Monster Nation(90)

It was the best she was going to get. She reared up like a snake and sank her teeth deep into the flesh of his arm. She aimed for the vein there and found it without trouble. He screamed, screamed like a stuck pig, screamed for help, for his mother, the pain in him lighting up the cave like neon. He screamed and screamed and reached for something on his belt. Something dangerous. A gun. He screamed and brought up the gun and started firing wildly, more noise, light in huge orange flashes, and still he screamed, and fired, and fired, and fired until his gun went dry.

It didn't matter. Before he got off his first shot Nilla had already stolen enough from him. Enough life. She banked her energy. Made herself invisible. It felt like it wasn't going to work but combined with the darkness in the cave, well. None of the shots hit her.

She was already up, up on shaky feet, moving toward the entrance of the cave. Behind her the Termite kept screaming.

At the entrance she found Mellowman. She had hoped she would. He was going to ruin all of her plans, though, by doing one smart thing. He had heard the screams and the gunshots'how could he not'and he looked deeply concerned. But not panicked. Instead of rushing into the cave, guns blazing, he was pushing the gate closed. He already had the key to the padlock out and ready. He was going to do the smart thing, and seal her inside the cave with the Termite.

Had she wasted a moment more on the Termite, had she stopped to take more of his life force, she wouldn't have made it. She pushed and stumbled and snagged herself badly as she squeezed into the narrow opening left in the gate. Mellowman grunted and she knew by the way he tensed up that he could feel the resistance her body made. He could feel that something was holding the gate open, even if he couldn't see it.

'Muffin?' he asked. He started to grin. He had grasped immediately the strange particulars of the situation. Crazy girl, probably undead, can make herself invisible. He stepped into the gate, blocking her escape, knowing that if he didn't stop her at that moment she would probably get away.

Still the Termite screamed.

Nilla thudded against Mellowman's chest, the coarse weave of his baja shirt rough against her cheek. He smelled like stale smoke. His arms went around her, tentative at first, then closing with sudden conviction, trapping her.

'I've got you, Muffin. And I'm never going to let you go,' he said. He wasn't looking at her but it didn't matter.

She would have preferred it if he was looking at her. She wanted him to see her. But it didn't matter.

He was almost a head taller than her. Nilla's face fit easily into the crook of his neck. Her lips could feel the pulse of his jugular vein'it was right there.

She tore his throat out and drank the blood that poured down over her mouth.





Monster Nation





Chapter Six


Subtle energies, discrete communication. So many months gone to this foolishness. Am I just looking for a way to keep my mind occupied? The neoplasm is an ostrich egg, we can see it right through the skin and here I am growing bluegrass in Dixie cups. The world's most expensive high school science project, I' I need some rest. [Lab Notes, 1/1/04]

She came trudging out of the cave to find the Space Van pinging softly in the starlight. Folding patio chairs had been set up around the open back, and a tiny hibachi gave off a cheery glow from the tailgate. Morphine Mike was drinking a beer, his back up against the dusty metal of the van.

Mellowman's energy popped and crackled inside of her. She felt like an overdone potato in a microwave. She hadn't felt so strong since she'd eaten the bear.

The tight muscles across Nilla's stomach rumbled for a moment and something tiny and metallic squeezed its way out of her skin. The puckered exit wound it left behind closed up and healed over as she watched. She bent down and picked up the piece of buck shot. She was full of them, still, and her body was rejecting them one by one. She would probably be shedding them for a week.

It didn't matter. Mellowman was dead and she' wasn't.

Mike was agitated. He wanted to get in the van and rocket away, just get out of there and head back to Las Vegas. She could tell by the way he kept looking at the road. He would have heard the screams, of course. He would know what was happening.

She stepped closer to him. Into the red light of the hibachi. She let her dark energy flow back into her, the cool flame spreading through her limbs like tingling shadow. It felt like pins and needles all over. He yelped a little when she appeared in front of him with no warning.