Yesterday Yields (Jane Zombie Chronicles Book 3)

by Gayle Katz

  “Chris! That’s not helping,” I turn back to Liz. “He just wants her to get better.”

  “That’s what we want too.”

  “How is she doing?”

  “She’s stable.”

  “What does that mean exactly?”

  “It means she’s responding well to the treatment we’ve been giving her.”

  “Treatment? You mean a cure?”

  “No. The researchers are still working on that. Right now we only have medications that mask or suppress the symptoms, but they say they’re getting closer.”

  “They who?”

  “The researchers.”

  “Who are these researchers? Where are they?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How do you not know?”

  “I don’t know. Like I said before, I’m just the intern. I guess they don’t tell me much and besides, I didn’t even think to ask.”

  “Don’t you want to know? Aren’t you curious?” Chris blurts out.

  “Chris. Chill out,” I give him a harsh look.

  “I know what it’s like,” I continue, “starting a new job. Wanting to impress your boss. Not wanting to create waves. It’s not easy.”

  “It’s not easy. All I want to do is become a doctor and help people.”

  “I hear ya. Then we're all on the same page. But, the secrecy surrounding the zombie cure and the people down here being treated like test subjects is more than a little disconcerting to an outsider. Can you understand that?”

  “Yeah. I think I can.”

  “That’s good to hear. Can you answer a few more questions for us?”

  “If I can.”

  “How often do you give her meds?”

  “Depending on the strength of the newest concoction we receive, it could vary from every few hours to every day.”

  “You receive? Wait. You don’t make it here?”

  “No.”

  “Where does it come from?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “In the office across the hall, I saw tubes of blood being shipped to the military base in town. If you’re shipping them there, maybe the medication you get is coming from there?”

  “I guess that would make sense, but I don’t know. Like I said before, I’m just the intern trying to learn my field, get experience, and help heal people.”

  “We have a lot in common. That’s all we want too. To heal these people.”

  “So what do you need me for?”

  “We want to find out why everything is being kept so hush-hush,” Chris states. “Like why we don’t have a cure yet. Why someone I love is still alive when I thought she was dead. Why the very government I pledge my allegiance to continues to lie to me after all these years.” Chris looks over at Marie, breaks down, and starts to cry.

  Liz just stares at Chris.

  “Yeah. So we have a lot of unanswered questions. Will you help us?” I plead.

  “Yes, of course. What do you need me to do?”

  “We have some theories and hypotheses, but nothing solid. We need to figure out what’s happening here. Do you know how we can do that?”

  “Anything that happens in the hospital has to go through the hospital administrator first. If there’s anything to find, I’m guessing it would be in his office.”

  “OK. Sounds good. Lead the way.”

  “It’s on the main floor. I guess you’re both already dressed in scrubs so it wouldn’t be weird for employees to be walking the halls, even at this odd hour.”

  “Before we take off, can you snag a couple vials of the new medication? We have someone else who needs it.”

  “Sure.”

  Before we leave the lab, Chris walks over to Marie’s bedside and kisses her on the cheek. He whispers into her ear, “I’ll be back soon and we’ll be together again. I promise. Just think about that, baby.”

  She doesn’t respond.

  “Is she OK?” Chris asks.

  Liz comes over and examines her. “It looks like the medication I just gave her knocked her out. That’s not unusual. She should be fine. Don’t worry.”

  Chris continues to stare at Marie. I guess he’s hoping she’ll wake up. I walk over to him and touch his arm. “We gotta go,” I say, “but we’ll be back for her soon.”

  We exit the basement lab, return to the hallway, and start climbing the stairs to the main floor. As we spiral around the stairwell, we reach the main level and go through the double doors. We peek left and then right. No one.

  “OK. Let’s make this fast. I’m not sure when shift change happens and I don’t want to get caught. I’d like to help, but I’d prefer not to end my career before it begins, ya know?”

  We nod and follow Liz into the office of the hospital administrator. Surprisingly, the door isn’t locked. We sneak in.

  “That was easy,” I mutter.

  Chris takes charge. “OK. We need to find any anything talking about the zombie initiative happening downstairs. Jane, you start searching his filing cabinet. I’ll search his desk and drawers. Liz, you listen at the door. Let us know the instant you hear anything.”

  Looking at the office wall lined with black filing cabinets, the task of finding anything about the zombie outbreak seems daunting, especially under a time crunch. I open the first drawer with a little screech and my fingers move from file folder to file folder looking for some language that indicates zombie research, Scarlet Peak, or something that’s covertly named. I close the first drawer and open the second one underneath. As I’m searching, Chris finds something.

  “Look at this. It’s a memo from the military base to all the hospitals in the network instructing them to monitor the zombie virus progression and evolution.”

  “Liz, how many hospitals are in the network?” I ask her.

  “Locally or across the country? There are even some hospitals overseas. I was offered an internship over in London, but I didn’t want to travel that far away,” Liz recalls.

  “How many hospitals total?” I clarify.

  “There are thousands of hospitals in the network. It’s one of the largest ones in the world, I think,” she answers.

  “Oh no,” Chris exhales.

  “Why oh no? They’re using their resources, trying to find a cure. Makes sense to me.” Liz is still on the fence, rose-colored glasses on, looking only to the merit of her job and her employer.

  “Yeah, but how exactly do you monitor the progression of the virus unless you’re there when it starts?” Chris drills down to the disconcerting underlying implications of the letter.

  “What are you saying?” Liz does not understand. But I do.

  “In my experience, when a zombie bites you, the last thing you do is go to the hospital. Your instinct... your compulsion is to bite someone else, to satisfy your need to feed, which simultaneously spreads the virus,” I admit.

  “How do you know that?” she questions.

  “Because it wasn’t long ago that I was turning into a zombie. I know that craving. It’s disgusting when I think about it now, but it made sense when I was infected,” I confess.

  Chris weighs in on what the newfound evidence might suggest, “If these orders came from the military to all the hospital administrators in the network, there could be secret, underground quarantine areas in every hospital across the country and around the world. Let’s stay calm and not jump to crazy conclusions. Now that we have some written proof, maybe my boss can tell us more.”

  I agree. “Sounds like a good first step to me. Let’s get out of here. We need to get back to Jack and see how he’s doing. We’ve left him alone for far too long. Liz, can you come with us? We have someone who really needs your help.”

  “Uhhh. Sure. My shift is over. Lemme clock out and then we’ll go.”

  Chapter 5

  ________________________________________

  The three of us arrive back at the house. We slowly pull up in front. Before getting out of the car, we look around the best we can in ord
er to see if any more zombies are milling about, waiting to ambush us, or needing a snack. Not seeing anything of immediate concern, we open the car doors and quickly walk to the front door. While I’m happy the door is still closed and locked, I’m afraid to see what awaits us inside. I pray that Jack is all right. I hope the zombies we incapacitated are still where we left them.

  I fumble for my keys.

  “Hurry up. Why didn’t you find the key while we were in the car?” Chris sounds annoyed. I can tell the whole situation is starting to wear on him.

  “Don’t rush me. All these keys look alike.”

  “I’m not rushing you. Look around. They’re rushing you.”

  I look up from my key ring and see a horde of zombies slowly heading our way. The bloodied and bruised figures coming toward us are stumbling along at a snail’s pace.

  “We just looked and there was nothing. Where did they come from?”

  “I dunno, but you gotta open that door now.”

  Despite my hands shaking, I find my house key and insert it into the lock, quickly turning it to the right. The deadbolt unlocks and we open the door. The three of us rush inside.

  “You two go upstairs and help Jack. I’m gonna stay down here and shoot some zombies,” Chris grabs his firearm from its holster.

  We hear their moans getting louder as they approach the house. I get distracted, go to a window, and peek outside. I see their jaws chomping and hear that familiar chattering sound. It gives me the creeps. I guess they sense snack time approaching. No way. I’m not ready to be zombie chow.

  “Don’t be crazy. Let’s board up these doors and windows,” I suggest an alternative.

  “We don’t have time for that. Plus, that’ll only slow ’em down. We gotta stop them. I’ll be fine. There are only a handful of them.”

  “Fine, but please, please, please try to do it as quietly as possible. We don’t need their friends coming too.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Chris nods as he takes the safety off his firearm and moves to get a good angle on the approaching mob.

  “C’mon, Liz. Let’s go,” I lead her upstairs.

  I feel uneasy about leaving Chris alone down there to fend off our zombie intruders, but we have to help Jack. As Liz and I get up the steps and approach the bedroom door, we can’t hear anything except Chris getting out his aggression on zombies. I knock on the door.

  “Jack?”

  Just a bark. No human response. I close my eyes for a moment to somehow regain my strength and muster the confidence to deal with the mess I made and the pain I inflicted on Jack.

  “Jack?” I say again as I knock a second time.

  Still no answer, but this time we do hear movement from inside the bedroom.

  “Give me some room,” I say to Liz. “I don’t know what we’re going to find when we open the door. Just be ready for anything, OK?”

  In the darkness, I hold my breath, open the door slowly, and see a shadow run to the corner of the bedroom. I flip on the light and walk over to where I saw the shadow run. I see Jack. His hands are covering his head, shielding himself from the light. Rocky is on the bed, watching us.

  Jack’s arms are almost gray in color. I touch him lightly. He’s on fire. He turns around and I see his face for the first time since Chris and I left him hours ago. His eyes are sunk in and glowing red. His face is beyond pale. When you’re in the midst of the onset of this sickness, things get weird.

  “Jack. It’s OK. Everything is going to be OK. We brought back someone who might be able to help you. This is Liz,” I wave to Liz and motion for her to come forward. “Liz, can you introduce yourself?”

  “Sure. Hi, Jack. It’s good to meet you. You have some great people who care about you. They asked me to help you feel better. I hope I can, but can you help me first?”

  Jack nods his head.

  “Can you sit down on the bed and give me your arm?” Liz asks Jack and then turns to me. “I’ve never administered treatment without the subject—err sorry—person restrained,” she confides.

  “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.” I take Jack’s hand and sit down on the bed. He sits down next to me. With my other hand, I pull another sports drink from the stash by the side of the bed, open it, and hand one to Jack. “You need to drink more,” I say to him.

  Liz pulls out a syringe and attaches a needle to the end of it.

  “Jack,” I say, “Liz is going to inject you with a treatment to help you feel better. It’s going to do what the sports drinks do, only faster. Is that OK?”

  Jack nods his head and holds his arm out. Liz injects Jack with the treatment. Within moments, he loses consciousness and collapses on the bed. I touch his forehead and run my fingers through his thick, brown hair. He’s all sweaty and clammy to the touch. I lower my head to his until they’re touching.

  “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

  “There’s no time for that. We gotta keep going,” Chris says as he’s standing at the doorway. I didn’t even notice he had made his way upstairs.

  “Are you OK?” I ask him.

  “More than OK. It feels good to kill those undead sons of bitches causing all this pain and suffering.”

  “So you took care of the zombie problem downstairs?”

  “For now at least.”

  “That was fast. How about our three tied up friends? Did you check on them?”

  “They’re still out cold.”

  “If their physiologies were completely zombified when you injected them, it makes sense it would take longer for the medication to work. It’s got more to do,” Liz postulates.

  “Now what?” I need some direction.

  Chris reminds me of the plan. “Now we go talk to my boss. He might know what’s happening or maybe he knows who’s responsible and is just keeping quiet. If there’s more to this... this... this conspiracy, it may go way above my boss, but I guess it’s as good a place as any to start.”

  “What about Jack?” Liz reminds us of her new patient.

  “We really need you to stay with him. Rocky here will keep you company,” I say as I pat Rocky’s head and he licks my hand. “Make sure the treatment works. Do what you’ve done for your other patients and keep him safe.”

  “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do what I can,” Liz vows.

  “Thank you,” I walk over, wrap my arms around her, and squeeze her tight.

  ***

  Sitting in Chris’s car outside of his boss’s government office building, I open the passenger side door and begin to get out, but Chris doesn’t move. I sit back down and look at him. I can tell he’s nervous. Or maybe he’s just psyching himself up to confront his boss. I put my hand on his shoulder.

  “Besides the obvious, what’s wrong, Chris?”

  “I’m part of the military, the government. We follow rules. We don’t question our superiors. If I do this, my career is over. I’m just contemplating that before we barge into my boss’s office demanding answers.”

  “I can see why you’re uneasy, but could you live with yourself if you did nothing and let innocent people continue to suffer and die?”

  “No.”

  “Are you having second thoughts?”

  “No. I’m not. I have to do this in order to get Marie back. She means everything to me. I’m gonna get her better. I just need a minute.”

  “OK. Take your time. I’ll wait outside. Give you some time alone.”

  “Thanks.”

  I open the car door again. This time I get out, close the door behind me, and lean up against the car. I hope he’s not losing it. If we’re going to find out who’s behind this mess and get the people we love in the clear, he’s got to keep it together. Still, I can’t imagine how he feels. Finding out someone he loves is still alive after all this time mourning her loss must play games with your mind. I know when I finally discovered Mallory was really Laura, it threw me for a loop. Just thinking about Jack being taken away from me for years and then suddenly popping back into my l
ife makes me uneasy and angry.

  I stop staring and instead decide to look around, keep watch, and generally take note of what’s happening around us. As I look ahead, I notice a pack of scuzzy zombies heading right for us. My heart starts pumping fast. I’m sweating. I shake my head, blink, and they’re gone.

  Lost in my thoughts, I hear a car door open. I turn around, startled. Chris gets out of the driver's side and closes the door.

  “Ready?” Chris says as he starts walking to the building’s entrance.

  “Yeah. Sure,” I sprint around the car and catch up with him on the front steps.

  “Do we need to take you back to Liz?” he asks.

  “No. I’m OK,” I lie.

  “You sure?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Because you need to stay sharp. I’m not sure what’s gonna happen.”

  “Got it.”

  Once inside the building, security greets us. Chris swipes his badge and they pat us down.

  “She’s with me,” Chris says as he notices the security detail staring.

  “Who are you here to see?”

  “Deputy Director Edwards. He’s expecting us.”

  I turn and give him an odd look. He’s not expecting us.

  “OK. You’re free to go,” the security guard waves us in.

  Chris and I keep a brisk pace down the main hallway and then make a sharp left. His boss’s office is on the right. He gives a courtesy knock and, without waiting for an official welcome, just opens the door. We see a middle-aged man sitting behind a shiny, wooden desk. The office smells like sweet cigars. He looks up as we enter, a smile on his face.

  “Chris! What a surprise! I didn’t know you were coming for a visit,” he stands up to greet us.

  “Hi, Joe. It’s nice to see you too,” Chris goes for the handshake.

  “Who’s your friend?”

  “This is Jane and, unfortunately, we’re not here on pleasant business.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We just came from the hospital and discovered a whole underground quarantine wing dedicated to zombie infection and research.”

  “I guess that makes sense with all the activity we’ve had around here lately.”