Steve and Bruno stood side by side. Apparently there was no need to use their weapons. Could they warn the visitors that the dead may be dangerous? How could they spoil all this joy and hope though? What should they protect? The happiness or the health of these people? They decided to protect none and they headed towards the gate.
The view mixed things up more instead of giving answers. They left the graveyard and sat on the sidewalk outside. The equipment they were carrying all this time was quite heavy and they were tired.
“I don't understand,” Steve said. “Nobody looks to be afraid. It's like there haven't been any zombie-like creatures anywhere except for our building.”
“Maybe something happened that made everyone so happy that they didn't notice the zombies,” Bruno answered, but didn't say everything of what he was thinking. He wanted some time before talking about his secret.
“Are you OK?” Steve asked after seeing Bruno having an expression a bit more serious than earlier.
“Of course! Why shouldn't I?”
“You look a bit lost in your thoughts. Something bothers you.”
“Oh, wow! A biologist slash psychologist!” Bruno said, trying to lighten his mood first of all.
“I'm not joking. If you want to talk about it, well, go ahead,” Steve said and fixed his eyes to Bruno's, causing him some nervousness, like Steve was trying to invade his thoughts and Bruno wasn't ready to let anyone into them. At least, not yet.
“There's nothing to talk about. What do we do now?” Bruno wanted to move the attention away from himself.
“How about we go to boulevard de Clichy? Maybe we can find out something over there, there are always many people around.”
So they walked all the way towards the busy boulevard. More and more people were everywhere and they looked like they were celebrating something. When they arrived to their destination, even the streets were full of people. The traffic was completely halted.
“Make love, not war!” someone shouted at them in a rather friendly and playful way. Another guy passed in front of them, he stopped and he kissed them on the cheeks. Of course, nothing of this was helping them understand, even though the atmosphere felt very nice and safe. Suddenly, Bruno said “Look! Over there!”
“Where?”
“There! Near the tree!”
“Near the tree, what?”
“It's Fiona!”
CHAPTER NINE
Three are more than two
Fiona was also lost and walking slowly but she didn't seem to know where she was going. Bruno rushed towards her, with lots of courage coming from the fact that he had forgotten that he was shy. He touched her shoulder and she turned around abruptly, visibly startled.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you.”
“Who are you?” Fiona asked.
“My name is Bruno. We are classmates.”
“Are you sure? I... don't think that I remember you.” Fiona said. Under different circumstances, her words would hurt enough for Bruno to stop thinking about dating for a long time. It could be a good excuse to stay inside and play games though. Bruno liked to look at the bright side of misfortunes, at least when he could find one.
“Usually I sit behind you and you are too busy with all this reading and paying attention to the professor and stuff.”
“Yeah, how silly of me!”
Steve arrived also. Bruno introduced him. Fiona was not impressed. They looked around for a bit and she looked at them. “Are those real guns?” she asked.
“That's a long story. We will explain. Do you know what are we celebrating? Is it a national holiday or something?” Steve asked.
“I don't think so. It looks like something strange has happened to almost everyone. Have you noticed any changes on you lately?” Fiona asked.
“No, nothing. What kind of changes, you mean?” Steve asked while Bruno was trying to make an innocent face and remained silent.
“For example, when I woke up this morning, my eyes were perfectly fine. I could see without my glasses. And it seems to me that everyone celebrates something similar that happened to them,” Fiona said, trying to see if Bruno and Steve would look at her as if she was nuts.
“No, I haven't noticed something. You, Bruno?”
“Me? No, no, what could I see? No, nothing, no.”
“OK, OK, I believe you.” Steve turned to Fiona. “But we have noticed something else.” He tried to speak but he thought that his story would be too weird to be believable, even if they were surrounded by people who were dancing and jumping and singing for reasons that seemed to be connected somehow. But still, all this was too strange to start talking about it on the street, as if they were talking about every day stuff.
“What is it?” Fiona asked with an interrogating look.
“Ummm... I don't know how to start,” Steve mumbled.
“It's too strange, really,” Bruno backed him up.
“But you believe me when I tell you that today, out of nowhere, I'm able to see without my glasses, yes?”
“Yes.” Both of them agreed.
“And you think that your story is more strange than this? Now I want to know everything.” Fiona was excited and she was looking at them smiling, apparently affected by the whole joyful environment.
Bruno and Steve looked at each other, trying to find the proper words to begin. Fiona was having fun with their awkwardness. “Let me help you,” she said. “Say 'It all began when...' and the rest will come!”
“There are some zombies, but they are a more evolved kind. They're not the ones we know, who want to eat brains and they die when you shoot them in the head. These zombies die for a few hours and then they return without a simple scar!” Steve said almost in one breath.
“I was thinking that we could bring it more gently, but your approach was not bad.” Bruno said, preparing to receive some well-deserved mockery by the girl that he was never meant to be with, as it seemed.
Fiona was processing in her head the new information. She was trying to make the connection but there were some missing links and she needed to know more. “Where are those zombies that aren't zombies?” she asked.
Bruno got serious as it looked like they found an ally in this strange battle they were giving while people around were having the time of their life. “Come with us. They must be still at our building,” he said and all three of them started marching towards rue Darwin.
Their walk was hard. Bruno was well built, but Steve was not used to carrying this kind of weight for such a long distance. And Fiona was pulling them impatiently, eager to see the living dead or whatever those people were. “Do you think they are vampires?” she asked in a way that pretended to be spooky, but in a Halloween manner.
“Well... They tried... to eat... our neighbor... and...” Steve stopped talking in order to breathe more. He didn't choose to do so. He had to, because he was starting to get dizzy and he needed desperately the oxygen.
Bruno stepped up. “They also ate raw meat. So, maybe they have a bit of vampire in them. But we don't know if the sun harms them.”
“We should try this then!” Fiona proposed happily.
“They are dangerous. We can't play with our safety. We don't want to be bitten and become like them,” Bruno said while trying also to look like an authoritative figure, still on his pursuit of capturing Fiona's attention. Of course, he was failing triumphantly as Fiona wasn't affected by his charm, not even a tiny bit.
“Werewolves then?” Fiona kept messing around.
“They have no extra hair.” Bruno answered, wondering if he looked goofy for answering seriously such questions.
“So, what can they be?” Fiona asked, quite confused.
“How about... humans?” Steve suggested, as he was struggling behind them, partly talking, partly trying to catch his breath and stop that dialogue before it would become more idiotic. He stopped walking and put some effort to stand straight. “Please! Try to act like scientists, not like geeks! You
are supposed to be biologists! Your theories must be scientific!”
“Was he bitten by those zombies?” Fiona asked while nodding towards Steve.
“Maybe. We can shoot him in the face and if it comes back it means that he is one of them,” Bruno answered, in an obvious attempt for some trolling team play.
“Ugh. Whatever. You can bite me, I don't care. But you will thank me when I save your asses,” Steve said, faithful to his beloved habit of delivering serious-sounding cinematic one-liners at any time he could get a chance.
“Come on, grumpy boy. All the world is celebrating today. It's a pity to be like this in such a day,” Fiona said, trying to calm the tough guy down.
“By the way, you said that you didn't find out why all the fun and joy so suddenly?” Bruno remembered.
“No, I was just checking around, I didn't ask anybody. Maybe it's on the news. You didn't watch the news?” Fiona asked back.
“Yes, we watched them and we're asking you what happened because, who knows, maybe we want to test you.” Steve wasn't getting any more pleasant.
Bruno was more polite. “We didn't think about turning on the TV. We were busy with all the zombies outside our door. And you?”
“Usually I read in the mornings. Today I did it without my glasses and I enjoyed it even more. No, I didn't have my mind in turning on the TV!”
“We should take a look when we arrive at home,” Bruno said.
“We should also ask our zombie friends what they want to watch. We don't want to be rude, right?” Steve was saying that they should take care of the zombies before bothering about the news. But he did it in his own special way.
25 minutes of slow walking later, they were at home. They stopped to catch their breath and they prepared their weapons.
“Did you notice that nobody bothered to even look at us?” Steve asked.
“You are very handsome guys, but they all looked very busy,” Fiona said, who kept on provoking Steve and she was having fun with it.
“Besides being obviously handsome, Hermione, we are carrying heavy weapons,” Steve told her while checking a pistol.
Fiona got serious, grabbed Steve by his T-shirt and pushed him against the wall. “How did you call me?”
“Ummm... Hermione?” Steve answered confused under the grip of the quite smaller Fiona. Bruno walked near them.
“Does any one of you two losers think himself as the chosen one?
“Ummm... No...?” Bruno said, wondering if this was the right answer.
“Chosen one for what?” Steve asked, worrying that he would give the wrong answer.
“Does any one of you two weirdos think that he has a chance to make me look at him as something more than a weirdo?”
“Ummm...” Both remained silent.
“One more Hurry Totter reference and I will shove this thing so far up your ass, that you will need to open your mouth when you want to shoot your zombies! Understood?” Fiona delivered the most bad-ass line so far and she caused the instant admiration by both Steve and Bruno.
It was interesting to see Steve, one and half heads taller than that girl who was laughing and playing like a child earlier, to be stuck like a poster against the wall, reluctant to say a word and actually afraid of the obscenities he just heard. Bruno tried to speak. “But we are two guys and one...”
Fiona, her hand still tight on Steve's T-shirt, turned her head and gave Bruno a murderous gaze. It was enough.
“Prepare your guns and let's go and see your friends,” she said and let Steve free.
“If they are still there,” Steve responded while straightening his T-shirt.
“They are in the building. I locked the door before leaving. They are too stupid to use keys, even if they have them,” Bruno said with his mind clear after Herm... Fiona's rant.
“They opened Mr Simonnot's apartment,” Steve reminded Bruno.
“Maybe the key was already there. Now they have to find out which key to use and on which door. Too complicated task for them, I think,” Bruno answered.
“How about you open the door?” Fiona was totally out of patience. They were in front of the building and their argument was wasting their precious time.
“Wait! Fiona, do you know how to use a pistol?” Bruno asked innocently.
“Sure! I shoot passers-by every morning after breakfast and in the army I was among the top five shooters!” The sarcasm felt unnecessary but it was amusing anyway.
“Then you must stay behind us at all times. There will be a lot of noise and blood, mind you. No matter what, don't let them bite you. Do you understand me?” Steve said, enunciating the last words as if he was talking to one of his inferiors. Or a 4-year old.
“Sir! Yes sir!” That girl's sense of humor right in the face of danger was remarkable.
“Do you realize that we're dealing with something potentially very dangerous and that one mistake may cost you your life? You need to get serious.” Steve was annoyed, but not because of the sarcasm. He could still feel the cold surface of the wall on his back.
“And do you realize that they are too stupid to open a door and armless while you are intelligent and you carry weapons? Who is in the biggest danger? Don't try to intimidate me in order to look like a bad-ass!”
Steve looked at her for a bit. He knew she was right and he felt better. “Open the door, Bruno.”
Bruno opened the door as silently as he could. They entered very carefully and with the weapons ready to fire. Steve entered first, then Fiona and Bruno got in last and closed the door slowly with the least possible noise. It was time for another encounter and they were ready. Especially Bruno.
CHAPTER TEN
Too stupid to resist
“Do we take the elevator?” Bruno whispered, regretting it before completing the phrase.
“Sure, why not? We can even shout to them that we are here, so that they can wait. It's not like we want to surprise them or something, right?” Bruno didn't know that Steve had such a big deposit of venom. “We will take the stairs and we will start shooting as soon as we see some movement. OK?”
“Wait! Don't kill them all! We need to capture one or two, so that we can study them.” Fiona couldn't wait to see the zombies or not-exactly-zombies, but she needed a few of them alive. Many questions could be answered and he scientific curiosity was overwhelming her and it was starting to spread to Steve and Bruno as well.
“You're right. Bruno. Aim for the legs.”
“No problem. Let's go,” Bruno said and they got going.
They took the stairs. They couldn't prevent some slight noise caused by the heavy equipment. On the first floor, they checked the corridor by stretching their heads before proceeding, but there was no sign of anyone moving or even being there. They moved on to the second floor. Fiona was a few steps behind them. Still nothing. They kept going up. There was a lot of blood in front of their apartment, but the bodies were gone.
Steve waved to Fiona to stay where she was, at the last two steps of the staircase, so that the wall can protect her in case someone appears unexpectedly in the corridor. Of course, since the zombie friends were unarmed, staying behind Bruno and Steve would be enough for Fiona to keep her safe, but since they were used to playing video games with heavily armed opponents, this was what came to them naturally as a thought.
But not to her. She went behind them as they walked slowly towards Mr Simonnot's apartment, where the door was half open again. They prepared and kicked the door wide open. Around ten zombies were near the fridge trying to find meat and the sudden door opening caught their attention. Before starting to move in a threatening way, Bruno and Steve created a noisy mess, shooting without aiming and creating another bloody mayhem, destroying bodies, walls and furniture during the operation, forgetting all about their discussed strategy. Adrenaline is not a good thinking companion.
In the end, just like the previous time, there were some dead bodies, some moaning bodies and a lot of blood. Mr Simonnot's place didn't
seem to fix itself after every battle. But now that the shooting ended, they could hear Fiona shouting. They looked at each other in terror and rushed to the corridor, only to see Fiona bleeding and struggling in the hands of three living dead, one of whom was Mr Simonnot himself. Steve blew the heads off of the first two while Bruno shot off Mr Simonnot's arms and one leg, in a remarkably accurate way.
They rushed to Fiona, who was bitten on her shoulders and arms as she tried to push the hungry flesh eaters away but even though they had managed to give her some deep bites, they didn't cut off any chunks of her flesh. In any case, though, she was shocked, bleeding and in pain. Steve and Bruno were also panicking but they were trying hard not to let it be shown. Finally, Steve got himself a bit together and spoke.
“Bruno, go and get some cotton and alcohol. We need to disinfect her wounds.”
“They look quite deep. Maybe we should take her to a hospital,” Bruno proposed.
“And if she's infected? We cannot risk it. She'd better stay with us here, so that everyone will be safe.” Steve's words were hiding more than what they were saying.
Fiona, in her pain and surprise out of all that had happened in what at the beginning seemed like a pleasant scientific research with a bit of harmless adventure, felt like the world was collapsing. “Infected? This thing is contagious? Why didn't you tell me anything?!”
“We were talking about zombies! Isn't it obvious that their bite can be contagious?” Steve shouted.
“You said that they were like zombies but you were not sure if they were zombies, because after you kill them, their wounds fix themselves! I didn't know that just a bite can transform you into one of them!” Fiona shouted back.
Bruno was processing all this information. He looked at Mr Simonnot who was once again dead from the bleeding and the shock. His head was like new though. Even his gray hair seemed to have been replaced by a brown wig and even the skin looked better. This, along with the dead bodies that come back to life with no signs of bullet wounds, Fiona's corrected vision and his own discovery in the bathroom, started bringing the pieces of the puzzle together.
Halfway back - Bruno, Steve and Fiona's adventure against zombies that may not be zombies and the secret behind them Page 4
