“There’s a panel by the door,” Wesley said, boosting me up onto the ledge. I found the panel and opened it. Another keypad.
“What’s the code?”
“Um, zero,” he said.
I punched in zero and waited for the next number. And waited.
“Any time?”
“I’m thinking.”
There was a rumble in the distance. The train.
“Think faster,” I said.
“I’m trying. Eight! The next number is eight.”
The train was getting closer. I could feel the place vibrating around me.
“Still two more numbers,” I urged.
“Two!”
The tunnel lit up. We had seconds left. There was no space, we would be crushed.
“Wesley!” I cried.
He leapt up onto the ledge, pressing me against the door. It wasn’t going to save us.
“I can’t remember the last number. 082...?”
The train turned the corner, just as I realized what the number was. I pressed 4. The door slid open and we fell inside. The train barrelled past. I covered my face against the back draft.
We lay on the ground, until it passed.
“How did you know the last number?” Wesley asked.
“0824. August 24th. It’s my birthday.”
“Oh.”
Eleven
Jenna
Entering the lab had triggered the emergency lights. I had the fuse box open and was attempting to get the rest of the lights working, while Wesley held the torch.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked.
“Yes, aren’t you supposed to be the smart one?” I flicked the switch and the lights came on. It was small with a computer console, several filing cabinets, a small bathroom and another cell. Was he expecting to come in here with a zombie?
“Maybe we should check there’s nothing in here first.”
Wesley’s eyes widened, he backed towards the door. “You don’t think your dad kept any of his experiments in here?”
“You know him better than I do. You check the cell, I’ll check the bathroom?”
I saw that same look of terror from years ago.
I sighed, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”
Wielding the flashlight, I kicked open the bathroom door. The light was off. I flicked the switch. The room was empty. Now for the cell, this was the more likely place to find something. The door was already open on it, but still, there could be something in there.
I peeked around the door. There was a bed inside. It reminded me of the cell back at the other lab. What did they hire the same contractor?
It seemed empty, but something could be hiding behind the bed. That sounded ridiculous even in my own head. What did a zombie have to hide from? I moved forward, heart pounding.
Just as I reached the bed, “Anything?”
“Wesley!” I screeched. I hadn’t heard him come in behind me. I checked behind the bed, “There’s nothing here. You know I’m starting to miss soldier you. At least he had a spine. What is it with you and zombies? Why are you so afraid of them?”
“Everyone is afraid of zombies. I don’t know anyone who wants to keep one as a pet. Do you?”
He had a point. But there was definitely something more going on with him.
“You should get some rest,” he said, “We’ll wait to nightfall, then cross the city limits.”
“You rest. You were the one who was shot.” I stared at the hole in his shirt.
“I should get cleaned up.”
He headed into the bathroom. The second he was gone, I went for the filing cabinet. It was locked. Surprise, surprise. It was just a standard lock though. I searched the desk and found a letter opener.
It took me fifteen minutes, but I managed to get one of them open. Inside I found detailed files on Dad’s work, along with holo discs. There was a player on the desk. I flipped through them, keeping an eye on the bathroom door. I didn’t want Wesley stopping me. At the bottom of the pile, I found a folder marked Anderson, Wesley.
I scanned it quickly. It was written in Dad’s handwriting. Most of it was standard stuff, personal details, his school reports.
‘After the Alliance’s role in his brother’s death, I feel Wesley has a similar attitude to my own, towards them. His IQ is off the charts and I feel he will be an asset to me. I observed him at school in his final year. I had hoped he would go on to further study but he seems to have fallen on hard times. I have spoken to my superiors at Gene-Pharm about offering him an internship at the company. I think I can turn his life around.’
He made it sound so noble, but I knew it was all an attempt to create his own little protégé. Someone to help him take down Gene-Pharm. It must have been a hard sell; I wondered why Wesley had agreed to it. Fear? I doubted Dad had given him drugs like Breton had.
The bathroom door opened. I quickly closed the file and hid it behind my back.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Oh, nothing. Is there any fo
od here?”
He reached behind me and grabbed the file. He flipped through it, and then tossed it aside.
“I’ll check in storage for food.”
“I didn’t know you had a brother,” I blurted.
“Yeah, had.”
“Did zombies get him? Is that why you’re so afraid of them?”
He stared at me, as if deciding whether or not to answer me.
“You want to know why I’m afraid? Unlike you, I didn’t grow up sheltered from the hell out there. I lived with my family in a containment camp manned by the AS. When I was ten, my brother Freddie was bitten. Before he could turn, the AS shot him right in front of me.”
I closed my eyes, feeling sick, “I’m sorry. No wonder you hate zombies.”
He laughed humorlessly, “You think that’s what did it? After they took Freddie away, I snuck in to see him. I had to see him. The soldier, who shot him, was a damn rookie. He missed the cerebral cortex.”
“Oh, God. He got up?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he said. Tears pricked his eyes. I felt like crying myself. That was an awful thing to go through.
I went into the bathroom, to get cleaned up and to give him a minute alone. I guess I could understand why he ran at the house. I never thought much about how he grew up. He was always a jerk back when he worked with Dad. Because he worked for the Alliance, I guess I just assumed he had some kind of privileged background, but now I knew better. People rarely joined the Alliance because they wanted to. They did it because they needed to.
The bathroom didn’t have a shower but it did have a sink. I cleaned myself up with the cold water. My arms were still aching from earlier. I suppose I was lucky, considering the alternative.
When I came out, Wesley had returned the files to the drawer.
“I’m going to try and get some sleep. You should too,” I said. I headed into the cell, but was sure to wedge the door open first. I didn’t want to be trapped again.
Wesley
Talking about Freddie brought back all the memories that went with it. I still had nightmares about him, not as frequently as I used to, but every now and again I would dream he was calling my name, chasing me. I always woke up before he could bite me. That’s another reason why I preferred the Morphinal. When I did eventually sleep, I rarely dreamed.
When Jenna went into the cell to lie down, I returned to the bathroom. My hands were shaking as I tried to open the ampoule I acquired from Tom’s place. I went through his medicine cabinet before we left.
I had been saving it, but right now I needed it more than ever because I knew that if I slept I would dream of him. I bit the top trying to get it open. It came away in my mouth and the ampoule slipped from my hand and into the sink.
I swore as I scrambled to save the contents but it all went down the drain.
“No!” I threw the ampoule at the wall.
Now what? My chest still a
ched, and I could feel the exhaustion setting in. I remembered Tom’s parting words to me.
When the serum runs out, you’ll still have traces of it in your system. So if you’re killed, you’ll come back as one of them. Bring Jenna to me and I’ll neutralize it. Don’t screw this up Wesley.
As incentives go, that was certainly motivating. I wouldn’t survive another bullet. But Jenna was so stubborn. She had already wasted time going after her mother. No more distractions.
I searched through the files and found the disc marked Genesis. I pocketed it. A few hours from now, we could cross the city limits and I could be free. Once the serum was neutralized I was getting far away from them all.
I settled into a chair and despite my best efforts I soon nodded off.
*
“Freddie, wait up!” I called. He had already crawled under the chain link fence that surrounded the containment camp and was heading into the woods.
“You hurry up,” he shot back.
Groaning, I lay on my stomach and shimmied under the gap in the fence. If the soldiers spotted us, they’d probably shoot us. Leaving the camp was against the rules. Then again the Alliance had rules for everything. When to eat, when to sleep, when to breathe. Considering the alternative was living outside the camp with zombies everywhere, you quickly learned to do what they said.
I hurried into the trees, with a quick glance behind to check no one had seen us.
The woods grew denser, the further in I went. I caught glimpses of Freddie’s red t-shirt every now and again, but he managed to stay ahead of me. At twelve, he was two years older than me and four inches taller. He had always been the athletic one while I was the runt of the family. I preferred to read a book rather than run around, but since books were in short supply, there was little else to do. Freddie and Iwere so different,but being moved around different camps meant we had no one else but each other. So when Freddie decided to do stupid stuff like this, I followed him.
“Freddie? Where are you?” I called.
We needed to get back soon before we were rounded up for dinner.
I felt something small and sharp strike me on the top of the head. I looked up to find Freddie perched in the tree above me. He dropped another stone but I leapt back out of the way.
“Stop it! I’m telling Mom,” I whined.
“I’m telling Mom,” he mimicked me. He dropped out of the tree and shoved me.
“You’re such a little runt,” he sneered.
I grabbed a handful of leaves and sticks and threw them at him. He just laughed and shoved me again. He loped off further into the trees.
He didn’t get far before he skidded to a halt, “Holy...”I heard him cry. He knew better than to finish that sentence or I would tell Mom.
“What is it?”
He had stopped by a small ditch in the ground. It may have been a small stream at some point but in this heat, it had dried up leaving only mud behind.
At first I couldn’t figure out what he was looking at, and then I saw it. Buried waist deep in the mud where the ditch widened, was a zombie. Its head hung to one side, one yellow eye stared blankly. The other had been pecked away by birds. One of its arms was buried in the mud too, the other rested on the embankment.
“Gross, is it dead?” I asked.
“Oh my God, of course it’s dead. Duh, it’s a zombie,” Freddie sneered.
I felt my cheeks burn, “You know what I mean.”
“Seems to be. Let’s find out.”
He picked up a small branch and moved closer. I felt a flutter of panic, “Freddie, no. Don’t touch it.”
“Relax,” he said, giving me that superior smirk he always used when he acted all ‘big brother knows best’ on me.
Moving to the edge of the ditch, Freddie crouched down, inches from its outstretched arm. Leaning forward slowly, he pressed the pointed end of the branch into the zombie’s cheek. It sank into the rotted flesh, causing black bile to ooze out.
“Oh that is so gross,” Freddie said, but he was grinning like an idiot.
The zombie didn’t respond as he prodded it a few more times.
“Right, that’s enough. Let’s go Freddie or I’ll go get Dad.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” he said.
I stood my ground, there were some things you didn’t mess with and zombies were definitely top of the list.
“I’m going to get him right now,” I said. I turned and marched off into the trees.
“Don’t you dare, runt,” he called after me.
A scream stopped me in my tracks. I whirled round to find that the zombie had grabbed Freddie by the ankle. Its head was pressed against his leg. Freddie screamed again and yanked his leg away. He toppled over and went sprawling in the mud.
I stood frozen to the spot. The zombie was reaching out towards Freddie with its arm. It gnashed its teeth and it was then that I noticed the blood on its face.
Was that there before?
Freddie was scrabbling backwards on the ground. When he stood up and faced me, his face had drained of color and tears were streaming down his face. I had never seen him cry before. Finally, I had something to use against him when he acted like a jerk.
‘Sure, Freddie, remember that time when you almost peed your pants when a zombie...’
My gaze fell on the bloody wound on his right leg, just above his ankle. The smile disappeared from my face when I realised it was a bite.
His breath came in hitching sobs as he limped towards me, “You can’t tell anyone. No one. Do you understand?”
I was still staring at the bite. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. His brown eyes were wild with fright.
“WES! Promise me. You can’t tell anyone. Please!”
I nodded dumbly, not knowing what to say.
“We need to get out of here.”
I didn’t argue and obediently followed him back to the fence. Once we were safely inside he said, “I’m going to get cleaned up. Cover for me.”
I nodded again and walked in a daze back to our tent. My brain refused to think what would happen next. It couldn’t.
Mom was waiting for me when I got back, “Where have you been? Where’s Freddie?”
“Um, he’s...” I pointed vaguely in the direction of the washrooms.
“Look at the state of your clothes,” she muttered, wiping the dust off the front of my t shirt.
“Get cleaned up before dinner and tell your brother I want to see him.”
I nodded again and headed for the washrooms. I made it three feet before I spotted Freddie. He was being frogmarched by two AS. He struggled against them but they held tightly to his arms.
“Let go. Mom! DAD!” he cried.
Mom came running out of the tent. “What’s going on? Let go of my son.”
She was held back by a third AS that appeared. The other two shoved Freddie onto the ground a few feet from me.
“This boy has been bitten!” one of the AS announced. A hush descended on the camp. I saw a few people back away, trying to keep some distance between them and Freddie.
He was sobbing and calling for Mom who was desperately trying to get to him.
“Freddie!” Dad cried, racing towards us. Before he could reach us, he was tackled to the ground.
“You know the rules. The infection must be eliminated.” The older AS handed a pistol to one of the younger ones. He took it reluctantly.
“The penalty is death!”
“No!” Dad screamed. More AS appeared to hold him down. He fought back but there were too many of them.
“Run, Freddie,” he cried.
Mom was sobbing loudly. No one else seemed to have noticed me. I was only five feet away from Freddie.
“It wasn’t me,” I whispered.
He stared back at me, “I know,” he croaked.
The bang from the gun made me jump and Freddie fell. Mom erupted in hysterical screams.
“Check the other one for bites.”
I was dragged aw
ay to the quarantine tent. When they couldn’t find any bites, they left me alone. I lay on the bunk, replaying what happened over and over again in my head.
My whole body felt numb like it wasn’t there anymore.
Night fell and I heard two of the guards talking about Freddie, outside the tent.
“They’ll incinerate the body tomorrow. That damn fence has been broken for weeks. Guess someone should have fixed it sooner.”
I was on my feet before I was even aware of what I was doing. I knew where they kept the bodies for incineration. There was an area on the edge of the camp.
Being the runt had its benefits, no one saw me as I hurried across the camp grounds.
Three body bags lay in the area. I knelt beside the first one and with shaking hands, unzipped the bag.
A woman lay inside. I quickly covered her back up and moved to the next one.
Freddie looked like he was sleeping. If you ignored the hole in his head. Everything that happened hit me at once and I started crying. I found that I couldn’t stop. I was gasping and trying to draw in air that didn’t seem to be there.
Freddie’s body twitched and I let out a scream. I quickly covered my mouth, hoping no one had heard me.
Freddie’s eyes fluttered open. He blinked twice then turned his head to look at me.
“Freddie?” I whispered.
“Who’s out there?” someone called.
I glanced back to see an AS heading my way. They couldn’t see Freddie.
I turned back to tell him, to find he had sat up and was reaching for me. He gave a gurgled moan and sputtered black bile into my face. Momentarily blinded, I cried out and tried to wipe it off my face.
I heard another gunshot and suddenly I was lifted off the ground. I started screaming and lashing out at whoever had a hold of me. I had to help Freddie.
I was returned to the quarantine tent where a doctor arrived to check me over.
“Get off me! Where’s Freddie?” I cried.
After Zombie Series (Book 1): After Page 7
