Apocalyptic Moon (After the Bane) (9 page)

“Nope, he’s an international hunter, like a mercenary. His kind dates back to ancient times. They’re called the Kindred.”

“Well, he seems to have a well-equipped gunner helicopter.”

“Trust me, he stole it. We’re all looking for abandoned aircraft. Anything to go in and rescue the living over the swarm of undead.”

“So tell me about your pack.”

“Sure, why not.”

Enthralled at his description of his pack and the various wolf clans, she had to remind herself to close her mouth. But it wasn’t just werewolves. There were other shifters in the Mythos Consortium.
Ravens, hawks and cat shifters, oh, my!
She had a million questions but let him continue without interrupting.

He had a fraternal twin sister born ten minutes before him. When they were ten, their parents and two little brothers were killed by Jaeger’s father. He grew quiet. Sadness? He furrowed his brow into a deep scowl and tightened his fists. No, this was the peace in the eye of a storm. Revenge. No wonder, he wanted to hunt Jaeger. After a few seconds, his face twisted from rage to a pained look, like a shadow of some terrible burden he carried. Survivor’s guilt? She refused to probe his troubled thoughts, respecting his privacy.

“Are you all right?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I’m cool.” He sighed. “Your turn.”

“Not as complicated as yours but I’ll tell you the highlights.” She detailed the cold case behind her mother’s death. How her despondent father, Nate, re-married two years later to her nanny, Rita. She further detailed that he adopted Rita’s son Josh, and they became as close as biological siblings. She explained her bragging rights about being her high school’s valedictorian and her early acceptance into medical school.

“So how many boyfriends?”

Dora was stunned and a little hurt, thinking he would pursue the
Wow, you’re so smart angle
. “I dated our high school quarterback but we broke up when he realized I wasn’t going to follow him while he went off to major in business.”

“Now that’s interesting, the scholar and the athlete. I can live with that. And since then?”

She shook her head. “Medical school, internship, the hours? What man wants to compete with that? I wonder if Greg is even still alive. I dreamed my parents crossed the great beyond. I just hope they…”

“Dora, I’m sorry. I’m sure they want nothing more than for you to survive.”

She battled back tears and spoke telepathically.
“I know Josh and Melanie are alive.”
She smiled.
“I call my niece Mel for short. We were so close.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“A witch would know, right?”

He stood, walked to the glass and laid his hand over its cool surface. She could almost feel him caressing her face as he gazed at her with his light blue eyes, brightened in kindness. “
Of course.”
He smiled and changed the subject.
“My brother-in-law, Ethan convinced Uncle Talon to eventually set up sanctuary in Yosemite Park. Evacuation of the national park during the early cases of the Bane was the most successful program the government issued. Once it’s clean of zombies there’ll be plenty of housing for the entire pack and more. In the meantime, our isolated territory near Mt. Shasta is surrounded by a military grade chain-link fence. You’ll be safe there.”

“First I must get Josh and Mel.”

“After we meet my pack, we can search for them.”

“No. I need to find them first.”

“Do you realize the entire San Francisco Bay area is lost? If he and his daughter are alive, they must have left.”

“No, they’re at a rare cat sanctuary, a couple hours north of the Golden Gate Bridge.”

He paced, clearly agitated
. “I must report back and you, as a valuable human, must come.”

Sudden anger coursed through her and she slammed her hand against the glass.
“Oh, so now I’m some commodity.”
How dare he think she was more valuable than her brother and niece!

Hurt flashed in his eyes.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Do what you want but I’m finding Josh and Melanie.”

“Fine. That is if we can get out of here. And don’t forget, the Benandanti werewolves will return to hunting witches. At least we can convince them as a doctor, you are not a servant of Satan.”

She shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Hey, I’m on your side. Tell me about your stepbrother and your niece. Is he a widower?”

“No, where did you get that from?”

“Well you never mentioned his wife.”

“Actually, he’s unconventional.”

“Aren’t we all?”
He chuckled
. “Actually mine is more like a modern pack. We’re liberal and accept some humans and other shifters.”

“Josh is gay, married to a gay SFPD officer named Victor. Two years ago they adopted a Korean girl who is now six years old.”

“Your brother is gay?”

She flashed him a challenging glare.
“Are you homophobic?”

He raised his brow.
“Phobic? I’m not afraid of anything or anyone.”

She picked up on visions he had of effeminized men with limp wrists dressed in drag. The polar opposite of her brother and his partner.
“Not afraid, I mean prejudiced!”
She narrowed her eyes.
“You seem to have issues with Josh’s sexual orientation.”

He jaw clenched
. “I’ve never met gay humans, but then again I know very few humans.”

She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m sure there must be gay shifters, still in the closet or is it still in the den?”

He chuckled
. “All I have to say is stay away from the Benandanti. They hate gays as much as they hate witches.”

“Good advice.”

Dirk frowned and tilted his head as if listening to something.
“Something is wrong!”

Alarms blared and Dirk winced. “FACILITY BREACH. INTRUDER ALERT. FACILITY BREACH. INTRUDER ALERT. CODE RED.”

Shouts and screams from below echoed, followed by rapid machine gunfire.

Code Red
. Damn, they must be under zombie attack. Mansfield had assured her that was impossible. Wrong again, Doctor. Was it the one infected guard? A volley of bullets fired one after another. No, not by the sounds of the fierce battle. She bounced back on her shaky legs. “What happened?”

****

Dirk’s fangs and claws emerged. He sniffed the air. His voice was deeper and, as his human brother in-law described it, demonic sounding. “The place is overrun by zombies.”

“I guess that means we escape today.”

He growled in agreement.

She punched in the access code and their doors sprung open. “Now what?”

“How many zombies are penned in the labs?”

“Hard to say, but at least one hundred, if not more. Most are contained in cages or on harnesses but apparently there must be enough out to garner a Code Red warning.”

He shifted back and his claws retracted. “Give me your hand. We need to find Mansfield to get this thing off. What floor is he on?” She slid her hand in his. It was so small and soft. He’d looked forward to touching her and mustered every inch of control not to draw her in and ravish her puckered lips.

“I overheard Mansfield tell a guard his lab was on level five. That’s five stories down. Maybe we should go up and find another way to unlock it.”

“I can’t. Without the proper frequency, it’ll explode if we break it mechanically.” He raked back his thick red hair. “And I’m fond of my head.”

She gazed up. “Me too.”

“Glad we agree. Come on.”

“Wait. If I release you, can you help me find my brother or at least point me in the right direction?”

He wanted to tell her they must report to his pack first, but why not? They were heading toward California anyway and her brother and other surviving humans might be useful to their pack. Once she was secured in his territory, he’d search for them. He only twisted the truth a tad. Good thing the telepathy was turned off. “Will do, babe.”

He shoved her behind him as they approached the elevator. Not able to see beyond his bulk she asked, “Is it clear?”

“Yes.”

She sighed, relieved. “You do realize that lab five is where he keeps at least twenty zombies for experimentation.”

“Trust me, even in my human form I’m ten times stronger than the average human. Dead or not.”

“Good to know. Problem is the elevator is the only way out of this level.”

He pressed his nose to the panel. “No smoke.” He yanked her arm. She gasped. He released her. “Did I hurt you?”

“No,” she said, but rubbed her arm.

“Sorry, babe.” Fuck, he’d been too rough, but kept his voice all alpha dominant, “Stay behind me at all times. Understand?”

“I’ll be your shadow.”

The smell of her fear reassured him, she wouldn’t try anything stupid. “Good.” He pressed five
.
“Just hope the zombies are not waiting in front of the door as we land.”
At least they were immune to Z-phage, but they were not immune to being eaten alive.

The elevator proceeded down slowly. An explosion boomed, jerked the chamber, the cable snapped, and they plummeted. He picked her up and pressed her against his chest, bracing for impact. “Hold on!”

Chapter 5

The elevator jerked, scraping against the walls in its uneven fall. Dora buried her face into his chest as they dropped. He held her in his tight embrace as if he would cushion her fall. She preferred to die quickly and not be eaten alive, but despite the dire consequences, she wished neither was an option.

“CODE RED. CODE RED.”

The elevator slammed to a bouncy stop, rocking back and forth like a dark sealed coffin being lowered into its grave. In panic, her single thought was the twenty-seven year curse. Finally, it stilled. The cable hadn’t broken, but the brake had slipped and might again. “Can you see?”

“Yes,” he hissed. He leaned near the door. “I’m pushing the emergency button. Damn. Nothing.”

“Can you see the service hatch?”

“Yep. I can lift you, but it’s too dangerous. Another elevator could come crashing down.” He put her down. “I’m going to pry the inner doors open.” He huffed and puffed, as if trying to blow down the little piggy’s house. He growled… “Found the latch.”

The door opened halfway, revealing a hallway, its lights flickering on and off. Alarms blared. He sniffed. “They’re not too close. Go, while I hold the doors.”

Dora slipped past him. She scanned the area and whispered to Dirk, “Fourth floor, from here we can take the stairs.”

He pulled the doors apart to fit his hulk, but the floor dropped from beneath him, sending him falling back as the elevator plummeted, and the door slammed shut.

Dora pounded on the door. “Dirk!”

She sunk to the floor, stupefied in horror and despair. Werewolf or not, she’d grown fond of him. Abysmally alone, she breathed deep to stave off her bone chilling panic. What now? The blinking lights reminded her of how commercial Halloween haunted houses used lighting to create the illusion of light for life and dark for death. Any moment she expected a phantom’s cold hand to touch her, or a closet opening with an ax wielding clown jumping out.

“CODE RED!” Boomed from the speaker.

She stifled a scream and stood. Okay, soldiers were on their way.
I must stay calm.
Dirk lives.
She sensed it.
Was it her
witchy
mind or was it wishful thinking
?
She concentrated on communicating with him, but sensed nothing. Was he knocked out from the fall and gravely injured? Please, not dead. She tiptoed toward the stairs. Should she go down and search for him? Dr. Adler said yes, Dora the lab rat said, hell no.

A rolling moan behind her made her blood run cold. The zombie grumblings were accompanied by scuffing steps. They were close. Ghoulish shadows stepped around the corner.
Oh, shit!
She ran into the men’s bathroom, but the doorknob clicked loudly upon closing.
Oh, no
. As if responding to a dinner bell, zombies sniffed the door. She closed her eyes and held her breath. Suddenly they barked hungry moans and shuffled away. They must have detected other prey.

A man’s scream paralyzed her. Silence followed. A quick death, perhaps a ripped out throat. An unarmed scientist?

Boots thundered past her hiding place. A voice commanded, “Forget about caging them, shoot to kill.” Good. Soldiers. A barrage of gunfire followed the soldier’s command.

Dora moved to leave but stopped. In the dark, given the soldiers’ adrenalin rush, they might mistake her for a zombie and shoot her. Besides, the plan was to escape, not get recaptured. She poked her face out the door. The coast was clear. She tiptoed back to the elevator and pressed the button. Nothing. Could a werewolf really survive crashing down the shaft? More gunfire continued but this time it sounded haphazard, erratic. The agonizing screams of outnumbered men and the loud hum of moaning zombies meant the soldiers had failed. They were being ravaged.
How had so many zombies escaped?
She peered toward the stairwell. Too close from where the soldiers had charged at the zombies and lost. What about Dirk? She squeezed her eyes shut to communicate.
“Dirk, are you okay?”

“Yes. What about you?”

She released a huge breath
. “Thank God. There are zombies on this floor. I’m so scared. Where are you?”

“I punched through the service shaft. I’m a floor below you. Stay still, I’ll come to you.”

“Should I go down the stairs?”