I Zombie I [Omnibus Edition]

by Jack Wallen

  The newly dead undead dropped onto Sam, an incident he was growing none-too-fond and way-too-weary of.

  “Fuck! I am really getting sick of this shit!” Sam Leamy was never considered, by anyone, squeamish; but the amount of entrails, blood, brains, and bits that had found their way onto his person of late was starting to get under his skin.

  Without putting too much pressure on his bad leg, the victor stood and made his way back to the driver’s seat of the car. This time, however, he closed the door and rolled up the window. One of the team’s backup shirts served as a towel to wipe off the worst of the spoils of his war. Unfortunately, the smell of decay wouldn’t go away. A market full of dead, rotting flesh was hidden away in Sam’s sinuses. The stench was there for the long haul.

  Chapter 30

  Undisclosed location

  July 2015

  Begin encryption

  My dear Lindsay,

  I received your last message detailing the plan involving what I am calling the Mengele Sequence. Based on the projected outcome of the amplification, I have decided the only chance I will have of surviving and possibly structuring and assembling a cure would be to masquerade as one of the scientists assigned to The Zero Day Collective. I used the contact you gave me and have been accepted onto the team. Although their designs go against every moral for which I have based my career and character, I will blend in and do everything I can to not only further our work, but ensure what you and I have created will defeat the virus your device will amplify.

  I do not fear death. I do not fear what I cannot know. What I fear is that you and I may never see each other again.

  Actually, that is not completely true. I do not fear that. I am actually quite certain you and I will never see one another again.

  If there was anything I could do to take us back to those days we shared in the lab, I would. Not only do I miss the time we spent together, I miss when we knew, beyond all doubt, that what we were doing was good. Together we bettered mankind, made it safe, helped it heal.

  Lindsay, I want to know that what we are doing is right and just. I understand you have been placed in a dangerous position and you made the decision to go ahead with the project knowing my work would most likely cure the effects. But even then, you knew the initial loss of life would be staggering. That is what I cannot grasp. Please, help me understand your decision. I want to support you and your work in Munich, but unless I know why you are doing this, I cannot.

  I love you,

  Danielle.

  End encryption

  Chapter 31

  U.N. Building

  December, 2015

  “Follow me!” My voice, just above a whisper, commanded our little army.

  Order could so easily and quickly disintegrate into chaos. The floors below us were filled with screeches and screams the likes of which only a Halloween Haunted House should know. Above us it was gunshots and heavy-booted footsteps. Which way seemed more appealing? At the moment, the idea of leaping out a window was, quite possibly, the most attractive option. That choice would serve no purpose other than to end my own personal torment. Besides, I knew the world needed me and my cure.

  My feet swiftly carried me to the stairwell entrance. There was no way I was about to chance an elevator trip – not when the elevators could be easily controlled. Thankfully, Jean managed to regain the full use of his legs, so we weren’t hindered by any handicap. Once all of us were within the confines of the stairwell, I laid out my overly-simplistic plan.

  “Run as fast as you can up these stairs, until you hit the roof.” It was the only idea I could come up with and it made the fairly grandiose assumption that our rescuers were waiting for us up top. Even if Sam and company were not there, the roof offered the location in the building farthest from the oncoming tide of death.

  We took off upwards. Fear, being our ultimate motivator, helped to make the stairs fly by. The all-too-obvious screeching of one of the undead rose up from the stairs below us. The sound echoed off the walls, making the lone zombie seem like an army.

  “Shit, that thing is getting closer. What do we do?” My voice carried a sickening nervousness.

  “Leave this to me,” Bethany called out over her shoulder, back in her element.

  We all continued upward. I braved a glance over my shoulder to see Bethany crouched on one knee, the pistol raised and ready to unload on the charging enemy.

  Something in the back of my mind wanted to shout. When the monster was in range Bethany pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The beast roared and she pulled the trigger again. Nothing.

  “Fuck! My gun jammed!” Bethany cried out as the Screamer dove on top of her, the two rolling down the flight of stairs.

  Without a word, Jean took off after the melee.

  “Bethany!” The gentle man cried out, some manner of rage forcing his voice into a dark place he was probably none-too-familiar with.

  Two weakened humans. One very pissed-off zombie. No weapons. No chance.

  “Stay here, Michelle. I’ll be back.” I couldn’t believe I was about to join the fight, but there was no way I was going to leave two people, recently terrorized by my own hands, to die without fighting by their side.

  As I descended the stairs, the sounds that greeted my ears let me know both Bethany and Jean were still alive. When I was finally close enough to make out the various limbs and body parts of the pile, I was surprised how very much alive they were.

  Jean was on top of the zombie, his feet pinning the thing’s arms to the ground and the full weight of his upper body resting on the monsters stomach. Bethany was kneeling at the thing’s shoulders, its head in her hands. With as much force as she could conjure, Bethany was twisting the head of the zombie clockwise.

  I couldn’t believe what my eyes saw. Bethany and Jean were working together to snap the beast’s neck – and quite possibly twist it off.

  Such a perfect and elegant murder.

  The zombie wasn’t about to go gentle into that good night without putting up a fight. The thing’s legs kicked up in an attempt to connect with Jean’s head. Realizing even the slight weight of my body could be of help, I rushed down and dropped onto the monster’s legs.

  Bethany let loose a scream. Obviously the force required to twist an undead head off was no easy feat. Judging from the popping and snapping sounds, she was actually making progress.

  The beast let loose a garbled roar.

  “Oh my God!” Jean cried out as if about to lose what little sanity he had remaining.

  Finally, with the sound of a two-by-four snapping in half, the screamer’s head twisted beyond one-hundred-eighty degrees. The legs of the victim went limp and Bethany let out an exhausted but victorious shout.

  Not a word was spoken as we stood and made our way back to where Michelle waited. What could be said after twisting the head off of something that was once a living human? I couldn’t imagine anything worse being required of us at that point.

  “I swear I heard something.” An unfamiliar voice came from the stairs above us. I couldn’t think of how anyone from The ZDC could have managed to find us… unless they knew this was our only way out. We certainly couldn’t retreat back down, not when chaos had fully usurped order and embedded in every molecule and fiber in its path. Downward was certain death. Upward was simply unknown.

  “Up. Continue up. We’ll deal with whoever that is, however we can.” My voice found some hidden confidence.

  “Bethany, I’m really scared.” Michelle was nearing tears.

  “Shhh…” I hated to seem so cold, but we couldn’t, at this point, risk giving anything away.

  “I fucking hate stairwells,” an unfamiliar, female voice spoke strongly.

  “You fucking hate everything, Sellers,” an unknown male voice replied.

  “You mean she hates fucking everything.” Yet another unknown male voice.

  “Almost there, Sam,” the female voice finally spoke the closest thing to a magical phra
se I’d ever heard.

  “Sam!” Bethany beat me to the punch by sprinting upward.

  I took off after her. One more flight of stairs had us face to face with the owners of the voices. The name ‘Sam’ made it clear these soldiers were not with The Collective.

  “You said Sam. Did you mean Sam Leamy?” Bethany practically begged the stranger to say ‘yes.’

  “Bethany?” the female soldier asked.

  Bethany nodded and then proceeded to fall to her knees crying.

  “Target acquired.” The woman spoke into a government-issue radio.

  “Bethany, my name is Sellers. We’re going to get you and your friends out of here.” The soldier helped the weeping woman up. “We only know of three. Are you Michelle?”

  “No, I’m…”

  “She’s with us,” Bethany interrupted before I could give the extraction team my name.

  “Are you here to save us?” Michelle spoke through sobs.

  “Yes ma’am. If you’ll all just follow me and Dom up topside, we’ll get you away from this building. The other members of our team have one more extraction to make.” The woman spoke quickly.

  “Who else are you pulling out of here, and why?” I insisted.

  “John Burgess, ma’am,” Sellers snapped the name out.

  They knew. They knew the man, the man behind apocalypse.

  John Burgess. Original surname unknown. Both his mother and father were killed in Auschwitz. John, the only child, manage to somehow escape, carrying with him a hatred that would never subside. The same rage that chilled and drove forward his heart helped him to amass a fortune to eventually fund the research for the Mengele Virus and the creation of the Quantum Fusion Generator.

  Burgess had one single goal – revenge. There was only one problem with his plan. Of all the brilliant minds on the planet, only one had an adequate grasp on quantum mechanics to actually design and create a generator powerful enough to amplify the virus to wipe out an entire country. That man, Dr. Lindsay Godwin, was at the time busy helping me to create the Heizer Sequence – a very specific chain of molecules that would help to cure the world of every known deadly disease. There was no way they could pull Lindsay away from our work.

  Only they did.

  With the promise of unlimited funds to pay for our further research on the sequence, Lindsay couldn’t turn down such an offer. The Heizer Sequence Lab was constantly under the threat of closure due to the lack of funding. So Lindsay accepted the offer from what would eventually be known as The Zero Day Collective.

  And then, everything went to Hell.

  “Ma’am, are you okay?” A young soldier had his hands placed gently on my elbow, startling me out of my thoughts.

  “I’m fine,” I lied.

  “We’re on a tight schedule. If we don’t find Burgess –”

  “I can lead you directly to him,” I interrupted the man.

  The idea of taking that fat bastard down with this sinking ship gave me an infinite sense of retribution. All this time, the only thing that had actually mattered to me was completing the cure and getting the hell away from this building and everything it stood for. The thought of destroying the man who single-handedly brought the world to its knees had not occurred to me.

  The thought, I had to admit, felt really good.

  “Bethany, are you able to make it up the stairs?” One of the other soldiers seemed overly concerned about the woman.

  “Yes. Just get me the fuck out of this hateful place,” Bethany demanded.

  Sellers instructed one of the other soldiers, Dom, to lead the three survivors to the roof. When Dom began to protest, Sellers insisted. The small group took off upwards.

  The soldiers pulled into the front of the pack so I could instruct them where to go. We quickly marched up the required flights of stairs to the floor holding the target. As soon as we reached the landing, the soldiers went to work with whispers, hand signals, and the checking of weapons.

  “Ma’am, I hate to ask you this, but we need your help in identifying our target. We will lead you in and as soon as you see Burgess, point him out. Once we have acquired the target, we return to the stairs and make our way up. You stay as close to us as possible the entire time. Is that clear?” Sellers spoke quietly, efficiently.

  I nodded, and immediately one of the men yanked open the door. We all stepped into chaos.

  Screams filled the halls. Women in pressed skirt suits and heels were running around, hands in the air, sheer terror in their eyes. The small group of us slowly marched forward.

  A man ran past, blood shooting between the fingers grasping at his neck. Shortly after, the reason he was running and bleeding entered the hall and screeched its disapproval.

  Without hesitation, one of the soldiers lifted his weapon and let loose a hailstorm of bullets. Bits and pieces of the beast slopped and splattered the hallway. When the zombie’s head was finally and fully scattered about the area, it dropped motionless to the floor.

  “Burgess’s office is at the end of this hall.” I swallowed my revulsion and instructed the team.

  Even with the Hellish happenings going on around us, the soldiers moved silently and smoothly towards the office. When Sellers made it to the door of the office she quickly turned into the doorway, her weapon trained on whoever, or whatever, was inside.

  “John Burgess?” Sellers barked.

  If John replied, it couldn’t be heard.

  “You are to come with us.” Another sharp command from the intense female.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Burgess’s voice jumped out of the office.

  “Sir, that is not up for discussion. Now, please come out of the office and follow me.” Sellers’s tone grew a notch sharper.

  Without warning the soldier hoisted her gun toward the ceiling and fired off a shot. “That was the only warning you get, sir.”

  After Sellers’s last command, Burgess emerged from the room. When he caught sight of me, his eyes doubled in size.

  “Michaels, what in fuck’s name are they doing with us?” the greasy, overweight man queried me.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. If I told Burgess the truth, he’d immediately react and attempt to either stop me or warn another member of The ZDC. I looked to Sellers, who obviously picked up on my fear. She prodded Burgess forward with the punishing end of her weapon. The fat man slowly stepped forward. I said nothing and marched onward.

  The screams continued, as did the moaning, shattering, and crashing. Everything was surrendering to chaos. The natural order was losing. How did we let things get so out of control? It was within our means to stop this disaster and we didn’t. As if ruled by some other design, The Zero Day Collective allowed chaos to become the one, true king.

  It was all a colossal mistake.

  The urge to grab a gun and blow Burgess’s brain into the air around him filled me. It took every ounce of restraint I had to stop my hand from reaching out. After all, wouldn’t I be doing the world a huge favor by ending the life of a genocidal maniac?

  “Isn’t this glorious?” John laughed.

  No one replied. No one could. How did you answer such a question? There was nothing – no science, no philosophy, no religion, no politics that could logically reply to such an insane question. Even if someone did manage a reply, it would only be to put the malignancy out of our misery. Obviously, someone wanted the man very much alive.

  “Through the door.” Sellers shoved the cold metal of her gun into the back of the fleshy head of Burgess.

  “Take it easy, bitch.” John’s voice didn’t even crack, as if he still retained even the slightest bit of power. How utterly clueless the man was.

  “Through the door and up the stairs.” The woman in charge remained calm.

  “Let’s just fucking waste the bastard right here, right now,” one of the male soldiers practically begged.

  “We have our orders, Dirt Bag.” Sellers had no sympathy.

  “Aw come on!” The pleading s
oldier whined in return.

  “Go. You get the okay from Sam and the fat fuck is all yours.” Sellers winked. Obviously an inside joke was just passed around, because the rest of the team broke out in gales of laughter.

  Burgess found no humor in the moment. In fact, his face and neck wore the brightest red shade I had seen on a straight man. I was never intimate with John, but I knew that look – he was about to let loose a tirade of hatred.

  “What in the Hell is going on? And who are you lunatics? If you are not here to rescue me from this disaster, then you are my enemy –.”

  “And if we are your enemy, then what?” Dirt Bag stood, nose to nose, with Burgess.

  “Then you’ll die.” Spit shot from John’s lips as he hissed his reply.

  The second the last syllable left the CEO’s mouth, the man called Dirt Bag cocked his head back and cracked his forehead against the unsuspecting fat man. The audible knocking noise was sickening.

  “Oh my God! You’re fucking crazy!” John’s hand flew up to his head as he spoke, his overly large body teetering as if he’d had a bit too much to drink.

  “You’re damn skippy I’m fucking crazy. The whole goddamn world is crazy, and who do we have to blame for that?”

  Before Dirt Bag could continue, Sellers had her hand to his mouth and shot him a look that said ‘Say nothing more.’ The scrawny man took the order and silenced himself.

  The obvious leader of the group took her gun and trained its sights on Burgess. The man blinked once, twice, three times… and finally started to move.

  Our little army began making its way up the stairwell. The reverberating sounds of screaming and moaning accompanied our escape with the soundtrack to the end of the world, driving us upward much faster. What I wouldn’t have given to reach out and push Burgess down into the abyss of doom below. But, for some reason, the soldiers had another purpose for the man. Honestly, I didn’t care – so long as they helped me escape so I could finally begin to do some good.