Raven Moon (20 page)

Chapter 13

Rave followed Mad Mama Moxie down to the lower floor. They were shadowed by two armed men. Outside, men honked and shouted.

A man on a bullhorn spoke, “Keep it down! The zombies will hear us.”

They killed the engines, and the hoots simmered down to a low drone of voices.

Rave muttered. “Too late, I’m sure the undead already heard the dinner bell.”

The man lowered the bullhorn, but his loud voice breached the distance. “Each female will start at one tank of propane.”

A man shouted. “Start with the live one first!”

Gross. Add zombie sex slave trafficker to Moxie’s resume. Rave’s toes curled.
I’m the only living sex slave. Not!

The seller shouted back, “She’ll be the final one on the auction block. The bidding for this young attractive twenty-year old woman will start at four hundred tanks.”

The men argued in protest. Apparently, she was priced at more than any of them had imagined. One shouted, “Do a lottery, so we all have a chance!”

Rave turned to Moxie. “False advertisement, I’m twenty-three.”

Moxie ignored her and opened a room. She took out a diaphanous white robe from a closet. “Follow my men to room 8 and slip it on.”

Rave stared at the sheer robe. “White is not my color.” She scrunched her face in disgust. “Besides, I only wear silk.”

Mama Moxie drew her gun and pressed it against Rave’s bad arm. “Go, before I change my mind and have you stripped naked.” She turned to her men. “One of you, watch her while she dresses.”

They nodded enthusiastically, their faces plastered with creepy grins. Eww.

Mad Moxie surveyed Rave’s figure with a pleased expression. “After she’s changed, escort her to the parking lot.” Moxie smiled at her. “I’ll meet you in the parking lot after I get my ledger and recorder.”

Rave gazed up the stairs. Was Maddox still in the room? She had not heard a sound, but then again, he could kill so swiftly his victim wouldn’t have a chance to react either by screaming or defending themselves. They shoved her into a patient’s room and she stumbled forward. They switched the light on. She straightened. “Asswipes.” Outside floodlights streamed through the window and she looked out. Roughly twenty or more trucks were parked in a semicircle around a rug in the parking lot. Twenty or more armed tankers stood in front of the man with the bullhorn, waiting to make their bid. He was auctioning off what looked like drugs, bandages and other medical goods. So much for future friendly survivors finding medical supplies.

One tanker raised his hat. “One cow.”

Another raised his hat. “A cow and one goat.”

Odd. Tankers bid on goods as if it was a farm auction. Instead of cash, they bartered with livestock, fuel tanks and ammo. Mama Moxie’s group was outnumbered. Why didn’t the tankers just take what they wanted? Like, she mentioned they had before. Or had they?

One of the men pulled her back from the window and drawled, “Git dressed!”

“Hey, don’t touch the merchandise.” She looked at the gown and then back at them. “Mama Moxie said only one of you is to stand guard.”

The smaller guy with a buzz cut grinned. “How about we both watch?”

The big one with the dopy doughboy look eagerly nodded.

One she could take out but two? Her skin tightened. “No way. Boss lady said only one, and she scares me a hell of a lot more than you do. If you don’t do as she asked, I won’t put it on.” Where the hell was her overprotective werewolf? Now was the time for Maddox to crash the party and roar in with his possessive ‘she’s mine’ attitude.

Doughboy stepped closer, his smile crooked as he stared at her breasts. “Let me.” He threw her a crooked smile. “I bet one of Mama Moxie’s sons will buy you.”

Rave’s pitch rose. “She’s got sons?”

Doughboy grinned. “Yep, seven sons.”

Rave gaped. Seven? Holy shit. And each was probably crueler than the next. So that was it. She was the mother of tankers. No wonder, Mama Moxie garnished so much respect.

Buzz Cut barked. “Shut up, Tiny.” He glared at her. “Draw the curtains around the bed. I’ll watch you.”

Rave shrugged. “Okay, but I don’t think you’ll like the peep show.” She stepped next to the bed.

Buzz Cut closed the circular curtains around them and sat at the bed’s edge. “Take your time.”

Rave winked at him and stripped off the sling. He gaped and she threw him the sling. “Hold this.” As he grabbed it, she shifted. She ruffled her tail. Her right wing had no strength but it felt good to be a bird. It had been a while. Tilting her eye, she readied her beak for a lethal strike.

“Fuck!”

She speared her beak between his eyes.

He slammed onto the bed.

Tiny drew the curtains, “Slade!” He stared at the hole in his forehead and then at the raven on the bed with blood on its beak.

Tiny towered over her. Too tall. Impossible to strike. Not without flight. She hopped off the bed and behind the curtains. The big man whirled around with his shotgun as she dashed into the bathroom.

“Die crow!” He shot a gaping hole through the bathroom door and kicked it in.

In human form, Rave cowered in the corner. “That bird flew out as you shot it.” Everybody must have heard the gunshot. She’d better finish her escape like… Now!

Tiny turned around and she followed him back to the room. She picked up Buzz Cut’s abandoned Glock 19 as Tiny looked under the bed. Just to play with his mind, she cawed and as he turned, she shot him with Buzz Cut’s dropped gun. His large body fell with a thump. Almost as loud as the bang of his shotgun.

Rave removed her sling and dashed out of the room and down another set of stairs to the basement where the smell of death drew out her curiosity. Behind the door, she heard the,
oh so
familiar shuffling of zombies. Releasing them would certainly cause a distraction. And prevent a fate worse than zombie death. Sex with a bunch of sickos.

A key hung by the door. Convenient. She unlocked and opened door and then switched on the lights.
Oh, crap.
She quickly shifted to raven form. Even with her strong raven tolerance for road kill, she gagged.

About twenty zombie women in early stages of decay and even some pregnant ones shambled around in the large morgue. Shit. A few looked barely out of puberty.
This place is going down.

Rave hopped beneath a stretcher. Each zombie had her wrists banded together with silver duct tape. Their mouths were super glued and stitched shut. They made soft mewing sounds. These zombie women were chosen for their good looks. The majority looked as if prior to their transformation they might have been the hometown festival queen. They each wore a white diaphanous gown over their nude bodies, like the one she was supposed to have donned. Their hair was neatly combed or braided, and even a dab of makeup and blush had been applied to their pale faces. Zombie make-over for zombie porn. This is probably what mad Mama Moxie did in her spare time.
And with the lipstick I so generously gave her.

Had they once been sold until they turned? Or was that part of how tankers got their jollies? Raping them first and then allowing the zombies to infect them. Counterproductive to the whole breeder thing. Unless the women had been forcibly bitten as punishment for attempting escape or fighting back?

Her stomach heaved, sickened from their foul odor. The tankers probably had to wear a gas mask before raping the zombies. Or were they turned on by the sick zombie cologne? Gross. Never had she missed having a warm cup of cocoa in her cozy lodge in Yosemite, more than now. Curled on her sofa, reading one of Dora’s silly romance novels. Yet, if things like this were happening all over the world, how could she accept the safety of a warm protected home when innocent survivors had nobody to fight for them? Ironic how humanity’s deadliest enemy was not the flesh-eating zombies but the fucked up living.

One young zombie, maybe age sixteen with a mop of blonde curly hair, almost looked alive. Very little decay, except for a chunk of missing tissue on her upper arm. Had she turned only days ago?

Girlfriends, payback time.
Putting operation z-sex trafficking out of business.

A blinking red light on a silver cabinet caught her attention. An explosive with a timer. Set to go off in ten minutes.

Shouts from above meant they discovered she was gone.
Okay, ladies, time to have a girl’s night out on the town.
She pecked at their feet, gently prodding them out the door. It didn’t take much effort. Hearing live humans, they shuffled out, sniffing and making that sick mewing sound.

Rave shifted to human form and called. “Psst, this way.” She opened a door to the backside of the building and then returned to raven form. They sniffed around for her and then moved on to the front of the building where men were bidding and laughing. If only she’d had time to unbind them and unstitch their mouths. As they headed out, Rave spread her wings and cawed, three times.
Maddox, get the hell out of the building
.

****

Maddox stepped over the fallen guard and scanned the area, honing in on her scent. The aroma of raven feathers hit his nostrils, followed by three caws. She was okay.

Ted stepped into view. He carried an assault rifle and waved him over. “Maddox, over here.”

“Doctor?”

The small man stood trembling and stared at the dead man who had been guarding the room. “I’m not helping her anymore.”

Maddox rubbed his wrists and stared at the corpse at his boots. “Thanks.”

“Quick, you need to get Rave and get the hell out of here. Now!”

Maddox flinched at the stench of his fear. “Why so fast?”

“I’ve rigged several buses, trucks and the basement where Moxie keeps the zombie women. This entire hospital is going to collapse.” His gaze darted toward the exit. “Hurry, she might be in the front lobby by now.”

“No, she escaped.”

“How do you know?” Ted wiped sweat from his brow and shook his head. “I doubt she could fight off two armed guards.”

“Not as a human but as a raven shifter she can.” Or at least trick them, allowing her to escape.

“What?”

“Her arm is almost completely healed because of her raven DNA.”

“Are you?”

Maddox shook his head. “I’m a wolf shifter, but humans call us as werewolves.” He bore his fangs. “Don’t worry, we are not horror movie werewolves.” Not yet.

“Holy shit.” Ted stared at him but he didn’t panic.

Why should a werewolf freak him out? Couldn’t be any worse than zombies and pillaging tankers. Maddox growled, “Exit, now!”

He blinked and nodded. “Follow me to the basement. There’s a back exit.”

Maddox followed him down. The shouts got louder as the bidders grew impatient.

Ted took out his flashlight. “Hurry.” He stopped. “The zombies have been let out. Moxie’s men were supposed to come by in less than ten minutes and bring them up.”

Maddox shrugged. “Rave has a bad habit of starting trouble.”

“Come on, let’s go.” They walked into the back parking lot. Ted pointed to the forest behind the barricade. “Get as far as you can. Tomorrow, the survivors might come back with hound dogs.”

Maddox scoffed. “Not after tonight. Are the vehicles on timers?”

Ted pulled out his cell phone. “Those I’m blowing up.”

“You escape. I’ll do that.”

His voice darkened. “No. I’ve been a participant in this madness long enough. It’s time I stop her sick operation.”

Human, you are going to get yourself killed
. “You have done enough. We’ll find Rave and then you can leave with her.”

The doctor stared at him with tear-filled eyes. “Don’t you see? I can’t. I’ll never be free of what I’ve done. This stand won’t make a dent in forgiveness.”

“Why the bloody hell not?”

He stared at his rifle. “When my wife was bitten, I promised her I would keep her daughter, my stepdaughter safe.”

Maddox tilted his head. “But she died, too?”

“After I saw the zombies claim the land, I agreed with Mama Moxie. We had to re-populate our world with the living. I participated in numerous auctions. For a time I convinced myself the young women didn’t realize how we protected them. Pretty zombie women for sexual slavery and living women for breeding.” He shook his head in despair. “I let Mama Moxie sell my stepdaughter.”

“Oh.” His inner wolf snarled. Disloyalty to one’s children was the ultimate betrayal amongst wolf shifters. He curled his clawed hands. Was the doctor worthy of redemption?

His chin dipped to his chest. “She was only seventeen years old.”

“We will get her back.” A promise that would slow down his pursuit of Jaeger, but a worthy search.

“No, you can’t. When she found out she’d been sold, Tammy hung herself.”

Maddox stiffened.

“I’m not leaving until Moxie is dead.” Ted sobbed. “The things I did…”

“It’s over.”

Rave hurried toward them, sporting a Glock 19. “We need to get away from the building, there’s a bomb timed to blow.”

Her tone was alpha and with her gun, she looked badass. Maddox repressed his desire to kiss her. “Ted set it to blow.”

Rave scoffed. “Nice seeing you, too.”

“You should have left by now.” His tone alpha. Harsh.

She chambered a round in her gun. “Actually, I promised my new girlfriends to bring this operation down.”

Maddox handed her his car keys. “Take Doc and drive out of here.”

Ted protested. “Not until Moxie is dead.”

Rave tilted her head toward Ted. “I agree. Let’s bury the bitch and her vicious litter of tanker sons.”

Maddox stiffened and then sniffed. “I know two of the men out there.”

Rave gave him a sidelong glance. “Friends of yours?”

“Two Kindred cronies.” He growled. “They carry the scent of the pilot that brought me here.”

Rave blanched. “Oh, snap.”

Maddox snarled at the doctor. “Detonate the vehicle bombs one minute after the hospital blows up.” He glared at Rave. “Shift and find shelter.”

Ted nodded. “Yes, sir.”

****

Rave and the doctor watched from behind the cover of an ambulance as the men began firing at the mewing shambling women. One of the permanently dead undead was the young girl with the mop of blonde curls. Her raven foresight sensed her spirit leave her. Dora said the out of body souls of the zombies could only travel to the light after their brain was destroyed. Until then, their spirits were trapped. Forced to witness the atrocities their undead bodies perpetrated. Then a few of the men toned their panic, grabbed some of the zombie women and hauled them into their trucks.