Zombie World (Zombie Apocalypse #3)

by Hoffman, Samantha

  “Ryder,” I say, tugging on his hand. “He’s going to make things right. The cure will change things.” Ryder sighs, backing down and leaning back against the counter beside me. Aaron looks more sad than angry, and I’m glad we don’t have to handle two pissed off trained men who could easily end the good doctor’s life. I look at Dr. Richards. “You’ve told us about how it started; now tell us about how it’s going to end.”

  Dr. Richards looks glad to be back on the subject of the cure, and he launches right into his findings.

  “I’ve had some minor success with fighting the infection. After months of studies, we concluded that a certain blood type was immune to the infection. We had actually theorized that some types of blood would react differently to any of our weapons, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

  “How did you find that out?” Madison asks.

  “During our studies, anyone who was bitten was quarantined so we could watch how the infection progresses. One of our more foolish lab technicians was bitten, and after four days, we had to conclude that he simply wasn’t going to turn. We tested his blood and found that it had successfully combated the infection, returning his body to normal. That was our first step in creating a cure.

  “Since then, our cure has undergone a series of tests, and we’ve changed it more than once, trying to get the best results. Eventually, it was just me left alone here, and I continued working by myself. Since then, I’ve been able cure the side effects of the infection—fever, nausea, vomiting, and the cramps—but the patient would still turn. The only thing I failed to cure was the delusions. Often times they were violent and severe, and nothing I did helped ease them. But at least now, my patients would be comfortable while dying.”

  “Why do you care so much about making this cure?” Todd asks. “It’s obvious that human life means jack shit to you. Why go through so much effort to fix a world you clearly don’t care about? Why not just end it all and let the world burn?”

  Dr. Richards remains silent, thoughtful. None of us rush him, curious as to what he’s going to say. When he finally speaks, we all lean in to hear him better. “I have to perfect this cure…in the name of science. When the world begins to right itself, my name will undoubtedly wind up in history books as the destroyer of this world. But there’s a chance I can be it’s savior as well.”

  “That’s it? For science?” Reese says, glaring at Dr. Richards.

  “There is one more reason,” Dr. Richards’ says softly. He hesitates, but we watch him until he continues. “I have been a scientist all my life, and I have never considered myself a God fearing man. But in the off chance He exists…I’d like to keep myself out of hell. If that’s even possible at this point.”

  “It’s not,” Ryder says flatly.

  Dr. Richards actually looks disturbed by Ryder’s words, and I wonder if he believes in a God more than he thinks he does. But I don’t ask, because I don’t want another long speech about how immoral this monster is. I just want to hear more about this cure, and what he needs from us now that we’re here. “So now that you have Todd’s blood, you can create the cure, right?”

  “Yes,” Dr. Richards says. “Over the past few months, I’ve gathered all of my notes and studied them meticulously. I know how this infection works inside and out, and I’m confident I have the tools to create the cure. It shouldn’t take too long, at least not for a small sample of it. I already have a small sample of the serum derived from my colleague’s blood, and I can begin testing with it tomorrow. Then, if it works, I can begin mass producing the cure with your friend’s blood. In the morning, I’ll ask some of you to head out to the fence and collect a subject for me.”

  “Whatever you need,” Madison says eagerly. “We’ll help however we can.”

  Dr. Richards nods. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to work. We have a busy few days in store for us, and I need to make sure my notes are perfect before we begin testing.” He motions to the door. “Feel free to explore. Just stay out of my way until I need you.”

  Dismissed, we leave his lab quietly and without argument. Honestly, none of us wants to be around this man any more than we absolutely have to. There is something fundamentally wrong with him, and he scares me. Especially his callous attitude towards civilian lives. Aside from Aaron and Ryder, the rest of us are just normal civilians. Hearing Dr. Richards say that he’d basically sacrifice any civilian necessary has me worried about tomorrow. He’s sending us out beyond the fence to collect a subject for use, and he doesn’t care if one or all of us don’t return alive.

  But it needs to be done. No subjects, no cure. We’ll have to put our lives on the line for a man who doesn’t respect those lives. What if something bad happens and he refuses to let us back inside? We’ll have to split up into groups, that way one group can stay inside and monitor the doctor while the other gets the specimen inside.

  Ryder leads us back down to a nearby common room. There’s a flat-screen TV which I’m sure no longer works, along with several couches, tables, and bookcases. There’s a pool table in the far corner, and I see a video game system hooked up to the TV. It looks like some kind of playstation, but I’ve never owned one so I’m not sure. There’s a stack of games tucked away in the entertainment center, and I see Todd and Reese zero in on them.

  There’s a mad dash for the games, and the two of them begin to sift through them as if they’re holding jewels in their hands. “Seriously, you guys?” I ask, smiling. I watch a brief wrestling match for control of the first player controller, and they settle down on the couch, completely oblivious to everyone around them. Typical gamers…

  Ryder shakes his head, still looking very disturbed from our meeting with Dr. Richards. I don’t blame him one bit. Dr. Richards is a monster, and probably a maniac as well. There’s something severely wrong with him, and unfortunately for us, he’s our only hope of restoring the world to how it was before. We need him, and he knows it. But we’re not at a total disadvantage here, because he needs us as well. He needs someone capable of doing all of the heavy lifting involved, and we’re the right people for the job.

  Reese turns on the TV, and he and Todd both give out a loud whoop! As they set up their gaming profiles or whatever it is they’re doing, the rest of us sit together on the couches, eager to talk about what just happened, and our next plan of action. I sit with Ryder, tucking my legs under me and leaning against his shoulder. For a minute, none of us speaks. We just watch Todd and Reese as they both try to relax and unwind, happier than I’ve seen either of them in a long time.

  “I feel guilty,” Aaron confesses.

  “Why on Earth would you feel guilty?” Daisy asks, speaking for the first time in so long that it takes us all by surprise. “He’s crazy; that’s not your fault.”

  “But he was doing it for us,” Aaron insists. “I wouldn’t expect any of you except for Ryder to understand.”

  I glance at Ryder and I can tell from the look on his face that he agrees with Aaron. He feels just as guilty for what has happened, even though neither of them has done anything wrong whatsoever.

  “It’s not like you guys were the top dogs calling the shots,” Naomi says. “You had no say in what our government did with its resources. You guys had nothing to do with any of this. All you did was follow the orders given to you.”

  “But everything these horrible people did, they did for us,” Ryder says quietly.

  “And, not to mention, we willingly chose to serve our government. We were hired henchmen doing the dirty work of one of the most dangerous nations on the planet. We thought everything we were doing was to protect the people we loved back home, but we were nothing more than thugs.”

  “And the worst part?” Ryder asks slowly, staring at his hands. “The entire world could see it, all except for us. We were probably one of the most universally hated nations on the planet, and yet we thought we were the greatest. We were blind to what others thought of us. We thought we had the right to play God with the li
ves of everyone that we considered to be beneath us.”

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “Ryder—”

  He sighs. “Don’t worry about me,” he says, looking at me. “I’ll get over this. I just need a little time to process what he just told us.”

  “If you wanna talk about it later, I’ll be willing to listen. You know that,” I say, holding his gaze.

  He nods and kisses me on the forehead. “Thank you.”

  Naomi frowns. “So what are we supposed to do after all of those bombshells? I can’t just sit around here waiting for him to finish his science crap. I’ll go crazy thinking about all that information he just dumped on us.”

  “It is enough to drive someone crazy,” Daisy agrees quietly.

  “Damn right it is,” Naomi says. “It’s like a shitty young adult book. I’m surprised the good doctor doesn’t have a scraggly mustache to twirl with his thumbs while he taunts us.”

  Daisy, Madison, and I all laugh. I’ve read a lot of young adult fiction over the years, and it does seem kind of like a valid comparison right now. A group of young people all banding together to survive the zombie apocalypse, even though most of us are the kind of people one would assume would be the first ones to die if it happened in real life. Plus there’s not exactly a shortage of romances that are probably better off not happening.

  Yeah, definitely a valid comparison, I think with a smile.

  “He did say we could go exploring,” Daisy says. “I could go for a look around this place. Would any of you wanna come with me?” she asks, looking at each of us in turn.

  Madison stands and stretches. “Thanks, but I was looking for the kitchen late last night and found the laundry room by mistake. I’m gonna wash our clothes so we’ll have some clean stuff to take with us. I’m tired of wearing my underwear for three days in a row and washing them in a cold stream.” She heads for the door, stopping to gently rub Todd’s back. He doesn’t look away from the screen, but Madison doesn’t look offended. She just smiles and shakes her head as she leaves, and I think I hear her mutter, “Boys,” under her breath.

  “What about you guys?” Daisy asks, looking at me and Ryder.

  “I’d love to go exploring,” I say with a smile. “But first I need to eat. That kitchen is actually pretty well stocked, so I’m gonna go make something first. Anyone else feeling hungry?”

  “Hell yeah,” Aaron says with a grin. “I feel so hungry I could eat a whole cow.”

  “Hmmm,” I say, pretending to think. “I don’t recall seeing any cows in the kitchen, but I’m sure we can find you something you’ll eat.”

  Aaron and Naomi laugh, but Ryder still looks lost in his own thoughts. I lean in and kiss him on the cheek and he looks at me. “We’re gonna go scrape up some breakfast. Why don’t you come with? Some warm food will do you some good.”

  He smiles. “Look at you, trying to take care of me.”

  I can feel myself start to blush. “I don’t get the chance often. Usually it’s the other way around. I don’t wanna miss the opportunity,” I say, taking his hand. He reluctantly gets to his feet and follows all of us to the door. I give Todd and Reese one last look, but they don’t seem to notice us leaving. I’ll have to remember to bring them a plate later, or else they’ll starve to death in front of that TV.

  The rest of our day is spent cooking, doing laundry, checking our weapons and supplies, and finally doing a little bit of exploring. Daisy and I find a room full of nothing but computers, which still run and everything. We kill some time playing games on them, and I teach her the rules of three card poker, the only card game I’ve ever been halfway decent at. But before we know it, it begins to get dark outside, so we grab some dinner and we all retreat to our rooms for the night.

  Chapter Thirteen

  In the morning, Dr. Richards comes for us in the living quarters. Todd and Reese are back in front of the TV playing some snowboarding game that actually looks pretty entertaining, and the rest of us are enjoying some warm breakfast on the couches. He hangs in the doorway for a minute, just observing us as if we were mice in one of his experiments. He doesn’t speak until Ryder clears his throat.

  “I need a specimen,” he says. “I believe I’m ready to begin trials using what I have left of my first batch of the serum. So I need you all to go outside and find me the best specimen you can. Preferably one with all of its appendages intact, otherwise my results won’t be of much use. I’d eventually like to test my serum on one of the more decomposed ones—one that won’t survive if it changes back—just for the sake of my curiosity.”

  Ryder grimaces, and the rest of us aren’t feeling too pleasant about his attitude either. This dude is seriously creepy. Even the way he talks about these specimens—with a fire in his eyes and a spring in his step—is very off-putting. It makes me want to go take a hot shower and burn everything he’s ever touched. Not for the first time, I really wish our miracle scientist was a completely different person. I’d take just about anyone over him.

  “Not all of us are going,” Aaron says, much to the surprise of Dr. Richards. “Some of us are going to stay in here.”

  “You don’t trust me?” Dr. Richards asks.

  “It’s not that,” Ryder lies. “If something goes wrong out there, you’d be back to square one. This way, if something happens, you still have a second group of us to help you.”

  Dr. Richards nods his head as he thinks. “I understand. That’s very smart,” he says, as if he’s amazed that Ryder isn’t dumber than a box of rocks like he thought he was. I feel offended on Ryder’s behalf, and I see the rest of our group bristle just a bit as they catch what Dr. Richards is implying.

  “So, who will be staying and who will be going?” he asks, surveying our members. “Surely those two girls are not going to be involved,” he says, eyeing Daisy and Naomi. “They’re not qualified for a job of this magnitude.” I clamp a hand down on Naomi’s shoulder to keep her from exploding at the implication she can’t take care of herself. “After all, they were both half dead when you arrived.”

  “Aaron, Todd, and Madison will be handling this,” Ryder says, pointing to each of them since we all doubt Dr. Richards has taken the time to learn our names. “That way, if something happens, you still have me, Reese, and Sam to help you. The six of us are more than capable, even split up.”

  Dr. Richards looks at the three of them as if he’s sizing up their potential. “Very well. Come with me; I’ll lead you to the front exit, and when I open the gates, you’ll fetch me the best specimen you can get for me.”

  “And how are we supposed to catch them? With our bare hands?” Todd asks with a sneer. Madison elbows him, but he ignores her.

  “I’ll be lending you some equipment for your excursion. We have everything you should need. How you choose to do this is up to you, as long as I get my specimen. But be warned, if I deem the situation to be hazardous to my work here, I will not open that gate again. Make sure you’re free from any stragglers or you’ll be stuck out there.”

  Todd glares, but thankfully he keeps his mouth shut. We all discussed this possibility earlier, and begged him to keep his mouth shut if it came up. He knows that Ryder and I will be in the control room with Dr. Richards, and we won’t leave them outside that fence no matter what happens. I know it must kill Todd to remain silent when Dr. Richard just threatened to let them all die if things go wrong, but he understands there’s a bigger picture here, just like the rest of us all do.

  “We want to watch, to make sure nothing goes wrong,” I say, stepping forward. “We’ll stay out of the way, but I can’t let my cousin and friends out there without being able to watch over them.”

  Dr. Richards’ face screws up until he looks like he just sucked on a lemon that didn’t agree with him, but he doesn’t refuse. Maybe he understands just like we do that this agreement between us works both ways, and we have things that he needs as well. If so, that might make things more comfortable for us during our stay here. As long as h
e thinks that we have things to offer him, we should be okay, even if he is mad as a hatter.

  Reese stays behind in the living quarters with Naomi to watch over Daisy in the event something does go wrong. If Dr. Richards wants to mistakenly believe that Naomi is useless, we’ll let him go ahead and think that. She can be kind of like our ace in the hole that we can bring out if we need to. But I’m hoping things with Dr. Richards don’t turn too sour.

  We follow Dr. Richards down the main hallway until we get to the front exit, and I try to memorize the path in case we need to make a run for it, or come to the rescue of Madison, Aaron, and Todd. I’m sure that Ryder had it memorized from the moment we walked through it the first time, but I want to have that knowledge for myself as well. I hate thinking that anything bad might happen to Ryder, but I can’t deny the possibility that it could happen. It would be a foolish thing to think, and I haven’t survived this long by being foolish…

  There’s a stack of gear by the door, and he allows them to sift through it, choosing what they think will work best to complete their goals. I see Todd grab a long metal pole with a wire loop on the end, the perfect thing to snag a zombie by the neck and lead him anywhere we need to take him. Madison grabs another pole, ignoring a box of netting and some rubber rain boots. I’m not sure what use Dr. Richards thought those would have, but I guess anything can be of use if you think hard enough.

  Aaron takes out his weapon and checks it over while Madison and Todd prepare themselves mentally. I can see how nervous the two of them are, and I don’t blame them. Willingly going outside a safe zone and putting yourself in danger is not something any of us look forward to, but sometimes it’s necessary.

  Ignoring Dr. Richards, I head for the front exit and give Madison a big hug. She’s careful not to hit me with the pole while she squeezes me back. “Be careful out there,” I say.