“Well done. Won on your first try. You figured it out, Harrison Traynor.”
“Save your breath, grease bag,” he said angrily.
“She would be a human if you had protected her, Harrison Traynor. Isn’t that your job?”
“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled at Roy.
“But I am right, Harrison Tra—”
“I said—shut up.” Harrison was almost nose to nose with Roy.
“Because of you, Adele is now a zombie forever,” Roy said grinning maliciously.
Harrison growled at Roy before swinging his arm back, quickly punching him square across the face.
“Because of you, there is no hope for her,” the man said, not reacting to being punched.
Harrison swung repeatedly until blood trickled from Roy’s nose. The creepy controller hung his head to the side, smiling maliciously.
“Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker,” Barry said as Harrison swung a final time, knocking Roy out.
“Die Hard! I like it.” Harrison cheered at Barry.
“Thank you for doing that,” Lena spoke softly.
They stood for a moment, staring at the unconscious orange scented villain. Barry opened his mouth to speak, but as he did, the plane jolted abruptly and the three of them tumbled helplessly to the ground. The plane jolted sharply again.
“Is that more turbulence?” Barry asked, trying to pick himself up off the floor but falling heavily as the aircraft jolted wildly again.
“Yes, of course it is,” Lena assured him.
“Are you sure?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Good afternoon, wonderful passengers. Please find a seat and buckle down. We are preparing to land this baby nicely,” the familiar voice of Captain Pertus came through the overhead speakers.
“We’re already landing?” Barry asked from the floor.
“Yeah, and after all we’ve bloody been through, I don’t want to die from a crash landing or anything, thank you very much,” Lena said, offering Barry a hand up.
“No, you’re absolutely right,” Barry said.
“I know I am,” she told him.
Barry stood facing Lena. They stood, staring at each other. Lena’s hair was uneven, and her hands were bruised and scratched. Her once fresh and clean V-neck shirt was dirty and frayed more at the hem. Barry still held his sweet scent, but his glasses were askew. His shirt was creased and untucked completely. His hands were bruised badly from the action on the flight, but as he stood holding Lena’s hand, he couldn’t care less how bruised it was.
“Thanks,” Barry said nervously.
Harrison smiled briefly and sat in the seat just across from Adele. Barry let go of Lena’s hand and piled into the row across the aisle from Harrison and Adele, and Lena situated herself on the aisle seat. She’d had enough of economy class middle seats to last her a lifetime.
“At least we don’t have Sunshine to worry about anymore,” Barry said as he pulled his seatbelt over him.
“Thank God for that!” Lena said, clicking her belt in place. She pulled it tighter so it fit snugly over her stomach.
“Excuse me, but you’re in my seat,” a sharp, loud voice came from behind Lena’s head.
“Sorry, but it doesn’t matter,” Lena told the man standing over her.
He turned his body so his Eaton logo was at Lena’s eye level. She rolled her eyes at him. “This is my seat,” he said proudly.
“Get lost, shitface,” Barry told the Eaton man.
“Shitface? Do you know who I am?”
“Will your father hear about this?” Barry shot back with a completely straight face.
“Are you mocking me?” he seethed.
“Damn right, I am,” Barry argued.
“BARRY!” Lena snapped. “Stop fighting okay? He’s an idiot, and there’s no point fighting about it.”
“Idiot?” Eaton stuttered.
“Fuck off,” Lena said, pulling the gun further out of her pocket to threaten the man.
Eaton gaped and stumbled over odd noises that sounded like a dying whale. Lena tapped the gun handle as he tripped and fumbled away from them.
“Good job,” Harrison mused.
The plane jolted a little as they began the landing procedure. He tapped faster as the jolts became more frequent.
“So, Harrison, who are you exactly?” Lena asked.
Harrison stroked the ginger fluff peeking out of his chin. It didn’t create a full beard, but it was enough for him to stroke dramatically.
“I’m Adele’s bodyguard,” he finally said.
“All right, that does it,” Barry dug his fingers into the armrest as he spoke.
“What?” Lena said, puzzled.
“Who the fuck is Adele?”
“Barry, you’ve seriously never heard of Adele?” Lena asked. “I thought you were joking.”
Barry raised his brows and slowly shook his head. “Should I have?” he sheepishly asked.
“No, no. I mean, she’s only one of the greatest women to walk this damn earth!” Lena excitedly told Barry.
“So, she’s an actress?” he said, awkwardly probing for more information.
“She’s a singer, Barry.”
“Oh... What does she sing?”
“Rolling in the Deep, Make You feel My Love…”
“Oh my God.”
“What is it?” Lena asked, her brows furrowed.
“If I threw my laptop in the ocean and it rolled…”
“Barry, please don’t say it,” Lena said, already smiling.
“It would be a Dell rolling in the deep,” he smiled triumphantly.
“Hah, that was pretty funny, Harrison,” Harrison smirked lightly at Barry.
“Thanks, Harrison.” He beamed.
“It was clever, I admit.” Lena shook her head, laughing to herself.
“I feel more in the loop now,” Barry said, nodding.
“So, Harrison, why are you…” Lena started. She weighed her words in her mind before asking Harrison about his transformation ability. “Why are you a werewolf in your spare time?”
Barry snickered at her careful word choice.
“Well, I will tell you about it,” Harrison began.
Barry and Lena leaned in closer, eager to hear about his stories.
“It all started on a beautiful sunny morning. It was a normal Tuesday.” He stroked his chin as he spoke, occasionally glancing over at Adele.
“Okay…” Lena tried to follow along.
“This particular Tuesday was fresh. We had a tour in Philly. It’s a beautiful city, very patriotic, and we were in this lovely hotel with quite a delicious breakfast.” He paused.
Barry leaned back into his seat.
“I had an uneasy feeling really, not like a bad stomach feeling, but more a everything is totally feeling. I felt something was wrong.” Harrison spoke in such a dull way that Lena had to concentrate hard to follow his words.
“Lena, did you ever watch that TV program about that lady vicar?” Barry whispered.
“Oh, like The Vicar of Dibley?” she asked, vaguely remembering the British comedy.
“Yeah, there was that super dull guy. It’s him in disguise.”
Lena nodded at Barry’s vague comparison.
“But I had heard something about bad things happening or something. I asked my buddies about it, thinking maybe there was a small chance of finding more information.”
Lena nodded along. It wasn’t making any sense.
“I found a slice of information about terrible things happening, but no one could give any details, so I advised Adele to go back home.”
“And?” Lena asked.
“She agreed it would be best to go home so she could be with her family. I am her bodyguard, so it was my job to keep her safe from these monsters. She had seen them on the news, and now she is one.”
“It’s okay,” Lena said softly.
“I booked the flight, and I helped her here without the crowds surrounding her
. Things were going great until zombies came from nowhere.”
Lena turned back to look at Roy. His head popped out above the rows of seats, and his large brown shoe stuck out into the aisle.
“And I heard about HIVE.” Harrison shifted in his seat.
“HIVE?” Lena questioned.
“Yeah, you know, Asher Brannick’s company.”
“Oh, right.” She nodded, still not knowing what it was.
“I had a suspicion it was Brannick, but I didn’t know for sure.” He spoke to the headrest in front of him, never looking away to the others.
“Now you know because Roy told you?” Lena said.
Harrison nodded. “They have this A-Virus.” He pushed gently at the tired headrest.
Barry leaned forward again in his seat, excited about what Harrison was saying. “What is this A-Virus?”
“It’s the injection that Brannick gave all his followers. It was sort of to protect them.”
“But how?” Lena asked, looking around at Adele.
“Well, listen here,” Harrison said excitedly. He had a thick accent, and he liked to drop random letters as he spoke. “This little A-Virus injection they get, it’s like a blocker, you know?”
“No,” Barry said bluntly.
Harrison thought about his words for a moment before explaining more. “It’s like a blocker, so it tricks the little infected buggers to think that those with the A-Virus are already infected. The zombies only want to create more zombies, so they aren’t going to bite those they think are already infected. Understand?”
Barry chewed at his tongue trying to follow Harrison.
“So, the A-Virus tricks the zombies into thinking they’re one of them?” Lena asked.
Harrison nodded. “Exactly.”
“But how did the zombies become zombies?” Barry asked Harrison who seemed to know a considerable amount more than they did.
“They have the Z-Virus, original right?”
Barry and Lena nodded.
“Thing is, I had no idea what the Z-Virus was. Folks were saying it was the zombies, but I reckoned it was all bullshit. I mean, zombie’s right!”
“I thought it was my video game had come to life,” Barry commented.
“The army taught me to be prepared for anything, but I never thought they meant to be prepared for zombies. I had tried to get a hold of the A-Virus injection. I wanted it in case I needed it or if Adele did, but I thought it was all a big joke so I never seriously got around to it.”
“I wonder what went wrong,” Barry muttered.
“They gave me another injection. I took it because I hoped it could help Adele.”
“Harrison, in all fairness, you did help her,” Lena said smoothly.
“I guess so. But I guess I wanted to do more.” Harrison sighed. “I got the W-Virus. I hoped it meant like Warrior Virus, but I suppose not.”
“Warrior Virus?” Barry laughed to himself.
“It turned me into a werewolf.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” Barry nodded his way.
“Maybe Roy is right,” Harrison said, sighing sadly.
“In what way?” Lena questioned.
“I did fail. I should’ve protected her.”
“Harrison, what’s done is done.” She tried to comfort him, but it didn’t seem to work.
“I know that.” He sighed again.
“Don’t pay attention to that fucking creep, anyway. He doesn’t know anything.”
“I just hope he’s wrong. I hope that we can give Adele something, and it’ll change her back.”
“I hope so, too.”
“I told her family she was coming home on this flight. They’ll be so excited to see her, but now…” His voice trailed off.
“Its okay, Harrison,” Lena said.
“Now all they get is a grotesque, gray monster, and it’s totally my fault.” He ignored Lena.
“Harrison, you turned from a werewolf to a human. Do you think that could happen to Adele, too?”
“Maybe, but they gave me the W-Virus, not her. I didn’t even know what the W-Virus would do to me. I just took it in the hopes it could help. The whole bloody situation seemed so stupid.”
Lena nodded. “I know. It seemed farfetched for all of us, Harrison.”
“I mean, I like watching Dwindling Fire and shit, but I never thought it would be a bloody reality, for fuck’s sake. I must be dreaming still.”
Lena remained quiet.
“There just has to be a way to reverse it,” he assured himself.
“I know,” Lena said, unsure what else to say.
“Roy is wrong,” Harrison said angrily.
“Yes, he is,” Lena said calmly.
The plane descended, and Lena and Barry were pushed back against their seats as the aircraft descended. Barry breathed faster as the plane continued to drop. His focus remained fixed on the blank cracked television screen on the seat directly ahead of him. He panted faster, and he had gone pale as the plane dove into its landing.
“Barry?” Lena asked, but Barry didn’t reply. “Are you okay?” Still no reply.
“What’s the difference between a lobster with breast implants and a gross old bus stop?” She asked him, but she was shockingly met with silence. “One’s a rusty bus station and the other is a busty crustacean,” she finished, laughing.
Barry just continued to stare at the monitor in the seat, telling her he truly was freaking out.
“Hey, whatever it is, it’s okay,” she said.
Barry gulped with great effort and gripped onto the armrest with one hand while reaching for Lena’s hand with the other.
“I don’t mind the flying,” Barry finally forced the words out.
The plane jolted and the open overhead compartments rattled with the momentum. Some remaining luggage shifted and slid as the plane tilted forwards.
“I don’t like the landing and taking off part of flying,” he finished hastily.
Lena nodded, remembering him saying the same thing as they took off from New York not so long ago. When she boarded the flight, she had had no idea that she would land in London beside her newfound friend. She had had no idea there would be such distress on the short six-hour flight back home.
She smiled at Barry. He forced a little grin in return, even after everything they had fought through. Lena was glad to have Barry by her side. He had been a good friend, and his jokes had helped her conquer the large horde of zombies.
“We’re going to survive this, Barry Harrison,” Lena told her friend.
Barry nodded. “You sound like Roy.”
“This is the rebirth, Barry Harrison.” She seethed the words out, impersonating Roy.
The plane jolted and jumbled as it continued its descent into London. The gray clouds hung heavily over the densely packed old city. From above, the city looked normal. Skyscrapers stood tall, and the rain drizzled softly, but as they got closer to the ground, the eerie atmosphere set in. The empty skyscrapers stood abandoned, the once busy streets lay dormant, not a soul wandered around, no busses drove the streets, and the black cabs sat empty on curbsides.
The bustling city lay silent.
The plane leveled out, and the airport came into view. Barry let out a smile as he saw the airport rise around them.
“Hey, Barry look!” Lena pointed with her other hand.
“I know.” He smiled.
“Home,” she said.
“No.” He shook his head sadly.
“What?” She was taken aback.
“Home isn’t where you live.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s where you belong.” He smiled, then turned to look at the window.
“That sounds like experience talking,” Lena said, and Barry nodded. “And where do you belong Barry?” she asked him.
“Here,” he said, squeezing Lena’s hand.
Lena smiled into her ratty v-neck t-shirt. She tried to hide her smile, but it grew wider. Her face turned a soft s
hade of red.
“You know, Lena?”
“Yes?”
“Your stomach turns red as well as your face when you blush.”
Lena had had a lot of training to beat different situations. She was well versed with many forms of martial arts, she had taken down dictators and scum, she had rescued helpless children and entire villages, and she was constantly prepared for anything.
Anything except the feelings she felt around Barry.
The plane landed bumpily on the tarmac. As the aircraft slowed down, the passengers were thrown forward, following the bumpy movements of the plane as it cruised down the runway. Dust and smoke billowed from the tired engines, and the wings seemed to sigh with relief that the aircraft had finally landed.
The infested airplane came to a final, triumphant stop outside of Gate 2. The passengers sat motionless in their seats. It was hard to digest that the intense, unbelievable flight was finally over. Dead zombies still lay crumpled on the floor, and Harrison sat petrified by the zombie Adele. The faint smell of oranges floated around, reminding them of Roy sitting a few rows behind them.
“Is it over?” a passenger asked.
“Dude, it definitely is.” The annoying Dude was excited.
Another passenger sobbed into a lipstick-stained handkerchief. Some tired guests cheered halfheartedly, happy to be safe on the ground.
“Mummy, are we safe now?” a young girl asked her mother.
“Yes, sweetie, we’re home,” she told her little child.
“I can’t wait to tell dad what happened!” Levi excitedly told his sister.
The mixed emotions continued around them as Barry smiled at the sight of the airport.
“Well, Barry, thanks for your help,” Lena said, squeezing his hand.
“I didn’t do much…” he said, turning to face her.
“Your jokes are golden, my friend.”
“Hah, thanks.”
“We’re home,” Harrison sighed, looking sadly at Adele.
The famous zombie was still out cold, and her grayish skin flaked and curled as her head hung to the side.
“We’ll get you fixed up, Adele.” Harrison still spoke sweetly to the famous singer, despite her condition.
The seatbelt sign clicked off. Usually, passengers would be up moving, ready to get off the plane. This time, no one dared move. They’d landed safely on the ground, but nothing was certain. There were still zombies around, and Roy had regained consciousness and sat proudly in his seat.
Pandemic Z (Book 1): Pandemic Z Page 18