Metahumans vs the Undead: A Superhero vs Zombie Anthology (28 page)

“I know, but I still don’t like the idea,” I said, “and it means I have to face them again.”

“If it will make you feel better, I can go alone.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go by yourself.”

“I appreciate the support, but please don’t feel you have to do this for my benefit,” he said.

“Yes, I do. I’m not going to sit at home while you’re out becoming zombie chow. You need my help.” I turned to Raphael. “Before we go out, I want David to have the treatment, just in case something happens.”

“But of course,” Raphael replied.

David gave me an ambiguous look and I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. “Dana, can I speak to you?”

“You do not trust my motives, Detective?” Raphael said.

“Not in the least.”

I somehow got this funny feeling I would have to play referee between them. Not that it was the first time, and certainly it wasn’t going to be the last time either.

“David, I know Raphael hasn’t given us much reason to trust him, but I think he’s telling the truth,” I said. Granted, it was hard for me to take Raphael’s word at face value, but it would be exponentially more difficult for David.

“What reason would Raphael have for this charade?” I asked, not giving David time to answer. “Besides, he doesn’t normally do stuff that would involve more work on his part.”

“I guess so, but I still don’t trust him.”

“If it’ll make you feel better, I can take the vaccine in human form.”

“Such a course of action would be a necessity as your healing factor is not present when you are not in your feline form,” Raphael said.

Thank you, Captain Obvious
,
I thought.

“Let me make one thing clear,” David said to Raphael, “I’m only doing this because I trust Dana’s judgement,
not
because I trust you. And don’t think you’re off the hook for helping us.”

“I shall think nothing of the sort,” Raphael said with a false sense of surprise.

It didn’t take long for the doctor to administer the vaccine. Thankfully, I was already healed when I changed to my human form, because otherwise I would have been in a world of hurt.

“So did you have a plan in mind?” David asked me.

“Sort of, but I don’t much like it.”

Unfortunately the only thing I could think of was using David as bait. The zombies had a tendency to group together so the idea was to put David in their proximity and I would deal with the majority of them.

I was guessing that their increase of strength was due to their inherent lack of tactile sensory information. Because they didn’t feel pain, they could exert themselves beyond the point where a normal person would stop. They also lacked a sense of self-preservation so if they did something that damaged them, it didn’t stop them.

It was definitely going to be a challenge, even for me. I’ve battled Raphael before and even with his healing factor, if I hit him hard enough, he would be down for a short period of time. The zombies—we’d have to decapitate or dismember to ensure they didn’t get back up. I
really
wasn’t looking forward to this. I guess once all of this was over with I could thank Rachel for educating me in the ways of proper zombie killing by subjecting me to her horror movie addiction. Even if the methods didn’t transfer well into the real world it would at least give me a step in the right direction.

Normally, if David was undercover, he’d assume a persona that would blend in, but this time we wanted him to stand out, and we figured he’d garner more attention by being decently dressed in the alleys of a rough neighbourhood.

I was clinging to the side of a building, providing the necessary lookout. It didn’t take long before I saw someone in ragged clothes lumbering toward David. I was pretty sure it was one of the infected, since several other similarly-dressed individuals were creeping out of the shadows behind him.

My heart rate increased as I prepared for the fight. I didn’t normally have to wait for a physical altercation, so in more ways than one this whole experience was a first for me.

David kept his cool, trying to look as casual as possible. His heart was beating as fast as mine was, but he was far more used to covering it up.

It didn’t take long before David gave me the signal by looking up in my direction and nodding.

I launched the grappling hook from my right wrist cuff and it went through one zombie’s head like a bullet. It was hard to tell if he was
dead
-dead because he stood there, flailing about.

My sense of accomplishment was quickly diminished by another zombie grabbing the end of the grapple and pulling on it hard enough to make me lose my grip and come crashing to the ground. My healing ability wasn’t completely back to normal so I had to concentrate a bit harder on repairing the damage. I was already tagged by one zombie and I wasn’t going to have it happen again. I shook my head as I rose to my feet and saw David running back toward me.

I only had enough time to react. I whipped my zombie-skewered grappling hook at the one closest to David. The two dead bodies collided with a menacing thud. One was down for the count, but the other was attempting to stand up. I didn’t give the creature the chance.

I spun around on one foot, knocking his legs from beneath him. I evidently kicked him too hard because his legs snapped off like toothpicks and landed a good ten feet away.

When I recoiled my grappling hook, the attached zombie head exploded in a splatter of blood; I whipped it at the newly amputated zombie, tearing him in half.

The lesser decayed individuals were surprisingly fast. Several more tried to overwhelm me. When one got close enough, I slammed my fist into his torso, only to find it was the consistency of Jell-O and I fell forward from my momentum. The zombie was underneath me when we hit the ground. On impact, what was left of his body made a sploshing sound, much like an exploding water balloon. I desperately resisted the urge to hurl. The smell alone was bad enough, let alone bathing in its entrails. The ick factor was ginormous.

I leapt to my feet, slipping slightly in the putrefied bodily fluids. The others didn’t seem to care about their comrade’s fate and kept closing in on me.

I did a backwards flip, landing on top of a dumpster fifteen feet away. There was something to be said about having the high ground and presumably this would keep me at a safer distance.

A short and once-round individual came lumbering forward in the classic zombie pose, moaning either out of instinct or from the air in his lungs escaping through his vocal chords. I was by no means unarmed, but I silently thought how much more convenient a chainsaw would have been right about now.

He came closer still and I dropped on all fours, then spun around on one foot while the other made contact with his face, sending the fleshy parts of his head flying. His skull simply slid off his bare neck, rolled off his arm and landed in a shallow puddle. Even decapitated he still tried to take me down, but he didn’t get very far. I yanked off his arms and threw them as far away as I could.

Man, these guys are worse than cockroaches,
I mused.

In life these individuals would likely have looked very different from each other, but now they looked eerily similar. So much so I could hardly distinguish them from each other. It did help ease my conscience that they only looked vaguely human. As sad of a thought it was, these were no longer people, but mindless drones.

As if to prove my point, another one crept forward, walking over his fallen friend. I had plenty of time to backflip out of the way and devise another method of execution. Crouching on top of a split-lid dumpster, I opened the other half and slammed it down so hard it crushed the monster’s head. For good measure, I jumped up and landed hard on the metal lid to make sure he was down for the count. It was almost comical to see his arms thrashing about wildly, trying in vain to find his head.

Luckily for me, the zombies weren’t overly smart. The next one in line trudged forward just like the others before him. I grinned, showing my fangs, not for show but because another evil thought manifested itself.

I grabbed the corner of the lid once again and slammed it against the building behind it, decapitating this zombie as well. I didn’t care if I kept having to use the same tactic all the time. It was working and that’s all that mattered.

Several more zombies were grouping together about ten feet away from me. I grabbed the dumpster lid once again, but this time I ripped it off its hinges and hurled it like a discus at the swarm, cleaving them all in two.

The only thing the zombies really had working in their favour was their sheer numbers. But even that wouldn’t last forever.

Still, I couldn’t get cocky, regardless how easy it was to kill them off. Cockiness led to mistakes.

With my half of the zombies finished off I looked over at David.

He kept his distance while he shot several of them, but it did little damage and more were closing in. Only one thought came to mind and I was sure David wouldn’t like it.

It only took two short bounds to get close to him. I fended off the nearest attackers, picked David up, and sprinted to a garbage bin a half a block away.