The dark was their playground. It was where they scurried about their work, taking and slaying without being seen. And in a city still recovering from disaster as New Orleans was, dark streets were plentiful.

The woman’s pale white skin almost gave off its own light. This was bad for her, as the pursuers had little trouble keeping her in sight. Unaware of her surroundings, she ran into a blind alley, finding a rusted fence in front of her and loud footfalls behind.

“Heh, nowhere left to run, babycakes.” Accompanying the voice was the sound of a switchblade leaving its case.

Against one wall of the alley, something snored from beneath old newspapers but otherwise did nothing. It was not looked to as possible salvation or as a threat. Five men advanced on the lone, shining woman. They moved slowly, confident as the woman was fearfully looking for a way out.

“No, no please,” she begged.

“That’s right,” laughed one of the men as he spun a chain. “Ain’t nothing you can do.”

The woman’s quivering lips then curled back, revealing small fangs her attackers weren’t yet close enough to see. “So, this is it. You men are just going to do whatever you want, aren’t you?”

“Ha!”

“You got that right!”

Hands clenched into fists, but the show of fight only spurred the men on. Until one of them saw the fangs. “That makes me so angry.”

High-pitched screams woke the homeless woman from her slumber. Fearful, she peeked out from under the newspaper. Bloated corpses floating in water did not compare to the blood being spilled before her eyes. Especially when those bodies lying on the ground were still moving, and the architect of their fate was standing right over her.

The pale-skinned woman turned her eyes – those eyes! – down over the newspaper as though she saw right through it. “I can smell you. You’re so afraid.”

She advanced on the lying woman, who saw the bodies on the pavement – the bodies that were so clearly dead – starting to get up.

“God, I hate cowards.”

Hours later, the homeless woman was on a slab in the morgue. Her appearance had changed considerably; horribly mangled flesh with chunks blasted out of it. Standing over the body with the medical examiner was a black woman dressed in a white bodysuit with a black starburst over her chest.

“This is the situation, Photon,” said the medical examiner. “Unidentified white female, upper middle-age. I’m told she stumbled into a crack house and started biting people, which explains the gunshot wounds and what I found in her mouth. The odd thing is the gunshots were inflicted post-mortem, and she didn’t stop moving until half her skull was blown off.”

Photon’s head, almost twice its size due to the afro, nodded. “I can see why the mayor called me. Her victims?”

“All accounted for. I have two,” the medical examiner indicated sheet-covered bodies, “after the police dealt head shots. The rest are still under observation. No symptoms yet, or they would be here.”

“Have you determined the initial time of death and the cause?” Photon asked, as she leaved over the body to visually examine her.

“She technically died late the night before. Determining cause is not so easy.” The medical examiner gestured at the remains. “Not only because of the extensive post-mortem damage, but also the woman had lived a hard life. I found a crack in what remains of the skull that’s at least a week old, numerous scratches and scabs that carried infection, and a partial bite mark that could be human or rat.”

“The last thing New Orleans needs is zombie rats,” Photon said as she straightened. “Thank you for your time. I wish I could say I look forward to the full report.”

“But by the time I’m done we could be looking at a full-blown infestation.” The medical examiner’s words were wasted. The hero of New Orleans had already gone.

Through the air streaked Photon, a ray of light in human form. She knew that faster than light could travel disease, and zombies qualified as that. Carried through saliva and blood, an outbreak spread fast unless the source was identified, isolated and sterilized. A vital component of that was finding the site of infection, and Photon had an idea on that. Photon had spied the faint outline of a bugle on the back of the woman’s remaining hand, and caught a faint scent of alligator.

The Daily Bugle wasn’t a popular newspaper in New Orleans. As a consequence it wasn’t carried at many places, and Photon could only think of one that was near a restaurant with alligator on the menu. It was on Bourbon Street that Photon landed, and she walked the alleys looking for signs of violence. There were many, but only one large blood trail that was actually multiple blood trails, in a dead-end alley.

Eyes that emitted black light gazed down at the blood and followed the trail. Photon continued to view the blood when it faded from human sight. The trail stopped shortly into the street, at a door for underground loading. Laser from a pointing finger blasted the door open, and Photon ventured into the darkness.

A voice reached Photon’s ears, speaking words she could not make out. She moved further into the storage basement, the shadows retreating from what gave the Golden Avenger her nickname. But even when Photon could the face that belonged to the voice, the words remained beyond her understanding. Not exactly foreign, Photon suspected an obsolete Creole dialect, and with another step forward immediately recognized the woman chanting.

“Nekra!”

The albino black woman did not look up. She simply raised a finger and smiled as she recited two final words to the corpses arrayed on slabs around her. “Now arise!”

Immediately the corpses came to life, sitting up and swiveling their heads in Photon’s direction.

Immediately, the Golden Avenger’s body shifted from golden light to blue electric. “You’re a fool if you think these zombies are a match for me!”

But surprising, the undead weren’t moving toward Photon. After lowering themselves from the slabs, the men Nekra had killed the night before shambled off in the other direction. It was Nekra herself who leapt at Photon, her mouth wide open to reveal gleaming fangs.

“No. They’re off to infest all New Orleans while I deal with you myself!”

Not made of light but merely sheathed in it, Photon felt Nekra’s backhand and was thrown across the room. Contact with electricity affected Nekra however, and she stepped back with a hiss. Quickly was Photon back on her feet, blasting at Nekra with a force beam from her palm. But Nekra had recovered just as rapidly, and the blast barely fazed her as she advanced on Photon.

“If that’s the best you have this won’t last long!” A slab was between Nekra and Photon. A stark white fist smashed that in half. “With you dead, my zombie epidemic will run unchecked!”

Photon got out of Nekra’s way just in time, flying up near the ceiling. “That will never happen,” Photon said as she peppered Nekra with pulse bursts. “One way or another, the authorities will contain you. If need be, the Avengers will stop all of this!”

“But at what cost?” Leaping through the bursts, Nekra tackled Photon in mid-air and slammed her to the ground. Her pale hands on the hero’s throat, Nekra laughed. “This city will burn as a result, a blight that will never be settled again! Another city dead, at the hands of those pledged to serve!”

Gripping Nekra’s wrists, Photon couldn’t suppress a smile. “You just love the thought of it, don’t you?”

“It brings joy to my…heart,” said Nekra, realizing then what Photon had done. “No!”

“Too late!” Photon threw the weakened Nekra off of her. “When your hate faded, so did your power. And that means…” Photon flew upward, her body no longer sheathed in light but composed of it. She passed through the ceiling and ground, and emerged out of a street littered with five bodies. “Your zombie attack is over before it ever began!”

“Rrraarrghh!” Nekra also emerged, physically bursting through the pavement. Enraged at being tricked her strength was greater than ever. But it was no defense against the sunlight that now hit her delicate pale skin. “Aaagh!”

“It’s over Nekra!” Photon shifted her body to pure ultra-violet light and hit the woman with a wide beam. Soon there was the smell of flesh cooking, and steam rose off Nekra and she turned and ran. “There’s no escaping me, so give up!”

“I’d rather die again!”

Along with her strength, Nekra’s hate fed her speed. She endured the pain as she ran, and was soon in sight of water. Though Photon easily kept pace, her body of light couldn’t physically stop Nekra from leaping into the ocean. Stopping short of the water, Photon hovered over the surface and scanned with her eyes, but could see no sign of the villain.

“Damn her. Now I’ll have to keep an eye out for zombie fish!”

---

END