Zombie D.O.A. Series Four: The Complete Series Four

by JJ Zep

  “Aah, bless her,” Justine mocked. “Looks like she’s trying to conjure up some of that juju magic right now. That’s it, time’s up.” She turned towards the cockpit, seemed about to shout an instruction to the pilots.

  “For Christ’s sake, Justine,” Joe said. “Five minutes. We’ve come this far. What’s an extra five minutes going to hurt? I thought Kelly was your friend.”

  Justine gave him a bemused smile. “What’s it going to hurt, Joe? It’s going to hurt by undermining my authority that’s what. How can I expect you to take me seriously if I go back on my word?” She paused, seemed to contemplate. “Tell you what,” she said. “Two minutes. But that’s my final –”

  And it was at that moment that the door to the roof clattered open.

  ***

  Ruby heard the crash of metal against brickwork, the sound of the door being pushed aside. It stirred her from the depths of her meditation. Not that meditation was doing her much good. She’d heard Justine’s jibe about her mental abilities being washed up and much as she hated to admit it, Justine was right. Ruby’s powers had been declining steadily since she’d entered her teens. There’d been a time when she’d been able to fling a heavy object, a bedstead for example, clear across a room, simply by willing it to happen. There’d been a time when she’d been able to bend someone to her will by giving them a little mental nudge. She’d been trying to do just that to Justine ever since they’d brought Uncle Joe on board. It hadn’t worked so she’d tried working at her bonds using a mental technique Dr. Gish had taught her as a child. She’d visualized herself as an animal, a boa constrictor in this case, sinuous and strong. It hadn’t helped one bit. Here she sat, trussed up and frustrated, unable to help the people she cared about.

  fifteen

  Chris leaned against his bonds, twisted his head, trying to get a look at Kelly. It had been five days since he’d left for Staten Island, five days since he’d seen his family, five days that seemed like a lifetime. He saw her now, just a shape under the blankets piled onto the stretcher, then the hint of a face, a tuft of dark hair. He wanted to cry out to her but felt the words die in his throat. Tears of fear, anger and frustration welled in his eyes and he blinked hard to banish them. Kelly was going to make it. Besides all the odds against her, against them, she was going to make it to the field hospital in White Plains. She was going to be okay. It had to be so.

  He cast a quick glance towards the doctor, seated opposite, beside Ruby. She was still slumped forward in her seat, the safety harness holding her in place. They’d have to get her on her feet soon. She needed to take care of Kelly.

  “What the hell is this?” Justine’s voice, from the door of the cabin, drew his attention back in that direction. Now he could see Charlie and Jojo, Samantha, Ferret, Janet and Hooley, all clustered around the stretcher. His heart leapt at the sight of them.

  “I asked you a question?” Justine said. “What the hell is it with all these people?”

  “These are the folks getting aboard the chopper,” Hooley said incredulously. “Well, all except me and these fellers carrying the stretcher.”

  “I said Kelly and the kids,” Justine said. “Not the whole goddamn extended family.”

  “Granted, you said that. But this here’s Kelly mama who needs to be by her side. And this here’s Ferret, Kelly’s adopted daughter.”

  “I know who they are,” Justine said. “I’m not taking them. Tell your men to get Kelly on board. You’ve got thirty seconds.”

  “Now hang on just a god dang minute,” Hooley said. “This here’s my wife and she’s getting on board this bird, whether you like it or not. I won’t have it any other way.”

  “You won’t have it any other way? What makes you think you have a say in the matter, Billy Bob? Step away and get that stretcher loaded before I lose my sense of humor. I have to say that again and I’m likely to start throwing punches. Now move!”

  “Don’t you talk to my husband like that!” This was Janet.

  “I’ll talk to him any damn way I choose,” Justine said. She turned towards the children. “You boys, get on board, you too Samantha.”

  From the other side of the cabin, the doctor muttered something that Chris couldn’t quite make out.

  There was movement outside. Chris strained again at the harness holding him to the seat, trying to look around Hooley, who wasn’t letting his altercation with Justine slide. “I’ll thank you not to speak to my wife in that tone,” Hooley said. “Matter of fact, she’s due an apology.”

  “An apology?” Justine said. “Is that what you want? An apology?” She struck out suddenly, her booted foot a blur of movement that caught Hooley in the kidneys, then at the side off the head, spilling him into the snow.

  “Hooley!” Janet screamed, running forward and dropping to her knees next to him. “Hooley, oh Jesus, oh God! You’ve killed him.”

  sixteen

  “I can’t go with you,” the doctor muttered, her voice slurred. “Marin needs me.”

  Ruby had been concentrating all of her attention on the strip of plastic binding her wrists until the doctor spoke. The sound of her voice stirred something, the spark of an idea. Then that idea took root and blossomed into a fully-fledged plan, one that Ruby knew would work. Like radar focusing in on an intruding aircraft, her focal point shifted, zoomed in. The doctor was dazed, semi-conscious and with no resistance to offer, Ruby stepped right into her mind as easily as walking through an open door. She didn’t particularly like what she saw there, but that was no matter. All she needed was to control the doctor’s movements for one brief moment, to get her to raise her hand and push the release catch on the safety harness.

  She gave the doctor a mental nudge. “Doc… doctor…wake up.”

  Nothing.

  Ruby focused hard, tuning in. The doctor’s name was Alex, Alex Payne. She tried again.

  “Dr. Payne… Alex.”

  The doctor muttered something in her sleep but didn’t wake.

  From outside Ruby could hear Janet shouting, cursing, language she’d never have associated with Grammy Capshaw.

  “Marin…” Doctor Payne mumbled. Ruby had heard the doctor utter the same name earlier. She followed that strand.

  “Yes Alex, it’s Marin.”

  “Marin? Is it really you?”

  “Yes, Alex, it’s really me. Now listen. I need you to do something for me.”

  “Anything, Marin.”

  “Good, I need you to reach over and release the catch on Ruby’s harness.”

  “Ruby? Who is…?”

  “The girl sitting next to you. Reach over and release the catch, Alex.”

  For a moment the doctor wavered and Ruby almost thought she’d lost her. Then she said, out loud this time, “Okay Marin. Whatever you say.”

  Her hand rose as slowly as a specter rising from the grave, it drifted across and came to rest with the heel of its palm against the catch on Ruby’s harness.

  “Push down, Alex,” Ruby nudged.

  She felt pressure applied, heard a distinct click and felt the harness loosen. She shrugged out of the restraint and pushed to her feet. Her hands, of course, were still bound, but she was free, she was on her feet, this was the only chance she was going to get.

  Justine stood in the doorway, still barking commands while Janet directed threats and expletives at her. But Justine had heard the click, too. She was turning, bringing up the machine pistol, her hair flaring out around her face as though in slow motion.

  The distance between them was only a few feet, but Ruby could see that she wasn’t going to make it. Justine’s finger was tightening on the trigger, a smile was forming on her lips.

  That was when Janet tackled her from behind.

  seventeen

  “You fuuuccckkking biiitttccchhh!”

  In all the time Chris had known his mother-in-law, the strongest word he’d ever heard her utter was “drat.” Now, Janet was like a woman possessed. Justine had just turned towards Ru
by (somehow loose, although Chris didn’t know how), when Janet hit her from behind, pushing her hard in the back and sending her careening forward. Justine was taken by surprise but she responded quickly, twisting for balance, trying to bring the machine pistol up. For the briefest of moments, Chris thought that his daughter was going to be shot. But, even with her hands bound behind her, Ruby was quick, fleet-footed, poised. She moved in towards Justine, using her shoulder to deflect the path of the pistol, simultaneously hanging out a foot, then dancing out of Justine’s path, sending her lurching into the steel wall of the cabin. Justine barely had time to react, but still angled her head away at the last moment, taking the brunt of the blow on her shoulder. She was turning even as she did, bringing the pistol up again. But Ruby was already on her, sweeping Justine’s feet away, catching her with a knee as she fell, then bringing her boot down on Justine’s pistol hand as she hit the deck. Justine let out a screech that was part rage, part agony, and Ruby cut her cries short, delivering a boot to the base of her chin that put Justine’s lights out.

  For a second, it was dead quiet in the cabin, those aboard barely able to believe that the situation had changed so rapidly in their favor.

  It was Janet who broke the silence. “I’ll kill her!” she screeched, and charged across the cabin towards Justine’s prone body.

  “No!” Ruby said, stepping into her path. “We don’t have time for that now! Get my sword. Cut me loose.”

  “She killed Hooley!” Janet screamed, trying to fight her way past. “I’ll kill the bitch!”

  “Hooley’s not dead,” Joe said. “Probably just knocked out. But you better do what the kid says, Janet. We need to get out of here.”

  “Dad?” Chris turned towards the door of where Charlie and Jojo stood, wearing matching expressions of concern. Chris looked across at his sons, barely able to believe that they were standing right in front of him. For a moment he almost forget the seriousness of their situation. Then the sound of something collapsing in the street below sparked him into action.

  “Charlie! Jojo!” he said. “Get in here, help me and Uncle Joe out of these harnesses.”

  Charlie and Jojo scrambled aboard. Janet snipped through Ruby’s bonds as instructed then rushed across the fuselage towards Hooley. Ruby knelt beside Justine, checked for a pulse and then flipped her onto her stomach and secured her hands behind her.

  Chris turned back towards the rooftop where the combination of fresh snow flurries and smoke had turned the air into a thick fog. The roar of flame, the percussion of exploding glass, told him that the fire had taken hold of the building. Now Strangler and Carlito appeared from the murk and shifted the stretcher into the cabin and he saw Kelly, her eyes tightly shut, dark hair tousled, her face incredibly pale. Then Charlie snipped through the cable tie binding his hands and Chris was out of his seat in an instant.

  “Ma’am? Ms. Goodwillie?” the pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “Everything okay back there? Cause we really need to get going.”

  “You flyboys hold onto your helmets,” Joe shouted back. “We’ll be in the air in five. Just a few seating arrangements to be made back here.”

  eighteen

  “It was a pretty tight squeeze,” Jojo said. “What with fifteen people plus, of course, Luigi. But we made it. Lifted off from that apartment building just as the fire was taking hold of the lower floors. The pilots told my dad later that we were just about running on fumes by the time they put that Blackhawk on the deck in White Plains.”

  Jojo had become so engrossed in the telling of the story that he hadn’t even noticed that Ferret had moved across and was now sitting next to him. She put a hand on his arm and smiled when he looked at her. Jojo smiled back. The sun was just beginning to cast its light over the horizon, turning the sky a shade of blue that lingered somewhere between royal and azure. Ferret, backlit by the radiance of the rising sun looked to him like an angel. Jojo wished that moment could have lasted forever.

  “And your mom? And the baby?” someone asked.

  The question cut through the magic of the moment, crumbling it like a sand castle. For a moment Jojo was sure he wasn’t going to answer, as though not answering would change what had happened. It wouldn’t, of course, what was done was done. He drew a breath, prepared to speak, but Charlie beat him to it.

  “Everything turned out fine,” he said from the other side of the fire. “We’re here aren’t we?”

  “But what happened when you got to White Plains?” Colin Buckland said. “I mean, the Corporation had a warrant out for your dad and Joe Thursday, didn’t they?”

  “Yeah,” Brad Grissom said. “And what about Justine? And that other nut job you were talking about, Scolfield?”

  “Man,” Charlie said. “You guys are worse than the instructors at Pendleton with your questions.” He got to his feet, stretched elaborately. “Come on,” he said. “The sun’s out, story time’s over. On your feet, you bums, let’s go catch some waves while we still can. In a couple of days you’ll all be up to your knees in Z guts and regretting the time you wasted.”

  “But the story ain’t over,” Grissom whined. “Come on man, don’t leave us hanging. Wrap it up. Tell us how it turned out for everyone.”

  Charlie looked back at them, seemed for a moment to waver.

  “Nah,” he said. “I think I’ll just leave you Corporation killing machines hanging. A bit of suspense never hurt anyone.”

  “Aah man,” Grissom said. “Give it up.”

  “Tell you what,” Charlie said. “Right now, I’m going for a swim, having myself some breakfast and then catching some rays and a little siesta. Tonight when everyone’s snug and toasty around the fire, on our last night of freedom, I’ll tell you the rest.”

  “There’s a lot more to tell?”

  “Oh yeah. A lot more.”

  PART TWO

  one

  “We got trouble,” Joe said.

  Chris reluctantly drew his gaze away from Kelly, looked up from the stretcher to Joe. They were crammed into the cabin of the helicopter, fifteen of them plus the doctor and Justine. Kelly was still out, lying on the stretcher on the floor, Chris kneeling beside her to one side, Dr. Payne to the other. The doctor had examined Kelly on the flight from New York. Her prognosis, delivered almost spitefully, was that Kelly was probably going to die, and that even if she did survive, the baby wasn’t going to make it. The baby wasn’t breeched she said, but there were complications. She’d probably be able to perform a C-section once they were on the ground, but Kelly had lost a lot of blood and was probably too weak to survive the operation.

  The doctor’s pronouncement had got Samantha and Ferret crying and Janet screaming, and Chris had stilled them. Kelly wasn’t going to die, he said, looking directly at Dr. Payne, and if she did, someone was going to pay - more than likely the doctor that had failed to save her. That had wiped the smirk off Payne’s face. But it hadn’t stilled the dread in Chris’s heart. If Kelly did die, he wasn’t sure he wanted to go on.

  “Chris,” Joe said. “Sorry to worry you with this, compadre, but you ought to take a look.”

  Chris got reluctantly to his feet, hardly feeling the stiffness that had worked its way into his bones and joints. He followed Joe, shuffling between Paulie and Carlito, past Hooley, still looking dazed, Janet sitting beside him holding his hand.

  Joe leaned into the cockpit.

  “We’re going to have to put this bird on the deck in the next few minutes, Mr. Thursday,” one of the pilots said immediately. “We’ve been running on reserve the last ten minutes.”

  Chris looked out through the windshield at the scene below, dense forest surrounding a series of small lakes, frozen in places, just reflecting back the early morning sun. Then the chopper banked away, bringing into view the snow-covered expanse of the runway, the terminal buildings and hangars, a row of long dead commercial jets on the tarmac. But it wasn’t those things that attracted Chris’s attention, it was the Humvees standing hapha
zardly on the ground, the smoke billowing from one of the buildings, the broken bodies, the splashes of red in the snow. Most of all, it was the Z’s, hundreds of the things, lurching forth on random trajectories. The White Plains base had been overrun.

  “Can we find somewhere else to put down?” Joe asked the pilots.

  “Sure,” one of them said. “As long as you don’t mind going in nose first.”

  “Shit!” Joe said, then after a moment. “Okay, bring her down at the end of the runway, about as far from those things as possible.”

  “No,” Chris said immediately. “Get us in closer. Just give us enough of a head start to clear the chopper before they reach us.” He turned to Joe. “We need to get Kelly into that field hospital, Joe. And every minute might be crucial. Besides, we’re going to have to deal with them sooner or later.”

  Joe looked back at Chris. After a moment he nodded solemnly. “You heard the man,” he said to the pilots. “Put us on the deck.”

  two

  The sound of the helicopter drew the zombies like ants to a picnic. Chris watched them through the window as the Blackhawk began its descent. At first, the Z’s seemed confused, casting around for the source of the clamor. Then a few of the creatures turned their faces towards the sky and spotted the chopper. With that, it was as though some signal passed between them. The aimless meanderings ceased, they drew together, hurtled forward like a rioting mob, their path taking them towards the trajectory of the helicopter - not hundreds, as Chris had first guessed, but thousands.