by Mark Clodi
“I knew I was right.” Sentry said smugly. He bent over and picked up the syringe and approached Stewart’s arm. “You can’t order them yourself. Clever, but I am not your run of the mill second stage human anymore. I am a God.” Sentry stabbed the needle into Stewart’s vein and depressed the plunger. The zombies woodenly let go of her arm and approached Max.
“Stewart? Stewart, are you all right?” Max called.
“She’s fine, or she will be, soon. Things will go quickly now, and soon I will have double agents to infect the few I choose to leave alive.”
Max laughed, “We don’t have medical training; we’ll probably mess up the injections, even if you tell us what to do.”
Sentry stopped and stared for a moment at Max, a slight grin on his face, “Max, I don’t have any more of this.” He raised the syringe, “And I don’t think I could make more. You’ll pass on the subjugation just like we do, via saliva, blood or other bodily fluids.”
“What? You mean, we’ll eat people?”
“I don’t think you’ll do it by choice, but I will be able to force the issue. And anyone you infect as well.” Sentry plunged the needle into Max’s arm.
The doctor pulled the needle out and casually tossed it into the sink over by the counter. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? Tell me Max, can you affect verbal orders? Let’s see shall we? Kenneth, go see what is going on in the warehouse.” Max didn’t see any mental emphasis on Sentry’s words and Kenneth hastened out the door quickly.
Sentry nodded and said, “I see. Very interesting. I wonder why this is? Well, I won’t have to wonder long will I? Soon I will be able to crawl around inside your head to my heart’s content.”
Bill was struggling on the gurney, trying to sit up against the massive webbed restraints holding him down. Sentry glanced at him, “There is one who won’t give up. A shame, really. Aaron, if that one breaks free, shoot him.”
The assistant he addressed pulled a pistol from his belt and stepped towards Bill.
Max felt the liquid spreading through his body, it felt like fire, like it was killing him, it hurt like the Hell his wife always warned him about. More gunshots sounded from outside and Sentry cocked his head and took in many data packets, but Max, distracted as he was, didn’t intercept any of them. He could barely focus his eyes on Sentry.
The doctor nodded and probed against Max’s mental defenses gently, “I think you are weakening. Very good.” He moved over to Stewart, who was lying almost motionless on her gurney. Taking out a scalpel Sentry ran it across Stewart’s arm, blood pooled on her skin, which Sentry brushed aside with one hand to reveal unblemished skin. “Amazing. Even faster than series one.”
Sentry moved to Max’s side and plunged the small blade into the flesh above the injection site. He pulled the knife down Max’s arm and watched with interest as the precise cut healed over with a minuscule amount of blood loss. Looking Max in the eyes, he asked, “And you don’t want to give this gift to your fellow humans? To not do so would be…criminal.” Again Sentries thoughts pressed into Max’s head, getting further in than they did before and causing Max to cringe backward.
“What? You want me to stay out of your mind? That’s what you want isn’t it?” Sentry asked.
“Fuck. You.”
More gunfire came from nearby. The man named Kenneth came rushing back into the room.
“Doctor?” the man began.
“Yes, yes, I am still getting your information. I know the warehouse is experiencing some troubles. Maybe I shouldn’t have knocked a hole in the wall between here and there after all. Well, Max, I am afraid there is another situation that I simply must go and clean up. We’ll talk later. You’re going to live forever now you know, so we’ll have plenty of time to discuss things. I am on top of this new world order and you…you, are my chosen son to carry the word of my greatness to the people.” Sentry cocked a thumb at Stewart, “She’ll be my backup, my covert agent, as it were. After she knocks out a kid or two for me to study. Congratulations, Max, you’re going to be a father, if you aren’t already. I’m afraid it will all be invitro though, things are going too fast to do it the old fashioned way. I’ll get what I need before you leave.”
Sentry’s voiced faded off as Max fell into a dazed state of semi-consciousness. It felt like the series three formula was eating away at his insides. Sentry gave Max’s mind one last probe and was pleased to find it had almost fully collapsed and that he was able to rifle through it with no trouble at all. Pulling away from the memories, Sentry nodded at the men in the room with him, “Okay, Kenneth, Chad and Chris, you come with me and cover my back. Do not let anything happen to me. Aaron you stay here and watch the subjects.”
Sentry left the room with his thugs in tow and turned right down the hall.
Several minutes went by and all the gunfire in the distance ceased, but the sounds of fighting and yelling did not. Bill continued to struggle against his bonds. One of the many loops of rope around his chest snapped, sounding like a fire cracker as it broke. Aaron raised his pistol. “I will shoot you if you break free.” This caused Bill to slow down, but not entirely cease his struggling.
Max threw his head back against the gurney and screamed in agony. The guard looked his way and Bill flexed again, tearing off another of the many strands holding him down. The screams were not acting on Max’s part, ‘It is tearing me up inside.’ The pain became a white rod of hurt coursing through his system. Stewart wasn’t doing much better, but the gag in her mouth prevented her from screaming like Max.
The two of them thrashed around uncontrollably to the distant sounds of combat, then, almost at the same time, they both stopped moving. Stewart looked across at Max, she had a sheen of bloody perspiration coating her brow. Her look seemed to ask if he was okay. Max was not okay, his head was roaring. His senses were alive and questing outwards like millions of psychic worms tunneling through his surroundings. Max was able to sense everything on a much more intimate level than before. It was like going from a silent film to a three dimensional interactive entertainment extravaganza compared to his abilities before.
The process to gather the information was slower than gathering similar detail with his eyes, but so much more thorough. He knew the contents of the room as if he had brought everything inside himself. He even knew that the burly assistant had a key ring in his pocket and what the keys opened; the door on a Kia Sedona and the door of his house. He knew that the man had photos of both his wife, now dead, and his lover, also dead in his wallet. Also, Aaron had a son, a young kid who had touched both the photos. ‘The kid’s prints are all over his wallet. I wonder if he got in trouble for that?’
Slowly, Stewart bit down into the gag holding her mouth open. The thick red ball crumbled under her assault and she spit pieces out as she made progress. Eventually she was able to speak and said, “Max? You still with me?”
Max didn’t respond, his eyes were wide open assimilating the information he had gathered. ‘There is so much here. I could get lost.’ He was examining the blood on the floor. It came from two hundred and thirty seven different individuals. ‘I don’t know how I can tell, but I know I am right.’
Stewart’s voice brought him out of a detailed examination of the contents of Aaron’s pockets, “Max!”
Aaron was looking at Stewart, and Bill took that opportunity to rend the handcuffs off of his arms and burst free form his gurney. He fell over as the gurney collapsed beneath him and Aaron swiveled back towards the man, raising the pistol up.
“Stop!”
Bill launched himself at Aaron and the pistol barked three times in less than a second. Aaron crumpled as Bill hit him. They went down in a tangle of limbs, but only Aaron rose to his feet, kicking Bill off of him to stand. Bill rolled over onto his back, feebly clutching his stomach with both hands, trying to hold in his life blood.
Max thought, ‘I should be doing something. What’s wrong with me?’ He struggled with his bonds, but it was hopeless, ‘
Apparently the injection didn’t give me any sort of physical strength.’ Max screamed in frustration, “Bill! Damn it don’t die!”
Across from him Stewart’s arm came from where it was bound on the gurney. She calmly reached over and started tugging on the straps holding her down. Aaron shifted the gun to her, “Stop. I will kill you.”
“Sentry wouldn’t like that buddy, boy. I got you in a tough spot. You can’t kill me, I’m one of his experiments. Kill me and you’re just as dead and we both know it.”
Aaron hesitated. Stewart released her other arm and with blazing speed started tugging on her chest straps, tearing them free, instead of carefully undoing them one by one.
Something in Aaron snapped, he stepped towards Stewart and raised his gun to pistol whip her, then a noise at the doorway distracted him. An old man stepped into the room, his eyes were closed and he seemed to be counting his steps, his lips were moving as he did so. When he reached ‘three’ he turned and counted two more steps. Aaron turned and fired at him, but the old man stepped sideways at the last possible second and the bullet hit the wall beside him.
Another shot and another miss and that was all the time Stewart was going to give the zombie. She tore off the arm rest and smashed it into the back of Aaron’s head. Snarling he turned and unloaded the rest of the clip on her. Stewart calmly tore the straps off of her legs and turned sideways to let them hang over the edge of the gurney.
“I didn’t miss.” Aaron stammered, pulling the trigger of the pistol again and again on an empty chamber.
Stewart shook her head. Aaron reloaded and Ruben knelt down next to Bill and opened his eyes. “Aw, Bill.” He said softly, “What a mess you got yourself in this time.”
“Untie Max, Ruben!” Stewart yelled, rushing Aaron.
“I didn’t miss!” Aaron yelled, he brought his gun up to block Stewart’s first punch.
“I know.” Stewart said, remaining calm as she brought a fist up into the zombie’s rib cage.
The two traded blows and Ruben stayed by Bill’s side. “I don’t have any bandages. Why don’t I have any bandages? They didn’t tell me to get any. Why wouldn’t they tell me I would need bandages? I’m sorry Bill.” Ruben pulled the gag off of his friends head.
Bill tried to respond, but only blood poured out of his mouth.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’ll be okay. You were okay before, remember? You broke your leg and it healed up in only a few days.” Reuben said.
Max continued to struggle with his bonds, then switched tactics and focused on Bill instead. He sent the worms into his friend and saw the horrifying damage wrought by the three bullets. Bill’s body was fighting back, but the damage was severe, he wasn’t going to make it.
Aaron brought his combat boot up into Stewart’s groin; she turned and took the blow on the outside of her leg. She kept spinning and hooked his leg with her arm, tugging him off balance onto one leg. Continuing her effort she pulled him up by his thigh and shook off his attempt to grab her around the neck by swinging the man outward. She spun him once and took a large step toward the wall, smashing his head into it. Stewart had thought the wall was just made of gypsum, but the zombie’s head rebounded off of it without doing the slightest bit of damage. Aaron’s head didn’t fare so well, it looked like a water balloon attached to his neck now, his shattered skull leaking fluids as Stewart turned and slammed it into the wall again. She let go of his legs and watched his body crumple into an unmoving pile at the base of the wall.
Stewart was at Max’s side in an instance, tearing aside his bonds and helping him over to Bill. She brushed the blood off of his face, to see unblemished skin where his bruises had already healed. She smiled briefly and knelt with him over their fallen comrade.
Bill tried to sit up, but Max put his hand on his chest and pushed him back down. The physical touch sparked a connection between the two and for a moment Max was inundated with Bill, the two of them mingling in a way that made them one. There was no communication between them, they didn’t need words; Bill was dying and Max couldn’t save him. Tears came to both men’s eyes and Max knew he was going to have to go back to Iowa alone, to face Trisha and the kids. Bill lay back on the floor and pulled in a deep breath, understanding and seeming to accept his fate.
“Do something, Max!” Ruben said.
“I can’t.”
“You have to. I…I got nothing, but I’m supposed to be here, I’m supposed…to get Bill out.” Ruben’s voice trailed off and he bowed his head.
Outside the room the sounds of fighting had lessened, it sounded like Sentry was talking down to someone, monologueing the error of their ways or something. A quick glance in that direction showed Max that he had a woman on the ground and was hovering over her. It was Aubrey, she was still herself, but her mind was struggling not to let Sentry inside of it. Nearby several other zombies stood frozen, watching the unfolding drama.
“We gotta go.” Ruben said.
“Yeah?” asked Stewart, she looked Ruben over and asked, “Where’s the bomb Ruben?”
“Gone. I only came here for Bill, you have to go…to him.”
“Stewart,” Max said, “He’s winning, if we are going to hit him, we need to do it now, she’s almost spent.”
Max got stiffly to his feet, looking at his friend beneath him. Stewart grabbed his arm and tugged him towards the door. He noticed there were holes in the front of her fatigues, but no blood. Pulling to a stop at the doorway he paused to look back over Ruben and Bill.
“Wait, Stewart, one second.” Max rushed back over to Bill and got down over his body again, he licked his lips and bent down over the wounds in his stomach. With both hands he pulled Bill’s shirt apart, eliciting a wearied grunt from his friend. Max put his face to Bill’s wound, hovering just over the worst of them, he spit into it. He sent another probe into the wound to see the effect and when he rose there was a slight smile on his face, “Get him out of here, Ruben!”
“What’d you do? What did you do, Max?”
“I think I fixed him, just get him out of here! Get him back to his family.”
Ruben nodded, “I intend to.” With that he grabbed Bill by the hands and swung him up onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. By the time Ruben reached the hall he just caught the last of Max and Stewart running through the hole Sentry had made in the wall to get to the warehouse.
Chapter 42 – Katie
Katie fell down halfway across the street. It took her some time to realize she had fallen over, she was lost in the flood of memories. When she finally came to, she found herself lying in the pouring rain trying to piece together the fragments of her mind. ‘It’s like doing a puzzle during an earthquake. The pieces keep shifting faster than I can get them into place.´ When she came back she found she was crouched over her rifle trying to shield it from the worst of the rain. ‘Old habits die hard. Always protect your gun.’
Randy offered her a hand up, which she accepted and he pulled her to her feet. She looked at her hand for a moment, then at Randy. “What’d I miss?” she asked him as she ran over to, and rolled under, a late model Ford.
“Aubrey went inside with her troops, more zombies are trickling in, but they seem to be ignoring the melee in the warehouse and heading deeper into the building. Look at the doorway, there is where they all went.”
Randy was sitting with his legs crossed in front of the Ford, he was pointing at a ragged hole in the otherwise pristine warehouse wall that their new angle allowed them to see. “That looks new.” Katie said.
Shrugging his shoulders, Randy said, “Yeah, does it matter? Oh, I saw the old guy run around back of the building too. His eyes were closed and he was stopping and going in a strange pattern.”
“Strange pattern?”
“Yeah, he would take three steps and stop dead still for a second, then take a few more steps and stop again. Sometimes he’d run twenty or thirty paces before stopping. Sometimes he’d only take a single step. The time he stayed still varied to
o.”
“I don’t really care about the old coot. I am surprised one of the contestants for ‘best dressed zombie in military garb’ of the year didn’t put a cap in him though.”
“That’s just it; I don’t think anyone saw him. I mean anyone who cared. Team Aubrey wasn’t exactly interested in capping his ass. The others probably would have. I think, but they always seemed to be looking where he wasn’t at.”
“Weird, but it doesn’t matter. How’s our team doing?” Katie took a rag out of her pocket and wiped the scope down, then proceeded to give the gun a quick wipe down as well.
“Down to her and her man Kurt.”
“Kurt? You know his name.”
“Yeah, sure, I went to high school with him.”
Katie grunted, “Small world.”
“I’m just shitting you. I don’t know who he is, I named him Kurt, so I could root for him. He is like, one of the good guys.”
“Asshole.” Katie lined up her rifle and tried to get a bead on one of the men inside the building. The bright lights were a stark contrast against the dim light made from the approaching storm.
After a moment, Randy asked, “You gonna take a shot or what?”
“They’re moving too fast. What’s with all these assholes going into the building, but not fighting?”
“How should I know? Just pick a target, even winging someone will slow them down enough for Kurt or Aubrey to finish them.”
“Good point. I was looking for a head shot.” A split second later Katie’s bullet winged the zombie Aubrey was fighting in the shoulder. Aubrey wasted no time, she swung her fist around to shatter the thing’s skull and moved on to the next opponent.
