Zombified (Book 1): The Head Hunter

by Sowder, Kindra

  His outstretched hand shook despite his feeble attempts to steady it. As he watched her, she began to shake her head again and pull back into herself, her gray eyes staring past him at something he couldn’t see.

  “Misty?” he probed.

  “No,” she whispered at first. “No.”

  She screamed and turned away from him, curling against the wall as best she could while still standing against it.

  “Please, go away. I don’t want it. I told ‘em that. I told all y’all that,” she whined.

  “Do you want to die?”

  “I’m already dead,” she replied, turning slightly to peek at him through her grimy copper hair. “Ain’t I? I’m dead.”

  Xavier shook his head, truly feeling sorry for Misty and what she had gone through in her life. What she continued to go through.

  “No, Misty. You’re not dead. Just sick.”

  “If y’all only knew . . .” She laughed. “Y’all have no idea.”

  “What do you mean?”

  All she did was giggle like she had gone insane. She stopped abruptly, turning her head as if straining to hear a voice that Xavier himself couldn’t perceive.

  “What is it? What do you hear?”

  Misty turned to face him, dropped to the floor, and sat there cross-legged on the cold concrete. Her new skin tone was nearly identical to the color of the floor.

  “Put the canister down,” she demanded with a sneer. “Mama wants me to eat somethin’. I’m sick and tired of hearin’ her.”

  Xavier did as she asked, placing the canister on the floor between them while still remaining far enough away from her in case she lashed out at him. She did no such thing. He backed away toward the far wall by the door and sat down against it, mirroring her position with his hands on his knees. Misty used both hands to pick up the canister, twisted the cap open, and greedily chugged the blood within the canister. Half of it was down her throat within mere seconds, and while Xavier was in awe of the immense hunger she had to be feeling, he also had so many questions that only she could answer. That was if her state of mind was on enough of an even keel to hold a conversation.

  “Misty? Can you tell me about your family medical history?” he asked.

  Her eyes flicked to him and just as quickly closed as she downed the other half of the canister filled with blood. Before he knew it, it was empty and she was wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She seemed oddly composed after feeding, which he guessed made perfect sense. That just left him to wonder how long it would last before the hallucinations took hold again.

  “I gave G.O.D. everything,” she replied, twisting the metal cap back onto the glass canister.

  “You didn’t.”

  “Yes, I did, Xavier. You’re the Officer of Conduct for Station Four. What are ya doin’ in here questionin’ me about my family’s medical history anyways?”

  “I’m asking you because I’ve been watching you, Misty.”

  He glanced at the two-way mirror, her eyes following his. Anger crossed her features as she stared back at him, her lips set in a straight line.

  “And?” she probed with a slight tilt of her head.

  As Xavier watched her pupils constricted to tiny pin-pricks, the extremely light gray even more menacing.

  He cleared his throat. “And I saw you speaking to your mother. Was she schizophrenic?”

  Misty froze, not even her chest rising and falling with the reflex to breathe.

  “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.” Her face went blank as if she truly had no idea what he was speaking of.

  “You don’t have to lie to me. I saw everything.”

  “Fine.” She sighed, her expression changing from a resoluteness to overwhelming sadness. “Yeah, she was a paranoid schizophrenic.”

  “Why did you feel the need to keep that out of your file with the Government of Defense?” Xavier questioned.

  “That’s somethin’ ya should already know the answer to since ya work for ‘em.”

  He adjusted his position and leaned against the fall with a heavy sigh.

  “Why don’t you enlighten me? Tell me what you think.”

  “Well . . .” She paused, placing the empty canister on the floor beside he. “There’s always been a stigma when it comes to mental illness, Xavier. Especially now. It’s worse than it used to be. There’s no use for someone who is mentally ill in the society we live in now.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  She smirked at him, her newly formed fangs pressing into her full bottom lip as she did so.

  “It’s just the way it is. It’s the way it always has been. If I’d said anythin’ about my mama, they would’ve just sent me out to the Dead Zone with the outlaws like they’ve done to so many before. The chances of me developing the same affliction were too high. Now that I’ve been infected, I’m like she was and, as you can see, I’m locked away. If it was because I was turned into a Rev before, now it’s because I’m a schizophrenic one. Right?”

  “I’m sorry. I wish I could say that wasn’t true.”

  “Exactly, Xavier. Now do ya understand?”

  He nodded. “I do.”

  She grinned and pushed her sweaty hair away from her forehead. “I knew you would.”

  He was almost as shocked as she was by the fact that he did get it at all. He had never once known someone personally who suffered from such a severe form of mental illness. Now he did, and she was dangerous. Not just dangerous, but lethal. Not because of the illness, but because of what she was. Yet another thing she had no control over. All control had been taken away from her once she was turned by Colonel Jenkins and her genetics took over during her transformation.

  He just felt awful that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  ***

  Great Smoky Mountains

  July 2027

  Area 51 – Underground Bunker

  Mark sat alone in the main computer room. Joshua had gotten up and followed Caesar at least thirty minutes ago, not even once looking back to see if Mark would follow. He didn’t. Mark was aware of how Joshua felt about Jenny. It was only so obvious since the Revenants took her. He had a determination to save her that Mark had never seen in him before, even when they fought their way through the Dead Zone as the Stations were being built.

  The sound of heavy-footed steps pulled him from his dismal thoughts and when he turned toward the open doorway Caesar was coming through, followed by Joshua who was right on his heels.

  Caesar looked determined and Joshua looked relieved, leaving Mark to feel like a third wheel. He had missed something large. That something was most likely a massive speech from Joshua about saving Jenny as well as the former United States. Mark knew it was a long shot, but with the kind of power Caesar seemed to have within him, anything was possible. At least Mark hoped so.

  “Genesis, please begin the preparations. Take stock of all the weaponry as well as anything in the armory and the stock rooms,” Caesar ordered.

  “Yes, Caesar,” the computer replied.

  Mark stood from his chair and asked, “What’s going on?”

  “Jenkins was right. Jenny is Caesar’s daughter,” Joshua answered.

  As he walked out of the room, Caesar looked over his shoulder at the two of them. “Follow me, gentlemen. This is war.”

  They both followed without question, following the Head Hunter to another room just off the expansive common area. A pot of coffee had been brewed. Mark smelled it on the air but resisted the urge to pour himself a cup.

  “You two need to understand that this information could cost the commander his life,” Genesis chided them in her robotic voice.

  All three men entered through a door that slid open to welcome them inside, Mark trailing at the end of the small line. What he saw when they walked into the room took his breath away. The only place he had seen with even more weaponry and supplies was Station Four, but the armory in Caesar’s bunker ran a close second in grandeur.
Mark stopped right inside the doorway as Caesar made his way around, each wall and shelf lined with a multitude of firearms and ammunition as well as enough grenades to blow the entire place up.

  “Genesis, how long?” Caesar asked into the empty air.

  “Commander . . .?” the computer began.

  “Genesis, please. How long have you known Jennifer was still alive?” Caesar yelled while standing in front of one of the tall shelves lined with different types of handguns. One hand rested on the edge of one of the shelves, and his head was hung down low, eyes closed past what Mark could tell was emotional turmoil.

  The air around them stood still when no answer came. Granted, it was a computer, but Genesis did act so human Mark tended to forget that. Anyone would have forgotten no matter what, aside from the absence of a human body when words came over the speaker system.

  “I have known since the first attack on the Stations. I just couldn’t tell you. It would distract you,” she relented.

  Mark could practically hear the reluctant sigh if the robot indeed breathed, but nothing came after except angry words from the man that created her.

  “I made you too human. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Caesar,” Genesis said.

  “That’s enough, Genesis,” Caesar shouted.

  The room fell silent almost instantly, making Mark feel awkwardly like he was standing between a married couple arguing over what to have for dinner or who would change the baby’s diaper. Caesar slammed an open palm on the shelf he leaned on and turned his face up to look at Mark and Joshua, his eyes flashing with anger at the secrets his robotic companion had kept from him. She had known about Jenny’s survival before they had. Yes, they knew her, but they had had no idea she was the supposedly deceased daughter of the Head Hunter himself. The myth. The legend.

  “Congratulations, gentlemen,” he said as he pushed himself away from the shelf and made his way toward them. “You’re a part of the team. In this room, you will find everything you need. Only take what you can carry to protect yourselves. Considering we’re going up against Crankers and Shadows through the Dead Zone, make sure to grab a blade, so we don’t waste ammunition. We’ll need as much of it as we can when we get to the prison and the Revs.”

  Mark and Joshua did as he ordered but watched the Head Hunter carefully as he walked toward the back of the room where another door separated them from another room. The place was like a maze, something new that no one expected in every room.

  “You plan to go in their head first? This is why I chose not to tell you. I knew you would become reckless and, because of these two, you’re putting yourself in more danger than usual. Think about this, Commander,” the electronic female voice came over the intercom system.

  Caesar stopped in front of the door at the back of the room, exasperated when the door didn’t open after sensing his movement. The small light above the door remained red instead of turning green to accept his entry.

  “I am, Gen. Now open the door.”

  “Caesar—”

  “Just do it. Saying my name like that is not going to stop me, do you understand?”

  “I’m so sorry, sir.”

  Flashing from red to green, the light just above the door signaled the acceptance of Caesar’s entrance, Genesis bending to Caesar as easily as if she were truly human and felt awful about what she had done. The door slid open and revealed a room with red walls lined with white shelves. Mark couldn’t see farther inside to see what the room held, but he stopped himself from attempting to peek inside past Caesar as he strapped a holster around his waist.

  “What’s in there?” Joshua asked as he peered through the threshold past Caesar’s broad shoulders.

  “Come on in, fellas. You guys are about to see the new generation of pest control.”

  Mark looked at Joshua and gave him a weak smile with a shrug. As far as he was concerned, pest control on this level was the least of their problems.

  Chapter 21

  Near the Kentucky Dam

  July 2027

  Station 4 – Isolation Chamber

  Misty still sat on the floor where Xavier had left her in when he could no longer look her in the eyes without his chin trembling slightly. She had been able to smell the grief on him during his visit. Or at least what she thought was grief. It was pungent and slightly bitter, smelling like a trace of dying roses that she could taste on the back of her tongue during his entire visit. Even after he left it still lingered in the air, tickling her nostrils.

  She had tried not to breathe while he was there, the tension and the scent and taste of what he felt too much for her to handle. She knew he felt guilty about what had happened to her when the Revenants came and didn’t need the reminder. Especially now that she was struggling with her own mental instability.

  Her mother’s presence since she had begun having hallucinations came and went, but there was something even more disturbing than that remaining. A hum inside of her head that caused the parasite inside of her chest to twitch slightly, which felt strangely like a heart arrhythmia. Misty closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and placed her hand over her Syc-infected heart in an effort to stop the twinge beneath her ribcage.

  Once her eyes were shut, her sense of hearing heightened exponentially. She could hear things she hadn’t been able to while human. She had learned that the infection that caused someone to become a Revenant had a large impact on your senses, but she had never realized just how much of one until that very moment. The sound of water rushing through old pipes flooded her ears along with so many other sounds she had never before heard within the walls of Station Four. She focused further and filled her lungs with another useless breath of oxygen. Tiny scratches she could tell were the feet of rats, a few small squeaks, and the sound of heavy boots mixed with the moving water, coming at her in a rush of noise that she wasn’t confident she could tolerate for too much longer. As she attempted to pull some of the focus back she opened her eyes, but the assault of sound continued, joined by another sound altogether.

  Voices drifted into the room through the metal door. Her eyes narrowed at it, and she rose to her feet, tip-toeing toward it like they could hear her. She knew it wasn’t possible in their uninfected state, but she couldn’t stop herself from the instinct to act as human as possible; even with the gray skin and eyes, the blue tinge of her veins surfacing just underneath. She was happiest her hair wasn’t falling out so she could deal with the rest, as long as she found a way to control the hallucinations from the schizophrenia her new condition helped her to develop.

  Standing in front of the door, she placed one ear against it even though she didn’t need to. She could hear the two men outside the isolation chamber without doing so. The two nameless men on the other side of the door caused her hunger to flare in her belly again as she heard their hearts pump their life force through them just underneath the tenor of their voices.

  “So what you’re saying is that this Head Hunter has a cure?” the first asked with a tone of surprise.

  “That’s what I heard, but who knows, really?” came an echoey reply.

  “Looks like you’re trying to say that the Government of Defense is lying,” replied the first man. “Or that that Jenkins guy is.”

  The other man chuckled. “Man, how truthful was G.O.D. really about where the Shadows came from at first? And they even told us the Head Hunter was a lie. A fairy tale even like mermaids and whatnot. How much can we really believe? It’s all a bunch of hocus-pocus at this point, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I guess you’re right.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Well, I’m getting antsy. I hope they get back with the Head Hunter soon so we can stop guarding this Rev.”

  “Patience, my man.” Misty heard the sound of one man slapping another reassuringly on the shoulder. “Once the order comes we’ll get to take her out soon enough and cut that pretty head right off her shoulders. It’s a shame, too.”

  “No kidding. If she d
idn’t get turned, I would’ve asked her out for a beer at the bar in town or something.”

  “There are plenty more fish in the sea,” the other man joked.

  Both of them laughed, and Misty backed away from the door. She hadn’t chosen this. She hadn’t asked to become a Revenant. An undead thing locked away in a room with the thought of human blood rolling over her tongue and the sweet tang of iron that made her mouth water. But according to the two men guarding the isolation chamber, there was a cure and the Head Hunter had it. The same Head Hunter who was Jenny’s father. The supposed modern urban legend that was indeed real. At least, real enough for someone to kidnap his daughter and threaten their food source to get to him.

  That was the moment she made the decision that it didn’t matter what it took. She would find a way to get this cure because she wanted to be human again. Not only that, but she couldn’t imagine life without the warmth of the sun on her face or the taste of real food in her mouth.

  ***

  Abandoned Memphis State Penitentiary

  July 2027

  Isolation Chamber 4

  The Revenant soldiers had tied Jenny to the metal chair again to make sure she couldn’t injure any more of their people and make another escape attempt. The only escape she hoped she would make was when her father hopefully arrived to save her, which she was still skeptical about. She wanted to hold onto the little bit of faith she had left, but after living the last seven years believing her father had died in the meteorite shower, she wasn’t about to hold her breath. The Revenants were known for their aggressive nature as well as being rather two-faced, so when Colonel Jenkins had stated that he knew her father and he was still alive and kicking, she couldn’t rely on any of it. Not at first.

  But there she was, alone and tied up to a chair in the Memphis State Penitentiary that had been abandoned years before the meteorites hit, waiting in the near darkness of the room for her father to save her. That was if anyone had gone out to find him. Was she worth all the trouble? She would think so. After all, the Revenants had threatened the lives of those in the town and those within the walls of Station Four. Why wouldn’t they send a convoy out to find him to save what was left?