The zombies had taken quite the circuitous route after leaving the pool. They had gone back into the woods and then back behind the tennis courts and football field. After that they had crossed the street and and gone back to into the woods behind a neighborhood. As he followed the trail, Calvin got a sinking sensation that he knew where they were heading. He picked up his pace, but they had almost a two hour head start and if he was wrong then he would have a hell of a time picking up where he had left off.
Calvin sprinted towards Harris’ house with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The zombie trail had led him right back to where he had begun his night. Calving cursed to himself and surveyed the scene.
A whole horde of zombies was milling about disinterestedly around the house. They weren’t trying to break in through the windows or batter down the door. They were just...standing there. Calvin waited at the edge of the woods. The scent trail left by Sara’s blood definitely led here. These were the same zombies that had attacked the pool.
The hair on the back of Calvin’s neck bristled just a second too late. The hammer of an old revolver being thumbed back made its telltale click and Calvin didn’t have time to wonder how someone had managed to sneak up on him while he was transformed. It should have been impossible with his greatly improved hearing, sight, and sense of smell.
“I’m not sure this would kill you, but I know it would sure hurt like hell,” a familiar voice whispered in his ear.
Calvin froze, his previous coldly calculating thoughts plotting a sharp elbow jab to knock the gun away from his temple suddenly falling out of his head like so many spilled jelly beans.
“Yes, I’m probably as surprised as you to be here,” she told him.
“How?” Calvin asked.
“All in good time. That is, if you behave yourself and cooperate, of course. Otherwise you get to find out just how necessary it is to shoot a werewolf with a silver bullet to kill him.”
“What do you want?” Calvin growled.
“It’s not what I want that you need to worry about. Marla has a deal to offer you.”
“Out with it!” Calvin said angrily.
“Temper, temper. But I guess that’s normal for you werewolves. Impulse control comes hard when you’re a slave to the moon. You have friends inside this house. Marla’s minions are similarly staged outside Kira’s house, as well as Logan’s, and of course your family’s home. If you agree to do one favor for her then your loved ones live. If not, they die screaming and you get a bullet in the head.”
“Some choice,” Calvin groused. “What’s this favor?”
“Marla wanted to make you agree blindly to any favor she requested, but I convinced her that you would cooperate. After all, I know you’re capable of murder given the right circumstances.”
Calvin turned his head around carefully. Sara stood behind him with an enormous revolver pointed at his head. She appeared to be alive, but even more pale than usual and her blue eyes gleamed with a kind of spiteful mania that Calvin had never seen before. She had blood covering her tattered clothes and he could see the only semi-healed wounds underneath her torn shirt.
“I was saving your life,” Calvin answered slowly. He did not understand how Sara was still alive or why she had a gun to his head.
“And now you’re saving the lives of three family members and four friends, plus their families.” Sara smiled coldly.
“Who is it that you want me to kill?” Calvin asked emotionlessly.
“There’s the practical Calvin I know and don’t hate as much as I hate everyone else!” Sara chortled triumphantly. “The obnoxious gentleman who calls himself a business werewolf has got to go. Marla has taken an extreme dislike to the fellow. Call him up, she knows you have his phone number, and tell him you have captured Marla. Then when he arrives to take her into custody, kill him.”
Calvin took a deep breath. He did not enjoy making choices that were so heavily stacked against him.
“You might be able to save Harris and Nel, but the others are far beyond your reach. And all that is assuming that you can dodge or survive my shot to your stubborn noggin,” Sara said, guessing his line of thinking. “You’re a pragmatist, Calvin. Kill one stranger to save seven loved ones and even more innocents. As much as you want it to be, this isn’t a hard choice for you. Tim Kane is not a nice man, if that eases your conscience any. He murdered Marla’s family after she inadvertently raised the whole cemetery in her hometown as zombies. She was young and scared, unable to control her new powers and he destroyed everyone she loved.”
“Fine!” Calvin spat disgustedly. He did not like being coerced into a decision. “I’ll call him tomorrow. Now call off the zombies.”
Sara ran her hands through the hair behind his ears. “I knew you would see reason. Too bad Marla doesn’t trust you.” Sara pulled the trigger and everything went black.
+
Harris peeked out the window again. There were still zombies all over his parents’ lawn. They weren’t attacking or anything, just standing there, waiting. He and his father had pushed his parents’ bed in front of the staircase to block the stairs and the whole family plus Nel were huddled on the second floor of their house armed with steak knives and softball bats.
“That was a gunshot,” Harris said.
“Zombies can’t use guns, maybe it’s the police,” Harris’ oldest sister, who was two years younger than him, speculated.
“Only one shot.” Nel was sitting in the middle of the hallway with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees as she rocked back and forth crazily. “More than one zombie out there. A lot more. That was probably her. She’s here for me.”
“Who?” Harris asked.
“Marla. She’s caught up to me again. I don’t know how she always finds me!” Nel rocked back and forth even faster.
“Well when the damn hell are the police going to get here?” Harris demanded. “This is ridiculous! I’ve seen zombie movies and all the small town hillbilly types are supposed to come out of the woodworks as soon as the dead rise up out of their graves! This is bullshit!”
Nel just shook her head. “You’re all going to die. She always makes me watch. I don’t know why. Maybe I can’t die. Maybe I’m immortal. I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want to watch any more people get eaten. Please! Don’t make me watch you get eaten!” Nel pleaded.
“Whatever you say,” Harris assured her.
“Hey! They’re leaving!” One of Harris’ younger sisters shouted from the window where she was keeping watch.
“No!” Nel shook her head. “It’s a trick. She just wants us to feel safe, but we’re never going to be safe. Not as long as she knows that we know about her.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Harris asked. “We can’t stay up here forever.”
“Obviously! She’ll just burn the house down. Marla loves fire. Loves to watch the flames dance.” Nel was staring off into the middle distance, clearly not looking at anything or anyone.
“You aren’t answering my question! What the hell do we do?” Harris demanded.
“You just die! Everyone always dies on me! You all leave me alone and I hate every last one of you for it!” Nel stood and squeezed past their makeshift and ran downstairs. Harris heard the door slam and then he was alone with his frightened and very confused family.
+
Logan woke up in his bed. He was covered in icy sweat and he had no idea which of his dreams had been nightmares and which had been real. Then he realized that someone was sitting on the edge of his bed. And it was a girl.
“What...uh...hi,” Logan said awkwardly.
“Poor Logan,” Sara replied.
“I thought...I thought...didn’t something happen at the pool?” Logan asked.
Sara nodded sadly. “Indeed it did. I expected more from you, Logan. Even Calvin tried to save me. Selfish, arrogant, aloof Calvin grabbed my hand and risked his life while you ran for your life with Harris. I always thought you were better than that chauvinistic idiot, but I guess I was wrong.”
“I am better! I am!” Logan assured her.
Sara smiled. “Then it’s time for you to prove it.”
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