Waking The Zed

by Katz, ML

  “They are in there,” Dr. Klein said, pointing to the inside doors. By now the frame had actually separated from the metal door in a few places. The rhythmic but irregular pounding continued.

  “Those are people?” the officer asked.

  “They are infected,” Dr. Klein said levelly. “I am not sure that they still retain much humanity, though they physically still resemble people. “

  “So, they are insane,” the officer said. “Is that what you’re telling me, doctor? Some kind of infection made these people crazy?”

  “I do not believe that insanity would be a precise diagnosis either,” Dr. Klein said. “Insane people are more functional than this.” She spoke with the patient tones of an elementary school teacher lecturing a child. Pam winced with every repetitive thud against the weakening door frame, and she had no idea how Dr. Klein could maintain such an even tone. She felt certain that if she opened her mouth to speak her voice would emerge as a shriek.

  “What do you mean?” The officer jerked his head from facing the inner door to looking at Dr. Klein with a startled look.

  “An insane person is still human. I believe these poor creatures are entirely subsumed by the virus. If you cannot subdue them, you have to kill them. To really kill them, it has to be severe brain damage. Anything else and they just keep coming.”

  “There’s no cure? You’re saying that you expect us to just walk in and start shooting unarmed citizens?”

  “I am not aware of any cure,” Dr. Klein said. “In my opinion, the person is already dead. Even I haven’t figured out how to cure that. At least, I haven’t figured it out yet.”

  Pam thought the doctor’s tone was too light and flippant for the situation. She watched as the doctor hesitated over her next words. “Given some time, I may be able to find a way to keep the virus from spreading though. It will take some work. I plan to speak with your superiors about funding as soon as we have resolved the present crisis.”

  “Doctor, are you telling me a chest shot won’t kill them?” the officer asked incredulously. Then he stopped speaking as he searched for the right words. Dr. Klein had suggested the beasts were already dead. “Well, I mean, it won’t put them down?”

  “You can cut off their heads, and their bodies will die, but their mouths will keep trying to bite you,” Dr. Klein said. “They are quite persistent that way.”

  “That seems a little far-fetched to me,” the officer said. “Dr. Klein, you do have the ear of my superiors in Washington. I can’t ignore that. They commanded me to give you my full support. On the other hand I have seen a lot of things in my military career but I’m having a bit of trouble absorbing this.”

  “Enrico’s neck was partially damaged so his head hung at an odd angle,” Pam interjected. “He kept walking.” At this description of Enrico, Paul looked startled. He must have gotten out of the building without seeing as much of the carnage as Pam had. The officer glanced at her while the two soldiers in the front stared at the double doors. Dr. Klein barely blinked at Pam’s quick description of her lover’s injuries. Maybe she already knew about Enrico or maybe she barely cared. Pam continued breathlessly, “Also you should know that those things in there will try to grab you and bite you. If they do, you will turn into one of them. You can’t let that happen. Isn’t that right, Dr. Klein?”

  Dr. Klein did not bother to favor Pam with a glance. “They are quite aggressive, and you can’t intimidate them. They appear beneath the basest survival instincts that any common rodent would have. You must either render them immobile or them or put them down. They may resemble the people they used to be, but that is not what they are.”

  “They don’t get scared, huh?” the officer asked. “What is it they do want?”

  “Judging by the marks on George’s arm,” Pam said, refusing to be intimidated by Dr. Klein’s hard glare as the older woman finally spared her a glance, “they want to bite you. Maybe they will even want to eat you. That must be how the virus spreads.”

  “What do you know about it?” Dr. Klein asked petulantly. “You barely know anything. Each time a person has morphed into one of these things, first the unfortunate individual died and then reanimated into one of these creatures. That’s all we really know right now. If you want to be a scientist you cannot allow yourself to impulsively jump to conclusions.”

  “Well, I am a pathology doctoral candidate,” Pamela said stubbornly. “Plus, as you keep reminding me, I grew up on a farm. I know what a bite mark looks like.” At this, the officer favored Pamela with his attention. She knew he considered her a more sensible witness than her employer right now. This could not come from Pam’s credentials, but maybe simply from her more human reaction to the situation. She obviously appeared agitated, as they would expect a young civilian to be when confronted with a nightmare. Dr. Klein kept her cool.

  Pam sucked in a breath and kept making her case. “George had a bite, but it shouldn’t have been fatal. Even if it was infected, he succumbed too quickly. They carry some sort of powerful infection that we don’t understand. The wound doesn’t have to be severe. The victims display symptoms and then succumb very quickly. Dr. Klein is right about one thing. They certainly appear to be dead first. Then they wake up as one of those creatures. Of course, we don’t have sophisticated instruments to measure brain death. But we are all pretty credible on that score. I’m a doctoral candidate in pathology, Paul here is a medical student, and of course you know who Dr. Klein is.”

  “George is one of those?” Paul asked sadly. He rested his chin on his clenched fists. “I lost track of him when things started to fall apart back in the clinic.” He shook his head and then slumped back against the wall. “Oh crap, he had a daughter who was going to get married next week.” Almost nonsensically he continued, “He told me I could come to the wedding.”

  Pam glanced at Paul sideways. She had no idea what had actually started the whole mess, but she could imagine a grizzly scene as Mr. Barnes and Mrs. Bell reanimated. The medical personal and assistants must have been totally taken by surprise which allowed the two new Zeds to wreak as much havoc as they had.

  Then Pam looked suspiciously at Dr. Klein. Somehow she had gotten out of the clinic. Was she totally taken by surprise? Did the animal experiments give her some warning of a possibility this would happen? The doctor was armed now, and Pam wondered if she had already had the gun when she entered the clinic. If so, why didn’t she use it on her two subjects the second things started to fall apart.

  She was about to start questioning the doctor when the Zed started renewing their efforts to get through the doors. Perhaps they had heard new voices and the thought of more fresh meat excited them. Maybe they had simply been joined by more active creatures.

  Another thump and a creak echoed through the reception area. The gap between the double doors had widened enough for one of the creatures to stick the tip of its fingers through. Instinctively, Pamela glanced outside towards a place of perceived relative safety. She wanted to measure the distance between herself and the front door. She saw a white robed figure head for one of the trucks. That had to be poor Ms. Bell. Somebody must have been able to get her partially dressed before the attacks started. Two more of the mutated creatures, another woman and a man, followed her. They seemed to have formed a small pack. They did not seem at all interested in attacking or approaching each other but merely moved together.

  “What happened to her?” the officer said, pointing at the receptionist. He did not even appear to notice what was happening outside.

  “She was infected, and I had to shoot her,” Dr. Klein said. “I had no choice. She tried to attack me. It was all in self-defense of course.” Pam and Paul exchanged a nervous glance. The doctor had threatened to shoot them for trying to call for help. Had the poor woman really been infected, or did the doctor just need her out of the way? They had no way to guess without examining the body. Right now, Pam intended to keep her position against the wall and as close as possible to the ou
tside door.

  “Listen, you had better radio your drivers,” Pamela said, pointing at the lurching figures outside. “Tell them to stay inside the truck if they aren’t armed. They cannot let those things bite them. It is even possible that a scratch could pass the disease. We just don’t know.”

  The officer nodded at one of the lead men. That soldier pulled out a radio and spoke to the truck drivers. But it was too late for the man in the rear truck. He had already opened the driver’s side door, probably assuming the lurching woman needed help. The truck blocked most of their view, but they heard the man swear and then scream eve through the glass door. The officer quickly dispatched three soldiers with a warning, “Shoot first and ask questions later.”

  By now a whole hand had pushed its way through the crack between the ruined double doors. The skin on the hand had been shredded down to the bones in some spots, but still the creature tried to break through. The officer pulled out his sidearm and fired. The gunshot rang out in the small space, and most of the hand dissolved, and yet the stump of the arm still waved in the crack.

  Before Pam’s head cleared from the ringing gunshot, the door on the left leaned in and Pamela clearly saw the hand’s owner, a large man with a face contorted in a mask of rage and hunger. Below his collarbone, his shirt had been shredded into a bloody mess. The officer fired into the man’s chest, and he fell back into the group behind him. He was only carried by the momentum of the shot though, and his ruined torso still remained upright. Some of the creatures seemed to be growling like carnivores on the attack. As the recently shot creature seemed to waver, other creatures shoved past him eagerly.

  “It has to be a headshot,” Dr. Klein said. Her usually silky tone now sounded hoarse and shaky. By now she had moved closer to Pamela. She was visibly shaken, sweaty, and pale.

  But Pamela’s attention was diverted as more pressure began to enlarge the crack between the leaning double doors. A new figure emerged, and this time they could see the face of a middle aged woman. Half her lip had been chewed away and they could see the woman’s gums as she snarled. This time the officer took more careful aim. The woman’s face dissolved and she sank out of view.

  A turned man replaced her, and he was pounding his entire body madly against the door. He snarled and lunged, and again, the officer shot him. As soon as he sank another grotesque face replaced his. By this time, one of the soldiers returned to the building.

  “Private Davis practically had his arm chewed off before we got to him, Sir,” the soldier reported. “We have a medic with him now, but he needs a hospital.”

  “Call for a copter,” the officer said. “You can see that I’m rather busy right now.”

  “We also dispatched two of the hostiles, Sir,” the soldier said. “We’ve got the third one hog tied in the back if you want a live sample.”

  “Fine,” the officer said. “Make sure that any captives are very well secured and get that copter ASAP.”

  “The bitten man may turn,” Dr. Klein said. “You need to secure him as well.”

  The officer shrugged and nodded, and the soldier left the reception room. By this time the door on the left side leaned on its hinges. The officer gave orders to the two soldiers in front, and they readied their weapons. It was a simple matter of picking of the hostiles as they tried to muscle their way through the opening. In a matter of a few moments, the pounding ceased. Pamela could see a pile of bodies crumpled on the floor through the gap between the inner doors. The stench of blood and feces was overwhelming. Pam picked up the neck of her shirt and held it over her nose until she finished gagging.

  “Are there others?” the officer asked Dr. Klein. By now she had taken a seat at the reception desk and leaned her head in her hands.

  “Certainly,” she said. “This is a fully staffed three story building. Approximately a hundred and fifty people show up here for work every day. The cryonics and animal labs are on the first floor, but other projects and management office are located on the upper floors. This entire place must be swept. It is also possible that some uninfected people have taken shelter in various rooms and offices. Paul and Pamela managed to get out after the attacks started. The infected are determined, but they do not seem to be particularly fast or clever. They don’t even remember how to open a door.”

  “So we can’t just blow this place up? You’re saying uninfected people may have taken shelter in the building?”

  “That is correct,” Dr. Klein said. “This building is three stories high, and it will have to be swept. In fact, it is more likely that people on the upper floors would be safe. The things seem to be able to climb stairs but the stairways do have doors. The people upstairs would also have more time to figure out what’s going on. Of course that’s not the critical reason to leave this building intact.”

  “What would that be?”

  “Well, I’ve got insurance to compensate my client’s estates if we lose the freezers. I’m not likely to go broke over this.”

  “That’s nice to know,” the officer said dryly. “After you call out the US Army, it’s nice to know you won’t be out any money. What is the most critical thing, Doctor?”

  “Well, of course it’s my research,” Dr. Klein replied as if dozens of people had not died and turned into monsters within the last few hours. “My work represents a lifetime of achievement. You must be familiar with my past accomplishments. For me to represent my current project as the pinnacle of my career is no small thing.”

  Now that the immediate danger was repelled, the officer took a moment to study Dr. Klein. “You look pretty flushed. Are you injured or ill?” he asked. Maybe he thinks she’s acting so weird because she’s ill. Pam rolled her eyes mildly. Maybe Dr. Klein was even ill, but Pam was certain that her behavior had been ingrained a long time ago.

  Dr. Klein attempted to smile, but her expression looked like a grimace to Pam. “I am not a young woman. The situation must have affected me physically. Perhaps I should seek treatment as well. I could certainly use a short rest to clear my head. ”

  The officer nodded and ordered two more soldiers to escort the doctor outside to wait for the helicopter in one of the military transports. Then he looked at Pamela and Paul and said, “You two don’t need to be here. Go outside and wait for the escort too.”

  The two young people headed for the door, grateful to be away from the stink and horror. Surely these competent looking military men could clean out the building quickly. This’ll all be a fading scene from a nightmare soon. As she exited the building, Pam hoped to never step inside Future Faith Cryonics again. For all she cared at the moment, the army could blow this place into dust.

  Pam stepped outside on shaky legs. Paul put a gentle hand on her arm to steady her. He still clenched the large wrench in his other hand. They both glanced around the area to be sure none of the shufflers approached. The pretty landscaped area and circular driveway appeared clear.

  As a soldier helped Dr. Klein into the back of the truck, the pair hung back a bit. They had barely spoken to each other, but neither appeared eager to commit themselves to another confined space just yet. Paul still clung to the large wrench, and Pam still had her bent umbrella. It was like the improvised weapons had fused into their hands.

  Paul glanced at Pam and said, “I guess I should offer to look at the wounded driver.”

  “The helicopter should be here in a moment,” Pamela said. “I’m not overly eager to climb in the back of that truck. I could be mistaken, but I think Dr. Klein is misleading the soldiers. I think a bite from those things contaminates you. I don’t think you have to die from the injury first. That is, I’m pretty sure the injury kills you and then turns you into one of those monsters. Poor George had a bite on his arm. It wasn’t a huge bite though. I think I’d seen worse when I used to work at a nursery school with teething toddlers. He got feverish quickly. I went out to look for help, and by the time I beat a retreat back to the Preservation Room, he had turned.”

  Paul
looked away as she spoke. “Yeah, I feel pretty bad about that,” Paul said. “You have no idea what is what like when Mr. Barnes and Ms. Bell woke up the first time.”

  “Save it,” Pamela said. “Nobody blames you for this. We just need to talk to that officer.” Within minutes, they heard the steady beat of a large helicopter. It approached from in front of the building and landed at the edge of the guest parking lot beyond the driveway. The officer emerged from the building and approached Paul and Pamela. He looked grim and serious.

  “You two get aboard the helicopter. You’ll go to an army base for debriefing. It shouldn’t take too long.”

  “We need to tell you something,” Pamela said. The urgent expression on her face made the officer pause for a moment. Then she quickly recounted her experience with George. She also mentioned that Dr. Klein’s scarf was a bit bloody, but she had no proof the doctor was wounded. She added that they needed to be very careful in case the wounded driver turned. They had no idea if the bite was always fatal, or how long it would take to reanimate. “It seems like the time varies, but I have no idea why.”

  The officer listened, but he was obviously distracted. Even as Pam spoke she knew her story was barely credible. As soon as another officer emerged from the helicopter and trotted over to greet them he passed off the two young people.

  “You brief Captain Crawford,” he said. Then he turned to the second officer and said, “Captain, listen to these young folks. They should be credible witnesses, but be prepared because the entire story is incredible. Also their account of events is a bit out of sync with Dr. Klein’s.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Captain Crawford said. He nodded his head towards the helicopter to lead Paul and Pamela away. As they walked, they saw Dr. Klein being helped out of the truck. She looked shaky but managed to walk while propped up on the arm of one of the soldiers. Two medics bore a stretcher with the wounded driver. He looked unconscious, and Pamela supposed he had been sedated.