I Zombie I [Omnibus Edition]

by Jack Wallen

  On foot we cut through the dark night. I did everything I could to keep the computer hardware from rattling in the pack. Ultimately, however, speed was quite the necessity. Well, speed and stealth.

  Be the Ninja.

  To hell with that – be the ghost.

  “You’re thinking about Ninjas, aren’t you?” Sonja nearly chuckled from behind me.

  “How do – ”

  “When we filmed The Soul of Shinobi you always did this strange little imitation of the Ninjas when you thought no one was watching.”

  “Let me guess, you were – ”

  “Watching? Yes. Sorry.”

  The moans rose on a tide of wind. Like a choreographed dance, we both stopped. My heart didn’t realize my legs had ceased all forward motion and nearly lurched through my chest.

  When the sound faded back to a tolerable terror, we continued on.

  “Malcolm,” Sonja whispered. “What if we run into a zombie or two? Did you think to bring any sort of weapon?”

  I hadn’t. In my haste to get us to safety, I completely forget to bring along something that could serve to save us should the undead catch the scent of our flesh and attack.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.”

  Sonja’s hand came into view at my side. Resting in her grip was a pistol. The black, well-oiled metal gleamed in the moonlight.

  “Where did you – ”

  “Oh come on, Malcolm,” Sonja huffed. “You honestly think a woman my age would mill about a city like New York or Los Angeles and not have something for protection in her purse?”

  “Of course. I just always saw you as a mace or – ”

  “Or what?”

  “Brass knuckles kinda girl.”

  Before Sonja could grill me on my misplaced cliché, the lab came into view.

  “Oh fuck.” Sonja grabbed me from behind and stopped. It took no time to understand why; between the lab and us stood a small horde of zombies.

  “What do we do, Malcolm?”

  “There’s only five of them We can – ”

  Before I could finish my thought, the sound of a woman screaming for help faded into the scene. The plea was high-pitched and ragged, like she’d been screaming for some time. She came into view. Her hands were above her arms, waving, as if she’d seen us.

  “No,” Sonja cried. “The bitch is coming right for us, leading those death-walkers our way.”

  Death-walkers. At least she didn’t use the ‘z’ word.

  “Run.”

  “Which way?” Sonja whispered through a hiss of fear.

  “Follow me.”

  I had no idea where to go. It was quite clear, however, our current position would only end in death.

  Or worse.

  The woman’s screams reached a thrash metal level until the sound was overtaken by another, completely unreal, noise. The screech that pierced the darkness was inhuman, raw, and almost primitive. Neither of us dared look back. Whatever it was would surely stop our hearts upon sight. The most horrific moment came about when the woman’s screams ceased to trill the air around us. The screech that followed her silence could have only been one of triumph.

  Sonja made the mistake of looking over her shoulder.

  “Oh my God.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just run.”

  And with that, Sonja picked up her pace. I had never seen another human being so terrified. When ‘rage against the scream’ let itself be known once again, I redoubled my efforts and caught up with Sonja.

  The sound drew nearer.

  My heart threatened to escape its bony, fleshy cage. I had never run so far, so fast.

  And then…Sonja stopped. Before I flew past her, I put on the brakes.

  “Sonja,” I gasped through ragged breaths. “What are you doing? Come on!”

  “Run, Malcolm. Get to the lab. I’m going to slow this fucker down for you.”

  “Oh no. No way. I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself to save me.”

  Sonja hoisted the gun up and leveled it toward the oncoming monster.

  “Who said anything about sacrifice? I’m just going to drop this bastard and catch up with you. Now run!”

  Against my better judgment, I turned and fled the scene. Sonja was tough, but what she was about to do was crazy. Nevertheless, if neither of us made it out alive, the truth would never be revealed.

  The screech nearly sucked the air from my lungs. Before I heard anything resembling a panicked cry, the gun went off. The sound echoed off everything and nothing. As the crack of the shot faded, I expected to hear a victory cry from Hell spread out over the area. I heard no such thing. My feet came to a tripping halt and I turned.

  Sonja remained standing; her arms still perpendicular to the ground, the lethal weapon pointing the way to some horror film truth. Before her, in a twisted heap; lay the now-broken, undead monster.

  I stared at Sonja for what had to be far too long. A pseudo, proud parental feeling overpowered my heart. The moment was made somewhat perverse by how thankful I was for a gun. The world had reached critical mass with violence. One of my latest personal moves was championing peace among the people of the planet; and here I was fighting violence with even more violence. At least I had a righteous purpose behind my actions.

  “Come on. We have to get to that lab.” Sonja pulled me out of my self-reflective trance with a tug of my sleeve.

  I didn’t bother asking questions (like how had she become such an incredible shot?); I just ran as quickly as my already burning legs would carry me. Sonja was at my side – stride for stride.

  “You’ve been holding out on me,” I choked through dry gasps of air.

  “You don’t know the half of my holdouts, Malcolm.”

  “Like what?”

  A laugh nearly jumped out of Sonja’s mouth. “When we get through this, I’ll spill everything. Until then, just don’t get between my gun and the undead.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Go,” Sonja insisted.

  I complied.

  My legs pumped hard and my feet pounded the grassy Earth below. I had no idea how my body still had ‘run’ left; yet here I was, sprinting like an Olympic champion. Fear, the level made real by fiction, had a way with challenging your fortitude.

  “Impressive,” Sonja’s voice came out relatively easy, considering what was happening, “for an old man.”

  “I’ll show you old.”

  My legs and heart found yet another gear I had no idea existed in my muscles. Maybe it was seeing my life flash before my eyes (and how little was actually there); but fight or flight was taking on new meaning.

  “There it is,” Sonja shouted.

  The lab came into view. The small horde of undead gawkers, previously hanging out in the lab’s front yard, had disappeared. We were free and clear.

  Sonja flew by me, her legs an almost machine-like motion. She hardly made a sound; her feet barely touched the ground. As soon as she stood at the door, her fist began a merciless pounding. I was thankful for that one bit of mercy, as my body immediately doubled over in an attempt to regain some control and composure over my lungs. Breath was a scarce commodity at the moment.

  “Let us in,” Sonja insisted.

  Nothing.

  Sonja redoubled her pummeling of the door.

  Still nothing.

  “Come on! Open the damn door.”

  Finally, I was able to stand upright without fear of collapse. I joined in on Sonja’s tirade.

  We were eventually greeted by a hissing and a loud thunk. The door cracked open and a single, curious, brown eye peered out between the door and the frame.

  “Who are you?”

  “What does it fucking matter? Let us in! It’s not safe out here.”

  “Let me see your eyes.”

  Sonja protested.

  “If I don’t see your eyes, I don’t let you in. Simple as that.”

  With a huff, Sonja gave in and drew in close
to the door. Once satisfied, the answerer of the door insisted my eyes were next. I complied.

  The door opened.

  “Get in. Quickly.”

  The chaos within the lab nearly challenged that outside. Lab-coated workers buzzed around as if what they did was the single most important task on the planet. Considering what was going on – that might well be true.

  “Who are you?”

  I finally got a good look at the man. It was Gerand.

  “You’re kidding me! I just interviewed you outside the headquarters building.”

  The light came on over Gerand’s head.

  “You’ll have to forgive me. Things are a bit…” Gerand went silent; his eyes darted about as if he wasn’t sure how to continue his thread of thought. “Things are a bit out of control.”

  A roaring screech threatened to pulverize the walls of the building.

  “Wait,” I had to swallow before I could continue. “That sound came from inside this lab. What in the hell is going on here?”

  Gerand didn’t answer – at least not immediately. His jaw was busy clenching and unclenching.

  “It’s obvious Malcolm,” Sonja chimed in. “This is a goddamn monster lab.”

  Gerand didn’t laugh – just continued clenching.

  The room nearly fell apart when another scream slashed through the air.

  “She’s right. We’ve been engineering the undead here.” Gerand looked as though he was about to lose his mind. “I had no choice. It was either do the bidding of the Zero Day Collective or they would ruin my career, my life. But…”

  The biologist went silent.

  Sonja raised her weapon, the barrel of the gun pressing into Gerand’s chest. The man made no move to force the gun away. His eyes were dull, almost lifeless. The man wanted to die. It was in that moment I realized he was being honest.

  “But what,” I prodded.

  “I have a plan set in motion. Your being here jeopardizes that plan.”

  There was a menace in the man’s voice. Something crawled out from my subconscious and begged my legs to take up the sprint once again.

  “There’s nowhere else for us now. Hell finally decided to join the party and it brought chaos along for the ride.” Sonja’s hands were behind her back, the gun flicking nervously. “We want out of this little town and we need your help. If you decide not to help, that’s your decision. If, however, you decide to do anything that jeopardizes our plan,” The gun cocked and came out to play. “Your actions will be met with deadly force.”

  “Whoa, Sonny,” I placed my hand on her shoulder and she instantly relaxed.

  “I’m sorry,” Sonja’s voice was tremulous. “It’s just…”

  “No need to apologize. We three have something in common; we’ve all been puppeteered by John Burgess. However, you must trust me, this experiment will go no further than the walls of this village. But you cannot be here. Should Burgess discover us together, there is no way for my plan to succeed.”

  “How can we trust you, we don’t even know your full name.” Sonja growled.

  Something immediately changed in the man’s demeanor – as if he realized humanity had fallen by the wayside and mankind’s only hope of survival was to reclaim such proclivities. He touched his hand to his heart and spoke gently. “My name is Doctor Richard Gerand.

  It was enough for me. I was certain Sonja would come around – she had to. What other chance did we have? “How can we get through the wall? We can’t climb it and I’ve yet to find a gate.”

  Gerand turned to me and blinked. “There is an entrance – it’s just not visible to the naked eye. The wall was created in such a way to prevent anyone from leaving. But in sector 23 you’ll find a secret door, an escape hatch our exalted leader had installed just in case everything went pear-shaped. There’s a seam in the wall that opens, just to the left of the camera.

  I grabbed Sonja’s hand. “Thank you Richard, you’ve been very kind.”

  Gerand’s voice halted our escape.

  “You won’t be able to open the gate with your bare hands. In fact, the gate is controlled through a tablet Burgess keeps with him at all times.”

  Without saying a word, Sonja looked around the room and then sped over to a bank of computers and sat.

  “Excuse me, what are you doing? I cannot allow you access to our systems. There is sensitive – ”

  Sonja turned and tossed a threatening glare at Gerand.

  “One way or another, I’m getting into this system. Either directly, or I hack. If he has a tablet controlling the gate, I can locate the system and open the door.”

  Gerand marched over to Sonja’s side. “There’s no way. The security on this network is – ”

  “Trust me, I can do it. Just back off and let me do my thing. It’ll take me a couple of minutes tops.”

  The static crackle of a walkie-talkie interrupted the pissing contest.

  “Burgess to Gerand.”

  The doctor’s hand shot to a pocket in his lab coat and pulled out the radio.

  “This is Gerand.”

  “Godwin is about to land. I need you to meet him at the drop-off location.”

  “Yes sir,” Gerand replied succinctly and pocketed the radio.

  “There’s no time.”

  “Done.”

  Sonja stood and lobbed a wicked grin at the moment in time.

  “I’ve released the gate. All we have to do is find it. You with me, Malcolm?”

  “You keep our escape quiet, and we know nothing of your plan.” I tossed a hand out to Gerand.”

  “You have my word.” The doctor gave the offered hand a firm shake.

  The second we slipped back out into the night air, a cacophony of distant moans greeted us, like a chorus of broken-hearted cows.

  “Sonja, I hope you know the way to sector 23.”

  “Was there ever any doubt?”

  “Why don’t you tell me a story on the way there…maybe fill in a few of the blanks surrounding this new mystery woman I’ve been working with all of these years.”

  “We survive this hell and I’ll tell you anything you want.”

  And with that, we slipped into the cover of night.

  Chapter 28

  The sound of the helicopter knifed through the night air. Waiting in the center of the high school parking lot, on the outside edges of a make-shift landing pad, Burgess, Kriege, L.A. Wenning, and Gerand awaited the bird’s touchdown.

  Not a word was spoken, not a glance was shared. Everyone in attendance knew, full-well, the importance of the man about to make his mark on history. When the chopper touched down, the blades kicked up the air and threatened to send the onlookers back from where they came. The grin spreading across Burgess’s face was insatiable – like it couldn’t eat up enough of the man’s face.

  The helicopter blades spun down, dropping the gusts of wind to a manageable intensity.

  Finally, the passenger door of the cockpit swung open. One by one, the legs of the physicist slid out of the metal beast. When Dr. Lindsay Godwin finally stepped down upon the ground, the look on his face was just shy of rage.

  “If someone does not tell me why I have been brought here this instant, I swear to you I will inform every member of every authority that will listen.”

  Burgess approached the man, his hand jutted out in front of him. Godwin did not accept the platitude.

  “Doctor Godwin, it is such an honor – ”

  “Enough with the pleasantries,” Godwin spat. “You have taken me away from the single most important research not only of my career, but for mankind. I demand to be returned immediately!”

  “In due time, my good man. First, we have a rather important undertaking for you.” Burgess gestured toward Dr. Gerand. “I assume you know Dr. Gerand.”

  “I do not. Why on Earth should I?”

  Gerand smiled. He understood the scientific pecking order placed him well below Godwin.

  “Please, come with us and we’ll ex
plain everything to you.”

  Burgess led Godwin into a truck with the Zero Day Collective logo emblazoned on both doors.

  “What is this Zero Day Collective? Should I know of you?”

  John Burgess grinned. “Oh you will, sir, you will.”

  The lab came into view.

  “That is where you’ll be working, sir.”

  “On what? And why are you keeping me in the dark?”

  “In due time, sir, in due time.”

  Godwin opened the door of the still moving truck. “No. You will tell me immediately, or I will jump from this truck, rush back to the helicopter, and insist they return me to my own laboratory.”

  “Stop the truck.” Burgess insisted. When the truck came to a complete stand still, Burgess rolled down his window. The sounds of the dead flooded the inside of the vehicle.

  “What in the name of God?” Godwin rolled down his own window and stuck his head out in the darkness.

  “That is why you’re here, sir.”

  Godwin pulled back into the vehicle and glared at Burgess. “What in heaven’s name have you done?”

  “We’ve jump-started evolution.”

  Godwin unfastened his seat belt, opened the door, and hopped out. With his feet back on the ground, he paced nervously. Burgess stepped out and came to Godwin’s side.

  “That sound, what I am hearing is a calamity. Scientists have tinkered with evolution before and lost. The outcome has always been tragic. Now, you must tell me exactly what you’ve done.”

  Burgess grabbed Godwin by the arm. “Sir, it will be easier if we show you. Please, return to the vehicle and we’ll take you to the lab.”

  Godwin looked toward the building just in sight. “That lab?”

  Burgess nodded.