The Z-Strain Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Morris, SJ

  “Well, Abbigail, it sounds like you’ve put a lot of thought into that response, but you’re wrong. I planned for all of that. Come, take a walk with me, and I’ll explain everything,” she said offering me her arm.

  “I’m pregnant, not old. Thanks, but I can walk just fine on my own.”

  Dr. Brigantine turned away from me with a huff that I still didn’t want to be her best friend. Stuart smiled at me ever so slightly but immediately wiped it off of his face when he saw Jack staring between the two of us.

  “Captain Norrington, stay here if you will. I think you and Abbigail could use some time apart,” Brigantine said as she swiped her card to open the door.

  Jack looked like he was going to protest, but he stopped saying what he wanted to before the words left his lips. With the face of a defeated child who was told they couldn’t go outside and play, he plopped into the chair next to the door. I enjoyed his frustration way too much, but he’d brought it on himself.

  Chapter 18

  We walked quietly down the hall, and as usual, I paid very close attention to every door and hall we walked past. I was trying to memorize where everything was. It’s always better to know where you’re going than to be guessing in a place like this.

  We turned to a hallway I had not yet been down and walked past a door marked, “Electric.” It got my mind racing that if I was somehow able to get in there and turn the power off, I might just be able to break out. No electricity, no electric door locks, right? I’m sure she had a backup generator somewhere, but hopefully, I would at least have a few minutes before that kicked on to make my way outside.

  I was pulled from my thoughts when Brigantine gasped overdramatically at the wall of glass doors, I’m sure she’s seen a million times before.

  “Oh, look, Abbigail! Isn’t this spectacularly breathtaking?” she exclaimed.

  “It’s snow, and it’s pretty,” I responded blankly.

  “Come on! You’ve never seen something so magical before, have you? It’s just dazzling! The way the morning sun illuminates the snowflakes on the delicate green needles of the pine trees. The way the wind picks up the flakes and carries them through the air making them sparkle like fairy dust! It’s just breathtaking, wouldn’t you agree?” she asked putting her hand on her chest theatrically.

  “Whatever you say, Doc. You know, you’re doing nothing to help your case if you don’t want me to think of you as a crazy person, right? Do you hear yourself? It’s snow,” I said flatly.

  “Come then, Debbie Downer, you must at least feel the sun on your face,” she said as she shook her head at my dismissiveness.

  She scanned her badge, and the doors opened to a sprawling courtyard with snow-covered benches and trees. The chill hit me immediately, and so did the smell. The pungent aroma smelled unmistakably like the undead. The fetid, putrid odor that followed them like a black cloud hung heavy in the winter air. I was almost fearful to step outside, but Brigantine grabbed my hand and pulled me through the doors with her. Stuart quickly followed behind us. It seemed as though he didn’t want to stray far from the doctor, which scared me even more. What did Stuart not want to face without the protection Brigantine would offer him? I didn’t have to wait long before my question was answered.

  We rounded a corner at the far end of the courtyard and there they were. There was a chain-linked pen in the shape of a rectangle that contained at least twenty of the infected. Some missing arms and some missing chunks of their faces. All of them, however, wore large metal collars with clasps attached.

  These were test subjects. They had to be. I didn’t know what Brigantine was up to, but she had to be testing something on them if she wanted to be able to control them with the collars and leashes I saw.

  “What is this? What happened to your majestic beauty of snow and nature?” I asked pulling my coat up over my nose and mouth to ward away the smell.

  “My dear, this is the first public clinical trial. I wanted you to see that my doctors have finally mastered the antivirus for everyone else that does not have your special genetics. We will use Stuart here, as the baseline. Stuart, come here please.”

  “Yes…Doctor.” Stuart replied sheepishly as he slowly shuffled through the newly fallen snow to stand at Brigantine’s side.

  “Walk up to the fence and put your hand on it,” she ordered.

  “Really? You want me to get that close? I think they know we’re here just by us standing around talking. Look, they’re starting to move around more already.” He started to back away slightly.

  Brigantine glared at him now, almost daring him to defy her. “Come now Dr. Dodges. You know the fence is secure. You don’t have to put your hand inside with them or anything. Just against the fence will be sufficient.”

  The two stared at each other for a brief moment, but there was an entire conversation in that look. Brigantine’s eyes seemed to tell Dr. Stuart Dodges that if he did not do as she said, he was going to end up inside the cage instead. Stuart slowly walked up to the contained monsters. He looked directly into the face of the closest infected as he cautiously put his hand up to the fence.

  “Thank you, Dr. Dodges!” Brigantine yelled making Stuart jump. He pulled his hand from the fence, but he shook the chain link in the process. The infected were now in a frenzy clawing through one another to get closer to the promise of food that Stuart represented. “That a boy! Get them good and agitated!” she yelled some more, intentionally making as much noise as possible.

  Brigantine pulled a radio from inside of her coat and spoke quietly into it so I couldn’t hear. Not knowing if Brigantine wanted him to move or not, Stuart stood frozen by the fence. Brigantine smiled as she watched his indecision to run or stay. The power she held over him disgusted me, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

  I heard the door locks behind us beep, followed by the hard footsteps of soldiers crunching in the snow. A few moments later, three men in uniforms turned the corner of the building to stand next to Brigantine. Stuart decided to move away from the fence and came to stand beside me.

  “Which one of you gentlemen would like to receive the inoculation that will allow you to be virtually invisible to those infected with Perdition Virus?” she asked pulling a capped syringe from her coat pocket. There was a bright yellow liquid inside. It almost looked like one of those glow sticks kids used to play with.

  All three of the soldiers stepped forward and in unison barked out, “I will, Ma’am!”

  “Gentlemen, please, no fighting. I would like to show Mrs. Norrington that the antivirus is truly effective, but I only need one of you for now. The rest of you will be inoculated shortly, so you will get your chance.” Pleased with herself, she motioned to the soldier closest to her. “You, Private?”

  He responded formally, treating her with much more respect than she deserved, “Private Flynn, Ma’am.”

  “Private Flynn, pull your clothes down to provide me access to your heart please.”

  Reacting almost immediately, the soldier exposed his left pectoral muscle without question or hesitation. He had a tattoo of the American flag and what appeared to be a paratrooper sailing past it. It was a beautiful tattoo, but my eyes were quickly drawn to Brigantine pulling the cap from the yellow filled syringe, walking up to the soldier, and plunging the needle deep into his chest with a force you wouldn’t think an older woman of her stature would be able to muster.

  The soldier barely flinched as Brigantine pushed the plunger down, emptying the yellowish liquid into the soldier’s heart. She pulled the needle from his body, capped it, and replaced the now empty needle into her pocket. The soldier continued to stand at attention for a few moments, but he soon crumpled to his knees, clawing at his chest and gasping in pain. No one but Stuart and I made any movements to help the soldier, but Brigantine quickly put her hands up and stopped us.

  “This reaction is expected. Injecting the antivirus directly into his heart makes the effects come quicker, but it’s a shock to the system. It’ll
pass in a few moments,” she said with clinical precision and coldness.

  She seemed to have these soldiers brainwashed. Most of them did anything she asked without hesitation, even though they had to know this woman truly cared for nothing or no one. She only cared about herself and her insane agenda. I turned to look behind us at the infected, now wholly enraged with all of the commotion. I didn’t want to watch either of the two scenes unfolding before me, so I chose to look up at the now bright, blue morning sky. I couldn’t help but hope this antivirus Brigantine concocted was going to work, but for some reason, I didn’t have a good feeling about it.

  “See, now Private Flynn is already starting to calm down. Gentlemen, would you please help him to his feet?” Brigantine asked of the two soldiers standing next to Flynn. Before they could help him, Flynn did his best to pick himself up slowly from his previous crumpled position in the snow.

  Then the soldiers lifted him the rest of the way to his feet. He was unsteadied, but he was determined to show as little pain as possible in front of his fellow soldiers and the doctor. He straightened as much as possible, still noticeably in a great deal of pain, but he managed to salute the doctor and murmur a few words that were almost inaudible.

  “Thank…you…Ma’am.”

  “There we go! See, that wasn’t that bad. Now, let’s get Flynn here into the cage please gentlemen.” Brigantine spoke casually as if she were asking the men to take a small dog on a walk for her.

  The soldiers grabbed Flynn by the arms and practically dragged him over to the fenced in area full of furious infected ready for a meal. They propped Flynn up next to the gate latch and walked around on either side of the cage, banging the fence and yelling as they walked. They were drawing the infected away from the front of the gate so Flynn could let himself inside.

  Flynn looked over at me. I couldn’t tell what emotions were in his eyes, but I was almost certain he didn’t know what he was feeling at the moment either. He looked down at his snow-covered boots and appeared to be saying something to himself. I couldn’t tell if he was praying or if he was trying to psych himself up to enter the enclosure. I assumed it was both as he reached up, undid the two levers securing the gate, stepped inside, and closed the latches behind him.

  I looked over at Brigantine, and she looked like a child with a pretty new pet. Her eyes were so bright, they appeared to sparkle in the sun, and she held her balled up fists just under her aging, wrinkled neck in pleased anticipation. The two soldiers on the outside of the fence stopped making noise and walked slowly back over to stand at either side of Brigantine, still at attention and their eyes staring straight ahead of them. They didn’t even attempt a glance at the other soldier to see how he was faring.

  Amazingly, Flynn was still unseen by the infected in the cage with him. They continued pawing at the fence in the direction the other soldiers had been standing previously, so Brigantine took it upon herself to get their attention.

  “How’s everything over there Flynn? How are you feeling?” she yelled.

  “Ma’am, perfectly fine…Ma’am.” He responded much softer than Brigantine’s booming questions, but it was enough. The infected inside the pen with him turned towards Flynn’s voice. They moaned and began shuffling in Flynn’s direction. The pen was a decent size, probably thirty feet by twenty feet, but the infected trampled the already blackened snow, heading directly for Flynn.

  Then, they just stood next to him. They didn’t paw at him, nor did they attempt to bite him either. One actually mimicked the behavior of an infected I came into contact with when I first found out I was invisible to them; it stood face to face with Flynn and smelled him. It stood still for a very long moment and then turned away. After a few seconds of not finding the source of the sounds, the infected slowly began shuffling in different directions looking for the next smell or sound to follow. Most ended up pointing in our direction, which made sense because Brigantine smelled like a characteristic older woman with way too much, heavy, outdated perfume.

  As it became clear the antivirus had worked, Brigantine whispered a quiet “yes” to herself and smiled brightly at me. I shook my head at her reaction and looked back up to the sky. I was happy she was able to replicate what had made me indiscernible to the infected. Now, hopefully, I could steal it and get back to my family. I was also glad for Flynn’s sake. There had already been enough senseless death. I didn’t want to see another person die at the hands of this mad woman’s virus. My thoughts returned to my escape as the soldiers repeated the actions they took to get Flynn inside the cage, so he could now get out.

  Brigantine stood stoically and quiet as the men began to yell and beat the fence once again. Stuart stood motionless, but he seemed to cower beside me more so than before. He didn’t have a good feeling about opening the infected’s cage, as well, I figured, but Stuart was afraid of everything around him, anyway. I guess that’s what happens when you’re surrounded by the death and madness that had encompassed Brigantine for so long.

  Chapter 19

  Just as Brigantine reached over to grab my hand, Flynn gasped aloud, clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground as his body began to seize. I looked up and saw he’d fallen while the gate was open. His shaking body rattled the fences, noisily drawing the attention of the infected within the enclosure. Flynn’s body also blocked the entrance from being able to close as well.

  The two soldiers on either side of the cage quickly ran over to the open gate. They attempted to pull Flynn’s body from the threshold, so they could close it, but he was thrashing too wildly. Every time they got a hold of him, he would shake out of their grip, and his flailing body would fall to the ground.

  Within seconds, the infected were at the entrance and grabbing for the soldiers. An infected with its right-hand dangling, attached only by a stubborn piece of tendon, reached out his mangled arm. Missing in its attempt to grab either one of the men with its disabled hand, it fell forward, nearly on top of them. It clawed its way over Flynn’s jerking body and towards one of the other soldiers who was reaching for his pistol. The soldier pulled the gun out, pointing and shooting simultaneously at the infected about to grab him as another fell on top of him and took a large chunk from his exposed hand. The soldier dropped the gun into the mass of fresh blood and rot, pulling his now bleeding hand to his chest. As he tried to stand and run, another infected reached over Flynn’s still seizing body and fell on top of him. The fall knocked both the infected and the freshly bitten soldier to the ground where the infected didn’t hesitate as it tore into the soft flesh of the soldier’s face, devouring his cheek with its rotten teeth.

  The other soldier saw what was happening and smartly pulled himself up and away from the pile of bodies. He pulled his gun and just before he could fire a shot, Stuart ran up to his back and pushed him into the throng of infected clawing to get through the breached gate. The soldier fell forward and into the outstretched arms of the infected who quickly used the opportunity to tear the soldier apart as he screamed.

  I turned to Brigantine who had her radio out, yelling into it for help as she reached out to me. Stuart darted around us turning the corner and disappeared in the direction we came from originally. I heard the door locks beep and then a smashing sound.

  Brigantine suddenly grabbed me and pulled me along with her towards the doors. When we finally had a good view of the large glass exit, we saw Stuart standing inside the safety of the building. He was holding a pistol in his hands, but he was holding the muzzle, not the grip. I looked at the door lock and pieced together that he had used the butt of the gun to smash in the locks, making it impossible for Brigantine to now open them.

  She took her card out and tried it anyway, but there was no beep, there was no green or red light. There was nothing. She swiped it a few more times for good measure and began yelling and beating on the glass doors in front of him. Stuart just smiled slyly in return.

  Brigantine turned to me, grabbed my arm, and dragged me in another dire
ction where there was another door. This one was not as grand as the floor to ceiling glass, but when Brigantine swiped her card, she was met with the same lack of action as the previous doors. She cursed under her breath and stamped her feet like a child. She swiped the card again with the same results.

  “What’s the matter, Doc? Card not working?” I said callously.

  “You think this is funny, don’t you? I bet you had a part in this. We need to get out of here, or the undead will tear us to pieces! Help me get this door open, Abbigail!” she demanded with desperation in her voice.

  “I’m sorry, I’m zombie proof, remember. They’re going to come tear you apart as I watch from the sidelines,” I said with a smirk.

  “No! This can’t be happening! Stuart, you let us in right this instant!” she yelled at the door.

  Brigantine took out her radio and began screaming into it for someone to come and help her, but there was no response.

  “I wouldn’t be so loud if I were you. The infected are drawn by sound, but I’m sure you’re aware of that since you created them,” I said grinning.

  Brigantine crouched down as if making herself small would somehow hide her from the infected who I could now hear shuffling in our direction.

  “Oh no, I think I hear them. You better be really quiet, or they’ll be coming right for you. Do you have your gun? Can you protect yourself?” I asked leaning against the non-working door casually.

  “No, I don’t have my gun! If I did, I’d be shooting through that door right now! All right, Constance, what do we do? How do we get out of this?” she quietly asked herself.

  “I know how I get out of this. I just stand here and watch you get torn to shreds,” I laughed.

  Looking around at her surroundings, she mumbled, “I’m not talking to you! Just be quiet and let me think.”

  The first of the infected turned the corner and came into view. I moved as far away from Brigantine as I could. When the feasting started, I didn’t want to be anywhere near the chaos. I’d be elated she was being eaten by her own creation; it was poetic justice. But I didn’t think I could watch it happen. I’ve seen too many people, good and evil, get torn apart by these disgusting things, but I didn’t want to see any more if I had the choice.