Luis Torres headed the team at Valencia Estates, a private, well maintained graveyard, and he was being assisted by protective combat personal headed by Marshal Maria Rondina, a very serious woman not given to many words. Torres found himself immediately smitten with the taciturn marshal. The rest of the team had spread out, to take samples and readings, so Torres was happy to find himself alone with Rondina next to a tombstone that presented a surface flat enough to place a laptop.
“So Marshal,” asked Torres, “have you dealt with this sort of thing before?”
“No,” said Rondina simply.
Torres smiled, “Well, I was here during the Flipstream Invasion two years ago.” The forensic scientist had hoped for some acknowledgement from the Marshal, but she merely looked at him.
“The Flipstream Invasion,” continued Torres uncertainly, “some people called it the Jellyfish attack.”
“I remember,” replied Rondina, “I was a cop then, on traffic detail, during the evacuation.”
Torres took a complete sentence as an encouraging sign. “Perhaps we passed that day, you may have waved my vehicle through an intersection?”
Marshal Rondina sighed. “Maybe.”
There was a commotion nearby, and two of Torres’ team, fellow forensics specialists, came running towards him, white lab coats flapping behind them. One of Rondina’s fellow Marshal’s followed, then stopped and turned, firing his weapon into a copse of trees.
Rondina pulled her gun and did not look at Torres as she said, “Get behind me.”
Torres swept up his laptop and quickly did as the Marshal commanded. He took a quick look at the data stream and frowned. The connection to Wonder Base was down.
More marshals joined the small group, guns drawn, forming a protective circle around the science team. Whatever was out there was coming in every direction. Torres slapped the laptop closed and slid it into his backpack. Somehow everyone in the clearing knew enough to remain perfectly silent, with only the occasional popping of distant gunfire and panicked screams to break the silence.
“Zombies!” exclaimed one of the forensic specialists as she pointed, which Torres thought to be quite an unscientific thing to say until he saw them: animated corpses lurching through the graveyard, taking bullet after bullet from the marshals with no ill effect.
“Aim for the heads!” said one of the marshals, but this idea, taken from countless zombie movies, appeared to be ineffectual. The bullets hit the animated corpses like pelting rain, and did as much damage.
Less tolerable was the effect the zombies had on the living. Torres watched with horror, her gun useless, as one of her marshals was grabbed by the arm. The zombie did not bite or scratch, it merely held, and as she watched, the zombie’s victim screamed and shriveled like a raisin. When the zombie let go the body that hit the ground was so dry and so brittle it shattered into dust.
Rondina holstered her gun and looked around. The zombies were approaching from every side, and though moving slowly, they were certainly not slow moving. They seemed cautious and careful, communicating in a way that was only obvious in the way they worked together, not by any signs or gestures they made.
“Follow me!” Rondina yelled, running towards the only gap she saw between the approaching zombies. She heard more gunshots and another scream. She did not turn to see who fell, though she hoped it was not one of her Marshals. She grabbed a short handled shovel as she ran. There were three zombies between her and the vehicles her group had arrived in. She screamed and ran at them, hoping her people would follow.
She swung the shovel like a barbarian, and two of the zombies fell over like clumsy dominoes. The third zombie lurched forward, but two of her people stepped forward and peppered the creature with bullets, staggering the thing just long enough for Rondina to bring the shovel around and crack the thing’s skull.
The zombies were already recovering, staggering to their feet and crawling towards them. Rondina raced for the car, a quick look told her that she had six survivors following her, including Torres. The idiot was smiling at her.
“You are most amazing, marshal,” said the scientist.
Under any other circumstances Marshal Rondina would have marveled at the man’s ability to flirt during a zombie apocalypse. Dedication like that deserved to be rewarded. For now she just led the way towards the vehicles and possible escape.
There was a red streak of light in the air, and suddenly the two Marshal Service Humvees and the science van exploded. Marshal Rondina held up her hands defensively and a piece of hot metal Humvee lodged in her arm as she fell.
Rondina was sitting down, and found it hard to focus. She heard screams from all around her. Her men, and the scientists they were to protect, were all dying, their life forces drained and their bodies turned to dust by these zombies. She watched helplessly as Luis Torres shriveled and crumbled to dust in the arms of a woman long dead.
Stunned by the explosion and surrounded by undead, Rondina waited to die, but then there was a glimmer of hope, as Wonder Hero Imperial, or was it Crimson now, landed before her. She had heard many stories of such last minute rescues by the Wonder Heroes, and with relief she reached out and gripped the proffered hand of the armored superhero, expecting to be whisked away to safety.
Upon contact with the Wonder Hero hope vanished under a tidal wave of despair, as her mind grew instantly dark and still. Her body quickly shriveled and she was long dead by the time her body crumbled to dust.
Wonder Hero Imperial let the dust that was the hand of Marshal Rondina fall from his hand as looked about at the army of undead gathered around him. The creatures did not need to speak to let him know where he was needed next, and without a word Wonder Hero Imperial took to the sky. A flock of birds scattered at his approach, but they were too late, and the entire flock fell from the sky, crashing to the earth in clouds of dust.
Far across the United States on the roof of Wonder Base, Jay and Kalomo were playing tennis as Kalomo’s fiancé Linnea sat on the sidelines in the shade. Linnea had two friends from college over to visit, and they were both completely infatuated with Jay. Jay had no problem with the attention.
“So what is he like?” asked Leslie, in hushed tones.
Linnea rolled her eyes and looked over at Ashley, who laughed. Ashley had told Linnea that as soon as it became news that Kalomo was a Wonder Hero Leslie had announced her intention to snag one too. Jay was the obvious choice.
“To tell the truth,” answered Linnea, “I hardly know him. He thinks he’s all that, but I don’t know…”
“Come on, spill the dirt…”
Linnea leaned in. “Kalomo says he messes up a lot. He tries hard, but I think he’s over compensating for some, uh, shortcomings.”
Ashley giggled. Leslie frowned. “You’re crazy. He’s a Wonder Hero! He’s one of the most powerful men on Earth!”
Ashley held up her hand and held her thumb and index finger about two inches apart. Linnea laughed, then made sure no one was watching them.
Leslie waved her hand dismissively. “Well I think he’s cute…”
On the court Jay unknowingly engaged in the flip side of the women’s conversation. “Tell me about Ashley, man,” said Jay to Kalomo, picking up the tennis ball.
“Jay, she’s right over there….”
“I’m using the Gauntlet’s communicator. We can talk in whispers and no one else can hear us.” Jay served the tennis ball.
Kalomo returned the serve, resisting the urge to use the gauntlet’s targeting computer to achieve perfect aim. “She’s cute, but it’s Leslie who’s really into you.”
Jay backhanded the return. “Yeah, I got that, but Ashley’s a challenge. Leslie will be my backup plan.”
Kalomo could not resist, Jay was just so full of himself he had to be taken down a peg. Using the gauntlet, Kalomo angled his racket and gave the tennis ball a high velocity backspin. The ball arced in the air, and then hit the tennis court with
a squelch, bouncing backwards. Jay laughed. He had anticipated this, so he leapt forward, swung his racket and added his velocity to the ball. The tennis ball shot hit the edge of the court and exploded in a puff of yellow fur and white gas.
Jay smiled. “Dude, don’t take it out on me because I’m single. Linnea’s great, but so is pizza, until you eat it every day.”
As Kalomo frowned, Leslie cheered.
Jay shot Kalomo a look. “See? Back-up plan.”
Theodore arrived on the roof, pushing his mother in her wheelchair.
Linnea waved. “Hello Mrs. Studebaker!”
“Hello Linnea,” said Theodore’s mother, “Won’t you introduce me?”
Theodore left his mother with the girls and stood at the edge of the court. “Hey guys.”
Kalomo ran over and grabbed his water bottle. “Any word from Susan?”
Theodore shook his head. “No, and the Computer keeps telling me that everything’s fine, and that we’re awaiting results.”
Jay smiled and moved off the court to join the women. “All good then.” Jay tossed his racket to Theodore, then looking at Ashley with a predatory gaze. “I’m going in. Watch and learn guys.”
Kalomo shook his head, looked at Theodore, and under his breath said, “He’s such an ass.”
“Dude!” said Jay, “I can still hear you.”
Theodore laughed.
General Henry Rumpole was always a beacon of calm reasoning during a crisis. The only thing he worried about when things went wrong was the safety of his people and the success of the mission. He spent some tense minutes on the radio, getting reports from the various research teams he had dispatched to the different cemeteries. The reports were not good. Apparently there was an extraterrestrial life form of unknown origin animating the dead and absorbing the life force of every living thing in its path. Several of his teams were not reporting, and he had to assume they did not survive. Those that did survive all suffered some casualties, except for one: the team he was leading here.
The most disturbing report the General received was that Paul Kettles, the deceased Wonder Hero Imperial, had been reanimated and was apparently leading the zombie invasion. The rest of the Wonder Heroes desperately needed to know this, but somehow all communication with Wonder Base had been cut off. General Rumpole was sure that the alien controlling Paul’s body was responsible for communications being down. Everywhere resistance against the zombie invasion began to take hold, the undead Wonder Hero Imperial would arrive and devastate it.
Susan stood nearby, holding her bandaged arm, and staring off into the distance. There was no way to know whether she was okay. The technology of the Wonder Gauntlets was always understood to be in some way permanently attached to the nervous system of the host. Somehow the reanimation of Paul Kettles had subverted this, leaving Susan the only known living being to have had a gauntlet removed. She seemed lost, and her mind was unfocused.
“Susan?”
“Hey, General. Sorry,” said Susan, fighting through the haze that gripped her mind. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
“We can’t make any sense out of the zombies’ movements,” said the General, “They’re not heading for any hard military or tactical targets.” He waved a map of DC in front of Susan, but she did not look at it.
“They need greater numbers,” said Susan, “more dead bodies...”
This surprised the General. Somehow Susan was in contact with the aliens, and able to intuit their goals. Not one to waste even a slight advantage, he turned to one of his soldiers. “Get on the radio, let everyone know. These things are looking for more hosts, that means we need to be defending graveyards, cemeteries, morgues and hospitals.”
The General grabbed the former Wonder Hero by the shoulders, and forced her to look at him. “Susan!”
“I’m sorry,” said Susan, trying to focus, “I want to help…”
“Think!” said the General, raising his voice to keep Susan focused, “Of all the teams we had in the field, only this one suffered no casualties. You intuited that these things are looking for more hosts…”
Susan frowned and swayed. If General Rumpole was not holding her by the shoulders she might have toppled over, “I guess…”
“I think the reason Paul and the other creatures left us alone is because you made them,” said the General, “I think you’re still in contact with your gauntlet.”
Susan thought about that, for too long. The General shook her.
“I can feel the gauntlet,” said Susan. Susan felt disconnected from her emotions. “It’s here, there… trying to shake me loose…”
A helicopter was approaching, and the General shouted above the noise of the whirring blades. “Don’t let it shake you loose. Hold onto it Susan. You’ve got to take it back.”
Susan nodded as the helicopter landed. General Rumpole dragged Susan behind him, and together they climbed on board.
The pilot looked at Susan doubtfully. “Is she okay?”
Susan stared out the helicopter window, her head resting on the humming glass.
“She’s fine,” said the General sharply, “What’s the latest?”
“Your hunch was right.” The pilot launched the helicopter into the air. “These things are heading for graveyards. The National Guard is mobilizing, but we haven’t had much luck fighting them.”
“Fire,” said Susan, “they hate fire.”
The pilot looked at the General.
“You heard her. Fire,” said the General, “Get on the radio, tell the troops to use flamethrowers, and to start setting some fires between the zombies, dammit I hate that word, and the cemeteries.”
Matthew O’Dette had spent the day going over security protocols at the Wonder Base research facilities. He and General Rumpole had decided to spend time examining the various research projects the Wonder Hero Foundation sponsored, and to tighten security and plug leaks where needed. This was of course a response to the crime spree of Jaimie Karasik and her crew, but also a possible means of tracking down information on Project Kryptonite.
Absently Matt wondered what was going on with the investigation in DC, but he knew that if he were needed the General would call him. He assumed everything was going well. Matt walked through the corridors and found the Wonder Base day care. Here researchers and Wonder Base employees could safely leave their children while they worked. Along with the day care, Wonder Base also sported a topnotch school system.
Matt stood in the hallway, and observed the kids as they played through the glass. Cassie was enrolled here, and she was, as usual, busy bossing the other kids around, formulating rules that nobody would obey and she was helpless to enforce. Cassie did not notice her Uncle Matt, but the teacher, Mrs. Mizoguchi, waved, a look of some confusion on her face.
Mrs. Mizoguchi met Matt at the door. “Hello Matthew, how good to see you. Terrible thing in Washington today.”
Matt nodded. “I guess. It wasn’t too bad, or else they’d have called me back.”
The teacher nodded, and smiled. “You are so brave. I was on break when I heard the news on the radio. I don’t think I would face a zombie invasion so easily.”
Matt was caught completely off guard. “What? Zombies?”
“Did I mishear?”
Matt looked at his gauntlet. “Computer? What’s the situation in Washington?”
“Awaiting analysis,” said the Wonder Computer, “All systems normal.”
“Mrs. Mizoguchi,” said Matt, racing up the hall, “I’ll be back as soon as I can…”
With a flash of blue energy Matt’s Wonder Armor surrounded him. He yelled into his gauntlet. “Hey guys! We’ve got something bad happening in Washington!”
Susan stood by the General as he barked orders at his troops. The sun was setting on Washington, figuratively as well as literally. The dead had risen, and they were turning every living thing in their path to dust. Susan’s intuition about fire had
proven correct: the creatures were repelled and destroyed wherever they were met with it. Unfortunately, whenever the forces of Earth made strides against the zombies, and were making real tactical progress, Wonder Hero Imperial would swoop in and devastate them, suppressing the fire and advancing the undead army’s agenda.
It was only here, at the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, that the zombified body of Paul Kettles, Wonder Hero Imperial, would not appear.
General Rumpole had a theory about that. “It’s you Susan. I think the alien possessing Paul knows that it can’t get too close to you without losing control of the gauntlet. That’s also why our group suffered no casualties. The alien possessing Paul’s body needed to get away from you.”
Susan held her head in her hands and closed her eyes. She had a pounding headache but was unwilling to take anything for it because she was afraid that the pain was her link to the gauntlet. “I don’t remember that, General, but I can feel my gauntlet.”
Susan looked up in the air and pointed. “There!”
High overhead there was a streak of red, pursued by two fighter jets. They were all out of sight in seconds, but dull, booming explosions could be heard in the distance. Susan frowned.
“Susan!” said the General, “You have to try to take back the gauntlet.”
“I know…”
Susan flashed on an image of a jet firing a missile at her. She raised her arms to destroy the missile and the jet with a blast of energy, but then thought better of it. She fought to lower her arms, and could feel another mind there, resisting her commands. The missile collided with her armor, severing her connection. Susan convulsed and fell to the ground.
“Susan!” The General dropped to his knees beside her as medics surrounded her body.
“Her pulse is irregular…”
“It’s like a seizure…”
A corporal took a knee beside the General. “General Rumpole sir! Fighter wing reports that they hit the target. Wonder Hero Imperial is down.”
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