Grave Creatures Read online

  “Eagles carrying paint pellets infused with magically enhanced nanites that shred zombies on contact,” interrupted Jasmine. “We know.”

  Their dark expressions changed to laughter.

  “It’s frickin’ brilliant,” Felicia said.

  Rachel’s eyes opened wide and she spun around. “Wait, you like this idea?”

  “Are you kidding?” answered Felicia. “I love this idea. We’re going to allow people to have a blast while destroying zombies, and they’ll think it’s nothing but a game. I think it’s fantastic.”

  I was feeling a hint of pride at their reaction.

  Rachel was always pointing out the stupidity of my ideas. It was kind of her job. Not one she was hired for, but one she’d morphed into over our years together. So to have some support from others on the squad made her cynicism a little easier to manage.

  “And what if one of the zombies kills a normal?” she asked, attempting to sober our joy.

  “Already thought of and planned for,” I answered smoothly. This clearly confused her. “You see, our job is to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’ll be allowing people to shoot at the zombies from a distance while we spend our time making sure none of the rotting corpses gets close to the normals.”

  “Fair enough,” she said with a slow nod. “And what if Fred starts casting spells at the normals?”

  Shit.

  Chapter 33

  We’d spent the entire night and the next day building out the plan.

  There were eighty-three people signed up to our “zombie bashing party,” which started at six. Shooting wouldn’t commence until after dark, of course, and Turbo was keeping a keen eye on zombie movement to make sure we’d be ready in time. We had to have all the weapons set, bullets made, and a plan in place to make sure that everyone was certain that this was nothing but make believe.

  Having Paula on the team would have been perfect, but she was in the hands of Shitfaced Fred.

  My mages had been working with their contacts at the Crimson Focus, and also the Vampire Historical Records Department in order to build some of these amulets that Silver had mentioned to me in the last Director’s Meeting. I didn’t know what level of protection they would afford us, but I hoped it’d be decent.

  Per EQK’s recommendation, Turbo built out a bomb detection system. It was keyed to the same glasses that we wore for spotting zombies, so we’d be able to tell in an instant if there were any mines lying around. He’d also had a machine churning out paint pellets by the hundreds. There were already 20 barrels of the things at the ready.

  Portman had brought over a fleet of vans to help us carry everything to the site. He needed his team to be there to clean up the carnage anyway, and I promised he could take part in the battle.

  Everything was loaded up and ready to go.

  “We’ve got a problem, Chief,” said Chuck as he walked up holding a clipboard.

  “Why?” I replied irritably.

  “Huh?”

  “Why do we always have a problem? Can’t we just do something one time without a hitch?”

  “Well,” he said, shifting in place, “it’s not like it’s a huge problem or anything. It’s just that the mages were only able to put together four amulets for protection.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah. They wanted to do more, but…”

  “No, sorry,” I interrupted, “I mean that’s the problem?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “If that’s the biggest issue that rears its ugly head tonight, Chuck, I’ll be the happiest man in Vegas.”

  So we had four amulets and seven officers. I wasn’t counting Warren as these were zombies we’re going to be fighting, not skeletons. He apparently had a few spells up his sleeve to protect the civilians against magical attacks anyway.

  We headed off toward the Tule Springs Fossil Beds on the outskirts of town. The zombie army was on track to overrun the subdivisions in that area within a few hours. I assumed that Fred was smart enough to steer clear of the Clark County Shooting Complex.

  “I’ve been thinking about something,” I said to Rachel as we led the way to the event. “You’ve probably heard that we only have four amulets. I think we need to take them and sneak around behind Fred.”

  She nodded. “Not a bad idea, actually.”

  “Thanks.” I checked my rear view mirror to make sure everyone was with me. It was pointless because they all knew where they were going, but I was a creature of habit. “You were right about Fred casting spells at the normals. We have to take him out.”

  “Warren has built up some shielding to help protect them.”

  “And that will definitely help, but I think we both know that Fred has next-level capabilities.”

  “True.” She drummed her fingers on her knee. “But we can’t pull four officers off the front either.”

  “Agreed. You and I are going to go alone.”

  “What?”

  “There’s no other way, Rachel. We have to get behind the lines and take out Fred and whatever other lackeys he’s got, liberate Paula, and then lay down fire on the zombies from the rear.”

  “That’s nuts,” she said with a laugh. She then followed that up with, “I’m in.”

  One of the many things I loved about Rachel, and most of my crew, was that they rose up in the face of a challenge. They’d often grumble and complain about it, but they were built for this…literally. The genetic enhancements every PPD officer received made them adrenaline junkies. Skydiving, base jumping, fast cars, hang gliding, and chasing bad guys was a way of life for them. This was less so for the likes of Serena and Griff, but that’s because they were both older and more in control of themselves. Warren was also an outlier, unless there were skeletons around, apparently.

  “What if he has apprentices with him?” Rachel asked as we continued our trip. “He could also have full wizards or mages, for that matter. Possibly even werewolves, vampires, fae, pixies, and so on.”

  I winced at the thought of pixies being there. They were as irritating as gnats, and far more powerful.

  “Could he really control all of that and the zombies?”

  “Not easily,” she admitted, “but, again, if he’s got help from apprentices and other mages, they could be dealing with the beasts.”

  That was a sobering thought. I had the feeling he’d have a few apprentices along, similar to the vision I’d had back on Freemont, but I didn’t take into account him stocking muscle. It made sense. Why would he leave himself unprotected?

  A thought struck.

  “He won’t have higher-level magic users,” I declared.

  “Why not?”

  “They’d be a threat.”

  She turned to look at me. I glanced over to see that she was surprised at my deduction.

  I winked.

  “Well done.” She said it as though she were impressed. “Mages work together all the time, but our demon-powered pal Reese had no other magic users on staff.” She paused. “He did want to bring you in on his plans, but he probably figured your magic was too low of a level to be worrisome.”

  “Yep.”

  She was about to continue when I held up my finger. I wanted to check in with base to make sure everything was a go. We couldn’t have any flub ups right now.

  “Lydia,” I called out through the connector, “how are we looking?”

  “Turbo reports that the zombie army is still en route, love muffin,” she answered. “There are also a bunch of normals gathering at the prescribed party location.”

  “Thanks, babe.”

  “Ugh,” said Rachel. “Anyway, so he’s still bound to have some bodyguards around and even though his apprentices aren’t likely to be anywhere near his skill level, it’s hard to believe that they’ll be weak.”

  “True.” I chewed my lip, trying to think of a way through this. “Any suggestions?”

  “We need cover,” she stated.

  “That’d be great,” I said, “but
we can’t risk the officers.”

  “Then we bring two solid shooters from the normals,” she replied without inflection.

  “What?”

  “We have two additional amulets that can protect them from Fred and his apprentices.”

  I gave her a quick look.

  She was serious.

  “Last I heard, Rachel, those amulets won’t stop non-magical attacks.” I would have expected a suggestion like this from Felicia, Chuck, or even Warren, but Rachel? No. “Hell, we don’t even know if the amulets will stop magic, do we?”

  “We tested them pretty thoroughly,” she answered. “Doesn’t mean that Fred won’t have some nasty tricks up his sleeve to bypass them, though.”

  “Exactly, and…”

  “Look, Ian,” Rachel said, interrupting me, “the fact is that if these zombies and Fred get through, there are going to be a hell of a lot more casualties than two normals.”

  She had me there. Fred was heading straight into a mass of communities. People were going to get hurt, killed, and possibly even turned into zombies themselves.

  “Uh,” I said, my mouth going dry. “I know that zombie bites don’t make living people into zombies. But what if a zombie kills a person and then says one of those power words?”

  Rachel groaned.

  Chapter 34

  We arrived at the party point to find a bunch of normals standing around wearing Mad Max style outfits. Ripped leathers, bandanas, dirt smeared on their faces, and all sorts of trinkets. They were clearly into this post apocalyptic stuff.

  “They look fun,” Rachel said as we got out of the car.

  I glanced down at my suit. “I feel a little overdressed.”

  “A little?” She snorted and gave me a once-over. “You’re always overdressed, Ian.”

  The rest of the vehicles poured in, sending up clouds of dust.

  Everyone started unloading the barrels as Rachel and I went out to talk to the normals. I had motioned them all to quiet down so that we could give them details on how everything was going to work.

  I had to play it cool so as not to give them the full details.

  “Hello, everyone,” I called out so they could all hear me. “My name is Ian Dex and I’m the Chief of the Las Vegas Paranormal Police Dep…” Rachel hit my arm. “Erm, I mean the Las Vegas Paranormal Party Planning Committee.”

  They clapped.

  “This is a, uh, new committee that is in charge of planning parties for, uh, the paranormal community.”

  More clapping.

  “Idiot,” whispered Rachel.

  “Anyway,” I continued, “we’re going to be handing out paint pellet guns to all of you in a few minutes. Then we’re going to do some target practice and get everyone set up for the upcoming battle.”

  I paused and looked around at the nodding heads. Two men in the crowd stood out from the rest.

  One was wearing a baseball hat that said, “I bleed red, white, and blue.” He had on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a pig on the front. The other guy had on a white t-shirt and a jean jacket with the sleeves cut off. It looked like a makeshift vest. They were both squinting with one eye and seemed to be chewing tobacco.

  I leaned over to Rachel and said, “I think I’ve found our two candidates. Back row, far left.”

  She scanned the area and nodded. “We just have to see if they’re good with guns.”

  “Seriously?” I replied. “Look at them again.”

  “Okay, fair enough.”

  “Head back and see if we have any actual Desert Eagles for them.”

  “What?”

  “Paint pellets aren’t going to kill bodyguards, Rachel.”

  She went to say something, but clearly figured out that I was right. With a sigh, she turned and headed off toward the vans.

  “Okay,” I called out to the crowd again, “in order to make this all official, we’re going need everyone to line up over by that little tent there, show your identification, sign waivers, and be checked for additional weaponry. You may not use any weapons that we do not provide you.”

  Everyone rushed to get in line. Everyone, that is, except for the two men I’d picked out of the crowd. They were more of the moseying type.

  I stepped over and asked them to follow me, away from the line.

  “You two seem a bit out of place here,” I said.

  “Says the guy wearin’ an Armani suit,” the man with the cap said.

  “It’s not Armani,” I replied as if slapped. “It’s a Kiton, thank you very much.”

  “And he says we don’t fit in.”

  I took a deep breath and slowly released it. “May I have your names please?”

  Baseball cap guy said, “Name’s Cletus Coltrain and this here is Merle Williams.”

  “Nice to meet you both. I’m Ian Dex.”

  “That’s what ya said when you was up there telling everyone what was going on,” noted Merle.

  “True.”

  I looked back at the line of people. They were all being processed by my crew, along with the help of Portman’s squad. A bunch of others were putting up targets, as well, and it looked like Warren was getting his magical shield underway.

  “Anyway,” I said, turning back to Merle and Cletus, “you look like a couple of fellows who wouldn’t find shooting zombies with paint pellets much of a challenge. Am I right?”

  “I like shootin’ anything,” Cletus replied. “‘Cept animals anyway.” He spat out a wad of his tobacco. “Ain’t fair to the critters.”

  I was taken aback by that. “Really? I’d have thought certain you were both hunters.”

  “Is this some kind of profiling?” Merle said with a squint that was deeper than his normal squint. “Just cause we’s from the south don’t mean we’s a couple of hicks.”

  I looked over their outfits again.

  “But you said you liked shooting things,” I said, pointing to Cletus.

  “And I do,” he replied, sticking out his chest. “Bottles, beer cans, them little plastic army men toys, and such. Also go out to play in them paintball games now and then.”

  “Oh…” I felt like an idiot now. “Sorry, I just…”

  “Ya thought we was dumb, that’s what,” Merle stated as fact. “I’ll have you know that I got me a PhD in electronics and Cletus here is a research scientist at a prestigious firm.”

  Again, I looked at their outfits. “Seriously?”

  “Yep,” Merle said and then turned to Cletus. “Just like I toldya, Cletus, our accents and outfits mark us as dumb. If Einstein had been from Arkansas, we’d still be relying on Newtonian physics for everything.”

  “Ain’t that the truth?”

  I had no answer to that. The fact was that I had been profiling them. I assumed they were just a couple of gun-toting southerners who wouldn’t have any problem popping a bullet into a werewolf, vampire, or whatever else came at them.

  “I’m really sorry,” I said, and I meant it. I felt like a complete asshole. We all know what Rachel would have called me about now, too…and she’d have been right. “I have no excuse for myself.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Cletus said after a moment. “We get it all the time.”

  “Well, it was still wrong.”

  “Yep.”

  I sighed. “So what brings you guys to Vegas, then?”

  Cletus put on a grin so big that his squint drifted away. He was obviously a man who had some big news. Either that or it was a lifelong dream to come to the land of decadence.

  “I won the lottery,” he said proudly. “Netted me out fifty million when all was said and done.”

  “Wow.” That was solid money. It was the kind of money that could score you a very nice condo at The Martin. “But I thought you worked as a researcher?”

  “I do,” he replied. “Well, I should say I did. Planning on putting that behind me. The research was gettin’ old. Only so much you can do with ants.”

  “Ants?”


  “Yep. Studied ‘em for twenty years. Good fun, but kinda grown tired of it.”

  “I see,” I said, though I didn’t. Why would anyone study ants? They crawled around, lifted stuff up, carried it home, and they’d bite you if you irritated them. “So you came to Vegas as a treat, then?”

  Cletus nodded. “Yep. Came here a month back with my girlfriend, but that ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ thing didn’t pan out.” He spat again. “She happened along but didn’t stay here, is what I’m sayin’. Ended up comin’ back home with me. So I left her there this time and invited my old pal Merle for a trip.”

  “Ain’t never been,” Merle said. “It’s right nice enough, I suppose, but it gets a little borin’. So when we saw about your party, we thought it’d be fun. Could shoot stuff without it bein’ critters and without anybody really gettin’ hurt.”

  I was starting to worry that they weren’t the right guys for the job. But they had their heads on straight. I didn’t want anyone joining Rachel and me who couldn’t think for themselves. They needed to be smart in the ways of hunting, which I’d honestly expected these two to be. However, shooting bottles and shooting werewolves wasn’t exactly the same thing.

  “Gentlemen,” I said finally, realizing that time was growing short and I needed to move, “you’ve proven yourselves worthy of a different mission that will be even more exciting.”

  “I’m listenin’,” said Merle.

  I nodded and then laid out the details for them.

  Chapter 35

  Two hours had passed and the sun was starting its evening descent.

  Turbo’s readings showed that the zombies were about an hour out. He’d upped his count from being roughly five hundred of them to being over seven hundred. Why couldn’t it have gone down to two hundred instead?

  “Griff,” I said as the crew assembled, “you’re in charge while Rachel and I are out.”

  “Understood.”

  “Our purpose is to keep the normals safe,” I explained for the twentieth time. “Each of us swore an oath to that and we’re going to keep it.”