Monsterland (18 page)

“Relax, lover boy. She’ll be coming out of it soon. I only sipped a bit of her nectar. She won’t stay in this state for long, unless I maintain a steady diet.” His eyes sparked.

Howard pulled at the ties confining him, finally giving up, exhausted.

“You might as well stop fighting it. You can’t win,” Raoul told him in a silky voice. “We’ve been around forever, since the beginning of time. You can’t stamp us out.” He got up, walking around, warming to his subject. “You persecuted us for being different.”

“You’re parasites.”

“No better or worse than a deadbeat relative or a petty criminal. You’re stuck with us, so you better make the best of it.”

Howard heard a sound, watching in revulsion as a vampire, and then another, detached themselves from the darkness to scurry over to the pools of blood outside their hiding spots. He heard slurping and must have made a face.

“We used to fascinate you.”

“That was before I really knew what you were.”

“What are we?” Raoul bent down to touch his face in a familiar way. “Monsters?” He shrugged. “We do what we do to survive.” He snapped his fingers, and Keisha rose, her eyes blank. She walked over toward him. He pulled her down to rest against him, settling her close with an intimacy that made Howard squirm.

“You have to get us out of here.”

Howard shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“You know, I like this one,” Raoul said in a friendly manner. “I droned her. Maybe I’ll go all the way. Turn her into one of us.” He turned to Keisha, stroking her face. “Would you like that, my pretty?” he asked softly. He looked at Howard. “You know how we do that, don’t you?”

The vampire observed the young boy’s clenched hands, his gritted teeth. “You wouldn’t like that, Howard Drucker,” he purred. “You wouldn’t like that, at all.”

He stood easily, taking out a knife from his pocket, freeing Howard’s arms. The blood rushed through his abused limbs like needles.

“Oh, I hear it, Raoul, let me taste it,” Sylvie cooed. She rubbed his arms, her tongue flicking with delight. Howard pulled away from her, a sneer on his face.

There was a crash above them. “Come, children. We must flee. Young Howard will lead the way.”

He pushed Howard on the shoulder toward the passageway leading to their freedom and Howard’s hell.

C
HAPTER
24

W
yatt sprinted toward
the part of the park he wanted to go to, and the only part he hadn’t seen. He ducked into an empty store, ripped a tee shirt from a hanger and wrapped it around his stinging hand. It had stopped bleeding, but he looked like he had just come off a
Call of Duty
battlefield. Merchandise littered the streets, windows gaped, broken, and listless curtains waved like flags of surrender. He walked carefully, avoiding the ominous red puddles. Piles of corpses lay in the dimly lit streets. The bodies were unrecognizable. A barricade separated him from Zombieville. A small suburban town had been built, that much he knew, but it was behind a steel wall, confined in an impenetrable prison, cut off from the rest of the park. A dismembered body lay on the ground, a steel mesh glove abandoned by its side. An unholy voice rent the air, breaking the eerie silence. The steel gate that held the zombies from society shrieked as a lever groaned, and the gate started its slow movement, opening up Pandora’s box. It stopped at the midway point.

Wyatt gingerly picked up the glove, pulling it on his arm. The mesh went all the way to his shoulder where the leather strap looped over his head to hold it there.

The park had gone silent. Overhead, the stars twinkled from the inky sky. There was not a sound; even the breeze had died.

Wyatt sucked his breath in, stopping from inhaling deeply, the sour stench of rotting flesh making the air heavy. He looked back through the alleys and streets he had come down, wishing he could go back, find his brother and run for safety. A wolf howled, and he shivered. Jade was somewhere in there. He had to get her and Nolan out. He put his foot forward and then followed with the other. The metal gate, a solid wall of riveted steel, rolled on it hinges making a great creaking noise. Wyatt pushed himself to walk to it, his eyes searching the darkness for any movement.

He reached the opening, the faint agonizing grunts and muffled moans floating on the still air. He stepped on porous rock, wincing when the crunch magnified in the dark. It was followed by a silence so thick he felt underwater. Wyatt sniffed, his face grimacing from the stench of decay. It enveloped him, smothering him, until he felt his gullet meet the back of his throat. The axe felt heavy in his hands.

He saw them from the corner of his eye. They were slow moving, just like he imagined. They moved with a mindless motion, rocking as if their kneecaps didn’t work. There was no light but the dim emergency bulbs that flickered with an orange glow. They were in various stages of the disease, their skin a yellowish green, not unlike the color of the shamrock marshmallow in Lucky Charms, he thought inanely.

Most had their arms outstretched; some had eyes, others empty sockets with sticky black puddles that overflowed
to paint their cheekbones in striated patterns. They shuffled rather than walked, and when the first one moved close enough so that its gnarled fingers brushed against the thick mesh adorning his arm, Wyatt reacted, whacking the axe against the head, watching in sickening astonishment as it cleaved it in two, brains spilling out like water from a broken faucet. The thing groaned, falling to its knees to land with a soft whisper on the floor. He backed away, revolted by the sour stench of the blood, sickened by the way a group landed en masse like a tackle in a football game, the soft sucking and crunching noise of their feast making bile rise so that it coated the back of his throat.

“Jade!” he screamed, his voice cracking. “Jade, where are you?”

Frantic knocking answered him, and he raced down the street to where it grew louder.

C
HAPTER
25

B
illy leaped by
the trash can, a bark forcing him to stop. He turned, spying the new kid. He ran over, licking the cub’s ear, which was drenched in blood.

The lad rubbed his face happily against him.

Billy smiled—at first he was repulsed by the human when he’d invaded their territory. He was ready to rip his skin, to feast on the warm organs. When he held out the camera, as an offering, Billy’s conscience pricked him, and he decided to let him go. The tables turned when the kid begged to be incorporated into the pack.

Little John was horrified. They hadn’t added for years—it was a code between them. It was a hard life, but the yearning in those eyes made him do it. A bite, a nip really, their blood intermingled to morph and change the boy forever.

It was instantaneous, a miracle to watch, really. The body embraced the changes, the youthful howls shivery in his delight. Of course, he was sloppy at first, his initial kill a messy job, but, Billy thought with pride, he learned fast.

“It’s eat them or be killed,” Billy warned. “No time for maudlin sentimentality like you showed those cops.” He gestured to the dead policeman at the base of the mezzanine.

“I don’t have a collar like yours,” he yelped.

“No need. These are collars of captivity. I like yours better,” Billy told him with gentle barks. He licked the gold wolf’s head. “See, it has green eyes that resemble our lights. You’re one of us.”

“For real?” he barked in wonder.

“For real,” Billy responded.

Melvin smiled a toothy canine grin, then turned to plunder and pillage, his heart filled with joy.

Billy’s eyes teared up. “No, thank you!” he growled loudly. Billy was happy at last. Happy and free, thanks to the boy.

C
HAPTER
26

C
arter ran through
the miles of halls, trying doors, using his formidable shoulders to break open the locks. He heard sobbing, and he banged on the door, finally kicking it open to find a trio of Monsterland employees huddling in the corner. One rose, brandishing a broom.

“Where is everybody?” Carter demanded.

“Gone. Gone or dead. There’s no way out. The wolves have the garage, the zombies just broke through their gate, and the vamps are missing. We’re doomed,” he cried.

“Have you called for help?”

“We’ve called Washington. They said help is on the way, but what kind of help?” a girl whined, her face lined with mascara.

“They are going to bomb us; they have to.”

Carter nodded grimly. “Where’s Vincent?”

The man shrugged. “Probably gone.”

Carter shook his head. “He wouldn’t leave.”

“Try the main control room.” He pointed up the dark passageway.

Carter nodded and took off. He heard them close the door and heard the movement of furniture behind it.

The halls echoed eerily. Carter passed the weapons room, pausing and then ducking inside to grab a shotgun. He stuffed as many shells as he could in his pockets and then loaded the gun. He came up to the control room, trying the doorknob.

He double pumped the gun, blasting the locked doorknob so that the door flew open. Vincent turned around, his eyes opening wide with surprise.

“Officer White, just in time.” He held a phone to his mouth. “No, no it was nothing. Everything is under control here. The president…ah yes, the president is in the eating facility safe and sound. I’m afraid cell phones aren’t working well…I understand. Hmmm…well that’s no problem.” His finger depressed the lever on the base, disconnecting the phone. “The secretary of state. She’s so tiresome. I’ll have to do something about her tomorrow.”

Carter grabbed the receiver from his hand. He punched in numbers.

“Officer Carter White of the Copper Valley Police Force. We are in trouble here. The president is dead. Security’s been breached…” The line went dead.

Vincent tugged and then held up the phone wire in his fist. “You’ll ruin everything. I have it all under control. Monsterland is safe.”

Carter held up the gun. “You keep saying that, Doctor. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s over, Conrad. Word will get out through people’s cells.”

Vincent laughed, flicking on a console. “It already has. It’s all over the Internet.” He gestured to the multiple screens in front of him.

The monitors lit up with every news station worldwide reporting on the massacres in all the different Monsterland parks. Thousands were dead—every country had lost leadership. The world was rudderless. “Right now, it’s just mass confusion. But that won’t last.” He chuckled. “The new president and I will swoop in.” He made a grandiose movement with his arms. “And save the world.”

“I can’t even guess how many have died tonight.”

“No, you can’t. Your simple civil servant brain can’t think larger than Copper Valley.” Vincent observed him thoughtfully. “You know what your problem is, White? You have no vision. You can’t see the forest for the trees.”

“You can?” Carter said with contempt.

“Right now, all the governments are reeling. My people are sliding into planned positions as we speak.” He smiled again, as if reassuring a nervous patient. “Everything is fixable,” he continued reasonably. “Who needed McAdams anyway? He was a liberal, nasty little ideas. I’m in charge now.”

“No, the vice president is in control of the country,” Carter said slowly, as if talking to an idiot.

Vincent threw back his head and laughed. “How do you think I was introduced to the president? Watch,” he said gleefully.

He pulled out his cell phone. He pressed it so that it was on speaker.

“Vincent?”

“Nate…or should I say President Owens—”

“Is my father safe?”

“He was marvelous. They loved him in the show—tell him, Carter, tell him how that naughty hunchback stole the show.”

“Hunchback?”

“I’ve called off the air force now that Anthony is dead, and the new chairman of the joint chiefs has agreed to my wait-and-see approach.”

“Excellent, excellent. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect partner.” Vincent was all oily charm.

Vincent laughed and then said, “Time to publish the press releases, just as we said.” He glanced at his wristwatch. “By now, every official that attended Monsterland openings in any other part of the world is dead, food for the werewolves. Food for thought, for you, Officer White.”

“What are you talking about?” Carter demanded.

“It’s simple. For years the Chinese have been tampering with our computers, raiding and stealing information. A sort of cyber terrorism. Well, with the Chinese envoy assassinating the president, as well as every other diplomat attending our parks, it gives President Owens very little choice than to shut them down. The invasion of China’s infrastructure starts today. Have you taken down their satellite yet?” He directed the last question to the new president listening on the phone.

“That’s crazy, the Chinese envoy was murdered. They didn’t attack.”

“Sadly, once word gets out of the massacre here, it won’t matter. By then, I will be the new leader of China, and I’ll add restoring world peace to my resume.”

Vincent walked calmly to a console, flicking on screen after screen so that the massacre of Monsterland looked like a cheap horror movie.

“You’re mad,” Carter whispered. “You’re the monster. A monster and murderer.”

“No, Officer White. I am brilliant, and I will save the world. I will do what no politicians or diplomats can do—finish the job.”

“This was all planned?” Carter asked incredulously, with dawning horror.

“A
coup d’etat
,” Vincent said with a smile, hanging up on the president.

Vincent became thoughtful and said, “I used to catch wild pigs when I was a boy. Do you know how to catch wild pigs, Carter?”

“What?” Carter asked.

Vincent looked at Carter. He perched his hip causally on one of the desks. “You catch wild pigs by finding a nice clearing in the woods. You sprinkle corn on the ground. The pigs find it and return every day to eat the food.” He folded his hands and then pressed his two index fingers together. He continued. “When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are grazing on the corn. In the beginning, they are wary of the fence, but eventually, they get used to the fence. They begin to eat the corn again, and you put up another side of fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. Don’t you understand?” he asked softly.