Page 7 of The Undead

Julio’s girlfriend—

No. Stop it.

Adam didn’t have a reflection—

Bullshit. Pure bullshit. I pushed myself faster into the rich dark air, breathing so hard I didn’t even smell the heavy perfume of the honeysuckle as I ran past the blooming flowers.

Blood.

I cried out and came to a windmilling stop, leaning one-handed against a convenient tree. My lungs were aching and pulsing with effort, and I was shaking all over. My pulse was as loud as gongs in my ears.

“Jesus,” I whispered again, and wiped at my forehead. I was sweating buckets. “What thefuckis going on?”

I needed to calm down. Calm. Easy. Deep breaths. Was there anyone around? Across the park, a bird called loudly in the darkness, but that was all. I put my head down and tried to force my nerves to calm. After I felt able to deal with the world again, I looked up to see where I was.

Well, my panic had certainly taken me far. I was in the middle of the park, coming up on the jogging trail that led around the lake. At least I wasn’t totally off course; this was the way home, all right. I’d follow the trail around the lake and cut through the trees in about another half mile. From the trees it was only a short run to the road, and then two blocks to the house. I stayed where I was until my breathing steadied, and then put both hands on the tree and began stretching out my spasming legs.

There was a cold feeling across my neck. White Rock Park doesn’t have a reputation for crime and violence, but any place like it carries the danger, particularly at this unwise hour. The statistics didn’t exactly jump to my mind, though. All that came was a white, overwhelming, irrational fear that I was about to be killed, laid out on a metal tray while Adam looked down at me with Orphan Annie eyes and clucked his tongue.

Too bad, Doc. I told you to take cm.

There was somebody watching me.

Somehow, the worst thing about the whole strange vision was being shut away in the darkness that smelled of death and rot. The same drawer, maybe, where Julio’s girlfriend lay while what was left of her blood dripped into the tray beneath.

Christ Almighty, I told myself in disgust, and finished stretching out. I started out at a nice, slow, easy pace. My footsteps seemed very loud, but they vanished quickly in the leafy stillness. The night was still and humid, and sweat began rolling down my forehead again. Nothing. Nothing near me, nothing to hear, nothing threatening—but I felt it, I knew something was there. My feet moved faster, unbidden. I flashed in and out of the glare of lights while my lungs worked like bellows, pulling in honeysuckle-scented air, breathing out terror. I heard something echoing in my wake, not quite in syncopation with my footsteps.

Oh, God, no, don’t let it be so, I don’t want to die—

My mind went white. I was dimly aware of running fast, too fast for the dim light, but there was something terrible behind me reaching for me with blood-red claws and eyes that glowed like hellfire. I would have screamed if I’d had any breath.

Like a short-circuit in my brain, a picture flashed across my eyes. Adam leaned forward and shut out the light. His eyes were red.

Don’t run,he whispered. His voice was distant and distorted.

Like hell.

I knew it was going to happen perhaps two seconds before it did; I caught sight of the branch lying across the sidewalk, but it was too late to adjust my stride or stop. My foot came down on the watersoaked wood, and turned; the pavement came up as white as a knife in the moonlight, with my shadow falling clumsily toward me.

My head hit with stunning impact.

Static.

Adam reached

Adam reached for

Adam reached for me and his eyes were red

Pain. I slowly rolled over onto my side and dragged in gasping painful breaths of air that tasted bloody. No, that was my mouth. I wiped at it with trembling fingers and gingerly probed at the bump on my skull.

Ouch didn’t cover it.

I lay there whimpering in the quiet, uncaring night, two blocks from the warm safety of home, and waited for the beast to come and devour me. The moon looked blandly down, then wandered behind a hedge of clouds. The tree-tops shivered in a wind I didn’t feel. Out on the lake, something broke the surface and dived again in a liquid splash.

Nothing came to get me. I finally dragged myself to my feet and limped the rest of the way home.

Adam reached for me…

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