by Bianca D’Arc
After the challenging phone call to her dad, she made another quick call to Terry. Her best friend and neighbor was a lot like her. Terry worked long hours at her research job, and they got together a few times a month to share dinner or go out shopping together. That was the extent of Sarah’s social life at the moment. It was kind of pitiful, actually, but it was her life.
Sarah sat awake in her bed, thinking for a while, but eventually she drifted off to sleep. Seven o’clock came early and she wanted to be ready.
At seven sharp, Xavier tapped on Sarah’s door. He wasn’t surprised to hear her chipper voice telling him to enter. As he’d expected, she was already awake, dressed in her uniform and ready to go. All he had to do now was get her past the phalanx of doctors who no doubt wanted to keep her under their microscopes.
Xavier wouldn’t allow that to happen. A set of doctors had tried to make him a prisoner of their medical ward, too, but had been overruled by his superior’s need for him to be out in the field, fighting the monsters some of their colleagues had created. No way was he going to become a human pincushion, being stuck by needles every five minutes, his life lived at the pleasure of a bunch of pencil-necked geeks in white lab coats.
He didn’t want that for Sarah, either. She was too good at her job. Everyone he’d talked to about her had the same high opinion of her skills, personality and dedication to her duty. She couldn’t help being bitten by a nightmare creature any more than he could have. She didn’t deserve to have her life turned upside down by a medical community that was as guilty as sin, as far as Xavier was concerned. They’d created this menace.
His brother Special Forces soldiers had ended it once before. Now the damn scientists had moved on and were taking their terror with them, unleashing it on an unsuspecting populace. Even though they’d been prohibited by the government and had sworn all kinds of vows to drop this line of research under penalty of death. Despite all that, the greedy bastards were pursuing something they knew was dangerous. As far as Xavier was concerned, that went beyond stupidity into downright insane hubris. The original project had used an experimental viral agent to try to make soldiers more resistant to disease. An expected byproduct had been the speed healing, that he and Sarah had experienced firsthand. The experimental substance—the contagion—actually worked on them the way it had been designed. But they were rare. In the vast majority of people, the contagion killed them quickly, and then reanimated their corpses with truly evil results.
Maybe the scientists thought they could contain their creations. Or maybe they didn’t care how many innocent lives were lost. Xavier would bet the latter. The medical researchers hadn’t seen him as a person when he’d miraculously survived the zombie attack. They’d treated him like a guinea pig or a lab rat. They barely even spoke directly to him, speaking over him instead. Nothing pissed him off faster than that. He hadn’t lasted more than a day in the hospital after waking before he’d checked himself out.
He’d walked bare-assed out of that ward but for a thin hospital gown and never looked back. Anyone who tried to stand in his way was forcefully, but politely, moved aside. After the first few orderlies and doctors hit the floor, the rest let him pass without making even the slightest objection.
Xavier’s first stop had been his quarters. He’d needed clothes. After dressing, his next stop was his commanding officer’s office. He’d never forget the look on his new CO’s face when he had marched in. His Green Beret unit had been decimated by the zombies. Xavier was the only one left. The loss of his comrades had hit Xavier hard. Then he’d been reassigned to a former Navy SEAL who headed up the team tasked to stop the zombies.
Matt Sykes was that navy commander and former SEAL. There was always a little good natured army-navy rivalry, but the Special Forces brotherhood bonded them. More than that, Sykes had proven himself in that moment when Xavier showed up in his office. Xavier owed his release from the scientists’ clutches to Matt Sykes. The navy man had gone to bat for Xavier, declaring him vital to the mission and unable to be spared for more testing.
Sykes had the balls, and the authority, to stop the science geeks in their tracks. As the zombie plague spread, the brass had become convinced that only a very few specialists—people like Xavier who were immune to the contagion—could safely get this situation under control. They’d put Sykes in charge of the whole ball of wax and given him absolute authority. And now here Xavier was, in charge of this ancillary cleanup-and-containment operation with a lady cop as his only comrade-in-arms. There were others in support positions, but only the two on the mission who had been proven immune would be risked in direct confrontation with the creatures.
“You ready?” he asked Sarah as she buckled her gun belt. She didn’t have her sidearm, but he’d take care of that shortly.
“I’ll be glad to see the outside. I hate hospitals.”
“Me, too.” Before they could make good their escape, Dr. Singh walked in with his two colleagues. “Damn. Almost made it.” Xavier leaned against the wall, watching the expressions of consternation cross the doctors’ faces. They weren’t wearing masks today, and, sure enough, they looked like they had expected Sarah to meekly lie in bed while they studied her.
“What’s going on here?” Dr. Singh’s accent was much thicker when he was agitated, that was for sure.
“I’m leaving.” Sarah’s answer made the doctor’s eyes bug out.
Xavier had to stifle a laugh at Singh’s reaction.
“But you can’t,” the female doctor objected. “We have to study you.”
“You can study my blood all you want, but I have a job to do.”
Xavier liked the way Sarah stood firm.
“You can’t go out there like this. You have a concussion, right, Dr. Singh?” The woman was clearly grasping at straws, looking for a way to keep Sarah in the hospital.
“Actually, her skull is repaired and her scans are normal,” Singh reported. “I hypothesize that whatever agent caused her rapid healing also accelerated recovery from the concussion.”
“Great.” Sarah finished buckling her utility belt and faced the three doctors. “I’m going. By force if necessary.” Her intent was clear. Nobody would mess with her plans.
The female doctor sighed and gave in. “I’ll get an orderly to take you down.”
“Is that really necessary? I’m perfectly capable of walking.”
“Hospital rules,” Singh replied, crossing his arms over his clipboard.
“All right. But I won’t wait long.”
The female doctor was out the door like a shot. Xavier raised one eyebrow at her abrupt departure and sent a glance Sarah’s way. She was eyeballing the doctors, making them fidget. Man, that woman had real presence when she chose to use it. He recognized that ability as part of what went into making her such an effective cop. She might be petite, but she was mighty.
The orderly was there in record time. Sarah rolled her eyes as she sat in the wheelchair but allowed the man to wheel her out of the room and into the elevator. Xavier was at her side throughout. He grinned at the doctors right before the elevator doors closed them out. Round one to the lady in the uniform.
Xavier had left his ride in the drive. It was an official vehicle, and he hadn’t planned to be there long. As he’d expected, he’d been upstairs less than ten minutes, and the vehicle was still there, waiting for them when the orderly let Sarah off at the curb.
She stood at Xavier’s side, barely coming up to his shoulder. Something inside him wanted to see her smile. Or, if not smile, then laugh, even if it was at his expense.
“You certainly live up to your last name, don’t you, ma petite?”
“It’s pronounced ‘Petit.’ Like ‘pet it.’”
He couldn’t resist a little risqué humor. It was, after all, his specialty. “Oh, ma belle, I’d love to pet yours. Thought you’d never ask.”
She laughed. Bingo. Mission accomplished.
“I bet you would, you French perv.”
“Cajun, actually. There’s a difference.”
“Really? Aside from the obvious geographical distinctions, what’s the difference?”
“We Cajuns are much better lovers. Smarter, too. We don’t waste time on manicures and fifty-dollar haircuts. We have all the finesse of the French, tempered by the machismo of being true-blue American.”
“Don’t forget all that humility,” she scoffed, and he laughed right along with her.
The guy had a sense of humor and a giant-sized ego that could take a hit. Despite herself, she was beginning to like him. He had a government vehicle waiting for him. Not the usual black town car. This thing was a behemoth camouflage Humvee. This was no dressed-up civilian version with shiny trim. This was the real deal.
A gentleman with apparently excellent manners when he chose to use them, Xavier opened the door for her. She grabbed the door frame for leverage, jumping up into the high seat. He secured the door after her. Scooting around to the driver’s side, Xavier climbed in and started the vehicle. The engine purred like a rhinoceros—or something equally big and mean.
Despite the bad gas mileage and impracticality of driving something this huge on the crowded streets of Long Island, Sarah had to admit to a little thrill at being in one of the real military vehicles. Deep inside, where her inner child lived, she thought these tanklike cars were just cool. Not that she’d ever admit it out loud.
He maneuvered the wide vehicle deftly out of the parking area and onto the road without incident. Unerringly, Xavier headed in the direction of the old building where Sarah’s odyssey had begun a week ago.
“I thought we’d retrace your steps at the scene first, unless you’d rather start somewhere else.” He looked at her questioningly.
“No, retracing the incident is as good a place as any to start. Maybe we can find something at the scene to tell us where the perps might’ve gone.”
“One more thing…” Xavier reached over and popped open a compartment built into the dash in front of her. There was a pistol inside. “This is for you.”
Sarah took hold of the pistol and carefully removed it from the protective covering to look at it. It wasn’t a run-of-the-mill weapon. Instead of bullets, it was loaded with some kind of dart.
“A dart gun?” She was puzzled by the lack of firepower. “Wouldn’t hollow points be more effective?”
“Bullets don’t work on the dead, Sarah. We can’t kill them twice. They don’t even feel pain. Direct hits with conventional ammo from close range don’t even slow them down.” He paused while she digested that information.
“What’s in these? Not tranqs, right?” She gestured toward the pistol in her lap.
“The darts contain a toxin developed specifically to deal with these guys. It interferes with the bonds that hold them together on a cellular level. It breaks those bonds, and the creatures…dissolve, for lack of a better word. Once the toxin takes effect, there isn’t much left. Use extreme caution when you handle the dart rounds. I’m authorizing you to carry and use them on this mission, but otherwise, the ammo is to be kept under lock and key at all times. It’s a highly controlled substance.”
Sarah could easily understand how something as dangerous as what he’d just described needed to be carefully controlled. Who knew what could happen if such a substance fell into the wrong hands.
Xavier drove with competent skill. The more she was around him, the more she realized he did everything with an air of confidence most men couldn’t quite pull off. He didn’t need directions, which surprised her. She knew darn well he wasn’t from around here.
“Have you spent much time on Long Island?” she asked, curious.
“This is my first time here. I was called in last Thursday, after news of your attack made it down the chain of command. They pulled me off the detail I was working on at another base and flew me up here with a small squad to check things out. We had to determine if what happened to you was related to our mission.”
“I guess you needed me to wake up for confirmation.”
“I had confirmation from your blood tests on Thursday night. What I didn’t know was the exact circumstances of the attack until you woke up and told me. I’ve been keeping my superiors up-to-date and am authorized at the highest levels to do whatever is necessary to contain this outbreak. After your disclosures yesterday, we all realized the problem was even larger than we’d feared.”
She thought about that for a moment as he continued on to the scene of her attack.
“You checked the site already?” He wouldn’t have known exactly where to go if he hadn’t.
“I went in and took a quick look, but I didn’t want to disturb the scene until you were available to walk me through the sequence of events.”
She understood his reasoning but, suddenly, going back to the scene made her feel odd. They pulled up in front of the abandoned building, and Sarah fought against a pang of anxiety. It was a short-lived burst, but it was strong.
Xavier’s big hand covered hers, drawing her attention.
“You okay?”
She read real concern in his expression, tempered with understanding. It gave her strength.
“I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and tried to focus her thoughts.
“I remember my first time back on duty after a sniper almost took my arm off. Hit me from the side. An inch either way and it would’ve been a really bad day for me. As it was, I was out of commission for a couple of months. When I finally got back to my unit, it was hard to get out into the real world again. We were still deployed in the same hellhole of a country, in the same area where the sniper had taken potshots at me. He hadn’t been caught or killed to our knowledge. I kept wondering if he was still out there, still gunning for me from the invisibility of distance. My head was on a swivel those first few hours, but eventually I got back into the swing of things. Give yourself time, Sarah. It’s understandable to be a little jumpy after what you’ve been through.”
“I’m not jumpy. I’m scared shitless.” She figured he’d earned a bit of honesty with the sympathetic story, even if it was just a story. She didn’t think he’d lie about being injured, but she wouldn’t put it past him to exaggerate the true level of his postinjury anxiety in order to make her feel better. Come to think of it, that was a nice quality. One of many she was discovering he had.
Better not to go there. They had a job to do, and she had a quiet life to get back to once the horror-show portion of the festivities was over.
Xavier laughed outright at her statement and she joined him. The mere action of laughing helped her nerves settle. She turned her hand over under his and gripped his fingers for a quick squeeze.
“Thanks, Captain. I’m good to go now.”
“You’re a trouper, Officer Petit.”
He winked at her—there was that charm again—and let go of her hand. He opened his door and slid out of the high vehicle while she jumped down from her side.
“So let’s start this from the beginning. When you rolled up, where did you park?”
He towered over her, but she didn’t mind. His height and size made her feel safe in an odd way. There was no doubt he was one of the good guys, even if he was wearing camo fatigues instead of a policeman’s uniform. They were definitely on the same side here, and she could use an ally with knowledge of the enemy if she was really going to face those creatures again.
“I parked right along here. Maybe three yards forward from where you just parked the Humvee.”
He dutifully walked three yards forward. “So your driver’s-side door was about here, right?” He walked to the spot and she shadowed his movements. “Making this your approach angle.” He pointed, using his arm to indicate the line he thought she had walked along. “Get in front of me and show me your path as closely as you can remember. Go slow and stop at the entrance. We’ll go in together.”
She was impressed by his all-business attitude. The laconic teasing had ceased the moment they got to work. S
he liked that. His charm was nice, but his sharp-eyed intellect was even more attractive.
Dangerous ground, she chastised herself again. They were here to solve a problem. That’s all. Of course, it couldn’t hurt to admit—in the privacy of her own mind—that she found him dangerously attractive. The more she saw of him, the more she liked the sexy Southern boy.
She did as he asked, walking slowly along the path she’d taken the week before. He paused a few times to study the ground but didn’t say much. She wondered what he could possibly be learning from the broken concrete and dirt, but didn’t ask him. He looked too pensive to interrupt, and they hadn’t even really gotten started yet. The fun part would be inside.
She shuddered, not enjoying the anticipation of reliving those horrific moments when she thought she’d die in that abandoned building, at the mercy of two nightmare creatures. Her life hadn’t exactly flashed before her eyes, but she’d had a revelation or two in those panicked moments. She didn’t want to die. Not like that. Not so young, without having ever done anything really worthwhile with her life. Sure, she was a respected police officer, but other than her work, her life was empty.
She wanted to change that. She wasn’t really sure how she’d go about it, but she was determined to do something different in the future. As soon as this nightmare was over. She’d see these creatures finished first. It was a vow she’d made to herself last night as memories of those terrifying moments returned.
Sarah stopped at the door to the building. It still hung askew, the rusted steel no barrier to the gloomy interior. She peered inside cautiously, reaching for the flashlight on her utility belt. Xavier had given her a small, high-powered one to replace the big one she’d lost when she’d been attacked. He’d also given her a nice holster for the dart pistol, which she’d put on gratefully. It felt good to be armed again. Especially now that she knew what was really out there, lurking in the dark.