Once Bitten, Twice Dead

by Bianca D’Arc

They were male. Young and big. College students, no doubt. Poor kids. Scratch that. They were a fearsome line of undead muscle making a killer play for him and Sarah.

  “Retreat!” he urged, already moving backward, firing as he went. Sarah was right beside him, getting off a few shots as well, but there were too many of them.

  “I think the whole freaking football team was infected.”

  Sarah’s voice came to him, low, urgent and filled with both resolve and fear. It was the fear that nearly killed him, but they had to muscle through.

  “Oh, God,” she breathed.

  Xavier followed Sarah’s gaze to the line of zombies that were moving faster than any he’d ever seen. They weren’t running, exactly. It was more like a fast shuffle. Still, it was intimidating when paired with the size and quantity of the creatures closing in on them.

  Then he saw her. A young woman. Maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. She wasn’t a zombie yet, but she was in the clutches of one. She was beating at his chest and screaming a name. Tony. Maybe the zombie holding her had once been someone the girl knew.

  “We’ve got to help her.” Sarah kept firing, just as he did.

  He’d hit each one of the creatures once. There were at least eight of them in his sights. He popped an empty ammo clip and reloaded on the fly, sending another round of darts home. He noticed Sarah doing the same, though she was a little slower on the reload than he was. That was to be expected. She wasn’t used to this weapon and hadn’t practiced with it as much as he’d have liked.

  “I’ve got eight targets with two darts in each. How about you?”

  “Seven. I’m working on the second rounds now.”

  “Let’s get four in each and then we can do something about the girl.”

  “They’re moving too fast. I don’t think we’ll make it.” She kept firing, even as doubt entered her voice.

  “We’ll make it. We can retreat up the embankment to the railroad tracks if we have to.”

  “For the record, I don’t like this.”

  Her grim humor hit him head-on and he realized something important. He was falling in love with Sarah Petit. The gutsy woman at his side was the perfect partner for him in any situation, including the most unlikely comrade-in-arms he’d ever considered. She was beautiful, smart, funny and courageous, not to mention the way they lit each other on fire in bed. She could very well be the one.

  Hell of a time to realize it. Xavier shook his head and kept firing.

  “I don’t like it, either, but it’s what we’ve got.” He wanted to say something profound but there wasn’t any time. The enemy was closing in and already they were inching their way up the embankment.

  The tracks above curved to the west, toward Manhattan, and there was a grassy field beyond. No lights. It wouldn’t stop the zombies. The whole area was dark and foggy, just the way they liked it.

  A quick glance at Sarah told him she was reloading, working on putting her third round in each target. He’d just finished his third round and was on to the fourth. He’d be able to help her finish off her targets as soon as he’d completed his. Then they’d see about the girl. She was being dragged along with the zombie she kept calling Tony, but it didn’t look like the creature that had once been a man cared about the girl beating at his chest. He was intent on Sarah and Xavier, working with his nightmare team to box them in against the embankment, forcing them to climb it.

  Xavier didn’t understand the tactic, but then he’d never really understood what motivated any of the creatures he’d faced. This new variety was even more perplexing. The girl’s wailing was grating on his nerves, but he and Sarah had to focus on their jobs. Rescuing the girl would have to come later.

  Four darts in each target, Xavier turned to help Sarah with her group. They worked well together, in synch without having to say a word.

  “Now what?” Sarah asked when every one of the zombies had been darted four times. Even the one that still held the screaming girl. Shooting that one had taken some tricky aiming, but it had been done all the same.

  “Now we wait for them to crumble.” Xavier took hold of Sarah’s elbow as they walked backward up the steep incline toward the railroad tracks. They kept their eyes on the zombies who had slowed now that they were closing in on their quarry.

  “They’re taking an awfully long time to dissolve.”

  An eternity, Xavier thought privately. As soon as this was over, Xavier was going to put a call in to Commander Sykes and see if he could get the science team to pep up the toxic darts. These weren’t cutting it, especially when faced with large numbers of these new-and-improved zombies.

  Sarah was behind him, a little farther up the hill, when the first of the creatures started to wobble, then crumple into nothing. One by one, they all went down.

  “About time,” Sarah muttered. She was a few paces away, closer to the tracks, and as the creatures fell her face lit with triumph.

  “I’ll get the girl. Stay close.” Xavier moved forward, confident Sarah would follow right behind.

  As the zombie holding her disintegrated, the girl was freed. Xavier ran to her, rolling her onto her back, away from the gooey mess that had been the man she’d called Tony.

  She was badly scratched, and her shoulder was a bleeding mess of teeth marks and missing flesh. Chances were good she was already dead.

  “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  She was sobbing as her life slipped away. The least he could do was find out who she was before she succumbed, so that her family could be notified.

  “Donna. Donna Sullivan. Tony Bosco was my boyfriend.” She cried harder. “What happened to him?” She was hysterical now, losing energy with every sob.

  She was fading fast, but Xavier couldn’t be absolutely sure whether it was just unconsciousness or contagion-induced death coming to call. He’d bet on the latter, but he’d give her a chance to prove him wrong before he darted her. Leaving her on the ground, he did a quick survey to find Sarah. She should have been right next to him.

  “Sarah?” A knot of dread formed in the pit of his stomach. He started up the embankment toward where he’d seen her last.

  And there she was, struggling in the clutches of three big men. One had her caught in a bear hug from behind, trapping her arms, while the others each had one of her legs. They were zombies, but they didn’t seem to want to bite her.

  Then Xavier caught sight of a shadowy figure, a man standing about ten yards behind them. He stood next to a white cargo van, and suddenly his intent became clear to Xavier. The zombies were doing Sellars’s dirty work for him. They’d captured Sarah and were shuffling back to their master with her in their clutches.

  Not for long, Xavier vowed. Taking aim, he fired on the run, hitting the two who had hold of her legs. But neither one flinched. He fired again. He had to be careful not to hit Sarah. Panic was driving him. He had to get to her in time. But they were too far apart, and the creatures were moving faster than ever before.

  He kept firing. He’d shot the two at her feet with four darts each. The one behind her had one sticking out of his neck and one in his arm, but he was holding Sarah in a way that prevented Xavier from taking any other shots. It wasn’t intentional but it was damned effective. He couldn’t chance hitting her with the deadly toxin. He paused to aim—this time it would be a shot to the head.

  Xavier pulled the trigger, grotesquely pleased when the dart sank into its ruined face and lodged in the back of its throat. That was three.

  Sarah saw him and screamed. “Xavier!”

  He looked up to see a train bearing down on him as he neared the tracks. Sarah and her attackers were on the other side. The train rounded the curve that had hidden it from view until that very moment, and its bright headlights pinned him in place, slicing through the fog. There was no time to get across. Even as he started forward, he felt the whoosh of compressed air against his whole body as the train tore through the night.

  “Xavier!” he heard her scream agai
n as the train roared past.

  He dug his phone out of his pants pocket and hit one of his speed dial buttons. Nobody could hear him above the roar, but they’d know for damn sure that something was up. They’d be put on alert.

  He leapt from side to side, waiting for an opening, but the train was too damn long. Car after car sped past. He tried to see through the breaks in the cars, but everything was a blur. He could just make out the large white rectangle of the cargo van. He couldn’t see much else. And then the blurry white rectangle was gone.

  Xavier spat out every curse he could think of, knowing he had failed. His chances of rescuing Sarah diminished with each train car that passed. How the fuck long were these things, anyway? He’d already counted nine cars, and more rounded the bend with each shouted curse from his lips.

  Finally, all twelve cars had passed and the tracks were once again clear. Xavier didn’t wait for the dust to settle. He ran across the tracks, only to step in a pile of goo. At least one of the bastards that had taken her had already disintegrated. He didn’t pause to look for the other one. More than likely, the two that had grabbed her feet were now gone. That left the third one—the one he’d managed to shoot only three times. He could still be around, or he could’ve gone with Sellars and Sarah in the van.

  Xavier punched the speed dial on his phone one more time.

  “Go,” came the immediate reply. It was Sam.

  “They got Sarah. She’s in a white cargo van leaving campus from a grassy field about a hundred yards north of the train station. Scramble.”

  “On it, sir.”

  Sam would send the chopper and any other resources he had ready and waiting. Although the B Team had been scheduled for downtime tonight, Xavier knew Sam well enough to know he’d be ready for anything. Hell, he’d probably been waiting by the phone ready to play cavalry. Xavier would take all the help he could get at this point.

  They’d taken out the zombies. Now they needed to get Sarah back. He’d move heaven and earth to make it happen.

  “I’m coming for you, mon ange,” he whispered after shutting his phone. He pulled the flashlight from his belt. He didn’t want to trample any possible tracks, but he also didn’t intend to wait around. Sarah needed him and he wouldn’t let her down.

  Chapter Eleven

  Xavier was frantic, but he couldn’t let it show. His men knew, of course. Especially Sam. None of his guys were stupid. After the meeting the night before, they had to know that he and Sarah were involved.

  With Sarah abducted right from under his nose, all bets were off. Xavier found it impossible to keep his detached professional air. He was pissed, heading toward all-out fury, and those around him knew it.

  Sam had the chopper at the site in less than five minutes. By that time, the cargo van was long gone. Xavier had made quick rounds, dropping off transmitters on each pile of goo. The girl was missing. She had either woken up immune or risen from the dead. He would have to figure it out later.

  Xavier had hopped into the chopper as it hovered a few feet off the ground, and they’d spent a fruitless half hour in the air, looking for a damn needle in a haystack. That van had disappeared.

  “I want you to bring in Dr. McCormick for questioning. No, wait. Let’s go get her right now. We don’t have time to waste,” Xavier said over the headset they used so he could communicate over the noise of the helicopter’s blades. Reno was piloting. “Reroute to Cold Spring Harbor,” he ordered.

  “Get on the radio and arrange for local police to meet us there. See if they can lend us a vehicle. Sam, do you have the doctor’s address?”

  “Yes, sir.” Sam pulled a PDA from his belt and tapped the screen a few times.

  Xavier saw Reno keying his mic. He was on the radio, setting up things for when they landed. They were both good men. They’d get the job done. But it wasn’t fast enough. Nothing was fast enough to suit him right now, with Sarah in the hands of that unethical son of a bitch, Sellars.

  “The county cops will have a tactical unit waiting for us. We’re landing at one of their stations. They’re loaning us a SWAT team and their gear,” Reno reported over Xavier’s headset as they hugged the northern coastline of the island on their way west, toward Cold Spring Harbor.

  “You told them why we need it?” Xavier didn’t want the local cops—good as they were—getting in the way of his team. He also didn’t want a lot of targets scattered around the site, ready to become zombie fodder. He was the only one who could do this extraction. He and he alone.

  “They wanted to talk to Officer Petit and I had to tell them. Sorry, sir.”

  “Don’t be. They’ll throw everything they have our way when they know one of their own is in danger. Your job will be to keep everyone secure, away from the target zone while I do the extraction. Clear?”

  Reno grinned. “I’m always up for a little misdirection, Captain. We’ll babysit the locals if we have to, while you get your woman. And if you need backup, you know that we have your back, despite the danger.”

  Two things struck Xavier. First, his men were willing to face the horrific threat of the zombie contagion for him. Now, that was some serious loyalty, especially when they’d seen firsthand what had become of the others who’d tried and died. They were brave men and Xavier was touched by their willingness to face such a threat for him.

  Second, though perhaps this was more important, Xavier felt a strange warmth spreading through him at Reno’s words about Sarah. He’d called her Xavier’s woman. Damn if that didn’t feel right.

  This was about more than retrieving a colleague. This was personal.

  “Landing in five,” Reno updated the team.

  They set down on a small helipad a few minutes later. Xavier was glad to see a welcoming party ready and waiting for them at the pad behind the police station. There were two big trucks that he knew belonged to the SWAT team.

  He hit the ground running, making his way to the man in charge. They shook hands and shouted to be heard above the roar of the blades winding down. Reno would park the chopper and be ready to depart before Xavier had straightened out the logistics of who would be in which vehicle.

  He wanted one vehicle just for his team. One with no locals hitching a ride.

  “Captain Beauvoir,” the SWAT commander shouted over the noise. “I’m Sergeant Luke Tomlinson, Emergency Services Section. I’ve been ordered to assist in whatever way possible.”

  The rotors on the chopper were slowly winding down. With them went the roar of the wind and the noise from the engine. Xavier was able to speak in a more normal tone as he walked toward the waiting vehicles with the SWAT commander.

  “Sergeant Tomlinson, we’d like one of your rides.”

  The man stopped walking and turned to regard Xavier, taking his measure. “I don’t know why the army is involved in this—whatever it is. All I’ve been told is that an officer has been abducted and you’re our best bet for getting her back. Personally, I take offense at that, but then it’s been some years since I left the 82nd Airborne. I recognize your beret and your insignia, Captain, but I don’t like being left out of the loop.”

  The cop had been Airborne. That counted for something. Xavier decided to tread as lightly as possible while still making his point.

  “I appreciate that, Sergeant. Truly, I do. Unfortunately, I don’t have time—and you don’t have clearance—to know the details of our mission here. All I can tell you is that it has to do with national security and the missing officer is working as a liaison with my unit. She’s been read into the mission and her life is in imminent danger. I intend to get her back with all possible haste. After that, maybe we’ll be able to talk more.”

  Tomlinson stared him down, but Xavier sensed the man understood. Finally, the sergeant nodded, throwing a set of keys toward him. Xavier caught them, his reflexes sharp.

  “Take the SUV. It’s loaded with standard SWAT gear. We’ll act in a support capacity, as ordered.”

  Xavier spared a moment
to thank the man, then heard his unit jogging up behind. He tossed the keys to Sam as he and Kauffman passed. Reno was still a few lengths behind but catching up fast. “We’re going to do recon. We’ll meet you back here at the station once we have a plan of action.”

  “You do that,” Tomlinson shot back.

  Getting rid of the locals had been easier than Xavier expected. It had helped to have a man like Tomlinson in charge. He’d been military. He’d know that a small spec ops team like Xavier’s would likely operate more efficiently without a parade of cops tagging along.

  They parked the SUV around the corner from Dr. McCormick’s home. They were in a fairly middle-class area with small houses every quarter acre or so, in the less fashionable part of town. Xavier waved Sam, Reno and Kauffman to watch each side of the simple house in case the woman tried to flee out a window or through the backyard. Xavier took the direct approach, ringing her front doorbell.

  An elfin face moved the curtain over the window in the door and peered out at him. Her eyes squinted a moment before she planted wire-framed glasses on her freckled nose. Her eyes widened as she took in his attire.

  “Dr. McCormick? I’m Captain Beauvoir, U.S. Army. I need to speak with you about one of your former colleagues. Will you come with us?”

  The woman looked startled but opened the door a crack. “Us?” she asked, looking around.

  “My men are around back. We have a situation and we really need you to come with us.”

  “You were afraid I’d try to run.” Knowing eyes tilted in his direction. “As you can see, I won’t. Where do you want to take me?”

  She was cagey, this one, and much younger-looking than he’d expected. Her file said she was in her late thirties, but her pixie looks made her appear much younger. She was pretty in a sort of ethereal way.

  “The police are letting us use some of their facilities since one of their officers has been abducted.”

  She seemed upset at the news, but she was hard to read.

  “Are you arresting me? You want to put me in a cell?”