by Gen Griffin
“Well, that's not a good sign.” Gauge's broad shoulders touched either side of the wall as he'd made his way down the narrow tunnel. I hated to admit how relieved I felt to have his massive presence towering over me as I stared down at the corpse.
“He's not moving,” I said. “Do you think he's a zombie?”
“He should be.” Gauge scowled and stepped around me. He pushed me backwards so that my spine was next to the block wall. I didn't argue. If he wanted to stand between me and the potentially undead, he was welcome to it. I wasn't as afraid of zombies as I had once been, but the knowledge that I could control zombies with my voice still hadn't made me comfortable around walking corpses.
A booted foot flashed into my line of vision and kicked the corpse squarely in the ribs. It made an odd groaning noise, the stomach skin split and a puff of noxious gas filled the immediate area. I gagged.
Gauge's skin faded from healthy golden tan to green. “Jesus, Vera. Did you have to do that?”
“Why isn't he moving?” She stood over the corpse wearing a pair of thigh high leather boots, a leather miniskirt and a black leather jacket that looked like it had been painted onto her slender form. I thought the outfit was overkill, but what did I know? Gauge certainly seemed to be enjoying the view. Or at least he had been before we'd discovered the corpse.
“He looks dead to me,” someone quipped from behind her. I wasn't sure who.
“He is dead.” Vera knelt down beside the corpse and very intentionally stabbed the blade of a long knife straight through the swollen hand. The dead man never moved. “He's not a zombie.”
“How is that possible?” Gauge knelt beside Vera. It was so cold in the basement that we could see our breath. I pulled the flaps of my own jacket more tightly around me.
“I have no idea. The zombie virus has contaminated everything in our environment for the last thirty years. It's in our food, it's in our water and it's in the air we breathe. My parents used to talk about how people would die and stay dead, but people don't just die anymore. I've never seen an intact body that was just dead. I can't see any signs of injuries that would prevent the corpse from getting up and walking around.”
“Wonder if its a side effect of the modified virus?” Seth was one of the last to come down the ladder. He set down the heavy backpack he was carrying and joined Gauge and Vera next to the corpse.
My skin was starting to crawl with goosebumps that had nothing to do with the cold. “You don't think he's a super zombie, do you?”
Seth shrugged. Despite the cold, he wasn't wearing a jacket over his simple gray t-shirt. His pale skin looked almost ghostly white in the darkness of the basement. “I don't know what happened to him. I'm in the same camp as Vera. Every person I've ever watched die has come back as a zombie and had to be killed a second time. You ever seen someone just die, Pilar?”
I took a deep breath, wishing he hadn't brought everyone's attention onto me. “No.”
“So this isn't normal in the Cube?”
“No. I worked in the hospital ward before I joined the Scavengers. Everyone who died on my watch turned.”
“But this guy didn't turn.” Gauge prodded the body with the handle end of his ax.
“Doesn't look like it.”
“What I'd really like to know is how he got into the ventilation shaft.” Liam was scowling at the body.
“Maybe he just crawled down here and died,” Vera suggested.
“Unlikely.” Liam's attention was focused towards the tunnel at the far end of the small room we'd crawled down into. “Most people who live in the Cube don't know these tunnels exist. It bothers me that this guy got down here and died. Maintenance checks these tunnels at least once a week. Why would they leave him here?”
“Valid question.” Seth peered from one end of the dark room to the other. “I don't like it.”
“Maybe they're all just as dead as he is,” Vera mused.
“Unlikely.” Gauge stood back up and followed Seth's gaze to the next tunnel. Neither one of them looked too happy with the realization that we were going to have to crawl through yet another narrow, dark hole before we made it into the populated areas of the Cube.
“Just a thought.” Vera pursed her lips at Seth. “Be kind of funny if we've gone to all this trouble just to find that Pilar's unrealistic optimism has struck again. Maybe Bud Moon has already killed everyone and there aren't any survivors left for us to save.”
“We can't make that kind of assumption based on one corpse.”
“How many corpses will be enough for you, Seth?” Vera smiled through pretty, perfectly straight teeth. “One, one hundred, one thousand?”
“You're wasting our time.” Liam glared at Vera. His dark eyes tended to change color depending on his emotion. Earlier today they had been green but now the pupils were almost pure black. “I know you're just trying to piss Pilar off, but she's not the only one who cares about what happens to these people. You might want to watch what comes out of your mouth.”
“Are you threatening me?” Vera asked cattily. “If that's the case, then I might as well make my opinion clear. Every single person in the Cube could be infected with the super zombie virus. I say kill them all and let God sort out the humans from the monsters.”
Liam had a knife at Vera's throat in the blink of an eye. “I say kill you and use your body as bait to lure the super zombies out of hiding.”
Vera's bright eyes flashed with fury as she kicked out at him. Liam dodged her spiked heels and then caught her behind the knees with a kick of his own. She managed to wrap him up as they fell to the ground, both doing their damnedest to land a solid hit on the other. They crashed hard into the rotting corpse on the ground. Blood and gas exploded out of the stomach cavity as Liam slung Vera into the corpse. She let out a howl of rage and then lunged for him.
“That's enough.” Seth spoke quietly but his voice carried weight as he turned to face the pair of them. Vera had Liam pinned to the concrete and was holding his own knife over his heart. “Get out.”
Vera glared at Seth. “Excuse me?”
“Get out of here.” He pointed at the narrow shaft we'd just climbed down. “Just go. You're pissing me off.”
“Am I now?” Vera stood up and stalked towards him, Liam forgotten. Liam wasn't the fight she had been spoiling for anyways. She poked one finger into Seth's muscular chest. “You really want me to leave?”
“You want to leave?”
“I don't think any of us should be here. The Cube's problems are just that. They're the Cube's problems. The Church of Chaos isn't responsible for the Cube or the people who live in the Cube.”
“Bud Moon has had a serum created that can turn any normal person into a zombie with enhanced physical and mental capabilities. He's figured out how to keep them sane and human looking for weeks and even months. He wants to use them to take over the city of Ra Shet and overthrow the king. Do you have any idea how big of a disaster that would be?”
“Like I said, destroy them all.” Vera smirked at her brother. “We could firebomb this place and the threat would be over almost instantly. No more Cube. No more super zombies. But you won't do it.”
“Over seven thousand people live in the Cube,” Liam cut into their conversation. He had gotten back up off the floor and was brushing chunks of gore loose from his jeans. “We'd be monsters just the same as Bud Moon is if we attacked the Cube and killed thousands of uninfected people.”
“We are monsters, Liam. I guess you've forgotten that.” Vera crossed her arms over her small breasts. “I think most of you have forgotten that the Church of Chaos isn't a humanitarian organization. Our goal is survival. It's not our job to save the world.”
Seth growled at her. “I'm the High Priest. I make the decisions for the Church. I agree with Liam. We can't slaughter thousands of people unless we're certain that they're all infected with the zombie virus.”
“You don't give two shits about the people. You just don't want Pilar mad at
you again.” Vera shot me a nasty look. “She won't forgive if you kill her precious Daddy the same way you killed her beloved Mommy.”
“Vera, you might want to watch your mouth.” Seth took two steps towards her. She didn't back down or take a step back even though they were now standing almost nose to nose.
“Tell me you're not risking all of our lives to make her happy,” Vera spoke the words in a tone that was barely louder than a whisper. “Tell me you're not throwing away the safety we've found in the Church just to please an ugly girl.”
If I hadn't been so preoccupied with the fact that Vera wanted to murder everyone I'd grown up with, I would have been insulted.
“She's not ugly,” Seth snapped.
“She's not beautiful.”
“Who cares what I look like?” I cut into their conversation. “To be honest, the two of you can stand here forever and argue. Vera, I know you hate me. I don't know if you hate me because of who I am as a person or if it's just because of the prophesies, but I know you hate me. I can live with your hate. You don't mean anything to me. Hate me until the day we both die, if it makes you happy.”
“I'd be happier if you died first,” she hissed.
“I'm sure you would.”
Seth clenched his hands into fists. I put my hand on his arm and pulled him backwards until he took a step in my direction.
“No.” I waved him away. “If she wants to leave, then she can leave. If she doesn't think the people inside the Cube are worth dying for, then I won't ask her to risk her life. I don't care whether she comes or not. It doesn't matter who wants to come at this point, because I'm not leaving without stopping Bud Moon. I don't even care about the super zombies. The Powers That Be took my parents from our apartment, our home, and tried to sell them for their meat in Ra Shet. Human beings are not meant to be eaten. The Cube is nothing more than a massive slaughterhouse and I'm here to put a stop to the killing of innocent people.”
“I thought you just cared about finding your parents?” Vera said snidely.
“I do care about finding my parents. My mom is dead. My Dad was free and he came back to the Cube because he thought I was still inside. He put himself back into this nightmare for me. Yes, Vera, I care about finding him but I also want to make sure that no one else ever has to wonder what happened to their loved ones. Especially not when they thought they were safe.”
“Well, aren't you just the perfect little-.” Vera's mouth was frozen in a wide smile, the perfect insult on the tip of her tongue as the zombie fell through the ceiling and landed on her.
“Shit!” Liam lunged for the zombie but Seth beat him to it. Vera was pinned under its rotting, snarling form as its teeth snapped for her neck. She shrieked and rolled, kicking out with both feet. The zombie spun end over end. Seth grabbed Vera by the shoulders and yanked her out from underneath the monster as it spun around and went after her again.
It was moving far too fast to be a normal zombie. “Stop!” I yelled, praying that the monster would listen. The zombie, a woman with stringy red hair and bulging eyes, never hesitated as her teeth brushed across Vera's throat.
Vera had a knife in her hand and she struck upwards with it, slashing at the zombie. The creature's green blouse split wide open and flaps of her chest flapped as she continued to attack.
Seth jammed his palm straight into the zombie's forehead, physically pushing the monster back away from his sister. “Will someone....decapitate....this fucker?” The muscles in his arm were bulging from effort.
Vera was still slashing away at the zombie with no real effect. The monster clearly didn't mind being stabbed. The blossoming wounds weren't even slowing her down.
Gauge moved cautiously but quickly, slashing downwards with his ax. Unfortunately, unlike ordinary zombies, this one knew he was coming. She yanked backwards away from Seth and Vera at the last second, spinning and sinking her teeth into Gauge's boot.
With surprisingly presence of mind, Gauge struck straight down with the ax and took the zombie clean through the neck. The teeth stayed embedded in the leather boot even as the body began to twitch violently. Gauge kicked out and the body separated from the head, but the head stayed stubbornly in place. He wrinkled his nose and gagged as he reached down, grabbed the head by the hair and yanked it loose from his boot.
“What the hell?” Liam was finally beginning to recover his wits. “That zombie was fast.”
“Congratulations. You've now seen your first super zombie.”
“Holy crap. Are they all that fast?”
“Pretty much.” Gauge tossed the head to his left.
“We're not immune to them.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“Well, we don't actually know whether or not they can infect us with the zombie virus or not.”
“But they will attack us.” Liam's eyes were wide and horrified as he took in the long, bloody scrapes that were now covering Vera's arms.
Seth nodded as he knelt down beside his sister. “Did she bite you?”
“No. I don't think so. She tried but she never actually sunk her teeth into me.” Vera looked shaken as she got to her feet. “Shit. You guys said they were fast and human smart but I didn't really believe you.”
“Believe me now?” Seth asked.
Vera nodded and took a deep breath. “Seth, if there are really hundreds of these zombies-.”
“Uh, guys?” Gauge had his back to the rest of us and his eyes focused on the opening that lead to the tunnel we'd just entered the room through.
Something about the tone of his voice made Seth stop checking Vera's wounds and stand back up. “What?”
“We may have a problem.” Gauge took three steps backwards.
Liam grabbed hold of Vera's arm and yanked her roughly onto her feet. He had a wickedly curved knife in his left hand.
“A problem?”
Gauge took several more steps back, nearly crashing into Seth. “They know we're here.”
“Shit.” Seth narrowed his eyes at the tunnel, but it was too dark to see what Gauge had seen. “You sure?”
“We just walked into an ambush.” Gauge whispered the words but they echoed all too loudly in the tiny room.
Something creaked loudly above us.
I looked up and saw several faces peering down at me through the hole in the ceiling that the first zombie had fallen through. For a moment I had just the slightest flash of hope and then one of the faces opened a mouth full of rotting teeth and hissed down at me. Drops of hot saliva landed on my cheek. I shuddered and took a step closer to Seth and Gauge. “They're above us.”
Seth barely nodded and didn't bother looking up to confirm. He'd probably already guessed that we were surrounded.
Liam took a deep breath. “We can try to go back, but we're going to have to fight our way out.”
“The passageway to our right looks pretty clear.” Vera sounded downright calm.
“It leads further into the Cube.”
“That would probably be a mistake. Going further in, I mean.”
“I don't think we're going to have much of a choice,” Gauge said. “Can't you hear them coming?”
I could hear them. Or rather, I could hear the scraping and banging noises they were making as what sounded like an awful lot of zombies tried to cram themselves down a fairly narrow shaft.
“Fight or run?” Liam was looking to Seth for instruction.
“We should fight,” Vera said. “Fight our way out before we get in too deep. We aren't that far from the ventilation shaft we came in through. If we can get past the zombies, then we'll stand half a prayer of living through the day.”
“Pi?” Seth didn't even turn to look at me as he spoke. “Make your call. Do we stay or do we try to get out now while we still have a chance?”
I looked back up at the zombies that were hovering less than 10 feet above our heads. One of them grinned at me. Every instinct I had was telling me that Vera had the right idea. Going deeper into the Cube would
be suicide.
“Fight.” I didn't trust my own voice to stay steady. “Vera's right. The smart thing to do is to get out now. If we go any deeper into the Cube, we're probably doomed.”
Seth barely hesitated. He nodded once, exchanged a glance with Gauge and then headed towards the tunnel that would take us back to the outside. He held his massive broadsword at ready as he moved into the mouth of the tunnel. “Liam, watch our backs.”
“You got it.” Liam held his own knife low as he moved to stand behind me. “Be ready to run,” he told me. The sounds made by the approaching zombies were getting progressively louder. They would be on us in a matter of seconds.
“Ready when you are,” I whispered.
Chapter 7
A dozen zombies came rushing out the tunnel. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the gnashing teeth and reaching arms. Some of the faces were ones I recognized. Most weren't.
Seth swung his sword wide and cut one of the monsters cleanly in half. It screamed as it went down, still clawing out for him with its arms.
Weapons were flashing everywhere around me. Blood poured across the floor like water spilled out of a bucket. I wasn't used to zombies who could scream. The noise was nearly deafening as the zombies continued to spill out of what should have been our pathway back to freedom.
I drew one of the knives Seth had given me and prepared to try to defend myself against our attackers. I cut the face of a zombie whose teeth snapped together inches from my right ear. I cut the hand off another who tried to grab me.
I tried to look for Seth and the others, but I couldn't see them clearly. The room had become too crowded. It was filled nearly wall-to-wall the zombies.
I felt a hand wrap too tightly around my ankle. I kicked out and my boot connected with a zombie's skull. The chaos in the room seemed to be escalating rather than calming. We had to be killing zombies, but every time I saw a zombie go down, it seemed like three more appeared and took its place.