She hurriedly navigated the maze. She was almost to a side exit when an office worker walked by and noticed her hand and the gun. Before the woman could run, Ella grabbed her. The woman struggled but couldn't get free. She pressed the implant on her chest and screamed into it.
Ella eyed the exit and considered the pros and cons of having a hostage. It could buy her time, but she'd be slowed down. She could use her as a shield, but the soldiers would be experts in headshots. And after what Bell had done, Ella couldn't discount the possibility that she'd go through an innocent civilian to stop her.
Ella stopped struggling with the woman and let her go. Her escape was now known. She dropped all pretense and sprinted for the door. She scanned the key card. The door opened just as the alarms began to sound. The door tried to close as Ella was exiting. She twisted and contorted, and managed to slip through before the door could cut her in half.
She ran from the CZC and didn't look back. Her muscles ached more than her broken hand. Still, she pushed on, dashing the few blocks to the public restrooms where she had found the tunnel. Stunned pedestrians looked at her as she ran through the city center, but they stayed clear.
She found the correct stall, went in, and locked the door. She placed the gun on the counter and tried to catch her breath. She rested her hands on the counter, and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She had lost at least ten pounds. Her muscles were beginning to atrophy and she had dark circles under her eyes.
She looked at her hand. The bones hadn't broken through the skin. She turned her attention to her other arm, and the bite mark. She began to curse Bell in her mind. The wound hadn't begun to heal and it never would. She began to dig in the wound with her thumb and finger. The bite wasn't far from her tracking device. She prodded and twisted her flesh, seeking it out. She could feel the pressure from her fingers, but there wasn't any pain.
She found what she was looking for and grabbed for the implant. Her fingers fumbled, but she got purchase and yanked. With a tear, the implant gave and came out in her hand. She reached for a towel to stop the bleeding, but realized there was no bleeding.
She dropped the tracker down the sink and wiped her hands again. She figured that Bell wouldn't hunt her down outside the wall, or even into the tunnel, but she couldn't risk it. She opened the door to the tunnel and dropped down into it. She closed the door and darkness filled the corridor. Slowly, she followed the tunnel as it led her out of the city. She was terrified and exhilarated. She had never been outside of the city. No one living had.
CHAPTER SIX
Ella emerged from the tunnel three miles from the city. She could see the wall towering over the trees, but was confident that any standing guard on top would be unable to identify her. She did her best to suppress the fear she felt about being outdoors. She surveyed the area and noticed a set of two footprints headed in the same direction.
She followed the tracks through the trees until their end. She stood at the edge of a ruined city. Grass and vine had crawled over much of it, but the bones of what it had been still showed through. She walked down the cracked and overgrown street. Old traffic signals hung in the air, long dead and screeching in the wind.
She came to a part of the road where the grass had been completely rubbed away and lost the tracks. She searched the area, but couldn't find a new lead.
A scent caught her attention. It smelled familiar and like death. She looked up, and saw two zombies. One was missing an arm, the other had a badly broken leg. She was face to face with the zombies that she had been tracking. Some instinct told her that she'd be fine. Zombies didn't eat zombies. But these two were different, so she kept on guard.
"Hey," she said.
They both stopped and turned to her.
Concerned, she raised her gun and pointed it at them. Mockingly, the bigger zombie raised his one arm and pointed a gun back at her. She dropped hers to her side.
"What are you?" she asked.
The zombie dropped its weapon, too, and gestured with its one arm that she should follow.
It led her into a nearby abandoned building that she suspected used to be a church. At the altar, a man sat in an ornate and over-sized wooden chair. Candles dimly lit the space. He was leaning over someone in front of him who was being held up by two other zombies.
As Ella moved closer, she realized that the person on the throne wasn't a man. He still looked half human, but with ash gray skin color and sunken features. He was a zombie. And he wasn't just leaning over the person in front of him, he was eating the brains out of the still-writhing body.
She gasped, fearing that the man being eaten was still alive.
The zombie on the throne looked up from his meal.
"I assure you, dear," he said, "he's been dead for at least ten minutes now. I can hardly stand to finish eating, it's been so long. But the human nervous system does some interesting things even after death, especially when the brain is being fiddled with."
The zombie took another bite, then pushed the body away like an empty plate. His men were about to take it, when he stayed them with a motion of his hand.
"Where are my manners?" he asked, flashing a crooked, yellow grin, "Would you like some? He's still warm."
Ella's stomach growled at the thought. She swallowed and tried to deny her conflicted feelings.
"No, thank you," she said.
"Suit yourself."
He waved his hands and the zombies holding the man dragged his body to the corner, and began feeding on his flesh in a frenzied manner.
"We caught her trying to sneak in, boss," said the one armed lackey.
His speech was far less eloquent and came out like a caveman’s.
"I wasn't trying to sneak in," she said.
"Of course not. Come now, Stumps, where's your hospitality? It's so rare that we receive unexpected guests. Especially not ones as lovely as Ella"
"How do you know my name?"
"You have a lot to learn about being a zombie," he said. "There is more to eating brains then mere nutrition. First off, it's better than any other flesh because it cuts down on the competition. So often a hungry zombie will bite someone in the arm or leg, and all they wind up with is an empty stomach and another zombie. You simply must eat the brains. No brain, no zombie. Beyond that, you get a glimpse at a person's life when you eat their brain. You get some memories, information, even the occasional visual. I ate someone not long ago who knew you. Funny, I can't remember his name, but I knew yours."
"And what should I call you?"
"The boys like to call me the boss. It's as good a name as any. But you should be far more concerned with yourself. You're living on borrowed time. It won't be long until you die, unless you start eating."
She looked back at the feeding zombies. Her stomach rumbled as they tore the last bits of flesh from his bones. She shuttered and turned back.
"I'm not eating any living, or recently living flesh," she said.
"Fine, have it your way. Starve to real death."
"I'm hoping that I won't have to. I'm here to find a cure."
"Aren't you supposed to be a zombie expert? I don't have the cure. Clearly, I'm still a zombie."
"But you're not like any kind of zombie I've ever seen. You at least know how to keep the rot away. You must have some sort of partial cure. You say you're a zombie, I think you're something else."
"I am a zombie. One of the founding fathers of the zombie apocalypse, actually."
"So, what then, are you just some sort of special zombie? An older model?"
"I'd like to think that I'm special. But I was like the rest of them, in the beginning. Mindless, running around eating whoever I saw. Taking two bites then deciding I was full. And next thing you know, there was competition."
"So what happened? How are you what you are now?"
"Being one of the zombie forefathers put me in the position of being a perfect lab rat."
"Then someone is trying to make a cure?"
He laughed and reclined in his seat.
"Not trying to. Just because I don't have the cure doesn't mean there isn't one."
Ella was getting tired of the run around. She just wanted a straight answer.
"Where can I find the cure?"
"At the CZC of course."
Ella scoffed.
"If the CZC had the cure, they'd have used it by now."
"You poor, naive girl. Tell me, how'd you get that bite? I know it wasn't one of my boys. The CZC wants there to be zombies. They need there to be zombies."
"I don't believe you."
He leaned forward. His eyes were stern, and his voice deepened to a gravelly tone.
"Then you'll die. Listen, girly, I was test patient number one. They experimented on me. Gave me variations of the cure to get a viable zombie work force. They determined that they had gone too far with me. That I was too smart to be of much use to them in your city. Same with my lackeys, only they weren't advanced quite as far as I was. I struck a deal with your Dr. Bell. I'd occasionally supply them with new zombies whenever the population grew too large or they had a slave shortage. In return, they let me live free out here, and look the other way when a person goes missing."
"That's why the tunnels exist."
"Exactly."
"But how could that be? The city was built to protect us. The CZC wouldn't just give you free access. It'd be too dangerous."
"Honey, who do you think started the zombie plague? The CZC is all too comfortable with danger."
Ella thought about his words and it struck her that her whole life was a lie. The anti-virals didn't work because they weren't meant to. The luckies just made it look like the meds worked. Her home had never been a safe haven for survivors. It was a base of operations for the people who wanted to thin out and control humanity.
"I need you to help me," she said.
"And just why would I do that, dearie?"
"Because I think you're planning something. I've seen your 'boys' as you call them. They've been stockpiling weapons. You're planning to make a move against Dr. Bell, aren't you? Are you after the cure?"
He snickered, then turned serious.
"You're quite right. I do want Bell, and I want her alive. I can't trust my boys not to eat her. And I'm not going to step foot back into the CZC. But maybe you are the one who can bring her to me. Given your vegan diet and all."
"Why do you want her?"
"I'll be honest with you, dear, I'm going to eat her. If I consume her brain, I'll know how to make the cure. Then I can create it."
Ella's fingers traced the open wound on her arm.
"Okay," she said.
"Good," he said with a smile. "My men and I will get armed. We can take the tunnels."
"There's more than one?"
"Oh yes, dear, and we're going to use them all."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ella marched through the tunnels with an army of zombies at her side. The tunnels were lit by candles. Ella could see now that the tunnels were square and built from the same stone as her city. If she had any doubts about Bell being connected to the tunnels, they were gone now.
They reached a three-way fork in the path and the boss stopped the company.
"Well, my dear, here is where we part ways. Continue straight and the tunnel will let you into the labs of the CZC."
"I guess I'm going in alone."
"Me and the boys have other matters to attend to. We'll create a distraction in town and lure out the soldiers in order to buy you time. If we're successful in securing the city, you'll find us in the town center. Bring Bell to me there. If we've had to retreat, it'll be harder, and you'll have to take her to the church. Understand?"
"Got it."
He instructed his men to split up and cover both tunnels. Ella was hesitant to allow a few dozen zombies loose in the city without trying to stop them. But she believed that they would succeed. She would get the cure, and any bites would be reversed.
She followed the tunnel to its end. Above her she could hear a flurry of alarms, as well as the sound of frantic boots. She waited until the footfalls stopped, then pushed up the door. As promised, she found herself in one of the labs.
Inside the lab she found a zombie strapped to the bed. From her experience, she could tell by looking that it had turned long ago. The zombie wasn't conscious. Ella knew that zombies were regularly sedated, but she'd never known one to be knocked out. Two IVs had been inserted into each arm.
Ella heard activity in the hallway. She crouched beside the bed to hide. As she did, her hand brushed the zombie. It was warmer than she was. She stepped back, and almost ran into a heart rate monitor attached to it. The machine showed a pulse. It appeared that Bell was still experimenting.
Ella scanned her stolen key card and opened the door. The halls were empty. The boss's diversion was working.
Ella hurried down the hallway, not wanting to test her luck. She removed the gun she had stowed in her waistband. She hurried to Bell's lab, which was right where the boss had said it would be. She scanned her card, and the door opened. Bell stood behind a stainless steel table as she worked on a vertical tablet. Ella hurried into the room and closed the door behind her. Bell turned as she heard the door.
"You," Bell said as Ella entered. "All that going on out there, that's because of you?"
Ella pointed the gun at Bell.
"Hands in the air, step away from the computer."
Bell put her hands up and took a half step backwards.
"Farther. I don't want you to be able to touch the computer and alert anyone."
Bell stepped sideways from the keyboard.
"How do you know they haven't already been alerted?"
"This is where you keep your secrets. I have a feeling that this room is resistant to monitoring. And as you pointed out, your soldiers have their hands full right now."
"I never pegged you as the type to turn against your own kind."
"The zombies are my kind," Ella said. "You made it that way. Now come on, we're going for a walk."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
Ella closed the gap. Bell stiffened as she neared. Still, she held her ground.
"Yes, you are. Don't make me force you."
"I don't know what you think you know. Or what Jeffery, or the boss, whatever he calls himself these days, has told you. But I can promise you that he's using you."
"Nice try. I saw your experiment."
"You'll never understand what I was trying to do here."
Ella moved closer to Bell until she was almost talking into her left ear.
"You're right. I'm not the monster here."
Bell pressed in closer to Ella.
"You'll see the real monster soon. And he isn't getting my brain."
With that, Bell grabbed the hand that Ella held the gun in. In a flash, Bell placed the barrel to her temple. Before Ella could react, Bell pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through Bell's brain, and tore through the skin of Ella's forehead. Bell had hoped to take them both out with the shot, but had missed. Brain and blood splattered on Ella and the wall. Bell's body went limp against Ella, and they both fell to the floor.
"No," Ella yelled.
Breathing heavily, Ella turned from Bell's body and tried to figure out what she was going to do. She had failed in her mission. She hadn't gotten the cure.
The smell of bloody flesh made her stomach growl. She looked back at Bell's body and the mess it had made. She wondered if there'd be enough brain left to glimpse anything. She grabbed a small piece of brain that had fallen out, and brought it to her mouth. She felt that what she was about to do was wrong and she knew that eating it could make her turn. But there were bigger things at stake than just her life. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and tried to pretend she was eating something else.
The brain was still warm and was firm against her tongue. It tasted better than anything she had ever eaten. She needed more. She began shoveling han
dfuls of splattered matter into her mouth. She tried not to, but she couldn't help enjoying it. The tissue satisfied the hunger in her and gave her body what it craved. Before she knew it, she was licking the walls, desperate to get all she could.
She stopped mid-lick and looked curiously at the wall. It looked solid, but she had the feeling something was there. No, more than a feeling. Bell had known something was there. She dragged Bell's body by the arm, raised her hand, and placed it on the surface. After a moment, the outline of her hand glowed bright blue, and a seam appeared in the wall. Ella dropped the limp arm and a drawer opened with a whoosh. Ella moved closer and saw that there was a glass vial in the drawer. She reached in and pulled the vial out. A pale green liquid suspension halfway filled the glass tube.
Ella had found the cure.
She put the vial in her pocket and wiped the blood from her mouth on Bell's coat. She picked up the gun and placed it at the small of her back, and went into the hall. She felt drunk. She stumbled at first, and had to brace herself on the wall. The lights felt too bright.
She began having visions. She saw Bell as a young woman, talking, no, flirting, with a living version of the boss. Jeffery, as she had called him. Before he, or anyone else was infected. He was a scientist. They had created the Necrovirus together. He had also created the cure, not Bell. She had it stolen it from him, and knew how it worked, but she didn't know how to make it. Didn't care to. She was trying to create something else when she purposefully infected the boss and experimented on him. She wanted to create something close to what he was now, only more human. So far, she had failed.
Ella saw the city being built. She saw top minds being recruited and plans for the perfect civilization. She saw that they miscalculated. That they needed a larger work force. That was when they decided to train the zombies.
Ella saw Mark. She was observing him, no, Bell was. He had been shoved full of synthetic brains to turn him faster. They were grown in a lab, pumped with sedatives, and programmed with task memories. She observed Mark in the field. It was a mock-city. He stood on a street and a figure popped up feet from him. It was shaped like a person, and was covered with lab-grown tissue and brain.
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