Zombie Squad

by K. H. Graham

  The interstate rolled on ahead of them. To the right, a green sign told them that certain cities were certain distances away. But none of those signs mattered anymore; they may as well have been written in an alien language.

  As the afternoon wore down, James fell into a nap, his head propped against the passenger side glass. Nick and Katherine remained mostly quiet but Nick would steal glances at her when she was occupied by the scenery.

  He thought of a life he had almost had with Katherine, a few years before he’d met Valerie. Had it worked out, it would have been a life that would have altered the courses of their careers and resulted in drastically different outcomes for both of them. But things had not worked out and in the end, Nick knew it had been for the best.

  Besides…what did it matter? When all was said and done, everyone’s lives had come to an end a little over two years ago. No matter which course someone chose, which decisions they made, every life on the planet had come to the same abrupt conclusion.

  Nick found himself going back to that final day, replaying the chain of events that had occurred when he had gone running into the dying heart of Bethesda with President Ames and Mike.

  It hung in front of him like a trinket from the rearview mirror, obscuring the road ahead of him just enough to hinder his sight.

  20

  The events of the day and the subtle fatigue of travel caught up to them after several hours. Nick managed to drive for three and a half hours while James napped. Katherine sat between them, looking out the windows with something like mild interest. Nick was growing tired, the violence of the morning still draining him physically and emotionally. The only reason he was able to stay awake at all was through the fragmented conversations he had with Katherine as she slipped in and out of light dozes.

  “Where were you, anyway?” Nick asked.

  “When?”

  “I was sure you’d have made a permanent residence in your little headquarters. I was shocked to find that you weren’t there. So where were you?”

  “I had a little hideaway in the basement of a public library just outside of Houston. The few in town had been destroyed and were too close to rambler hives.”

  “Why the library?” Nick asked.

  “I spent a lot of time reading about how parasites affect the brain. I was trying to make sense of everything.”

  “Any luck?”

  “Not really, but I do know that whatever vaccine you’re carrying around isn’t really a vaccine per se…not if we’re dealing with parasites. Call it what you want, I guess. It really doesn’t matter. But if it’s a parasite that infected everyone—and I have no reason to think that we were lied to about that—then what we need to get rid of it is a parasitic cleanse.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  Nick thought about some other things he wanted to ask Katherine. He wondered how she had survived these last two years. Yes, she had street smarts, but he found it staggering that she had lasted so long on her own.

  He almost asked her what she remembered about the end of the world—on the day the ramblers (or zombies or whatever she chose to call them) seemed to have grown in number and strength within just a few hours. But by the time he drew up the courage to do so, she was asleep. He glanced over to her as he took the interstate at ninety miles per hour. She was thin, ragged, and slightly unkempt but she looked the same as she always had.

  Oddly enough, seeing her made Nick miss Valerie terribly. His wife had come along just when he and Katherine had started to test the boundaries of their professional relationship. He had almost not recommended Katherine to Ogden and his men because he didn’t know how their past would alter things.

  So far, he felt no real tension. If anything, it was like being reunited with a good friend that he hadn’t seen in ages. Sure, it was nice to see her but there was also the blunt edge that the last few years had put between them like a dull knife cutting the time between them. Besides…she was one of the sharpest and most determined people Nick had ever met. If this whole ordeal was going to work, he felt much better by having her on his team.

  Nick drove on, holding his hand against a yawn. Griffith stirred in the back, muttering something. Nick checked him in the rearview. He was sweating and looked pale, but he was still breathing normally and showing no signs of pain or distress. Satisfied with this, Nick turned his attention back to the highway.

  ***

  Nick stopped two hours later to add more fuel to the truck and to get some fresh air. As he slipped the nozzle of the container into the tank, James and Katherine got out to stretch their legs. Katherine opened the back door and climbed into the back seat with Griffith. She stayed there for about thirty seconds and then joined them at the gas tank and shrugged.

  “No change?” Nick asked.

  “He’s definitely running a fever,” she said. “But his breathing is closer to normal and the immediate area around the bite doesn’t look quite as inflamed and nasty. So I think he’s going to be okay.”

  “Good,” Nick said.

  “You guys have any idea how long it’s supposed to take for someone that was bitten to go full crazy?” James asked.

  “Ogden’s men seem to think it’s within an hour or two,” Nick said. “And I’ve seen it for myself,” he added with a blank stare. “It’s fast.”

  “Damn.”

  The silence that fell around the truck signaled the ending of that particular conversation. The interstate sat large and quiet like a dead monster. The quiet of it all was eerie. They piled back into the front, now with James taking a shift behind the wheel, and headed back down the road.

  Night was quickly descending, covering most of the sights. The lights that once shone on billboards and large interstate signs were useless now, nothing more than weird artifacts from a world that was becoming harder and harder to remember.

  Nick drifted off a few times. In his dozing, he had bizarre fragmented dreams. He saw Valerie, rowing on a small aluminum fishing boat behind the houseboat out on the lake. She was trying to get to him but although the houseboat was anchored and unmoving, she never caught up. When she reached out her hand to wave him down, he saw that it was rotten. Two fingers had decayed right down to the bone and a white fungus was growing along her palm.

  After that, he stopped dozing. He stared out into the night as James pushed the truck into Virginia. They crossed the state line shortly after three in the morning and sometime after that, with the dawn tracing the horizon with its sickly yellow tinge, they arrived back in Langley.

  21

  Nick noticed right away that everyone seemed surprised to see them back. Whether they were surprised because they were back so soon or back at all remained to be seen. From the first of the guards they saw at the security gates to the yes-men that Ogden had meet them at the door and escort them to the elevators, there were genuine looks of surprise on everyone’s faces.

  Nick saw something else, too. He saw the faintest traces of a holy-shit sort of respect. He tried not to let it go to his head but it felt good.

  Even the three medics that had taken Griffith from the back of the truck and transported into a golf-cart-looking contraption seemed not to care as much about their patient as the three people that had gone out into the wilds of the country and survived. Nick wondered if this was what celebrities had once felt like when they had traipsed down the red carpet.

  He kept his eyes on Katherine and James as they walked into the central building and into the elevators. They were taking everything in with an attitude of awe and distrust. It was the same way Nick had felt when he had first arrived here. It was hard to believe that this fringe of the world had somehow survived even after the rest of it had gone to hell.

  Wives tales had always indicated that cockroaches would be the only thing to survive the apocalypse. Apparently, the government was included in that.

  They rode the elevator down with two of Ogden’s guards, neither of them saying a single word to the trio. When the elevator sto
pped and made its dinging noise, the door slid open to reveal the command center.

  “Wow,” James said under his breath.

  “I know,” Nick said.

  The guards stepped out and led them to the center of the room. Several people were scrambling around the large desk that occupied the space, shuffling papers and booting up laptops. It was clear that no one had been expecting this early morning meeting. Everyone looked dazed and unprepared. As they milled around the table and took care of their business, the people kept shooting Nick, James, and Katherine more awed looks.

  As they walked across the room, a door to the far back opened up and the man himself stepped into the command center. Ogden looked well rested and polished. Even his uniform looked pleated and unblemished. Nick was pretty sure Ogden had spent more time in the service behind a desk in well-maintained suits than out in the field in dust and sweat.

  Ogden wasted no time in hurrying across the room to meet Nick and his two new guests. When he offered his hand to James and Katherine, Nick could tell that it pained Ogden to do so. His hatred had been plain to see when Nick had first come here and things were no different now that James and Katherine were here. If anything, there might have been a more blunt edge to it.

  “Welcome,” Ogden said. “And thank all of you for seeing that Griffith wasn’t killed. I just spoke with the medics and they say the vaccine is working as it should.”

  Nick wasn’t sure, but he thought there was the slightest trace of skepticism in Ogden’s voice. Also, the sarcasm was more than apparent. What he was really saying was: Thanks for taking my best man out with you on your selfish little mission and nearly getting him infected.

  “What’s all of this?” Nick asked, waving his hand at the dozen or so people that were setting up a meeting at the large table.

  “A few of our experts are getting together to discuss Griffith’s situation. You must understand that the vaccine has only ever been tested on ramblers that had been turned for long periods of time. We have never had the chance to see its effects on someone recently bitten. We expect we can learn a great deal more about how to enhance the vaccine by monitoring Griffith.”

  “So what do you need from us?” Nick asked. He was carrying on the conversation for the sake of the charade, but he was pretty sure Ogden was telling at least half of a lie. He was keeping something from them, and quite frankly, was not doing a very good job of it.

  “For now, nothing,” Ogden said. “I would like to have you start you first assignment soon, but I believe you need your rest. I have set up a very brief orientation for you three. One of my aides will walk you through your domiciles and the rest of the grounds. She’ll be able to answer any questions you might have.”

  “Wait,” Katherine said. “You mean to tell me that we’ll be living here?”

  “Yes,” Ogden said. “I’m sure you understand that housing is rather hard to come by these days.”

  Nick knew that Ogden was trying to lure them. He was trying to start a confrontation that would make the idea of having these two new rebellious types in his presence a bad idea. He was trying to start a scene where he would come out as the levelheaded one. He was speaking to Katherine as if she was a stupid and stubborn child, waiting for her to take the bait. Nick had been down that road before many years ago and he was pretty sure how it would end.

  He placed a cautious hand on Katherine’s back the moment he saw her going rigid. Her face flushed and her mouth was opening to give a counter.

  “Sounds great,” Nick said, interrupting her before she could begin. “Where do we meet her?”

  “She’s on her way here now and will escort you.”

  “Don’t you want to know anything about our time out there?” Nick asked.

  “Absolutely. And I’ll expect a full debrief in the morning.”

  Nick nodded and instantly turned to Nick and Katherine. He shook his head and made a shushing gesture. He slowly walked with them to the corner of the room where a few unmanned computer monitors hummed softly.

  “What a condescending prick,” James said.

  “I know,” Nick said. “But understand…he’s in control and we have to accept that. We’re working for him.”

  “I suddenly wish I’d stayed in Houston,” Katherine said.

  “Well, if this thing goes the way it’s supposed to,” Nick said, “we won’t be here often. For now, I think we just need to get along like good boys and girls. Let’s have our little orientation, get to our rooms, and sleep.”

  “You don’t find it odd that he’s not asking us—or at the very least, you—to be a part of a meeting about what happened to Griffith?”

  “I do, but I won’t get my answers by clashing with him.”

  James nodded, his eyes indicating that maybe he would like to forget this all for now and get some sleep. Katherine, on the other hand, sneered at Ogden behind his back as he spoke to two people at the large table in the center of the room.

  As they collected themselves, the elevators dinged to their left. They turned and saw a woman dressed in a tee shirt and jeans looking around the room. Her eyes landed on them and she smiled thinly. When she crossed the room towards them, she gave Ogden a small wave.

  “Mr. Blackburn,” she said as she approached. “Mr. MacAllister, Ms. Laslo. It’s nice to meet you all. I’ve been asked to show you around and make sure you get breakfast. Sound good?”

  “Sure,” Nick said. “Lead the way.”

  She nodded politely and then turned back for the elevators. When she pressed the button and waited, she looked back towards Ogden. Nick watched her closely and was again struck by the fact that there was something going on here that he was not privy to. This woman was part of it, as was Ogden and damn near everyone else at that table.

  He’d figure it out soon enough. He felt confident that if Ogden planned to double cross him in any way, he wouldn’t do so until they had been sent out on their first assignment.

  Without a word, they stepped onto the elevator and rode it back up to the first floor.

  ***

  The woman’s name was Shelby Kent. If the story she fed them as they walked from the main building to the stretch of lawn that housed the apartments was true, she was a basic civilian that had been rescued by the military during the first few weeks of the outbreak. She had been among the first to get a room on the Langley base and had been helping any way she could since then. Part of that help, apparently, was serving as a hospitality service.

  “There are one hundred and eighty of us civilians living here,” she said as she brought them around the side of main building and to the rows of rooms. The small apartment buildings were on both sides of the lawn, each two stories high. It looked exactly like a pair of cheap motels from the wrong side of the tracks. Nick got this same vibe from the thin lawn that ran between the two buildings. A small playground sat at the far end; two kids sat on a seesaw, not doing much seeing or sawing. An elderly woman sat on a bench, reading a paperback. Four men sat outside of one of the apartments in plastic folding chairs. They were drinking beer from a can and looked bored out of their minds.

  “Ogden told me that people that live her work to pull their weight,” Nick said. “How does that work?”

  “It’s mostly maintenance and admin sort of stuff,” Shelby said. “We ask that anyone that stays here pulls at least twenty-six hours of work a week. Some elect to pull more than that. Those that do get extra perks and benefits.”

  “Like that beer over there, no doubt,” James said. Nick snickered and when he looked to his old colleague, he looked terribly thirsty. It then occurred to Nick that, yeah, a beer would be exceptional.

  “That’s actually correct,” Shelby said. “Beer, wine, use of the hot tub in one of the old master suites. Things like that.”

  “What the hell was this place before everything happened?” Katherine asked.

  “It’s always been a military facility,” she said. “Before everything happened two years ago,
these dorms were used to house classified guests.”

  “This is at least one hundred and fifty rooms,” Nick said. “How many classified guests were there?”

  Shelby laughed and gave a shrug. “I guess that was classified. No one has ever told me.”

  But Nick thought he knew. Anything that happened behind the scenes as far as the government was concerned required many moving cogs. Sometimes those cogs were spread across the country. And when an event like the ones in the leaks uncovered by the Night Hawks were being planned, those cogs probably came from all over the world.

  “Your rooms are here,” Shelby said as they passed by the playground. She was pointing to the last three rooms on the first floor of the building along the right side of the lawn.

  She took a key ring out of her pocket and unlocked the first one. She opened the door and led them inside.

  “You three can fight over who gets which room,” Shelby said, “but they’re all the same.”

  Everything about the room was plain and square. Nick was again reminded of a very basic motel room. There was no foyer, no hallway, nothing. The door led into a large room that was occupied by a small table, a twin-sized bed, a dresser, and a very modest TV stand. A television and DVD player sat on the stand. Seeing such luxury made Nick want to laugh.

  “What’s with the TV?” James asked, stealing Nick’s question.

  “There is a collection of DVDs in the common area in the main building. You can borrow them as you like. There are also hundreds of books that you are free to borrow.”

  Shelby stopped by the bed and did an awkward sort of swivel because there was nothing much else to see. A mini-fridge sat against the wall, nearly butting edges with a little table. The one other door in the room led to the bathroom which, Nick was surprised to find, was actually rather large. The shower was clean and immaculate and the sink was large enough to house a his-and-hers deal.

  He looked at the toilet and smiled. He was going to miss pissing off the back of his houseboat.