The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

sucker on the
receiving end of the gunshot she had heard while her eyes were closed. In the
grand scheme of things, she now considered two black eyes and a bruised arm
from the Bourbon Kid wasn’t so bad after all. In fact some might say she’d
gotten off lightly.

 
    Fifty-Two

 
    The drive to the Casa de Ville
wasn’t exactly a fun road trip. Flake sat in the passenger seat, thankful that
she was still alive. The Bourbon Kid was in the driver seat of the black Ford
Mustang, which Flake figured was most likely stolen. He kept his dark hood
pulled up over his head, concealing his face all through the journey as he
explained in curt detail exactly why they were going there and what he expected
from her when they arrived. She nodded in agreement mostly, and added the
occasional “Okay”. The rest of the journey was filled with uncomfortable
silences during which she regularly checked out her reflection in the mirror on
the back of the sun visor on the passenger side. She sure did look weird with
the black paint across her face.
    Eventually the Kid pulled over
at the side of the road not too far from the entrance to the huge Casa de
Ville. He turned off the engine and turned to Flake. ‘You okay?’ he asked.
    ‘I think so.’
    Before she could add anything
else her cell phone rang.
    ‘Turn that off.’ the Kid
ordered.
    Flake fumbled around in her
trouser pocket for the phone. She pulled it out and took a quick look at the
screen. ‘It’s Sanchez calling,’ she said.
    ‘I don’t care. Turn it off.’
    ‘But he might…’
    ‘Turn it off.’
    The phone stopped ringing and
the call went to voicemail. Without waiting to listen to the message she turned
the phone off and slipped it back into her pocket.
    ‘Right,’ said the Kid, tapping
the steering wheel. ‘The key’s in the ignition. Once you see the gates open,
wait for the zombies to swarm in, then drive through the gates and up to the
front entrance.’
    ‘Where exactly are all
these zombies?’
    ‘They’ll show themselves the
minute the gates open. They’re waiting in the woods on the other side of the
road. When you get to the front of the building, get out of the car and make
sure you’ve got that book in your hands. That’s all you’ve got to fight the vampires
off with.’
    ‘And how do I get into the
building once I’m there?’
    ‘Ring the doorbell.’
    ‘What about you? Where will you
be?’
    ‘I’ll be where I need to be.’
    ‘What if you get killed? How
will I know what to do?’
    The Kid let out a deep sigh.
‘Me, get killed? Really?Worry about yourself. When you drive up to the
entrance, don’t stop for anything. If a vampire or a zombie or anything else
gets in your way, mow that fucker down!’
    ‘I can do that,’ said Flake with
a degree more confidence. Her driving skills were decent and she wasn’t afraid
to put her foot down on the accelerator when necessary.
    The Kid opened his car door and
stepped out. ‘Good luck,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you on the other side.’
    ‘Good luck to you too!’ Flake
called out. He had already slammed the door shut by the time she’d finished
speaking so chances were he hadn’t heard her.
    He vanished off into the shadows
and Flake manoeuvred herself over to the driver’s side of the car. The Book
With No Name had been resting by her feet on the passenger side. She leaned
over and picked it up. She laid it down on the seat beside her she considered
her predicament. She was about to drive into a war between several thousand
vampires, werewolves and zombies, and God knows what else, and she was doing it
with nothing more than a book, some face paint and a Ford Mustang. “I must
be insane,” she thought to herself. “But Sanchez is inside there
somewhere.”
    Just as the Kid had predicted,
the large iron gates at the front of the estate began to open. A series of lights
then came on within the grounds of the Casa de Ville. The whole place lit up
brightly. And within a second of the lights coming on, she saw the arrival of
the zombies. On the opposite side of the road, which was made up of thick
woodland, they suddenly began swarming out from the trees.
    In their thousands.
    She checked that all the doors
were locked on the car and watched in disbelief as hordes of the grotesque
creatures lurched past her and through the gates up ahead. Their arrival in the
courtyard caused havoc, just as the Kid had predicted. Screams and howls began
ringing out from within the walls