Wicked Hungry (18 page)

“What’s that written on those stakes? And on that dagger?” I say, looking at a small blade.

Andres smiles. “Those are signs used by our great-grandfather. Handed down from generation to generation. They’re supposed to protect us, but I don’t know from what, exactly...”

Then he shakes his head. “I think I’ve shown you too much already,” he says. “Sometimes I forget you all are only fifteen years old.”

I look at Enrique. Enrique looks back at me. I can tell he’s wondering if we should tell his brother what we know.

“You know how to use all these things?” Enrique asks.

“Kind of,” Andres says. “You know I’ve been training at the martial arts center in cane fighting and Tae Kwan Do. But I haven’t had much chance to practice with the crossbow.”

I’m about to say something, maybe foolish, and then Enrique grabs my arm.

“If things happen,” Enrique says, “you’ll protect Mom and Dad, won’t you?”

“And my parents next door?” I say.

Andres looks from one of us to the other. “You all know something? I’ve just heard a lot of talk and rumors. About something big happening tonight after some big mysterious signal.”

Enrique lets go of my arm. “We talked to
Bisabuela
, Andres.”

“What?” Andres says. “You what?
¿Pero cómo?
”

“With the Ouija board,” Enrique says. “She came to us.”

“What did she say, Enrique?” Andres asks, looking down at us, eager.

“That there’s danger. A gateway. By the mall. But then she spoke through me—it was Jonathan and Stanley who heard most of the message.”

Andres looks at me and Jonathan, and we quickly tell him about his great-grandmother’s warnings about the zombies. About a boy who isn’t what he seems.

“Tell him about the pills, Stanley,” Enrique says. “About what Karen told you.”

Does Andres know we’re taking them? I leave that part out.

But he must suspect something nevertheless. “You aren’t taking them, are you, Enrique?”

Enrique looks at me. “We all are, Andres.”

“What, are you crazy?” he says.

Enrique shakes his head. “We can’t stop until we solve all this.”

“What do you mean?” Andres asks.

“The pills won’t let us.”

“Oh my God, my brother is a junkie.”

“No, Andres,” Enrique says. “It’s not like that. It’s...”

“It’s what?”

“
Magic
.”

Andres sighs. “Wow,” he says. “I don’t want to, but I guess I have to believe it.”

“You’ll help us, then?” I ask.

“I’m not happy about the pills,” Andres says. “But we’ve got your back. Me and a few friends have most of the neighborhood covered. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but...”

“Dude,” Jonathan says. “We told you
everything
we know. Except about the zombies outside.”

“Zombies, outside?” he asks. “Where? How many?”

“Take a look yourself,” I say.

Andres moves to his window, moves the curtain back for a moment, then looks at us. “That’s Robert Johnson from the football team. And I recognize a couple of others. But why are they twitching like that?”

“Because they’re
zombies
,” I say.

“How many did you see?” asks Jonathan.

“Maybe a dozen.”

“Did you see a blond kid, kind of short?”

He shakes his head. “But someone just chalked: ‘I’LL BE BACK.’ You can take a look yourself, if you like.”

Karen is wicked strong and wicked fast. She can take care of herself, right? I’m sure she can take care of herself. But if I’m so sure, why are my fists clenching?

“Tell us about your friends,” Jonathan says.

“We call ourselves ‘the brothers,’ or ‘the brotherhood,’” Andres says. “Actually, your brother Carver is in it, too.”

“Man,” Jonathan says, making a fist. “I just
knew
he was up to something.”

“Yeah, well,” Andres says. “We have to keep it real secret. We don’t need people thinking we’re some group of crazy kids planning to attack our school or something. They suspect us of enough as it is.”

There’s a knock at the door. Andres turns off the closet light and shuts the door in two quick, fluid movements. “Show’s over,” he says.

“Andres?
¿Viste a tu hermano y a sus amigos?
”

“They’re right here, Mom.”

“Tell them to come eat some more tamales. The fridge is already full.”

“They’ll be right there,” Andres says, and waves us out of the room. He follows us back down to the kitchen.

“Get them while they’re still hot,” he says.

A
ll the tamales are covered with the same cornhusk wrappers. But they smell different, and I can smell which ones are filled with beef. I open one and basically? I inhale it.

“Dude, you
are
wicked hungry.”

“Nothing compares to my mother’s tamales,” Enrique says. “Just admit it.”

“I’m going to have to trust you on that,” Jonathan says. “Right now, I could eat a whole chicken.”

“How about a wild turkey?” I ask.

“Now you’re talking,” Jonathan says.

“Yeah,” Enrique says, a tamale halfway to his mouth. “Talking instead of eating. So shut up and eat.”

Each of us puts down a half dozen tamales. Andres looks up, “What, your own mothers don’t feed you?”

“Are you insulting my friends?” Enrique says, standing up and dropping his tamale to the table.

“You got a problem with big eaters, dude?” Jonathan asks.

“You want a piece of me?” I say. “Or of my tamales?”

“Bring it on,” Andres says, standing up.

And then we are all laughing. My friends crack me up. Without them I don’t think I could handle high school. But what am I saying? Right now it seems high school is the least of my worries.

There’s a flash of red just outside the window.

“Hey,” Jonathan says. “Are my eyes messing with me, or did I just see Karen outside your window, Enrique?”

“I don’t know,” Enrique says.

“I didn’t see anything,” Andres says. “Who’s Karen?”

“You don’t want to know,” Jonathan says.

“Jonathan,
shut up
,” I say. “Karen is my
friend
.”

But really, he doesn’t want to know.

“Whatever,” Andres says. “I’ve got to go help Mom, anyhow.” He walks out of the room.

My two friends look at me expectantly. “Yeah,” I say. “It was her.”

The front doorbell rings.

“Don’t answer it,” Jonathan says.

“What do you suggest, then? Should we just wait until the zombies come over to see what’s going on?”

“Sorry I said anything.
Run
over there and get that door,” Jonathan says. “Quick.”

It’s Karen. Alone. The zombies are still across the street, in the shadows, watching us.

“Can I come in?” she asks. “I can only come in if I’m invited.”

I turn around to see Enrique and Jonathan shaking their heads.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t.”

“You can’t?” she says. “Or you won’t?”

“I can’t. I won’t. I don’t know.”

“Let me guess, your friends don’t want me in there, do they?”

I shake my head. “What happened?”

She looks pissed. “Let’s see. We burned down a shed, ruined most of their pills. Then Zach and some strange, tall, pale guys showed up and we had to fight our way out of there.”

“Big, tall, pale guys? Like football players?”

“No way. They weren’t students. I don’t think they were even...”

“Even what?”

She bites her lip. “Human.”

“But you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m
okay.
”

“Good,” I say. “I was worried about you.”

She looks back behind her. “But if you don’t let me in, I’m not going to be
okay
for long.”

Behind her, the zombies shuffle and groan. They seem to have noticed Karen.

“It’s not my decision,” I say. “It’s not my house — not my family.”

She smiles a pained smile. “It’s probably just as well. I’m very...
hungry
right now.”

“We can give you some tamales, if you like,” I say.

She shakes her head, her smile showing canines. “You don’t understand, Stanley. I don’t need to eat. I need to
feed.
”

“Oh,” I say. “Right. You want me to come out there, then? That’s what I am for you, right?
Food?”

Her eyes flash. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s what you think,” I say. “I talked to Morgaine. She told me how you’d marked me.”

“Right. Wonderful. Did she tell you
why
we mark people?”

“Yeah, like I said, because we’re
food
.”

“Was that the
only
reason?”

No, that’s not possible. Could she like me that much? So much to mark me for all to see? Mark me as hers? Am I that much of an idiot?

“You’re not protecting me, are you?”

She nods. “I’m doing my best, although you aren’t helping much. Look, let’s change the subject. Do you know about sigils?”

“A little bit,” I say.

“What? What do you know about them, Stanley?”

“They give me headaches.”

Karen sighs. “Stanley, someone needs to sit you down and give you a real education.”

Behind her, the zombies seem stuck around thirty feet from the house. Then they take a few steps back.

“What’s going on?” I ask her.

She looks behind her. “The sigils. I drew some in chalk on the street that should help you out for a bit. But it won’t last very long. You’re going to need help. Do you know anyone who knows anything about what’s going on?”

“Jonathan,” I say.

She raises an eyebrow.

“Really,” I say. “He knows
a lot
. He’s read plenty of books.”

She shakes her head. “I mean someone with
real
experience.”

“Like who?”

“Like Blaine Whelan, or his wife. Or even Mr. Piper. Though I’d stay away from him.”

“Blaine keeps on pressuring me to join a clan,” I say.

“Stanley, promise me you’ll get their help if anything bad happens. If I’m not there.”

“What do you mean?” I ask her. “What’s going to happen?”

“Look, we don’t have time to talk about it. Those sigils won’t hold them for long, and I’m drawing the wrong kind of attention. I’ll try to draw them off for a bit. But promise me you’ll get help.”

“Are you going to be all right?” I ask her.

“Promise me, Stanley.”

“Okay, I promise. But are you going to be all right?”

“You’re too sensitive, you know that, Stanley? But it’s not me you should be worried about.”

Then she turns into a nearly invisible blur, rushing off into the night.

From far away I hear a howl, followed by another, and another. Wolves.

My hackles rise, and I want to howl along with them. But I can’t. We’ve got more immediate problems. The zombies are shambling toward us again.

“What do we do?” Enrique says, behind me.

“We’ve got to hold them off somehow,” I say. “Or distract them. Get them out of here.”

“Dude, you really think we should go out there?” Jonathan asks.

But my phone is ringing again as I watch the zombies surrounded by sigils. How long before they try a different route?

“Hello?”

“Hey, stranger, it’s me, Meredith.”

“Oh, hey, Meredith. What’s up?”

“Don’t come by Carolina’s place right now.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“Why do you think?” she asks.

“It’s dangerous?” I ask tentatively. What does she know?

Meredith laughs. “Are you afraid of the dark all of a sudden? Or is it Enrique? Or Jonathan? Since when is Lansfeld dangerous?”

“Forget it,” I say. “I was just kidding.”

“Stanley, you are one odd boy,” she says.

“Takes one to know one,” I say.

“So now I’m an odd boy?” Meredith asks.

“No, actually you’re a beautiful girl,” I say. “Smart, too.”

Jonathan is looking at me like I’m crazy. Enrique is rolling his eyes. The guys across the street line up at the sidewalk.

“Thanks,” she says. “You’re kind of cute yourself.”

“So why shouldn’t we go to Carolina’s place?”

“‘Cause we’re taking a walk.
In the cemetery
. Spooky, huh? And then in the woods. Just me and Carolina. We’re going to go see where they’re constructing the mall. Zach’s been telling us about the pollution there.”

Oh my God, how could it have slipped my mind? Meredith is an
environmentalist.

I feel a cold chill down my spine.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“What are you, Stanley, my mother?”

“I just think—”

“Stanley, I gotta go. Zach is going to meet us.”

There’s a beep, and I’m disconnected.

There are times when everything seems to go right, like months ago, when I made a basket in gym class. Or when Meredith and I kissed for the first time. And there are times when everything seems to fall apart all at once.

I turn to Enrique and Jonathan. Together we look at the zombies across the street. It seems one or two of them have had the bright idea to try to walk
around
the chalked sigil. This means trouble. I look at my friends again. For a moment Jonathan looks like he’s going to say something funny. But maybe he sees the look on my face, because all he says is: “Dude, are you all right?”

“They’re going for a walk.”

“Who, the zombies?”

I shake my head. “Meredith and Carolina are going for a walk in the cemetery. And in the woods.”

“Tell them to stay home,” Enrique says.

“They’re already out,” I say. “Going to the site of the new mall.”

“But,” says Jonathan, “what about the gateway?”

“They’re going to meet Zach... to see some pollution in the woods.”

“Stanley,” Jonathan says. “This is
bad
.”

“Call them back,” Enrique says. “Right now.”

“She won’t listen,” I say. “She’s with Carolina.”

From far away come more wolf-calls. Something’s wrong. They’re angry. Their calls pull at my blood; my hackles rise; my hands tighten into fists, trying to fight the change. We have to do
something
, but I have no idea what.