Yesterday Yields (Jane Zombie Chronicles Book 3)

by Gayle Katz

  “I know. I know. I’m just nervous. That’s all.” Kelly's voice is wavering a little.

  “I know you are and it’s completely normal to feel that way. Hell, I’m nervous too, I admit.”

  “Me too,” Chris says.

  “You hide it well.” Kelly points out.

  Chris explains why, “I’ve had years more practice than you’ve had. Don’t sweat it. We just want the truth. We just want to save lives.”

  “I understand. I want that too.” Kelly agrees as she turns the wheel.

  As we pull up, Kelly is able to get us by the main security checkpoint undetected. We drive past many similar looking buildings, but eventually park the car in front of one of them. She inhales and exhales deeply. She holds onto the steering wheel tight.

  “You can do this,” I say to boost her confidence.

  “I know. I just need a minute to collect my thoughts.” Kelly closes her eyes.

  “Sure.” Chris allows her to take a moment.

  We sit in silence for a few minutes before she finally decides to exit the vehicle. Chris and I follow.

  “If I remember correctly, he’s in this building here.” Kelly leads the way.

  We walk with Kelly as she leads us to the entrance of the closest building. Security is nonexistent. I guess they feel it isn’t necessary since visitors have to go through the main checkpoint when they enter the complex.

  The three of us get into the elevator and Kelly hits the button for the top floor. I notice her hands are shaking. I can’t imagine what Kelly must be feeling right now. She and her husband dedicated their lives to saving and helping people and now the thought that her husband might be doing the opposite must be quite a jolt to her system. Not sure what to expect, we ride up to the third floor in silence. The doors open to reveal a long hallway.

  “Which office is it?” I ask her.

  “End of the hall.” She gestures.

  Chris puts his hand on her shoulder.“You can do this, Kelly.”

  “Yeah and we’re right behind you.” I smile.

  We step out of the elevator and start down the corridor. All of a sudden, my vision gets blurry and I have trouble keeping my balance. I grab for Chris or a wall or something to stabilize myself.

  “Jane?”

  “Chris!”

  “What’s wrong?” Chris asks.

  “I don’t feel so good,” I say as I fall down. I start sweating. I see Chris and Kelly looking down at me. I think they’re trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. My vision goes from blurry to blackness in a matter of seconds. I try to blink and get my vision back, but it’s not working. Not only can’t I see anything, but my ears feel like someone stuffed cotton balls in them. I can’t hear anything, but I can smell that vile zombie aroma making its way up my nostrils and into my brain.

  Chapter 13

  ________________________________________

  Someone is dragging me. I’m freaking out. My stomach is churning. I turn my head and throw up. I’m lying on my back again hoping to see Chris, but instead I see someone I haven’t seen in years—my undead Professor from Scarlet Peak University. He’s looking down at me. It’s gotta be the drugs in my system playing tricks on my brain. I can’t believe it. This can’t be happening. I have to be hallucinating.

  “One of my soldiers finally got you, didn’t he? How delightful!”

  “What? Benjamin? Is that you? You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “I am dead. And from the looks of things, soon you’ll be dead too and we’ll finally be together just as I planned.”

  “How are you here? I saw Jack shoot you in the head.”

  “That was just my physical body. I exist in here now.” Professor Carter kneels down next to me and taps my head softly. I jerk my head away from his touch.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you don’t. You have to let go of this physical, fake world. Come with me and we can exist anywhere, even in people’s dreams.”

  “This isn’t real. It’s just a nightmare.”

  “You can say whatever you’d like. It doesn’t change the fact that we’re together again.”

  “No. We were never together. I love Jack. I want to be with him. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Forget Jack. He’s a lost cause. And you don’t really have a choice anyway. You have to come with me.”

  “What’s happening to me?” My fingers and toes are freezing cold, but my chest and stomach are swelteringly hot. Thinking is getting more difficult.

  “Your body is starting to slow down. Eventually it’ll shut down completely. You can save yourself, though.”

  “How?” I ask, unable to speak much more.

  “Stop fighting it. Give yourself over to me and I’ll help you exist forever.” The Professor gets back on his feet and is towering over me like a giant. He extends his arm. “Take my hand. I’ll make your pain disappear.”

  “No! Jack! Chris! Help me! Don’t let the Professor take me!”

  Pain shoots up my arm and the professor suddenly disappears into the darkness. I blink a couple more times and Chris finally comes back into focus.

  “What happened? Where are we?”

  “You passed out and fell down. Then you started to freak out, mumbling crazy things. You were making so much noise, we dragged you into the bathroom. You weren’t coming out of it, so we injected you with another shot of the inoculant. After that, you calmed down and passed out again for a good ten minutes, but you seem better now. How do you feel?”

  “Exhausted. Frightened.”

  “You saw your old Professor from school?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, that’s enough to scare the shit outta anyone. He was a scary guy.”

  “How did you know that?”

  “You yelled his name out.”

  “He was trying to take me somewhere, but I didn’t want to go with him.”

  “I think your imagination is just playing tricks on you. Your Professor isn’t here and you’re safe, at least for now. Can you get up?” Chris grabs my hand so I can get to my feet.

  “Yeah. Give me a minute to collect myself. I’ll be fine.”

  I walk over to the sink, splash some water in my face, and grab a hand towel to dry myself off. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink and stare for a moment.

  “You OK over there?”

  “Uh-huh. I’m good.”

  “Ready to go?”

  I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and pull myself away from my mirror image.

  “Yep. Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”

  I follow Chris and Kelly out of the bathroom. We continue on our way.

  We pass several other doors until we reach the door at the end of the hall. She knocks.

  “Marc? Are you in there? Can I come in?” she asks.

  Silence for a moment, and then we hear a man’s voice.

  “Kelly? Is that you? Come in, Babe.”

  She opens the door. Marc is sitting behind his desk. Lots of lab equipment is scattered around him.

  “Yes. It’s me.”

  “What’s up?” he asks. “And who are these other people?”

  “Don’t worry about them. They’re just friends.”

  “Uh. Friends? Isn’t that the guy from the news? He’s that fugitive from the military. The man who killed that reporter.”

  He goes to reach for his phone, but Chris pulls it away from him before he can dial.

  “What’s going on? Are they holding you hostage?” Marc asks his wife.

  Kelly shakes her head, “No, but they did tell me some interesting things. Like some higher-ups are manipulating zombie medication and treatment for their own benefit. Please tell me you’re not involved with any of that.”

  Silence.

  “Marc?” Kelly's voice is increasingly fearful.

  “Listen. I’ve been meaning to tell you about this.” He walks over and holds her hands. “I�
�m being blackmailed.”

  “What?” Kelly is either shocked to hear it, or shocked that he’s been keeping her in the dark about it.

  Marc turns his attention to Chris and me, “Can you two leave? This is a personal matter.”

  Kelly insists on our presence. “They stay. Anything you say to me, you can say in front of them.”

  Marc appears agitated, but agrees, “Fine. They’re blackmailing me into helping them.”

  “Helping who? And what are you doing exactly?”

  “Some important people in the government. They need my help to develop the cure.”

  “And?”

  “And I’m being paid to keep quiet about it.”

  “You have a working cure?”

  “Yes. Well, not anymore. They took it.”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on, Marc.”

  He takes a moment to compose himself, considering the risks of what he's about to share as he paces in front of them. “They want to decrease the population. The Earth just can’t sustain life for so many people for much longer. They think this virus is a good way to wipe out a bunch of people, a way to normalize the population.”

  “So what are you saying exactly?”

  Silence falls upon the room. Marc looks around the room.

  “They’re infecting people on purpose. Experimenting on them. Killing them. Wiping them out.”

  “Oh my god!” Kelly puts her hand to her mouth in complete surprise.

  “But you can’t tell anyone.”

  “What? Why not? We have to stop this insanity!”

  “No. You can’t. They told me... if I tell anyone... they’d infect you and Julie won’t get the cure.”

  “They’d let an innocent little girl turn into a monster?”

  “Yes. They’re not playing around.”

  “So what are you supposed to do? Keep quiet? Let people turn and infect each other? Are you going to let people die or, worse yet, kill them?”

  “If we keep quiet, Julie will get the cure and you’ll be safe.”

  “That’s great, but what about everybody else? Who’s going to help them?”

  “All they want to do is cull the population a little.”

  “Cull the population? You’re talking about genocide. They want to get rid of people.”

  “It’s not that black and white. The resources won’t sustain the current population for more than another couple decades or centuries. I’m doing this for you, for us, for our family. Can’t you see that?”

  “What’s happened to you?”

  “If I cooperate, we’ll get the cure first.”

  “Are you sure about that? How trustworthy is someone who willingly lets thousands or millions of people succumb to this zombie sickness?”

  “He’s going to go public with various suppressants and the cure.”

  “Suppressants and a cure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why not just release the cure?”

  “Some people might only be able to afford the suppressants.”

  “Can you hear yourself? You’re saying only rich people will get the cure because they can afford to pay for it? I can’t believe that’s true. You’re a doctor, remember? What happened to do no harm? If we survive this plague, how will you live with yourself? How will you look your baby girl in the face?”

  Silence again.

  “At least we’ll have our baby girl. Isn’t that what’s most important?”

  Kelly stares at Marc.

  “When are they planning to release the cure and the treatments?”

  “When the time is right.”

  “What’s that mean? When people are desperate? People are desperate. Don’t talk in riddles. They need help now. Or, when things are at their worst, do they want to ride in on their white horses and pretend to save the day so they can squeeze people for as much money as possible? You should tell them to rethink that plan. There might not be anyone left to gouge soon.”

  Frustrated, Kelly turns her back on her husband and gestures to Chris to ask questions. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with him.”

  Chris steps forward. “Can you tell us who’s responsible for orchestrating all this?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why not? My family’s safety is why not. They’ll kill them.”

  “Your family and other families will continue to be infected and die if you don’t help us fix this mess. C’mon, man. Step up. Don’t be a coward. What would your baby girl think? If she even lives to see her next birthday. We have to act now if we’re going to save her and everybody else.”

  Silence.

  “I’ll ask you again, who’s responsible?”

  “It doesn’t really matter anyway.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because there’s a problem. The problem is that the virus is evolving too fast now. It seems to mutate a little each time as it passes through another person. We’ve been trying to evolve with it, developing different types of suppressants, but we’re just not sure. Some people might be cured, but others might have a version of the virus that has become resistant. If it keeps evolving, and we believe it will, we won’t be able to keep up with it. And if someone finds out I told you, they could infect me too.”

  “All the more reason to get the cure out to the public now to help as many people as possible.”

  “No. We can’t. What about Julie? We can’t say a word.”

  Just then, Marc’s office door swings open, slamming against the wall. Laura rushes in and runs right up to Marc, getting in his face. She holds up a picture.

  Chapter 14

  ________________________________________

  “You were there. That’s you.” Laura points to the young man in the photo.

  Kelly runs to protect Marc. Laura shows the same picture to Kelly and points to the young woman in the same picture.

  “And so were you. You’ve been hiding him, protecting him the whole time. Letting him experiment on me!”

  Liz is right behind her, one hand holding on to Julie and the other helping Jack into the office. He’s not looking too good. I run over to Liz to help with Jack.

  “How are ya doing, Sexyman?”

  “Not too good.”

  “Liz, what’s wrong?”

  “The medication isn’t working anymore. I don’t know if he’s built up a tolerance to it or what, but we need something else. Something different. Something stronger.”

  “Jack, sit down, OK? You gotta rest. Your body needs to conserve energy. Drink this.” I pull an emergency sports drink out of my bag and help him drink it down.

  “What’s wrong with Laura?” I ask Liz.

  “I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me. We were at the house. She was exploring, keeping busy, then I guess she found something and demanded that I bring her here.”

  “Make sure he drinks the entire bottle, OK? I’ll be right back.”

  I walk over to Laura.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on.” She holds the picture to my face. “He was there. So was she. Look at the picture.” She points to the smiling people in the picture. I look closely. Everyone is years younger in the picture, but I definitely recognize Marc, Kelly, the Colonel, and holy shit, my old Professor, Benjamin Carter. I stand there for a moment, motionless, trying to find words.

  “I didn’t know any of this was happening,” Kelly utters. “We were just friends and colleagues. Nothing nefarious was happening.”

  “You’re lying. I don’t believe you,” Laura hisses.

  Kelly looks stressed and turns to her husband. She plays devil's advocate.

  “You told me all of this was a government grant to find a cure, but you didn’t say you were experimenting... on people.” Kelly questions her husband.

  “Honey, how do you think we come up with cures? You know we have to perform clinical trials. You gotta test to make sure t
hey’re viable first,” Marc responds.

  “But those clinical trials should be voluntary, right? It doesn’t sound like they were. Were they?”

  Silence. Marc averts his wife’s gaze.

  Laura's voice is bordering on hysteria, “Do you have any idea what you people did to me? You injected me with Lord knows what over and over again without my permission. I was a zombie. I wasn’t a zombie. It drove me insane. And I’m still sick.”

  “Marc, this is wrong. You need to come with us, turn yourself in, and tell the authorities what you know,” Kelly insists.

  “No, what about Julie? No!”

  Laura comes face-to-face with Marc again, mere inches apart. “How would you like it if someone experimented on you? I’m still infected. I can bite you and then you’ll be infected. How would you like that?”

  Marc pushes Laura to the floor. “Shut up and stay away from me! You’re expendable. We needed some guinea pigs and you were there. We took advantage of the opportunity.” He pulls out some sort of odd-looking injector gun from his front jacket pocket. Laura gets back to her feet and continues to get in his face. “Back off or else I’ll infect all of you!” He points the gun at Laura.

  “Marc! What are you doing? We just want to help people get better. Why are you acting like this?” Kelly asks.

  “There’s no way out for me. The good guys want to put me away. The bad guys want to infect and kill my family and me. I don’t know what to do anymore. I didn’t sign up for this.”

  “Just put down the injector and let’s talk, OK?” Kelly slowly walks over to Marc, but Laura continues to get in the way.

  “I’m not afraid of you anymore. You ruined my life. You left me with nothing. I have nothing left to lose. Your threats don’t work on me.” Laura is shouting at him. Kelly gets closer to Marc and goes to reach for the injector. Marc’s hand gets shaky and accidentally fires the injector gun at me.

  I look around. Jack is passed out on the chair. Chris is running toward me. Kelly grabs the gun out of Marc’s hand, but it’s too late. At the same time, Laura lunges at Marc and gets between the injector dart and me. She falls to the floor. She’s trembling.