Pressure, pressure, tighter, tighter. I was beginning to see white star bursts on my vision. The night was fading from black to grey. I pressed the gun just above the bridge of his nose and pulled the trigger again, and again.
My vision faded, but I could still feel my hands, pulling the trigger. Darkness flowed over my eyes and swallowed the world. I couldn't feel my hands anymore.
I woke to screams, horrible screams. The stink of burning flesh and hair was thick and choking on my tongue.
I took a deep shaking breath and it hurt. I coughed and tried to sit up. Dolph was there supporting me. He had my gun in his hand. I drew one ragged breath after another and coughed hard enough to make my throat raw. Or maybe the zombie had done that.
Something the size of a man was rolling over the summer grass. It burned. It flamed with a clean orange light that sent the darkness shattering in fire shadows like the sun on water.
Two exterminators in their fire suits stood by it, covering it in napalm, as if it were a ghoul. The thing screamed high in its throat, over and over, one loud ragged shriek after another.
"Jesus, why won't it die?" Zerbrowski was standing nearby. His face was orange in the firelight.
I didn't say anything. I didn't want to say it out loud. The zombie wouldn't die because it had been an animator when alive. That much I knew about animator zombies. What I hadn't known was that they came out of the grave craving flesh. That they remembered only when they ate flesh.
That I hadn't known. Didn't want to know.
John Burke stumbled into the firelight. He was cradling one arm to his chest. Blood stained his clothing. Had the zombie whispered to John? Did he know why the thing wouldn't die?
The zombie whirled, the fire roaring around it. The body was like the wick of a candle. It took one shaking step towards us. Its flaming hand reached out to me. To me.
Then it fell forward, slowly, into the grass. It fell like a tree in slow motion, fighting for life. If that was the word. The exterminators stayed ready, taking no chances. I didn't blame them.
It had been a necromancer once upon a time. That burning hulk, slowly catching the grass on fire, had been what I was. Would I be a monster if raised from the grave? Would I? Better not to find out. My will said cremation because I didn't want someone raising me just for kicks. Now I had another reason to do it. One had been enough.
I watched the flesh blacken, curl, peel away. Muscles and bone popped in miniature explosions, tiny pops of sparks.
I watched the zombie die and made a promise to myself. I'd see Dominga Salvador burned in hell for what she'd done. There are fires that last for all eternity. Fires that make napalm look like a temporary inconvenience. She'd burn for all eternity, and it wouldn't be half long enough.
Chapter 33
I was lying on my back in the emergency room. A white curtain hid me from view. The noises on the other side of the curtain were loud and unfriendly. I liked my curtain. The pillow was flat, the examining table was hard. It felt white and clean and wonderful. It hurt to swallow. It even hurt a little bit just to breathe. But breathing was important. It was nice to be able to do it.
I lay there very quietly. Doing what I was told for once. I listened to my breathing, the beating of my own heart. After nearly dying, I am always very interested in my body. I notice all sorts of things that go unnoticed during most of life. I could feel blood coursing through the veins in my arms. I could taste my calm, orderly pulse in my mouth like a piece of candy.
I was alive. The zombie was dead. Dominga Salvador was in jail. Life was good.
Dolph pushed the curtain back. He closed the curtain like you'd close a door to a room. We both pretended we had privacy even though we could see people's feet passing under the hem of the curtain.
I smiled up at him. He smiled back. "Nice to see you up and around."
"I don't know about the up part," I said. My voice had a husky edge to it. I coughed, tried to clear it, but it didn't really help.
"What'd the doc say about your voice?" Dolph asked.
"I'm a temporary tenor." At the look on his face, I added, "It'll pass."
"Good."
"How's Burke?" I asked.
"Stitches, no permanent damage."
I had figured as much after seeing him last night, but it was good to know.
"And Roberts?"
"She'll live."
"But will she be alright?" I had to swallow hard. It hurt to talk.
"She'll be alright. Ki was cut up, too, on the arm. Did you know?"
I shook my head and stopped in mid-motion. That hurt, too. "Didn't see it."
"Just a few stitches. He'll be fine." Dolph plunged his hands in his pants pockets. "We lost three officers. One hurt worse than Roberts, but he'll make it."
I stared up at him. "My fault."
He frowned. "How do you figure that?"
"I should have guessed," I had to swallow, "it wasn't an ordinary zombie."
"It was a zombie, Anita. You were right. You were the one who figured out it was hiding in one of those damn trash cans." He grinned down at me. "And you nearly died killing it. I think you've done your part."
"Didn't kill it. Exterminators killed it." Big words seemed to hurt more than little words.
"Do you remember what happened as you were passing out?"
"No."
"You emptied your clip into its face. Blew its damn brains out the back of its head. You went limp. I thought you were dead. God"--he shook his head--"don't ever do that to me again."
I smiled. "I'll try not to."
"When its brains started leaking out the back of its head, it stood up. You took all the fight out of it."
Zerbrowski pushed into the small space, leaving the curtain gaping behind him. I could see a small boy with a bloody hand crying into a woman's shoulder. Dolph swept the curtain closed. I bet Zerbrowski was one of those people who never shut a drawer.
"They're still digging bullets out of the corpse. And every bullet's yours, Blake."
I just looked at him.
"You are such a bad ass, Blake."
"Somebody has to be with you around, Zerbrow. . ." I couldn't finish his name. It hurt. It figures.
"Are you in pain?" Dolph asked.
I nodded, carefully. "The doc's getting me painkiller. Already got tetanus booster."
"You've got a necklace of bruises blossoming on that pale neck of yours," Zerbrowski said.
"Poetic," I said.
He shrugged.
"I'll check in on the rest of the injured one more time, then I'll have a uniform drive you back to your place," Dolph said.
"Thanks."
"I don't think you're in any condition to drive."
Maybe he was right. I felt like shit, but it was happy shit. We'd done it. We'd solved the crime, and people were going to jail for it. Yippee.
The doctor came back in with the painkillers. He glanced at the two policemen. "Right." He handed me a bottle with three pills in it. "This should see you through the night and into the next day. I'd call in sick if I were you." He glanced at Dolph as he said it. "You hear that, boss?"
Dolph sort of frowned. "I'm not her boss."
"You're the man in charge, right?" the doctor asked.
Dolph nodded.
"Then..."
"I'm on loan," I said.
"Loan?"
"You might say we borrowed her from another department," Zerbrowski said.
The doctor nodded. "Then tell her superior to let her off tomorrow. She may not look as hurt as the others, but she's had a nasty shock. She's very lucky there was no permanent damage."
"She doesn't have a superior," Zerbrowski said, "but we'll tell her boss." He grinned at the doctor.
I frowned at Zerbrowski.
"Well, then, you're free to go. Watch those scratches for infection. And that bite on your shoulder." He shook his head. "You cops earn your money." With that parting wisdom, he left.
Zerbrowski laughed. "Wouldn't do for the doc to know we'd let a civie get messed up."
"She's had a nasty shock," Dolph said.
"Very nasty," Zerbrowski said.
They started laughing.
I sat up carefully, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. "If you two are through yukking it up, I need a ride home."
They were both laughing so hard that tears were creeping out of their eyes. It hadn't been that funny, but I understood. For tension release laughter beats the hell out of tears. I didn't join them because I suspected strongly that laughing would hurt.