Authors: Craig Halloran
Chapter 14
Institute, WV
“H
enry, I swear, nothing has happened. Everything is just like it was when you left,” Weege said.
Henry and Tori had both made their way down to the field where Weege and Alice were busy rounding up the docile zombies. His good friend from Dubai, Weege, was hiding something, they all were, except Tori. Weege’s little eyes were darting back and forth between him and the zombies. Henry kept his eyes focused on the little man as he pressed the issue.
“Have you been here the whole time?” Henry asked.
Weege was fumbling with a remote control that seemed unusually big in his tiny little hands. A zombie woman, clad in the rehab suit and helmet, was slowly spinning around in a circle. Weege banged the remote with his hand and shook it. “Stupid thing.”
“Hey, don’t call them that,” Alice said, glaring at Weege.
“I’m not talking about the zombie; I’m talking about the stupid remote. The zombie’s not responding.”
Henry had the willies as he stood among a half dozen zombies that walked aimlessly back and forth. One zombie, built like an anvil, pulled a plow the length of the field, only to stall inside the corner of the fence. A couple of others were scraping their boots over the ground, one dragging a rake and the other was biting the end of a small shovel. He felt Tori press her body closer along his side as another woman zombie with a face full of veins and long whispy hair was smacking her lips and groaning “num-num.” His stomach recoiled. His hand fell to the .44 magnum revolver at his hip. He didn’t take any chances these days. Not with full-grown zombies, anyway.
“Do you really think that’s needed,” Alice remarked in Henry’s direction, with an attitude.
Here we go.
Turning towards her, he replied, “They’re always needed when the zombies are around, Alice, and I think it would be wise if you and Weege exercised a bit more caution. Why aren’t you two wearing your suits?”
Weege’s eyes slid over to Alice and back to him before he turned away.
Alice huffed and said, “The director said we didn’t have to wear them if we didn’t want to, and I don’t think we need to. We haven’t ever had a zombie attack inside here, and besides, we have security that will handle any problems. We don’t need any cowboys to come to the rescue.”
Henry admired Alice’s scientific knowledge and appealing looks, but her personality was in need of a major overhaul. He stepped between the two women when he felt Tori stiffen at his side. Tori was very open about her hatred of Alice, and Alice was just as open about her feelings for Tori. He’d better get the train on another course before Alice and Tori collided. He cleared his throat and tried to sound as pleasant as he could.
“Okay, Alice, if the director says you don’t have to wear the protection, that is fine. You and Weege can do whatever you want to do with the zombie rehab. As a matter of fact, it looks like you have made an awful lot of progress here. Wow, six zombies, all working towards a common goal,” he said, looking around. “This place has never looked better.”
Six zombies, millions of dollars spent, and not a single tulip or trimmed tree to show for it. That’s the WHS at work.
Alice folded her arms across her chest and said, “My zombies have come a long way, Henry. As a matter of fact, that’s the reason I’m going to the WHS Conference—in Aruba—as our facility’s top scientist this year, and not you.”
“No, it’s because you’re screwing the director, you four-eyed slut!” Tori yelled.
“You’re the one screwing everyone around here, not me,” Alice said.
Henry grabbed Tori by the waist and pulled her back, saying, “Let it go.”
“Ah, look, the cowboy rescuing the cow pie. How sweet.”
Tori pulled away from Henry and pointed her finger in Alice’s face.
“I’m going to make you pay, Alice! You zombie-hugger!”
Henry tried to grab Tori as she stormed away.
Best I let her go. Time to straighten this out.
“Weege, quit screwing with the zombies and get over here,” he ordered. “And don’t you go anywhere either, Alice. We aren’t finished. If you think you can act like a professional for ten minutes and answer my question, I’ll be out of your hair in no time. Fair enough?”
Alice was looking at her nails, and Weege was looking at her. It was pretty clear to Henry that Weege was under the woman’s spell. Almost every man within the complex was, except for himself. They knew something; Henry was certain of it.
Just wait for it. Weege will bite his nails, and Alice will blow the locks of hair from her eyes.
“What’s new, then? Something is, somewhere.”
Neither one of them said anything, but the biting and the blowing began.
“Come on, I’ve been gone three weeks, and Rudy’s already mentioned something classified …”
Their eyes perked up.
“… so just tell me what it is. I mean, if we’ve had more zombies dumped on us, you need to let me know. I don’t want any more surprises.”
Other than the sound of the walking zombies and the words “num-num,” the air was dead. Henry rubbed his hands together as a stiff breeze brought him a chill.
“Weege … Alice, you don’t want me to go over the director’s head, do you?”
Alice’s face darkened as Weege shook his head.
Director Smoot was in charge of the compound, but he answered to Executive Director Galloway, who was over all the compounds, and she didn’t like his director. She also just happened to be a former boss of his, as well. She was the one who had bailed Henry, Rudy, Weege, and Tori out in the first place. She didn’t like the director, and she didn’t like her, either. If anyone knew about any changes in the compound, it would be Linda. She had made it perfectly clear, to him and to Director Smoot, that if he had any trouble all he had to do was call. Maybe now was the time to make that call.
Weege pulled at the hair on the top of his head and said, “Okay Henry, chill out. We got another zombie, that’s all.”
“Weege!” Alice shot the little man a glance, causing him to cringe.
“Just one?” Henry asked.
Alice looked at Weege and said, “Well, go ahead, Blabbermouth. He’s gonna find out as soon as we let them out in the yard, anyway.”
“Them?”
“Uh … well, two actually. They’re in the gymnasium. Um … they’re really cool, Henry. I think you’re going to like them.”
Alice walked away in disgust.
Weege had a fearful look in his eyes as she stormed out of the gate and across the campus. Henry watched her through the chain link fence as her eyes flitted his way and she started talking on her phone. It left him with a very uneasy feeling.
“Man, I’m glad you’re back, Henry. It’s been crazy around here. She’s a freakin’ lunatic.”
“Settle down, and tell me what’s going on. Two more zombies isn’t something they need to keep a big secret about. We move zombies in and out all the time.”
Weege scurried over the grounds and picked up the discarded remote controls.
“Here, let me help you with that,” he said, grabbing one of the remotes. “Man, these things are heavy.” He tossed it up in the air.
“Ah … don’t drop that, it’s over a 100K!”
“Alice should have checked it back into inventory, then. She signed for it, didn’t she?”
Weege had a look of shame on his face as he shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it; just take me to see the new zombies.”
Weege smiled.
“Hey Weege, you want us to go ahead and round up the zombies?” said one of the security guards who had just walked over from the other side of the courtyard.
The guard looked like an anvil inside his dark gray zombie-proof suit. The material wasn’t as heavy as on the suits at the day cares, but the heavy fiber was virtually bite-proof. Henry’s toe began to ache at the thought of when Louie had tried to bite his foot off back at the day care. He nodded at the man, who nodded in return. He wasn’t very comfortable around the WHS Security team. They seemed to hold an unspoken grudge against the members of the science team. Their manners and professionalism never seemed sincere.
“Thanks, Jake!” Weege said, grabbing Henry’s arm and pulling him along. “Let’s lock these up in inventory on our way to the gym. I can’t wait to show you our newest members. You’re gonna love it.”
Henry looked over his shoulder. The two men from the security team were shoving a lanky zombie down a chain-link corridor. It always reminded him of the lion cages they used at the circus. The zombies, as dumb as they were, tended to go straight in the direction you pointed them, especially when there was nowhere else to go. He always felt better after the zombies were locked up. He began to breathe easy again.
About fifteen minutes later, Henry followed Weege into the gymnasium. The air was stuffy, and it smelled like mold along with a faint smell of chlorine. Paint was peeling from the walls, and busted pieces of dropped ceiling were scattered everywhere. The fluorescent lights were out in most of the places that led them down one hallway to the other. Henry couldn’t believe it was the same place where he had played basketball only a few years ago. He kicked a piece of broken tile, and it echoed down the hall.
“Why aren’t they with the rest of the zombies?”
“They’re getting fitted.”
“How long have they been here?”
“They got here nine days ago,” Weege replied as he turned on a light switch.
The lights clicked on to reveal a small basketball court and several rows of pull-out bleachers. Henry thought of all the times he had tried to dunk on those rims, and he swore they were an inch too high.
“It doesn’t take that long to put on the head harness. Why are they still here?”
“They needed special fitting, and the director wanted them separated from the others. He thinks they’re special.”
Nothing was special about zombies; they had all proved that time and time again.
Must be a relative.
“Is anyone back here with them?”
“Nope, they’re under lock up, and the cameras keep tabs on their whereabouts. You know they’re all tracked, anyway. Don’t be so paranoid.”
“How can you not be? They almost took us out, Weege, and that was just one kid. What’s going to happen if the adults go wild?”
“Henry, we have armed men everywhere. Plus, the zombies are all doped up on Zombie Dew, and there hasn’t been a zombie attack in years. Chill out. I know you just got back, but you’ll get used to it.”
He shook his head. Nothing was ever going to make him feel comfortable around the zombies. It just wasn’t natural. The XT Formula had given him a glimmer of hope, back at the daycare, and the WHS had led him to believe that he would be a part of the solution again, when they asked him to sign the 5-year contract with them. He was wrong to believe, and the XT Formula, for all of his inquires, had slipped from his grasp. His stepfather Stan was gone, and the legacy with him. Thinking about all of his family that had perished left him empty inside.
He stuck his hands inside his lab-coat pockets and said, “Let’s get this over with.”
Toward the back of the gymnasium was a padded floor filled with weights and exercise equipment that had been modified for testing the strengths and limitations of the zombies. The crew would harness the zombie’s arms and legs to the equipment with thick leather straps and observe them trying to push or pull free. Most of the time, the docile creature would just sit there hour after hour, gazing at nothing, but when the hunger came, the weights would begin to jerk up and down. The zombies were stronger than the average man, with the raw power of an athlete but unhindered by fatigue. He remembered one zombie pulling an entire machine over on top of itself and laughing.
Weege’s ferret face was lit up with excitement.
“Here we are.”
They were standing in front of a window that was as black as night on the other side. Henry knew that the glass was at least three inches thick, but he still felt like it was going to break at any moment. A heavy door with a magnetic security lock glowed with a tiny red light. It didn’t give him any comfort. He began to thirst as he wiped the steamed-up lenses of his glasses on his coat and put them back on.
“Okay, let’s see it.”
Flick
His heart stopped as he stumbled back. It was the two biggest zombies he had ever seen, and they looked hungry. Every fiber of his being told him to run, but his legs wouldn’t move.
This is insane!
Chapter 15
Washington, D.C.
D
on Baker had seen many mind-blowing things before in his life, but nothing compared to this. His stomach was turning into knots as his nephew, Jack, explained what he was watching. All of the triumphs of mankind, from the automobile to the nuclear bomb to the Internet, seemed minute in comparison to what he was beholding. The zombie point of view was a disturbing thing, but it fascinated him as nothing ever had before. He was hunched over on the bench as Jack explained.
“It’s amazing, what we have learned over the past several months, Don. The XT Serum worked miracles of sorts. The brain function of the zombies went from five percent to just around twenty. The entire nervous system was at our disposal. We could explore the brain from the very top, and down to the bottom of the spine. Since the zombies don’t feel, we could do just about anything.”
“But, if their nerves are firing, won’t they feel pain?” Don inquired.
“Nope. No emotions, either. They’re like robots made of flesh and bone. Here, let me have your screen.”
“Couldn’t you have just used little cameras like our military uses? I’m sure it would have been easier and cost much less.”
“We can do both. As a matter of fact, those cameras are back-up, seeing as how the zombie eyes are still in an experimental phase. But it’s amazing; the zombie’s lens is so superior to the smaller camera lenses. We were even able to make a breakthrough on using the eyes to help guide them. It’s sweet!”
The excitement in Jack’s voice disturbed Don. The younger man over forty years his junior, seemed to have become obsessed with the amazing world of zombies. Don was carrying enough guilt already for having taken part in the outbreak, and now he had drawn his nephew into some psychotic-thriller world that kept morphing into something else. Don never would have believed the zombies could have wrought the amount of damage they had. It was supposed to be just another big government scare tactic, a little something to keep the world in line. He had been certain that even after the intervention of Nate McDaniel, the plug would be pulled and the world would churn back to normal. But now it was clear the WHS had other plans. And the worst thing was they were clearly plans that he wasn’t being included in.
Jack handed him back his computer, saying, “Just watch the screen, Uncle Don.”
Don’s chin dipped down. On the screen, he could see a cavernous room, something like an aircraft hangar, and it looked like he was jogging. The motion was jerky, but realistic.
“How does this work?”
“Hold on,” Jack said as he typed messages. “Ah … the zombie’s entire neural network is wired up to people in a simulator, much like they use in video games. We can control them and have them pick up things, run, and jump. But it’s not perfected yet. The optic nerve behind the eye has been wired to send signals back to our systems. Some guy said he got the idea from a movie called ‘Inner Space’. Turns out it was a good one. It works.
“I guess they don’t blink, either?”
“Huh, never thought about that, but I guess not. Here, watch this. I’m going to send them a message to have the zombie jump.
Don held the screen up to his nose. The picture lifted up, came down and headed for the ground. The screen went black. “What happened?”
“I think it fell. It happens; just wait.”
Slowly, the concrete floor came into view, and the image panned back to normal.
“See?” Jack said, “now watch this.”
The zombie’s hands were smacking together, faster, then slower.
“Can they hear, too?” Don asked.
“No, but that’s not a problem. We have a microphone in their suit. Just give it a second.”
The claps were more like dull smacks, but audible. Another annoying sound filtered into his ears as well.
“Numma-Numma. Numma-Numma.”
Don muted the sound. He couldn’t take it anymore. All of the senseless deaths over the world had taken a toll on him. He was too old to get involved with another deranged war for the control of mankind, but he was in too deep. Like a good soldier, he had to play along, not just for his sake, but for the sake of what was left of his own family. Maybe even the sake of humanity, itself. Secretly, he wished someone, somewhere, could put an end to all of the madness. He always had hopes that Nate McDaniel would be the one. After all, he had been warning the man for years, but now he was dead. Oliver returned beside the bench and was holding his overcoat. He yawned as he stood up and slipped it on.
“That’s fascinating, Jack. They’ll make excellent gardeners,” he said
“And soldiers.”
“What?”
Jack’s voice sounded sinister when he said, “Sit back down, Uncle Don, and I’ll show you.”
Don reached for his computer and sat back down. He flipped open the cover and blanched.
The picture was inside another warehouse that was filled with over a dozen figures. They all were adorned in combat boots, dark green and black jump suits. A dark metal glinted on their faces.
“Are those zombies or men?”
“Zombies.”
“What’s on their faces? Are those masks?”
Jack snickered.
“This was one of my brain storms. It’s a titanium mask and skull cap I designed. I got the idea from something I saw on Warcraft. Pretty badass, huh.”
It was horrifying. The zombies looked like metal skulls with snapping mouths, like gladiators raised from the dead. The zombies moved fast as they stumbled and climbed over top of one another. Don pulled his coat tighter over his chest. The chill breeze of the early evening was suddenly cold.
“Why do they need those helmets?”
“So if they get shot in the head they won’t die.”
Don grabbed his nephew and said, “Who’s going to be shooting at them?”
“The people in the complex.”
“What complex?”
“Institute,West Virginia.”