Trepidation

by Chrissy Peebles

  “Tell me about it,” he said, then shifted his stance. “But before, the number was manageable. Who knows how many hybrids Charlie created? He’s playing with fire and he knows it. Even though they’re roaming the city, he’s somehow keeping them contained. But what happens if they leave the city?”

  I shuddered. “If they get out...”

  “We’ve got to take them out. I just wonder where Charlie’s hiding them.”

  “Do you think they’re feeding on people outside the city?” I asked.

  “That’s a horrible thought. But that’s exactly why hybrids need to be put down. They’re murderers and nothing else.”

  “That one did save my life,” I reminded him.

  “That doesn’t make sense. That’s not their normal behavior at all.”

  “It showed me mercy,” I said.

  “It might’ve been trying to hold onto its humanity. But eventually, it’ll give in to its desire to feast on human flesh. No matter how hard it fights it. It’s no different than the ones we’ve encountered before. So don’t let it fool you.”

  “We better going,” I said.

  And with that, we took off back to the apartment complex. We went straight to Max and told him everything.

  “These hybrids are a threat that needs to be eliminated,” Nick said. “Our city will never be safe with them running around it.”

  “I’m well aware of that,” Max replied. “But Z is more of a problem right now.”

  I didn’t believe that for a minute. “Just because those hybrids are on good behavior doesn’t mean we need to put them on the back burner.”

  Max met my gaze. “We deal with the bigger threat first.”

  “Those hybrids can turn into a problem far worse than Charlie,” Nick said. “They can call herds.”

  “Then why haven’t they?” Max asked.

  “Charlie must be giving them something to keep it under control,” I said.

  Nick shook his head. “They could snap at any given moment. They could slaughter the entire town.”

  “Maybe that’s Charlie’s ultimate goal,” I said, cringing at the thought.

  “We’ve got to take the threat seriously,” Nick said. “If Charlie is creating an army of hybrids, that’s serious crap. And it needs to be dealt with immediately.”

  I absolutely agreed. “We need to expand our search outside the city. We need to find where Charlie’s keeping them, and eliminate the problem once and for all.”

  “Can he make more hybrids?” Max asked.

  “I’m sure he can,” Nick answered.

  “Then Charlie needs to be eliminated with his hybrids,” Max said. “Then we’ll never have to worry about that problem ever again.”

  “He can’t have that much serum left,” I said. “He has to be running on fumes.”

  Max blew out a breath. “Here we are just trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse, and we have two very dangerous nuts to deal with, a crazy gang leader and a lunatic scientist breeding a hybrid army like some kind of science fiction film.”

  I nodded. “Living in a post-apocalyptic world seems to bring out all the crazies. Everyone goes into survival mode and it brings out every primal instinct. It either brings out the best in people...or the worst.”

  “We need to make this hybrid problem top priority,” Nick said.

  “We have,” Max replied. “I’ve used all my resources to try and find his little army.”

  “Little? His army could be huge. Don’t underestimate Charlie. He could have hundreds of them for all we know.”

  “I don’t know what else you want me to do,” Max said.

  “Find Charlie at all costs,” Nick said. “This isn’t only a threat to us. This is a threat to all humanity. And that takes precedence over Z.”

  “Creating an army of hybrids to win a war against a local gangster is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of,” I said.

  “He’s been planning it for some time,” Nick contemplated. “You told me Jonathon said he created the hybrids to take down the gang.”

  “I think he was learning how to control them,” I said. “When we were attacked at the lab, Charlie sicked his hybrids on Sam, Larry, and Z’s gang after we fled the scene. Not only was Charlie able to win and triumph in victory, but he was able to secure them as test subjects. Charlie had control of those hybrids.”

  Max shook his head. “Those hybrids took out Z’s gang, Sam, Larry, and all the regular, stupid zombies who stumbled onto the scene.”

  “Z’s gang wondered how a few scientists were able to defeat some of their toughest players, along with zombies,” I said. “But now we know. Charlie had help...he unleashed gas and employed his hybrid army that he kept stashed in his underground facility. The same facility where he abducted people and did horrible experiments on them.”

  “Nobody had a chance against Charlie,” Max said. “Not with his tricks and his hybrid army.”

  “Who’d be expecting gas and hybrids?” I said. “It was sneaky.”

  “But Charlie’s little, precious hybrids were killed when Jonathon set off the self-destruct sequence and blew up the building,” Nick said. “So he started again.”

  Max crossed his arms. “I think Charlie found a new place to set up his lab. He took the remaining serum and made more hybrids. We just need to know how many hybrids he made and where they are being kept hidden.”

  Nick met his gaze. “Let’s get surveillance teams on every single scientist still living in Fairport. I know some of them are still consorting with Charlie. Let’s find out who, and then follow their every move. I’m sure they’ll lead us straight to the madman himself.”

  “We could even put a little pressure on some of the scientists to get them to talk,” Max said. “Or maybe we can get their wives to talk. I’ll get on this right away.”

  “Charlie’s here...somewhere,” I said. “We need to hunt and stalk our enemy like big game. If we dig hard enough, I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

  Chapter 29

  Kate and I were sent on a simple but risky mission: to go outside the safe zone and load one of Max’s pick-up trucks with donated supplies. A couple who had recently come into the welcoming arms of Max’s little safe haven had offered to share all the canned food they’d found in a recent store raid, but they wouldn’t go back to get it because the woman’s mother had been killed violently by a zombie, and the trip would bring back too many bad memories.

  As I drove, Kate looked at me. “We shoulda brought Sparkles. Poor thing’s always cooped up in that apartment.”

  “Claire walks her all the time,” I argued, “and she’d just be bite-sized zombie bait.”

  “You’re right. She’s better off back at the apartment, nice and safe. It’s just...well, I used to take my dog everywhere with me, and I kind of miss it.”

  “You had a dog?”

  “Yup, a yellow lab named Anna. She was ten years old. She was killed when zombies broke into our house. My mom was killed that fateful day too. It actually happened right after I saw you in Kingsville. After I passed out those flyers, I went home, and Mom and Anna were both gone. When we found their bodies...well, a neighbor helped me bury them. We had a makeshift funeral, and then I went to look for my sister, and...well, you know the rest.”

  “Yeah, I heard you mention that to Nick back at the nursing home. I should have offered you my condolences, but I just didn’t know what to say. I’m not good at that kind of stuff. I really suck at it. But I want you to know I’m so sorry about you losing your mom, your sister, and Anna.”

  “Thanks, Dean. That means a lot.”

  “It’s not fair that we have to lose the ones we love,” I said.

  “My mom had dementia, and she couldn’t have fought them off. I was her caregiver, and she was all I had. I should’ve been there taking care of her, not off trying to—”

  “You had to find your sister,” I said. “You wouldn’t have been able to go on without knowing.”

  “But whil
e I was gone, the zombies broke in.”

  “You didn’t know they would, and I’m sure your mother would’ve wanted somebody to find your sister.”

  “I had no idea my beautiful, funny, smart sister and best friend was already dead because of those Kingsville games.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kate.”

  “Me too. I’m only here with you because I don’t have any family anymore. Almost everyone in my neighborhood died in zombie attacks, so I couldn’t stay there anymore. It just wasn’t safe. Asia convinced me to come, to leave all the horrible memories and start over somewhere else.”

  “You met Asia in Kingsville?”

  “Yeah. Right after she turned back from the serum, we started chatting and instantly became best friends.”

  “I’m so glad you two came with us,” I said.

  She smiled. “Me too.”

  I was very thankful for the group I was with. We, for the most part, all got along really good. I thought we made a great team and trusted them completely.

  “Val told me some of the scientists that worked with Charlie are missing,” Kate said.

  “I heard about that.”

  “What do you think happened to them?”

  “It could be anything. Z could’ve found them, and if he did, I shudder to think what he would’ve done to them. Or maybe some pissed off hybrids got their revenge. Or maybe Charlie disposed of them for whatever reason. Or maybe they simply got scared and ran away as far from this place as they could get.”

  “Max is looking for them as we speak,” she said. “If we can find one of them, then we can get answers. They might lead us to Charlie.”

  I turned left. “Okay, I think this is the road.”

  Kate looked at the directions Max had written down. “Yeah, it should be down a few houses.”

  I pointed at a shop with a large window display of antique vases and paintings. “I think this is it.”

  “Yep.”

  I parked the truck in front of the store.

  “I don’t see any zombies,” Kate said.

  “Me neither.”

  I jumped out and peered around carefully. The snow was pouring down, and the wind was bitter cold. I stepped on the porch and banged on the door, not really expecting an answer.

  “Why are you knocking?” Kate laughed. “I don’t think anyone’s home.”

  “Because it’ll draw any zombies out.”

  She peeked in through the large, horizontal window. “I don’t see anything, and they said they left the door unlocked.”

  “What if it’s a trap?” I said.

  “What?”

  “We don’t know that couple from Adam and Eve. Maybe Z sent them.”

  She raised a brow. “You think they’re spies?”

  “What if they sent us here for a reason?”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m just...well, I’m trying to think of every possible scenario.”

  “Z has you all paranoid,” she said. “Why would he go through all of this just for us? He wouldn’t.”

  I knew Kate was right, but it wasn’t just Z. It was everything, from the gang to the lab. I felt like I couldn’t trust anybody; I’d been burned too many times.

  Kate’s blonde hair whipped around in the wind. “I’m freezing out here. Let’s just hurry up and do this.” She pointed her gun straight ahead and opened the door.

  A lot of light poured in from the huge front window, and I was thankful for that. I waved my flashlight across the shelves, over the antique dolls and figurines. Everything looked to be in perfect order, and nothing was undisturbed, so I figured the zombie attack must have happened outside.

  The floor creaked with every step we took, but we searched the entire place. Once we deemed it clear, a zombie-free zone, we climbed into the attic and found the canned goods.

  As we loaded the food into the truck, keeping a watchful eye in every direction, the snow started blowing and whipping around.

  Once the food was all loaded, we climbed into the truck, and I started the engine.

  Kate shot me a look. “Do you think we can drive in this? I don’t wanna get stuck somewhere.”

  I could hardly see through the violently swirling snow and heavy fog. Just like that, we were caught in a white-out, practically a blizzard. I gave it a little gas, and the tires began to squeal, stuck in a snowdrift.

  Kate jumped out. “We’re gonna need a shovel,” she said.

  “Maybe there’s one inside the shop.”

  The snow was falling so thick and fast that it looked like thick, white drapes, impossible to see through. I couldn’t even tell the difference between the sky and the ground. Everything was blurry, and the wind was bone chilling. I hopped out of the truck, and we both hurried inside the store. We searched the place but didn’t see anything we could use to free the tires from their snowy groove.

  Kate looked out the window. “Dean, we’re not getting home anytime soon.”

  “Well, I’m not staying here. You pump the gas, and I’ll give the truck a push.”

  “It’s too bad out there. We might get stuck somewhere worse, in the middle of nowhere. At least here, we’ve got shelter, and there don’t seem to be any zombies.”

  “All right. We’ll wait here for a few hours,” I said reluctantly, “but as soon as it clears up, we’re taking off.”

  “We might have to stay the night.”

  I cringed at the thought. It was freezing, and there was no fireplace, but there were some blankets, and we had plenty of food in the truck. We opted for the attic because I didn’t want to sit in that shop with all those creepy dolls staring back at me. We made a makeshift bed and cuddled up in the covers, trying to get warm. I could see my breath, but it still wasn’t as cold as it was outside. Since we couldn’t find any candles or lanterns, we set our two flashlights beside each other for light.

  “It’ll be okay,” I said. “We’re safe here. We have shelter. We’ll just wait out the storm and then go.”

  “Those roads are going to be tough to manage,” she said.

  “That’s what four-wheel drive is for.”

  “Well, thank goodness we brought the truck.”

  “Yeah, tell me about it.”

  We chitchatted about everything, from Z to our apartment.

  Suddenly, Kate looked very sad.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Today is my sister’s birthday,” she said. “She would’ve been twenty-one.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I said.

  “It’s hard to forget her. We made so many memories together.”

  “Tell me about her,” I said.

  She smiled. “Well, her name was Carol. She was beautiful, with long, blonde hair and blue eyes like mine. She loved to smile and laugh. She had a bubbly personality that lit up a room, such a gentle soul. When she went to Kingsville, she never came back.”

  “I remember the flyer you showed me.”

  “My neighbor had a generator and electricity. I printed those out till I ran out of ink.”

  “She looked like you,” I said.

  “Yeah, people used to think we were twins. I’m trying to move on, because I know that’s what she would want, but sometimes I’m so haunted by losing her. It’s almost worse than being stuck in that lab, where they prodded and poked me every day.”

  “Grief sucks.”

  She touched my hand. “I know you miss Jackie.”

  “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about her.”

  “I know. I miss Carol every day too. How do we heal from a broken heart?”

  “I’m still trying to figure that out. Sometimes I think I’m losing it. I’m stressed out, and I’ve had so many close calls that I question why I’m still breathing. I’m grieving. I argue with my brother. I fight to survive. I try to stay encouraged and give it all I have, but sometimes I feel like my best just isn’t good enough. Sometimes I feel chilling, petrifying darkness, almost guilt for all the things I�
��ve done.”

  “You keep beating yourself up for killing that guy in Kingsville, but he had it coming. But he helped put my sister in that arena, and he was rooting for the zombies. He was a monster.”

  “He was under the effects of that toxic water.”

  “That’s no excuse. He killed my sister, and I’m glad you killed him. I know that’s not what you wanna hear, but I’m glad to get it off my chest. When they captured me, they told me he was the one who threw her in there. Then they said they hoped there weren’t any hurt feelings. I told them I was glad he was dead, so they roughed me up.”

  Hearing that made my blood boil. “Why are people so crazy?”

  “Well, there’s no government, so people do whatever they want. There’s no one to stop them. I would have given anything if I could have stopped my sister from going to Kingsville. Sometimes I dream of warning her not to go visit her friend.”

  “I have nightmares too,” I admitted.

  Suddenly, a door creaked, and I froze.

  “Did you hear that?” Kate whispered.

  We listened intently but didn’t hear any more noise. I grabbed a flashlight and reached for my rifle. I walked to the door, my heart pounding. It was so quiet I could have heard the proverbial pin drop. The floor creaked, and footsteps echoed beneath us, so I knew we weren’t alone. It was either a zombie, a survivor, or one of Z’s men, and I sure hoped it wasn’t the latter.

  Pointing my rifle ahead of me, I crept down the stairs and flashed my light around, but I didn’t see anything. I had to know what we’d heard, because there was no way I could sleep there knowing we weren’t alone. I took a few more brave steps, then flashed my light around once again.

  “I don’t see anything,” Kate said. “Maybe it’s an animal, a rat or something.”

  “Maybe.”

  Suddenly, glass shattered with a loud boom.

  I gasped, certain that something had knocked a figurine off the shelf.

  Kate pointed her gun toward the shelves. “Something’s in here,” she whispered.

  My stomach clenched as I took another step forward.

  A black cat darted out and flew past my feet and up the stairs.

  Kate breathed out, relieved. “A flippin’ cat!”