by Silas Cooper
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chase was taken for clothing and coffee before being brought by Frank and several guards to an office. As his mind cleared, the events of the last however many hours still seemed too odd to comprehend. Once another guy in a lab coat came in, he seated himself behind the big metal desk. Several more followed and stood in a circle behind the guy.
“So, this is the guy huh?” the lab coat said to Frank.
“Yes, this is Chase Douglas,” Frank answered.
“Hi Chase, my name is Ben,” he offered without offering his hand. “From what I’ve heard, I think you may have some information that could be very useful to us. Mind going through the story again?”
“Yes, actually, I do,” Chase dared boldly. “I won’t say a word unless you save each person I came in with.”
“Sorry, we can’t do that,” Frank interjected.
“Wait,” Ben stopped him. “Maybe we could strike a deal. I’m in an especially good mood today. How about we let you pick one of them to save. Then you tell us. Or we can just kill you all. I have no problem either way. Luckily your assistant already gave us enough to go on. I would like to hear it again to be able to ask questions if I want, but I’m sure this little meeting isn’t really necessary.”
Chase’s thoughts went to Jayda. He’d decided long ago to take any risk to save her life. He didn’t know if she even remained alive at this point, but they’d already called his bluff and he had to try. So he swallowed the words he wanted to yell at them about going and fucking themselves.
Instead he muttered, “Save Jayda. She’s pregnant.”
Ben looked to Frank and said, “Find the woman and bring her here quickly. We will wait. Also, bring his assistant. Might as well hear the story from both of them.”
Frank nodded and walked off with his uniformed entourage. The room grew quiet. The silence was almost deafening as the guy at the desk, Ben, opened a file and read. On occasion he scribbled something with a pen. The other lab coats behind him stood at attention. Obviously military like he’d been. They knew how to take orders and how to keep quiet until orders were given to them.
After an endless stretch of time he was sure was only a few minutes by the amount of times Ben had turned his pages, Frank walked in with Jayda and Lucas. He was thrilled to see them clothed and looking better than he’d expected. In fact, if possible, they both seemed to glow, maybe to have even gained a touch of weight. How long had he been out? It only could have been a few hours.
The men took no time in getting right down to it. Chase and Lucas talked on, answered questions when asked, and even debated a few scientific points of speculation as they went. Food had been brought in at one point, and Chase ate and talked with his mouth full without care to manners.
Lucas and Jayda had just picked, so he figured they’d already been fed well. He wondered if they’d gone to the food group. He was still unclear what that meant, but obviously they’d eaten.
“Well, I have to say that I’m impressed with your findings given the resources you had at your disposal,” Ben finally said as he wiped his mouth. “I would like to work with you both, to add you to my team.”
“Wait, you said just Chase and one other,” Frank interjected. “We only had clearance for one of them to begin with.”
“Take them all back to the food area. Let them eat some more, and I will go talk to those who make the executive decisions around here,” Ben said with a forced calm to his voice.
This raised an eyebrow on Chase, but he followed the guards willingly. He hoped he could have both Jayda and Lucas. He felt bad for Sherri, but he’d be grateful for what he could get at this point. Just a bit ago he thought himself dead, even though it hadn’t seemed to matter to him.
When they got to what they’d called the food area, he observed what looked like a bunch of men and women in hospital scrubs like Lucas and Jayda wore sitting in a cafeteria. Each of them ate colorless food as if a chore. Uniformed men seemed to be forcing them to do so. To his relief, he saw Lucas find Sherri. For the moment, they were all alive.
A few feet from him, a guard shouted at a woman. As she shook her head and cried, he ripped her from her seat. Food fell from her hands. She sobbed openly as the guard started to beat her. Chase, without thought, moved and decked the guard.
Restrained in seconds, Frank came to his rescue.
“These are Ben’s consultants,” Frank shouted. “You will leave this man, this man, and this woman alone,” he demanded as he’d pointed at Chase, Lucas, and Jayda.
The guard stared daggers at Chase, but he backed away.
“What is this place,” Chase asked Lucas once they’d been led to a table and Frank had left them to talk to another guard.
“It’s the food area. We were all scrubbed clean, given these hospital like gowns, and forced to eat. Even if you throw up, you are forced to start all over again. From what I gather, though I can’t believe it, I think we are being fattened up to become food for someone else.”
“What?” Chase said.
“It’s been rumored,” Jayda said.
“That can’t be. Who eats humans?” Chase asked in a whisper.
“Zombies? Survivors? I don’t know. Where were you taken?” Jayda asked.
“To testing. We weren’t given showers or clothes. I think we were just drugged. They gave this one guy a shot and he freaked out so they shot him. At the time, I barely reacted to it.”
“Nice place,” Jayda sighed.
“I’m sorry,” Chase apologized. “I’m doing all I can to still save you.”
“Don’t apologize. We didn’t have any great options. We had no place to go, and you did what you thought best. I don’t blame you, Chase.”
“But once again my best has put you in harm’s way,” he choked out the words.
“Stop. Just eat.”
And old man approached them then. Dressed as Jayda and Lucas, he wiggled his way in between them.
“Pardon me, doc, but I heard what that guy said about you. You must be from the new group, rumored to have developed a cure,” the old guy whispered.
“How do you know this?” Chase asked.
“The guards talk among themselves as if we don’t have ears. Not surprising as they treat us like were are not humans either,” he continued.
“So, what can I do for you?” Chase asked.
“See that woman over there, the beautiful one with the long hair?”
“Yeah, I see her. Why?”
Chase looked at the woman. For as clean as the rest of them were, she seemed to be dirty. Maybe it was just food on her face and hands. Either way, even from the distance, she was beautiful.
“Is that scratches on her face?” Chase asked.
“Yes, that’s why I point her out. She’s not only been mulled by a zombie, but she’s been bitten as well. She’s healing up now, but they brought her in here because she didn’t get sick or turn. She’s immune.”
Beyond Death: Resurrection
The sequel to Beyond Death: Apocalypse will be available in November 2014. Be sure to signup for the newsletter to get advance notice of new releases.
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From Silas Cooper
Thank you so much for downloading and reading this book. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Stay tuned for other books coming up!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
