Halfway back - Bruno, Steve and Fiona's adventure against zombies that may not be zombies and the secret behind them

by Marios Amontaristos

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Not so fast, funny guy

  “So, you basically live on microwave pasta?” Fiona asked as she was looking in the mess of a fridge trying to find something edible and enough to feed three people.

  “We drink milk also. With corn flakes,” Steve answered.

  “We tend to forget to go to the supermarket and when we do, we buy what's easier to prepare,” Bruno said.

  “OK then, I'm taking three packs out. At least we will finish quickly and we'll go to the museum,” Fiona said in an attempt to find something positive in this nutritional nightmare. For a moment she felt happy that she wasn't their roommate.

  “Anyway, I'm not very hungry,” Steve said. No more than two hours had passed since they heard the news about Mr officer's betrayal and Steve was still pretty frustrated.

  “Hey, what's that on the TV?” Bruno asked curiously and all three went and sat on the couch without taking their eyes off of the screen.

  There was a breaking news story with images of a destroyed burning car and firemen trying to put out the fire. The titles were saying in French “The brigadier-major is mysteriously dead, shortly after he was appointed in his new position and honored as a hero”. The newscaster was talking in a low voice, indicating how shocked she was. “Brigadier-major Antoine Blanchard was probably talking on his phone when he lost control of his car and hit a nearby parked car causing a big explosion killing him instantly. There is no report of any other injured or dead people. Blanchard was alone in the car. The strange thing is that, as the impact point showed and many eye-witnesses confirm, his car wasn't going faster than 50 Km/h, which is a speed that shouldn't in any way cause such enormous damage. The police is investigating on the scene of the collision and we will inform you as soon as we have any news.”

  Bruno and Fiona were seriously puzzled with the extremely weird things that kept happening. Steve, though, had a smile. “I don't even want to try and pretend that I'm sad!” he said cheerfully, almost laughing.

  “Come on, Steve. No matter what he did, he was still a human and he had helped us somehow,” Fiona said.

  “Yeah, man. Don't be like that now. Death is never pleasant,” Bruno added.

  “Sure, all right! You want to convince me that you don't feel even the tiniest bit of joy? To be honest, I feel a bit sad, but only because I wasn't the one who got to do this or even worse to him. That was too quick.” Steve was enjoying the moment and nobody could take it away from him. “You had the idea with the tasers. You helped them take the dinosaurs down and all you got for your trouble was being tased in your ass and he took all the credit and the glory! Is this fair?” Steve asked Bruno, who shook his head agreeing reluctantly.

  “And he blackmailed us! I can't believe it that after all this, he fucked us so hard! So, yes! Fuck him in eternity, forever and ever, amen!” Steve was losing his words, but he definitely didn't care at all.

  “OK, I can't say that I'm very sad,” Fiona said. “But he was a person after all. And he could help us find who tased Bruno and who brought back to life the dinosaurs and the people.”

  “Fuck him and his help! He took what he deserved. We don't need him, just like we weren't in any need of him when we came up with the plans. We will find the bastards by ourselves.” Steve moved towards the kitchen. “I'm quite hungry now! Woo-hoo! Come on! Let's eat! Food's on me!”

  Bruno and Fiona, a bit numb and not knowing if they should be glad or not since they were instinctively feeling bad but their logic was telling them that what had just happened was a good thing, followed Steve. He was putting the pasta in the microwaves. He approached Fiona, who had just sit at the table and he kissed her on her forehead. “And thank you for making him crash,” he said.

  Fiona took a moment to think about what Steve could possibly mean and then her eyes opened wide as she raised her head and she saw Steve smiling at her. “No way!” she managed to say.

  “Pretty much yes way!” Steve answered.

  “Oh, you were talking with him on the phone when he crashed!” Bruno realized and pointed at Fiona, who was looking at the table in embarrassment, avoiding any eye contact with the other two.

  “Come on, maybe he was talking to someone else!” Fiona was trying to defend herself even if she knew well that she couldn't have had anything to do with Blanchard's death. Anyway, it was his responsibility to be careful and not talk on the phone while driving.

  “Don't worry, you didn't kill him,” Steve said. His head was clear now and his mind was a few steps ahead of Fiona and Bruno's. “Maybe he lost control while or after talking to you and this made him drive into the other car, but this alone wouldn't be enough to kill him. Maybe not even injure him a bit.”

  “You think that there was something in the car?” Bruno asked.

  “Not just something. A bomb, specifically. Or something explosive, anyway. No explosions can happen by running into a parked car with 50 km/h. And you saw how the cars were. I'm surprised they even managed to find an impact spot.” Steve continued. “This means that we weren't the only ones who wanted him dead.”

  “We didn't want him dead,” Fiona said showing at herself and Bruno with her index finger.

  “Sure. You wanted to ask him politely not to do it again. You're not convincing anyone, neither you, neither this guy here who isn't quite trying to be convincing.”

  Bruno was thinking and that's why he was silent. “Do you think that the same person who tased me could be the one who killed Mr officer?”

  “What we think doesn't matter. If we don't go and make some questions, we can stay here all day thinking who did it and rub our chins.” Steve took the first pack of pasta off the microwaves, placed it on the table and put in the next pack.

  “OK, apparently your morale is very high with all the good news, but we cannot just go to the museum and ask who killed Blanchard. We need something different,” Fiona suggested.

  “Let's not make it more complex than it already is. We will go there to look at the captured dinosaurs as Biology students, with our student identity cards,” Steve answered naturally.

  “And they will let us enter, just like this? What if they recognize us?” Fiona asked.

  “If they don't recognize us, we will have to introduce ourselves again. Let's not forget that there were witnesses that saw who was the leader and who helped the operations begin,” Steve said while pointing at Bruno, who was still quite lost in his thoughts.

  “I like the way you think, but what if the people who killed Blanchard have decided that they want us out of the way too? Shouldn't we be more careful?” Fiona asked.

  “We have no car,” Steve said without thinking.

  “And this makes us immune to any kind of assault?” Fiona asked back, annoyed by the simplicity and thoughtlessness of Steve's quick response.

  “Also, we are not the ones who, officially, took down the dinosaurs. The asshole kept all the credit for himself. So, if whoever trapped his car did it because of his involvement in the capture of the dinosaurs, this leaves us out of any similar danger,” Steve said, saving in a way his image of a leader.

  “All we can do is go there and be interested in the dinosaurs. If they wanted us dead, we would be dead now,” Bruno said and, as the 'ping' made itself heard, he got up to take the second pack of pasta off the oven and put in the last one.

  “Couldn't we search on the internet for information on the scientists who work in the museum?” Fiona suggested.

  “We could, but we don't know if the scientists who were present last night work at the museum. We don't even know if they are biologists or paleontologists or dentists or janitors. We need to go back there and meet again at with least one or two of these people. But we must be careful and not reveal what we're looking for. Besides, there will be so many people that will want to see the dinosaurs, that they won't lose time with us,” Steve concluded.

  “OK then. Let's eat quickly and get moving,” Fiona said.

  “What
if there is police at the museum and ask us about Mr officer?” Bruno asked.

  “We know nothing. We will just be shocked to know that he's dead. And we don't know about his promotion either,” Steve said firmly.

  “Why?” asked Fiona, unable to understand Steve's suggestion to hide what they knew.

  “Because we will raise suspicions and we don't want it.”

  “But they don't even know us,” Fiona said.

  Steve stopped a bit to think.

  “Exactly as I tell you. Blanchard was very careful not to speak loud on the radio, but I heard him a few times and he didn't say anything about us. He was giving his commands like they were his own ideas,” Fiona continued.

  “And why didn't you say anything?” Steve asked angrily.

  “Because I didn't know if he was actually doing it. After all, I couldn't hear anything,” Fiona defended herself.

  “So, we tell the police that we were glad to know about his promotion and that we were shocked to learn about his untimely and unfair death. Nice. I don't know if I can pretend so well.”

  “You could pretend you didn't know though, right?” Fiona suggested.

  “Better than trying to convince someone that I'm sad.” Steve took the third pack out of the oven and gave it to Fiona. “Careful with that. Give it a minute to cool down a bit.”

  “The man who was jumping around in joy after hearing that someone died, is now concerned about me burning my mouth? That's so sensitive!” Fiona teased him, although she appreciated that Steve was showing signs of a good leader, interested for the well-being of his troops. But she didn't tell him anything like this. They needed to focus on their mission.

  “Hey, not every person is the same, OK?”

  “Come on, guys, eat. We don't have all day. And who knows how big the line will be there,” Bruno said.

  “Probably not so big. Don't forget that a lot of people died yesterday and I don't mean just those who were already dead. And many parts of the city have even been bombed. So, I really don't expect so much of a queue,” said Steve. He felt that, if he was a video game character, he would have clearly leveled up at least twice after all the XP he had gathered during the last days. And if he weren't already on a high level, he would have gained even more. Of course, he didn't say anything of this to the others. They needed to focus on their mission.

  “In any case, let's eat and go. Don't you have questions? How can you be so relaxed?” Bruno said. His mind was already on the mission and he didn't have any extra thoughts.

  “I do. But I'm also thinking that maybe we won't like the answers and this makes me want to slow down a bit.” And then there was silence. Only Steve's slurping the pasta could be heard. Bruno was suddenly less in a hurry and Fiona was wondering if going to the museum was a good idea at all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Are you sure this is safe?

  Many people were gathered outside the museum, but strong police forces were keeping them from entering. In fact, the whole area with the garden of the plants, the zoo and the other museums was closed for the public. Bruno, Steve and Fiona, with the air of the people from inside, passed through the crowd and reached the blocked entrance. As it was expected, they were not let in. Fiona was trying to convince the policeman talking in French.

  “Please sir, we were here last night when the dinosaurs woke up. Plus, we are biologists and we should examine them. You are obstructing science right now.”

  “You don't look like biologists. How old are you? 18?” the policeman said, trying to be friendly with the youngsters, but also not taking them seriously.

  “OK, we are Biology students. But last night we helped the police and the army with our ideas. We need to get in,” Fiona said, without changing her tone.

  “Everybody needs to get in. Please, move away now, or else I will have to arrest you,” the policeman said.

  “Let them in, sir. We have been expecting them,” said a gentle, tall person with a white coat, black hair and a black beard that was visibly getting gray in some parts. Then he approached, stood next to the policeman and told Bruno, Steve and Fiona “I hope that you have rested well. Come on in.”

  They walked hesitantly past the policeman, who remained steady at his position and kept looking forward, keeping away any intruders. There were no hard feelings. He had orders to follow and he did his job correctly. Steve wanted to be mad at him, but he couldn't find a reason.

  They entered the museum. The area looked like it had received more bombs than the center of Paris after the panic that was caused by the millions of zombies coming from the catacombs. From inside, some big animals could be seen outside in the whole garden. All of them had big chains around them, even those who were not moving. “The other museum with the smaller skeletons was luckier,” the man said to them as they were looking around impressed by the damages and the huge lizards that were much more clearly visible in the daylight. “Are you feeling better?” he asked Bruno in English.

  “Ummm... Yes, much better, thank you,” Bruno responded, squinting lightly his eyes and bringing back to his mind as many faces as possible, without any success in associating one of them with the polite person that had helped them get in the museum.

  “Don't try to remember me, I wasn't with you last night when you went out with the tasers and the courageous people with you. Strange idea, but at least thanks to it, we managed to immobilize some big dinosaurs without killing them. We cannot say the same for T-Rex though. It's a shame, I always imagined how it would be to see one of those magnificent creatures from so close. And now that the opportunity presented itself to me, T-Rex was dead before I was able to see him in action.”

  “But he could be alive again, just like all the people and animals did before,” Fiona said, hoping that this way she would give the strange man a pass to inform them about things they needed to know.

  “That would be a chance, yes. But we don't know if this is going to happen, do we?” the man said with a warm smile.

  They walked through a destroyed glass and exited the museum building in order to move towards the dead triceratops. The animal looked amazing in the daylight. They couldn't stop looking at it. And they barely noticed the bunch of about 25 people standing around the body and examining it.

  The whole area was like a huge exhibition, with people moving from one exhibit to the other, taking pictures and discussing all those big and small details they had been thinking of as real, based on the fossils they had so far, up until the time of the enigmatic return of the dinosaurs, but reality proved these scientists wrong about many of them and there was a lot of work to be done in order to spread the new knowledge to the rest of the world. But there was a lot of enthusiasm too, which meant that the work wouldn't feel like work.

  Some animals that had woken up were trying to get rid of the numerous chains that were keeping them from moving, but this only made the construction workers who were appointed urgently for this job throw more chains to reinforce the ones that were already creating an image that resembled Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput. Of course, there was a huge risk for the safety of everyone if even one lion or a small dinosaur escaped their chains. Everyone could still see in the damaged area, that was not designed for dinosaurs, what had happened within a few hours of hungry and violent freedom. Just for a few hours, humans weren't the dominant species on the planet, but when they got over their panic and organized, things went back to normal, if having huge animals chained down in the middle of Paris can be considered as normal.

  “The best engineers are working intensely to design and construct buildings big and safe enough to keep the dinosaurs inside, while eliminating any risk of them escaping. Until then, we will have to keep them down with lots of thick chains.” The unknown man sighed and turned his head towards the garden with all its traffic. “We weren't ready to face such a situation, you know. Humans have conquered the moon, but they don't know what to do with some big lizards. Strange, isn't it?” he said laughing.r />
  “Humans haven't conquered the moon. They just went there. And they were very well protected with their space equipment and everything. Otherwise the moon is not a safe place for anyone and it's far from being considered conquered,” Fiona said. That took some nerve, since they didn't know who they were talking with and maybe they shouldn't argue with his views very much. Steve and Bruno gave her their most subtle 'what the fuck are you doing?' look.

  “Oh, you are right in a way, dear. But don't forget that, even if the moon could kill them, it didn't after all. And all this equipment they had, was their tools and weapons for the conquest of the moon. They were preparing for this for years and that's why they succeeded in the end. It doesn't matter if you can't breathe up there. What matters is that there are human inventions available to help you breathe. And no kind of conquest can happen without such inventions.”

  “But the humans weren't ready to face the dinosaurs. Science never prepared, since they were supposed to be extinct and nobody could ever think that they would just regenerate and all that was needed to bring them back was a skull,” said Steve in an outburst of trust and knowledge showing off.

  “The skull? And what about the other bones?” asked the well-mannered man, in a kind of suspicious way and still wearing a gentle and welcoming smile.

  “The other bones are still in the museum, Mr...” Fiona said trying to cover Steve's big mouth. She knew that they shouldn't let anyone know or suspect that they had already drawn some conclusions about the way this almost-zombie outbreak originated. They didn't know the man and they didn't know if they should trust him. The last time they had trusted someone, he ended up dead after blackmailing them. Besides, they could finally learn his name.

  “Oh, pardon my rudeness. I'm Dr David Courant, Biologist. I am a prominent member of the Institute of Biological Sciences, mostly occupied in section 21, which has to do with molecular bases and structures of functions of the living creatures.”