Z-Strain (Book 3): Fallout

by Morris, S. J.

  Chapter 15

  Abbigail Norrington

  It was so lovely to spend these last few days with my family in relative peace and quiet. Troy was off with Kamil and Jimmy escorting the new doctors back to their group, and Troy was going to have a powwow with Dr. Stuart Dodges over their findings on the Perdition Virus and how to finally stop this plague.

  I had my girls, Ella and Kasey, to take care of, and Chris, Tyler, and Christine had the three of us to dote over. Life was seemingly back to normal. Like before the outbreak normal, which was almost inconceivable.

  No one even mentioned the word ‘infected’ or ‘zombie’ to me in the last seventy-two hours, and I loved every second of it. Breastfeeding, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass, and I hated it. I forgot how much of a task breastfeeding was, and to do it with twins, each wanting to eat at the same time, ugh. However, I would take these problems any day of the week over the kind of troubles shuffling around outside.

  We’d all been through so much since the outbreak, we deserved a vacation from the apocalypse. I was healing well from my caesarean and Doc Bakers said I could be up and moving about in the next day or so, but I should still try and take it easy. Healing from a c-section could take up to six weeks, according to the Doc.

  I was feeling better than I had in a really long time, though, and I was starting to get cabin fever. I was cooped up in bed for weeks at the end of my pregnancy, and now Doc Bakers wanted to keep me resting for another week at least. I needed to get up and move, even if it was against doctor’s orders.

  Once the babies were fed, and everyone, including Chris and Tyler, were down for naps, I decided to take a walk. It was a gorgeous day outside, and I needed to stretch my legs.

  I walked along the concrete wall that surrounded the property, and I happened upon a group of purple flowers peeking up from the wet soil. They reminded me of the flowers I placed on the funeral pyre for Allycia and the others.

  The memory brought tears to my eyes. I brushed them away quickly, sitting in the grass against the wall at the far end of the property. From my vantage point, I could see the barn, the siloes with gasoline and grain inside, and the very top of the cabin where the burnt-out chimney still stood.

  People were working on clearing the burned pieces of the roof today to make way for the repairs that were supposed to start when Kamil returned from the Wawayanda stronghold. I missed Kamil. He was always a good friend to talk to, and I could really use him right about now.

  I sat in the fresh grass with the sun warming my face. I needed this. I had been trapped inside for far too long.

  And then I heard an odd sound. One that was very out of place in the middle of the apocalypse. I heard it a split second before it came into view over the concrete wall. It was the unmistakable whirring of helicopter rotor blades cutting through the cloudless sky. I was slow to get up, considering my abdominal muscles had just been chopped up recently when three ropes were tossed out of the chopper as it hovered close to where I stood. Three men in black masks holding automatic weapons descended to the ground on the ropes and ran over to me.

  I screamed and tried to run, but the men were much quicker than I was. Two of the mercenaries grabbed my arms, threw zip-ties around my wrists fastening them tightly, and the other threw a hood over my head before they lifted me off of my feet and began carrying me towards the sound of the helicopter. I was gently pushed into what I expected was the belly of the aircraft, where I was belted into a seat. I heard the men yell that they were good to go over the noise of the rotor wash, and I felt the chopper elevate in response.

  The journey in the helicopter wasn’t a long one, only about half an hour or forty-five minutes if I had to guess. But that means we could be anywhere considering the average helicopter could fly upwards of a hundred and sixty miles per hour.

  People were working on the roof of the cabin, so they had to notice the big black helicopter taking me away. I could only hope that Chris or somebody else was able to see or follow which direction the aircraft had taken me at least. I doubted it, though. Chris was sound asleep in the apartment underground when I left him, and anyone else never would have been able to follow the helicopter.

  I guess it’s up to me once again to get myself out of the crappy situation I now found myself in. Why does this always seem to happen to me?

  “Hello!” I yelled. “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on here?” I asked anyone who’d answer me.

  “Ma’am, we’re landing now, so you’ll be briefed as soon as possible,” yelled a man to my right side over the noise of the rotors.

  “Can’t you at least take this damn hood off of me or loosen these zip-ties? It’s hard to breathe under here, and my wrists are starting to burn,” I shouted as I shook my head from side to side, trying to loosen the hood’s fabric from sticking to my mouth.

  “Sorry, Ma’am. We’ve got orders to keep you secure,” he laughed.

  Stupid, arrogant piece of shit. When I get out of this, I’m going to find this guy and make him pay for this. Every single one of the idiots on this helicopter is going to pay for this. I only got to spend three days with my daughters... three days!

  I felt the chopper rock from side to side as we landed. I was unbuckled and hurriedly pushed out of the cabin. Someone had their hand on my head, forcing me to crouch as we jogged away from the landing site.

  I could tell I was walking through gravel, but not much else. There were no other real queues as to where I was or where the men were taking me until I felt an unmistakable uneasiness. It was the EMP field Brigantine used around her compound and her armored trucks. The feeling was faint, but it was there. I had to be back at her lab. There was a different smell about the place, though. It didn’t smell woodsy - if that makes any sense. Wherever we were, it was incredibly windy, and not just from the rotor wash. Now, if these dumb goons who kidnapped me would just take the damn hood off so I could confirm my suspicions, I might be able to start thinking of a plan to escape.

  We entered a building, and I heard the men using card scanners, so either this was a different location, or they fixed the place up after it was overrun. I was hoping for the latter. Better the devil you know and all, right?

  As soon as the door shut behind us, we got on an elevator. Maybe we weren’t at Brigantine’s defunct compound. The elevators there were more towards the center of the building, and this place definitely had a different feel about it. Damn it, I wish they’d just remove the stupid hood.

  The elevator ride was relatively long, so we had to be somewhere that was pretty deep underground or a tall building of some sort. With all of the suspense, I was really looking forward to meeting whoever had captured me this time.

  Once we got off the elevator, there was definitely a change in the atmosphere around me. It undeniably had a lab type feel. I could tell there was a hard tile floor below my feet, and the air smelled of antiseptic and cleaning supplies. There was a firm possibility that I was in a laboratory of some sort. A man chuckled in the background, and it was a familiar laugh. I was not happy in the least to hear him, though.

  “So, Abby, how was your flight in? I hope it wasn’t too bumpy for you,” the man joked.

  The hood was taken off of my face, and I blinked back against the bright white fluorescent lights shining in my eyes. Unfortunately, I confirmed my suspicions of who I thought the voice belonged to. “Hey Peter, so what’s new? Rape any 10-year-old boys recently?” I asked smugly as I pulled against my restraints and the two men at my sides wanting to punch Peter in the face repeatedly.

  “You don’t know anything about me or what happened. That little shit, Greyson, whatever he said, he wasn’t telling you the truth,” Peter snorted.

  “If you don’t know what he said, then how do you know he wasn’t telling me the truth?” I asked, smiling, knowing that I was planting the seed of mutiny within the men who reported to this disgusting lowlife pedophile.

  “Again, Abby, you know nothing. But le
t’s not talk about that, that’s not why we’re here. You have something of interest to me, and I want it back. I’m sure we could make some sort of deal.”

  “So, it is the bombs you’re looking for? Well, you’re shit out of luck then, because you’re not going to get them. Not from me, and not from anyone at the cabin. We know what your plans are, and we won’t let you carry them out. Killing the survivors of this bullshit plague is not an option. Not if I can help it.”

  “Once again, Abby, you have no idea what’s going on around you. This holier than thou act is quite redundant, and quite frankly, it’s getting on my nerves. You have no idea what I’m planning to do with those bombs. Hey, new tidbit of information you didn’t know... I’ve been working with Dr. Stewart Dodges, and your best friend, Troy. They’ve got some amazing advances regarding the Perdition Virus that we’d like to share with you. Maybe once you hear the full story, you’ll hand the bombs over willingly and want to work with me. Maybe you’ll even be happy to do so. It could happen,” Peter laughed as he sauntered around me, practically skipping around the room. This guy was a real head case.

  “So, you’ve got Troy and Stuart? What did you do, kidnap them too?” I asked bluntly.

  “Of course, we did! They, like you, wouldn’t have come willingly, so I had to make sure we could all work together. You know, for the greater good and all,” Peter said as he motioned his hands out to the laboratory around us.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed at him. “I highly doubt any of us would want to work with the likes of you but go ahead. Let’s hear it. What’s your spiel? Tell me your master plan, oh evil overlord.”

  “Well, now you’re just being overdramatic. I think it’s better if I show you anyway, little Miss. Drama Queen,” Peter said as he motioned for the two men holding me to follow him.

  From the looks of the hallways we walked through, and the room we entered, it seemed like we were in an old hospital. The room Peter and his goons lead me to was a viewing room with a surgical suite at the bottom and seats surrounding it like an arena of sorts. There was nothing in the surgical suite below us at the moment, but Peter radioed to someone, and the doors opened. An infected man strapped to a gurney was rolled inside.

  Peter laughed, giggled, and jumped around like a little kid as he clapped his hands. “I’m so excited about what’s going to happen next. I can’t wait for you to see this, Abby! You’re going to be absolutely thrilled! Clear the room and let ‘er rip!” Peter yelled into his radio.

  The person who had wheeled the infected in on the gurney exited, leaving the thrashing corpse alone in the room below us.

  “Look, Abby, look, look, look!” Peter screeched. I glanced up above us as a hose descended from the ceiling above the viral plagued body. The tube hovered about 10 feet above the rotting, thrashing corpse and began to spray a thick yellowish liquid. The liquid stained the floor, and everything around it like a glowstick would as the undead continued to pull ferociously at its restraints.

  Within a matter of seconds, a gurgling sound erupted from the zombie that I didn’t expect, and black blood was oozing from every orifice. The carcass now ceased all movement. Peter scared the crap out of me when he screamed loudly, “We did it! Did you see that, Abby?” he danced in place, doing the running man. “Troy came up with a serum that instantly kills anyone exposed to the Perdition Virus within seconds of contact. The liquid doesn’t hurt anyone who doesn’t have the Perdition Virus already. So... if we could use the bombs you so naughtily stole from me to disburse the serum, we could say bye-bye to all these undead freaks walking around once and for all! Now tell me you’re not going to help me do that.” Peter said with a duck-faced smile, placing his hand on his hip.

  “This was our plan all along you idiot. This is old news to me, Peter. I already saw Troy’s serum in action before. Now we need to find a way to get an incredibly large number of the infected in one place at one time so that we can release the serum using the shells that Brigantine was going to use to gas the planet. Why did you have to kidnap me to try to do this? We were going to do this on our own. Did Troy at least tell you that?”

  “He might have mentioned it... but you don’t have the resources I do!” Peter said, angrily stamping his feet like a child. “Brigantine never listened to me, and I’m not going to let you make the same mistakes she did. She’s dead after all, and I don’t want that to happen to you or those perfect little babies she gave you.”

  “Well newsflash dumbass, I already had the babies! They’re back at the cabin needing me to feed them, and I’m not there to do it because your stupid ass decided that kidnapping me was a good idea.”

  Peter looked completely flabbergasted. “You what? You still have a baby bump!” he said, reaching out to try and touch my stomach.

  I pulled away quickly as far as the thugs holding me would allow. “Yes, you idiot. I had the babies a few days ago. It was a C-section if you must know, and I still have the baby bump because I’m still swollen from the surgery! I should be in bed right now, you stupid fuck!” I cursed at him, trying futilely to pull away from the giant tree-sized men holding me.

  “Well, we need the girls,” Peter said menacingly. “That’s just the way it is. I need them.”

  It was my turn to get serious now. “I never said they were girls. How did you know that?” I asked, giving Peter the stink eye and wanting to throttle him even more now.

  “I might have had a hand in creating them...” Peter replied. “Genetically perfect creations with your rare genetic marker, just like Allycia had,” Peter laughed maniacally.

  His words crushed me. I was sore, and I was tired, but what he said zapped the remaining bit of energy from my body. I was completely defeated. “You what? You... created my babies?” I asked, tears spilling from my eyes now.

  Peter stepped forward, cupping my chin in his hand as I fell limp in the arms of my captors. “Those girls are Allycia’s clones. Well, they’re more perfect than she ever was, but on a molecular level. They’ll look exactly like her as they grow older. I had everything I needed from when you and Jack were together before the outbreak. We kept all of your family’s genetic material on file for when we needed it. You see, we edited the genomes of your embryos using CRISPR, removing all of the genes associated with any disease and made sure the one we needed to create the Antivirus 1015 was activated. Those girls are for lack of a better word... perfect. They are my masterpiece, my crowning achievement.” Peter whispered into my ear as he kissed my cheek wet from my tears.

  “You’ll never take them, Chris and everyone else will die before you ever get your hands on those babies. I’ll kill you first,” I decreed defiantly.

  “You have no idea what I am capable of Abbigail Norrington, but you’ll soon find out. Those little girls will be calling me Daddy in no time,” he laughed.

  I would love Ella and Kasey no matter what, but the thought of them calling Peter their father sickened me. Knowing that after all of this is over, I’d have to see Allycia’s face every day for the rest of their lives made my chest grow tight with anxiety, but I would love them all the same. I just had to get back to my daughters and save them first.

  Chapter 16

  Jimmy Smith

  I caught up with Dr. Nasser, and it looked like the infected were distracted by the raging inferno that was the Visitors Center and the smaller fires that were created by the grenade. Thankfully, we made it to the cabins with no unwanted stragglers.

  Lynn burst from the door of one of the small cottages and checked Dr. Nasser over quickly before rushing us both inside. Other than some superficial abrasions and shocked nerves, Dr. Nasser was unharmed. I, on the other hand, had a three-inch piece of metal embedded into the top of my shoulder.

  Luckily the metal only pierced the skin and didn’t impale my muscle or shatter any bones. I was walking away from this with a sore shoulder and a bunch of stitches. Lynn gave me some pain meds and ordered me to get some sleep. She was taking the first watch, and Kami
l was going to take the second. I was going to be able to sleep off the pain from my injuries, and I most definitely was not going to say no to that.

  I woke slowly to Lynn grabbing my hand and whispering into my ear, “Jimmy, get up. The ghouls are everywhere.” She shook my hand harder. “Jimmy... get up!” Lynn whispered forcefully.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” I replied quietly, rubbing the sleep from eyes. “What’s going on? How’d they surround us with you guys watching?”

  “That’s the thing, they just kind of showed up, but they don’t know we’re here yet. I think the fire at the Visitors Center died out since the infected are just kind of milling about. If they figure out we’re inside the cabins though... we’re done for. There’s too many of them,” Lynn murmured.

  “So, we stay quiet and keep away from the windows. Hopefully, they don’t figure out there’s a buffet in here.”

  Lynn dropped her head. “I agree. I just hope the others in the other cabins do the same. We have no way of getting in contact with them to make sure they know. That’s what worries me.”

  “What the others do is out of our hands. We can only worry about ourselves right now.”

  As if on cue, a collective moan from the crowd of infected raged outside. I peered out the boarded window to see every zombie in the area turn toward one of the other cottages. They began clawing at the walls, doors, and reaching for every window. Glass shattered and screams from inside the small building interrupted the wailing of the walking dead.

  Lynn gasped at the scene playing out before us. “We have to do something to help them. That door isn’t going to hold for long, then the people inside are going to get swarmed and torn to shreds.”