He disappeared from the monitor and Donna's face filled it.
"Can't Randy work on it here?" Jen asked. "He worked with O'Connor."
Randy scoffed. "That's like asking an operating room nurse to perform brain surgery."
"Clearly that's not our best option," Cartwright said. She adjusted her glasses and looked at the ceiling. "We're out of best options, and now we're down to the best of the worst."
"Donna," she said, "if we can't get you down to our lab, we'll get our lab to you."
Randy frowned. "So I'm going to Boston? Not sure that's a safe trip."
Cartwright shot him a withering glare. "Relax, we need you here in case O'Connor left any written notes that haven't been transcribed into the system. You're the only one who will know where they are."
Randy's shoulders relaxed.
"No." Cartwright stood. "I'll send the serum on the train with some agents."
"Serum?" Zeke asked.
"Dr. O'Connor had two doses of the latest iteration of his serum," Donna said. "He used one in his last experiment."
"But it didn't work," Jen said. "So why do you want it?"
"It's the result of all his research," Donna said, "and I don't want to start from scratch if I can help it."
"Fine," Cartwright said. "I'll have two agents leave on tomorrow's train with the serum."
Donna stared from the screen. "As long as one of those agents is Jen."
"What?" Jen said.
Cartwright scowled. "I need Jen here."
"And Dr. O'Connor's lab notes are adamant that a component of Jen's blood is essential for the serum," Donna said. "I don't know how much I'll need."
"So the human pincushion needs to go along with the serum." Jen leaned back in the chair. "Great." And it'll get me farther away from Butler.
Cartwright stared at the wall. And uncomfortable silence fell over the room.
Cartwright turned back to the monitor. "I don't like this at all, but I don't see another solution. At least, not unless the military would shake some air transport loose."
Zeke jumped to his feet. "I go where Jen goes."
Jen smiled. My hero.
Cartwright sighed. "We'll set it up on this end. I'll send you the specifics."
Donna nodded. "Looking forward to it. And looking forward to meeting you, Jen."
Jen waved at the camera. "Same here. How about some of that famous clam chowder when we get there?"
"You've got it." The monitor went blank.
Cartwright swiveled the chair around. "Things are getting dicey out there, even on the east coast."
"I thought the protocols were keeping things under control?" Zeke asked.
"Go ask O'Connor how well that's turning out," Jen said.
Cartwright stood. "You'll leave on tomorrow morning's train. Jen will carry the serum, and Agents Rodriguez and Daniels will accompany you."
"My brother's heading home on that train," Zeke said. "Can he travel with us?"
"I think that's a great idea," Jen interjected. Zeke and Cartwright looked at her. Cartwright's eyebrows were raised.
Jen shrugged. "Safety in numbers, right?"
"Very well. Have him report with you to the armory to be equipped for the trip. Then muster outside the front entrance of this building by 6:00 a.m."
Zeke smiled. "Back into action."
Cartwright frowned. "Let's hope there's not too much of that."
9
Jen yawned as the SUV wound through the Atlanta streets the next morning. She felt the pouch threaded onto her belt for the hundredth time. She unzipped it and pulled out the stoppered syringe. Can't believe this freaking thing is humanity's last hope. She returned it, making sure the padding inside was wrapped completely around it.
They'd passed only a few pedestrians and bicyclists, and even fewer vehicles. It had rained overnight and the sun baked the streets, evaporating the puddles.
"I'll be glad to get out of this freaking humidity." Jen pulled her shirt away from her chest.
"Where are all the people?" Zeke asked. "It's like a ghost town."
Agent Rodriguez glanced at him from the front passenger seat. "It's getting worse every day." He cracked his neck. "A week ago we'd had our first major outbreak in Atlanta, but now there are several every day."
"We had a couple in Providence," Wayne said, "but the rest of Rhode Island has been pretty calm."
Zeke examined the cell phone he'd been given at the armory. "No social media. No games. How can they call this a phone?"
"It's for calls only," Wayne said. He sat between Jen and Zeke and his shoulder kept rubbing Jen's as the vehicle bounced over uneven roads.
Jen pulled her phone out. In a hardened case, it was pre-programmed with numbers for Cartwright, Howell, and everyone in the SUV. She rapped her knuckles on the case. "Could run this thing over with a tank and not hurt it."
The SUV swerved and Jen pressed into Wayne. She pulled back and murmured, "Sorry."
Wayne gave her a smile. "No worries."
Stop it, Jen. You've got a job to do. Don't start getting all gooey like in a bad novel. There's still an apocalypse going on.
A breeze caught discarded papers and they flew down the empty street. "Doesn't look like there's anyone left in the city," Wayne said.
"Everyone's holed up in their houses," Daniels said.
The SUV swung around a curve and Jen held onto the door handle to keep from tumbling into Wayne again. Two blocks ahead, a crowd filled the street.
"Looks like we found the party," she said.
"Shit," Rodriguez said. "Everyone stay close to me when we get out. We'll have to get through that mess."
Jen frowned. "I'm not comfortable with crowds right now."
Daniels looked at Rodriguez. "They're all trying to get on the train. It's the only reliable long-distance transportation unless you walk or bike." Rodriguez put a hand on the SUV driver's arm. "Stop here, Stan."
The vehicle pulled to the curb. The crowd's edge lay a hundred feet ahead.
Rodriguez turned to the others. "There's no time to be polite. We'll have to bull through. I'll lead and Daniels will take the rear. Stay with us and have your badges out when we get to the train."
"I don't have a badge," Wayne said.
"Stick close. We'll get you in," Daniels said.
Jen lined up behind Rodriguez, followed by Zeke and Wayne. Daniels called out from behind her. "Ready."
Rodriguez stepped into the milling crowd, holding his badge up. "Excuse me. Homeland Security. Let us pass."
Jen stayed on his ass as he wove through the mass of humanity. Halfway there, she glanced over her shoulder and was reassured that the others still followed close behind.
A woman's scream came from the top of the wide gradual steps leading into the terminal. Yelling and cursing followed, and the crowd converged on the spot, jostling and shoving. A fight broke out.
Someone slammed into Jen from her left and she stumbled, but managed to stay upright. Don't want to fall in this mess.
Rodriguez yelled over his shoulder, "We're gonna have to take a detour. This way."
He pushed to the left, and Jen glimpsed the crowd ten yards ahead. The people appeared calmer.
The fighting spilled down the steps like a wave washing over the mass of hot, sweaty Atlantans. Rammed again, Jen was shoved into a tall, beefy man who glared at her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"You'll find out when I knee your balls up into your throat," Jen said. She tried to follow through on the threat but the mob was pressed so close together, she had no room to act.
Someone grabbed her other arm. Jen glanced over. Wayne had stretched out and clenched her upper arm. Zeke peered at her over his shoulder. He reached back and pulled his katana, but he might as well have left it in its scabbard for all the good he could do with it.
The beefy man wrapped one ham-sized hand around Jen's throat. "Just 'cause you're government doesn't
make you special."
Jen choked and tried again to knee the asshole, but she was immobilized by the bodies pressing in on her. Dots speckled her vision as she struggled to breathe.
"Jen," Zeke yelled.
An explosion came from nearby and the hand released her. Jen's legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, her lungs heaving for air.
Wayne lifted her to her feet. "Come on."
Everyone outside the station had hit the ground except the agents, Wayne, Zeke, and Jen. Daniels stood with his gun pointed into the air.
The beefy man stood and pulled a handgun from the small of his back. Rodriguez and Daniels put three bullets each in him before he dropped.
Zeke drew his katana and stepped over cowering civilians. "Can't let him turn."
The beefy man grabbed a young woman's arm and clamped it in his jaw. She screamed, and a two-year-old girl at her side cried.
Jen stepped on people to get to the child and snatched her up. Zeke sliced halfway through the beefy man's neck, but not before he'd bitten two more people.
The crowd panicked and fled for the street. Zeke lopped off the beefy man's head with his next stroke, and Wayne took position next to him with his bat. A teen zombie rushed him and he swung, but his timing was off and the zombie crashed into him, knocking him to the ground.
A well-placed bullet from Agent Daniels exploded out the back of the teen zombie's head. "We can't stay here to help. Our mission is too important."
With the toddler in one arm and her pistol in the other, Jen shot one of the yellow-eyed monsters sizing Wayne up. The baby screamed, tears pouring down its cheeks. "He's right," she yelled. "Zeke. Wayne. I need you with me."
The brothers backed toward her. Zombies sprung on humans in panicked flight.
Shots came from the terminal. Militia members stood in the doorways firing.
Jen followed Rodriguez as he dashed toward the terminal. Chaos reigned. A few gunshots boomed within the crowd, but they were quickly silenced.
The path up the terminal steps cleared as the mob rushed for the streets. Rodriguez bull-rushed up the steps and slammed into a thin middle-aged man with luminescent yellow eyes, knocking him to the side. Jen side-stepped a zombie and its throatless victim and ducked through the terminal door behind Rodriguez.
The train's doors were still open, but a line of armed men, in police uniforms and civilian clothes, blocked the only way through a makeshift fence. Panicked people pushed against it, threatening to knock it down.
Daniels zipped past the others, his badge held high. "Homeland Security. We need to get on this train."
The first of the zombies entered the terminal and clamped its teeth on an older man's shoulder. The crowd inside surged away from them, and many rushed the side entrances in a desperate attempt to escape.
"Path is clear," Rodriguez yelled.
Jen hugged the child tightly and sprinted for the gate.
Several rifles pointed at the group as they made the gate.
Rodriguez and Daniels shoved their badges against the chain links. "Homeland Security," Rodriguez said. "We have to be on that train."
A state trooper jogged over and glanced at the badges. "Let 'em in."
A man in cammies with no insignia lifted the latch and opened the gate.
More zombies surged through the doors. The men protecting the train opened fire. Jen cringed. The explosive sounds echoed off the walls.
Civilians behind the fence were lined up to enter the train. Rodriguez barreled through them, and Jen panted, trying to keep up.
The guard at the head of the line looked up as they approached. "Back in line."
Rodriguez showed his badge. "We're going on. You have thirty seconds to get as many of these people as you can on board and then this train is leaving."
Jen pushed past the guard and ran into the first car. A few startled passengers looked up.
"When are we going?" asked a thirty-something woman with short platinum-blonde hair and a Georgia twang.
Jen took a seat. The child, a girl, kept her face buried into Jen's shoulder.
Zeke and Wayne hopped on and took positions at the door. Both had their rifles aimed toward the gate. Zeke fired. Wayne glanced at him. "Now?" he asked.
"You don't wait for orcs to be slicing you up before you start swinging your sword," Zeke yelled.
Rodriguez zipped into the car, his eyes searching for something.
Daniels backed into the car, his pistol out and firing. "They're breaching the damn fence."
Got to help.
Jen tried to lower the child to the seat, but she whimpered and clamped her arms around Jen's neck.
Three figures darted into the car just as the doors closed. One barreled into Zeke, knocking him to the floor, another attacked the platinum blonde, and the third landed face-down in the aisle next to Jen.
The zombie in the aisle sprung to its feet and gaped at Jen and the girl with its hungry yellow eyes.
10
The zombie on top of Zeke was almost a mirror image of him. Its hair half dyed in blue and half in red made its yellow eyes seem almost stylish.
Jen pulled the little girl's arms from her neck and pushed her away from the aisle. The zombie from the aisle hit Jen full force before she could fire. Her gun hand flung back, slamming into the wall. Pain exploded in her wrist and the gun dropped to the floor.
Jen held the zombie back with a forearm across the throat, but the barrel-chested man was bigger and heavier than her. He snapped his jaws and lunged at the same time.
She kneed him in the crotch as hard as she could and the zombie lunged again. Damn. They don't feel that?
A hand grasped the zombie's shoulder and spun it around. Wrist throbbing, Jen fished her tomahawk from its sheath.
Wayne had the zombie by the shirt and reared back with the bat, but the zombie was too fast and tackled him onto the seat across the aisle. Wayne shoved the bat handle into the zombie's mouth, but it didn't let up.
Jen glanced to make sure the girl was all right, then brought the pointed end of the tomahawk down toward the back of the zombie's head. It moved at the last second, and the point ended up buried in its shoulder.
"Shit."
Jen yanked the weapon from its shoulder and swung again, planting the point firmly in the creature's skull. It collapsed on top of Wayne.
Zeke still wrestled with his attacker. Its teeth were inches from sinking into his throat and his arms trembled with the strain of holding it back. He's not going to last.
The platinum blonde had turned and tore a chunk of meat from a teenage boys arm before turning and leering at the little girl.
Shit. Zeke's about to bite it, but I can't let that monster bite the girl, either.
Jen grabbed the barrel-chested zombie and yanked it off Wayne. "Help Zeke."
Without waiting for an answer, she spun, bringing the tomahawk overhead, and sliced the platinum blonde's arm. Less than a foot from the girl, the blonde turned and hissed at Jen.
Pandemonium broke out in the front of the car as the teenage boy turned and attacked several other passengers.
This shit's getting out of hand. Jen lowered her shoulder and rammed the platinum blonde to the side. It stumbled, then leapt. Jen ducked and straightened as the zombie landed on her. She catapulted the blonde into the wall, where it fell to the floor, stunned.
The little girl shrank against the wall between the seats. A quick glance toward Zeke showed Wayne knocking the snot out of the zombie's skull with the bat.
Jen fell upon the blonde and chopped at its head with the blade. Once, twice, three times. Her lungs burned with the effort. Blood splattered in her eyes, and she stepped back and wiped them with her sleeves.
The blonde lay in an unmoving heap.
Rodriguez ran to the other end of the car and picked up a phone cradled on the wall. "Engineer? This is Agent Rodriguez of Homeland Security. You are ordered to get us the hell out of here."
A man slammed i
nto the outside of the door, his eyes wide in panic. He clawed the edge, straining to pull on it. It took a second for Jen to recognize the state trooper.
A large woman in a torn and bloody floral print dress grabbed him from behind. She twisted his head and sank her teeth into his cheek. Blood sprayed the glass on the car door as she ripped flesh and muscle from the trooper.
"Start this fucking thing now," Rodriguez screamed into the phone.
The train jerked, almost knocking Rodriguez off his feet, and it slowly made its way down the track.
The platform was blood-splattered carnage. No one was left alive. Dozens of zombies rushed the train but fell away as it pulled out of the station.
Jen lifted the girl onto the seat and let her wrap her arms around her neck again. Zeke and Wayne sat on the floor in the corner and leaned against the wall, catching their breath. The bloody remnants of their zombie lay in front of them.
Daniels stood over the third zombie, a bullet wound in its temple.
Of the six passengers that were already in the train car when Jen arrived, only two still breathed. One, a boy barely in his teens, stood in the corner with glassy eyes and a trembling lip.
Across from him a burly guy in biker colors and a porn star mustache stood over two dead zombies. Blood dripped from a machete he held. He cracked his neck. "Don't usually get my workout so early in the morning."
Zeke stood and stepped over bodies to get to the biker. He held out a fist for the biker to bump. "I'm feeling ya. My name's Zeke, and I'm a ninja."
Biker Guy glared at Zeke from beneath bushy brows, his grip tightening on the machete handle.
Zeke lowered his arm and backed away. "We're cool."
Rodriguez sat on a bloodied seat and talked on the phone.
"Who's he talking to?" Jen asked.
Daniels wiped his hands on his suit coat. "Cartwright."
Wayne pushed past Daniels and approached the boy. "You OK, buddy?"
The boy remained quiet.
Wayne took a knee in front of the boy. "I'm Wayne. What's your name?"
Zombie Uprising Series (Book 4): The Hybrid Page 5