by A. Giacomi
Rachel rubs my arm and then asks to take the child. I oblige. She cradles the small babe in her arms humming a sweet little tune. “Don’t worry, Doctor, I’ll help you protect her. She’s much too precious to be experimented on…hey what do you think of the name Abeni?”
“Never heard it before. What does it mean?”
“Well, a friend of mine, one that saved my life back in the city… that was her name. She was beautiful and kind, and well… now she’s gone. The important thing is that she was brave, and I think this baby is perhaps one of the bravest ever. The name means ‘we prayed for her and we got her’ and I just feel it’s fitting. This little one isn’t here by accident, someone called upon her to be here, she’s important…unique as you say.”
I can’t help but smile. “That surely is perfect, Rachel. I think you’ve found her a favorable name.”
“Really? Oh, that’s so exciting! I’m so glad I got to name something!” Rachel says excitedly as she playfully tickles the no longer nameless child. “Abeni, you’re a fine young lady, don’t let others tell you any different.”
“Abeni,” I say to myself over and over again. “I like it.”
***
Over the next few days, Rachel makes herself a permanent fixture in my room. She helps with little Abeni and keeps a watchful, motherly eye. It was almost as if naming her created a new bond between them, Abeni desired her presence as well. Somehow with Rachel there I felt more at ease.
Our short stay had already proven valuable, reports of Eve and Vincent clearing out a nearby town and slaughtering thousands of zombies was all the talk in the facility. This made the Prime Minister quite pleased as well as too distracted to pay any attention to Abeni. I was grateful for the distraction and it was so great to hear that the zombies were rapidly becoming extinct. A few soldiers were even keeping a body count and taking bets on how many Eve and Vincent could take out in a day. I felt they typically underestimated them. They were vicious enough to take out an entire army, and Eve was surely desperate enough. She knew she needed to get to Cam and with government assistance, she would have all the artillery and technology available to destroy perhaps the greatest evil the world had ever known, but how does one deceive a devil? I try not to think about it as I head to grab some lunch for Rachel and I.
On my way to the cafeteria, I notice the Deputy Prime Minister looking quite flustered, she takes off down a hallway I had never ventured to before. Her distress brings me distress and I feel obligated to follow her and discover what exactly had her so agitated.
I wait a few moments before commencing my following. I didn’t want others near the cafeteria to suspect I was after her. I also didn’t want Mrs. Kloss noticing me. If it was something I wasn’t meant to know I would have to be stealthy.
Silently, I slink down the hallway after her, trying to act as casually as possible. At least if she caught me I could simply say I had gone for a walk if I kept a slow pace.
After a few sharp turns, she halts in front of a door and knocks three times. She begins to examine the halls to be sure she hadn’t been followed so I stay behind in the hallway before her last turn and hide in the shadows a moment. The door opens and the Prime Minister greets her in a near whisper.
“Sir, did you really want me to go ahead with that detail you mentioned earlier?” Mrs. Kloss whispers back to him.
“Karyn, of course I want you to go ahead with it. I think it’s time we get a better look at what we’re dealing with. He keeps that thing all to himself and what if it’s dangerous?”
Mrs. Kloss adjusts her sleek hair nervously. “But what real threat could she be? She’s tiny. She’s a child.”
“Karyn, get it done. We’re not hurting her, we’re helping her, so relax.”
And with that, the Prime Minister shuts the door in her flustered face. It was clear that they were speaking of Abeni and that whatever was requested to be done, Mrs. Kloss was clearly uncomfortable with.
My blood boils as I begin to head back to the cafeteria. How dare they think they can lay a hand on her? My feet quicken. I had to get back to Abeni before they did, who knew when they would strike? Perhaps at any moment they would take her from me. Panic fills my lungs and I pass the cafeteria without grabbing a meal for Rachel and I, a few soldiers eye me suspiciously as I pass. The sweat beginning to bead on my brow was a dead giveaway that I was nervous about something. My body never used to betray me this way, but with age came more paranoia and more anxiety. Not to mention that this all was too much stress for anyone, let alone someone my age.
Trying to breathe deep breaths and slow my pulse, I continue toward my sleeping quarters. I find Rachel lying beside Abeni who is sleeping soundly.
“Hey! Where’s breakfast?” Rachel says looking annoyed, but when she sees the look on my face she forgets her question and simply waits for my explanation with furrowed brows.
“Well I got a little sidetracked on the way,” I say wiping my brow with my sleeve. “Karyn Kloss seemed to be acting strange, so I followed her…”
“And?” Rachel says impatiently, rising now that she felt my distress.
“And it looks like the Prime Minister is going to try and take Abeni from us.”
It wasn’t the full truth, but it was my fear. I’m sure they would ask permission first, and my saying no would bring about their use of force, because I would, as they most likely already knew, say no.
“But why? What do they want with her? Don’t they have more important things to consider? Like an army of dead people trying to take over the world?”
“Rachel, you know this is always the case. History repeats itself. Humans study what they don’t understand, and whether intentionally or not, single handedly destroy it. It’s one of my own faults, I know it well, curiosity never killed me, but it sure happens to kill everyone else who encounters my greatest screw-up!”
“What do you mean your greatest screw-up?” Rachel asks innocently.
“It’s a very long story, Rachel, but to summarize, I was a greedy little archeologist looking for something unique and awe-inspiring…and I found it…”
Rachel picks up little Abeni who still sleeps soundly in her swaddling.
“So what do we do now?”
“We wait for the right moment, and we escape, Rachel. Our priority right now is to keep this little one safe. I think she’s more important than anyone one of us can understand.”
As I finish that sentence, the door slides open to reveal Agent Mina Murray with a stern look on her face. Worry strikes my face once more, she had kept her distance, shut us out…what orders had she been given now?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EVE
Our first treatment arrives courtesy of Dr. August, or so I’m told by Corporal Clark Campbell who arrived with the shipment and planned to stay on to oversee our next steps. I wasn’t sure I believed anything I was being told these days. My distrust of the humans that surrounded me grew each day, although I kept telling myself that it was the voices making me think them dishonest, I just couldn’t help feeling like there was a bigger play here.
Vincent and I take our places in the chairs they set out for us, nurses cleanse our rotting arms as best they can before injecting us with a preventative, not a cure. It seemed like a wasted effort since no one really knew how much extra time the treatment bought us, a day, a week, a few hours? There was no guarantee.
The nurse looks squeamish as she plants the needle in my arm. A gooey squishing sound fills the air. My skin wasn’t what it used to be, it was slimier, almost as if parts of it were melting slowly. I often had waking nightmares that all my skin would scale off and I would be left with exposed bones. I suppose this was the nurse’s fear too by the looks of her, she looked mildly green. As the nurses finish up our injections they explain that there will be some paperwork to fill out, they were insisting that we write down any ne
w symptoms or strange side effects, assuring us that this would aid them in improving the treatment for the next time. Taking the paper with my free hand, I smile weakly at the nurse, my smile frightens her so much that she barely bandages the entry wound, black oozy blood drips from it. I watch as the rotting blood pours out and then stops altogether. It had healed quickly enough, but the damage was done. My nurse grabs a nearby bucket and hurls into it, emptying the contents of her stomach. “Sorry,” I say in a very unapologetic manner, you would think nurses had better stomachs than this.
Slightly insulted, I leave the room rolling my eyes as Vincent smirks at me.
“Humans,” he says as he tries to mimic my eye roll.
Our next stop was to be debriefed for today’s attack. The last couple of days had been very successful. I didn’t mean to toot my own horn, but I think I had a lot to do with it. I was fast, strong, and surprisingly accurate with a gun. What I couldn’t rip apart with my bare hands, I shot in the head, I got a few high fives for the distance I got on some of the head shots. Not something I ever pictured myself being praised for, but it felt good none the less. With every zombie kill, I felt one step closer to seeing Cam. I could only hope he was holding on.
I knew he was still alive out there somewhere, I could just sense it. If he were dead, I’d feel something in the universe shift, or that I would notice some imbalance of power somewhere, but right now it simply felt like us against the dead army set against finishing off the human race. This was something I couldn’t let happen, Cam would want me to stay and fight. In two more days it would be over, the Capital would be secure once more and a convoy of soldiers would lead me to Cam, saving him from a terrible fate. A girl can dream.
***
After our meeting, Vincent and I get suited up. I thought of my army fatigues as a superhero costume, I felt powerful in them, but also like a bit of an imposter. I was pretending to be something I was not, all of the men and women surrounding us had fought more enemies than I had ever known about, I could see the exhaustion in their eyes. Too many monsters for too many years, but wasn’t that just the problem? You can kill as many monsters as you want, human or not, but they’ll always be another one lurking, waiting for their time to create chaos once more.
“A hero’s job is never done,” I whisper to Vincent.
“So we’re heroes now? Is that what they’re calling us? I thought we were just dead henchmen,” he says smirking.
“You know, you’re getting better at this joking around thing. I think I’m rubbing off on you, Vincey-poo,” I say as I ruffle his hair.
“You wish, Eve. I was clever long before you were born!”
I stick my tongue out at him unable to come up with a witty reply, it’s true, he was older and wiser, and perhaps a better fighter, but I wouldn’t be admitting that to his face anytime soon.
As we load our guns and take our places on the vehicle leading toward our next attack point, I feel a strange sense of excitement. In another life perhaps zombie hunting would have been a great career choice for me. I chuckle to myself, looking a little crazy in the process, at least that would keep the humans away. An unstable zombie? No thank you, is what they most likely thought of me. Which was for the best, being friends with me would most likely get you eaten.
The large transport truck takes off with about fifty of the finest soldiers ready to lead this mission, and us. We may not have been experienced soldiers, but it could not be denied that we were useful. Together Vincent and I could dispose of a couple thousand zombies. I know the soldiers appreciate the help. We’d had no human casualties since the start of our mission and I hoped to keep it that way.
A few hours later we reached our entry point, our GPS outlined where the mass of zombies had decided to rendezvous. The rest of our way would have to be on foot in order to have the element of surprise; although if we could smell them, I had a feeling they could smell us. I had suggested that the soldiers should rub themselves in some corpse goop at our meeting, but none seemed too enthusiastic about it, in fact, they looked quite disgusted. I was only trying to save them from being eaten, but I guess not everyone wanted a zombie’s advice.
Making our way toward the horde, I ready my gun and continue to tread the ground softly, any loud twig snaps or crunches would alert them to where we were approaching from. When the slow moving corpses are finally in view we all raise our guns silently, picking our favorite zombie to shoot and aiming for their heads. It is a good thing they are slow, because there is plenty of time to aim before shooting. A few of the zombies moan as they sniff the air, they know we are here.
Someone in the back yell’s, “fire!” and we do just that.
About twenty zombies drop to the ground, revealing a new hole in their heads. The other zombies groan louder now, they know they are under attack now. Gunfire fills the air as bullets whiz by making contact with as many zombies as they can.
The battle seems to be going well until my nose fills with the scent of more dead approaching from behind. It is an ambush; the damn bastards are smarter than they look. I begin running toward the back of the flock only to hear bloodcurdling screams. Men were gurgling on their own blood, and more zombies had been made. About a dozen of them had been turned, and we were already outnumbered, to begin with, our only advantage is that we are faster, but when there are so many of them, the sheer size of the group made our speed obsolete.
I watch as a man’s face is peeled off by one of the zombies, its nails digging into his face like daggers and then shoving the meat into its mouth so fiercely it nearly made me feel sick. The man collapses to the ground only to have five more zombies jump on top of him and feast away at whatever flesh or organs they can find. My staring was helping no one, but one thing couldn’t be helped, the grotesque display was making me hungry.
Trying to fight off my own urge to feed, I aim my gun at whatever zombie is close enough. Aiming for the head and annihilating nearly a hundred of them before they get too close to have any time to aim. Vincent is soon by my side and we are both ready to take on hundreds more with our bare hands.
The zombies dive toward us, they don’t want to eat us, but they do appear to want to tear us apart. This was personal, we were traitors in their eyes and there would be no mercy. Five of them cling to my clothing as they try to get a good grip on me. Using them to my advantage, I push back and use a few to catapult my legs into the air, kicking a couple backward and onto the ground. Three more remain, one at my back and the others on either arm. One cheeky bastard bites into my arm until it hits bone. It feels as though the bone may snap if I don’t get him off me soon. Without any other foreseeable option, I decide to start running backward until I bump into a tree. I hear a crunch as the zombie on my back hits the tree hard. He slides to the ground immobilized. Without him on my back, I am able to swing the two other zombies together causing them to crash and crack. They crumple to the ground where I finish them off with a bullet each.
Looking up, I see that Vincent is busy with a group of his own. I fire, taking out several of them. Vincent gives me a thumbs up signaling that he can take it from there. Racing through the trees I try to find any soldiers left alive, but unfortunately, the ones wearing army fatigues were amongst the mindless zombies wandering about, all except one. I see his wild eyes scanning his friends, trying to shake them out of their deadly stupor.
Running over to him, I grab his arm and lead him into a clearing. “Have you been bitten?”
He doesn’t respond but instead points to his calf. A large gash appears, but it seems to be his only injury.
“Are you okay to keep fighting?” I ask hopefully.
He nods and I hand him another gun.
“Shoot anything and everything that moves, do you understand me?”
He nods, and we begin to rifle through the crowd that remains.
When we meet up with Vincent again, a silence washes o
ver the area. It was done. No more zombies, no more humans, just us three.
Vincent eyes the man’s wounds. “We need to get him back immediately,” he says looking concerned. Vincent throws the man over his shoulders and we sprint toward our truck. I drive as Vincent looks over the man’s wounds. His name is Gavin and he couldn’t have been older than eighteen. About halfway back to base camp, Vincent joins me up front.
“Eve, I have some good and bad news. The good news is that the young man will make it. The bad news is he’s like us. His wound fully healed about five minutes ago, painfully, but fully restored now. His heartbeat stopped about ten minutes prior to that. He’s dead and what that means is they’ll either shoot him or experiment on him. You know they will…”
My grip around the steering wheel tightens in anger. “So what are you suggesting we do, Vincent? Shoot him first? Put him out of his misery?”
Vincent looks down. “Why would anyone want to live as we do? If I knew what I know now. I would have put a bullet in my brain before the medics ever reached me. You can’t save what’s dead.”
The words echo in my head painfully, he was right, you couldn’t save what was already dead. I could at least prevent his fear of what would come next, because I was certain that anything Gavin encountered next was going to suck.
I stop the truck. “Let me go talk to him, Vince.”
“Very well,” Vincent says remaining behind.
I find Gavin sitting at the far end of the transport truck with his knees held firmly to his chest. He didn’t look afraid; he merely looked exhausted and pale. He barely flinches at my approach.
“Gavin, may I sit?” I ask softly.
He nods without saying a word.
“Do you understand what’s happened to you?”
Gavin nods with his eyes beginning to water slightly. He wouldn’t dare let a drop fall though, tears were not something he found agreeable, but this was a hard enough situation that emotions running wild were completely understandable. He was scared, who wouldn’t be?
