*
I pushed the door open. “I refuse to be massacred on an empty stomach. Babies wanna go peepee?”
Fuzzy ears popped up on unison. Tails wagged a happy rhythm. My canine buddies scampered out of the SUV.
David studied the dogs as they exited the vehicle. He rolled his eyes as they hurried to do what they were told, scoffed even more as I held them to my chest before leading them to the door of the café. Then he walked past me, patted them on the head in turn and opened the door.
“Hey, hey, Missy, you can’t bring those animals in here.” The man behind the register said.
“I won’t leave them outside,” I stated. “They’ll get eaten by something.”
“Ah, let them be, Marvin,” the lady at the register said. “They look like good folks. What can I get for you sweetie?”
She limped forward. One leg seemed shorter than the other. I thought it might be birth defect, but her foot was wrapped in gauze.
“What’s wrong with your foot?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Her face brightened with a toothless grin. “We were running low on condiments. Marvin severed a few toes. When left to rot a few night, they produce yummy maggots.”
I arched both brows. It was an acceptable explanation. Maggots added a nice zing to burgers for those of us who preferred to not feed on human flesh. “We’ll take two burgers and a little something for the dogs.”
The woman’s grin managed to grow wider. “Then have a seat, deary.” She hobbled toward us with napkins and silverware.
A man’s voice boomed over the adjacent booth. “You two look like you might possess the hunger.”
I considered him out of the corner of my eye. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“Most are mindless,” he said.
I shrugged. “We survive and stay together. Family. That’s what’s most important.”
The man in question stood from his booth and hurried over. He removed his hat to reveal a face as dark as a demon spawn, an Adonis in a world of zombies. He wanted something, and I was in no mood to lend a hand to any strangers.
“There’s a group of the mindless ones several miles down the road,” he began. “How about you help me kill them?”
“With what, a killer glance?” I asked.
He snorted once, reached into his pocket and pulled out two coins and a paper clip. “It’s a voodoo ritual.
What you do is knock them down, place the coins on their eyes, and connect them with the paper clip.”
“So you want me to play connect the dots with zombies?”
“Don’t be funny, little girl.” He pounded his fist on the table. “The ritual turns them into statues.”
I stood. “This I have to see.”
“Laila, where are you going?”
I glanced at my husband. “Stay with the dogs, honey. Enjoy your maggot burger. I won’t be long.”
Seconds later we were on the road.
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