by White, A. L.
She was starting to like him. In his own way he reminded Julie of her father. She started to pull back onto the road, “I am taking you to the data. I just don’t know what we will find when we get there.”
Jack shook his head in disbelief. She was truly mad after all. There wasn’t any reality left to her thoughts. “The way I heard it, the lab that you were at was burnt to the ground.”
“That was what the soldiers said, but they lied. They were just a bunch of kids barely out of basic who were freaked out over the sight of me and the sight inside the lab. They wanted to get as far away from there as they could. The lab was still standing when we drove away.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“The very people I was counting on to save me turned tail and ran. I was supposed to have faith in them?”
“You can’t be serious…They said the data was destroyed in the fire or what was it—by the damage already done to the lab.” If Sam was still alive, he would know how to break this all down for me, Jack thought. He knew that sometimes he was so busy seeing puzzles and riddles that a sudden change to the rules threw him into a tailspin.
They pulled up to a stoplight at a corner with a sign that read “US 30” and an arrow pointing to the left. Julie turned left and drove for a while before she began speaking again.
“Our facility is considerably larger than yours. Ours was an old juvenile prison that had been hastily converted. All the classrooms were converted into labs and the cells were turned into sleeping quarters, mostly separated by what your profession was and what your job there was. There was little privacy, but even less time to need privacy.” She paused to look over and see if he was listening.
“We had live specimens from the onset; we were the hospital most thought they were going to. I can tell you, seeing data and seeing the real thing happen in front of you is like seeing a full moon and a sunrise.” A cold chill ran through her body and she instinctively folded one arm across her chest. “Did you know that there are two types of dead?” she asked Jack but he didn’t answer. She didn’t expect him to. “Of course not, because any data like that was restricted to Homeland Security only, or us.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t remember the exact figures but like one in every five-hundred or a thousand is the second type. I guess you could call them the less-dead zombies.”
“There are no such things as zombies—as a medical professional you of all people should know that!” Jack stated matter-of-factly.
She laughed at him again and that was driving him crazy to say the least. “You call them whatever you want, Doctor. I can tell you this, and it is rooted in facts that were way above your security and pay level. This whole thing is proof that life came to the Earth from out there someplace by hitching a ride on an asteroid or meteor. A couple decades back a piece of one broke off and hit in the Ural Mountains. The same thing happened to the village near there that is happening here now. You may have heard on the news or seen something about the rest of it exploding over the Pacific. Surely you saw something on it?”
To be honest Jack hadn’t seen a thing. Not really the sort of thing to which he would have paid the slightest bit of attention.
“Anyway, forget that I am getting off the point. I dissected the brains and it is a parasite that takes over the whole system. It shuts everything down except what it needs to survive. That’s not even the amazing part—the lucky one out of a thousand, in those cases the parasite hasn’t killed off the rest of the brain, only the parts that make you and me who we are. In those cases, it leaves intact the ability to learn. It uses the human mind against us. Those ones they can walk like normal, run, climb and they can reason.”
Jack motioned her to stop and was relieved that she did. It was all making sense to him now. The missing information, the lost link that had been hiding from him. It wasn’t a disease; it was a parasite that was using human bodies to give itself life. “How many do you estimate we could save by killing off the parasite?”
Julie noted that his tone had shifted. She wasn’t a mad woman to him anymore. “None I am afraid,” she replied sadly.
“None?”
“The body is dead with the exception, as I said, of what it needs to survive. The parasite has become one with the corpse you could say, there is no going back.”
That was a blow to Jack’s ego. If he couldn’t save the victim, then there was no solution to the riddle. The puzzle couldn’t be solved.
“We tried removing the parasite from the livelier types and all died immediately. Well, stopped being whatever they were.”
“If we can’t heal them what is there left to do?” It was less a question to her than to himself; he was a doctor; it was his calling and the whole of his purpose. If he had no hope of healing the afflicted, then he was not certain why he was there at all.
“If we are alive, others are alive too. We need to find them. If we can and do, we can to help them survive. That is our duty Jack; it is why we are still alive.”
He nodded, still very much lost in his thoughts.
They continued down U.S. 30 until they entered the small town of Plainfield. Jack liked the way the town looked like something out of one of those old pictures from a bygone era. Though Zombies were milling around everywhere he looked. The zombies were drawn toward the sound of the van but they were in no danger. Julie kept the van moving at a steady pace, navigating around cars in their way by turning upside streets and then returning to 30 well past the jammed areas. She turned right on U.S. 59 and sped up as the ground of zombies following behind them grew in size. 59 was a four-lane road, so the going was fairly easy. Most of the vehicles were off to one side or the other, leaving the center free. Jack thought that they may have been pushed that way by emergency vehicles or others trying to escape.
When they came to a corner with a Wal-Mart on one side and a video store catty-corner from it they saw a black truck off to the side. Julie could see that the truck was fairly well loaded with supplies. They needed food and water if it was to be found on their route. As much as she didn’t want to stop, there wasn’t much choice. She turned the van toward the truck and proceeded slowly, eyes darting over the surroundings for any movement.
Chapter 6
As they approached, they could see the carnage that surrounded the truck and the direction from which it had come. There were places where they couldn’t see pavement or grass along the shoulder for all the bodies. Julie slowed to a stop just before reaching the turn where the truck was parked. She debated whether it was best to pull up closer, driving over the bodies, or go on foot. In truth she didn’t want to do either. What she wanted to do was turn around and head as fast as she could back to the main road. There was a little voice inside of her that kept whispering that they needed the supplies in the truck. By her estimate, they had enough food and water left for a day and heavens knew when they would come across something so out in the open. The truck looked safe enough, if not surrounded by a gruesome scene. Maybe they could grab what they needed and get the Hell out of there before attracting any attention.
She let her foot slowly off the brake and slightly depressed the gas pedal, creeping slowly forward over the bodies. She saw Jack grimace as the popping sounds from under the wheels sounded off, one after another. He quickly rolled his window all of the way up. There was no sign of anything moving—nothing had jumped out at them or stirred from the shadows. Julie inched her way toward the black truck. She formulated a plan to pull as close as she could, so that the side door would be near the bed of the truck. Short and sweet, she thought. Open the door, reach into the bed, grab the supplies, close the door and get the Hell out. Easy-peasy.
“There is someone sitting in the driver’s seat.” Jack called Julie’s attention to the cab of the truck.
Julie leaned as far over toward Jack as she could while still driving to try to see for herself.
“Stop!” Jack said.
Julie brought the van to a halt, putting it into pa
rk so she could see the driver too. “He doesn’t look like he is moving.”
“There is only one real way to find out if he is alive or not,” Jack replied.
Julie smiled at him and motioned toward the truck. Jack acted like he didn’t see it or he really didn’t, she thought. It was hard to tell when he was doing something on purpose or was off in his mind figuring something out.
“It could be another trap,” Jack said, as the color left his face. He had been part of one little trap; there was no way he was taking an active part in another one.
“Switch places with me for a minute,” Julie ordered, halfway into his seat before he could get out of it. She could get a better look at the person—or thing and make her mind up. He looked alive from her perspective. His chest raised and lowered with each breath.
The truck’s window started to go down. Julie felt herself jump and then settled down and lowered hers enough to communicate through the narrow opening. The man in the truck opened his eyes and turned his head toward Julie, taking in the sight of other human survivors. He lifted a bloody hand up to his face raising one finger and gave her the shush sign. Julie made the OK sign back and lowered her window about halfway down.
“Can you drive a stick, young lady?” the man asked barely above a whisper.
Before Julie could think she asked, “Have you been bitten?”
The old man smiled and looked to be pondering his answer to the question. He knew it was a good question, one he hoped the girls would ask anyone they happened upon that looked like way he was sure he did. In fact, he probably would have put himself out of his misery if he found someone looking like he did. He could see the woman was getting anxious—probably ready to put a bullet in his head any moment so he answered her question first.
“No, I have not been bitten, thank God.” He drew a deep breath causing his chest to ache. “Nothing is still moving that got that close to me as far as I know. When the ammo ran out I used my knife and went crazy swinging it around hitting them in the head. Missed one and sunk my knife into my thigh.” He smiled at her and felt like he was even blushing a little. “After that, I fought my way into the truck and then stopped the bleeding as best I could.” Bob didn’t want to tell them just yet that he had also been having massive chest pains that started after the whole hand to hand fighting bit. No sense in making himself look like any easier of a target than he already appeared.
Julie thought for a moment. “I can drive a stick.” She saw that the old man’s face lit up on hearing her response. “I think we should move you to our van though, it may be a better mode of transportation in your current shape.”
The old man shook that notion off vigorously. “The truck will get us farther and gives us more options in case we have to go off-road any place. Plus then we just need to move whatever you have into the back there or behind the seats in the cab.”
Julie looked over at the gas gage in front of Jack; she could see that they were under a quarter of a tank. If they took the truck and it had gas in it, she wouldn’t have to get out again to look for fuel or to find another vehicle with gas. Inside a vehicle was a better option to her than being out in the open.
“We don’t have much left,” she replied.
“Then make your way over here and help me slide into the middle,” he said as Julie heard the doors of the truck unlock. “And lady, be as quiet as you can be, okay? There are things around here that I would prefer not to see until they are in the rear-view mirror.”
Julie nodded in agreement and turned to Jack. “Okay, we are going to move over to his truck. What do you have that you want to bring with you?”
Jack stared back at her in shock. He wasn’t getting out of the van, not a chance.
“We are almost out of gas and food; we don’t have a choice in this. Do you know how to shoot that thing?” she asked, pointing at the 45 that Jack was cradling.
In truth, Jack didn’t have a clue. It just made him feel better holding it. He couldn’t even say if it had any bullets in it. And he didn’t want to know if it didn’t.
Julie turned back to the old man and motioned that she was on her way. He acknowledged her with what looked to be a pained nod. She made a quick check to see if there was anything she wanted to bring with her. She had brought with her nothing beyond the clothes she was wearing. Still, there were the maps that Julie felt could be useful, so she grabbed them.
Slowly opening the van door, she climbed down out of her seat. Feeling her foot squish through what had been a face, nearly caused a scream to escape her lips but she managed to keep her panicked-disgusted reaction under control. The door to the truck opened, and she could see the old man trying to slide himself over. Julie pulled it open enough to squeeze her petite body in and helped the man move over as far as she could. Jack could help by pulling as she pushed when he got in. But Jack wasn’t getting in. She shot a glance back at the van.
Jack was still sitting behind the wheel of the van, petrified at the thought of getting out.
“Jack!” she said in a whisper. He didn’t respond or seem to notice at all.
“Jack!” she repeated a little louder. “JACK!” Her voice raised to a near yell, prompting the old man to agitatedly sign “Quiet” to her.
She nodded her head. She didn’t want to raise her voice, but she had needed to break Jack free from his paralyzing fear. It had worked; he was now looking at her.
“You can do this, Jack. Just be quiet and move slowly,” she said reassuringly.
Jack didn’t look like he was buying any of that. Crossing over to the truck didn’t look very safe to him at all.
“Jack, if you don’t start moving, I am going to leave you here all by yourself. It will just be you and them here and you will never see if the data at the center will solve your riddle.”
“What riddle?” the old man asked—but Julie ignored him. Her focus was on Jack. She could see the color starting to come back to Jack’s face. Bringing up the riddle had done it, because that was Jack’s purpose.
His fear filled look changed to a smile as he flung the van door open and stepped down. He was surprised that he didn’t feel like vomiting as he had at the mall. The smell was much worse and walking on the corpses was, without needing to be said, far worse. He was so proud of himself that he looked in at Julie and the old man as he went around the front of the truck and smiled, followed by a little wink.
The old man wanted to rebuke him, tell him to stop being happy with himself and pay attention to what he was doing before he got himself —and them killed. But he didn’t and was glad he hadn’t as Jack opened the passenger door. Jack flung a foot and himself up into the seat trailing his right leg. That was when he felt something grab his leg and pull sharply. He cried out loud enough to be heard a block away. Jack was being pulled back out of the truck from below and was scrambling to find something to hold onto. The old man locked his arm around Jack’s upper torso and told Julie to drive. Julie started the truck, put it in first gear, and let the clutch out. Jack was still screaming when the old man took his bloody hand and clamped it over Jack’s mouth. But that only made Jack scream louder.
The motor roared to life as the truck started to move and Julie shifted into second gear. Whatever was holding on to Jack had a steel clamp-like grip on his leg. As the truck moved he could feel the leg twist, followed by a pop as the bone broke. Jack felt himself pull free, his leg dangling out the open door as they made it back onto the road. The old man helped Jack to pull his leg in. Jack, in a daze, finally helped him and could hear the door closing next to him.
“It doesn’t look like he was bit, but I can’t tell with his pants on,” Bob said.
Julie could hear everything around her. She could see the old man holding his chest and slumping over a little toward Jack and see the bone protruding from Jack’s leg with blood soaking his trousers and dripping on the floor of the truck. It was like a nightmare, she thought maybe, if she drove fast and far enough, she would awaken ba
ck in her bed and hear the surf pounding the beach back home.
The old man’s calming voice brought her back to reality. “Okay, we need to find a wide-open place where we can see in every direction what is coming at us. Do you see anything like that, little lady?”
Julie scanned all around them and only saw parking lots filled with cars and who knew what else.
“No,” he answered himself for her and faced toward Jack. “Take your belt off and make a tourniquet so you don’t lose any more blood. It will be a little bit before we can stop and take care of that properly.”
Jack did as he was told, pulling his belt off, fighting through the pain. With Jack taking care of his wound the best, he could, the old man gave Julie some quick directions to follow.
“Where are you having us go? I know a place that will have the medical supplies you two need, I used to work there. It’s not far.”
“I appreciate you two showing up and all, but I sent two girls on a head with my lads. Only reason I was stopped back there was to hold off the zombies so they could escape. I can’t leave them out on their own.”
“Ok, where did you send them?”
“A government research facility. It’s not all that far from here.”
“It’s your lucky day, mister. I think we’re all headed to the same place.”
Chapter 7
Bob awoke lying in a cramped bed with no room to move around. Uncertain of where he was, he looked around until he came face to face with a large black muzzle. That was followed by a slobbery swipe from the dog’s wide tongue. Zeus jumped back lowering his head to the ground, his hindquarters and tail wagging fiercely in the air. He held the playful pose for a moment before beginning to jump around wildly in the RV.
“Good morning fella, did you miss me?” Bob asked. Zeus wagged his tail with more force and licked all the harder. Perseus flew into them both like a bowling bowl striking the pins sending Zeus up in the tiny bed with Bob.
