Infinity Chronicles of Nick

CHAPTER 9

It struck him hard in the chest and knocked him down. Rolling with it, he came to his feet, ready to fight, even though his shoulder was throbbing again. Dang, would it never stop hurting?

His stomach knotted as he recognized Stone. At first he thought Stone was a zombie, but as he looked at him, he realized he was ...

As normal as Stone could be. Which really wasn't saying much.

"What are you doing?" Nick had to force himself to stop there and not let fly the particularly nasty insult that was stinging his tongue. But he wouldn't give Stone the satisfaction of letting him know how rattled he'd made him.

Stone laughed, shoving Nick back. "Did I scare you, little girl?"

All right, gloves off. "You're such an epic dork."

Stone grabbed him in a grip so fierce it didn't seem human. "I'm going to make you eat those words, Gautier. Along with your teeth."

Nick tried to break free. Stone increased the pressure on his neck until his vision dulled and his ears buzzed. What kind of Vulcan, kung fu death grip was he using? Nick was like a puppy someone had grabbed by the scruff of his neck. His body had just gone limp and he couldn't do anything other than dangle in Stone's grip.

It was highly embarrassing and it seriously pissed him off.

"Let him go, Stone. Now."

Stone's grip tightened as Caleb Malphas stepped out of the shadows. The quarterback and star of their high school football team, Caleb had all the power and popularity Stone craved.

And luckily none of Stone's stupidity or cruelty.

Stone shoved Nick away. "I was just having fun with him."

Caleb's dark hair was brushed back from his face, showing just how perfect his features really were as he eyed Stone with malice. "Really? Well, why don't you run along before I decide to have some fun with you?"

Stone's gaze narrowed. "We're not at school, Malphas. I'm not the same person out here that I am there."

Caleb invaded his personal space. He stood so close that their noses were almost touching. "Neither am I, Blakemoor. Trust me, the animal in you is no match for the demon in me.

Now move along before I give you a taste of what I can do to you without the football pads to dull my blows."

Curling his lip, Stone blinked and stepped back. He raked a sneer over Nick that promised him another round whenever Caleb wasn't here to interfere. "You're not worth getting my knuckles busted anyway."

With one last sullen glare, he put his hands in his pockets and crossed the street.

Nick glared at the punk. "You better be glad my arm's in a sling. Otherwise you'd be missing some teeth ... buttmunch."

"Is that the best insult you can deal?"

Nick turned his fury toward Caleb. "You want a taste of it?"

Caleb laughed. "I like your spirit, Gautier. It's a shame you're not still on my team."

Nick scowled as he sensed Caleb meant something other than football. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to the Triple B. It's almost time for Mark and Bubba's class on Zombie Defense and Execution. It's the most entertaining thing since that time Stone set himself on fire in chem class."

Nick laughed at the memory. Stone had been trying to show off for Casey when he knocked over a beaker full of something highly flammable that had exploded and ignited his sleeve. Unfortunately, Ms. Wilkins had been fast with the fire extinguisher and all Stone had lost were his eyebrows and some dignity.

Half the class had been rooting for a Freddie Kruegering of Stone, but luck hadn't been on their side and he'd survived to continue being a waking nightmare for all of them.

"You want to come along?" Caleb asked him.

As much fun as it sounded, he hesitated. "I'm supposed to head back to my mom's job."

'Cause she would absolutely kill him if he didn't.

"And miss Bubba's Zombie Roadkill Recipes? C'mon, Nick, you know you have to see this. It's must-view entertainment on an infinite scale of epic awesomeness." Caleb pulled out his phone and handed it to him. "Give her a shout and ask her if you can go."

Nick wasn't so sure about this. Caleb hadn't exactly been overly friendly to him these last few years. In fact, he'd basically ignored him.

So why would he care if he went or not? Unless this was a trick moment like when the cool guy asked Carrie White to the prom just so they could drench her in blood and laugh at her.

Yeah, I'd look stupid in a prom dress. Worse, he didn't have the psychic powers to attack them back.

Caleb frowned at him. "What are you waiting for?"

Lightning to strike him, 'cause let's face it, that was much more likely to happen than the most popular guy at school inviting him to watch an infamous Bubbisode.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

A sly grin curled Caleb's lips. "My enemy's enemy is my friend."

"Who's your enemy?"

Caleb shrugged. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you ... and I know what you're thinking.

How can a guy as popular as me have any enemies or problems, right?"

Yeah, basically. "I haven't noticed you being slammed into anyone's locker lately."

"That's because you're not around me all the time. Trust me. Life's not easy for anyone.

Everyone has scars they're afraid to show and we all get slammed headfirst into a proverbial locker from time to time by someone bigger and badder."

Riiight. He was more than sure that Caleb's idea of a bad day was no match for his.

"What? Your parents ground you for driving your mom's new car or did you forget to tell the maid to pick up your room?"

Caleb didn't respond to his sarcasm. "You going to call your mom or not? No real sweat off my nose, one way or another. I'm just trying to be neighborly."

/ swear if I get drenched in pig's blood, I'm going after you with an ax. Taking the phone from Caleb's hand, Nick punched in the number at the club.

Tiffany answered on the sixth ring.

"Hey Tiff, it's Nick. Is my mom nearby?"

"Sure, sug, hang on."

While Nick waited on his mom to get to the phone, Caleb went to stare into one of the store windows. He still wasn't sure why Caleb was willing to do this. Even though he knew Caleb, they'd never hung out before. Caleb had transferred into school not long after Nick had and though they'd had many classes together, Caleb hadn't really spoken to him in school except on rare occasions. Such as to tell him to move his punk butt out of the way so Caleb could get to his locker.

An extreme loner in spite of being popular and playing on the football team, Caleb ignored most people. No one knew much about him. He never talked about his home life or parents. If anyone ever asked a question about it, he changed topics. But it was obvious from his clothes and bearing that his parents had more cash than most, and the rumors around school said his dad was one of the richest guys in town.

Of course rumors also claimed Caleb was an ex-con who'd learned to play football inju-vey. One rumor even claimed he'd killed his dad and then sold his liver on the black market.

Given what Caleb had said a minute ago, Nick figured it must be bleak at his house. Why else would a guy with his kind of looks, money, and popularity be wandering the streets on his way to see two lunatics give lessons on fighting off nonexistent creatures?

Then again ... after all that'd happened today, zombies weren't so fictional after all.

"Nick? Are you all right?" his mom asked as she came to the phone.

"I'm fine. I'm just a couple of blocks away. I dropped off Liza and met a friend from school on the street—"

"Hi, Ms. Gautier," Caleb called into the phone.

Nick ignored him. "It's Caleb Malphas. He wanted to know if I could go with him to Bubba's store and attend one of Bubba's classes."

"Oh Lord, what's he teaching tonight?"

"Zombie survival."

His mom let out a tired sigh. "Is he going to have dynamite there again?"

"I doubt it. The ATF was pretty strict after the last incident. Anytime the authorities step in, Bubba usually lays low for a while."

'And how long is it going to last?" she asked.

He looked at Caleb. "How long is it?"

Caleb flashed a mischievous grin. "It's supposed to be an hour, but usually Bubba or Mark has a serious injury about thirty minutes in and we have to break for a hospital run. Sometimes they come back if they can get in and out of the emergency room fast enough or the burns aren't too bad. Most times it ends early. I'd tell her an hour though 'cause we need to factor in the time it takes to stop laughing so hard we can walk again."

The sad thing was, Caleb wasn't joking. "About an hour, Ma.

"And you won't be alone?"

"No, ma'am. Caleb's with me and he's a good-sized guy." "How old is he?"

Nick clenched his teeth in frustration. Why did he have to play this game with her all the time when it was only a matter of a simple yes or no? Dang, his mom should have been a lawyer. "How old are you?"

Caleb paused as if he had to think about it. "Fifteen."

"Fifteen," Nick repeated into the phone.

"What do his parents do for a living?"

This time his temper snapped and he spoke before he could stop himself. "What does that matter?"

"It matters to me and if you want to go, I want an answer."

Nick rolled his eyes at the response that grated on his last nerve. "What do your parents do?"

There was a strange look on Caleb's face. When he spoke, his tone was completely stoic.

"My dad's a broker and my mom is his eternal unwilling concubine who sold her soul to him to buy the equivalent of a Ferrari."

Nick let out a long breath. Caleb definitely had a way with words. "His dad's a stockbroker."

"His mom?"

"She's a housewife."

His mother hesitated before she continued grilling him. "Is he a good boy?"

"No, Mom, he's Satan incarnate. In fact, once it's over, we're going to get liquored up and tattooed, then find some cheap hos and have a good time with his trust fund."

Caleb laughed.

His mom, however, did not share that sense of humor. "Don't you take that tone with me, Nick Gautier. I'll ground you till you're old and gray. Now answer my question."

Would she never appreciate his sarcasm?

Realizing he had to play nice, Nick took the attitude out of his voice. "Yes, he's a good boy. Never been in trouble at school and he's on the honor roll. Captain of the football team.

All-around psycho serial killer who hides bodies in the fridge whenever his parents go out of town."

Well... he'd tried to remove all sarcasm. Thing was, for him, it was an impossible task.

Caleb laughed again, then leaned in to speak so that Nick's mom could hear him. "I also eat babies for breakfast and torture small animals for fun. My therapist says that I'm making real progress though."

His mother responded with a sharp note. "Don't you boys get smart with me."

Nick grinned at Caleb. "Sorry, Mom. We couldn't resist."

She spoke to her boss, then came back to Nick. "All right. You can go, but I want you here in an hour."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be there." "I love you, baby."

Nick felt his face turn bright red as he turned away from Caleb. "I love you too," he said in a low tone. Then he hung up the phone and returned it to Caleb. "I don't want to hear no crap from you about that."

Caleb held his hands up. "Don't worry. Wish I had a mom I could love. Mine's a psycho hose beast who begrudges me every breath I take. Besides, you didn't make kissing noises at her. So what's to mock?"

This time. And it was only because Caleb was here that he didn't.

Caleb put the phone in his pocket and led the way toward Bubba's store.

As they walked, Nick's thoughts went back to Stone and the oddity of their meeting. "What do you think Stone was doing behind Liza's store?" It wasn't like him to be out alone. His brand of cowardice usually needed an audience to perform for.

Caleb jerked his chin in the direction of the full moon. "He was probably prowling around with his buds and found some Dumpsters with trash in them to sniff."

"Huh?"

"It's a full moon, Nick. I'm sure the animal in Stone took over. He was probably trying to teleport somewhere and because of his young age, screwed up the jump. I think he landed behind the doll store 'cause Liza was summoning the gods earlier tonight and her powers called out to him or something. They might have even interfered with his."

Nick snorted at his worthless answer. "Ah, gah, you're not going to start with all that werewolf crap too, are you?"

"You don't believe in them?"

"I only believe in zombies and only because I've seen them today. The rest... total caca."

Caleb shook his head. "You live in New Orleans and you're Catholic, not to mention friends with Bubba and Mark, yet you don't believe in demons, werewolves, or vampires?"

"The only vampires I've ever seen are the Goths trying to get a glimpse of Anne Rice's house, who drink strawberry sodas and tell each other it's blood."

"You're such a skeptic."

And Nick took a lot of pride in that too. He didn't like the idea of anyone putting anything over on him. Better to be jaded than a victim. "I take it you're not."

"I believe in it all."

"Why?"

"C'mon, Nick, haven't you ever been walking down the street and just felt the hand of evil brush down your spine? You know that tingle. That sense that something isn't right, but you don't know what it is. That's a demon by your side, boy. He's sizing you up to toy with."

Nick didn't believe a word of what he was trying to sell. "You're just trying to mess with my head."

"I'm trying to prepare you for the real world."

"The real world is getting a good job, paying your bills, and keeping your nose clean."

Staying off death row.

Caleb gave him an arch stare. "Wow. You've totally bought into that namby-pamby status quo."

"It's not status quo. It's the truth."

"Whatever you say." Caleb stepped up on the curb as they reached the Triple B. He moved ahead and opened the door to let Nick enter first.

"Store's closed. There's no classes to—" Mark's voice broke off as he came out of the back room and saw them.

"Oh. It's you guys. Come on in."

Nick scowled at the strange welcome. "What's going on?"

Mark didn't answer as he walked past them and went to the door they'd just entered through, locked it, then turned the closed sign around. "You won't believe this." He motioned for them to follow him into the back room.

Oh goody. He couldn't wait. Whenever Mark uttered those words, it was always a doozie.

But the minute he entered the back, Nick pulled up short. Bubba and Madaug were sitting in front of the computer—oh, that little wanker. How could Madaug be here after not picking up the phone all day?

Nick wanted to choke him.

Madaug's glasses were slightly askew on his nose as he tugged at his short hair while reading through the code on the screen.

"How did he get here?" Nick asked Mark.

Mark gave him a droll stare. "Walked."

Nick scoffed at him. "Seriously. After all we've done to locate him today, when did he pop back in?"

"Couple of hours ago." Mark stood opposite of Nick and Caleb.

Oblivious to them, Madaug pointed to a line of code. "See, Bubba. That's what I was talking about. This algorithm was designed to subliminally repress their anterior cingulate cortex while this one stimulated the orbital frontal cortex and amygdala, thereby raising their seroton-in levels."

Nick scowled at Caleb, who, thankfully, looked as confused as he felt.

Bubba and Mark, however, seemed to be fluent in the geek speak that left him baffled.

"Yeah." Bubba scratched at the stubble on his chin. "But I don't see how that gave you control of the hypothalamus."

"It doesn't really. Only the somatic nervous system should be affected with a small byproduct of elevated stress in the hypothalamus that should have inhibited his aggressive behavior. What I can't figure out is how I lost control. What did I miss, Bubba?"

Nick cleared his throat. "I can tell you what I'm missing. A clue. What are you people talking about?"

Mark cut a sideways look to Nick. "Zombie Hunter."

Nick had to bite his tongue to not respond with no, duh. "And that would be different from all the other discussions you guys have had how?"

Mark let out an aggravated breath. "Not killing zombies, Nick, playing them."

Madaug turned toward Nick to answer. "I invented a video game called Zombie Hunter.

That's what we're working on."

Nick smiled. "Oh, that's cool. Can I play?"

"No!" Mark, Bubba, and Madaug shouted all at once.

Bubba took a swig of his soda. "Trust us, Nick. This is one game you don't want any part of."

"Why?"

Madaug pinned a gimlet stare on him. "Because anyone who plays it gets turned into a zombie."

Oh yeah right... Nick didn't believe that for one instant. "Bullcrap."

"Nah, man, it's true." Bubba indicated Madaug with the can in his hand. "Your little friend here is quite brilliant."

Yeah, brilliant at getting shoved into lockers....

Nick couldn't understand how Madaug could be bright enough to figure out how to program a game, but not fly under the radar of the people who wanted to abuse him.

Madaug pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I learned that a specific sequence of light and sound can actually alter brain waves and override them. See, the brain is like a computer and if you can bypass certain programming, you can hack in and change someone's core hard drive."

Nick had to give him credit, it sounded impressive. "How did you learn this stuff?"

"My mom's a neurosurgeon atTulane and my dad's a research criminal neurologist. They have really boring conversations at the dinner table and force me to listen to them while I eat my mom's really bad cooking. My dad's doing a study right now on ways to inhibit violent behavior, which is what gave me the idea for the game. I took his notes, did some independent research, and then had Bubba teach me the core programming to build levels for the game that would alter their brain pattern."

Caleb hit Nick in his good shoulder. "See what you can learn when you listen to your parents?"

Nick scoffed. "That ain't what my parents talk about." But if anyone ever wanted to learn how to pole dance or gut a human being, Nick was the one to talk to.

That, however, was another topic and not helpful tonight at all... then again, the gutting might come in handy if more zombies came for him.

"So who has the game?" Nick asked Madaug.

"I gave a copy to Brian 'cause he was always messing with me. I wanted to see if I could reprogram him to stress out whenever he felt the urge to come at me. Instead of getting pleasure, bullying would increase his fear, and make him pull back. That was the plan."

Bubba took another drink. "He was Madaug's guinea pig."

Madaug looked sick over that comment. "Yeah, and now I can't find the game. I don't know who has it, but apparently other people have been playing it which is why we have zombies cropping up all over the place."

Bubba snorted. "Yeah, two and three at a time, 'cause God forbid kids should do what we did back in the old days and play in a room by ourselves. What kind of geeks are they raising nowadays? Geeks with friends who play video games together. Whoever heard of such? It's the end of days, I'm telling you all."

Nick was confused by his outburst. "But, Bubba? Aren't you and Mark friends?"

"Ah, hell no. Mark's not my friend, he's my minion."

Mark stiffened. "I prefer sidekick. I tried once for the title of Padawan, but Bubba wigged out saying that mentors are always killed off in books and movies and he'd be damned if he was going to die once he taught me everything I needed to know about killing zombies."

"Then why let you be his sidekick? Isn't that the same thing? " Nick asked.

Mark laughed. "Uh, no. In the movies, the sidekicks are the ones who die."

Nick wasn't about to touch that screwed-up logic.

Bubba ignored him as he continued speaking. "And because Madaug had it programmed to repel Brian from him, we think the programming is backwards and it's making them seek him out instead. So we need to rework the code to switch them back to normal."

That sounded good, but Nick only had one problem with this theory. "So why are they coming after me?"

Bubba and Madaug gaped at him. "What?"

"Two of them, a few hours ago, tracked me down at work," Nick explained. "They almost had me too."

Bubba shook his head in denial. "That's not possible. The programming only works around Madaug and his DNA."

Nick held up his good arm to show them the bandage where he'd been bitten. Again.

"Possible or not, they tried to turn me into a Nick McNugget."

Bubba grabbed his arm, pulled the bandage back, and studied his two wounds. "Well, isn't that interesting."

Nick was aghast at his nonchalance. It might have been funny had it been happening to Stone and not him. But right now, he didn't exactly have a sense of humor about being a zombie chew toy. "I ain't your science experiment, Bubba. I don't want to be interesting and I definitely don't want to be a nubby treat for the zombies."

Bubba looked at Madaug. "Why would they try to eat Nick?"

Madaug shrugged. "I don't know why they're trying to eat anyone. Period. The program was to calm them down and make them passive. Not aggressive."

"Epic fail, dude," Nick said.

Madaug looked back at his code before he responded to Nick's outburst. "From what I've observed today, when the programming kicks in they attack whoever they're around. But I haven't seen them tracking anyone except me and I still haven't figured out why they're stalk-ing me and not quivering in fear."

Caleb crossed his arms over his chest. "You turned them into zombies, Madaug. They're after your brains."

Nick laughed. "I'd say it's because they're all mindless jocks, but that might offend you."

"Yeah, and then I'd have to break your other arm."

Bubba set his drink down. "Don't make me have to separate the two of you. I'm out of patience with kids today." He indicated the smashed cabinets from earlier. "I still wanna know who to sue to get my store fixed."

"I'm a turnip." Nick pointed to Madaug. "Sue the rich kid who started it."

Before Madaug could defend himself, there was a sharp thud against the door, followed by the sounds of someone moaning while trying to get in.

Mark leaned his head against the wall as if he were in agony. "Please let that be Tabitha playing a prank."

Bubba hefted his ax from its peg on the wall. "Guard the geek," he said to Mark. "I'm going to check it out."

Mark moaned even louder. "Please don't let it be another cop. I'm outta bail money." He looked at Nick. "Wait a minute. ... I could sell you on eBay and make a killing."

Nick pointed to his busted arm. "Not in my current condition. You'd have to sell Caleb or Madaug. I'm sure there's someone willing to buy two perfectly good white boys." He leaned forward to look past Mark, who had thankfully bathed the scent of duck urine off him, to see who was at the door.

With the ax cocked on his shoulder, Bubba unlocked it and a group of Goths spilled into the store. They were so excited that they were talking over each other to the point Nick couldn't understand any of them.

The last one in let loose a whistle so piercing, it echoed. As she turned toward him, Nick recognized Tabitha decked out in pants so tight he was sure they were illegal in some states.

Probably this one.

She looked up at Bubba. "We need supplies, B. Lots and lots of supplies."

Bubba scowled. "Why? What's going on?"

"Who let loose the zombies?" one of the guys asked.

"Yeah, and they don't move slow," another inserted. "They're like super zombie mutants on speed."

The tallest of the guys pointed to his swollen and red eye.

"They look like a rival football team that I swear we played a couple of weeks back. Which is how I got the black eye. I was trying to keep Tabitha from committing murder."

Madaug moved past Nick, his mouth hanging open. "Eric? Is that you?"

The one holding his eye turned with a stern frown. His black hair was teased to stand out all over his head like Rob Smith from the Cure. He wore even more makeup than Tabitha, which included black lipstick, guyliner, and black blush. Even his fingernails were painted black. A color that swathed him from head to toe. "What's my kid brother doing here?"

"Mazel tov, Eric!" Bubba slapped him on the back so hard he staggered. "Your brother is the one who gave us the zombies."

Eric's face was a mask of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. Madaug?" Eric turned on his brother then. "What the he—you doing? Mom and Dad are going to ground you for life."

"I know," Madaug said wistfully. "I'm trying to undo it. But..." He shook his head as if he'd had a thought and was banishing it. "Never mind. You're worthless. You haven't passed a science test since fourth grade."

Eric shoved him.

Madaug pushed back. "Don't start with me, you cross-dressing freak. I can't believe I share a common gene with you. I swear Mom and Dad found you at a rest stop."

"They found you in a toilet drain, jerk weed."

Tabitha separated them. "Quit, you two. Save your energy for killing what's important. The undead."

Bubba rested the top of the ax against the floor. "Hang on a minute, and I can't believe I'm about to say this ... but since what we're dealing with is innocent kids Madaug messed with and a handful of really stupid adults who should have had a life other than playing video games, and you should consider that's coming from a gaming addict, we can't kill them." He passed a stern look to Tabitha. "These ain't the undead, Tabby. They're living, breathing morons and we have to save them."

Tabitha sighed in disgust. "I'd rather stake them all and let God sort them out."

"And I'd rather not go to jail for the rest of my life," Eric said sternly. "No offense, but I know what they do to good-looking guys in prison and I'm way too cute to be resisted."

Mark snorted. "Pah-lease. Your worse problem what with that black lipstick and long hair is that they'll mistake you for a woman. I highly doubt they'd lock you up with the men dressed in thatgetup. More like you'd go in with the prostitutes. Hey... you know, lockup might not be so bad for you."

"ADD applicants," Bubba snapped, "can I have your attention for a minute. We need to get out there and find these people before they eat anyone else. Bring them here so we can try to undo what Madaug did."

Eric pursed his lips. "Where we going to put them? The tub?"

Bubba glowered at Eric before he went to the wall, pulled down a gun, and showed a hidden ...

Cell—one that was completely padded and with steel reinforcements and restraints hanging from the ceiling. Nick had never seen anything like that in his life.

Tabitha laughed. "Oh my God, Bubba has a sex dungeon!"

Bubba narrowed his glare on her. "You're too young to know about such things."

"Are you kidding? My aunt owns Pandora's Box on Bourbon Street. From the looks of those restraints, I think you went shopping there."

Bubba made a sound of deep aggravation as he glanced at Eric. "Can you muzzle her?"

"How you think I got the black eye? And for your information, she don't hit like a girl. She might be from an all-estrogen family, but some dude trained her well."

Mark arched one brow. "Looks like bad eyeliner to me. You sure you got hit by a girl?"

Bubba whistled. "And we've lost focus again, people. I swear it's like herding cats. For the next five minutes I want all of you to banish the sarcasm and focus. I know I'm asking for a miracle, but this is life and death. Okay?"

"Aight," they said in unison.

Bubba nodded at all of them. "We have got to protect the city. I want all of you out there patrolling for zombies. When you find them—"

"Stake them!" Tabitha pulled out one of her steel spikes to illustrate her words.

Bubba snatched it from her. "No. Get them to chase you back here, where Mark and I will be waiting to tranq them. Is everyone clear? No murder. No bloodshed."

Tabitha rolled her eyes. "What a waste of a good night."

Madaug was aghast as he looked at his older brother. "Do Mom and Dad know you're dating a homicidal lunatic?"

"No, and if you tell them, I'll superglue your fingertips to your keyboard."

A tic started in Madaug's jaw as his cheeks turned bright red. "Mom said if you ever do that again, she's going to shave your head while you sleep."

"Children!" Bubba shouted. "There are dangerous creatures out there. Let's go get them."

Madaug took a step for the door.

Bubba pulled him to a stop and forced him back toward the storeroom. "Not you. We need you to stay here and keep working on a cure."

Caleb looked at Nick. "You ready for this?"

Nick checked his watch. "Only for the next forty-five minutes. After that I get grounded."

"C'mon, Cinderella. Let's get started before you turn into a pumpkin." Caleb led him out of the store and down the street, toward their high school, which made sense since it was where all of this started.

And my worst fear this morning was being late. ...

Who knew he'd end up having to be afraid of having his brains ripped out and devoured?

Wonder if I should start carrying a chainsawto school? That wasn't listed on their anti-weapons list....

As they walked, his thoughts went to Madaug and his family. "Don't you think it's odd that Madaug's brother doesn't go to school with us?"

Caleb put his hands in his back pockets. "Probably too dumb to get in."

"You think?"

"Genetics doesn't always rule intellect. Believe me. I come from a long line of really stupid people. Scares me that I swim in their gene pool. Yet here I am, a hell of a lot smarter than they are."

Nick didn't even want to think about his gene pool for fear of the infection it might contain.

He lived in constant terror that one day a switch would turn on in his head and make him the monster his father was. Every time he tried to talk to his mom about it, she told him he was ridiculous. And yet he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something inside him dying to get out. Something sinister, cold, and unfeeling.

"You have anysibs?" he asked Caleb, trying to distract himself from that line of thought.

"Not full-blooded. I really don't count the others. What about you?"

"No."

Caleb nodded. "So what does your dad do, Nick?"

"I don't talk about my dad." To anyone. Bubba and Mark were the only two who knew his dad was a felon. To the rest of the world, he never said anything. "He's not part of our lives and I want to keep it that way."

"I understand. Don't have much to do with mine either."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But that's okay. That which doesn't kill us just requires a few centuries of therapy."

"Yeah, and usually a lot of Tylenol."

Caleb laughed. "Hey, I tell you what, if we spread out, we can cover more ground. Want to meet back up at the cathedral?"

"Sure."

"All right. I'll see you there."

Nick headed down the side street that would connect him to Bourbon, which was throng-ing with people who could be the next victims. Like you could tell the difference between a zombie and a drunk tourist?

That would be challenging. But if he were a zombie looking for business, that's where he'd head. And as he'd noted, they would blend in seamlessly there.

As he walked down the street, he noticed that the buzzing in the street lamps was getting louder. He slowed as he came even to the Lalaurie mansion—the most haunted and evilest place in all of New Orleans. If there was such a thing as a hell-mouth, this place stood on it.

Ever since he was a kid, it'd given him the creeps. Tonight more so than normal.

A sudden wind whipped down the street, stirring his hair and raising a chill on his neck as a huge raven flew over his head to land on the upper wrought-iron balcony where it seemed to stare down at him.

/ knowl sound crazy, but I swear that bird is watching me.

It cocked its head. Yeah, that's eerie as all get out. Just like the building itself.

In that house, dozens of people had been brutally tortured and murdered in ways his mom wouldn't even talk about. Everyfamily who'd owned it since the Lalauries had reported seeing and hearing the ghosts of those who'd lost their lives to Delphine Lalaurie's psychotic cruelty.

Something that had been so atrocious her own cook had set fire to the kitchen, trying to kill herself to escape the madwoman.

Even the seasoned firemen who were used to dealing with death and gore had vomited when they'd uncovered the mutilated victims Delphine had left behind.

Help me____

Nick turned around, trying to see who had spoken. It sounded like a child's voice.

I'm so scared. Why cant I see? Is anyone there?

"I'm here," Nick called. "Where are you?"

Disembodied laughter rang out. The light above him shattered.

Cursing, Nick jumped back as glass rained down on him.

He saw the shadow of a little girl by the side of the house. "Help me find my mommy.

Please." She walked through a door that was ajar, into the small alcove that led to the interior garden.

"Wait!" Nick closed the distance between them, wanting to help her. He reached out to pull her to a stop. His hand passed right through her body. What the?

All of a sudden, she turned around and his gut shrank. Her face was scarred, her large eyes were nothing more than an eerie shadow.

Baring a set of fangs, she attacked.