It was then that she realized the new turn of events hadn’t been what changed her. She had been dead on the inside all along.
***
Near the Kentucky Dam
July 2027
Station 4 – Operations Hangar
Joshua looked out toward the line of G.O.D. military grade Humvees that would take them through the Dead Zone, the massive stretch of desert and other types of environments that had been deemed uninhabitable by G.O.D. before the Stations came to be. The fluorescent lights glared off the sparkling clean white floor. He squinted past it as Mark and every other volunteer stood in a straight line within the Operations Hangar of Station Four, waiting for instructions from the Government of Defense representative in front of them. The man paced, looking at each one of them in turn, but never saying a word. Was he gauging whether or not they were fit enough for service? Fit enough to venture out into the Dead Zone to fetch the man who, until recently, G.O.D. had always told them was a myth?
“You all have been assigned your squads before reporting this morning. Split off into your teams and let’s get this operation moving,” the man ordered in a deep baritone voice.
Mark and Joshua, thankfully, were on the same squad, the Alpha Squad. Joshua couldn’t help but joke with himself about how cliché it was, but he didn’t get to choose the name, so he went with it. All three vehicles were going to be used to penetrate the forest that still grew in the Smoky Mountains, go to the underground bunker, and retrieve the head Hunter—whether he wanted to come or not. From what Joshua had heard about the man previously, he didn’t think they could make him do anything if he didn’t want to. Hopefully, he would come willingly once he was told Jenny was in danger. If he believed them at all.
They moved to their designated mode of transportation and, as they climbed inside, Joshua spotted the tips of Mark’s stilts poking out of the bag he carried. He jumped inside and closed the door, scrutinizing his friend as he did the same. Mark noticed his stare quickly as the others piled into the vehicle, the gunner taking his place behind them to man the gun mounted to the Humvee.
“You’ve be kidding, right?” Joshua asked.
“What?” Mark replied, high and shrill.
Joshua's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He couldn’t believe that Mark had no idea what he was talking about.
“The stilts. How in the world will stilts help us through this? What are ya gonna do? Juggle Cranker heads while ya walk?” Joshua said all this with light laughter. Messing with Mark was fun, and he made it all too easy.
Mark patted the tops of the stilts in his pack and replied, “These stilts are made from some of the strongest steel that was available at the time. My balance is so good that it feels like they’re a part of my body when I put them on. Besides, you might need me to climb walls or something.”
Joshua smirked at the insight, but he had to admit Mark was right.
“What?” Mark asked, seeing the smile on his face.
Joshua’s smile only broadened in response to his friend’s question.
“Nothin’, man. Nothin’.”
The inside of the Humvee grew quiet as the hangar doors opened, revealing the wall surrounding the Station as well as the gate beyond it that would lead into the Dead Zone. The vehicles pulled out and went through the first gate, which was quickly followed by them passing through the second. The extra security was nice, and Joshua hated to be leaving it behind, but this was important.
And it was one of the most important things he had ever done or would do in his life.
***
Xavier Jackson stood in the observation room right off the containment cell where Misty was being kept, only a thin sheet of the bullet and shatterproof two-way mirror between them. He knew she couldn’t break it, but with her new enhanced senses, he had a feeling she could at least hear him. That didn’t stop him from coming and watching her as she sat on the floor and listened to the small sounds she heard, jerking her head to stare at what made the sounds. Or she slept for hours on end. He watched the spread of the blue veins underneath her skin, popping out dark as her skin turned the almost sky blue hue of the undead. However, from what he could tell, she had gotten lucky. At this point in the transition, the hair of most infected fell out in clumps, leaving them completely bald. Only in about four percent of Rev infection cases did the newly changed get to keep their locks, all because of good genetics, it seemed.
“Now didn’t you win the genetic lottery?” Xavier said to himself.
“You talking to yourself, Jackson? She didn’t get you, did she?” came a very familiar voice. One he hadn’t heard in at least a year. He hadn’t even heard the door open or close.
Xavier turned to look at Colonel Tann, a smile crossing his lips as he laughed a little.
“Now aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, Colonel?” he said as he put his hand out to the colonel to shake the man’s hand.
Colonel Tann took returned the handshake and then turned to look at Misty in the containment area, his hands folded together behind his back as he watched her. At that moment, she was standing with her eyes closed, no doubt listening to whatever it was she could be hearing. Maybe it was them. Only she knew.
“Can she hear us?” Tann asked, pointing to Misty through the glass.
“You want the honest answer?” Xavier replied, not exactly certain what to tell the man.
“If you’d be so inclined, yes.”
Xavier sighed and stared at Misty, not once taking his eyes off the young girl. She was friends with Jennifer Meldano, the Head Hunter’s daughter. Maybe he was right to think they should’ve told her that her father was indeed alive. And, because everyone there was his responsibility, he felt guilty for what had happened within the walls of the Station.
“I don’t know, but with her enhanced senses now, it’s highly likely she can hear pretty much everything. She even got lucky with her hair. She shows no signs of losing it like most others so she may have some advantages the ones we’ve studied didn’t. We haven’t tested her just yet.”
“You’re not worried about her becoming extremely aggressive?”
When Tann looked over at him, Xavier could see his eyebrows rise about an inch in question of his objectivity with the subject.
He shook his head, “I don’t think we will have that problem. She is tolerating the change a lot better than most. Unfortunately, we can’t see the true effects until her change is complete. Which could be any time now.”
Colonel Tann let out a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest, attempting to close himself off because of the insanity of the situation. Xavier could tell. This girl was young, with a long life to live made even longer and harder than it had been before because she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong friends. But because Xavier blamed himself, he couldn’t close himself to her so easily.
“Does the rate of her change have anything to do with her resilience to some of the effects of the infection? Or, at least, do you think it does?” Tann asked as he watched the girl intently. His brown eyes never moved away from her.
“It very well could. She was also bitten by the first Revenant to ever be created, as far as our records state. That could have something to do with it as well.”
“But the others turned by him weren’t so lucky. What makes her so special?”
Xavier cleared his throat. “Well, some research shows that a person’s genetics weigh pretty heavily on how they react to the transition. In only about four percent of Revenant infection cases, they don’t lose their hair like the others. We won’t know until we can fully investigate the scope of her infection.”
Colonel Tann nodded and took a deep breath in, hinting to Xavier at what was coming next. A lecture or a pep talk; he wasn’t sure which, though.
“You know this isn’t your fault,” he assured him.
Xavier didn’t want to hear any of it. With one hand up, he replied, “Stop. I don’t need the lecture, Colonel.”
Colonel Tann looked at him then, but Xavier refused to look at him, only watching his reflection out of his periphery. Tann’s brows were stitched together in irritation, a frown on his lips.
“No, listen and listen good, Officer. As the Officer of Conduct with the Government of Defense here at Station Four, it is not your responsibility to keep these people safe from the outside world. Your responsibility is to keep them safe from the world inside these walls. What happened to this girl is not your fault or your problem. Let the scientists and G.O.D. handle it.”
Xavier hung his head in defeat. He knew Tann was right, but he couldn’t walk away. As the one who had spoken up against the Revenants when they breached their walls, he felt that she would still be human if it weren’t for his involvement. But what would have happened if he hadn’t stepped forward? A chill ran up his spine. He didn’t even want to begin to think about the possibilities.
Without looking up, Xavier relented. “I know, Colonel. I just can’t help but feel like she is like this now because of my actions.”
“You didn’t do anything out of line, Jackson.”
Xavier looked up and, when he looked at Misty through the glass, their eyes met. He knew she couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. He could tell because of the red tears lining her eyelids, tinting her now gray irises.
“What I hate the most is that we have no idea what her family’s medical history is like. There could be something else there that could change everything about how she transitions into a Revenant. I just wish we had all the answers.” He looked at Colonel Tann and asked, “What does G.O.D. know about these things?”
Tann shrugged.
“Not much that I’m aware of, I’m afraid. They’ve been pretty elusive until just recently. Even when the Stations went dark and we sent men in, we couldn’t manage to find even one. But now we have her,” he said as he nodded toward the young girl in the other room. “So we can at least get a baseline even if she proves to be exceptional. I’ll send someone in to get her family and personal medical history if there’s anything to find at all.”
“I’ll do it,” Xavier said, his gaze shooting up to Tann’s face.
Colonel Tann shook his head and answered, “No can do, Jackson. You’re too close to this.”
“But I’ve built a rapport with her, Tann. You can’t deny that. We have no idea how she’ll react to someone new coming into that room. And she could experience the spike in dopamine at any moment. I’ll take one of the psychiatrists and a couple of guards in with me. I promise.”
Colonel Tann stood there for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of what Xavier offered. Xavier could see the gears turning in his mind, his eyes watching Misty as she stood in the middle of the room and turned away from them, looking at something unseen or unheard by them. As he looked between Tann and Misty, she walked to the bed and lay down, pulling the thin, coarse blanket over her body. The change had drained all the energy from her body.
“Please, Colonel. She has no one now. Well, no family, anyways. Just let me do this,” Xavier practically begged as he stared at the man. When Tann hesitated, Xavier continued. “It doesn’t matter what you say. I am responsible for what happened to this girl, and I want to help her. I need to help her.”
Colonel Tann’s shoulders sagged, and he gave into Xavier’s request.
“Fine, Jackson, but I will be in there with you every time you enter that room. And you will take all the necessary precautions put in place to ensure she doesn't infect you. You got it? Are we clear, Officer?”
Xavier nearly jumped out of his skin.
“Crystal. I promise, sir.”
“And, if you go in there without me and something happens to you, I will tell the Government of Defense that I had not endorsed this course of action. You hear me?” He pointed a stiffened index finger at Xavier’s chest as is to emphasize his point.
“You’ve got it, Colonel. I won’t let you down.”
Colonel Tann nodded and turned toward the door, opening it wide. He stopped just inside the threshold and turned to look at Xavier with eyes full of hopefulness.
“Figure this out, Xavier. If anyone can, it’s you.”
After he said the words, he left the room and closed the door behind him with a soft click. Xavier couldn’t believe his luck and knew he would do whatever it took not to let Colonel Tann, G.O.D., or the remaining members of the human race down.
Chapter 15
The Dead Zone
July 2027
Alpha Squad
“Now the fun begins,” Joshua said sarcastically to Mark.
Mark wasn’t sure what to say in return as all three squads made their way across the Dead Zone, coming ever closer to the forest’s edge that began at the base of the portion of the Smoky Mountains where the Government of Defense officials stated the Head Hunter was located. The others in their squad remained silent, listening to the squawk of the CB radio bolted to the top portion of the dashboard of the Humvee.
Crankers and Shadows littered the landscape, some close enough to touch while others dotted the distance like undead pock marks. The gunners on the back of the Humvees were protected by a thick metal, grid-like cage that only opened from the inside and left enough room in each grid to point the muzzle of the automatic weapon through and small enough to keep the undead out. From what Mark knew about them, they had been welded to the vehicles by the top minds within G.O.D. who had developed an alloy in the lab that held fast and strong no matter what was done to them.
He kept his eyes on their destination, the trees lining the mountains a lush green that only seemed to exist there now outside of the orchards between the towns and Stations. The meteorite shower had changed a lot of the landscape; most of the Dead Zone was made up of red clay dirt in the Southern regions, deserts more toward the west, and a nearly barren landscape dotted with extremely sparse plant life everywhere else in the United States. A true wilderness nearly inhospitable to any life form that depended on it for survival. But humanity had adjusted and still did so even seven years later.
The sharp squeal of tire brakes and gunfire dragged Mark from his thoughts. He turned to look out the back window and past the gunner in the Alpha Squad as cries and shouts blared from the radio.
“Mayday! Mayday! Beta Squad to Eagle, in need of assistance!”
Eagle was the code name for all three Squads as one unit, G.O.D. and Station Four called Freedom One and Freedom Two. Neither of the two would be any help this far out because we they no longer had those types of resources. Aircraft drew far too much attention from the creatures. Plus, the Barbarians had been rumored to have knocked the first few they tried to use out of the sky. Much better to travel on the ground where the monsters were slower.
The Beta Squad’s vehicle was completely covered in Shadows, the telltale sign being the look of intelligent movement and forethought that came with their gift of memory. All anyone could do inside of the Humvee Mark rode in was watch in horror as the gunner on the back of their unit opened fire. The sound in such proximity caused his ears to ring, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joshua plug his ears with his index fingers. And all they could do was watch in horror, not able to help in any possible way.
Bullets exploded from the barrel of the automatic weapon and each one moved through a couple of Shadows’ heads like butter, pieces of dead brain tissue and skull fragments flying through the air and splattering the Humvee. What Mark saw next shocked him to his very core.
“Oh my God,” he nearly screamed.
What looked like slugs emerged from within the broken skulls of the Shadows, sprouting legs as their exoskeletons began to sheath their vulnerable bodies. They launched themselves from their shattered homes and onto the windshield of the vehicle, making it hard for those inside of it to see to drive.
Even more Shadows came out of the woodwork, noticing the Humvees and the hosts just inside of them. They ran toward them, trying to jump onto the massive metal bodies, but couldn�
�t hold on. One jumped at the window just next to Mark, screaming in a low and guttural animal cry. Mark watched as it opened its mouth. The head of the Syc that infected it peeked out from the back of its throat, slithering and stretching out with a feral hiss. Joshua and Mark both cried out in disgust and terror, but then the Shadow’s head exploded in a shower of blood, brain, and bone, the body falling to the ground and rolling underneath the back tires of the Humvee.
A metal crunch ripped through the air, and the Beta Squad’s Humvee spiraled out of control, completely covered in Shadows. Crankers were being drawn to the commotion, and they would be on them within mere moments. And even as the Shadows chased the other two vehicles in the mission, Mark knew that Beta Squad was truly done for. It didn’t matter what they did, and they couldn’t stop for them. They had to keep going. It was one of the things they had been ordered to do once they left the relative safety of Station Four, and now he could see why. His move from the other Stations was safe enough, never resulting in the loss of life in any capacity.
The Beta Squad’s vehicle then began to roll onto its side, spinning on the two passenger side tires before topping completely over onto its side. As the others continued to drive on to their objective, they heard the screams over the gunfire and roaring engines. The growls of hunger permeated the air as they watched in pure horror from their relative safety despite the Shadows that chased after them. Crankers descended on the fallen Humvee and the man inside the gunner’s cage fired his weapon over and over, obliterating every one of the monsters he could, but he had no safety from the Syc parasite that would emerge from within their shattered skulls to hunt down a new host. Even the Alpha and Zeta Squads’ gunners stopped firing, knowing all hope was lost. They couldn’t even put the men out of their misery, they were so covered in the creatures.
“We have to go back. It’s not too late,” Joshua yelled over the engine of the military vehicle.
Mark didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was indeed too late, and that if they did go back, it would only get the rest of them killed. And then where would Jenny and Misty be? Misty would most likely be killed, and Jenny would be infected by the same Rev who had infected their other friend.
Zombified (Book 1): The Head Hunter Page 21
