A succulent aroma wafted across the stage.
Brother Jeb and Cayce licked their lips. Stomachs growling.
"Come--come partake of the Offering," the Abbott beckoned to the crowd. "Come and be Baptized."
At first, no one moved.
Hesitating from shock or fear, Monk could not be for certain. But slowly and then quickly, a line formed by the stairs and one by one the parishioners came and were fed.
Doctor Ying
Shanghai,
China.
"You do not have much time."
"Can I refuse?"
"Are you serious? Refuse General Hui Zuocheng?"
"I'm just thinking--maybe this isn't the best option."
"Wang, dear, you have to think of the greater good, think of the People's Republic."
"To hell with the Republic--I can't leave you!"
"If you stay, there is no hope for us."
"I don't know how much hope there is if I accept the General's orders."
"At least there would be a chance."
Doctor Wang Xiu Ying gazed into her husband's dark brown eyes. He had a kind and patient face, a wisdom beyond his years, one she was often jealous of and equally dependent upon. "But what about you?" she cried, the tears hot in her eyes.
Li reached out and used his thumb to wipe away a tear that had escaped and streaked down his wife's beautiful face. He smiled, "I will be fine, but I would be better if you went with the military escort, if I knew you were heading the operation. You are China's best epidemiologist, hell, world renowned! Without you there is no mission, certainly no chance of success."
Doctor Ying held her husband's hand against her face. "I can't do this without you," she moaned.
He nodded. "Yes, you can, and you'll be brilliant. You will save not only the People of China, but you will save the human race."
"I'll call them, demand they let you come with me!" she said brazenly.
Exhaling, Li said calmly, "You know what they'll say--there isn't enough room. I'm not even supposed to know about this. I don't have clearance."
"Fuck clearance, you're my husband. I love you!"
"I know--I love you too, so much. And because I love you, I want--demand you go!"
"Demand?" she looked at him, almost hurt.
His shoulders relaxed. "Please."
"No!"
"You have to. I'll be fine."
She hesitated, knowing the argument was futile. "Promise?"
"Yes."
Doctor Ying gazed doubtfully at her husband. She sniffed, her nose running. Eyes still wet and burning. Feeling another surge of panic, she drove her face into his chest, smelling him, taking every last moment she could.
"Doctor Ying, we cannot delay any longer," came a stern voice near the front door of their apartment.
"Yes. Just one moment, please, Major," Ying called. She looked at her husband, wiping her eyes and whispered. "I don't like that man."
Li looked past her to where the front door would be on the other side of the wall. "Who? Major Wei?"
She nodded.
"Major Wei will keep you safe."
She shrugged.
Laughing quietly, Li hugged his wife one final time. Letting go, he held her by the shoulders. "You need to go and save the world, Doctor Wang Xiu Ying."
Not wasting another moment, Ying stood on her tippy toes and kissed her husband. "Promise me you'll be safe. Promise me you'll find a transport to one of the safe zones, to Baocheng Temple, if you can make it."
Li nodded, "I promise."
She sniffed again. "Good."
He escorted her to the front door and held out her duffle bag to one of the Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers.
Major Wei nodded briskly and gestured for Ying to follow them out to the black suburban trucks.
Ying gave a final look back, "Find a safe place," she begged.
"I will," Li called to her, "and you, find a cure!"
"I will," she promised.
And with that, Doctor Ying was ushered away from her apartment and taken to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The streets were clogged with fleeing citizens. Bumper to bumper cars and mopeds swerving between them, luggage and belongings, strapped precariously to the back. Somehow, they made it through the gridlock, several times having to knock another vehicle out of the way or use the sidewalk. She winced when they bumped into a group of people, shouting obscenities along the way.
Shanghai Pudong International Airport for the most part looked deserted. There was no security at the front entrance, but as they made their way back to the private sector, Ying spotted several squads of soldiers patrolling. Four blocked the entrance and verified who they were. With a crisp salute, they were allowed passage into the hangar.
There were troops moving every which way, gear being checked and doubled checked. But not a single plane in sight. The black suburbans squealed to a stop and she was quickly ushered out, forced almost by the cadence of the proceeding to run along with her escort. Inside the open hangar, Doctor Ying took in her surroundings. She watched as one of her escorts, a soldier whose uniform was entirely black, handed her duffle bag--which held clothes, hygiene items, books, and photos of her and her husband--to another soldier that tossed it on a stack of other similar bags.
"Major Wei, where is the facility located? The order did not specify," Doctor Ying called out. She crossed her arms, forcing herself not to think about Li at home alone in all this chaos. She prayed he was packing a bag for himself, getting away from the city to some place safe.
The Major finished whatever he was saying to another soldier near the front of the hangar. The soldier nodded, saluted, and trotted off. In long military strides, Wei came and stood in front of Ying. Taking off his black patrol cap, he ran his hand through his short-cropped crewcut. He looked tired but alert. She wondered if he had slept at all since the fall of Beijing.
"Doctor Ying, the location of the facility was kept--" he started.
"I know why it was kept classified," Ying retorted, Li's face floated across her mind's eyes. She pushed it away. "But I would like to know something, anything other than the limited information the orders had dictated."
Major Wei seemed to measure Ying. He smiled, not jovial or manic, but with an air of sarcasm. "Fair enough--the facility we are taking you to is off the coast of Chongming, northeast from here. There you will find all the necessary equipment and protection to complete your task--finding a cure, Doctor, is of upmost importance."
Frowning, she said, "Off the coast? Another island?"
"Military compound."
"I've never heard of any military facility on an island off Chongming."
Major Wei's sarcastic grin widened. "Few have," he said.
Ying exhaled, accepting what little answer she was given. She nodded towards the gear being stacked and checked at the front of the hangar. "Who else has General Zuocheng tasked with this mission? Surely, I am not the only one?"
"No, Doctor, you are not," Major Wei exhaled, apparently tired of the discussion. "General Zuocheng, under the direction of the General Secretary of the Communist Party, has conscripted the service of several leaders in the scientific community, including Doctor Bai and Yu Shu Lien," he paused as if going over a mental list, "...and Doctor Ziyi Zhang--"
"Doctor Zhang--doesn't she work out of Landseed Hospital?"
"I believe so."
"She's a biochemist, correct?"
"Yes--she will be a great asset among the other specialists that the General Secretary has put together. Not to mention the military unit that has been assigned to provide the scientific team protection." Major Wei folded his arms together at this--very obviously proud of being given the assignment.
Ying glanced around. "So, where is everyone?"
Wei put his black patrol cap back on. "Already on site--you are the last of the scientific conscripts we had orders to retrieve."
"Last, huh? And how exactly are we getting there? I don't
suppose this island has a landing field?" Ying asked.
Major Wei gestured toward the open hangar doors. As if on cue, a whirling whooping sound grew louder and louder. Wind kicked at their feet and legs and suddenly a large white helicopter landed just outside. The wide rotor blades continued to whoop around and around as soldiers ran crouching over to the opened rear hatch and began loading gear and duffle bags.
"Let me introduce you to the Mi-26TS, one of the Army's largest heavy transport helicopters. She will be our main source of transport to and from the mainland--though once we lock down, there will not be much use for her," he reported, shouting above the hum of the engines.
Doctor Ying gazed out at the massive helicopter. "Wait," she chirped, now glaring at the Major, "lock down?"
The Major did not look at her but nodded. "Yes. Once we arrive, the facility will be locked down until a cure can be synthesized."
Ying was at a loss of words, stuttering she asked, "Lock down? But how? Why?"
Major Wei waved at one of the troops and turned to Ying, "The why is obvious, don't you think? Without a working vaccine, having an exposed facility could prove disastrous. This isn't just about secrecy; this is about security. As for the how, this particular facility is a fourteen-mile bunker built with reinforced concrete, walls twenty feet below the surface."
Ying felt dazed.
"Major Wei," called the troop that was heading in their direction. "We are ready to depart."
Smiling--really smiling now, the Major clasped the soldier on the back. "Excellent. Then let's get this show on the road. By the way, Doctor Ying, this is Captain Wu, he will be my second in command at the facility."
Ying waved awkwardly, unsure if she should salute or not.
Captain Wu bowed curtly. His movements were just as crisp and military as the Major's, but there was something else about him, something manic in his eyes that was slightly unsettling. He gestured toward the large, white helicopter. "I suggest we take off as soon as possible."
With that, the Captain led them to the bird. The heavy transport was even wider than Ying had anticipated. There was enough room for a large truck with space between the sides and then some. She was guided to a seat near the front and strapped in. Moments later the rotor blades hummed louder and with a great shudder they were up in the air, soaring higher and higher above the hangar and the airport below.
Out the circular port window, Ying gazed upon Shanghai, China's biggest city and global financial hub, known for its waterfront promenade, lined with colonial-era buildings and futuristic skyline, now a mass of sirens and fire and smoke and panic. She winced at the sight of a diesel fuel station exploding into a giant fireball with enough force to rattle the helicopter.
She closed her eyes and prayed for her husband uncertain for what the future held. Could she; they, the scientific team find a cure--a vaccine to this terrible epidemic. In a world in which the dead walked the earth, nothing was certain.
The large white helicopter jostled and soon the city vanished from sight. Below, dark blue waves swooshed and fell into itself. It was an odd sight, almost surreal, compared to the chaos behind them. With another jostle, the blue was replaced with green trees and bushes and the brown of undeveloped land that didn't seem to buzz by as quickly as before. They were slowing. Suddenly, the heavy transport started dipping, lowering to the ground.
There was a loud creak, the sound of metal on cement, a shudder that quaked the entire vessel, and then nothing. The soldiers around her unbuckled and made their way to the back hatch. Unbuckling and standing, Doctor Ying followed Major Wei and Captain Wu down the lowered steps on the side of the aircraft. She gazed at the horizon, stretching out for miles in what happened to be a large square with twelve-foot-tall barbed wire fence. A little guard shack sat in the epicenter of the compound. She was about to ask and remembered how the Major said the facility was deep underground.
They watched the troops unload the gear and duffle bags, following them to the lonesome guard shack. Standing together, Captain Wu radioed something that Ying could not understand. A passphrase perhaps, she wondered. A moment later, the ground beneath them began to drop.
Ying tottered and was steadied by Major Wei.
"Gets everyone on their first decent," he said, almost laughing.
Balanced by the Major, Ying looked around. The ground they stood on was a large rectangle platform connected to some sort of elevator or tram system. The mechanism groaned as they continued farther and farther down into the bunker. Above them, the opening began to close with a sort of secondary roof. And while it was all very impressive, she couldn't help the feeling that they were being sealed inside a very large tomb.
As if confirming her fears, the roof closed with a thunderous metallic thump, vibrating up her spine giving her the impression of a giant nail hammered into a coffin.
Polk
Part IV
Shoreacres,
Texas.
Gunshots thundered.
Volley after volley.
The crackle echoing coldly into the night.
The living dead swarmed around them.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
"Ahuja GET DOWN!" Jelks yelled, aiming his M4 at an ashen-faced man. He squeezed the trigger. The shot impacted the walking corpse, head whipping back in a mist of dark red, hardly recognizable as human.
Crouching with wide eyes, Ahuja stuttered, "Thanks," and moved to the center of the group.
"Pull in tight, people," Collins growled, aiming and firing his rifle into an approaching crowd of living dead. Waxen faces lit up by the muzzle flash and dim glow of street lamps still in operation. A dead woman came close enough to touch his arm. Recoiling, he snapped the butt of his M4, knocking her back with a wet smack against her drooping, rotting face.
Polk watched them from her peripheral, keeping her focus on the walking dead in front of her--a constant grouping of stumbling moaning bodies, reeking of spoiled fruit. A twenty-something man reached out to grab her. She pivoted and brought her baseball bat around with as much force as she dared, crushing his skull. The dead man fell and moved no more. A fortyish woman lunged for her, dressed in a blood-stained flower print dress. She brought the bat around, sinking it into the dead woman's head who toppled over and lay motionless.
And another.
And another.
Over and over.
Gun shot after gun shot.
They fought.
An obese man with half his face chewed away, exposing teeth, charged at Polk, growling, spitting black tar. His eyes cloudy white.
She turned and swung her bat.
It connected with the dead man's jaw, snapping his head back, splintering the wood, a large chunk flying out into the night and disappearing amongst the horde.
"Shit!" she hissed, taking what remained and impaling the top of the fat man's head. He moaned, a sort of blackish red bubbling from his blubbery mouth and collapsed face first onto the road.
More were crowding in.
Polk pushed them back, causing a few to stumble. But not enough. Dozens were still reaching out, clawing for any bit of flesh they could manage. She glanced behind her. Ahuja was huddled in the center--too terrified to move. Jelks was slamming in a new clip, his face pale and strained. Collins was holding a horde of rotting bodies back to their left flank, but even he was slowly inching inward toward the group.
Something had her.
Polk whipped her head back around.
A dead man in a suit, tie lost, button-up half undone with several infected looking bites covering his white flesh. He had her arm, her new bionic prosthetic, gnawing on it as if it were flesh.
Rage boiled up.
Burning away the fatigue.
Burning away the fear.
She trembled all over.
"Fuck this!" she screamed, snatching her arm back. The man glared at her, confused in the loss of his snack. Making a fist with her prosthetic, she lunged, putting everything sh
e had into the punch.
Something wet snapped inside the dead man's chest, vibrating up Polk's arm. Lifting off the ground, he flew backwards, bowling into another massive group of shuffling dead.
"Holy shit," she whispered, looking at her bionic hand and glancing back up at the dead man in the suit who was now struggling to stand on limp, nonworking legs. "I broke its spine--I broke that thing's fucking spine!"
Two dead women came at her.
Polk kicked one in the gut. And with the other, she snatched what remained of torn clothing, some band t-shirt she didn't recognize. Hoisting the dead woman up, she spun and threw her toward the front of the group. The dead woman sailed and knocked several lunging dead to the ground.
"How in the hell?" Jelks shouted, not daring to take his eyes off the herd of dead in front of him.
Doctor Ahuja was muttering something excitedly.
Spinning around, Polk swung and punched a gushing fist sized hole through a rotting man's face.
He fell to his knees.
Polk tore her arm away with a thick, slurpy sound.
More gunshots.
"I'm running low!" Collins shouted.
"Follow me," Polk yelled.
She waited for them to close ranks, and then charged ahead--using her new arm as both shield and battering ram. Knocking and pushing and punching the rotting living dead. Hungry, moaning wails followed them as they made their way back behind the neighbor's house.
Halting at the fence, they stared--hundreds of slow moving dead filled the backyard of Jonny and Karen's house--there was no retreat.
"We can't go there," Jelks said, stating the obvious.
"We've got to go somewhere," Collins sneered, aiming and blowing a yellowish looking man's brains out the back of his skull. More of the dead trampled the fallen corpse.
"Come on." Polk darted to her right, grabbing at one of the rotter's, forcing it backwards into three others.
Together, they ran along the fence line until coming out to a clearing beside another neighbor's backyard. Collins was in the rear, turning and firing as they went. Jelks aimed and shot a woman holding hands with her dead daughter--a little girl, no older than six. Both in matching blood splattered nightgowns, both with swollen bite marks on their neck and arms. Stopping, he aimed and shot the girl, too. Both now silent and unmoving in tall witches' grass.
Planet of the Dead (Book 2): War For The Planet of The Dead Page 14
