Starsky and Hutch Meet the Zombie

Starsky and Hutch arrived at the scene of the break in. The door was broken by someone or something, big, nasty and most likely on drugs. The brown wooden door to the second floor apartment was shattered like it was hit with a sledgehammer, but there were no marks showing anything as civilized as a sledge was used. The force used to the man size hole had broken the door unevenly from its frame; it was obvious it had been kicked in from the hall. From the hallway, it sounded like a madman was tossing things about the apartment while a television was on full blast.

Starsky pulled out his Smith and Wesson and cautiously approached the door. He pulled the door fragments open. "Get out with your hands up," he shouted. The man in the room could only escape from a second story window or that door.

Hutch readied his gun. "We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up."

The apartment was still being thrashed. The living room was torn apart. The sofa pillows were shredded, the books were torn and scattered on the floor, the records were dumped from their rack and the record player was wide open and precariously hanging on the edge of a shelf. The television was so loud that Starsky had trouble hearing the man in the other room breaking things; besides it was giving him a headache. The man continued to break things in another room of the apartment as Starsky made a path with his feet to the television set through the broken records and open books. This was definitely an act of rage, not thief or vandalism.

As Starsky righted the television on the television stand, he heard crashing in the first bedroom. The door was partially open. A man in torn clothes, a bit taller and wider than Starsky, was emptying drawers in the bedroom. "Come out with your hands up," Starsky yelled. "Stop or I'll shoot." He fired his gun toward the man's feet to get his attention.

The man that was covered head to toe in dirt like he had walked through the street without caring about being splashing with mud from passing cars walked past Starsky. "Stop," Starsky shouted. The man kept walking. Starsky shot a bullet into the man afraid that the man that was paying him no mind was high on drugs and could be highly dangerous. Starsky had shot a bullet in front of him and he didn't react. The bullet wasn't reflected. The bullet torn up the man's body leaving a trail of ooze, not blood but more like the juice dripping from a piece of meat. The crazed man didn't act like he suffered any pain or even noticed that a projectile entered his body. Starsky was terrified, as the man walked toward Hutch and fired another bullet straight for the man's chest, making the wet smack like a bullet hitting spoiled meat. The second bullet should have hit the man in the heart and caused him to drop right there, but the man still showed no pain and walked toward the hallway.

Hutch joined Starsky in the hallway as the man walked past them. "I put two bullets into him and he didn't flinch." Starsky voice quivered.

"Kevlar?" Hutch asked looking at the dirty, horrible smelling man, who smelled like putrid meat. Body fluids were oozing out of bullet holes that Starsky caused, but the man kept walking undaunted like Starsky and Hutch weren't there.

"The bullets went into its body," Starsky said.

"That isn't a man," Hutch squeaked as the man walked through the door using his body as a sledgehammer. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Did you call for back-up?" Starsky asked.

Hutch wiped the sweat off his brow, stepping a few feet away from the newly broken door. "Yes, they're on their way. He didn't seem interested in us. If we stand in it's way, it might tear us up like the door." Hutch started to bring the torn up stuff from the previous apartment over to barricade the door.

"That won't stop him," Starsky said catching his breath. It was nine-thirty in the morning. The apartments were mostly empty; people had left for work or were getting their children off to school. The first apartment vandalized seemed to belong to a single business man; there were many books and records, a home computer, one dresser and a single full size bed.

Hutch, feeling rather stupid, put a broken chair in front of the torn door. "Do you have any better suggestions?"

"The crazed man will probably drop from blood loss while tearing up the second apartment and there's no one inside it," Starsky said. "We can't stop it so, as we wait for back-up, we try to figure out a weapon that will stop that creature." From the hallway, it sounded like books were being tossed on the floor one by one. The monster, for lack of a better word, seemed to be tearing the apartment apart methodically.

"So we need a flamethrower," Hutch said.

"And where do you think we will get one of those? I'm not fucking James Bond."

Their back up arrived in the form of officers Gonzales and Anderson. Both men had worked with them before. "What do we have?" Anderson asked.

"Whatever it is, I put two bullets in it. You can see what it did to the door with its strength," Starsky explained trying to stay calm. "By now, he should have dropped from blood loss, but he's tearing that place apart piece by piece."

The creature seemed to be tossing records now instead of books from the sound heard from the doorway.

"Try to barricade the door with the broken stuff from the apartment that he already thrashed while Starsky and I buy a welding torch. If you don't bother it, it won't bother you. Just try to barricade the door. It must be looking for something. Keep it confided. Do you want to look like that door?" Hutch knew he was babbling, but between the lack of sleep and seeing a zombie, he wasn't in good shape.

"Right," Anderson said.

"We'll be right back. Don't go in there," Hutch shouted as he ran after Starsky.

Starsky was already in the Torino when Hutch opened the passenger side door. "What do we tell Dobey? We can't have that creature tear up every apartment in the city."

"You shot it. It didn't even look at us. Did you see what it did to that door? It must be as strong as several men," Hutch exclaimed as he hooked his seatbelt as Starsky pulled out into the ongoing traffic of the busy city street. "It wasn't human, it couldn't be. If it was human those bullets would have stopped it or at least hurt it. It's like something from a horror movie."

"We need a torch. Drop me at the nearest hardware store," Hutch continued, trying to get his head together. "Fire can destroy supernatural creatures according to most horror stories. It smelled like rotting flesh, like meat that has been sitting on a counter for over a day. Did you get a whiff of it?" Burning an apartment wasn't a great idea but Starsky and he would each carry a fire extinguisher and Hutch didn't have a better idea. A small fire would be better than having the whole apartment torn up until that creature found what it was looking for.

"How could I not?" Starsky said. "Listen to yourself. There are no such thing as monsters."

"It was your idea. That was no man that I've ever seen. Come on. We've had cases with voodoo before."

"And they turned out to be hoax."

"Let's get the torch and if it a man on so many drugs that he can't feel pain, he'll burn too." Hutch knew that he wasn't making any sense at this point, but that was a zombie in that apartment.

"He'll collapse on the ground from blood loss soon," Starsky said, trying to think reasonably. "Those two men are safe as long as they don't go into the apartment."

"Drive to a hardware store unless you have a better idea."

"Not one." Starsky changed lanes and stopped in the right hand lane without looking for a parking space. "Go. I'll drive around again and pick you up."

Hutch jumped out of the car as Starsky was waiting at the light.

Starsky drove around the city block. Hutch was coming out of the store with a box carrying a twelve-inch welding torch that would be used to repair jewelry as Starsky came around. Starsky pulled as far to the side as he could as Hutch climbed into the Torino putting the box on his lap. Starsky darted into the center lane and took off for the apartment complex.

"Your driving is going to get us killed," Hutch screamed being bounced on the seat not having enough time to hook his seatbelt.

"I'm back on full duty less than a week and I have to deal with fucking zombies," Starsky said.

"The doctors thought you would be lucky to be able to return to desk work," Hutch said.

"With your exercise routine, I'm now a hundred percent. Thanks, Man." Starsky wished he were on desk duty, not facing that hideous creature in the apartment complex.

"You showed them. In less than six months, you're stronger than you were before Gunther's men shot you," Hutch said. "You're one tough guy, Starsky."

"I had a good trainer," Starsky said as he stopped in the apartment complex lot.

Hutch readied the welding torch and stepped out of the Torino. The man, creature, was still in the second apartment. The sound of breaking dishes could be heard as soon as Starsky and Hutch entered the hallway of the apartment complex. One of the men in blue was throwing stuff at the broken door; the other policeman wasn't to be seen. The smell, the rotten meat smell, was stronger than before. "Are you going to burn it?" Starsky asked looking into the destroyed apartment seeing blood and body parts and uniform bits.

Starsky ran into the first apartment, screaming, "What the fuck happened?" He returned with a fire extinguisher.

"Anderson went inside the apartment. You told him not to," Gonzales, the remaining patrolman said.

A woman and child from a neighboring apartment fled into the hall. "Are you stopping that man? I live on this floor," the woman said. "I don't know how to explain this to the insurance company."

"My partner is taking care of it," Starsky said reassuringly.

Hutch lit the torch and went into the apartment. Starsky followed behind him with a fire extinguisher, feeling like an idiot only armed with a carbon dioxide charged fire extinguisher, not exactly a deadly weapon. Hutch passed an arm then a leg and finally the rest of Anderson on the living room floor. Starsky prayed silently as he walked by the parts of his fallen comrade.

The man was emptying the china closet one dish at a time like he enjoyed the sound each dish made as it hit the floor and shattered. Hutch yelled, "Stop, Police." Hutch knew talking was futile; Anderson must have got in its way or most likely Anderson tried to wrestle the thing to the ground.

The man dropped another plate like he didn't see or hear Hutch. Hutch walked toward the foul smelling, dirt covered man. The man must have seen the torch and smelled the gas burning, but he didn't stop dropping plates. Hutch, undaunted, lit the man's ragged clothes on fire. The man went up into flames suddenly. Hutch stepped away from the burning man that burned very fast leaving only ash and a black line as Starsky tried to shoot it with the kitchen fire extinguisher. The fire was out before Starsky and Hutch left the room. The noise of the smoke detector could be heard several apartments down.

"The fire department is on its way," the patrolman stammered. "I smell fire for a moment, but then it was over. It smelled like bacon but more concentrated."

"He went up in flames like he was made of paper," Hutch said in the hallway with the very upset patrolman.

"People say that napalm smells like bacon," Starsky said trying to calm himself and the two officers down. "I try not to remember the smell of burning flesh from my time in Nam. You were lucky that you were safe at a university."

Gonzales was babbling incoherently about the Living Dead in English and Spanish. Gonzales crossed himself a number of times while babbling.

"No wonder you have nightmares," Hutch said leaning on the Torino.

"There are things I saw there that I can't even tell you," Starsky said.

"You can tell me about your next nightmare. Nothing about you frightens me. It might be good to talk about it all these years later," Hutch said. "I'm glad that I was in college and not overseas fighting in that misbegotten war."

"I don't blame you college kids. I'm glad that many of them protested the war. I served my country like my father and grandfather did before me." Starsky put a hand on Gonzales's shoulder. "So Gonzales, what happened to Anderson?"

Gonzales crossed himself. "He went into the apartment. I tried to follow but the thing tore him apart." Gonzales was crying. "You told us not to bother it. Anderson tried to jump it. I ran back to barricade the door like you said but it was too late for Anderson."

The fire department arrived before the forensics' van. Hutch directed a firefighter to the apartment; where the 'man' was there was only ash. The rest of the apartment was covered in smoke and had some minor water damage caused by the sprinkler system going off; the damage caused by that creature was greater than the fire damage. Nothing should have burned that fast. A pile of ash didn't give forensics much to work with. Hutch looked over the mess in the dining room before leaving the apartment to the forensics team and the second string of detectives. It would have been worse if he allowed that monster to continue its rampage, but what was he going to tell IA?

Starsky put a hand on Gonzales's shoulder. "I'll drive you to the station. You're in no shape to drive." After three policemen were sitting in the car, Starsky continued, "Take a few deep breaths and tell me what happened."

"Anderson ran in there before I could stop him. I yell that you told us not to go in there. He grabbed the creature from behind. It took his arm off."

"We saw," Hutch said, trying to encourage Gonzales to talk.

"He screamed and screamed. There was nothing I could do. Barricading the door seemed pointless. He was my partner."

"Gonzales, I'm so sorry," Hutch said.

"Why didn't he listen? He was safe until he touched that creature," Gonzales cried.

Starsky wrote the report at the station as Hutch paced. The other detectives laughed as Hutch tried to describe his experience. Starsky wrote the report as it happened to the best of his memory, not letting Hutch's panic or the other detectives' laughter deter him.

Dobey laughed when he scanned the report. "You expect me to believe that you put two bullets into a man, but he kept vandalizing the apartment."

"He oozed over everything but kept moving. Hutch burned him," Starsky said.

"He went up in smoke like a stack of kindling," Hutch said.

"Starsky, you must be taking too many painkillers. Hutch, you just need a good night sleep," Dobey said as he led them into his office. "I got a report from Gonzales and we were waiting to get more from forensic and the witnesses."

"Sure, Captain," Starsky said.

"I can't believe Anderson is dead," Dobey sighed.

"I told him not to disturb the monster," Hutch said in sad voice. "He disobeyed orders. Gonzales screamed at him to stay put."

Starsky said in a calmly voice, "It wasn't a threat unless you got in it's way. It didn't even see us. According to Gonzales, Anderson grabbed it. It would have happily torn up the second apartment for fifteen to twenty minutes without harming anyone."

"What do I say to Anderson widow?" Dobey asked.

Hutch suggested, "You should talk to Gonzales; he witnessed it. I'm just reporting hearsay."

"I talked to Gonzales; he made less sense than you two. I may speak a little a Spanish, but Flores told me gibberish was gibberish in any language." Dobey took a deep breath.

"Captain, we didn't witness Anderson's death. You'll have to get Gonzales to calm down and give you a statement," Starsky said rather slowly. "I wish we could be of more help."

"Go home. I'll call you if we need to get more information. Zombies." Dobey put his fist into his desk. "The living dead."

Starsky put his arm around Hutch's shoulder. "Why don't we get some Chinese take-out? We missed lunch."

"Sounds great," Hutch said following Starsky out of the station.

"We need to know why would anyone send a monster to tear up apartments."

"The monster might have been sent to find something and was breaking things in the process of looking for the item." Hutch kept talking as they climbed down the stairs. "He seemed to going through the apartment piece by piece."

"If that is the case, he didn't return with the item so the perp will continue looking," Starsky said. "We can eat at my place. You should get an apartment in the city. My couch is ruining your back."

"I like living in Venice Place," Hutch said, walking onto the sidewalk in front of the police station.

"You only spend your days off there. You use half my closet and you need a dresser," Starsky said as he walked to their favorite Chinese take out place.

"Starsk, I don't mind sleeping on your couch and going back to my place occasionally for clothes." Hutch didn't want to admit his stuff was storage at this moment and he was evicted. He had been late paying his rent twice while Starsky was convalescing; he had the money but he was so busy working with Starsky and doing his job with the force that paying the rent slipped his mind until the landlady knocked on his door demanding it. Then, his landlady said that another tenant saw him and Starsky holding hands on the beach and she didn't rent to his kind. He didn't have the energy to fight her, although it was obviously only hearsay and weak hearsay at that.

"You drive over an hour getting your clothes. We should get a two-bedroom so we can talk all night without one of us sleeping on a couch," Starsky said.

"I'll get my dirty laundry tomorrow morning." Hutch's dirty laundry was in the trunk of his Ford. "While I do our laundry, you can tell your apartment manager that you need a bigger place."

"Great, we spend our day off doing laundry," Starsky said.

"I'll do it," Hutch said.

Starsky and Hutch walked back to the car after paying for the take out. "I got you egg drop soup and Moo Goo Gai Pan," Starsky said as he put the food on Hutch's lap.

"I don't mean to be an inconvenience," Hutch said as they walked into Starsky's apartment.

"Nonsense. Without you forcing me to exercise and eat right, I would still be on disability." Starsky ate the rice and Egg Foo Yung out of the boxes. "So do you think that he'll strike again?"

"The monster was destroyed."

"That creature was brainless." Starsky stuffed rice in his month. "Someone sent it to find something and since it didn't find what it was looking for, the perp is going to send another monster or look for this object himself."

"Starsk, do you want me to stay here?" Hutch asked in a sleepy voice.

"I don't know why you pay rent on that place. You never live there." Starsky stuffed more food into his mouth.

"I like living outside the city."

"I'm thankful for all you do for me. How long has it been since either us have been on a date?"

"Since we fought over that police woman." Hutch finished his soup.

"After we get our laundry done, we could go out for a matinee. We could use a break now that I'm hundred percent."

Hutch shook his head. "Starsky, you want to date me?"

"We suck at double dating. We end up talking to each other and ignoring the ladies. Hutch, it's better than being with some babe and wishing that I was home with you. I love you."

"I would love to go out with you." Hutch laughed at the strange new twist to their relationship, but he agreed most times he was out with a girl he was wishing he was with his best bud. "Does that mean we're exclusive?" Hutch didn't want to think about the implications, yet.

"If you want to be, you're the only blond in my bed lately." Starsky swatted Hutch over the head.

Hutch looked at Starsky throwing his socks and underwear into Hutch's load of whites. "When did we get married?" Hutch asked.

"What?"

"Our laundry is co-mingling," Hutch said.

"Did you talk to your landlady about breaking your lease?"

"I've been on a month-to-month lease since I renewed it. I sold most of my furniture. All I have left is my bed and dresser." Hutch lied. His bed, dresser and other things were in a storage unit near his old apartment.

"Why?" Starsky scratched his head; there was furniture last time he was there.

"I was afraid that we would have to live on your disability. This afternoon, I'll rent a trailer and get the rest of my things."

"When were you going to tell me that you sold your furniture?"

"We always take care of each other." Hutch put his hand on Starsky's shoulder.

"We'll get the rest of your things after we take the clothes back to our apartment; the movie will have to wait." Starsky knew that Hutch was living out of his trunk but why embarrass him. "Why pay another month's rent? You're going have to give Dobey your change of address." Starsky knew that Hutch had been evicted. He had spent most of the last five months at Starsky's place during his rehabilitation and probably forgot to pay the rent more than once. Starsky had seen Hutch get clothes from his car's trunk on more than one occasion.

"I can't. I'm too old to have a roommate."

"We've always managed before. I like having you in my bed. You don't have to return to sleeping on the couch."

"Really." Hutch's smile brightened.

"If we weren't in a Laundromat, I would kiss you." Starsky stroked Hutch's collar length blond hair. "When did we get married?"

"If we're married, why do I call you by your last name?" Hutch kissed Starsky's nose.

"We better hope the laundry is done fast."

"I have talk to the apartment manager to get us a two-bedroom apartment then you can move your bed and dresser out of storage," Starsky said.

"My car is at your apartment."

"I'll drop you at your car. You can get the trailer and pick me up at our apartment. Do you think we should have my landlord add your name to my lease?"

"It's not necessary beside he might discriminate against gay couples."

"He knows that you helped me during my rehabilitation since he lives two apartments down from us."

The apartment manager opened the door for Starsky. "David, how can I help you?"

"My friend, Ken, has been staying with me since I've been shot and we need a two-bedroom apartment."

"There are three two-bedroom apartments coming available next month. You can move the fifth."

"I'll pay for both apartments for the month."

"I prorate you for each day. You're a good tenant. I'm glad to help you and your friend out."

"Thanks, Ken is getting tired of sleeping on a couch."

That evening after Hutch unpacked all of his clothes, linens, books, and other personal items, he joined Starsky in their full-size bed. "We have all these queen size sheets."

"When your bed out of storage, we'll break it in. I love you." Starsky knew that Hutch's things had been in storage since the beginning of the month. Hutch insisted that he pack his things alone as Starsky waited for a call from Dobey. No call, apparently the second sting of detectives and forensics were as confused as Starsky, Hutch and Gonzales.

Hutch spooned up against Starsky and kissed his neck. "When did we cross that line from normalcy?"

"I don't know. How many straight men share a bed?"

"I trust you." Hutch stroked Starsky's curls. "I've never done this before."

"Me, either. Kissing might be a good idea." Starsky turned to face Hutch and put his hand over Hutch's face gently. "Since I've been hurt, we been spending all our time together. At first, you felt better if we slept together because four eyes were better than two and you feared for my safety."

"I like being here." Hutch planted a kiss on his partner's lips; neither opened their mouths or let it linger.

"Wow. Who said that you were a bad kisser?" Starsky planted kissed along Hutch's jaw line and then removed his friend's tee shirt. "Are we good?"

Hutch nodded feeling his erection growing against his best friend's belly.

"You're beautiful, my blond Blintz."

"Dave," Hutch said, "kiss me again."

David Starsky kissed Kenneth Hutchison with all he had. He thanked Hutch for taking time off to help with his rehabilitation, getting him back to work in five months when his physical therapist thought that he would never work again. After staying at Starsky's place for two weeks, Hutch could barely walk from sleeping on the couch and Starsky suggested that he join him in bed. Starsky planted kisses on his buddy's nearly hairless chest, remembering how long he wanted to touch him.

"Babe, that feels nice." Hutch pulled off his briefs; now finding himself naked in another man's bed, wondering if he should panic or go with the flow. He told Starsky that they were exclusive the day before. Why was his body more willing than his mind? "Can I touch you?"

"I'm yours. Forever. Me and Thee." Starsky stripped, tossing his clothes on the floor. "I've been wanting you forever." He lowered his head and planted kiss moving down Hutch's chest fondling Hutch's erection. "I'll try not to bite."

"Don't."

"I want to taste you. Let me love you." Starsky licked the tip of Hutch's erection, lowered his mouth and licked the long shaft as it started to tremble.

"No," Hutch screamed.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No. I can't believe you're doing this."

Starsky pressed his head against his friend's belly. "I heard you complain that your girlfriends can't do this right. I would like to learn to do it right. I want to please you like no one has before."

"And you want me to return the favor?"

"In your own time. I love you so much. I've imagined us doing more than cuddling and an innocent kiss on a forehead for years. There have been rumors through the station about us. How many other men sit in the other's lap? This is a natural progression of our relationship." Starsky licked his trembling organ; it became hard and long again. He gently stroked Hutch's balls. Starsky took the shaft into his mouth and nearly swallowed it whole while continuing to stroke Hutch's balls. As Hutch thrusted into his mouth, Starsky allowed on hand to fondle his partner's ass. It was harder than the previous asses that he fondled but he never had man's cock in his mouth as he was doing it. Starsky fought the urge to pull away as Hutch thrusted harder in his mouth.

"Shit. Oh, Shit." Hutch hollered.

Starsky pulled his mouth away as Hutch came.

"Jesus Christ," Hutch screamed as he shot cum into Starsky's mouth and face. "Should I try to reciprocate?"

"You don't have to do anything, Baby."

"It overwhelms me that you love me so much." Hutch wrapped his arms around Starsky and kissed his neck.

Starsky wet his finger and placed it on Hutch's forehead. "Forever and ever. Get some rest; things will look better in the morning."

"They look pretty damn fantastic now. There's no place on Earth that I would rather be."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Pretty, sappy."

Starsky picked up the phone around 9 AM. "Starsky."

"Is Hutch with you?"

"Yes. He was evicted for not paying his rent. He was late again and his landlady had enough," Starsky said.

"As long as he isn't homeless," Captain Dobey said. "Put him on."

Starsky handed the phone to Hutch who was still in bed, happy for the long extension cord.

"Hutchison," Dobey said into the phone. "If you need a place to stay, you can stay with my wife and I until you can locate a new place. Is your name on any waiting lists?"

"I'm fine," Hutch said.

"If the other detectives found out that you and Starsky were sharing an one-bedroom, I'll never hear the end of it."

"We'll have a two-bedroom in a few days. It's no one business where I live. Starsky and I are a little tight with him being on disability for several months." A two-bedroom apartment is only a hundred dollars more expensive than a one-bedroom; Hutch had no intention of paying for an apartment that he wasn't going to use.

"Put Starsky back on the phone," the captain said.

Starsky climbed into the bed with Hutch and grabbed the phone. "Yes."

"We've had another one of those weird break-ins. A man pulled everything apart in the apartment leaving with a stack of floppies," the captain said.

"If it found what it was looking for, we'll never find out who sent it," Starsky said.

"Why would corporate spies use zombies?" asked Dobey.

"I have no idea. Maybe the victim was bringing work home. The first apartment had a home computer. I don't know much about computers, but from remains of it, it looked expensive."

"And the second?"

"No computer, but I didn't get a good look at the apartment. Ask the second team. They would know more about the family that lived there."

"I will. I'll call you back later today."

"Maybe Huggy might know a voodoo priestess."

"He seems to know everyone else. Starsky, I'm sorry that I told you that you were on too many painkillers. Gonzales and the second team's reports are no stranger than yours. Forensics doesn't know what to make of it. Starsky, you stayed rather calm considering."

"It's understandable. I would have thought the same."

"Hutch does need to get more sleep."

"He was working and taking care of me. With Hutch's back, my couch wasn't the best place to sleep. We'll have his bed moved in as soon as we get a bigger place and Blondie will be bright eyed and bushy tailed. I'm lucky to have a friend like him. My doctors and physical therapist thought that I would never regain mobility, but Hutch didn't give up on me."

"Talk to Huggy about a priestess."

"Will do. Should we come by the station?"

"After you find a priestess. I have enough with the reports from the four detectives that went to that place after you. Your report was helpful. No one was killed when another zombie broke into an apartment." The police captain hung up.

Starsky picked up his car keys. "Get dressed, Nature Boy. We need to see Huggy."

The blond started to dress in the clothes they washed the day before. "Why did you tell Dobey that we're living together?"

"He needs to locate you. It's cool."

"Gay cops are fired; this isn't a laughing matter."

"I had a new girl every week until Terry died and you're a widower. No one thinks that way."

Hutch hurried into his shoes and socks. "Dobey knew."

"Do you want to get a second apartment for appearances?"

"No. We can't afford it. While I was having problems at work, I thought that you might have to sell the Torino. The insurance on that baby is outrageous."

"We'll handle any obstacles together." Starsky put his hand through the soft fine hair. "I told Dobey we needed two bedroom because the couch was bad for your back and that you'll be much happier once you are sleeping in your bed. If Dobey had suspicions, I quieted them. We can eat at Huggy's. We should get there before the lunch rush." Starsky walked out of the bedroom to the grand room that was the rest of his apartment: a dining room/living room and a divider before a few cabinets, sink and oven that made up the kitchen.

After grabbing an apple from the bowl on the dining room table, Hutch said. "Dave, I knew what was happening when I agreed to join you in bed. If I didn't want to share your bed, I would have my name on a hundred waiting lists and all my furniture would be in storage."

"Wanting something and doing it are two different things."

"I sleep so well in your bed. I haven't been able to sleep in Venice Place since Vanessa was murdered there. Why did you think that I often crashed on your couch?"

"Our bed."

"How can you just accept yourself as queer?"

"Do you want to continue to date women when we're so good together? After Terry died, I knew that the picket fence had passed me by."

"Gays are being fired from public service."

"Gays are fighting for their rights. Many cities in California are working toward having domestic partnership insurance available for gay couples."

"Restaurants tells us to go somewhere else and we weren't sleeping together." Before Hutch could tell himself that they weren't doing it, so what did he care what other people thought. Now that they were sharing a bed, he didn't want people to be thinking that they were lovers. It wasn't a laughing matter anymore. Starsky's resident manager was two apartments down the hall and could probably hear him scream out during sex or the bed creak through the thin walls. He didn't want the whole police force to know that Starsky was tickling his ivories.

Starsky put his hand on Hutch's shoulder. "See it doesn't change a thing. We have loved each other for years. Hutch, I feared every time you became serious with a woman that I would lose what I have with you. We've always been more than friends." Starsky stroked Hutch's lip. "I've loved you a long time."

Hutch turned toward Starsky and kissed him briefly. "We better go. I could kiss you all day." With all his doubts about this new direction in their relationship, Hutch didn't want to give it up. He wasn't going to find another woman after his wife turned up dead in his bedroom and he couldn't imagining loving anyone more than he loved his best friend.

Last night, he found out they were sexually compatible; he never went that fast from a blowjob before. Starsky wanted to suck him off with a woman it was a song and a dance to get a blowjob and when they could be talked into it, they bit or couldn't take much in their mouths, but could he see himself returning the favor? It was nice to have an enthusiastic lover and he didn't really want to go back to the dating game when he had someone at home that willing to please him.

Starsky told Huggy about the zombie break-ins as they helped in the kitchen. Huggy tried his best not to break out in laughter.

"Do you know any mambos?" Hutch asked.

"I might. I'll be right back after I check my address book." Huggy tried not to laugh but a few quick smirks sneaked out.

"This is serious. These creatures need to be burned to be stopped. They are mindless and will destroy property until they find what they are looking for," Starsky explained.

"I'll find out all I can," Huggy glanced at Hutch's neck. "Got a new girlfriend."

"He's seeing this tall, sexy brunette." Starsky smiled a bit too widely and his eyes seemed too bright. Starsky might have been shorter than Hutch, but he was taller than average.

Hutch started to blush.

Within an hour, Huggy had a name of a voodoo priestess. "Thanks, Huggy. You're the man," Hutch said.

"Starsk, tell Hutch's new girl to treat him right," Huggy shouted as the two detectives left the restaurant.

"I will." Starsky absent-mindedly put his arm around Hutch. "I hope the priestess can help."

The mambo claimed to know nothing about raising zombies, but she gave them the names of several witches and another voodoo priestess that might be able to help.

"I feel like we're on a wild good chase," Hutch said.

"I'll call Dobey about our lack of progress," Starsky said.

"Do you think Huggy knows about us?"

"We're always in each other's space. If we didn't touch each other, then he would know something was up."

Hutch couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of making love to David Starsky. It wouldn't be an overnight fling. They were friends for life; this was only a new element to their all ready intimate relationship. Starsky knew more about him that his wife did. They didn't have to date to find out about each other's likes and dislikes; they knew them for years. Hutch hoped it would be an advantage to other couples just starting out. "Dave, I want you to make love to me."

"You don't have to use my first name because we're intimate."

"Your girlfriends call you Dave. Do you dislike it?" Hutch needed to get more comfortable with this. What was so wrong about using his friend's first name?

"I don't mind," Starsky said. "I'll buy some KY on the way home. We could use Crisco."

"KY sounds less disgusting. Vanessa liked it that way. Sometimes, she would put a finger or two in me. It would make me so hot."

"Vanessa always struck me as frigid."

"Once you melted her ice." Hutch shed a few silent tears.

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't think it would still tear me apart."

"She was your wife." Starsky called Dobey on the police radio. "We're still working on the case," referring to find a priestess and collecting information about zombies. Dobey and Starsky didn't mention zombies or voodoo priestesses over the open airwave talking about the case in very general terms.

"How's Hutch?"

"Fine."

"Take a break from your work and join Edith and I for dinner."

"I rather not."

"Another time."

Starsky and Hutch returned to the station and looked at the reports filed by the other police officers about the strange break-ins. Hutch called about locating a voodoo priestess while Starsky looked at the obituaries.

Starsky found that a body had been reported missing at a funeral home and then the funeral home pulled back the report saying that they made a mistake. He looked at the obituaries for the last few days and found a large man in his early forties that died from a sudden heart attack. He called the hospital there was no autopsy and he had been cremated. (They didn't report that he was cremated at a downtown luxury apartment and the ashes in the urn weren't his.)

The second zombie the man was described as in his fifties and also of large build. A man that had a long-term illness wouldn't be described as large build so the man had to die suddenly with all his parts and couldn't have been subjected to autopsy. Starsky found that both men had been taken from the same funeral home; most likely an employee was raising them.

"I hear that Hutch has been staying with you since the shooting," Detective Wilkins said. Other joined in to tease.

Starsky ignored the teasing about Hutch taking time off to direct his rehabilitation. "That what your true friends do."

Hutch turned beet red when the other officers said that their relationship went beyond the call of friendship. "Starsky would have done the same for me," Hutch finally said. "Starsky has often put his own needs after mine when I was sick or injured. I couldn't let Gunther's men finish the job when he was home recovering; any good partner would have done the same."

"Good speech," Flores said before returning to work.

After Hutch finished his paperwork, he said, "I called a few priestesses and one will speak to us."

"Let's go," said Starsky grabbing his coat.

Hutch sat down in the passenger seat on the Torino. "I've been sleeping in your bed three months. Why does it feel different now?"

"Because we acknowledged what it means."

The priestess, Gladys by the name on her door, talked to Kenneth Hutchison after he gave her some money for her time. "You and Dave entered a new phase in your relationship. Although you love Dave very much, you're not sure he feels about you."

"We're here for a case, not marriage counseling," Starsky said.

"Has a temper; doesn't he?" she said.

"Gladys, do you know anything about zombies?" Starsky asked.

"The dead should stay dead," the woman said.

"Why would zombies be looking for floppy disks?"

"The dead don't desire anything. The soul has past to the next world. Zombies are evil; stay far away from them." The heavyset black woman took a deep breath. "David, Kenneth, go out for dinner, have a bottle of wine, stay far away from zombies."

"Thanks," Hutch led Starsky out of the room. "She's a fake," he said in the Torino. "She read our names somewhere and knew from our body language that we were lovers. Anyone could do that."

"We'll have to ask more questions," Starsky said.

"All the others hung up on us."

"When has that ever stopped us? I should have known she was a fake; she was too eager to take our money. Captain Dobey will be steamed."

"So do you want to wine and dine me?" Hutch put his arm around Starsky's shoulder.

"I would love to."

After dinner at a small Italian restaurant, Starsky stopped the Torino across the street from a cemetery because an older woman appeared to be sprinkling herbs on the graves. Starsky and Hutch walked over to her, hoping she knew something about the zombie break-ins.

A very dark skin woman, who appeared over sixty, with grayish braids wearing a muumuu, sprinkled herbs on the next grave.

"What are you doing?" Hutch asked.

"Keeping the dead in the ground," she said as she continued to sprinkle herbs.

"Why would you need to do that?" Starsky asked. Only the police department knew about the two zombies that broke into apartments; one killed a police officer that was foolish enough to try to stop it. The zombie Starsky had encountered smelled like one to two day old meat, sitting on a counter; there was no embalming odor. It had to be stolen from a funeral home before embalming could have taken place. Starsky suspected that the two bodies came from the same funeral home.

"I heard that two of the dead had walked the earth," she said.

"Do you know about raising the dead?" Starsky asked.

"It's a gift. A necromancer is born able to raise the dead. One learns that they had the gift when the newly dead come to them," the woman said.

"Neither of us have the gift," Starsky said.

"It's very rare," the woman said.

"Do you know anything about the two zombie used for break-ins?" Hutch asked.

"Only that they were newly dead. To raise the old dead you need a blood sacrifice," the woman said. "I've been asked to raise the dead, but I won't. It's too dangerous and only the most recent dead can answer any kind of questions."

Starsky and Hutch stepped away from the creepy old woman. "Do you trust the old crone?"

"No. Starsk, do you think she's been raising them?" Hutch whispered.

"Perhaps, maybe we can get some information from her, later," Starsky whispered back as they walked toward the Torino. "I know the funeral home the two bodies came from but it seems to dangerous to question anyone there."

"I wouldn't want to end up like Anderson," Hutch said.

"What if he or she could lead all the newly dead in the city against us? We can't kill or arrest the dead," Starsky said.

"We'll give all the information to Dobey and tell him we found a woman that claims to be able to raise the dead," Hutch said. "Would you like to follow her home?"

"Why not, spend a clear, cool night standing in a graveyard?" Starsky asked.

"She's the only lead we have," Hutch said, pulling his jacket around him and stuffing his hands in his pockets.