'Til Death Do Us Part (7 page)

“
It appears that is as true today as it was back then.
”
She laughed
,
but it had more to do with the irony of her statement than mirth.
“
This will work,
”
Eliza said as she stood on a small hill that overlooked a vast portion of the town below.

“
Oh God,
”
Tomas intoned as he saw the black smudge of zombies that dominated the horizon.
”

“
God
,
Tomas? Really? You might as well
ask for Jesus and that fat man the children seem to worship.
”

“
Santa?
”

“
I suppose, I never stop to ask questions as I feed, I find it distracting.
”

“
Those are people
,
Eliza, with hopes and dreams.
”

“
I am a predator
,
Tomas, I care not for the prey. Does a lion sit in self-doubt about the harm it bestows upon the gazelle?
”

“
I understand what you are. What
we
are,
”
h
e corrected when Eliza arched an eyebrow at him.
“
But what you are doing now is not the natural order of things. Lions don
’
t kill indiscriminately
,
wiping out everything.
”

“
Spare me the lesson in morality
,
brother, I care not. I like to watch the humans suffer
,
it brings me enjoyment. And stop trying to control my herd, I can feel you
trying to send messages to them.
They
will listen only to me.
”

Tomas looked back at his sister
, unsure what to do next. H
e sat on the grass to watch as the first of the zombies entered the town.
His vision alternated between looking at the ground and watching as the zombies advanced, he was caught completely unawares as he sensed something. He wasn
’
t sure what it was
,
and was fearful to look up at his sister lest he give it away, she was completely fixated on the town below.

Michael?
H
e thought it without transmitting the message, his sister would surely figure out what was going on if he did that
,
and as of yet he wasn
’
t sure. It was as if he was
‘
seeing
’
Michael through the wrong end of a telescope. There wasn
’
t much to hold on to, it was so faint
that
he thought it was most likely just residual feelings. But still it nagg
ed around the edges of his mind.
It is!
h
e thought excitedly.
I
t
’
s probably t
o
o faint for Eliza to pic
k up especially with her so focused on controlling the zombies
.

Tomas began to emit what he could only describe as waves of white noise, much like televisions without a satellite or cable signal.

“
I
’
ve already told you
,
brother, you cannot wrest
control of the zombies from me.
I am in direct communication with them and this static will not disrupt that.
”

Tomas began to shiver with the effort to broadcast even louder as the signal from Michael grew from imperceptible to miniscule.

“
What are you doing
,
Tomas? You begin to annoy me.
”

“
I thought that I migh
t be able to stop them this way,
”
Tomas lied.

“
I already told you this would not work yet you continue.
”

Tomas could
‘
feel
’
Eliza probing through the
‘
noise
’
trying to figure out what he was up to. He literally began to vibrate from the effort of expanding so much energy
and
was unsure how long he would be able to conceal Michael
’
s presence.

Eliza was closing in;
she was adept with the workings of the mind after so many millennia of practice.

Tomas urged Mike on, but to where? And to what end? Eventually she would discover that her sworn enemy still yet breathed air
,
and Tomas could tell that the thread from which Mike
’
s life hung was
frayed and would not be able to take much strain. Tomas amped up his concealme
nt just as Eliza was closing in. Just
when he felt that all was lost, he lost Michael completely. He rocked backwards, breathing heavily from the mind strain.

“
Done now
,
brother?
”
Eliza asked clearly confused.

Tomas did not answer
. H
e was still trying to figure out what had just happened.

BT
&
G
ary

Gary was h
aving a difficult time sleeping.
Every
time he shut his eyes
,
he saw Michael fall over. Sometime
s
there was only the loud thud of his head reverberating off the ground
. B
ut more
often
than not, Mike would cry out in pain and anguish
;
first asking for Gary
’
s help
,
then accusing him of abandoning him.
It was not all that hard to stay awake,
the
town
was in the midst of a full-scale zombie invasion.
Houses were burning
,
the sounds of gunfire w
ere
rampant as were distant screams.

Gary strode over to the couch and went to shake BT awake.

“
I
’
m not asleep,
”
h
e said.

“
We should get going. W
hatever is going on out
there is starting to get closer,
”
Gary said.
“
Plus
,
the zombies that were around the house have left about ten minutes ago, p
robably to go and enjoy the fun.
”

“
What
? T
hey didn
’
t want to miss out?
”

“
That would be my guess,
”
Gary answered in all seriousness.

“
What about Mary? Will she change her mind?
”
BT asked Gary, knowing full well that he didn
’
t have an answer either.
“
We can
’
t leave her here.
”

“
We both know that
,
BT
,
but we can
’
t force her either.
”

“
The ol
d bat was right about one thing,
”
BT said.

“
What
’
s that?
”
Gary asked.

“
Mike would have somehow convinced them to come with us.
”

Gary winced at the name of his brother in the past tense.
“
You
’
re probably right. I
’
ll talk to her one last time
,
but I think we should get
going while the getting is good,
”
Gary said even as he realized the futility of his words falling on Mary
’
s deaf ears.

BT saw the cherry of the cigarette glow before he realized that Deneaux was standing at the far side of the room. It startled him for a moment
because
he thought it
to be
half of a pair of glowing evil eyes.

“
Weren
’
t planning on sneaking out in the middle of the night and leaving us here
,
were you?
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
asked as she took another drag.
A
small raspy cough following her words.

“
Any chance that
’
s lung cancer?
”
BT asked
Deneaux
as he sat up rubbing his eyes raw. The smoke from the burning town was making its way into the house. It was subtle at the moment
,
but soon it would be impossible to take a breath that did not result in a coughing fit
,
and that would be followed soon by asphyxiation.

“
You
’
re soun
ding more like him every minute,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
replied dryly.

“
From anyone else I w
ould consider that a compliment,
”
BT said as he stood.
He
walked over to the window and confirmed what Gary had already told him, the zombies had taken a break
a
nd were out getting some lunch…
most likely fast food. BT
’
s mood soured at his poor joke.

***

“
Mary do you have a minute?
”
Gary a
sked as he walked into her room.

S
he had
ten
candles burning as she
tried to keep the dark at bay and
was sitting up in her bed
.
Josh was
asleep with his head in her lap while
she was absently stroking his hair as she looked at the window across the room. Her gaze slowly swiveled towards him as she came back from whichever distant world she had traveled.
“
We
’
re all dead.
”
She said with conviction.

“
Even Josh?
”
Gary asked striking out as hard as he dared, she flinched from his words.

Her eyes were vacant as she turned back towards the blackened window.

“
You have a
real chance if you come with us,
”
Gary nearly begged.

A flicker of
anger stretched across her features.
“
Your brother was a half-
vampire, former Marine survivalist
,
and he fell
. W
hat chance do I and Josh have?
”

Gary couldn
’
t tell if she had given up or was looking for a real answer from him. Gary could only respond with
a lame sounding,
“
You can
’
t stay here.
”