“I’m with him,” said Becker. “My stomach’s doing somersaults.” He patted his conspicuous belly.
“I think there’s a phone store on the next block,” said Felix. “Let’s check it out before we do anything else. If I can get this satellite phone to work, we might be able to contact somebody who knows what’s really going on.”
“And call for some help, too, while you’re at it.”
They climbed into the motor carts. With Reba sitting beside him, Felix drove to the front of their small convoy and headed west down the sidewalk to the next block.
Becker followed with Mannering.
Victoria fell in line at the rear. Halverson sat beside her.
Halverson realized nobody was guarding him. But what difference did it make? he wondered. Where was he going to go with his hands bound? He stood a better chance staying with the rest of them.
He didn’t think Felix would try to kill him—unless Felix started losing his marbles on account of his infection, which was a distinct possibility, Halverson knew. Still, as of now, he felt safer remaining with the group.
“Who did you tell that I thought we should kill Felix?” he asked Victoria.
“What makes you think I told anyone?”
“Felix wouldn’t have pulled a gun on me unless you told someone. Was he the one you told?”
“No. I told Oliver. You worried me with your talk about killing Felix. I don’t know you. You could be a killer. I don’t know anyone here, for that matter.”
Halverson nodded. “Yeah, I figured it was Becker you told. And he told Felix.”
“I didn’t know Oliver would do that. I was just trying to get a second opinion from him about you.”
“Never trust a politician,” muttered Halverson.
He had learned that lesson a long time ago working at the Agency. Politicians would sell out the CIA at the drop of a hat if they thought it would advance their political careers. They would sell out anyone who stood in the way of their ambitions, it seemed. What was Becker’s ambition in this situation? What did Becker stand to gain from neutralizing him?
Halverson didn’t know the answer. Time would tell. The only thing Halverson could conclude with any certainty was that Becker was up to something.
“You did say you wanted to kill Felix,” said Victoria, facing him while she steered the cart.
“I said he’s gonna have to be killed when he turns into one of those things.”
“We don’t know he’ll turn into one of them.”
Halverson didn’t see any point in arguing about it. He knew anyone bitten by a zombie would turn into one. Once the plague pathogen was transmitted into a victim’s bloodstream, it was a hundred percent fatal to the infected victim. The next phase of the disease was resurrection of the corpse via a reanimated brain.
“I wish you hadn’t told Becker,” he said.
“I told you my reasons.”
He couldn’t blame her. Under normal circumstances, if he had heard somebody plotting to kill someone else, he, too, would be alarmed. The problem was, he knew, these weren’t normal circumstances and all bets were off.
They drove past the blackened husks of fire-gutted edifices that lined the street. Some of the buildings had escaped the flames but such buildings were in the minority.
“I don’t care about any of this,” said Victoria. “I just want to find my child.”
“I want to find my brother, but I don’t know where to look,” said Halverson. “He was supposed to be at UCLA, but UCLA is infested with zombies.”
“We live near here on 26th Street. I think Shawna must be close by.”
“Maybe one of your neighbors is taking care of her.”
“They might all be dead, the way things look. We didn’t really have any close friends in my neighborhood.”
“What about your husband? Maybe he has your daughter.”
“I’m divorced. I haven’t seen him in years. He lives in New York the last I heard.”
“Oh,” said Halverson. He couldn’t think of what else to say.
“We just didn’t get along. Now you know all about me. What about you?”
“What?”
“Are you married?”
“No. I don’t have a life. All I do is work.”
It was difficult to have relationships when you were a spy, Halverson had found out the hard way. He could never confide in anyone, including women. How could a spy have any kind of personal life unless he was James Bond? Victoria was a very attractive blonde with luminous blue eyes . . . Why was he thinking about this? He and she could both be dead at the hands of zombies within minutes.
Halverson changed the subject. “Felix and these other guys don’t care about your daughter. They have no intention of looking for her.”
“Maybe she returned home after I left it,” she said, not listening to him. “She wouldn’t have any other place to go to if the shelter was closed.”
“That’s a thought.”
She set her face with resolve. “I’m going home.”
“You’ll have to convince the others to go with you.”
“I don’t care if they come or not.”
“I’ll go with you.”
She glanced at his bound figure sitting next to her. “You don’t have much choice.”
“The problem isn’t me. It’s Felix and the others. I don’t think they’re gonna let you go off by yourself.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
He shot a look over his shoulder. “The money in the back.”
“I forgot about that.”
“The others aren’t gonna forget about it.”
“Then I’ll walk.”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea with these creatures all over the place.”
“What do you think I should do, then?”
“Maybe you should take off without telling them.”
Halverson shifted in his seat, trying to reduce the pressure on his aching arms. His bindings were cutting off his circulation.
“That’s an idea,” she said.
“But they’d probably come after you because of the money.”
“Then I’ll leave the money with them,” she said huffily.
“They have nowhere to put it. They need this cart to transport it.”
She turned on him. “Why do you keep making suggestions that aren’t any good?”
“I’m just thinking out loud.”
“Well, stop.”
“If you untie me, I might be better able to help you.”
She thought about it. “I don’t trust you. You wanted to kill Felix. How do I know you won’t try to kill me?”
“You’re not infected like Felix. Why would I try to kill you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going through your mind.”
Actually, he didn’t trust her either—not after she had sold him out to Becker. On the other hand, he trusted the others even less. Felix? No. Becker the politician? No way. Reba? She was a tad too chummy with Felix, Halverson couldn’t help but notice. That left the beer-craving cop Mannering.
Halverson figured he would rather throw in his lot with Victoria than with Mannering. Though that could change. Halverson didn’t know where Mannering was coming from at this point. Mannering was too new to the equation. Mannering, so far, was in the dark concerning the money. His ignorance about the money might make him more trustworthy than the others.
“I see a phone store up ahead,” announced Felix loud enough for everyone to hear.
Halverson sighed. Not good, he decided. Not as long as Felix had his satphone.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Felix was right, Halverson saw, as they pulled up in front of a mostly unscathed building that was displaying a large poster of a white cell phone in its picture window. The poster took up the entire window, blocking their view of the store’s interior.
Felix approached Halverson. “Come with me. I need you to tell me what kind of a battery this thing takes
.” Felix held up the satphone.
Halverson slid out of his seat gingerly, finding it difficult to rise with his hands bound behind his back.
“They might not have the right kind of battery here,” he said.
“Don’t try anything funny,” said Felix.
Felix wasn’t holding his gun on Halverson. It didn’t matter, decided Halverson. He wasn’t going anywhere. If he stayed here with the others, at least he had transportation.
The two of them and Mannering entered the phone store.
“I’m not a big fan of cell phones,” said Mannering, scanning the items for sale on the shelves.
“You’re a minority of one,” said Felix.
“Too much like an invasion of privacy.”
“They’re a necessity nowadays. Most of the payphones are gone.”
“People didn’t have cell phones fifty years ago and did OK.”
“I gotta get something to eat. I’d kill for a steak.”
Halverson could see a sparkling strand of drool sliding out of the corner of Felix’s mouth.
“What are we looking for?” asked Mannering.
Absently, he picked up a cell phone. He tried to get it to work without success.
“What kind of a battery does this thing take?” Felix asked Halverson.
“Lithium ion,” answered Halverson.
Felix found the section of the store that carried cell-phone batteries. He checked out the batteries that lay on a shelf. “What’s it look like?”
“I don’t know. I never bought one before.”
Felix shook his head. “You’re not much help.”
He scrutinized the back of the satphone and tried to pry it open. He winced with pain as he used his wounded arm.
“I’ll do it,” said Mannering.
Felix gave him the phone.
Mannering snapped open the battery compartment and removed the battery. He compared the battery to the batteries for sale to find a similar one.
“Do you see one of these anywhere?” he said, holding up the battery.
Studying the batteries, Felix selected one. “This one says lithium ion.”
He offered it to Mannering, who inserted it into the satphone and handed the phone back to him.
Felix turned the satphone on. He smiled. “It looks like it’s working.” He read the message on the phone’s display screen. His expression turned to one of annoyance. “You gotta be kidding.”
“What?” said Mannering.
“This thing wants an access code.” Felix turned to Halverson. “What’s the code?”
“Why’s it doing that?” asked Mannering. “Is that normal?”
“It’s a new one on me,” said Felix. “My cell doesn’t need an access code.” He asked Halverson, “What gives?”
“My boss doesn’t want a phone like that falling into the wrong hands.”
“Why not?” Felix asked suspiciously.
“Somebody could rack up a huge bill on that phone. You can call all over the world.”
“So let’s have it.” Felix stood with his fingers poised over the satphone, ready to punch in the figures. “What’s the code?”
Halverson hung fire. He was of two minds. He hadn’t told Felix everything about his satphone. It was a digitally encrypted CIA phone that could reach the director of the CIA himself. Standard Agency operative protocol dictated that operatives should never reveal the access code to anybody.
On the other hand, Halverson knew that if he didn’t tell Felix the code, how could they hope to reach somebody still alive who might know the extent of the plague’s progress throughout the world?
Halverson decided it best to use the phone by himself. Now all he had to do was get it back from Felix.
“We don’t have all day,” said Felix.
“I’m not allowed to give it to anyone.”
“We don’t have time to dick around. We need to contact the authorities to find out what’s going on.”
Halverson said nothing.
Felix strode over to Halverson and clouted him in the solar plexus with his fist.
Unable to defend himself with his arms bound, Halverson absorbed the full impact of the blow. He groaned and doubled over, exhaling forcibly.
“Just tell him,” Mannering told Halverson.
Halverson said nothing.
“There aren’t any secrets anymore,” Mannering went on. “The whole damn world could be falling apart. We need to find out if anybody else is left alive.”
Halverson said nothing, his face screwed up in pain.
Felix kneed Halverson in the face while Halverson was bowed forward.
Halverson managed to avert his face in the nick of time to elude the blow that, no doubt, would have slammed into and broken his nose. Instead, Felix’s knee connected with the side of Halverson’s jaw, sending shock waves of pain through Halverson’s face.
Felix grabbed Halverson by the hair and yanked up Halverson’s smarting, flushed face.
“What’s the code?” Felix demanded. “I can do this all day if I have to.”
At that moment, Reba burst into the store from the sidewalk.
“There’s a nest of those things coming this way!” she cried, flustered.
She looked puzzled as she noticed Halverson in obvious pain, his hazel eyes watering, his dark hair mussed up.
“We’ll sort this out later,” Felix told Halverson.
The four of them hastened out of the store. Still trying to catch his breath, Halverson lagged behind.
When he emerged onto the sidewalk, he could make out a slew of creatures lumbering down the sidewalk toward the motor carts from the direction of the cemetery.
“I’m sick of those things!” burst Reba.
In a fit of anger, clenching her teeth, she snagged the shotgun from her cart and fired a round at the undulating mass of creatures.
The charge ripped into a zombie at the head of the pack. The thirtyish creature was six four and wore a crumpled white stingy brim fedora. The creature’s chest blew apart, exposing its shattered ribs and shredded lungs. The creature jerked backward from the blow then, shoved by the creatures behind it, kept coming inexorably forward, at one with the sea of dead flesh that rolled down the sidewalk.
“We can’t fight ’em here!” hollered Felix. “We don’t have any protection. We gotta go.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Bound and in pain, Halverson stumbled into his motor cart and sat awkwardly beside Victoria. He straightened himself in his seat and adjusted his body so his tied arms felt less uncomfortable behind his back.
She looked at him in confusion.
“Don’t ask,” he said, working his sore jaw checking it out to see if it was still in one piece.
He picked up on two female zombies barging past the tall male with the ruined chest toward the front of the pack.
The two females were a tad over five feet tall.
The fortysomething Asian brunette had shoulder-length bangs parted in the middle of her forehead. The creature’s grey sweater and white blouse were in shambles. What was left of them dangled in jagged strips down her chest.
One of her white-filmed brown eyeballs dangled on a bloody stalk out of its gaping socket. The eyeball was swiveling on the stalk trying to see all around it.
The other female was a teenager with thin, dyed blonde hair pulled so tightly about her forehead and locked in place with bobby pins that it looked painful. She was clutching a battered pink cell phone in her hand as if it was part of her. She wore a bloodstained robin’s egg blue sweatshirt and faded blue jeans with holes torn in the knees.
Blundering toward the motor carts, the creature reached for her nose like she was going to pick it. Instead, the nose was in such an extreme state of decomposition that it crumbled into dust in her hand when she touched it. She sneered with withered lips.
Lacking a nose her face looked even more grotesque than it had moments earlier—if that was possible, decided Halverson.
Mannering snatched the Persuader from her hand. He pumped the shotgun, trained it on the blonde creature, and fired at its chest. The creature reeled backward. The zombies behind it immediately manhandled it forward.
“Shoot for the head,” said Halverson.
Mannering pumped the shotgun again, trained it on the blonde’s head, and blew its head to smithereens. The blonde zombie crumpled on the sidewalk. The creatures behind the ghoul trampled it into slurry.
“Kill the other one,” barked Reba.
Mannering pumped the shotgun, took aim at the brunette with its rotating eyeball lolling out of its head, and squeezed off a round that atomized the brunette’s head. The eyeball went flying through the air, bounced off a car’s hood, and rolled into the street.
“We gotta move it!” Felix called out from the first cart, driving off.
Shotgun in hand, Mannering barreled into Reba’s cart. She put the cart in gear and peeled off behind Felix.
Victoria followed suit, bringing up the rear.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can stand,” said Victoria.
“We either keep going or give up and die,” said Halverson. “That’s the only choice we’ve got left.”
“I hope we get out of this nightmare before I go nuts.”
“Don’t even think about hope. There’s no hope. Just keep going.”
She gave him a look. “Is it that bad?”
“Can’t you see for yourself? It’s chaos out there. By rights, all of us should be dead.”
They drove for two blocks on the sidewalk. Then Felix pulled to a halt at the sound of a man screaming for help.
Halverson could see a commotion brewing in the intersection.
Three ghouls were pulling somebody out of a crashed car by his head. The passenger-side window was down less than halfway and the creatures were yanking on the man’s head, trying to squeeze the guy’s body through the opening.
The head would fit, but not the guy’s body, Halverson saw.
Agitated and groaning, the creatures tugged harder on the guy’s head. The guy let loose with a blood-curdling scream that rent the air.
“We need to help him,” said Victoria.
Zombie Apocalypse: The Chad Halverson Series Page 39
