"That was close," Sandra remarked.
Sarah looked at her. "We're not out of the woods yet. Because tomorrow night, we're taking you back here."
Sandra's mouth turned into a grimace and she felt a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
4
Clues
When the time came, Sarah mentally prepared Sandra for what she would have to go through as best as she could. Sandra was extremely nervous, not at all looking forward to the task ahead of her and the punishment she would have to endure, but she understood the importance of her mission. If she could be a mole on the inside for Sarah and find some kind of way to get a lead on Glass or find Sarah's son, she knew it would be worth it. Sarah told her all about David and how unreal it was to see him again in captivity.
Sarah still didn't know what was going on, and the whole fiasco with Ron's evil project left her with far more questions than answers. All she knew was she got played, but she wasn't going to let it happen anymore. Even if Sarah could somehow find a way to rescue her son so they could die together, that would bring a peace to her heart that she didn't think she would ever see.
Wayne stayed in the cabin for the night, deciding it was best if he didn't come; all Sarah had to do was a simple drop, and there was no sense in her looking after Wayne as well, though he was beginning to look after himself.
When Sarah and Sandra left the cabin and made the trek, the full moon was out and gave them an eerie feeling as they shivered in the unusually frigid night. The temperature rattled Sandra's nerves more than they already were and her teeth chattered for most of the way. Sarah was cold too, but she didn't let it show.
"How did my brother die?" Sandra said suddenly after a long period of silence.
"He was shot," Sarah replied. "But he did it to save Wayne's life. If he hadn't, Wayne wouldn't be alive right now. He was a hero."
Sandra looked down at her feet and seemed glum. Sarah noticed the look on her face and asked her about it.
"It's nothing," Sandra said, "it's just..."
"I thought you said you didn't have any hard feelings for your brother?"
"I don't," Sandra reassured her. "But what he did to me, changed me. It changed him in my eyes. I know the bandits made him do it. I know he snuck me out and let me escape, and I know that he would have done anything for me, but you still can't just shake something like that off. I've been raped by Glass and other men in the mansion more times than I can count... I have more scars than I can count... But when it comes from your own brother? It's just different. I don't blame him for it, but it's something I'll never be able to get over. I can never look at him the same way."
Sarah quietly nodded, staying silent. She knew familial relations wove themselves together like an intricate tapestry. Sometimes they turned up beautifully, but others the patterns became ugly and muddled. It was a sick reality to go from a life of creature comforts and white picket fences to being plunged into this kind of darkness. But the happy times were over for everyone, and this was all they were left with. In the end, Sarah knew that she had to look out for herself and David.
There wasn't a second that went by that she didn't think about him since she saw him chained up in that helicopter. The blank look he gave her chilled her to the bone, but she knew her baby was trapped inside that diseased body somewhere, the one that used to be so sweet and vibrant. All she wanted to do was hold his small hand in hers again. She wanted to hear his soft and sweet voice. She wanted to hear his often appropriately-timed and unusual wisdom. He was still her guardian angel and he always would be, and now it was time for her to be his.
"I'm coming for you," she muttered under her breath.
Sandra turned her head. "What?"
"Nothing."
The two of them continued down the twisting streets and then slipped into the woods toward the compound.
When they reached the little valley near the entrance to the sewer tunnels, they stopped and looked around.
"Where did you tell him to find me?" Sandra asked.
Sarah glanced behind them. "Over there." She pointed. "You see that rotted tree?"
What used to be a thick and tall tree rose up out of the ground about six feet off in the distance, but the rest of the tree trunk had been felled due to tree rot, a cracked and hollowing log lying across the ground of the forest floor next to it.
"I told him to meet us behind that tree," Sarah said.
"When?"
"Around midnight."
It was hard to tell exactly what time it was at night, so the two of them ended up waiting for a while, huddled near the tall and rotten stump. Sandra had been wearing clean clothing when she walked by Sarah's and Wayne's cabin, but to avoid suspicion for the other guards around, Sarah told her to dress a little more appropriately for the situation; they were going with the idea that once Sandra had escaped the compound by unknown means, she had gotten lost in the woods and spent the last few nights wandering around on her own. Sandra wore a long and ratty white t-shirt, filled with dirt and grass stains, and a pair of panties on her hips underneath, but nothing else. They made sure her hair was a mess too, caked with mud and filled with broken bits of dried leaves. Sarah waited with her while Sandra sat on the ground with her knees hiked up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them until they heard movement from the west.
"They're here!" Sandra whispered.
Sarah put a hand on her shoulder. "Okay, make sure Jeb leaves any notes you have for me in the same location and I'll pick them up. If I need to talk to you, tell Jeb to keep checking the same spot."
"Got it," Sandra said, trying hard to hide the terror in her voice. She snapped her head to the side to look at the roving flashlights from the small group of soldiers patrolling the woods, and by the time she looked back, Sarah was gone.
Sarah watched from a faraway tree as one of the soldiers in particular seemed to be looking around far more than the others, as if he were searching for something in particular. He began to stray off from the group, shining his flashlight at an old rotted out tree and seeing a pair of feet sticking out from behind it.
"Hey! I got something over here!" he shouted.
He ran over to her and Sandra let out a little squeal as he shone the flashlight in her face. He grabbed her by the arm and she cried out in fear. As he lifted her to her feet, she stared up into the visor of his helmet with a very warm and comforted look that was completely out of character, and then in the next moment when the other three soldiers came around, she acted like a terrified, blubbering mess.
"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" one of the other soldier said, running his hand along her arm.
"Hey, I think I've seen this bitch before," another one said. "Isn't this the chick that escaped?"
"Looks like the dumb bitch got a little lost."
"Well we've got you now," Jeb said, "and you're not leaving my sight again." He grabbed both of her arms from behind and led her toward the front gate of the compound away from the tunnel entrance.
Sarah watched her poor and disheveled figure disappear into the night, and she knew that she would be one step closer to seeing her son again.
She could feel it.
Sarah walked back to the cabin alone. She felt bad for Sandra, maybe more than she should have. But even though she knew the importance of what she was doing, she couldn't help but imagine herself in that situation; what if to complete this same task, Sarah would have to willingly give herself back to the bandits to be put in confinement in a cruel metal cage? It was a chilling thought, and while Sandra seemed to let on that the servants at the mansion had it a little better than that, she couldn't help but feel that she'd just done a terrible thing.
She tried to push it out of her mind, but when she did, for some reason the first thing that popped into her head was Ron's laughing face. She remembered that side of him that she saw in the lab after Glass had come in and killed all the scientists. She couldn't understand how he could do that to his o
wn colleagues. But thinking about it again, their behavior seemed so strange. The entire time they were working on the project to gain total mind control over the zombies, they had looked so glum, almost like they were being forced to complete the project against their wills and they knew what was coming.
But Sarah couldn't get over how friendly Ron had seemed in the beginning. He must have been an amazing actor, because the turn he had at the end was completely incongruent with the person he was before. Through all the doom and gloom in that lab, Sarah still saw shimmers of hope in some of the scientists, and she still couldn't believe the dramatic turn of events that occurred.
She felt so angry at Ron that she very strongly considered adding him to her list of possible objectives in the mansion. She still didn't know if any of it was possible, but if she could put a bullet between his eyes, she would do it.
It took her most of her journey back to the cabin to cool down from these angering thoughts, but she allowed her mind to drift to Wayne who she knew was eagerly waiting for her to return.
He had always been so sweet to her, and in many ways he was truly her rock. Even when she pulled him out of that base and he seemed completely helpless, she still enjoyed the company whether she liked to admit it or not.
But lately he'd become more like his old self again. In the week since Sarah escaped death in Ron's lab, Wayne almost seemed to turn around completely, maybe just to be there for her because he knew how much she needed it. And the way that he took responsibility for himself again, despite his injury, it was almost... sexy. Sarah didn't know how else to describe it. She didn't know if it was just the isolation of the two of them in that cabin or if there was actually something between them, but when he put his hand on hers and convinced her to go after Glass and David one last time, she felt a tingle climb up her leg that she tried very hard at the time to suppress. It was the strangest feeling, and one that she didn't expect to experience anymore, but she felt like she was a teenager again and her hormones were starting to run wild.
She stopped dead in her tracks. Now a new chill ran up her spine as she suddenly realized something.
Hormone inhibitor.
That was what Ron and Trevor mentioned to her when she got back with the computer files on the flash drive. They spoke cryptically at the time, vaguely referencing some location that Trevor was scouting for an additional item to complete the project. But they never ended up getting it. She found it extremely strange that Ron would really have her run around and pilfer useless articles to the extent that he did just to keep her busy. There were so many questions about the event that didn't add up, and this was one of them: the hormone inhibitor... Trevor said wherever it was located was heavily guarded and that it wouldn't be easy to get at. That seemed to imply heavy military presence, but Sarah had never given it any thought since they mentioned it, completely forgetting about it. She tried to recall the exact words that Ron said at the time.
"Think of it as a bonus, not really something that we need to be focusing on at this moment. But there may come a time when it will be needed."
Sarah's jaw dropped.
"You constantly surprise me, Sarah, and I feel like even if we scientists couldn't complete the project and it was left up to you, I have no doubt that you would come through and finish it for us."
Sarah began to tremble. All the mystery of the experiment... that extra bottle of chemicals that Trevor gave her in the chemical plant... it all added up to something that she couldn't see before: the Eden Project wasn't a way to mind control the undead, and it was never finished.
Ron never betrayed her; he betrayed Glass. Glass must have had Ron and his team under his thumb the whole time and watched their every move. But Ron left a trail of clues for her to follow, because she still had work to do.
She had to complete the true Eden Project.
5
Bloodbath
"David... kill."
David raised his head, coming out of his stupor.
A fully-grown, plump pig stood at the other end of his cell. The animal backed away into the corner, its body riddled with fear as it tried in vain to look for a way out. It turned around and began sniffing the corners, trying to climb up with its hooves and scratch at the glass.
David was groggy and the drugs they gave him to keep him comatose were just starting to wear off. He was dressed in fresh clothes, and despite the diseased and corpselike state of his entire body, he was well manicured; they cut his hair and trimmed his nails and kept him as clean as possible. His tired eyes glanced at the pig, then looked away, uninterested.
Jack Glass made an unimpressed sound as he watched David from outside the cell. So he cleared his mind and concentrated on him.
David's eyes suddenly went wide as he stared down the frightened pig. His mouth slackened as his fingers twisted into clawed hands. He lumbered after the pig, slowly at first.
The pig ducked under his reach and ran to the other side of the small cell. David spun around and went after the animal again, and they repeated this dance a few times, but it was fruitless; in the end, David flung himself on top of the beast and chomped his small teeth down onto the back of the creature's neck. It bucked and wailed, shaking him off like a flea. David tumbled to the ground but got up without a moment's rest, setting after the animal again. He got a hold of it and sank his teeth into its hide once more, leaving a trail of fresh crimson blood splattered around the white tile.
The pig's strength began to give out, losing too much blood, and eventually its legs collapsed and its chin smacked the floor. David straddled its back and pulled off mouthfuls of flesh every time he lowered his head.
Glass and Ron watched him eat. Glass leaned into the intercom, but he held his mental concentration.
"David... stop."
David ignored him and continued eating his prize, craving the protein in the pig's flesh and ravaging it.
"David... stand up."
David ignored him.
Glass broke his connection.
David suddenly looked down at the pig like he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. He pushed himself up then shyly walked away from the carcass to hide in the corner of his cell.
Glass was very intrigued that the method worked by mental activity alone and not by words. It was an impressive display, but he wanted to see how much he could push the boy against his stubborn will.
He stood straight up, his figure towering over the small boy. Ron turned and looked at him as Glass relaxed the muscles in his body and relaxed his mind. When he opened his eyes again underneath his mask, he focused intensely on David once more.
David raised his bowed head from the corner, turning around to face the carcass of the pig again. He approached it, then backed away from the carcass, keeping a watchful eye on it. Then his gaze suddenly shot over and looked at the frightening skull on Glass's mask. When David bumped into the back wall of the cell, he started forward again in slow and measured steps. He knelt down in front of the pig and placed his hands on his knees, leaning forward slightly and staring down at the slaughtered animal. He held this position for a long time, staring at the pig but refraining from eating it.
Then David's eyes widened again at the sight of the animal with a lot of fresh meat still on it and he immediately set in and attacked it, gobbling down all the protein he could.
"Keep your strength up, boy," Glass said in his deep and reverberating voice. He looked over at Ron. "Open up the cell."
Without hesitation, Ron walked over and opened up the door of David's cell. The other scientists working nearby in the colossal lab underneath the mansion suddenly turned to face the cell. They backed up in fear as they watched the door swing open and knew that there was now nothing between David and them.
But as David glanced over at the exit and the possibility of fresh meals, instead of coming out and ravaging anyone, he stood and calmly walked out like a normal person. Once he found himself in the long aisle between cells, he turned to his left
and walked down as Glass followed behind him. They looked like David and Goliath as they passed various zombies in different cells. All the scientists in the nearby area backed away from them, pretending to do a task as far away from them in the lab as possible.
Ron hurried ahead of them and opened up the door to cell number twenty-six, which had three adult zombies inside of a larger space. David walked in and Ron shut the door behind him before any of the three zombies could come out of their sedated states and leave.
Glass released his mental control on David and watched the natural reactions of the four zombies interacting with each other. At first they just stood around doing nothing, then Glass focused on David again.
David turned to the other three zombies and suddenly all three of their heads rose up as they each backed into a separate corner in stilted walks. David backed up into the remaining corner and stood there as the zombie across from him stumbled forward, remaining in the center of the cell. A moment later, the expressions on the other two zombies' faces changed from indifference to frenzy, their whole bodies twisting up in pure rage. They both started forward and attacked the zombie in the middle as it just stood there like nothing was going on. The two zombies mercilessly tore the one in the middle apart, not interested in eating it, but simply brutalizing it.
Flesh and blood were torn apart, spraying in every direction. The strength and ferocity of the two zombies were immense. Before long, the victim's stomach had been bored through and its guts were ripped out of it and flung into one of the glass walls of the cell. The scene turned to absolute carnage as blood soaked every surface and the undead furiously continued their assault. The zombie in the middle finally collapsed after the other two had pulled its head halfway off its neck, causing it to limply dangle by its spinal cord and a bit of skin. When the former zombie was nothing but a bloody pile of meat on the floor, the two attackers didn't stop there; one began stomping on its head, quickly crushing its skull and smashing its brains all over the floor, and the other zombie clawed at one of its legs, popping off a kneecap and wrenching its fibula bone out of its body, biting it, snapping it in half, then flinging it across the cell.
Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set, Vol. 2 [Books 4-7] Page 66