A Little Undead (4 page)

For a time it seemed like a
fairy tale romance, Prince Charming sweeping Cinderella off her feet
into happily ever after. After our third casual lunch date he asked
me out on a moonlit cruise on his brother's yacht. The shock that
his brother could possibly be that wealthy aside, the trip across the
ocean waters had been spectacular. At last, I could experience the
outdoors without worry or fear. Zombies and starving wolves and
every other bedtime story monster miles away across the sparkling
ocean, leaving the pair of us alone in a moonlit paradise.

Then, after we puttered back
into the cove and anchored the boat, had come the moment.
Phosphorescent plankton glowed beneath the rocking boat, stars
twinkled above, and blushing maiden that I was I knew it was time for
the kiss. My body turned red as flames as I followed the first kiss
with another, brushing my lips against his neck... I didn't mean to
bite him, but once I drew blood my canines grew into fangs in seconds
and it was all I could do to stop myself from shaking him to pieces
in my teeth like a dog shakes a bird. Despite all evidence to the
contrary I still hoped I had just imagined that. After all, whoever
heard of growing fangs after kissing someone?

Adding to my shocked, almost
drugged surprise, Alex had his own transformation trick to play.
Bones cracked obscenely as his body changed shape. His widening neck
and swiftly-sprouting fur broke my hold on him, even as a twisted
paw-hand sent me falling over the railing of the yacht. In the end
it was only a wolf's inability to perform a swan dive that gave me
the head start I needed to get away.

The strange energy that had
propelled me since this madness began had fled, the last of it
drained in that last amazing, terribly painful leap. Only my
faltering willpower kept me upright now as I pushed myself onwards.
My heart pounded in my chest, its beat echoing in my legs and feet as
blood pulsed from my wounds. I needed to get somewhere safe –
and fast.

A revenge-minded werewolf
hunting me wasn't all I had to worry about. There was no telling how
many zombies might track me down, attracted by the smell of
fresh-fallen blood. Military-entrenched city or not, I wasn't going
to trust my life to chance here at the edge of the slums. When the
Animator virus first spread it was hours before there was any signs
of revival. Now someone could turn in as little as five minutes, and
that was during the day. At night they'd be munching on you in under
a minute. That didn't leave long for a family member or loved one to
say their goodbyes and put them out of their misery for good.

The police station was a welcome
beacon of light amidst the darkness. I didn't know how many false
turns I made trying to find it but I knew I was nearly at my limit.
Legs growing heavier by the moment my pace slowed to a crawl as I
forced my way up the steps and leaned deep into the door to open it.
“
Thunk
.” To my misfortune the door was far lighter
than it appeared and I made my third visitation with the ground that
night.

“
What the hell?” The
voice was masculine and deep. “Fred, get Bruce in here asap.”

“
I'm alright,” I
said from the floor, not entirely convincingly.
'At least my bad
shoulder landed skywards or I might be screaming and swearing my head
off right now.'

“
My name is Morris. Can
you tell me yours and what happened?” He was speaking to me
like a little kid hurt on the playground. I didn't look that young,
did I? Or perhaps I did, given that all my carefully applied makeup
had likely washed off thanks to my dunk in the ocean and I no longer
had my four inch heels to prop me up to the five foot mark. Well,
even if I no longer looked as old as my sister, let alone nineteen, I
could at least act my age and put on a stiff upper lip.

Craning my head to look at the
fellow I was less than pleasantly surprised. With a neatly trimmed
black beard, square jaw, and salt and pepper hair, he looked like a
cardboard cutout military officer. Unfortunately, from his insignia
he was also the captain of this police station. Not that I had
anything against military people exactly, but I wasn't entirely sure
I wanted one as my boss. Briefly I contemplated pretending to be
someone else, but pretending to be an orphaned, recently mugged
thirteen-year-old would probably cause more problems than it would
save me. “Uh, hi, I'm Julie Fisher.” His eyes widened
slightly in recognition. “Sorry about being a day early.”

'I'm also sorry about showing
up barefoot in a sleeveless leopard-print blouse and black skirt, not
to mention covered in blood. Though admittedly that last one might
help my street cred if so much of it wasn't mine.'
The
outfit was my first truly frivolous purchase since arriving in
Boston. I knew they wouldn't be as durable as the heeled boots,
jeans, and T-shirts I normally wore, but I thought they'd last for
more than a single date. Picking the sodden fabric away from my
clammy skin I wondered how long it would be before I could afford the
like again, even second-hand as it was.

“
Jeeze, Captain,”
called a voice from behind me, “I thought when they sent new
recruits by mail they were supposed to slap a 'fragile' sticker on
the box.”

'If I was on my feet right
now I would... well, probably nothing. I'd definitely imagine hitting
him though.'
Besides,
I'd heard a lot worse back when I was still in school.

“
Can it Bruce,”
responded Morris. “Take a look at her shoulder and then take
her to the hospital. You can grab her statement once you get there.”
With that he turned and walked off, Fred taking his position at the
front desk. I shivered a little at the word 'hospital' but I doubted
they would take the reaction as anything other than a chill from my
still damp clothes.
'Wow, tough department. You'd think my
arrival would cause a little more stir.'
It had hardly taken a
second for the captain to switch from caring and compassionate to an
utterly emotionless block of authority in human form.
'Useful
skill for a captain, I suppose.'
I
never expected him to be chummy with me, but I expected a little more
warmth. He did offer me a job, so he must have thought I was worth
something. Either that or this neighborhood was in even worse shape
and more underfunded than Cassandra's litany of complaints had
suggested and he simply couldn't convince anyone else to accept the
post.

The aforementioned Bruce stepped
in my field of vision. He was young, handsome in a sort of boyish
way, possibly short if my judgment from the ground could be trusted,
and unfortunately not my type.
'It's a shame, too. If I picked
guys like this I'd probably stand a better chance of not being eaten
alive. That being said, I've really only had one boyfriend who didn't
drop me after the first date and he tried to eat me. It's not like
the only men who are interested in me are wolves, right?'
It was
sort of sad that these counted as my happy thoughts at the moment.
Almost unbelievably, my now
ex
-boyfriend changing into a wolf
before my eyes had not been the most disturbing thing to happen to me
tonight.
'Oops, he's saying something isn't he.'

“–
dislocated. I can
set it for you or you can wait for the hospital staff. I warn you, it
could be a few hours before they see you. You haven't lost enough
blood to be put on the high-priority list and the hospital is
short-staffed.” That was putting it lightly. Medical staff
had been some of the hardest hit by the early zombie risings, and
even years later there were few college students with the inclination
to go into the field. The fact that Bruce had even a cursory
knowledge of first aid was probably enough to make him the office's
de facto paramedic.

“
Go ahead and set it, this
isn't the first time it's happened and I'd rather just get it over
with.” Soccer could be surprisingly brutal for a game that
generally didn't involve fists. I wasn't even playing at the time.
'
Accident indeed, more like not-so-accidental bullying.'

“
Alright, here we go.”
As his hands touched my skin I felt fangs grow in my mouth for the
second time of my life.
'Not now! This is how this whole mess got
started in the first place.'
“Three–” I felt
my mind start to glaze over as my eyes locked onto the pulsing artery
in his neck.

“
Mmfugeh!” came my
muffled yell as my shoulder snapped back into place. Blood flooded my
mouth as my newly grown fangs cut into my lip. The blood was
strangely bitter on my tongue, not at all like Alex's.

Teeth sinking into warm,
tender flesh, tongue lapping at the blood that filled my senses like
hot chocolate in winter or the first slice of apple pie straight from
the oven. Power burning in my stomach, legs twitching with energy as
if they could run forever as my mind drifts in the clouds –
I shook myself from the memory before I could relive the
stomach-turning sound of cracking bone as Alex transformed, skin
melting as he roared his rage to the crescent moon '
What a night.
'
I turned my head to spit in the waste basket beside me but found
myself reflexively gulping down what blood remained in my mouth
instead. “Gahh!”

“
Are you okay? Does it it
feel like anything's fractured?”

“
I'm just peachy.”
My eyes lay half in shadow as I let my head hang towards the floor,
my hair falling into a curtain around my face. Reluctantly I accepted
his help in reaching a chair, keeping my eyes averted from his neck
until his hands left my skin. I wasn't sure I liked him being so
close to me, but I wasn't sure I disliked it either. Regardless, I
knew it wouldn't end well.

“
Did you bite your tongue?
You've got a bit of blood on your chin.”
'

Who is this guy, my mother?'
Wary of revealing my fanged state I kept my lips firmly sealed,
answering his question with a small shake of my head. Like some
eighteenth century butler he walked off to return moments later with
a box of napkins and a cup of water from the water cooler. Cautiously
taking them without touching his hands I gave him a small, toothless
smile in gratitude. It would probably take a gallon to rid the taste
of blood from my mouth, a bucket of bleach for the clothes, and a
very long shower to clean off the rest of me, but at least it was a
start.

Hiding my mouth behind the
plastic cup I tried to dissuade him. “You really don't have to
worry about me. Just grab me some bandages and iodine rinse and I'll
be fine.”

Bruce glanced at my leg. “Don't
be ridiculous, that cut on your leg needs stitches, and there's a
high risk of infection for your shoulder.”

Tongue testing my fangs I felt
myself relax a touch as the troublesome things finally began to
shrink. “Seriously, don't worry about it. I'm a fast healer.”
'Perhaps a little too fast.'
Rinsing my bloodstained teeth
with a swish of water I began to clean my face and hands with the
tissues as Bruce peered at me.
'Maybe I'm a werewolf from being
around Alex. Wolves sorta have fangs, right? Or an alien?'
I
wanted to say vampire but I'd know if I was dead and allergic to
sunlight, wouldn't I?

My heart was still beating,
brief cessation in breathing notwithstanding, and still pounding hard
enough after the run to make my chest ache. '
If one of the hairs
from his scruffy beard got in my food and contaminated me somehow he
is so going down, crazy werewolf or not.'
Noticing Fred coming
over with the first aid kit I quickly waved him off as a renewed wave
of bloodlust swept through my body.
'What's wrong with me? I never
used to want to eat people alive.'
My
head cocked to one side. '
Or eat dead people. I'm pretty
sure I still don't want to do that, so that's one plus at least,
right?'
Though in the case of
eating zombies I doubted anyone would really mind.

“
I can treat myself, don't
worry.” I snatched the box from him, hoping he wouldn't be too
put off by my behavior. His impression of me was bad enough already.
I didn't want to be known as the maiden in distress but being prickly
wouldn't win me many friends either. It wouldn't take much for them
to start thinking of me as some bratty kid or someone to pity, and I
refused to be pitied. First impressions, I decided, were entirely
too exhausting.

'It's not the sort of change
that happens without a person knowing,'
I assured myself.
'Dracula bit those girls in the book multiple times before they
turned all bloodthirsty and fangy, right?'
Coming out of my
musings I noticed the bloody tissue entirely too close to my mouth
and with force of will threw it into a nearby garbage can.
'Frikk,
maybe I am a vampire.
'

“
If you could call me a
cab I'd be grateful.” Another worthless expense. Obviously I
couldn't walk home in the dark, not with Alex the big bad wolf out
there, but maybe there was a bench or something inside the station
that I could nap on 'til daybreak. Then again, a bench was bad
enough when
not
covered in
cuts and bruises. Besides, I doubted I could sleep in such an
exposed place. Something as little as the draft from an open window
was enough to wake me up if the sun wasn't out. Random people
walking around while I dozed was a definite no-no.