Trepidation

by Chrissy Peebles

  “I had no choice,” Charlie muttered. “It was the only house with a secret passage, and I figured I might need a quick getaway someday.”

  “Yet another side effect of guilt,” I said under my breath.

  Nick softly shut the door. “The way I see it, we’ve got two choices here. We fight the zombies, or we fight Z’s gang. Which is it gonna be, people?”

  “I think we’d have a better chance with the zombies,” Val said.

  “Speak for yourself,” Charlie responded, his voice trembling.

  I knew Charlie was terrified of zombies, and he certainly wasn’t a marksman of any sort. Lucas had given him a few pointers in the past, but he still sucked.

  “What if Z’s gang hears us shooting?” Val asked.

  “Whatever we do, we need to move quick,” Nick answered. “We gotta kill ‘em and get the heck outta Dodge. Once we get away from here, Z’s men will never find us.”

  I blew out a nervous breath.

  Claire tapped my shoulder. “Cover Charlie at all costs. He’s a lousy fighter, but we still need him.”

  “I’m not going to move from this spot, and I’m certainly not fighting,” Charlie said stubbornly.

  Claire rolled her eyes. “Well, whatever you do, you’ll be well protected. Because we need answers, and to get those, you have to stay alive.”

  Nick came up with a pretty viable game plan and assigned us all to certain positions. My job was to use my rifle and act as a sharpshooter. We’d be hitting the zombies hard, especially with Claire and Charlie’s security team clearing out the front with semiautomatic weapons.

  Gunfire rang through the air as Claire waved her gun back and forth, emptying her magazine and clearing the path ahead of us. I swung my rifle to the left and took out two zombies who were trying to grab Kate. Swinging to the right, I squeezed off three more shots.

  We ran through the snow as fast as we could, bolting across the meadow. Hungry moans and dead, shuffling feet crunched through the snow and underbrush.

  Claire reloaded, and another round raced through the zombie bodies, dropping them to the ground.

  A rotter with a melted face stumbled toward me. I was sure someone had set the darn thing on fire, but it obviously had done little good, because the thing was still alive and looking for its next meal. It let out a sharp shrill, snapping its jaws, and I shot it right between the eyes. The nightmarish ghoul flew back, and I quickly moved to my next target.

  The next one was looking its undead best, with a bloody scalp and a missing nose. My fingers squeezed the trigger, and down the creature went.

  We pounded through the snow, plodding as fast as we could. We were making surprisingly good headway and were almost through the field when a corporate-looking zombie in a long-sleeved white shirt covered in bloody handprints and blood splatter reached for me. It let out a deep-throated howl. Chunks were ripped out of its hands and face. I took a few retreating steps in the icy snow and fired away. As fast as I shot it, three more approached.

  Gunfire thundered in the air as Claire fired. She ejected her clip from her gun and slapped in a new one, then resumed firing again at the dead freaks. She mowed the majority down, and that made it easier for me.

  Meanwhile, Nick and Lucas were protecting Charlie, who was useless and didn’t fire his gun once. He never would have made it past those zombies had we not been there to cover his butt. Nick valiantly fired at anything that came too close to wrapping its gnarly hands around the scientist’s scrawny neck like so many of us wanted to do.

  When the next fiendish freak came my way, I aimed and fired. I took them down methodically. The next one was wounded, with a fist-sized hole in its face, leaking black slime. It clumsily tripped in the snow, and three more dummies tripped over it. I laughed at the bumbling idiots and kept moving, protecting the group the best I could. My senses were in overdrive, and I shot at anything that moved and lurched toward us. I shot a glance over my shoulder to make sure nothing was coming from behind. When I realized all was clear back there, I reloaded and went back to fighting.

  Two more lunged right for me from my left and three more from my right. I fired at all my targets successfully, watching them drop like flies. I took down the first line of snarling zombies staggering toward me, but more quickly replaced them. One let out a raspy breath as it jumped out of the bushes. It bared its jagged, black teeth and tried to grab my arm to sink its canines in. I jumped back and fired. Another reached for me, and I kicked it in the ribs, causing a loud crunch.

  Claire walked next to me and swept her gun back and forth as she took out the second and third line of zombies.

  Another approached in that all-too-familiar shuffling gait. Its sunken cheeks were peeling off in decomposing layers. Its lips were gone, exposing yellow teeth. It had black patches around its snow-white eyes. It was naked, and from all the bite marks and missing flesh, I could see that other zombies had been feasting on it. The skin on its legs was completely missing, revealing muscle and bone.

  “It’s the last one,” Lucas said. “Who wants to do the honors?”

  “Let me,” I said. I aimed and fired at the emaciated creature that was walking toward us as if it had any chance of surviving. It crumpled into the snow face first, collapsing at my feet.

  “That’s all of them,” Val said. “Let’s move it.”

  Panting for breath, I stared at all the zombies lying dead in the snow.

  “You knocked out my security team,” Charlie roared.

  Nick and Lucas smiled. When I turned around, I saw Charlie’s security team unconscious in the snow to the left.

  “Hope they wake up before the zombies get them,” Lucas said.

  “You people are unbelievable,” Charlie said.

  “Us?” Lucas retorted. “Boy, this psycho scientist really has some nerve.”

  “Guess Charlie’s minions should think twice before they work for a madman,” Nick said.

  I slung my rifle over my shoulder and followed the others. After walking for a bit we finally came to a main road flanked by fields of dead corn. I was thankful there weren’t any trees or vegetation for zombies to ambush us from; we had a clear view in every direction. So far, the coast was clear, and my shoulders shrugged in relief as we walked down the lonely road.

  “We should just leave Charlie here with the zombies,” Claire suggested. “Maybe he’ll feel the fear and terror he made Asia and Kate feel.”

  “He can’t go back with us to Fairport,” Nick said. “Max hates him. He experimented on his nephew, for goodness sake. Max hoped Z would finish him off. He told me it would be the one good deed Z has ever done. If Max knows we stopped his execution, he’ll be livid.”

  “He’ll kick us out,” Val said, “and I don’t wanna leave.”

  “Of course not,” I said, “not when you’re sucking face with him.”

  Her jaw dropped. And I couldn’t believe I just let those words slip out.

  “What?” Nick said in stunned amazement.

  Lucas shot her a look, and I knew I had opened a can of worms.

  “Tell him, Val,” I insisted.

  “I can date whoever I want,” she said.

  “Yeah, but Max?” Lucas said.

  Val rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t start your jealous crap. We’re not even dating anymore, if we ever were.”

  “I don’t think this is the time to discuss Val’s love life!” Claire shouted. “What if Jackie is alive?”

  Val shook her head. “She’s not, Claire. Charlie is just bluffing to save his own butt.”

  “Funny,” Lucas said, “that the good doctor is willing to run a house of horrors, but he can’t stay alive without help.”

  “I took care of lots of those gang members,” Charlie said. “And the rest won’t be too hard to track down. I can easily send my hybrids after the rest of them.”

  “I can’t believe you unleashed those things,” Nick said.

  “Jonathon died so those things wouldn’t be out here,
” Claire said.

  “Mine aren’t as dangerous. I can control them.”

  “Only by lying to them, promising you’ll cure them,” I said.

  Lucas held up a hand. “Wait...I’m lost. A little help here?”

  “He divided them up,” I said. “The dangerous ones were blown up, but he moved the calmer ones, the ones who would obey, to the hospital lab.”

  Nick grabbed my shoulder. “Are you telling me there’s a group of hybrids at the hospital lab?”

  “If Shawn was telling me the truth about that, yeah,” I said, “but I’ve really got no idea if he’s still stashing them there or not.”

  “How did we miss that?” Lucas said. “We searched that entire hospital.”

  “Haven’t you learned anything from me?” Charlie asked. “I don’t put things where you can see them.”

  “Underground lair?” Val asked.

  “Yes,” he said, smugly.

  “We’ve gotta dispose of any hybrids,” Lucas said.

  “They took lots of Z’s men down,” Charlie said. “They’re far too valuable.”

  “Because you’ve created an army of supersoldiers? They can fight without emotion, won’t disobey direct orders from you, have no regard for safety, fight viscously, and can take a bullet to the arm, leg, or chest. They’re like your own personal military swat team.”

  “And with them, we’ll defeat Z,” Charlie said.

  “But at what price?” Val retorted. “They’ll be loose out there.”

  “No, they’ll come back,” he said. “They want to be cured, and I hold the cure in my hands.”

  “This is ridiculous!” Nick spat.

  “Come join me,” he said. “We’ll destroy the rest of Z’s men, then we’ll disband Max’s team. And Fairport we’ll be ours to conquer and rule.”

  “To rule?” I asked. “Seriously?”

  He met my gaze. “I’m dead serious.”

  “No,” Nick said.

  “Absolutely not!” Val chimed in.

  “Nope,” Lucas said.

  “Not a chance,” Claire said.

  He sighed. “Okay then. That was my one and final offer. Don’t think you’ll get it again.”

  “What about the innocent people at Z’s warehouse?” Val said. “Those hybrids destroyed everything.”

  “The gang had to be disbanded,” he retorted.

  “It was murder, and that makes you no better than Z!” Nick shouted.

  “I did what I had to do to get my city back,” Charlie said.

  “Your city?” Claire said. “How long will it take before you unleash your hybrids on Max? Because he seems to think the city is his. How long will this turf war go on? Will this never end?”

  “Max is a good man, but there can only be one leader,” he said. “But don’t worry. I won’t let my hybrids hurt you. I’ve already put you under protection.”

  “So that was why Shawn didn’t kill me and Dean?” Claire said.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “It still doesn’t excuse what you’ve done,” I retorted.

  Lucas stepped forward. “Listen, scolding this a-hole isn’t gonna get us anywhere.”

  Val turned to face Charlie. “So let’s move onto better things. For starters, where do you keep the cure, the one that supposedly cured Jackie?”

  Charlie nervously shifted his stance. “I can’t tell you. That’s my bargaining chip, the only thing keeping me alive. Why would I tell you?”

  “Because if you do, then we’ll let you live,” she said. “Think about that long and hard, especially when you don’t have your hybrid army to back you up this very second.”

  Charlie thought for a moment and bit his lip. “It’s in a locked safe,” he said, “and only I have the combination. Even if you find the safe, you won’t get into it, and blowing it up will only heat up the serum, which will destroy it.”

  “Are you sure I can’t kill this little freak right now?” Lucas said.

  Claire slugged him. “No!”

  So many emotions were running through my mind, including homicidal rage at Charlie. “Take us to Jackie,” I said.

  “We should get Asia and Kate first,” Val said.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” Lucas said. “I say we take Charlie to Asia and Kate and see what they want to do to him.”

  “No!” the scientist cried.

  “I think Asia would love a little payback,” I said.

  “That girl is crazy,” Charlie said. “She killed five of my hybrids with no weapons. If she comes, the deal is off. I’ll never show you where Jackie is being kept.”

  Val shoved him. “Oh, so now you’re making deals? You’re nothing without the power of your lab and staff. You’re pathetic!”

  As we trampled through the snow, a horn beeped, and a silver car pulled up next to us. Peering in, I recognized the driver as one of the security men I’d seen back at Charlie’s house.

  “Brian!” Charlie yelled. “Are they gone?”

  “Nope. They’re at your house, waiting for you to come back. They’re not even sure you were ever there in the first place though.”

  Nick held a gun to the man’s head. “Get out of the car,” he said.

  Lucas opened the door and dragged him out, and Val quickly disarmed him.

  “If you don’t mind,” Nick said, “we’re gonna borrow your wheels.”

  “What!? You can’t leave me out here with no weapons and no car!” the man shouted.

  “You’re in the safe zone,” Val said. “You’ll be just fine, but the faster you walk, the faster you’ll get back.”

  Lucas motioned for us to all get in the car.

  I jumped in the back seat, next to Claire.

  “You didn’t have to steal his car,” Charlie said.

  “Well, I didn’t want him to come with us,” Nick replied.

  Val glanced over from the front seat. “He would have put a bullet in our heads the second we let our guard down.”

  Charlie huffed. “Take me to my lab at the hospital so I can show you Jackie is alive.”

  “And what’s the catch?” Claire asked.

  “You’ll have to do something for me. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

  “Fair enough,” Nick said. “What is it?”

  “I’ll tell you once you see that Jackie is really alive. You might be more willing to consider my proposal when you see her pretty face. And I’ll even throw in a bonus for you to sweeten the pot. I’ll give you one vial of the cure...the one I made that cures hybrids.”

  “So why can’t we make this deal, right here, right now,” Val said. “Why go to the lab where all your minions are awaiting your return?”

  “No, I want to go where all his minions are,” Nick said. “Please Charlie, by all means, take us there.”

  Charlie looked at Val. “I swear they won’t hurt you.”

  “If they come at me like a pack of wild animals, all bets are off,” Claire said.

  Charlie smirked. “They won’t. I have complete control of them.”

  “And I’m just supposed to trust you?” I asked.

  “And I’m supposed to trust you?” Charlie retorted.

  “Unlike your word, mine is solid,” Nick said. “We just want what’s rightly ours—Jackie and that vial that cures hybrids.”

  “Fine, but if you try any tricks, you’ll never lay eyes on her. And don’t think I’m dumb. I know you want to kill my army. But that won’t happen. You know why? Because my hybrids will snap you in half like a twig.”

  “You think so?” Nick asked in a cocky tone.

  Charlie nodded. “I know so.”

  Chapter 36

  I knew Nick was up to no good. Sure, he wanted Jackie back if she was alive, but he’d given no indication that he believed she was. He wanted Charlie’s notes on the how to fix the formula, along with a sample, but I knew Charlie wouldn’t just hand those over so we could take it to another lab for another scientist to take all the glory. Nick was as
good as Charlie was at manipulating people into doing what he wanted, and he had the guns and muscle to back it up when they didn’t.

  I was also sure he would expect Lucas, Val, Claire, and I to take down the hybrids, and it seemed Claire was on the fence about that. She was afraid they’d have the upper hand and would slaughter us. I pondered the deal. Charlie wanted us to go into his lab and see Jackie so he could ask us for something. If we complied, then we’d leave with Jackie and a vial that cured hybrids. However, if we said no, I was sure he’d unleash the hybrids on us. If we refused to go, we would never know where the hybrids were being kept. Because we’d searched the entire hospital before. And we’d also never get our answers about Jackie. So I guess we all decided on risking it and seeing how it all played out.

  We parked at the hospital, and the parking lot seemed to be devoid of zombies. I kept my hand on the gun in my holster, just in case, and I slowly let out the breath that was frozen in my throat.

  As we walked to the hospital, I pulled Nick back. “Remember, he’s sneaky. He took down all those armed gang members with gas and hybrids, so watch out.” When Nick nodded, I continued, “The hybrids are loyal to him. They want to be human again, and they’ll do whatever it takes. That means they’ll stand by him, even if he is lying to them. Don’t threaten or hurt Charlie in any way.”

  “He’s up to something,” Nick said.

  “Maybe he’s hoping we’ll be some new test subjects,” I said.

  “Scary thought, but you might be right,” Nick said.

  “Maybe he brought us to his evil lair to sic the hybrids on us,” I said.

  “At this point, anything is possible, so stay on guard.”

  “Do you believe him? Do you think Jackie is alive?”

  “I’m sorry, Dean, but I think it’s malarkey. He’s just using that to manipulate us.”

  “But that hybrid said—”

  “Consider the source, little brother. It was a hybrid. People like Charlie...they use your emotions. We don’t really know what happened to her, and that haunts all of us, so Charlie’s smart enough to use that to his advantage. Stay strong. Don’t fall for it.”

  “If you don’t believe him, then why are we here?” I asked.