Val: Prequel to The Zombie Chronicles

by Peebles, Chrissy

  “Well, it’s some operation,” I said. “They’re living off the land and using people as meat. This may as well be a slaughterhouse, and they obviously don’t even have any remorse.”

  “I know!” Sammy agreed. “Did you hear those sick jokes they were making?”

  Rob lifted Mindy’s limp body onto his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “They were all nice at first, just to gain our trust.”

  “I’m just glad Sammy woke up when her IV came loose. She really saved our butts.”

  Rob shot her a nod. “Yeah…thanks.”

  “Where’s the pill-crusher?” I asked Sammy.

  She ran over and pulled it out from under her pillow. “Right here.”

  I took it from her and held it tightly in my hand, more than ready to bash someone’s head in if I had to. I peeked out the door and peered down the long, dark hallway. Then, sucking in a deep breath, I cautiously ventured out. I knew we were at a distinct disadvantage. Not only were we all barefoot and dressed only in skimpy, thin hospital gowns, but we didn’t have the proper weapons or know the layout of the place. I led Sammy and Rob down the long corridor, my heart racing with every step. When I turned the corner, I held the pill-crusher high in the air, just in case anyone got in my way.

  Voices drifted through the air, coming from a room not too far away. I thought we should turn around and try a different way, but when I motioned in that direction, Sammy shook her head.

  “There’s no other way out,” she whispered in my ear.

  I had to trust her, because she was the only one who had surveyed the scene. If it was the only way out, we had to stealthily sneak past that room. As we got closer, Rob looked into the room, then motioned for us to hurry across.

  When I peered into the room, I saw Kyle Rogers, the guy they’d pushed out on the gurney. The whole thing sickened me all over again. He’s a father, for goodness sake—a person, with thoughts and feelings. He was lying on something that resembled an operating room table, with a small cart of instruments next to him. His daughter was lying next to him, on another table, her long, curly hair framing her face. In spite of her predicament, she looked absolutely adorable, an angel unaware.

  “We’ll administer to the daughter first, then the father,” the doctor said. “Make sure the dose is accurate. It must be lethal, so they won’t suffer.”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  It was at that moment that I realized I had the power to make a life-or-death decision for the man on the table and his precious daughter. I could go on with my escape, which would mean their certain death, or I could try to do something to stop the madness, to prevent two unnecessary, cruel, unjustified deaths. There were only three of them in the room: the doctor, an assistant, and one of their goons. I knew I could easily take the doctor and assistant out if I got my hands on the hulking thug’s weapon, and then I could take care of him. There was no time to talk to the others and discuss the plan; it was do-or-die time, so I made the judgment call to attack.

  The big guy was twice my size, I had to take him down first to disarm him, because I needed his weapon to subdue the others. I was sure I could move more quickly than him, and I used my smaller, more limber frame to my advantage, ready to knock him off balance with my momentum. It all happened so fast, but I rushed in and hit him in the head with the pill-crusher.

  He crumbled to the floor, not even twitching a muscle.

  I reached into his holster, I took his gun and pointed it at the doctor and his assistant.

  “Val, what are you doing?” Sammy said. “Let’s get outta here!”

  “We can’t just let them kill these people! She’s just a little girl,” I said, pointing at the sleeping child.

  “We don’t have time to save everyone,” Sammy responded frantically. “You said so yourself.”

  I looked at the ten-year-old again. She was so cute and had the curliest hair. I couldn’t possibly leave her to such a grim fate. Just like everyone else, she had the right to live, to a future. I was convinced that if we could survive for the next three to five years, the zombies would rot away, and we’d have our world back. How could somebody take that from her? I imagined her outliving the zombie apocalypse, till it was all a bad memory, graduating from high school, getting married, having babies of her own, and being the CEO of a major company. As her life flashed before my eyes, I realized I absolutely had to save her, and I had to save her father too.

  “Put down that gun!” the doctor said in an authoritative tone.

  I glared at him. “I’m sorry, but these folks are not gonna be on the menu.”

  “What? I’m trying to save their lives,” he said.

  “Wow, Doctor. I thought you lab-coats took a Hippocratic oath, but that sounds more like a hypocrite to me. You’re killing them for food, just like you planned to do to all of us.”

  The assistant whipped out his gun, but I was much quicker. I was trained for that sort of thing. I quickly shot him in the shoulder, and he cupped his shredded flesh and began shouting more four-letter words than I’d ever heard in my life. Sammy picked up his gun that fell to the ground with a thud, then pointed it at him.

  The doctor quickly reached for a towel and applied pressure to the wound. He seemed genuinely disturbed that I had shot the man, even though he hadn’t an ounce of remorse for the girl and man he was about to cut up and eat.

  “Don’t mistake me for some helpless damsel in distress, fellas,” I said. “I was a policewoman in Philadelphia, and I’m very well trained.”

  “We’ve done nothing but try to help you, Officer,” the doctor said, quite sarcastically.

  “We heard you,” Sammy said, standing behind me. “We know exactly what you’re up to, Doctor.”

  “Those idiots were joking. You took everything completely out of context.”

  I didn’t believe him, not for a minute, especially since we’d been drugged via our IVs and thrown into cold storage for no good reason.

  “What do you plan to do with that?” the doctor asked, nodding toward my gun. “Shoot me? You can’t call for backup here. I am the law in this hospital.”

  “You pretended to be kind, said you wanted to help,” I said. “Mercy my butt! It was all a well-orchestrated lie so you can harvest humans for food, like some kind of sick factory.”

  “How do you think our city has survived, Valerie? We’re all in on it. The entire town helps because they know if they don’t, then they’ll die. These days, humans are much easier to harvest than cattle. We have many mouths to feed. Do you even know how many people live here? Only the strong survive, and to do that, we must feed off the weak. It is the way of nature, predator and prey.”

  “I am not prey, nor am I weak!” I snapped. I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of a cannibal. Every unfortunate stranger who cluelessly wondered into that town was eaten, and they’d all accepted it as normal. It wasn’t just some psychotic mom-and-pop café making human chili either; it was the entire town.

  “I’ve got a question,” Sammy said. “Why the minefield then? Aren’t you trying to lure unsuspecting victims into your city?”

  “You came in the back way. And that’s where the zombies seem to break in the most, so that was our way of slowing them down. People usually come in through the main roads. We’re very friendly, hospitable, and inviting, always ready to help anybody in need. It works like a charm.”

  “I’ve had enough of your charm, Doctor,” I said. “I’m leaving!”

  “Even if you get out of this building alive, what makes you think you will ever leave this town? You can’t. Nobody in this town will let you leave alive. They will storm in on you like ants on candy. But if you put down the gun, though, I will let you live. You’re a strong-willed woman, and I like that. We could use somebody like you and Samantha. Now, please give me the gun,” he said, holding his hand out.

  “You want it? Come get it,” I said, waving it at him.

  “Are you suggesting that I just kill you and take it?�
�

  I blinked. “Brilliant, Doctor. You’ve summed it up well.”

  Even though my gun was trained on him, he continued to inch closer. “I don’t want to fight you. Let’s end this now.” Then, he suddenly lunged at me, before I could even answer, plowing into me like a Mack truck, knocking the breath out of me.

  I collapsed in a tangle of limbs as we struggled for the gun. The gun went off, and blood gushed from the doctor’s throat as I pushed him off me. Realization hit me, and I shuddered: The good doctor was dead.

  “Val!” shouted Sammy.

  I pointed my gun at the assistant. “Tell me, how do we get out of this cattle farm?”

  He pointed to the left. “Just keep making right turns till you get to the main exit.”

  “I got a better idea,” I said, not trusting him one bit. “Why don’t you show me?”

  “I can’t. I’m still bleeding badly where you shot me.”

  The doctor opened his eyes with a loud hiss. Without hesitation, Sammy shot him right between the eyes.

  “There. Justice is served,” she whispered.

  “Justice?” the assistant said. “You just killed the greatest man to ever live.”

  “You’re worried about his death?” Sammy snapped. “What about all the people he’s killed?”

  “I feel dizzy,” the man said.

  I pointed the gun directly at his head and cocked it. “You’ve only got a shoulder wound now. Wanna make it a head wound?”

  “Fine!” he snapped, slowly standing. “Just don’t kill me.”

  “It’s tempting, but I need somebody to carry that unconscious man. Pick him up,” I ordered, pointing at Kyle.

  “But my shoulder is—”

  “Do it!” I shouted. “If you don’t, the leg is next…then something you really value.”

  With a huff, he lifted Kyle and slung him over his good shoulder.

  Sammy reached down and picked up the little girl.

  “Hey, where’s Rob?” I asked.

  “Gone,” Sammy replied.

  “Wow. And to think, you picked him as our bodyguard.”

  “What can I say? I’ve got bad taste when it comes to men. He looked big and strong, but in the end, he was just a wuss.”

  I shook my head. “Well, let’s move,” I said, pointing my gun at the assistant, who was groaning under Kyle’s weight.

  He led us slowly down the corridor, around a left-twisting curve, then made two more left turns until we reached an exit.

  “All right turns, huh?” I said, rolling my eyes at him. “So you’re a monster and a liar.”

  He said nothing and just limped like one of the zombies, carrying Kyle with him while I kept the gun trained right on the back of his head.

  Sammy tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked.”

  “That figures,” I said, scowling at the assistant, who just looked at the floor where his blood was dripping.

  “Val!” Rob yelled from down the hall. “Wait up!”

  When I looked, he was running toward us, with his blonde friend still slung over his shoulder. “What happened to you?” I asked.

  “I was looking for a way out.”

  “And you couldn’t wait?” Sammy said.

  “Hey, I’m ready to hightail it out of here. I didn’t want any trouble with that doctor or these other fiends. Anyway, we need a code to get out,” he said. “I’ve tried everything, but it won’t open.”

  “Luckily, this little weasel can get us out,” Sammy said.

  I pointed my gun at the wide-eyed assistant. “Open it.”

  His trembling fingers pressed the alphanumeric code in, and the door opened with a click.

  We walked into the corridor, and I breathed in relief when I saw light coming through the small window on the next door. When I heard Kyle moaning, starting to come to, I told the assistant to set him down.

  “Look, I’ve done everything you told me,” the weasel said. “Let me go.”

  “Hmm. How’s it feel to be the captured instead of the captor?” I asked.

  “We do what we have to do to survive, and we’ve been going strong for six months.”

  “It’s time someone shut you down,” Rob said.

  “This town will never let you do that.”

  I shot him a cold glare. “You’re one sick bas—”

  “I’m a survivor, just like you.”

  I glared at him in disdain. “No, I’m afraid you are nothing like us,” I said, then thumped him hard in the head, sending him bouncing off the wall and too the floor.

  Kyle slowly stood and looked at us. “What the…? What’s going on? Where are you taking me? Where’s my daughter?”

  Sammy spoke calmly, “Val, here, just saved your butt…and I mean that literally. You’re little girl’s still…napping,” she said, nodding to the girl around her shoulders.

  “What?” he asked, looking in utter confusion at the lab assistant on the ground.

  “We’ll explain everything later,” I said. “Right now, we need to get outta here.”

  He brushed his daughter’s curly, black hair out of her face. “Jenny, are you okay?” he asked. “I can carry her,” he said to Sammy.

  “No, you’ll have rubbery legs for a while. I’ve got her.”

  “She’s just a little girl,” Kyle said. “She’s five years old.”

  A second later, the girl began to come to, and I was thankful for that. If she could walk, that would help.

  “Wh-what’s going on?” she stuttered. “Daddy?”

  “Can you walk?” Sammy gently asked the girl.

  “Yes,” she said, leaning against her. “Are you an angel?”

  Sammy laughed. “Well, only if angels have blue hair and wear combat boots,” she answered. “I’m just…a friend.”

  I opened the door and breathed in a huge breath of fresh air. The sun shined on my face, and it felt better than the sun had ever felt before. I pointed my gun around and scanned the area. When I saw a guard patrolling the area, I shot him in the shoulder without hesitation.

  Rob bolted over and snatched his gun, then knocked him out with the butt of it.

  “See? He’s got talent,” Sammy whispered.

  “I think you’re more concerned with his abs and biceps,” I answered, rolling my eyes at her.

  We raced into the parking lot that was filled with cars.

  “I can hotwire one of these things,” I said, “but I’ll need a screwdriver or a butter knife or something to turn a screw.”

  “We’ll find something,” Sammy said.

  We all started searching the vehicles, hoping someone had been foolish enough to leave the keys under the visor, but we had no such luck.

  Just as I was digging through the glovebox of a Ford Taurus that looked as if it had weathered fifteen demolition derbies, I felt something all too familiar: the cold barrel of a gun pressed against my temple.

  Chapter 15

  Before he could say or do anything, I stood and head-butted the would-be gunman so hard that even I saw stars. I then used the rusty car door to hit him in the midsection with gut-wrenching precision, and he fell onto the pavement in a trembling heap. Instinctively, I grabbed his gun.

  “Val!” Sammy said. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m thinking this headache’s got more than Excedrin written all over it,” I answered, holding my pounding head and biting my lip to stifle the pain. “At least I got a gun out of the deal.” I checked the chamber and noticed it was empty. I huffed. Just my luck. But hopefully, I could find some bullets in the near future.

  Rob screamed in delight when he came upon a tool kit, and he hurriedly brought it over to me. “Will this do?” he asked.

  I snapped open the cover and pulled out a screwdriver with a blue and red handle. I climbed into another car and quickly removed the cover, gaining access to the wires behind the ignition. I stripped the red wires and twisted them together, then stripped down the ignition wire, about half an inc
h, and touched the wires. I smiled when I saw the spark, and the engine kicked to life. “Bingo! We’ve got wheels, people! There’s not a whole lotta gas, but it’s enough to get us away from here.”

  A bullet dinged the side of the car, and I gasped. Still dizzy from the head-butt, I saw stars dancing in my vision. I swayed and almost lost my balance, but Sammy helped me into the car. “I wanna drive,” I said when I noticed she’d put me in the passenger seat.

  “No way. You’re hurt. I can drive.”

  I fought the urge to pass out. “With your driving record? You crashed my car.”

  “What are you gonna do, Officer? Give me a ticket?” she said and slammed the car door shut.

  The car jerked as we sped out of the parking lot and onto the main road. My gaze drifted to Kyle. He was a good looking guy with handsome rugged features, shaggy, dark hair, and the prettiest green eyes I’d ever seen. He was a tall and buff guy standing at least 6’2. I wondered what his story was and where he was heading.

  “Jenny just passed out,” Melinda said.

  “She needs rest,” I said. “I’m sure those drugs did a number on her.”

  “Who gave drugs to my daughter?” Kyle demanded to know.

  “Not us,” Sammy said. “We’re the good guys, okay?”

  Kyle was still confused as to what was going on and demanded that we stop and explain everything. “Tell me who you people are and what’s going on!” he yelled from the back seat, where his daughter was asleep on his lap, still drugged out.

  “Find a safe place to pull over,” I whispered to Sammy.

  “This is as good a place as any.”

  It seemed like Kyle wanted out of the car and nothing to do with us, but that was only because he didn’t know we were the good guys. I wasn’t about to hold anyone against his will, so I decided to explain things and let him decide for himself. “What, exactly, do you remember?” I asked, looking back at him.

  “Well, some men were shooting at us. One came from behind and knocked me out. The next thing I knew, some good Samaritan had taken me to the hospital.”

  Sammy laughed.

  “What?” he said. “What’s so funny about that?”