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Chapter 12
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2024-10-29 19:42:56My body finally had its fill of sleep around two o’clock in the morning. I felt fully rested and fidgety. I needed to either get out of bed or find something to do in bed that would occupy my attention. I lay wishing I’d put a television in my bedroom like I’d been contemplating doing so that I could entertain myself. I was in the middle of reading a good mystery, but the novel was in the living room downstairs.
When I could stand it no more, I climbed out of bed and pulled my terry robe on over my tee shirt and jersey shorts. Sliding my feet into my slippers, I padded my way to the top of the grand staircase.
Memories of my horrific dreams popped into my head and I stood at the top of the stairs and looked off into the darkness of the wing I’d dreamed Jacob was wandering. I rubbed my eyes when I saw something move through the darkness. Peter wasn’t back, was he?
Knowing Angela was gone, I s
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The two of us sat in silence for an undetermined amount of time while we struggled to absorb and understand what was happening. As the official county coroner, I’d declared Jacob dead along the roadside. He’d been transported from the scene of his death to the funeral home and then from the funeral home to my examination lab without showing any signs of coming back to life. How could he come back to life? He was dead. He really was.I finally came to my senses enough to check his vitals. He had none. He wasn’t breathing, he had no heartbeat, he was as cold as one would expect a dead man to be and his skin was a pale gray like a dead man’s would be. Since he was barefoot, I could even see the black around his ankles that happens when the person’s blood stopscirculating and settles in pools.I looked at Max with unbridled confusion. “He’s got no vitals. He’
Vickie: Dr. by day. Zombie Hunter by night (Book 1) Chapter 14
“You handled yourself pretty good tonight, doc,” Max said with a tone of approval. When I said nothing as I focused on examining his eyes’ reaction to the light I was shining in them, he added, “Knocking out and handcuffing a corpse, now, that’s impressive.” I put the light back in my pocket and put the stethoscope in my ears so that I could listen to his heartbeat. After finding none in Jacob, it was reassuring to hear the steadiness of his, even if it was accelerated. “Most people would be completely freaked out about a walking corpse.”“I didn’t know it was a dead man. I just knew it was a man,” I said as I pulled the stethoscope from my ears. “I can’t say what I would have done, had I known it was an animated corpse in the house.”Max grinned. “Animated corpse. I like that.”“You seem a bit cavalier for having just been bludgeoned by
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I am not big on breakfast, so I was surprised to discover that I had an appetite. I assumed it was because I’d been up for so many hours. I fixed myself scrambled eggs and toast, wondered where Peter could be while I ate it, and then headed downstairs to get the autopsy out of the way. I made a detour to my office to get another syringe with GHB in it as a safety measure.My hands shook as I inserted the keys into the two padlocks Max insisted on locking the door with. I’d used enough GHB in that syringe to keep him out for some time, but it had been a few hours and he was a big guy. I also wasn’t sure how it affected dead people verses live ones. Was it morepotent, or less?I slowly pulled the door open far enough to peek in and make sure the body was still on the gurney. I was glad we’d taken the extra measure of strapping it in. He looked still and very dead. I just hoped that was the fa
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Exactly ninety minutes later, creepy Zacharias pulled up to the door of the mortuary to fetch the body. I’d managed to put Jacob’s skull back together so that you could barely tell that I’d cut it open, but that still didn’t stop him from fussing about the extra work he had in front of him to camouflage the butcher job I’d done on the poor man. I bit my lip for fear of saying something I knew I’d regret and hustled him out to his hearse. I expected the electrician at any moment and I didn’t want any stark reminders of what went on in the morgue greeting him. Seeing the body being hauled away by the obnoxious undertaker was a sure given.One hour later, Jameson Packson hesitated at the door with tools in hand. “Is the coast clear?”“Clear and clean Mr. Packson. Please, come in.”“You can call me Jamie, doc. Everyone does.”“Alright then,
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My brows knit together as I tried to remember if he’d mentioned knowing her. I’d met Angela through her and he was friends with Angela, so it wouldn’t be an odd thing if they were friends. I decided to make it a point to get a bit more information out of my lover before I crawled back into bed with him.It was Megan who spotted me first and waved her greeting. I couldn’t help returning the broad smile she wore as she waddled up the drive. Watching her struggle to get her arthritis riddled legs to walk, I was reminded of how old the woman truly was. Her witty and youthful conversations made it something that was easy to forget.I rushed to spare her more walking than necessary.“What a pleasant surprise, Megan,” I said as I gave her a quick hug. “What brings you here? Is it an official visit or just friendly? Are you well?”Megan’s eyes sparkled in the late afternoon
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I sat, expectantly; watching Peter fidget as he gathered his thoughts to share with us.He looked at Megan. “I asked you to stay because it was clear to me that you were holding back while Max was here.” When Megan locked eyes with him and then gave a slight nod, he continued. “You are a wise woman who knows more than you’re letting on.”“Get to the point,” Megan said in a friendly, but firm tone.Peter looked at me. “It’s time for me to share this with you, but I’m not looking forward to it. It might change our relationship. If it does, it will be a sad thing for me.”I couldn’t imagine what it was that he was leading up to, so I guessed. “Does it have to do with why you had to catch a ride with Megan rather than spring for a cab?”Peter grinned and shook his head. “I caught a ride with Megan as a means to get the two of you together t
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The county was filled with zombies that passed themselves off as your everyday person and my boyfriend was a vampire. I waited all those years to date and then, when I finally did, he was a blood sucking vampire! Such was my life.I lay on the top of my bed with my fingers to my temples. What was happening? Looking back at my childhood on the farm, I realized what a sheltered life I’d led.While growing up, I’d whine about how boring life was and how I couldn’t wait to get to the big city. Now, what I wouldn’t give for a bit of that boredom.Peter’s quiet knock on my door caught my attention.“Vickie, can I come in?”I rolled onto my side and curled intothe fetal position. “I’d like some alone time, Peter.”“I understand.” There was a sad tone to his voice. “I just want you to know that I’ll leave if you want me to.”
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True to her word, Angela returned by the weekend. She was both pleased and surprised to discover that Peter now occupied a room on the second floor. I caught her in quiet conversation with him more than once before the weekend was through, but I made no effort to find out the topic of conversation. I was fairly certain she was making him explain why he’d moved in and why he’d become my lover. I would have said that it wasn’t any of her business, but, considering everything, I guess it was.It took until Monday afternoon to get my phone working again. After checking all the lines in the house, the telephone company was forced to trace their lines. They found the one feeding my office had been cut at a pole further up the block and then taped together so that it looked perfectly normal from a distance. We suspected the zombie queen was behind it -that was Peter and my name for her- but we plead ignorance to the telephone company.&
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I grew weary of the rambling voices and began to allow my body to float away as a means of escape from them. I was reveling in the sensation of floating in air when I felt someone yank me back to reality. My arms and legs were free from their bindings and the circulation was being roughly rubbed back into them.“Vickie, can you hear me?” managed to reach my mind. I recognized the male voice, but just couldn’t place it. “Vickie, answer me. Wake up, sweetheart. Can you hear me? Wake up?” Who was that man speaking? I knew that I knew him, but I just couldn’t think his name. It was so frustrating to not be able to put a name to thevoice, but I just couldn’t.“She’s not responding!”“She’s badly dehydrated. Here, try to get this past her lips. It should help.”I smiled with satisfaction when I was able to put Megan’s name to the second voic
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My head ached, and I had a bad, metallic taste in my mouth as I slowly regained consciousness. I could hear activity around me long before my eyes were able to focus enough to let me see where I was and who I was with.Janet had her back to me. She was talking to a large woman with extremely thin, jet black hair that hung straight and stringy around her shoulders. When she stepped aside to allow me a clear view, I gave a tiny gasp at the sight of her. She was so fat that it rested in rolls down her body, reminding me of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. When she laughed at something Janet said, the fat on her body jiggled like Jell-O long after she’d finished. I found it mesmerizing.When she realized that I was conscious and staring at her, her face darkened, and she said something to Janet. Her minion turned to look at me and then spoke to her before coming my way.“Where am I?” My mouth was so dry it
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Once we were certain that she had all she needed for her lab, Peter and I left her alone to concentrate on the task at hand. She hoped to have an antidote for the powder within the day, but couldn’t guarantee it. She repeatedly lamented over not knowing what kind of magic was being used by the zombie maker. Apparently, different magic used different energy.I had so much to learn and absorb…. and believe.Peter suggested we get out of the house for a while. He felt that the change in scenery would do me some good. At his suggestion of a picnic by a nearby lake, I eagerly gathered things together to make it happen. Within an hour we were spreading out a blanket on the banks of a beautiful, peaceful lake.I lay back and reveled in the sun’s heat as it caressed my face. “How did you know about this place? I’ve been here much longer and had no idea.”“I found it yesterday while searching
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I didn’t open the office the next day. Not that it mattered as I had no appointments scheduled and everyone was well trained to remember that I only held a walk-in clinic one night a week, which had already passed.I was a bit sluggish as I made myself busy tidying up the house from the battle of the night before. Angela, Evan, and Megan were all very helpful in helping me with this task, for which I was grateful. It was well after noon before we finished, and Peter was still sound asleep.I expressed my concern to Megan while she joined me for a cup of soup and a tuna sandwich on the back patio. The sun felt soothing, as if it was melting away any remnants of stress that our chocolate fest thenight before might have left behind.“I need to get to my lab to test that powder,” Megan said as she camouflaged a burp with her hand. “It’s too bad you don’t have one here.”“I have a pretty
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A man slighter in height and build than Max stood nervously behind him while he waited for our borderline intimate scene to end. When he was sure I was okay, Max set me free and put his finger to his lips. He stepped aside for Eddie to see into the room and pointed to the zombie man I’d just conquered as he lay in a heap on the floor and then pulled me out of the room and closed the door behind us.We stood at the base of the stairs while Eddie scoped out the rest of the downstairs. I heard a loud thud, but breathed easy when Eddie came around the corner dragging a female zombie. Max opened the door to my office and they unceremoniously shoved her into the room and closed the door.I wasn’t sure how I felt about them piling zombies up in my office, but I knew better than to complain.We inched our way upstairs, stopping every so often to listen and also to wait and see if the floorboard creaking beneath our weight raised any t
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“How do vampires die?” I asked as I lay in the darkness listening to his steady breathing. I knew he was still awake because he was yet to snore.His voice was muffled in the pillow when he finally replied. “It isn’t easy to kill us, but there are ways.”“Like, a stake in the heart?”He chuckled. “That would do it, yes.”I sat up and hugged my knees to my chest with the blankets still covering them. In doing so, I’d exposed his flesh to the cool night air.“Blanket hog,” he grumbled as he gripped at the edge of the microfiber covering and tugged it back over his exposed flesh.“What a baby,” I teased. “Are you sure you’re a vampire?”“Woman, if you don’t let me sleep,” he murmured in a tone that was half-teasing and half-serious.“I don’t understand why you&rsquo
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When it was time to go to bed, it was my intention to send Peter to his room, but when he asked for a little time to talk about things, I couldn’t refuse him. It was better to address what happened right away instead of letting things fester.Once inside my room, he didn’t embrace me, as I’d expected. Instead, he paced the room while he put his thoughts in order. My room was large enough to have a sitting area in it, so I headed for the fainting sofa and left the club chair for him. When he finally sat down in it, I could see that he was ready to talk.“I should have gotten your permission before giving you that antidote,” he began.“As if I’d say ‘no’,” I said lazily. “Who willingly becomes a walking corpse?”“They eventually become reanimated to the point of being, what I’d consider, another altered person,” he said softly. “But,
Vickie: Dr. by day. Zombie Hunter by night (Book 1) Chapter 23
I settled Megan into a room not far from the one Peter occupied. Angela made mention, more than once, that she thought both Peter and Megan would be better off on the wing that she and Evan occupied as there was strength in numbers. I found it interesting that she didn’t suggest that anyone be placed on the wing that my room was in, but let it go as it was clearly a ploy of hers to get Peter closer.It saddened me to see this side of her. I was just beginning to consider us friends.“It’s so nice here that I’m tempted to give up my place and move in permanently. I like the commune feel,” Megan teased as she entered the kitchen and grabbed an oatmeal cookie from the plate I’d set in the middle of the table.“You won’t hear me arguing if you do,” I said as I set an oversized pot of tea and a stack of cups next to the cookie plate. “I like my private time, but I also enjoy people. T
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Megan’s reminder of the true matter at hand snapped everyone back into focusing on her dilemma. She was right. Whatever petty issues we had about who was with whom, who rejected whom, and who lied to whom could wait. We needed to come up with a game plan to capture at least three advanced zombies, possibly more.We decided to send the vampires out in search of the zombies while Max and I stay in the cellar with Megan. One of the advantages of working with vampires that Max openly appreciated was the fact that they were able to smell a zombie from a good distance away and were skilled into taking them down and destroying them. There were only a few cases where zombies got the upper hand and that was when the zombie was of a specific strain; which the ones inour area weren’t.We left the education of the different breeds or strains of zombies for a later date and urged them out of the cellar. We’d been a large number of p
