Generation Z

by Peter Meredith

  Stu roused himself and took her hand. “Hey, calm down. We can get you new books.”

  “Oh really? Do you really think I can find a copy of Autumn Dempsey’s evaluation of the pharmacological effect of the test compound D2-009 just anywhere? This is Eve’s doing. She wants out. I can feel her.”

  Mike wasn’t comfortable with all of this “fractured mind” business. He didn’t quite understand it, but he did understand that Eve was trouble, not that he was truly afraid of her. Jillybean/Eve was small, barely bigger than Jenn. “And this book would keep her inside you?” he asked. “Does the book distract her?”

  Jillybean turned off the flashlight and gave a slump-shouldered sigh. “No. I’m trying to replicate certain drugs and it’s not easy. It took me over a year to design broad-range antibiotics, but my attempts at creating psychotropics have been abysmal. And if I can’t replace the ones I have…” she shrugged again. “I’ll go mad, or rather, more so.”

  “Do you want to turn back?” Stu asked. “I think we’d all understand if you did.”

  “You need the skiff and your friends need me.” She smiled suddenly. “And you need me as well, Stu Currans. Don’t think you’re going to get rid of me so easily.” She hefted out the box of comics and set it on the floor. “Now, let’s get ourselves a motor.”

  She picked up the odd gun and checked the chamber. Next, she loaded her backpack with a length of chain, a padlock, a hand-axe, a circle of rope and what looked like a CB antenna whip that was broken down into three pieces. “An engine?” Mike asked. “What’s rope got to do with an engine and is there really a working engine left in the world?”

  Putting her finger to her lips, she whispered, “Just do what I say and it’ll be okay. Jenn stay here and guard Stu. We won’t be gone long.” She paused on the edge of the ragged hole in the wall and brought her weapon to her shoulder. Mike did the same, using the low-light scope to scan the edge of the city next to the inlet. It seemed clear of the dead.

  Jillybean started slinking forward. A parking lot, littered by a few dead cars surrounded the building. Normally they would have been an afterthought to Mike, just a part of the background. Now, he gave them a closer look and even with the scope they seemed altogether useless. The windows were caved in and the doors hung open, exposing their faded innards. A few of them had their hoods banked open wide, while all had their gas caps exposed.

  The gas in them had long ago evaporated, leaving behind a foul-smelling sludge, a mixture of rain water, rust and toxic chemicals.

  Jillybean scampered from car to car, staying low, frequently pausing to scan with her scope. When Mike was slow to follow, she patted her own bottom and then pointed straight down. Stay on my ass, she meant by the move.

  He had figured she would check out the cars, but despite her stated desire to find an engine, she ignored the cars and slunk across the street to where a couple of office buildings blocked what had once been a pretty view of a lake with the Washington State Capitol Building rising behind it.

  There were more cars in front of the taller of the two buildings. They were just like every other car in the world: useless. She ignored these as well and went to the front of the building, her feet crunching through glass. It had once been a building of steel and glass. Now, without the glass, it looked like a dark cage.

  “What sort of engine are you thinking about getting?” he whispered. The only engine he knew of in an office building was the type that ran the elevators. As far as he knew they were called motors, although what the difference was, he didn’t know.

  “One that will get us over those hills.” She pointed to the dark swells that cut off the stars to the southwest. “I don’t think we’re going to find one here.”

  Then why did we come here? He bit back the question, happy that she couldn’t see his face.

  She went around the building, moving so quietly that Mike felt like a blundering giant compared to her. Unlike Stu, who would have given him a glare, Jillybean didn’t react even though he was sure she heard every kicked rock and every crunch of glass.

  Crossing another street, she led him in the worst possible direction: towards the sound of a zombie. It was letting out a mournful wail that echoed along the empty streets. Gripping his M4 harder, he followed her as they got closer and closer until finally he couldn’t take it.

  “You can hear that, right?”

  “Are you talking about the zombie or all the racket you’re making? B.T.W. Mr. Magoo, it’s a yes to both answers.”

  Mr. Magoo? B.T.W? What the hell did that mean? Mike leaned back away from her, suspecting that she had changed again. There was a new, slightly nasal quality to her voice.

  She went on. “We’re here for one of them. Your one and only job is to pop it in the head, but only if I tell you to.” She flashed a grin. “It’ll be a piece of cake, am I right?”

  “I guess.”

  “Not quite the spirit I was looking for, but since you’re cute, you’ll get a pass. Okay, time to zip the lip.” She took a deep breath and began to wind through the saplings until she reached a bank. It had the only intact windows on the block. She eased around to the front and found that the zombie wasn’t in the bank, but in a parking garage next to it.

  Since it was almost completely empty, it was basically an echo chamber. Jillybean, with a very nervous Mike following after, went slowly up along the ramps. It was so dark that when Mike wasn’t using his scope, he had to actually hold her hand to keep from walking into her.

  Her hand was small, cool and dry; his felt damp as a dishcloth. He was scared and would freely admit it. This was a first for him. He had never stalked a zombie; it helped that he had a full magazine, but what if there were more than one? What if a dozen came up the ramp, drawn by the noise of whatever Jillybean was planning? The bullets would go fast.

  They finally spotted the zombie between the second and third floors. It had been scraping its way along the wall, only it had run into a truck. Through his scope, Mike watched the creature pawing at the truck’s door, the top of which came to midway on its chest, while its head nearly scraped the ceiling.

  Mike had to grit his teeth and force his feet from racing out of there.

  The only reason he stayed was because the dark had rendered the creature completely blind. As long as they kept quiet and still, they would be safe. Jillybean had no intention of doing either.

  “Yoo-hoo?” she called softly. Mike took a step back. She yanked hard on his hand. “Don’t you leave me!”

  The creature spun around and came lumbering at them. Mike was just about to start shooting when she said, with stone-cold nerves, “Not yet.” She produced a small device which caused a brilliant red dot to appear on the concrete ten feet to their right.

  The zombie charged, not at them, but at the dot. With a little flick of her wrist, the dot shot to the wall of the garage. The beast raced after it and basically ran face first into the wall with an ungodly slapping thud. Had Mike run into the wall like that he’d be down for the count, but the dead were rarely hurt by such things.

  It popped up with a hideous screech and went after the dot again. Jillybean moved it back forth in short twitches, confounding the beast, who scraped its fingernails right off as it tried to get at it.

  “Here,” she whispered, handing her odd weapon to Mike. “Don’t miss.” He raised it to his shoulder, but she put her hand on it. “No, get closer. I’ll keep it occupied.”

  Once more, it had turned at the sound of her voice and was coming at them. She shone the light at the truck and seconds later there was another tremendous collision. As the beast picked itself up, Mike moved in for the shot.

  Just as he was about to shoot, she said, plain as day, “Aim for the throat.” The beast spun around, towering over Mike. He shot, thinking that he would miss low, but this was no ordinary gun and what came out of it wasn’t a bullet.

  The sound it made wasn’t natural either. Thoomp!

  Mike was sure the gun had mi
sfired. Jillybean pivoted the light and the beast turned, took two steps and then pitched forward onto its face.

  “For a Magoo, that wasn’t half bad,” Jillybean said, flicking on her flashlight. “Help me roll him over.” It took both of them to roll the beast; there was a big dart stabbed up into its throat. As a question formed on Mike’s lips, Jillybean pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed its eyes out.

  “What…?”

  She turned the knife side-on and jabbed it first into one ear and then the next. “Let’s have that hatchet,” she said, turning her back so he could fish it from her pack. Mike’s hands were numb as he handed it over. Without a blink, she hacked off its fingers and toes.

  “Okay, what the hell?”

  “Oh, you know Jillybean, she’s got another hare-brained scheme. Right, right, ‘hypothesis.’ You know it’s just a fancy word for wild-ass guess, right?” She wasn’t talking to Mike, which was good because he didn’t have an idea what she was talking about. “Let’s get the chain on it,” she said, this time looking right at Mike. They crisscrossed the chain over the beast’s shoulders and chest. She then tied the rope off in back like a leash.

  “This is the engine you wanted?”

  “I didn’t want it, Jillybean did. She just doesn’t like this part of the deal.” She held up the axe and then casually tossed it aside. “Blood bothers her, but I don’t mind. It’s why she has me. My name is Sadie. Me and Jilly go way back…” Just then the beast stirred. “That was fast. Now let’s see if this works.”

  Mike backed away from both the dead and from Jillybean. “You don’t know if this is going to work?”

  “What part of ‘wild-assed guess’ didn’t you understand?” she asked as she pulled out the CB antennae and began screwing it together. “Keep the light on me, will ya?” By the time the beast got to its feet, she had it assembled. Using it like a ten-foot long pointer, she touched the creature’s chest.

  It pawed at the tip with its mutilated hands, while at the same time staggering forward, bellowing in rage. Jillybean backed up, tapping it to keep it coming. The two went up the ramp, the beast raging and trying to get at the annoying pointer, and Jillybean staying just out of reach of its swinging arms. At the top, she casually stepped to the side, letting the creature pass within inches of her.

  Mike cringed and she laughed. “It’s perfectly safe.” She tapped it on the back with the pointer. “Touch is the only real sense it has left. Now let’s practice with the rope to get it accustomed to the weight.”

  She took the flashlight from him and had him grab the rope trailing behind it. “Now pull back, gently.” The beast reacted to the new strain on its shoulders by smacking its bloody hands against the chain and Jillybean had to poke it in the face several times to get it focused. They went up the ramp again, only this time with Mike pulling hard on the rope.

  The strength of the creature was fantastic and he was yanked along. They practiced for a while until Jillybean was satisfied. They then went back to the dock: the girl in front, poking the beast and Mike trailing behind seeing a fatal flaw in the plan. Someone would always have to walk ahead where they would be exposed and vulnerable.

  Chapter 31

  Jenn Lockhart

  The two seemed to have been gone for ages. Jenn desperately wanted to look for them, but she couldn’t leave Stu. Not that he would have noticed. Whatever shot Jillybean had given him had initially put a smile on his face; now he was lolling back in the cart like a limp noodle.

  She wished she was that relaxed. The moans of the dead, like a wind blowing straight from hell, could be heard all around them. She shivered in fright as well as from the cold. The shivering only got worse as she heard one of the dead getting closer.

  “Stu?” she whispered. In the dark, he looked dead himself. Normally, she wouldn’t have been so nervous. Then again, normally she would’ve been able to run away if she had to. Now, she couldn’t run because of Stu and she really couldn’t hide because of him, either. If she hid, he’d be eaten.

  She would have to fight. “If only I had one of them scope thingies,” she grumbled. Without it, the beast lumbering through the parking lot towards her was just a dark shape against a dark background. She would have to wait until it was right on top of her before she fired—the thought was enough to make her sick.

  Crouching behind her rifle, she watched as the creature began going in circles. Then she heard a short whistle. “What the hell?” Jenn slunk forward until she realized that there were actually three dark shapes, two much smaller than the giant beast.

  Unbelievably they had captured one of the dead! It moved slower and slower until it finally stopped. When it did, Mike came jogging towards her. “Help me with Stu and the boat, k?”

  “How…”

  “I’ll tell you later. Let’s get the stuff. We have to hurry.” Together they laid the skiff over Stu, who just went right on snoring. Next, they pushed the cart out into the parking lot and towards the beast. Jenn dragged her feet. The closer they got to the creature, the more she leaned further back from the cart. She wanted to run away very badly.

  Mike angled the cart behind the creature, where the stench of it was eye-watering. Why was it just standing there? How did they get it to move? Why wasn’t it trying to eat them? These and a million other questions spun through her head, but she knew better than to ask them when they were right out in the open.

  Jillybean slipped over to the cart. She handed what looked like a long metal whip to Mike. “Don’t touch it unless you have to.” He nodded, then went in a wide circle around to the front of the creature. Mike looked awful twitchy and she didn’t blame him. In fact, she jumped when Jillybean tapped her on the shoulder. “Help me with this.” She had pulled back the skiff and had hold of a box. “Keep the boat from falling.”

  Jenn steadied the boat as Jillybean pulled the box out. Inside it was a fisherman’s net that had thousands of strips of green and brown cloth attached to it. Together they unfolded it and laid it out on the ground. “We’re going to lay this over the cart,” Jillybean whispered.

  They draped it over the cart, making it look like, well, Jenn couldn’t say what it looked like except it no longer looked like a cart and that seemed to be the point. Next, Jillybean pulled out smaller versions of the net. She slipped one over Jenn’s head.

  “There you are. Now you’re a bush.”

  “Wow,” Jenn said, looking down at herself. She had worn camouflage before, but this was exceptional.

  Jillybean flashed white teeth in the dark. “If one of the dead get too close just freeze and they’ll never see you. Come on, I want you to meet George.” Jenn had to be dragged in front of the creature. “This is George. Have you ever been this close to such a monster?”

  The memory of killing Frank played itself through her mind. “Yes. What…what did you do to it?” Jillybean explained the purpose behind blinding and deafening it. “But why its hands and feet?” Jenn asked. She was relaxing by degrees. Not only did the homemade ghillie suit comfort her, it was obvious that the creature was almost harmless.

  “Simple. Without fingers, it can’t grab us and without toes, it can’t really run. Something we don’t want when it’s pulling the cart with Stu inside. You got to hand it to Jillybean, she may be crazy as a loon, but the girl’s got a thinker like no one I’ve ever known.”

  “Jilly…” Jenn began, her brows hanging low over her eyes.

  Mike interrupted, “This is Sadie. Uh, I think she’s Jillybean friend. You know, her friend.” He cocked an eyebrow that was so obvious that Sadie rolled Jillybean’s big blue eyes.

  “Right, I’m her ‘special’ friend. Damn, Magoo, why don’t you make cuckoo noises while you’re at it?”

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Mike protested. “I just, uh, I’m just interested to know when she’s coming back. You did say she could think three steps ahead. Can you do that? Do you know what’s going to happen?”

  Sadie chuckled, shaking her h
ead in disbelief. “Oh, so you’re one of them? You’re going to sit back and let her do your thinking for you. I should have seen it coming.”

  The girl was growing loud. Mike looked as though he was about to shush her, which Jenn thought would have been a mistake. Quickly, she added, “No, Mike’s not like that at all. We appreciate the help, but I can still guide us using the signs sent to me. That hasn’t changed at all. We’re on the right track.”

  “Oh yeah, the signs,” Sadie said, basically giving Jenn the same sort of look that Mike had given her a minute earlier. “They’re pretty good, but I’d listen to Jillybean when she comes back, and sorry about getting heated there. It’s just I’ve seen her be used a hundred times. I understand it a little. When you have a genius in your midst, why not use her? If only you knew what it’s like in here.” She tapped her head.

  Jenn thought she was going to explain herself but Sadie only looked sad. After a few seconds, Mike said, “We should get moving.” There wasn’t much need for a conversation after that. Once the three of them were in ghillie suits, they picked out the simplest route across the hills: they’d take Highway 101 until Highway 8 branched off it going west.

  Their order of march was simple as well. Although Jenn could move like a soft breeze and was clearly the better scout, Mike insisted that he lead. She demanded, “Do you really think you’re better on land than I am?”

  “That’s not really the point,” he said, as if that was any sort of explanation. He took Sadie’s strange weapon as well as her laser pointer with him. They gave him a hundred-yard head start before following along with Jillybean or Sadie, Jenn had no idea what to call her from one minute to the next, using the CB antenna to goad the beast.

  Although the cart weighed hundreds of pounds the beast didn’t seem to notice and stumped steadily along. In fact, once it got moving in a direction it just kept going. Sadie only touched him to maneuver him around trees and junked out cars, and in one case, the charred remains of a helicopter.