Nadya’s Nights: Knight of the Living Dead
Night Five: Virus
Chapter Five: Crazy Comes Calling
by Indy McDaniel
Copyright © 2010 Indy McDaniel
The knock came again, more urgently this time. Zada started towards it but Nadya drew her gun and took aim at her. “You didn’t answer my question.” She positioned herself between Zada and the door in such a way that she could also keep an eye on Knight. As she suspected, the thief didn’t seem too interested in choosing sides without a monetary figure attached to the situation. Which was just fine with Nadya.
Zada looked at Nadya’s gun and scoffed. “Unless you’re packing silver -”
“I am,” Nadya cut her off. “Took out a vamp earlier. Used some silver to soften her up a bit. I got plenty left over to put through you.” The knocking was getting louder. “Now… who’s at the door?”
Zada’s expression hardened. “I’m not sure, I haven’t checked yet. But, judging by the insistence of the knocking, I’d wager it’s my great-great-great-grand nephew, Will.”
“Jesus!” Knight exclaimed. Zada and Nadya turned to him. “Oh, sorry… just… can’t believe you’re fucking four-hundred.”
Rolling her eyes, Zada turned back to Nadya. “He’s sick. And I’m the only family he has. I need to let him in before he gets upset.”
It could have been a trick. Nadya had no real reason to trust the woman. But she had no real reason to distrust her either. She gave a curt nod. “Alright, but slowly. And I’ll be watching. One sign that shit’s funky and I’m giving you a silver bullet enema.”
Zada still wasn’t pleased. “Just put the fucking gun away. It’s bad enough he doesn’t know who you are. If he comes in and sees you waving a gun about, there will be a problem.”
“Aunt Zada!” a muffled voice called from the other side of the door. “You have to let me in! Quick!”
“What’s he in such a hurry for?”
“He has delusions, goddammit!” Zada exclaimed, losing a bit of her cool. “He’s paranoid schizophrenic, so put the fucking gun away and chill the fuck out! Please!”
Letting out a sigh, Nadya lowered the gun and slipped it back into her waistband. She moved over to the seat she’d been in before and sat back down. “Just remember… I’m a pretty fast draw.”
Zada ignored her, gathering herself and calming down before going over to the door and opening it. A disheveled young man rushed in and Nadya had to refrain from pulling her gun out again. But instead of doing anything hostile, he simply embraced the werewolf woman tightly. Nadya examined him closely. His clothes were dirty, tattered, and so was he. It looked as if he’d been living out of a dumpster for the last year or more. He’d only been in the apartment less than a minute and the reek of him had already traveled across the room and assaulted Nadya’s nostrils.
“It’s alright…” Zada whispered to him, stroking his hair gently. Apparently, she was used to the state of her nephew, because it didn’t seem to bother her any. “You’re safe now. They won’t find you here.”
The guy didn’t seem to be listening much, spewing out a bunch of random insanity at rapid fire succession. Nadya tried to catch as much of it as she could but was finding it difficult to keep up. Something about Shadows and blood and super glue and… viruses. Nadya’s eyes widened and she stood from the chair. “What did that crazy bastard just say?”
Under different circumstances, the reaction of the crazy bastard would have been highly comical. His head snapped over, looking at Nadya. His eyes went wide as saucers and his already pale complexion seemed to grow two shades more-so. Then he tried to bolt back towards the door but Zada’s arms tightened, not holding him completely still but at least managing to keep him from scampering away like a frightened rodent. Zada turned to glare at Nadya. “Don’t call him that.”
Discovering that he couldn’t break free from his exceedingly stronger aunt, Will had decided instead to bury his face against her shoulder and cower. He was still mumbling away at a mile a minute, but the sound was muffled now and even more indecipherable than before. Zada kicked the door shut before guiding her frightened nephew away from it and, subsequently, from Nadya and Knight.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Nadya snarled, taking a step after the pair, but Zada held up a hand to stop her.
“Please,” the werewolf said, her voice soft. “Just let me take him in the bedroom and calm him down. Then I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
Sighing, Nadya waved a hand and let them go. She was fairly certain that she’d just met the ‘relative’ that had used to work for M.A.D. The only question was, had he been that nuts before working for them or was it something they did to him? She lit up another cigarette and turned to see Knight doing the same.
“Jesus…” he said again, this time muttering it under his breath. He blew out a cloud of smoke and looked over at Nadya. “Please tell me you’re not fucking ancient and have a ridiculously insane family.”
Nadya let out a humorless snort. “I can only claim the first.” As far as ridiculously insane family members went, Xenia had to win some kind of prize. If for nothing other than the love/hate incestuous infatuation she had with her. Which didn’t include her transgenderness. Nadya didn’t dislike transgendered people as a rule, but she’d very much enjoy chucking her sister/brother into an active volcano.
Pushing the thought of her fucked up pseudo-sister out of her head, she decided to focus on more productive things. “Amongst all that babbling, I heard him mention something about the virus.”
“Yea?” Knight said. “Didn’t happen to mention where the antidote was, did he?”
Nadya shook her head. “Couldn’t make out much. One thing’s for sure, that guy is definitely deranged. And quite possibly dangerous.”
“He’s not dangerous,” came Zada’s voice. Nadya turned to see her coming out of the bedroom, closing the door softly. “He’s had a hard life.”
“Who hasn’t?” Nadya shot back then pointed to the bedroom door. “Anyone that tweaked is potentially dangerous. I don’t give a fuck if he is related to you.”
“I sedated him,” Zada said, moving into the kitchen and getting herself a fresh beer. “He’ll be alright for now. He just doesn’t like new people, that’s all.”
“No shit,” Knight muttered. “Guy looked like a crack-head in need of a serious fix…”
Zada glared at him. “Do you really want to piss off someone who was eating your kind centuries before you were an itch in your father’s jock strap?” Knight opened his mouth, looking as if he were about to respond to the comment, then he thought about it and just shut up. “That’s what I thought.” She turned back to Nadya. “You’re smarter than our brutish pal. I imagine you’ve already figured part of it out.”
“He’s the relative you were talking about,” Nadya said. “He helped make this shit. Which means, in a round about way, this is all his goddamn fault.”
“You kill people for a living,” Zada replied. “Who the fuck are you to judge?”
“Good point,” Nadya nodded. “I guess it might have something to do with the fact that I don’t go around conducting it on a global fucking scale.”
“Look,” Zada started to advance on Nadya, raising a finger to point at her. “He used to be a brilliant scientist. He’s created some amazing things that had nothing to do with death. On the contrary.”
Nadya’s eyes widened. “He invented the Lazarus Serum?!”
Zada’s anger became confusion. “How do you know about that?”
“Had a little encounter with it myself,” Nadya answered, feeling her forehead tingle just thinking about it.
Knight cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but -”
“Resurrection juice!” Nadya and Zada replied before he had a chance to finish.
“Oh,” Knight said, giving a nod. “Badass. Where do I get some of that?”
The two women ignored him. “Alright,” Nadya said. “Lazarus Serum, two points. Now M.A.D. can just keep bringing back their dead lackeys over and over. And with an army of the living dead, hot damn, they’ll be unstoppable.”
“Enough!” Zada yelled. “Why the fuck do you think I’m trying to stop them?”
Sighing, Nadya decided Zada had a point. Besides, petty arguing wasn’t going to get them anywhere. “Okay, then,” she said. “Moving along. He mentioned something about the Shadows chasing him. What’s that about?”
“It’s just one of his delusions,” Zada shook her head. “It’s nothing to worry about.”
Just then, Zada’s windows exploded, sending shards of glass flying into the flat. Moments later, lithe figures clad all in black and wearing gas masks burst through the openings. It only took another moment for Nadya to survey them and see that they were each carrying an MP5. “Nothing to worry about,” she muttered, yanking her handgun free. “Right…”
