Love in the Time of Zombies (13 page)

“Are
you two coming or what?”  Caleb demanded.  He wrenched the door open and
stalked inside Prowl.  “I swear to Christ, it’s like I’m fucking babysitting.”

“We’d
have a lot more fun if we left him behind.”  Zeke grumbled, but he stepped back
and led Scotlyn into the club.  “Remember not to touch anyone, alright?”

“What
are the odds of me forgetting that?”  She whispered back.  “Is everyone in
here… like you?”

“Baby,
there’s nobody like me.”

“Don’t
start.”

The
inside of Prowl was dark and dingy and packed with people.  Or shape shifters. 
Or
whatever
.  A lot of them must’ve had the same idea Caleb did, about
using this as a rendezvous point.  It seemed like it had become some kind of
gathering place for the survivors of the zombie attacks.  There was a generator
going, providing them with electricity to spin the disco ball on the ceiling
and keep the neon lights on.  Someone had even hung a banner over the bar that
read: “Welcome to the End of the World:  Two Drink Minimum.”

Freak
out later
.

“This
club caters to the supernatural.  It’s not just shifters.  It’s all kinds.” 
Zeke didn’t look thrilled to be there.  “You’re probably one of the only humans
who’s ever been through the door.  It’s technically against the rules.  Try not
to mention your species.”

“Are
there any werewolves in here?”  She was morbidly curious to see one.

“God
no.  No one would let those assholes through the door.  They’re even worse than
the humans.”

“Yeah,
it seems like a discriminating place.”  Scotlyn eyed a tall guy who appeared to
have horns and who was drinking from four glasses at once.  “I always hated
that
Star Wars
bar scene, just to let you know.  Except for Han.  Han
was hot.  But the aliens were all fake looking and the music sucked.”

“Trixie,
don’t criticize my religion.  Nothing in
Star Wars
sucked.  Not in
New
Hope
Star Wars, anyway.  This place is nothing like the cantina.”

Someone
stared playing
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
over the jukebox.

She
arched a brow at him.

“REM
wasn’t in
Star Wars
.”  He insisted.  “Go sit at the bar and behave.  I
have to go help Caleb look for someone even more annoying than he is.”

“Is
that even possible?”

“When
it comes to the pack, it’s ever descending
levels
of annoying.”

Scotlyn
grabbed Zeke’s arm as he turned away.  “You won’t leave without me, right?” 
She nursed the low grade fear that he’d vanish if she let him out of her sight.

“You’re
wearing red lingerie that I paid for, baby.  What do you think?”  He winked at
her and then pushed his way into the crowd.

Scotlyn
sighed and headed over to claim a barstool.  On her left, a guy with purple
hair had his head down on the counter sobbing.  On her right, a girl in Nirvana
era flannel and torn jeans was finishing a Sudoku puzzle from the last edition
of newspaper that would ever be printed.

Jesus,
that was depressing.

The
normal looking woman behind the bar leaned watched Scotlyn warily.  “What’ll ya
have?”  Apparently she’d shown up for her shift, zombies be damned.

“Something
with alcohol and caffeine.”

“Irish
coffee?”

“Perfect.”

“You
want blood in it?  ‘Cause it’ll be extra”

“No,
thanks.  I’m dieting.”  She set Pucci’s carrier down on the floor next to her. 
“Do you have cat food, by any chance?”

“We
have barbequed Siamese as an appetizer, but only on the dinner menu.”

Scotlyn
stared at her.

The
bartender stared back.

“Just
the drink, then.”  Scotlyn finally said.

The
woman nodded and shuffled off.

Scotlyn
ran a hand through her hair.  Maybe she should go wait outside with the
zombies.  On the counter in front of her, she saw a white plastic salt shaker
and she pocketed it.  She still wasn’t real clear on the rules of shape
shifters, but it seemed like that would be a good thing to have on hand just in
case Zeke passed out on her, again.  The patrons would just have to eat their
kitten burgers without seasoning.

“Do
you know what’s going on out there?”  The crying guy said suddenly.  He turned
to look at her, his eyes red and not just from the tears.  They were just…
red.  How many supernatural beings were in this town, just passing themselves
off as punks or goths or nonconformist humans?  Why had she never noticed
before?  “Is the Strip still infested with zombies?”

“I
don’t know.  I’m sorry.  I’ve been hiding in a bathroom since it all started.”

“Oh.” 
He sniffed, looking more interested.  Clearly, he was of the mindset that
spreading gossip was even more rewarding that receiving it.  “Well, see, the
sirens –You know, the chicks with the voices?-- they somehow got the sound
system at the Bellagio going and they set up a recording of their songs.  It
lured most of the zombies in town over there.”

Scotlyn
tried not to stare at his multiple rows of shark-like teeth.  “Well, that was
clever.”  It also explained the surprising lack of zombies on this side of
town.

“Lured
a lot of the humans over there, too.  Then, the zombies ate them.  That kept
‘em busy all day yesterday.”

“Uh-huh.” 
Scotlyn couldn’t manage another response to that.

“Vamps
are fucking
pissed
about that part, though.  They have Fremont Street,
now, and they’re offering bounties on any live humans we can round-up.  They’re
desperate for blood.  Not that I’m thinking about making any quick cash at a time
like this.”  He swiped at his damp cheek.  “Power on the Strip conked out this
morning.  Without the lure of the siren songs, the zombies will be coming after
all of us, ya know?  Scattering.”

“Maybe
they just attack humans.”  Scotlyn suggested, although she had no idea why she
was trying to comfort this guy.

Red
eyes overflowed in another bout of weeping.  “That’s just what Jasper said
before they ate him!”  He dropped his face into his palms, his whole body
shaking with the force of his sobs.  “I never
ever
thought I’d see the
day when
humans
were a threat to us, but there’s just too many of them. 
We’re all on the run from dead
humans!
  We don’t even turn when we get
bit like they do.  They just chow down on our flesh and we
die
.”

Scotlyn
gave his shoulder a comforting pat.  “Well, honestly, would you
want
to
turn into a zombie?”

“Rather
than let humans be top of the food chain? 
Yes
.  It’s a total disgrace
to go out this way.  With
humans
killing us?  With
them
in
charge?  We might as well turn the world over to slugs!”

Scotlyn
made a face.  “Slugs?”  Human prejudice clearly ran high.  “I don’t think…”

The
guy cut her off, pounding his forehead up and down on the bar top in an
explosion of grief.  “Why. is. this. hap.pen.ing?”  Each syllable was
punctuated with a thud of his skull against the counter.

“Karl,”
the girl in the flannel shirt interjected in a completely neutral voice, “we
talked about the wailing, didn’t we?”  She sounded downright bored with the End
of Days.

“I
can’t help it!”  He wailed.  “Everything is
gone
, Darcy.  Gone to the
humans!
”

Scotlyn
swiveled on her barstool to stare at the girl.  “You’re Darcy?”

The
deceptively human looking woman let out a long sigh and finally took her eyes
off her puzzle.  She looked over at Karl.  “Go away.”

Karl
swallowed, his tears instantly drying.  “Really?”

“Really.”

Karl
hurried away far faster than any guy with hundreds of teeth should ever need to
hurry away from a girl who looked like a fashion model.

Darcy
refocused on her puzzle, but her attention shifted to Scotlyn.  “You here with
the shifters?”  It wasn’t a question.

Scotlyn
frowned at her, wondering what the hell kind of creature Darcy was that she
terrified Karl.  She didn’t seem particularly scary.  Darcy was stunningly,
stunningly
beautiful, with thick dark hair and amber colored eyes.  She looked exactly
like the showgirls at the casino who danced at center stage and scoffed with
derision when they saw Scotlyn performing in the kids’ show.  None of that made
Scotlyn eager to talk to her.

“Zeke
and Caleb are looking for you.”  She said warily.  “I’m Zeke’s assistant.  Scotlyn
Summerline.”

Darcy
filled in another Sudoku square.  She was using a pen, which showed an annoying
amount of confidence in her ability to get the puzzle right the first time.  “Zeke
needs an assistant to schedule his smoking breaks and womanizing, now?”

Scotlyn’s
eyes narrowed.  It was one thing for her to complain about Zeke’s squandered
life, but everyone else needed to shut up about it.  “Zeke’s a business
owner.”  She snapped.  “We own a golf course.”

Darcy
nodded.  “Yeah, I saw the protests on the news.  Nice place.”

The
bartender returned with the Irish coffee and Scotlyn flashed her a quick look. 
“Thanks.”  She turned back to Darcy.  “How do you even
know
Zeke?”  She
demanded.

And
why was every woman he met so damn gorgeous?

“I
know a lot of people.”  Darcy reached into her pocket and came up with a
hundred.  “I’ll take another one, Jacqueline.”

The
bartender snatched up the money and quickly set a glass of thick, dark liquid
in front of her.

Scotlyn’s
eyes widened.  It didn’t take a medical doctor to know it was blood.

Freak
out later.

Freak
out later.

Freak
out later.

Darcy
set her pen aside and reached for a straw.  Her fingernails were painted
brilliant crimson.  “The price went up ten times since yesterday.  But it
doesn’t much matter.  I’m apparently the only one who’s noticed that money is
now pretty much just toilet paper.”  She tapped the end of the straw on the bar
top to free it from its paper wrapper and popped it into her glass.  “We’ve
gone back to a barter economy.”  She took a sip of her blood, the straw going
opaque red.

Scotlyn
barely suppressed a shudder.  “I’m guessing you’re a vampire.”

“On
my mother’s side.”  Darcy leaned back to look Scotlyn up and down.  “I’m
guessing you’re… not.”

“I
never met my mother, so who’s to say?”  Scotlyn picked up her coffee and belted
it back.  Her eyes went wide as she realized just how much
Irish
Jacqueline had added to the drink.  She doubled over coughing.

Darcy
gave a slow smile.

“Scotlyn!” 
Zeke stalked over to the bar.  “Didn’t I tell you not to talk to…?”  His eyes
fixed on Darcy.  “Shit! 
There
you are.”

“Here
I am.”  Darcy scanned his stolen Wal-Mart couture.  “What the hell are you
wearing, Z?”`

Caleb
came up behind her.  “Hooray.  Darcy wasn’t eaten by zombies.  Even they have
standards, huh, darlin’?”

“Cale.” 
She didn’t bother to turn and look at him.  “Remember when I said, ‘Maybe if
you were the last man on Earth?’”  Amber eyes glinted.  “Well, we’re getting
close and it turns out… Nope.  Not even then.”

Caleb
and Zeke both grinned at that.

Whoever
Darcy was to the brothers, it was clear they liked her in the “annoying kid
sister” sense of the word.  They were thrilled to see her safe and sound and
snarking at them.  Zeke reached over to ruffle her hair.

Caleb
leaned against the counter, giving her a kiss on the side of her head.  “We need
some information.  How much you charging today, Darce?”

“It
turns out that money’s just toilet paper.”  Scotlyn told him, her eyes still
watering from the whiskey.  “We were just discussing that we’re now living in a
barter economy.”

Caleb
glanced at her.  “Didn’t you swear you
weren’t
going to hang out with
vampires, cutie-pie?”

“Yes.” 
Zeke intoned.

“It
wasn’t my fault!  I was just ordering coffee.”

Caleb
snorted and looked back at Darcy.  “How much?”  He repeated.

“The
human told you, money is a thing of the past.”  Darcy lifted her glass in a
mock toast.  “Darcy-Mart’s closed, boys.”

“Then
we’ll barter.”  Caleb persisted.  “Come on, we have to find the pack.”

“I
already found them.  I can tell you where they are for free, in fact.  Joseff’s
got them locked up.”

Caleb’s
smirk faded.  “Son-of-a-bitch.”

“They’re
safer with him than anywhere else.”  Darcy retorted.  “He won’t hurt them.”

“You
sure about that?”

“
Yes
. 
Look, I’ll get them free, alright?  You leave town while you can.  Electricity’s
gone.  Shock is wearing off.  Zombies are spreading out.  Even you guys should
sense that it’s time to let what happened in Vegas
stay
in Vegas and hit
the road.”