“Without all five senses we can’t survive, and if you’re dead you don’t have any of them,” she said. “Living tissue heals. Dead tissue rots and falls away from the bone. There’s no waste system if you’re dead, which means there’s no process to eliminate waste from the body.”
“You’re basically saying that zombies would explode because of poop,” I smirked.
She ignored the statement. “And, finally, zombies can’t wear dentures and their teeth would fall out right away. That makes zombies impractical.”
“I see you’ve given this a lot of thought,” I said.
“I have,” she agreed. “Zombies can’t be real.”
“Then what do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know.” She looked helpless as she reached for the door. “It’s just ... do you believe in magic, Charlie?”
I didn’t expect the question, especially from her. “I do.”
“Well, I never have. I believe that there are miracles in nature that seem like magic, but there’s always a scientific reason. If I’m wrong, then what place do I have in this group? If that’s really a zombie in there, what do I have to offer?”
Suddenly it dawned on me that even people as self-assured as Hannah had moments of self-doubt. It steadied me. “Hannah, you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met.” That was the truth. “Just because something defies logic doesn’t mean you’re unnecessary. You offer more to this group than you can possibly realize.”
“I don’t think I can believe in zombies no matter what this autopsy shows.”
“Well ... then cling to science.” It sounded like the sort of advice she needed. “I’ll handle the magic part.”
“Oh, yeah?” She cracked a smile. “How?”
“Let’s just play it by ear.”
THEY ALLOWED US INTO THE ROOM where they were conducting the autopsy after a basic check of our credentials. Given what Hannah had told me about the first autopsy she’d participated in, I thought they would set up a quarantine zone around the body and make us stay behind a line. I was wrong.
Lawrence Carlin, the coroner in charge, handed Hannah a scalpel within minutes of our arrival. He offered one to me, too, but I politely declined.
“I’ll just watch from over here,” I offered, positioning myself close to a wall. I could see the action but I wasn’t within touching distance. I’d already been close to Barry when he attacked his wife in the hotel. I didn’t need to be near him again.
“You’ll be fine,” Hannah reassured me as she slipped on a surgical mask and gloves. “I’ll call out anything interesting. You can write it down in a notebook.”
“That sounds like a plan.”
I thought the autopsy would be interesting. I was wrong. At first, Hannah and Carlin noted a variety of things they found worthy of note, but I couldn’t make heads or tails of what they said. I eventually gave up even listening and started wandering.
The autopsy room was sterile and largely empty. That’s why I eventually exited into a dark hallway. It was empty, nobody around that I could see or hear, and it allowed me to peek into the different rooms along the way. Almost all of them looked exactly the same as the room Hannah and Carlin toiled in.
That changed when I reached the last room. “Wow,” I said to myself as I shuffled inside, my mouth dropping open. “Is this ... ?”
“The freezer room?” a voice asked from my left, causing me to jolt. I’d assumed I was alone.
“I’m so sorry.” I felt like an idiot as I gaped at the young man in a lab coat. He held a clipboard and appeared to be in the middle of a task. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“That’s okay.” He offered me a lopsided smile. “I’m Mike Gentry. I work here.”
“Charlie Rhodes.” I didn’t extend my hand in greeting. I really didn’t want to make contact with his surgical gloves anyway. “I’m here for the autopsy on Barry Landry. I got bored and started to wander. If I’m not supposed to be here I can head back.”
“No, it’s okay.” Gentry didn’t seem bothered by my sudden appearance. “I heard an important autopsy was going on today. Only a few people have been allowed into the building. Do you know anything about it?”
That was a tricky question. “Well ... .” I trailed off when I heard an odd buzzing. “What’s that?”
Gentry looked around blankly. “What’s what?”
“That noise? Don’t you hear that?” I stuck my finger in my ear and jiggled it. “It’s a buzzing sound.”
“I don’t hear anything.” Gentry’s expression was blank. “Maybe you’re getting sick or something. One of the first things to go when an illness is coming on is inner-ear balance. Do you feel as if you’re going to fall over?”
“Not last time I checked,” I replied dryly, jiggling my ear again. The buzzing wouldn’t stop. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about the autopsy. What have they told you?”
“Just that the guy who attacked people at the Royal Dauphine yesterday had been dead for a year.” Gentry’s expression reflected enthusiasm. “Everyone is dying to get a look at the body, but they’re holding us off so far. Apparently some woman has been invited to the autopsy. She has special knowledge. I guess that’s you.”
“Not me.” I vehemently shook my head. The buzzing was growing in magnitude. “It’s my co-worker Hannah. She’s in there right now. I’m kind of her sidekick.”
“Oh, well, there are worse jobs.”
“Yeah. What’s this room for? I mean ... I get what’s on the other side. There’s, like, fifteen bodies over there. What’s this specific room for?”
“The room on the other side of the glass is refrigerated,” he explained. “This is an observation room where we can warm up between notes and stuff.”
“That’s nice. I ... son of a ... !” The buzzing grew so loud I thought it might drop me to my knees. “Why won’t that stop?”
“Maybe I should call for help.” Gentry looked concerned. “In fact ... .” Whatever he was about to say died on his lips. His eyes made a quick trek to the room on the other side of the glass before landing on a phone on the wall, but he jerked his head to stare in the direction of the glass a second time. “Oh, my ... .” He went slack-jawed and pale.
“What’s wrong?” I forced my attention to the refrigerated room and almost fell over from the shock. The bodies, which had been resting quietly under sheets just moments ago, were all sitting upright and staring.
Old men, young women and even children — fifteen of them in total — stared directly at me. None of them moved, but they all were fixated on the spot where I stood.
“What are they doing?” I asked, breathless.
Gentry didn’t immediately answer, so I risked a glance in his direction and found he’d fled, the door standing wide open. The only proof that he’d ever been there was the clipboard he’d been carrying. He’d abandoned it on the floor in his haste to get away.
“Well, great,” I muttered, turning back to the refrigerated room. All the bodies had raised an arm and were pointing at me. They made no sound as they stared.
The buzzing grew in magnitude so that I had to cover my ears. The bodies didn’t move, but I was quickly being swamped with feelings I couldn’t put a name to all the same.
“Papa Legba,” I gasped, hoping he could help. “I ... you ... .”
I couldn’t take the buzzing another second. It dropped me to my knees as I let loose a guttural cry for help. It was already too late. My face started careening toward the floor and the last thing I remembered was the linoleum flying toward me as I lost consciousness.
There, in the darkness, I thought I heard laughing. It was gone before I could wrap my head around it. I floated into an empty abyss. I had no idea how long I drifted in the inky blackness.
Twenty-Four
Hannah’s was the first face I saw when my eyes opened. I was on the floor, on my back, and she leaned over to stare directly into my face.
“How many finger
s am I holding up?” she asked as she wagged three in my face.
“I’m not blind.” I shoved her hand out of the way and frowned. “My back hurts.” I tried to shift, and groaned.
“I should think so,” she readily agreed. “You fell ... hard. Should I call an ambulance?”
“I really rather you didn’t.” It was then that I remembered why I fell and made an effort to scramble to my knees to look through the windows into the refrigerated room. The bodies looked to be back on their gurneys – unmoving — though it was obvious something had occurred. “What happened?” I asked even though I knew the answer.
“I was just going to ask you that.” Hannah hunkered down and drew my gaze to her. “Follow the light please.” She clicked what I thought was an ink pen and I automatically did as she asked when a small pen light switched on. “I’m going to touch the back of your head looking for a bump,” she announced. “Don’t pull away.”
That’s exactly what I wanted to do, but I managed to maintain a modicum of calm. “I’m fine, Hannah. I just ... fell over. Kind of.”
“According to the man who was screaming in the hallway when he exited this area of the building, that’s not the case.” Hannah, ever placid, placed gentle fingers on the back of my head. “He said that all the bodies sat up and pointed at you.”
Mike Gentry. I’d almost forgotten about him. I guess that answered the question of where he took off to right before I passed out.
“I don’t know exactly what I remember,” I hedged. Honestly, I wasn’t certain how much I should say. “It’s all a blur.”
“Well, I can’t find a bump.” Hannah flashed a bright smile. “I don’t think you have a concussion. That’s good.”
“Yes, that’s lovely,” I agreed. “Does that mean I can get off the floor?”
“Sure.” She helped me to a standing position, and the first thing I did was scan the refrigerated room a second time. It was still, quiet, but all the sheets had been disturbed. They weren’t flat as they should’ve been, as they were before Gentry ran and I lost my head. “What do you think happened?” I asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know.” Hannah was the sort who liked to chew on problems and puzzle them through from beginning to end. The look she shot the bodies now was troubling. “Tell me what you saw, Charlie. I need to know.”
I felt caught. I couldn’t lie to her. Things were starting to spiral and I didn’t want them to get out of control. I didn’t want to be the person who swept an uncomfortable truth under the rug because I was afraid to own it.
“I heard a buzzing in my head.” I thought back to the moment right before the bodies sat up. “It was too much. It hurt. Gentry — he’s the guy who was in here with the clipboard — didn’t act as if he heard it. I should’ve run.
“The buzzing got worse and all the bodies sat up,” I continued, my stomach threatening to revolt as I returned to the moment. “They pointed at me. That’s when the buzzing got so bad I passed out.”
Hannah was calm. “Did they say anything?”
“No.”
“Did they get up from the gurneys?”
“No.”
“Did you feel as if your life was in danger?”
“I ... don’t know.”
“Okay.” She ordered my hair and flashed a smile that was more a grimace. “Jack is going to melt down.”
“Yeah. He really is..”
“We need to go back to the hotel,” she explained. “I finished the autopsy and I have some interesting information.”
I perked up. “What? Did you prove he’s a zombie?”
“I only want to go over the information once. We need to get out of here. I’m starting to think this was the worst possible place to bring you given everything that’s happening. I’ll call for the car.”
“Wait.” I wrapped my fingers around her wrist. “Did you find anything good?”
“Let’s just say I found a lot of interesting things and leave it at that. Come on. The moment Jack finds out what happened he’s going to throw himself on top of you like a live grenade is about to go off. I’m kind of curious to see it go down.”
That made one of us.
JACK, AS EXPECTED, WAS apoplectic when he stormed into the lobby and found Hannah and me sitting together on one of the couches.
“Are you okay?” He headed straight for me. Instead of giving me a hug or expressing how glad he was that I was okay, he grabbed my chin and tilted my face up to stare into my eyes. “How many fingers am I holding up?” He flashed four.
“I’m fine.” I pulled away from him, annoyed. “You don’t need to treat me like I’m a child.”
“Maybe that’s how he feels about you,” Laura suggested as she strolled into the room. Her expression was hard to read, but I sensed mayhem. “I couldn’t figure out why he would possibly be interested in you, but I think you just nailed it. He wants someone to boss around and treat like a child. That’s why he gravitates toward you.”
“Stuff it, Laura,” Jack snapped. “That is not true, and I’m sick of your mouth.”
He wasn’t the only one. But I couldn’t help wondering if she was right. He’d spent all his time since we arrived in New Orleans worrying about me. Perhaps he wanted something to protect, a wilting flower. That was never going to be me.
“I’m fine.” I pushed his hand away with force. “I’m not a little kid.”
Jack’s annoyance was obvious. “Did I say you were a little kid?”
“No, but ... I’m fine.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Great. I’m glad you’re okay.” He shifted his eyes to Hannah. “What happened? Your text to Chris was rather cursory.”
“I’m not sure what happened,” Hannah replied. “I was in the middle of the autopsy when she wandered off.”
“You wandered off?” Jack’s expression was pained as he rubbed his forehead. “Why would you do that?”
“I was bored,” I shot back, my frustration growing with every snide question. “I didn’t understand what was going on with the autopsy. I couldn’t help. I decided to take a look around. I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
“You never do,” he groused.
“I went into this … observation room of sorts. It was basically a half circle surrounded by glass. On the other side was the refrigeration room where they keep the bodies. There was a guy in there. He was young. He was asking about the autopsy. I kept hearing this ... sound.”
Chris leaned forward, intrigued. “What sound?”
“I don’t know how to explain it. There was a ... buzzing. It was really loud and overpowering.”
Chris shifted his eyes to Hannah. “Did you hear the buzzing?”
She shook her head. “No. Only Charlie did as far as I can tell.”
“Maybe she’s on a different wavelength,” Chris noted as he stroked his chin. “Maybe she can sense things we can’t.”
That was definitely true. I didn’t want him leaning in that direction, though.
“Or perhaps she imagined it and is just looking for attention,” Laura smirked.
I hated to admit it, but it would be better if they believed that ... even though I found it insulting. With nothing better to do, I heaved out a sigh and rubbed my forehead. Jack caught my hand as he sat next to me, his eyes somber.
“Are you okay?” The question was quiet but heartfelt.
“I didn’t hit my head or anything going down. It happened really fast.”
“I still don’t know what went down,” Chris admitted. “Hannah didn’t tell me anything in the message she sent.”
“Which meant Chris couldn’t tell me anything,” Jack added.
“Which meant that I had to listen to both of them whine for the entire ride back,” Laura supplied. “Jack was obviously worried about his little girl.” Her tone was mocking and it took everything I had not to launch myself at her and start squeezing her neck. She really was a master when it came to agitating people. “Maybe you should buy he
r a doll, Jack. That might calm her.”
“Shut up, Laura.” Jack’s eyes flashed with a level of anger I’d only seen once or twice before. It was obvious he was working hard to rein himself in.
“Don’t let her get to you,” I admonished. “She likes messing with you. If you keep reacting this way, she wins. That’s not what you want.”
He turned back to me and frowned. “I’m worried, Charlie.” He was seemingly incapable of keeping his feelings to himself. “You’re being targeted here from multiple angles. I’m starting to think ... .”
“You’re starting to think what?” I prodded.
“I’m starting to think that we should send you home.” He held firm when I immediately started shaking my head. “Someone here wants to hurt you. I don’t know who. I don’t know why. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”
“I’m fine.” My voice came out squeakier than I’d intended. “You can’t send me home. That just reinforces the idea that I’m different from the rest of you.”
“Charlie.” Jack sounded exasperated. “I don’t want you feeling different, but ... I’m not sure you’re safe here. I don’t know why, but someone is zeroing in on you. How else do you explain what happened in the medical examiner’s office? I mean ... you passed out.”
“I think she passed out because her senses were overloaded,” Hannah offered helpfully. “I think it was a multitude of events colliding. The buzzing she couldn’t seem to shake is the overwhelming factor, but when all the bodies in the refrigerated room sat up and pointed, that had to be terrifying. You can’t hold that against her.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open as excitement bubbled over Chris’s handsome features.
“What?” Chris was breathless. “All the bodies in the morgue sat up and pointed at you?”
Oh, well, great. He was going to go off on a tangent. “That’s what I remember, but I wasn’t on my feet for very long after it happened. It could’ve been a dream.”
The Undead Uproar Page 23
