The Monster Apocalypse Read online

  “Isn’t 9-1-1 already here?” little Crispin asked, standing next to Brin.

  Brin nodded at the boy, then looked back over at Anaya. She shook her head. “Goddamn her.”

  Brin watched as Anaya stepped into the main office and picked up the phone, then looked back out the window to see all of Grisly’s finest trying to put down the meat-savoring, bone-chomping creatures.

  Anaya stood there in the darkness, the phone pressed against her ear, patiently waiting for a few seconds.

  Then she slammed the phone down, and ripped the phone line straight out of the wall. “A busy signal? 9-1-1 has a busy signal! Can you believe that? Isn’t that the whole point of 9-1-1? So you can actually talk to somebody and try to get help—”

  “Look out!” Mr. Barker shouted, as a creature emerged from the darkness and pulled Anaya toward him.

  “Oh no!” Brin shouted, running forward. “Anaya, get away! Get—”

  But it was too late. A creature already had a tight grip on her, one arm wrapped around her belly, the other pressed up against the back of her head.

  “Step back,” Mr. Barker said, brushing past Brin. “Shit. This one’s going to be tougher to kill.”

  “What? Why would that be?” asked Brin.

  Anaya stepped in front of the office, the pale body standing behind her, so hidden that only the top of his head could be seen. That, and a pair of fangs hovering over the side of Anaya’s neck.

  “Because that’s not a zombie, Brin,” Mr. Barker said. “That’s a vampire!”

  Chapter Eight

  “Get away from her!” Brin screamed. Anaya even tried to duck out from under the vampire, but the creature was strong. He pulled her back up and scraped his fangs against her neck. A small trickle of blood ran down her right shoulder.

  Mr. Barker held the gun up in front of his face and aimed it straight for the vampire’s forehead. “Do as the girl says. Or I’ll shoot.”

  But the vampire didn’t bolt; instead, he stayed still and confident right there in front of the office, holding tightly onto Anaya like she was his own kind, not worried for his safety, but smiling, eerily.

  “Don’t be silly, you stupid man,” the vampire said. “Bullets may kill those yellow monstrosities—but they don’t kill us. Now hand over the girl!”

  Nobody knew what the man was talking about. Finally, Ash said, “What girl?”

  The vampire surveyed all the teenagers in the room, finally fixing his gaze on the pretty brunette. “Me?” asked Brin.

  “Yes, you. Get over here.”

  “What do you want with me?”

  “I’m not going to ask again.”

  Brin looked at Ash, confused, then turned her sights on Mr. Barker. While everyone her age appeared just as bewildered as she, Mr. Barker had a more understanding look on his face—like he knew exactly why this vampire had a fetish for Brin’s blood and no one else’s.

  “Mr. Barker, what’s going on?” Brin asked.

  Her teacher sighed, stared angrily at the vampire, and nodded. Then he turned to Brin. “Go.”

  “Go? What do you mean, go?”

  “Do as I ask, Brin, please.”

  “What’s going on here? What aren’t you telling me?” She raced up to Mr. Barker and slammed her fist hard against his chest. “Are you on their side? Are you one of them?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Enough!” the vampire shouted, kicking Anaya down against the ground and leaping up and over toward Brin. He stopped a mere yard in front of her.

  “Don’t come any closer,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, young lady. But I plan to.”

  “What do you want me with me?”

  “Oh, sweetheart,” the vampire said, condescendingly. “Don’t you remember what happened in Bodie? Don’t you remember how your actions killed almost half our clan?”

  Both he and Brin turned to the doors, to see half a dozen zombies collide against the windows, trying to break in. The police outside hadn’t annihilated every single one of them, as Brin had hoped.

  “It was self preservation,” Brin said, in a low, terrified tone. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody—”

  “And, most of all, don’t you remember when you went directly against our master’s orders and took his son away from him?”

  Brin stared at the vampire like he might finally have some answers about her AWOL friend. “Paul,” she said. “Where is he? What have you done with him?”

  She rushed toward him, but Mr. Barker pulled her back. “Brin, don’t provoke him,” he said.

  “Ah-ah-ah,” the vampire said. “Do you want me to drink your blood right here in front of everyone? I really didn’t want to do that to you, Brin.”

  She stared into his eyes for a few seconds. “I’ve seen you before. In Bodie.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yes. You were one of the vampires on the stage. You went up to Paul’s dad, said a few words into the microphone. You were next to the guy who couldn’t speak.” Brin searched her mind. She had heard a lot of vampire names that night. “Your name was Jackson, right?”

  “No.” The slightly demented grin on his face diminished. “I’m Rex. Jackson was my brother.”

  “Was?”

  “Yes. My brother was one of the many who died when the ground collapsed into a black empty hole, because of you, because of you and your stupid human friends—”

  “But Droz did that!” Brin shouted. “That wasn’t our fault! I didn’t cause that hole in the ground! I don’t have that kind of power!”

  The vampire jumped forward and pulled Brin toward him, back toward the shadows in the administration’s office.

  “Get off me!” Brin shouted.

  Ash had been searching the area for a weapon for a full minute, but he couldn’t find one. Finally he ran toward Brin to save her from this pale menace, but Mr. Barker pulled him back, too.

  “You get away from her!” Ash shouted at the vampire.

  “Stand back!” The vampire pressed his mouth up against Brin’s neck, but he didn’t clamp his fangs down yet. She tried to get out of his grasp but couldn’t move; she felt frozen in drying cement. “You take one step closer, and she’s dead.”

  “You won’t kill her,” Mr. Barker said. “You know that, Rex, and I know that. If you wanted to kill her, you would’ve done so already.” And then, strangely enough, Brin’s teacher started undressing. He took off his white t-shirt to reveal a six pack she never expected from her hippie-like Film teacher.

  Five more zombies smashed their stomachs against the main hallway doors—stomachs with no six packs at all. Their mouths hung wide open, and their awful moaning put a damper on an already tragic situation.

  “You’re right about that,” the vampire said, keeping a tight grip on Brin. He started to pull her even farther back into the dark office. “Droz already has Brin’s precious boyfriend, Paul.” Mr. Barker stepped toward him, but he put his hand out. “Step back, you moron! And put your shirt back on! We’re not fighting dirty! This is an educational facility for Christ’s sake—”

  “Paul is not Brin’s boyfriend!” shouted Ash.

  “Whoa,” the vampire said. All was silent for a moment. “Looks like we have a jealous one here.” He pulled her back even more. “As I was saying, we already have Droz, and we already have Brin’s mother. Now all we need is the main woman of the hour. We just need Brin—”

  “Wait, what?” Brin asked, trying to hold back tears. “You have my mom?”

  “I’m sorry, my dear,” he said. “The boss is very lonely. He was coming to Grisly anyway to snatch back Paul, so—why not really make your life a living hell, and bring back your mom to be his newest bride?”

  Brin thought she was going to faint. She thought she had escaped the horrors of Bodie. She thought she could finally move on with her life. Then Lavender turned into a zombie, then a thousand more of the undead shot out of Macabre Golf Course like corkscrews off champagne bottles. Now she was headed b
ack to Bodie, with Paul, with Droz.

  With her own mother.

  “He’s with her now?” Brin asked the vampire. “Droz is with my mom?”

  “They’re on their way. And let me tell you, Brin,” he said, running his slimy tongue up along Brin’s left shoulder, all the way up to her ear, “your mother and Droz are already crazy in love.”

  Her friends stayed still in the front of the school. Anaya and Ash especially wanted to race over to her and save her, but they stood still, not budging an inch, not wanting to make a false move that could potentially get their friend killed. Mr. Barker was the only one who moved. He looked to be taking off his pants. Brin hoped she wasn’t seeing him correctly.

  “He’s already kissed her,” the vampire said, now bringing his slimy yellow tongue up to her cheeks. “He says she tastes so sweet. Like huckleberry jam. But I beg to differ. I bet she doesn’t taste half as sweet as her virginal daughter…”

  Brin’s rage intensified to the point where she started shaking. “I’m sorry, Rex. But there’s one thing you don’t know about me.”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “I killed one of your kind when I was in Bodie. And I didn’t need a gun.” Brin looked back up into his fierce, black eyes. “I didn’t need a weapon at all.”

  Brin grabbed hold of his yellow tongue and ripped it straight out of his mouth. He screamed, loud, as black blood sprayed all over the office.

  Brin kept a firm grip on the severed tongue, just like she did the first time. She looked down at it in revulsion. “I’m really tired of doing that.”

  “Get out of the way, Brin,” Mr. Barker said from behind her, in a lower voice than usual. She turned around to see her teacher standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but see-through white underwear.

  “Mr. Barker?” Brin looked at her almost nude teacher, then back at the wounded vampire, who was trying to stand back up despite his injury. She turned back to Mr. Barker. “What the hell are you—”

  “Get out of the way! Now!”

  Brin stepped behind the nearest desk and watched in horror, and total amazement, at two things—one, the vampire returning to his feet and leaping toward her, and two, her own Film teacher transforming into a wolf and rushing straight for the vampire’s chest.

  “You have got to be shitting me,” Brin whispered, as the wolf collided with the vampire and a fight to end all fights broke out in front of her eyes.

  Chapter Nine

  The fight didn’t last very long.

  Brin tried to close her eyes but couldn’t, as she watched Mr. Barker, now a big, gray, ferocious wolf, tearing out the vampire’s heart and liver. The wolf ripped the vampire’s legs away from its body, then promptly decapitated the head with one fierce thwack.

  “Jesus Christ!” Brin shouted. “Mr. Barker, I think that man’s dead!”

  The wolf turned to Brin, a nasty look in its eyes. Its work didn’t seem to be done. It leaped up on the desk and set its scary eyes on Brin, but by the time the wolf collided against Brin’s chest, he had already transformed back into her beloved Film teacher.

  She fell back against the beige carpet and looked up into Mr. Barker’s eyes. The man had just saved her life.

  But he was also completely naked.

  “Mr. Barker! Ewww!” She scooted herself out from under him and tried to shield her eyes. “Oh my God, I saw it! I saw it!”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and turned away from her. Now his ass was in her face.

  “Please, put some pants on. This is so wrong in so many ways!”

  “Ash? Anaya? Can one of you throw me my pants?” He looked up to see that the entire group had already run into the office, all their jaws dropped at the sight in front of them, one out of a slapstick comedy. Anaya threw Mr. Barker his pants, and he promptly put them back on.

  “Brin, are you OK?” Ash asked, stepping over the massacred vampire body to help her back up. The sight of a body split into four pieces might have fazed Brin and Ash before Bodie, but now, it just added to another average Sunday.

  “I’m fine.” She stepped on the slimy tongue and kicked it against the wall. “Ugh, I hate those things.”

  Ash pointed at the tongue. “Did you rip that out of the vampire?”

  “Yes. It’s a talent of mine.”

  “Good job, Brin. I’m impressed.” He stepped forward and looked down at the unusual body part. “It doesn’t even look like a tongue. It looks more like a banana. Or even a yellow-ish penis—”

  “It’s a tongue!” Brin shouted. “I swear!” She pushed past the desk, past the severed vampire legs, and walked up to Mr. Barker. He had just finished putting his dirtied white shirt back on.

  “I’m glad you’re OK,” he said.

  She didn’t respond right away. She just stared at him, in disbelief. “You’re a… you’re…”

  “It’s OK, Brin. You can say it.”

  “You’re a werewolf?”

  He laughed. “Always have been. Always will be.”

  “But that’s… that’s insane…”

  Mr. Barker walked up to her, patted her on the shoulders, and nonchalantly shrugged. “Not more insane than anything else, really.”

  “I mean, it makes so much sense now. That’s why you’re obsessed with the horror genre. It’s why you make us watch scary movies!”

  “It’s not the only reason,” he said.

  Brin shook her head. “I can’t believe it. This whole time. You weren’t even human.”

  “But see, that’s the thing.” He motioned for Brin and Ash and the others to follow him back to the main doors. “I am still very much human. More so than you, Brin.”

  She stopped in her tracks. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh. Nothing. Forget I said it.”

  “No! What did you mean by that?”

  A zombie busted through the front door window, and a second zombie started crawling its way into the school. Everybody screamed, Crispin the loudest and shrillest of all.

  “Everybody get down!” Mr. Barker shouted, and even though only Dylan followed his advice, the adult of the group pressed on with his mission. He whipped his gun back out of his pocket and blew both of the zombies’ heads clean off.

  Crispin watched as brain matter from one of the creatures splattered against his shoes. “Oh gross,” he said, and wrapped his arms around Brin.

  Ash and Anaya stepped toward the front doors and looked out the windows. More zombies were trying to get in. There didn’t look to be any escape.

  “What are we going to do?” Ash asked.

  “The only thing we can do,” Mr. Barker said, re-loading his gun. He held it up high and took a deep, noticeable breath. “Run to my car, and try to get out of here in one piece.”

  “We’re going outside?” Crispin asked, his face still buried in Brin’s side.

  “We can’t stay in here any longer,” the teacher said. “It’s not safe. And besides…” He looked at Brin. “It looks like we have a rescue mission.”

  Brin nodded at Mr. Barker, then glanced at everyone else. “All I know right now is that we have to stick together. If we’re going to stay alive, we can’t separate. Not again. Not ever.”

  “I agree,” Ash said.

  “Ditto,” Anaya added.

  “OK,” said Mr. Barker. He turned to his left, to a narrow hallway that led to a parking lot side door. While the front of the school was cluttered with the ravenous undead creatures, the side looked emptier, more possible for six people to get away without four of them becoming an afternoon snack.

  “What is it?” Ash asked.

  “Follow me. And hurry. We only have a minute before the zombies find out where we’re going.”

  Anaya followed Mr. Barker, and Ash followed Anaya, and Brin followed Ash, and Crispin followed Brin—all in a straight line, like they were all back in elementary school and walking to the lunchroom in an orderly fashion.

  The farthest one back was Dylan, trying not
to cry from the terror and distress of the past few minutes—the past few weeks, really—when a young man kicked open a door in the hallway and pushed Dylan up against the wall. He shoved a can of mace up against Dylan’s face, but quickly brought it back down to his sides when he recognized the boy.

  “Brent?”

  “Dylan. Hey.”

  “Who’s there?” Mr. Barker shouted, pressing past the others and holding up his gun like he wanted to take down another monster.

  “Don’t shoot!” said the pretty boy, the sports editor of The Grisly Details. He dropped the mace to the ground and put his hands up.

  “It’s OK, Mr. Barker,” Dylan said, pulling the boy close to him. “This is Brent. He’s with me.”

  “He’s with you?”

  Brent looked at the teacher, then at Dylan, then at the teacher again. “Uhh, no. Not like that. We’re just friends. We work on the school paper together.”

  “You did just come out of the women’s bathroom, Brent,” Dylan said, noticing the door in front of him. Dylan had felt for months that Brent had more than a passing interest in boys but refused to let anybody, including himself, know about it. “Getting in touch with your feminine side?”

  Brent shook his head. “I was hiding.”

  “Yeah? Is there a closet in there?”

  “OK, you two, shut up,” Mr. Barker said. “We’re running out of time. Brent, I’m happy you’re safe. The more survivors we’ve got right now, the better. But we have to move. Now!”

  Dylan grabbed Brent’s hand and pulled him to the end of the hallway, up to the others. He smiled when the dreamy sports editor didn’t immediately pull his hand away. The two boys—one gay, one allegedly straight but maybe bi-curious—slammed up against Ash and Anaya and watched as Mr. Barker held his gun up and looked out the pane glass of the tall, metallic door.

  “Do you see anything?” Brin asked.

  “Yes,” Mr. Barker said. “Two—no, three—are headed this way. If we run now we can make it.”

  “Good,” she said. “Then what are we waiting for?”

  “Nothing.” Mr. Barker pressed his forehead up against the glass one more time. “All right, guys. Say goodbye… to Grisly High.”