Flip This Zombie

by Jesse Petersen

  I stared at what was in front of me. Eggs, bacon, coffee. A croissant. A motherfucking croissant! That was it. I had died in the accident and this was heaven.

  “Holy shit,” I burst out as I grabbed for the pastry first. “What—what?”

  He smiled. “Well, it’s amazing what one can do between military rations and other supplies. Please do enjoy.” He turned toward The Kid. “You too.”

  The boy leapt forward without waiting for a second invitation and dug into the food with gusto. With a shrug, I joined him. The two of us ate non-stop for a few minutes before I glanced up to see Kevin watching us. Well, watching me. That was enough to make me self-conscious and I grabbed for a napkin to wipe my face sheepishly.

  “Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a while.”

  He smiled as he sat down in one of the rolling chairs near mine. “No worries. I like to see a woman eat with such passion.”

  I blushed as I sipped my coffee. “My head is still a little foggy this morning,” I said as a way to change the subject.

  Kevin nodded. “Yes. Today you’ll probably be a bit off-kilter still, but I’m betting you’ll be feeling more yourself tomorrow.”

  I frowned. I hated to put it off that long, but there really wasn’t much of a choice. Not without my partner. I sighed. “I don’t think I should go out to hunt until I’m well.”

  “I agree,” he said instantly. “Regardless of what your husband thought, I don’t want to see anyone hurt in the name of my research. Take the day to rest and rejuvenate and we’ll see how you feel tomorrow.”

  I nodded. “It’s going to be more complicated since I’ll be hunting alone.”

  The Kid’s head jerked up at that. “What do you mean alone?”

  I shot him a brief look. “Alone. Definition: without other people. E pluribus by-myself-us,” I chuckled. “And you say you like to read.”

  The Kid glared at me without acknowledging my little joke. “No way. I’m going with you.”

  I stared at him. “Robbie, your wrist is going to slow you down. You can hardly hold that cup, let alone fire a weapon or tie a knot.”

  “So how the hell are you going to catch one by yourself?” The Kid asked, filled with brimstone and righteous indignation that was almost laughable when it came in child-size.

  I shrugged but I turned my gaze on Kevin. “Dr. Barnes here is going to give me plenty of his knock-out juice and a way to shoot that shit from as far a distance as possible.”

  Kevin hesitated for a fraction of a moment, but then he nodded. “Of course. I have been working on a dart gun for future use in dispensing my cure, should I ever perfect it. I’m sure if you give me today to work on it, I can adjust it to fit your purposes.”

  I nodded slightly. “And there’s one other thing you’ll do for me today.”

  His eyes widened and I was pretty sure a dirty thought had just crossed his brilliant little mind. I ignored it as best I could.

  “And what is that, Sarah?” he asked, his pervy tone proving what I’d just guessed.

  “I want to see this place,” I said softly. “All of it.”

  He stepped back. “What? Why?”

  “Just because I decided to stay and fight your little battle doesn’t mean I don’t have my own doubts about you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Dave brought up more than a few good points about why we shouldn’t take you at face value. So before I go off to be your lackey again, I want to know what I’m working for. Exactly.”

  There was a moment of shuffling and Kevin sent a slow side stare at The Kid, who sat with his arms folded, looking at the doctor like he was ready to fight to get me what I wanted if it came to that. Which was sort of cute, really. But finally Barnes nodded.

  “Very well, if you insist,” Kevin sighed. “I’m happy to show you the lab, though I doubt it will be very interesting to you.”

  I got to my feet, grabbing my half-full cup of coffee and the last bite of my croissant as I moved. “Oh, Doc. I’d be willing to bet good money that I’m going to see more than enough to keep me interested.”

  The seven habits of highly effective zombies. Hint: Most of them involve eating your brains.

  It turned out Kevin was right. His lab was pretty boring, actually. The Kid had been right in refusing to come along on our “dumb adventure.” Now I kind of wished I’d gone to take a nap like him. But here I was and I was determined to stick to my plan. It would make Dave proud to see me questioning the good doctor’s facade… even if he wasn’t here and maybe never coming back.

  Since it had originally been a military facility, there were several observation rooms where privates had sat once upon a time and watched the television monitors for… I don’t know, whatever they thought was going to threaten the facility, I guess.

  I’m thinking they didn’t have “zombies” on that list. Or maybe they did.

  There were plenty of storage areas, too, stacked high with weaponry and equipment for a very long, very bad disaster (kind of like the one we were in). But I’ll admit, none of the supplies I saw shocked me. None screamed, “Secretly making bionic zombies, planning to kill you all! ”

  On one side of the lab, there was a kitchen and a mess hall. The kitchen still functioned (as proven by that morning’s culinary delights), but the mess hall was dusty and empty. Apparently Kevin took his meals at his desk like every good overworked employee should.

  “You really ought to get out more,” I laughed as he closed the mess hall door behind us.

  He shrugged with a grin of his own. “I’ve heard there’s a lot of new sights in the world. But most of it isn’t worth seeing.”

  “That’s true,” I said with a sigh. “But maybe we can change that.”

  There was a moment’s hesitation. “Yeah, maybe. If we do, perhaps you can be my tour guide upon my triumphant return to the world.”

  I cast a quick glance at him out of the corner of my eye, but didn’t respond. He’d been sort of half-assed flirting with me for the past half-hour. The worst part was that I sort of liked it.

  Oh, don’t judge me. I wasn’t about to take him to one of the labs and latch him down on the table to have my way with him. But it was nice to be flirted with a little. In a post-apocalyptic world, you kind of end up missing whistling construction workers and inappropriate comments at work that get everyone sent to sexual harassment classes. It’s a normal part of life and when it’s gone you notice.

  We turned down one of the many halls in the labyrinth of the lab and started to steer by a few closed doors. Kevin moved past me, whistling slightly as he maneuvered me toward another area, but I didn’t follow. Instead, I came to a stop.

  “And what’s in here?”

  He stopped in the middle of the hall and slowly pivoted on his heel to face me. “Er, lab rooms. Testing facilities. We’re mostly storing equipment in them now. It’s nothing you’d want to see, Sarah.”

  I arched a brow at his reluctance. Maybe Dave was on to something with his mad scientist statements after all.

  “Please don’t make me regret giving up my entire life to stay here and help you,” I said softly as I motioned to the door. “Open it.”

  Kevin let out a put-upon sigh, but he did as I asked and swiped his key card through the scanner. Immediately the door popped open to reveal…

  Nothing. Just an empty room with some equipment pushed to the far back wall of the area. I smiled with relief.

  “See,” Kevin said with a knowing shake of his head. “Boring.”

  “Still, I’d like to see more, thanks,” I said as I motioned to the next door.

  He arched a brow. “Losing faith, Sarah?”

  I frowned. “No. Just not losing my head over what very well might be pipe dreams.”

  There wasn’t any more discussion as he started unlocking doors. One after another, he proved himself correct. They were just filled with supplies like food and medical items, paper and printer cartridges. After seeing about ten of them down two different hallways
, I had to cry Uncle.

  “Okay,” I said as he moved to the next door in the seemingly endless line. “I give. You’re right. Your lab is boring as hell. Don’t show me one more room of toner cartridges and cleaner fluid.”

  He chuckled. “Well, then let me take you on the truncated tour, instead. Just the highlights, eh?”

  I laughed as I followed him, this time ignoring the shut doors he passed as we turned left and right, left and right until we reached the same hall where we had put the first zombie we caught for him a few days before. At least, I thought it was the same hallway. Honestly, the design of this place was meant to confuse. I guess just in case some fool stumbled in here with an agenda.

  He opened the door in front of him. A dark room greeted us, the silence of it only punctuated by the faint ping of some kind of a machine. He reached in and clicked on the fluorescent lights and then motioned me inside.

  I was right. There on the table where we’d left him a couple days before was our first captured zombie. I recognized him from the hash marks on his face where he’d given himself rope burn on our first net. He almost looked like a rotting body with a soccer ball head now. Cute.

  The thing was latched down to the table, oozing body covered in a sheet that was spotted with sludge stains. One bare, gray arm was laid out over it, black veins bulging against rotting flesh, and an IV was pressed into his skin. His eyes were open, red and dead, but he was still, not thrashing around or trying to eat or escape.

  He didn’t breathe. Well, not in a traditional sense, anyway. He took in a lungful of air about once a minute or maybe ninety seconds. He never exhaled.

  “God,” I breathed as I inched closer. “What did you do to it?”

  Kevin scurried forward, the thrill and pride in his eyes undeniable. “These are the effects of the special sedative I created.”

  My brow furrowed. “I-I thought you said earlier that the zombie we brought in yesterday was the first one you tested it on.”

  He turned toward me slightly and there was a fraction of a second of hesitation before he said, “I gave the sedative to this one yesterday after you brought yours in. I wanted to see if I could mimic the same results. My research has really only just begun. I’ll need to test so many things on these specimens.”

  I nodded, though I wasn’t fully satisfied with his pat little answers. “So have you given him the curative treatment yet?”

  Kevin shook his head. “No, not yet. The sedative seemed an important item to test before I had too many zombies on site. If I’m not able to control them, things could get out of hand far too quickly.”

  I shivered as I flashed to the accident. I was starting to recall more and more of it with every passing hour and I sort of wished I could go back to my blank memories. Actually, that feeling when I woke up and thought this entire zombie apocalypse was a dream was pretty good, too. Maybe Kevin could make me a serum for that sometime. If he put it on the market, he could make a mint.

  I smiled at him. “Well, I can’t wait to see the results once you start using the cure on them.”

  He returned my expression, but there was something troubled in his eyes that I couldn’t help but notice. I tilted my head slightly.

  “What is it? You seem worried.”

  He shifted. “Do you know me so well already, Sarah?”

  Now it was me who shifted. “I don’t know about that. You don’t hide your emotions very well for a scientist.”

  He laughed and the tension between us faded a little, thank God.

  “It comes from being away from people for so long I’ve forgotten the niceties and politeness involved in everyday interaction,” he explained. “There isn’t anything wrong, per se. I only worry that you may be disappointed once you see the cure at work.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, wary.

  He shrugged. “While the guinea pigs did respond well and integrated back into their society after the cure was administered, the human brain is far more complex.”

  “Obviously,” I said. “At least in most cases.”

  “Indeed.” He chuckled again. “But with those complications that make us so… human, I can’t say for sure that the zombies will fully return to normal. Those who are freshly infected may be perfectly fine. Those who have been gone for a long time may die instantly or even turn into mindless drones. I have no idea what will happen in the long term.”

  I reached out to grab his hand and held it for a brief moment. “Kevin, no one is asking you for the perfect solution here. I certainly don’t expect it. But if there were a way to turn even a small portion of these people normal again or prevent the freshly bitten from turning into monsters, my God, why not try it? And I much prefer mindless drones to killing machines, I promise you that.”

  He looked down to where my hand touched his and I followed his gaze. Instantly, I drew back and stepped away from him. He smiled.

  “You are a very interesting woman, Sarah,” he said softly. “The fact that you haven’t lost all hope, become completely jaded by all you’ve been through, is amazing.”

  I looked down at the zombie on the table, but I was thinking of David. He was jaded. He had no hope left. Or at least that’s what the doctor believed, what we had both accused him of before he stormed off the previous afternoon.

  Except now that my anger had passed, I couldn’t really believe that accusation to be accurate. David had always fought with everything he had to survive, and even harder to keep me safe and alive.

  If he had truly lost all hope, why would he even bother?

  “Since you’re going to be field testing the sedation formula for me, I’d like to show you how and where I administer it,” Kevin said, his voice pulling me from my thoughts of David.

  I nodded.

  He touched the zombie’s head, eliciting a soft mutter from it that caused me to reach reflexively for the gun I normally carried in my waistband. It wasn’t there, of course, since I was in the lab, and for a moment stark panic overwhelmed me. My heart began to race and my mind conjured images of this thing rising up. There would be nothing I could do.

  Kevin reached out and his cool hand touched my arm. “It’s okay, Sarah. I promise you, he isn’t going to wake up any time soon. They still mutter and moan in this state, just as we do under sedation.”

  I nodded as I forced myself to calm down. Or tried to, anyway. Freaking out wasn’t going to help anyone. Though that had never stopped me before.

  “Sorry,” I whispered as I motioned toward the zombie again. “Show me.”

  Kevin released my arm and used both his hands to slowly turn the zombie’s head away from me.

  “You see here,” he said, indicating a small puncture mark on the side of the creature’s neck.

  I nodded as I stared, but I wasn’t really seeing the needle mark. No, instead I couldn’t help but look intently at the other mark on the zombie’s neck.

  It was a brand with three circles and a line. Just like the one on the fur of the guinea pigs we’d seen less than a week ago.

  Just like the one David had described to me on the bionic zombie. I stared at it. He’d said it was on the thing’s neck. And here was another of Kevin’s zombies… with a brand on the exact same spot Dave had told me about.

  “Do you brand them all?” I asked past dry lips.

  Kevin nodded, although he seemed briefly annoyed that I had interrupted whatever it was he’d been saying while I zoned out.

  “Yes. I try to mark any creature I’m working with so that I can easily tell which ones I’ve tested on and which ones I haven’t. Also, in case they escaped my care, I would be easily able to identify them for recapture.”

  I nodded as he began to explain about shooting the dart into the neck so that the serum didn’t have to work so hard to reach the brain, but the uneasiness in my chest persisted and kept his words from completely sinking in.

  No, this didn’t prove anything. After all, Dave had certainly seen the marking before on the guinea p
igs in the lab. And I was still stuck on the fact that I hadn’t noticed the brand on the bionic. It was entirely possible the situation was just as I had accused Dave of creating. He’d imagined the marking because he didn’t like Kevin and didn’t trust his work.

  I backed away a little further. “Well, that all makes sense,” I said with a little nod. “I’m certain I’ll get it all figured out once I have the dart gun in hand.”

  Kevin’s brow wrinkled as he watched me move away from him. “Is everything okay, Sarah?”

  I nodded. “Oh yes. Just tired.”

  He shook his head. “How stupid of me. Of course, you must be exhausted. Enough time has passed since the accident that if you’d like to lie down and get some rest, it would be safe. I’ll monitor you before and after.”

  I forced a smile as I allowed him to lead me to the hallway and back toward the room where I could sleep. As much as I tried to convince myself that there was nothing to be worried about, my thoughts nagged at me. I doubted I’d get much of the sleep I so desperately needed.

  And if I did, I couldn’t imagine that my dreams would be pleasant.

  Dress for success. Also arm yourself for it.

  By the time the next morning came, I actually felt a lot better. My head was no longer foggy and a long day of rest (my first since the outbreak happened) had done me more good than I’d thought it would.

  I had even managed to purge myself of most of my doubts about Dr. Barnes after many talks and explanations of his behavior, mainly to myself, but sometimes with The Kid shrugging and “I dunno”-ing at my side.

  Helpful, that one.

  Now Kevin and I rode up the elevator together. The Kid wasn’t with us. He was still pouting over being left out of my hunt for the day and refused to speak to me, even to say good-bye. So it was just us. Alone.

  I looked in his direction as we passed from the bright lights of the lab area up into the darkness of the chamber that would eventually lead to the warehouse above. As the green and red lighting system buzzed past I could see the tension around his mouth and eyes.