The stench of rancid decay grew strong as the breeze from the door reached her nose. Jared slushed toward the door at full speed. She wasn’t worried about him and the fact that she was looking at him now as a reanimated ghoul. It didn’t bother her nearly as much as she figured it would. It was the hundreds of ghouls shuffling behind that made her panic.
Jared slammed into the doors at full speed. The door rattled, jarring Noel from her catatonic stupor. As Jared pressed against the doors, calling out like a ravenous banshee, the desk shook against the blood covered carpet. That didn’t stop her from looking out at the dead as they shambled toward the doors in enumerable droves. These dead were different and Noel instantly recognized them. They were the dead from the cemetery. All of them. Their skin was sucked tight to their boney bodies. As they meandered across the lot and the streets breaking the shadows, dust and dirt still fell from their bodies. Jared beat against the door to get in to feast on Noel. It was attracting the others.
Eyeless and mangled, they made their way toward Jared’s irritated attempts to get inside. Festering with worms and unimaginable bugs, even in the dusk of night, Noel could see things crawling in and out of their sores and holes.
In disbelief, she looked on as the dead continued to stumble across the lot, a sea of bodies coming from all directions. She could only guess that they had spent the entire night working their way toward town finally making it to the police station.
It wasn’t until the first rancid bone-dry zombie stumbled into view past the parked vans that Noel screamed. Her throat felt hot and the sound bellowed out from deep within. Filling the back of her throat with blood, the screaming didn’t seem to end.
SIXTEEN
“Did you hear that?” Chelsea said, turning her attention down the hall.
“That sounded like Noel!” Joe grimaced at the thought.
They stood silent for a moment, listening intently. The high-pitched scream stopped only to continue again. Joe swallowed hard, his stomach twisting in knots.
“Yeah, that was definitely, Noel,” He confirmed.
Stepping away from the cell holding Watts, Chelsea leaned in close to Joe and whispered. “Why don’t you go see what’s going on. I’ll stay here and make sure this loser doesn’t try anything stupid. I’ll see if I can get him to tell me something. He’s a pig if you catch my drift. Maybe he’ll talk if I let him think I’m on his team,” she winked.
“All right,” Joe said. “I’ll be back in a minute. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious.”
He retrieved his handgun from its holster, checked the safety, and began to walk down the hall. Just before reaching the door, he looked back to see Chelsea smiling back at him. She waved the revolver to let him know that she was in control of the situation. The hall was silent as he stepped out. He disappeared, closing the door and headed to find Noel.
Chelsea cringed as she turned her attention back to the cell.
“Smart move, getting that guy out of here.” Watts said, leaning against the cell door. Unlike before, when he’d shot Dane, his voice was calm and assertive. “Now, let me out. Let’s get out of here before he comes back.”
He reached between the slit in the door softly touching Chelsea’s arm. She let him feel her for a second and then slapped his hand away with the butt of the revolver. His hand retracted back into the cell. He hissed out in pain.
“You bitch.”
Maybe for once, Watts was right. She was a bitch. She was a bitch for letting him get away with so much for so long. In the time she had spent as his personal assistant, she had watched him sign off on more than just that damn contamination contract. She should have stopped him well before the factory waste started being dumped into the river. Well before all of the sexual harassment and name calling. She wasn’t his babe, his woman or a whore. That’s right. She hadn’t heard him call her that to her face, but she had heard him refer to her as such to others. Men mostly. She had let it all slide and for what? Better pay? Better living and a nice house away from Clarksburg. She had spent her entire adult life running away from this small town. Now that she’d finally succeeded, she felt ashamed. What would her parents think if they knew what she had sacrificed to gain her successes? Sure, her parents had made the drive a time or two to her new home outside of town and her dad on many occasions expressed his feelings. He was proud. She had done so well for herself in such a short time. But at what cost? She had helped Watts cut so many corners to make that extra buck, and had even turned her eye from the waste management contracts, although she knew better. Thinking about it made her feel sick. She made herself sick. Did she even know herself anymore?
She turned to the window looking in at Watts. He was still rubbing his hand. She glared at him. Silently, she lifted the revolver and pointed into the cell through the six-inch slot. She coughed to get his attention.
“Hey, now…” He looked up. “What’s the deal here?”
She cocked the hammer to the safety position. It clicked as she slowly pulled it back.
“Hey, now!” Watts protested. “What the hell are you doing? Put that away!”
“Give me just one reason why I shouldn’t.”
“How about for starters we get you a new office.” His voice wavered. “A… a few m-more digits on the paycheck. Is that it? Is that what you want? Just let me out of here and we’ll make it happen. I swear!”
“Not good enough!” She insisted, pulling the hammer back even more. It clicked home ready to slam the cylinder if she pulled the trigger.
“Stop this right now, Chelsea. You’ve made your damn point, all right?”
“Oh, have I, Benjamin? I don’t think I have. But oh… you better believe I’m going to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Watts looked to the wall as if he could see through it to the hall. “Help me!” He shouted. “Get this stupid bitch away from me! You’ve lost it, woman.”
“That’s the last time you’re going to call me woman. I have a name, you sexist pig.”
She shoved the gun forward, but it slammed against the hole not going any further into Watts’ cell. The metal clank echoed down the hall as the two solids restricted one another. Had she turned the gun to its side it would fit through the opening, but she didn’t. Instead, she pulled the gun back again leaving just the barrel peeking through the opening.
“You think I don’t know what’s going on here?”
“What the hell are you talking about, wo…” Watts coughed, both hands over his head. “I mean… Chelsea.”
“Don’t play dumb, Benjamin. Earlier, back with all the others… you said I didn’t know what’s going on. Well I do.”
His eyes rolled around in his head, trying to decipher what she was talking about. Chelsea laughed, able to tell that he was in deep thought and had no clue what she was getting at.
“Oh, come on now… You mean to tell you me you think I’m just some dumb blonde you hired to play cute? Well I’m not. Number one, I’m a redhead. That was your first mistake. Your second was to think that I don’t read everything that comes across my desk. It’s my job. Remember?”
“What…” Watts pleaded.
“Does Jewel Venom ring any bells, Benjamin?”
“W-what the hell a-are you talking… about?” Watts stumbled over his words.
“That’s right, Benjamin. I read over the files. What the hell have you done? What the hell have you gotten into? More importantly, what the hell have you gotten Clarksburg into?”
“I don’t know, all right!” Watts yelled, his voice unconvincing.
The cell fell silent. She sighed, tired of beating around the bush. She glared through the glass in the door with vengeful eyes. Watts stared back, but only for a moment. His gaze broke, falling to the floor. His eyes glossed over with shame and disgust. Chelsea imagined that what he was feeling had nothing to do with what he had done and everything to do with getting caught. He hated not being in control. His sorrowful expression was probably nothing more tha
n the remorseful feeling of realizing he had messed up down the line. Messed up by letting Chelsea have full access to his files or not hiring someone with less brains and more breasts.
Chelsea slammed the barrel of the revolver into the door, jarring her boss from his silent daze. He looked up wide eyed and tense.
“I am only going to ask one more time. What is Jewel Venom?” Her words were firm.
“What the hell are you asking me for? You read the damn files!”
She didn’t respond, but only glared harder.
“Okay, look…” he said, then coughed, clearing his throat. “Nationwide sales have plummeted over the last…”
“It always comes back to money with you, doesn’t it?” She shouted, cutting him off.
“You want me to talk or not? This whole thing wasn’t my fucking idea, all right? Corporate put me up to it.”
Chelsea nodded, suggesting he continue.
“Like I said… Nationwide sales have plummeted in the last few years for the fast food industry. Golden Arch isn’t the only company feeling these effects, okay. With the economic slump and the push for everyone to become environmentally friendly, things are changing. The world’s going in a new direction. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”
“What does any of this have to do with what’s going on out there?” Chelsea demanded, waving her hands toward the invisible parking lot and beyond outside.
“Just give me a second. Damn.”
She sighed, letting him continue.
“With the push for everyone and everything to go green. More fuel efficient cars. Global warming. The war in Iraq. People are becoming more aware. Not only of what’s going on around them and about the cause and effect of their choices, but they are paying more attention to themselves as well.”
“What the hell are you getting at, Benjamin?”
“People are opposing the fast food industry. More and more people are not eating meat for health reasons and it’s hitting the corporation hard. If we…”
As Watts was rambling on, Chelsea’s minded drifted off. More people not eating meat? Vegetarians? Although Chelsea had no freaking clue where Watts was going with all of this, her mind drifted to a certain young Gothic girl. Noel’s face flashed in her mind. She thought back to the conversation they had at the back of the building. Noel had been pretty disgusted when Chelsea had mentioned who she worked for. Even laughed at the company acronym. Chelsea silently laughed to herself not ever noticing it before now.
G.A.C… Because it makes you want to gac, she thought, looking back up at Watts who was still talking.
“... and that’s when Corporate stepped in. It was their idea. Not mine.”
“What the fuck, does sales and health have to do with any of this shit?” Chelsea said.
“Have you not been listening to a word I’ve said, woman?” His eyes went wide, regretting the word.
She didn’t notice.
He swallowed hard and he continued before she had the chance to pick up on the demeaning remark. “With the decline in sales and people becoming more aware of what they eat, things for us had become drastic. Do you know what the obesity rate is in America? More than a third, Chelsea. And that’s just the adults. Hell, look at that June lady that works here at the station. It’s out of control. And you know who they’re pointing the blame at? Us… Not just the fast food industry, but corporate America in general. That’s why something drastic had to happen you see.”
“You still haven’t answered me, Benjamin. What is Jewel Venom?”
“Seriously, Chelsea. Why do I have to go over this? You’ve read the files.”
“I only skimmed them, all right. And a lot of it went over my head. Like Octopimia-something. What the hell is that?”
“Octopamine,” Watts laughed. “The corporation. The boys at the top. About three years ago, right before we opened the factory south of here, they teamed up with company involved in Neurogenesis or some shit. I really don’t know what they’re about. Something to do with the brain. Chemicals and stuff.”
“As if you weren’t already pumping stuff into the food as it is, Benjamin. What is it?”
“Well, I don’t know exactly, to be honest. All I know is that the Jewel Venom is actually from some wasp overseas. The new factory was set up, not only to take care of product demand, but to also test out this new chemical.”
“Venom, Benjamin? You didn’t think this might kill some people? What the hell were you thinking? Or where you thinking at all?”
“That’s the thing, Chelsea. This wasp venom isn’t like that. It’s from some wasp called the Jewel wasp and the chemical that it affects in its victims is something called Octopamine. That’s what really caught our attention. That’s why they’ve been testing it out at our factory. In bugs, this octo-thing is related to the chemicals in the brain and causes temporary paralysis.”
“So this wasp that you’re talking about puts its victims in a catatonic state? How would putting people in comas increase sales? Why the fuck would you even think about associating that with the food industry. That’s just idiotic, Benjamin.”
Watts shrugged, and then continued. “It wasn’t my call. I just run the plant. You know that. And besides, the effect that this venom is supposed to have on humans is totally different. Octopamine in bugs is different in humans. In bugs, it dealt with motor function and in humans it regulated fat in the body or some shit. I don’t know. The venom attacks the same chemical in both bugs and humans.”
“Oh, yeah, Benjamin?” Chelsea shouted. “And what effect were you going for exactly? Cannibalistic crazies? Cause that’s what you ended up with!”
“I don’t know what went wrong, okay? I didn’t plan this. Any of it. Corporate had it in their heads that this Octopamaine chemical in humans had something to do with the fat cells in the body. I said that. The goal was to create a burger that had all the great attributes of fast food, while offering a unique way to lose weight. The wasp venom, under the right conditions, was supposed to trick the neurons in the brain into attacking fat cells. The venom manipulates Octopamine somehow. I don’t know how it works.”
“And you weren’t worried about long-term side effects or anything?”
“That’s not my job!”
“It never was, was it?” Chelsea felt sick to her stomach. “Well, I’d say your little science experiment worked, Benjamin.”
“This wasn’t planned!”
“Just like you didn’t plan on dumping it all into the damn river?”
“That was another one of corporates ideas. We had to hide the fact they we were testing various venoms. Dumping the failed test subjects was the best way to get rid of the evidence.”
“Test what? Subjects… really?”
“Just dumb chimps mostly. Like anyone cares about…”
“Shut the hell up!” She insisted, slamming the heel of her shoe into the door. It shook, startling Watts.
He squirmed against the wall. His arms fidgeted at his sides. He was clearly afraid of what she might do, or what might happen in general. Chelsea grinned, watching through the glass in the door. Seeing him on edge pleased her. Her heart filled with pride knowing that this chauvinist pig wouldn’t be getting away with any of this. Or would he? Noel had made a pretty valid point earlier. Guys like Benjamin Watts were loaded with money and had pull in every branch of government. They were above the system. If he got out, he’d just pull some strings and clean his hands of all this in a heartbeat. That wasn’t fair. Life wasn’t fair. Not to the dead outside trying to get in and not to her. She didn’t disserve to get caught up in all of this. And she sure as hell wasn’t getting dragged down with him either. Watching him wiggle awkwardly made her fell bigger. Feel in control. She liked it. Maybe this was why Watts was the way he was. Addicted to the rush. She felt the blood coursing through her veins and each enthralling beat of her heart as it pounded against her chest. A chill ran up her spine as she smiled at him looking frail and defenseless.
“You think you’re going to get away with this. Don’t you?”
As much as he tried to hide it, the smile showed through. “Come on, Chelsea. You know as well as I do that we try helping…”
“Don’t even pretend!” She shouted, cutting him off once more. “Just answer this; have you already introduced this Jewel nonsense into the market?”
Watts fell silent. His eyes scanned the floor around him. She couldn’t tell, but it looked like he was holding his breath. Watts ran his fingers through his hair, stalling to answer her. He shuffled his feet and coughed.
“Well…” She insisted. “Is it in the open market or not, Benjamin? God help us all if it is!”
“It’s not, all right?” Benjamin stomped. “They were in the testing phase still. How the hell was I supposed to know that any of this would happen? Underground rivers that go through the fucking cemetery?” He threw his hands in the air. “Underground rivers… give me break. That June lady doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Stupid fat bitch. And even still, so what if the underground rivers are there? Like I was supposed to know about them or that the shit we were pumping into the river would end up under the damn cemetery.”
“Actually, Benjamin.” Chelsea scratched the scalp of her head with the revolver. “That type of information is something you should have checked on.”
“You’re absolutely right, Chelsea. I’m sorry!”
Chelsea gritted her teeth against those words. “Do you really mean that, Benjamin?”
“Truly… I do!” Watts insisted. “I’ve realized the error of my ways.”
“Well… in that case,” she said, unlocking the cell door. “Let’s see about reversing this mess.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to get at the entire time. Finally… you see it my way.” Watts smiled, stepping toward the door, eager to leave the cell and get to the helicopter.
She stepped aside letting the door swing open to the groans of the hinges. Watts stepped out. Smiling ear to ear, he nodded at Chelsea as she let him pass.
“I’m glad you’re finally seeing things my way, Chelsea. We need to get some more cleanup crews in here to take care of this. Then, when this has all blown over, we can start anew. Bigger. Better. More.”
Rancid: A Zombie Novel Page 19