Zombified (Book 1): The Head Hunter

by Sowder, Kindra

  “Clowns? Seriously? We’ve just been living with what we thought was left like everyone else,” Joshua spat with anger.

  “Don’t feel bad. Everyone else is just as naïve as you two are and I’m sure even some of the G.O.D. officials have no idea about it either, especially the low-ranking individuals. I’ll put it this way. Until today you two thought the world was entirely infected. You believed whatever they taught you at the Stations about the infection. The Government of Defense took what was left of humans in the U.S. and weeded them out to make workers, soldiers, scientists, and whatever else they needed to fulfill their purpose. And they remained silent about what it was like overseas to keep everyone quiet and complacent. We have all been pawns to control and study the Dead Zone for the last seven years. They don’t tell you any of this to make you all feel important, like the struggle you go through is a part of the journey to save the entire world when that’s not even close to true. That, boys, is why I called you clowns. You’re just as blind as the rest of the country.”

  The room was deafeningly quiet for a moment as if all time stood still while the two in front of him thought over what he just told them. Caesar watched as their eyes unfocused and shifted, as the gears inside of their minds turning to work out the entire situation. Making them understand wasn’t his concern, though. Saving his daughter from the hands of Colonel Jenkins and his Revenant flunkies was. That was if she was even still alive, which there was a slim to none chance of considering the temper of a Revenant. He just had to be thankful she wasn’t being held by the Barbarians or she’d already be dead, drained, and thrown outside to the Crankers and the vultures.

  After what felt like an eternity, Mark took a deep and shaking breath, turning his eyes up to meet Caesar’s.

  “So . . . what now? You take us back to the Station and throw us to the wolves so you can go off by yourself and save Jenny from this Jenkins guy? And then what? We just continue to live like this knowing what’s beyond our borders?”

  “If you let us go with ya to save Jenny we can do something. We can change things and, no matter what ya say, ya can’t do it by yourself. That’s if you even care about the people still living in this country who are dying every single day,” Joshua began. “You need us.”

  Caesar froze in place, thinking about what they had just said. He had believed since day one that the United States couldn’t be saved. Not by him. Not by anyone. But here these two were, as naïve as they were, giving him even a shimmer of hope that things could change. That he, along with them and his daughter at his side, could stop the Government of Defense and those who would see the United States continue to self-destruct because of someone’s selfishness.

  “Caesar?” Genesis’s metallic voice echoed gently off the walls.

  When he looked up, both Mark and Joshua were watching him carefully as if he may snap at any moment. Did he have what it takes? Could he finally escape his self-inflicted solitude to do what needed to be done instead of sitting back in the shadows and letting humanity continue to live the way it had been for the last seven years?

  “I need a minute. I need to think this over,” Caesar stated as he walked out of the room.

  He didn’t take a look back at either of them and, as he exited the main computer room, he couldn’t help but think he was going to regret bringing those two back with him.

  Chapter 20

  Abandoned Memphis State Penitentiary

  July 2027

  Private Cell

  There wasn’t any other word besides enraged that could describe how Colonel Jenkins felt at that moment as he paced back and forth in one of the decrepit and dilapidated cell. The Meldano girl was going to be more trouble than she was worth, but she was the only way he knew to draw the Head Hunter out of hiding. There had been a scattering of stories of his appearance over the last seven years, but nothing concrete that he could prove under further investigation. At one point, Jenkins had even hoped the Head Hunter was dead, feeding the vultures or some form of undead living in the Dead Zone.

  Before his transformation into a Revenant, he would have never wished death on anyone. Not even his worst enemy. But the increase in dopamine was something the Revenant doctors and scientists told him was the cause for him being quick to anger. And that was the case for all Revs no matter how soon since their transition. Those same doctors even told him that it would also take more time to cool down from his anger, which meant he needed to stay away from Jennifer Meldano until he could speak to her without snapping her neck. He had a plan for her and killing her now would only ruin it. After all, he couldn’t turn someone once they were already dead. The type of infection that resulted in a Revenant saw to that. No one was certain why, but it was how it worked.

  Changing her friend probably wasn’t the best idea he had ever had, but it had felt like it at the time. He had reacted to her terror without thinking, even welcoming her to his side of the war between them and what was left of humanity, but there was one thing he hadn’t told her. If he had, they would have killed her as soon as they left the Station with Jennifer. He felt it in his bones and in his blood that she was still alive. Like a hum in the center of his chest. He rubbed right over where his heart would be, the Syc replacing it entirely since his infection. He even felt the familiar thump-thump as if his heart was still present as the parasite forced his blood to circulate continually throughout his body.

  Closing his eyes, he focused his mind on the young girl he had turned at Station Four, picturing her head of red hair and the fear in her sky-blue eyes that had only driven his response at the time. He pulled air into his lungs that no longer functioned as they once had, the reflex to do so never dissipating after all this time.

  After a few moments of attempting to focus on the girl and her location, he was finally able to pick out the blurred image filled with gray walls and bright lights. He was confident they had her isolated because of what she had become. From the look of her surroundings, even though he couldn’t make anything out in any detail, that seemed to be the case. Focusing further, he could now tell that the walls were made from some type of concrete block, and the girl was seated on a bed of some sort. Maybe a cot.

  Her unfocused gaze flew to the left, and he spied a two-way mirror across the room. Most likely it was made of shatter-proof and bullet-proof glass, considering the type of individuals they held in those types of rooms at the Stations. Typically, some type of undead or an extremely dangerous offender. He felt the Syc vibrate around her heart in her chest, recognizing his mind inside of its host as her Revenant father.

  “There’s my girl,” he muttered to himself, a sinister grin spreading on his chapped lips. “I see what you see, and I’ll learn everything I need to know. Thank you for your sacrifice.”

  A flutter in his chest alerted him to the perfect linking of their minds, leading him to believe that he had the power in this situation and not even God could stop him.

  ***

  Great Smoky Mountains

  July 2027

  Area 51 – Underground Bunker

  Caesar hadn’t noticed Joshua following him to his sleeping quarters and he had remained as quiet as he could even though he had fully intended on confronting the man. Joshua had a hard time admitting his feelings about anyone in the world they lived in, since the mortality rate was extremely high and unexpected death was likely. Joshua cared immensely for Jenny, never once letting her know how he felt because he had kept it hidden from himself so well until that moment when she was dragged back into the Station before being carted off to be Head Hunter bait. And he wasn’t about to let her die because her father wanted to work alone.

  Joshua watched his back as he moved through the common area that they had first encountered when they arrived at the bunker, and went through a door on the very far end where Joshua assumed he lived within the mountain. Where they talked didn’t matter to him as long as they had the conversation he felt they needed to have. And Mark seemed to understand it as Jo
shua got up from his seat and followed Caesar out of the room. Caesar had been so inside of his head he hadn’t noticed at all, which Joshua found interesting.

  When he pushed through the doors, he found Caesar pacing just beyond them behind a couch that had seen better days. It was old but not ratty, just faded from time. The man’s red eyes flicked to him for all of a second and then focused on something unseen on the floor as he paced.

  Joshua studied the room for only a second, trying to figure something out to get into the guy’s head, but all he spotted was a photo of Jenny sitting on a shelf.

  “You’ve held onto Jenny for all these years,” Joshua stated, pointing at the photo.

  Caesar stopped his pacing and turned to Joshua, eyes incredulous and filled with cynicism. For what reason Joshua had no idea, but considering his reaction to the news that his daughter was still alive and kicking may have been enough of an indication.

  “How do you know her? And I want the truth.” Caesar paused. “Please.”

  He couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man, and he owed Jenny’s father an explanation whether he believed it or not.

  “We met her at Station Four while we were being processed in. She was standing in line behind us and said she’d seen the Head Hunter while the Teachers were addressing the group. She’s a strong woman,” Joshua said, “and smart. Incredibly smart.”

  Caesar shook his head with lowered lids. “No, that’s impossible. She died during the meteorite shower along with her mother.”

  “That’s not true. She’s alive, and the Revenants have her. There’s no tellin’ how much longer she has left in their hands.”

  Joshua saw the shock in his eyes and that shock quickly changed into something he had only seen in the Dead Zone. Something no one else besides an outlaw had a reason to feel, because only liars and back stabbers lived there as far as those within the Stations were concerned. Disbelief, horror, and pure wrath.

  Before Joshua had a second to react, Caesar was on him, wrapping his large and cold hand around his throat. He stumbled backward as the angered man pushed him against the closed door behind him. Caesar stared at him with teeth bared and eyes filled with despair and tears.

  “I’m going to say something, son, and I’m only going to say it once. This better not be a trick cooked up by those jerks running the Government of Defense, or I’ll take you both outside and leave you for the Barbarians,” he hissed.

  “No, No trick. Promise,” Joshua choked out past Caesar’s grip.

  Caesar’s grasp loosened so quickly that Joshua fell to his knees as the man backed away, gulping in breaths past the pain. His lungs burned as oxygen filtered in, pushing back out with the same painful sensation.

  “I promise,” Joshua gasped as he watched the Head Hunter from his place on the floor. “The Revenants took her. I don’t have a reason to lie to ya.”

  “You may not,” Caesar said as he pointed down at him, “but they do. How sure can you be that any of this is true?”

  Joshua looked up at him in shock. The Head Hunter had become so paranoid over the years he had forgotten that most human beings were nothing like the ones who ran the Government of Defense. That not all people were evil, with ulterior motives.

  “Look,” Joshua began as he rose to his knees, “not everyone is out to get ya. No one lied to me, and no one is lying to ya. Your daughter is alive. I know because I’ve seen her, I’ve spoken to her, shared a beer with her. We’ve shared our secrets. We’ve talked about what the world was like for us before the Stations were built. It is your daughter, and Colonel Jenkins has her, and ya know what he’s like. I know very little, but I could tell that he isn’t the type to play games. In all seriousness, what do ya think he’ll do to her if we don’t show up with ya in tow?”

  Caesar rubbed the back of his neck with one large hand, his brows furrowing in concentration as he considered.

  “I don’t know exactly what he’d do, but it wouldn’t be good. Things have changed since I last saw him. He’s a Revenant and a lot more aggressive than he was seven years ago. I can say one thing, though,” Caesar stated as his gray eyes rose to meet Joshua’s. “He has plans for her, and I have a feeling that anything he does is to get back at me for injecting him with the ‘Faith’ serum.”

  Joshua sat there and watched Caesar’s expressions change from terror to sorrow, to grief, to anger, and then back to terror all over again. He felt the same way and couldn’t stop the roller coaster of emotions he felt as he thought about the torture Jenny could be enduring at that moment. He hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

  ***

  Near the Kentucky Dam

  July 2027

  Station 4 – Isolation Chamber

  Xavier stood just outside the isolation chamber where they were keeping Misty. One hand gripped the handle as his other hand lay palm down on the large slab of metal that separated him from the girl he felt guilty about losing to the other side. And G.O.D. wouldn’t let her live for too much longer. He had a feeling. A gut instinct that told him that as soon as she was no use to them, she would be gone. Not that she had much of one to begin with except to study, but Jenkins had said he would know if she were killed. He had a way to see what they did to her. He was just clueless as to what he could be doing.

  “Just go in. You’re responsible for her, and you know it,” he said to himself, barely above a whisper. Misty hadn’t fed, that much was made clear by the scientists who had brought animal blood to her.

  A scratching noise started on the other side of the door at the same height as his outstretched fingers. His chin jerked up, and his eyes stared at that spot on his side of the door, another two long scratches sounding just on the other side. It started quietly at first, but then grew louder.

  “Yes, Officer Jackson, do come in. After all, ya watched him turn me. You’re to blame,” Misty crooned sadistically with a slight hiss. “Come on in. It’s lonely in here all by myself.”

  Xavier squeezed his eyes shut and touched his forehead to the door.

  “Back away from the door, Misty,” he ordered, but his voice was shaky instead of commanding when the words came out.

  “Oh, Xavier, you’re no fun,” Misty responded with a short giggle.

  He reached out to the side without looking at the metal locker by the door and removed a few pieces of Kevlar specially made to avoid Revenant bites, putting it all on as if it were second nature. In a large way, it was. He had done it multiple times up to that point, and he didn’t see things changing anytime soon. His heart raced behind his ribcage as he fastened the last piece of Kevlar. Fastening the strip of bite resistant fabric around his neck, he secured it with a few snaps just underneath the collar of the thick Kevlar sweater, zipping it up all the way around for extra security where the two pieces met.

  Placing his hand back on the thick handle of the door, he took a deep breath and called out to her. “Misty, please move to the other side of the room with your back against the wall.”

  Her musical laughter moved through the small cracks between the metal door and the threshold where they weren’t perfectly flush with one another. Xavier hated treating her like a monster, but that was what she had become, wasn’t it? A monster with no morals and a lust for blood that rivaled any human being’s thirst for riches. One that also seemed to be exhibiting the signs of paranoid schizophrenia, which was what he wanted to come into the room to ask her about. Why didn't they know about her family history? Why had she kept it a secret for the last seven years? That was if she gave him the chance to question her.

  Even though she had obviously gone mad, he still saw a shimmer of the real girl living just inside of the same body.

  “I’m coming in,” Xavier announced.

  He turned the handle and carefully slipped inside, keeping his eyes peeled for the girl that could so easily rip his throat out without trying. As soon as he was inside, he heard soft cries coming from the other side of the room. There she was, her back completely flush ag
ainst the far wall as directed, her face in her hands as her shoulders shook with sobs. The white clothes that he had had to talk her into wearing were slightly dingy from her sitting on the floor and rolling around. He had seen her scrambling away from and speaking to an unseen force more than once since her transformation. Every now and then he had heard her speak to her mother, whom he knew was deceased. She had passed as a result of the crimson fog, but that was all Misty had ever told them. So, that was the only useful information.

  Streams of stark crimson blood ran down her arms and dripped from her elbows onto the concrete floor. The sight of it startled him at first, but he calmed himself once he remembered what her affliction now meant when it came to tears.

  “Misty?”

  “Stay back, Xavier. Just stay back.”

  She never looked up at him. Just shook her head repeatedly.

  Xavier looked to his left, finding the glass and metal canister of what he could only assume was pig’s blood that the scientists had brought to her, leaving it there in hopes she could become hungry enough to drink it. Human blood would be better for her, but they couldn’t offer her that without a willing donor. And no one had stepped up to the plate with her friends gone in search of the Head Hunter.

  Reaching out, he picked up the canister and approached Misty as carefully as he could, one foot in front of the other.

  “Misty, please, you have to drink this.”

  Her eyes shot up and met his, her arms cradled against her belly as if she were in pain. Blood ran down her cheeks in small rivulets, making her face a mess of bright red with gray flesh peeking through. The color of her eyes was striking. Light gray, nearly white; a hue he had never seen in a Revenant before. Something made her special and he wasn’t certain what, but he planned on finding out.

  “Please,” Xavier pleaded with the girl as he held the canister out to her.