Flip This Zombie (27 page)

“Wait, you
watched
her?” Dave asked in horror.

“Of course. I let her see that the boy was taken down to the labs. She begged the cameras, she pleaded with me… but I let the infected swarm over her. She was so torn apart, she didn’t even re-animate.”

I backed away from the window a step and stared. “Sadistic bastard.”

He shrugged. “Vengeance is commonplace in a world such as this. Are you saying that since the plague broke out you’ve never just killed someone because you didn’t like them? I mean, there’s no way you wouldn’t get away with it.”

“There’s been enough killing to last me a lifetime,” I said with a deep breath. “I don’t need to do it to frivolously satisfy my pride or my sense of moral outrage because someone took a parking place from me once.”

“Interesting that you compare stealing a parking place to stealing a wife,” Barnes said softly. “Either way, once she was dispensed with, the remaining survivors had to deal with the reality of our situation. And when one of the military men became ill, we realized that the infection had been brought down into the lab.”

I stared for a moment at Barnes and then let my gaze move to David.

“The infection came down here and you survived?” he asked in disbelief. “In this tight environment?”

“Well, we caught the man very quickly and confined him. In truth, his condition became very useful, for I was
able to study him. I took core samples of his tissue, his brain, and using those I was able to begin work on various elements of the infection. One by one, I tested my theories first on the infected soldier, but then I needed to expand my research. So I picked others in our group of survivors.”

I covered my mouth. “So these people were trapped down here with you and you used them as guinea pigs.”

“No,” he said evenly through the speakers. “I used guinea pigs as guinea pigs. I used humans as test subjects. There were a few who caught on to my schemes, but they were easily isolated and taken care of. By the time the power generators went out above and unlocked the elevator, all that were left were just Robbie and me.”

“Then why did you need us?” I asked with a shake of my head. “Why call us here and ask us to catch you zombies if you were capable of creating and testing on them on your own?”

He shrugged. “I have created them and tested on fresh and actively turning specimens, yes. But what I told you when we first met was also true. I needed more zombies of differing kinds and rot levels.”

“Why not get them yourself?” I pressed. “You’re clearly more than capable.”

He sniffed like the idea was beneath him. “I wasn’t about to go out myself and try to capture them. So you truly were doing me a service by helping me run my tests and increase my… what did you call it, David? My Undead Army.”

I winced because let’s face it, this was my fault. Dave never would have gone along with Barnes’s request if not for me and my insistence that we try to save the world.

“How many were there down here to start with?” Dave asked. “Alive before the outbreak.”

“Ten,” Barnes admitted without hesitation.

“So you killed eight people?” Dave breathed.

“Well, seven,” Barnes said, unapologetic and even
bored
. “The first one was infected before we were locked down.”

I paced to the corner of the room. “And Robbie saw all this? He knows you murdered his mother, that you slaughtered these people?”

“He’s eleven, Sarah, I know better than to expose him to such things. That’s how people become serial killers.” Barnes shook his head. “No, I protected him from all of that, kept him safe from what was happening around us. And the fact that only the two of us survived the lockdown actually brought us closer together. He needs me and loves me just as a good son should. A fact I think you saw demonstrated today.”

Dave swiped a hand over his face. “And what if we tell him what you did?”

There was a moment’s hesitation. “Why would he believe you over me, his father?” Barnes asked.

“He’s a smart kid—” I began.

He turned his attention on me immediately. “Oh no, Sarah. Robbie tested in the top one percent on all the standard I.Q. tests. He’s a genius, not
smart
. But he’s a boy. And I doubt you’ll sway him to turn on the one remaining parent he possesses.”

Dave turned toward me, catching my arm so that we faced away from the speakers and the window. “He’s probably right. We have to focus on ourselves now. If we can get to The Kid, fine. If not, well, I’d like to live and stuff.”

“I doubt that will be an option,” Barnes’s voice came from behind us.

“God, I’m really starting to hate that guy,” I said through clenched teeth before I faced the window. “Okay, jerk-off. So you have us, you don’t want us to let anyone else know about your little mad scientist lab, we have no recourse, what’s the plan?”

Before he could answer, the door behind him opened and suddenly The Kid reappeared at his dad’s shoulder. For a brief second, he looked at us through the glass, then he turned away. He whispered something to his father.

Barnes nodded. “Very good.”

I kept my gaze on Robbie. Although Barnes was right that it would be almost impossible to turn The Kid on his only surviving parent, Robbie didn’t look very happy at the moment. The fact that he couldn’t even bring himself to look at us gave me a little hope.

And maybe it was time for him to grow up and know
exactly
what his dad did to people who didn’t fall in line behind him. Whether that got us out of this or not, it might save The Kid down the line.

“So you’re going to kill us?” I pressed, moving up to the glass so Robbie would be sure to see me. And I could see him. He flinched. “How? Gas us? Shoot us?”

Barnes’s face jerked to me. “Nothing so barbaric. Now Robbie, you may return to your chamber if you’d like.”

“No, why not let The Kid know what you’re going to do to his friends?” I leaned against the glass. “If it isn’t going to be barbaric, then tell me what humane means you’re going to use to get rid of us and keep us from going against your desires,
Dr. Barnes
?”

He stared at me through the glass. Our faces were less
than a foot apart. He was angry, I could see that. And I could also see he was pretty much just on the edge of losing it.

“Today you killed two of my bionics,” he said softly. “Not very good for my army’s record. I want to test them again.”

Dave rushed to my side. “Is
that
really what you think you’ve created? Look doctor, you can’t control these things. They may have more purpose, more drive, than your average walk-a-day living dead, but they can’t be controlled. If you don’t stop this now, they’ll turn on you. They’ll wipe out whatever’s left of the survivors.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Barnes said softly. “Worst-case scenario, you two will kill them and I’ll get to hone my skills at creation and keep testing them on
you
until they do destroy you. Best-case scenario, they turn you immediately and I end up with two new specimens and one sticky problem solved. Either way, I win, don’t I?”

From behind Barnes, Robbie shifted. “But—” he began.

Barnes spun on him. “What is it?”

“I-I thought we were going to keep them alive,” Robbie said. “I thought you said—”

“They’re too dangerous,” Barnes said, grabbing The Kid by the upper arms and tugging him closer. “They’re a threat to us, Robbie. And in this world, we have no choice but to eliminate threats.”

“Like your mom,” Dave said next to me. “And all those people down in the bunker with you. It seems like everyone else in the world is a threat, huh Robbie? Ever wonder when you’ll become one to him too?”

Barnes glared at David. “Shut up,” he snapped. He
turned back to The Kid. “Now
you
, go to your quarters if you haven’t the stomach for what must be done.
Now
.”

The Kid stared at his father for a brief moment and then his gaze moved to us. And there was one thing very clear to me when our eyes met. Robbie was afraid. Afraid of his father, afraid of everything that had happened since the outbreak. On some level, he knew what was happening here. He knew it wasn’t right.

But he didn’t argue. He didn’t do anything except turn around and leave the room without so much as a backward glance for us.

My heart sank. He was our only chance for someone on the outside to help us. Now that he was gone, our options had faded out to just about nothing. Fight or surrender. And there might not be much choice there, either.

“You see,” Barnes said as the door closed behind his son. “With a little discipline you
can
raise an obedient child even in a post-apocalyptic world. I should write a book.”

“You do that,” Dave said quietly. “I’d love to read your thoughts on raising a man.”

Barnes’s face fell at the implication of my husband’s statement, and when his smile returned it was a harder, colder expression.

“Well, this has been fun, but it’s time for testing. Enjoy.” And then he reached across the desk and depressed a button hidden somewhere beyond my line of sight.

T
he three doors on the walls around the permeter of the room began to slide upward in tandem. I clenched at Dave’s arms as we watched the open space increase to reveal feet, legs… yeah,
zombies
.

Three zombies, to be precise, who rushed the room as soon as the doors cleared their rotting skulls.

And of course these weren’t normal zombies, either. I mean, that would have been bad enough, but these were bigger. Broader. Two of them I recognized as the ones Dave and I had collected earlier for Barnes. The third was dressed in the tattered remains of a military uniform, so I had to assume he was a much older friend of the “good doctor.”

Whoever they had once been, wherever they had come from, they were all but foaming at the mouth as they stared at the two of us, unarmed in the center of the room. They were all bionic zombies.

“They’re worked up,” Dave said softly as we shifted to stand back to back. “He’s given them something.”

“Excellent observation,” Barnes’s voice came from the speakers. “You’re correct that they’ve been drugged. I’m testing a new mixture to raise their intent to fight. It’s harder to rouse them than you might think.”

“Harder to rouse them!” I cried.

The military zombie dragged his leg behind him as his rotten lips curled back over black teeth. He was missing an eye, too, the open socket just sort of gaping at us. But the one that still existed watched me with rabid intent.

“Indeed. Now… I suggest you fight.”

The speaker crackled off and there was no longer any background reverberation, so I had to assume Barnes had shut the system off so he could just watch our struggle in silent satisfaction.

“Remember the last kung fu movie I made you sit through before the shit hit the fan?” Dave asked from behind me.

I fought the urge to turn and stare at him and instead kept my focus on the snarling zombie still moving on me from the door. Black drool leaked from his waggling tongue and pooled at his feet like oil from a dirty engine.

“You want to fucking talk to me about Jackie Chan movies right now?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“No. I want to talk to you about killing zombies without weapons,” Dave responded through clenched teeth. “There was a move in that flick that involved two people back to back like we are now. Remember?”

I scanned my brain for what the hell he was talking about. I mean, when you’re fighting for your life on a regular basis, you tend to brain-dump a lot of useless shit. Or at least file it under “crap I don’t need.” But then like a shot in the dark, I remembered.

I looped my arms through his.

“This isn’t going to work,” I whispered.

“I know,” he said and then he lifted me up and started to spin.

I was wearing heavy boots and the first zombie I kicked got the steel toe right to the temple. He whined as he dropped down to one knee, half his rotting head caved in.

I would have probably taken more time to celebrate that fact, but Dave was still rotating, steering my flailing feet toward the next zombie. This one was too far away for me to catch his skull, but I did manage to press the bottom of my boot into his chest.