Undead L.A. 1 (16 page)

“
How strong is the case on him?”

“
Strong,” Gary assured him. “When they picked him up and brought him here, Javier still had the guy's blood on him. Still, you never know with these cocksucking lawyers these days.”

“
I hear you,” the deputy agreed. “He'll be right in.”

By the time Javier was sitting in front of him nearly a half hour had passed. Javier looked a little green around the gills.

“You know why you're here?”

“
Yeah, man. I know. This is about Leo right?”

“
That's right,” Gary said, feeling surprised by how forthright Javier was being. Usually suspects acted like they were brain dead when you asked them about anything crime related. They didn't offer up names, not in Gary's experience. “We've got the hoodie you threw out on Santa Monica, but I think that's the least of your worries now, considering that the blood samples they took off of you when they brought you in are a match to his blood. We've got recordings of you threatening to cut his throat. As far as I can see we've got you dead to rights, man.”

“
Yeah,” he said. “That's what I figured.”

“
So how do you wanna play this?”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I mean do you want to lawyer-up before you talk to me or do you want to play Let's Make a Deal?”

“
I wanna deal,” he said, biting his fingernails while he talked. His eyes danced around like he was on drugs. “Just get me out of here, man. I'll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“
I'm going to need you to sign something for me that says you understand your rights,” Gary said, ignoring his request. He wanted to get as much down as he could before Javier changed his mind. He took out the form waiving his rights to an attorney and slid it over to him along with a pen.

“
Yeah, man. Sure. Whatever,” Javier said nervously. He signed it without reading it. Gary put it away, taking back the pen as well. In the hands of a killer like Javier a pen was a fine weapon just waiting for a new target. “I just need to get out of here before they put me back in a cell. It's not safe here, man. You shouldn't even be here. The sooner we bail, the better. Take me into your custody and get me out of here. I'll tell you anything you want to know.”

“
What's the hurry? You scared of the gang member whose nose you broke?”

“
What?” Javier looked up and laughed. “No, man. That's the least of my worries. That guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time is all. Shit's about to go down, man.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
It's the sickness, man,” Javier said. “It's spreading.”

“
It's just food poisoning,” Gary said dismissively. He couldn't believe Javier was willing to sign over all his rights and possibly face the death penalty over fear of catching the stomach flu. It just didn't add up.

“
Is that what they told you? They're wrong, man. This ain't no rot gut. It's a helluva lot worse than that.”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
Food poisoning doesn't make guys go crazy and bite each other. It doesn't make guys bleed tears from their eyes and nose. This is the fucking plague, man. They brought in a homeless guy for attacking a cop. He brought it with him. Ask anyone.”

“
Hold up a second,” Gary said, growing annoyed.

“
No, man,” Javier said. “Get me out of here right now and I’ll cop to everything and tell you how I did it or we're both going to die. End of story.”

“
And where exactly am I supposed to take you?”

“
I don't know, man. That's your problem. Hollywood. Van Nuys. Hell, if you can take me to Bakersfield that would be perfect. The farther we get away from here the better, but we've got to move fast. I'm not going back in there.”

“
I'm sure you know by now that it doesn't work like that,” Gary began, but Javier cut him off.

“
I'm serious, man. That's the deal.”

“
You're not really in any position to bargain,” Gary reminded him.

“
Leo's not my first,” Javier said, biting his lip. “There was a girl, up in the hills, near the Hollywood sign. I'll give you her as well.”

“
You're bluffing,” Gary said.

“
You wanna live with that on your conscience? That's my offer,” Javier said. “Take it or leave it.”

Gary stared at him for a hard minute thinking over how difficult it was going to be to pull this off.

“Stand up,” he said at last.

“
I'm telling you the truth, man.”

“
I believe you. I need you to turn around so I can cuff you.”

Javier stood up and turned and stuck his hands out. Gary knew he was going to catch hell for what he was about to do but he figured his lieutenant would back him up, especially when he found out it would mean clearing another case. He took out his cuffs and put them on Javier, taking care not to cinch them too tight. The last thing he needed on top of the holy can of shit he was unleashing was to listen to his confessed murderer whine the whole way back to Hollywood.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

Gary looked over to see the guard barking at him. He opened his mouth to answer but a loud crash silenced him. The guard turned back to the locked door. There was a bloody handprint on the window.

“You see what I'm talking about, man? We're screwed!”

“
Shut up.”

Gary drew his gun. The guard pulled a key ring from his belt and went to unlock the door.

“Don't open that door, man,” Javier said in a shaky voice. “I'm telling you, man. Don't do it.”

The guard ignored him and pulled the door open. A swarm of prisoners in bloody clothing came pouring through, knocking him out of the way. The guard let out a loud cry as one of the inmates bit into his forearm, drawing blood. He punched at the man's gray face, but he was locked on like a pit bull.

The rest of the mob came rushing in. Gary aimed and squeezed off several shots, hitting the lead inmate twice in the chest and once in the head. It wasn't until the bullet blew out the back of the man's skull that he stopped advancing, falling limply to the ground. His fellow prisoners climbed right over him without a second thought. Behind them, Gary could see more pouring in. A cluster had stopped to attack the prison guard. They were tearing pieces of him off with their bare teeth. A sinking feeling came over Gary, like something out of a nightmare. He backed up toward the door he came through and began pounding on it hard. An alarm sounded in the room, but his heavy knocking went unanswered. The prison guard let out a loud shriek of pain as one of the prisoners chewed through his jugular. A bright arc of crimson blood sprayed out over the fiends, coating them like a popped fire hydrant sprays poor kids in the ghetto during summer break. He fell to the ground clutching his neck while soft gurgling sounds came out of him and then his eyes went blank. A moment later the guard rose again to his feet, joining the rest of the prisoners as they turned toward Gary and Javier. His eyes were crying thick tears of bright, red blood.

Time had slowed down for Gary. He could feel his heart beating. He raised his gun again and fired once more, hitting the next two prisoners that came for him both in the head. Just like the previous aggressors, they collapsed limply to the ground. Looking down he saw that Javier had attempted to hide under the table. He was still handcuffed. He trembled like a scared child. The front of his pants was wet through and a puddle of urine pooled around his feet. He looked up and made eye contact with Gary just seconds before the violent mob of cannibals dragged him out from under his hiding place, kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs like a little girl.

Gary aimed his gun in between Javier's eyes, but before he could pull the trigger the door behind him opened and he fell through. Prison guards in full riot gear stormed in around him as he fell hard on his ass. Gary turned without getting up and crawled on his hands and knees away from the melee. He still had the gun in his right hand. When he was clear of the guards he stood up and looked back. It looked like someone had turned on a shower of blood over the top of them all. There was panicked screaming and crying coming from behind him like a portal into hell. Gary pushed through the next door, the sickly sweet smell of metallic blood filling up his nose. He shut the door just as something big and heavy crashed into it from the other side. His hands shook uncontrollably, but he wasn't really sure why. He'd faced circumstances far more dire than a prison riot before. He'd stared down killers he'd been hunting and came out on top of gunfights several times over the past decade, but something about this was different.

It's the look in their eyes
, he thought.
It's like there’s nothing in them at all but raw hunger.

The thought gave him chills. He pushed it from his mind, staring down at his weapon as an even harder thud came from behind him, nearly knocking him over. Whatever was on the other side was winning, that much was clear. Gary tried not to imagine what had become of the men who just minutes before had rushed in to restore order. The prisoners had gone through them like a hot knife through warm butter.

You’ve got to do something
, he told himself.
You are all that stands between these wild animals and the average citizens out there living their lives blissfully unaware of the danger lurking so near. You can't let them get out of here. Not today. Not ever.

Gary turned and faced the door. It trembled on its hinges as several more hard blows hit it from the other side. Whatever this thing was, it was Gary's job to put a stop to it. No. It was more than just his job. It was his duty. It was his moral obligation. He raised his gun and pointed it at the door, steeling his resolve.

“You can do this,” he said, his trembling left hand reaching for the lock on the door. “This is your job, to serve and protect this city from these animals. People are counting on you. You will not let them down today.”

His fingers touched the metal lock. He could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow as his breath caught in his throat. An inhuman roar bellowed from the other side like an angry war cry, making him freeze as chunks of cold ice flowed through his veins. He could taste the acidic fear on the tip of his tongue.

Before he had time to react there was a final loud crashing sound accompanied by the splintering of wood. The door gave way, coming down on top of him and hitting him hard in the face. Gary crumpled to the ground and the door pinned him down. The last thing he was aware of before passing out was the sound of feet scurrying over the top of him, and then the darkness took him under to a place where nothing mattered anymore.

*** *** ***

Gary came to with a start, like someone had put jumper cables on the ribs of his chest and connected them to a car battery. He bolted upright in his bed and ran his fingers over his bare skin, just to be sure he wasn't actually hooked up. He'd had trouble falling asleep; his mind haunted by the terrible things he'd seen earlier in the day. He'd tossed and turned before being pulled under into the all-forgiving black space of emptiness. Just before he woke up, he'd been graphically dreaming that he was watching America's Funniest Home Videos on a big screen television at his apartment. Instead of showing funny clips featuring animals and babies and people getting hit in the groin, they'd been running homemade snuff movies to a live audience who laughed and hooted at each tragic death with ever-greater delight. He'd been the only one who found the clips disturbing. His heart raced in his chest as he tried to shake off the feeling inside his dream of impending doom and despair. He didn't even mind the way his heart kicked like a pair of old boots in an industrial-sized dryer, or the sour taste of adrenaline it left in his dry mouth.

It's good to feel scared,
he told himself.
It's good to feel your heart racing a million miles an hour like you just took a snort of high voltage crank. Lets you know everything is still in working order.

He turned toward the dresser and checked for his cigarettes. An open soft pack lay next to a shiny, white Bic lighter. He didn't pick them up. He just wanted to know that they were there.

Not just yet
, he told himself, feeling something inside him kick up at the same time, something dark and needy and hungry for the taste of the burn and the feeling of the nicotine hitting his blood stream once more.
Do the checklist first. Don't just assume everything is okay, not anymore.

Gary had picked up several cartons of cigarettes from an abandoned liquor store, along with some fine spirits for the ride, shortly after he'd made it out of Twin Towers Correctional Facility in one piece. He'd awoken with his back pressed flat to the floor and a heavy door pushed down on his face. He still had his gun in his hand. He had a throbbing headache and no idea how long he'd been out. In his mind there had been no delay between falling into darkness after being hit between the eyes by a flying door and then waking up.