A Little Undead (20 page)

All manner of vehicle passed me
by as I picked my way over cracked sidewalks and broken glass. I
kept to the shadows at first, but it soon became clear they had no
interest in chasing me. Cars packed with frightened citizens
streamed outwards, fleeing with their white-faced children staring
out their closed car windows, uncomprehending. I wondered if they
would just keep driving until morning or if there were some safe
haven they fled towards.

In the other direction, towards
the massive cloud of smoke billowing up behind me, traveled the
government vehicles. Ambulances, firetrucks, police, and even a
Humvee, which to my knowledge never entered this far into the city.
It was a spectacular show of force, I just wished they had come
sooner.

I shouldn't be here, among
people. That was obvious now. Whether or not I was ever entirely
human I simply didn't fit with them, not anymore. I looked up,
finally recognizing where my subconscious had brought me. I realized
then what I had to do. My apartment door still hung ajar, hinges
bent and broken from Alex's forced entry. Wincing at the creak I
pushed it aside only to freeze in the doorway. It looked so
ordinary. So familiar. Even if I had only lived here for a week and
a half. Well, no longer.

I gathered up my clothes, not
bothering to fold them as I stuffed everything I could into my
backpack. At the back of my closet were my battered old sneakers, my
only shoes left after the loss of my stiletto heels, flip flops and
boots. Boston was definitely tough on footwear.

“
How?” I stopped my
packing, staring at the impossible item on the counter. It was my
knife, Holly's mother's knife that I had kept close to me for so many
years. Bruce must have returned it to me after finding it in the
alley, though I hesitated to try and consider why. My hand paused
over its hilt, but in the end I decided I couldn't stand to see it
like this. I took it to the sink, staring at it with a dull thirst
as I washed the blood from it, pink clouds bursting through the
water. Leaving the knife on my bed I let my finger trace across its
length. It hurt to part from it, but it was her mother's knife. The
oath I had made on it was useless now. I couldn't protect Holly
anymore even if she wanted me to. I hoped she would understand.

I felt a stab of guilt when I
saw my ant farm. Searching the cupboards I found a piece of moldy
bread. The ants didn't seem to mind its state of putrefaction. They
dove on it in a frenzy as I marveled at the frenetic pace of their
industry. Like a force of nature they ground the object so many
times their own size down to nothing in minutes. Destructive,
fearsome creatures, but beautiful in their own way. Unfortunately,
it would be irresponsible to take my pets with me, wherever it was I
was going. With a heavy heart I lifted the sand-filled soda bottle
carefully, planning to release them at the city limits.

“
Briiing.”
The
phone rang, mechanical and jarring in the silence of my apartment. I
lifted it in an instant, hoping against hope that it was Holly
calling to forgive me.

“
Is this Julie Fisher?”
My heart fell – it was a man's voice. Still, it didn't sound
like he was calling to arrest me. After all, who called ahead to
arrest a prison escapee anyways?

“
Yes, that's me.”
Besides, after all I'd been through in the past few days I was
finding it hard to fear anything anymore.

“
Wonderful! You're the
first officer in your district we've found alive. You've seen the
news on what happened?” I gave a half-intelligible murmur of
assent. “Come to the Central Plaza in uniform at noon tomorrow
and there may be a promotion waiting for you.”

“
A promotion?” This
was so surreal.

“
The President's forming a
special task force to make sure something like this doesn't happen
again. There's a spot on it for you if you want it.”

“
I'll think it over.”
I said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. Was he actually
talking about the President, capital P? Admittedly he was only in
charge of what was formerly parts of New England and Ontario, not the
entire United States, but he was a powerful man.

“
Think quickly.” He
hung up.

Was it possible, I wondered,
that everyone on the force who knew of my crimes and my face were all
dead? All incriminating files purged by the fire that was even now
consuming the station? That frightened young cop in the alley might
not even know my name, and I hadn't exactly looked like myself when
he saw me. Besides, after firing a clip of bullets into a street
crowded with civilians he was probably looking at some jail time
himself.

Would it really be as easy as
that to resume my life? I could see it now, President Nielson
calling me up on stage as the survivor of the massacre, a symbol with
which to forge his task force. With that sort of public sentiment
behind me any circumstantial evidence that might remain would be
swept under the rug, wouldn't it? I could have my life back, and
when all the zombies were dead Mom and Holly would forgive me.
They'd have to.

“
They will. I know it.”

I put the ant farm back on the
windowsill and despite great uncertainty started to unpack my
clothes. I couldn't help but think I was forgetting something. A
slight tugging at my heart plagued me, an echo of terrible
loneliness. “Penny.” I grabbed the knife from the bed
was out the door in a flash, berating myself for letting Holly's
words blind me to Penny's continued captivity.

As evil as Bruce was, I was glad
he hadn't killed her like some common zombie. I could feel her now
that I focused, a faint link guiding me through the empty streets. I
was treading towards the outskirts, artificial light giving way to
moonless night as the scent of salt grew ever clearer. Even if the
rest of me had returned essentially to normal, my teeth and eyes
remained stubbornly vampiric in nature. Even in the darkness I could
make out colors and shapes where human eyes would see only fuzzy
grays. My sneakers crunched as I stepped onto the salt-licked wood
of the old southern docks. Largely abandoned, only a handful of
private pleasure craft hung on the dark waters. Silt and weeds
barred passage to anything much larger.

I
stopped at the edge of the docks, staring up into the endless sky.
'
This is the night?'
Stepping
beyond old terrors and childhood nightmares, there was a beauty in it
like nothing I had ever seen before. The sky was not dark at all but
vibrant with color. Billions of stars shined through the endless
depths of space to form a giant tapestry of light.

Reluctantly
I closed my eyes, staying statue-still as I felt for that
now-familiar tug in my heart. '
There.'
Peering
over the knee-high waves I saw it, the
Annabelle.
His brother's boat, Alex had told me. To think that my first
boyfriend would have a murderous, conniving drug lord as his elder
brother. I was silent as I slipped into the water but inside I could
feel the fury in my blood building. Belatedly I removed my soaked
sneakers and jacket, placing them on the crisscrossing support beams
below the dock.

It had been too long since I
had a proper bath but I didn't linger long in the luxuriously
refreshing seawater. Easing myself onto the ladder at the back of
the yacht I let the water seep out of my clothes and hair until the
sound of the few droplets that still fell from me onto the deck were
easily disguised by the sound of waves lapping against the hull. A
scent came to me as I slunk across the deck. “Wolf,” I
spat. It was fresh, and almost certainly Alex. A white-hot fury
swept through me, near blinding me with its intensity.

My toes curled into claws,
scratching the yacht's pristine finish as I ground my way towards the
door to the cabin. As my fingernails stretched and my night-vision
sharpened still further I realized something. I didn't care anymore
if he heard me coming. Tomorrow was still a mystery to me. I'd take
my chances in the wilds, or as a hermit in some far off village, or
perhaps even accept a position on the task force, but tonight was no
mystery at all. There was only one ending to his story.

Alex stepped out from the cabin.
“You! How, why are you here?” His speech devolved into
incoherent obscenities as he fumbled for the knife at his hip. The
stench of marijuana, beer and wet dog clung to him like maggots on a
corpse but I could still smell it, the damning smell of lilac.

“
You drank her blood.”
The scent of her blood on his breath was unmistakable. It was
hypocritical, but the thought of the werewolf drinking Penny's blood
struck me as unspeakably perverse. I didn't wait for an answer,
blurring towards him with knife in hand. Still in human form, the
arm he raised to ward me off just made my attack easier. My sharp
nails darted into his armpit and all his strength was rendered
useless as he threw himself off balance to escape the pain. My knife
quickly followed, driving straight through his side. His scream was
nothing against the pounding of blood in my ears as I swung him into
the deck. “
Animal.”
I
drove my fist straight into his temple, his eyes swinging backwards
as he fell unconscious.

I panted heavily but in moments
I straightened, in control of myself again. The connection that had
driven me up until now was stronger than ever. She must have felt me
too for a tremor of excitement echoed through the bond as we grew
closer. I could feel her presence just around the corner. “Penny!”
I had lost a father today, but a childhood friend had come back to
me.

A
happy warble sounded from her mouth like a cat presenting a fresh
kill. '
No, it couldn't be.'
An
old children's movie played in the corner, it's bright and cheerful
tones jarringly askew with the atmosphere of the room. Three bodies
drained of blood lay with Penny inside a steel cage like a trio of
discarded dolls. Fang-inflicted wounds in their necks showed how
they had died, but a bullet through each of their skills had kept
them from rising as zombies. Penny was half naked and covered in
grime, but even the sight of her blood-matted hair only distracted me
for a moment from her eyes. Deep violet like my own, they glowed
with inner light in the dim cabin. A pair of delicate fangs crept
out between her lips as she broke into a smile.

Her hand stretched out between
the bars, just brushing my hair. “Mama.” Every muscle
in my chest seized up at once as if to suffocate me for my sins. It
was a shame that I felt little need to breathe.

I hardly recognized her. Not
only had her features changed subtly, there was nothing in her eyes
that spoke of what she once was. Whatever it was my blood had done
to bring her back as a vampire and not a zombie, it hadn't been
enough to preserve her soul. The sharp but warm gaze of a woman who
had survived so much and chosen to keep on living was replaced with
the innocent gaze of a child. But she wasn't just a child was she,
but the child of a monster. I stepped closer, tears in my eyes as I
hugged her close. My hands cradled her head as she sank into my
embrace, purring deep in her throat. The stench of three dead men
filled the air, blood long gone sour, and I knew nothing good would
come of this. Nothing good could come from letting the child of a
monster live. It would only take a quick shift of my hands and it
would all be over. Her neck would snap and Penny would be at peace.

I pulled at the bars, metal
screaming in protest. I pulled harder and harder even as the Thirst
built in my gut. The moment the bar began to bend Penny caught on
and joined me, her own considerable strength giving just enough of a
boost to send the two bars flying from their sockets. “Come on
then, let's get you something to eat.” She seemed hesitant to
exit what had likely been her home since her rebirth but once she
caught Alex's scent she was more than eager to race ahead.

She ripped his shirt off like a
child opening presents on Christmas morning and sank her teeth
greedily into his neck. Her eyes gleamed still brighter as she fed
but remarkably she did something I still had trouble with myself.
Pulling herself away from the still-living werewolf she nudged his
body towards me, as if sharing a soda. I realized something then. I
never loved Alex Whitman after all.

I just wanted to eat him.

Author's Note:

Thank you all for reading.
Check out various short stories and news on upcoming developments at
www.Lycelia.com