Zia… Parking Area of Her Former Apartment Complex

---

The hometown Sadé’s voice filled the atmosphere. “Is everyone enjoying themselves?”

Tashia’s voice continued to reverberate through the air as the trailing off of the bullhorn she used added a little oomph.

Hoops and hollers resounded. Zia and their group turned from their huddle to see Tashia spoke at a position close to the smoked meats.

“I see a lot of tight waistbands around. Make sure you don’t poke an eye out,” she smiled as the joke landed with laughter. “As you can see there’s plenty of food for seconds and thirds. I’ve also been instructed to let those of you who asked know that yes, there are to-go take away containers to take food with you as well. Please see Ms. Diane over there. Miss Diane, wave your hand so the folks can find you.” Tashia pointed to one of the older residents who sat next to a card table filled with stacks of disposable containers.

“This is probably the only time you won’t get the side eye for stepping out with a plate. Just please, y’all wait until everyone has had a chance to eat before you load up.”

Tashia’s mother-wit captivated the audience with its authority and humor. It was clear she was well known and likable. The buttery smoothness that was her voice continued to slather itself on the crowd.

“Let me go on and break it down for those of you who don’t catch drifts or meanings all that well. I’m talking to that section right over there. Yeah, I see you trying to corner the chicken and shrimp stations. Sit it back on down. This is…,” she paused to get everyone’s attention. The woman knew how to hold a room like she was a professional stand up comic or something. “A community gathering and cookout, not your chance to audition for Supermarket Sweep. Behave.”

Zia let out a chuckle. Tashia knew their people well. The ones who had started making their way over to the food did an about-face. They tried to play it off, but everyone knew they had been about to make a run on the seafood. It was certain that if Tashia hadn’t been standing next to the ribs, they would have gone over there too.

The woman’s voice receded into the background as Quinn’s voice filled her ears.

“Y’all see how my man showed out, don’t you?” Quinn asked through the comms. “He thought of everything. Baby, you did your thing on this one.”

“This is Wren, and I want to second that to say—didn’t he do it?”

Zia caught her laugh at how Wren mimicked the amen corner of so many urban churches she’d attended through the years of being in Atlanta. Laughter filled the comms until Lucien came through with his distinct voice.

“Thank you, my Quinn and everyone, but let’s stay alert. These people deserve a good time for all the trauma they’ve had to endure at the hands of the Egolars and our recent antics.”

“True,” Zia couldn’t help but speak up. “But, you went way beyond a thank you. I’m floored at the generosity. It doesn’t hurt that I’m getting all the credit too. Thank you, Lucien. This community hasn’t had such a wonderful time in all the years I’ve lived here.”

Her words of thanks didn’t begin to express her gratitude. Lucien had outdone himself. She hadn’t realized until today that he’d sprung for choice meats, sides, decorations, and prizes. This was a major party event.

She took in another inhale of the delicious aroma of the southern food favorites.

What he’d said would be a cookout with barbecue and a fish fry had turned out to be an all-you-can-eat throw down. The event was catered by one of the area’s favorite barbecue joints.

Huge barrel drum smokers were full of ribs, brisket, steak, and chicken. The accompanying grills pulled their share of the load with a steady stream of visitors for burgers and hotdogs that were a favorite with the little ones.

In addition to fried fish, there were heaps of golden mounds of fried chicken, shrimp, and oysters. It that hadn’t been enough, there was a group of people from another local Creole eatery Zia used to frequent.

This was peak crawfish season, and the line of people moved fast as they were loaded up with containers of boiled crawfish.

To everyone’s delight, the cooks tended large vats full of their fabulous low country boil. Zia enjoyed seeing the smiles of her former neighbors as huge scoops of jumbo shrimp and crawfish with the requisite corn, potatoes, and sausage were heaped into the equivalent of mixing bowls and given out.

The amount of food on display was staggering.

The sides had been too numerous to count. With Wren’s added desserts, there were enough cakes, pies, and cookies to have sugar rushes for months. The snow cone station, chests full of sodas and water and an Ice Cream truck that doled out frozen treats put the shindig over the top.

Zia almost laughed when an adorable little girl of no more than three with a huge piece of cake in her hand ran from a teenager. The teen was quick and caught the little one before she could make it close enough for Zia to scoop up. Their group stood by the entrance of the lot close to the main street. As the gathering had grown, so had the area it took up.

The event spilled out onto the private street that led to the parking lot. There was so much pedestrian traffic to navigate that Zia doubted they would be able to get back to their ride fast when it was time for them to make their exit.

“Now, it’s time to show some appreciation and love. Please, everyone,” Tashia’s sultry voice continued to flow into the bullhorn, “help me give our former neighbor and sponsor of this wonderful cookout, Miss Zia Carter, a warm welcome back.”

The round of applause, scattered whistles, and shouts of approval was more than Zia had expected.

Everyone was jovial and working toward full as she started to make her approach to the makeshift presentation spot. Her heart warmed as they gave her a plaque and bouquet of flowers. Then one of the girls Zia used to see all the time came up and gave her a poem and signed card from the kids of the community.

This time Zia allowed her smile of delight with the kids to show. She didn’t make a long thank you speech as it was clear from her vantage point that most eyes were on the stash of TVs, game consoles, mini handhelds, and other cool entertainment technology that was corralled in an area near where the twins were now stationed.

She finished and came to stand back next to Greg. Zia felt Jeremy watch her from where he hovered next to Tashia. There were a few other people Zia didn’t recognize from some of the buildings on the other side of the complex up front as well. One good thing was that Tashia didn’t seem to be feeling Jeremy either. The woman had great taste, when it came to him, at least.

Quinn’s voice came through on the comm. “After the prizes are given away, is everyone okay with leaving?”

In quick succession, everyone checked in and gave a quick yes. It had been a few hours, and Zia was more than ready to make polite goodbyes.

The music started back up as a DJ began to spin and pumped the crowd up. The crowd migrated from the eating area to the spot close to where the prizes were.

She pushed down a sigh of relief at seeing the end of her day coming near. When she got back to the Lair, Zia would enlist the skills of Quinn to help her take Jeremy down.

So far, the bastard hadn’t tried anything. None of the Dragofin Clan members saw any weird behavior, and it looked like they would be able to get back to the Lair without a hitch.

“Zia, my baby!” a voice as familiar as her name said from behind.

Zia jumped as hands grabbed her and latched on. Surprise left her speechless for a moment as she turned to see Leila Carter standing before her beaming.

“Mami, what are you doing here?”

“I came to support you in getting your award. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“You pulled that off with success.”

“Huh, what did you say? I can’t hear you over the music and noise.”

“Nothing, Mami. It’s so good to see you.”

“You too, sweetheart.”

Where’s Dad?” Zia looked around to head off any other surprises.

With a nonchalant wave of the hand, Leila said, “Your father is back on the road this week. With all the new things you have going on, I thought it would be nice to get out of that small town and come see my baby. You know your brother never calls home. After the divorce, I don’t even know what’s going on with his kids. They’re just about grown and out of the house. Thank goodness I have you to dote over still.”

Zia blocked the tinge of guilt that threatened to overtake her in sympathy for her mother. This was the worse possible time for Leila to show up.

“What’s that? You’re worried about something. Zia? Her mother pulled back to take her in.

“No, I’m, it’s good to see you. A lovely surprise.”

“Good because you are absolutely glowing. Oh, Zia, I can’t wait to go shopping for you and the—“

“Shush, Mami,” Zia cut her off. There was no telling who might be listening. Already, new attention flooded their way with her mother’s arrival. Zia tried to play down her reaction to her mother’s presence. “It’s still a secret. Most people don’t know yet. We want to take some time to get used to it ourselves.”

“I see. Oh, baby, I’m so happy for you.” She hugged Zia.

When she released Zia, her mother’s attention landed squarely on Greg.

“Oh my, you must be my Zia’s Greg. So handsome.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, I’m Greg and thank you for coming to support Zia. It’s so nice to meet you in person.”

Zia heard the chatter in her ear as the others scrambled to make it to where she stood. Her mother’s surprise had just opened up a can of worms regarding security.

“I’m so glad I made it in time. Have you all eaten yet? I haven’t eaten since I left home this morning. Mind if I go grab a plate?”

“Uh, wait, mom. How about you stay here with me. One of my friends is on her way over. She’ll be happy to fix you a plate.”

“I don’t need someone waiting on me to fix my plate. I can get it. I kind of want to make a sampler of all the wonderful food over there.” Her mother looked past her to the food area. “This turned out so nice. I didn’t expect it to be such a large turnout.”

A bullhorn cut through the music and excitement of the residents who were winning the prizes to announce that the children’s games would start soon. Zia tuned out the rest of the message that gave parents details and rules. She had to focus on dealing with the surprise of her mother showing up.

Wren came up and with a cheery smile said, “Hi there, I’m one of Zia’s friends, Wren Douglas. Mrs. Carter, I’ve heard so much about you over the years.”

“Oh, I know you! Zia has mentioned you from time to time. You bake too, right?”

“Yes, I do,” Wren cut a quick eye over to Zia and continued, “I came over to say that we need to go. I have to go over to The Diner and Zia and Greg are our ride.”

“Oh,” Leila said. “I just got here.”

Zia picked up on the plan and ran with it. “Don’t worry, mom, you can come with us to The Diner. Trust me, anything here you want, you can get it and way more at The Diner.”

“Yes, and I can even make you any requested dessert, pastries or breads you want,” Wren added.

Zia would have laughed at the hard sell they gave her mother if there hadn’t been an element of danger hovering in the air.

“Mami, You can ride with us, or, did you rent a car?”

“No, I took a rideshare here. I wanted to make sure I got here in time.”

“That works out perfectly,” Greg jumped in to help get their plan moving along. Zia noticed him motion for the other men of their group to come closer, as he said, “I’ll get the car, and you can be eating in the next twenty minutes.”

Leila looked like she’d been whisked up into a whirlwind. “Are you sure? I don’t want to mess up your plans.”

“Then you shouldn’t have surprised us,” Zia let out before she realized she said it aloud.

“Haha,” Leila laughed. “All right, I’m fine with leaving. I wanted to see Zia get her award and now that I see she already has it, we can go.”

“Let’s move them out,” Wren said and looped an arm around Leila’s.

Greg jogged off to get the car as Matt came into view. Zia tried to keep down the churning acid that rumbled in her stomach. With her mother here, all the warnings Hildy had given her landed. She was nervous. Anything could happen, and she was almost powerless to keep her mother from harm.

The crowd had increased now that the prize giveaway portion was in full swing. Zia scanned the swollen crowd to see people who hadn’t been here a few moments ago. Word must have gotten out that there was loot to be had.

She didn’t want to judge but the characters now littering the crowd didn’t seem to live here or qualify for any of the giveaways.

The two cops who had been hired to work the event looked at the crowd with a new unease. One of them brushed a hand over her holstered gun in what Zia imagined was a security check.

“This is Lucien, quick, give me status reports. We’re working our way to the vehicle, everyone, check in. I need you all in the vehicles and pulling out in the next five minutes tops.”

“This is Hildy, and we’ve spotted a weird influx of undesirable characters who’ve infiltrated the crowd. I can’t be certain, but based on their body language, they appear to be waiting for something or a signal. We can be in the van in two minutes. Will continue to surveil for a few more minutes to allow you all to get to your rides.”

“This is Greg, I have our vehicle and am about to pull up to get our team and Zia’s mother. We’ll head toward The Diner as soon as everyone is in.”

“Good,” Lucien said. “We’re in our van as well. Hurry up, everyone. I don’t like the energy shift I’m sensing.”

Pop, pop, pop!

A succession of sounds that could have been firecrackers or gunshots bellowed through the air. Pandemonium ensued as the parking lot devolved into a swarm of frightened, confused, and adrenaline-driven people.

Zia had the strong compulsion to look around at the commotion. Her eyes found and locked on Jeremy’s as he gave the nod.

The resulting action was swift as many of the new entrants to the party all began to shift into various iterations of what nightmares and evil game villains were made of.

The 3-D real-life manifestation of her nightmares unfolded before her. Zia had once again brought destruction and possible death to the people of her former neighborhood.

“No, no!” she yelled. “Not again.” Her superpower appeared to have been revealed. Zia had to be a harbinger of death.