by Katz, Gayle
“What do you want?” he called out.
“I have some information,” the officer said. “It’s about the zombie gang.”
“What about it?” said Stewart. “As far as I know, everyone is either dead or in prison.”
“It goes farther back than that,” he said.
Stewart quickly pulled the door open. “I’m not certain you can tell me anything I don’t already know.”
“Probably not. That’s why I’m here,” the officer said, pulling out his gun.
“That’s not necessary,” said Stewart. “I personally don’t care what any gang does, as long as it doesn’t harm the living.”
The officer laughed. “That’s not what I heard. You have some zombie fighters or someone working with you.”
“What of it? Everyone is a zombie fighter today, since Portland seems to get their share of them.”
Stewart tried to shut the door, but the cop held it open. “OK, so this is how it’s going to go. You’re going to come with me.”
“Nope,” said Stewart, slamming the door hard. The cop toppled over. “Stupid bullies everywhere.” He went to grab his phone. “Hey, Jay. How’s it going? I’ve got one of yours here, threatening me.”
zzz
“That’s just wrong,” said Zan. “Why would someone, especially a police officer, infect you deliberately?”
“Because Dr. Arora always needs players for her zombie gang,” gurgled out Ray.
“But, she is dead,” said Zan.
“Is she? I think she never dies.”
Zan looked into his eyes.
“Seriously, young woman, she has the recipe for long life.”
“But what could she hope to benefit?” asked Zan.
“She wants money, fame, power, what else?” he said. “That’s what I thought I wanted. Now I realize I want freedom. My family. Peace. My health. I screwed up.” Ray said these phrases quickly, before he ran out of steam. “I’m truly sorry about your mother.”
Zan looked down at him.
“So, do what you were going to do to me with that syringe. I volunteer as tribute.”
Zan shook her head, tears falling down her face. “I’m sorry. I was angry.”
Ray’s head turned to the door. “What’s that sound? Sounds like the cop who infected me,” said Ray, gaining more energy in that moment. “If you’re going to give me a shot, do it now.”
Zan tossed the syringe in the garbage. She pulled out the second syringe, the one that contained the zombie vaccine. “Here goes nothing,” she whispered. “It’s supposed to be a vaccine, but no guarantees it works.” She jabbed it into his arm, then tossed the remains into the trash.
“Fine by me,” whispered Ray. “You need to get out of here. Best only one of us is involved. I can stall for time while you find that Sergeant Bourne guy.”
Zan patted him on the shoulder. “Good luck, Ray. I’m sorry it came down to this.” She pushed open the curtains and then rushed to hide behind the door.
Out in the hall, someone with an authoritative voice was talking to a doctor or nurse. The door was pushed open. Zan grabbed onto the handle, while someone strode in. They must have spotted that Ray was hidden behind the curtain, as they headed in that direction.
Zan immediately slipped around the door and let it close naturally behind her. She peered through the small glass window but couldn’t see much. She then ran to the nurse’s station.
“We need security,” she said. “Some guy disguised as a cop is threatening my friend, Ray Orzola!”
They called the police.
Zan watched as the cop came back out from the room. She didn’t recognize him. Instead of walking past the nurses station, he headed in the other direction to the stairwell. He didn’t notice that he had a bunch of eyes watching him.
“Code blue!” yelled out one of the nurses, rushing to Ray’s room.
“Damn,” said Zan. “I should have stayed.” She raced after her.
In the room, she watched as they tried to revive Ray. They had no luck. Soon, they covered his body with a sheet.
“Hey, Stewart! There’s some cop who killed Ray,” said Zan, frantically over the telephone.
“I know,” said Stewart. “That same cop tried to break in here. I want everyone to meet here in twenty minutes.”
“OK. See you soon,” said Zan, quickly texting Charlie. She then noticed the missed texts but shrugged.
“Sorry, miss. Are you a relative?” asked the nurse, cleaning up.
“No, a friend,” she said.
The staff soon left the room. Zan decided to pay her respects, and headed over to his body.
“Goodbye, Ray. I’m sorry you got caught up in this zombie shit. It seems like some sort of conspiracy, or something. I don’t even know what will happen next.” She turned and walked away.
Then she heard a scratching sound coming from the bed. She turned and looked. Ray was pulling himself upright, while the white sheet tumbled off his body.
“Oh crap,” muttered Zan. “I’m confused. Does this mean the vaccine worked, or not?”
zzz
“So much for my nice evening of television and beer,” said Stewart, tossing away his cans.
“Sorry,” said Charlie. “It sounds like lots has happened.”
He sat down with the teens. “Yep. First, what has been going on at Owen’s house?”
“Well, the zombie ghosts come out to play on a regular basis,” said Owen.
Zan laughed.
“Charlie witnessed it herself,” he said in defense.
“Well, sort of,” she said. “I saw objects moving but no ghosts.”
Stewart nodded. “It might have something to do with Owen’s truthsayer abilities. If the zombie ghosts are there to harm him, then they would be revealed to him.”
“Yeah, these zombies can move and throw things,” said Owen.
“I did see that,” said Charlie. “Oh, almost forgot, we brought the knife that the zombie tossed at Owen.”
Stewart grabbed the bag and had a look. “This looks like just a knife to me.” He carefully opened the bag and pulled out the knife. “Revelare ut mihi,” he muttered out loud, but nothing happened. He handed the knife back to Owen. “Sorry, nothing there. It must have been a spell on the ghost zombie to make it move real objects.”
Owen had a confused expression on his face. “But I thought my house had protections?”
Stewart frowned. “Well, can you believe that the protections are against bad humans or zombies trying to hurt you or your family, or even your possessions? There’s one thing that I never considered. That ethereal zombies can be a threat.”
Zan was fascinated by the conversation and just listened in awe. “I’ve missed so much. I want to see ghost zombies too!”
“OK,” said Owen. “Charlie and I worked out that the zombie ghosts might actually be projections. That means, we think, that the protections won’t stop the zombie ghosts inside the house, which makes sense. The other zombies I saw never hurt me. But how can these ghost zombies actually touch objects and make them move? Like I said before, the other day, one tossed a knife at me.”
“Also,” said Charlie. “How do we make whomever is sending them, stop?” She had a sip of her diet cola. Her phone made a blipping sound. “Oh damn! I forgot I was supposed to have coffee with Paulo.” She frantically typed in an apology.
Stewart thought about it. “Owen, do you know if all the zombies can move objects, or just one?”
Owen pondered his question. “Now that I think of it, the zombie that tossed the knife at me seemed to be dressed in white, like a doctor. And it was the Dr. Arora zombie that tossed the remote control at me too.”
“What?” exclaimed Stewart. “One of the ghost zombies was Dr. Arora?”
“But she’s dead,” said Zan.
“Hmm,” Stewart started to say. “I’m beginning to believe even more that these are projections. But the movement of the weapons is odd. I’ve never heard of an
ything like this before. It sounds like the movement is focused on only one zombie though. I’m not sure what would make it special from the others.”
“Time to consult the spell book,” said everyone in unison. Then, everyone laughed.
“OK. I’m starting to be best friends with the security officer at the bank,” said Stewart. “First thing tomorrow, I’ll check the book and see if anything new is going to be revealed to me. Good thing they have a small viewing area, so I never have to remove the book from the bank, unless there’s a need for the original.”
“Is he cute?” asked Zan.
Charlie laughed.
“Um, why, yes, he is. Thank you for asking,” said Stewart in a cheeky manner. “Anyway, Owen, you said that your house was broken into?”
Owen nodded.
“I’m thinking that you have something in your house that shouldn’t be there. I suggest that Zan and Charlie help you conduct a search. Remove the device and I expect that all ghost zombie attacks will stop.”
Owen was suitably impressed. “Hey, cool. Good idea,” he said.
“So, what about my issue?” asked Zan. “Ray got killed in front of me.”
“Oh right. That was strange,” said Stewart. “It sounds like the same guy who tried to break into my place. He wanted me to go somewhere with him.”
“Did you recognize him at all?” asked Zan.
Stewart shook his head. “Jay said he checked security footage at the police station, but whoever did it was smart. The camera was blocked. When it was unblocked, Ray was already sick.”
“If Ray was killed at the hospital, then I’m guessing he is a zombie now?” asked Charlie.
“Yes,” said Stewart. “Zan reported that Ray turned into a zombie.”
“Yeah,” said Zan. “He looked dead and wasn’t moving for a time. Then, suddenly, he sat up on the bed. It was freaky!”
“Weird. So where is Ray now?” asked Owen.
“Oh, he’s been transferred to the hospital’s quarantine zone,” Stewart said. “They want to study him, see if they can get some insight into this zombie plague.”
Zan smirked.
“OK, meeting adjourned. We have work to do.” Everyone left.
As Zan entered her vehicle, she thought about the quarantine zone at the hospital. What better spot to conduct zombie experiments? No one would ever go there out of curiosity. As she drove out of the parking lot, she thought about how the zombie vaccine had been a failure. It had done nothing to keep Ray from turning. And there was no way to test it on a living human, someone who hadn’t recently been infected by the zombie virus. Or was there? Too bad she had none of the vaccine left.
Chapter 9
________________________________________
Stewart had obtained access for the students to use the school gym during the summertime. Charlie was dressed in her white martial arts outfit, while the others wore their t-shirts and sweatpants.
Zan was only there because Charlie wanted to fill up the class. “Let’s do this,” she said, as she was anxious to begin investigating the quarantine center at the hospital.
“I think we’re waiting for one more person,” said Owen, stretching his arms above his head.
“Sorry, folks,” said Charlie. “Oh! Here he is!”
Paulo strode into the gym. “Hey! You guys waiting for me?” he asked. “Sorry, I had brunch with my parents.” He got in place in the middle of the gym.
A thought popped into Owen’s head. This Paulo guy looked familiar for some reason, but he couldn’t remember from where, so he kept it to himself.
“Thank you all for joining me today,” said Charlie. “Today I’ll be teaching you some basic martial arts moves. You’ll be working on your own today. It’s best to not try these moves with a partner yet, as we don’t want anyone to be injured. I’ll begin by demonstration.”
Everyone watched attentively. Charlie did a few stretches to limber up her muscles. Then she proceeded to jump forward with some basic moves, such as forearm blocks, roundhouse kicks, and palm-heel strikes.
“Wow. It’s just like in the movies,” said Paulo.
Zan was bored, as she didn’t use martial arts moves when fighting zombies. Actually, she didn’t see anyone use them. Hunting zombies and slaying was more about flexibility and strength.
Charlie had them practice a front elbow strike. She walked up to each person and helped them assume the proper position.
“Thanks for inviting me,” said Paulo, as she adjusted his arm into the right position.
“No problem. It’s the least I can do for forgetting our coffee date. I had to do some unexpected schoolwork. Next summer will be better.”
“Hey. That’s all right.”
She showed them a few more moves, and then class was over. “That’s it, folks. Remember to practice every day, and check out those videos online. Maybe I’ll get a club going, once we’re back in class next month.”
Zan was the first one out of there.
“Whoa. Where is she going?” asked Owen.
Charlie shrugged. “I think she wants to work on her science project.” She winked at him to keep his mouth shut.
“Oh right. That experiment she is doing. Always working so hard.” He said his goodbyes and left.
“Hey. Owen and Zan got a thing going?” asked Paulo, putting his shoes back on.
“Not really. Besides going to the prom together next year.”
“Prom? That’s like in May of next year.” He laughed. “They must really like each other.”
She shrugged. “It’s one of those complicated things. Owen is way too nice for her.” Then she got nervous that someone had overheard her, and looked nervously around.
“That’s cool. There is no rush to have a relationship, that’s for certain.” He smiled at her. “So, what’s up for the rest of the day?”
She smiled. “Probably finish that history homework I have.” Then her phone beeped. She took it out of her bag and checked. “Yep, that’s my reminder.”
“OK. We’ll meet for coffee again soon,” he said. They gave each other an awkward hug.
Charlie walked slowly, letting him go on ahead. When he was out of earshot, she frantically pressed the auto dial button for Stewart. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Charlie! Someone broke into my apartment when I was at the bank checking the spell book.”
“Oh no! Did they take anything?”
“Not as far as I can see, beyond a few knick knacks of no worth. I feel really unsettled.”
“I’m on my way,” she said, digging her keys out of her pocket.
zzz
Charlie and Zan were supposed to help Owen do a search of his house for anything that shouldn’t be there, but he guessed they had other things on their minds. He decided that he would do the search himself. Anyway, he knew what should and shouldn’t be there.
He felt a bit annoyed that his problem seemed to be pushed to the bottom of the pile. Stewart, Zan, and Charlie weren’t taking it seriously. Nevertheless, he’d picked up anything that could be used as a weapon and hid them in the cupboard. As far as he knew, the ghost zombies couldn’t really think or do too much movement. So far, it had just been objects out in the open that had been moved.
He started upstairs. He knew that his room had been messed up, but he figured that had been by the burglar, not the zombies, of course. He saw nothing that shouldn’t be there. For now, he steered clear of his parents’ room. He didn’t want to have to explain to them why their stuff was moved around.
There was nothing in the two bathrooms. The kitchen seemed fine. He decided to check the dining room next. He stepped into it. He had a quick look around the room. Then he felt it. Something was definitely out of place.
The table was arranged neatly with a fancy tablecloth and place settings. They almost never ate in here, except for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners. There was a large vase of flowers in the middle of the table. They were fake silk flowers, not real.
Could that be it?
As he stepped closer, he wondered. He believed the flowers had been there for as long as he could remember. They were often dusty, as his parents hated to dust. One of the large, burgundy roses was askew.
He walked up and went to push the stem back into the base. When he did so, something toppled out and landed on the table.
“Gross!” he cried out.
zzz
Zan had made it back to the hospital. She’d managed to find the quarantine room. It was down in the basement. She vaguely recalled seeing it when she had been down here before, but it hadn’t really registered in her mind.
She turned the knob, but it caught. It was obviously locked. She took a look, but it was a deadbolt. The doorknob also had a lock on it.
She peered through the glass of the door. She didn’t see much beyond. The first room was like some sort of reception area. She couldn’t see anyone at the desk. But if Ray were here, chances were good that someone was here with him.
She heard sounds coming down the hallway. She had to leave, as she wasn’t getting into the quarantine zone today.
zzz
Stewart let Charlie into his place.
“Oh my gosh, Stewart! I’m sorry this happened!” She had a look around his place. It looked like the burglar had gone through everything. The drawers had been dumped out, and even the cushions on the furniture were in disarray.
“It’s OK. I’ll clean it up.” He put the cushions back on the couch.
She went to help him. “I’ll help you. I have nothing else to do for a bit, anyway.”
They spent an hour tidying up.
“Why did you call me? I thought you’d be able to handle this yourself,” she asked, looking at him.
He grimaced. “Normally, I can, but usually someone can’t just break the protections in a home. I’ve been a bit unsettled since Owen told me about the ghost zombies. He thinks I don’t care, but I do.”