“I haven’t met Nick yet,” I said. “I was hoping to get the chance to talk to him and meet him before I die.”
“I’ll make sure his commanding officer knows what’s going on, and I’ll be sure he visits.”
“Thank you.”
The doctor then opened the door and instructed the soldiers to take me to the holding area. They walked me down a flight of stairs and through some corridors. A soldier unlocked a door, led me inside, then left, locking the door behind him.
The room looked just like any other hospital room, complete with sterile-looking, white walls and the strong, bleach-like aroma of a plethora of medicines. On the far right was a huge lamp that cast an unnatural glow on the linoleum. On the far left, there was a narrow bed with white sheets arranged around a frail woman who was barely clinging onto life.
I began to pace around the room, feeling like a caged animal.
A little while later, a soldier walked in and gazed at me.
“Lucas,” I said.
“How do you know my name?” he asked.
“I heard my mother using it. She said you’re Nick’s friend.”
“Yeah, I’m a friend of the family. In fact, your mother is my godmother, and I’ve known her my entire life.”
My brow furrowed. “So…you’re here to help me?”
“That would be a big, fat yes.”
“First, tell me if my friends were really escorted off the island.”
“Your friends are fine. I just hope they don’t try and come back. If they do, even I won’t be able to talk them out of execution.”
“Are you sure they’re okay?” I asked.
“Positive. Your dad is taking them back to the mainland on his boat.”
“I feel so much better knowing that. Sammy was so upset.”
“Yeah, she went pretty Jerry Springer on us up there.”
“Well, thank you for telling me.”
“Not a problem.” He looked away, then looked back at me. “You’re getting a raw deal here, and I’m not happy about how they’re treating you.”
“I just wish they’d let me die at my mother’s house.”
“They won’t. You could turn into a zombie and kill your mother.”
I shuddered at the thought. “Couldn’t they just send a soldier to kill me at just the right time, rather than killing me early?”
“You have no idea how strict this place is,” he said.
“So, did you just come in to say hello, or did you have some valuable info on how to get me out of here?”
He shifted his stance. “I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you wanna hear first?”
I bit my lip, pondering. “Hit me with the bad news.”
His lips pressed into a grim line, and I knew it wasn’t good at all. “I’m so sorry,” he said, “but you’ve lost your case. Execution is scheduled in a couple hours.”
I could feel the blood draining from my face. “Then what’s the good news? You’re hiring a very expensive lawyer to fight my case and plead for one extra day?”
His eyes twinkled with hope. “How about a decade or more?”
I cocked a brow. “That’s not even funny. You know I’ve been bitten. There’s no help for me.”
“Not necessarily true. This very dedicated scientist has been working on an experimental serum. It hasn’t worked, as of yet, but the doc has—”
“The doc?”
“Yeah. That’s what he likes to be called.”
I touched his hand. “Please go on.”
“Long story short, he thinks this batch is the miracle drug everyone’s been waiting for.”
“You think he can cure me?”
“We’re all hoping he can.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I contemplated another chance at life. I was speechless, and words couldn’t express how thankful I was. No zombie-bite victim had ever been cured, and it was utterly unheard of. I knew I couldn’t put all my eggs in one basket and get too excited, in case it didn’t work, but at least I had a shot. If it did work, I could go find Sammy, Kyle, and Jenny. They would literally think I was a ghost coming back from the dead, since they’d had to give up hope on me. The thought made me giggle just a bit.
“How do we get this experimental serum?” I asked.
“We’re working on getting our hands on it.”
“We?”
“Yeah. The doc, me, your parents, and Dean. I know things look bleak, but we’re working hard behind the scenes, desperately trying to save your life. But if any of us are caught taking it from the top-secret lab, we’ll be scheduled for execution too.”
I took a deep breath, disturbed by his words. I didn’t want to see anyone get the death penalty for trying to help me. It was a huge risk for them all, and the guilt weighed heavily on my mind.
“We’ll never give up on you, Val,” Lucas said.
“It feels good to know so many are fighting so hard for me, especially since you all just met me.”
“I’m working hard. For the time being, you have to stay here, for your own safety as well as ours. If we get the serum, we will take a chance and break you out, but not without it. Nick’s my best friend, and Dean is like a little brother to me. I won’t lose them for anyone, not even a long-lost sister.”
“I get it, Lucas. I do. You’re a loyal friend, and I admire that.”
We chitchatted for a few more minutes before Lucas said he had to go to ensure that the plan was going smoothly.
“Thank you for everything,” I replied. “I’ll never forget this.”
He smiled, then headed out the door.
I resumed pacing around the large room. My nerves were frazzled, and I had no idea if they could get the experimental serum in time. If they got caught, it would mean their deaths, and that scared me more than anything. On top of that, I had no idea how the serum would affect my body. I would be a guinea pig, since no one had had a chance to do any test studies for the drug. That was frightening, but it wasn’t nearly as frightening as dying within hours or turning into one of those horrible creatures. All things considered, it was the best option, even if it was risky for all involved.
When the door opened a while later, I rose to my feet. My fists were clenched, and my eyes were wide with terror. I was sure Lucas had failed to get the serum in time, and my time had come.
The guy in scrubs and a mask looked at me, then at the thin woman, then back to me again. He looked young and wasn’t too big, and I was sure I could easily take him down. I wouldn’t kill him, but I would knock him into Dreamland for a couple hours. I was certain that if I got out of that room, I could escape the facility altogether and swim right off that rock if I had to. I wasn’t sure where I’d go beyond that. Maybe I’ll try to find Sammy and Kyle, I thought, even though I had no idea where they’d gone. But what if I change into a zombie and hurt them?
Just as I was about to pounce and put the young man in a chokehold, he pulled down his mask. “Hey! It’s me,” he said.
When I peered closer, I couldn’t believe I was looking at my brother’s blue eyes. “Dean!” I said. “You know I’ve been bitten. You shouldn’t be in here. Being anywhere near me is a death sentence.” My mother was already losing a daughter she’d just met, and I didn’t want her to lose a son too.
Dean slowly unwrapped the bandages from my arm and cringed. The zombie bite looked worse—far, far worse—than he had anticipated. Green pus was leaking from it, and my whole lower arm reeked of dead, rotting flesh. The disease was slowly eating away at me and I didn’t have a chance. There was nothing anyone could do for me. I just wanted to escape and die on my own terms, because I didn’t want to die there. On the other hand, if I stayed, I’d just simply fall asleep, and it’d be all over like they promised; it was probably the most responsible thing to do, because there’d be no chance of me reanimating. All I really wanted was a little more time, one more day to see one last starry sky and breathtaking sunrise.
My brother just loo
ked at me, not knowing what to say.
“That bad, huh?” I asked when I saw his ghastly expression, my voice echoing off the white walls in the confined isolation room. I brushed back my long, black hair. “It’s funny how fate works. I spent so long trying to find you…” My voice quivered as tears welled up in my eyes. “And now that I have, we won’t even get to spend one day together.”
He let out a long breath. “Don’t talk like that. We’ll have plenty of time, so much time that you’ll probably get sick of me.”
“How do you figure? And, for the record, I don’t think I’d ever…I would never get sick of you.”
“Because I have a possible cure?”
I cocked a brow. “You mean the experimental serum?”
“Yeah, I snatched a bag of vials from the lab.”
I gasped. “Do you know what woulda happened if you’d been caught?”
“I don’t care. I’ll do anything to save you. You’re family. I told you that before.”
“I can’t believe you’d go through all this for me, basically a stranger. It’s impressive. Thank you.” I softly touched his arm. “But those vials haven’t been tested, so there’s no guarantee.”
“Doc’s almost certain this batch will work. He told me they’re on the verge of a major breakthrough, so it’s worth a shot—no pun intended.”
I smiled. “Okay, if you say so. I’d rather be a guinea pig than one of those brain-munching things out there.”
“I can’t, Val. It’s too early. The virus has to be in your system for…well, for a set amount of time before the medicine has a chance to work.”
“A set amount of time? How long?” I asked, sounding a bit more panicked and demanding.
“Just a little while longer.”
“You know I don’t have that kind of time.” I threw the bandage back on and pressed firmly on the tape. “Be realistic, Dean. You know the rules. I’ve been compromised. They’ll be in any minute to kill me, humanely of course.”
“That isn’t happening! I’m here to break you out.”
I grabbed his arm. “Really?”
“Really.”
“Well, in that case, what’re we waiting for?”
“We can’t go till Lucas comes back and gives us the go-ahead. If we run into the general, we’ll be screwed. It’ll just be a minute.”
I nodded, then placed my hands on my hips, my gaze imploring. “Is our brother gonna help us?”
“I haven’t told Nick anything about you. He’d just flip out, and right now, we need him to be focused if we want our little plan to work.”
“I want to meet him. I need to meet him.” From what my mom had told me, my older brother and I had a lot more in common than our looks, and I couldn’t wait to see if it was true.
“You will. I begged him to take us to the next city, told him we have to deliver some antibiotics for the doc.”
“Great. Think your smokin’-hot plan will work?”
“Trust me, nobody will suspect a thing.”
“So…fill me in.”
“For starters, we’re flying.”
“Wait…what?”
“Didn’t I mention that Nick’s a pilot? We’re taking a chopper.”
“Oh yeah! Mom told me that he flew you all to the island.”
Suddenly, the door burst open, and Lucas peered in. “You guys ready? There isn’t much time.”
Dean motioned me out of the cell and pointed to a gurney. “Time to play dead,” he said, helping me climb up onto it. He threw a sheet over my body up to my neck, mimicking medical protocol for handling the diseased on their way to the morgue.
“No blinking,” Lucas warned.
I blotted the sweat from my brow. This has to work. It just has too.
“Are you gonna be okay?” he asked.
My jaw clenched. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring home the Oscar. My life depends on it.”
As he wheeled me down the long corridor and past a group of soldiers, I was hit with a rush of adrenaline like I’d never felt before. When we approached the guards, a shudder washed over me. We all knew that if we didn’t get past that squad, it would be over before we even really got started.
“We’re puttin’ this one on ice,” Lucas said without so much as a nervous quiver in his voice.
“It just never ends, does it?” the sergeant asked.
“Nope,” Lucas answered.
Metal wheels screeched against the tile floor in protest of the speed Dean was pushing, and we took the corners pretty fast. A few minutes later, he stopped. “Okay. It’s go time,” he said, quickly stripping off his white pants.
I sat up abruptly. “Please tell me you have clothes on under there.”
“Of course. Now c’mon!” He helped me down and pointed. “The helipad’s this way.”
We raced through the corridor and up the stairs and finally reached the rooftop, where a gust of wind rushed through my hair. I jumped into the back of the military helicopter and lay down.
Dean threw a U.S. Army-issued, itchy, olive-drab wool blanket over me, taking every precaution in case somebody did show up. “I’ve got a little confession to make,” he whispered between breaths.
“You secretly wear women’s clothing?”
He chuckled. “Geez! No!”
I lifted the blanket off my head. “Well, that’s good to know. So what is it?”
“Nick knows nothing about all this. He has no idea that we have an extra passenger. He thinks it’s just a medical supply run.”
I let out a huff. “Ah, so when you said nobody will suspect a thing, you really meant nobody. Geez. I don’t believe this.”
“It’s the best I can do. Like I told ya, he’ll freak if he finds out, so please just keep quiet until we get to the city, okay? We’ll explain it all to him then.”
“Fine,” I mumbled, “but you should’ve told him.” I tried to play it cool, but I was actually quite livid. Nobody had bothered to fill Nick in that he’d have a stowaway who just so happened to be a sister he knew nothing about, and he had every right to know he was hauling human contraband.
A minute later, I heard a man’s voice as he jumped into the helicopter and put on his headset. “Ready, bro?”
It took everything I had not to jump up and tell Nick everything, but I’d promised Dean I’d stay hidden. Plus, I didn’t want to mess up my only possible chance of escape.
Dean jumped into the copilot seat and buckled up. “Yep.”
“You got the list of antibiotics we need for the doc?” Nick asked.
“Sure do.”
Nick turned over the helicopter engine, and a few minutes later, we lifted off and climbed slowly into the sky over Kelly’s Island.
“We should be back in time for supper,” Nick called out.
“Yep!” Dean yelled over the whirring of the helicopter propellers.
Halfway there, I heard a loud pop, something like a car backfiring. The floor and walls began to shake and vibrate. My head jerked back, then snapped forward as the helicopter plunged, cutting through the white clouds like a knife. Looking out the window, I noticed a plume of dark smoke swirling outside the copter.
“Wh-what’s happening?” Dean asked.
Nick fumbled frantically with the controls. “Malfunction! We’re going down!”
“Mal-what?” he asked with a gasp.
I gasped as well, and I began to pray.
The helicopter dropped in altitude at a pace that felt like light speed. A sudden loud banging that reminded me of the thugs pounding baseball bats against our EarthRoamer echoed beneath my feet. I looked out the window and saw that the copter was skidding on its belly, skipping across the treetops like a pebble flung across a creek. The vibrations shook the floor like an earthquake. I braced for impact as Nick clipped a row of towering trees on a thirty-foot ridge.
In an instant, everything was dark.
Chapter 36
When I fluttered my eyes open, everything was so bright. The last t
hing I remembered was getting ready to crash, but now I was in someone’s house. Was that crash, that whole thing, just a dream? I wondered. I felt discombobulated, like I was caught in a dream. My head was aching, and I fought to keep my eyes open. “Kyle?” I whispered. “Sammy?”
A woman with red hair rushed over. “She’s awake.”
“Where are Kyle and Sammy?” I asked again. “Where’s Jenny?”
“I’m not sure who they are, but you came here with Nick and Dean.”
Suddenly, it all flooded back to me. Kyle, Sammy, and Jenny had been escorted off the island, and I was scheduled for execution. Dean had broken me out of there just in time to save me from a mercy killing, and Nick had unknowingly flown me away from the island in a helicopter. “Who are you?” I asked. “What’s going on? How did I get here?”
“I’m Jackie,” said a girl with long, dark hair streaked with blonde, “and this is Claire.”
“Thanks for letting me into your home,” I said. “What happened?”
“You were in a horrible helicopter accident.”
I slowly sat up. “And I survived?”
“Well, trust us when we tell you this isn’t Heaven,” Claire said.
“Where are the guys, Nick and Dean?” I asked, rubbing my head.
“They went to take out the zombies that have been following me and my cousin for miles.”
I cocked a brow. “So you don’t live here?”
“No,” Jackie said, “and, judging by all the dust caked over the place, I’d say no one has for ages.”
“Are there weapons here?” I asked.
“I don’t think so,” Claire said.
“Have you even looked?” I asked, wondering why they hadn’t searched every single inch of the place to find something to defend themselves.
“We figured we’d just hole up in here and—” Jackie started.
“Why didn’t the guys stay with you?” I asked.
“We don’t know,” Claire said. “We told them we were sure the zombies would eventually get bored and leave, but they didn’t seem to care what we said.”
“Nick wanted to deal with the threat,” Jackie said. “There are only a few, and he said he could handle them.”
“Just like me, huh?” I mumbled, then smiled to myself. “Maybe Mom was right about that.”
Val: Prequel to The Zombie Chronicles Page 28
