Mario Acevedo - Jailbait Zombie (Felix Gomez, Book 4)

Jailbait Zombie

Mario Acevedo

To the memory of author Jerry Rodriguez and artist John Berkey

Contents

Felix, drop your pants.
I recognized the smells. Ditch water. Smoke. The stink from
Mel called. He asked me to meet him in Aurora
I lay on my back, blind with pain. Every bone
Time to cover my tracks and find another way home.
I bought a new cell phone. My first call was
The replies from my hacker came back in a series
Zombies. Psychic signals. The astral plane. All had something to
The psychotronic diviner sat on the front passengers seat. A
Adrianna lived south of Abundance Boulevard. Here the roads were
One moment this case was a dark closet and the
Hard drops of rain splashed on my face.
What woke me was the sensation of having a hot
When the Araneum learned that I had lost the diviner,
Humphreys Kountry Kitchen was on the west end of town,
My body screamed: Danger, get away. Thisgirlwomanwhateverwas poison. My legs
The girls words lanced through me.
Phaedra was dying? And she needed my help?
Was Phaedra talking about zombies? Now were making progress. What
The tendrils withdrew into the sheath of Phaedras aura. Her
I charged the door and kicked it off the hinges.
If the echo started, blam, Phaedra would eat a .45
As a vampire I have supernatural powers. The Toyota doesnt.
Our parade convoyed back into Morada, the black pickup leading,
Cleto froze. The sawed-off shotgun remained close to his leg.
My hypnosis hit him like the lash of an electric
I needed something with more detail of the area than
We got into my Toyota and headed east a block
Shawna lay on the bed. The penumbra of her aura
I would go out through the bathroom window. The bars
I drove west to the town of South Fork. I
Phaedra looked strained and shrunken as if she were caught
The sketch Phaedra held was a caricature, but the rendering
The afternoon sun retreated and cold, dark shadows claimed the
Cavagnolo and I stepped from behind the trees and back
The trail Id been looking for disappeared into a flat
The zombies carried me around the house. They climbed the
If I had no way to escape as a wolf,
I turned to the man. Take me inside.
Zombies slipped poles through the wire grid of the cage
Hennison rattled through a pan of tools on the workbench
My mind put everything in vampire speed.
I dont know what time Dr. Hennison returned. For me,
I came to with my face and the front of
Tendrils squirmed from Phaedras aura, signaling her terror. Spots of
Gino lead the zombies in a stiff-legged march. A red
Hitting Ginos arm was like smacking a girder. It barely
I took gliding strides and let my knees absorb the
I pulled Phaedra close. I smoothed her hair. It was
Phaedra convulsed. She stared at me, then through me. Her
I gave Jolie the rundown on Cavagnolo. Hed supply me
I laughed, said okay, and continued. Jolie turned around and
I left Erics place. Cavagnolo had to get his own
I landed on top of the zombies, not levitating so
Reginald was hunched over a small cart. Sonia shoved clothes
Time hovered like the big clock of the universe had
Were Nguyen and Phaedra safe? I knew he would take
Jolie zipped the front and the sleeves of her motorcycle
I was back in my office in the Oriental Theater.
I returned to my apartment. I needed a drink. I

Felix, drop your pants.

The last time I heard those words, they were from a topless stripper.

Tonight was different, but the wound on my leg hurt too much for me to protest Mels words.

Mel was the acting head of the local nidus, Latin for nest, in this case the community of Denver vampires. Tendrils of anxiety writhed from his orange aura, a bright contrast against the gloom of an autumn night. With a greasy gray mane combed back to his shoulders and scraggly white muttonchops, Mel projected none of the glamour associated with Hollywood vampires.

We were on a deserted construction site in Aurora, a suburb east of Denver. Though Auroras the second-largest city in Colorado, its the Fresno of the Front Range: square mile after square mile of strip malls and cheap rents that run together to create an asphalt grid of nothing.

I rested against the foremans trailer, unbuckled my trousers, and slid them to my knees. Smoke and blood trickled from the teeth marks on the inside of my left thigh.

Smoke? Mel asked, astonished. That damn zombie must have left silver fillings when he bit you.

Silver. No wonder this hurt so much.

Mels right index fingernail extended into a talon. Hold still.

I gripped the muscle around the wound to distend the punctures. Mel crouched and slid the razor-sharp nail into an opening where the smoke puffed out. A fresh jolt of pain coursed up my spine and out my arms. He flicked his wrist and a tiny piece of smoking goo spun to the dirt.

He spit into his palm and pressed it over the wound. This is as close to a hand job as youll get from me. Doesnt mean were in love or anything. In fact, please dont call me in the morning.

I massaged the injured muscle. How about a card on Valentines? The vampire enzymes in his saliva dulled the pain and accelerated my supernatural healing. By this time tomorrow, all Id have is another battle scar to add to my collection.

I put weight on the leg and it finally felt like I wouldnt collapse from the pain. I fastened my trousers and limped to the edge of a hole excavated for the basement of a large building. Concrete slabs formed two sides of the hole but the rest was still packed dirt.

The zombie shambled within the hole where wed chased it. Heobviously once a mancradled his head under one arm and used his other to grope along the concrete. His mottled, waxy complexion and the clumps of trash stuck to his grimy clothes made it look like hed been rotting in a shallow grave for a week.

I had removed the special contacts that masked my tapetum lucidum, the mirror-like retinas at the back of my eyes. The contacts were part of my cover to hide from humans, but wearing them kept me from using night vision or seeing psychic auras.

I didnt know if zombies had night vision; I had no idea about any of their powers other than they were supposed to be hard as hell to destroy. Tonight I had discovered an important fact: they had no auras, which made them a bitch to track in the dark.

The zombie clawed the dirt wall, climbing up a foot before stumbling backward. He dropped his head. It plopped against the dirt and rolled like a lopsided melon. The animated corpse sank to its knees and crawled along the ground, one arm searching in a wide arc.

The head worked its mouth and turned onto its face, where it used its nose and chin to inch toward the body. I was more disgusted than fascinated. Yes, zombies are undead, as we vampires are. But comparing them to us was like comparing turds to eagles.

The Araneum, the worldwide network of vampires, has one standing order: Destroy all zombies.

The reason?

We must ruthlessly protect the Great Secretthe existence of the supernatural worldfrom humans. Their disbelief in the supernatural was what kept us vampires safe.

Weve seen what humans have done to one another.

War.

Genocide.

Walmart.

Against their growing technical prowess and corporate savagery, what chance did we the undead have? Our best hope for survival was to remain cloaked by superstition and fable.

Zombies have no regard for keeping the Great Secret. They materialize (from where? I dont know) and begin their rampage for mortal flesh, literally mindless of the consequences. Vampires have been able to disguise zombie attacks as examples of deranged cannibalsJeffrey Dahmer copycats. But eventually the zombies would make one attack too obvious to hide, and then humans would be on to all of us supernatural creatures. After that, we could only expect the methodical obliteration of the undead.

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