by Gayle Katz
“What?” said Owen, coming closer for a better look. “No way!”
“Huh? What is it?” asked Zan, coming for a look.
Owen stooped down to the ground to have a closer look. “I’ve seen this before.”
“What the? Me too!” said Charlie.
“What does that mean?” asked Zan. “An underline, a forward slash, and a small c.”
“Don’t know, but I saw it in Seattle, in the underground,” explained Charlie. “Where did you see it, Owen?”
He rummaged around in his pockets but then shrugged. “I had it on a small slip of paper. I think I left it in my desk at home. It was something I found when I was snooping around the reception desk at the clothing factory. It had the same symbols on it.”
“Most curious,” said Zan, taking a snapshot of it with her camera.
Chapter 13
________________________________________
Sergeant Bourne was still keeping an eye on the mayor. He was a hundred percent positive that she knew where Ray Orzola was hiding out. Now that the zombie slavery had been revealed to the public, people were outraged and holding a protest outside his clothing facility, despite it having been shut down by the departments of health and labor. So far, he’d seen no sighting of Ray at her house or City Hall. He was just in the process of obtaining a court order so he could bug her phone and her home, but these things took time to do legally. Illegally, they could be done right away.
He watched her drive away and decided to follow her. Good thing he had the unmarked, old car today. He noticed how she had little contact with Mars Simms. Perhaps Mars knew where Ray was. Regardless, he was certain that Jane would go back to City Hall. He’d follow her a little longer before deciding what to do next.
Yep, she headed straight back to work. That was a good sign. Mars should show up next, but he didn’t. He glanced at the address on his screen, and then headed that way.
Sure enough, Mars had headed straight home. Bourne was sure that taxpayers would be happy to discover that their council member was slacking off. Bourne took some photos of Mars tidying up his yard. Then, a car pulled into the driveway.
A person got out and headed up to the front door with him. Bourne hadn’t seen her before. The door opened and they both went inside.
Bourne decided to hang around for a short while longer. Perhaps it was his wife, or mistress. Nothing sinister there.
The door opened again, so Bourne ducked down. He heard footsteps, and then peered up. That was odd. Mars was in the woman’s vehicle, but there was no sign of her anywhere.
The car drove away. Bourne was at a loss as to what to do. Pursue the vehicle, or head into the house to be certain that the woman was OK. It could go either way.
zzz
Several minutes later, Zan had given up playing. She tossed her club and ball to the side and was looking at her smartphone. Owen and Charlie continued to play against each other, with a fair tie happening.
“Hey, you’re good at this,” he commented.
“Back in the day, I used to play with Gran a lot.”
“Good job,” he said. “Me, I’ve played real golf before with my dad, but it’s kind of the same.”
“That’s great,” said Charlie.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you, when I talked to you on the phone before, about my dad.”
“Oh yeah?” she asked, looking up.
“Yes, I finally confronted him about being a truthsayer.”
“Really? How did that go?” she asked.
He looked into the distance, admiring the green bushes. “Pretty good.”
“So is he on our team now?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, but the same thing happens to truthsayers as to zlayers—they both lose their abilities once they reach their early 20s.”
“Right. So was he open to a chat?”
“Yes, it went well, considering. I don’t really want to get too much into it. It’s kind of personal. Family stuff, you know.”
She nodded.
“But he did provide an explanation of what happened, and why he hasn’t been supportive.”
“Is he more supportive now that you’ve had the chat?”
“I think so,” he said, pondering the idea. “But I don’t think he wants to continue talking about it. And he’s never tried to stop me, at least. But I do have a better understanding of him now.”
“Well, that’s all that matters then. That was his life. This is yours. You’re almost an adult.”
“Yep.”
“Ugh, parents. Can’t live with them. Can’t live without them,” commented Charlie.
“Yeah, I know. I think all of us have had some issues at one point or another,” he said.
She nodded, and then heard a noise in the distance.
“Hey! Are you guys going to chat all day? Let’s get going.” Zan had already moved on ahead.
Charlie and Owen grabbed their equipment and followed her.
“Strange. There is no one else on the course,” said Owen.
“Yes, it is. But, if the mayor were setting us up, then this would be the case.”
zzz
Sergeant Bourne used his senses and felt this was an emergency situation, which gave him the authorization to break into someone’s house. He kicked in the door, and then hid on the side. “Police! Does anyone need assistance?” he shouted in.
There was silence. He peered around the doorjamb, but it was dark. He took a step inside, then fumbled for the light switch.
The room lit up with light, but it was empty. He decided to check out the kitchen, but it was clear too. He headed down the hall to check out the bedrooms. They were clear too.
Finally, that left the bathroom. He thought he heard a sound. “Police! Does anyone need assistance? I saw a woman enter the house but not leave!”
There were some scratching sounds, but then, silence.
He slowly paced down the hallway. That woman should have called out, if she were OK. Unless she had gone out back, or downstairs, and there was a child in the house. Perhaps it was a cat. Surely a dog would have barked by now?
Sergeant Bourne came up to the bathroom door. It was closed, so he carefully turned the knob and pushed the door open. As it was opening, he flicked on the light and ducked to the side.
Nothing happened, so he decided to peer around the corner to have a look. He had his gun at the ready.
“What the?” he exclaimed. “And I thought I’d already seen everything.”
zzz
The teens were starting to get bored. Zan was off in her own little world.
“What does she do on that thing anyway?” asked Owen.
“I think she plays some game or something,” Charlie replied.
“OK, let’s just skip the rest and leave. It’s getting boring.”
“OK,” said Charlie, dropping her club and ball on top of Owen’s. The teens walked down the brick path. “I suppose this is the way out, unless we duck through the bushes?”
“Say, is that a zombie?” asked Zan, quickly putting away her phone.
“Could be,” said Charlie, pulling her dagger out of the pouch that hung on her belt.
Owen patted himself down, worried for a moment he’d forgotten his weapon, before finding it tucked inside a pouch wrapped around his lower knee.
The zombie quickly came at them. Charlie leapt off the wood ledge and thrust her dagger into its eye socket in one movement. The zombie dropped down to the ground.
“Stay alert, folks! Someone set us up!” Charlie jumped into the bushes to get a handle on the situation before more zombies came at them.
The teens separated. Zan turned around and went back down the brick path, while Owen went on ahead.
Zan saw a herd of zombies coming at her. She jumped up onto the wood railroad tie that separated the garden from the golf course green and waited. The first zombie came into her personal space so she quickly rammed her dagger into its skull. Unlike Charlie, who utili
zed the weakness of an eye socket, Zan aimed for the frontal suture in the forehead. That was its weakest point, as that was where the adult skull grew bigger from a child skull. She was also a little taller than Charlie, which was an advantage.
The next two zombies came at her so she took them down. This was pretty easy. She wondered if the others needed help, but it was best to take these zombies down before returning to them.
zzz
There was only one zombie waiting at the exit to the miniature golf course. Owen plunged his dagger into the back of its skull. He had difficulties pulling it out, wishing he had at least waited for it to turn toward him. He let the zombie drop to the ground with the dagger in its head, before finally pulling it out.
He went inside the ticket and supplies office, but there was no one there. He found the bathrooms and cleaned his dagger off. He tried the front doors, but they were locked, and needed a key to unlock from the inside. So someone had locked them inside on purpose.
He turned and went back to the golf course. He decided to go back the way he had come. He peered down the path and didn’t see anything, but he was certain Zan had it under control anyway.
zzz
Charlie was hiding out. She saw the occasional random zombie go by and quietly slipped out of the foliage to take it down. Then she heard sounds off in the distance. Perhaps that was Zan, clearing the path.
“Ahh!” she screamed in shock, and then stopped, embarrassed. She turned and saw a zombie head poking out of the laurel bush. She picked up the dagger she had dropped and plunged it into its eye socket.
“Charlie! Are you OK?” asked Owen, racing down the brick road to figure out where she was. “Oh, that’s where you’re hiding!”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she said.
“Are you OK?”
“Well, besides the big bite mark on my butt, yeah.” She turned to show him.
“Oh, that’s nasty,” he said. “I left my backpack on the path. I’ll get the first-aid kit.”
“I have your stuff,” said Zan, tossing it to him. “Wow, Charlie, you’re slipping. Usually you avoid getting bitten, unless it’s Seattle.”
Charlie glared at her. “Thanks for your support.”
“Hey, you know I support you. Give me that,” she said to Owen. “I’m sure you don’t want to touch a girl’s butt.”
Owen handed the antiseptic spray to her and the bandage. “Eww, no,” he said mockingly.
Zan cleaned up the wound as best she could, with Charlie’s pants around her ankles and Owen averting his gaze.
“There! All done,” said Zan. “You should probably go to the clinic, just in case.”
“Can I look now?” said Owen.
“Yep,” said Charlie.
Owen turned around. “OK, so, did we get them all?” he asked.
“I think so,” said Zan.
“Let’s get out of here, then notify Bourne and Stewart,” said Charlie.
The teens went back to the small building. They had to break the lock to get out.
“At this rate, no one will ever be opening a new business in Portland again,” commented Zan.
“I know, right?” said Charlie.
zzz
Sergeant Bourne stared at the sight in front of him and shook his head. “Nah, this is a Halloween decoration, but that’s not until the fall.”
In front of him was a zombie body in a tub full of bubble bath and water. The zombie’s upper torso and head were propped against the back of the tub. Its hair was stuck to the tiles, while its mouth opened and closed, trying to eat the air.
The lower half of her body was seated on the toilet, with her legs flailing around.
Bourne didn’t want to look inside the toilet. It appeared that someone or something had eaten chunks of flesh from both halves.
He shot her in the head once, which was enough to get her to stop moving. The legs stopped moving after that. Bourne didn’t understand how that worked, other than it was something magical. He backed out of the room and headed back to his vehicle.
He called for backup, and then quickly started his car, realizing that the teens were likely in danger if Mars Simms was up to no good.
As he pulled out of the driveway, he briefly wondered if Mars was the zleader wannabe. That made sense at this point. Or perhaps he was one of those advanced second strain zombies? But if so, who had infected him, and was Jane or Ray also infected?
Chapter 14
________________________________________
Zan, Owen, and Charlie had just exited the Tranquil Miniature Golf Garden when a man confronted them.
“Hey, kids! What’s up?” He held a gun in his hand.
Charlie wasn’t too concerned, as she noticed that his hand was shaking. “Just ignore him,” she said. She walked up to him, while Zan and Owen headed around to each side. They swung at him, while Charlie ducked. The gun went off.
Owen managed to knock the gun out of his hands, but he pushed Charlie over. The guy quickly grabbed for the gun and got hold of it.
“Nice try, kids. Now everyone back in the building.” He waved the gun in that direction.
“Say, aren’t you Sars Mimms?” asked Zan, deliberately mixing his name up.
“You got it,” he said.
The teens went back into the building.
“What’s the point of this?” said Charlie. “Our mentor and the cops know where we are, cause we called them.”
“Really?” said Mars. “Because I don’t see them anywhere. They would have been here by now, as you were golfing for zombies for some time in there.”
Owen walked up to him. “So it was you who put the zombies in here?”
“Of course it was. I got them from my good friend, Ray. By the way, back off.” He waved at Owen with his gun. Owen backed up slowly.
“So you and Ray are partners?” Charlie asked.
Mars nodded proudly.
“What about the mayor?”
He shook his head. “She’s stupid. She doesn’t know nothing,” he replied. “Cept she has money coming from somewhere for our new business startups.” He had a good chuckle over that.
“Why are you attacking us?” asked Owen. “We did nothing to you.”
Mars peered at Owen, puzzled. “I personally have nothing against you. I was following Ray’s orders. He said you kids were being too nosy, and that you had ties to the cops. You’re messing with our bottom line, so, we must get rid of you.”
“Wow, it always comes down to money,” said Owen.
“You got that right, kid. Anyway, I don’t know why I said all that. Mind your own business.”
“What are you going to do with us?” asked Charlie, clutching her dagger.
“Nothing,” said Mars. “I don’t believe in hurting kids. Adults, that’s another thing. I’m going to lock you outside on the mini golf course. And hey, if any more zombies come out, that’s not my problem.” He shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
“Fine,” said Charlie, heading in that direction. “That’s my job anyway.”
“Nice try, kiddo, but I want everyone’s weapons, now.” He waved his gun at them. They didn’t comply, so he shot his gun.
The bullet hit the wall above Owen. He immediately dropped his weapon, with Charlie and Zan following.
“Fine,” said Zan, “but you won’t get away with this.”
The three teens walked through the door and back into the garden. Mars closed the door and locked it up with the key from his pocket.
zzz
Sergeant Bourne put the siren on top of his unmarked police vehicle and drove as quickly as he could to Tranquil Miniature Golf Garden. He pulled up to the front of the building and didn’t even bother finding a proper parking spot. He left his hazard lights on and exited the vehicle.
Mars was leaving the building and had finished locking it up. He turned and saw Bourne, then started running down the street. Bourne dashed onto the sidewalk and quickly peered inside the building. He saw the tee
ns through the building on the other side of the garden.
They were fine so he ran after Mars. At the last minute, he realized that Mars had a gun so he ducked down. The bullet grazed his shoulder.
“Good shot,” he muttered. It hurt, but he didn’t let it slow him down. The exhilaration of the chase quickly made him forget.
Mars tried to take another shot, but between the ones he’d used on the woman and to warn the teens, he was out of bullets. He tossed his gun to the side of the street and ran faster.
He thought he was going to make it, but then he tripped and tumbled to the ground. Bourne jumped on top of him and flipped him over.
“You’re under arrest,” he said. “If you cooperate, and tell me where Ray is, then it will go much easier for you.”
Mars only gurgled. In that moment, his eyeball fell out of his eye socket, and his arm came loose from his side.
“Damn!” said Bourne. “You’re a zombie.”
Mars looked stupidly at him. His one remaining eye had now fully turned green.
“Oh crap. So it is true. Zombie strain number two turns humans more slowly, but if you do increased activity, zombiosis comes faster.”
Mars just gurgled at him again before his head dropped to his chest.
“Screw it,” said Bourne and shot him in the head. He then called it in to dispatch and ran back to his car to get the first-aid kit. He hoped the kids were doing fine.
zzz
“Is this the best he could do?” asked Zan, watching the three zombies come at them.
Charlie took the first one down. “Maybe this is all that’s left.”
Owen tackled the second one. “I wonder if it was Mars or Ray who was actually creating the zombies? Or both?”