“Oh boy!” Mate cried.
Lily hit the deck and tossed her boomerang through the narrow space between the cabinet and the floor. The device hit the legs of the shooting nurse and she fell on the ground, still firing the machine gun. The remaining two attackers ducked in an automatic gesture of self-defense.
The Australian took advantage of the distraction, climbed the cabinet and jumped on the aggressors to disarm them. Clark left the hiding place and took a machine from the floor. A nurse ran away.
“Alright, nobody move!” Mate shouted.
“What about me?” Lily asked. “Can I move?”
“No, but I let you sing.”
Lily smiled.
“Jeez, I thought you had vanished in thin air when those guys stormed in here.” Ike spoke to Lily. “Where were you?”
“I was enjoying the view from a higher place.” Lily replied. “Funny how some people never look at the ceiling when they raid a room.”
Ivy found the switches of that area. In a matter of seconds, fluorescent tube light bulbs came to life. Only then, Lily and Mate recognized the only doctor who was still standing.
“Oh, hi there” Clark said to him.
“Since when did you guys develop a taste for human target practice?” Lily queried.
“I can’t help it.” Doctor Blake responded. “Something in my mind is screaming at me to shoot you dead! But now, I don’t know why, I only feel like killing your friends over there.” He pointed a finger at Ike and Ivy.
“I’m still feeling a strong urge to kill you all.” The remaining nurse added.
“They are controlled, alright.” Mate concluded.
“I thought you had been arrested in Condor City.” Lily said.
“I fled the city before they got to me.” The doctor replied.
“Good. Then, you’re hereby recaptured.” Clark determined.
“I can see you didn’t change your medical malpractice habits.” Lily spoke to Blake.
“Do you know this asshole?” Ivy asked.
“We’ve met.” Lily answered. “He used to be the butcher of former Heavensville, currently north Condor City.”
“It’s another long story.” Mate said.
“Hey Ike, my man…” Lily called. “Could you please get into that storage room and find me a bottle of… what’s the name of that thing, lumivil, luxil…?”
“Luviximil?” The nurse guessed.
“That’s the one!” Lily replied.
Doctor Blake growled at her.
“Sorry!” Nurse Folsom mumbled. “It escaped.”
“Sure thing, sister” Ike said and entered the storage room.
He came back with a small bottle.
“I guess that’s the stuff.” Ike said.
“Put it on that table over there, where the needles are” Lily requested.
Ike did it.
“Well, doc…” Lily turned to Blake. “You know what to do.”
“Oh no, not again!” The doctor lamented. “I don’t know how many times people made me take this thing!”
“Then you know how your patients feel.” Lily spoke.
“And remember the alternative.” Mate said and raised the machine gun to the physician’s chest.
Doctor Blake injected the product in his own arm. He fell on the floor in a mild seizure.
“Your turn, lass” Lily spoke to Nurse Folsom.
“Me too?” She asked surprised.
“Why not?” The Australian answered. “It’s never a good idea to waste medicine.”
The nurse did the same as the doctor and also convulsed on the ground for a few seconds.
“Alright,” Lily said. “Help me take them to the meds room.”
After dragging the medical personnel to the storage facility, Mate closed the door and placed one of the machine guns between the doorknob and the frame, to prevent the door from being opened on the inside.
However, a janitor carrying a Glock 9mm walked by the room.
“Everybody quiet” Lily spoke.
But it was too late for that. The armed man turned to the group and pointed the gun at them.
“Get down!” Lily screamed.
Nevertheless, the janitor fell unconscious on the floor before he had a chance to pull the trigger. Behind him stood the person who had hit him in the head with a broomstick.
“You shouldn’t be here.” Nancy said. “You are in grave danger.
“What else is new?” Clark whispered.
Nancy did not take the gun from the floor to shoot Ike and Ivy, the two people in the room she had never seen before.
“You don’t feel any urge to kill anybody?” Lily asked her.
“Not for now.” Nancy responded.
“How come you’re not controlled?” Lily queried.
“I don’t know.” Nancy replied. “How come you are not controlled?”
“I’ll tell you later.” The Australian answered.
“Nice seeing you again!” Nancy said. “I’ve never thought anybody could walk out of Devasta Land alive.”
“It was a real walk in the park.” Ike joined the conversation. “By the way, I’m Ike, this is Ivy.”
“I’m Nancy, very please to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“How did you get in here?” Nancy asked.
“Back door” Mate replied.
“Nancy, we came here for the patients.” Lily told her. “I’m assuming there’re people here being probed against their will.”
“There are.” Nancy confirmed. “But you can’t help them now. Everybody in this building is carrying fire weapons and shooting everything. Some mental instruction they received, I guess.”
“One of the nurses ran away.” Ivy reminded them. “She probably told the whole town we’re here by now.”
“Yes.” Lily agreed. “Let’s quietly and graciously leave the premises.”
Mate, Ike and Ivy grabbed machine guns that were lying around.
“They may come in handy.” Ike justified their actions.
“Do you even know how to use those?” Lily queried.
“If a bunch of doctors and nurses can do it, so can I.” Ivy retorted.
Nancy guided them through passageways until they found the hospital entrance hall. However, somebody outside opened the steel doors to the medical institute real fast and jumped inside.
Ike got scared, his finger slept on the trigger and he fired the machine gun by accident against the chest of the newcomer.
“Wait!” Lily screamed and pushed the weapon barrel down with her hand.
“This is Italian!” The man complained, showing all holes in his shirt. “I had a lot of trouble stealing it from those maggots in Devasta Land.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Ike cried. “This trigger is too sensitive!”
“No problem.” The shooting victim said. “Just learn how to use that thing next time, huh?”
“Wait a minute!” Ike looked at the man’s chest full of holes. “How come you’re not dead?”
“I am dead.” The man responded. “Lucky you didn’t shoot me in the head.”
“This is one of Zomboy’s guys.” Lily clarified.
The walking corpse locked the thick latches of the two steel doors and walked near the group.
Ivy’s eyes goggled at him.
“I know you!” She said “Benson, right? You’re that old man who saved our hides in Devasta Land!”
“In flesh and blood,” The man confirmed “what’s left of them anyway. And I’m thirty-four years old actually. This rotting away thing really makes me look a lot older.”
“Man, you’re a zombie!” Ike realized.
“Living dead” Benson corrected him. “And I surely know how to handle a machine gun better than you.”
“What were you doing out there?” Ike asked. “I mean, back in Devasta Land.”
“Saving your asses for starters” Benson responded. “Sometimes, I go out the caves to make my rounds, tell u
nsuspected idiots to leave Devasta Land while they can, but some of them are just too damn hardheaded.”
Ike and Ivy looked at each other uncomfortably.
“I’m also in charge of bringing news from the outside.” Benson continued. “Including some interesting promises made by corporate folks and politicians. That’s why some people also call me the Comedian.”
“So, what’s the news from the outside now?” Lily asked. “Are people in this town completely safe?”
“Oh yes.” Benson answered. “Residents and employees are locked up in their homes. But you may have a little problem.”
“What?”
Deafening sounds of metal hitting metal resounded around the entrance hall. A whole army was right outside, trying to pound their way into the institute.
“There you have it.” Benson replied. “There got to be at least a hundred and fifty men outside, ready to turn you into a bunch of sieves. They have the whole place surrounded. That’s what I came here to tell you, in case you wonder.”
“We have them.” One of the soldiers outside the hospital spoke on his cell phone. “They are in the medical institute. A nurse escaped and told us their location. The hostiles locked themselves in, but my men are very close to bust the doors down.”
“Very good, Sergeant Michaels” Allison responded on the other end. “The rebels are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. Shoot first, ask questions later.”
“Copy” The sergeant said and put the cell phone back in his khaki shirt pocket.
“I’m sorry I have to say that,” Nancy spoke “I know you meant well, but your strategy is really lousy. How could you let yourselves be cornered like this?”
“Remember those big gates on the outskirts of the city?” Lily asked.
“Of course I remember.” Nancy replied. “They are the only way in and out the city. Together with the barbed wire fences, they stop the dead creatures from coming in.”
“That’s right.” Lily continued. “Who told you we closed the gates after we got in?”
A furious horde of hungry dead beasts, and not the intelligent kind, came from all sides and attacked the soldiers on the streets and sidewalks. Men in uniform, guards and police officers emptied their weapons on as many monsters as they could. However, the enemy outnumbered them by far.
Trisha was feasting on a man in black suite. Another dead body came snarling right to the prey as well, but the woman pushed him away.
“Get your own meat, stinky!” She said.
“Okay, that’s my cue.” Lily said. “You stay here. Try not to shoot each other.”
The Australian unlocked the door and left for the confusion outside. She calmly took the hockey stick out of the sheath and mounted it slowly. At that moment, she could afford practicing concentration.
Against the zombies, Lily teamed up with the men that were there to kill her, although most of them had already retreated, not to be massacred by the ferocious creatures.
Lily could see with the corner of her eye residents looking out of their windows.
“Stay inside.” She advised.
The Australian finished a walking corpse and was about to decapitate another one.
“Hold it!” The cadaver screamed. “I’m too pretty to have my head busted open!”
“Oops!” Lily said. “Sorry Trisha.”
“It’s alright. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference when all we can do is eating human flesh.”
“Could you do me a favor?”
“You name it.”
“I assume those regular zombies will ignore you, right?”
“Oh yes. From their gastronomic point of view, we are in the same league.”
“You and Benson go to the gates and close them. We got enough zombies in here.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
In the war room, Allison put down her cell phone after a not very encouraging conversation with Sergeant Michaels. The name Lily Master was mentioned.
Back to Brokenville, there was no much to be done. The army forces had completely withdrawn, although the streets and sidewalks of the beautiful, warm city were littered with motionless corpses.
“I guess the townies will blame us for this.” Mate said.
“But at least their town is free from the Undertakers.” Lily said. “We cut another limb of a very large body. We need to find the head.”
“I don’t want to be a negative nancy,” Ike spoke “but I think your brainy zombies have just eaten the only ones who knew where the head is.”
“I don’t believe they would be much of a help anyway.” The positive Nancy added another negative note. “Only the people directly connected to the Chancellor and his technical teams know where the Awakening room is.”
“Chancellor?” Mate frowned.
“He’s the leader of the Undertaking.” Nancy explained.
“What is this Awakening room?” Lily queried.
“I don’t know for sure, I only heard of it.” Nancy answered. “But word is that’s the place where millions of minds are in stock right now, waiting to be manipulated.”
“Does the Minister know where this place is?” Mate queried.
“I don’t think so.” Nancy said. “I guess he only knows the location of the main office of this branch.”
“Have you ever been to the main office?” Lily asked.”
“No.” Nancy replied.
“Do you know somebody who has?” Lily queried.
“Doctor Piper Glory” Nancy replied. “She worked there for a while before being transferred here.”
“Let’s talk to her then.” The Australian decided.
“I’m afraid she’s not available.” Nancy said. “She and two other women were sent to solitary confinement, which is a kind of prison.”
“No problem.” Lily said. “Just point us the right direction and we handle the jail break.”
“That’s the thing.” Nancy responded. “I don’t know where this prison is. I’ve been there once, but I don’t know where it is.”
“These people kept a lot of secrets.” Ivy commented.
“That’s how they manage to stay in business.” Nancy said.
“How come you’ve been to prison?” Mate asked.
“I’ve always had a problem with babies travelling in boxes.” Nancy answered. “One day, I decided to file a complaint against such practice. They told me my cause was a very important one and that they’d get to it immediately. And they did. Next thing I knew I was handcuffed and blindfolded inside a helicopter. As I don’t think we flew in circles, they must’ve taken me to some faraway area. I remember going downstairs. They only removed the blindfold when I was by the solitary cell.”
“Did you notice anything different or peculiar on your way to the prison?” Lily queried. “I know you could see nothing, but any tiny detail could be important.”
“After the helicopter landed,” Nancy said “they took me to a place that smelled really bad. That I remember very well.”
“But it doesn’t help much.” Mate grunted.
“Wait a minute.” Ivy jumped. “How bad it smelled?”
“Like a million open sewers.” Nancy replied.
“Did you also smell detergent and then the reek disappeared by magic?”
Everybody gazed at Ivy, except for Ike.
“Yes!” Nancy answered, staring at Ivy with wide open eyes. “How do you know that?”
“Lily, I think I know where this prison is.” Ivy said. “But you’ll have to go back to Devasta Land.”
“Devasta Land?” Nancy gasped.
“We need to get ourselves some wheels.” Mate pointed out with urgency in his voice.
Lily looked at the main avenue that crossed the small town with very meaningful eyes.
“Yes, I guess we need to get ourselves some wheels.” The Australian agreed.
A powerful didgeridoo sound echoed among the neatly organized houses.
“I have a feeling I hear
d this before somehow.” Lily said.
The huge truck also known as the Apocamobile materialized down the road, running over dead corpses on the way. It was brought to a halt in front of Mate and Lily.
A man stuck his head out of the window on the driver’s side. And it was Hank.
“This motorized kangaroo of yours kicks ass!” He said. “The suspension needs some work, though.”
“And it’s not the only thing that needs work.” Lily spoke. “How did you start it? Last time I checked, you didn’t have my fingerprints.”
“You forget I’m an electrician.” Hank answered. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but your contraption here is not very well defended against hot-wiring.”
“Daddy would be upset.” Lily murmured.
“So, it’s back to Devasta Land!” Mate said.
“Good, I need a ride home.” Trisha spoke.
“Can we stay?” Ivy asked. “I’m not exactly anxious to go back to that place any time soon. It won’t do any good for Jill, either.”
“That was the idea right from the start.” Lily revealed. “This city is safe now. It just needs a little mopping here and there.”
“But then, how are you going to find the building where the prison is?” Ike asked.
“You leave that to me, boy.” Benson stepped in. “I know that place like the back of my hand. Indeed I saw some jail cells in the basement. But I’ve never thought there could be people in them.”
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 21