"You can't say that," Sarah said. "Look what you've been doing! You created the cure for all of this."
"And look what else I've done," he added. "Everything that I did, I was forced to do, but that still doesn't excuse the atrocities that I had a hand in. The best thing you can do is release the cure to the world."
"How do I do that?" she asked. "It only produced one vial. How is that going to be enough to save the world?"
"It's really quite simple. All you have to do is inject one zombie with the cure and let nature take its course. You see, the cure, once inside of the diseased organism, is self-replicating and transmittable. The cure to the zombie virus is spread the same way the zombie virus is: by a bite. One key component to the cure is that it will augment the zombie's genetic code and make them only target other zombies. They'll leave humans alone. Once it gets going, it will be a domino effect, but exponentially so."
Sarah turned back to David who stood there and watched her, shyly keeping to himself. She reached out to him again and at first he shrunk away from her touch, but then she put her fingertips on his forehead and brushed his grimy hair. His skin was cold to the touch and made her shiver, not because of the temperature but because of the revulsion; she hated seeing her baby like this, and the first thing she would do when she took him out of this place was to go administer the cure to him and make him a healthy boy again.
As she stroked his forehead, David stopped pulling away and simply stood there and let her do it. But he still seemed a little uncomfortable with her, like she was some stranger he had never met before.
"He's not violent," Ron said. "The last couple of series of zombie that we produced restored some of their intelligence, and with it, their free will. Still, David was the only one that refused to kill other living things, preferring to starve instead. I mostly kept up his strength with intravenous fluids, but he always hated those shots."
Sarah looked at her son—even in his horrid state—with admiration. Ron's kind words seemed to reflect well on the memories she had of him. And even with this sick disease coursing through his veins, he still had that essence of pure innocence in him that she thought he had lost a long time ago.
"I promised him that he wouldn't have to take any more shots," Ron said, "but there's one more thing I think he should do."
As if he knew what he was talking about, David looked down at his feet when he heard the words.
"What's that?" Sarah asked.
"When the newest batch of zombies were shipped out all across the continent, Glass took David on that balcony over there and forced him to mind control all the zombies roaming around out there. The thoughtful concentration caused them to be far more focused and vicious, working on the coordinated strategy of spreading the virus as quickly as possible instead of on the zombies' individual needs of hunger alone. Even after David would finish a session, there would be residual effects that would last far longer than the session itself. Think of it like brainwashing instead of simply temporary mind control. I promised David he wouldn't have to do it anymore, being so weak from those sessions, but I think he should do one more."
Sarah nodded. "Can he handle it?"
"Yes. But he'll need one last shot." He turned his head to David. "And I really mean it this time."
He told her to hand him a radio sitting on Glass's desk and he ordered an aide to bring up one of the nutrient shots to keep up David's strength. The aide timidly walked into the office, looking at the carnage around, and jumping when he saw Ron lying on the ground and bleeding. But Ron was always his professional, kindly self and thanked him for the courtesy. He used the last of his strength to administer the shot to David to bolster him, then Sarah led David back onto the balcony.
She didn't have to coerce him, or use the temporary mind control abilities that she had gained through Ron's pill; David simply walked up to the railing by himself, knowing what he had to do. Sarah stood behind him and looked out over the landscape, gently placing her hand on his shoulder.
David closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could. Just as he had done before, he connected with as many zombies as he could, as far as he could. He started to feel drained again as soon as he did it, but this time, deep down, he knew it was a good thing, and that made it easier on him.
And all around the continent where Glass had spread his vicious new breed of zombies, they suddenly stopped what they were doing. In some cases, they ceased in mid-attack and left the victims alone as David focused on calmness and peace above all. When he was done, David opened his eyes, knowing that he had a powerful effect and that the world would be a much safer place for the time being, even if the danger wasn't gone completely.
Sarah walked with David back into the office and Ron tussled David's hair for the last time. He smiled, knowing that everything would be okay, and then he departed from this world, his wounds finally doing him in and allowing his troubled soul to rest in peace.
Wayne walked up to Sarah and hugged her, and she squeezed him back. She was so thankful for his support, and this outcome wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for him.
"So what should we do about this place?" Sarah asked.
"I know just the thing," Wayne said.
He got Sarah to direct him to the intercom system on Glass's desk and held down the button, speaking to the entire mansion and the surrounding areas.
"Jack Glass—Colonel Glass—is dead," he announced. "If you want proof, go walk out the front door and check for yourself. There's no more force and coercion to rule your lives. Take what you want from this place and leave. The zombie projects are over. We have the cure, and it will be administered shortly. Instead of death and destruction, there will finally be peace. If you interfere with this, you'll be met with force. So go now in peace and rebuild your own lives. Start your own families. Contribute something good to society to atone for what you've been doing. Good luck."
Sandra and Jeb came up to them, unable to keep their hands off each other.
"I just want to say thank you," Sandra told Sarah. "I never imagined that it would turn out like this, and I'm glad I could be a part of it."
"Me too," Jeb said, smiling and kissing Sandra on the forehead.
"So where are you going to go?" Sarah asked him.
He looked at his girlfriend. "Anywhere she wants to go."
She grinned and squeezed his hand. "Well, why wait?"
Jeb agreed and swept her off her feet, just like he promised, holding her in his arms. They all said their goodbyes and then Jeb carried her off to their new life, and whether it was filled with coconuts or white picket fences, it didn't matter because they had each other.
The killer walked back into the office from the hallway. He stopped in front of Sarah and they both froze and stared at each other. She tensed up, not knowing what he was going to do, and she prepared to use the control abilities she had to stop him if he attacked. But he didn't do anything of the sort.
For the first time, his crazy smile faded. His eyes softened, and if Ron was right about intelligent zombies being able to have free will, it seemed that the killer finally chose a different path.
"There's more... down below," he said quietly in his rich and smoky voice. "I want... to help them."
"More zombies?" she asked.
He slowly nodded his head.
The killer led the way through the hallways as Sarah, David and Wayne followed him. Most of the soldiers had already cleared out of the mansion, with a few straggling behind. Some of them still seemed to have a hint of malice in them as they watched the small group go by, but with the killer in tow, they cowered away from him and hid themselves in whatever rooms they could find.
They took the elevator down to the first floor and then traveled to the other elevator that specifically went down to the lab. Sarah used the master key she found in Glass's office and they all went down together.
They walked through the huge floor space, all of the scientists and aides already gone, and David hung
his head as he walked, too many bad memories from this place.
The cells lining the lab were still filled with zombies, and the killer stopped and turned to Sarah. "These ones... are no good," he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
He raised his hands to the sides of his head. "They did... bad things to them. Like they did... to me." He motioned to the zombies in the cells around him. "Too far gone," he said. "I have to take care of them."
Sarah nodded and the killer went around, opening all of the cell doors. Sarah stepped back immediately, having second thoughts about what was happening.
The killer turned back to her. "Don't watch."
Sarah turned David around and she and Wayne led him to the end of the lab away from the carnage that ensued. The zombies moaned as the sounds of tearing and bludgeoning echoed in the huge room. When the sounds fell silent, Sarah told Wayne to hold onto David and make sure he still faced the wall.
She turned around and saw the entire area with the cells was painted red. The killer himself was soaked from head to toe in blood and gore, but he meekly stood there like nothing happened.
Sarah looked around at the rest of the lab. There was still a lot of functioning equipment. Equipment that had been used to create this terrible apocalypse in the first place.
"Can you destroy this place?" she asked.
He nodded. Then he slowly turned and started in on the machinery. He furiously attacked all of it, piece by piece, using wrenches, stools or his fists and fingers to smash, pry apart, and utterly destroy all of the machinery in the lab. Sparks flew everywhere and the power constantly fluctuated. Glass shattered and metal twisted, and in the end the entire lab looked like a hurricane of pure death had swept through it. Sarah was sure that no one would ever use this lab again, and now the only thing this mansion was was a lot of pricey marble.
Before they left, the killer had one more request of her.
"My head... it hurts today," he said. "I want you... to help me."
"What do you need me to do?"
He turned and led her toward the garbage disposal area and he stopped in front of the trash compactor. It was a wide steel bed that could fit a car on it, with a huge hydraulic press that could be lowered to crush garbage into thin, condensed sheets.
"I don't... want to feel... like this anymore."
"What did they do to you?" she asked.
He paused. "Very bad things." He turned and climbed into the trash compactor, waiting for Sarah to operate the controls. As she stood by the panel, he said, "Sorry."
She didn't need to ask him what he meant, and they shared a knowing look, which felt really bizarre to be happening with him.
"The bad things... they put in my head... sometimes I couldn't control them."
Sarah nodded and held down the button on the panel.
The press lowered slowly, and the killer lay down on his belly, turning his head to the side and looking at her. "Thank you..." he said.
When the press almost reached his body, Sarah asked him, "What's your name?"
"Don't remember." He closed his eyes, feeling at peace for the first time, and a gentle smile stretched his lips.
Sarah looked away as the press crushed his body. She heard all the gory sounds of it, but he didn't make a single noise as his body was pulverized into nothing.
With absolutely nothing left to do in this compound, and wanting to be as far away from it as possible, Sarah gathered David and Wayne who still patiently waited by the wall, and they took the elevator up and left the mansion.
Sarah and Wayne administered the zombie virus cure to David, and Sarah watched in amazement as he slowly changed from his corpselike appearance back into a normal, healthy human. The process took about a week to fully complete the transformation, all of the body's systems working in harmony to heal themselves.
After David had come out of a cycle of heavy sleep very similar to what she had gone through, Sarah cautiously approached him, hoping beyond hope that she was going to see the son that she remembered.
The first time that David was fully awake and he laid eyes on her, he just simply stared at her for a moment, then he began to cry and he rushed forward and hugged her as hard as he could.
Sarah held him and brushed her fingers through his hair which was now back to a healthy shine. The vibrancy and sparkle returned to his eyes, and his skin was smooth and scar-free, like nothing had happened to him at all.
But the scars were all on the inside where she couldn't see, and they came out in their own time.
The first time he spoke to her, he said, "Don't leave me. Don't leave me." He just kept repeating that phrase, and Sarah started bawling her eyes out, never considering that she had allowed herself to be pulled away by Noah when he got bitten and abandoned him as a zombie. She suddenly felt like a wretched creature, unfit to take care of him again, but thankfully Wayne was there and helped her work through the issues that she had.
In their own ways, they were all very damaged people, and they each had many demons that they would have to work through for the rest of their lives. But they had each other, Sarah's own personal Holy Trinity.
David's appetite was slow to recover, but Sarah went above and beyond, scrounging around all the houses nearby and letting him have his pick; if it was nothing but canned cherries one day, then that was what she gave him.
Wayne was equal parts amused and warmed by experiencing Sarah's and David's interactions with each other. It was a component of his life that he had entirely missed out on, having one unsuccessful marriage and no children. In some ways, it felt like getting a second chance in his own personal life, and he marveled at the long twist of fate that led him here.
Sarah's and Wayne's feelings for one another only grew, and soon they gained an inseparable and deep bond, sharing things with each other that they had never told anyone.
One night shortly after they left the mansion and Sarah could tell that David was starting to feel a little more like himself, she asked him what it felt like after he was bitten.
He thought about this for a long time. "Sad," he said at last.
"Sad?"
"Yes. I don't remember a lot of it. A lot of times I would just see black, and it felt like I was all alone."
"Oh, honey." She pulled him to her and he buried his head in her chest and wrapped his arms around her.
"I remember black and cold," he said. "You know when you told me that story about when you were a kid and you got lost in the mall and you were scared and everyone else was just walking by and nobody would talk to you? That's what it felt like the whole time."
Sarah pressed her hand to her mouth and began to sob. Her sweet little boy had been so corrupted by this terrible disease and these horrible memories. If she could give her life away in that very instant and take away his pain, she would.
The nights were hard at first, because he always woke up screaming. Most of the time she would gently talk him out of it, and he would calm down, but he wouldn't even wake up, simply slipping back into a deep slumber. Sometimes he would scream again, but sometimes he would sleep through the rest of the night, his lips slowly moving as if he were talking to someone, a habit she'd never seen in him before.
But as time went on, he got a little better, day by day. The spring in his step became a little bouncier, and his smiles got a little bigger.
Even though Wayne had always been a calm person, he mellowed into a big softy, taking a real shine to David and treating him like the son he never had. David also took really well to him, having grown up his whole life without a father. He still never forgot his real father and the stories Sarah told him, and he was always sentimental about everything, but he came to love Wayne just as if he had been birthed by him.
And before long, Sarah and Wayne broke the exciting news to David that he was going to be a big brother, and all three of them couldn't be any happier for their future together.
"Did you make it to Noah's Ark?" he asked her one
night.
She smiled. "I did. Thanks to you." The memory still haunted her, but with her son back, she learned to become at peace with it.
"Was it really paradise?"
She thought about it. "No."
"Oh."
"It made me realize that there's really no magical place out there that's going to fix all of your problems."
He ran this through his mind. "So then... the real paradise is the people you love."
She felt her heart swell at how good-spirited he was and she kissed him on the forehead. "I love you, David."
"I love you too, Mom."
They hugged each other for a long time, neither one of them wanting to let go.
"Are we going to stay here?" he asked.
"I don't know. Where do you want to go?"
He thought about this for a good while, then his face shifted as if he had been struck by the most obvious answer in the world. "The townhouses."
She laughed. "The townhouses? You hated that place. Why would you want to go back?"
"Because that's where you were. That's where my family was."
About a week after Sarah and Wayne gave David the zombie virus cure, when he was fully healed and feeling up to it, the three of them took a walk outside and found their way into a city park. The grass was all wildly overgrown, but Sarah had never seen someone more thrilled to play in it as she watched David experience his first joy since his terrible tragedy.
After a fun day, the three of them lay down on a grassy hill by a bushy oak tree and stared off into the distance.
Eventually, David's eyes lit up. "There's one!" he said, pointing.
Across the park, a single zombie wandered through. It was the latest type of zombie that Jack Glass had unleashed upon the world, but it moved a lot more slowly, seemed a lot more docile. David using his powers to reach out to all the zombies' very cells, urging them to calm down, seemed to have had a profound effect. But they were still dangerous, and it wouldn't be safe to be around them until the cure had been spread to all of humanity.
Hell on Earth (Zombie Apocalypse Series Book 7) Page 18
