...Much as it really, truly did irritate Jack to do this, he couldn't just leave that sight out there in the backlog of his mind. Not after the murder by that hobo-zombie just last night, and the fight he got into in the tunnel. And as much as this felt really damn good, he was gonna have to cook up an excuse to cut the sexy fun times short. Jack groaned, the blueballs would be bad, but chances were, not as bad as getting gnawed on. "Hey...hey babe..." He said mid-thrust, "I uhh...I think I hear my phone buzzing. Might be work!"
"Aww, Jack, don't quit out on me now! You're going so...strong!" It was obvious that whatever was going on with his lovemaking, Vicki very much appreciated it. She sighed and gestured for him to get it over with. As Jack slid out and got up, nude, and pulled on his pants to go out into the other room, he noticed what might've been different. It seemed there was a slight...difference in the scepter and two orbs. Shape was kind of different, and balls seemed to hang differently.
Ohh boy, this will be an interesting shift to explain, Jack thought to himself, and then kept walking. He wasn't going out into the living room to think about these things after all. He was going to make sure the perimeter was safe. And even as he moved toward the door, he could tell something was definitely suspicious: the backyard door was open. He knew Vicki well enough to know this was a door that was always closed when she wasn't in the yard.
And there was a suspicious scent in the air. Jack sniffed the air, trying to figure out what it was. It definitely smelled sickening, and put to rout any more thoughts of the intimacy of moments before. There was no doubting it, this was the foul stench of the undead! And...something else. Jack sniffed the air, there was a familiar smell mixed in among the rotten stench of decay. He couldn't really place it, it was new to him as of recently but also so very familiar...
Raising his hands as he readied himself for confrontation, Jack stepped out into the backyard.
It was amazing what the afternoon sun's orange glow did for this place. The six trees in the back cast eerie shadows, the flowers bobbed in the air, the small fence at the flowerbeds casting long black shadows. Forming something like the bars of a cage on the ground. It for some reason made Jack feel an instinctual sense of dislike. There were a pile of stones in one area near the path leading to the front of the property stacked up on top of each other for some design. Again he was sure in the best daylight this would be a charming garden. But something was definitely awry.
He followed the smell as he looked along the path of the backyard, toward a gate leading out toward the front of the property - and there he saw the figure, the masked figure from the car no less! How far would this fucker go in trying to pursue him!? Jack's eyes scanned him over as he saw the guy apparently struggling to pull himself over the gate. Seemed he was somewhat more heavy set at the middle. Jack would've taken off running at him if it was not for his entourage.
A pair of the same sort of heavily clothed, emaciated and putrid undead. Standing to either side of him even as he tried to move over the gate. He made it and Jack engaged his undead allies. They came in gamboling at Jack, and he found himself evaluating the fight in real time, even though he was usually not the fighting type. But it seemed the werewolf transformation suffused him with some fighting capability and instinct.
Dodging the swipe of a gnarled hand and letting it scrape against the wall of the house, Jack uprooted one of the flowerbed fence pieces...and rolled on his back out of the way of a pounce from the other zombie. Grimacing, Jack acted quickly and shoved the decently sharp piece of wood right through the rotting brains of the undead as it tried to recover its stance.
He found it seemed to give easily, and the zombie collapsed upon the floor, fluid pouring from its head. It seemed the piece of wood had struck home in some motor capacity cortex in its brain, halting whatever allowed it to move. The explanation for why head trauma usually felled zombies in the movies? Possibly! Jack dodged another few strikes from the remaining undead, which did not seem to be all that affected by the demise of its fellow.
By now he heard a scream from indoors - evidently Vicki went ahead to investigate when she saw Jack was not indoors, and the window blinds being open let her see some of the events transpiring. He could somehow hear a phone starting to ring. Jack moved backward, dodged and kept himself on his feet as best he could as the undead pressed its attack. Monstrous strength in its limbs that belied its meager countenance.
Jack stumbled over some of the garden, and the undead started to fall upon him, attempting to gnash its teeth on him and only being held back by one of Jack's hands at its chin and throat. He did not want to know what being bitten by this thing would do. Never mind the undead propensity for spreading via bite, those teeth looked downright disgusting. Jack gripped around for something nearby as he wrestled with the undead monstrosity.
He looked to the side and saw the stones arranged up, and gripped the heaviest looking one with his free hand. Lifting it was astonishingly easy - and bludgeoning the zombie until its head was caved in and smashed to a bloody pulp was even easier. Jack breathed as the creature started spasming and stopped trying to get at him, its movements becoming slower and slower. He could hear the gasps from inside. He knew that Vicki likely witnessed all that desperate action toward the end.
As it stopped moving, Jack considered what he learned and what he suspected thus far: it seemed whatever these things were, their master was usually not far behind when they showed up. Could this indicate he needed to have some amount of distance in order to control his undead minions? This was just a suspicion, but it seemed backed by how this guy always showed up shortly behind his minions. Maybe he just wanted to pick them up and drop them off, but it was an incredible coincidence.
Then there were the methods he learned for dispatching the undead: The method of head trauma seemed the most effective. Grotesque, but definitely effective. Jack breathed and looked around. Ah, he had also learned his newly enhanced sense of smell could detect these creatures before he could see them. Which would be useful going forward. He could rely on his nose to tell when he was in danger from them. Maybe if he learned to use it he could...
"...This curse has some admitted hinge benefits..." Jack also found himself admitting he was impressed by how much more fight he put up since the change happened. He looked up at the afternoon sun, and then headed toward the front of the property first. He needed to make sure if anything else was on its way in. Breathing, he moved and opened the gate.
As he did he found himself curiously looking out at the front of the property in time to see a parked police vehicle, front facing the property, and...Detective Battle got out of the car. He approached Jack and said, "I got the phone call from your girlfriend about there being an attack on the property, raced over here as fast as I could."
Jack led the way over to the zombies, and the Detective immediately gasped and took in the sight. The brutal way these walking corpses had been dealt with, and the condition the bodies were in. It definitely seemed whatever foul spell or incantation or potion brought these dead men back to life did not do anything for their condition. An inspection saw Jack and Eric subjected to the sight of bloated, disgusting flesh and blotched ruptured blood vessels visible in the tissue.
"Jesus Christ..." Battle muttered and then said, "I dunno what did this number to these poor folks, but my guess right now is PCP."
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, Jack thought to himself as he looked around. He ran off to check the perimeter and the other direction toward the front, making sure there were no more of these creatures loitering around. As he got back, Battle had already gotten in contact with the precinct and called it in to get the bodies cleared out. The self defense angle of Jack on these creatures was pretty clear, so he guessed Battle didn't bother trying to bring him in on that.
"So, Mr. Romulus," Eric Battle started as he looked out toward his car, "Make sure and give me a call if anything like this happens again. This town is getting freakier and freakier these days."
"Yeah...so much freaky shit going on..." Jack murmured and looked back at the house. "If you'd excuse me, I have a girlfriend to comfort." At a gesture from the cop, Jack headed back indoors. He was immediately met by Vicki wrapping him in a hug, and sobbing into his chest. He guessed this was more action than she thought she would ever see so close to home. He honestly suspected by now whoever was responsible for this was targeting him specifically, so he felt guilty for inciting this kind of potential trauma.
"Ohh Jack, I-I was so scared!" Vicki breathed and wiped her face, "I thought that horrible man out there was going to kill you!" She hugged him tight, and Jack smiled a little. As crazy and horrifying as his days had been lately, he did admit he was very grateful for the supportive and loving presence of his girlfriend. She was a rock for him - when the worst horror was the mistreatment he suffered at the hands of his "loving" step-parents and modeling coach, and now when the horror became far more visceral and disturbing in such a way.
"Well, I fought him off pretty well, didn't I? I'm sorry if I scared you with that---" He remembered how violently he dispatched the zombie.
"You were fighting for your life and against someone bent on harming you." Vicki said with a sigh, "I don't like violence in real life, I don't like it at all. But if you have to fight back, and fight back hard when someone's trying to kill you, it's all good. You did what you needed to in order to survive."
Jack caressed her head and thought about all that happened lately. He needed to tell his girlfriend about the incident, about the book he discovered that had seemed to awaken this drastic and dark werewolf curse within him, and all he'd seen and learned. But how could he do that without making HIMSELF look like a big, dark and terrible threat on her life? Jack sighed and looked out front, "Be right back."
Jack moved to the front of the property and went to check the front door. Sure enough there were some police cars arriving, the guy who Jack suspected was the ranking police captain in the unit seemed to be chewing out Battle for something. Jack opened the door and focused. With as much chatter going on as there was, even his werewolf hearing couldn't pick up on everything. He sighed and closed the door in time to see stretchers taking the bodies in. The zombies...
Jack hoped whatever they were, they were well and truly fully dead this time.
He headed back toward his girlfriend and chuckled, "So, wanna go back to watching a movie?"
"Maybe one with a bit less horror this time around. I think I got my fill just moments ago." Jack could only nod in agreement, but knew there was something he was going to have to break to her, sooner rather than later. With the night encroaching sooner and sooner, and a full moon at that, he knew he had limited time to try and convince her of the veracity of his account. Jack grit his teeth as he followed her into the movie room again.
Before long she was trying to kiss at his lips, to urge him into amorous activity again. He wryly grinned a little. He knew it was likely more comfort than just frivolous, relaxation sex. She wanted to forget what she saw out there, and she wanted Jack to help her do that. He looked at her and murmured, "Love, I have...something I want---no, I need to tell you..."