by A. Giacomi
***
After a few hours of searching the facility, I came up empty handed and exhausted. It was too large to search on my own. There were numerous floors and hidden rooms as well as rooms I didn’t even have a clearance card for. If Vincent or Eve needed my help, it might be awhile before help arrived.
The facility was barren. I suppose Agent Williams had taken everyone willing and able to join him in his rather psychotic crusade. Perhaps he hadn’t told them the entire reason behind re-capturing Cameron, or perhaps they hadn’t wanted to hear the true reason. The staff in the facility knew something odd was happening, but lies were always more comforting than the truth. It was easier to keep their heads down and follow orders than the alternative. The unknown was a terrifying thing to call into question, even I feared tomorrow, but it didn’t stop me from fighting for what I believed in today.
I rise to my feet; it was time to make some important calls.
I move as quickly as I can toward Agent Williams’ office. Surely he might have some important information hidden away in there and a way to contact the Prime Minister.
As I enter the office there is a putrid smell filling my nostrils. The source is one deceased individual sprawled out in front of Agent Williams’ desk. As I near the body I can see that it is the crazy doctor. I had not seen him in a few days, but I thought perhaps he had gone to work in another facility. I suppose that’s what Agent Williams had told the others.
The Doctor’s eyes bulged, clearly, he had succumbed to strangulation. He was not worth my tears, the man was a monster and the world was better off without him. Although what did perturb me was that Agent Williams would dispose of his lap dog. The man did whatever Agent Williams asked of him, so why had he killed him? Clearly, there was more to know here, but dead lips didn’t speak.
Luckily, the phone in the office appeared to work, now to find some numbers. The desk is clear of any paperwork so I begin to rifle through drawers to see what I can dig up. My eyes land on a red file. I figured red meant important so I plucked it out of its drawer and opened it. Inside lay a few different maps. I wasn’t sure if these were affected areas or not. As I continue to flip through I find a notice from the Prime Minister himself, there is no contact information, but there is a lengthy note about quarantine areas, evacuations and joining forces with the Americans. I had to stop reading when I saw the current death toll. I was surprised they bothered to count that high.
I shut the folder and almost decide to return it to its previous resting place, but instead I throw it across the room. What was the point in being tidy at this point?
The stench in the room was growing stronger, but I refused to leave before finding something useful. I begin to look through the trash bin when I hear it, a ringing. A cell phone was ringing. I look around the room and am very unimpressed to find that the ringing is coming from the deceased doctor. I very miserably kneel over the doctor and go through his pockets trying not to breathe in as I do so. The phone was tucked away in his back pocket and it continues to ring. I pick it up quickly, “Hello?” I say waiting for a response on the other end.
The female voice says, “Clearance code please.”
My palms grow sweaty as I try to think of a code, but I soon give up, if honesty wasn’t enough then screw them all. “Look I don’t have a code, the man who did is now dead. Agent Williams murdered him and I hold some very pressing information that the Prime Minister needs to hear. So please patch me through to him. This information is quite imperative.”
I wait for the reply on the other side, she takes quite a while to respond, but eventually says, “One moment please,” while I am put on hold.
Thankfully I am not on hold long. The Prime Minster answers sounding worried and rightfully so, he begins by saying, “Please tell me all that you know.”
After introducing myself I begin to tell him about Agent Vallincourt and his testing on criminals. I spoke about how Agent Williams took over afterward and how he continued to support experimentation on humans, calling them improvements. I conclude with Agent Williams’ quest for a heart as a sacrifice. I half expected the Prime Minister to laugh when I finish speaking, instead, he groans angrily.
“Walther, I hate to admit that we gave Vallincourt clearance to test on criminals, but when you start talking about zombies, we feared what we didn’t know. He promised the testing would bring us closer to understanding the dangers of the Azrael Virus. As for Williams he had never mentioned that Vallincourt had left, which leads me to believe that he is most likely dead. With Williams in charge, I fear our mission was skewed. He is clearly unstable and needs to be stopped.”
I was glad to hear that someone was finally on my side.
“What do you propose we do, Mr. Prime Minister?”
“I will send out a search team to look for Agent Williams. He will no longer have authority in that facility. In the meantime, Doctor, I would appreciate you doing what you can to delay William’s mission. I fear he might have wandered into something he can’t get himself out of.”
“Oh, you have no idea, Sir,” I say as I hang up the phone.
I would keep the cell phone with me; it was my only window to the outside world. Speaking of windows, I begin to think of Alex in that large glass box of a cell. I begin to jog through the halls toward the special clearance area.
In rushing to scan my card I somehow cut my finger on the keypad, leaving trickles of blood on the floor. The doors open and I continue to rush toward the glass window. There is no one inside, only a blood-soaked floor with the outline of a familiar form.
“Oh no, Alex, not you,” I say while pounding my fist against the glass. The bloodstain matched her measurements and there was enough blood to signify she was deceased. They had most likely disposed of her body, but they had left in such a hurry that there wasn’t much point to cleaning up spilled blood when there would be so much more.
I sink to the floor placing my head in my hands. How am I going to get through this? How am I going to help anyone when I can’t even hold it together long enough to formulate a sentence?
I refuse to sit here and cry. I needed to get moving. Finding Eve and Vincent would be my best chance of getting out of here.
Just then I hear groaning noises and the lights in the facility begin to flicker. I look down at my finger, a little blood still trickling. It seems as though I wasn’t alone down here, after all, no wonder the facility had been evacuated. That bastard had unleashed a bunch of test subjects and they were now sauntering after the scent of my blood.
I had to keep moving, they would be following close soon enough and I needed to find my two zombie friends.
Moving through the hallways quietly, I spot a few of the zombies wandering around. I try not to breathe or move as I wait for them to pass. When the way is all clear, I continue to open door after door in the hopes that Eve or Vincent would be there.
Eventually, I stumble upon a room with blue mist flowing through it. I am giddy with delight, but when I near the glass sarcophagus I am shocked by what I find. It is neither Eve nor Vincent. It is something else, something entirely more important.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CAM
Sun kisses my skin as my eyes begin to flutter open. I forget where I am for a moment and bask in its glow. It had been a long time since I had seen the sun. The bright white lights of the facility could never substitute the absolute beauty and warmth of the sun.
As I take a few more moments to relax I hear something rustling in the bushes. I grab my gun fearing that it might be a zombie, but instead a small girl appears looking frightened. I exit the vehicle cautiously and approach her slowly.
“Hi, my name is Cam. Can I help you? Are you alright?” I ask in a gentle voice.
She shakes her head in reply.
It only takes a moment for me to realize my mistake. This was indeed a trap. I hear g
uns loading in the bushes behind the little girl, and soon a man emerges from behind her with a rifle pointed at me.
“I don’t want any trouble,” I say calmly.
“Well, then you shouldn’t have come here,” he says while eyeing my van. “A few vans just like those came through here yesterday and killed a few in our crew. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”
I suppose Agent Williams was close by, that wasn’t good news at all.
“They’re after me I’m afraid. Let me get out of your hair so they don’t come back around this way. I would hate anyone to die because of me.”
He lowers his gun momentarily. “Why is it they’re after you, son? You have something they want?”
“I guess you can say that,” I say shrugging. I didn’t want to be too candid with a perfect stranger.
The man approaches me and holds out his hand. “My names Frankie, who are you, kid?”
I shake his hand, glad for a little kindness. “I’m Cam, nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Now hear me out, I think it might be a good idea for you to lay low a few days. You’re welcome to stay here. I’d be glad to hide you from those guys, slowing those bastards down would be my pleasure.”
I think about saying no for a moment, but then consider my other options. Did I really want to be alone until the very end? Some human contact couldn’t hurt. I missed people. I missed talking. It was such a silly thing to miss, but this small conversation I was having with Frankie felt like the first human experience I had had in months.
“You know what, Frankie, I’m going to take you up on that offer. I’m exhausted and I could honestly use your help.”
Frankie pats me on the back and shows me the way toward his camp.
***
Over the next few days, I get to know Frankie and his crew quite well. There aren’t many of them. Frank’s family was at the helm of the group, his wife Alice and daughter Carol were quick to welcome me. The other two, Jack and Mort eyeballed me curiously; they were friends of Frank’s from work. The three of them had worked in the same mechanic shop for years. Useful I thought, they could fix up any car they found along the road, and probably knew how to hotwire a car too.
The other two that had been killed by Agent William’s men had been Mort’s wife and Jack’s brother. I felt responsible for their pain and it gnawed at me every time I passed the makeshift graveyard in the camp. A lot of why I wanted to stay here was to protect these people and help them build a safer camp. Only after that could I feel a slight bit of redemption.
After a long day of searching for food and securing the camp, I decide to have a heart to heart with Frankie. He needed to know the truth about me, even though he kept insisting that the past didn’t matter anymore. In a way he was right, but he still deserved to know who was after me. After that, he could decide if he still wanted to house me.
“Frankie I need to talk to you,” I say pointing toward a tree-less patch in the woods. “In private please.”
Mort and Jack stare at Frankie; they clearly didn’t like him being far off and I could understand their fear. It was only a few hours ago that two from their group had been taken. They weren’t willing to lose anymore.
“It’s okay boys, just a quick chat,” he says winking at them.
The two men back off, but they continue to stare in our direction.
“Frankie. Those men from the other day are probably still looking for me, and while I’d love to stay here, I feel I need to tell you a few things before you decide if I should stay.”
“Nonsense boy!” he says waving his arms in the air. “I told you I don’t want to know. It was very clear to me that they were bad news. What more could you possibly tell me? I’m a little afraid to know the answer if I’m being honest.”
“Look, Frankie, you’re going to hear it whether you like it or not, and I’m sure the decision about me staying concerns everyone at your camp. They might not want me here anymore once they know the full story.”
“I think I’m going to sit down for this,” Frankie says finding a nearby stump to sit on.
“Might not be a bad idea,” I say grimly.
I begin by telling Frankie about Eve and how she contracted the virus in Egypt. From there I told him about the experiments CSIS had been conducting and the massive cover-ups they used to hide the growing number of zombie attacks. The last bit of the story seemed ridiculous even to me, so I’m not surprised that when I started mentioning demons, curses, and Satan himself that Frankie begins to laugh at me.
“You’re one of those quirky kids, aren’t you? Always looking for some conspiracy theory or an ancient tale of horror to explain everything,” he says with a chuckle.
“Not really. I wish this stuff weren’t true, but they’re after me because they think I’ll stop all this nonsense. They think killing me will quench the thirst of this ancient evil and then all will be square. I call bullshit. I think they’ll kill me and nothing will change. They don’t have any proof that it will work.”
“Shit, so they really want to feed your heart to something? Well, that’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever heard,” Frankie says while scratching his head.
“Want to know what’s even more fucked up? I’m in love with the zombie that killed my dad and started all this shit,” I grumble under my breath.
“What was that last part?” Frankie says.
“Oh nothing important, I’m just venting about this entire mess,” I say trying to keep the story as simple as possible.
“Well, Cameron. I think you should still stay here. If like you said they don’t even know if it will work. No point in having them capture you. I doubt they’ll come back this way, and you’ve been a great help around here. I invite you to stay as long as you please.”
His acceptance was heartwarming, but my guilt hadn’t subsided. When we head back to join the others after our conversation, I can’t stop looking at little Carol. If anything happened to that little girl I would never forgive myself.
As we eat some fire-roasted rabbit, I decide to finally ask them about how the zombies took over and their experiences. I only remembered what Alex had told me about her escape and hiding out in a cabin. The vision of Alex left me a bit teary-eyed, but I cover it up with a cough, I wasn’t ready to talk about her yet.
I could tell the question was a painful one. No one was really interested in speaking up first. Frankie was the first to take pity on me.
“Ok kid, I’ll go first.” He paused for a moment scratching at his beard. “The first few weeks before it all went to shit were pretty quiet. We would watch the news and there were warnings about gangs and violence, our town was even on lockdown for a few days while they searched for the culprits. We hid inside until we were given the all clear and then went back to our regular lives and forgot about it all. No one saw this coming.” He points toward the tents, trailers, his camp.
“Then one day at the shop a man comes in, he was covered in blood and looked pretty pale. It looked as though something had sliced him really bad across his stomach. We took him in and tried to call an ambulance, call 911, anyone, but the lines were down. We did our best to stop the bleeding and keep him comfortable, but he died in my arms.”
Frankie rubs his beard again and stares into the fire while rotating another rabbit on the spit.
“I left the guy there while I went to get help, Mort and Jack stayed behind with a few others. I didn’t know he’d get back up,” he says shaking his head, clearly upset. “I didn’t know what he was… When I got back to the shop I saw Mort and Jack hovering over the stranger, his head was bashed in, then I see our other guys Mike and Al, they looked much the same.”
He looks over at Mort and Jack who don’t make eye contact or even bother to look up, it was a moment they weren’t proud of.
“I was angry at first, I th
ought both of them had lost their damn minds. When they explained that the stranger came back to life and attacked Al and Mike, I didn’t really put two and two together. They told me that Al and Mike turned into the same monsters and that they had no choice but to smash their heads in. I didn’t want to believe it, but when we left the shop we could see that there was total and utter chaos in the streets. People were running everywhere, cars driving off like maniacs behind the wheel. This was a small town, full of good people, but in a few hours, you couldn’t trust anybody. The guys ran home to grab their families and I went back to get mine. We set a meeting spot, here.” He points to the very ground we sat upon.
“When I got home Alice was in a panic, said she couldn’t find Andrea anywhere. I told Alice to take Carol and start packing things up, that we were leaving town immediately. I grabbed my axe from the shed and went looking around our yard. We had a big property, but Andrea never went much further than the sandbox, she was only four.”
When I hear the word “was” I begin to see the big picture. Alice hugs Frankie to her as he sobs. “I couldn’t do anything,” he says over and over again as Alice tries to shush him.
“I’m so sorry,” I say casting my eyes down.
The mood doesn’t last long. Mort gets to his feet quickly, racing toward me with his fist. It makes contact with the right side of my face, knocking me into the dirt so that I taste earth. He continues to punch me until Frankie and Jack are forced to pull him off of me.
“Calm the fuck down, Mort!” Frankie yells trying to snap some sense into him.
Mort raises his arms, but still has malice in his eyes. He would have surely kept kicking me into a pulp if the other two hadn’t stopped him.
“He’s just here to stir shit up. We all have dead ones now. My wife died because of this loser…yeah, I heard you talking in the woods. I have damn good ears, you pricks,” he says pointing to Frankie and me.
“I can’t believe you’re letting him stay here, Frankie. If he would have just grown a pair and given himself up to these guys, Jack’s brother and my wife would still be alive! Why are you keeping him here, man?” Mort says shoving Frankie in anger.
