....and now, back to PENGUIN$

***********************

The rage that had fueled the return of Anita's power slowly disintegrated
into fatigue that gripped her mind and body. She felt the thing that could
have been called her beast slide back into the dark part of her soul as
rationality returned. She began to realize that as destructive as her power
had been, she'd accomplished very little on the grand scale of things.
Pisces' miracle machine had remained in pristine condition, with not a
single scratch on its shiny metal skin. Her penguins were still trapped,
and, to make matters worse, she could no longer feel them in her mind.

Wobbling slightly, Anita's hands dropped to her sides and she staggered
towards the floor, her power utterly spent. Two pairs of hands caught her
and eased her to the floor.

The silence in the large room was deafening.

"I'm sorry," she murmured looking up at the concerned faces of Valeria and
Crowley. Darkness crept in from the corners of her vision.

"Shhhhh, easy now," Valeria whispered, her eyes scanning the room
restlessly. Suddenly there was movement all around them. The penguins had
only been momentarily demoralized. Now they were coming out of hiding and
picking up their weapons. Every pair of beady black eyes in the room was
locked on Anita. They were still very much afraid of her, but they could
sense her weakness. She had killed many of their own and any special status
she may have had in their eyes as a result of having once been Sigmund's
Human Companion was gone.

The echoing sound of footsteps made Valeria look up. Byron Pisces was making
his way steadily towards the stage, one hand smoothing back his disheveled
black hair. His silk shirt was in tatters and blood trickled from one
nostril.

He was otherwise annoyingly unharmed.

"Anita," he said in a soft, menacing tone. A troop of heavily armed Emperor
penguins gathered behind him, their weapons all pointed at the stage.

"Blake," Valeria said, anxiety tightening her voice. "You can't crash out on
us now. Try hard. Anything would be good."

Anita's eyelids flickered. She fell in and out of consciousness, her fatigue
drawing her involuntarily towards sleep. Her power was demanding a chance to
recharge.

"Blake!" Valeria shouted and started to shake her. She wanted to pick up the
tiny woman and run, but there was nowhere to run to.

"Anita," Pisces continued. "You've been very bad. That was totally
ineffectual, not to mention uncalled for, and you've killed quite a few of
my penguins. Worst of all, you've angered the Empress."

Anita wasn't listening. She'd fallen into unconsciousness. Sensing the
hopelessness of the situation, Valeria lowered herself to a cross-legged
position on the stage and watched the approaching madman. Crowley remained
kneeling beside Anita, but something had caught his attention. He looked
over at Valeria.

"Keep him talking," he murmured in her direction.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Blake isn't available at the moment," she shouted in Pisces'
direction. "If you want to leave a message I can transfer you to her voice
mail."

"I'm so glad you can find the humor in this situation, Ms. Orbus," Pisces
replied.

"Sure, why not?" Valeria shrugged. "Why let you have all the fun? The bad
guys always get the best lines."

Pisces sighed. "My motives are pure, Valeria. I don't fit the definition of
a villain."

Valeria snorted. "Step away from the dictionary, Byron."

Her eyes had finally settled on the thing that had caught Crowley's
attention. Unnoticed by the Penguins, whose attention was riveted to the
stage, several of the foo-ed human slaves were blinking and looking around
themselves. Others were stretching arms and legs as if suddenly remembering
that the appendages were their own. Something about Anita's burst of power
had broken the effects of the penguin mind control. As a penguin expert,
Valeria knew that it should have been impossible, but here it was happening
before her very eyes.

"Mr. Crowley!" Pisces shouted. "I see that you are the only one of our
guests not to have fled during Anita's little fit. It warms my heart to know
that you've recognized the genius of my work and its benefits to humanity."

"Nonsense, Pisces," Crowley replied calmly. "Being a genius myself, I would
have recognized any similar qualities in you. You sir, are a fraud and must
be eliminated. That is why I'm still here."

"You dare...!" Pisces sputtered and then simply stood and stared at him,
breathing heavily, rage building in his eyes. His mouth twisted horribly.
"Enough!" He spat. "I've had enough of this mindless banter!" He turned to
yell at the troops nearest him. "Attention all of you! Nothing has changed
here! We have emergency power. Not all of the communications equipment is
damaged. The Empress is waiting, we have an important task before us!"

He made an angry, slashing movement with his hand in the direction of the
stage. "I want armed guards placed around the stage. If anything moves, kill
it. Several times if possible." He turned back to the troops who still stood
immobilized by their anger and their fear of the unconscious woman on the
platform.

Out of the corner of her eye, Valeria could see that one of the human slaves
had bent down to pick up one of the weapons discarded by the penguins in
their mad dash for cover. Soon some of the others began to do the same. One
man seemed to have taken charge almost immediately. Using hand gestures he
motioned at the others nearest him to spread out and wait. The message was
carried to the remaining people quickly. Then, Valeria lost sight of the man
as the humans moved slowly and carefully behind the unsuspecting web-footed
troops. A moment later, the man reappeared directly behind Pisces,
displaying every characteristic of the human slave he'd been seemingly
moments ago.

Pisces continued to rant, jerking a finger in the direction of the man
nearby him. "...and will somebody get those idiot wastes of flesh we call
supporters to clean this damn place up before the Empress sees..."

"Sees what?" Said the man who now had a gun pointed at Pisces' head.

Whoops, Valeria thought, feeling a giddy rush of adrenaline. Now all eyes
were on Pisces and the man standing beside him. The balance of power had
shifted in the blink of an eye.

"C'mon," the man said. "I haven't got all damn day here. Finish what you
were saying."

Pisces' had frozen the moment the gun touched his left temple. He took a
deep breath. "This is impossible," he said. "You are under mind control. Who
ordered you to do this? You have no will."

"Funny thing," the man said, "that's what I'm here to talk to you about. I
have a complaint."

"Fascinating," Pisces said, understanding dawning in his eyes. "Our little
necromancer continues to surprise us. I hope you realize that if you shoot
me, my penguins will shoot you and the people on the stage, and the others
who have revived like yourself, if there are any."

"Let us walk out of here and nobody gets shot at all."

Pisces began to laugh. "This is precious. You don't have what it takes to
pull that trigger. You're probably a plumber or janitor or something
similarly degrading. Will somebody shoot this man, please? I haven't got
time for this."

Nobody, human or penguin, moved.

"DO IT!" Pisces shouted.

Then a lot of things happened at once.

The sound of a shot broke the silence. A shimmer of blue light appeared
around Pisces and the head of the man holding the gun exploded in a shower
of blood and brains.

A woman screamed in anguish as the man fell. The ex-human slaves roared as
one voice in anger and began firing blindly into the sea of penguins.

The split second distraction was enough for Valeria and Crowley to grab
Anita, jump off the back end of the stage and crawl beneath it, narrowly
avoiding the hailstorm of bullets that filled the air.

The low space under the stage provided momentary shelter from the battle,
but a small control room a short distance further back along the wall seemed
to be a better bet.  Valeria brightened considerably at the sight that met
her eyes. In the midst of this horror, something had finally gone right. The
bodies of several penguins, both emperors and grunts, lay strewn about
behind the stage, victims of Anita's fury. Their weapons lay nearby them.

"This is too good to be true," she yelled and reached for the gun closest to
her feet. To Valeria's surprise Crowley threw himself forward and
simultaneously kicked the gun out of her reach while shoving her backwards.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to pick things up with slime on them?" He
roared.

Valeria cringed, realizing how close she'd come to an excruciating death.

Crowley snatched a slime-free weapon from the ground and tossed it in her
direction, then picked up another two. Together they carried the unconscious
young woman into the small room, locking the heavy fire door behind them.
They then crouched on the floor, away from the large, thick paned picture
window.

"Bloody hell," Crowley yelled excitedly as he crouched beside Valeria. "A
force field! Can you believe that? That Pisces bastard was surrounded by a
force field! The bullet bounced right off it!"

Still shocked by the death of the man who had tried to save them all,
Valeria absorbed this information quietly as she checked the gun and
chambered a round. Crowley watched her carefully and then perfectly mimicked
her actions.

"We can worry about that later," Valeria said finally, giving herself a
moment to rest. "Right now our biggest concern is staying alive. I'm
surprised no one has come through that window yet. It sounds like those
people are giving the birds the fight of their lives. They're just a bunch
of civilians Crowley, but I watched them. They moved like they'd been
training together or something; like their minds were in sync. Just
amazing."

"One finds heroes in the most unlikely places," Crowley said. "How is our
young friend doing? We can't stay here forever."

As if on cue, a barrage of bullets lodged themselves in the thick safety
glass. Cracks spread across it, but the pane remained intact.

"Damn!" Valeria said, willing her heart to return to normal.

"It seems our time has run out," Crowley said.

"Have you always had this annoying habit of stating the obvious Crowley?"
Valeria snapped. She turned her attention to the unconscious preternatural
expert.

"Blake!" Valeria shouted, shaking her. "C'mon Anita. Wakey wakey!"

Anita was still out cold. Valeria decided she had one chance left. It was a
long shot.

"I have an idea," she yelled at Crowley.

Picking up the other weapon that they'd carried in with them, she put her
lips close to Anita's ear and yelled. "Anita! There's a gun fight on and
you're missing it! Guns, Blake! Big, hot, smoking weapons of destruction.
Bullets flying everywhere!" She held the AK-47 directly under Anita's nose
like a smelling salt.

"See? Gun!" She yelled.

Anita's eyes snapped open.

"Valeria!" She shouted, grabbing the gun and jumping to her feet. "There's a
gun fight on and I'm missing it!"

"Thatta girl!" Valeria shouted, as more bullets slammed into the window. All
three threw themselves to the floor.

Once the shooting had stopped, Valeria removed her hands from the top of her
head and said,"Good to have you back Blake."

"Good to be back, Orbus," Anita grinned weakly. "I guess I needed the rest."

"What we need is a plan," Valeria said. "We've got to get Mr. Crowley to
safety. He's not up to this kind of thing." The next round of bullets would
more than likely bring angry penguins into the room.

"Excuse moi?" Crowley said, looking hurt.

"Yep," Anita agreed, blinking rapidly and forcing the cobwebs in her mind to
clear. "But we don't have a lot of options here, so this is the way I see
it: I'll cover you and Crowley until..."

"Wait a minute,"  Valeria could literally hear the adrenaline pumping
through her own body. "What about you?"

"Once I know you two are as clear as you're going to get, I'm going for my
penguins. Something's keeping them in that case and I'm going to find out
what and kill it big time."

"Anita, we haven't got time for this," Valeria began.

"No!" The necromancer yelled. "Valeria, I can't leave them to die."

"Then we're going with you," Crowley said simply. "No arguments."

Valeria sighed and stared at the ground to gather her thoughts momentarily
before nodding her agreement with Crowley, her top lip curled in disgust.
"Doesn't make any sense to split up now. But don't ask me to like it! Mighty
penguin hunter my ass!" She muttered with a snort. "Three years spent saving
the planet from the web-footed menace and here I am risking my fanny to save
a bunch of purple waddling, flightless miscreants."

"But they're MY purple, waddling, flightless miscreants, Orbus," Anita said,
grinning and not offering any arguments. "That's what makes all the
difference. Crowley, I hope you can fire that thing because we're going in!"

"Somehow I don't think it'll be necessary with you around," Crowley shouted
back and then looked over at Valeria.

"You'll be okay?" He asked.

"I'll be better than that," Valeria replied, surprised at his concern. "I'm
a professional."

Anita placed a hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't ask to have a better person
riding shotgun with me. I trust you. You're a good person, Valeria."

"Great," Valeria grinned, "delegated to sidekick duty. I don't even have red
hair!" Then she remembered the words spoken in anger between them back at
the factory, and the true meaning of what Anita had just said became
brilliantly clear.

"Thank you," she said simply, realizing how hard it was for the necromancer
to allow herself to trust anyone.

In reply, Anita simply nodded.

At that moment three Emperor penguins appeared on the other side of the
window. They began to use the butts of their guns to push out the demolished
safety glass. Immediately, the three humans jumped to their feet, pulled up
their weapons and fired, sending the enemy stumbling backwards, riddled with
bullet holes. A storm of return fire blasted into the room through the
broken glass. The two young women took up positions under the window and
took turns firing. After a seemingly endless gun battle, there was silence.

Anita carefully duckwalked to the door and placed her hand on the knob.

"It looked clear to me the last time I stuck my head up," she said. "Once
this door is open I want you both to turn left and stay along the wall until
you find the closest available shelter. Don't stop until you reach it. I'll
be right behind you. If you see anything that moves, kill it and hope it
wasn't a human."

Valeria shook her head. "You're beginning to scare me Anita," she said,
meaning it.

Crowley remained silent, suddenly realizing that for possibly the first time
in his life, he was out of snappy comebacks.

*************************

Being a professional had nothing to do with the next few breathless moments
of Valeria's life. Once her brain had grasped the fact that she had not been
killed, it began to react differently with the adrenaline pumping through
her veins. With bullets flying past her, and her fear somehow dissolved, she
ran through the battle zone with an odd sense of reckless freedom, gripping
her gun tightly and feeling that anything was possible.

The sensation was addictive, and looking at the figure of the small
powerhouse of a woman running ahead of her, Valeria suddenly found herself
understanding Anita Blake in a way she hadn't thought possible. The
necromancer's connection to the power of death was fueled by her addiction
to life. She existed at the point where the two universal forces met, ebbing
and flowing like celestial tides.

Without warning Anita veered to the left and disappeared behind a forklift
loaded with crates.

"Why are we stopping?" Valeria panted when she caught up to her. "We're so
close!"

"Something doesn't feel right," Anita replied, wiping her forehead with the
sleeve of her sweater, perspriring despite the cold. "If my penguins are
Pisces' most valuable resource, why aren't they being guarded?"

"He probably hasn't got enough penguins to go around Blake," Valeria said.
"I had no idea how many human slaves there were. They're giving those birds
a hell of a fight!"

Anita shook her head. "Maybe for now, but they're still outnumbered. Pisces
isn't that stupid. He knows I'll be coming for my penguins. There's got to
be a connection between that and the fact that they couldn't escape when
they had the chance."

"Ladies," Crowley interrupted. He'd spent the last few minutes bent forward
with his hand over his heart, not looking at all well.

Valeria crossed over to where he stood and stooped to stare at the older man
with concern. "Sebastian? What's wrong? Is it your heart?"

"No. I'm fine. But I just thought I'd mention that there's a dead man
standing over there staring at us."

"A what?" Valeria's eye's followed the direction of his pointing finger. In
the shadows beside a huge spool of cable she could see  the figure of a man.
She looked back at Crowley. "And the reason you know he's dead is?" She
prompted, her tone hushed.

"That's Gerrard Horton. He was my biggest competitor."

"Sebastian you didn't..." Valeria began, looking shocked.

Crowley laughed gently. "My dear, you are beginning to know me far too well
for your own good. I may have to kill you or marry you, I haven't decided."

"Leave her alone you old fool, you're already married and your mistress
would have a fit," the corpse suddenly said and stepped out of the shadows.

Crowley jumped as if he'd been slapped. Aside from the fact that Horton had
moved and spoken, he showed all the classic signs of death from the greenish
gray color of his skin and the noticeable marbling of the veins in his neck,
to the obvious distention of his rapidly putrefying body. There were large
holes in his chest and stomach that ranged from multiple gunshot wounds to
severe lacerations through which muscle, bone and other internal organs
could be seen. His business suit hung in tatters around him.

"What are you staring at, Crowley? Never seen the walking dead before?"
Horton snapped, his voice was deeply distorted and bubbled with the liquid
that was accumulating in his lungs. "You should try it sometime, you
heartless bastard."

"I'm sure I will," Crowley replied, drawing himself up. "But I will
certainly not be idiotic enough to court it before it comes calling. I had
nothing to do with your death. What the hell do you want?"

"Me," Anita said, stepping forward into the line of sight of the corpse. "He
wants me to put him in the earth. I drew power from him and the others."

The zombie blinked and slitted his eyes as if staring into the sun. A look
of relieved happiness formed and then faded from his face.

"What are you?" He said, looking at her intensely. "I know it was you who
made me this way. When I look at you all I see is light. Not as bright as
before but...."

Valeria bit her lip and turned away, the horror of the situation sinking in.
Anita had tears glistening in her eyes and her arms reached out as if to
hold the corpse that stood hunched before her.

"This isn't right," Horton continued, his words coming faster and faster.
"I'm tired. I want to sleep. I don't know how you did this to me." A deep
sob escaped him. "It isn't natural. I feel empty inside. I don't like it. I
don't want to be dead, and I am. It's not fair. Nobody is supposed to know
what happens to their bodies afterwards. I don't want to go into the dirt."
The anguish in his voice unmistakable.

Anita opened her mouth to speak but before she could get a word out she was
interrupted by Christi Morgret who suddenly appeared from around the side of
the loader.

"Y'know folks," she said, "it's not that I don't appreciate the delicate
nature of this tragic little situation, but I'd like to remind y'all that we
could be joining the talking corpse over there in the near future if we
don't get off our collective asses and do something. Like NOW!"

"Dammit Christi! I almost shot you!" Valeria managed to cough out. She'd
been mesmerized by  Horton's words and found herself caught off guard by the
other woman's sudden appearance. "What the hell are you doing here? I
thought I told you to stay at the factory!"

"I couldn't get a date so I decided to come out and save your butt instead,"
Christi quipped. "What do you think?! Why didn't you call me? Did you and
Rambette here think you could take on the whole penguin army?"

"I lost the cell phone, okay? Who are you, my mother?" Valeria snapped back.
"I'll tell you something, Christi, it's hard to be a hero when people keep
trying to stop you from doing all the stupid things that you need to do to
be one!"

"Guilty as charged." Christi glared back. "Now shut up, we've got bigger
problems than your ego."

"What now?" Anita interrupted, deciding that this was as good a place as
ever to jump into the argument. "What do you know that we don't?"

"Well, for one, this," Christi said. Carefully she lowered the cotton sack
to the ground and opened it.

Crowley came forward to look over Valeria's shoulder. "Bloody hell," he
muttered and turned away.

"Christi, tell me this isn't what it looks like," Valeria breathed. "Where
did it come from? How much time is left?"

"Looks like we've got another twenty minutes on the clock," Christi replied
calmly.

"Why are you carrying it?" Anita asked, suspicion dawning in her eyes. "Did
Pisces send you to find us?"

Christi snorted. "Blake, is paranoia your middle name? No. I'm not one of
Pisces' minions. This little beauty is charmingly known as the Penguin
Pacifier, and it happens to belong to Winston Forrester, the goof."

"Forrester?" Anita blinked. "Edward's twin. I guess that really is his name.
Somehow I always thought it was an alias."

"It's not going to matter," Christi said. "Because even if we do survive
this I'm gonna kill his ass."

"Where is he?" Valeria said. "Maybe he knows how to shut it off."

"That's just it. He doesn't. You can ask him yourself. Follow me," Christi
said. She sighed and hoisted the bag back over her shoulder.

Anita turned back to the zombie. "Stay here where it's safe. We'll be back
soon," she ordered.

Horton stared at her with baleful eyes. "Why? It's not like I'm going to get
any more dead or anything."

Anita took a few steps forward and stared a little closer at her zombie.
"Are you disobeying me?" She asked.

"He always was a stubborn son of a bitch," Crowley said.

Valeria looked over at the entrepreneur. "Zombies can be like that,
especially if the power used to raise them was very strong. For the next
little while your buddy there is going to be just like he was when he was
alive. Then he'll begin to slide."

"I don't like it one little bit," Crowley replied. "Horton was entirely
correct. It is most definitely not right. Forget religion. It's simply
contrary to nature."

"Anita," Valeria said gently. "We may not have the chance to come back for
him. If you want to do right by him we'll have to take him along."

"I said twenty minutes not twenty hours people!" Christi said loudly. "Time
waits for no zombie!"

Anita didn't look happy, but she reached out, and after some hesitation the
zombie placed his lifeless hand in hers, looking down at their clasped
hands.

"Mother," the zombie whispered and looked up again.

"Shhhh. It's okay," Anita said softly. "Let's go."

Continued in  Issue 14  of PENGUIN$...

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