Zombie World (Zombie Apocalypse #3)

by Hoffman, Samantha

  She freezes, and Reese makes a disapproving sound in the back of his throat. “I don’t like the sound of that,” Naomi says quietly. “I don’t want to be around them any more than I have to, especially if we can’t kill them.”

  We’ve amassed an audience in the hallway, and I’m glad to see that Daisy is looking much better than she did last night, even if she does seem a little slow still. “We can kill any of them that give us trouble,” Aaron says, sounding confident. “It won’t matter which one we bring him. We’ll just find one that will cooperate better, and voila! We have a cure.”

  “I hope it’s that easy,” Madison says, stretching until her back cracks. She and Todd look refreshed and happy, and we both share a telling look.

  “It won’t be,” Todd says, ever the pessimist. “Something will go wrong. It always does.”

  She elbows him and he winces. “Try not to be such a Debbie Downer, please?”

  “He has a reason to be,” Reese says. “I know this cure is important and all, but I still don’t feel like dying for it.”

  Naomi nods fervently. “Me neither.”

  “So don’t do anything stupid,” Ryder dismisses. “And we’ll be fine.”

  “Stupid like what? Catching live zombies for some insane scientist to experiment on?” Reese asks with his eyebrows raised.

  “Don’t be a smart ass,” Ryder says, but he’s smiling.

  “Better to be a smart one than a dumb one,” they both quip together.

  They crack a smile at one another, and I feel much better about our situation. There’s no longer any weight on my shoulders, and no dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ryder and Reese are back on track, both on the same page like two brothers always should be.

  “Alright, if the two of you are done with your little circle jerk, can we please go see what that creepy scientist has to say?” Naomi asks impatiently. “And I suppose Daisy and I should probably thank him for his hospitality, since it probably saved both of our lives.”

  “I don’t think he’ll really care that he saved you guys,” Reese says. “It was more out of necessity than the good of his heart. He couldn’t get us without getting you guys as well.”

  “He may be a little…eccentric,” Madison says, trying to be kind, “but I doubt he would have let either of them die. I’m sure he’s seen enough death. If he could stop it, why wouldn’t he?”

  “Because he cares more about his research here than he does human suffering.”

  “But him devoting so much time and effort to making this cure proves that he does care about human suffering,” Madison argues. “He wouldn’t be holed up here all alone if he didn’t care. He would have just given up.”

  Ryder frowns. “I’m not sure I agree.”

  “I don’t either,” Reese says. “I don’t think Dr. Richards really cares about the cure as much as we think he does. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the kind of guy that was only doing it so his name would go down in history as some great hero.”

  “You can’t possibly know that,” Aaron says.

  Reese shrugs. “You watch. He’ll turn out to be a crazy loon, and he’ll go on a massive power trip that ends badly for all of us. I don’t know about all of you, but I’ll be sleeping with my weapon for the duration of our stay here.”

  Madison shakes her head. “You guys are crazy. He’s a little weird, but I’m telling you there’s nothing wrong with him. He just wants to make the world a better place. And he needs our help to do it, so we should probably go see what we can do.”

  Madison leads the way down the halls, searching for Dr. Richards’ lab. We find it easily enough, and unsurprisingly, he’s hunched over his desk feverishly shuffling through a stack of papers. We hang back by the doorway, watching him as he mutters to himself quietly, completely oblivious to our presence. When it becomes obvious he won’t notice us, Madison clears her throat and Dr. Richards’ head snaps up, eyes going wide.

  It seems to take him a second to recognize us, and when he does, his eyes narrow again. “Oh, it’s you.”

  “Who else would it be?” Reese asks.

  Dr. Richards’ shakes his head. “No one. I’m not used to having company. It’s been a very long time since there was another living soul in this place. I enjoy the solitude. Now, why are you here?”

  Madison steps forward and Dr. Richards’ eyes zero in on her, scrutinizing her before she even speaks. “We’re here to help. We want to do whatever we can to help you get that cure perfect. If you need help organizing, or cleaning, or gathering specimens, we’re willing to help any way we can.”

  “Is that it?” he asks slowly, as if we haven’t just offered to collect live zombies for his experiments.

  “Well…no,” she admits. “Some of us were also wondering if you could tell us about this cure,” she says. “We understand it has something to do with Todd’s blood and the fact that he’s immune to their bites, but we don’t fully understand how it will work, if it’s even possible.”

  Dr. Richards’ eyes us all with a stony expression on his face. “I suppose you’d like to hear about how it all started, as well?”

  Madison’s eyes light up. “Yes! We’ve heard all kinds of theories from people, but none of it ever sounded right. Some people think it was a disease like Ebola that mutated or something, and some people think it was the government messing around in things they shouldn’t have. While others think it was more likely the wrath of God.”

  Dr. Richards’ freezes, his face draining of all color as she speaks. None of us miss his odd reaction, and Ryder instinctively moves closer to me. “The wrath of God, eh?” His eyes become slightly unfocused, as if he’s retreating into his mind. “Yes, I understand how many could believe that…”

  “So what was it? If you know how to cure it, you must know how it started.”

  Dr. Richards’ looks away. “Yes, I know how it started.”

  “It was the government, wasn’t it?” Reese asks, getting excited despite his obvious disliking of Dr. Richards. “They were messing with something they shouldn’t have and it came back to bite ‘em in the ass! Was it a weapon of some kind?”

  “Reese, that’s stupid,” Naomi says, shaking her head.

  “A weapon? Yes. At least, that’s what I intended for it to be when I created it…”

  We all fall so silent the sound of a pin dropping to the floor would have been as loud as an explosion. It’s almost deafening, and we just stand here staring at him as if he’s admitted to trying to wipe out the entire world. And in a way, he kind of has…

  Chapter Twelve

  Ryder is the first to recover. He just shakes his head, but he doesn’t look all that surprised. “Leave it to our government to fuck the entire world up.” His eyes narrow in on the good doctor. “You’ve killed probably millions—no, billions—of people. Wiped out entire civilizations, reducing them to nothing but a graveyard.”

  Dr. Richards’ looks away from Ryder’s accusing stare. “I’m well aware of the damage, perhaps even more so than yourselves. You only know what you’ve seen on the ground for yourselves. I’ve had knowledge from the very beginning of the world’s decline. I’ve watched entire nations crumble from within, and I’ve watched my creation run rampant and decimate the entire world. My contacts in other countries kept me as informed as possible, until the transmissions cut out and there was just me.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “Months,” Dr. Richards says. “I’ve been sending out a broadcast of my own to find any survivors capable of providing me the help I need. I had begun to think nobody would answer my pleas. Then you lot showed up, screaming for me to let you in.”

  “And you almost didn’t,” Ryder says. It’s not a question, but an accusation.

  Dr. Richards’ nodded. “Yes. Until your friend told me you had someone immune with you, I had not been planning on opening the gate. There were too many of them out there. It was a risk I did not think would pay off, no matter what help you
could offer me. If it were not for your immune friend, you would all be dead right now.”

  Ryder glares at Dr. Richards with more hatred than I’ve ever seen on his face, and for a second, I’m worried he might try to hit Dr. Richards. But the moment passes when Todd laughs. “Looks like you all owe me your lives. Remember that next time you feel like yelling at me for being me.”

  Madison rolls her eyes at him, but I see a hint of a smile on her face. She honest to god loves that idiot, and it’s as plain as the arrogant smirk on his face. They move closer together, and he looks down at her, the arrogance replaced by something softer.

  Dr. Richards looks at them with something that might be disgust, and I feel myself start to get offended on their behalf. Before I can say anything, he continues. “But regarding your original inquires, allow me to explain how the cure will work. Keep in mind this is all currently hypothetical as I have not had the chance to test it on one of my creations yet. So perhaps I should just start at the beginning, with the creation of my weapon.”

  We all find a stretch of counter space to lean against, while Daisy and Naomi sit in the chairs in the corner. They still look weaker and more exhausted than usual, and probably shouldn’t be on their feet for too long. And I have a feeling that this story might take a very long time for Dr. Richards to tell, so we may as well get as comfy as possible.

  “I’ve always been interested in the sciences. I enjoyed studying things, finding out how they worked and what made them tick, so to speak. Naturally I excelled in school, and graduated early with honors. During my days at college, I was garnering the attention of some very important people who had had their eyes on me for some time. Many years ago—likely before you were born—I was contracted to begin working in a secret faction of the US government.

  “They wanted some of the most brilliant minds to begin working on advanced weaponry, but of the biological warfare kind. There were other divisions working on guns and vehicles, but we were their crowned jewel. Over the years, we developed several biological agents to aid our troops. Some were chemicals we could introduce into a foreign nation’s water supply, others were spread through mere touch, and we sat back and watched our enemies wither and die from the safety of our labs.”

  Ryder snorts. “Typical US government,” he says with disgust.

  Dr. Richards’ narrows his eyes at Ryder. “A government that you fought for,” he says, nodding to the tattoo on Ryder’s arm. “Everything we ever did, we did for the likes of you—those on the ground. We were trying to make the lives of all of our soldiers easier, no matter the cost.”

  “You’re a mass murderer,” Ryder says coldly.

  “I’m sure you are, too.”

  Ryder’s hand clenches until the knuckles are white. “There is no justification for what you people have done. You’re single handedly responsible for the deaths of millions of people, even before this.”

  Dr. Richards’ doesn’t look ashamed like I expect him too. Instead, he remains cool in the face of Ryder’s contempt. “Many years ago, we began work on something the likes of which we’ve never attempted before. Our higher ups wanted something that would attack the blood of our enemies, something that would enter the bloodstream and shut down their bodies from the inside out, killing them quickly and efficiently.

  “For years we labored to create such a weapon, going through planning phases, even going so far as to create a counter to it in case something went wrong, which turned out in our favor as I didn’t have to start from scratch and take years to create this cure. Eventually we moved onto testing phases. We started small, injecting it into mice and other rodents, before working our way up to lager specimens, such as stray cats and dogs.” I feel my heart squeeze painfully at the thought of all of the wonderful animals that were slaughtered in these very rooms, and Ryder squeezes my hand. “Eventually, it came time to move forward and on to larger, more complicated subjects.”

  “You didn’t,” Ryder says, eyes going wide. “You’re a monster!”

  Still Dr. Richards’ shows no emotion, not even shame. “We needed to see the effects on the people we were going to use it against. We couldn’t just drop it in a foreign country and hope it worked. We needed to be sure it would do what was intended of it. It had worked on the animal subjects, shutting down their bodily functions quickly and humanely, but something was different with our human trials.

  “To this day I still have no idea what would make animal and human reactions vary so wildly, but I suppose it’s no longer important. We had our second human test subject strapped down, and after I injected her with the serum, all seemed to go as we had planned. Her reaction was the same as the animals we had tested on before her. But something changed with her. After she was declared dead, she reanimated and came back with a vengeance.

  “Patient zero, as the others on the project began to call her, killed every one of my assistants, and I narrowly escaped with my life. We locked her into the room and observed her behavior while she fed on the dead assistants. We took as many notes as we could, fascinated by the creature we had unwittingly created. None of us could have predicted what happened next.”

  Ryder sneers. “Let me guess. The assistants all reanimated as well, and you creeps realized the potential weapon you had in your hands.”

  Dr. Richards’ nods. “Yes. The assistants came back as well, all at varying times. From a scientific standpoint it was fascinating to watch. Some of the younger scientists began taking bets on how long it would take each one to reanimate, but I had no part in that. I was scribbling away at my notepad, trying to document their behavior. I noticed that the original had no interest in what was left of them after they had reanimated, and I deduced that they need fresh, untainted flesh to sustain themselves.

  “After calling in the deaths, we received our orders immediately. The higher ups wanted us to do as many studies as we could, gathering as much valuable knowledge as possible. They wanted to know what these monstrosities were capable of, and how they might be used to fight our enemies. You see, at the time, things were beginning to heat up in a far away part of the world, and the US government was considering whether or not to put boots on the ground. And if this weapon could be harnessed in time, it had the potential to save the lives of countless of our soldiers.”

  “You act like the lives of our soldiers were more important than the thousands of innocent lives that would have been taken by this infection,” Reese says. “What about the women and children that would have been killed and eaten alive? Did none of you stop to think about them? Our soldiers are trained to the best of their ability, and they have rational minds capable of critical thinking. They knew how to differentiate between a threat and a harmless civilian. These zombies don’t. How did anyone think this was a good idea?”

  Dr. Richards’ frowns. “We are all a part of the greatest country in the world.” Ryder snorts and Dr. Richards’ ignores him. “The lives of our soldiers are infinitely precious. They give up their comforts, families, and sometimes even their lives for this country. They deserved our utmost respect, and if we could spare even one more military casualty, well…it would have been worth any price in the world.”

  “You sound like a brainwashed fool,” Aaron says, sounding bewildered. “Ryder and I are both former military, and another member of our group was as well. None of us would have ever agreed that your weapons were the right way to go. None. In fact, I’d be willing to bet you wouldn’t find many who agreed with you. We all understand the dangers and risks when we enlist, and we’re all willing to make whatever sacrifices are necessary. Not for our country, but for those we love we left behind. None of us would ever agree with the killing of innocent women and children! That’s what we were fighting to prevent.”

  “I disagree with you entirely,” Dr. Richards’ says quietly. “To those of us on the project, the lives of American soldiers were worth more than gold. There was nothing we wouldn’t have done to protect those that served this proud country. J
ust think. If we had used this weapon just once—in some shit hole country that nobody would even miss—the rest of the world would think twice about getting involved with us. We would be preemptively saving the lives of millions of our soldiers from future wars that we prevented before they even started!”

  “But what about the civilians?”

  “To hell with the civilians!” Dr. Richards shouts, startling us. “Some dirty sand brats in a foreign country don’t interest me in the slightest. But they would have benefited from this as well. Think about it for a minute. Civilians suffer more than most during any war, and if we could prevent those wars from ever happening, those civilians would be spared the horrors of war. We could have had world peace, all for the cost of a few million lives. It was a price we were all willing to pay…”

  We’re all horrified by Dr. Richards’ speech, but Ryder and Aaron look to be taking it the worst. As former military, Dr. Richards had been doing this for them. He was willing to kill millions of people in an attempt to help people like Ryder and Aaron, and even though they had no say in the matter, I can tell this information is weighing on them heavily. Both men are brave, caring, and brilliant leaders…and I know both of them well enough to know they’re both going to carry this information with them for the rest of their lives. While Dr. Richards may not feel shame for his actions, the two of them do. It was a price Dr. Richards was willing to pay, but it would have been Ryder and Aaron footing the bill.

  “You’re a monster,” Ryder says again. His face is pale and his hands are clenched so tightly I’m surprised my hand doesn’t break in his grasp.

  “No, I’m a patriot,” Dr. Richards corrects.

  Ryder and Dr. Richards stare each other down, neither backing away. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I know it won’t be good. I can see the conflicting emotions on Ryder’s face. He wants to kill this man right now, and nobody in this room would blame him for it. But we need him to create the cure. No matter what a racist shit human being he is, he’s still possibly the only man left in the world that can get us out of this mess we’re in.