Yesterday Yields (Jane Zombie Chronicles Book 3)

by Gayle Katz

  Chris turns to his boss, “No. Tell them to stop. What you’re doing here is wrong. These people need our help. You’re just condemning them to death.”

  “What are you talking about, Chris? She’s a liability, a loose end we need to clean up.” His boss does not understand.

  Chris tries to explain, but sees where things are heading, “She’s just a young, frightened girl who needs some help to live a normal life. You’d realize that if you got to know her.”

  “Wait. You know her?” his boss stares at him as the Colonel is still orchestrating Laura's termination.

  “Yes. I’ve known her since the incident at Scarlet Peak. And she’s not going to die. At least not now,” Chris insists. Still in handcuffs, he takes me off of the hook, pulls out his gun, and moves to the center of the room so he can keep an eye on everyone.

  Chapter 7

  ________________________________________

  “What are you doing, Chris? I thought you were going to keep things civil,” his boss asks.

  “I can’t let an innocent be executed, Joe. I just can’t.” Chris points the gun at Victor and starts making demands of his own, “Tell your guards to stand down and get out of the way.”

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “Do it or else I’ll put a bullet in your brain.”

  “You don’t have the balls.”

  “I don’t want to shoot anyone today, but if you’re game to test that theory? Be my guest.”

  The Colonel stares at Chris.

  “If you want to walk outta here in one piece, tell your guards to cut her loose. Now!”

  The Colonel recalls his troops with their prisoner, and then turns his attention back to Chris. “No matter what happens, you’re not gonna make it outta the building,” the Colonel threatens.

  “We’ll see about that,” Chris challenges. “Put your weapons on the table and keep your hands where I can see them. And don’t do anything crazy. I was told this is suicide so believe me when I say I have no hesitation to pull the trigger. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

  “You’re a dead man,” the Colonel warns.

  Chris ignores the Colonel’s attempt to intimidate him and instead focuses on escape.

  “Jane, grab the handcuff key out of my back pocket.”

  I do what he asks.

  “Joe, unlock her cuffs.”

  I hand the key to Joe. He sits there until Chris orders him again. “Do it!”

  He takes the key, unlocks my handcuffs, and I grab Victor’s gun from the table. Chris grabs his boss’s gun.

  “Now, tell your guards and your henchman to handcuff themselves to the table.”

  No one moves.

  “Tell them!”

  The Colonel conveys Chris’s orders.

  Chris still has his gun aimed at his boss and the Colonel.

  “Jane, go into the hallway and find Laura. I’ll be right behind you.”

  I exit and see Laura wandering in the hall.

  “Laura! Let’s go!”

  “Jane? What’s going on?”

  “It’s complicated. No time to explain right now, but I’m not going to leave you behind. Let’s get outta here together, OK?” I say as I touch her back to reassure her.

  We regroup with Chris.

  “Found her. Ready to go? Come on.”

  Chris nods to his handcuffed captives. “Goodbye, gentlemen.”

  “There’s no way you’ll get off the premises alive,” the Colonel menaces.

  “Wanna bet? Those handcuffs should buy us some time.”

  The Colonel grins at him, “You still don't get it. You’re not gonna make it, soldier. This whole thing is larger than you, than me. If you think rescuing this pathetic girl or even killing us will solve the problem, you’re mistaken. Everyone is involved: high-ranking military, medical professionals, government officials. Hell, even the big pharma companies are in on it. Money makes the world go round and everybody is almost ready to cash in on the zombie drug market. Face it. You’re screwed.”

  “Vic, calm down for a minute,” Chris’s boss pleads. “Chris, one last time. Think about what you’re doing. You’re throwing away everything you’ve worked your entire life for not to mention everyone you care about. You miss Marie, right? What if I could get her better? Then you two can finally be together again. Sounds good, right?”

  “That sounds perfect, but I don’t believe you. What about Jane and Laura here? How about Jane’s husband and everyone else? You ruined Laura’s life. How do you make up for that?”

  “We can’t help everybody, Chris, no one can.”

  “That’s not something I can live with. I joined the military to help people and save lives and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  “Please think this through. If you leave here with them, you’ll be a fugitive. I won’t be able to help you.”

  “So be it. We’ll take our chances.” Chris turns to his boss, reaches into the inner pocket of his jacket, and grabs his car keys.

  “Laura, grab the roll of duct tape from my bag. Tape their mouths shut. The last thing we need is them screaming for help.”

  Laura takes the tape per Chris’s instruction. She rolls it around each of their heads multiple times in order to cover their mouths. She’s smiling. I guess it must feel good to get some payback.

  “Ready?” Chris turns to me.

  “Yes. We’re good. Time to go,” I agree, anxious to get moving.

  Chris opens the mirror room door and looks both ways down the hall.

  “We gotta move now. Jane, Laura, walk in front of me. I’ll be right behind you. Walk to the entrance, pretend you’ve been broken so we can get through security, pick up Joe’s car, and get the fuck outta here.”

  We both nod.

  “And most important, stay calm and loose. Just act normal.”

  The three of us walk through the maze of hallways until we see the exit.

  “Almost there,” Chris whispers in my ear.

  As we approach the exit, security is a little lax. A big burly man looks us up and down and then waves us through the door. We walk out the exit and onto the parking lot blacktop.

  “I can’t believe we made it!” I’m ready to breathe a sigh of relief.

  “We’re not out just yet. Gotta find my boss’s car.” Chris leads us back in the right direction from memory.

  We find where we left it—parked in the visitor’s section. He unlocks the doors, throws his bag inside, and the three of us get in. He turns on the ignition and drives to the exit. Once there, we get the thumbs up from the security guard at the gated fence checkpoint.

  “Do me a favor? Grab the burner cell phone from my bag. Call your house and have Liz bring Jack to 1102 Flushing Street. It’s on the corner of Flushing and Yorktown Streets right outside of Scarlet Peak.”

  “What’s there?”

  “It’s a safe house. It’s a dump, but it serves its purpose.”

  “OK, but Jack probably doesn’t feel well. Why do we have to move him?”

  “Well, when my boss and the rest of them get loose, your house is the first place they’re gonna look for us. We didn’t escape just now to get caught in a few minutes.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I hear ya.” I dial our home phone. A woman answers the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Liz?”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s Jane. How’s Jack?”

  “Stable, which is good.”

  “Good to hear. Listen you gotta get out of the house. People are looking for us and their first stop is going to be the house. Pack up whatever you think you’ll need, grab Jack, and meet us at a house at the corner of Flushing and Yorktown Streets.”

  “What’s the address?”

  “1102 Flushing Street. And the keys to our car are in the front foyer, first drawer, OK?”

  “OK. Gotcha. Grabbing stuff now. See you soon.”

  Chris is driving faster as I hang up the phone.

  “I hope t
hey’re going to be alright,” I worry.

  “They’ll be fine,” Chris assures me.

  Laura puts her hand on my back and startles me, “Thanks for helping me back there. You saved my life.”

  “It’s the least I could do,” I smile.

  “Did anything seem off about the old guy in charge back there?” she asks.

  “You mean the Colonel?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s a mean SOB, isn’t he?”

  “True, but he also gives me the creeps. I can’t put my finger on it, but he does.”

  ***

  “We’re here,” Chris announces as we roll to a stop in front of a dilapidated shack of a house. Chris is right about this hideout. It’s a dump. It’s maybe the worst house I’ve ever seen. The grass hasn’t been cut in weeks. The shutters are falling off the windows. And the outside of the building looks like it needs a good power wash. It looks abandoned. I’m guessing that’s why it’s safe. No one would think to look here.

  “No one’s here yet,” I comment after noticing no one in the driveway. Hoping Jack, Liz, and Rocky are on their way without incident, I impatiently ask, “Where are they?”

  “Just relax. They'll be here,” Chris calms.

  “I hope this is enough to conceal the fact that we’re here. I would hate for someone to spot your boss’s car.”

  “No need to worry about that,” Chris hits a button and a hidden garage door opens in front of us. We go a little further down the driveway and pull into the secret garage.

  “Wow!”

  “Pretty slick for a crappy safe house, right?”

  Getting out of the car, we move quickly from the garage to the inside of the house and hit the button for the garage door to close. The inside of the house far exceeds my expectations, which are especially low after seeing the outside. It’s small, basic, and very beige, but definitely livable. It’s similar to a moderate hotel chain room. While there aren’t many amenities here, we have the necessities: a bathroom, a couple beds, and a TV. I guess that’s all we need right now.

  After all the adrenaline that’s been pumping through my veins over the past few hours, I sit down on the couch to rest and turn on the TV. Now we wait for the rest of the gang to arrive.

  Laura sits down beside me and Chris takes a chair. At first there’s silence, which is nice. After what we’ve just been through, making small talk is just not top of mind. In the meantime, Chris decides to start the conversation about next steps before the rest of our crew shows up. “We gotta figure out what to do next and we gotta do it fast.”

  “Sure, I hear you. What do you propose?”

  “Hmmm. If what the Colonel says is true and everyone is involved in this conspiracy, we need to find a solid way to get our message out. I’m not sure we’ll be able to expose what’s happening on our own.”

  “So what are you thinking? Getting on the news? That might be difficult.”

  “Difficult or not, how else are we gonna break this story and get help? We have to consider going to the media. We have to try. They’re the only ones that have a huge reach. If we can make that happen, they can shed light on all these horrible secrets, tell the world what’s been going on, and put pressure on the powers that be to find a cure and end this madness.”

  “That’s a tall order...” my words trail off as my eyes are drawn to the news story on the TV. As I watch the news segment, I see the chaos going on in various cities all over the country. It’s like a montage of blood and mayhem.

  “Shhh!” I say to Chris and Laura.

  They stop talking momentarily and look at me. I point to the TV. The anchor has journalists from four major cities on-air talking about their most recent zombie outbreaks. All of them are on location. All of them are getting shots of zombie hordes ambushing civilians, innocent people in the midst of their normal lives.

  One of those reporters is Daisy King, a hard news journalist from Philadelphia. Her news crew is gone, except for her camera guy. They were doing a piece on the street when a handful of zombies attacked them from all sides. Out of breath and barely able to talk, she explains their plight.

  “We’ve managed to climb to the top of a high-rise in the city, over forty floors high. We lost our sound and lights people and had to escape to the roof.”

  The camera guy pans around to confirm their location.

  “We were told a helicopter would be landing in order to evacuate survivors, but nothing yet.”

  The camera continues to pan down to street level and we see people who are bruised, bloody, and scared. The camera guy zooms in and captures images of a zombie knocking down a screaming woman. He bites her and she falls to the ground, shaking. The reporter is silent. I don’t know what to say either.

  One of the survivors who made it to the roof with them comes over to the camera.

  “Is this recording?” she asks.

  “Yes. Are you alright?”

  “No. Those things just exploded into our office biting everyone they could. I managed to escape with my boss, but in case I don’t make it please tell my husband, George, that I love him.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Diana.”

  “Diana, we’re gonna make it. The helicopter is on its way.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t see it yet.”

  “It’s coming!”

  Daisy takes a moment to regain her composure.

  “It’s a desperate situation here. We’ve barricaded the rooftop fire door, but I’m not entirely sure how long it’ll hold out and keep us safe. Please pray that the helicopter is on its way and fast.” The cameraman directs the camera to the rooftop door. It shutters. I jump. I have a feeling about what’s on the other side of that door. The banging of zombies against the door makes me cringe. I can’t watch. I turn off the TV.

  “What did you do that for?” Laura asks, clearly engulfed in the story herself.

  “It’s really happening all over. Is this why people are trying to silence us? Because if the truth comes out, they’ll have the blood of thousands or maybe even millions of people on their hands? Oh my god.” I sit down, trying to comprehend the magnitude of what’s happening. I pull my knees to my chest, and wrap my arms around them.

  “You knew this was more widespread than we first thought,” Chris reminds me.

  “I guess, but knowing something is happening and actually seeing it happen are two different things. Those people are so scared. What if they don’t make it? Add more people to the death toll.”

  Chris gets up to carefully peer out the window, “You can’t think like that. They may be fine. You heard her talking about the helicopter.”

  “This is just too much. I can’t—”

  “You can. You have to,“ he reminds me of my pledge from earlier.

  The sound of a car engine approaches. Chris makes note of it. “There’s a car pulling into the driveway. Is that yours?”

  Chapter 8

  ________________________________________

  Looking past him, I can tell it is. “Yes! Yes! Open the garage door. I hope Jack is OK.”

  I sprint past Chris and run over to the garage in order to greet our guests. Liz gets out of the car first. Rocky is a quick second, only because he hasn’t learned to open car doors with his paws just yet. He runs over to me.

  I stoop down to greet him.

  “Hey, Rocky! Good boy! It’s so nice to see you. Have you been taking good care of Liz and Jack?” he licks my face. I pat his head and scratch his neck. “I bet you have!” As I’m petting Rocky, I notice Jack is still sitting in the car. I stand up to talk with Liz.

  “Hey Liz. How are you? How is Jack doing?”

  “We’re OK. He’s been a little out of it. Sorry it took so long to get here. I didn’t think this was the place. We drove by a couple of times.”

  “That’s fine. This is Chris’s hideout. It’s a dump, right? No one will find us here.”

  “Who’s looking for us?”

 
“Everyone, I think. C’mon,” I smirk. “Let’s get Jack outta the car and get back into the house. We’re trying to figure out what to do next. We don’t have many options.”

  I walk around to the other side of the car and open the door. Jack sees me and smiles.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask.

  “Fine,” he responds in a low voice.

  “Don’t lie to me. You look like crap.”

  “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”

  “C’mon. Let’s get you in the house,” I grab his hand.

  “I can’t get up. Just leave me here.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m not leaving you anywhere.”

  I look in Liz’s direction and wave her over.

  “Liz, we need your help. He doesn’t look good. Help me get him inside.”

  Liz hurries over. We manage to get him out of the car. He’s got one arm over both of our shoulders.

  “Do you have any more medication?”

  “Yes, but I just injected him before we left to come here.”

  “He might need another.”

  “I’m not sure that’s wise. Maybe we should try giving him another sports drink?”

  As we pass from the garage to the house, Jack is getting less responsive and his feet are dragging.”

  “Chris!” I shout. “We need your help!”

  Chris comes running out to us and sees Jack.

  “He really doesn’t look good. Lay him down over there,” he points to one of the beds.

  We drag him over and tuck a pillow under his head to make him as comfortable as possible.

  “Damn it. OK. Maybe we should try another shot. Roll up his sleeve.”

  I follow Liz’s instructions.

  She takes another dose of the inoculant out of her pocket and prepares to inject Jack.

  “Listen. Before I do this, I want to be completely transparent. I’ve never given anyone doses back-to-back like this. I’m not sure how he’s going to respond.”

  “Do you have any other suggestions?”

  “Besides the sports drink? No.”

  “Then go ahead with the dose.”

  Chris and I watch Liz as she injects Jack and pushes down the plunger. All of the medication shoots into his arm. He’s not moving.