D-Day brought the bike to a stop several yards away on the grass outside the pharmacy. Wayne pulled up beside him.
The tingling had intensified and covered one whole side of Jen's body. The side she'd been bitten on. She rubbed her unaffected hand over the tingling arm and paused at the scar from the zombie bite. What the hell is going on?
Two armed men approached. "We've got an outbreak up ahead. Zombies everywhere. You folks need to turn around and leave."
Jen laughed. "Zombie is my middle name."
19
Jen held her badge up. "Homeland Security. Agent Reed."
One of the men stepped forward and took the badge from her. He returned to his partner and they examined the badge and whispered between themselves. The man who took the badge looked up. "And these others?"
Jen pointed to Zeke. "Agent Tripp. These other men are with us."
The man with the badge tossed it to her. "You need to check in with the chief." He led her to a West Warwick cop giving orders to a group of men.
"You guys get on the right flank and hold them," he said. "We've got to keep them from spreading out of Arctic."
He turned to Jen as she approached him. One of the men who'd challenged her team whispered in the cop's ear.
The cop smiled and thrust out a hand. "Agent Reed? I'm Captain Leander. I'm in charge here."
Jen shook his hand, then pointed at Zeke and the others in turn. "Agent Tripp, his brother, Wayne, and D-Day."
Leander shook each of their hands, but gave D-Day an extra once-over. "What can I do for you?"
"What's your sitrep?" D-Day asked.
Leander looked from D-Day to Jen. She shrugged. "Good question."
He pointed to their left. "Outbreak started at the senior center and—"
Jen's tingling went into overdrive just as a twenty-something zombie with stringy, blood-matted hair stumbled from around the corner of the pharmacy.
Jen put up a hand. "Don't shoot."
With a puzzled expression, Leander waved his hand. "Hold fire."
The zombie was missing a chunk of meat from its left thigh, but it continued to limp toward Jen. She pulled her tomahawk and strode toward the zombie.
Someone behind her murmured, "What the hell's she doing?"
A sharp shh quieted him.
Jen's tingling became stronger, painful, as if a thousand needles were being jammed into the bitten side of her body.
The zombie's head tilted back and the hair covering the face fell away.
Jen winced and gritted her teeth. Got to ignore the pain.
She charged the zombie with the tomahawk cocked over her head. Swinging it down, she slammed the blade into the zombie's forehead, holding back enough to just wound it.
Facing the cops and militia, she held up a hand to stop a militia woman who was raising her shotgun. Leander shot the woman a glare and she lowered her weapon.
The zombie stopped and shuffled, turning to face Jen. She pressed her bitten arm to her side and gasped as a bolt of electricity shot up her side. Got to take this thing out now. Enough experimenting.
She stepped into her strike, bringing the pointed end of the tomahawk around and punching it into the zombie's right eye. It dropped to the ground, the goo from the punctured eye dripping from the tomahawk.
The pain, the electricity down Jen's side vanished. Jen panted. That's some interesting shit.
She walked back to the others. "Chief," she said, "we're going in."
"Do what you want," Leander said. "We're still waiting for more men before we push in, so we won't be able to help you if you run into trouble."
Jen grinned. Who the hell in this world has been in more zombie trouble than me? "Understood."
She moved several yards back from Leander and his people. Wayne, D-Day, and Zeke gathered around her.
"I want you guys to know what's going on. No secrets." She paused and looked at each in turn. Wayne had a look of concern, while D-Day's perma-frown didn't waver. Zeke couldn't keep still, moving his weight back and forth between his legs. He's like an ADD sixth grader.
"You wondered what the bite and serum might have done to me, besides the trendy two-toned eyes." She took a deep breath. "I can feel when a zombie is close by."
"What does that mean?" D-Day asked. "Feel?"
"I can't explain it very well, at least not yet. But I felt it all the way back at the diner. It got stronger as we got closer to this spot." None of their expressions changed.
"Look," she said, "when that zombie showed itself, the feeling shot through me like an electric shock. It hurt like hell, and it didn't stop until I killed it."
"Do you feel any other zombies around now?" Wayne asked.
She shrugged. "I have the low-level uneasiness I first felt at the diner. But the pain and high intensity sensations turned off like someone had flipped a switch."
"You get the most awesome stuff," Zeke said.
Jen rolled her eyes at him. "We'll see how awesome it is."
"And that's why you want to go in," D-Day said. "See if it happens again. Experiment."
"Bingo."
He slipped the machete from its sheath. "Let's do it."
"We've got our own zombie detector," Zeke said.
Leander walked over. "When are you going in? I've got my men positioned and we can cover you."
"Right now," Jen said. "Where are the cleared areas?"
He pointed to the left of the intersection. "Anything that way. All cleared."
Jen positioned herself out in front of the vehicles and the troops taking cover behind them. Sensations came from a one-hundred-degree radius up the street. They're all over in that direction.
She pointed to a bank. "We'll head there and start clearing out buildings."
D-Day took a step forward, but Jen put an arm out and he stopped. He glanced at her arm and then at her as if to say her puny arm could do nothing to stop him.
"Better let me go first," she said. "With this new sense, I might be able to detect a horde or an ambush quicker."
"Makes sense." He stepped aside.
Jen peered down the road to her right. It looked abandoned, the only thing moving was a sheet of newspaper blowing down the sidewalk.
Zeke stood next to her. "Where are they?"
Tingling ran up Jen's side. "They're out there."
She approached the bank's glass door, trying to peer inside for any movement. D-Day took up position on one side of the door, while Wayne took the other. "Zeke and I will go in first," she said.
Wayne pulled the door open and held it. Walking on the balls of her feet, Jen choked up on the tomahawk and crept in. Zeke had his katana held ready, and he entered by her side.
It was a small bank, and Jen could see most of it from the door. Nothing stirred, so she gestured for Zeke to approach the teller windows on the right while she took the left. She got up on her tiptoes to look over the counter. There was nothing but empty stools and papers scattered across the floor.
Wayne entered the building and crept toward the single restroom door. D-Day hustled to catch up with him. "Don't go wandering off alone."
D-Day pushed the door open, revealing a lightless room of shadows. Wayne reached in and flipped the switch. D-Day let the door close. "Nothing."
The tingling had dropped to almost nothing. It was like playing the kid's game Hot and Cold. The tingling increased when she was near a zombie, and died when they were far enough away. I wonder if having buildings and walls between me and the zombies makes a difference?
She walked toward the back door, which had an exit sign above it. The tingling slowly built back up. "This way."
The door opened into a back parking lot with an ATM drive. Older homes sat across the road.
Jen took several steps into the parking lot and looked down the street. Still nothing.
Zeke hitched his thumb to the right. "Do you want us to do this building next? If I don't get to kick some zombie ass soon, I'm going to burst."
/> The next building over was the back entrance to a store. A two-story white building with fresh colorful paint, it stood in sharp contrast to the bank with its barred windows and plain exterior.
Jen approached the store and stopped, clenching her teeth. The tingling down her side went into overdrive. "They're close. Be ready."
Wayne put a hand to his ear. "Listen."
The sound of hundreds of pounding feet came from down the road.
"Get in the building," Jen yelled.
20
Jen dashed through the doors, nearly running over Zeke, who stood looking at the oncoming horde with a faint smile on his face. She grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him inside.
D-Day and Wayne pulled the doors closed and followed Jen and Zeke into the small shop. She led them to the far side of the store where a staircase went to the second floor. No sooner had they reached the stairs than banging began at the back doors.
D-Day pointed at the store's front windows, which looked out over Main Street. Scores of zombies raced past, heading for the militia lines. Guns barked and men yelled as they engaged the horde.
"We're surrounded," Wayne said. "Can't go out the front or back."
"Then we go up." Jen climbed the stairs, which opened onto a landing with three closed doors. Jen opened the one straight ahead and turned on the light. A small office, it had an industrial metal desk, a reclining chair patched with electrical tape, and a cabinet overflowing with papers.
"Nothing in here." She closed the door and turned to the others. D-Day had opened one door and Zeke the other. He immediately closed his, holding his nose. "Just the bathroom."
D-Day stepped through the third door and disappeared for a moment. He stuck his head back out. "Looks like this is our best bet."
Jen followed Wayne inside. "An apartment?"
"A lot of these buildings that have businesses on the first floor have apartments on the second," Wayne said.
The banging downstairs increased. Jen crept to the top of the stairway. The left side of her body had gone practically numb from her built-in zombie detection alarm. There has to be more of them.
"I don't think we have more than five minutes before they're inside." She peered down the stairway trying to see the shadow-covered stairs. She flipped a switch on the wall and an overhead light buzzed, flickered, and went dark. "Shit."
She took her sunglasses off and put them in her shirt pocket. Better.
Wayne stood in the apartment doorway. "Come on."
She turned to him and he flinched. She almost felt like apologizing. I wonder if any of them will ever look at me the same again.
"I'm staying here," Jen said. "Top of the stairs is a good choke point."
Zeke pushed past Wayne. "Then I'm standing there with you."
Jen shook her head. "Narrow stairs. Only room for one. You should take that doorway to the apartment as a choke point. Keep the door closed. The three of you can defend it once it's breached."
D-Day tromped toward her. "Bullshit. We don't need heroes."
Jen smiled. "Looks like you're getting all emotional on me, big guy. Who said I was going to let myself get overrun? I'll hold this choke point until I can't hold it anymore, then I'm falling back into the apartment with you. I'll catch my breath while the three of you defend the door. That is, if you can handle it for a few minutes without me."
D-Day clenched his fists and lumbered back into the apartment. "Damn Homeland Security agents," he murmured.
Wayne followed him in, but Zeke didn't move. "You got bit because of me and I don't feel right leaving you out here to get bit again."
Jen's left leg spasmed. "The freaking zombies will be in here in another minute. I need you back in the apartment, and I won't take your shit. I've already been bitten and haven't turned, so I'm probably immune. That's more than I can say for you."
Zeke stared at her for a moment, then said, "I'll leave. But if I think you aren't coming back, I'm coming out to get you."
Jen grinned. "I expect nothing less. Now get the hell out of here."
Zeke disappeared and the door closed. The gunfire and the banging had reached a crescendo. Sounds like they're hammering in the front door, too.
Jen positioned herself two steps down the stairway and took a couple practice swings with the tomahawk. I should be able to hold this thing for a while.
A crash and the tinkle of shattering glass came from downstairs. Banging, as if furniture was being tossed aside followed, and underneath it all, the shuffling of dozens of feet.
A wave of zombies flooded the bottom of the stairwell, creating a pile of intertwined limbs and snarling, yellow-eyed faces. Blood poured from their wounds and predator eyes searched for prey.
Jen widened her stance and bent her knees slightly, swinging the tomahawk back and forth. Two zombies broke from the pileup and raced up the stairs toward her. Twenty steps, fifteen, ten.
The lead zombie's eyes burned into hers, but it stopped two steps away. Its head tilted as its gaze bore into hers. "One more step and I'm dropping your ass," she said.
The second zombie clambered to get over the first, but stopped as his eyes locked with Jen's.
What the hell? They look confused.
"You can't tell if I'm friend or foe, can you?"
She closed her human eye. Both zombies straightened and stumbled down the stairs. The pile of zombies at the bottom unraveled and headed into the store.
"Well I'll be dipped in dogshit."
Jen crept down the stairs and peeked out. The zombies poured out the front door and joined the street zombies attacking the militia.
Jen opened her human eye.
Boots stomped down the stairs behind her and Jen spun, bringing her tomahawk above her head.
Wayne and Zeke stood at the bottom of the stairwell, their weapons raised with puzzled looks on their faces. D-Day clomped down and leaned on the railing. "I guess you didn't need our help," he said.
Jen shrugged. "When you've got it, you've got it."
The horde on Main Street surged past, their attention on the militia.
Wayne stood next to Jen, watching them flow past. His hand brushed hers. Jen's heartbeat picked up. We're going to have to do something about this when the time is right.
She swallowed and turned to him. "Sorry I didn't leave you any."
He gave her his crooked grin. "That's okay. Looks like there's plenty more." His eyebrows lowered. "But what happened? We didn't hear any fighting and there are no bodies."
D-Day lumbered forward. "That's a question I'd like answered, too. What the hell's going on?"
Jen licked her lips. "They didn't attack me at first, I think because of my yellow eye. But they were thinking about it. So I closed my human eye, leaving only the yellow open, and they turned around and walked away."
"Holy shit," Wayne said. "They thought you were one of them."
D-Day didn't say anything, just stood there with his arms crossed and his eyes staring beneath bushy brows.
"Damn, Jen," Zeke said. "Someone's going to have to write a comic book about you." He laughed. "Zombie fighter Jen and her sidekick, Zeke the ninja." He took a couple of swipes with his katana.
D-Day went to the back door. "Totally busted back here. The front doors will keep out any strays but it's open season from the rear. We should move."
"What about the militia?" Jen said.
D-Day shook his head. "I ain't afraid of a fight, but attacking that mob out there would be suicide."
"He's right," Wayne said. "The militia was expecting reinforcements, and they'll do them a lot more good than we will. Besides, I think we need to find out more about your new...condition, and what you can do with it."
Jen sighed. "Agreed. We should probably move to the next—"
A sharp pain in her gut folded her in half. Wayne grabbed her and kept her from falling. "What's wrong?"
D-Day and Zeke rushed over.
"Don't know," Jen grunted. The pain subsided enough f
or her to straighten, but it was still strong and getting stronger.
She looked out the front window. The horde had passed, but one figure walked unsteadily toward the front door. An older lady, her skin hanging loose on her bony frame, shuffled to the door and peered in, her yellow gaze sweeping the room and resting on Jen. She reached out and pulled the door open. A leader.
Zeke stepped forward, his katana ready to attack. "What are you doing?"
Jen put her arms out, her gut still twisting. "Step back. Don't attack unless she does first."
Jen waited as the old lady shuffled to her. The zombie stopped and examined her from head to foot then stared into her eyes. A buzzing grew in Jen's head and the pain disappeared. Not unpleasant, the buzzing grew louder.
"You guys hear anything?" she asked.
"Not me," Zeke said.
"Nope," D-Day said.
"You're the only one," Wayne added. "What are you hearing?"
The buzzing reached a crescendo, then stopped. The feeling of being under a microscope rushed over her. "Do you understand me?" Jen asked.
The zombie continued to stare, motionless.
Jen took a deep breath and exhaled. "If you understand me, raise your right hand."
The zombie's right arm jerked up. Jen gasped. "Lower your arm." The arm dropped.
"Do you know who I am?" The zombie's right arm shot up. Jen's heart hammered her chest.
"Am I talking to the old lady who stands before me?" The zombie didn't move.
"If the answer is no, please raise your left hand." The zombie's left hand lifted.
Jen's breathing became shallow and rapid. She stumbled and Wayne rushed forward, putting his arm around her waist. She leaned against him.
"Jen?" he said.
She ignored him and locked eyes with the zombie. Let's get to the nitty-gritty.
Forcing the words from her mouth, Jen asked, "Am I talking to Butler?"
The zombie's right arm shot up.
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The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five Page 54