The Zee Brothers: Zombie Apocalypse Now?: Zombie Exterminators Vol.4

by Grivante

Dr. Nitsau’s hand squeezed the handle of the instrument, causing the blades to close in a bite.

  JJ screamed. “Xanadooooooo!”

  Part XIV - God!

  Xanadu's bark sounded more like a shriek, yet he remained still as the room around him came alive. The image on the screen shook. The overhead lights flashed, some of them exploding in their sockets, sending sparks and glass scattering to the floor.

  Dr. Nitsau could be heard gasping in surprise as a bright whiteness burst from Xanadu, filling the whole view, then the recording ended.

  “What the hell?” JJ said, glancing from the monitor to Jonah. “Did she just cut his paw off? What happened? Why did the video stop?” She grabbed the mouse and frantically scrolled through the folder searching for more videos, tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Jonah reached over, putting one arm around her back and his three-fingered left hand on her hand controlling the mouse. “Take a deep breath, honey,” he whispered into her ear. “I don’t know what happened, but we know he’s okay, right?”

  JJ looked away from the screen, taking a few panting breaths and peering into Jonah’s eyes, then nodded, slowly regaining control.

  “That was in the past,” he continued as he moved her hand with his. “There’s picture files with the same date as the video. Let’s look at those. Maybe those will tell us what happened.”

  She sniffed again and leaned into him before double-clicking on the first of the images. They were a series of pictures showing the lab in chaos, debris everywhere. Anything glass appeared broken, most electronics had smoke drifting up from them, and, sitting on the table, still in the exact position he had been in, was Xanadu. Only, it wasn’t Xanadu. Surrounding him was a black sooty stain and he, himself, was gray, like concrete. A statue, solid and unmoving.

  There were multiple images showing the dog from different angles. They marveled at each of them in turn, breathing hard as they took in what they were seeing. Then something clicked in JJ and she turned to Jonah with a huge smile. “Oh my god! That’s it!”

  “What?” Jonah looked at her confused.

  “That’s it! That’s exactly how I found him in the storage unit. He was sitting there, like a statue, as if he had been waiting.”

  “That’s…” Jonah shook his head. “That’s not…”

  “Not possible?” JJ laughed. “We kill zombies all the time. And we just watched that crazy bitch cut him, and he healed right before our eyes.”

  Jonah nodded, staring at her. “I don’t get it, but okay.”

  They opened a file marked ‘Notes’. In addition to transcribing everything that had happened in the videos, there were notations that on September 21st, 2011, asset number 47385 was relocated to a storage facility. It gave the unit number and address where JJ had found him at the bottom of the page.

  Additional files inside the folder included scanned documents of ancient texts, accompanying translations, and handmade drawings that resembled Xanadu without his collar.

  They sat together in silence, reading through them.

  The largest document told the following tale.

  Xian-Do was an early Buddhist missionary, known as a warrior monk, traveling throughout southern Asia with a canine companion. He opened a training center in Laos to spread the teachings of the Buddha. However, in a nearby village, a medicine man, who felt the messages were corrupting his people, used his arcane powers to raise an army of the dead. He sent them to kill Xian-Do and the others living at the school.

  Upon arriving on the grounds, the medicine man and his undead legion discovered Xian-Do waiting for them. He sat, legs crossed in the dirt, eyes closed, backed by a dozen of his brothers in identical positions, spread out behind him in a V. In between the tips of the V rested his traveling companion, a small brown dog. The monks chanted Xian-Do’s name.

  The medicine man sent the dead marching ahead of him toward the school.

  Xian-Do opened his eyes. They were black as pits, hollow. He stood, lifting a thin wooden staff from the ground before him. His loose-fitting, tan-colored tunic draped over his petite frame. The men behind him each raised their hands and held their palms out toward him as they continued chanting his name.

  As the rotting corpses approached, Xian-Do’s body glowed and rose above the dirt. In the sky a similar light appeared, sending multi-colored, diamond-shaped sparkles dancing across the ground.

  The dead slowed, moving almost imperceptibly as a noise the likes of which no one had ever heard, filled the air. The man pushed his undead army forward, forcing them to move, though they appeared stuck in place.

  The monks behind Xian-Do stood, lifting swords from beside them as they rose to their feet and rushed forth. They took the heads off the walking corpses with precision and speed until the medicine man could tell they would win. He spat a curse in Xian-Do’s direction and ran into the woods, never to be seen or heard from again.

  Unseen by the other’s, Xian-Do fell to the ground, the light faded from the sky and the noise quieted. The remaining dead came to life and fought back, attacking the monks, who were caught off guard by their sudden reanimation. In moments, many of them fell. Xian-Do watched in horror as the flesh-hungry beasts swarmed. He struggled to his feet, using the staff to hold himself steady as the poison coursed through his veins.

  Power surged inside him as well, the magic bestowed upon him by his brothers to protect them all. He could feel it, despite the sickness ravaging his body from the medicine man’s curse. He turned, looking back at the dog, gasping for breath. He held out a hand, beckoning, and crumpled once more to the floor.

  The small dog rushed toward him and Xian-Do folded over into a crouched position. Legs bent, torso leaning forward, right arm stretched behind him and left arm raised above his head. The dog ran straight up his back and leapt from his shoulders. As he did so, passing over Xian-Do’s outstretched left hand, the man shouted his own name and a light pulsed from his palm, into the animal.

  With a gentle sway, the human form of Xian-Do collapsed and the dog’s body flew into the air, a brilliant illumination burst forth and with it a cleansing fire which turned the mass of dead to statues of ash. Leaving only two of the warrior monks surviving.

  They went on to recount the legend of Xian-Do and what they had seen that day, including, in the clearing amongst the pile of ashes, a stone statue of the dog who had been Xian-Do’s companion.

  They kept the statue at the school, which later became a temple. Many more statues were hand-crafted by the warrior monk brotherhood as symbols of strength, calmness, and protection. Somewhere over the years, the original disappeared.

  “Can that be true?” JJ asked.

  Jonah shrugged. “At this point, I can’t believe any of it, but I also can’t not believe it. He poops diamonds for Christ's sake. I’m as baffled as you are.”

  Judas stopped in front of Savini Charter School and found Nantucket waiting for him on the steps. She rushed toward him shouting his name, carrying a backpack slung over her shoulder that bounced against her back. He got out of the car to greet her.

  “Judas!” She wrapped her arms around his waist and smashed her head into his body armor. “It’s so good to see you!”

  “You too,” he said, embracing her.

  They separated and looked each other over. Nat took in his dirty, bloody, and armored form. Judas noticed her newer, brighter clothes, including a colorful shirt with flowers on it.

  “You look great, Nat,” he said. “Have things been better for you at school?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “It’s been a lot better. I’m just Nat now, or sometimes ‘that cool girl who is friends with the Zombie Exterminators’.” She giggled. “It’s pretty good, really.”

  “That’s awesome,” he said, beaming.

  “But you,” she said raising her eyebrows at him. “Look like things aren’t going very well.”

  “No,” he shook his head. “They’re not. Get in and I’ll explain on the way.”

&nbs
p; She looked past him at the shiny truck. “Wow! You got your license, and that truck is beautiful! Is it yours?”

  Judas grinned. “She is a beauty, isn’t she? We call her Sasha.”

  Fifteen minutes later…

  “Oh my god!” Nantucket stared wide-eyed as Judas finished explaining. “She can control the dead?”

  He nodded at her as they pulled to a stop. “Yes, and lots of them at once from what we’ve seen.”

  Nat dried her hands, rubbing her palms against her jeans. “She needs to be stopped.”

  “Yes. And that’s where we need your help. We don’t know where she’s taken Xanadu. We have to find them and stop her before she unleashes whatever kind of crazy apocalypse-causing plan she has ready.”

  “Ok,” she said, glancing out the window at the buildings rolling by. “How much farther is it?”

  “Just a few minutes,” Judas said. “We tracked her to an old warehouse downtown. That’s where Jonah & JJ are, keeping the computer from locking.”

  Nantucket grew quiet and studied Judas. After a moment, he glanced at her. “What?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  “How are things going there?”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  Her face squished up as she thought about how to phrase it. “Your relationship with her and your brother?”

  Judas’s cheeks warmed, turning red. He reached up and tugged at the body armor he still wore, trying to cool himself off. “It’s complicated,” he said, not looking at her.

  She didn’t pry further, but waited in silence as they drove. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, so she asked. “Do you love her?”

  “Yeah,” he said, nodding. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a mint.

  “And he loves her?”

  “Yep,” he nodded again and put the mint between his teeth.

  “And she loves you both?”

  Judas’s lips tightened as he sucked on the mint, nodding again but not saying anything.

  “Well,” Nantucket said, smiling at him. “At least everyone loves each other, that’s a good start.”

  Judas chuckled, looking over at her. “Yeah, I guess that is, huh?”

  In the warehouse Jonah and JJ sat at the computer, clicking away, studying different files, trying to find something of meaning.

  “This is useless,” she muttered. “We could be here for days.”

  “I know.” Jonah closed another random corporate memo.

  “How much longer till they get back do you think?”

  “Not sure,” He opened another file, sighing in frustration.

  “Jonah,” she reached over, placing a palm on his leg.

  “Yeah,” he answered distractedly, reading the latest.

  She ran her hand up his thigh.

  He turned to her, a smile spreading across his lips.

  “Maybe we could do something else to keep us distracted until then?”

  Jonah raised an eyebrow at her.

  In response, she lifted both of hers provocatively and parted her legs, moving closer.

  He smiled, but put his hand on her knee, stopping her. JJ’s face sagged and she tilted her head. “What’s the matter?”

  Jonah let out a long sigh. “What happened last night... the three of us when we were drunk, that was…” he opened and closed his fists in the air before him, struggling for words.

  “A lot of fun?” JJ offered, smiling.

  Jonah chuckled. “Yes, but I’m not sure how I feel about us sleeping together. I know you love us both, and if there’s anyone I would share a woman with, it would be Judas, but it’s just so complicated. And I don’t know if we’ll be able to do this without killing each other.”

  She smiled at him, reaching over and taking his hands in hers. “Jonah, I get it. I do. Sometimes, I look at the two of you and my heart is like a big yo-yo. I want him, no I want him. Back and forth. We’ll figure out a way to make it work where we all have our time together, one on one and alone. But right now, we don’t even know if we'll live to see tomorrow. And in this moment, I’m with you, and I want you.”

  JJ leaned in, parted her lips, and kissed him until his arms opened and he took her into them.

  Part XV - Ugly Cupcakes

  Judas parked the truck in the alley near the rear staircase so he and Nantucket could join the others quickly. Upon entering, he heard sounds of rapid movement, people shuffling, and he grabbed his gun, for the first time realizing maybe Nitsau and her henchmen had returned.

  “Wait here,” he held up a hand, stopping Nantucket inside the stairwell. “If anything happens, run!”

  She nodded, eyes as wide as saucers.

  Judas ducked and crept toward the nearest cubicle wall. He stopped at the corner, listening. Whispered voices and the sounds of shuffling feet floated to him, it sounded like JJ and Jonah, but he wasn’t sure. He peeked around the edge, eyes narrowing, and his brow furrowed.

  “Um, hi,” he said, standing as Jonah and JJ spun to look at him. Both of their faces were flushed and glistening with sweat. “What’s going on?”

  Their mouths hung open in an awkward moment of silence. “We uh…” Jonah started, glancing at JJ, then shook his head. “We were, um, fooling around.”

  A lump formed in Judas’s stomach, his face turned pale, and his open mouth matched theirs. “Wh… without me?”

  JJ glanced up at Jonah, squeezed his hand, and said, “I’ll go talk to him. You get Nat up and running.”

  “Ok,” Jonah sighed, giving his brother a half-smile.

  Judas’s mouth had gone dry and he crunched the last of the mint between his teeth. Blood thundered in his head and he felt dizzy as she walked over to him.

  She reached out and took one of his hands. “C’mon, let’s go for a walk.”

  He followed her without question as she led him back to the stairs.

  Nantucket peered around the corner and spotted their approach. “JJ!” She cried and ran forward, grasping JJ’s waist and smashing her head against the flat padding of the body armor she still wore.

  “Hi, Nat!” JJ said, squeezing her close. “We’re so glad you are here! Thank you so much for coming. We need you!”

  Nantucket beamed. “Judas told me what’s happening. I hope I can help!”

  “You’re our best chance of finding Xanadu and stopping Dr. Nitsau,” JJ said, releasing her from the hug. “Listen, I have to go talk to Judas for a bit. Jonah’s right over there and he'll tell you what we need.”

  “Ok!”

  Outside, JJ climbed into Sasha, found her purse, and pulled out a fresh pack of cigarettes. When she got out, she caught Judas staring at her, cheeks pale, eyes puffy. Her heart ached for him and she rushed over, pulling him into a close embrace.

  “Oh, Judas. I’m so sorry you’re hurting right now.” His body went rigid in her arms, but she held on until he relaxed into her, placing his face in her hair and weeping.

  After a few minutes of standing there, she stepped back and peered up at him. “I know that wasn’t comfortable for you and we didn't intend for it to happen, it just did. It was to take our… well, my mind off everything. I needed a distraction and,” she took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “And Judas, sometimes we'll do things all together and other times we’ll do them with just two of us, but it doesn’t mean that the other person doesn’t matter, in fact, I carry each of you in my heart when I’m with you both or by mys—”

  Judas let out a deep sigh, tears springing forth as he enclosed her in his arms, cutting off her words. “Okay,” he said and sobbed. “Okay. It's, well, when I saw… I thought it meant you didn’t… want me.” He sniffed in his running nose.

  “Oh,” she looked up at him, taking his cheeks in her hand. “I want you!” She kissed him on the lips and smiled. “I do. So much. I can’t imagine my life without either of you.”

  His body pressed into her and he let out an even larger sigh. “Thank you.”

  She laughed at th
at and hugged him anew, squeezing tight. “No, thank you. I’m the luckiest girl there is to be loved by two amazing men like you and Jonah.”

  They stood in silence for a few moments staring into each other’s eyes, JJ nodded over at Sasha, gave him a grin, and asked. “Do you wanna?”

  He scanned the alley and found it empty, then broke out into a huge smile. “Hell yes!”

  Ten minutes later, the truck slowed its rocking back and forth, the springs quieting. They exited, adjusted their clothes as they grinned at each other, and walked back to the stairwell, hands finding each other as they went. Climbing the stairs, their conversation restarted.

  “How are things going here?” Judas asked.

  “Not too well. We mostly found useless information on her corporation’s internal workings, but we found out a bunch about Xanadu and what she was after him for.”

  “Was she trying to harvest his diamonds?” He asked as they entered the second-floor office space. “That’s why I figured she wanted him, to fund her research or something.”

  “No, at least not that we could tell, but she did some horrible experiments to him and you’ll never believe it, but he supposedly was an ancient Buddhist monk named Xian-Do that fought zombies hundreds of years ago.”

  “What? That’s incredible!”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “All this time I’ve been picking up his little treasures thinking he had some sort of weird biology that was making it happen, but it turns out it was an effect of the magic he used to transfer himself from his human body into the dog’s.”

  “Wow.” They stopped just inside the door while Judas absorbed what she had told him. “What are you saving them for, anyway?”

  She smiled at him. “Someday I’ll sell them and use the money to open my cupcake shop on the Oregon coast.”

  “You bake?” he asked her.

  “Well, yeah, I bake, but I’m not very good at decorating, so I'm going to call it ‘Ugly Cupcakes’.” She grinned.