Chapter 30

Dashiell was frozen in a moment of silent horror as that gaping maw came closer and closer to his exposed fist, held out for feeding on, as if the now dead zombie clamped onto his arm was holding it out for its still moving companion.

Suddenly, Dashiell heard a loud report and the zombie’s head was ripped off at the jaw line. Its lower jawbone, filled with rotting teeth, hit the ground in front of his knee, unmoving. He said a silent thanks to the Gods and to the police sniper hidden out of sight who had remembered to aim for the head.

Dashiell wasted no more time, prying the dead hand off his arm and regaining his feet. Shots were ringing out as the snipers opened up on the undead and Dashiell and Regina joined in, whenever a walking corpse got close enough to pose a threat.

As the number of undead diminished, so did the fog surrounding Dashiell and Regina. They stood back to back, facing out into the thinning mists.

“What the hell happened Dash? You threw salt in that thing’s face and it just kept coming.”

“Well, Regina,” Dashiell replied calmly, shooting another zombie through the forehead, “apparently these zombies don’t subscribe to Haitian beliefs. It was worth a try. But I didn’t really expect it to work. At that point, I was desperate.”

“And what about the flame? It went out at pretty much the perfect time. Did you do that?” By now the numbers of undead were dwindling.

“In a manner of speaking. One of the last calls I made tonight was to a friend of mine. I asked him to drop by the local terminal for the gas company and cut the feed to the cemetery. Apparently, he got past security.”

“He was cutting it a little close, don’t you think, Dash?”

“Well, he doesn’t exactly have access to the place. Also, I didn’t want him to cut the gas too early, or else the witches wouldn’t be here. They needed to be involved in the spell. Although I’ll admit, it was a little close for comfort.”

With a final crack from a sniper’s rifle, the last body hit the ground. Dashiell looked around. The plateau was littered with corpses, and two very scared women laying on thr ground. Regina went over and cuffed them, then called for an EMT team when she saw that the older witch was apparently covered with burned flesh.

“Dashiell, what the hell did you throw at this woman, napalm?”

“Holy water actually. Not sure if it was the holy aspect, or just the water that did it though. She should be okay, though. The burns don’t look that bad. Besides, she’s not my biggest concern.”

“She’s not?”

“No. I’m much more worried about the one who got away. From what I could tell, she was the leader of this coven. She took the lead in the spell and was clearly the most experienced at wielding magic. And she’s still out there, somewhere.”

“I got a pretty decent look at her face, when I bluffed the younger one. I’ll have the department put out an APB on her and I’ll pass it on to the FBI,” Regina said.

“We’ll have to hope that’ll work. Although something tells me, we’ll be seeing her again. At any rate, we’re not likely to find her tonight. Think you can handle the clean up, Regina? It appears my role in this affair is over. I think I’ll leave the rest to the real cops.”

Regina smiled at his sarcasm. “Get out of here, Dash. And thanks for your help. We’d never have solved this one without you. I promise, I’ll make sure the Captain knows how essential you were to the investigation.”

“Thanks Regina.” He turned to go when she called out to him.

“Hey Dash! Don’t you want your bead back?” She toyed with the item in question.

“Keep it, Regina. I think you’re going to need it.”