She looked up at me, eyes dancing with amusement. “Most men don’t give me cute little nicknames until after I’ve been to their rooms with them, and none of them demand food first.”
There were a few ways I could go with that, but it felt to me like Bianca was just screwing with me. She probably didn’t like being called B, too close to another word women hated. So I rolled the dice and bet that it wasn’t a come-on of any kind. “Most men don’t have the stamina I do.” I patted my belly. “Gotta feed the beast.”
Bianca gave me an appraising look. “Yes, we certainly do.”
Maybe I’d been wrong about if she was hitting on me or not. I didn’t think so, though. I got the feeling she was testing me to get the measure of my character.
She stood up and closed the distance between us before jabbing one finger into my chest. “Good thing for you, you’re not my type. I like a man with a little more meat on his bones. A skinny thing like you might snap when put to the test.”
“Then let me eat cake,” I cried out with Shakespearian woe. “From this day forward I shall dedicate my life to a new singular purpose, to fatten myself up to the lady’s preferred circumference.” It might have been over the top, the kind of line you only delivered to friends you knew for years, but my mouth had never been a big fan of following the rules of decorum.
Bianca let out a very unladylike snort followed by a peel of braying laughter. After a good thirty seconds of mild giggle outbreaks, she smiled and pointed toward the door. “Well played, good sir, well played.” She poked me in the stomach. “Let’s get a little food in you, and maybe one day you’ll meet my expectations.”
“Now that I have something to live for, my life has new purpose.” I grinned like a maniac.
“Just remember, most women like a little meat on their man’s bones.” Bianca winked at me. “And my dance card’s pretty full as it is.”
If I’d felt better, I would have dropped to my knees and cried out in despair. Instead, I settled for flashing her a much more relaxed grin. “As the fates conspire to keep us apart then, maybe it’s for the best.”
“You're too much, Max. How do people even deal with you?” Bianca giggled again, and turned to walk down the hallway. After about four steps, an ear piercing shrill filled the air, and the lights positioned along the corridor started to flash.
I didn’t know what was happening, but an alarm never signaled anything good. Turning toward Bianca, I shifted the bag on my shoulder and grabbed her arm. “Tell me how to find Doctor Bowmont.”
“She’s dead.” Bianca looked confused.
Shaking my head in response, I jerked her slightly to make her focus on me. “No, she isn’t. We came here together. Point me toward the director’s office.” I let go of her arm feeling slightly ashamed for getting rough with her.
Bianca pointed down the hall. “Take this to the end and then turn left, you can’t miss it.”
“Go back inside and lock the door. Anyone that can’t talk doesn’t get in, comprende?“ She nodded her head to my instructions, and that would have to do. I didn’t have time to make her repeat them. Bending over, I pulled the assault rifle free of the bag and slipped in a magazine before tucking a few spares into my pockets. “Take this bag with you.” I held her gaze. “I expect it to be here when I get back.”
Bianca nodded and started dragging the bag back into her office. The door closed and I started running. We hadn’t made it this far to fail now. “Holly, don’t do anything stupid,” I muttered to myself as I picked up the pace.
Chapter Five
Holly Bowmont
The opulence of Director Navarro’s office did nothing to assuage my anger. How could anyone be so stupid? Temporary containment protocols weren’t good enough for these things. If just one person was scratched or bitten and hid it, the infection would take over Flagstaff in hours. I looked around his office again trying to take the edge off my simmering rage, but everything I looked at just made me angrier.
The chair I was sitting in probably cost more than most people make in six months. I mean a chair is just a chair, right? Normally people upgrade from one of big box discount stores, to one of the big boys like Ethan Allen, but did anyone really need a twenty thousand dollar chair. It was like those idiots who made the ten thousand dollar cheeseburger. I liked my burgers greasy and cheap, or from that place that has the little Hawaiian trees on their cups.
Everything in this place was purchased to make you feel insignificant. If you can spend twenty thousand bucks on a chair then you must have a lot of money and power, right? What Navarro needed to understand was that all of it meant nothing if just one of the necrotics broke free. He was putting us all in danger, so he could what, be the one to save us all. The man was an idiot, picking Tyrell as his number two showed how out of touch with reality he really was.
Navarro steepled his fingers and gazed over them with haughty disdain. “You’re not going to make this a problem are you?”
“Of course not,” I waved away his concerns as if they were of no importance. “Once we’ve shot all of them in the head and torched their bodies, there won’t be anything for me to fuss over, will there.”
Narrowing his eyes, Navarro leaned back in his chair, casually crossing his legs. “Thankfully, the decisions of what transpires inside of these walls is mine alone. So while I take your objection on record, I don’t agree with your assessment of the situation. Until I decide otherwise,” he smiled as if indulging a child, “those things stay where they are.”
Director Navarro was a step up from Chen, but not as big of a step up as I would have liked. Still, he was the only reason I chose to work in Flagstaff instead of our major hub in San Francisco. Getting away from Chen was a bonus, but I wasn’t about to let Navarro put us all at risk. If this was his final answer I was going to lose my shit. Standing, I shouted into his face. “You can’t seriously be this stupid. For fuck’s sake, one little fuck up, and it’s all over. We might not have been responsible for the initial outbreak, but we sure as hell will be responsible for this one.”
Navarro smiled so smugly he reminded me of the Cheshire cat. He might as well have just burped up some yellow feathers like Tom did after he ate Tweety. He picked up a remote from his desk with relish. After a few deft strokes, a piece of art on the wall split apart revealing a giant bank of monitors. The screens flickered to life, and then he adjusted them to one of the Hilltop’s internal security feeds.
“We’re moving one of them now. I wanted you to see how we handle things, so you know the kind of precautions we’re taking. This isn’t our first rodeo, we’ve been doing this for days.”
I didn’t say a word. Instead, I focused on the monitors, praying to God that something didn’t happen.
Chapter Six
Samwell Toolsberry
People made fun of me for being a janitor all the time. Sure, they gave you a fancy job title at some places. Like here, I was a called a reclamation specialist. Whatever the fuck that was? But at the end of the day, I just cleaned things up, like I did everywhere else I’d ever worked. Being a janitor was a simple job. I worked nights, normally no one was in the office, and I just did my thing and went home. Simple, I liked simple.
Those were the days, come in, go home, rinse and repeat. Now I woke up at night having nightmares. There was part of me that longed for the days of a shit-smeared stall to clean. Anything, and I mean anything was better than trying to wrangle one of these things from the storage facility to the lab. Making every step of the way worse was that asshole Tyrell. Shouting for me to move faster wasn’t making my job easier. If anything, it had the opposite effect. Apparently, zombies also didn’t like to be shouted at.
“Fucking benefits package,” I mumbled through gritted teeth. At the end of the day that was how these corporations got you. They dangled out lower-cost insurance and sick days to suck you in. Once you were used to that cushy lifestyle you couldn’t just leave. I needed this job so Cara could stay in scho
ol and my wife could continue trying to make it as an artist. This time I might have reached just a little too far. I’d wanted the stars, but all I found was the undead.
The woman in front of me was five foot nothing, and couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds. If I had to wager on it, I’d say significantly less due to the being dead factor. That didn’t stop her from bucking and thrashing around. For each struggling step we took forward I spent thirty seconds trying to keep from falling down as the woman continually tried to turn around and eat me. When I signed up for this shit I’m pretty sure the possibility of getting eaten at work wasn’t in the job description.
Her snarling mouth turned towards me again, and her teeth started chomping in the way that these things do. I had a dog once that would do that with kisses. If she couldn’t get close enough to you she’d kiss the air just hoping the next one might actually touch. That was cute, this, not so much.
Adjusting my hands on the modified snare pole, I shoved her forward again. This time we managed two steps before she tried to lunge back at us. Two steps forward at once, it felt like a record. That and I didn’t even let her push me backward this time. All in all it was a pretty big W. It was too bad Tyrell didn’t feel the same way.
His face was red, and there was a vein on the right side of his forehead throbbing as Tyrell screamed, “What are you, some kind of retard? Just push her down there with the pole so we can get this whole thing over with.”
I wasn’t sure about which whole thing he was referring to. My job for the last few days had been to move one of these things from storage to the labs. Once a day I had to suffer through this shit, but today I had an audience, and I hated it. If this motherfucker wanted her moved faster, he was going to have to find someone else to do it. Maybe those benefits weren’t worth the hassle after all.
I shoved the lady down the hall a few more steps. “If you want this done faster, find someone else to do it.” I strained to push the woman forward again. “Otherwise, shut the fuck up and let me do my job.” I might have gone too far, but I was done with this shit.
“I won’t be made a fool of in front of the director,” Tyrell snarled. “You're done here, you hear me retard, this is your last day.”
Turning to look at Tyrell, I fixed him with a glare. The man might have been twenty years my junior, but I was pretty sure I could take him. All I had to do now was provoke him. “The Director’s already heard you talk, so there’s no chance he doesn’t already know you’re an idiot.”
“You son of a bitch,” Tyrell screamed as he charged forward.
I let go of the pole when my head made contact with the concrete wall. Things were a little bit fuzzy, but I managed to get my hands up above my head before Tyrell started hitting me. His fists poured down upon my unprotected forearms like a hammer on an anvil. Tyrell was spitting out incoherent nonsense as he continued his assault.
Spittle flew from Tyrell's mouth as he screamed each word at me. “I won’t let her turn them all against me.”
If the man wasn’t trying to kill me, I would have felt sorry for him. He was obviously deranged. I looked up when the blows stopped and saw Tyrell a few feet away hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. I don’t think he broke anything, but if they thought I’d keep quiet about this without a payday, Hilltop was out of its damned mind.
Tyrell stood back up and stalked towards me. I was thinking about how I would rip off his nuts if he touched me again when he staggered to the side. The woman I’d been pushing grabbed his arm and jerked him off balance as her teeth sank into his flesh. Tyrell pushed her away with a scream. Blood was dripping from his arm as he scrambled to get to the handle of the pole.
There wasn’t a chance in the world I was sticking around to see how this played out. Tyrell was still struggling with the woman as I got to my feet and started running. Bastard got what he deserved.
“I’ll kill you for this,” Tyrell shouted.
The echoes of his screams followed me up the stairs. I made it outside just as the sirens sounded. “Thank you, God.” The last place I wanted to be locked inside of was that building with those crazy fuckers. The dead should stay dead, you know? Slipping behind the wheel of my car, I floored it over the curb and out onto the road. When I got home, we were leaving Flagstaff for good.
Chapter Seven
Max Meridious
Max Meridious
My breath was coming in gasps, but I pushed my unwilling body harder. I had to make it to Holly. All of this, whatever this was, had to be for something. We didn’t do those things on the road, I didn’t do those things, for all of this to mean nothing. Holly was going to save the world, and I was going to help her. Damn, I guess that did make me Robin.
Skidding to a stop in the hallway, I pressed the stock of the AR against my shoulder and took aim. I wasn’t sure what happened here. Maybe Tyrell tried to make off with one of the necrotics, or worse yet he was just moving one, and it bit him. The woman lay at his feet, skull cracked open from the fire extinguisher resting beside her. I had to give it to him, I didn’t think he actually had it in him to take one of them out.
Tyrell looked up at me as he reached for the fire extinguisher. Black goo was leaking from the corners of his lips. “It didn’t have to be this way you know.”
I was torn between delivering a snarky line or trying to offer some pity to a man I was about to shoot. Somewhere along the way, I got caught in the middle and ended up just choking out. “Maybe it did.”
“Maybe it did, he says,” his eyes flared. “Go fuck yourself, asshole, I’m dying here.” Tyrell took a step forward brandishing the fire extinguisher above his head.
“Wrong, you’re already dead.” There was the line I’d been looking for earlier. The AR bucked once, and Tyrell’s brains splattered against the wall. The fire extinguisher rolled away, and I noticed that my shot had been just right of center. The woman didn’t seem to be moving, but I shot her in the head once too, just to make sure.
Lowering the barrel of the AR, I started running again. If life kept throwing this kind of action at me, at least I’d never have to go to the gym again. Still, as much as I hated running, I hated running for my life even more. Maybe the gym wasn’t so bad after all.
The hallway ended at an office door with gold lettering on the front indicating that it was Director Navarro’s office. Ripping the door open, I stepped inside only to scare the shit out of his secretary. There were two doors, one on each side of the room. I glared at the frazzled woman and shouted, “His office?” She didn’t answer. “Now!” I snapped.
She pointed at one of the doors, and I started moving. Just before I reached it she shouted from behind me, “But you can’t go in there.”
“The hell I can’t.” With the last word, I launched a kick just to the left of the door handle, splintering the wood and sending the door crashing into the office. Holly stood up as I ran in looking shocked.
“Max, what in the hell?” Holly stammered.
“Come on, we’ve got to go.” I kept the gun cradled in my right arm while holding out my left hand for Holly. “Come on.”
Holly came forward, but she didn’t take my hand. Instead she placed hers on the barrel of the AR and pushed it towards the ground. “Max, everything’s ok.” And almost as if she were a prophet, the alarms cut off.
“I don’t understand.”
“Let me catch you up to speed.” Navarro played the clip of Tyrell being bitten. “After further consideration, I’ve come around to Doctor Bowmont’s way of thinking. The remaining subjects are being terminated as we speak. We will incinerate the bodies tomorrow.”
“And that other man?” I asked. It didn’t look like he’d been bitten, but we had to be sure.
Navarro looked me over again, as if he realized he might have discovered something of great worth. “We’re sending someone to his home now, just to double check.”
“See Max, everything is fine.” Holly took my hand and started leading me
out of the office. “Now why don’t you go wrangle up some food while I take a shower, then we’ll talk this whole thing out.”
“Sounds good to me.” Damned if I wasn’t hungry. I looked at the monitors one last time before we left, and two men in biohazard suits were already cleaning up what remained of Tyrell.
Once we were in the hallway, Holly stopped and smiled at me. “Max, I think everything’s going to be alright. With the resources we have here, I’m sure I’ll be able to find a cure.”
She stunk to high heaven and was covered in dirt, but right now Holly was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Without thinking, I leaned in and gave her a kiss. When she kissed me back I felt like I’d won the lottery. Maybe things were really going to be ok after all.
Epilogue
Samwell Toolsberry
“Thanks again for your cooperation, Mr. Toolsbury. I can’t apologize again for the actions of our associate. I know the money will never take away what he did, but I hope it brings you some small amount of comfort.” The suit extended his hand.
If they hadn’t come with their checkbook open and enough money to make sure I’d never have to work a day in my life, I would have thrown the bastards out. As it was, that smug asshole beating me might have just been the best thing that ever happened to me. Here I was worried about what I was going to do for work, thinking about how I had to yank my daughter out of school, and the Hilltop Initiative solved all my problems for me.
A small twinge of indigestion crept up, and I forced down the burp and the acid that came with it. I hadn’t had a flare up this bad in a while, must have been all the stress. I shook the suit's hand, wondering what to say. How did you thank someone for offering you hush money? In the end, I guess you did it just like you did it any other time.
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