My Zombie Summer (Book 1): The Undead Road

by David Powers King

  “I didn’t see anyone,” I said. “Does that seem strange to you guys?”

  The others looked at me. “Mho?” Jewel uttered with her cheeks full of food.

  “If people are working on a vaccine here, why didn’t we see anyone else? Where are all the doctors? The federal agents? The military!” I shivered. “It seems so dead in this place.”

  “You’re being paranoid . . .” Kaylynn set her sack down. “Nothing looks good to me.”

  “Seriously,” Jewel added. “Who eats this stuff?”

  “Apparently you,” I said. Was I paranoid? I hadn’t stopped to give it much thought. “Save me some.”

  “Ouch!” Kaylynn dropped her soda and reached for her head. “Oow!” I was about to ask if she had bit her tongue, but the way she held her head in her hands was exactly what she’d done on the observation deck. Jewel and I rushed to her. Instead of fighting the pain, Kaylynn stared at the floor with the most mortified face ever. “You guys, we have to get out of this place!”

  The horror in Kaylynn’s eyes had no trouble convincing me that something was up. Even Chloe had a nervous sidestep with her whine. Color returned to Kaylynn’s face as her pain appeared to subside, leaving her sweaty and breathless. She wasn’t messing around.

  “Why do we have to get out of here?” Jewel asked before I could.

  Kaylynn just stared at the wall, shaking.

  “Hey, don’t leave us hanging,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “Sanders’s frequency. I felt it again.” When neither of us caught onto what she was talking about, she let out a frustrated breath. “He’s using that phone again!”

  “He uses it a lot,” I said. “Maybe he accidentally touched the frequency?”

  “Or he’s trying to play Candy Cups?” Jewel added.

  “Then why did I hear screaming?” Kaylynn asked. “I think . . . I know he’s keeping Vectors down here!”

  “And you called me paranoid . . .” I smiled.

  Kaylynn gave me a death glare. “Don’t push it.”

  If Kaylynn was telling the truth, it didn’t make sense to me. She hadn’t steered us wrong in the past, so her claim was worth a look. Without a chance to sit on the comfy couches, I made for the door and looked for a way to open it. There was no handle, and no groove to slide the door back into the wall. I couldn’t locate a button or a switch, just a detailed directory of the facility to look at—divided into four wings.

  We pushed against the door with our weight.

  We punched it. Kicked it. I even swore at it.

  Sanders had us trapped like mice in a cage.

  “See?” Kaylynn insisted. “We’re locked in.”

  I scanned the room. “Gotta be a way out.”

  Chloe barked as she scratched at the door, but she had no better luck. As for Jewel, she was speechless, clearly worried, finishing the last of her crackers. “What do we do?” she asked. “Did Sanders lock Cody up?”

  I groaned. When would these girls shut up about Cody? That traitorous doofus was the last person I wanted to think about. Or see. I couldn’t believe how willing Jewel was to forgive him—same with Kaylynn, if only a little. As for me, I was saving my last bullet for . . . I had an idea. Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner?

  We couldn’t kick the door open, but my .500 could blow it down. I reached for my backpack. “Stand back.”

  The girls covered their ears behind the couches. I was about to pull the trigger when the door opened.

  Breathing hard and wearing only his pair of faded jeans, Cody just stared at us. He had his pink bow in one hand and arrows in the other, looking just as surprised to see us. There was blood on his arms, near his veins. That should’ve disturbed me more than his missing shirt.

  “You jerkwad!” Jewel cried.

  To my surprise, she ran at Cody, ready to sock him in the gut. Lucky for him, I was there to hold her back.

  “How could you leave us like that?”

  Cody gave her a cynical smile. “You know the answer, squirt.” He then turned to Kaylynn—and she punched him dead in the face. I had these girls all wrong. They weren’t worried about Cody. They wanted to beat the snot out of him just as much I did. Cody acted like the blow had no effect. “I missed you, too.”

  Kaylynn glared at him. I liked it when she glared at someone else.

  “I’m not here for you, okay,” Cody said. “It’s that bastard I want.”

  With a hurt face, Jewel shrank back and nestled close to Kaylynn. I had a feeling that Cody wasn’t talking about us. “You mean Sanders?” I asked.

  “Lying scumbag,” Cody said. “He’s gonna pay!”

  “For what?” Kaylynn asked.

  Personally, I would’ve held back on saying a single word to him without knowing if he was still entertaining the need to wedge a sharp metal object into her brain, but Cody no longer seemed interested in her. Not like before. He had a bigger fish to fry.

  “How did you know we were here?” I asked.

  “I saw your things.” He gestured behind him. “I have half a mind to let you rot down here, but I’m not letting Sanders do to you what he was gonna do to me.”

  “What was he gonna do to you?” Jewel asked.

  He turned and headed for the exit. Chloe released a low growl, as if waiting for Cody to leave before doing so. The others silently glanced at me for assurance—as if I had any idea what Cody was planning. He was pissed. I knew that much. And I knew what a huge mistake it was to get in his way when his fists were so tight. My only question was, could we trust him? He guided us to the main elevator; one way in, one way out.

  “I don’t know what’s he’s planning,” Cody said. “All I know is Sanders brought me down here and knocked me out. The next thing I knew, I was on a table . . . and some machine was taking my blood.”

  “Eww!” Jewel cried. “Why would he do that?”

  I had a better question: who would want to take Cody’s blood?

  His answer was a bleak one. “He wouldn’t say. He just kept saying he needed my blood, and some bullshit about ‘the greater good’—whatever the hell that is.”

  Cody’s anger was nuclear.

  “How did you escape?” I asked.

  “I worked the restraints and found this card.” He showed us a plastic security pass as we entered the lobby. Like Sanders had promised, our weapons were there, untouched. I found my Glock, took the rest of the shells from my pack, and loaded the last four into the Maverick. I gave it to Jewel. She would’ve preferred the rifle, but we had to work with what we had. “I don’t care if you take off, but I’m going after Sanders,” Cody added. “Don’t stop me. Good luck calling that elevator down. Nothing happened when I pushed the buttons.”

  Jewel tested each one. “This bites! We’re stuck?”

  My mind stretched for a solution until I finally caught hold of one. “Sanders’s phone,” I said. “I bet he’s using that to control everything. We’ve gotta take it from him somehow.” That meant we had to confront Sanders—whether he was sane or otherwise.

  “You coming with me? I’m going,” Cody said.

  Hoping I could reason with him better than last time, I nodded. So did Kaylynn. There was no leaving without that smartphone. And if we cornered Sanders, we could demand the vaccine from him. “Cody,” I said. “We’re willing to give you a second chance—”

  “Shine it, Jeremy,” he replied. “Second chances are for the weak.”

  I glowered at him. So much for that . . .

  We had only one way to go, so the four of us—and Chloe in the lead—jogged back to the corridor junction. Cody wasn’t about to stop. He headed for the biology wing. We rounded a wide corner, the lights as dim there as the rest of the place. A minute later, a hexagonal door was open to our left. Its design reminded me of spaceships from old science fiction movies.

  Without pausing, Cody continued inside as if he knew exactly where he was going. I wasn’t so sure. Jewel whispered as we entered, “Where’s he taking us
?”

  “Sanders went this way when I saw him,” he said.

  Like a mouse in a maze, I turned right. We followed Cody down a cold and colorless hallway, like the halls of a vacant hospital. We passed through a door on our right; we couldn’t see inside until we reached a long window. Red lights in a dark room showed us an empty bed, with a flat-lined medical device next to it. Dangling in a plastic sack was a pint of blood. Cody’s blood. I swallowed. What did Sanders want it for?

  Cody nocked an arrow. “This way.”

  I checked to see how Kaylynn was holding up. She seemed fine. Her bat was raised and ready to slug away. I thought of what Cody might do to Sanders after we had found him. He certainly had a lot of questions to answer, Cody permitting. Jewel kept the shotgun pointed at the floor. I hoped it wasn’t too heavy for her, or that the recoil wouldn’t be too much to handle. Not that I wanted her to have an excuse to pull the trigger.

  As for Chloe, she whined more frequently.

  Another hexagonal door led us into Specimen Storage. If this was a secret US government facility for Biological and Chemical agents, there was bound to be dangerous stuff in there. Sanders’s warning about guns started to make sense now, but we had little choice. We had to follow Cody and find out what Sanders was up to.

  Taking the Glock and holding it with both hands, I entered the room. A new window greeted us, curved and contorted with the round walls like an observation window. A few white suits hug on the tall racks behind us—like something an astronaut would wear. Beyond the thick pane of glass was an eerie green mist.

  “What’s in there?” Jewel sounded sick.

  “Gas?” Cody guessed. “What is he hiding?”

  Kaylynn found a control panel. Next to it was the only door to the spacious room. It was close enough to the window that I could make out the airlock, but nothing beyond that. By the sealed door was a fancy security reader and a card slider. We could’ve used Cody’s card, but I didn’t want to. My instincts said that opening the door was the last thing we should do, yet my curiosity was strongly piqued. Something about the chamber was way too quiet for my liking.

  Cody lowered his bow. “He’s not here.”

  “Wait!” Jewel cried. “I saw someone . . .”

  It had to be Sanders. What was he doing in all that green stuff? Kaylynn searched the control panel and found one labeled Environment Control. A small screen flashed: Infrigidation Engaged: Do Not Enter Specimen Storage

  “Will this help?” Cody pointed at a vent button.

  He pressed it before either of us knew what he was doing. A soft hiss later, the green mist fell slowly down from the ceiling, where I noticed the top of storage shelves. Some shelves had glass vials on them, filled with various colored liquids. Others had bigger vials, and some had the classic Biohazard sticker on them. Frost covered most things in the room, including the chairs and computer monitors. If there was a workstation inside, why had it doubled as a freezer?

  “Look!” Jewel cried. “Someone’s in there.”

  When the mist lowered to our waist level, we saw a man on the far side of the room. He had the same white coat that Sanders was wearing—only this guy wasn’t Sanders. This man had brown hair, and he was slightly overweight. He had his back to us, so there was no telling what he was doing, or why he wasn’t wearing a protective suit. He just stood there, doing nothing.

  “Hey!” Cody tapped the glass. “Who are you?”

  He didn’t move until Cody tapped again.

  I wish he hadn’t.

  The man turned, staring at us with a drooling gray face. Once again, Kaylynn was on the money. From the bite marks on his leathery cheeks and the dark frozen blood on the lapels of his coat, Sanders was holding Vectors in the lab. By the time the green mist was completely gone, we knew that the Vector wasn’t alone. Women and men in lab coats were lying all over the floor, and a few of them wore Special Forces uniforms.

  There had to be dozens of them.

  Each of them began to stir.

  Frozen in shock, I didn’t see the brown-haired Vector coming until he smacked his face into the glass, his red eyes twitching. Foam leapt from his gnashing mouth and smeared the glass with a dark slime. Chloe released a volley of barks, failing to mute the Vector’s nasty gurgle. The Runner had a name badge on his coat: Cecil Bell. He was the doctor we’d heard on the radio!

  I reached for Cody. “Let’s get out of here.”

  He pushed me away. “Wait a second . . .”

  Another Vector had clawed her way to the glass, a woman with a gapping cut across her forehead. Cody wasn’t looking at her. His attention was much deeper than the undead in front of us. Then, out of nowhere, Cody dropped his bow and pressed both of his hands against the glass. His warm breath left a mark on the frigid pane. Among the horde were two familiar figures.

  One was wearing a bandana.

  The other had a cleft chin.

  “No . . .” Cody balled his hands into shaking fists. I had a feeling something more than fecal matter was about to hit the proverbial fan. “Dammit, no!” he screamed. “You should’ve let me come with you!”

  He flat out punched the window multiple times, and Chloe’s bark intensified. Neither of us dared to lay a finger on Cody. He went ballistic on the glass, punch after punch, until his knuckles started to bleed. Six Vectors leaned against the glass. Pushing it. Testing it. Others copied Cody, trying to punch their way out.

  “Stop it!” I cried. “You’re riling them up!”

  He turned to me with hard fists. “They’re gone!”

  “Cody.” Kaylynn could barely talk. “I’m sorry.”

  “Shut up, you bitch! If it wasn’t for you—!”

  “Don’t even go there.” I stood by what I’d said to Kaylynn in the sheriff station. None of this was her fault. Cody advanced on me, so I held up my Glock, effectively ending our short-lived truce. I did my best to keep the converging Vectors from distracting me. “Sam asked them to come here. You want to blame someone? Blame her, or Sanders. Leave Kaylynn out of this.”

  “We’re really sorry, Cody,” Kaylynn repeated.

  Jewel nodded. “And we need to get out of here.”

  Cody sneered back. “Did you see your parents?”

  I paused. The thought hadn’t occurred to me. Right away, I turned to look at the window. I checked every face, hoping that none of them belonged to Mom or—

  “Jeremy!” Jewel screamed. “Look out!”

  Cody punched me, harder than ever.

  My head throbbed. Adrenaline coursed through my body. As promised, he wasn’t going to get away with this. I rolled with my fall, loaded the chamber and pointed the 9mm between Cody’s eyes, all while using the momentum to help me back on my feet. Fighting the dizziness, I waited for Cody to make a move, but all he did was reclaim his bow and arrows and take off.

  Chloe barked again, her paws scampering as she chased after him. “Chloe, heel!” Kaylynn cried.

  The retriever didn’t obey that time. “Where’s she going?” Jewel asked. “And where’s he going?”

  I tasted blood on my lip. “No idea.”

  Crack!

  Even with my blurry vision, I saw an office chair strike the window. Vectors had never picked things up like that before, let alone throw them, except . . . they didn’t throw them. Cecil had his hand pressed against the cracked glass, his other arm raised high like he was holding something. A computer monitor was floating in the air in the back of the room. When Cecil waved his arm, the monitor flew across and struck the glass.

  The other Vectors looked at what he was doing, and then us. They raised their arms, too. I just stared at them while more objects began to hover in the air.

  Kaylynn could throw objects with her mind. I never imagined that Vectors could do the same.

  Jewel aimed at the window. “What the—!”

  “No way,” Kaylynn said, like her breath was taken away. “There’s no way. He has powers, just like me?”

  The Vec
tors sent chairs, jars, books, anything they could find at the window. Most things smacked into the backs of other Vector heads. Others struck the glass, widening the ever-growing cracks. The pane was about to give, along with every biohazard inside that room.

  I tugged Kaylynn’s arm. “We’d better go.”

  We were at the door when Kaylynn stopped and turned to the brown-haired Vector, his palm pressed into the glass. She then raised her hand and aligned her fingers with Cecil’s. I could think of a million ways that Kaylynn could’ve given us the creeps. Doing that with her hand still would’ve topped them all.

  “We gotta go,” I insisted. “What’re you doing?”

  “Can’t you hear him?” she said.

  Make that a million and one ways. “Hear who?”

  Jewel grabbed the sleeve of my hoodie. Both of us watched as Kaylynn bowed her head and closed her eyes. She flinched back, like she was in a battle with a nightmare. She then screamed and tried to pull away.

  For reasons I couldn’t see, the drooling Vector had captured Kaylynn’s undying attention.

  I holstered my Glock. “Help me, Jewel.”

  We rushed over and wrenched Kaylynn from the window, which sent us flying to the hard floor—harder than I’d meant to. Kaylynn’s eyes were wide now, the startling blue made all the more startled by her scared-stiff stare. I managed to sit, ignoring my aching side.

  “What was that about, Kaylynn?” I asked.

  “Don’t know, but I know what happened.” Up until then, nothing had broken her tough-girl persona. After helping each other back on our feet, I took up the Glock as another long crack branched away from the others. “I saw their memories. I heard their voices. They told me what happened.” Kaylynn swallowed. “Sanders took their blood and infected them for tests!”

  “Gross!” Jewel retched. “Why’s he doing that?”

  “And how did they tell you?” I asked.

  “They didn’t—I just saw it.” Kaylynn raised her bat to a near-swinging position. “He’s using their blood for a vaccine. He used their bodies to see if it worked.”