The Rising Dead by Stella Green Page B

just lovely. She still sends me Christmas cards. There was some sort of mistake and we got a college student this year. I told Nadia she has to leave in two weeks when the semester ends. Perhaps you’d like to stay for a while longer? I have an extra room now.” She looked sadly down the hall toward the bedrooms. “I’m sure my son wouldn’t mind.”
    Clearly, she sensed the danger. After all he had seen, Matt knew she had good reason to be afraid, so he found himself agreeing to spend the night. The bed was comfortable, but Matt didn’t sleep well with the trio nearby. During the night the mother snuck into the spare room and settled into a chair near him. He pretended to be asleep. She began to snore within minutes, as if she hadn’t slept well for quite some time.
    At breakfast the next day, Dmitri sat down with Matt and put his scabby bare feet up on the kitchen table. Then he grinned, showing his rotting teeth and black tongue. The man’s breath was rancid, like rotted meat. On Matt’s other side, Nadia and Chloe went through cigarettes and drank coffee. Matt held his breath and put down his fork. He loved scrambled eggs and hash browns, but these were ruined for him. Chloe began demanding the mother’s car keys so they could go to class. The mother scurried out of the kitchen as she refused, saying her daughter had a suspended license and had already wrecked her brother’s car. Chloe hurled a mug of coffee toward her. Fortunately, the mother had cleared the corner a second before and it just smashed against the wall.
    The cold sore on Nadia’s face was growing. “Dmitri does not ride bus.”
    A shiny green worm dangling off Dmitri’s lower lip squirmed helplessly until it fell onto the kitchen table. While it started wiggling across the surface, Chloe begancalling her mother names. Matt didn’t know whether the mother loved her car or whether she was trying to protect her daughter from arrest, but he was convinced she wasn’t being smart. When Dmitri’s fingers inched towards a knife, Matt stood and offered to drive the mother’s car. It seemed a good way to get the bastards out of the house.
    The mother’s old Ford was boxy and noisy, but the V-8 engine had plenty of strength left. With all the windows down to air out the car, Matt was enjoying the drive until he felt the cold metal of a gun barrel on his face. Dmitri pushed the pistol against Matt’s cheek so hard his teeth hurt.
    “Let me guess: we’re not going to school.”
    “She take student’s place.” Dmitri nodded towards Nadia. “Student visa and a free place to stay. Is good. Five thousand euros.” He held up his hand to show five fingers just in case Matt didn’t understand what a good bargain he’d made.
    “Is not good. House is ugly. Food is terrible. Like making to live in Minsk. Why you waste time? Shoot him.” Nadia was almost growling.
    “While he drives?”
    They squabbled in Russian, pausing only to give Matt directions. As they fought, Dmitri pressed the gun harder and harder. His finger was on the trigger. Matt hoped he wouldn’t get any more excited.
    “I hate it when you guys talk Russian! Let’s just get the money so we can go to the mall. We can kill him later.”
    In the rearview mirror, Matt saw Chloe roll the one eye that still moved.
    Ten minutes later, Matt was standing in a dingy alley next to a Dumpster while Dmitri and Nadia wrapped his wrists and ankles with duct tape.
    “Shoot him. Is easier.” Nadia’s cold sore now covered the lower half of her face, and one cheek was so decayed that her yellow teeth were exposed.
    Anther Russian argument broke out. Matt had a feeling he was alive only because Dmitri wanted to prove that Nadia couldn’t boss him around.
    Before Nadia covered his eyes with duct tape, Matt glimpsed gloves and black ski masks in the backpack. It looked like a bank was about to be robbed. Dmitri’s face had transformed into a Halloween mask of decay. Chloe’s gray, cracked skin