That Thing At the Zoo by James R. Tuck

Author:James R. Tuck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

8

The glass door hung from one hinge, crumpled like a used tissue. Tiny shards of broken glass littered the ground, twinkling in the full moonlight overhead. Even weakened, the vampire would be inhumanly strong. Vampires can bench-press SUVs if they want when they are unhurt.

I stepped inside, gun up and at the ready. Jimmy the zookeeper was just a step or two behind me. The lobby was undisturbed except for a path of old magazines that had been scattered across the floor. They looked like they had been inside a wind tunnel. I was betting they’d been slung around by the back draft of the Nosferatu’s wings. They trailed to the hallway that led back to the offices. A wide black smear slathered down one wall, pointing the way.

Moving down the hallway I found more blood. Things on the walls had been torn down and littered the carpet. I kept my gun out and moved on, Jimmy hot on my trail. As I stepped to a corner, the rosaries around my hand started to shine. The glow got brighter as I moved further in, slinging light all around. The vampire blood began to smoke under the holy glow as I passed by it. Another turn in the hallway came up.

I could hear noises. Snaps and cracks, the shrill shriek of the Nosferatu, and a man sobbing. The rosaries were so bright I had to move them to my other hand so I could hold them down and out of my sight.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped round the corner, gun at the ready.

I found Dr. Critter trying to hold off the Nosferatu with a bullwhip and an office chair.

He stood tall and straight, holding the chair out in front of him. His arm swung back and rolled forward, the bullwhip curling in a long, thin black line. It flicked out, striking the vampire across the face with a resounding CRACK! Greasy fur split apart as the whip rolled back through the air. The Nosferatu shrieked again, filling the air with sound waves that beat my chest like the bass line at a rock concert.

Mr. Beauregard was behind the vampire, slumped against a desk. Blood from a torn throat soaked his seersucker suit in a slowly widening stain. The blood crept through the fabric like a thief. As the color spread through his suit jacket, it leached from his skin, leaving him pallid, waxy, and slightly blue.

The Nosferatu spotted us with a scream that ripped the air. She danced around, leaping from one foot to the other. Thick gore painted the fur on her chest and around her mouth. I couldn’t see any bullet holes, so she must have drunk enough to heal. Her lower jaw was distended and three-inch fangs dripped with blood-flecked foam. Those red eyes blazed out of her skull, staring at me. Staring at my gun.

The bullwhip rolled at the end of Dr. Critter’s arm. The braided leather cut the air like a razor. It snapped across the bloodsucker’s chest, breaking the sound barrier and breaking skin.

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