“Oh,” was all he managed to say. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second before peering down once more. A zombie lay in the bottom of the cage, a quick glance confirmed the other cage also held a zombie.
To make them fit, their arms and legs were removed. Both zombies were male, naked, and their heads were shaved. Since they made no vocalizations, he assumed their voice boxes were removed like the zombies in the meadow. They looked like giant bruised slugs except for their eyes, which were currently glaring at him.
“When we saw all this, we came running for you and Jake,” Charlie said in his ear. Mick started, he was so engrossed with what was before him he hadn't heard Charlie come to stand beside him.
“I knew Malcolm was a dangerous man, but I had no idea the lengths he would go to save his son.” He turned to his friend and held up his hands.
“My daughter is in the same situation, but I could never do something like this, it's just not in me.”
Charlie patted him on the shoulder. “Yeah, don't think there are many people out there who would. How do you even think of this stuff? Staking zombies to the ground, keeping them in cages, cutting them up and removing or damaging their voice box so they can't make any vocalizations? Who does that?”
“A psychopath, that's who,” Jenny interjected. She and Jake joined them and they all stared at the wriggling creatures. “The only thing Malcolm cares for is himself and his son, which I'm guessing he sees as an extension of himself.”
Jake sighed and turned. “Well, we need to get busy. I'm going to check on the girl, will you three see if you can find that flash drive for me? The sooner I have the information I need, the faster I can help Brooke.”
“Sure thing,” Jenny said as Mick and Charlie nodded. “Mick why don't you start at this end and we'll go up front, then we can meet in the middle.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said distantly. His focus was still on the caged zombies. He gave himself a mental shake and hurried over to the first computer. A quick scan revealed no flash drive so he went to the next. To his surprise, there it was, sticking out of a port. He jerked it free and held it up.
“Found it!” he shouted with a wave of his flashlight. He headed for Jenny and Charlie. When he reached them, he held it out for them to see. Jenny slowly brought up her hand, she was holding a flash drive, too.
“Oh, that's great,” Mick said sarcastically. Now Jake had two flash drives to look through.
“Let's show him what we've got,” Jenny said as she brushed past him.
As they headed toward Jake, Mick could see him leaning over the unconscious girl. Someone found and placed a battery-operated lantern on the metal chest next to the bed, illuminating the area and chasing away shadows so he could examine her.
When Mick reached the foot of the bed, the girl's eyes opened and she began to scream. Jake jumped back in surprise. Jenny ran over to the girl's other side and took her hand.
“Shh! You're okay, we'll get you out of here,” Jenny said in calm, soothing voice. After a few moments, the girl wiped away her tears and ventured a glance at the group around her bed.
“Who are you people?” she managed to gasp out between sniffles. Jenny found a box of tissue and handed her one.
“We're from Shady Oaks; some of us stumbled onto this place. A lot happened today, but don't worry about that,” Jenny replied with a smile. “Now why don't we introduce ourselves and you can tell us what you're doing here.”
“I'm Beth. I don't know how long I've been here; I did live over in Harris and was hiding out with my boyfriend and his parents when the Connor people took us.”
Beth sat up in bed. “My boyfriend, his name is Hunter, have you seen him or his parents?”
“You're the first person we've seen that doesn't belong to the Connor Group,” Charlie interjected. “We'll look for Hunter and the others as soon as we can.”
“Why are you here?” Jake asked. While Beth was talking, he had slowly removed the IV and was now gently freeing her from the restraints that kept her confined to the bed. “Did you have an accident?”
Sudden fear filled her eyes. “No, I didn't have an accident! After they strapped me down some doctor, if that's what you can call him, took one of those things out of its cage and let it bite me.” She shuddered and closed her eyes as another tear rolled down her cheek.
Jenny gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “We know this is hard for you, but can you tell us what they were trying to do?”
“Oh, I can tell you, they loved to brag about what they were doing. I guess the vaccine they developed doesn't work for everyone. First they drew blood; they had some new test that would tell them if a person could be cured of infection. Of course they told me this after I was bitten, but they also said it looked as though the vaccine would work for me.”
Jake nodded thoughtfully. “So we know they don't have a new cure, only a new test. I figured as much, they just didn't have the time.” He looked at Beth. “When did all this happen?”
Beth pursed her lips together as her brow furrowed in thought. “I was already running a high fever when they gave me the injection and then sedated me so things are kind of fuzzy, but I do remember someone saying it was almost dinner time.”
“Okay, let's say you probably received the injection about three hours ago. From what I can tell by doing a quick exam, your fever is gone and you seem to be fine.”
He pointed to her arm; he had finished removing the bandage. The bite on her forearm was deep and closed with butterfly stitches, but the color looked good. “Apparently the vaccine did its job.”
She smiled up at him. “So I'm all right? I want to get up then, I need to find Hunter. They were keeping us in a smaller tent and I'm pretty sure I can find it again.”
Jake nodded and Jenny helped her sit up and swing her legs over the edge of the bed. “Sit for a moment before getting up,” Jenny urged.
Jake walked over to Mick. “We have the info on the flash drives, which we're definitely going to find useful, but at least we know where they left off without me having to waste time looking. I already have a sample of Brooke's blood, so I need to get over there and get it tested.”
“So what's in those vials is what you need to test her blood?”
Jake nodded as he headed toward the entrance with Mick walking along. “I'm fairly certain that's what it is, but I won't know until I actually start testing. Once we complete the test we'll know if she will tolerate the vaccine.”
Mick nodded grimly. “I hate to ask, but what will we do if the test shows she can't handle it?”
Jake paused long enough to look at Mick. “I go through the flash drives to see how far they got on the new vaccine. Then I have to try and produce enough of the vaccine to inoculate her in time.”
“I think what you're telling me is that we need for this vaccine to work or we could lose her.”
Jake sighed and ran a hand through his already tousled hair. “I'm not going to sugar coat this. Yes, we need for it to work because I think it will take too much time to develop the new vaccine. Unless you want to put her in a coma like Connor, but let's see what happens first.”
Mick winced at the thought of Brooke lying comatose, waiting for a vaccine that may never come. As they entered the tent, he pasted a smile on his face so if she were awake, she wouldn't know just how worried he was.
****
Before reaching the town, he stopped and waited until all stragglers joined them. Then, under his tight control, they began to move as one. He knew exactly where they should go and how to get there.
By coincidence, he had been to Shady Oaks many times in the past when he was still human, his wife grew up there. When Malcolm was scouting the area for a place to set up base camp, it was his suggestion that they use the lake area on the mountain.
He wanted to avoid running into anyone for as long as possible, but before even entering the town they were seen and heard. Now he urged them to move faster and they surged onto
the road, quickly turning down a side street, going the same direction as Casey and Judith. He watched a lone figure running away from them, but he had no interest. He knew there would be a lot of people in the center of town and with his numbers, they would easily overwhelm and destroy them all.
Growls, groans, and moans caught his attention and with a growl of his own, he quickly brought his focus back to the others. They required constant urging to keep quiet and to continue to move forward as a group.
He projected an image of them feeding and gorging themselves as their reward for following him. The group once again grew silent as they eagerly moved forward, their collective consciousness allowing them to move as one entity ever closer to their goal.
Chapter 19
Cindy ran until the pain in her side made her walk. Gasping for air, she hurried along, fear making her jog after only a few steps. She had to get to the others and let them know what was coming. Between the zombies and the Connor Group, she was deeply afraid for the people in the small town that she'd come to love.
The sound of rapid gunfire made her jump and duck down. She had no idea where it was coming from, but it sounded close. She scurried across the street to the row of houses lining the road on her left. The closest house had several thick bushes a little taller than her along the front, and she quickly slipped behind them. She worked on slowing her breathing so she could listen. Straining to hear, she was certain she could hear faint shouting and she jumped again when there was more gunfire.
“Damn,” she muttered under her breath. She was fairly certain what she was hearing was coming from downtown, most likely close by where Judith and Casey were. If that were the case, they would probably have to wait to warn the others, and that could be disastrous.
She stood silently for several more seconds, becoming acutely aware of how alone she was. She slowly peered out. The fog seemed to be thinning a bit, and she checked up and down the street for movement. Satisfied that all was still, she carefully slid out from between the bushes and hurried across the lawn and back out onto the street. She knew where she was and quickly picked up the pace again, jogging toward her destination.
Through the fog she could make out a faint glow, which meant the main road was up ahead. They always kept a lantern shining at night to let everyone know all was well. If the light wasn't there, it told people not to come closer, that something was wrong and to wait for someone to come and let them know when it was safe to proceed into town.
Despite the light, Cindy slowed down and once again strode over to the nearest house. There was an attached carport with a recessed entry leading to a side door, and she ducked inside the small space. From her vantage point, she could still see the light. What concerned her was other than the light, the road seemed deserted.
She scanned the area and as she was about to head out, she heard a cough. She froze for a second then stepped back into the darkness. She squinted and could barely make out two figures hurrying toward her position.
With shaking hands, she carefully reached down to unholster her gun and held it against her chest. The two figures grew still and one coughed again. When the other person shushed them, Cindy's eyes grew wide.
She stepped out. “Megan? Darrell?” she called softly. “It's me, Cindy!”
One figure stepped away and hurried over. Cindy smiled as Megan gave her a hug. “Cindy! What are you doing out here alone?”
“Am I glad to see you two, we've been trying to find you all day,” she said as she returned the hug.
When Darrell joined them, she quickly brought them up to speed on the day's events.
“We wanted to get hold of you via the walkies, but we had to maintain radio silence,” she explained.
“Don't blame yourself, we understand and we know Jimmy's safe for now,” Megan murmured reassuringly.
“We did run into Dexter a little while ago, he only stopped long enough to let us know about the Connor mercenaries, said they somehow infiltrated the town without being seen.” He paused, scratching the top of his head. “Wonder why he didn't say anything about Jimmy?” Darrell asked.
“Well, unfortunately that's Dexter for you,” Cindy replied. “As for the Connor people, Judith and I had a close call with them at the hardware store, they came in the front and we went out the back.”
“Dexter said Mark told him the military guys are headed this way, have you seen them?” Megan asked.
Cindy started to reply, but the sound of more gunfire stopped her. She gave her friends a sad look. “Sounds like it's getting intense. Even though we're not supposed to, I'm going to hail Mick on the walkie. We really need help and need it now.”
She unclipped the walkie from her hip and after fiddling with the dial, walked back over to the carport with Megan and Darrell following. She realized no place was really safe, but at least the house offered them some cover while she talked to Mick.
“Mick, come in Mick,” she said in a firm but low voice. “Please respond, this is an emergency.”
She frowned and bit her bottom lip. Just as she was about to key up again, she heard a crackle then Mick's voice came across.
With a sigh of relief and flashing a quick grin at her friends, she hurriedly began to tell Mick what was happening in Shady Oaks.
****
When he first heard Cindy's voice, Mick jumped in surprise. He was standing just inside the tent, watching Brooke sleep, Jimmy still sitting next to her.
He quickly snatched up the walkie off his hip and walked outside.
“Cindy, I'm here,” he answered. “What's going on, are you okay?”
“Not really,” she replied. She said something else he couldn't hear due to static and he fiddled with the squelch.
“Say again, didn't hear you.”
“I'm at the main road with Darrell and Megan. We have a gunfight going on in what sounds like the middle of town and at least a couple hundred zombies are headed that way.”
Mick winced. So that's where they went. “Have you seen Captain Sears and his men? They should be there by now.”
“You're not with them?” Cindy was puzzled. “Where are you? When Mark told us they were coming, I thought you and everyone else would be with them.”
Once again, Mick knew he was going to tell a lie. There was no way he was telling her what happened to Brooke over the walkie.
“Jake wanted to come back to camp and pick up as much of the medical supplies and research as we could bring back with us - this is important stuff.”
Cindy rubbed the center of her forehead with two fingers. She partially turned away from her friends and lowered her voice. “I can understand that, but Mick, I'm scared and I need you here now. Maybe Sean and Scott could bring you down here; I think we can use all the help we can get right now.”
Mick closed his eyes. What was he going to do? He took a deep breath. “I would love to be there, but I don't if that's possible right now. Tell you what, let me talk to Jake and I'll get back to you in a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay, I'll be waiting,” Cindy replied. He could tell from the sound of her voice that she was about to cry.
“I'll go talk to him right now,” he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. “Stay where you are and hang in there. I love you.”
“I love you too, hurry and talk to Jake,” came her reply.
“Give me just a couple minutes and I'll be right back to you.”
“All right.”
Mick ducked back inside and immediately spotted Jake standing next to Brooke and talking to Jimmy. Jake glanced at him and Mick waved him over. He said something else to Jimmy, patted his shoulder and strolled over to Mick.
“What's up?”
He nodded toward his daughter. “How's she doing?”
“She has a low grade fever, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her. I'm running the test on her blood now and it's going to take awhile to get the results, so we're going to be playing the waiting game for about three hours.”
&
nbsp; “I got a call on the walkie from Cindy; things are getting pretty bad down in Shady Oaks. Malcolm's people and the zombies both showed up. Sears and his men aren't there yet. She's begging me to bring the boys down there to help them out. I didn't have the heart to tell her what was going on and I don't know what to do.”
Jake tilted his head and waved a hand toward Brooke. “I think if you want to take your boys and head down there, it would be all right. She's not going to wake up for awhile. Seems as though we're fairly safe up here because it sounds like all the bad guys are down in Shady Oaks.”
“So you think it would be okay for us to run down there and help out?”
Jake nodded. “I don't expect her status to change for awhile, most likely you can go and be back before she even realizes you left.”
Mick looked down at his feet for a few seconds before slowly nodding his head. For the moment, there was nothing he could do for Brooke that wasn't being done. On the other hand, his wife and friends back in town needed help now.
“I believe she's in good hands and if you say she'll be fine, then I guess we'll be heading out. I'm going to go find the boys.”
“I'll let Jenny and the others know, try to keep us posted on what's going on down there if you can.”
As he walked out, flicking on his flashlight to light his way, he remembered times in his life where he had grumbled to Cindy about how humdrum and tedious their daily routine was. She was always able to put things in perspective and help him see how lucky they were. How he wished for those times now, when his life was predictable and comfortable. For a moment, he felt an almost unbearable ache and sense of loss for the way of life all of them had and took for granted, and would probably never fully regain.
He passed the pickup and flicked the beam around the foggy field to find his sons. After a few sweeps, he finally picked out Scott standing at the far end of the field. He was standing next to Sean, who finished dragging another zombie over to the growing pile of bodies. He waved and Mick waved back.
Zombified (Book 2): Shady Oaks Page 13
