DISCLAIMER: Nikki & Nora are the property of Nancylee Myatt and Warner Bros. Television. No infringement intended.
CHALLENGE: Part of the 'Ground Zero' series and Vampires, Ghosts and Zombies challenge.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Ground Zero - New Orleans, 1.19am
By Elfcat255
A sweat soaked blonde head peered from around the corner of the crypt. Seeing the coast was clear, she wiped her brow and took a deep breath, raised her trusty 9mm Beretta in readiness and stepped out from her hiding place. The detective slowly moved down the path between rows of above ground crypts that made up the Lafayette Cemetery; a popular tourist attraction usually but now it was probably one of, if not the worst places to be in New Orleans right now.
With sweat trickling down her neck and on down underneath the tight tank top she wore, Nora Delaney cursed under her breath at her partner as she eased her way past crumbling crypts. Her nerves were on hair trigger for any sound of movement in the humidity laden darkness surrounding her.
"When I find her I'm going to kill her…if she's not dead yet. If she is I'll shoot her just because she made me come to this damn cemetery," muttered the detective.
Just then a scream rang out, followed by gunshots. Honing in on the location, the blonde took off at a sprint towards the clamor now being raised a few rows over from her position. Winding her way through the maze-like path, she jumped over a fallen statue and skidded to a halt before she ran into the mass of decaying groaning bodies now intent upon reaching the woman atop a nearby tomb.
Catching her breath, Nora watched as Nikki took aim with her sidearm and fired into the mass of flesh below her feet. "Take that, you ugly bastards!" the brunette yelled.
Raising her Beretta, the blonde detective began firing into the bodies from behind, dropping zombies like flies with bullets to the head. Nikki looked up at the sound of added gunfire and with a smile on her face continued shooting until all that lay between them was a quivering pile of bodies on the ground.
Raising her gun and making a blowing motion over the barrel, Nikki eyed her girlfriend and called out," What took you so long?"
With a tilt of her head the blonde gave her girlfriend an "are you crazy?" look and waved a hand towards the still twitching bodies. "Excuse me, but there seems to be a major problem plaguing the city at the moment. I was kind of busy," she commented a little sarcastically as she ejected the spent clip from her gun and then shoved in a full one.
"Oh, I figured you could handle a few dead guys trying to grab you," the brunette said as she climbed down from her lofty position. Coming to stand before Nora, she added with a little grin, "After all, you do a damn fine job dissuading the live ones."
Nora took the brunette by the elbow trying to pull her away from the rotting corpses. "Would you come on? I can think of several different places I'd rather be than here at the moment," the blonde remarked.
Nikki pulled back from her girlfriend's grasp. "We can't leave yet. Darius was supposed to meet me here with some information," she told Nora.
"Sweetheart, I don't think he's coming. In case you hadn't noticed, the majority of the undead are male," Nora informed the brunette.
"Well now that you mention it, I think you're right. Although, I thought I caught a glimpse of my great-aunt Minerva coming out of her crypt when I was coming in earlier," Nikki mused.
"Okay, new zombies are just male then…let's go," Nora quipped and tugged on her girlfriend's arm again.
Just then a grating noise was heard from behind them. The two women whirled around, weapons raised as the door to a crypt slid open revealing nothing but darkness. In the faint light of the full moon a figure slowly came into view. Nora raised her weapon, taking aim but Nikki pushed her arm down. "Wait," the brunette told her.
"Why? You want me to wait until its right on us before I shoot?" Nora grumbled.
"No, that's why," Nikki replied with a nod of her head.
The figure stepped from the tomb and with a groan stumbled over to the two women. "Whoa, remind me not to drink my Aunt Lulu's home brew again," Darius said in a weak voice.
Nora eyed the young black man intently. "Why aren't you dead?" she asked and Nikki punched her in the arm.
"Ow," the blonde whined as she rubbed the spot but before she could say anything else, Nikki spoke, "She meant to say it's nice to see a friendly face…a live face, that is."
Darius rubbed his head and sat on the steps of the crypt he'd emerged from. Looking up, he spied the mass of bodies behind the two women and let out a low whistle. "Don't tell me she did it again," he groaned.
"Who did what?" Nora asked.
"My cousin," he grumbled, "Aunt Lulu is training her to be a voodoo priestess and I do believe she's been playing solo again."
"Your cousin did all of this? Caused the undead to rise?" Nikki stuttered out.
"Oh, yeah, why do you think all the men in my family wear these?" he remarked pulling a pouch tied on a string from its place under his shirt. "Major good juju in these little bags."
"Well, how long is this supposed to last?' Nora asked as she glanced around them nervously; she could have sworn she just heard a groan.
"Couple of days at the max," Darius told them.
"Great, just great," muttered Nora. "You do realize how many cemeteries are in this town don't you? We'll be hip deep in zombies until this wears off."
"Now, Nora don't worry. We have plenty of ammunition at home and supplies; it'll be like camping," Nikki said as she rocked back on her heels and smiled at her girlfriend.
"Camping with hordes of zombies roaming the streets under our windows," the blonde grumbled and whirled around. There was that noise again. "Listen, can we go someplace else to discuss this? I think we're fixing to have company, " she informed the others.
"You two head on back to your place and I'm going to pay a visit to my Aunt. She might be working on something to fix this," Darius told them.
Nikki grabbed Nora's hand and began pulling her towards the direction of the cemetery's exit. "Call us if you need anything, Darius."
With a wave the young man disappeared into the darkness leaving the two women to make their way towards the exit and Nora's car. "What's your big hurry now?" the blonde asked as Nikki dragged her down a path.
"I want to get home and take advantage of us not having to work for a couple of days," Nikki said over her shoulder.
"But what about the zombies and the city…we're cops, we have to do something," Nora returned.
Stopping suddenly, Nikki spun around and pulled Nora close to her. She grasped a handful of blonde hair in her free hand and planted a hard kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "Well?" she asked after breaking the kiss.
"Screw the city, let the zombies party in the Quarter for all I care," Nora said a little breathlessly and taking the lead, pulled Nikki towards the exit.
The End