He stared back at her in vacant silence.
“My brother once told me that strength is up here.” Nonna gently tapped Anton’s forehead. “You are strong, Antony. You are one of the strongest boys I know.”
“Your brother? The one killed by Mussolini’s supporters in the war?”
“He wasn’t killed by a fascist. That was a lie told by me and my cousin.” The truth sprang free of her, words that had been trapped inside her body for far too long. Never again would she spread the lie surrounding Luca’s death.
“You lied about your brother’s death?” A dent appeared in Anton’s brow. It was the first facial expression she had seen since he’d returned home.
“Yes. My cousin killed your great-uncle and I helped him cover it up.”
“But—why?”
Nonna sighed. “My brother was like Juli. It got him killed.”
“Who?”
Anton hadn’t yet met Juli. Nonna clarified. “My brother was like Stephenson.”
This was adequate explanation for Anton. He nodded in understanding, not questioning her further about Juli. “But why did you cover it up if your cousin murdered him?”
Nonna met Anton’s eyes. “Because I was a scared little girl and I didn’t know better.” She rested her hand on top of her grandson’s. “War makes us all grow up faster than we should, Antony.”
45
Microscope
When Nonna finished with Anton, he buttoned on a clean flannel shirt. All his wounds were hidden except for the cigarette burns on his neck and jaw and the cuts and bruises on his face.
Even that was enough to suck the oxygen out of the room as he walked slowly into the kitchen. He appeared to be limping on both legs.
Lena was the first to recover. She ran across the room and threw her arms around her brother. Anton teetered from the force of the hug.
“Careful,” Nonna said. “Some of his ribs are cracked.”
“Sorry.” Lena shifted her weight, leaning back to look at Anton. She burst into tears at the sight of him.
Anton held her, letting her cry on his shoulder. “I’m okay. I’m okay, Lena.”
He kissed her cheek, which made Lena cry harder. They held onto each other as though their lives depended on it. It was the single tenderest moment she’d ever seen the two siblings share.
“What did those assholes do to you?” Lena sniffled, raising her eyes to take in Anton’s battered face. When he didn’t respond, she said, “Tate?”
At the mention of his friend’s name, Anton’s face went blank. “He didn’t make it,” was all he said.
Fresh tears spilled from Lena’s eyes. Anton kissed her cheek one last time before releasing his sister. When he took a seat at the kitchen table, Nonna placed a plate in front of him. It was mounded with enough spaghetti to feed three teenage boys. Anton dug into it with gusto.
He spoke between bites. He didn’t talk about what had happened to him and the Craigs. Instead, he told a story of a Russian compound overrun with a new type of zombie—a sentient zombie, the same type Lena’s group had encountered.
Nonna didn’t remind Anton not to talk with food in his mouth. As far as she was concerned, Anton had earned a break from table manners.
“We’re calling them sentients,” Anton said. “Sentient zombies. Super soldiers. Their compound was chaos when we left because so many of them were turning.”
“It only reason we escape,” Koz said, speaking for the first time.
“How do we know you won’t turn into a zombie?” Nonna asked him. The sight of a Russian at the Cecchino table still had her hackles up.
“I a scientist,” Koz said. “I work on nezhit vaccine. It very dangerous.”
“You mean the nezhit virus is dangerous?” Amanda asked.
“No, he means what he said.” Anton inhaled another forkful of spaghetti. “The nezhit vaccine is dangerous. The Soviet soldiers are beginning to zombify, but they aren’t like mutants and they aren’t like regular zombies.” He glanced at Koz. “Explain it to them.”
“The vaccine have small amounts of the nezhit virus,” Koz said. “Taken over a long period of time . . .” He shrugged. “You see what happens. They turn into smart zombies.”
“But what about you?” Nonna asked. “What’s keeping you from turning into a zombie?”
“I take saline, not vaccine,” Koz said. “No one listen to me, but I know. I try to tell them, to warn them, but no one will listen. I know better. I not take vaccine.”
“He brought all his research with him. And something else.” Anton’s dead eyes swept the table. “Tell them, Koz.”
The hulking Russian rose from table. He really was the biggest man Nonna had ever laid eyes on. He towered over the rest of them. He would make Leo and Bruce look normal-sized, if the boys were here.
A metal briefcase sat on the hearth. It was the spot where Cassie liked to sit and play chess. Her little travel case with its miniature pieces and board leaned against the brick, right next to the black metal case.
Koz picked up the case. There was a combination code set into the top of it. He spun the dial and opened it.
Inside was a thick stack of notebooks and paper. From what Nonna could see, everything was written in Russian. There was also a microscope and several vials of a yellowish substance, all of them packed neatly into a foam cut outs.
“A microscope,” Amanda exclaimed. For some reason, the sight of it brightened her face.
“My research.” Koz laid a giant hand on the stack of papers and notebooks.
“We need to get Koz and his research to Nellis in Nevada,” Anton said. “He’s agreed to help us fight the sentients in exchange for immunity. The sentients are more dangerous than anything we’ve come up against. They’re as strong and fast as the mutants, but they think and reason just like us. And they eat brains. There are thousands of invaders all across the country. Imagine what will happen when they all begin to turn and hunger for brains.”
Silence fell as the statement sank in.
“They’re going to hunt us,” Juli said. “Round us up and eat us like cattle.”
“Precisely my thought,” Koz rumbled. “This is why we must get to your scientists.”
Nonna was skeptical. “And just how is that case supposed to help us combat sentient zombies? You helped create them. How is that information supposed to help our country?”
“The zombies are side effect,” Koz said. “They begin as a soldier program. My superiors wanted to make super soldier. So we work on virus to help men grow in strength and speed. But it not work. We make zombies like you see when we first come to the United States. My superiors try to control the earliest zombies. Try to make them fight. We make a gas to put them to sleep between testing sessions. It knocked them out when they are not training.”
Nonna finally understood where all this was going. “You have this gas formula?”
“I have formula and samples.” Koz tapped the three test tubes in his case. “If we make more, we can put sentients down.”
Nonna took a long drink from her glass, silently wishing it was whiskey instead of water. She didn’t want to trust Koz. The very sight of him made her want to spit like a feral cat. But if what he said was true, the future of their nation could be in his little black case.
“Can you prove what you’re saying?” she asked. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
Koz frowned at her. “How can I show you? We need a zombie.”
“There are plenty of dead mutants outside,” Anton said.
“I need a sentient,” Koz replied.
“I have samples!” Amanda jumped out of her chair. She hurried over to the fridge and retrieved a Ziplock that appeared to contain bloody chunks of flesh.
When Nonna realized what it was, she narrowed her eyes. “You put that in my fridge?”
Amanda flinched. “Sorry. I meant to tell you, but it was late and I forgot.” She turned to Koz. “I got some tissue samples, one fr
om a mutant and one from a sentient. Is there a way to use these to show us what the gas does to zombies?”
Koz’s eyes lit up. The eagerness in his expression was disturbing. “Where you get these?”
“From some zombies we killed.” Amanda plunked the bloody contents onto the table in front of the Russian. “This one is from a mutant. It’s about two days old. I got this one from a sentient less than a day ago.”
“You are a strange girl to be getting tissue samples from zombies.” Koz peered at her. “You like science?”
“Biology is my favorite subject.” Amanda grinned.
There was something different about her. Nonna had been too preoccupied with Anton and his Russian beast to notice before. Amanda seemed stronger. More confident. It was a good look on her.
“I was hoping to preserve these samples long enough to get my hands on a microscope,” Amanda said. “I thought maybe I could learn something useful.”
“Yeah, she was going to try and convince everyone to go on a mission back to the high school and raid the science lab.” Lena shook her head with affection. “Anton, thanks for bringing us a microscope. I was not looking forward to going back into Bastopol.”
Anton didn’t respond to his sister’s easy banter. The dead look in his eyes broke Nonna’s heart.
“I can use this.” Koz held the plastic bag up, his large hand nearly swallowing the tissue samples inside. “The virus will still be active.”
“It is?” Lena leaned forward. “How long does it stay active on a tissue sample?”
“Back in Russia, the virus would survive over a week in a petri dish.”
“Woah.” Amanda grabbed her chair, dragging it over beside Koz. “I have to see this.”
Koz’s face crinkled into a smile as Amanda pulled up beside him. Nonna humphed and busied herself with clearing away the dirty dishes.
It took Koz a few minutes to set up the microscope. Using a scalpel that came out of his metal briefcase, he removed a thin slice of skin from Amanda’s pound of flesh.
“Look.” Koz put the sample on a microscope slide.
Amanda leaned forward eagerly, adjusting the microscope with the knob on the side. “Woah. I can see the virus. It’s still moving in the tissue sample.”
“I want to see.” Juli elbowed Amanda out of the way. “Oh, wow. That’s disturbing. I wish Cassie was here to see this.”
Everyone took turns looking through the microscope. Everyone, except Nonna. She kept herself busy at the kitchen sink.
She’d lived more than eighty years without seeing a zombie virus up close. No reason to change that now.
“This will not kill the virus.” Koz lifted one of the vials from its foam padding in the case. “It will knock it out. Like a sleeping gas. Back up, everyone.”
“Is it safe for us?” Nonna asked, throwing open a window.
“It was designed for the virus,” Koz said. “We will be fine. Watch.”
To illustrate the point, he opened the vial. As soon as the liquid inside had contact with the air, it began to smoke. Small tendrils rose out of the bottle. Koz inhaled a few of fumes, wrinkling his nose.
“Smells bad, but see? Harmless.” He spread his arms wide to illustrate the point. Next, he bent over the table and let some of the gas drift over the tissue sample before returning the stopper. “Look,” he said to Amanda.
She bent over the microscope. “Oh, my God. You guys, you have to see this. The virus is slowing down. It’s barely moving anymore. Wow, that was fast.”
“Dormant,” Koz said. “Hibernation. Deep sleep. That is what the gas does.”
Everyone jostled for a look, exclaiming over what they saw.
Nonna focused on scrubbing her spaghetti pot until it shone. As much as she hated to admit it, Anton had been right to bring the Russian beast here. He might hold the only legitimate key to battling the sentient zombies.
She hated the idea of leaving Pole Mountain. But if the Russian had intel to help their country, there was no choice. They had to go to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. All of them. No one could sit this one out.
There was just one problem: Leo hadn’t come home yet.
“This is all great,” Lena said, “but no one has asked the real question. Just how are we supposed to get to Nellis in Nevada?”
Anton shocked everyone by saying, “Koz stole a tank. We drove it here from Rossi.”
“A tank?” Dal said. “How could you forget a little detail like that?”
“Where the heck is it?” Lena said. “I didn’t see any tank outside.”
“It’s parked a half mile down the road. I didn’t want to give anyone a heart attack by driving into the clearing with a tank. It has food stored. Tate and I took out a supply truck on the way to Rossi. We loaded up on our way home. But there’s something else I have to tell you.” Anton’s eyes took on a distant, glazed look. “Tate gave up our location. The only reason the Soviets aren’t here is because they’re fighting each other back in Rossi. But once the sentients have control, it’s a good bet they’ll come here. We have to leave.”
“What about Leo?” Lena asked. “We can’t leave until he gets back.”
“Two days.” Between drying the plates and putting the leftover pasta into a carton, Nonna had reconciled herself to this. “We give Leo two days.”
“And if Leo isn’t back in two days?” Anton asked.
Nonna forced herself to face her grandson. “If Leo isn’t back in another two days, there’s nothing any of us can do to help him. Our priority is getting Koz and the formula to Nellis.” Speaking those words was painful. It would have been easier to cut out her own heart.
“What if the Russians show up here in the next forty-eight hours?” Dal asked.
“We keep a twenty-four hour watch.” Nonna braced herself for what had to be said next. “And we rig the cabin with explosives. I have the supplies needed to make trip wires. If the Soviets attack, we hide in the woods and let them think they have the upper hand. When they try to take the cabin, they’ll be blown to pieces.”
“You—you want to blow up the cabin?” Lena’s eyes widened with disbelief.
Nonna ran her hand lovingly over the kitchen table. “I would rather see this place reduced to sawdust than let it fall into Soviet hands. Your grandfather built this with his own hands. It’s what he would want.”
She left the others, striding outside with a dishpan of hot water. Juli followed her out.
“Nonna, are you okay?” Juli followed her down the front steps.
“No reason to dump perfectly good hot water down the drain,” Nonna replied. “It’s a good weed killer. This was a trick my mother taught me.”
Marching across the clearing, she dumped the scalding water on a thick patch of milkweed growing near the road. She took her time, waiting for Juli to go back inside with the others.
She didn’t.
Nonna tipped the wash basin, slowing the flow of water to buy herself a few precious moments of privacy.
One grandson was missing. The other had lost his soul and his innocence in a Soviet torture chamber. There was a Russian in her home, and she had to chose between waiting for Leo and a mission to save the country.
It was easier to kill weeds.
The dishpan drained of the last of its water.
When she turned around, Juli seized her in a hug. “We’ll get through this, Nonna.”
Nonna patted Juli on the back, chest tight. The weight of the world was heavy, but she was not about to break.
Nonna Cecchino did not break.
She straightened her spine. “There’s work to be done. We need to gather supplies for our trip to Nellis. Do you still have your inventory sheet?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Grab it. I’ll meet you back here soon.”
“Where are you going?”
“To get Anton. We need to get that tank moved up here so we can finish packing it for our trip to Nevada.”
46
<
br /> Weird
Amanda and Juli descended into the storage room, inventory sheet in hand. Nonna had reviewed the inventory and put a check mark next to everything they would take with them in the tank. Top of the list was every last ounce of dried beans and rice they had.
The room looked like a disaster zone. The old mare had done a number on it. She hadn’t returned to the cabin since the mutant battle.
Amanda made no comment on the mess. She had no interest in talking about zombie battle fallout. Not when she finally had Stephenson—Juli—alone.
She closed the door and rounded on her friend. “How long have you known you’re a girl?” Amanda demanded.
Juli flinched. “We have a lot of work to do—”
“No way. You’re not getting out of this conversation.”
Juli looked torn between wanting to bolt and wanting to hide underneath the machine guns that sat in a pile by her feet. Amanda saw the battle raging in her features, but she refused to back down.
Juli visibly gathered herself. “I’ve known since I was a kid.”
“What?” Amanda’s jaw dropped.
“I’ve always been . . . different.” Juli shrugged. “You know that.”
“I just thought you were nerdier than me and Cassie.”
“Well, that’s true. I am.” She ran a hand through her hair. Her shaggy, dirty blond hair actually looked feminine. “I’ve just never felt right in this body.”
“But . . .” Amanda searched for the right words. “How could you tell Nonna before telling me and Cassie?”
As soon as she spoke the words, she realized that’s what had been bothering her. Seeing Stephenson—Juli—in girl’s clothes hadn’t seemed all that weird. Not once she had a few minutes to get used to the idea. But why had she chosen to tell Nonna first?
“It’s a long story,” Juli said. “But Nonna already knew. I didn’t have to tell her. She gave me these clothes.” Her hands indicated the stylish clothes she now wore.
Zommunist Invasion | Book 3 | Scattered Page 23