Zombie Chronicles (Book 1): Twice Dead:

by Forester, TJ

  It seemed she was there forever. She strained to hear what they were saying, but even though they were not trying to be quiet, she was too far away to hear clearly.

  She caught one sentence, “Dr. Soranto will be pissed if we don’t get this right.”

  Therefore, he was most definitely in on it, and…the thought bit at her. Logan must know as well, this is his building; she felt sick. He had lied to her, no doubt about it now. After forever, the two men left. She went back into the room they had been in and peered into the tube. It held a middle-aged man. The same as the admission had listed.

  Sherena stared at him until she realized again the peril she was in; she turned and left the room. She crept up the stairs; she had no way of knowing if the building were empty—at least of the living. The stairs must be newer than the building looked because they made no sound. At the top, she found a breaker box—good, if I need to I can shut off the power.

  She clutched the flashlight she had in her lab coat pocket. She had worn it under the parka, in the off chance that she could somehow talk her way out of the situation if she got caught. She very much doubted that now.

  The top floor had a long hallway going perpendicular to the stairs, only half the size of the building. The other half was open, creating a very high ceiling from the bottom floor. There were only two doors and after she opened one of them, she could tell that they both went to the same large laboratory. It was full of odd-looking machines and cables, which she could not identify, but the center was full of more of the chambers.

  She counted twenty, which accounted for all of the AMA patients plus six, if they were all occupied. She took a deep breath before looking into the first tube. There she was, Jenny Carian. She looked as if she were simply asleep. Weird after a week of decomp—she should be…Sherena gasped, there was some kind of monitor on the tube. It was tracking a heart rhythm, but she was dead…wasn’t she?

  There were other monitor lights but she didn’t know what they were recording. She walked to the next tube—same green heart rhythm signs. This patient did appear to be dead, but he was unfamiliar. The next tube held a man she knew. She had seen him on her first day there, working at the diner. He didn’t just look dead, he had sunken cheeks, a grayish hew, his hands all wrinkled, but still the heart beat monitor ticked away, as if he were alive.

  The next tube held a woman, unrecognizable, even if Sherena had known her. The woman looked as if she had been in a coffin for a month or two, without being embalmed. Still, the heartbeat monitor blipped away—these people can’t be alive, it’s not possible!

  As Sherena moved along, the scene worsened, but as far as she could tell, all of them had heartbeats. She thought she would find answers, but all she got was more questions. She was staring into the last of the horrifying tubes—all occupied—it was a man, so decomposed as to look entirely non-human. His eyelids entirely gone, his eyes stared lifelessly at nothing.

  She leaned closer and suddenly he turned to look directly at her!

  Chapter 10

  “A small leak will sink a great ship." Benjamin Franklin

  ~

  Sherena screamed. Forgetting stealth, she started to run but she tripped on a cable. She got herself under control and remembered how important it was to be silent, when she heard a noise down the stairs. She got up, made it to the breaker box, and switched off the main. The lights went out and she hid behind a large machine.

  “Come out Doc,” a voice in the dark said.

  She knew immediately that it was Able Ashyr, but how did he know it was her, and how had he gotten there so fast. He had left, she was certain. Now, he was already up the stairs. She knew, unequivocally that he was going to kill her when she heard the click of a gun being cocked.

  She swallowed hard, time for that human trial. She pulled the syringe from her pocket and injected herself, and then waited for the inevitable.

  ***

  Logan had been trying to reach Sherena for several hours. She hadn’t shown up for lunch, and he worried that she might have ignored his warnings about leaving Jenny Carian’s death alone. He knew where the body was, she had shown up in the lab, his lab, the next day. The only surprise for him was that she had come from the clinic.

  When the late afternoon came and he still couldn’t reach Sherena, he found his way to the machine that tracked the RFID tags. It was in his building, though he had never used it, he had the clearance. The signal was close, somewhere near the lake, but he couldn’t think of any reason for her to be there. She didn’t appear to be moving, and so after fifteen minutes he went looking for her.

  He spent a solid hour searching and calling her name but there was no response. Finally, he noticed a place on the frozen water that looked as if it had been somehow disturbed. He carefully made his way out across the lake and found her. Eyes still open; she was buried under the ice. He knelt by her body and groaned. Clearly, she hadn’t fallen through; the ice was too thick.

  ***

  Sherena awoke from what seemed a long dark tunnel, full of foggy dreams, which made no sense. When she could finally focus, Logan was staring down at her. She tried to speak, or move, but she was paralyzed. Where am I? She wondered.

  He spoke to someone, no wait; he’s talking to a recording device, “Patient name, Sherena Lawson…”

  Panic and dread, as she had never before known, pulsed through her body when she realized that she was in autopsy, on a table.

  She screamed as loud as she could but nothing came out.

  He was holding a scalpel, about to cut a Y incision. He didn’t know she was alive, wouldn’t even question it—she had not told him about the hamster.

  Just then, she heard another man’s voice. “Hey Logan—” it was Dr. Soranto “—can you hold off on what you’re doing for a minute. I need your opinion on something.”

  Logan left and Sherena struggled to move—anything at all. This was hell. He would kill her. Will I just revive again; she thought a minute, he’ll see my heart still beating but…please help me God! He will have already slit my chest open, and cut my rib cage. I’ll feel it all!

  She fought harder than she had ever fought in her life. Finally, she made her foot twitch just a little. She silently screamed again, and again.

  Don’t come back, she pled helplessly.

  He was gone for a long time, but it seemed as if it were only minutes. Gradually, her body woke from its frozen state.

  That’s it she thought, I’m actually frozen, not just paralyzed—will I be able to move even if I’m fully awake—no, I’m already thawed, he would have had to do that before an autopsy.

  The more she awakened, the worse the pain got. She might be alive but she still had gunshot wounds and a broken shoulder. He had already removed the bullets but the pain was incredible. She needed a transfusion, but he was about to drain her blood and replace it with embalming fluid. She willed herself harder until she could finally blink. Then she moved an arm just a little. Even though her body was healing extremely rapidly, her broken shoulder caused excruciating pain to course through her.

  Finally, her limbs started responding. She worked herself until she literally fell off the autopsy table—at least he will know I’m alive—not sure that’s a good thing. She pulled herself into a sitting position and looked at her wounds, the bleeding had stopped, and the gunshot holes had already started healing. I’ll win the Nobel Prize for this if someone doesn’t kill me again first.

  She groaned from the agony, but tried to be quiet. She couldn’t let anyone hear her. She slowly stood. She was trying to decide where to run when she realized that she was naked. Of course, I’m naked; he was doing an autopsy on me.

  She looked around the room, found a pair of scrubs, and put them on as fast as her injured body would move.

  She pulled open drawers looking for a weapon—a large scalpel maybe—but there was a gun in the desk drawer. Well, that ought to work, she thought gratefully.

  There was nowhere to go. She knew
she was in the building of horrors—bottom floor no doubt, still nowhere to run.

  When Logan finally returned, she was sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, gun aimed at him.

  He stared at her and blinked a few times, and then his mouth dropped open. He just stood there and said nothing. Finally, his brain began to work again and he put it together.

  “I guess your serum works,” was all he said.

  “Yes—” she aimed the gun more directly at him “—it’s a good thing. Nice place you have here.” Her voice was flat and unreadable.

  “Sherena—” he started toward her “—I’m so glad…”

  He stopped when he realized that she was actually planning to shoot him.

  “You should stop—” she commanded “—now!”

  Logan didn’t move. “It’s not what you think—” he hesitated “—I know it looks bad but…”

  She cut him off, “It looks bad…Are you serious. They murdered me!”

  “I—” he held up his hands in surrender “—really didn’t have anything to do with that!”

  When she didn’t say anything, he went on, “I don’t even know who killed you. I was about to do an autopsy to find out but obviously now I can just ask you—” he waited and when she didn’t respond he asked “—so, who did kill you?”

  She cocked her head. “Are you honestly going with that? I’ve seen what’s upstairs—” she groaned “—and I’ve seen who is upstairs. She was here all along and you knew it. You lied to me Logan. Your friends murdered me, and all you have to say is that it’s not what I think!” Sherena guffawed, “So tell me Logan, what is it then.”

  He hesitated and finally said, “First of all, they are not my friends. This facility is top-secret. I couldn’t tell you. I work for the CDC; I’m on loan here to try to find a cure for this. I didn’t know that the last patient came from the ER until you told me. I don’t know how the infection—”

  She cut him off, “Infection! Are you kidding, Bob murdered them. Every one of them”— she motioned aggressively with the gun —“well, fourteen of them anyway. They all came from the ER!”

  He looked genuinely confused and said nothing.

  “Why else do you think they murdered me?”— She huffed —“seriously, how stupid do you think I am?”

  Logan shrugged, “I didn’t know”— he shook his head —“truly, I didn’t know! You have to believe me.”

  “What didn’t you know?” she asked exasperated now.

  “I didn’t know—” he looked away and then said softly “—I didn’t know they were coming from the ER. When you told me, I thought it was just the one. That it had just spread somehow. I thought maybe our containment hadn’t worked.”

  She eyed him strangely. She wanted to believe him but nothing made sense. “You keep talking about this as if it’s a disease. What do you mean? You work for the CDC, what’s going on?”

  He thought for a minute and then said, “Look—” he motioned toward the door “—I’m just going to shut this. They think you’re dead, I think we should keep it that way.”

  After a moment, she motioned for him to go ahead and do it.

  He took a deep breath, “There was a breakout of this disease. It’s called Melbourne. We haven’t ever dealt with it before but it’s highly contagious. We have the patients contained, at least I thought we did—” he paused at her incredulous expression “—truly, this is what I was told. It’s what I believed. I had no reason to distrust the head of the CDC. He’s the one who sent me here.”

  She relaxed a little but still had the gun trained on him.

  “They built this whole—” he moved his hands expansively “—little town to keep it contained. The patients were brought here from other outbreaks, or at least that’s what I thought.”

  He looked so deflated that she began to believe him and then he asked, “Are they really…infecting people on purpose—” he sat down hard, ignoring the gun now “—do you have proof? I honestly don’t know what’s going on.”

  His expression was so pale and he seemed so genuinely shocked that Sherena accepted his explanation and put the gun down.”

  “You thought you were looking for a cure?”

  “I am looking for a cure,” he stated emphatically. “That’s why I’ve been so interested in your research. I thought it might help.”

  “If this is some kind of disease, tell me about it,” she demanded.

  He was silent for a long moment, and then seeming to come out of it, he said, “Sherena, we have to get you out of here first. If they find you…if they—” shock filled his eyes “—if they find you, they’ll kill us both. We have to make them think that you’re still dead. Did you put the results into the computer?”

  She looked confused.

  “Your serum, did you put the results in the computer—” he motioned with his hands to a PC in the room “—they have access to anything you have documented.”

  “I didn’t put anything about that research in the computer at all—” she hesitated, unsure of what she should tell him “—I’ve been doing it on the side.”

  “That’s good. They won’t have any reason to think you might be alive. It will be much easier to get you out of here. You never answered my question, who killed you?”

  “Able Ashyr,” she said flatly.

  His expression held a little surprise, but he looked more disturbed. “It will be difficult to make them think that your body is in one of these drawers if your tracker shows movement, so the first thing we have to do is remove it.”

  Chapter 11

  “We always long for forbidden things, and desire what is

  denied us." Francois Rabelais

  ~

  They finally reached Logan’s apartment unnoticed. He had taken out the tracker and put it in one of the morgue drawers. It hadn’t been too difficult for them to get out because no one was looking for her. Sherena still wasn’t completely sure she could trust Logan but she didn’t feel she had much of a choice. He was the only one who knew she was alive and he seemed to be trying to help her.

  “Okay Logan—” she said forcefully “—if you’re innocent, then I need to know what’s going on in that building.”

  He sat down on the sofa next to her and let out a long breath. “Obviously, there are things going on that I don’t know about—” he hesitated “—I’m not supposed to talk about any of this. The director of the CDC sent me here with express orders.”

  “I’ve seen the upstairs in that building—” she met his eyes “—I need an explanation!” Her body was healing extremely fast but she was still in agony. “Being murdered has a way of trying one’s patience,” she said.

  “I will tell you everything as I understand it—” he shook his head “—there was an outbreak of a disease we haven’t encountered before. All of the patients were supposed to be transported here for containment, so when new patients came in I didn’t think anything of it. I was working on a cure.”

  “What are those chambers? —” she interrupted, unable to wait “—they look like stasis tubes from some science fiction movie.”

  “That is basically what they are, at least they decrease metabolic functioning to slow the disease by a release of gases—” he shrugged “—they also contain the disease so that it doesn’t spread.”

  “What happened to the spacesuit type containment you guys usually use?”

  “It isn’t airborne so they don’t help and they are very cumbersome to work in anyway. The gases keep them sedated and slow the spread of the disease.”

  “How is it transmitted then?—” she asked impatiently “—they look like decomposing corpses. Is it by touch?”

  He took a deep breath. “It’s transmitted by bite—” he wore a grave expression “—kind of like rabies.”

  “Those patients in the ER were not bitten, unless you thing Bob is infected—” she shook her head disbelievingly “—a nurse biting patients to infect them, on a schedule! That’
s absurd.”

  “Look—” he motioned with his hands “—maybe some of the patients came through the ER but I’ve seen it myself. I know for a fact that the first three patients were bitten by patient zero. He nearly bit me before we got him in that chamber, and Jenny Carian did have a bite mark on her. They all did.”

  “What?” Sherena was shocked.

  She hadn’t noticed a bite mark on Jenny Carian—of course, she hadn’t been looking for one. That was stupid anyway; Bob was clearly not infected with whatever this supposed disease was. It made no sense.

  “It was behind her hair on the back of the neck. You wouldn’t have seen it unless you were looking for it.”

  She stared out the window for a few moments and then asked, “Are they in order of exposure? —” She rubbed at her previously broken shoulder “—is patient zero the one looking around?”

  “What?—” He stood up suddenly “—what do you mean, looking around? He has no eyelids maybe you…”

  “He turned to look at me—” she cut him off “—it scared the hell out of me. I screamed. That’s probably how they found me so fast.”

  Logan was pacing now. “I need to get back to the lab—”

  “You’re not going anywhere”— she stood and barred his way —“till I get more answers.”

  “—all right.” He sat back down. “The disease is some kind of RNA virus. It kills the patient but it acts as if it’s organized.” He shook his head. “It communicates somehow like some kind of intelligent virus.”

  “What do you mean? —” She leaned closer “—you’re not making sense.”

  “The patient dies—” he scratched his head “—the body starts to decompose. The virus takes over and…reanimates the victim. It uses the body’s own systems to move around, even think on some level. They begin acting like rabid animals, biting and scratching, but they are already dead.”