Nick stopped and spun around. “Not without us, you’re not.”
“Then you better follow me, because I can hotwire that red car right there,” I said, pointing to the left.
“You’re not running off again without backup,” Val said. “Z’s men play dirty, and I won’t let you face them alone.”
“We just have to beat them there,” Claire chimed in.
Nick shook his head. “No. It’s too dangerous. You know what Z will do to you if you get caught? Remember what he did to you last time? He shows no mercy.”
“I need to do this...for Jackie,” she argued, “and if you ever cared about her one tiny bit, or if you care about me, you’ll help me or at least get outta my way. If you try to stop me, I will never forgive you, Nick.”
Claire’s trump card worked, and the others finally agreed, because they knew how stubborn we were and that we would go with or without them. The only choice they had was to accompany us or stuff us in the trunk, because we wouldn’t give up.
We drove to Charlie’s house, tires squealing as we sped there. We parked in the driveway, where we were greeted by his security team. Charlie had never had guards on duty before, since he’d never feared for his life, but now he was on Z’s hit list.
I jumped out of the car and rushed toward the armed guards.
“Halt,” one shouted, “or I’ll shoot!”
I heeded his warning. “Listen, I just need to talk to Charlie.”
“I got a better idea. I’ll give you ten seconds to haul your butt outta here,” said the towering, bearded, scowling man.
“But Z’s gang is coming!” I said. “We’ve only got a ten-minute lead on them, and they’re looking for Charlie.”
“You’ve gotta get him out of here,” Claire said, inching forward. “Charlie’s my friend,” she lied. “We’re only here to help.”
The men refused to budge.
“C’mon, fellas. Put the guns down. We’re all on the same side here,” Val said, trying to muster a flirtatious voice even though she looked like she wanted to murder them.
Claire resorted to yelling for Charlie as the security force swept toward us in full force.
The door creaked open, and there stood the mass murderer himself. In my book, he was on the same level as Z. They were both sick, twisted individuals, and Charlie had science on his side. “What do you want, Claire?” he asked.
“Tell your men to put their weapons down,” she answered. “We just want to talk to you.”
Charlie hesitated for a moment, then motioned for his men to put down the guns they were pointing at us in a menacing manner.
“Where are your hybrids?” Lucas asked.
“Not here,” Charlie said.
“Don’t trust them yet?” Lucas said. “Afraid you’ll have to sleep with one eye open?”
“Or a butcher knife under your pillow?” Val retorted.
“And here I thought Charlie had the hybrids under control like trained dogs,” Nick said. “Afraid they might bite off your hand when you give them a biscuit?”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Why are you here?”
“Z’s men are coming to kill you,” I said.
Chapter 34
The scientist arched an eyebrow. “And exactly why are you warning me?”
“We were told that you cured Jackie. Is this true?” Claire asked. “I can’t live another moment in the darkness, not knowing. It’s killing me, Charlie. Please! We really were friends once, and I think you owe me the truth.”
“And don’t forget we risked our lives to save you from that herd,” I said. “Claire and I almost died trying to save you that day.”
“I know you risked everything,” he said. “I am forever grateful.”
He fell for it hook, line, and sinker and waved us in.
“No!” Nick said. “We don’t have time for a sit-down. We need you to come with us, and your team is more than welcome to accompany you. As a matter of fact, I would suggest it, because otherwise, they’re gonna be playing welcome wagon to Z’s band of lunatics.”
“Leave with you? No way,” Charlie said. “For all I know, this is a trap, and Max’s men are waiting for me in those trees out there.”
“This isn’t a trap,” Val said. “You have my word. Now let’s get outta here. The clock is ticking.”
“I’m not leaving,” he said.
“I think you are...one way or another,” Lucas said. He then turned to Val and whispered, “I say we knock his stubborn butt out.”
“His team will shoot us,” Val said, “and there are more of them than us.”
“We can’t stick around here much longer,” Nick said, “or we’re goners too.”
Claire let out a long sigh. “Just gimme one minute to convince him.”
“Fine,” Lucas snapped, “but then we’re makin’ like the movies and are gonna be gone in sixty seconds.”
I bounded up the stairs to the porch and hurried into the living room. The others followed, including some of Charlie’s security team, just to make sure we didn’t get out of control.
“Is it true?” Claire asked.
“I know you hate me for all the experiments I ran, but it was because of those experiments that I discovered the right compound. The original cure was missing it for B+ blood types.”
“You made hybrids!” Val shouted. “If they escape and multiply, our whole world is screwed.”
“You took our cure under false pretenses, Doc,” Lucas yelled, shifting his stance.
“I only did what you asked. I created a cure.”
“We’ve gotta go, people!” Nick shouted, nervously looking out the window. “We can carry on this little Q&A later, when we’re safe.”
Charlie looked at one of his men. “Go check it out. See if the gang is coming.”
The man nodded and left.
“Charlie,” I said, “I get why you don’t trust us. Guilt does that to people. But you can take your own car and use the backstreets. We’ll come with you.”
Suddenly, tires screeched, and shouts of anger filled the air outside.
My heart raced as I hurried to the window and moved the curtain. “Well, the gang’s all here,” I said.
“Great,” Nick complained, grabbing his gun.
“Now do you believe us?” Claire asked.
Charlie clumsily grabbed a rifle. “Yeah, I do.”
“If you would’ve listened to us in the first place, we woulda been gone by now,” Val snapped, looking through the scope of her weapon.
Shots echoed loudly as Charlie’s security force took on Charlie’s gang. Screaming ensued, followed by more shots. Glass shattered with a boom as bullets flew past my head. In the chaos of the moment, my stomach knotted up again. I knew getting caught by Z would be a death sentence, that he’d find a new way to torture me and enjoy watching me take my last breath. As the enemy drew dangerously close, I aimed my rifle through the broken window. We all fought back to the best of our ability, and as much as I hated firing on humans, I had no choice. Still, so many men were coming at once that I knew there was no way we could take them all on.
Suddenly, some egg-shaped thing whizzed past me and landed on the floor with a thud.
“Grenade!” Lucas yelled.
“Run!” Val shouted.
We hurried to the kitchen and ducked under the table. An ear-splitting sound filled the air as the hand grenade exploded with a loud blast.
My eyes watered, and I coughed as the room filled with smoke.
“To the basement!” Charlie said.
“Bad idea,” Nick said. “Our best chance is to keep fighting.”
“He’s right,” Val said. “We don’t wanna get cornered down there.”
“There’s a secret exit,” Charlie retorted, coughing.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Claire asked. “Let’s go!”
We all followed Charlie down the steps and zigzagged around his food and supplies. He led us down a long corridor, into a sma
ll room, where he moved a bookshelf and unlocked a door. “We’ve gotta put the shelf back, or else they’ll follow us.
Once we were all in, Nick and Lucas pushed the bookshelf back in place the best they could, then shut the door.
We took off down another dark corridor, and I shined my flashlight ahead. The air was stale, and cobwebs were draped everywhere. I used my hands to wipe them away, and when a long-legged spider crawled across my shoulder, I brushed it off. “Where does this lead?” I asked.
“To a field not too far from here,” Charlie asked.
“Is it secure?” Nick asked.
“I assure you that there are no zombies or hybrids in here,” he said.
“You assure us, huh? Gee, that’s comforting,” Lucas said.
“Wait,” Val said. “Z’s men aren’t behind us anymore. I guess the secret passage fooled them.”
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew. I picked this house especially for that reason, and now I’m glad I did.”
Claire and I chatted about the possibility of Jackie being alive. We didn’t know if it was true or not, and we didn’t want to get our hopes up, only for them to be dashed.
Claire turned to face Charlie. “Why don’t you tell us more about my cousin? You promised me answers, so please be honest and start talking.”
“I only pretended to kill Jackie,” he said bluntly. “I really just took her to the new lab, because I didn’t want you guys to take her with you. I knew you were going to leave, and it would have been very dangerous for her to go with you. At some point, you would have felt forced to kill her. Besides that, I needed more tissue samples. I needed to keep her here.”
“Because she was a perfect specimen?” Claire asked.
“Exactly.”
The cold way he answered her, talking about Jackie like she was a lab rat, was enough to trigger my anger. I slammed Charlie up against the wall.
As soon as I assaulted him, the few security guards who’d come with us pointed guns at me.
Lucas jumped one of the men, while Val took the other.
“Stop!” Nick shouted. “We need to work together if we’re gonna get out of here alive.”
Realizing my brother was right, I loosened my grip on Charlie and let out a few choice words.
Lucas patted my back. “He’s not worth it, buddy. Don’t let him get to you.”
Charlie brushed himself off, then helped one of his security guards up.
Nick glared at him. “You’re gonna give Dean and Claire all the answers they want. Is that clear?”
Charlie nodded. “Crystal clear.”
Nick huffed and took the lead once again.
“If we didn’t need you right now,” Val said. “I’d blow your head off for what you did to Asia and Kate and all those other people.”
“Blow my head off? That’s a little harsh, isn’t it? I thought we were friends,” he said.
“Our friendship died the second you did experiments on my real ones.” With that, she stormed off and caught up with Nick.
“Is Jackie really alive?” I asked. He didn’t answer and I continued. “I saved your life once. And I don’t mean to keep harping on it. But I don’t understand why you won’t give me peace of mind? Why can’t you give me the one answer I need to desperately hear? Just tell me one way or the other.”
“Is she alive or not?” Claire asked.
“She’s alive,” Charlie whispered.
Claire gasped in stunned belief. “Don’t lie to us. My heart can’t take more false hope.”
“I swear to you that Jackie’s alive and well,” he said.
My heart raced. “Where?”
“You get me outta here alive, and we’ll talk,” he answered.
I was sick and tired of him keeping us in limbo, holding us emotionally hostage, and at that moment, I realized she was probably not alive at all. I was certain that Charlie was lying to us, just using her as leverage or a ploy so he could escape, just like Shawn had tried to do.
“How is she?” Claire asked, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“She’s wonderful,” Charlie said.
“So you say,” Lucas chimed in, not believing a word the scientist said.
Claire suddenly kicked out Charlie’s knee and knocked him to the ground. She held her gun to his temple. “Where is she? I’m not waiting any longer. Just tell me where she is!”
When Charlie’s security team jumped in, Charlie told them to stay out of it.
“She won’t hurt me,” he said.
“You don’t know me very well,” she retorted.
“Claire, what happened to you?” he asked. “This isn’t like you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, stomping his chest. “All you need to worry about is giving me answers before I blow your head off.”
He blinked. “And to think, I kept the hybrids from killing you, should they run into you.”
“I hate mind games,” she shouted. “So start talking because I really feel like head butting you, knocking you out, and feeding you to the zombies!”
“If you kill me, then you will never get the answers you so long for,” he said.
“Don’t kill him,” Nick said. “Let’s just see how this plays out.”
Glaring, she slowly lowered her gun and he scrambled to his feet.
“What happened to the sweet Claire I first met in that jail cell?” he asked. “The one I used to sit and do crossword puzzles with.”
“She died!” Claire shouted. “You killed her when you took Jackie away from me. You pretended to be my friend but you’ve done nothing but put me through hell. The worst part about all of this is the not knowing. How can you keep me in limbo like this? It’s so mean and cruel. Especially after I risked my life for you. But I guess it didn’t mean anything.”
“You’re becoming unglued, unhinged...unstable.”
Claire went to slap him when I caught her hand. “We gotta keep moving.”
“I want to see Jackie,” she said.
“I’ll take you to her soon,” Charlie said. “I promise.”
“I hope you’re not lying,” she said.
“How did you find out about Jackie in the first place?” he questioned.
I cleared my throat. “It was me. I was trapped in a cave-in, with Shawn, and he spilled a few of your dirty little secrets. When I heard that Z’s men were on their way to kill you, I knew we had to stop it.”
“Why did you do it?” Claire demanded, her face reddening with anger. “Why did you hurt so many innocent people, Charlie?”
“Because I thought it was worth the loss of a few to save the rest of the world,” Charlie said. “Is that so bad?”
“Yes! If it involves cruel experiments on helpless victims, then yes!” she retorted.
“I only picked people who deserved it, like those thugs who moved into the warehouse. I watched them steal and murder countless times. Will the world really miss them?”
“Nothing gives you the right to play God,” Claire said.
“And what about Asia and Kate?” I asked. “They aren’t thugs.”
“Truthfully, those two pissed me off. I needed them desperately, yet they refused to stay. But I loved you guys just like Jonathon did. You’re good people, and I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never would have taken Val, Claire, or Jackie downstairs to the lab.”
“But you did! You took Jackie down there,” I said.
“Only when I was left with no other option. She kept summoning zombies, so I gave her something that stopped them from coming. But it wasn’t just that she was calling them. It was all the other hybrids I created a few days after I got my hands on the serum.”
“You figured out how to create hybrids that fast!?” I shouted.
“Yes. We captured dozens of zombies off the streets the same day you gave me the serum and took them into the back entrance and downstairs.”
I was floored by his statement. So it wasn’t just Jackie calling all those zombies t
hat horrible day.
“Did the other scientists know what you were up to?” Claire asked.
“Only a handful knew the secret. The others thought we were just experimenting with zombies, so they opted to stay upstairs and work on slides, where it was safer. We told them it was top secret, and if anyone talked about it outside those walls, they’d be forbidden from working there and be kicked out. They vowed not to tell you because they didn’t want you going down there and getting hurt, but they had no idea we’d kidnapped live human test subjects. Jonathon didn’t even know. If he had, I don’t think he would’ve ever brought you to the lab, but you were friends of his, and we treated you as such.”
“Not me,” Val retorted.
“Or me,” Claire said. “I hated that jail cell.”
“We had to put you in that jail. You were infected, and we had no idea if the cure would hold up. We put you there for everyone’s protection, including your own. At least I didn’t throw you down in that lab with those thugs.”
“Somebody shoulda treated you like a thug,” Lucas seethed.
Claire shot him a hard glance, then looked back at Charlie. “I trusted you,” she said, “but anyone you didn’t deem worthy, you killed in horrendous experiments.”
“It is what it is,” Charlie said with a dismissive shrug, “but I fixed your cure. You brought it to me broken, and I fixed it, just like you asked.”
“I didn’t ask for you to hurt anyone,” she said.
“You act as if I’m a monster,” Charlie said, “but I just saved the human race. I will go down in the history books as a hero.”
I sneered. “So you did this all for glory, for fortune and fame? You wouldn’t even have that cure in your hands if it weren’t for a very dedicated scientist back in Ohio. He discovered it, not you. You just perfected it...and even that’s just hearsay.”
“We’re here,” Nick said. “Everyone quiet!” He opened the steel door and peered out.
A cold blast of air hit me in the face as I peeked around my brother’s shoulder and saw that zombies littered the meadow ahead of us.
Chapter 35
“It’s just off the perimeter line protecting the city,” Lucas said.
“Your escape route runs right through zombie-infested territory, Charlie? Brilliant,” Val said.
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