Chapter 25

Nick could feel the putrid breath of the zombies on his neck when he finally slung open the door and fell into the store. Simi ran inside, Madaug started in, then cried out as one of the zombies grabbed him and yanked him back toward the street.

Caleb had to force himself not to expose his powers and use them as he fought the zombies off and let the other two into the store. He could feel the stank of dark magick. It permeated even the air he was breathing. Whoever controlled the zombies was a force to be reckoned with.

An ancient force.

Not as old as him by any means, but still someone comfortable with their powers who knew them intimately.

He'd fought it earlier. This time, the bokor had reinforced his or her strength. And because these zombies had no living force or will of their own, they were far more dangerous than the students had been.

Unlike the students, they had no attachment to life anymore. No lingering compassion or reason. They were evil souls summoned into the bodies of the dead.

This was the blackest of magick. The kind that not even he dealt with. Only a true dark spirit like the Malachai could summon an army this size and control it.

These were mindless killing machines.

Kind of like the Charonte, though Caleb had to give Simi credit. Unlike the others of her species he'd known in the past, she was holding her human guise and not breaking it to chow down on the zombies. Someone had trained her well.

Growling low in his throat, he hit the zombie holding Madaug. The zombie's skull broke, leaving its mandible to hang from a strip of tendon as some kind of cold green ew slimed his hand. It felt like two-day-old snot.

"Oh, gross!" Caleb wiped his hand against his shirt. "Zombie goo."

"Ooo," Simi breathed. "I wonder if it tastes like chicken? What do you think?"

Caleb scowled. "I think I'm never eating guacamole again as long as I live."

Ignoring them, Nick beat the other zombie back until he was able, with Simi's help, to shove Madaug into the store.

"Hey!" Caleb snapped as he realized Nick was about to lock him on the outside with their attackers. He pushed the door open and glared at him. "No man left behind."

Nick scoffed. "This ain't the army, boy. It's every man for himself. Fall behind. Get eaten."

"I'll remember that the next time you're the one on the outside and I'm the one in the store."

Nick flashed an evil grin at him. "Yeah, but then the rules will change." He grabbed the door as another zombie tried to open it. "Ah no."

"What?" Caleb asked.

"You left the keys outside."

Caleb groaned at his stupidity, then helped Nick hold the door closed as more zombies swarmed. "What kind of idiot doesn't have one of those flipper lock things on their door?"

Nick gave him a duh stare. "Bubba. 'Cause all someone has to do is break the glass and then they can switch it open and be inside the store. You know Bubba's Code: Always use keys." Which was why he had so many on his key ring.

Caleb felt his muscles bulge as he held the door tight while the zombies tried to pull it open. "I swear, Nick, I should throw you to them. After all, I don't have to outrun the zombies. I just have to outrun you."

"That's cold, dude."

Maybe, but if the zombies got in, he was going to sic Simi and her barbecue sauce on them, humans be damned. "Stand back," Madaug said.

Nick looked over his shoulder to see Madaug with a rocket launcher. Oh, no way. Where on earth had he found that? Was it loaded?

What a stupid question. It was in Bubba's store. Of course it was loaded and functional. And probably modified to take down half the city block whenever it was fired.

Nick widened his eyes. "That's not what I think it is, is it?"

Madaug shrugged. "I don't know, but I think you better duck."

They'd barely moved before Madaug fired at the zombies outside. The rocket exploded in the door, sending glass and zombie parts everywhere. Green and red ooze streaked through the night.

Simi actually licked her lips as if dying for a taste of it.

Nick gaped as more zombies headed for them. "Dude, for a genius that was really stupid. Now we have no door and, I could be wrong, but they look to be multiplying."

They heard the zombie converts they'd locked in the hidden room earlier—yelling for release—from the surveillance monitor Bubba had turned on earlier to make sure they were all right. Well, some were. Others were in the room crying for their mamas.

Meanwhile, Bubba and Mark were outside whooping and hollering in all their glory as they fought off the undead. Nick ran to the back to get the ax.

I really need my arm functional again. Or better yet, a genetic implant that left him with one arm as a chainsaw like Ash in Army of Darkness. Now that he could definitely use right now.

Then again, he'd settle for both arms working.

A chill went through him as an image flashed in his mind of him being attacked by...

Not a raven, but the raven had been there, watching like a freaked-out guardian. And Nick's arm had been whole and working... The images were in the back of his mind, but he couldn't focus on anyone of them in particular. Just fleeting glimpses that were gone as fast as they'd appeared.

Had it been a dream?

But the memory felt real.

"Yee frickin' haw!" Bubba shouted.

Running back to Madaug and Caleb, Nick looked to see Bubba stunning the zombies with the cattle prod before he beat them with his bat. The man was having way too much fun while Nick was still worried about dying.

The zombies closed in.

Nick swallowed his fear and pulled Simi behind him to protect her. "Why hasn't one of the neighbors complained about this? Where are the cops when you need them?"

Caleb snorted. "Probably eating beignets. As the old saying goes, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away."

And it was looking like a killing field out there as panic took hold of Nick. Bubba and Mark were driving the zombies back like psycho ninjas, but even so, the sheer number of the zombies was going to overwhelm them sooner or later.

Terrified, Nick watched as more came from the shadows. These seemed to be created and sent in...

Not for kidnapping. These were here to murder.

Nick kept Simi from running around him to join the fray. She might be tall, but she'd be no match for the zombies, who continued coming while Madaug tried to reload the rocket launcher with another round.

He wasn't going to be satisfied until he blew all of them away.

Nick saw a flash of silver. Afraid it was more undead reinforcements, he kicked back a zombie, then froze as he recognized what was out there in the night.

Ash and Kyrian.

And as they joined the fight, he realized another thing. They were the ones who really fought like ninjas. Ash with a staff and Kyrian with a sword. It was incredible. While Bubba and Mark were fierce, Kyrian's moves were so graceful, they were like a violent ballet as he twirled, sliced one zombie, and then pivoted to catch another.

Nick kept waiting for Ash to use his powers, but for some reason he didn't. He merely used his staff to bash and deflect the zombies. Then he remembered whatAsh had said. No doubt he was trying to remain incognito while there were witnesses around.

Though that didn't make sense if Ash could mind-wipe everyone. Could it be he simply enjoyed the fight like Bubba and Mark?

Between them and Bubba and Mark, the zombies didn't stand a chance. In only a few minutes, there were green bodies of ew littering the street.

Kyrian looked at Ash. "Too bad they don't disintegrate into dust, huh? I have to say I much prefer the monsters who clean up after themselves."

Ash laughed.

Bubba and Mark surveyed the damage. "I wonder why no one called the police about the rocket launcher? God knows my neighbors usually report it if I so much as fart in my backyard."

Ash planted the end of his staff into the ground. "Good question."

Kyrian pressed a button on his sword and compacted it down to the hilt. He slid it into his pocket. "I have a better one. How are we going to clean up this mess?"

Nick scoffed. "Nah, mine's even better. How do you hide a chainsaw in your locker at school?"

They all stared at him.

Nick gestured to the zombies that lay in pieces on the street. "I'm thinking they're not going to stop, and while the school has a strict no-weapons policy, I don't think the plastic sporks in the cafeteria are going to do much to combat them. I need protection, man. Serious protection." His gaze went to Madaug, who was still cradling the rocket launcher. "Okay, maybe not that serious. But still..."

Mark wiped the sweat off his brow. "It's like a friggin' zombie apocalypse. I always knew we'd have one in my lifetime. Everybody, but Bubba, told me I was crazy. Well look ... who's crazy now?"

Nick had to bite his tongue to keep from saying it was still Mark who was crazy.

Caleb ignored Nick as he felt something peculiar in the air. ... His gaze went to the two newcomers. He didn't know them, but he could feel their powers.

Like him and Simi, they weren't human either.

If he didn't know better, he'd swear the tallest one was a god, and as that being turned his head to Caleb, he was sure of it.

The other...

He was a powerful warrior—a servant of the goddess Artemis. One of a long line of ancient protectors who'd sold their souls to keep mankind safe from creatures like him.

Oh yeah, any other time and the two of them would be going at it like two women over the last gown left in their size at a bridal sale.

"Hey," Nick said, looking around. "Where's Simi? Anyone see where she went?"

Before anyone could answer, another wave of zombies appeared out of the darkness. These were even faster and uglier.

Ash looked at Bubba. "Get everyone out of here." "And go where?"

"My house," Kyrian said. "It's on First Ave. Nick knows the way. I'll have someone there to let you in."

As they ran for the SUV, Nick saw Simi coming out of the store. She joined them and plopped down in the seat beside him.

"Where'd you go?"

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to eat you and since the Simi likes Nick, she don't wanna hurt him." She grinned. Okay...

Madaug dialed his phone as everyone belted themselves in. "I can't get Eric. You don't think anything's happened to him, do you?"

"He'll be all right," Bubba assured him. "Tabitha might be a little out there"—boy, wasn't that the kettle calling the pot black. / guess everyone is someone else's weirdo. "But she's good in a fight. They can take anything the zombie world throws at them. Vampires too."

"Oh, wait!" Nick panicked as he remembered his mom. "I'm supposed to be at my mom's club. She told me if I wasn't there by now, she'd come find me."

"And become a zombie hostage," Mark said. "I've seen it before. Countless times. The well-meaning hapless woman out to save her kid. Taken and eaten."

Bubba scoffed. "In the movies, Mark."

"Yeah, well, sometimes that happens in real life too, and this is definitely a time for it to happen 'cause that'd be just our luck. They take her and we all die trying to save her because she did something stupid."

Bubba turned his SUV around. "Let's go get her. 'Cause Mark's right."

Nick checked the time. "She still has four hours of work left." Mark held up a gun. "It's all right. We'll get her one way or another."

Nick was horrified at the mere suggestion of pulling a gun on his mom. "You can't shoot my mom, Mark! Are you out of your mind?"

"I'm not going to shoot her. Calm down. I'm just going to tranq her a little."

Before Nick could protest, Bubba had the SUV parked. "Mark. You and the kids stay here."

Nick shook his head. "It's my mom, I'm coming."

Bubba started to protest, then must have thought better of it. "We don't have anytime to waste. C'mon."

Nick led him to the back door of the club and knocked until John answered it.

The bouncer shook his head. "Boy, your mama is going to kill you."

"Where is she?"

"Green room."

Nick led Bubba down the narrow hallway until he reached the dressing room. He knocked on the door and waited.

His mom opened it. Her hair was teased out and her makeup thick while she was dressed in her bathrobe. The look on her face made his stomach head south.

"What have you got to say for yourself, Nick Gautier?"

"That I was attacked by zombies?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't hand me that ridiculous story."

"No, Ma, I swear. Really!"

But she wasn't about to believe him. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Obviously time for me to get grounded again." He let out a deep sigh. Some days, it really didn't pay to be honest.

She narrowed her gaze at him. "That's right. I'm going to ground you until your grandchildren are old."

Bubba stepped forward, cutting her off. "Uh, ma'am? We do have a situation and we need for you to come with us."

She furrowed her brow as she looked at Bubba like he was crazy. "I can't leave. I have another set in a few minutes."

"With all due respect, ma'am, the zombies won't care and they won't wait."

"Oh good grief, Bubba. Would you stop filling my boy's head full of all that garbage? You've already got him fully convinced of everything but the tooth fairy and I'm waiting for him to come home with wings on, telling me that even it's real." She grabbed Nick's good arm. "Get in here and sit in the corner until I decide how much restriction I'm giving you."