“Fine. Where are they?”
“In my car. I could use extra hands, or it’ll take me two trips.”
Lucy looked at the exterior door and then back to him. He knew they were both thinking the same thing.
***
Zombies.
None were in sight in the few dozen yards between the lab building and the police car. But now that he knew dead bodies lay in a room nearby, that changed things entirely. He should’ve never let her drag him inside in the first place. Should’ve ordered her into his car and driven them back to the station.
They paused in the threshold of the exit door, feeling the cooler night air, gauging the shadows behind the trees. How come there were no insect noises? Sure, it was the end of October, but shouldn’t he be able to hear something? A cricket?
Kelton pushed his glasses up his nose before drawing his gun. “So, going outside.”
“The plan hasn’t changed.”
He admired the determined look on her face. Brave. It was his plan—he was the one holding the gun—and yet she was the one without any hesitation.
Kelton started forward.
When they were halfway to the car, five people stepped around the corner. Four young women and a man. They all wore clothes, none of them dirty. There was no way they could be zombies from the anatomy lab or cemetery.
Except blood covered one woman’s arms up to the elbows, like she’d been washing dishes in it. Impossibly, a white Frisbee hung out of her ribcage under the left breast. And the fat one, the one with a big orange dress like a hot air balloon, had a giant hole where her forehead used to be. Someone had already shot her there.
Not from the cemetery. But from somewhere else. Fresh. He could imagine them walking around earlier today. Normal people doing their normal business before something unnatural attacked them.
Kelton cocked his gun. “Kink in the plan.”
The zombies shuffled like mental patients. In fact, they were nothing like the ones he saw at the Rooter household. So maybe there was hope. “Well, at least they’re the slow kind.” George Romero, generation one, he would tell her later to impress her. “It would suck if—”
The male zombie lurched into a run.
“Shit.” He pushed Lucy back into the doorway.
He was about to follow her when he saw that determined look on her face again. She’s going to think I’m a coward.
So he turned around and started toward the car.
“What are you doing?” Lucy said. “Get inside!”
The truth was, he wasn’t sure what he was doing. He raised his gun and took aim at the one running at him. His mouth ran automatically: “Just, ah, get in there and lock up. We don’t want one of them getting in there and, ah…”
His heartbeat thundered in his ears. He was doing the right thing.
This is it. This is it…
The Governator against the Amazon vampires from the Moon.
You’re an action hero. You’re a fucking action hero. Make it happen.
The male zombie, a big bald black guy, ran with its shoulders hunched up to its ears. It reached out as it came within a few feet.
Kelton took aim at the dome of its head. He fired, and the zombie’s gray matter sprayed out behind it.
But he realized his mistake too late. Shoot ’em in the heart.
The zombie plowed into him.
Kelton jammed his gun into the center of its sternum and fired again.
It collapsed at his feet.
But now the four others were nearly upon him. Four bullets left.
Action hero, action hero…
He sucked in a breath and held it. Took aim at their hearts and fired.
One. Two.
He stepped out of the way as the remaining two tried to tackle him. The dishwasher woman and the hot air balloon. They wheeled around and tried to follow.
As soon as Kelton could see their chests, he fired his last bullets. Three, four.
The female zombies hit the dirt.
He couldn’t believe what he’d done. Couldn’t believe the risk he’d taken.
Action hero. Look confident.
He flashed a smile at Lucy still standing in the lab’s doorway. Raised a thumb and tried to wink, although he’d never been able to wink. “I got ’em!”
Lucy answered with two thumbs up of her own.
But then her expression changed to horror. Kelton wondered what she was seeing. He looked around.
A white van was driving up fast.
What? Do zombies drive, too?
That’s when he felt a powerful hand wrap around his ankle.
Chapter 13
LUCY
Lucy screamed as the woman at Kelton’s feet sat up and grabbed his ankle with a bloody hand. Kelton only had time to curse.
But then another gun fired, and the woman fell over. Lucy hadn’t even seen the white van pull up. The gunman was a police officer leaning out the driver’s window. He stopped the van and climbed out.
Relief washed over her. The cavalry’s here.
Another cop piled out of the van, a tall young man who slapped Kelton’s shoulder. “Nice to see you’re alive!” He and the driver headed to the van’s rear doors, where a gray-haired cop handed them shotguns.
Kelton stood there, his pistol still drawn, looking dazed. Lucy was about to go to him when Kelton reached out to help a woman stepping from the van. A busty brunette, she wore nothing but a negligee and a thin, white robe. Probably a refugee.
“You okay?” Kelton said.
“We have to find Jeff. He went to Sammy’s.”
Kelton still looked dazed as he watched her go. Lucy opened the lab door wider and motioned for her to come inside.
Someone or something shrieked in the distance. It was enough to break Kelton out of his reverie. He went to help the others haul in equipment.
Lucy held the door for them until they were inside. She was more full of questions than ever.
***
Lucy was about to lock the door—proof or no proof that zombies could operate doorknobs—when the gray-haired police officer announced they were going back out. She glanced at his uniform’s nametag—it said CHIEF SIMPSON—before stepping aside.
In the open doorway, the chief turned to the one who’d shot the zombie when they arrived. “Newton, you keep guard out here until Becky and the others show up.”
The young man’s face crumpled in dismay. Lucy didn’t blame him. Better for him to stay in the lab, where it was safe.
But then a squad car pulled up behind the van, and two cops jumped out: a beefy man wearing a yellow vest labeled SHERIFF, like he’d been caught in the middle of directing traffic, and a tall black woman.
They were just in time. More zombies—at least two dozen—had followed them from the road. The creatures didn’t move like humans anymore. They lurched and ran, stumbled and jumped. When they encountered Officer Kelton’s antique police car, they didn’t part around it but instead poured over it like a tidal wave.
“Move!” Chief Simpson bellowed, but the command was unnecessary. The new arrivals fired their shotguns at the crowd as they retreated into the building.
Once they were in, Lucy slammed the door shut. And locked it.
The one with the yellow vest was out of breath. “They’re destroying the whole town.”
The chief turned to the black woman. “Where’s your partner?”
“Didn’t make it. Those fucks got him.”
“Damn.” The chief shook his head. “All right. Let’s hole up further inside.”
But the woman only stood there, crying. She had the look of somebody who’d been holding it in. Now that she was safe, she was going to crumple into a ball. “They fucking got him.”
Lucy reached out to comfort her. A part of her still couldn’t believe any of this was happening.
“Becky!” the chief snapped.
Becky stood up straighter. “Yes, sir.”
“Keep it together. We go
t a long night ahead of us.” The chief then turned to Lucy. “Okay, little missy, lead on.”
Lucy led them down the short hallway into her lab.
Behind them, she heard the zombies beat on the exterior door. It sounded like rain.
***
Of course she had tons of questions, such as why the police were there and who that woman was in the negligee, but she knew better than to waste time on idle conversation. The clock was ticking until the next energy pulse, and she needed to find out as much about it as possible. That meant having a heart-to-heart, so to speak, with ole Mr. Monster lying in the corner.
Except her computer had crashed while they were outside, making that impossible for the moment. She cursed and rebooted the system.
While she waited, she decided to conduct eyewitness interviews. She started with the woman in the negligee, who was sitting against a wall.
Kelton had found a first aid kit in a cabinet. He knelt beside the woman and used a cotton ball to dab hydrogen peroxide into a scratch on her calf.
Without looking at him, she snatched the cotton ball out of his hand. “I can do it myself. Thank you.”
Lucy hugged her legal pad to her chest. “Do you know each other?”
Kelton avoided eye contact. “Yeah, we’re old friends.”
Interesting, Lucy thought.
“I’m Paula Trent.” The woman glanced at Kelton and cleared her throat. “And Jeff is my husband, in case you were wondering.”
“I see.”
Kelton gestured vaguely at the MRI machine. “I’ll just be over there.”
Once he’d left, Lucy knelt beside Paula Trent on floor. She felt awkward as hell. “I’m Lucy Grimm. I work here.”
“I gathered that.” Paula indicated Lucy’s white lab coat. Somehow the gesture made Lucy feel even more uncomfortable.
“I’m interviewing everyone to figure out what’s going on. Let’s start with how you got here.”
Paula drew her robe tightly around herself. She glared at Lucy and then at Kelton, who was now talking to the other cops. Lucy wouldn’t have been surprised if she said to fuck off. But then she began to talk.
***
It actually didn’t take long to question everyone in the room. She didn’t bother with Kelton, figuring he’d already told her everything, but that was only an excuse to avoid him. There was really only one topic to ask him about, and it had nothing to do with science. What the hell were you doing back there? Showing off for me? And since she suspected the answer was yes, she automatically compartmentalized it and moved around him.
Anyway, she was glad she took the time to probe the others, because she uncovered several salient clues as to what they were dealing with. She reported them to the police chief as he loaded a shotgun. The others gathered around to listen, leaning against cabinets and desks.
She coughed nervously. “Not every dead thing in town is walking the streets. Only humans that seem to have died within the past month.”
Which turned out to be a good many. The beginning of flu season had hit Nilbog’s two retirement communities especially hard, keeping Pinewood Gardens Cemetery busy.
She thought of her grandmother’s casket posed over its hole that afternoon. I hope six feet of dirt will keep her down. This isn’t happening.…
Chief Simpson nodded and handed off the gun to the lanky one who’d introduced himself as Larry. “That’s right. Haven’t seen any skeletons. And the bugs aren’t coming back out of their roach motels, either. Thank Ceiling Cat for that.”
Lucy looked up from her legal pad. “Thank who?”
“Never mind. Go on.”
“Two. The newly resurrected are only focused on exterminating living humans. They don’t harm each other or do anything else that doesn’t result in killing someone.”
Officer Larry tapped the end of a surgical curette against his chin. “Yeah. The chief wondered if they’re being controlled. It’s like they knew to attack the police station first.”
Lucy pointed at the curette. “You shouldn’t put that near your mouth. I used it on a corpse’s guts earlier tonight.”
He grimaced and lowered the curette from his face. He nodded at the former zombie lying in the corner. “You mean that one? Yuck.”
“Anyway, they’re here now,” the chief said. “I’m sorry we led them to your lab.”
The young cop the chief had called Newton spoke up from across the room, where he was keeping an eye on the exterior door. “I don’t know how they kept up with us. I drove like a bat out of hell.”
Lucy frowned. He had a point. It was almost as if they were targeting this lab, too.
The chief stroked his scraggly gray whiskers. “‘Bat out of hell.’ I gotta remember that one.” He flashed an embarrassed smile. “So, if they’re being coordinated, I wonder how it works.”
“Well, I have a theory about that,” Lucy said.
She reported her thoughts about the waves of blue light. That she’d worried about widespread heart attacks. That somehow the energy coming from the old school building controlled the deceased bodies via their heart tissue, like radio waves hitting antennae. “I assume the only reason it didn’t get to my cadaver earlier is because of this lab’s lead shielding. But now each wave is getting stronger and, I bet, going farther.”
Paula got up from the floor. “How much farther? Sammy’s Grocery is halfway across the island. Does it reach that far?”
Lucy went to her computer, which was online now. “Let me see. You know, we should really consult the expert on all this. My boss.”
“She means Dr. Robertson,” Kelton said. “You have his number?”
“Can you look in his office for it? There’s a phone list taped to his desk. Oh, and Kelton, could you also call…”
But Kelton had already disappeared into the tiny office. She was going to ask him to phone her grandfather.
Officer Larry replaced the curette with a pencil, which he tapped against his cheek. He raised his eyebrows at Lucy, and she nodded that the pencil was okay. “You know, Homeland Security’s going to love to get their hands on the terrorist responsible for this.”
Lucy shook her head as she logged into her computer and called up data. “I doubt it’s a terrorist. This is way beyond anything mankind can do. Or at least that I’m aware of.”
“Mankind?”
“Yes. I’d say whoever did this isn’t from around here.”
Kelton came back out of Dr. Robertson’s office. “You mean Japan?”
Lucy’s audience blinked at her like children. Am I actually going to say what I’m going to say? She swallowed. “Kelton, think up.”
Kelton looked at the ceiling. Then he shrugged. “I don’t get it. Oh, I didn’t find that phone list.”
“I’ll look for it in a minute.” She tapped computer keys. “Okay, the VPN’s working. Let’s see here.”
Kelton stepped closer and rested his hand on the butt of his gun. “What’s a VPN?”
“Excuse me.” Paula Trent gestured at her thin attire. “Do you have a coat around here? Or any shoes? I’m cold.”
“I’m not sure—look on the—” Lucy began, but the data from the field sensors implanted across Nilbog island sucked her attention like a black hole.
“I’ll help,” Becky said. She led Paula away.
“The energy waves are getting stronger each time, I think.” Lucy maximized her modified Google map and pointed at the town’s east end. “This is where it’s coming from. Kelton said it’s an abandoned school?”
“That’s right,” he said.
“The first wave reached out to about here.” She pointed. “The second, right about to…” She consulted her numbers, then moved her finger farther west across Nilbog. “Here. And the third…” She moved her finger even farther.
She lingered on the portion of the map where Grandpa was home alone. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. I’m going to snap…
Kelton cleared his throat. “So, farther each ti
me. Stronger.”
She saw him staring at her eyes, probably noticing the tears about to spill over. She felt a surge of gratitude. He was helping her stay focused.
Lucy sniffed and wiped her eyes. Her voice shook. “Yeah. It might just keep getting stronger and reaching to other towns. I don’t know.”
Kelton touched her shoulder and then backed away.
Officer Larry dropped his pencil. “There was a meteor sighting earlier today by Jeff Trent, but we had no reports of it landing anywhere.”
“Did you say Jeff?” Paula returned, now wearing a pair of men’s flip-flops she must have snagged from Robertson’s office. “Did he call?”
“No, ma’am. I was just telling them about the meteor Jeff saw while flying in to Nilbog.”
Paula started to cry. “I’m not going to see him again, am I?”
“I wouldn’t say that. He seems like a tough guy, a man who knows his way around a gun. Am I right, or am I right?”
That only made Paula cry harder.
Kelton frowned. “Good going, partner.”
Lucy stared at Officer Larry, but her mind was elsewhere. Meteor. Finally, it clicked. “X factor filled. It landed here.”
“What are you saying?” Chief Simpson said. “The meteor’s an alien space ship? And it landed right here? At the Institute?”
“No, not here.” Lucy pointed at the spot on the map where the abandoned elementary school was. “Here.”
***
Everyone started talking at once, debating their next course of action. Some, like Kelton, said they should go to the elementary school right away and stop the problem at its source. Others, like Paula Trent, said they should stay put until outside help arrived. The chief struggled with a cell phone, grumbling about reporting this to state police.
The conversation devolved into a debate over the intricacies of zombie lore. The zombies had to be getting their energy from somewhere, Kelton argued in a surprising display of intelligence. And since they weren’t eating people, maybe their energy was being beamed in from the elementary school. Take out the school, and you take out the zombies.
Someone brought up biological weapons and the military and the Book of Revelations. Another person even mentioned that 1950s camp-fest of a movie, Grave Robbers From Outer Space.
Plan 9- Official Movie Novelization Page 12
