost.

MacAteer was used to the smells of piss, shit, puke, and pus, but this was different. This was death.

“Well, I don’t suppose you want to give me those keys, do you?”

Yost grunted and make gargling sounds in his throat.

“I didn’t suppose so.” MacAteer pulled her shoes off her feet, and gripped one in each hand with the heel pointing out. She had to make do.

MacAteer didn’t know why he just stood there, cocking his head sideways, watching her. Why wasn’t he attacking? “Alan, not only were you stupid as a human, you make a stupid zombie.”

Was he…smiling?

She heard footsteps behind her, but it was already too late. Arms swung around and gripped her in a bear hug as teeth bit down into her neck. MacAteer screamed, but more out of outrage than fear. Outsmarted by a zombie.

Yost shambled over and sunk his teeth into the shoulder opposite where the other zombie gnawed on her neck. They brought her down to the ground and began opening her gut, pulling out innards like they were garland.

MacAteer kicked, yelled, and spat as she was slowly eaten alive in her own driveway.

* * *

Lenny Krueger dragged in the pool furniture, stacking it in the pub in anticipation of high winds. His hat had already blown off his head twice as he worked. His mother hadn’t been feeling well, so she was delegating orders to staff.

As he dragged a lounge chair into the pub and lifted it on top of a building stack, he saw his mother leave the front office, looking sallow, shuffling her feet as she walked.

He watched her go into the empty pool area. Nick grabbed chairs on the other side of the pool. She made to walk in his direction, but Lenny was startled when he saw her walk right into the deep end of the swimming pool.

He ran out and let himself into the pool area, crying out to Nick. “M-m-y M-m-mom! She f-f-fell in the p-p-pool!” He wanted to jump in to save her, but he didn’t know how to swim.

Nick looked up, hearing the splash. When he heard Lenny, he dropped the chair he currently held and ran to the edge of the pool to look where Lenny was pointing.

Sure enough, walking on the bottom of the deep end was Alice Krueger.

“She’s not coming up for air!” cried Nick. He kicked off his sneakers, took his phone out of his pocket and threw it on the grass behind him, and dove in to rescue her.

Lenny looked on as Nick grabbed under her arms and tried to pull her up. She turned around in the water and appeared to grapple with him.

Nick struggled to bring her up, but he was running out of air. He let go to come up for a breath, but Alice’s arms were around him, holding him tightly.

Lenny gasped in horror as he watched Nick try to break free and swim to the surface.

After a brief struggle, Nick inhaled water, and his body slowly became still. He stared up at Lenny, wide-eyed, wearing a terrible expression of shock mixed with regret.

Alice Krueger took bite after bite of Nick, chewing on him as if he was a slab of beef, and the two became enshrouded in a cloud of crimson.

* * *

“Where the hell is the Mayor?” shouted Holbrook. “I can’t get him on the phone!”

“I don’t know,” said his secretary, Clarice. “No one knows.”

“I’ve got the press waiting outside for a statement, and I need his final approval, or he’ll have my guts for garters.”

Joann burst into his office. “Chief, we’ve got more cases of the bitten attacking their families. There’re calls coming in from all over the Bay.”

“I’ve been in touch with the CDC earlier this morning,” said Holbrook. “They’re tracking down the nursing home Sophia Russo was in. They’re telling me about bodies from last night moving on their slabs in the county morgue. What the hell is going on, here?”

Joann looked flabbergasted. “I don’t know what to tell you, Chief, but the press is getting antsy.”

“What press? A couple of local papers that nobody reads.”

“Still, the longer you wait, the more it looks like you’re trying to hide.” She saw Holbrook lost in thought. “What is it?”

“It’s what that Lenny Krueger told you about Sophia Russo.”

“What about it?”

“The part about her trying to bite him. We got a call this morning from Russo’s shrink at the nursing home. Her husband tried to bite her and her son.”

“Maybe the CDC is right, and this is an epidemic.”

Holbrook stood. “That means Sophia Russo was patient zero.”

“Where are you going?” asked Joann.

He rounded his desk. “To the holding cells. Marie Russo knows something about this.”

“Do you think she was telling the truth about her mother-in-law and husband attacking her?”

“I think we’re holding an innocent person.”

Holbrook opened his door and entered the bullpen. He stalked past desks and headed for the stairwell, but there were more than a couple of reporters blocking the way. A few of the bigger news stations were in attendance. When they saw him, their faces lit up, and they turned on their audio recorders and cameras. As he approached, they blocked the way and shoved the recorders and cameras in his face.

“Chief Holbrook, do you have any information on the riots and murders that occurred on the boardwalk yesterday during Circus Faire?”

Holbrook held both hands up. “Unfortunately, there were a few trouble makers who tried to ruin a day of family fun. I believe my officers responded quickly and appropriately to address the problems.”

“Was it true that the attackers were biting, and in some cases eating their victims?”

Holbrook stepped forward, and the reporters encircled him in a feeding frenzy. They smelled blood in the water. “It is true that the nature of the attacks was particularly brutal, but we’re looking into the possibility of drugs and even illness as being behind the attacks?”

“Is it true that there have been more attacks of a similar nature today?”

“I can’t speak to the nature of today’s attacks just yet, but once again, we’re looking into drugs or an illness.”

“Is the CDC involved in the investigation?”

“Yes,” said Holbrook, “I called them myself. They’re looking into the possibility of an illness.” He was careful to stay away from the word ‘epidemic.’

“Chief Holbrook, there’ve been reports of bodies in the morgue suddenly moving of their own volition. Care to comment?”

“Okay, that’s enough. I’ve told you all I know. When I find out more, you’ll be the first to know.” He shoved his way past the reporters and descended the stairs to the holding cells.

Joann stepped forward. “All right, I need you to clear the area. We’ve a lot going on right now. The Chief will have more information for you at a later time.

Holbrook cursed under his breath as he took the steps two at a time. He hated being in front of the camera answering questions. He wished Chris was here. Holbrook was no politician. Chris was the one with the silver tongue.

He walked into the holding area and saw Marie Russo sitting on her bench in her cell. Her mascara was streaked down her cheeks, and her eyes were swollen and puffy.

“Tell me again what happened in your house.”

Marie looked at him. “I told you everything I know.” She sounded defeated.

“Well, why don’t you tell me again?”

“There are other attacks, aren’t there? Like what happened to me.”

“How did you know that?”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? Sophia bit my husband, and he turned into one of those things. She probably bit others when she was out wandering around.”

“Not only that,” said Holbrook, “there were attacks yesterday at Circus Faire. There were people attacking the parade and spectators. Sick people. They bit some people, and today it appears the bitten are attacking their families.”

“Now do you believe me, Chief? Why would I attack my own husband? I
loved
Mario. He was already dead, and he tried to kill me.”

“I want to believe you, Marie.” He really did. “What about Billy Blake?”