by A. Giacomi
I feel a little more at ease now that I know the child would still remain in my care, but how could I trust them? I had seen what they had done to Eve. These had been their men, who else would have ordered these tests? Surely the Prime Minister must have known about all of it?
Biting my tongue I don’t say anything further, I accept the terms and allow Rachel to continue. It was her turn to explain more about Cameron, Eve and Vincent. She had been in most recent contact with them before arriving in Ottawa.
“Cameron came to Fenelon Falls accidentally, he had been wandering and the town leaders took him in. I’ll be the first to admit that our two leaders Jim and James weren’t exactly all there. When Cam tried to leave the camp, they hit him with their truck. They were aiming to kill him, but instead, Cam hit his head real good and erased his memory. With a second chance, Jim and James decided to try to integrate him into the community again. It worked, but when they got paranoid that his memories were coming back, they tried to off him again and that’s when Eve and Vincent showed up. They had tracked him to Fenelon and were going to take him to safety. That’s when the zombies came…so many of them…and who even knows why. It was like they were called there. We had lived in Fenelon Falls for months without any attacking us. It was only when Eve, Vincent and that awful Marcus guy arrived that the town went to shit.” Rachel is sneering, clearly still bitter about it. “I wonder if Eve and Vincent had stayed away if Marcus would have stayed away too. Then maybe we’d still have a safe town.”
She pouts now that she’s done speaking.
The Prime Minister reviews her story in his head. “You know what’s strange. A horde of zombies showed up the night Eve, Vincent and Marcus appeared in Fenelon Falls…last night a horde of zombies appeared when Eve and Vincent arrive and Cam disappears. If it wasn’t Eve and Vincent who took him, then perhaps Marcus did? My question now is…why do they want Cameron so badly? And what’s with the zombies interfering? They don’t seem to have loyalty to Marcus, or Eve…so who then?”
A theory strikes me as the Prime Minister digs for answers. The Eye of Ra was the only thing that had the power to command the dead, but it wasn’t exactly intact, and little Evie was proof of that fact. So if Marcus didn’t have the stone, then the only other person who could control them was the creator of the stone…the devil himself. The realization hits me like a brick and I guess it shows because Prime Minister Lessard asks what I’m thinking.
“I’m thinking there’s a bigger war going on than I had anticipated, Prime Minister.” My mouth hangs open, but words don’t come out. I needed a moment more.
“I think, and this sounds insane, but I think Satan is behind the horde of zombies. He’s trying to stop them from doing something. According to the legend, the Dark King sacrifices his heart to save his people. Marcus kept going on and on about how Cameron had to be the one to sacrifice his heart for this all to end. I don’t think the devil wants Marcus to succeed…”
Deputy Prime Minister Kloss rolls her eyes at me. “You’re right, that sounds absolutely insane!”
I want to smack her, we were dealing with a whole bunch of insane notions, what made mine appear less probable?
“Karyn please,” the Prime Minister interjects, “we need to take all possibilities seriously and where this theory leads us right now is that we don’t want the devil or demons to get their hands on this baby, because then Satan wins. We also don’t want to stop Marcus?”
Lessard looks at me puzzled. “If Cam‘s heart will save us all, what’s one sacrifice?” he says shrugging.
Glaring at him I respond, “Do you really think Eve is going to let that happen? You see how powerful she is, and she loves Cam, she’s not about to let him get carved up! Besides, how can we be sure it will work? What if he dies and the zombies keep coming? Then you’ve got one pissed off zombie girl that will be coming for you, and she won’t stop until you’ve paid for the life you’ve taken. She’s dangerous, Lessard, not just because she’s a zombie, but because she still thinks like a human.”
Lessard sits back a moment. “Hmmm…I think I need some time to think this all through. In the meantime Agent Murray, you are to keep tabs on the doctor and the baby. Testing begins immediately with all findings reporting back directly to me. Rachel here can be shown her room, she might want some rest and can join with the others at dinner time.”
We all nod and take our respective routes through the hallways, I glance back at Rachel, she looks concerned, being alone did not seem to be something she fancied, but she accepted it for now.
An uneasy feeling washes over me as we head into a nearby lab. I watch Agent Murray carefully, something about her had changed. I could feel it as she held the babe and glanced over at me. Was it possible that my road companion would abandon me if she was ordered to? I once trusted her with my life, now that seemed foolish. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, hopefully we were safe here and the Prime Minister would keep his word.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EVE
Getting out of Ottawa was no easy feat. The amount of security kept us busy enough to miss our opportunity to retrieve Cam. Marcus had wandered off with him in the darkness and no one had even noticed. My anger over losing him became my strength, I cut through anyone who tried to hold us back. I remember Vincent begging me to stop, him being my voice of reason just seemed hypocritical. Why did he get to be the monster and me the saint? There wasn’t any time to spare the soldiers that kept me from Cam. They wouldn’t listen to us, first chance they got they’d aim for our heads, so what was I supposed to do but kill them?
I lick the blood from my lips as we abandon our vehicle and continue the rest of our trek on foot. Vincent looks at me in disgust, which I wasn’t having any of.
“What! You wouldn’t have done the exact same thing? What if it was your family slipping out of your reach? Would you have said, ‘Hey wait boys, let’s talk this out’…I think not! You know as well as I do, the moment we took a step back to explain, they’d either shoot us or restrain us and we’d never see Cam again.”
Vincent shrugs. “I’m not saying you’re wrong, I just wish we could have done more running and less killing is all. It only makes me hungrier and you really left me no choice. I had to follow your lead.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy every minute of it,” I say as I wipe some of the blood from his cheek.
Vincent snarls at me. “Of course I enjoyed it! That’s what I hate!”
He walks ahead of me, no longer wishing to look at me. This was going to be a long hunt if we weren’t even going to be on speaking terms, but I was definitely in no mood to apologize. We were free, and we were in hot pursuit of Marcus. If it hadn’t been for me, we’d be locked up right now. So really I felt I was owed a thank you if anything.
Vincent sniffs the air. “This way,” he snorts, pointing to our left. This route would take us off the road and through a forested area. It would be a slower route, but definitely a more discreet one.
As we journey through the trees I catch a scent of something too. Sniffing the air, my mind goes wild; screams fill my head saying, “Stop! Stop now!” The voices get so loud that I have to pause a moment and rest my head against a nearby tree. Vincent must be hearing it too because he pauses and begins pressing his hands against his temples as if they were about to explode. The ground beneath us shudders. These weren’t just voices in our head, I think we were about to have some unexpected company. We couldn’t catch a break!
The ground rumbles again, knocking me to the ground. My face rests upon the cool dirt and for a second it feels like home— that is until a bony hand bursts through the ground in front of me knocking dirt into my mouth and placing its icy skeleton-like fingers across my face. I quickly take the hand and whip it away from me, rushing to my feet only to see more bony hands rising from the dirt. These weren’t fresh zombies crawling from the dirt, they barely
had any flesh left on them at all.
I couldn’t help but watch as they pulled themselves out of the ground slowly, revealing their rottenness. Someone had summoned them to take care of us, and I had this sinking feeling that it wasn’t Marcus. He wouldn’t have anticipated our escape, he believed in his government security prevailing, but they had never dealt with a woman this desperate and this dead.
Vincent begins stomping on heads as they exit the ground; I take this as a sign to move my ass. My gawking wasn’t going to help much. Luckily the skulls crush easily, every stomp shattering them into a million sharp pieces, some of which land in my flesh, cutting me like glass, but the payoff was that it rendered them motionless. Although this neat trick worked, it wouldn’t help us against the growing number of them.
“Vincent! What do we do?” I yell out to him.
“Just keep going. They can’t just keep coming!”
Oh but they could, and they did. Soon I’m surrounded by the bony zombies and no matter how many I hit or try to push away, they circle around me and grab a limb each lifting me into the air and immobilizing me. Every kick or twitch only makes their skeletal hands wrap tighter around me, squeezing my flesh and tearing into it like knives. Somewhere I hear Vincent is still fighting, I call out to him, but soon I am taken too far off to hear a reply. I watch the sky as the corpses drag me away. To where I’m not sure.
They surprisingly dump me back onto the ground moments later; I guess we had reached our destination. In front of me dozens of boney jaws slap their mouths at me, trying to seem intimidating, but really all I saw was Halloween decorations. Behind me was another story, there was a sliver of cliff left and then a gigantic drop into some rocks below. If the fall didn’t crush my skull, I would at least be in several scattered pieces unable to continue my journey, and that’s really all they wanted wasn’t it?
“Why are you doing this?” I scream out. I wasn’t expecting an answer, but a voice enters my brain and I knew exactly who it was. My body trembles in fear as the voice hisses ‘You know why, I can’t have you standing in my way, Eve. So it’s time to join me in hell!’ The devil laughs in my ear as the fear grabs hold of me. I’m frozen.
Just when I think it’s all over, Vincent comes charging through the field of peeled zombies. He screams like a Viking going into battle as he shoves them off the cliff one by one. I watch as the corpses shatter below us.
I join him in pushing them off the cliff until the way is clear, but the attack isn’t over. He wouldn’t let it end that easily would he? The jolt in the ground throws us over the cliff, but luckily I am able to grab at a tree root and hold onto it. Vincent holds my ankle, but I feel it is less sturdy than the root I’m presently holding. I hear a crack, and although I can’t feel the pain of it, I know it’s a bone shattering.
“Quick Vincent! Climb up! It’s not going to hold!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CAM
The jolt of a car going over a rock brings me back. My eyes shoot open to view a barren road, except for a few corpses walking about here and there. As I slowly look to my left the smell hits me first, the rotting stench makes my eyes water so that all I really see is a blur of a man in some sort of hygienic mask.
“Who are you?” I manage to mumble. It’s then that I realize I’m handcuffed to the car door. “Who are you?” I ask more frantically as I try to free myself from the cuffs.
Although I can’t see his smile, I can hear it. “Eve didn’t mention me? I find that a little hard to believe.”
I start putting two and two together and realize that this is none other than Marcus. He was the one Eve was trying to keep me away from, he was the one who wanted me dead, but I still didn’t fully understand why.
“What do you want with me?” I ask more composed this time.
“Cameron, Cameron, why all these games? You know what I’m after. So don’t play coy,” he says through his mask.
“I guess I just want to hear you say it…”
He chuckles in an insane way before answering. “Cameron, look, by the time I’m done answering you. You will gladly give up your life.”
“I find that a little hard to believe,” I say as I examine my handcuffs once more. “Where are we going anyway?”
“You’re going home, Cameron. Not that you remember where that is, but in order for this prophecy to work, you must give up your heart in a selfless act. I need you to remember yourself and Eve, because I know once you remember, you’ll do what’s right. You’ll save everyone, that’s who you are.”
Marcus laughs again. Something about all this felt strange. Eve had told me this man was a monster, but I couldn’t help feeling that some of what he was saying might be true. Did he genuinely want to stop all this?
As we drive along, I notice more and more zombies along the roadside. When I try to point this out to Marcus, he simply shushes me. It was odd how they just began to appear through the trees that lined this stretch of road. I try not to think anything of it and instead try to watch the signs as they go by. Did I recognize any of them? Did I remember what home was called? Losing your memory was such a strange experience, others knew who you were and expected you to be that person, but how could I be a man I didn’t remember? The only person I vaguely remembered was Eve, and it’s not that I truly remembered her, it was more like snippets of memory here and there. I knew that she loved me, and that perhaps once I loved her. I remember her as human though, not this thing she is now. I don’t know how she got that way, and this Cameron really doesn’t care. What I really want to do is kill all the zombies I see, that’s what I know, that’s what Jim and James taught me to do. I wanted to protect people from those things, not befriend them.
Perhaps an hour on the road goes by when I start to notice the line of zombies forming behind us. They were quite a ways behind us still, but still following us. Marcus tries to shush me again when I mention it, but I refuse to be ignored this time.
“Listen asshole, they’re stalking us! Look dammit! Look!”
He checks his rearview mirror and sees the growing horde for himself. His eyes widen. Something was definitely wrong here. Marcus hits the gas hard so we are now flying down the road rather than lollygagging. We only drive at high speed for about ten minutes when Marcus has to abruptly hit the brakes. Up ahead another horde has formed and they were coming toward us as well. I could tell by the look in Marcus’ eyes that he didn’t know what was going on, something had stumped him too.
How could these things have sniffed us out from so far away? And why would they want one corpse and one measly human? They could hunt down others who were on foot, why did they want us? Why were they surrounding us?
The questions dance around in my head, but asking them out loud wouldn’t do any good, Marcus didn’t have the answers. Instead it was more important to ask, “What do we do now?” I waited for a reply; I could only hope Marcus had a plan.
Marcus closes his eyes a moment and begins speaking to himself in a language I don’t recognize. It sounds as though he’s in a trance. I try to snap him out of it with a few shakes, but it doesn’t work. This was a terrible time for a nap.
Glancing at my handcuffs once more I try to pull them from the handle. If I could just get the handle loose I could free myself and make a run for it. Every pull leaves my wrist in agonizing pain, but I don’t quit. It was this or zombie bait. With a few more violent tugs I can see the handle giving way. Keep going I tell myself as Marcus continues his weird chant. My wrist is now bleeding, but I give one final giant tug and half the handle snaps away from the door. That’s all I needed. I slide the other cuff from the door handle and my hand is now free. The only problem was the door now. I wouldn’t be able to open it sans handle. I would have to crawl to the back of the car and let myself out.
Looking over at Marcus I can see he’s still preoccupied, and since the zombies showed no intention of
slowing, it was time to make my move. I dive into the back seat and attempt to open one of the doors. The asshole had put the child locks on. I kick the seat in front of me in frustration. I would have to reach around Marcus and turn them off if I was going to have any luck getting out. Scanning the driver’s side door I find the child lock immediately, unfortunately, it was right next to Marcus’ arm. I slowly inch my fingers toward the button, trying not to disturb Marcus’ arm. I am almost able to get a finger on it when Marcus wakes from his trance, grabbing my wrist fiercely. It nearly felt ready to snap, and although I protest, Marcus does not loosen his grip.
“You fool,” he screams as he tightens his grip. “You’re going to get yourself killed!”
“Me?” I scream back. “You’re the one humming a little song while those things approach! If anyone’s going to get me killed it’s you!”
“Oh really? Look around. I think I’ve done plenty to help,” he says in his muffled way.
As I glance through the front window I notice that the zombies had indeed stopped walking. They seemed frozen to their spot.
“Why are they doing that?” I ask confused.
“Because the Dark King told them to. His powers are strong, but they are not able to hold for long. We have perhaps five minutes before the incantation is broken.”
He throws my wrist back to me, launching me into the back seat.
“Hold onto your ass!” he yells before turning on the car again.
This time our route would be through the trees. He might have been able to freeze the zombies somehow, but there was no way to plow through such a crowd with such a tiny vehicle. So we would, of course, have to take an alternative route. Marcus turns the car toward the tree line. I watch as the zombies stand at attention, oddly still and silent. Marcus smashes his foot on the break, freeing us from the silence, but not the terror.
