Ominous Ordeal (Jane Zombie Chronicles Book 5)

by Gayle Katz

  More hideous noises freeze me in place. My terrified heart jumps into my throat. Fear can’t stop me, though – I’m better than that. I have to be useful. This person needs my assistance, and I’m going to help him. Cautiously walking over to my cage door, I push it open slowly with a creak. I hold my breath, hoping that none of the monsters notice me. I sneak out, sprint down the walkway, make a left, and see a man slumped in the corner of his cell.

  “Was that you? Do you need help?”

  “Yes, please.”

  I hear footsteps behind me, turn around, and see the zombies rushing our way. I open his door, enter, and slam it closed behind me to prevent any stray zombies from entering. I stare at them as they try to shove their heads and limbs through the bars. Looking away from the monster movie in front of me, I turn my head to face the man on the floor. “What’s wrong? What can I do?” I move closer to him.

  “Something bit me.” He shows me the still-red and bloodied bite mark on the fleshy part of his upper thigh. “And I feel funny. I’m hearing crazy voices and when I look around no one is there. I fear I’m losing control. I’m beginning to think these voices are in my head.”

  “Try to focus on my words instead, all right?”

  “A-And no one has come to help me, except for you, of course. Look at my hands, they’re shaking. I can’t stop them.”

  Wrapping my hands around his to steady them, they stop shaking momentarily. “How’s this?”

  “Better.”

  I smile to reassure him everything is going to be fine, even though deep down inside, I know it isn’t. What else can I possibly do?

  “You’re not afraid of me?”

  “No, why would I be afraid of you?”

  “Because I’m changing, probably turning into one of those monsters over there,” he raises his limp arm and points to the zombies stumbling around in the room. Some of them are attracted to us and are screeching through the bars. Their arms are reaching out to grab us, unsuccessfully for now. “I’m trying to fight it, but…”

  “But it’s nearly impossible, I know.”

  “You know? But you seem fine to me.”

  “I am now, well, for the most part, but I was infected the first time years ago. It was horrible,” I explain, showing off my original bite mark scar.

  He looks at the scar and then he reaches out to touch the newest markings on my body. “What happened here and here? You have more bites.”

  I pause, taking in his words, fighting back my tears. “T-They… uh… they’re using me as a test subject, a lab rat, really.” A nervous laugh escapes my lips. “They threw me in with a bunch of those things,” I say, pointing to the undead creatures desperate to get to us. “It was… ummm… probably the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” I choke out.

  “I’m sorry you had to endure that.”

  “Me too, but I can’t focus on that, right? I-We need to get out of here.”

  “I won’t be able to go with you. The sickness is inside of me already. Consuming me. And I’d only slow you down. And that’s the last thing you need, a dead weight, that might turn into a full-fledged zombie.”

  “No. No. No. You can’t think like that. You have to fight it. I know the compulsion to give into the darkness and feed is overwhelming. At least, it was for me, but you can survive. It’s possible.”

  “How did you make it through?”

  “My husband – boyfriend at the time – got me through it. He talked to me about our life together and helped me remember all of the great things that I needed to live for. That’s what I can do for you.”

  “That seems like a lot of trouble.”

  “Not at all. It’s my pleasure. Tell me about yourself. Ummm… what’s your name?”

  “Tahir.”

  “Nice to meet you, Tahir. My name is Jane.”

  “Nice meeting you, too.”

  “Do you have a family?”

  “M-My wife, Saffiyah. I love her, but she’s dead.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I look down at the floor, “but I know she would want you to live. She loved you, right? The last thing she would have wanted is for you to die.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t give up hope, at least not yet, OK? You can beat this thing. You totally can. I did and I know you can, too.” I look around and see his old plate of uneaten food and a couple bottles of water. “When was the last time you ate?”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Well, you have to eat and drink. Drinking lots of liquids is key to staving off the infection.” I grab one of his bottles of water, twist off the cap, and hand him the bottle. “Will you be able to hold the bottle, or should I help?”

  “I’m gonna need your help. Without your hands to steady mine, I’ll probably just drop it.”

  “We’ll do it together.” I smile again to be comforting.

  Together we bring the bottle to his mouth and tip it over a little bit so he can drink some of the water. As he drinks, we tip it over more and more. I might have tipped it over a bit too much, when he coughs some of the water up.

  “Sorry! I’m sorry!”

  “It’s OK. I know you’re trying to help,” he says as he wipes the liquid from his chin.

  “Why don’t you eat something?” I lean over, grab his tray of food, and put it on his lap. I pick up the spoon, scoop some of the food into it, and bring it to his mouth. He opens wide, takes the food, and starts to chew.

  “Thank you,” he says while he’s eating. He holds up his hands and they’ve stopped shaking. “I guess I was just hungry.”

  “That’s a step in the right direction at least. Listen, have they given you the serum they’re developing?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve been poked and prodded so many times. At some point, I lost track of what they were taking out of my body and putting back in.”

  “I can relate to that. How long have you been here?”

  “Again, it’s been a while.”

  “Hmmm. Drink some more, won’t you?” I say, as I hand him the opened bottle of water.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem. I have to ask, have you tried to escape from this place?”

  “Once. A while back I tried. When I had my strength, I knocked one of those thugs on his butt, didn’t know what hit him, but two others tackled me as I tried to make it to the exit. Now that they’ve moved us, I haven’t been out of my cell yet. I don’t know this new place. And if I were to break out and actually escape, I don’t know where we are. I don’t know where I’d go.”

  “That shouldn’t matter. Anywhere you go can’t possibly be worse than being trapped in here.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. There are some corrupt people in this world who are worse than even the most depraved zombie. People who’ll cut you to pieces and gnaw on your flesh until they hit bone. You don’t want to find yourself in their company.”

  “Let’s focus on something more uplifting, all right? Can you tell me about your wife, Saffiya?”

  “Ah! Yes! Just thinking about her brings a smile to my face. She was beautiful. Black hair, dark brown eyes, always smiling. When I first saw her, I instantly fell in love. I pursued her and after some coaxing, she agreed to go to dinner with me. I couldn’t believe it!”

  “She sounds like a wonderful woman.”

  “She was, until the government unleashed a massive wave of zombies into our village. We had no notice. No time to escape. We grabbed our guns and weapons and ran upstairs into the bathroom. We did our best to defend ourselves, but it wasn’t enough. We tried to access the attic, but they broke down the door. One of those things bit her. I smashed its head open, but it was too late. The damage had been done. We panicked and didn’t know what to do.

  “The only place for us to go was into the bathtub. Our only hope of survival was the reinforced plexiglass shower door. I jumped in, but my wife didn’t follow. She chose to remain with them. Touching the glass door, her last words were, �
��Tahir, I love you.’ Saying I was devastated doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt not being able to save her. Seconds later, my wife was gone and in her place was… was… I don’t know. I don’t know what got into her. She started jerking her head around and making horrible noises. As she turned into one of them, she started to smash her head against the plexiglass. Not once, but again and again until her head was a bloody mess. Her hair came off in patches and stuck to the bloody marks on the door. She wouldn’t stop. Part of her skull cracked off and I could see her brain. Something evil killed my wife and took over her body. And all I know is that she wasn’t my wife anymore. My wife,” he chokes out, “was dead.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I try to console him. “That must have been devastating.”

  “It was.”

  “Do you remember how you got from there to here?”

  “Yes and no. I knew she wouldn’t want to live like that. So I took a large breath, pulled out my gun, slid open the door, and opened fire on all of them. I spared nothing and no one. Body parts were falling everywhere and, when I ran out of bullets in the clip, I closed the door, reloaded and went for it again. After a while, the stream of zombies stopped. When I believed I was safe, I thought I could get out of the house and get help. I stepped out of the bathroom and went downstairs. But before I left the house, I opened our ammo closet and emptied the rest of our bullets into my bag. That’s when one of those zombies, crawling on the floor, took a chunk outta my leg. As payback, I shot him in the head and blew his brains out. Seconds later, as I was stumbling out of the house, help arrived in the form of a beat-up police car. They said they would fix me up. And now I’m here with you.”

  “And you don’t remember anything after they said they would help you?”

  “Like I said, just lots of needles. Great story, huh?”

  “Disturbing is more like it.”

  “Yeah,” he feigns a laugh, but then grabs his stomach. “Ow,” he winces.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s my stomach. Something must not agree with me.” He doubles over in pain, vomiting all over.

  I immediately stand up and yell at the top of my lungs, “Someone help us! Can anyone hear me? Please help!” I turn back around and see Tahir freaking out, his body twitching as his speech takes on a stutter. I stoop down to him on the floor.

  “Stay with me, all right?” I plead, as I take his hand in mine. I look at his thigh again and the bite wound is getting worse. It’s all discolored, veiny, and quickly spreading to other parts of his leg.

  Breathing heavily, he grabs my hands. “T-Thank you for helping me. I-I think you s-s-should go now.”

  “No. No. No. You have to fight it, Tahir! You can’t let the sickness win. Fight it! Focus on me.” I lift his head up with my hands. He’s staring at me when I see his complexion go pale. “Oh no.” I grab his hands to reassure him, but they go cold, like ice. I let go of his hands, stand up, and slowly back away from him. I watch as he stands up tall in front of me. His jaw is making that familiar clicking sound. Other horrible retching and screeching sounds are coming from him too as he stumbles toward me. I back up further when one of the zombies outside the cage grabs me.

  “Ahhh! Get off of me!” I shout out as I push his hand off of me. If I stay, undead Tahir is going to get me. If I leave, the zombies who are waiting for me around the perimeter of the cage will get me.

  I inhale deeply, muster up my strength, and go to the door, leaving zombie Tahir behind. Grasping the bars firmly in my hand and pushing the door open as fast and as hard as possible, I knock some of the zombies down, hopeful I caught them off guard. As they collect themselves and get back on their feet, it gives me enough time to run back to the security of my cage. If I’m getting out of here, I need to take all of the Professor’s paperwork with me. I’m not leaving without it.

  Once inside, I gather up all of the remaining papers, quickly close the folder, and wrap it up in the rubberband Damar originally had around it. Maybe with all this documentation we’ll find out exactly how this epidemic started and hold Scrycor’s feet to fire to solve the zombie problem. Immediately, I walk back to the cage door, push it open, and run to the main holding cell door. I grab the doorknob, ready to escape. Crap! It’s locked. I try twisting the knob again. No luck. I try ramming the door with my shoulder, but only serve to injure myself. Who am I kidding? Where is my stunt double?

  Chapter 16

  ________________________________________

  I turn around to consider other getaway options. Deep in thought, I see that the rest of the zombies are out of their cages, too. They escaped? How did they get out of their cages? Someone let them out. No. No. No. This can’t be happening. Before I can move, they’re all around me. Their stench is vomit-worthy and they’re getting closer. I take a step back and kick one of them in the face. He falls back and knocks down a couple of others as he hits the floor. I step over them, trying to stomp on their skulls so they don’t become a problem again.

  Being cornered won’t help. I need to make it to higher ground. With some of the zombies down, this is my chance. Gathering my strength, I start to run and gain a little momentum. It helps me to climb up the bars of one of the cages so I can get to safety at the top. I’m about halfway up when a gruesome-looking zombie starts pulling on my leg. I kick him in the face three times and try to keep scaling the cage, but he’s holding on tight.

  “Get off of me!”

  He bites my leg and his teeth sink deep into my flesh.

  “AHHH!” I try to knock him off of me, but I can’t. His teeth are like a thousand little daggers plunging into me. The pain is intense, but I focus and hold on for as long as I can. Unfortunately, the pain is too much and I can’t keep scaling the cage. I fall to the floor, landing on the same shoulder I injured against the door. Peering down at me, the zombies crowd around. The light in the room is fading as they surround me and block it out. This isn’t going to end well. But I can’t give up. I have to fight, no matter what. I’m already infected so I don’t need to worry about that – at least not right now.

  I round up every last bit of my strength. Getting my second wind, I punch and kick enough of the zombies to get out from underneath them. I’m not going to die as a bloodstain on the floor. No way! I’m NOT. I can’t. I make a break for it and decide to try to break down the door again, this time with my feet. Using a front kick with as much momentum as I can get, I drive the heel of my right foot into the door right below the doorknob where the keyhole is located. I hear the door splinter! It’s music to my ears! One of the zombies is back on his feet and attacks me. He bites me right in the neck just above my shoulder. I turn around, pummel him with my fists, and kick him in the chest.

  “Get off me, jerk!” He falls to the floor, giving me some time to make another run at the door. After the third kick, it finally gives way.

  The door crashes open and hits the opposite wall in the hallway, and falls to the floor. I exit the room, step over the broken door, and look somewhere, anywhere for safety. I see light and I run to it. Even if I die, I can’t be their guinea pig anymore. I hear a commotion behind me, so I look back and see the zombies tripping over themselves to follow me. I turn the corner in this maze of a building and run to the next illuminated exit sign. Everything is happening so fast! I look back again to make sure that the zombies are still far enough behind me, but I run right into what seems like a solid wall. It knocks the wind out of me.

  I bounce off of it and fall backwards onto the floor. Momentarily stunned from the encounter, I look up and see disgusting red goo dripping onto the floor and being reabsorbed. It looks like the same red slime that Jack and I saw all the way back at the start of this nightmare in Scarlet Peak. I follow the drip, drip, drip of red goo up to its origination point and see something or someone tall towering over me. With the bright light behind this massive obstacle, I can only see a shadow. It steps closer.

  “Going somewhere?” the voice asks.


  That voice sounds so familiar. At first, I can’t place it, but then I recognize it.

  “Oh no,” I whisper.

  “Hello, Jane. It’s been a while.”

  I’m frozen. Speechless.

  “You recognize me?”

  “Y-Yes. I do.”

  “Who am I?”

  I inhale deeply to keep my composure. “Professor?”

  “Yes. Hmmm. I see you’ve brought some company with you. Let me help you with that,” he says, as he raises both of his hands to the incoming zombie horde hunting me.

  Still on the floor, I look behind and see them all stop in their tracks. They’re no longer a threat. It’s like he’s hypnotizing them and they’re under his spell. I don’t know what kind of mind control he has over them, but they stop their pursuit, at least for the moment.

  He looks down at me. “You’re safe now.”

  At this angle, he’s tall, taller than I remember. Frightened, this all feels very surreal. I don’t believe it. How can I be safe when my former deceased professor has been reanimated before my very eyes? He turned into a monster. And he’s still a monster. He tried to kill me. I saw Jack shoot him in the head and his brains splattered all over. We left his carcass behind when they firebombed campus. And now he’s standing right in front of me? That’s impossible. I must be having another nightmare. Or, maybe this is a hallucination from the medication they’re pumping into my system? Are my repressed memories finally forcing themselves to the surface? I can’t explain any of this. There must be a way to wake myself up from this horror.

  “No, you’re not dreaming, Jane.”

  How does he know what I’m thinking? Staring at him, I have no idea what to say.

  He stoops down, outstretches his arm, and offers his hand. “I don’t know how I’m reading your mind, but I don’t need that power to know that I’m scaring you. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Not anymore. Go ahead,” he says. “Take my hand.”