Plague Unleashed (The Intern Diaries Book 2)

by D. C. Gomez

  “Now that makes sense,” Bob said. “There was a strange lady last month in downtown trying to give fried pies to the underground. Everyone just ignored her.”

  “Wait, what?” Bartholomew brought our plates to the table. He placed the most incredible plate of biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs in front of me. I was so happy, since Bob made sure my gravy never had meat. Bartholomew’s plate was overflowing with bacon. Which was the reason his sentence stopped since he was busy chewing. “The underground passed on free food, especially fried pie?”

  “Hey, after last fall, nobody is taking any chances. Unless the food is coming from one of the vetted shelters or soup kitchens, nobody is taking things from strangers.” I agreed with Bob. The underground could not take any chances.

  “That explains why we hadn’t seen any zombies in downtown or the underground. That is a blessing,” I told the boys in between mouthfuls of food. There was something good that came out of those crazy witches taking people last fall. The underground had developed a new vetting process for shelters and food kitchens.

  “We have the how, now we just need to find her. Bartholomew, do you still have the info on the boyfriend?” Constantine asked, as he got comfortable on his side of the table. Bob was walking around supplying drinks to everyone.

  “It’s a good thing we went to Big Jake’s. My research said the boyfriend’s last known address was in Ashdown. Big Amy said he lives here in town.” Bartholomew tried to talk and destroy his bacon at the same time. I was pretty amused by it.

  “T.J. said the man is dangerous. That’s why we’re back. Bob, we need you.” I took a sip of my hot chocolate. “By the way, the food is delicious. Thank you.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Bartholomew added.

  Bob was beaming, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the compliments on his food or the fact that I needed him.

  “In that case, we better get changed,” Bob said. “By the way, Isis, we’re riding Storm. It’s her first day. Let’s not blow my baby up. Give her at least a week.”

  “Can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best,” I replied, trying not to smile. At least Bob was not too attached to things. “Hey Bob, please tell Eugene to get ready. We might have a sample for him.”

  “That might be hard. I’ll leave him a note.” Bob had a devious little smile on his face. “Eugene doesn’t handle late nights very well. He looked awful.”

  I smirked at the mental picture; Bob headed downstairs.

  “Isis, you probably are going to need another recording. We don’t need any witnesses today.” Constantine was right. The last thing we needed was people calling the cops on us.

  “What do you think if I take the sleep one and the stay-away-from ones?” I asked Constantine.

  “You won’t have a lot of time. Keep it simple.” Constantine was not the subtle type, so when he was worried I knew we needed to be careful.

  “Let me go change before Bob takes off without me.” I walked over to the sink to wash my dish. We hate having a nasty loft. I left the boys and headed to my room with my hot chocolate.

  It didn’t take me long to get dressed. I had my standard black cargo pants, with boots and a black T-shirt. Clothes were simple. My hair, on the other hand, took a little longer. I decided to do a French braid. I loved my hair long, but I hated when people—and ghosts—used it against me. The tighter the braid, the harder the time they would have trying to pull it. TC was located in the center of Texarkana. So our M16 and rifles were out of the question. I made a mental note to take more ammo for the nine millimeters and the paint guns.

  When I walked back into the loft, I found Eric talking to Constantine. It appeared Reapers was the meeting location for people. Eric was staring at Constantine in what seemed to be shock or horror. Or maybe he was just constipated, but I doubted that.

  His demeanor quickly changed when he saw me. “I see you’re ready for another hot date,” he said from across the room.

  “Bob and I are going hunting.” Just because we were hunting humans, it didn’t make it any less real.

  “Right.” Eric gave me a quick look-over. “Constantine just filled me in on your theory. If you’re right, this is going to be a nightmare.” Eric was back to looking worried.

  “We know she’s not distributing the plague in drugs. Eugene checked and found nothing. This makes sense. But you’re right; there’s no way of knowing how many people ate pies lately.” This was going to be painful.

  “Isis, the colleges send us a copy of the park layout so we can help with security. According to the plans, there will be two pie stands on opposite sides of the park. Unless we get some proof, I can’t just go over there and shut her down.”

  I rubbed my face. No wondered Eric was worried. This insanity kept getting bigger and bigger.

  “Great. More pies easily accessible to the world.” I took a deep breath. My mind wandered to Ana and Joe, who would start dying slowly if we didn’t find a cure. “I’m not sure if I’m glad or not that Pestilence never hired this chick. If she was a full intern, I’m not sure humanity would survive her experiments.” Pestilence’s mission was going to be the death of us all.

  “If she were a full intern, at least her actions would be regulated and tracked. Major experiments would be contained in secured locations. We would be able to put a stop to it at any moment,” Constantine told us.

  That made sense. Pestilence people were scientists, and like most scientists, they liked to collect data and analyze it. This was a total fiasco.

  “At least I can blame this apocalypse on Pestilence. We are tired of getting all the heat for the dark ages.”

  Before I could ask him to explain about the dark ages, Constantine jumped off the table. “Bob is ready. Don’t be late.” Last words he said as he walked out the door.

  “Isis, I know this is hard for you, but please don’t blow up Texarkana.” Eric was looking at me thoughtfully.

  “First of all, last time it was not me. That was all Constantine.”

  Eric stared at me. “Isis, you’re a magnet for crazy, outrageous things to happen. Try to keep the city in one piece.”

  I was not going to convince Eric at all. “Fine, I’ll do my best,” I replied.

  I was proud of myself I didn’t roll my eyes while I was talking to him. “Got to go.” I gave him a lazy hand wave and headed out the door. I was pretty sure if I stayed any longer, I was going to say something mean to him. I needed to focus on the mission, not try to convince sexy Eric that I was not a menace to society.

  Chapter 28

  I never realized the obsession we have as a society to name things. In Texarkana, every apartment complex, regardless how small or run-down a place it was, had a name. The apartment complex across from TX was called the Windsor Place Apartments. The Windsor Place Apartments on North Robison were not very fancy, but they catered to the students in the area. I gave the campus a quick look, noticing a lot of joggers on the trail. Bob made a sharp left and parked at the end of the complex.

  There were a lot of people out and about for a Friday morning. Bob and I had dressed in combat gear again, and I didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention. We lowered the windows in the Storm, and I quickly hooked up my recording; the goal was for people to avoid the area and be confused. I was getting good at finding songs that fit the mood I needed. It was impressive the amount of stuff you could find online now. Bob put his earplugs in, just to be on the safe side. Death said anybody working at Reapers should be immune to my music. Unfortunately, we found out that extensive exposure gave the boys horrible headaches.

  The music was playing, and we were out of the truck. Bartholomew was taking care of any cameras in the area. We decided to bring only handguns and paintball guns. With all the crazy active shooters running around the country, we were trying to make sure nobody called a SWAT team on us. We dashed to the second f
loor. The stairwell led up to two units, one on the right and one on the left. The door on of the left was filthy and covered in spider webs.

  “What do you think?” I asked Bob.

  “I can’t believe anyone is staying in that one. Let’s aim right.” Bob was right. I gave Bob one last nod, and he kicked the door open. I had my gun ready and burst through the doorway.

  “Ahhh!” screamed a naked girl from the couch.

  “Oh God!” screamed a half-naked male boy.

  We were prepared for a horrible scene, just not this kind. Two teenagers making out was not on my list of things to find. I felt terrible for the boy; he went limp from fear. This was so embarrassing for everybody. We needed to do a better job at recon from now on.

  “OK then, obviously we are in the wrong apartment. Do you know a Fred that lives in this complex?” I lowered my gun, perfectly aware they were not armed, not even with courage. The boy couldn’t say any words. He just stuttered.

  “Across the walkway.” The girl was at least able to speak and point.

  “Great, thanks.” I was ready to be out.

  “Shouldn’t you two be in school?” Bob asked the couple. I wasn’t sure who was more shocked, them or me.

  “Ah.”

  Well, we were back to one-syllable words from the teenagers, if that was technically a word.

  “Answer me.” Bob was dangerous and mean. He was glaring at them.

  The boy finally spoke. “We skipped school, sir.”

  I was glad he found some courage, but if Bob kept this up, they were going to have an accident in the middle of the room.

  “Is this what you want for your future—no education, babies, being irresponsible, and wasting your lives away? You’re too smart for that. Remember this face, because I’ll be watching you two. You better get straight, or I’ll be back, and it won’t be pretty.” Bob gave them one long look before heading out the door. The kids looked like they were going to die.

  “Trust me; it’s for your own good.” I pulled my paint gun from my holster and shot them. After Bob’s little stunt, I couldn’t leave them to call the cops. I left the apartment and closed the door. “Do you know those two?” I asked Bob when I was standing next to him.

  “Nope. But I will now.” He gave the apartment another look.

  “Are you planning to go around scaring kids straight in Texarkana? What are you, the Rock?” I didn’t think the youth population could handle Bob and the whole underground watching them.

  “You know, that was a really good idea he had for a show.” Bob was smiling at me. “Besides, I couldn’t let that opportunity go to waste. Who knows, if I scared them enough maybe they’ll do something amazing with their lives.”

  I was sure. Like never have sex, joined a convent or monastery, or become hermits. I figured it was safer not to tell Bob that.

  “Good job, you did scare the hell out of them. Constantine would be proud.” I tapped him on the shoulder and smiled. My boys were nuts. “Should we try this again? Let’s see what we have behind door number two.”

  Bob gave me a quick nod, looked around and kicked the door open. I was starting to wonder what the doors in Texarkana were made of. Bob did that way too easily. I took a deep breath and dashed through the doorway. We entered the apartment’s living room and kitchen area. The place was dark, cold, and smelled of incense and something rotten. There were potpourri bags everywhere. The place had a layer of dust over all the horizontal surfaces.

  “What in the hell?” Bob said from behind me. I was starting to like the teenagers’ situation so much better.

  I didn’t dare walk in. The place looked like a tomb or haunted house. Bob pulled out his flashlight. Nothing was moving. It was like nobody had been here in ages. I found a light switch. I flipped the switch and slowly walked in. I didn’t want to disturb anything.

  “Should we check the bedrooms?” Bob asked me.

  I did not want to go in any deeper. Unfortunately, Bob was moving down a hallway already. Staying at the door was just as bad as following Bob.

  “Bob, there’s something wrong with this place,” I whispered. Even talking out loud felt wrong here.

  “Which part gave it away? The smell or the destroyed furniture?”

  I was so busy looking at all the weird bags on the floor, I hadn’t bothered to notice the furniture.

  It looked like a wild beast had been loose in here. I was now in full paranoid mode. I took my 9mm in my right hand and my paint gun in the left. It looked ridiculous, but after six months in Constantine’s training camp, I could shoot with either hand. Not to mention I was pretty good at holding my own in a fight, guns or no guns.

  The hallway wasn’t very long. We passed a small bedroom on the left and a bathroom on the right. The bedroom was used as a storage space. Boxes upon boxes were piled everywhere. Bob kept moving toward a closed door. I stepped into the room and checked in one of the boxes. I found a few empty bottles labeled “P Laboratories.”

  I guessed we’d found Pestilence’s lost virus.

  “Isis, you might want to see this,” Bob said from the hallway.

  “Holy Jesus Christ.” I made a quick sign of the cross. That was a common Catholic prayer, where you used your thumb and index fingers crossed in the shape of a cross, and then did a cross over your body. I started at the forehead, down to my heart, then across to my left shoulder, and ending on my right shoulder. I did that on reflex when something was bothersome. This took my breath away.

  A man, or what was left of a man, was chained to the bed. Not the kind of stuff in Fifty Shades of Gray. More like the stuff you saw in medieval torture chambers. He looked emaciated. Bob walked over to one side of the bed, and I walked to the other side. The man was lying in his filth. It explained the temperature of the apartment and all the potpourri.

  “Dead?” For his sake, I was hoping he was.

  “Let’s find out,” Bob poked the man’s leg.

  The man woke up and started thrashing around, howling and trying to bite me. I jumped back at least two feet and shot him in the chest. Fortunately for him, I pulled the trigger on the paint gun. I worked for Death, but I wasn’t interested in being mauled by a deranged zombie.

  “Not dead,” Bob told me from his side of the bed.

  I glared as I tried to get my heart rate to slow down. “No kidding,” I told Bob, shaking my head. “I’m assuming we found victim one.”

  “At least we know she only has love for her work.” Bob was right about that. “How long do you think she’s been keeping him here?” That was a really good question, and I had no clue.

  “I don’t know, but I hope Eugene can figure that one out.” I walked back out into the hallway. “That girl needs some serious help.”

  “Isis, I’m afraid she’s past that point. If you’re willing to do that to your boyfriend, there’s nothing you won’t do to others. She needs Jesus—or maybe Buddha.”

  “That is too creepy.” I was getting the chills here. “OK, if you call Shorty, I’ll call Reapers. We need Eugene to get his lab ready for this one.”

  “Works for me. Do we want Shorty to take the boxes?” Bob pointed to the storage area.

  “That would be great. I’m sure Pestilence wants whatever is left of her stuff back. He can come back later for those. I don’t want Shorty hanging out with mummy over there any longer than he needs to.” The last thing I needed was for Shorty to get attacked by the first zombie. Who knew how tough he was? “By the way, have we given Shorty a gun?”

  Bob’s eyes got huge. I held up my paint gun to make the point.

  “Oh, one of those. You scared me for a minute.” Bob needed to give me more credit. I didn’t trust Shorty with the truck; I sure was not giving him a gun. “Not sure, but I’ll tell Bart to issue him one when he drops off friendly over there.”

  “Good. At this rate
, we need all the help we can get.” I pulled out my phone.

  “Bart the Greatest at your service. Internationally known and ready to make all your needs into a reality.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Bart, what are you talking about?” I needed to start monitoring what the boys did when I wasn’t around.

  “Trying out my sales pitch. What do you think?” Bartholomew was a little too excited now.

  “It depends. Are you opening up a dating service or becoming an arms dealer?” I was afraid of the answer.

  “Neither.” Thank the lord for that one. “Still working on my products,” Bartholomew replied, a little distracted.

  “In that case, let’s wait for the slogan till after you finish your business plan.” Twelve-year-olds were easily distracted. What happened to the robot obsession?

  “Okie dokie.” Bartholomew was in much better spirits and not bothered at all. “So, did you find the boyfriend?”

  “We found a body. Tell Eugene to get ready; he’ll be getting a visitor.” I was not sure how to describe him.

  “Eugene is out,” Bartholomew said, still reasonably cheerful. “He got an emergency call from one of his people. He took Ladybug to meet him,”

  “He’s meeting them somewhere not in the lab?” I said, full of panic. This was not good.

  “Yeah, why?” Bartholomew heard the change in my voice.

  “Bart, I need you to load the coordinates of Ladybug to my phone. Try to get ahold of Eugene. Hurry, he’s in trouble.”

  “Got it,” Bartholomew replied and hung up.

  “Bob, we got to go. I think Eugene is in danger.”

  Bob didn’t need too many explanations. We were running out the door as fast as possible.

  Chapter 29

  According to Bartholomew’s coordinates, Ladybug was parked at Rocky Point Park, at Wright Patman Lake. From Texarkana College, it was going to take us at least twenty minutes to get there. I wasn’t sure if Eugene had that much time. Bob tried to follow the speed limit through town, but let loose once we hit the highway. I hadn’t asked why he picked Storm for his truck, and now I didn’t need to. Storm was a force to be reckoned with. We were going at least ninety, and the ride was smooth.