Epilogue

Nick watched the horizon as a light brighter than a megaton bomb exploded, filling the sky. Tendrils shot out from the point of origin, tracing the purple lines of power floating to the mass of undead before them. The red light filling the zombies’ eyes winked out one by one. They fell like dominoes, splashing into the water, returning to the fetid piles of rot they had been moments earlier. He heaved a sigh of relief but felt a heaviness growing in his heart as the light continued to expand skyward.

A beacon of fire shot into the morning air, looking like it could puncture the sky itself. Then, all at once, it dispersed, leaving nothing but birds and bugs going about their business. Nick was about to comment on the tranquility of it all when the smell of hundreds of baking corpses atop swamp water assaulted his nostrils. He looked around at the chaos and barely believed his own eyes.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” asked James, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No one at The Haven is ever going to believe this.”

James nodded. “No, but we might get a few drinks out of it.”

Lopsang dropped his shield in the water and looked out at the vampire castle. “What are we going to do about that?”

The castle was a black mark on an otherwise untouched landscape in the morning light. The ruined interior of the throne room was cast in a new light by the dawn. Shirley fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll call it in.” She paused. “Unless you have a problem with that, Nick.” The tone was playful, but clearly implied she doing it either way.

“Oh, you’ve got jokes now? Burn it to the ground. Perry will get out, I’m sure, but that’s a problem for later.”

Shirley put the phone to her ear and stepped between the corpses to get a little distance. “Yeah, we’ve got a 2-22 and a 3-51, going to need full crews on both.”

“They have numbers for this?” James shook his head. “That’s some hell of a planning department.”

Lopsang laughed, but the sound died in his throat. “So, do we think…”

“Marie didn’t make it,” finished Nick and the weight of it hit him suddenly. Adrenaline dulled his response, but there was no questioning the certainty. “We owe it to her to check.”

The others nodded, and together, they picked their way through the corpses to the tree line. In the distance, Nick saw the trash of an alligator's tail as the first creatures found the sudden floating buffet. Anxious to get out of the water, he scrambled up the mangrove roots and onto a makeshift path. It wasn’t long before he found the clearing.

Detritus spread out in a sphere from a solitary platform in the swamp. Several trees had fallen, their jagged stump edges sticking up like a ring of spikes. Even from a distance, Nick saw the single figure lying alone on the platform.

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Shirley rushed forward, mounting the platform before the rest of them were even halfway there. Quiet and calm, she put a hand to Marie’s neck.

Nick approached, knowing the answer already.

James made a cross over his chest out of pure habit, and for once, Nick didn’t heckle him.

Shirley pulled out her cell phone again. “Better add a medivac to that list.”

Three Weeks Later

Marie awoke to muffled voices from her bedside. “You would not believe the level of government coverup that goes into convincing half of New Orleans they didn’t see a pillar of flame shooting out of the bayou.”

“Let me guess, sunlight reflecting off swamp gas?”

“Of course, we said swamp gas! There’s a big swamp. But it takes a lot to get people to pay attention to swamp gas when most of them think it was a divine bullet from God or some shit. Don’t even get me started on that vampire castle.”

“You did get it cleared right?”

“Of course we did, but that thing was booby-trapped to hell and we lost a few agents along the way.”

“Told you, we should have nuked it from orbit.”

“And I told you, Nick, that’s not an option when you’re already covering up something that looks suspiciously like a nuke.”

“So, it’s an option sometimes?”

“Sure, it’s an option sometimes.”

Marie groaned, partly from the pain radiating from every inch of her body, partly from the headache the two familiar voices gave her.

“Did she just wake up?”

“Yes, and you’re shouting. Don’t they advise against that for patients with head trauma?” Marie wasn’t sure if what she had could be labeled as simple head trauma. She was sure that it hurt like hell.

“Marie?” The voice was softer now and clearly Shirley.

Marie opened her eyes. At first, she saw nothing but bright, sterile light and wondered if she had been blinded. Then, the room slowly focused and she saw a hospital. Nick and Shirley stared down at her with a mix of relief and deep sadness. “Did everyone make it out all right?” she asked.

Shirley nodded. “We thought maybe you didn’t, but here you are.”

“Here I am indeed.” Marie laughed and the feeling made her cough. Her mouth was dry. “They got something to drink here?”

“If they do, I’ll find it,” answered Nick. “Good to have you back in the land of the living.”

“Good to be here.”

Nick left the room, leaving Shirley and Marie alone.

Shirley crossed over to Marie’s bedside. “How are you—”

“Save it.” Marie felt bad at the sharpness in her tone but blamed the pain. “He’s gone, it’s done.”

Shirley nodded, and started to say something, but then fell silent. The slow pump of machines and beeping monitors filled the void between them. Eventually, Shirley spoke. “I know what it’s like to lose someone in a way you can’t talk about.”

Marie started to speak, but Shirley held out a hand and stopped her.

“We don’t need to talk now, we don’t need to talk ever if you don’t want to, but if you do, you’ve got my number.”

Marie stared up in silence, trying to hold back waves of tears. The reality of it all came crashing back as the daze of sleep wore off. She kept her mouth shut.

“Well, I’m going to help Nick find you that drink and make sure he hasn’t taken it for himself.”

That got a laugh out of Marie. “Good luck with that.”

Shirley walked out of the room and took a last look at Marie before walking out.

When she was gone, Marie lay back, listening to her heartbeat, wondering just how badly she’d been hurt.

Really thought we’d hit the end of the road there.

Marie jumped at the sound of the dusty old voice and instantly regretted the sudden action.

Oh, relax. Now rest up, we have work to do.

Marie closed her eyes and sighed. “Shit.”