“Wait…are you saying soldier with a Z?” I asked. I laughed despite the horror of the whole situation. “Oh my god, seriously? You’re calling it a ‘Zoldier program’ because it’s zombie soldiers? That has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!”
To my surprise, McKinney shrugged and chuckled, though the gun didn’t waver. “On that I have to agree with you, but unfortunately it wasn’t up to me.”
Jesus, this guy was a fucking psycho with his weird mood swings. Scared the ever living shit out of me. I shot a look toward the window. Black suit dude was scowling. I had a feeling “Zoldiers” had been his idea. Figured. A name that stupid could only come from the government. Besides, if they were with an Evil Corporation, their suits would be nicer.
I took a deep breath and turned back to the new guy. “What’s your name?”
He flicked a glance at McKinney and received a whisper of a nod in response. “Name’s Aaron Wallace, ma’am,” he told me.
“I’m Angel.” And I’m going to be your Angel of Death today, one way or the other, I thought miserably. “You, um, should probably sit down,” I said, waving in the general direction of the wall. I gave a nervous gulp. “I…I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.”
Aaron moved to sit and leaned against the wall, still keeping his back straight and stiff. “It’s all right ma’am. I’ve been injured before.”
I knelt down beside him, met his eyes. I wanted to tell him that he needed to run, get the hell out of here. Tell him that he had no idea what he was getting into. “There’s no going back from this,” I whispered. “There’s no cure.”
He gave me such a sweet smile that it almost brought me to tears. “It’s all right. I’m ready.”
I wished I was.
Taking hold of his shoulders, I leaned over and bit him hard, the same place I’d bitten Philip, right on the meat of muscle of his traps. Aaron let out a soft hiss as I tightened down, but didn’t twitch at all. I bit harder, tasting blood, then released him, swallowed uncertainly, and bit again. C’mon, killer instinct, I silently begged the parasite. I can’t do this on my own. Blood filled my mouth on the third bite. I could feel tears leaking down my cheeks as I tried to pretend I was simply eating a really tough piece of steak and did my best to tear the flesh.
I sat back on my heels and looked up at McKinney. “It’s not working,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I swear, I’m trying. I swear. Maybe it’s too soon. Let me try some other time. Please!”
McKinney regarded me, mouth twisted in thought. “I’m not ready to quit trying yet. There’s one thing that’s different.” And with that he lifted the gun and shot Aaron twice in the chest, in an almost exact duplicate of the wounds on Philip.
Aaron jerked, eyes wide as he fought to get breath.
“No!” I screamed. “It’s not working. I’m not going to be able to save him!”
“Philip was dying when you tried to turn him,” McKinney replied, utterly calmly. “Perhaps being near death is a requirement. Now, try again.”
I struggled to catch my breath. Could he be right? I’d been close to death when Marcus turned me. And Marcus said he had rabies…but surely he hadn’t been actually dying when Pietro turned him? Would simply having a fatal disease count?
Aaron met my eyes as he fought for breath. Blood bubbled at his mouth, but then he gave me that same sweet smile. How could a seasoned soldier like this be so…innocent? I struggled to give him a smile in response, but I knew it was a sickly effort.
I leaned forward once again and bit down, silently praying with everything I had that this would work. I bit, I chewed, I even forced myself to swallow a small hunk of Aaron’s flesh in case that was what would trigger the mauling instinct.
But the only thing it triggered was nausea, and it wasn’t long before Aaron let out a low sigh of breath and went still.
“Fascinating,” I heard Dr. Charish say. “Though annoying,” she added. “It seems the parasite has a built in population control, which makes sense considering that human brains are a limited resource.”
I got slowly to my feet, turned to face her. I knew I still had blood around my mouth but I didn’t wipe it off. She stood with her hands on her hips, looking between me and Aaron’s body with undisguised impatience and aggravation. The black-suited man didn’t looked very pleased either.
“And how, pray tell,” he asked, “are we supposed to build a unit of Zoldiers if we can’t make more than one?”
“I can fix that,” Dr. Charish snapped. “The limitations are there because of the shortage of food supply. Once the parasite is introduced to the pseudo-brains it should adjust accordingly. I’ve given the new formulation to Philip, and there are none of the issues that were present with the previous batch. Which means we’re in business.” Her gaze went back to me, eyes narrowing. “And which also means that we don’t need to waste resources on this one anymore. Take care of it, McKinney.”
I crumpled as McKinney’s rounds hit me in the chest and stomach. God damn it, I was getting really fucking tired of getting shot. I made sure to fall so I was facing away from the group, though. Because Ed’s brilliant idea was hopefully going to pay off now.
“Do you want me to finish her off?” McKinney asked.
Dr. Charish laughed. “Oh, heavens, no! This is an excellent chance to see how the zombie parasite reacts when it doesn’t have the brains it needs.” I couldn’t see her, but I could practically hear the bitchy smile spreading across her face. “I want to see her rot. Let’s see how cocky she is when her tits are falling off.”
The government guy made a disgusted noise in his throat. “You’re a sick woman, Kristi. But I suppose that’s necessary for this sort of research.”
“Just wait until you’ve been around the zombies for a while,” she said with snort. “Besides, this way if it turns out we still need her, we can just throw some brains at her and she’ll be good as new.” She chuckled. “I can keep her as a test subject forever, if need be.”
And that’s when I stood up.
See, Ed’s idea had been brilliant and disgusting. He was a paramedic who knew anatomy and how to stitch wounds; I was a zombie with the ability to heal without a scar. And the perfect place to hide a stash of brains was, of course, in my abdomen.
McKinney’s stomach shot had actually helped me out by piercing one of the sausage casings of mushed brains that Ed had stuffed inside me—which, for the record, had not been a fun experience at all since anesthesia didn’t work on me. But oh, it was all so worth it now. After being shot I’d had to curl in on myself and do a bit of quick digging to pull the other tubes open and squeeze the brains out before the parasite could repair the damage, but while Dr. Charish and the others were yammering, I was busy getting tanked up to the max—three brains worth. I didn’t even need to eat the brains. The parasite didn’t give a shit how it got what it wanted. This was a sure-shot delivery system.
And I was the motherfucking predator now. I’d felt this way when I’d saved Marcus from being killed by Ed, and it had taken all the will I had to hold back and keep from doing everything I could to stay this way.
But right now I had no intention of holding back. Sweet zombie Jesus, I was fucking invincible.
They could see it, or sense it in their puny little hindbrains. Pure panic filled Dr. Charish’s face, and even McKinney went pale. She stabbed at a button on the keyboard in front of her and an alarm started hooting in the hallway.
My lips curled back from my teeth in a feral grin. “Zombie Super Powers, activate, you fucking bitches.”
I went for McKinney first. Even though I desperately wanted to smash through that window and take down Dr. Charish, I was a smart predator and knew that McKinney was the one who posed an immediate threat to me. Plus, I didn’t want to waste energy on smashing things too soon.
McKinney had enough training to go for the “fight” instead of the “flight,” but it didn’t matter. I got to him before he could squeeze off a sho
t and wrenched the gun from his hand with an adorably sweet sound of breaking bones. Okay, so I might not have actually pulled the gun from his hand before doing the wrenching.
He was tough—I had to give him that. He let out a choked cry of pain, but a snarl of determination curved his mouth. His other hand was already going for his ankle, where I figured he likely had another weapon.
I punched him hard in that determinedly snarling mouth, crushing lips and teeth. He staggered, but before he could fall I seized him by the side of his head. He tried to swing at me, but I batted it aside easily. I gave him my best evil-predator-bitch smile as he struggled to focus on me.
“Yeah, I’m a zombie, you motherfucker. And I’m also a person.” I slammed his head hard into the window. “I’m a woman.” I slammed it again. “And a daughter.” And again. “And a really fucking cool chick!” Oh what the hell, one last time, for good measure.
I let him drop and grinned at the bloody spiderweb of cracks in the glass. The room beyond the glass was empty and a distant sound of running footsteps echoed along the hall. The predator inside me keened in pleasure. A hunt. This would be fun. But first…
I crouched over the body of McKinney. His skull came apart easily since it was already fairly shattered, and I quickly gulped down the contents. While I ate I yanked off his belt and looped it around my waist. It was far too big but I threaded it through his holster and managed to tie the long end around the buckle so that it wouldn’t fall off. He also had a phone—unfortunately, with no signal. Either we were in the middle of nowhere, or we were in a big metal building. Or both. I clipped that onto the belt as well. I probably looked ridiculous but I didn’t give a shit.
My gaze shifted to the body of Aaron. “Sorry, sweetheart,” I murmured as I smashed his skull against the floor. “Just think of this as me avenging your death.”
After I finished I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. It came away bloody, and I stood. Time for the monster to bust herself out.
Chapter 27
McKinney had another gun in an ankle holster. It was a small thing that only held eight rounds, and I used them all to bust through the thick window. My room was locked, but the door of the observation room stood wide open. I kept McKinney’s other gun with me. I wasn’t much of a shot, but since I figured I was up against at least half a dozen guards I needed every edge I could give myself.
Right now my senses were at superpower levels, and I could literally scent the direction they’d gone. Unfortunately, Dr. Charish and Suit Dude had a good head start, and that damn hooting alarm was apparently the grab-everything-and-get-the-hell-out signal.
I came out of the observation room and saw Dr. Charish by the door at the end of the hallway, urging two guards loaded down with computer equipment to hurry the hell up. She turned and saw me, then gave a little shriek of horror as she dove through the doorway and put her shoulder to the door to get it closed. I dug in hard, running faster than I’d ever run in my life, but it clanged shut just seconds before I reached it. I slammed hard into it in the hopes of forcing it open again, but only managed to do something unpleasant to my shoulder as a heavy click told me the door had latched and locked.
Scowling, I rotated my shoulder while I assessed the door and the surrounding frame. I briefly thought about trying to shoot out the lock, but then grudgingly admitted that shooting the lock probably wouldn’t work at all the way it did in the movies. Besides, I’d seen something through that heavy door before it closed. It was all clean and white and new paint where I was, but outside that door was another story entirely—rust and grime and broken windows.
And I knew exactly where I was.
I could hear voices beyond the door, so I leaned close and listened.
“She won’t get through that,” Dr. Charish said. She was breathing hard, but she sounded calmer. Apparently she was pretty confident that I was stuck. “It doesn’t matter now. We intended for this facility to be temporary. That’s why we built it out in this shithole. We have Philip. It’s time to move on to the next phase.”
The government dude responded, but they were moving off, and I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying. Unfortunately, my busy little parasite was fixing up my shoulder instead of keeping me in super zombie mode. Damn it.
I wasn’t getting through that door or the walls, I knew that. But there was another way out that these assholes probably hadn’t counted on. At least I sure as hell hoped they hadn’t.
I ran back to the observation room and yanked at the edge of the carpet. I didn’t know a lot about computers, but even I knew that a super secret government lab wasn’t going to advertise its presence or risk being hacked with a wireless network. And, perhaps they’d even use the conduits that were already in place.
I grinned as I saw the floor panels beneath the carpeting. As I’d suspected and hoped, the cabling for the computers and cameras and stuff had been strung through the service tunnels beneath the floor. And they’d even been nice enough to not screw the floor panels back down again. I was sure they’d never imagined that their prisoner would know about those tunnels.
Damn good thing I’m a skinny little bitch, I thought as I shimmied through the narrow tunnel. And also a damn good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic. Or afraid of the dark, since it was black as utter pitch in the tunnel. I continued to listen hard as I slid myself along while doing my best to ignore the dirt, dead bugs—and live bugs—and occasional dead rat. After a few minutes I was pretty sure I was beyond the section where I’d been held and which was now locked down. Now I simply had to keep going until I could find a way out.
Gradually I began to hear voices, and I slowed, not wanting to give away my position. Give away my position, I thought with a silly grin. Heh. Boy, didn’t I sound like a secret agent?
“We’re not going to simply leave her to rot,” the suited dude was saying. For an instant I thought that maybe he was having a moment of compassion, then he continued. “Too much risk of someone coming here and finding her. We’re all set to…” Then he moved off, and I couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation.
Oh well. So much for compassion.
I saw light ahead and breathed a sigh of relief. They’d never bothered to replace the section of flooring that had been removed to get the dead copper thief out. I edged ever so cautiously to the opening and peeked out. Dr. Charish was there along with Suited Government Dude. Four guards were quickly packing computers and boxes into the back of a familiar white van. Two other guards were lying crumpled on the ground, yet everyone seemed to be ignoring them. Had they tried to rebel or something and been killed?
After a few seconds of scanning, I located Philip sitting on the steps to the foreman’s office, and in almost the exact spot Marianne had been the last time I was here. I slid back into the tunnel and pulled the phone out. I had a signal now. But who to call? Ed didn’t have a phone, and I couldn’t remember Marcus’s number…But I did remember Pietro’s since it was so similar to Randy’s.
And, man, did I ever have some things to say to that motherfucker. I scooched further back into the tunnel and dialed Pietro. I was about to leave him one fucking hell of a voicemail.
“Yes? Hello?” Pietro said.
He said he doesn’t answer if it’s an unfamiliar number, I remembered. Which means…
“McKinney?” Pietro said, sounding annoyed. “What the hell is going on? Why are you calling me?”
I pushed aside my brief shock. “Hello, Uncle Pietro,” I said speaking low and cupping my hand around the phone. “You probably figured you were well rid of me, right? Guess I’m not so easy to kill, even for a zombie.”
I heard his intake of breath. “Angel? Where are you? Marcus has been going crazy with worry.”
“Oh, really? And did you tell him how you threw me under the bus and told Dr. Charish that I was fair game for her experiments? Did you know she’s screwing you over too and working with the government to make zombie soldiers?” My voice shook with anger,
and I had to fight to keep speaking quietly.
“Angel, I…wait, what? What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
The shock in his voice was genuine, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t still so pissed. “Me? Oh, no, you’re not putting that shit on me. You started this, pal, when you unleashed your pet, Charish, on me. But now you have bigger problems than free-market fake brains. Why don’t you come to the old Ford factory on the Kreeger River and see for yourself. Then we can have a nice long talk, ’kay?”
“Wait, Angel,” he sounded truly frantic. “You don’t understand. I never—”
I disconnected, quite pleased with how upset he sounded. Good. He deserved that much and more, the fucker.
I dialed 911 next. “Oh my god, please help!” I babbled in a hoarse whisper as soon as the dispatcher answered. “I’m in some big warehouse thing by the Kreeger River. There’s a huge drug deal going down, and I think a gang war is about to start. They already killed two guys. There are guns everywhere. Please help!” There, that should be enough to get a few units sent.
“Ma’am, please remain calm,” a woman responded. “Can you be more specific as to your location? Your phone has its GPS disabled.”
“I heard someone say something about Ford?” I said, trying to sound panicked. “Does that sound right?”
“Yes, ma’am. I know where you are. I’m dispatching units to you right now.” I heard the click of a keyboard. “How many suspects are there?”
“Twenty…maybe thirty?” I lied. “I don’t know. They kidnapped me but I got away, and I’m hiding right now.”
“It’s going to be all right,” the woman said in a calm voice, though I could detect an edge of excitement. It wasn’t everyday that the St. Edwards Parish sheriff’s office had an excuse to call out their SWAT team. “I need you to tell me everything you can about what’s going on. What’s your name? Are there any other hostages?”
“I’m, um, Charmaine, and I think there are some others,” I said, warming to my story. “I saw a—” I let out a squawk of alarm and dropped the phone as the floor above me gave a massive shudder.
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues wtz-2 Page 23
