by Michael Carr
The elder Dr. Richards now re-enthused by how the chemical weapon acted on the brain, convinces the president to allow him to have samples of the weapon the Swarm had relinquished. Over a period of years, he would research the chemical and determine if he was able to zombify, then modify human subjects into hopes of developing a superior soldier for the U.S. government. Suddenly his health declined and although his results were highly classified, he passed them on to the only person he felt could trust, his grandson, Dr. Timothy Richards. By this time, the Swarm has lost patience with the U.S. and starts a chemical outbreak on Earth. Soon afterwards, General Anders receives information that the younger Richards possesses knowledge invaluable to his ranks. However, Dr. Timothy Richards' intentions are far different from his grandfather's....
[In case you are interested, Dr. Richards was formerly known as Dr. Steward, in the comic “Corey the Zombie Killer - Amity Eroded”]
Speeding in the jeep, Tonya becomes concerned Corey has not said anything about turning in the direction of the stashed armor, “Don't you think we should return to the last of weapons? I mean we are going to need fuel at some point.”
Corey looks ahead and points. “I think we need to be more concerned about THAT!”
Tonya slams on the brakes and the jeep fishtails from the forward momentum. The sound of screeching brakes pierces the open desert, as the Swarm freighter begins to land. Still sliding sideways from the locked brakes, the jeep continues to approach the landing vessel.
The ship, about the length of a football field prepares to make land contact. From beneath the ship, cylinders exhaust bursts of air to aid in a softer landing. Finally, the jeep comes to a stop, still sideways about 30 yards from the giant spaceship. The four human heads turn simultaneously to the left towards the sound of something unlocking. They are frozen, unsure of what to do. The ramp to the ship drops as exhaust flows from the sides of the opening. Tonya hits the gas, but to no avail, the wheels just spin. They all look down at the same time and say in unison “SHIT!”
Seven Swarm warriors exit the ship and rush towards the jeep with staff like weapons in hand. Tonya spooked and alarmed, “We are going to die!!! Right here!!! Right now!!!” She reaches for a side arm in her left leg holster. Corey's left arm extends, grabbing Tonya’s upper arm.
“Wait!”
Tonya looks at Corey in disbelief. Patrick is stone-faced and pale as the Doctor looks back towards the rear of the jeep.
As the aggregation of warriors approach in what appears to be sheer determination, Tonya's leg begins to shake from anxiety. “Damn it, Corey!”
Corey looks at her and puts one finger to his mouth, “Shhh!”
A second later, the Swarm leap above and over, some run beside the jeep passing by the humans. The alien army's attention is focused elsewhere, past the jeep.
All four look to their right at the Swarm that just passed them. The alien troops travel some distance then stop. Suddenly, the humans recognize the Swarm now stands between them and a group of Zlys thundering towards the jeep. The Zlys in full pursuit of the humans seem unaware of the awaiting Swarm. The Swarm soldiers wait with anticipation, waiting to gather their new crop of warriors. With staffs held sideways, the Swarm spreads out in a U formation. As the Zlys approach the idled jeep, lighting bolts emerge from the ends of the Swarm’s staffs producing brilliant electrical arcs … a nearly blinding fence of authority. The aliens promptly begin to surround the Zly army that now tries to retreat.
Tonya stands on her seat looking towards the unusual episode, “What’s going on?”
Richards has not moved. He watches what he has only imagined before and answers her, “They are harvesting.”
As the Swarm completely closes their circle, one Zly runs away without hesitation. It retreats in a leaping fashion to make a better getaway. Some of the entrapped Zlys turn back towards the fleeing member, yelling what sounds like, “Master!”
Tonya, still standing, looks down at Corey, “They are saying something...sounds like they are calling out to someone.”
Corey clenches teeth. With complete frustration, he leans out of the jeep looking back at the action. Suddenly overcome with a heightened sense of premonition…Corey trying to comprehend…“It couldn’t BE!...THOMAS?”
Tonya drops into her seat, “Somebody needs to get out and push...NOW!” The Doctor and Patrick get out, helping to free the jeep of the loose sand. Once it is free, they quickly jump back into their seats and the jeep speeds off leaving the Swarm's ship with the captured Zlys in the background.
The four finally arrive back where they left the few weapons behind…the base still smoldering in the background. To their surprise, a few (maybe a half dozen) unknown survivors have made camp around the armored vehicles.
Tonya is not pleased. “What the Hell is this shit?!” Pissed, she brings the jeep to an abrupt stop. She wastes no time and charges into the camp, “Who is in charge here?”
Corey simply stays in the jeep looking at the device on his arm. As he manipulates the metal band, he thinks about what has just happened…about the Zly referred to as Master…it couldn’t be Thomas…how could it possibly be? But how could ANY of this happen…the unending violence, losing friends and family, this branding of his chest? This damn mark, still burning…once a symbol of amity is now broken… and the physical pain does not compare to the anguish that the meaning of brotherhood is forever lost. He reflects on all the obstacles they had been through in hopes of finding safety, finding some peace, maybe finding someone he could trust. The hope of finding his family was all but gone, now he would be grateful just to find someone he can trust. Everything must have happened for a reason, but living in the enclosed city was a dismal existence.
Patrick still seated in the jeep wants to follow Tonya but is concerned when he sees Richards get out and approach Corey. Patrick decides to stay put. Richards grabs Corey's wrist and looks at the vial, “How do you feel?”
Breaking his deep thought, Corey slowly looks up, with a serious “F-you” look on his face. “I’ve felt better.”
Richards turns Corey's wrist to make sure the armband is tight and the IV connections are well seated into the vein. “I had no other option than to place this device on you to control the effects from the Zly bite you incurred. I simply do not have any other alternatives right now. But I do have some ideas that we will review soon.”
“Hey! This asshole says he owns these vehicles!” Tonya announces loudly, pointing her thumb back over her shoulder as she makes her way back to her friends.
“Corey…real quick before she gets here…if you ever find yourself in a position that you need the upper hand, just break the vial. You will have instant access to unimaginable strength and other abilities that will help you defend yourself.” The Doctor turns to Tonya as she walks up.
“Didn't you guys hear me? They are claiming these weapons as theirs?!”
The leader of the survivors follows Tonya to the jeep. "Hey, no hard feelings! I didn't mean to piss your girl off or anything. We are just trying to make it, like you.”
Corey tunes out everything else said after GIRL and looks back at him, “I suggest we cut the shit talk and take arms.”
Tonya just gazes at him, as if to say, “We will talk later.”
The leader senses the tension and begins to walk off then stops, "Hey, maybe I should know your name. Mine’s Andrew.”
Corey looks down at his wrist, feeling only a fraction of himself…almost as if his name does not fit him anymore. With some hesitation, he replies, “Corey.”
Richards smirks, proud of his advanced Lu-Ci-4 subject, quietly adds, “…the Zombie Killer.”
Andrew puts one hand to the side of his mouth as he heads back to his group and shouts, "I thought we should know each others’ names so we can put it on our markers…in case something happens...you know.” Corey's eyes tense up...he does not like the sound of what Andrew has said. Death is not an option for Corey.
Tonya�
�s head tilts, “High hopes that one has! So what's up?”
Corey still seated in the jeep looks past Tonya, “Turnaround. Looks like they are going to need us.”
Tonya turns to see what Corey is referencing. She sees a zombie clan approaching. On foot a group of about twenty armed undead advance and stop approximately100 yards from the survivors’ camp. One of the undead soldiers holds a flag with an insignia, different from the one branded onto Corey's chest. Seeing the flag wave against the desert breeze clarifies what Thomas had told him earlier. There were in fact other warlords that had assembled their own dead factions and would stop at nothing to get what they want…weapons, control, power over a world in chaos.
Realizing they are barely outnumbered by the band of zombies, Corey turns toward the back seat, “Patrick, I want you to stay here. I need you to watch our backs. I don’t completely trust Andrew’s group.”
Patrick points at the Doctor, "What about him?”
Corey smiles, “You can handle him.”
Patrick’s head cocks back with some surprise, he does not find Corey to be funny. He then looks over at the Doctor, “I wish you would try something, I’m bored and this gun has a full clip.”
Tonya, not shy, works her way back into the center of the parked weapons. She takes position behind a tank’s mounted gun and aims for the zombie army that has hidden behind numerous abandoned cars and such. Corey grabs his bag from the jeep and places it over his shoulder allowing it to rest across the right side of his chest. He begins to walk east, away from the survivors.
Tonya raises her head and throws one hand in the air, “Corey! What the Hell?!”
Corey turns, walking backwards as he yells at Tonya, “I got a feeling. I'll tell you in a minute.” Continuing to walk backwards, he looks at his friends, smiles, and takes in the distant, fading group of humans. He feels insightful, intelligent. The sudden realization of what is truly happening to them became apparent to him. Without effort his brain quickly analyzes the situation and computes the most likely scenario…they are facing a trap...the forces in front of them want the humans to concentrate all of their fire power towards them. If they did not, they would not have made themselves known. Corey senses that the humans might be out flanked from another direction...just to be on the safe side he wants to scout it out. His newly found intuition tells him to go east because any oncoming attackers would want to have the light to their backs. Still impressed with his sudden ability to process information quickly, he turns around to walk forward. "Damn it!”
With celebration of his new talent comes another lesson, he must act quickly after a decision has been reached. He was right...he walks right into a pack of infected soldiers waiting to be called in. Corey looks at the armband placed by Dr. Richards, remembering what he instructed about finding yourself against the odds.
Tonya begins to worry. She leaps off the tank and runs to the jeep, “Corey has been gone for awhile…I really think we should go check on him.”
Patrick seems uncertain, “He told me to stay here and watch you guys' backs.”
Tonya’s concern turns to frustration. “If Corey isn't here and I go after him...whose back are you going to be watching? You really are a jock aren't you Patrick? BOTH OF YOU! GET IN THE FRICKIN’ JEEP!” They pull away headed off in Corey’s direction.
Shortly, they pull up to see Corey, standing with his arms spread out holding his drill. He stands looking down at several zombie soldiers he had just annihilated.
Tonya stops the jeep and runs to Corey, “Are you OK?”
Corey with a blood-splattered face looks at Tonya echoing the reply the last time he had been asked, “I’m always OK.”
Tonya says, “Impressive kill, Corey, but WE are not going to be ok if we don’t get some damn gas!”
In the jeep, Patrick looks out of the corner of his eye at the Doctor. He has noticed that Richards has been very receptive and put up little resistance lately, but now he just seems creepy. He notices the Doctor looking ahead and sneering. Patrick shoves the gun into the Doctor’s side, “What are YOU smiling at?!”
Richards continues to stare ahead with a look of satisfaction. “Can't a person be happy that another has been successful? Corey is amazing, isn't he?”
Patrick's face curls and replies like a typical teenager, “Dude! Are you being weird right now?”
Richards' smirk becomes larger, “No you Neanderthal! His abilities are desirable. You must admit, he is impressive!”
Patrick is confused, but he is more certain now than ever…the doc is nuts!
Patrick moves further away from the Doctor as Tonya and Corey return to the jeep. They climb inside and make their way back to camp. On the way back, Tonya realizes her fondness for Corey has grown. She has never felt love for another, not in the way one feels for a boyfriend. Sadly, as a child Tonya only held Arnie (her stuffed toy cat) for emotional support since adult hugs were rare. Arnie was a small symbol of normalcy for Tonya…no matter how dysfunctional normalcy was for her before the infection.
Tonya's thoughts rapidly disappear to the sound of gunfire. The four return to the battle between the survivors and the attacking zombie pack. “Let’s show them how it's done! Drop me off here! Since I eliminated their sneak attack, we will do one of our own. Andrew’s group has them from the front; we will hit them from the sides. Tonya, circle around the back of the city and park on the other side of this street across from me. Once there I will signal you when to move.”
Tonya, with a blank stare, “Corey! Gas…!”
Not waiting for the jeep to stop completely, Corey jumps out yelling, “GO! GO! GO!”
“DAMN IT!” Tonya immediately heads around the back of the city as Corey directed, eyes plastered to the fuel gauge.
She reaches her post on fumes and the gas needle well below “E”…“MEN! They NEVER listen!” She jumps from the jeep grabbing her handguns, “Patrick you know the drill...stay here and watch this one.”
Patrick grows tired of being the Doctor’s baby sitter, “Why don't YOU stay here with him? He's a freaking whack job!”
Tonya looks across to Corey and gets the signal to move. “You are 17 Patrick...Deal with it!”
She immediately lowers herself and takes cover behind a newspaper stand. Left of the zombies, Corey ducts behind a tree that has some remnants of landscaped shrubbery around it. He looks to determine which of his enemies have the better weapon. Those are the ones to be taken out first. His eye catches movement across the way where Tonya is. He cannot totally see what is happening; the stand she is behind obscures the view. He initially wants to fire a nail at the jeep to get Patrick's attention since he is closer to Tonya, but Patrick is also just out of sight. Besides, even if he could be seen...the jeep is way out of range of the nail gun. So Corey decides to detour the attention away from him so he can get over to her. As he stays low, dodging friendly fire, he shoots at the zombies closest to him. The zombies respond and move left, away from Tonya's position. Corey stops halfway just behind a food truck. He looks toward Tonya’s direction and while he cannot see her, he hears her cry out. He panics and cannot wait any longer. He runs, fearing he will find a zombie fighting Tonya. Once there, he finds a body crouched over a wiggling Tonya, trying to break free. Corey aims and pulls the trigger on his altered drill assuming it will fire one of the nails from the strip dangling in front, but it doesn't…the battery is dead. Tonya's attacker notices Corey and quickly delivers a blow to the side of his head. Corey drops to the ground stunned and tries to crawl away, but is picked up and tossed in the air, landing on his back. He tries to focus to see his attacker but his vision is temporarily blurred. Now Corey wishes Patrick was not such a follower, but the kid is just doing what he is told.
"Hey! Asshole! What? Don't remember me?” The bleared figure is unrecognizable.
Corey desperately feels around for something he can use as a weapon.
“Yeah, I'm kinda surprised you came to help your girlfriend out...when you l
eft ME behind! How did you so eloquently put it? Oh, that's right. He's done, we gotta keep moving.”
Corey does not have to see him now...he knows, “Aaron, look man there was nothing we could do. You were covered with them. Shit, if you would have just kept running and not stopped to fight them, we wouldn't be having this discussion.”
Aaron kicks Corey in his side. “Shut up! I'M talking, you arrogant asshole. Karma’s a bitch! THIS time I do the infecting and you can’t run away!” Aaron walks toward Tonya.
The firing continues between humans and zombies. Corey thinks quickly, “Andrew’s group is going to have to do the work.”
He gathers himself and staggers over to Aaron to push him away from a battered Tonya lying on the ground. Corey catapults Aaron into the open, away from the protection of the large newspaper stand. Aaron is shocked by Corey’s power. He moves to retaliate and his head jerks abruptly to the right...following the blood trail that explodes from the side of his head. Andrew and his gang did their job!
Corey rushes over to check on Tonya. He looks her over to see if she has been bitten...Tonya is somewhat cognizant and gathers what Corey is doing, “I’m not bitten, just beaten.” She begins to laugh hysterically, “It sounds like a country song doesn't it? (singing) I'm not bitten…I’m just beaten.” she begins to laugh.
“You have got to stay quiet, we are so close...”
Tonya searches Corey’s face, “Close? Close to…what?
Corey looks down at her still lying on the ground, “Close to the Zombies...but the firing has stopped. Let’s get back to the jeep.”
Tonya’s heart sinks. She was afraid that was what he meant.
Patrick sits up and is concerned when he sees Corey helping Tonya back to the jeep. Corey makes sure she gets in on the passenger side.
“What happened?” Patrick checks Tonya out from the backseat.
“The same shit that happens everyday...we take risks hoping to better our situation. It's not better but it's definitely not our time to die.” Corey gets behind the wheel and turns the key…nothing. Tonya clears her throat. Corey, refusing to look at her, rests his head on the steering wheel, “Don’t say it!”