The flock of zombie birds coalesced again and began to lower onto Mr. Jones and Dan.
“You played with my pain, fucker,” Joey said. “That wasn’t nice.”
Dan scrambled to his knees and lunged at Michelle. He touched her bare arm, and there was a terrible wrenching inside her. The world tilted and went grey for a moment. Then the contact was broken, and Michelle staggered backwards. She was empty inside, as if someone had scooped out part of her. It was awful.
Dan made a whimpering noise and fell to his knees as bubbles filled his hands and rose into the zombie birds coming for him. But instead of exploding, the bubbles just kept floating upward as if made from soapy water.
Then Michelle’s power flowed back into her like a tidal wave. It filled her up and made her whole. Relief surged into her. She was Bubbles again.
Dan was still on the ground. It was clear to Michelle that his power-snatching ability was spent. So that just left Dorothy and her teleportation, and Mr. Jones and his Glock.
“Little girl,” Joey said, her voice cold, “Dorothy’s your name? I suggest you bounce back to the fuckers who sent you and you tell them that we’re off-limits. Or there will be more of this.”
And then, in an eyeblink, the zombie flock descended on Mr. Jones and Dan.
Dan just lay there, twitching and crying, as the birds blanketed him. Michelle had a momentary twinge of guilt at seeing him buried under the birds, but then she remembered how she felt when he lifted her power and a cold anger filled her.
Mr. Jones pulled his Glock and began firing, but his bullets were useless against the zombie flock. Then he lowered his gun and aimed at Joey, but it was too late.
The birds engulfed him, and he shrieked as they ripped his flesh. He dropped his gun and began yanking the birds away from his face, tearing them to pieces as he did. But there were too many. And still they rained down on him.
“I’m Hoodoo Mama, fuckers,” Joey said. Her tone was icy and imperious. “And this is my parish.”
Dorothy squeaked, then vanished.
It grew dark, and Michelle looked up again. The sky was filled now with thousands of dead birds blotting out the sun. Crows, pigeons, waterfowl, sparrows, and more that she didn’t recognize. She’d never seen Joey resurrect so many dead things at once before.
And when Michelle looked back at Joey, she was filled with awe. The scared and nervous girl Michelle had been trying to protect was gone. Joey’s eyes had turned solid black, and her face was filled with rage. It seemed as if she were growing larger and larger. As if she had become a force of nature.
No. She had become a force beyond nature.
A force stronger than death.
She had become Hoodoo Mama.
And God help anyone who messed with her.
In the next instant Mr. Jones vanished, enveloped by the zombie flock. He screamed and screamed and screamed. Blood pooled under the mass of birds.
“Oh Jesus!” he shrieked. “Help me! Jesus, help me!”
“Jesus can’t save you, fucker,” Joey said in a cold voice. “No one can.”
Then the mass of birds collapsed as Mr. Jones crumpled to the ground. Even then he kept kicking and screaming.
“Mommy,” he cried. “Mommy!” His voice rose up into a high-pitched keen.
Then he fell silent. For almost a minute, one of his feet would pop out of the mass of birds as he kicked and flailed.
But after a while, Mr. Jones stopped doing even that.
And Dan was already still and silent.
Joey turned then and looked at Michelle with a beatific smile on her face.
“I think you were right, Bubbles,” she said. “I think I am going to be okay.”
With that, Joey threw her arms wide open and spun around. Ten thousand zombie birds swirled around her and rose back up to the sky.