Zombie Ascension (Book 1): Necropolis Now (9 page)

"Do I look pretty? I always wondered if I would look pretty after I eat somebody."

Her eyes shone with the luminescence of emeralds.

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

When she touched the side of his face, tracing blood across his jaw line, he didn't move. He allowed her to brush her hands through his hair, and she could smell her warm, coppery breath.

"I'll always want you," Mina said. "Even though you think there's something wrong with me. I wanted you inside me, and you always made me feel good. I've never felt anything but sadness and pain my whole life, only I didn't know it until I met you. I'm numb to anything bad that can happen. I don't know the world like you know it. I don't know if I should ask you to forgive me."

His breath escaped through his mouth raggedly, and his muscles locked his body in place.

"You're afraid, but you shouldn't be. Don't say anything else. Let this end. Stand here with me and let it all end."

The Detroit Police Department swarmed into the room.

Her last words to him were:

"Destroy the video. Please."

***

Over the past hour, the sound of sirens had been unceasing, but Nikki managed to stay in character while Griggs worked on her. Now, he buckled on his belt while Nikki rolled her stockings back up the length of her long legs.

"You weren't supposed to do that," Nikki said for the second time.

"I can do whatever the hell I want," he said. "I paid for it. Besides, you're on the pill, right? Accidents happen. Richard said he can hold his load, but how do we know?"

"I hope Danny's alright," Nikki played with her cell phone again.

Speaking of Richard, the guy had a whole hour to watch the movies and rub one out while he learned a few tricks. Sure, the bouncer had watched his share of porn before, but he wanted Richard to understand some of his camera angles and techniques before they filmed the first scene.

"Still no signal," Nikki slammed her phone down on the bed while her bottom lip assumed its pouty position. "I can't call home, and anything can happen. You got off and you got it on video. We don't need Richard for anything."

"What're you talking about?" Griggs turned to her. "We have a deal. You signed a contract, and you're legally bound to it. We're going to turn that pretty face of yours into a frosted cake, and you're going to smile right into the camera for all your adoring fans."

The window rattled once again as jets roared over the sky outside. The lights flickered, and Griggs impatiently tapped away at his own phone. He still didn't have a signal, either. What the hell was going on? Were all the networks jammed up from simultaneous calls?

He opened the door with all of his equipment once again packed up and in the bag. When he saw how close the fires were, he instinctively clicked off the safety on his gun. Several buildings across the street from the motel were on fire, and the only two cars left in the motel parking lot were his truck and Richard's Mustang. In the glow of the flames, he could see several people stumbling across the street in a daze.

"This is scary," Nikki whistled. "I really want to go home. Danny needs me."

"You haven't said that ten million times already," Griggs said and led her toward the room. When he stopped in front of the door, the first thing he noticed was that none of the lights were on inside.

He knocked. Thunder shook the night, though when he looked up at the stars and didn't see a cloud in the sky, he realized it wasn't thunder at all, but an explosion.

With her arms crossed over her chest, Nikki glanced around repeatedly. "There's a lot of people hanging around in the street, like they got nowhere to go."

"Good for them," Griggs pounded on the door. "Hey Richard! Wake up, buddy!"

Enough was enough. He tried the door handle and found it unlocked. The door squeaked open, and he pushed it all the way open into the dark room.

The TV was on, but the picture was blank; Richard must have fallen asleep while watching the video. Once again, Griggs hoped he gave his actor the right movie. Although he never watched Mina's forbidden film himself, he didn't want anyone else watching it until the lawyer could figure out how it might be useful. He had done all he could to hide it from the courts, and now, it was going to help him win a court case against the state.

However, Mina's last words still left him shaken.

A gust of cold air escaped through the door as Griggs positioned himself on the threshold. He waited a moment as the glow of firelight entered the room with him. A shadowed figure, silhouetted against the wall by the orange light, swayed back and forth.

"Richard, you said you wouldn't have to get stoned to perform," Griggs said. "I hope you kept your word. I need you tonight, big guy. Nikki's a lot to handle." The last part was a lie, but he needed to get some kind of response from him.

The strip club bouncer was a big man, and his large shadow lumbered forward into the firelight. He was easy prey for the job, considering that he had problems with the wife at home and needed the extra money that Griggs could pay him for performing in a skin flick.

"Glad to see you too," Griggs said. "We're ready to start, so…"

Richard stepped awkwardly into the light as if he was unsure how to manage his own weight. His arms hung limply and the dark outline of his head was completely bent against his left shoulder as if they were attached.

Griggs straightened his shoulders and parted his sport jacket slightly in case he needed the gun. Cool moisture within his armpits and on the back of his neck made him aware of his surroundings, as he glanced back to find Nikki behind him, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Air escaped from between her teeth, and she seemed to be trying to speak.

He turned back to Richard, and for a moment, he thought it wasn't Richard at all, because the actor he hired to perform wasn't a black man. He put his hand up to stop the hired performer from coming toward him, and he meant to say something, but he felt removed completely from his body, and he watched Richard's burnt, mottled body step into the light completely.

Nikki chuckled. "Damn you, Richard. You piece of shit, stop screwing around. I don't have time for one of your jokes. I need to get home to Danny, and I've wasted most of my night, already. Come on!"

She approached Richard and shoved him, but he barely moved.

Griggs wanted to tell her not to do anything, to step away from Richard, but he couldn't find the words. He knew something was wrong. He could
smell
Richard; he knew what smoked beef smelled like. He wanted to take a step back, but his body failed to respond. He wanted his hands to grasp the gun and draw it, but his fingers were frozen stiff.

For all the action he'd experienced as a detective, he never drew his gun on a perp without other officers around him. He used to help hunt down jealous boyfriends and vengeful housewives. He helped find cracked-out gangbangers like the weapons dealers who worked for Vincent Hamilton's group of thugs, but he never had a showdown with a murderer. He never drew his gun to defend himself.

Griggs could feel the bile rising in his throat as Richard's impossibly burnt flesh was exposed by the fiery nightscape. Boils leaked pus over the man's formerly white wife-beater shirt, and Griggs could smell the familiar rot of an aging corpse. Maggots writhed along the top of Richard's scalp, and they slipped over his forehead and around his ears. The flesh along his face had thinned against the skull, and as Richard reached for Griggs, the former detective could see the shrunken skin along the fingers that had withered; the yellow fingernails seemed much longer.

"No…" finally escaped through Griggs's mouth.

The man looked like he had been dead for days, but here he was, standing upright and looking into the porn director's face with rheumy eyes. It had to be a trick of some kind. Griggs was acting like a scared little girl, when Richard was simply playing a joke on him.

"Let's at least get started," Nikki suggested, wrapping her arms around the strip-club bouncer. "I'll get you in the mood, and you just relax. I know this might be part of the script and all, but you don't have to act the part."

It wasn't in any script.

Richard cupped her enhanced breasts in his hands and opened his mouth. He kissed the top of her chest until pools of blood formed over the edges of his lips.

Nikki screamed.

Richard ripped a strip of flesh away from Nikki's chest with his teeth. Griggs looked into a mouth full of yellow, crooked teeth. The black tongue rolled out over cracked, blue lips.

Griggs shoved Nikki aside and found himself wrestling with Richard.

Richard was incredibly strong and easily jerked Griggs forward. The former detective resisted and his feet betrayed him by twisting awkwardly. He slipped backward and his arm struck the lamp on the way down, knocking it over with a loud crash as the bulb shattered. Richard was on top of him and their legs were tangled together.

Griggs kept his hand on the wet, leathery flesh of Richard's throat. He reached for the 9mm, and didn’t think twice about what he was going to do with it.

Distantly, he could hear Nikki's shrill screams as the soundtrack to the violent struggle. Firelight danced in Richard's inhuman eyes. Griggs breathed in the sour smell of his attacker's rotted flesh.

Richard raised his fist to bring it down upon Griggs's face. The 9mm was yanked free from its holster, and Griggs fired three times into his attacker's stomach.

Richard didn't so much as flinch. 

Griggs shoved his gun into the man's open mouth and squeezed the trigger. The top of Richard's skull exploded. Maggots rained down upon his face as Richard's body sagged and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Holding the man up with one hand around his throat and the 9mm still in his jaw, Griggs grunted while he attempted to push the dead man aside. He quickly brushed the maggots off his face and clothes, and he grabbed the edge of the nightstand while trying to stand once again.

Nikki was crouched on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. She rocked back and forth, whimpering and shaking her head in disbelief.

"Oh, my God, Richard…. you killed him. You killed Richard…. oh my God. I'm bleeding so much… there's so much blood. I don't know what to do, it hurts so MUCH!"

"Your makeup is gonna run if you keep that up," Griggs stared at the corpse. What the hell was going on? His heart was still racing from the encounter. What had possessed the man to cover himself with maggots? He tried to think of a drug that might be able to affect a man the way it did Richard. Whatever it was, it had to be something new.

"I just wanna go home…" Nikki moaned through her tears.

Griggs picked up the portable DVD player that he'd loaned Richard for the evening so he could watch the videos. The tiny device had been burnt to a crisp, and it felt warm in his hands.

He sighed. "I don't think I'll get my money back."

MINA

Jake Wells rose to his feet when he should have been dead, and Mina lost herself in the madness that helped land her at Eloise Fields in the first place.

Jim Traverse gently grabbed her elbow and lifted her to her feet. When she collapsed again, the Artist effortlessly scooped her over his shoulder.

Her shrieks burned her throat.

How could
they
be real?

The helicopter still circled overhead, and its noise drowned all of her thoughts in its immensity. Several of the former inmates, orderlies, and doctors stumbled awkwardly over the lawn, and Mina saw them for what they really were.

She was only afraid whenever she closed her eyes and dreamt. Now, for the first time since Daddy began to punish her for taking Mommy away, Mina was afraid.

"Please don't let them get me!" Mina pleaded, though it was unlikely Traverse could hear her over the helicopter.

Jim sat her down against the side of a car in the parking lot and looked into her face. His roving eyes found hers, and he gently stroked her face to get her attention.

"Some friends of mine are coming to get me," he said. "But we can't go with them. We have other things we need to do. Stay with me, and follow my lead, and I'll be able to help you."

"Are they... zombies?" Mina managed to say through fearful gasps.

Jim looked over his shoulder at the slow-moving crowd. A swarm of dead inmates were kneeling around another body, and limbs were being dragged across the concrete away from the scene. The dead were covered in their own blood; some of them were missing limbs, while another trailed its intestines through a gaping hole where the stomach used to be. The corpses were distracted by the buffet of flesh, and only a couple of them were aware of Jim and Mina.

Between them, the only weapon they had was the bloody club in Jim's fist.

"The living dead," Jim nodded as if it hardly mattered. "You and I are both responsible for their existence. It will take some explaining on my part, but I've been looking forward to this for a while, now. We'll have a lot of fun with it. You'll see."

Several concrete-camouflaged military Humvees and trucks arrived on the scene, along with other armored vehicles Mina didn't recognize.

"This is going to be confusing for a few minutes," he explained. "Just follow along, and you'll be well-rewarded."

One of the Humvees stopped directly across the street from them, and the other vehicles stopped. Several soldiers leapt out of the vehicles and began to take up positions while orders were shouted at them.

Jim pointed to commander, who barked orders at his men as the crowd of corpses noticed them. "That's an old friend of mine. Nick Crater. I should have killed him a long time ago, but I never took him seriously. He's here for me, but he thinks I'm inside. We have the element of surprise on our side."

The helicopter shined a spotlight down upon Eloise Fields as Mina watched entire groups of people surround others and fold on top of them, taking down their prey like pack animals. Everyone she knew from Eloise Fields, besides Jim, was likely dead.

Mina heard one of the soldiers demand that someone stop coming toward them. Even when Jim said the word, she still found it hard to believe. How could the creatures from her nightmares exist? They were nothing more than movie monsters, right?

Zombies.

"Stop, or we’ll open fire!"

"Stay where you are!"

"Don't come any closer!"

The helicopter's spotlight swept over the green lawn in front of the hospital.

Gunfire erupted all around them. Car windows shattered while tires popped and sagged. Bullets pinged off the concrete and made holes in the cars while the former inmates from Eloise Fields moved toward the soldiers.

Mina tried to plug her ears against the noise, but Jim grabbed her hand once again and pulled her to her feet.

"Stay down," Jim said while leading her in a circle around several shambling corpses, their bodies shaking wildly from the storm of gunfire. But Mina wasn't afraid. Not with Jim leading the way. The bullets would be an easy death for her. She knew what it felt like to have her flesh consumed, her limps ripped from her body.

Jim suddenly let go of her hand when they stood near the driver's side of one of the Humvees. A soldier had taken up position in front, kneeling on the concrete while his finger leaned on the trigger of his assault rifle.

"Over here!" Jim shouted. "We need help! Behind you, please!"

The soldier pivoted around and pointed his gun at them. "What the hell?"

"Help us!" Jim pleaded. "This woman's hurt!"

"Goddammit!" the soldier put his hand to his helmet in an effort to communicate with one of his fellows. In the darkness, he couldn't see Jim or Mina's faces clearly, something that was working in their favor if he was specifically looking for Jim. He waved them toward the vehicle with his weapon while he attempted to shout into his headset, his body bulging with armor and gear.

Mina never would have expected what came next. Jim moved in a blur of motion, kicking the assault rifle aside and slamming Jake's club into the soldier's throat. The man collapsed, and Jim shoved his head against the door, knocking him out completely, the helmet sliding off his head. Jim moved efficiently, opening the door and lifting the unconscious soldier off the ground with strength that the lanky serial killer shouldn't have possessed.

After throwing the soldier into the Humvee, he waved Mina over, and she leapt into the vehicle.

With gunfire and screams all around her, she knew what she had to do, and what she wanted to do. Her stomach grumbled.

She could hear a soldier's voice, maybe Crater's, shouting to his men while the dead kept coming. "Headshots only! Move out and secure the building!"

The soldier on the seat groaned, and Mina looked back to Jim.

He smirked broadly. "Well now, darling, I'm sure you're quite famished. Go ahead and dig in. I'd love to see your pretty smile."

She wanted it, more than anything. Maybe if she enjoyed this man's flesh, the zombies would disappear completely, and she would awaken from this vivid nightmare. She had to hope.

"Don't move! Put your hands up! Now!"

An assault rifle was pointed at them from a soldier who stood outside of the door. Jim put his hands up and rolled his eyes. Mina's hands rose slowly.

"Get those hands up high! HIGH!"

"Your friends are getting killed," Jim said, "and you're standing here pointing your weapon at two escaped nut-jobs. Seems like you got your priorities straight, buddy."

"I've got a John Doe who might be our target, need confirmation," the soldier said into his headset. "I've got a man down…"

The helicopter's spotlight swept over them, Mina could see the familiar afro appear behind their captor, and Mina opened her mouth to scream. She could feel her heart throbbing against her chest, and instead of screaming, a single name escaped through her mouth.

"Jake," she squeaked.

The dead version of Jake Wells grabbed the soldier's arms and bit into the back of his neck, spraying blood across the windshield and all over Jim's face. Jim dove over Mina as bullets sprayed over their heads while the soldier screamed in agony. Jake pushed his prey to the ground, and the gun continued to fire wildly into the sky. Jim and Mina kept their hands over their heads until the machine gun abruptly stopped. The dying man's tortured gurgles had replaced the sound of his weapon.

"Jake was such a nice young man," Jim said. "I hope he enjoys his meal. And you do the same."

Jim grabbed the assault rifle that belonged to the unconscious soldier they had captured. He sighed and said. "I'm not really a fan of guns, you know. There's nothing pretty or even remotely artistic about shooting a gun. But, well, troubled times call for drastic measures."

He slid out of the window and positioned himself over the Humvee's roof. He squeezed the trigger for a short, controlled burst, and the rear of the chopper exploded, causing the entire bird to spin chaotically. It lost altitude and tipped awkwardly until its blades slashed across the roofs of several cars. Corpses were chopped into pieces by the grinding blades, as metal screamed with the chopper's crash into the parking lot.

Jim eased himself behind the steering wheel again and positioned the smoking assault rifle against the dashboard. "Good to know I've still got it."

He turned the key in the ignition and stepped on the gas pedal. As suddenly as she had been thrust into the nightmare scenario, Mina was leaving Eloise Fields behind. She watched as the hospital faded into the distance while soldiers struggled in their battle against the undead.

Her stomach grumbled again.

Mina wanted to ask questions, but Jim turned to her just as the soldier they'd taken captive groaned.

"I've got a lot of fans who adore me," Jim said. "But let's talk about you for a moment."

Mina didn't know what to say. "Well, um, thank you, for um, saving me. I liked it. You're strong."

"They’re not going to find us. I grew up here, so I know these streets a lot better than they do. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Let me drive and you can… eat."

Mina shuddered. "I want to make them go away. Maybe if I do this, I'll wake up, and I’ll be back in my bed beneath the covers. Maybe the doctor gave me a really heavy dosage of something new."

"This is real," Jim said. "You need to wrap your head around it. This was going to happen at some point, it was only a matter of when. Especially after what I saw in Egypt. You have no idea what's in store for the human race. The end of the world will be the most beautiful moment in history."

"You said I had something to do with it."

"You're the temporal gateway, but that's a little complicated. I'm worried about you. I always thought the doctors would screw you up, maybe get a little too curious, but I'm not exactly sure how it happened. We can talk about that later. We'll have plenty of time."

Mina remembered the video she made for Patrick before the cops arrested her. She never intended for anything terrible to happen, but she couldn't help herself. The strange voice that spoke to her while she ate the actor was something she could never forget.

The memory of that meal reminded her of the opportunity she had, once again. There was no moral ambiguity at stake, because she had been more than willing to eat Jake.

The soldier groaned again, and Mina took a deep breath.

***

Her victim's eyes fluttered open while she loomed over him. His stale breath warmed her face as she kissed his throat. His skin was cold, and his sweat was salty. She kissed him below the chin, gently biting him as a lover would. She could feel the tension in his body loosen as he slowly awakened.

"It's just a bad dream," Mina softly caressed his face.

His hand was on the back of her head when she bit hard enough to fill her mouth full of his blood. He cried out, and she held on to his shoulders while he tried to wrench her head away from his bleeding jugular. He finally managed to jerk her back, and she could see the blood gush all over the Humvee's upholstered seat.

The soldier wrapped his strong hands around her throat. She smeared his own blood across his face while she choked. His hands were incredibly strong, and he was desperate to live. He slammed her against the dashboard, and strands of her red hair obscured her vision momentarily. Blood oozed over his gear, and it was all she could to grab his bleeding neck and hold on while he slammed her back against the dashboard again.

The butt of the assault rifle struck him hard in the side of the head and he wavered, his strength failing as consciousness fled. His grip slackened, and Mina turned to see Jim smirk.

"I just want to make you happy," he said. "Bon appétit, my dear."

Mina's heart raced from the excitement as she plunged her face into his throat and tore at his exposed skin with her teeth. She wrapped her arms tightly around his body and gorged herself. Her body tingled, and she could feel warmth flood her body, a sensation she didn't know she missed, a feeling she associated with the videos her and Patrick made together.

She writhed against the soldier's warm, urine-wet crotch while his blood filled her mouth. His skin tasted like dirty rubber, but as she swallowed a mouthful, her body shook with pleasure. She gasped and spread her legs across his waist.

Mina greedily plunged her face into his throat again, rubbing her face in his blood. She grinded her pelvis against him while she bit where she believed his veins might be hiding.

Thick, syrupy blood sprayed her face and temporarily blinded her. She opened her mouth to welcome the gory shower. She ran her fingers through her hair and felt the rush of warmth that flared up from her groin. Stars exploded in front of her eyes and the tips of her toes tingled. Her body felt numb and weak; she could no longer hold herself upright above him. She collapsed against his face and took another bite out of his cheek.

The soldier finally died. She tugged on his ear lobe with her teeth. 

Jim's voice finally crashed through her distorted sense of acoustics. "You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, Mina. You've inspired me to do something… memorable."