by A. Giacomi
We hadn’t had an ounce of news or power since about seven months ago. It started out as stories about rival gangs fighting over superiority and leaving hundreds dead in their wake. Those stories evolved into terrorist attacks, and then finally the truth was uttered. No one had wanted to believe it; no one had wanted to say it. It was all so stupid, how could these monsters be real? For so long they had been movie subjects and works of fiction. They were a joke, “Oh yeah, haha zombies, yeah right!” is what they would say. It was hard for humans to accept the Z word. They tried to use other words to describe them so they felt less stupid using the word, but when everything went to shit and the living were being eaten at an appalling rate, no one on the air had any choice but to scream, “Zombies!”
They all screamed eventually. Screams could be heard until their feed cut out. Many reporters tried to stay on the air as long as they could, and that meant Janna and I had watched many deaths on live television. It was the only entertainment we had in this very lonely place. It was our only connection to the outside world, and now it was gone. Our window into what was happening around us gave us some strange comfort. At least we knew the danger was elsewhere. Now it was time to venture out and start hunting exclusively so that we could eat, but who knew what was waiting for us out in the woods.
Janna and I had each other now, and that was it.
We didn’t speak of the incident with Mom and Dad; it was like it had never happened. I suppose that made it easier. I tried not to think of Eve or Cam or the past. All of that made it terribly hard to push forward. I had to focus on Janna and being fed or else I would spend all day crying in the closet. I didn’t want Janna to see me being weak, I was the older sister and I had to hold it together for the both of us.
“So what do we do now?” Janna asks as she hugs the last can of corn.
“We have a few weapons; I’m going to head out and see what I can find.”
“You’re not going out there alone!” she screams on the verge of tears.
I hug her close. “Janna, listen, I will be very, very careful. If I see anything dangerous, I’ll come straight back. I promise.”
Janna nods, trying to look convinced. I bundle up and grab a Kitchen knife and a shovel. Janna and I exchange glances; goodbye seemed tacky at a time like this.
As I head out of the cabin, the cool air hits me like knives. It wasn’t officially spring yet, but the snow had been greatly depleted. Somehow I felt the wind was a warning, like it was trying to scare me back inside, but I pushed forward and held my shovel firmly. I needed to find food. If I could focus on my one task and that alone, perhaps I would be more efficient.
Trekking through the woods is a muddy endeavor. I used to enjoy a good hike, but today it was slowing me down when I needed to be speedy. I didn’t like leaving Janna back at the cabin alone for too long. Every five minutes I would stop and listen to the woods. I heard a few rustling sounds here and there and realized that they were squirrels. Squirrels were much too fast to catch.
About an hour into my journey I hear something heavier moving through the branches, my heart races as I remain as still as possible. To my right, I hear a gurgling sound along with the snapping of branches. I ready my shovel just as a rather heavily decayed zombie tumbles out toward me. Its eyes seem bloodshot, its skin hangs loosely from its bones, and when it spots me it begins to lurch toward me, one of its femur’s clearly exposed to air. I want to vomit at the sight of it, but instead, raise my shovel and slam it so hard on top of its head that it caves in. The zombie with the flattened skull drops to its knees without a sound and then falls straight into the mud on its face.
I am breathing heavily trying to recover from the terrifying moment, but then screams echo through the trees. “Janna!” I scream back.
My boots hit the mud at a new speed, but the screaming stops almost immediately. I don’t allow myself to think about Janna being dead. She’s not allowed to die, I was supposed to protect her now.
As I race I try to play out what might have happened. Perhaps she had ventured outside for a moment and seen a zombie, she could have easily retreated, or she might have seen an animal and killed it herself and freaked out. Soon those hopeful thoughts turn to worst case scenario, I try to push out images of zombies tearing meat from Janna’s limbs.
“No one is dying today.” I pant and repeat as I continue to rush back to the cabin.
When I finally greet the cabin at the end of the woods, I scan the area for bodies of any kind. I don’t see any zombies, and thankfully I don’t see Janna. Hope fills my heart as I head toward the large cabin’s front door.
My breath seizes as I notice the door is ajar. My hand trembles as I place it on the handle. Part of me just wanted to remain there, frozen in time; I don’t think I want to know what’s on the other side.
I try to find my courage, and it takes several big breaths before I can push that door open. There is no use in opening it slowly so I burst it open, and the sight before me leads me to drop to my knees and pray for mercy.
“Please don’t hurt her,” I beg through my quivering lips.
I hold my hands out showing that I mean no harm. Janna’s eyes are wide and her lips are sealed tight in terror. A shiny blade rests at her throat. One of the many kitchen knives in the cabin. This moment of déjà vu is sickening like fate had come to claim souls that had somehow managed to delay the inevitable. I glance at the man holding the knife, he’s wearing military gear and there is a nice gash in one of the sleeves that seems to be slowly soaking with blood. Janna, what have you done?
When he doesn’t drop the knife I decide to plead with him again. “Please just let her go, she’s just a dumb teenager scared out of her mind. She didn’t mean any trouble.”
The first words to come out of his mouth are, “Alexandra Dashkov.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. He knew who we were, which only meant one thing. He had been looking for us. This reeked of Agent Williams.
“Yes, that’s me. What do you want?”
“I have been given orders to retrieve you.”
The man spoke like a robot, short statements, without expression or explanation. He was clearly a man with a lot of authority, and he was about to flex it.
“Fine, we’ll go with you, just please remove that knife from her neck. It’s unnecessary, we’ll comply.” I nod reassuringly.
“Those were not my orders. I am to retrieve Alexandra Dashkov.”
Fear begins to coat my body. If they only wanted me, what were they going to do with Janna?
“Well that’s me, but you see, I’m not going anywhere without her.” I point to Janna and try to keep my face ferocious. I wanted him to understand that I wouldn’t back down. I would not leave her behind.
My plan worked all too well.
He knew I wouldn’t, couldn’t, leave her behind and therefore made the only inhumanly logical choice that would result in completing his mission. These men weren’t human; working for Agent Williams had left them soulless.
Without an ounce of expression, he guides the blade along Janna’s throat. Like a bow gliding against a violin releasing one final symphony.
Her eyes remain wide with terror as the opening begins to cascade with Janna’s vital fluids. I run toward her breaking her out of his clutches and pressing my hands around her neck as if I could stop the bleeding as If I could fix her and put everything back as it was.
She stares at me as she begins to choke on her own blood. “Janna, no, no…stay with me!” I screech.
As her eyes roll back into her head and her body goes limp, my cries turn to screams and I can’t stop. I clutch at her body almost as if trying to absorb it to take it with me. I scream and clutch at her as the soldier tries to pry me away. There are no words for the pain I feel, only tears, and thrashing, and disbelief.
As he drags me away by my ankles, I
lose hold of her, and the screams of agony turn to anger. Gliding across the floor I see one of the pokers for the fireplace in arms reach. I grab it quickly and turn myself awkwardly onto my back. He turns around swiftly to find out what all the clamor is, but before he can stop me I plunge the sharp piece of iron through his chest and kick it all the way through him with as much force as I can muster. He clunks to the ground with an awful thud and I feel a surge of justice through my veins. However, that small moment of triumph ends as soon as I look back as my sister. She lies there in a pool of her own blood.
I need to be by her side, but my legs are too grief stricken to move. I drag myself toward her leaving a sea of tears along the floor. When I reach her, I burrow my face into her sweater. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” I sob into the pink fleece of her favourite hoodie.
The absolute failure to protect her eats at me so deeply that I don’t even hear the other men enter the room. There is the sound of guns clicking in preparation, but I don’t budge. There was nothing left to protect now, not even myself.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CAM
The days in my glass box were growing longer and longer now, with Eve being bed ridden and Dr. August constantly at her side, I was left with my own thoughts and infrequent visits from Agent Williams. Sometimes he would just come by to sneer at me. The man, zombie, whatever he was, had become a lot crazier in the past little while. To say it worried me was an understatement.
Part of me wanted to be angry with Eve. She was having a baby with that monster, she was wearing his ring, but then I would remember that she was just as much of a prisoner here as I was. She must have suffered greatly. Their unethical experiments had to have taken a toll on her. I was lucky that the Doctor only came by for blood work and to check my heartbeat. Simple checkups, horrible food, silence, and boredom filled my day, yet still, I was very glad not to be Eve. A pregnant zombie prisoner seemed a whole lot worse. I feel a twinge in my heart as I think of her. I guess I was right when I said we were too different now; we were never going to be together. I would have to accept that sooner or later.
While sulking in my glass case I hear screaming just around the corner. A woman’s screams fill the halls. I stand in front of the glass preparing myself for whatever rounds the corner. Two heavily armed guards drag a smaller blonde woman by her bruised arms. She is dressed in the same blinding white scrubs that I’m wearing. Clearly, another prisoner, only those in orange jumpsuits got fed to zombies around here.
Her face is covered by her hair, but as they drag her closer I realize that they will be placing her in my cell. The white wall next to me opens almost magically and an officer with a gun appears. He points it at me as the other two men drop off the new prisoner. One the men are on the other side of the door, it seals again, and the man with the gun disappears like a figment of my imagination. The only proof of their visit is this sobbing mess of a girl. I try to touch her, but she slaps my hand away. I needed to know who or what it was. If they had put a zombie in here with me, then I needed to bash its brains in before it got any ideas.
I decided speaking might help, “Hi…are you okay?”
The woman stops crying and stops moving entirely.
Perhaps I had frightened her?
I speak again, “I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Cam. I’m a prisoner here too.”
With that, she throws her hair back to look at me. Strands of hair stuck to her tear riddled face. Her eyebrows are furrowed in her very famous way. “Alex!” I scream with delight and rush to hug her.
“It’s good to see you! I mean not in here, but my god! You’re alive!” That last word leaves her winded. Clearly, she had just been through a lot.
Perhaps it was unwise to ask, but I needed to know. “Alex where is your family?”
She shudders in my arms.
“That’s what I thought,” I say as I hug her tighter. I didn’t need her to explain what happened. I was perfectly fine not knowing the gruesome details and I’m sure Alex was grateful that I didn’t dare ask again. Instead, I continue to hug her as her sobs continue to fill the halls.
***
A few days later, Alex begins to speak again, her grief had left her mute and lifeless. She wouldn’t eat and she wouldn’t look at me. She had to deal with whatever happened out there before she could deal with what was happening in here.
“So where are we, Cam?” she asks almost shyly.
“We are in an underground lab, facility, holding cell, whatever you want to call it. Agent Williams runs the game down here. He has Eve and Dr. August under lock and key.”
“Why do they need us?” she asks trembling.
The truth is I had never asked myself that question. Why were we here? I had assumed that I was here to keep Eve in line, but perhaps they had bigger plans for us and that terrified me.
“I think they just want us here as a visual reminder that they can hurt Eve anytime they want. They will hurt us to get to her…if they have to, but Eve tends to comply on every level.”
My grunt at the end of the sentence raises another question from Alex. “What sorts of things have they made her do?”
I bite my tongue for a moment. I didn’t want to add to her grief, but there wasn’t much good news to go around these days.
“They made her revisit Egypt…and well…they next part is going to sound crazy…but she’s having a baby.”
I imagine Eve holding this grotesque zombie baby when I say it. Alex stands up and begins to pace. I can tell she’s angry, I had been there too.
“They can’t do that! It’s not their body!” she says through gritted teeth.
“I think they’ve decided that they can do whatever they want,” I say in a defeated tone.
***
More days go by, or hours, it’s hard to be sure in a facility that always remained lit and bright white. There were no clocks or visual stimulation of any kind, most days when the conversation dried up, Alex and I would just stare at walls, perhaps for hours at a time.
It was quite eventful to have a visitor today, even if that visitor was that bastard, Agent Williams. He struts up toward the glass wall looking happy, but worse for wear. His skin seemed grayish; his eyes darker, almost as if someone had poured black glossy paint straight onto his eyeballs. The sight of him was terrifying; he had changed somehow, and seemingly overnight.
When Alex spots him she stands and retreats as far away from the glass as she possibly can. “What is that?” she says trying to hide her terror.
Agent Williams almost looks flattered by her fear. “Oh surely you remember me, Alex. I may look a little differently these days, but I’m still the asshole that you met back at Guelph. That feels like a lifetime ago doesn’t it? I do apologize about torturing you then…and as for right now… I really didn’t mean for anything to happen to your sister, you must believe me. That agent was out of line. Surely you wouldn’t think me capable of murdering your little sister.”
The word sister comes out almost as a hiss and he leaves the word hanging in the air as he grins, showing off his white teeth and greyish-green gums. It looked as though his teeth may fall out at any second.
Alex loses her mind and runs up against the glass slamming her entire body against it repeatedly. “You don’t speak of her! You don’t get to speak of her! You’re sick; you’re a sick son of a bitch!”
When Alex had had her fill of screaming and cursing, she retreats to her wall and refuses to look back at him.
His grin grows wider as he stares at me. I didn’t know how or why, but his evil seemed to grow with each moment that passed. He was losing his humanity all at once, whereas Eve had managed to hold onto it for much longer.
“What happened to you, Agent Williams?” I ask with false concern. “You don’t look…healthy? I guess that would be the right word?”
“Shut up, Cameron J
ackson. The word you seek is ‘improved’. Over the past few weeks, I have improved immensely. As for Eve, she doesn’t look so well...” He looks slightly troubled by this, but then snaps out of it and smiles demonically at me. It was enough to make you crap your pants.
“I will have you know that the baby, however, is doing very, very well. If you’re lucky you might get to meet it,” he says beaming like any good father would.
He was shoving my face in it all and it made my blood boil. I wanted to reach through this glass and bash his brains in; if only I had some sort of superpowers I would crush him.
Instead, all I had were my words and I would crush him with those. “You might have forced Eve to be with you, and have a baby with you, and listen to you, but she’s never going to love you. Look at you, you’re rotting! I don’t know what happened since the last time I saw you, but I think…you’re dying…like for real this time. Look at your skin, just look…it’s decaying. Soon, before you even know it, you’ll be gone. No Eve, no baby, no friends…you’ll be gone and no one will give a shit you ever existed.”
I spit on the glass for dramatic effect and am rather pleased with the result. If steam could explode from his ears it would. There was such hatred in his dark eyes, I sort of feared he would eat me, but instead he turns to leave without another word.
A hand slaps the back of my head. “What are you doing, Cam? Are you trying to get us murdered before we even get a chance to save her? We need to wait this baby out and then talk about an escape plan.”
I place my hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Listen, I’m not sure there is an escape plan, and that’s my only form of entertainment for the time being.” I smirk as I point to space where Agent Williams had formerly been standing.
Alex begins to laugh. I’m not sure if it was really all that funny, but we both begin laughing hysterically.
