Bart the Mall Cop Joins the Battle Against the Undead: Chapter V

I pull Valerie out of the line of fire as she goes back into Magic Mode. “You OK?” I ask.

“The voices… They’re so loud this time…”

“What are they saying?”

“I can’t… Bart, please, you have to…”

“Valerie, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you need!”

“I need you, Bart,” she says.

“OK, I’ll stay with you.”

“No, I need…”

“The Lord has spoken,” Pastor Randy calls out. “He sent one of His angels down to me, bearing the scroll. I am to defend the sanctuary against intruders such as yourself.”

“I thought God was pretty clear about welcoming the outsider,” I call back. “Then again, you’ve never been very good at that.”

“You were an addict, Bart,” he says. “You were disrupting our services.”

“Oh, right, now I remember the story where Jesus threw out the broken. Wait, no, that’s not what happened; he helped them.”

“Bart,” Valerie says.

“Just trying to distract him,” I say. It’s kinda true.

I hear Pastor Randy’s footsteps clacking against the tile floors.

“C’mon, we gotta go.”

“No, Bart,” Valerie says. “The voices… They’re telling me he won’t stop until he kills us.”

“And I’m telling you we need to run. Who are you gonna trust?”

She blinks. Her eyes are still glowing, but she seems a bit more human. “You’re right,” she says.

“There’s a bathroom over there,” I say, pointing. “For whatever reason, it’s got a deadbolt on the inside without an exterior lock. We can figure out what to do in there.”

“OK.”

“Right. Stay low; let’s go.”

I had assumed Valerie’s magic was going to heal her wound, but she’s bleeding pretty bad as we move. If nothing else, there should be some paper towels in there we can use as makeshift gauze or something.

To my surprise, Pastor Randy doesn’t even try to take a shot at us. That makes me nervous. He’s always been one to kick a man while he’s down, at least as far as I’ve known him. Still can’t believe they haven’t fired him yet. Then again, the word of a “disgraceful, disruptive influence” against a respected pastor is never a fair fight.

We make it to the bathroom; I turn the deadbolt behind us. “That should buy us a little time,” I say.

“Yeah,” Valerie says, sinking against the wall.

“It’d be pitch-black in here if you weren’t glowing,” I say, grabbing some paper towels from the dispenser.

“I do what I can,” she says, mustering a weak smile.

“So, what do you need me to do?” I ask, now working on stemming the flow of blood.

“I don’t need you to do anything,” she says.

“That’s not what you said a minute ago,” I say. “Do you mind if I tear this shirt? Never mind, I’m doing it anyway.”

I rip off her sleeve to get a better look at the wound. There’s nothing on the other side, which means the bullet’s still in there. I tear off one of my own sleeves to form a bandage.

“I don’t need you to do anything,” Valerie says again. “I need you.”

I blink, tying off the bandage. “Valerie, I really don’t think this is the time for us to— ”

“I need to absorb you. Like I did to the zombies.”

I back up five feet before I realize what I’m doing. “Now, hold on here for a second,” I say, rising to my feet.

“I can see them in my mind, Bart,” she says, staring at me with those pale, glowing circles. “They’re in there. I can’t explain it, but they’re in there. And they’re mad. I need you to go in there and take care of them.”

“This is insane,” I say. “You know this is insane, right?”

A pounding at the door. Pastor Randy’s voice. “I’m giving you two until the count of three before I blast this door open.” The sound of a shotgun being pumped.

“One.”

I look to Valerie, still staring at me.

“Two.”

“Do it,” I say, helping her to her feet. She places her hands on my chest.

“Right… Three!”

As the shotgun blast rings out, my world goes into a spin. I see a bright light, followed by total darkness and an enormous pulling sensation.

Well, this whole “being alive” thing was fun, let’s see what’s next

End of Chapter V