Love in the Time of Zombies (9 page)

Zeke
rubbed at his forehead.  When he Changed without the full moon, it messed with
his memory.  He remembered being with Scotlyn in the Wal-Mart and the kiss that
convinced him that --with a tiny bit of encouragement-- the goody-est good girl
in Vegas could be
wonderfully
bad.  Then, the zombie grabbed her and terror
filled him… and he’d woken up here with Cale.

Shit!

Scotlyn
knew he was a shape shifter.  No wonder she’d left.  It wasn’t fucking
safe
out there, though.  Zeke wrenched open the bathroom door and stalked out into
the destroyed store.  Mangled bodies and debris were everywhere, but there
didn’t seem to be any zombies moving around.  “I take it from the fact you’re
not wearing a mask that the pink shit is gone?”

“Dissipated
yesterday.  I’m not sure it would infect us, anyway.  Haven’t seen any zombie
shifters, yet.  I’m betting it was just meant for the humans.”

“How
long was I out?”

“Thirty-six
hours, give or take.”  Caleb strolled out after him.  “If you’re determined to
waste our time finding your secretary, you’d better put these on.”  He grabbed
pair of sweatpants from a sale rack and tossed them to Zeke.  “No sense in
disappointing the girl before you have to.”

Zeke
snagged them and slanted his pack-mate a glare.  “Did I invite
you
along?”  And of course Caleb would pick the ugliest color of neon purple ever
invented.  He yanked the pants on, anyway.  “I cannot
believe
you.  Scotlyn’s
tiny little human and you let her wander off into a city full of monsters!  If
she gets hurt, I swear to Christ I will kill you myself.”

“What
was I supposed to do?  I couldn’t watch over your unconscious ass
and
follow her.  I had to choose.”

“Well,
you chose fucking
wrong
.”  Zeke scowled and headed into the shoe
department to shoplift himself a pair of shoes.  “I can take care of myself.  Since
when are we so damn close that you can’t bear to leave my side, huh?”

Caleb
gave a snort.  “Since you became everyone I know, jerkoff.”

Zeke
hesitated.  “You really don’t know where the others are?”

“Nope.” 
The word was flat.

“Not
even Darcy?”

“We’ll
find her.”

“And
the rest of those idiots?”

Caleb
shrugged.  “We’ll find them, too.  A pack should be together.  That’s the
entire purpose.”

“Kinda
depends on the pack.”  Zeke retorted.  Except for Darcy, he didn’t give a damn
about the others and neither should Caleb.  In fact, the rules of the pack said
you left behind anyone who couldn’t keep up.  In times of crisis, all shifters
looked after themselves.  None of the other Macreadys would help
him
,
that was for damn sure.

…Except
Caleb
had
.

“It
took me forever just to get a signal on the phone when things went to shit.”  Caleb
continued.  “Even that was spotty.  I finally got through to your secretary and
convinced her to let me help you, and that was it.  The others could already be
dead.”

Caleb
had looked for him before the others?

Zeke
slanted him a frown.  He could understand Caleb forgetting about the “every man
for himself” rule, since his entire purpose in life was the pack.  Cale had
been born to be the next Alpha, so it was hardwired into his brain.  Too bad
for him, the rest of the Vegas shape shifters were a gaggle of idiots.  Caleb
was always trying to fish them out of danger, track their asses down, or
mediate their squabbles.

It
didn’t make any sense for Caleb to be with
Zeke
when he could be looking
for someone who hadn’t walked away from all the bullshit to live amongst the
humans.  Caleb had never made a secret of the fact that he considered Zeke a
colossal disappointment.  Rather than follow the pack, Zeke had gone his own
way.  He spent his life researching supernatural legends, and buying a golf
course, and trying his damnedest to ignore Caleb’s nagging.

Why
would Cale come for him first?

“The
pack is too mean to die.”  Zeke assured him, because it seemed like the only
thing to say.  “Besides you said yourself that the pink stuff wasn’t meant for
us.”  Zeke quickly laced up a pair of sneakers.  “And I seriously doubt it was
a natural phenomenon.  I think someone supernatural released it to attack the
humans.”

“My
first suspect would be Joseff, but I’m not sure why he’d want the humans dead.”

Zeke
didn’t even pretend to understand how the vampire’s mind worked, but he wasn’t
so sure Joseff was behind this.  Without human blood, there’d be a lot of
hungry vamps.  Besides, Joseff would never do anything that would endanger
Darcy.

Who
else had the brains and power to pull it off, though?  Zeke knew more than
anyone about the obscure recesses of the supernatural world and he was drawing
a blank.

“It
doesn’t matter who did it.”  He decided.  “It matters that it happened and the
humans are the targets. 
Scotlyn
is a human.  You see the problem
here?”  Zeke had to find her.  “What else did she say to you?”

“Not
much.  I showed up here about an hour ago and she clearly didn’t like me, so
the conversation wasn’t real stimulating.”

“She’s
got taste.”  Zeke headed off again.

“Girl’s
a pain-in-the-ass, Z.  It wasn’t until I showed her we had the same marking
that she let me near you and even then she watched me like a hawk until she was
satisfied I wasn’t going to molest you in your sleep.”  He held up his wrist to
display the pack designation they’d both been born with.  To the humans, it
looked like a tattoo.  For supernatural beings, it was like an ID card
declaring them Macreadys.

“She
had to have said
something
else.”

Caleb
trailed along after him.  “Well, right before she left, she talked real fast
about a dog, and how she had to go, and how I should wait here.  Then, she threatened
to hunt me down if I hurt you and she took off with the shotgun.  So, I gave
you some salt to wake you up and I waited.  That’s it.”

“She
thinks I’m a dog?”  Wonderful.

“No,
not
you
.  Something about a pooch.  I don’t know.  I was kinda annoyed
that the chick kept edging away from me like I had the plague so…”

Zeke’s
eyes widened as he suddenly put the pieces together.  “Pucci?”

“Yeah,
that sounds right.”

“Pucci’s
her
cat
.”

Caleb’s
face creased in distaste.  “A
cat?
”

Zeke
ignored that.  He took off towards the emergency exit, grabbing a random shirt
from its hanger as he raced by.  It had a glittery image of the Welcome to Las
Vegas sign on the front.  Zeke didn’t care.  “Scotlyn went back to her
apartment to get that goddamn cat.”

“Jesus.” 
Caleb lamented.  “It’s bad enough that the world ended.  Worse that the
survivors are going to see me with you wearing
that
.  But, now we have
to go look for a human and her
cat?
”  He sighed like a martyr.  “You are
really pushing it.”

“
My
human and her cat.”  Zeke shoved open the same emergency exit he and Scotlyn
had stood at during the attack.  It was daylight, now.  Somewhere around nine
in the morning.  Nothing was moving in the decimated parking lot.  “Understand
me, Cale.”  He turned to meet his pack-mate’s eyes and carefully spaced the
words.  “
My. Human
.”

“Oh,
I heard you.  You’re a
team
.”  Caleb gave him a tight smile.  “That’s
great.  You always were a dreamer, Ezekiel.”  He brooded for a moment.  “And
Darcy’s just like you.  She’s in love with that megalomaniacal vampire.  I
don’t get it.  You both think with your hearts and not your brains.  It’s a
miracle you’ve survived
this
long.”

“Right,
because you showing up here was so logical.”

“More
than anything
you’ve
done lately.”

“Bullshit.”

“Really? 
Remind me why you’re running a golf course, Arnold Palmer?  Cause
that
was such thinking-with-your-brain decision-making, right?”

“Hey,
owning TGW makes a lot of sense.  We’re in the black.”

That
was all Scotlyn’s doing.  He liked to tease her, but the woman was brilliant. 
She could’ve run ten golf courses and Microsoft without breaking a sweat.  He
had no idea what she was doing most of the time and that was for the best.  Zeke’s
utter lack of business savvy was an open secret to everyone who knew him.  It
was part of being an illogical, irresponsible dreamer.  He made his living
writing about legends, not doing math.

“If
you’ve made a dime, it’s thanks to your girl Friday.”  Caleb scoffed.  “That
place could be selling used tampons and you would’ve bankrolled it to get your
hands on her.”  He rolled his eyes.  “I seriously
don’t get it.
  You
can’t stand anyone in the pack, but you ally yourself with fake showgirl who
abandoned you.”

“She’s
not a fake anything.”

“I
know
showgirls, Z.  Your secretary
wasn’t
a showgirl.  She was a glorified
daycare teacher for all the tykes whose mommies and daddies were gambling away
their college funds.  She put on little shows about fairytales.  And they fired
her from even
that
.”

Zeke’s
mouth curved. 
“
To hear her tell it, she was downsized.”  Although,
given her singing “talents” and the countless outrageous lies on her resume, he
certainly didn’t rule out firing.  He’d found one of Scotlyn’s performances on
some tourist’s YouTube video and had watched her sing
Little Mermaid
songs.  Many, many times.  The woman was a constant delight.

“My
point is, what do you think the odds are of Mary Poppins wanting forever-after
with the shape shifter?”  Caleb arched a brow.  “I doubt they’ll have a Powerball
drawing this week, but I betcha your chances of winning it are
still
higher
than you bedding your pretty little princess.”

“Is
there a reason you’re still talking?”

“I’m
trying to look out for you, Z.  As usual.”

Zeke
snorted and headed across the eerily silent parking lot.  It looked like the
entire place had been leveled with a bomb, with burned out cars and charred
corpses everywhere.

“Thanks
for saving me, Cale.”  Caleb mocked.  “I would’ve been in deep shit if you
hadn’t shown up.  You always were the best shape shifter in the world.”  He
shifted the Mac-10 into his hand, casually scanning around.  “Don’t mention it,
bro.  I was
happy
to risk my neck for you.  And I just loooove being at
Wal-Mart.”

“I’m
not your bro.”  Zeke said automatically.  The Macreadys didn’t recognize or
keep track of familial ties.  Zeke had no idea who his parents were or if he
had any siblings.  He wasn’t special to anyone.  Certainly not to Cale, the
pack’s next Alpha and all around White Hat.

…Except
Caleb had come looking for him.

The
thought kept repeating itself in Zeke’s head.

Caleb’s
mouth twisted.  “Well, whatever we are to each other, we’re stuck together,
now, so we might as well make the best of it.”  His eyes narrowed.  “This place
seem a little quiet to you?”

“The
humans here are all dead here.  Maybe the zombies moved on to better hunting
grounds.”  Zeke glanced over at him.  “This has gotta be happening in more than
just Vegas.  Otherwise, someone in charge would have nuked this whole place by
now, rather than let it spread.  Whatever’s going on with the rest of the
world, we’re on our own.”

“Story
of my life.”  Caleb absently toed a severed arm.  “God, I need a cigarette. 
You still smoke?”

“No. 
Scotlyn asked me to quit.”  Now, he just pretended to piss her off.

“She
asked, so you did it?”  Caleb mocked.  “That’s sweet.  Still, it’s just as well
you gave it up.  Worst part of all this is, I can already guarantee that cigarettes
are going to cost a friggin’ fortune in a few weeks.  Come to think of it, we
should try to corner the black market, now.”

“Worst
part of this is you lost my woman.”  Zeke wasn’t getting over that anytime
soon.  “What kind of stupid, irresponsible jackass lets a helpless human…?”  He
trailed off as a familiar scent hit his heightened senses.  Over the stench burning
rubber and carnage, he smelled something… clean.

Scotlyn.

The
woman always smelled of summertime.  The warm, bright colors of a vintage
July.  Sea and laughter and hot fudge sundaes sold on
a sandy boardwalk.  The twinkling lights of a Ferris wheel ahead of you and the
promise of endless Saturday evening at the peak of your childhood shining in
the future.  Well, someone’s childhood, anyway.  Not Zeke’s, but probably
someone’s.

He
would’ve known the erotic fragrance of her anywhere.

His
head snapped around and there she was, just walking towards him with a leopard-print
pet carrier in one hand and fuzzy pink backpack slung over her shoulder.