Zombie Uprising Series (Book 4): The Hybrid

by Robbins, M. A.

  Rodriguez put the limo in gear and drove into the compound. He pulled up to the main doors of the concave building.

  Jen followed the agents in and sighed when a blast of cold air brushed her face. "Heaven."

  An older guard just inside the door waved them all by. "Dr. Cartwright is waiting for you in her office."

  An elevator ride to the eighth floor took seconds, and they stepped out into a carpeted hallway with soft lighting. Jazzy instrumental music played through speakers in the ceiling.

  Daniels led them twenty yards down the hallway and into a reception area. A receptionist with a headset looked up and pressed something on her desk. "They're here, Doctor." She nodded and looked at Agent Daniels. "She'll be just a minute."

  Thirty seconds later a buzz and a click came from a set of double doors to the receptionist's side. "You can go in," she said.

  Rodriguez held one of the doors open and ushered everyone in. A large, spacious room with floor-to-ceiling windows, Cartwright's office was filled with sunlight. Framed artwork hung on one of the walls, while another had pictures and plaques. One that caught Jen's eye showed Cartwright and the President next to each other in what looked like a serious conversation.

  From what I've seen of Cartwright, everything's a serious conversation.

  Cartwright sat at her desk facing them. She stood. "Jen, good to meet you." She made eye contact with each of the others in turn. "Good to meet you all."

  She gestured to a comfy looking sofa and a set of chairs. "Please have a seat."

  Jen took one of the chairs, while Howell took the other. Mark and Zeke plopped down on the sofa.

  Cartwright took her seat. "I received the message you passed along at Grand Forks. I have to say, it left me wondering if the message wasn't misunderstood by the airman who communicated it to me. Would you mind filling me in?"

  Jen leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees. "Butler died and came back a leader."

  "But a super leader," Zeke said. "Kinda like a top-level Boss on one of my video games."

  Cartwright's eyes stayed on Jen. "And so it's true that he controlled a horde that numbered in the millions?"

  "It's a fact, Doctor," Howell said. "Threw his hands in the air and every damn one of those things froze in place."

  Cartwright rubbed her chin. "That gives me a lot to think about."

  Jen fidgeted in her seat. "I'd like you to take my blood so I can go back out there and find Butler."

  Mark's eyebrows rose. "I don't think that's a good idea."

  Cartwright frowned. "We don't know where he is. Besides, I need you here with me. There's much to be done." She tilted her head forward and peered at Jen over the top of her glasses. "And I need you for more than your blood."

  Jen stood. "All due respect, Doctor, but I was there at the beginning of this thing. I lost my Dad, Chris, Doc, and too many other people to count. I want to end it."

  Cartwright sighed. "And you will. But as my assistant where you'll do more to end this catastrophe than you could by charging to your death."

  Her face softened. "It may make you feel better to go after Butler, but your impact will help many more people if you stay and work with me."

  Jen rubbed the heels of her palms into her eyes. Feel like I haven't slept in days.

  She took a deep breath and let it out while puffing her cheeks. "OK, Doctor. I'll sleep on it."

  Mark stood and stretched. "Come to think of it, I think we could all use a shower, some food, and a good sleep."

  Cartwright pressed a button on her desk. "Amy, please send Agents Rodriguez and Daniels back in."

  The two agents appeared immediately. "Take them to the hotel and get them settled," Cartwright said.

  "Yes, ma'am," Rodriguez replied.

  A young woman in a pant suit burst into the room like an eager intern. "Dr. Cartwright. News from the front."

  "What is it?" Cartwright asked.

  "There are multiple coordinated attacks against Boise, Las Vegas, and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana."

  "How many?" Zeke asked.

  "Tens of millions." The woman turned to Cartwright. "General Loomis said all three locations could fall within a day."

  3

  Cartwright pointed to the window-length blinds. "Close those. Let's get Colonel Rogers on video at once."

  "Ma'am," the woman said, "I'm sure he's tied up with the attacks at the moment."

  Cartwright stared at her. There was no anger in her face, but the woman hurried to close the blinds. Cartwright typed on her keyboard and a section of the wall behind her slid over and revealed a fifty-five-inch flat screen. The word "Connecting..." displayed on it.

  An older soldier's face appeared on the screen. Silver eagles adorned the collar of a wrinkled uniform shirt. His lower eyelids drooped and his eyes had red blood vessels crossing the white sclera like a lightning strike.

  "Dr. Cartwright," he said. "We're in emergency mode—"

  "I want details," Cartwright snapped. "Some very important decisions may need to be made based on the situation."

  The colonel's shoulders drooped. This guy looks like shit.

  "Evacuation of Malmstrom AFB in Montana to Grand Forks AFB is in process. We estimate forty percent of the personnel and eighty percent of the equipment will make it out before the base is overrun."

  "Shit," Mark breathed.

  Cartwright's expression remained unchanged. "And Las Vegas?"

  "It's going to fall." Rogers rubbed a knuckle in each eye. "And it'll be soon. There's a line of traffic heading east all the way to the Arizona border. Hordes have broken off and are flanking the city on the north and south. It's obvious they plan to attack the refugees and encircle the city."

  Howell cleared his throat. "What about Nellis AFB?"

  "Overrun an hour ago, but we evacuated all personnel and essential resources."

  Zeke looked up from studying his fingernails. "What about Area 51? Did you fly the UFOs out of there?"

  Jen clasped his forearm and shook her head. "Not the time."

  Rogers ignored Zeke. "Boise is fifty-fifty. We've launched constant air strikes from Mountain Home AFB. It seems to have kept the horde at bay for now."

  Cartwright sniffed. "Keep me updated, Colonel."

  The screen went blank.

  "Butler's behind it," Jen said. "I need to find him and finish what I started."

  "Don't be foolish," Cartwright said.

  "Excuse me?" Heat flooded Jen's face.

  Mark turned toward her. "I wouldn't put it that way, but what are you going to do? Just walk through the horde looking for him?"

  Zeke slapped the table. "I'm with you, Jen."

  Jen sat back and let out a long breath. "I don't see me doing any good here."

  "Why?" Cartwright asked. "Because you can't be out there acting like a hero?"

  Jen frowned. "Wait a minute—"

  "You are the only living person on Earth who received a fully concentrated inhalation of the spores," Cartwright said. "That makes you unique, and a superb test subject to find a cure."

  "But we don't even know if that will help," Jen said.

  "But if it does?" Cartwright asked. She raised a hand, the thumb and forefinger a half-inch apart. "We're this close to a cure. If you want to do something to stop this scourge, then help us with that."

  Jen stared at the floor. She's right. And so is Mark. How the hell would I find Butler without becoming a zombie snack? Still, I'd rather do something more than get poked with needles.

  Jen sighed. "Where do I go to donate blood?"

  Cartwright gestured to the young woman. "This is Cindy Hirt. Cindy, please escort Miss Reed to the phlebotomy office and bring her back to me when she's done."

  "Yes, Doctor." Cindy turned to Jen. "Miss Reed?"

  Jen stood. "Lead on."

  "I'll go with you." Zeke stepped to her side.

  I love this guy. The little brother I never had. "I think I'll be safe in the building. Why d
on't you stay here? I won't be gone long."

  Zeke pursed his lips and nodded.

  She followed Cindy into the hallway and onto the elevator, where the assistant put a key in the panel and turned it, then punched the lowest button. Lower Level Four.

  The elevator dropped quickly and quietly, stopping at their destination in seconds. The doors slid open with a slight whoosh, revealing a set of double doors with the words "Authorized Personnel Only" stenciled on them.

  Cindy took an access card that hung from her hip and swiped it through a reader on the wall. A blip and green light from the reader and Cindy pulled the door open.

  The room was thirty feet wide and almost that long. A rack of stainless steel morgue refrigerators lined part of one wall, while two stainless steel autopsy tables sat in the middle of the room, under large operating room lights hanging from the ceiling. Jen squinted. All the refrigerator doors had keyholes. Keeping someone out or something in?

  Cindy strode through the room, pushed open a door on the other side, and walked through. Jen gave a refrigerator door handle a tug as she passed it. It didn't move.

  She hurried after Cindy and into a hallway with a dozen doors, six on either side. She went to the first door and peeked into the small eye-level window. An old lady lay in a hospital bed with her eyes closed. A respirator mask fitted on her face, her chest rose and fell rhythmically.

  What the hell are they doing down here?

  She hurried to keep up with the assistant and followed right on her heels as she pushed through a pair of swinging double doors and into a large cavernous room. Buzzing lights hung from a high ceiling, casting a bright glow that reached into every corner of the room.

  Jen stopped in her tracks. Lining both sides of the room were a dozen large cages, each with a snarling zombie inside. As if on cue, they strained at their chains as Jen and the assistant entered.

  The assistant glanced over her shoulder and stopped. "They're very secure."

  Jen blinked. "I'm not afraid, just surprised."

  A door opened at the far end of the room. A balding middle-aged man with a blond handlebar mustache stepped out with a clipboard in his hand. "What do you have for me?" His gaze swung to Jen. "And who is this? Why is she in a restricted area?"

  Jen followed Cindy to the man. His white lab coat had "O'Connor" embroidered over the pocket. "I'm Jen Reed. I'm guessing you're the vampire who's going to suck me dry."

  The man looked at Cindy then back at Jen before he put his hand out. "Dr. O'Connor. I work with Dr. Cartwright."

  Jen shook his hand. "Why don't we get on with this? These zombies are giving me a headache."

  O'Connor looked at the zombies as if he'd just noticed they were there. "Of course. I'm so used to them, I've mentally blocked them out." He turned. "Follow me."

  Jen followed him and Cindy into the room he'd appeared from. Two other people in lab coats sat at separate tables, one working on a computer and the other peering into a microscope. Shelves of vials and jars, as well as equipment like a centrifuge, lined the counters.

  The door closed, cutting off the growls of the zombies.

  "Please, have a seat." O'Connor gestured to a blood drawing chair. She sat as O'Connor rustled through drawers, pulling out a plastic open-ended tube with a nasty-looking needle at the end and several glass tubes with rubber at one end. Jen flipped the padded arm of the chair across her lap and rested her arm on it.

  "Have you found out where the virus came from?" she asked.

  O'Connor froze and glanced at her, then went back to rummaging in the drawer. "We're working on it."

  He turned around and wiped down the crook of her arm with a swab. The sting of alcohol fumes made Jen crinkle her nose. "What have you found out so far?"

  O'Connor stabbed her arm and Jen flinched. She looked away. She didn't mind shots or needles as long as she didn't have to look at them stuck into her body.

  Cindy had wandered over to the lab tech on the computer, and they spoke in hushed tones.

  Jen looked around at the well-equipped lab. Doc would've liked it there. Doc. His name still brought a twinge of guilt. I'll never forgive myself for his death.

  A sharp jab in her arm caused her to pull in a breath.

  "Just another minute," O'Connor said.

  Jen looked down. A full tube lay next to two more. A fourth one was in the vacutainer and filling up fast. He pulled that one out, shook it, and laid it down, before slipping another in.

  Looking away, Jen said, "Looks like a lot of blood."

  "You'll be fine," O'Connor said. "But I want you to sit here for ten minutes afterward just to make sure you don't feel faint."

  He removed the needle and pressed a cotton ball over the wound. "Hold this here, please."

  Jen pressed a finger onto it as O'Connor taped it down. "I'll pass on the ten minutes," she said. If I haven't passed out from anything that's happened in the last month, then I won't pass out from this.

  O'Connor shrugged.

  Jen eased out of the chair and straightened. "Cindy, can we get going?"

  Cindy looked over from the computer, said something to the lab tech, and walked to the door. Jen joined her, and as soon as the door opened, the zombies came alive again.

  They'd made it several feet from the lab when Dr. O'Connor appeared in the doorway. "Ms. Hirt, Dr. Cartwright is on the phone for you."

  Cindy put out a hand. "Wait here." She hurried into the lab.

  "Shit," Jen said. "And I have to stay out here and listen to this?"

  The door eased shut and the zombies went silent as if someone had flipped a switch.

  Jen peered at each of them. All of their eyes were on her. What the fuck?

  She took a few steps toward the exit, and the zombies straightened like soldiers at attention, their heads swiveling to keep their gazes latched on her. Jen approached one, a young redhead, and its soulless eyes locked on hers. Nothing. Not even a spark of life in them.

  The lab door opened and the zombies went wild, gnashing their teeth and growling at Cindy.

  Well, well. If this ain't some creepy shit.

  4

  Jen followed Cindy back into Cartwright's office. What was going on with those zombies? Why did they quiet down when only she was there? Could it be another mutation in the virus? Should I tell Cartwright?

  "Just in time," Cartwright said.

  Jen broke from her thoughts. "Just in time for what?"

  Howell stood next to Cartwright. He put his hand out. "Dr. Cartwright has assigned me to be her liaison with the Pentagon. I'm taking tonight's train to Washington."

  Jen shook his hand, then pulled him into a hug. "Sorry to see you go." She broke the embrace. "You saved our asses more than once."

  Howell smiled. "And you've saved a lot more with your observations and reports."

  "And she'll save even more by helping us find a vaccine," Cartwright said.

  Howell stopped in the doorway. "I think it'll take all of us to save humanity."

  He disappeared into the hallway just as Mark and Zeke walked in.

  "Where have you two been while I was getting stabbed?" Jen asked.

  Zeke smacked his lips. "Got a bite to eat."

  "Knowing you, it was enough to feed a bear," Jen said.

  Mark laughed. "Don't you know it."

  Cartwright's phone rang and she put on a headset. After listening for a few seconds, she said, "Yes. Bring them up."

  Mark and Jen exchanged puzzled glances. Zeke examined a spot on the rug and scuffed it with his foot.

  A knock came from the door a few minutes later. "Enter," Cartwright said.

  An older woman with gray streaks in her curly black hair walked in with a younger version of herself. The younger woman's eyes grew big and a smile broke across her face as she yelled, "Mark." She raced to Mark and threw herself into his arms.

  "Michelle," Mark said, his voice muffled as he held her close. He loosened his grip on her and put an arm out toward the older
woman. "Mama."

  The older woman shuffled to him, her eyes glistening, and buried herself in his arms.

  Jen watched the reunion, half-fascinated at the emotional display and half-jealous there would be no such experience waiting for her. She glanced away, a little embarrassed about her feelings.

  Cartwright sat behind her desk, her face neutral. Is she really like that, or does she have to practice that look?

  Mark looked up. "Thank you, Dr. Cartwright. It's so good to know they're safe, and now I can escort them back to Biloxi."

  "About that," Cartwright said, "I have an offer for you."

  Mark frowned. "What offer? I'm not leaving them alone again."

  Cartwright adjusted her glasses. "Precisely. I'd like you to become CDC Headquarters' Chief of Physical Security."

  "But wouldn't I have to stay here for that?"

  Cartwright nodded. "Yes. But part of the offer is that your mother and sister can stay here free of charge. Room, board, security. And that security will be provided by you."

  Mark's mouth dropped open. He looked at his mother. "What do you think, Mama?"

  Michelle nodded. "Take it. Things are getting weird out there. I know we'll be safer here with you."

  "OK," Mark said. "I'll take it."

  "Excellent," Cartwright said. "You can go through inprocessing tomorrow." She pressed a button on the phone. "Please come in."

  The door opened and Cindy appeared. "Take our new Chief of Physical Security and his family to their quarters, and show them where to eat."

  Cindy ushered the family through the door. Mark stopped and looked back at Jen. "I'll introduce you and Zeke later. I really want them to meet you."

  Jen waved him on. "Looking forward to it. Just enjoy the time with your family." Her thoughts went unbidden to her mother and father.

  Cartwright clasped her hands and laid her elbows on her desk. "Miss Reed and Mr. Tripp."

  Jen turned to her. "So what've you got in your black bag for us?"

  Cartwright frowned. "Bag?"

  "Sorry," Jen said. "Wizard of Oz reference."