The Night Beat

what the others were talking about the other day, but once I saw what was happening, it became clear. Zombies are able to ingest carrier dust because we can ingest pretty much anything, other than certain kinds of salt, with no problem. Then we neutralize it with holy water.” He waved the flask.
    “What the hell is carrier dust?” Jack asked. I was glad he did, since I didn’t have any idea. But I had a good guess.
    “Jerry had something deadly to Victoria in him,” Freddy explained. “Meaning his dust was deadly to her. So, he’s infected, or a carrier of disease.” He chuckled. “And I’m the vaccine.” I was a good guesser. I was also happy I looked forward to learning new things daily, because this was a doozy. I wondered what else I didn’t know, even after all this time.
    “Thank the Gods and Monsters.” Jack shrugged at my look. “Hey, not like you own the saying.”
    I shook my head. “True. Freddy, you sure you’re okay?”
    “Feel fine. If I start to feel evil, I’ll let you know.” He grinned again. “Nice to be useful to the team for once.”
    “You’ve been useful before.” I hugged him. “Thank you.”
    “Any time, Zombie Fred’s got your back.”
    We went to the angels, who had de-cloaked. “You guys okay?”
    They nodded. “What about you?” Cain asked. “You were the target.”
    “Yeah, she was.” Jack sounded angry. “Why didn’t you do anything to protect her?”
    I put my paw on his arm. “I’m sure Jerry had unholy water in him. That’s not exactly nectar to an angel. Besides, of the six of us, I’m more expendable than they are.” Jack started to argue but I put my paw up. “This is a war. We have military titles, remember? For a reason.”
    Jack still looked like he was going to argue, but my wrist-com went off. “Vic, it’s Ralph. Status?”
    “All fine here, I think. How’s the hospital gang?”
    “Well, I’m released. I’m the only one, though.”
    I resisted the urge to growl and curse. “How long for the others?”
    He heaved a sigh. “At best, at least a good part of the day. Clyde had more damage than he was showing. He needs full rewrapping. The Count has to have a complete transfusion. Hansel and Gretel had to be knocked out to get treated. Those four won’t be out until tonight, maybe tomorrow. You want me to go on?”
    “Not really, but I think I’d better know. Amanda, Maurice and Ken?”
    “Okay, but they all have to sleep in their coffins.”
    “Oh, that’s not good.”
    “Why not?” Jack asked. “They’re vampires. Don’t they always sleep in coffins?”
    Ralph’s low growl came through my wrist-com. He was touchy about humans buying into all the negative undead myths. I answered quickly. “No, that’s a myth, in a sense. They need to sleep in their coffins, in some dirt from the ground where they died, only when they’re close to becoming dusted.” My throat felt tight. “Ralph, are the others just as bad?”
    “Yeah. The doctors told me they’d barely finished fixing up Black Angel Two and Martin when the rest of us hit the floor. They’re worried about them, by the way.”
    There was nothing for it. “Ralph, we’re at the cemetery. Get here as fast as you can.”
    “On it, W-W-One-Six-One-Two over and out!”
    “Why are you bringing him back?” Jack asked. “He’s recovering, too. And he drives you nuts.”
    “We need him. Most of our team’s down.” I looked at Martin. “How badly are the three of you still hurt?”
    “We were released from the hospital, Victoria,” Martin said reassuringly.
    “Uh huh. Ralph may indeed drive me crazy but I know when he’s trying to pass a message along. The hospital didn’t want to release you, did they?”
    Martin tried doing the shrug and twinkle thing, but I didn’t buy it. I looked at Black Angel One. “And what Ralph was really trying to share was that you two didn’t get treated at all.”
    Cain and Abel tried to look innocent, which, considering they were angels and all, they should’ve been able to do well. Only, angels have real issues in regard to lying -- one of the reasons they weren’t a talkative group -- it’s easier not to answer than to tell an untruth. Not that they couldn’t lie, it just took a lot of effort and most of them considered that skill not worth the work.
    “That’s why you couldn’t hold me and why neither one of you could catch me when I fell. You’re both hurt.” I looked at the graves. “It’s why the five of