Another horror joined the chase.

And this one had an angle on the waitress.

Small and quick, it darted out from the gap in the cornfield on the left where Gerald's car had plowed into the tall stalks. Tiny jaws gaped and pigtails flew as the feral shape raced across the front of the mechanics shop on a collision course with Marisa. The girl must have seen it at the last second for she tried to raise her bat at a dead run.

But it was too late.

The filthy thing leapt and landed on her just as she reached the door.

Rachel and the others could only watch in horror as Marisa struggled with the monster in the shop entrance. The two were silhouetted against the light from inside the shop, with the little atrocity practically up on the tall girl's shoulders. She tumbled against the doorframe under its ferocious onslaught. Then Harley slammed into the pair of them, knocking them both inside, before rushing inside himself.

A second later the door slammed shut and the shooting began.

Rachel held her breath, praying to any higher power listening to make everything work out okay. One look at the others showed they were doing the same. But only the thunder answered from above.

The night fell silent, other than the hiss of the rain falling on the asphalt.

Then the sound of Marisa's scream reached them from clear across the flooding parking lot.

Chapter Ten: Maelstrom.

Maelstrom Marisa.

"Pinche puta! Get off me!"

The moment Marisa had feared all night had finally come.

A monster had caught her.

One of its filthy talons clawed her side while the other tangled in her hair. The horrid little skull snapped in her face, and only the bat she had up under its chin kept it away from her. It dripped with mud, it stank like roadkill, and the ferocity of its assault threatened to unbalance her. Her foot hurt horribly, and after the impact with Harley it was all she could do to keep from falling as she struggled with the little demon.

All around them crows flapped and squawked, creating a maelstrom of black feathered bodies that filled the air of the mechanic's shop.

Marisa and the child-sized horror whirled through the feathery chaos. Despite its size, the little monster's strength was terrifying. The frenzied relentlessness of its attacks gave her no chance to do anything but struggle to keep it off her face. Only its light weight gave her any advantage at all.

With a strangled snarl of desperation the tall young woman slammed the creature against the wall, trying to pin it against the cinder blocks with her bat. If she could just free herself from the little monster's clutches for a full second she intended to beat its brains out all over the concrete floor. At least she hoped she could bring herself to do it if the opportunity presented itself.

A gunshot blasted somewhere to her left, and she knew Harley must have his own hands full at the moment. She had caught sight of a couple of red drenched skulls rising from the other side of the car when she stumbled into the building. Another shot almost deafened her, and the faint sound of Harley cursing caused her to look over to see what danger loomed from his direction.

That was when the monster managed to bite her.

As Marisa turned her face to see what the problem was, the rotting imp yanked her head closer by her hair. She reacted in an instant, pulling back hard enough to lose almost a handful of the ebony strands, but it was too late. The vile thing had also managed to work the bat a little lower down its throat and lean its head towards her...and a split second later its teeth sank into the top of her ear.

Marisa's scream cut through the garage like a ripsaw.

White blazing agony exploded as the horror bit down. Blinded by both pain and panic, instinct took over and Marisa pulled her head back with all her strength. This elevated her anguish to a searing new level as the monster bit harder and pulled back as well. Things held for one long, torturous second. Then the inevitable happened. Skin severed, cartilage tore, and a hot torrent of blood gushed as she tore her head free.

For a frozen moment in time, the girl stared in mute astonishment at the creature. The thing briefly stopped its struggle to focus on the piece of flesh between its teeth. Its staring eyes remained fixed on her face, but the little monster's attention appeared to relocate onto its new meal. It almost seemed to leer as it gnashed the small piece of her between its bloody teeth. Then, after a few seconds, it gulped the grisly morsel down.

That was when something inside Marisa went sproing.

Her coworkers were dead. All of her friends were either hurt or dead. Her family was most likely dead. Her dead sister was waiting outside to kill her. Hell, she had been living with the knowledge she could die horribly any minute for the entire night. And now this. Now she had been bitten. Now some half-pint, stinking, little pigtailed punk of a zombie had maimed her.

Somewhere within her...somewhere deep inside...a psychic gate rattled and something looked out between the bars. Something that wanted to have its own say about this new development. And that something had feral eyes and grinning teeth of its own.

Red tinged her vision, a rushing filled her ears, and the bloody waitress let loose an inarticulate howl announcing the current battle for survival had reached its conclusion...

...and an operation of a completely different sort would now commence.

Releasing the top of the bat with her right hand, she grabbed the little monster by the throat. The thing clawed at her arm and side with renewed gusto as she did. It tore her blouse and drew blood, but Marisa ignored it as she turned with the creature and slammed it down on workbench. The pain didn't matter anymore. The blood didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was what was coming next. Pinning it again by putting her weight on the bat, she reached across to the shop vice and spun it open. Then she yanked the thing up in one vicious motion and slammed its head back down between the jaws of the device.

A few twists of the handle later and the creature was trapped. Breathing heavily, Marisa stood up before the struggling creature and surveyed her handiwork. Then she stared at the thing with a strange, almost puzzled expression. Her hand went to her ruined ear. It gingerly explored the damage and came back covered in her blood. Somewhere behind her a third gunshot went off but she ignored it. The girl stared at her bloodied hand for a second, then gazed back at the zombie again.

"You bit my ear off." she said in disbelief. "You bit my god damned ear off!"

Somewhere deep inside her, the lock on that gate went click.

The zombie thrashed but the vice held firm. Its mad eyes stared undaunted up at the bloody waitress, yet this time its gaze met one that stared back with something just as chilling. Something that grinned back with the knowledge that things had just come unhinged, and it was completely cool with that.

"And you know what?" Marisa added as she hefted her weapon of choice. "Mr. Bat doesn't like it when you bite my ear off! No, ma'am! No MA'AM! Mr. Bat doesn't like that one goddamned little bit!"

"Mr. Bat" then proceeded to demonstrate his displeasure in long overhand swings. Several of them, in fact. Unfortunately, their little conversation got interrupted a few seconds later.

"Marisa!" Harley shouted. "Look out! Behind you!"

It was the fear in his voice that caught her attention.

Marisa whirled to see another skull-faced horror coming around the end of the car near the garage door and heading her way. More crows scattered at its approach. Glancing to her right, she saw Harley stomping on something on the other side of the vehicle. He obviously had his hands full and wasn't going to be able to help.

And that suited her just fine.

A few minutes earlier this would have been a nightmare come true. But the primal thing now riding inside her was its own form of nightmare and it didn't waste one second before engaging this new opponent. With a rage filled howl she took three long strides towards the monster, and drew back her bat for a home run swing. The skeletal creature lurched towards her with eager talons outstretched, and the two closed like gladiators in an arena. Then, right before they met, the tall girl sidestepped and slammed the weapon with all her might into the dead things kneecap.

It was a direct hit.

The knee gave with an audible snap, and the corpse's leg buckled and folded the wrong way. It hit the floor in a thrashing heap. A split second later the same hard length of maple met the back of the monster's cranium as Marisa hammered its face into the concrete floor. This time the crunch of bone didn't bother her at all. An ecstasy of bloodlust swept through her and she screamed in rapturous triumph as she lifted the bat for another blow.

Four brutal swings later and the monster's skull lay in pieces. Its brains were splattered everywhere, covering both the nearby floor and Marisa herself. On the fifth swing, the end of the bat struck the concrete floor just past the ruined head and the weapon finally shattered.

Well, that sucked.

The girl held the broken handle up before her and gave it a disgusted glare before tossing it away and stalking back to the workbench. Oh well, that zombie was broken anyway...and she still had a conversation with a certain pig-tailed zombie-nugget to finish. Marisa hummed and scanned the line of tools on the bench in exasperation. Nope...nope... none of this would do. Then her eyes lit up at the sight of the large implement hanging on a wall hook at the end of the work area.

Perfect.

She snatched it off the wall, then returned to her previous spot in front of the trapped zombie and held up her new prize.

"I'm baa-aack!" She sing-songed brightly, her too wide grin almost glowing against her gore spattered face. "And looky! I brought my new friend! It's Mr. Pipewrench! Can you say hi to Mr. Pipewrench? Sure you can! Now wherrrrrre were we?"

Marisa looked up at the ceiling and tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"Oh yes!" she chirped cheerfully and held up her finger. "That's right! You bit my goddamned ear off!!"

At that point, Mr. Pipewrench resumed the conversation previously initiated by Mr. Bat. Being ten pounds of solid iron, he spoke slower but with great authority.

She got in at least fifteen full swings before Harley finally stepped in to stop her.

"Hey! Hey! Easy!" He caught her arm as she wound up for another big swing. "You got it! It's dead already! Holy shit, is it ever dead!"

Marisa heard him speak, heard what he said, but somehow the words and their meaning weren't connecting. Not that she really wanted them too. She still occupied that happy place where she was the one dealing out all the death and destruction for a change, and she wasn't quite ready to come home yet.

But Harley seemed determined to be a spoilsport and make her.

"Easy!" he soothed as she struggled to take another swing. "C'mon, Marisa, let it go. It's over...it's all over. They're dead. We're still alive. We made it. Eeeeaaassssyyy..."

Part of her didn't want it to be over. Part of her wanted to feel the crunch of bone under the impact of the pipe wrench a few more times. Okay, maybe a whole lot of more times. But the other part of her...the part that understood one cooks a cow before eating it...finally began to reassert control.

It really was over.

They had made it.

Her arm trembled, and then fell to her side. As it did, the pipe wrench became surprisingly heavy. It slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor with a dull clank.

And deep inside that gate swung shut and locked.

Marisa stared at the smashed mass that had somehow slipped from the vise and onto the floor. It was just a shapeless pile of rotten gobs and broken bones. Other than the tatters of cloth, nothing remained to suggest it had once been human...or even formerly human.

And she had done that.

The bloody young woman heard the rafters above rustle with feathers as the crows evaluated this new offering. It occurred to her the crows were having one hell of a great night. Their buffet just kept getting bigger and bigger. And now they even had Textro waitresses serving up their next meal. She briefly wondered if that was funny, or if the thought ought to make her sick. The former felt a little too much like hysteria, so she leaned towards the latter.

Marisa swayed, but then rallied even as Harley reached out to steady her.

No! I will not pass out! She railed at herself. I will not faint! I will not throw up! I will not cry! I will not lose control! Not until this is over...and not then either.

The list kept getting longer and longer.

"Marisa?"

"I'm okay!" she gasped. "I'm okay. I just had a bit of a moment there, but I'm okay now." She actually wondered if she would ever be okay again.

"A bit of a moment?"

Harley now held her with a hand on each shoulder and looked her searchingly in the eyes.

The concern on his face touched her. He actually cared. The man was actually worried about her.

But it was the feel of his hands on her shoulders that demanded her attention the most. She could feel the strength in them. Not just the mechanical power that came with hard muscle, but the controlled and tempered grip of a man who understood that real strength was as much a matter of heart as it was brawn. And that strength felt good. As a matter of fact, it felt damn good, and a rebellious part of her mind noted that all she had to do now was take one step forward and that grip would turn into an embrace.

She had an idea that would feel pretty damn good too.

And if you do that right now, her practical side noted, you will lose it. It will take precisely ten seconds for you to turn into a useless, blubbering mess.

Marisa suspected this was probably true. But at the same time she couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't about time for her practical side to shut the hell up. After all, enough was enough.

She was tired, filthy, wet, scared, hurting, bleeding, apparently half crazy, and now missing a chunk of her ear. By god, she had earned this.

But even as she stared back into Harley's worried eyes, and struggled over whether to take the step or not, the matter was decided for her.

A thunderous boom reverberated through the building.

Marisa jumped and Harley spun towards the door.

What the hell?

Another powerful boom sounded, and the door shook in its frame. Crows squawked and flapped overhead as the sound thundered through the building. Then another tremendous blow landed and this time a large dent appeared in the metal door.

A dent she recognized as the size of a certain massive fist. A second later another dent showed up beside the first. Is sounded like the very building shook around them. Marisa grasped the situation in horrifying clarity, and choked back a cry.

Harley had been wrong. It wasn't all over. It wasn't even close As a matter of fact, things were now worse.

"Ay Dios," she whispered. "It's Buddha Boy."

Maelstrom Buddha Boy.

Thoom!

The carnivorous giant that had once been Gary Norville drove its massive fist into the door again. It couldn't see the prey anymore, but that didn't matter. It knew they were there. Unlike its lesser brethren, Buddha Boy transcended the "out of sight, out of mind" level. As a matter of fact, it transcended the others in a number of ways.

It hardly rated as intelligent in most ways the term is understood. But in many ways that mattered, it did a good simulation. Rachel Sutherland's trick with the LED light would not have worked on this monster.

Its ravaged but relatively fresh neural system simply outclassed its comrades.

Death is not kind to the human brain, especially the delicate frontal lobes where most of the higher functions are housed. So anything like true reasoning still lay beyond this creature's abilities. But where the children of the graveyard dealt with the world on a "recognition" basis, this colossus "understood" things. Fundamental memories, stripped of all reason, identity, or self-association, gave the titan the benefit of many concepts without it ever truly using them. It simply grasped the basics of situations confronting it.

It understood it didn't have to wait for hunger to drive it in order to start wandering for food. It understood glass didn't make a wall. It understood that things didn't simply disappear when the lights went out. It certainly understood when something shut a door it wasn't just gone. And it understood if it knocked hard enough, that door would open.

And Buddha Boy could knock very, very hard.

Gary Norville had been no athlete, but the muscle mass necessary for carrying around his three hundred and fifty pound bulk was more than most people might think. And while this was not the honed or hardened muscle of a weight lifter, a great deal of it lay buried under the layers of fat and it now operated at a level it had never been close to before. While its skeletal companions ranged in strength from that of a normal person to the power of an extremely strong adult, Buddha Boy was another matter entirely.