Uh-oh. It was about to get real.
A white-haired lady with some seriously bad posture, even for a zombie, grunted as she shuffled toward Marcus. He cured her relatively quickly, but there were a lot more to go.
Chaos quickly erupted. The restaurant was already small, but with a group of clumsy zombies barreling around, it seemed tiny. Chairs got knocked over. Plates of food went flying. Cups of coffee and orange juice fell to the floor, which made it slippery. Sliding zombies only added to the confusion as they careened into one another.
Willa came through the front door, phone blazing, to help us out. Vanya watched helplessly from the street while we battled. I should have had her download the game in case we needed her help. But I didn’t think. She wasn’t a gamer. Her parents were the ones in her family who had played.
Speaking of her parents, her father lumbered toward me in his white apron. I threw back-to-back cures, landing the second one. But while my attention was focused on curing Mr. Patel, a zombie customer with a crooked trucker hat grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned in.
I recoiled from his nasty zombie breath and yelled, “Little help, guys!”
Willa twirled around and launched three cures in a row, turning him before he could turn me.
Charlie was backed into a corner, trying his best to cure Vanya’s mom while another zombie closed in. His hungry eyes flashed. He was looking at Charlie the way that I looked at pizza.
I leapt over a fallen zombie and landed a cure in midair.
“Wow!” Charlie said. “That was awesome!”
I beamed. “I know, right?” Now was not the time to be humble.
But just when I thought we had a handle on the situation, things turned bad. Some of the cured customers started to panic and scream. One of them managed to get bitten again in the chaos. They were running around, bouncing off chairs and skidding into one another. I couldn’t tell who was cured and who wasn’t, and they were blocking our throws at the zombies who were left.
I took a deep breath, then climbed on top of the long diner counter. This would be a good time to know how to whistle, but it was one of those things I just couldn’t do. I’d taught myself two programming languages but when I tried to whistle, it sounded like someone repeatedly blowing out a trick candle on a cake.
I tried yelling instead. “Everyone who is not a zombie and not part of the Gamer Squad, get into the kitchen! It is safe there. Wait and we’ll take care of the rest. Go! Go now!”
Thankfully, Mr. and Mrs. Patel listened, rushing into the kitchen, the door swinging behind them. The cured customers followed their lead. Only zombies were left in the dining area, slugging along slowly, following their prey toward the kitchen.
“Now’s our chance!” I yelled.
With the undead separated from the living, it was easier for us to aim our cures. Marcus, Charlie, and Willa hopped up on the counter with me. We aimed and fired over and over. Long arcs of red light bounced around the room until finally every zombie was cured. Confused, but cured.
Vanya warily entered the room. “Is it over?”
I jumped down off the counter and wiped some sweat from my forehead. “Yeah, but everyone is pretty freaked out. Are you ready for your part?”
She nodded quickly. “Definitely. And my parents will help. I’ll explain what’s going on and after everyone has a rest, I’ll make sure they head out to cure more people.”
With that taken care of, I looked around for the rest of the Gamer Squad so we could move on to our next target. Marcus and Charlie were by my side but Willa wasn’t there. She’d jumped off the counter. But where had she run off to?
The swinging door to the kitchen opened and Willa emerged, carrying the untouched plate of pancakes we’d seen on our way in. She picked one up with her hand and tore off a bite.
Charlie stifled a laugh, and I gave her a look that said Really?
“What?” she said through a full mouth. “Zombie-hunting makes me hungry. A girl’s gotta eat.”
We took a well-earned break to stuff our faces and charge our phones. Then we were back at it, roaming the streets of Wolcott, looking for zombies to cure.
This had turned into a weird world.
Walking down the middle of the road, four across, phones held out like weapons, I felt like we were starring in one of those old westerns. But with cellphones. And zombies. The others chatted excitedly about our gamer army. We were making good progress. But I still felt like the whole thing was useless.
“Hey.” Charlie nudged me with his elbow. “You’re quiet. What’s up?”
I thought about saying “nothing” but my best friend knew me too well. I took a deep breath. “Let’s say we get through today without getting zombified. We create our gamer army and we save the town. It’s a long shot, but for argument’s sake, let’s pretend that’s all going to work.”
“Okay . . .” Charlie said.
“Then what’s to stop Veratrum from zombifying everyone again? Or releasing a new game that turns us into vampires? Or ghosts? It just seems never-ending.”
I hated this pessimistic feeling that had overtaken me. I’d always been such a hopeful person. But I was also a realist, and it was hard to find hope right now. I only wished that Charlie wouldn’t be disappointed in me for how I was feeling.
“I agree,” he said.
I turned to look at him, my mouth agape. “What?”
“I’ve been worried about that, too. I’m not risking my life and going through all of this just to have Veratrum throw it all away with their next game.”
“If you’re feeling the same way, then why aren’t you sad?” Like me, I thought.
A crooked smile spread across his face. “Because I have a plan.”
Intrigued, I asked, “Oh, yeah? What?”
“Hey, you guys!” Willa interrupted. “Check it out.”
A dark blue car was parked halfway up the sidewalk, and shadows inside of it were moving.
We strolled toward it. Marcus jogged up and took a peek in the window.
“Four high school dudes,” Marcus called over his shoulder. “All wearing Wolcott Baseball jackets.”
“All zombies?” Charlie asked as we reached him.
“Yup,” Marcus answered and stepped back so we could all take a look.
I recognized a kid named Julian who lived on my street. The four teens thrashed and squirmed in anger, clawing at the windows.
“Did they all change at once?” Willa asked with pity in her voice.
I shrugged. “Either that or one turned and bit the others. Who knows? I’m just glad they can’t open doors.”
“We should cure them,” Charlie said. “They could join our army.”
We all quickly agreed and readied ourselves for battle. Marcus reached out and opened the driver’s side door.
Willa pinched her nose. I covered my mouth, gagging. It was the putrid smell of . . . THE UNSHOWERED. Granted, those movie zombies with rotting limbs probably smelled worse. But four teenage boys who’d been doing a lot of writhing in a warm car and not a lot of bathing were a close second.
Seeing that a way out had suddenly appeared—with a tasty meal on the other side—all four zombies attempted to fit through the open car door at once. And they got stuck.
Sighing, Marcus opened the back door.
One of the zombies pulled away and went for the other door, lessening the pressure and allowing all of them to climb for freedom. Or fall out onto the road, in one case.
“Spread out!” I yelled. “Everyone focus on your closest zombie.”
There were four of them and four of us, odds I liked much better than our odds at the diner. My zombie was the one that had emerged from the back door. He lumbered toward me, one shoulder lower than the other. I fired a few cures, getting him easily.
The others seemed to be doing just as well. Willa’s zombie was getting kind of close, so I aimed my phone to help.
“I got this!” she shouted, and with one last toss
, her zombie baseball player stopped moving and did the slow blink of the newly conscious.
The four guys looked at us like we were the weird ones, even though we were all standing together in the middle of the street. Well, we were standing. They were swaying with fatigue.
One scratched the top of his head. “What happened to my car, man? It’s up on the curb.”
“I don’t remember, dude,” another said.
They gazed at us like we had all the answers. And we did, but I was getting tired of telling the same story.
“Have you ever seen Zombieland?” I asked. “28 Days Later? Night of the Living Dead? World War Z?”
The closest one shook his head. “I’m more of a comedy guy.”
I sighed. I’d have to tell the same story.
“I’ll explain this time,” Willa said, sensing my frustration.
I took the opportunity to sidle up to Charlie. “So about that plan you mentioned.”
“Let’s keep building our army today,” he said. “We’ll go over the plan at dinner tonight. I hope you don’t mind spaghetti again. It’s really all I know how to make.”
One of the players took his baseball jacket off, and I got a fresh whiff of uncontained body odor.
“As long as it smells better than that, I’ll be happy.”
“Hey,” Marcus said, pointing at something behind me. “We’ve got another one.”
I turned around and saw a woman with tight curly hair lumbering toward us. She was dragging one foot and growling—definitely zombified. But even more interesting, she was a police officer in uniform.
“I’ll do it,” Marcus offered.
“I’ll be your backup,” I said.
It was amazing how far we’d come. Taking on a zombie one-on-one had been terrifying the first day. But now it was as easy as ordering a pizza. Marcus held out his phone and tossed cures. The first one went wild, but the second landed on her right shoulder, and the third square in the face.
“Got her!” he called.
She swayed on her feet. Marcus and I ran to either side of her, to help her stay standing.
“She can take her nap in the car with the other guys,” Marcus said.
“Good plan.” I didn’t want to leave her on the side of the road. But she was definitely departing the Land of the Conscious soon.
Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to make words. “What . . . happened?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “Involving zombies and—” I broke off as I saw her name badge.
“What?” Marcus asked.
“You’re Detective Palamidis?” I asked.
She nodded slowly.
“You had an appointment today with a whistleblower from Veratrum, right?”
She gave me a strange look, probably wondering how I could have known that. “It didn’t happen,” she slurred. “Never got the chance.”
Marcus and I were now mostly carrying her toward the car. She could barely stand on her own. I needed to get as much information as I could before she fell asleep.
“Do you know anything about what info they had? Anything that could help us?”
She narrowed her eyes, not trusting me.
“Veratrum did this,” I said between gritted teeth. “I want to stop them. But I need to know what I’m dealing with.”
She slumped into Marcus’s arms, her eyes rolling up.
“Please!” I yelled. “Do you know anything?”
“The deal,” she croaked. “Check out their big contract. There’s something there.”
And then she was gone, her breath coming deep and slow. Marcus hefted her into the car with the others. I wouldn’t be able to get any more information.
“What was all that about?” Charlie asked.
I explained, “When Willa and I were at the police station, we saw that Detective Palamidis had an appointment today with a whistleblower from Veratrum. Someone wanted to talk.”
“That was Palamidis?” Willa pointed at the now sleeping detective.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t able to get much information. Just something about a contract.”
Marcus had been conspicuously quiet. But now he spoke up. “That’s okay. Now we have somewhere to start.”
By the afternoon, we were experienced zombie hunters. We liked finding singles because four against one took care of the job pretty quickly. And we made sure not to open any doors that had more than four zombies inside. Tomorrow, when our army awoke, we’d be able to take on even more. And before long, the whole town would be cured.
That was the plan anyway.
After we cured the baseball players in the car, we visited the houses of a few more gamer friends and cured them one by one. Then we saved a group of roving elderly ladies who’d apparently been in a salon, their hair still up in foil. Between the Gamer Squad and Jason, we cured dozens. But there was still a long way to go. And the larger Veratrum problem remained.
When we came home from our long day, I showered the filth and sweat off me. Willa took a turn, too, and then we headed next door to Charlie’s house for dinner.
Charlie’s kitchen was filled with the wonderful smell of Grandpa Tepper’s extra-garlicky spaghetti sauce. Charlie had defrosted some they’d stored in the freezer, and my stomach growled as I sat at the table and waited. Every muscle in my body was sore and tired, so it felt good to sit and do nothing for a few minutes.
Marcus, however, had his laptop open on the table. His fingers tapped at the keyboard so fast, I thought it would burst into flames.
“What are you doing?” Willa asked. “I don’t think teachers will be expecting our homework done.”
“I’ll tell you soon,” he muttered, unwilling to be distracted. A crease had formed in his forehead. Whatever he was doing, he was in deep.
“Dinner is served!” Charlie announced.
I piled my plate high and scarfed down the pasta like I hadn’t eaten in days. Zombie-hunting and curing sure built up an appetite. We all ate greedily and messily, not pausing to speak, only grunt. Jason took down enough spaghetti for a family of four, but then again, that was sort of his normal everyday diet.
As our feast slowed to a stop, I leaned back in my chair. “So what were you working on, Marcus?”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and cleared his throat. “I examined the source code of the game, hoping I could find a way to somehow reverse this.”
Willa sat up straight. “And?” she said excitedly.
He shook his head. “No such luck. The code is weird, and I couldn’t find anything we can reverse.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
“However,” Marcus said, “then I decided to do some research on Veratrum and their company history, based on what that detective mentioned.”
I leaned forward, putting my elbows on the table. “Did you find anything suspicious?”
He pushed his plate aside and opened his laptop on the table. “When they first opened for business, right here in Wolcott, they had four employees.”
“Seems normal for a small start-up,” Charlie said.
“Yeah,” Marcus agreed. “They made a couple of cheesy little apps. Nothing that took off. Their work didn’t reach any level of popularity, and they weren’t making money.”
“Then what happened?” Jason asked.
“They got a contract,” Marcus said. “A big one. It gave them enough money to hire a hundred people and produce their first big, popular game.”
“Monsters Unleashed,” I said.
“Is that not normal?” Willa asked. “Getting a contract like that?”
“Usually a small company would get an investor,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, or a venture capital firm,” Marcus said. “That’s what my dad does. But this is different.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Because the money isn’t from a regular investor. It’s from a defense contracting company.”
“Like a company that makes weapons and stuff?” Jason
asked as he ripped off another bite of garlic bread. “Cool.”
“Not cool.” I sat back in my seat, my brain working on overdrive. “If the contract was from a company like that, they’d want something in return. But what would they want from a game developer?”
Charlie raked his fingers through his hair. “What if these aren’t just games? What if the monsters, aliens, and zombies aren’t accidents?”
“Great,” Willa said. “Not only do we need to save all the townspeople from one another, but also we have to take down an evil corporation. Couldn’t I have just one month when my biggest problem was being stressed about a math test?”
I turned to Charlie. “Earlier today, you said you had a plan.”
He groaned. “I wanted us to sneak into Veratrum and try to find a way to disable their systems, forever. But this changes things. If they’re backed up by a powerful company, I don’t know what we can do.”
“I still think we need to go,” Marcus said. “We need to meet our enemy face-to-face.”
“How would we even get there?” Willa asked. “It’s on the outskirts of town. If we tried to walk, we’d spend all day fighting off zombies.”
Charlie motioned to his brother. “My idea was that Jason would drive.”
“Huh?” Jason said through a muffled full mouth. “But I don’t have my license.”
“It’s the zombie apocalypse,” Willa said. “There are no rules. Plus, it’s not like there will be a ton of other cars on the road to deal with.”
Jason thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
My heart fluttered in my chest, both with nerves and hope. Going to Veratrum headquarters was worth a try. It was better than sitting back and allowing them to put our town in danger again and again.
I clapped my hands together. “Then it’s decided. Tomorrow, while our gamer army is doing their best to cure the town one zombie at a time, we’re going to crash Veratrum headquarters and make sure this never happens again.”
Charlie stood, his chair scraping against the floor. He raised his glass of water up in a toast. “Tonight, we sleep. And tomorrow, the nerds rise.”
App of the Living Dead Page 7