“Yes,” Andrew answered, “but in this case they have much more control over the predator, with new a reigning leader, or leaders, that would be virtually immortal.”
“There’s only one problem with their plan,” I interjected.
“What’s that?” Tommy asked.
“They probably didn’t count on having any opposition on the same playing field. I’m like Deadpool to their Wolverine.”
“Or,” Eric said, “their Deadpool to our Wolverine. Technically we are the good guys so-”
“Shut the fuck up!” Tommy snapped.
“I’m just sayin’…” Eric said quietly.
Just then, Justin came bursting through the doorway with the two sentries.
“We got zombies!”
Everyone rushed out towards the table, grabbing their gear and following Justin as he ran down the hall and towards the south end of the campus. I trailed slowly behind, still trying to focus on getting more intel on the attack through my newly acquired brain feed. I was certain that they hadn’t breached the walls, but I could tell that they were large numbers and that they were close…very close.
As I brought up the rear of the group, I noticed Karen had lagged behind as well. As I made my way down the hall, she turned and stopped me by reaching out and placing her hand on my chest. She was trembling as she looked up at me, and the fear in her eyes was being telegraphed more than she probably wished it was. There was something in her aura though that was different from the others. It held a distinct border, more defined than the others. I had noticed the same thing on a few people in the group, but figured that it was simply because they were in closer proximity to me than other people in the room. I knew that it had some significance, but I just didn’t know what.
“Griff,” she began, holding back tears, “I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry for what’s happened to you…I just…”
“Listen,” I said as I wiped a tear rolling down from her eye, “if anyone should be worked up about this, it’s me. We’re all living on borrowed time – I’m actually the lucky one here because I got an extension of that time. If the alternative would have been turning into…one of them, then I’m thankful to still be here. I may not have ascended, but at least I didn’t descend, right?”
She laughed and shook her head as the tears came streaming down.
“Now, let’s go help out the group. We can talk more about this later, okay?”
We both continued down the hallway when it dawned on me. The rest of the community hadn’t seen me yet. With a zombie attack in full swing, the last thing I needed to be cut down by friendly fire. I threw my cap back on and covered my eyes with the sunglasses in order to minimize any attention my new appearance would attract.
The gunfire was almost non-stop by the time we came upon the south wall. There was a feeling of controlled chaos as people were running to resupply ammunition caches and switch off shooters during reloads. The aura given off by the masses started to overload my senses as I joined Andrew at his vantage point. The view was almost overwhelming as Andrew scanned the horizon with a set of binoculars.
There was a sea of glowing yellow orbs fast approaching as the zombie horde was making headway towards our border. With my enhanced vision, I could see that the zombies were void of any aura and were a stark contrast to the living beings that were scrambling to their defenses. The collective noise coming from them was getting louder and sounded more like a war cry going off in my head. They were hungry and intent on satisfying their urges. It was becoming more difficult now to focus on verbal communication with all of the static I was now experiencing from the horde.
Along the approaching waves of yellow, I noticed something peculiar. Out in the far distance, I could make out a solid yellow outline. Was it a concentration of zombies that was giving me a false perception of the outline? Or was it something more sinister? There was simply too much going on for me to tell and I asked Andrew for his binoculars.
I scanned the tree line to the southwest, where I had first noticed the outline. If I wasn’t already dead, I would have had an instant coronary as I focused on stationary figure with a set of eyes looking right back at me.
It was the same son of a bitch I had seen before. It was a controller, and now I was getting a front row seat to what he was capable of – and that gave me an idea.
Chapter 9 – Marching On
Turn them all.
It seemed like eons ago since Tyler had his last chai latte. He reflected back to a more simple time when he enjoyed yoga, but not for the fact that the classes were predominantly filled with women. He enjoyed the peace and tranquility the exercises brought to calm his internal anger and pent-up rage.
The aggression is what landed him here. Tyler was a lead scientist for the CDC, whose team was responsible for developing vaccines against the increasingly complex biological threat posed by enemies of the state. His top secret clearance meant that he wouldn’t receive the accolades his work deserved and that many of his discoveries were never published like those of his peers. His was a clandestine and thankless job.
While the job security was good in the public sector, the money was subpar when compared to those he knew who landed high paying jobs in the private sector. Pharmaceuticals paid top dollar for knowledgeable scientists, but Tyler stuck with it as he felt that his experience with the CDC would help him build his resume to the point he could barter for extra zeros in salary negotiations someday. The only problem was that the more he worked on these secretive projects, the less he would ever be able to articulate his skill sets. He was sworn to secrecy and began to resent the censorship of his accomplishments to the outside world.
That’s when they came to him, with the typical offer that he couldn’t refuse. Tyler, in addition to his agnostic views, had no sense of patriotism or loyalty to his country. He was approached at just the right time. He was in some deep financial trouble and it was welcoming as they provided a quick solution to all of his money problems. Quick and easy cash seemed to be the answer to all of his student loan debt and to finally get him the finer things in life that his friends had enjoyed so early in life, but he only desired to have.
If he only knew then, what he knew now.
He hadn’t planned on becoming immortal, but it was probably the best upside to what had happened. He was now important, he mattered, and nothing was going to take that away from him in this new world. He was rising to the top as a leader of this “New World Order” and no longer one of the sheep stuck moving along with the flock.
Tyler was envious of those scientists that were chosen to work in clinical genomics, and who first discovered the virus that created the zombies. They were the ones that identified the mutation that would allow someone the ability transform into this amazing resilient creature that was now his new form. While they were superior to him in knowledge, he was vastly superior in his personal genetics.
He could still remember the look in their eyes as he received his orders to betray them. They were expendable pawns in the game and Tyler was ordered to make sure that the most likely candidates to develop a cure for the disease were the first to be turned to their, to his, cause.
He was never informed on who was behind all of this. He knew that such protocol was built into their terror cell by design, but it wasn’t only about keeping the head of the hydra from being exposed. It was also about self-preservation. The last thing that they needed was to have a group of genetically altered super operatives posturing for power in this new age.
He enjoyed his part in the game – for now. As he repeated his commands to the herd over and over again, he also called for more reinforcements to converge on their position. Telepathy trumped any form of communication that had ever been developed by man.
Tyler wasn’t sure of how far his mental transmissions were able to carry, but he was never disappointed with the end result. Although he noticed that there was a considerable difference this time as something felt different. The g
roup of survivor he was ordered to go after on Harsens Island had some unique signatures among them. He had first seen the anomaly when he sent in the first wave of runners to test their defenses.
There was a man, older than himself, but carrying himself into the battle like a natural leader. Tyler was mindful of how he was able to defend the onslaught and save some comrades in the process. Whatever the reason for the difference in the aura, he was still just a mortal man and would turn like all the rest.
As he looked out over the herd he had dispatched, Tyler smiled as he looked out over the sea of bodies marching on to deliver death. He would have his mission completed in little time and looked forward to reporting in on his first major victory against the survivors. Nothing could withstand the army he had amassed, he was sure of it.
Chapter 10 – Losses
The first wave of zombies struck the conex box so hard, it nearly knocked the shooters off the line – even though they were all prone at the time of impact. The boxes had been supported with steel beams wedged behind them, with the intention of stopping them from sliding backwards if they were pushed. Those supports now worked in a counterproductive manner, as they were giving the zombies the leverage needed to tip the damn things over!
As I hopped up to lend a hand, there was nothing but a sea of zombies. The runners were blasting through their slower counterparts, knocking them to the ground like a mass of eager undead “Black Friday” shoppers. I scanned the horizon, as I had lost sight of the controller and knew that I had to take him out – this was clearly a losing battle as long as he was in control of summoning the undead. The sheer numbers indicated that it wouldn’t take long at all to be overrun. They wouldn’t need to push thorough at this pace and would surely create a pileup large enough to act as a ramp over the barricades in no time at all.
A normal horde was one thing, but this one being driven by the controller took me by surprise. I scrambled to regain my footing as another wave struck the conex box and nearly sent me over the edge. Eric was next to me when a zombie was able to grab onto his leg and pulled him off balance.
“NO!” I screamed as I reached out towards the zombie, resulting in a response that took both Eric and I by surprise.
The zombie snapped her neck sideways and glared at me as she let go of her grip on Eric. I stared back at her as the surrounding zombies stopped dead in their tracks (no pun intended) and caused a massive pile-up they couldn’t stop their forward momentum. It was like the largest game of Simon-says that I had ever seen.
“Sit down!” I shouted to the masses, but nothing happened, “Simon says sit down!”
Much to my dismay, they shrugged off my presence and carried on with their assault.
“Well,” Eric said, “it almost worked!”
I guess I overestimated the ability of the zombies to comply with the order I gave. This time around, I gave a more simplistic request and yelled for them to stop. Nothing happened.
As the continuous thud of bodies struck against the conex box with more and more force, the assault team that had been placed there began to retreat. In a matter of moments I found myself alone, with the sound of Eric and the others yelling at me to retreat being quickly outshined by the mass of shrieks and hoarse screams given off by the zombies attacking my position. As the outstretched arms of a few grasped for leverage to pull themselves up, runners were scaling their backs and using them as ramps to accompany me at the top.
It was then that I discovered what my powers as a controller were. I had to stop thinking like the living being I had been and embrace the new communiqué ability I was suppressing. It wasn’t what I said that they heard, it was what I was thinking. More precisely, it was what I was thinking that I wanted them to do that placed them into compliance.
When I had shouted at the zombie that had grabbed Eric, I was thinking STOP at the same time. Apparently that message was “heard” by more than the zombie attacking him as they all seemed to respond. Once I stop giving commands, they continued about their previous course of instructions and continued the attack.
It was an odd sensation, knowing that I had an ability to control the zombies with my thoughts. Even more surreal was the fact that I was now face to face with them on the conex box and wasn’t being devoured. They paid me no mind as they tried to push past me. I grabbed the first two that had made it up and threw them back over the side, knocking down the advancing mass like bowling pins.
I looked back over the crowd of zombies and concentrated on connecting to the noise they were creating in their collective. They had specific instructions, but now it was time to change their programming.
Stop.
Nothing happened. I felt a bit panicked as they began to spill over the conex box and I became a bit more forceful in my thoughts.
STOP!
That time it worked like a charm. So, as I was now figuring it out, what was being said, or thought, was just as important as the urgency or forcefulness that was behind the message.
Go away…GO AWAY!
For some reason they were still stopped in their tracks and weren’t moving anywhere. As I broke my concentration for a moment, I opened my eyes to see them staring at me like a thousand lost puppies. Their heads even tilted in a confused fashion that was reminiscent of a confused dog. I chuckled at the sight of half rotten zombies waiting patiently on my next command. The horrific shrieks had also been broken off, which allowed me to hear a barrage of questions being whispered behind me as everyone was trying to figure out what just happened.
Then it hit me. Maybe I had to not only be more aggressive in my commands - I had to be more direct and visual. I clenched my eyes and projected my thoughts to include the lake to our south as I directed the herd to move out towards the water. As I repeated this command, each time with greater emphasis, I began to hear shuffling all around me.
“Holy shit, they’re retreating!” Tommy yelled from behind me.
As I opened up my eyes, I watched as the masses began moving like slow cattle to the slaughter south towards the lake. It worked. I could feel their collective disappointment as they turned and moved away. They weren’t resisting the commands I had given, but they weren’t really sold on the idea of not being able to feed.
I turned to my left as Tommy, Andrew, Karen, Eric and Justin cautiously made their way up to my side and we watched as the zombies slowly made their trek away from our defenses. Even the ones who had been trampled and left with nothing more than a single limb were clawing their way in the direction I had cast them off to.
Very nice, but now that you’ve discovered your new power, let me show you how it’s done!
I felt a sharp pain rip through my head as I heard those words and looked over to my left at Tommy just to make sure he hadn’t shot me again. The pain was so severe that it took me a moment to gain my bearings. As I scanned the horizon I saw him. A lone figure that stood stationary against a sea of death that flowed around him.
Turn them…TURN THEM…TURN THEM!
The pain in my skull almost brought me to my knees as someone in the group hollered something. I turned to see people scrambling back in retreat and saw that Tommy, Eric and Karen were still standing by my side.
“Here,” Tommy said, “you’re going to need these.” He had gathered up two new tomahawks and a new sidearm for me.
Tommy and I both knew what had to be done. The controller was out of range now for a kill shot, which we all knew would be a temporary fix at best. This had to happen one on one. When I had first spotted him, I figured that a quick head shot from a sniper rifle would at least silence him long enough for us to thin out the herd. That may have been an option if I wouldn’t have lost sight of him when I got onto the conex box. Now it was going to be a hands-on fight for dominance - two nearly indestructible beings going toe to toe.
I turned my concentration to the horde that had now turned back towards our location, trying my best to command them over the booming voice that seemed to have a clearer
channel than I did. I was stuck in the middle of a tug of war, and losing badly. When I concentrated on commanding the zombies away, they would come to a slow crawl but continued advancing. If I moved to go after the controller, they would continue their assault unchallenged.
“Go!” Tommy yelled, “We’ll hold them off – you need to take care of him!”
“And if I can’t?” I asked.
“Then we go to my backup plan,” Tommy answered with a smirk.
“Where you blow shit up? Why not just go to that plan now?”
“Naw, too much of a blast radius!”
“The sirens!” I yelled, “Andrew, hit the sirens!”
He nodded to me as I shook my head in return. I jumped down and ran headlong into the charging crowd. This wasn’t as simple as rubbing your belly and patting your head in unison. One does not simply channel zombies and run into battle at the same time. I was able to maintain some control over them as I gave chase to the controller, which ended up in the zombie horde parting like the Red Sea before me. What I wouldn’t have done to have this power over the living years ago during a slow rush hour crawl home on the freeway!
The same must have been the case for the controller I was chasing. The ‘signal’ from him was getting much weaker and less of a constant pounding in my head. The cool thing was that as I was running full tilt I didn’t become winded or tired. Heck, the fact that I found myself to be breathing was probably just a reflex that I couldn’t turn off.
As I finally reached the edge of the clearing on the opposite side of the field, I saw a dust cloud leading away. The bastard had a getaway vehicle. I’m not sure why I thought it so strange that he would have a vehicle. I guess I thought that being an advanced life form would mean that normal modes of travel wouldn’t really apply. I was wrong and watched my opportunity disappear into the distance.
I felt a pang of euphoria strike me. It was like a clean high, but energizing at the same time. Only it wasn’t coming from my own body. It was a sensation that was coming from the collective. They had breached the compound, and they were feeding. The volley of gunfire coming from the north was only confirming my suspicions.
Zombie Reign (Book 4): Redemption Page 7
