Blood Games (21 page)

Authors: Macaulay C. Hunter

BOOK: Blood Games

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“And you fought him!
” Ink exploded. “So you just wanted to let someone else do the hard work and claim the champion for your own!”

“He had great odds to win, and very nearly did.
And it would earn me passage into this room, which is exactly where I wanted to be.”

Ink was in such a rage that he was seeing red.
His Samson! She had taken his Samson! Jackie gasped to see Samson there on the podium, the other vets quieting and then gaping when they recognized who was there. One said, “But he’s dead!”

The gun was making everyone
who could see it very nervous. Vasilov said, “Just take him and go then.”

“No!” Ink exclaimed.
“That zombie is mine and you had no right-”

“I had no right?” Adrasteia spat.
“
I
had no right? I had no right to care for my blood as I saw fit? I had no right to speak for him when he could no longer speak for himself?
You
had no right! You are the one who has no rights to Gabriel. To fight him! To brand him! I had to slash through your brand to hide it and he’ll have an ugly scar now, so thank you at least for making your brand so small. But you are the one who had no
right
.”

Her eyes moved out to the room, and she looked at them accusingly.
“You had no right to take any of them! So you will give them over to me right now, all of them in this room, and all of them captive within your stables! You will promise to never purchase one again. What horrible people you are! Where is your respect for the bonds of family? Where is your respect for
life
?”

Cantine
laughed at her crazy demand. It was a rusty sound, so dry and ancient that dust should have come from his lungs at its expulsion. “One last protestor, eh? These Games were overrun with them. Call security and get rid of her.”

“Already on their way,” someone said over a cell phone.

Desperately and defiantly, Adrasteia said, “This is your last chance. Give them all over to me, repent for what you have done, and you will live.” Her gun was faltering, and her arm began to drop.

“No, young woman, leave this room and
you
will live,” Cantine said in dismissal.

Two
security guards entered through the open door. Ink was jubilant when their hands closed over her upper arms. She was too cowardly to shoot and Samson lived! Ink wasn’t going to Hawaii until he had spoken with Madeline and felt confident that no one was going to raid his stables in his absence. Or he’d skip the trip altogether, send Nadia on her way and protect what he had in Samson and Thor, the two best zombies the Games had ever seen. Yes! That was precisely what he would do. He could go to Hawaii any time. It wasn’t going anywhere, and he was.

“Give them to me or you die!” Adrasteia
demanded. But Cantine’s laughter had spread to many others, especially since her gun was now pointed to the floor.

The security guards pulled the woman to the doorway.
Vasilov patted his belly and said in agitation, “Make sure to disarm her, boys.”

“
Why would we do that?” one said, and he had some of those same heavy features in his own. His nametag read PETER. The guy smiled nastily to the populace of the room and then nodded to Samson. “We’re going to leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves. Meanwhile, we’ll wait outside for ten minutes. The doors will be blocked, so don’t think you can sneak out and leave us holding the check. And then we will come back in for our answer.”

This was just absurd, and
Ink joined in the laughter. Give up his zombies? All of them were going to decide to relinquish their entire livelihoods? Their
lives
? These idiots needed to go home and set up a memorial in the name of their dear Gabriel, take the cop’s advice and get over it. Gabriel had died when he caught the virus, and Samson belonged to Ink. He had the receipt at home in his filing cabinet. Samson! Thor! Ink was going to rule the fighting world.

“
Ten minutes,” the second guard repeated.

Sure!
Ten minutes! This post-party had been about Ink, and they had
ruined
it. But when someone seized the reins of control, the winner seized them back! Good old Vasilov! Ink straightened to his full height and said, “We don’t need ten minutes. We don’t need one. The answer is no.” The room stood behind him in solidarity.

“I think in
ten minutes, you’ll be willing to negotiate,” Adrasteia said coolly, and lifted the gun. Not to Ink, not to Vasilov, not to put Samson out of the miserable existence she thought he had. She raised it over all of their heads, and pulled the trigger. The boom vibrated through the air and people screamed.

In one sinuous move, the woman and the security guards
withdrew from the room. They closed the door and something heavy struck the other side. She had shot the ceiling. That was going to make them change their minds, no doubt. Ink laughed hard and admired his two incredible zombies.

“Oh my God,” someone
near Wrath of Neptune’s podium whispered in terror.

Ink turned as the room erupted into panic.

She had shot out the light. Not just any light, but the one fixating the zombies. The
only
light fixating the zombies. The rest of the lights in the room weren’t bright enough to dazzle them. Another heavy crash resounded from the big oak doors, and through them came the sound of spiteful laughter. Something about that slim trio of mocking voices was louder to Ink than the quarter million filling the stadium had been.

The light was out.

The light was out!

The
light was out.

Screams ripped from dozens of throats as the zombies
wakened upon the podiums. People fled for the bathrooms. At the men’s, the panicked attendant took one look at what had happened and slammed shut the door in Gareth Hodging’s face. Gareth tried the knob and shouted when it was locked. Maenad was closest to the women’s bathroom, and the quartet of vets stopped short in their run there when she stepped from the podium and blocked it. Her lip lifted into a snarl and they shrieked, tripping over each other in their eagerness to get away.

But there was nowhere to go.
Nowhere except out the huge windows that would have to be smashed with something, and no one could get to them. There were podiums between the line of seats and the windows, too.

In
ten minutes, less than ten minutes, those three outside the doors would have their answer. It would be
yes
, because everyone in the clubroom would be dead. Both standing at the buffet, Dusk and Nadia stared in horror as Scrapper tilted his head to consider them.

But I won
, Ink thought helplessly. This couldn’t be happening. He had won, surpassed the
almost
that had haunted his entire life and transformed himself into someone at last. Yet again, it was being taken away.

A massive hand closed over his shoulder.
The only one behind him was Samson. Then Thor pivoted upon his podium and Ink’s last thought was one more pleading
but I won
before they fell on him.

####

About the Author

Macaulay C. Hunter was born in the Midwestern United States but grew up in southern California. Earning a degree in Classical Languages and Literature, Hunter has worked in education and agriculture in addition to freelance writing. Hunter currently resides in northern California.

Other titles by Macaulay C. Hunter

Titles below are zombie-related:

The Zombies:

Volume Six (May 2014)

Plantation

Zombie Child

Blood Games