Grave Danger, page 21
Agatha gave Cody a tight smile before getting into her truck. Cody headed for his own truck, feeling Demmy’s eyes on his back the entire way. He knew he shouldn’t have said it. It had been a passive-aggressive little snipe. But sometimes he just couldn’t help himself. So often he felt like he had no control over the direction his life was headed and the choices before him. It wasn’t going to change anytime soon, and making cracks about it in front of other people, even if Agatha had become a close friend, wasn’t the way to solve it.
But he had to admit, it had felt good. Though he was going to regret the outcome, because God knew Demmy would definitely want to talk about it once they were in the truck, it seemed like a weight had shifted inside him. Like he’d been carrying some of those Velcro strap-on ankle weights around inside his belly for a long time, and he’d finally had a chance to move them around to a more comfortable place. And he’d had to say something because, dammit, here they were, right smack dab in the middle of another fucking monster case. And when that happened, Demmy took the wheel and Cody was expected to just go along for the ride.
“Hey, what was that comment all about?” Demmy asked right on cue once they’d gotten in the truck.
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry about that.” Cody started the engine and pulled out after Agatha. “It’s just… here we go again, you know? We’re chasing something inexplicable, and now it’s ride or die, and I never seem to get a say in what happens or what we do.”
“That’s not true. You managed the town’s response to the werewolves.”
“After you made the decision to offer yourself up as a sacrifice.”
“Because that’s the only thing that would have worked,” Demmy said, obviously getting upset as his voice had gone up in pitch. “We discussed that at the flower shop.”
“No, you told me what you were going to do at the flower shop. I kept trying to talk you out of it.”
Demmy blew out a frustrated breath and looked away. He tapped his fingers on his thigh and bounced his right leg.
“Look, I’m sorry I said it,” Cody said. “It was stupid and passive-aggressive, I know that. And I also know that right now is not the time for us to get into it.”
“Yeah, it’s really not. It’s pretty shitty timing.”
The walls were going up inside Demmy, Cody could practically see them being built by the tiny little Demmys that lived inside him and worked to protect him from confrontation. They’d been raised in very different households, Demmy the only child of much older and less argumentative parents, and Cody the middle child of five boys, raised by parents who liked to overshare their feelings.
Later, when they were back home, Cody would need to poke and dig to get Demmy to open up. He’d learned how to do it as they’d grown up together. When he’d proposed, however, he’d hoped being married would bring some changes for them, that Cody being willing to be open with the world about his feelings for Demmy, would have allowed Demmy to be as open in return. It was better, a lot better, actually, but sometimes it all came back into play.
“Once again, I’m sorry I said it,” Cody said. “Let’s put it aside for now and discuss it later, okay?”
Demmy turned to him, turned on him, actually, and flung a hand out toward Agatha’s truck ahead of them. “Do you even want to go see what Oliver has uncovered? Or would you rather go home and forget about all of this?”
“I want to check in with Ollie and see what kind of bee he’s got in his bonnet now,” Cody said. “But if you’re asking me what I’d rather be doing, then, yes, I’d rather be going home and spending time with you, not traipsing around a cemetery trying to understand why people who are dead are suddenly climbing up out of their graves. I will always prefer being alone with you when given an option like that.”
The declaration deflated a bit of Demmy’s anger, and Cody felt a small glimmer of satisfaction at having known how to defuse the bomb. In his mind, it wasn’t manipulation, but rather having figured out how to handle certain types of situations.
“Fine. Good.” Demmy let out another breath, but it seemed as if there was less anger staining this one.
Agatha pulled off the road onto the grass. Cody eased to a stop behind her and shut the engine off. He held up the keys and looked at Demmy.
“In case something happens, I’m putting these in the center console.”
“For God’s sake, we’re just talking with Oliver.”
“From past experience, I know what happens when we ‘just talk with Oliver’.”
That earned a half grin from Demmy, and it looked to Cody like Demmy’s shoulders had lowered a bit. They’d have a lot to talk about later, but for now it felt like they were okay. Just to be sure, though, Cody leaned in, closing the distance between them by half. He waited, looking at Demmy’s profile and hoping to get the reaction he wanted, needed.
Demmy saw him from the corner of his eye and turned. He closed the distance between them and delivered a sweet but lingering kiss.
“I’m sorry if I take over too much,” Demmy said when he pulled away. “It’s something I’m working on changing.”
“Let’s talk about it more later, okay?”
Demmy nodded, and they stepped out of the truck. Agatha was talking with Ollie and Dave, and he wondered if she was telling them about his snarky comment.
“Hi there,” Cody said as they walked up. “What’s got you sneaking into cemeteries on a lovely day such as this?”
“We were out running errands, and Oliver mentioned checking out something here at the cemetery, so I thought I’d tag along,” Dave said, then grinned. “We saw the police blocking the main gate and parked on the shoulder down the road and hiked back. What the hell happened here?”
“Zombie uprising,” Demmy said.
Ollie and Dave asked a lot of questions, which they both answered to the best of their abilities. Dave finally ended with, “You’ve been through a lot since the funeral. I’m guessing there’s been no word about the Cadillac?”
Cody snorted and shook his head. “She lost them somewhere on the way to Harriettville. Fucking ninety years old and she gives the sheriff the slip.”
“Aren’t you the luckiest guy in the world, to have that car for your very own.” Dave’s grin widened to a smile.
“Smart ass,” Cody muttered.
“Oliver,” Agatha said, turning everyone’s attention to him. “What have you found?”
Ollie pushed his round glasses up his nose then ran his hand through his red-blond hair. “Well, I started thinking about when I’d come out here before, you know? I followed the creek downstream until I met up with Cody, and then we were attacked by that woman who we learned later was buried not too far from the mayor.”
“We know all this, Ollie,” Cody said. “Why are we here now?”
“I started wondering about what might be upstream from this place, and I wanted to walk along the bank for a while.”
“So you guys snuck past a police barricade to go on a hike through the woods?” Cody said.
“No, I brought Dave and I out here to go on a hike through the woods,” Ollie said. “Agatha had texted me about Jugs and the deputy you guys drove to the hospital, and I told her we were out here and wanted to show her something.”
“What did you want to show me?” Agatha said.
“More empty graves.” Ollie waved toward the slight rise behind him. “A lot of them.”
“How many is a lot?” Demmy asked.
“A dozen?” Ollie looked up at Dave who nodded.
“There are probably nine of those lying back at the crime scene,” Cody said.
Thunder rumbled again, a long, drawn out sound like a brewing argument between Olympian gods. Cody looked up at the clouds and checked the time on his phone. “It’s four in the afternoon. If we’re going to check out what’s upstream, we should go now.”
Ollie and Dave started walking across the cemetery. Agatha clicked the button on her key fob to lock her truck, pocketed her keys, and set off after them. Cody looked at Demmy and nodded.
“Let’s go,” Cody said.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. It’s just a walk in the woods, right? What could go wrong?”
Demmy shook his head and smiled. “I can’t believe you actually said that.”
“Me either. It’s like I’m asking to be punished.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for when we get home.” Demmy took his hand and gave it a tug. “Come on.”
“Wait, I want to talk more about what happens when we get home.”
“Later.”
“But…”
“See, this is why I take control of situations,” Demmy said as they followed the others. “If things were left up to you, we’d never get anything done.”
“We’d get some things done,” Cody said. “We’d do each other.”
Demmy laughed, and it sounded good and clear even as the thunderheads gathered above them and the wind brought a stronger smell of rain.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Demetrius decided the hiking wasn’t the worst part of the afternoon. Sure there was no official trail along the banks of Davenport Creek, and the exposed tree roots were eager to twist or break an ankle, and low-hanging branches hungry to scratch faces or gouge eyes. But the worst part of it all was the bugs. Thick clouds of silent and biting bugs continuously swarmed them. All five of them shouted curses as they waved to break the horde of insects or slapped at exposed skin. Agatha proved to be the most inventive stringing together swears, making all of them bust out laughing now and then.
Fifteen minutes after they’d set off, the rain started. Demetrius heard it on the leaf canopy overhead, and a short time later felt the first drops as the rain fell harder. It dimpled the creek’s surface, stirring up silt in places and leaving dirty whorls in the otherwise clear water.
“This reminds me of our last get together,” Dave said from the front of their single file line.
“Did that last gathering include zombies?” Agatha asked.
“No,” Dave said, slapping at a bug on the side of his neck. “A vengeful ghost who put Demetrius and I under a spell and tried to kill us.”
Agatha stopped in her tracks, forcing Demetrius to pull up short behind her, and Cody to do the same behind him. She looked at Dave and Oliver’s backs ahead of them, the two men still moving forward, unaware she had stopped, then she looked over her shoulder at Demetrius.
“Is that true?”
“Yeah, it’s true.”
“Possessed by a vengeful ghost?” Agatha said.
Cody put his hands on Demetrius’s shoulders and leaned in close. “She made Demmy and my brother try to kill me and Ollie.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Agatha whispered.
“Yeah, they had nothing to do with that place,” Demetrius said.
“Hey, you guys okay back there?”
Oliver and Dave were several yards ahead, looking back at them.
“We were updating Aggie on our last get together,” Cody said.
“Oh, she didn’t know about that?” Oliver said. “It was such a great time.”
Agatha started walking again. “You all have a weird idea of what it means to have a great time.”
“Dave’s always been that way,” Cody said in a low voice.
“I heard that,” Dave said over his shoulder.
“With ears like a golden retriever,” Cody said.
“I heard that, too.”
They continued hiking, all of them wet from the rain and waving away bugs. Cody gave himself a hard slap and grunted.
“How long are we going to do this?” Cody asked.
“I want to go a little farther,” Oliver said over his shoulder. “You can go back if you want.”
“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you, Ollie?”
“That question feels like a trap, so I’m not going to answer,” Oliver said.
“Smart,” Dave said.
Demetrius was about to say he agreed with Dave when his foot splashed into the creek. “What the heck?”
“You slip?” Cody asked.
“No. I think the water’s rising.”
“I think you’re right,” Agatha said. “Hey, guys.”
Oliver and Dave stopped and looked back. “What’s up?”
“The creek’s rising,” Cody said.
They all looked at the creek, and Demetrius saw now that the water level had truly risen. The stones that might have before been exposed, were all under the surface. Water had crept up higher onto the banks as well.
“I think we should turn back,” Cody said. “The storm’s getting stronger.”
As if to reinforce Cody’s point, thunder crashed, making them all jump.
“Cody’s right,” Demetrius said. “We should go back.”
Oliver and Dave approached, and they all turned to go back. The storm clouds had thickened even more, dimming the light in the woods and making it difficult to see. Cody was in the lead with Demetrius behind him. Moving a few feet away from the bank of the creek, Cody led them deeper into the trees to avoid the rising water. Lightning sparked across the sky, the flash illuminating the area even there beneath the trees. Cody stopped suddenly, and Demetrius ran into him.
“Oh, sorry,” Demetrius said. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got trouble,” Cody said.
“The water rising faster?” Demetrius looked down at the ground, but the flooding didn’t appear to be much higher than before.
“Worse,” Cody said.
“What’s going on?” Dave said.
“We’ve got company,” Cody said.
“Company?” Agatha moved out from behind Demetrius. “What do you mean? Oh.”
Demetrius looked around Cody and felt a chill go through him. Figures approached through the trees and along the creek. Their steps were slow and plodding, movements jerky. The dim lighting made it hard to see details, but another stutter of lightning provided a quick look, and Demetrius felt an icy fist clutch his heart.
“Zombies,” Agatha said.
“What?” Oliver exclaimed as he moved up beside Demetrius. “Holy shit.”
“That’s a lot of… them,” Dave said. “How many are there?”
“A lot,” Cody said, taking a couple of steps back. “More than I want to mess with.”
“Let’s keep following the creek,” Demetrius said. “It’s got to come out someplace we can find help.”
Cody turned to him. “Sure about that?”
Demetrius shook his head. “Hopeful, not sure.”
“Let’s go,” Oliver said. “They’re getting closer.”
Dave took the lead once again, and they made their way through the trees. Rain and wet leaves soaked them, branches left scratches, and their feet slipped in the mud. When Demetrius looked back, he was shocked to see the number of their pursuers and how little the distance between them.
“We’ve got to move faster,” Demetrius said.
“Where are we? Does anyone know?” Agatha asked.
“Way past the cemetery,” Oliver said. “Now we’re mostly near farmland.” He looked over his shoulder. “Farmer Wilkes’s place isn’t far. Think we could find a chupacabra to take out the zombies?”
Demetrius glanced over his shoulder at Agatha, wondering how she’d take that comment. But she was focused on her footing. If she’d heard Oliver’s comment, she didn’t give any sign of it.
“We should avoid the farms,” Demetrius said. “We don’t want to endanger people.”
“You don’t think our uninvited friends will find those people anyway?” Cody said.
“I just think we can keep from leading them right to their doorsteps.”
Cody didn’t respond, and Demetrius wondered if his suggestion to stay away from the farms would come back to haunt him. Was that another example of him controlling a situation? Had it been right of him to say what he thought was the right thing to do? Should he have just remained silent? Or should he have suggested they stop and discuss the matter as a group? Yeah, right, while a zombie herd closed in on them. Too many options and too much to consider in that moment. What he knew for certain, however, was that he and Cody needed to seriously talk about things once they got home.
If they got home.
He glanced back again. The zombies were closer, and there were even more of them. Add to that the pounding rain and steadily rising level of the creek, and the situation was quickly becoming more dire.
They were all silent for a time, focused on their footing. The trees thinned, allowing the rain to drench them even more. It also allowed the zombies to group closer together, and it was alarming to see the building number of their pursuers. Had they all come from Hollow of Eternal Rest cemetery? Were there any bodies left there?
“Hey,” Cody said. “We’re close to Farmer Wilkes’s farm, right?”
“That’s what Oliver said,” Demetrius said.
“So that means we’re close to GRUNT, aren’t we?”
Cody pronounced it ‘groo-nt’, and just the mention of the place gave Demetrius a chill. It had been an experimental laboratory run by Agatha’s father, Llewelyn Tisdale, located in the woods outside of town. Llewelyn had told Agatha her beloved greyhound, Deloris, had had to be put down while she had been at veterinary school because of an aggressive form of cancer.
In reality, Llewelyn had used Deloris as a guinea pig for a cancer fighting drug. The side effects of the drug had caused a radical change in her appearance, and when Deloris had escaped from the facility, people in the area around the lab thought she had been a chupacabra. Including Agatha herself.
“Oh, shit,” Agatha said, stopping to look at them. “You think my dad’s back in business?”
“No idea,” Cody said. “I was just thinking aloud.”
“Oh, shit,” Agatha said again.
“Hey, guys,” Dave said, pointing back behind them. “No matter where we’re headed, we need to keep up the pace.”
Demetrius looked over his shoulder and saw the multitude of undead plodding after them. They might be slow, but they were relentless. And terrifying.
