“You mean besides being a zombie?” he said, shooting me an amused glance over his shoulder.
“Well, yeah,” I said, grinning. “That zombie shit’s old hat now.”
We reached the top of the stairs, and I allowed Marcus to lead me behind the scoreboard and then up a narrow ladder to a hidden alcove above the walkway. He let go of my hand and spread out the thick blanket. I looked out over the empty stadium from our lofty vantage. State of the art, no doubt about that. From the swanky all-glass press box to the perfect grass on the field with Tucker Point emblazoned in the end zones it screamed, We obsess way too hard over high school football, and don’t you forget it!
“Okay,” I said. “This is kinda cool.”
His gaze went out to the view “Not so creepy up here.”
I sat down on the blanket. “Well, you are a zombie, so automatically creepy.”
“Wait,” he protested. “A few seconds ago the zombie aspect was old hat.” He stripped off his damp shirt and dropped it to the concrete. “I think you just say stuff that’s convenient in the moment.”>“Sure did. High School Zombie Apocalypse!! Two exclamation points. Bunch of our guys are working security details there.”
I chuckled at the “two exclamation points” business. If it ever came out in 3-D would it get a third? “Yeah, I got called out for a death on the set this morning, and then almost got my own body bag when some idjit who wasn’t paying attention to the whole ‘road closed’ thing tried to run me over.”
“Wait, what?” he asked, alarm in his voice. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, but only because Philip tackled me out of the way.”
“Who?”
“Philip. My zombie-baby. Remember?” I’d filled him in on everything that had happened to me in that goddamn lab, but months down the road there was no reason for him to remember the guy’s name.
I heard his intake of breath. “Shit. But…wait. I don’t understand. Was he attacking you?”
“No!” I said. “I mean, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t. It sure as hell seemed like he was trying to keep me from being plowed by that car. And then he jumped up and ran the hell off.”
“That is seriously weird.”
“No kidding!”
“How are you doing? Hungry? You have anything with you?” I knew he meant brains, not burgers.
“I just sucked down a smoothie to fix up my shoulder, so I’m okay for now.”
“I’ll bring more for you when I pick you up this afternoon.” We had a casual date set for when I got off work today, though he had yet to tell me what he had planned. “Can’t have you falling to pieces on me, now can I?”
“That would suck,” I said with a laugh.
“Yeah, I kinda like your bits right where they are, y’know?”
I grinned. “You like my bits?”
“Pretty much, yep.”
“Cool,” I said. “Bring me something to eat and maybe later I’ll let you touch my bits.”
“Now there’s an incentive not to be late,” he said.
“You’d better not be!” I said with a laugh. “My bits and I will see you at four.” I hung up without giving him a chance to reply. It served him right for not telling me where he was taking me this afternoon.
The rain began in earnest as I pulled up to the rear entrance of the Coroner’s Office building, but I managed to get myself and the body inside without getting too wet, thanks to the recently installed new awning.
No one else decided to die for the rest of my shift, which was damn nice since I really didn’t want to pick up a body in the rain. When Jerry came in at five minutes ’til four to relieve me on bodysnatcher duty, I gladly turned the van keys over to him, grabbed my stuff, and headed outside to wait for Marcus.
Rain drummed on the awning in a heavy staccato, and barely a minute later Marcus pulled up in his bright blue Ford F-150 pickup.
I gave him a broad smile as I climbed in. “Right on time.”