The tip of the needle was at her skin.
Lana! Wake up!
Or don’t.
I didn’t know which was the better option.
“We stun the zombies, sedate them, confine them. I can do the same to her. I can put her to sleep. For good. Or you can agree to share the story of why you two made a run for it. Your little friend Clay told us of your journey into the unknown when everything told you to just stay where it was safe. Where you could be captured and rehabilitated.”
Another sound hit my ear. Somehow I found the strength to bypass Ford and look through the folds of the tent again.
No zombies this time. All I saw were my former med wing neighbors being loaded into another car. They were shackled and crying. Even Josh. Well that was hardly a surprise!
I felt Ford’s hands on my back.
“What are you---?”
“Shhh, Sam. He’s in good hands. We will wipe everything that happened and leave him with the memories that we want.”
So that was another phase of the experiment. Take a society, turn it zombie, collect the quaking, and reprogram them to do and think anything that Ford and her colleagues wanted.
And we would have numbered among the chained. If it hadn’t been for Leslie.
I suddenly felt everything for Ford’s supposed enemy.
“You want a story?” I asked as I turned to face her.
Ford nodded and licked her lips.
“What are we missing, Sam? Sure. You and your friends might have worried about the ones left behind. But why was that enough to risk death?”
I wanted to grab her and smash her brains into the ground. Why was that enough?
“It’s enough because they’re… we’re still people. You can’t just turn us zombie and expect us to… to what? Wait ?”
Ford stood and reached into her jacket for a remote control. I had memories of Clay wanting to blow us to bits. They had done a number on him. That was for sure. I saw Clay persuaded to work for some cause that he didn’t care about or understand. It was a funny thing. Authority figures always had a way of causing heads to hang and agree to anything, even if meant a suicide bomb.
But Clay was only a means to our end. I shot Lana a quick look. No question now. She was really waking up, and I knew that I couldn’t waste any more time if we were going to stand a chance of getting out of this alive.
I plowed forward and took Ford by her lily white arms. There was no wall to bang her against, so I settled for the soil under the tent.
“We’ll always go back for our own. And we’ll get away. And we’ll tell !”
My mind flashed to Neal and Morgan. I hoped that they were long gone after the shotgun left an imprint on her face. Before Ford’s story I had pictured them driving and driving until they reached a place where they could hide. Everything was different now. They needed to find a conspiracy nut or an uncorrupted news outlet that would have the guts to explain what had gone down. They would have no way of knowing what had actually happened and what was still being planned.
I had to find them. I had to get out and explain the zombies and their makers. Being a guinea pig was not going to be the end of my story.
“How do you like that ?” I screamed.
Ford’s face stayed tranquil as her guards lifted me from her body and shoved me into a chair. I could feel ropes circling my wrists and ankles when a set of sheets exploded in a glorious wave. No one moved as Lana brandished a piece of wood she had ripped from her cot. Branch, bed, it didn’t matter. Anything became a sword in her hands.
How long had she been listening?
Lana saw the fingers on the triggers of the many guns pointed in her direction. Even a superhero’s pose wouldn’t save her from the bullets. Sure. Ford and her friends wanted to explore her response as a member of our gang, but they had me and they could probably find Neal and Morgan given time. Lana was the one in real danger.
How could I save her? How---?
“We’re not the only ones,” she said. “The econ building is full of survivors, and they’ve been all over the place. Coming. Going. So I guess your plan kind of sucked, huh?
What was she doing! It was the first place that I had seen her, and it was full of zombies they had turned to their purpose. We should go anywhere but there.
Ford stepped to Lana. Lana kept the bit of broken bed poised over her shoulder.
“Is that so?”
I saw Lana flinch. Don’t do that.
“Yes.”
Ford looked from me to Lana and back again. There were enough variables in her grand experiment to cause her to consider the possibility of Lana’s version of events. Sure. She preferred us exploded under Clay’s shaky hand so she could study our brains and prepare for Round Two.
But fate and Lana had a different script in mind.
Ford smoothed her jacket across her chest and smiled at her entourage.
“Then let’s go for a stroll. Let’s see what else our new friends have to teach us.”
I was quickly untied, and Ford pushed me into Lana. She dropped the broken piece of her cot, and her steady arm caught me before I could fall. This was as close as we’d been in a while. I wanted to just soak it in. Lana was so near, but there was urgency in her touch. We weren’t out of the real danger. I needed to play along until we were out of the tent.
Lana’s hand found mine as we hit the air. I could feel the guns waiting for one misstep as we moved across the quad on a lie.
It was peaceful. I pictured nights when I might have just run into Lana by chance. She probably wouldn’t have looked at me twice without the threat. Because what was I? A cripple who couldn’t go out for any athletic extracurricular activities because they were impossible. I almost remembered a glance of Lana before everything had changed. Her laugh saw everything but my shuffling form escaping the threat of midterms.
Now we were hand in hand.
And guns were at our backs.
Lana met my eyes with a scared blink.
“How much did you hear?” I muttered under my breath.
“All of it.”
“So… so you weren’t…?”
“Asleep. Faking.”
Something moved in one of the bushes. A new zombie appeared. It was the grayest one I had seen yet. I instinctively pushed Lana behind me as I heard the guards ready their guns.
“Duck, kiddies,” Ford ordered.
I pulled Lana to the ground and expected a hail of bullets. Instead, a wave of noxious gas unfolded in the air. I pressed one hand over Lana’s mouth and the other over mine. The zombie’s screams were awful, and it fell to the ground just inches from us. I dragged her back from the victim. Once my head was up, I could see it paralyzed and hungrier than ever. But it didn’t move. It couldn’t. A guard chained it, gagged its moans with metal, and lifted it over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. I turned my head and saw Ford examine its eyes with a small flashlight. At first she had no expression. But then she smiled.
It was worse than the zombie’s screams.
“Put it with the others. We’ll be back shortly. After this little field trip.”
Her eyes were full of scorn as the other guards forced me and Lana to our feet. We kept marching.
What was her plan? I knew it was impossible, but I needed a second to strategize with her. Was she hoping that the zombies would bite our captors senseless? I wanted that, too. But how were we supposed to survive?
We reached our destination. Ford slithered in front of us with one of her guards. Lana’s grip grew tighter around my hand.
“Well here we are,” Ford said. “Show us some proof of your story.”
Lana looked at me. In spite of everything, she was stunning in the moonlight. I thought about kissing her. It would probably be the last thing I’d ever do or ever remember. But to feel her lips on mine would be worth it. I leaned forward.
Lana smiled.
Her teeth looked as if they’d been stained by too many cups of coffee. I’d never noticed th
at before and…
No! It couldn’t… she couldn’t…
Lana winked and took a bite out of the guard’s neck.
***
Ford’s guard fell to her feet. From the look in his eyes, I could tell that he had no idea what was happening because Lana was now that fast. Blood poured from the guy’s jugular and sprayed the steps of the econ building like the devil’s sprinkler. I watched Lana pick a chunk of his skin from her teeth like it was a stray poppy seed as Ford pressed the heel of her shoe against the wound. Did she really think that that would stop the bleeding? Then I heard the rest of the guards ready their guns for an all-out assault. I had maybe half a second to think and even less time to act. Even if she had been turned, and that certainly seemed to be the case, there was no questioning where my loyalties lay.
“Lana! Duck!”
I didn’t get a chance to see if she heard me in time because I hit the ground as the bullets started to fly. When I crooked my head to the side, I saw Lana’s victim twitching and gasping. These would be his last human moments, and then he’d join the ranks of Gabby and Tom and now Lana. But how exactly would he turn?
One thing was definite. I had to get as far away from him as possible before he woke up to his new life. I kept crawling towards the building, and I suddenly saw Ford’s feet airborne. So now she could fly? I looked up to see Lana with one arm around the redhead’s waist and the other surrounding her throat. The lady who thought she ran the show was now her shield.
“Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” Ford barked.
The guards did as they were told and waited for their supposedly fearless leader to offer further instructions. Lana choked Ford some to prove that she was now the one in charge and watched me shaking in the grass.
“Sam? You okay?” she asked.
Although my crush had gone the way of my best friend and become a zombie, things were just great.
“Sam?”
Somehow I was able to nod.
“Awesome. Get up.”
Trusting her didn’t mean that I was about to argue with whatever she’d become. I struggled to my feet and took a few steps back. Lana’s teeth seemed even browner as she grazed them against Ford’s stiff neck. The female shield sniffed at the air and gave no sign of fear even though she was like inches from going the way of her dead guard. In a lot of ways, she was still scarier than Lana and whatever waited for us on the other side of the econ building’s door.
“What are you waiting for?” Ford whispered. “Take another taste. I dare you. My guys will rip your friend to shreds before I’m even bleeding.”
Should I try to run? But where was I supposed to go? A move forward would mean a bullet in my brain. I could try to make it inside the econ building, but I had a pretty good idea what was waiting there. More zombies, and they weren’t the friendly Lana type.
So I was trapped.
Lana’s mouth left Ford’s throat, and she pressed her lips to her captive’s ear.
“Tell them to back off,” Lana hissed.
“Now why would I do that?”
“Because I’m guessing that you’re all talk. You want to go the way of your lab rats? I’ll bite you right now. Then who gets the credit for your little experiment?”
Ford smirked, but I could see her picturing the spoils of her project. She wanted to come out on the other side to reap the rewards. From the second I saw her; the lady reeked of ambition and fruity soap.
Yeah. Lana totally had her number.
“Are you listening?” Lana demanded as she pressed Ford’s body closer to hers.
“Yes, mother.”
Mother? Huh?
“Great. Then send them on their way.”
Ford took a deep breath and nodded towards her guards.
“Code Orange.”
The bunch of burly guys shifted uncomfortably where they stood and nervously looked from Ford to each other and back again. One of the bigger guards pressed his rifle into the earth and took a step towards us with his hands raised. The closer he got, the more questions danced across his eyes.
“Seriously, ma’am?”
“Do I look like I’m playing around?” she asked with a sigh.
“No, ma’am. But are we---”
“Am I speaking in tongues?” Ford asked. “You have your orders. Now get moving.”
He nervously nodded and rushed back for his gun. As he waved the others to follow him in a fast retreat, Lana lowered Ford to the ground and forced her to her knees. She circled the prostrate woman and beckoned me to her side. When our eyes met, I saw the first trace of a blue film starting to form around her pupils. She was the one who had established that there were no rules, but I kept searching for a pattern.
Gabby was slow to die a human death before reviving in monster form. Tom went quicker and somehow couldn’t be killed. Tammi… I had no way of knowing what she had experienced before I found her in the dorm, but like Lana, she kept her human mask on long enough to pounce. Tammi was my closest link to understanding what was going down with Lana now. The only difference was that Lana still had the power to reason. She made specific targets of Ford and her dead guard and---
The guard!
He was up again and a total zombie. Gray skin with pus spilling out of his nails. He rushed me, ready to bite. I swung my arms and tried to bat him off when a gunshot rang out. His rank form fell on top of me, and I pushed him off to see Lana. The dead man’s rifle smoked in her hands.
She was a still a crack shot in spite of the change.
“Get his cuffs, Sam.”
“His… what?”
Lana twisted her head and rolled her eyes.
“Hand cuffs. He has to have some. And I need them.”
I held my breath as I picked through his slimy pockets. The guy’s brain matter was everywhere, but I finally found a pair of bracelets and tossed them to Lana. She threw the rifle over her shoulder and slapped them on Ford’s wrists. The redhead flinched as the metal snapped shut.
“That’s better,” Lana said.
She pulled Ford up by her hair and pushed her towards me. Ford stumbled into my arms, and I broke what would have been her fall. She was staying remarkably calm without any backup, but I already knew that our time was borrowed. Code Orange could only be bad.
“Your friend is full of surprises,” Ford whispered.
I suddenly realized that Ford was my best hope for some kind of an answer, and I pressed my shaking hands against her stone shoulders.
“What’s happening to her?” I asked.
“I should think that’s obvious. She’s your enemy now.”
As turned around as I was, I still didn’t believe that.
“No. No she’s not like the others.”
Again my mind flashed back to Tammi who had walked and talked human before trying to take a bite out of Morgan. But no! That wasn’t Lana.
“Maybe you’re right, Sam. Maybe she’s capable of so much more.”
If Ford knew her like I did, she’d get that what she just said was an understatement even in Judgment Day terms.
“Sam, she’s a murder machine now. Maybe she’ll hurt you if you don’t try to run.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
She nudged her fallen guard with the heel of her shoe.
“See. She’s got her first kill under her belt. There will be more. She can’t help it. She’s a robot programmed for murder.”
I started to protest her mind games as Lana fired another shot into the air. Ford and I whirled around in unison to see Lana aiming the rifle at the moon.
“Um… I’m right here,” Lana said. “I’m not going to hurt him. Now stand aside.”
Ford and her bound hands took a step forward, and she stared Lana down.
“It is interesting,” Ford said, not really speaking to anyone but herself. My eyes locked with Lana’s. I looked her up and down for some sign of her attack, but I couldn’t find any evidence of a bite. No clot
hing or flesh appeared torn. So where was the space where it had entered her body? The better question was why it was keeping her in a Lana limbo where she still maintained enough humanity to keep me safe.
“What is?” Lana finally asked.
I doubted that Ford would provide anything resembling a truthful answer when the windows of the econ building all smashed open at once. My breath came quicker as zombies of every size and shape started to scale down the moss covered walls to the ground and us. Their teeth gnashed and their nails dripped evil gold as they moved at lightning speed. I ran forward and pushed Ford into the dirt. I barely got my hands around Lana’s arms when she shook me off and started firing like mad at everything in sight.
“Lana!”
“Run, Sam. I got this.”
Head after head exploded in her crosshairs, and there were so many moans that it sounded like winter wind at the height of a fierce blizzard.
“But, Lana---”
“Just get away. And take her.”
What?
My eyes went back to Ford as she tried to find her feet again without the benefit of her hands. Take her ? I couldn’t save her and leave my last friend, even if she was a zombie, to face this alone.
“No way. “
“Sam---”
“I’m not leaving you!”
One of the other zombies got close enough to wrestle Lana and her rifle to the ground. I tried to pry the beast off of her, and the rifle kept going off. Stray shots hit the air and the nearby trees and a few of the other zombies. They crashed to the ground, but others still followed. Barely knowing anything anymore, the one fact that blazed bright was the need to get away from this and to take Lana with me.
I kicked her zombie attacker hard and started to drag Lana and her firing shots across the grass.
“Sam!”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“No.”
“Don’t argue with---”
“No ! I mean don’t leave her.”
My head twisted back to Ford. She was choking on grass and dirt and pebbles. I could think of no better fate for the architect of our destruction than to let her fend for herself as her creations wrecked vengeance on whatever was left of her scheming life. I pulled Lana past her as another zombie got her, his, its footing. This one was bloated to the point of a pimple about to burst. Ford rolled in our direction, and I thought of Lana being able to get in one perfect shot at the copper strands that were now covering her angry face. But Ford didn’t look scared, and I wanted that for her above anything else.
Zombie University (The Complete Series): How I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse Page 12
