by Gayle Katz
She looked at him. “Yes. Did no one ever tell you that? By the time we reach our early twenties, that is if we make it that far, we’ll have lost our abilities.”
He was shocked and shook his head.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you knew.”
He shook his head to the negative. “It’s not your fault.” He shrugged. “In a way, it’s a relief. It’s kind of an unpaid job. I was trying to figure out how I was going to balance college and a full-time job to pay for it all.”
She smiled. “Problem solved.”
He smiled.
“Speaking of jobs, have you seen any zombies since you moved back to Seattle?”
“Other than the random one that my contact gives me, no. Maybe I should go work for the cops too, as they seem to be too busy to take down a random zombie.”
She took a sip of her drink. “I know what you mean. But there is some sort of magic surrounding us that’s been passed down through our families for generations. It’s like we don’t even have a say.”
He frowned at her.
“Oh no, sorry,” she said. “I’ve done it again. So, who in your family was also a zlayer?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. So, it’s one of my parents then?”
She nodded. “You can talk to them, if you want. It always seems to be a touchy subject though.”
He ate a bit of his muffin. “I’ve always hid it from my parents. I’m not sure I want to do that. I might just wait for all of this to pass, and then get on with my life.”
“OK, well, do what you have to do. So, back to business, do you have any idea where the zleader is hanging out? Or any of those old zombies?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know why you were sent here. I, I mean we, have things under control.”
“Well, the concern is that there is still a zleader here that can wreck havoc, should they decide to leave the underground and bite a whole ton of people.”
“OK, so, where do we start then?” asked Mark.
zzz
Charlie had just gone back to her room to grab her bag, then back down to the lobby, when she recognized someone she knew. She raced up to the check-in desk.
“Gran! What are you doing here?” she asked her grandmother.
“Charlie! I’m so glad I ran into you. I’ll explain in a bit. I’m just getting my keys.”
Charlie was anxious to get out, but she decided to stick around and see why Gran had shown up. She had about an hour to kill anyway, even if she did want to spend it killing zombies.
zzz
Gran explained the séance that she had with Stewart.
“Wow, so the zombies were following me?” She looked incredulous. “I was a zleader?”
Gran nodded. “Strange, isn’t it?”
“Gee, Gran, maybe they mixed some THC up in your CBD oil for your arthritis.”
“Very funny, dear. It wasn’t a dream. Stewart saw the same thing I did. In fact, he was going to rush out here, but I told him that I would go in his place.”
“Why?” asked Charlie, looking puzzled. “You usually don’t get involved in my stuff.”
“Well, usually we don’t have two cities with active zombie infestations at the same time either,” she said. “I really want to help out. And second, I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“It’s pretty bizarre,” said Charlie. “Oh my god!”
“What is it, dear?”
“Well, if I was a zleader, that would also mean that I was a zombie!”
She nodded. “But, if you were a zleader, all the other zleader’s zombies would die. That’s what I don’t get.”
“Hey!” said Charlie, in excitement.
“What is it?” asked Gran.
“What if there is some way I can be a living zleader?”
Gran pondered the thought. “OK, cute thought, dear, but what’s the point? If the other zleader was gone, we want all her zombies dead with her. Why would you need zombies following you?”
Charlie laughed. “I don’t know. It was just something stupid I thought of.”
“OK, Charlie.” Gran just shook her head. “Let me get unpacking. You go out and do what you were going to do. I have a copy of the zombie section of the spell book that I’m going to study so I can get caught up. It’s been a while.”
Charlie jumped off the bed and grabbed her bag. “Cool! See you for dinner.”
Charlie headed to the elevator, thinking about all of the things she could do if she were zleader. She laughed. “I could make them kill each other,” she thought. “Seattle problem solved.”
zzz
Charlie walked along the clean but worn streets of downtown Seattle. She always enjoyed visiting Seattle. It was a slice of old American history. She still had a few minutes left before she met up with Mark. She walked past the underground entrance a few times. She tried to plot a map in her head of the underground, but all she knew was where she had been before. That had been such a small part of it.
As she was walking down the street, she saw a map shop. “Hmm,” she thought to herself. “It can’t hurt.” She turned and walked inside.
The shop had your usual tourist maps of popular Seattle landmarks. There were also driving maps of the entire Seattle and Tacoma region.
“Hello? May I help you?” asked the store worker.
“Possibly,” she said. “I’m working on a school history project. I need something more detailed about the history of the Seattle catacombs. I see the tourist maps, but I’d like a more detailed map of what’s underground.”
The clerk thought a bit. “Do you mean like a survey map that the city would provide?”
“Yes! That’s it! Do I need to go to city hall for that?” Charlie knew there would be something.
The woman had a look at the shelves behind her. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I have just the thing.” She pulled out a few brochures, before dropping them back in their cubbyholes. “Here it is!” She pulled it out and passed it to her.
“Um, OK,” said Charlie. “I’m not sure what all this means.”
“There are different codes for different things,” explained the woman.
“OK, but it looks like a map of the upper city,” complained Charlie.
“The upper city was built over the original city on the same type of grid. After the Great Fire, many of the buildings underground were still used. They used to have ladders from the lower city to the upper city,” explained the shop clerk.
“OK, great,” said Charlie. “I’ll take it then. But is there anything that’s labeled a bit better? For instance, with actual names of old businesses?”
“I don’t have anything like that, but there are likely books in the store down the street that might have something better.”
Charlie handed out the two dollars for the small map, and then headed out. Why hadn’t she thought to do research in advance? Perhaps the bookstore down the street might have something. But for now, she’d have to meet up with Mark.
Chapter 7
________________________________________
“Hey, Charlie! Good to see you again!” Mark was wearing his camo pants and a baseball cap. He had a small backpack with him.
“Hi, Mark! Say, do you have a map of the underground?”
Mark looked puzzled. “You mean, like a survey map or something?” He shook his head to the negative. “Why?”
“Well, it would make sense, instead of us wandering around blindly. Perhaps we could find the zombies using our brains, instead of roaming around down there aimlessly.” She looked at him, and then they both burst out laughing.
“Seriously, though, that’s actually a good idea,” he replied. “Trouble is, there’s not a whole lot of information out there.”
She showed him the map she had.
“Hey, that’s a good start.”
“But look at it,” she complained. “It’s the whole downtown region. Miles and miles and miles. I had no clue that the undergroun
d city was so vast.”
“Well, yeah,” he said. “Remember that there used to be an old Seattle here. Then the waterlines were built over and pushed further out into the inlet. Who knows, maybe the buildings even sunk down a bit. Then, the new city was built on top.”
“I know. It’s like that in parts of Portland too. But there is so much space! Even that tour underground doesn’t cover most of this.”
He took the map from her. “Yeah, the tour only covers a few blocks at most. OK, I know some parts here that were filled in with umm, soil or concrete, so we can cross them off.”
“Hey, good idea! Let’s chart our own map, and then make our own way.”
So, for the next hour, the teens hung out at the local coffee shop, creating their own map of the Seattle Underground.
“Hey. Are you guys done?” asked the barista, picking up cups.
“Oh sorry, are there customers waiting?” answered Charlie. “We got so wrapped up in our school project.”
“Nah, it’s all good, but you can always order something else so my boss doesn’t complain.”
They went over to the counter to order more treats.
Back at the table, they looked at the final result of their map.
Charlie scratched her head. “If I were a zleader, where would I hang out?”
“Hmm. Hello, barista?” Mark called out. “Have there been any zombie sightings recently?”
The barista came out from behind the counter, drying a mug. “Um, I haven’t heard of anything for months. I thought the police took them all out in the spring?”
“Not what I heard,” said Mark. “Say, if you do hear something, can you give me a call?” Mark handed her a business card.
“OK, thanks.” The girl looked surprised, looking back up at Mark, but by now he’d turned away. She went back to work.
“Nice job,” said Charlie. “Gotta get those cards out.” She laughed.
“Oh no,” he said in protest. “That’s strictly zombie business. Besides, I was hoping that you and I could go on a date together,” he said.
She looked up at him, surprised. “A date date?”
He nodded.
“But isn’t this a date?” she asked. “We’re together in a coffee shop, talking.”
“Yeah, but we’re talking about work, not ourselves. I still know little about you.”
She sat back. “Well, the truth is, I’m not interested in a date. I like this coffee shop talking. I don’t want to talk about myself.”
He looked crestfallen. “OK, that’s cool. I thought I’d just ask.”
“Why are you guys always so hot on dates, anyway? My friend Zan has the same issue. Can’t we just be friends with guys? If something happens, it happens.” Charlie had just gotten started. “Why go on a date where it’s assumed that something might happen? That sets up one person for disappointment and greatly annoys the other.”
“Whoa,” Mark said. “Take it easy. I don’t expect anything from you. I’m sorry I even brought up the subject.”
“OK, thanks. Apology accepted.” They went back to work, but Charlie did feel a bit bad. Perhaps she was overreacting.
“By the way, did you send a note to the hotel?” she asked, suddenly remembering.
He shook his head. “Nope, not me.”
She looked back down at the map. “If I were a zombie, where would I hide?”
Mark pointed at the part of the map closest to the shoreline. “I’m doubting any would hide down here, as likely there is water in the underground. If there are any, my bets are that they are located in the eastern part of the old city.”
“Good,” said Charlie. “I knew we could narrow some of this down. So possibly before Fourth Avenue South? Do we know if there are any structures left down there?”
“Well, let’s have a look, shall we?” he said. “This part of the map is coded to 405 dash 3, which means substantially altered. So, I’m guessing that’s a no.”
Charlie looked more closely. “So we need a 405 dash 1, reasonably intact. These are the structures that are in blue.”
“Right.”
“Well, look at Prefontaine. That street has a whole row of original structures, but I have no idea how we could get underground.”
Mark laughed. “You obviously don’t live in Seattle.”
She glared at him.
“OK, so, what we’ll have to do is get into these buildings, and go down into their basements. From there, we can see if there are any windows or doors leading into tunnels.”
“Wow, it’s like you’ve done this before,” she joked.
He laughed. “Other than that, there are random buildings around this city. There are a ton of structures closer to the shoreline, but as I said, some of those are for the tour and some are likely underwater. I think we can skip those for now.”
“That’s great,” said Charlie. “So, when do we go in?”
zzz
Gran could find nothing in the zombie book pages, so she decided to head to the Seattle library. Once there, she walked over to the region marked “card catalog,” which turned out to be a row of computers. She tutted. “Nothing wrong with good old card catalogs,” she said, before heading to a computer. There was a five-minute catalog option for “guest,” otherwise she’d require a library card to do a browser search.
She quickly opened up the catalog search and put in “zombie spell book.” Nothing came up for zombies, but several options came up for spell books. She wrote the section down right before the computer kicked her out. Annoyed, she headed for the fourth floor where they kept the occult and paranormal books.
Gran perused the shelf of options. “Mostly hocus pocus,” she muttered to herself. “Just made up stuff.”
She ran her fingers along the spines of several hardbound books that had intricate gold embossing, before they settled on a binder. “What the?” she muttered. She pulled the binder off the shelf. The Spell Book, the first page read. Then, she gasped. “Oh no!” She frantically looked around, but no one was there.
She sat down on the ground and flipped through the pages. It was what appeared to be a complete volume of the spell book that Stewart had. She knew exactly what was in it because she had stolen a copy of it from Stewart last spring. At the time, she hadn’t realized that it was not the only copy, and that Stewart kept the original locked up in a bank vault.
This was another photocopy. But how could it have ended up in the Seattle library? She flipped through to the zombie section. Yep, it was all here. But wait a minute.
She flipped through the pages. There weren’t all that many for the zombie section. But there was an extra page, or two, if you counted both sides. Gran looked surreptitiously up and down the aisle but saw no one. She pressed the binder tab at the top to open the three rings. It clicked rather loudly, but no one came by to tell her to keep quiet. She quickly removed all the zombie pages, and then popped the rings back together.
Rose tucked the pages into her purse, and then replaced the binder back on the shelf. She felt relieved. The rest of the spell book was about vampires, ghosts, and werewolves. None of those spells would work because they weren’t real creatures. But she was worried that someone might get their hands on the zombie section. That wouldn’t be good. She didn’t know how the book ended up on the shelf, particularly since it was only photocopied, and usually libraries only carried real books.
She decided to head out and give Stewart a call.
zzz
Charlie decided to head back to the hotel. She and Mark wanted to be fully prepared before they headed down into the Seattle Underground. That meant stocking up on water and weapons.
“Hey, Gran! I’m back!” called out Charlie.
“Hi, Charlie. I’m glad you’re back.” She was seated at the small table by the window.
“Hey, Gran! Are you trying to decipher the spell book again?”
Gran nodded. “Yes, but I’ve made an important discovery.”
“Really?” Ch
arlie dumped her stuff on the bed and headed over to have a look. “What? Is that a different page?”
“Two, dear. I found these copies at the library, of all places.”
“That’s weird,” said Charlie. “I wonder who put them there?”
Gran shook her head. “Not certain. Probably someone’s collection ended up at the library and they thought it would be a good idea to stick a binder on the shelf.”
Charlie looked alarmed. “But if the zleader were to find it…”
Gran shook her head. “Already thought of that. That’s why these are the one and only copies from the library.”
“You stole from the library?” Charlie said in amazement. “High five!” she held her hand up in the air.
Gran just sighed. “I had to, but you know how I really feel about stealing.” She narrowed her eyes and looked at Charlie.
Charlie put her hand down in chagrin. “Cool. So, have you learned what it says?” She grabbed a chair and pulled it up.
“Not yet. I snapped pics and sent them to Stewart, as he’s the ancient Latin expert.”
“Great!” said Charlie.
“What is ‘_ / c’?” asked Gran.
“Yes, I see those symbols. Most curious. Let me know when you have it figured out,” said Charlie. “I’m going to gather some things together for tonight. We’re going in.”
“Oh, must you?” said Gran. “I was hoping we could have dinner. You still have a few days left in Seattle. Surely the zombies can wait.”
“Nope,” said Charlie. “We’re doing it tonight.” She started going through the chest of drawers, trying to find all her stuff. This time she had remembered her climbing kit.
She didn’t notice when Gran seemed almost mesmerized by the pages of the spell book. She slowly looked down each page, and then flipped to the next page to do the same. A light mist suddenly seemed to rise from the spell book pages.
Charlie didn’t notice as she continued to fill her backpack with supplies.