by Gayle Katz
“Say, what’s it to you anyway?” asked Owen. “The police are on it. There are zlayers on it. Do we really need people to research it too?”
She looked over at him and smiled. “Good point. Someone has to do it though. Look at that bad zrug they were selling a few months ago. Now that is virtually gone. This is a more complex problem, but perhaps we can figure it out.”
“I can’t see the point,” said Charlie. “Besides, the CDC is probably working on something similar.”
The doctor turned off her microscope and stripped off her gloves, then dropped them into the garbage bin. She looked over at Owen. “There is just something about you that is so interesting,” she said.
“That’s creepy,” said Zan, stepping between them.
“Are you sure you don’t want another donut?” she said, grabbing the box and holding it out.
The four of them heard footsteps coming down the hallway. They looked up as the door swung open.
“Hey, kids! Do not eat those donuts!” It was Sergeant Bourne.
zzz
Sergeant Bourne took one look at what was happening, got out his gun and shot Dr. Arora in the head. The teens scattered. The donut box hit the floor, with donuts flying everywhere.
“Relax,” he said, holstering his pistol. “She was the bad guy.”
“What the hell,” said Charlie, standing back up. Zan and Owen joined her.
“And that is how you handle a zombie outbreak,” said Sergeant Bourne with a smirk on his face.
Zan muttered something nasty.
“What are you talking about?” asked Owen.
“She is the one responsible for this latest zombie outbreak,” explained Sergeant Bourne.
“So, you just go and shoot her then?” yelled Charlie, while Zan rushed over to see if she was still alive.
“Listen, kids,” he started to say. “She figured out a way to turn people into zombies. She was responsible for infecting these donuts. People eat them, and then they turn. Took me a shitload of time to figure it out. She was responsible for killing three cops today. They were my friends. They were healthy. There’s no excuse for turning healthy people into dead people and then killing them again.”
“Sorry, Sergeant Bourne,” said Charlie, feeling bad about his friends.
“Hey, the donuts, huh?” said Owen, going off into the corner to retch. When he was done, Zan handed him a paper towel.
“You’ll be fine. You’re immune, remember?”
“I know, but it’s still gross!”
“Is everyone here OK?” asked the police officer.
The teens all nodded.
“OK, it’s cleanup time. Let’s get her down to the furnace.”
“The furnace?” said Owen, gulping.
“Yeah, not only was she a wannabe zombie scientist, but she was on our cleanup team. The corpses just disappeared. What I didn’t know was that she was experimenting on them too!”
“Wow, this just gets better and better,” said Zan.
Charlie smiled at her.
“OK, let’s cleanup,” said Owen. “Then, what next?”
“Well, we still have to take down the donut shop,” said the cop.
“Right,” said Charlie. “We suspected something happening at Black Cat Donut Shop from the beginning, but there was no suspicious activity there when we visited.”
“Well, they’re not going to do their zombie planning in public,” said Sergeant Bourne.
“OK, let’s clean up, then head there,” said Charlie, glancing at her watch. “If anything is happening, I’ll bet it’s happening now.”
The team soon had the place cleaned up. They agreed to all meet at the donut shop in an hour.
Charlie drove to Stewart’s house to drop off the silver briefcase full of experiments.
“I don’t know if this will help anything, but if you have scientist connections, perhaps they would know what to do with this.”
“Great, thank you,” responded Stewart, taking the case from her.
“Say, what was so important you couldn’t text me earlier?”
“Oh, I had a date,” he said.
“A date? I thought you were too old,” she said, half-jokingly.
“Very funny, Charlie. Anyway, it didn’t go well. Let’s forget about it.”
Charlie nodded.
“I’m not exactly in the best career to be dating right now.” He looked back at his TV.
“Sorry,” said Charlie. “Bye.” She turned and headed back to the car.
zzz
She drove for a few minutes, until they reached the Black Cat Donut Shop. She parked a block away, just in case.
The three of them got out and slowly walked up to the shop. They didn’t see Sergeant Bourne around.
“I vote we meet him inside. While it’s good he solved one of our little problems, I don’t like living humans just being shot dead,” said Charlie.
“Agreed,” said Zan, with Owen nodding. The three of them walked up to the shop and entered.
Inside, it was pretty quiet. There were only a few customers there.
Charlie walked up to the cash register. As far as she could tell, there was only one employee currently on duty.
“Hi,” she said.
“What would you like to order?” asked the young man.
“I’d like one soda and a box of zombie-inducing-donuts.”
“Say what?” the teen said.
“You know what I mean,” said Charlie.
“Say, he knows nothing about that,” said a man putting on his apron. “Scram,” he said to his employee, who quickly exited the shop for a smoke break.
“Who are you?” asked Charlie.
“I’m Slim, manager of this place.” Slim was extremely skinny and looked unkempt, kind of like a drug addict.
“So, what do you know?” she asked.
“Not much.” He looked up as the other remaining customers left the shop. “Seriously, that doctor scientist told me it was a new type of powdered sugar. That it was lo-cal or something and was flavored. I sprinkled some on the donuts and sold them to customers.”
“Really?” said Charlie.
“That’s insane,” said Zan.
Owen went to sit at one of the tables.
“Frankly, I’m tired of losing friends and coworkers. Plus, head office sent me a warning that sales are down and I might be replaced if I don’t shape up!”
Just then a loud shot was heard throughout the shop. The teens ducked under tables and chairs as Slim’s body dropped to the ground.
“What are you doing?” Charlie yelled at him.
“He’s lying,” called out Sergeant Bourne. “I know he had a call out for zombie parts and he participated in actively turning people to zombies by infecting the statue outside and the donuts here.”
The teens got back up again.
“But what did they need zombie parts for?” asked Charlie.
“More experiments, I guess. I don’t think we’ll ever know the entire story.” He looked sadly down at the ground. “Oh, and we have to dispose of these donuts so no other people are turned. There’s no way to figure out which are infected and which aren’t. I’ll head over to the hospital later and dispose of any donuts that they may have delivered there.”
“Cool,” said Zan, who pulled a pack of matches out of her backpack.
Charlie was just pulling away from the curb when a loud explosion was heard. As they drove past the Black Cat Donut Shop, it was completely in flames. They failed to notice that the other donut shop employee was still hanging around outside.
Chapter 11
________________________________________
Charlie, Zan, and Owen were all comfortably seated at the back of the bus.
“This sucks,” complained Zan, embarrassed that she was seated in a yellow school bus. “I wish we had been able to bring one of our cars.”
“That’s OK,” said Charlie. “Once we reach Seattle, I can rent a car. Gran gave
me plenty of cash.”
“That’s great,” said Owen.
“Works for me,” said Zan. “Do we have anything to do besides school stuff?”
Charlie looked at the calendar on her phone. “We do have a list of places to visit that need to be checked out. I hope we can get through them all, between school trips.”
Zan was idly flicking through the news on her smartphone. “It appears that there have been some zombie sightings in downtown Seattle, you know, in the older part close to the piers.”
Charlie checked her list. “Yep, most of the places we’re gonna visit are right in downtown Seattle.”
“Weird,” said Owen. “So, all the activity is right downtown?”
Charlie nodded. “Yeah. There’s a higher concentration of people in the downtown region, so it makes sense that there would be more zombie activity.”
The team amused themselves with their smartphones, magazines, and books, as the school bus made good time on the freeway.
“Hey, Charlie,” said Mark, a fellow student from their class, clutching the top of the seat in front of them to balance himself. “Whatcha gonna do in Seattle?”
Charlie looked up, while Owen protectively watched, and Zan was amused.
“Uh, I’m going to head to the martial arts center, and Pike Place Market, and the Space Needle.” She paused. “Why?”
“Oh, well, I thought we could hang out or something,” he said, smiling.
“Why?” asked Charlie. “I already have friends. And I have no time for dating.”
“Err, well, maybe you’ll get tired of your friends,” Mark said.
“Hey, scram!” said Zan, an annoyed expression filling her face. “I doubt you’d survive long if you fought her at martial arts.”
“Yeah!” said Owen, feeling that he’d better join in and defend his friend.
“Take a pill,” said Mark, backing off. “Sheesh. This school has cliques harder than diamonds.” He went back to his seat at the front of the school bus. The other students nearby just ignored the exchange. They knew better than to laugh or comment with Charlie’s group.
“That was a bit much,” Charlie said to Zan.
“I’m done with guys coming up and expecting something,” said Zan. “Why don’t their stupid parents teach them better?”
“Yeah!” said Owen, and then he realized what she said and felt his heart plummet.
“Take it easy, folks,” said Charlie. “The guy is new to the school after all. I think I see his point.”
“Yuck, no thanks,” said Zan.
Owen burst out laughing.
“Anyway,” Zan continued saying, “we can’t let just anyone into our little group unless they have powers, otherwise we’ll have to explain to their parents why they’re dead.”
Charlie shook her head in annoyance. “Just for once I’d like to know what it’s like to have a real life.”
“Well, what’s a real life?” asked Owen. “Watching TV, doing homework, fighting with your parents? Going to movies?”
zzz
The bus finally arrived in Seattle without incident. Half the students were dropped off at the Seattle Center Hotel, Conference Center and Spa, while the other half went to the Misty Skies Motel.
As Zan walked off the bus, she heard Mark say, “Wow, must be nice to be rich and stay at the good hotel.”
“Shhh!” said a voice behind him. “You don’t want to piss them off!”
“Nice,” commented Zan, either at the shut up comment, or at the hotel before them. “Normally I wouldn’t stoop so low, but it looks halfway decent.”
“It looks great to me,” said Owen.
Charlie had no comment. “Let’s check in. We can tour some sites until the bus comes back later to pick us up for dinner.”
“Cool,” said Zan.
They checked in, got their complimentary fancy bottled water and gourmet cookies, and headed upstairs.
Owen had a room with some guy named Dale, while Zan and Charlie naturally had a room together. They spent a bit of time unpacking and washing up.
“Oh my god!” said Zan. “It’s like a little doggie that barks!” She held up the small dog on the bed.
“Hey, that’s cute. But note that anything you take from here will be charged to the room.”
“Relax, it’s not like I can’t afford it,” said Zan.
“Say, I know Owen’s parents are lawyers. My Gran is retired and won the lottery, but what exactly do your parents do?’
“Oh mine? They’re doctors.”
“Doctors? What the?” said Charlie. “But, why wouldn’t they want their daughter to go into science too?”
“I know. Stupid, right? Because they wanted to have a successful band when they were teens, but their parents took away their electric guitars so they’d go to medical school.”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “Sure, that makes sense.”
“I know. They can still play. There’s nothing stopping them now. They have their own practice and let their employees do all the work.”
“Um, so, is there also family money?” asked Charlie.
“Yes, from my grandparents.”
Charlie smiled, as she had known it. “OK, let’s meet up with Owen.” Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“Hey, guys,” said Owen. They let him in while they grabbed their bags and jackets. “Looks just like my room but in reverse.”
“So, how is your roomie?” asked Charlie.
“Good, it’s Dale,” said Owen.
“OK, so, let’s invite Dale and Mark to our dinner table tonight. It’ll be a peace offering for earlier. That’s what normal people do, I think,” said Charlie.
“Yeah, fine,” said Zan. “If Mark is OK with it, then we might let him into our group.”
The teens headed downstairs to the front reception desk. There they asked about where they could rent a car.
“You don’t look old enough to rent a car,” commented the front desk clerk. “I believe you have to be 21,” he said.
“Oh yeah, that’s us,” said Zan.
He frowned but gave them a small map with the nearest car rental place circled on it.
“Thanks,” said Charlie, taking it.
They walked out of the hotel and down the street.
“Well, that’s just great,” complained Owen. “Did no one think that we’re too young to rent a vehicle here in the state of Washington?”
“Relax,” said Zan, patting the purse that hung by her side. “I’ve got it covered.”
It turned out that the clerk at the car rental place was 60 years old and still working there. He really perked up when Zan handed over an envelope of cash.
“Perfect,” he said, pocketing the money. “Here are your keys. You get a Hyundai Excel.”
“What the hell?” said Charlie. “They haven’t made those for years!”
“Ha-ha, just kidding!” he said. “You have a Nissan Sentra.”
As they walked to the parking lot, Zan muttered something rude.
“Nice!” said Owen. “I might buy one of these. You should see the crap car my parents make me drive.”
Zan had to sit in the back, as Owen was too tall and big for the back seat, while she was shorter and smaller. Of course Charlie would drive, because she always drove.
“OK,” said Charlie. “The first zombie sighting was at Pioneer Square. Let’s head there.”
“Sounds great,” said Owen, while Zan remained silent, tapping on her smartphone.
“Gonna put that thing away?” asked Owen when they arrived and found a paid lot to park in.
“Are you my parent?” countered Zan.
“Who are you typing to on that thing anyway?”
“No one,” she said. “I’m looking to see what’s coming on TV next month.”
Now Owen rolled his eyes.
“OK, there are a lot of people here,” said Charlie. “I can see how a zombie sighting would get in the news.”
“Let’s se
e what’s around here,” said Zan. The team walked around for the next few minutes.
“Just a lot of tourist shops, restaurants, and bars,” Owen commented.
“Yeah, I don’t see where any zombies could even possibly hide out,” said Zan.
Charlie was near a bar, reading a notice on the building. “Say, guys. Come over here. I have an idea.”
Zan and Owen headed over.
“What is it?”
“Look here. They have underground tours of Seattle. Apparently, the original Seattle is under the current buildings and streets they have now.”
“Cool,” said Owen. “How did that work with the waterline?”
“I think they had problems with their bathrooms back then,” said Zan. “I watched a program on it. Plus, there are hills here. And there used to be a mountain, but they eventually got rid of it.”
“Oh wow,” said Owen. “How do you get rid of a mountain?”
“I have absolutely no idea,” said Charlie. “I say we take the tour and find out what’s under the city.”
Zan rubbed her hands together. “Oh, so exciting!”
“Hopefully it won’t be claustrophobic?” asked Owen.
The team walked down the stairs to find the ticket counter. A section of the original bar was still intact. The other side had a gift shop. The group sat and waited for the tour to start.
“What else is on our list?” asked Zan.
Charlie checked her phone. “There was a sighting at the Space Needle, and one at Pike Place Market. We’ll try and cover as much as we can tonight.”
“What time is dinner?” asked Owen.
“7 pm. If we can’t make it, I’ll just text the driver that we’ll meet them there. It’s some restaurant near here anyway.”
The tour started. The teens tried not to yawn through the opening talk. Finally, they were able to get going. The tour guide led them out of the room and back up the stairs and outside. There was a lot of walking. Finally, they reached the entrance to the underground tour. The guide unlocked the door and led them down the staircase.
They followed the tour guide down into what would normally be the basement but was actually the main level of the original city. They saw storefronts and were able to go into some of the businesses. Everything was in ruins. Furniture was just left there, along with canned food, clothing, and other types of merchandise.