by JE Gurley
She could not dispel a second image of last night from her mind – that of the solitary zombie confined apart from the others, the Alpha zombie. The others acted like animals, but the Alpha seemed more intelligent, more cunning. He was actively searching for a means to escape. She had not missed his authority over the others. He was a pack leader. The others would follow him as long as he could maintain his power over them. What strange synaptic rewiring of his hindbrain had made him different? What features of the medulla oblongata, so long thought completely mapped, had scientists overlooked? Were there degrees of zombiehood? Even the idea of an ambulatory dead creature revolted her sense of propriety. Her head spun from the assault of questions and from her night’s activities.
“I need some sleep,” she told Susan. “Don’t tell the other. Not yet.” Susan nodded.
Back in her room, Erin showered and prepared for bed. Her body ached from her fall and no one had offered to see to her cut hand. She scrounged up a first-aid kit from the common room, applied an antibiotic and bandaged the wound. It was not a deep cut requiring stitches, but she feared the rusty metal rain gutter might cause tetanus. She couldn’t remember the last series of booster shots she had taken, but hoped it was among them.
Sleep would not come. She tossed restlessly beneath the covers. Though they had looked like only bodies on beds when she had seen them, now she could recall their faces clearly, as if she knew each of them by name. The man with the scar on one cheek, the red headed woman who looked as thin as to be anorexic, the deeply tanned man with large, calloused hands who had probably been a farmer. Each was an ordinary person who had survived the plague and the flu through a lucky combination of genes or the crucial timing of a vaccine shot. It saddened her to see them ignominiously reduced to flesh vessels useful only for their precious blood.
She considered one of the sleeping pills that Samuels had provided for everyone. She needed sleep, but knew the lingering effects would dull her mind later. If she was to help anyone, she needed her mind to be razor sharp. Abandoning any hope of sleep, she got up, turned on her laptop and buried herself in her work.
* * * *
When a guard returned her security keycard later that day, it appeared the same as before, but Erin suspected they had altered its electronic signature to restrict her freedom of movement. She would not be strolling around the compound as freely as before. That would make her plan more difficult to put into effect, but she knew, no matter what, she could not leave those people for the military to bleed dry. She needed help with her plan. It would be risky for the others and she would need to be certain they understood the consequences before they agreed. Susan had already informed the others of what Erin had seen and they were appalled at what the military was doing. She explained her idea.
To Susan, she said, “Samuels knows you adore him. I need you to distract him tonight for at least an hour.”
Susan blushed. “I don’t adore him,” she protested, “I just –”
“Aw, hush,” Erin snapped. “Everyone here knows you’re gaga over him. Just keep him busy for an hour.” She turned to the others, “We have to invent a working vaccine in the next few hours.”
They stared at her incredulously.
“It doesn’t have to actually work. Samuels just has to think it does. I want everyone to be so enthusiastic that he doesn’t notice that I’m gone.”
“How do we explain that?” Susan asked.
“Oh, just say I was exhausted and went to my room. I’ll lock my door. He’s too much the gentleman to break it down, at least until I’ve had time to free the zombies.”
She smiled into the silence that followed. “Freeing those poor people will accomplish nothing,” she explained. “The army will simply track us down. We have to keep them busy while we escape.”
“Some of them could die,” Brisbane reminded her.
She pressed her lips together so tightly they ached. “They deserve to. They’re killing innocent civilians just to find a cure for the military and the government leaders.” She looked around the room at their shocked expressions. “I can’t continue. I won’t. There’s no government left. If I have to choose between some sanctimonious government bureaucrat and some mother, I’ll take the mother every time. They’re the real future of this country. The military is not going to let us work on a vaccine on our own, so I won’t work at all.”
She allowed each of them time to consider their options, but to her surprise no one backed out. These people are better than I have given them credit. Whether or not I’ve been their friend, they are mine. She suddenly wanted to hug them all, but decided that would be so unlike her, it might frighten them.
“Okay, let’s get everything ready. When all hell breaks loose, stick with me.”
It was difficult for her to concentrate on her work. Samuels appeared and watched her through the glass partition, making her uncomfortable. She avoided looking at him, fearing he could read her intent in her eyes. Just after dinner, she saw Susan take Samuels aside and speak with him. Erin felt a pang of jealousy at Susan McNeil’s lithe, youthful body and even smile that was so bright it lit up the room; then she dismissed it as petty. When Samuels accompanied Susan to the lounge, she knew it was time to get started. She nodded at Dale Cuthbert, who formed a quick huddle with the others.
The laundry chute for the labs did not deliver their soiled smocks to the base laundry. Instead, they collected them in a big bin in a sealed basement room, where they eventually were taken to the incinerator for disposal. From her earlier inspections of all medical facilities, she knew the door locked from the outside, but it could be opened from the inside. Taking a deep breath for courage, she opened the door of the chute, eyed the narrow, dark vertical passage with trepidation and crawled inside. She needn’t have worried about the two-story drop. The chute was too narrow for that. She had to wriggle her shoulders and hips to descend the metal shaft, using her feet to brace herself against the joints of the chute. Her feet felt empty space and she wriggled one last time and popped out into the bin like a baby from the birth canal. The room was dark and silent. She climbed from the laundry bin and stumbled around for the light switch. She knew the linen harbored no dangerous bugs. Anything seriously contaminated was flash incinerated in the lab. She had dropped an armload of clean smocks into the chute to cushion her fall.
She listened with her ear to the door for a minute to assure herself the basement was empty. Discovery now would spoil everything. Hearing nothing, she opened the door, stepped outside and closed it quickly behind her. There was no going back now, even if she could climb back up the laundry chute. She checked her watch. In ten minutes, the others would loudly announce their discovery. Her acrobatics in the chute had taken longer than she had expected, so she had to move quickly.
Her keycard would no longer access the basement exit, but she hoped they had forgotten about the small grate beside the incinerator for the disposal of ashes outside. A large man could not get out that way, and although not at petite as Susan, she was small enough. She mumbled a quick prayer when she found the grate unlocked. She climbed out into the cold, night air, coatless, because she could not fit down the chute wearing it. Belatedly, she realized that she could have shoved it down the chute with the lab coats. It was too late for self-recrimination now.
There was no moon, making it easier to make her way to the warehouse across the compound. By now, the others had announced their discovery. She hoped Samuels was intrigued enough to buy their story about her fatigue and not check on her. If she were caught, they would not go as easy on her as last time. Reaching the warehouse without mishap, she hid behind a large pine tree and watched the door. She knew she was taking a chance entering the zombie holding area, but she suspected, she and the others were immune to the zombie virus or they would have contracted the disease by now. If she was wrong . . .
As she hoped, the door to the zombie holding area was unguarded. She waited until the security camera panned away from her
and rushed to the door. She had brought a small pry bar with her that she found in a toolbox in a storage closet. She slipped it into the jamb and pushed, afraid that the creaking would give her away. The jamb popped away with a groan. She opened the door and stepped inside. In the dim light, she saw the zombies starring at her, groaning and growling. She stayed in the shadows out of view of the cameras. The Alpha zombie, unlike the others, studied her movements. She realized she could not simply open a cage or she would become their first meal. She found the electrical panel and shut down the power. The light on the cameras blinked out.
She had to work quickly before someone came to check on the power. The keys to the cages were on a key rack beside the door. She grabbed them and ran to the cages, fumbling with the keys until she found the right ones. The zombies, stirred up by her presence, pushed against the fence trying to attack her. The smell coming from their bodies was atrocious. Their breath stank of decay and their unwashed bodies smelled of corruption. The doors were unlocked. Now, only the handle on the door prevented their escape. She pulled a stout string from her pocket, attached it to the lever handles of the doors and backtracked to the door. Once she reached the door, she opened it, jerked the string until the door levers of the cages slipped open and raced out the door. She could hear the creatures milling about the open space, now free from their cages.
There was no time for secrecy. She rushed to the front of the building and hid behind a snowdrift until the guards piled out the door, weapons in hand. Once inside, she knew she had made a serious mistake. She had hoped that the more recent detainees would be in better condition, able to help her free the weaker ones. She was wrong. The military doctors had wasted no time in hooking up the blood pumps to the new arrivals. They lay semi-comatose in their beds, sedative drips suspended from metal IV racks running into their veins. She had seriously miscalculated the efficiency of the military mind.
To her relief, a few drugged pairs of eyes looked up at her questioningly. She ripped the IVs from their arms and yelled, “Get up! You’ve got to escape now.”
Two men threw back the covers and sat unsteadily on the edge of their beds. She removed the blood collection tubes and bandaged the wounds.
“Help me.”
One man nodded, his movements still groggy, and stood beside the bed. “What . . . what’s going on?”
“If you don’t leave, you’ll die,” she shouted as she raced from bed to bed yanking out tubes. There was no time no finesse. “Help me with these people.”
A third man, roused by her voice, joined them.
“Can anyone drive a truck?” she asked.
“I can,” responded one of the men.
“Good.” She spoke quickly, “Help as many people as you can to one of the trucks. Drive to the gates and get out of here. Avoid the cities, and find a place to hide from zombies.”
It was a race against time as the four of them got eight people to one of the trucks. By this time, the camp was awash with lights and the air filled with gunfire and screams. The zombies had escaped. She handed one of the men a rifle she had found beside the door.
“Drive slowly to avoid attention. The guards are too busy to stop you. Once you’re outside the gate, don’t stop for anything. Find a small town or some place to hide. Now, go!”
The driver grabbed her hand. “Why?” he asked.
She shook her head, “No time to explain.”
He would not let her go. “Why?” he repeated.
“You’re all immune from the zombie virus. The military wanted your blood and were willing to kill you to get it all, but I’m not.”
“Thank you.”
“Go!”
She jerked free and watched the truck head toward the gates. Her heart ached that she could not save more of them, but there just wasn’t enough time. Any delay might cost them all their lives. Satisfied the people in the truck had at least a slight chance of escape, she now had to get back herself. She had not even considered going with those she had freed. She would not abandon her charges.
A zombie rushed at her from the darkness. She screamed as the creature zeroed in on her. She knew she was dead. Suddenly, a geyser of blood erupted from the creature’s head and it fell lifeless in the bloodstained snow. She turned at the crunch of boots in the snow and looked into Samuels’ angry eyes.
“I knew you would try something like this,” he said.
She looked down at the pistol in his hand and was relieved when he replaced it in its holster.
“Come on before you get eaten.”
He grabbed her hand and ran toward the lab, dragging her with him. Around them, shots rang out as zombies attacked soldiers heedless of their weapons. Men panicked and ran, only to die as zombies chased them down and pounced on them from the rear. She was surprised to see Susan and the others waiting at the door with two guards. All of them carried large canvas bags. Two more lay at their feet. Samuels picked up both bags and thrust one into Erin’s hands.
“Carry this,” he said. “I need one hand free for firing.”
He led the small group to the ski lift, shooting several zombies along the way. One of the guards started the lift. The other one hopped on a chair. Samuels tossed the bags, one by one onto the lift, and then helped the others into seats. The guard that started the lift took a seat. Samuels and Erin went last. As the lift rose up the side of the mountain, Erin looked back on the carnage she had started. The warehouse and barracks buildings were aflame and zombies rushed into the building where the labs were located.
“I contacted the outer guards and pulled them in. Your friends in the truck will escape, but I don’t give them a chance in hell of surviving the week.”
She stared at Samuels.
He continued. “If you had come to me, maybe we could have done something different, made a real plan. I didn’t like what was going on any more than you did, but the time wasn’t right. It didn’t take me very long to find out Miss McNeil was trying to stall me for some reason. When I heard the alarm, I assumed you were the cause and grabbed some items.”
“They were dying,” she challenged. “How many have died since we arrived?”
“How many will die tonight. How many did you save – Six? Seven? There were over a hundred people in there. How many soldiers are going to die? Do you think they’re all monsters? They’re soldiers. They take orders. If they didn’t, you and your friends would still be in Atlanta and they would be home with their families.”
“I had to do something,” she said.
“You did something, all right. You ended any chance of a permanent vaccine. You’ve probably killed all of us as well. I don’t know how long we can survive in these mountains.”
“The cabin on the trail,” she said, realizing their destination.
“That’s right, the cabin. It will provide shelter. When things calm down, I can come back down for more supplies.”
She didn’t know what to say. He was risking his life to save her and her friends. He brushed his hand against her key card dangling from her neck.
“I didn’t change it,” he said. “They told me to, but I didn’t. I knew you would try something. I was ready to help, but you moved too quickly.” He laughed. “Susan was a poor choice. I knew something was up.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re a good person. I might seem like the bastard of all bastards, but I was trying to save the country just like you were. It was my job. I didn’t know about the Judgment Day Protocol until it was too late. I was looking for an alternative.”
Erin realized the scope of her rush to judgment. “I thought you were part of the problem.”
He nodded. “Maybe I was, but I still know right from wrong. I couldn’t stop them. I hoped you might find a vaccine quickly. We could have used it as leverage.”
“I don’t think there is a vaccine. The virus mutates too rapidly.”
“Then the world is doomed. You saw those things tonight. They will spread out and wi
pe out every living thing.”
The lift reached the top. Just as they slid off the seat, one of the guards killed the power. Erin looked back down the mountain. All the buildings were in flames. Dots swarmed around the compound – zombies. The sound of gunfire dwindled.
Samuels extracted her coat from one of the bags and handed it to her. “We had better get started,” he said. “It’s a long hike to the cabin.”
The coat felt warm after the night air, but she was still shivering, not from the cold, but from the realization that she had been responsible for dozens of deaths, maybe hundreds. Now they were cast adrift from civilization, castaways on an island in the sky.
“My God, what have I done,” she said into the night.
15
Vince awoke with the alarm howling. He stumbled out of his bunk in the dark and opened his door. Dave Lindsay raced up to him, his face a mask of anguish.
“It’s the pilots. I pulled up a monitor view of the hangar. The hangar door is partially open. They broke the seal!”
Vince tried to clear the sleep from his head and think. “No. The hangar and pilot area is sealed separately so the base would be safe when they launch the Raptors. If the base seal was breached, all hell would be breaking loose.”
Why would the pilots break their seal? With Lindsay following, Vince brushed off the frantic inquiries of the others he passed and went directly to the video control panel. Lindsay had left the image of the hangar up on the screen. Flashing red light bathed the interior of the hangar, except for a small swath of late evening light entering from the partially opened hangar door. Movement in the corner of the building caught his eye.
“Pan the camera to the right.”
“My God!” Lindsay cried out as the camera revealed one of the pilots, now a zombie, gnawing on a second pilot’s arm. The hapless pilot’s corpse lay in a pool of blood. “What the hell is going on?”