The passengers on the minibus watched eagerly as the zombies fell one by one. The people erupted into cheering, hugging, and laughter as the last zombie crumpled to the sleek tarmac of the concrete parkade.
Lena rested her forehead against the steering wheel. “What a fucking day,” she said to no one in particular.
Barry nodded, pushing the doors to the minibus open. “What a day, indeed.”
Chapter Seventeen
The doors of the minibus sprung open, and Barry stepped down onto the smooth tarmac. He’d had enough of fast-moving vehicles for a lifetime. He didn’t mind flying, but after everything that had happened, he was ready to call the rest quits.
Lena quickly joined him on the tarmac, and she pulled him into a bear hug. They were alive. “You done good, beanpole,” Lena told Barry, pulling away from him.
“You, too, you furry meatloaf,” Barry said, wanting to pull her close again.
Emily stepped onto the tarmac with her slip-on shoes. “Lorax references. I approve!” she said happily, standing beside them.
Barry, Lena, and Emily knew Harrison had to turn back into a human. They knew all of them had to, and that would mean that all of them would be in their birthday suits.
“Guys, maybe it isn’t good for the crowd on the bus to see a bunch of naked werewolves,” Lena said while facing the concrete wall of the parkade.
Barry grimaced at the thought of all the naked were people. “Yep, I don’t want to see that either,” he said, turning back to the bus doors. “I’ll handle the crowd.” Barry wished he’d not reacted so quickly, as there could have been women in there as well.
Lena began walking towards the werewolf pack. Harrison’s backpack swung behind her as she walked. She secretly hoped the backpack would be empty, and he would have to stay in his natural state for a long while. The cold wind whipped past her, making her shiver. On second thought, she hoped there was clothes in the backpack for him so nothing important would fall off.
Harrison took small steps, his large, wolf form towering over Lena as he bent down and scooped the backpack from her hands. He was grateful for the clothes in his backpack but was nervous. He only had one outfit left, and there were ten other werewolves to dress.
Sergeant Turner had to get back to his Land Rover, where he’d left clothes for this very occasion. He had managed to grab an assortment of souvenir t-shirts and baggy sweat pants from the airport terminal shops before the zombies overran it. He thanked the heavens for the sweet tender mercy of the clothes. A bunch of naked soldiers was just what they needed after such a harsh battle with the grey-skinned figures.
Lena kept her eyes on the green-eyed werewolf that was her father. She knew he would do what was best, but she had a mission to accomplish. The tall werewolf brushed past her, heading towards the parkade exit. The other werewolves followed slowly, and Lena joined the pack, not knowing where they were going but hoping for the best.
Sergeant Turner kicked the barrier down, pushing his way out into the cold night air. Lena shivered in her loose V-neck shirt, and she wished she had her warm new jacket she’d bought in New York City. The sergeant felt sorry for his daughter. His hairy body held his body heat perfectly, so he didn’t feel cold at all.
“Where are they going?” Emily asked Barry as they guarded the bus doors, watching the procession of werewolves as they left the parkade.
Barry shrugged. “With a bit of hope, to get clothes.”
Harrison appeared from behind a row of cars at the far end of the car park. His current t-shirt was the last change of clothes he had, though he’d managed to save his favorite shirt earlier. Unfortunately, it was soaked. Large letters spelt CUNT across the front of the one he wore now—it was his university t-shirt.
He had loved his time at university, but they had greatly misunderstood the idea of abbreviating Central University of Northern Trenton on their university apparel. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to wear the t-shirt and prayed that no one would point it out.
“What the fuck is on your shirt!” Barry yelled down the car park at Harrison.
Harrison couldn’t believe it. “Keep your can shut, Harrison!” he yelled back, chuckling. The only thing he could really do was laugh at the stupid way they had thought out their marketing.
He made his way down the long line of cars to where Barry and Emily stood guard. He opened his arms wide, deciding to make a joke of the whole thing to avoid being embarrassed by it. “I’m a proud CUNT,” he said.
Barry snickered into his collar. “Well, at least you admit it,” he teased.
“Why does your shirt…” Emily began, unsure how to politely end the question.
Harrison caught on, smiling. “Well, it’s my university gear. Central University of Northern Trenton. It was just bad thinking on their part, but that’s how CUNT gets their money.” He paused, looking out of the parkade into the dark night. “Everyone wants a shirt, so they sell them for a lot of money and get good profit.”
Barry nodded along as Harrison spoke. “I went to the Royal Film Union Centre at Kensington.” He smiled, remembering his time at film school. “Our t-shirts had RFUCK on them. No one ever said anything, though, and very few people wanted to buy them.”
Emily couldn’t believe them. She’d never seen rude university gear before. “My school was just University of Birmingham.” She shrugged. She had dropped out after a year to move to Nottingham with her boyfriend. “The only problem with that is so many people called it Birming-ham instead of Birmingham.”
Barry looked at Emily. She spoke with a sadness, almost an aching. “That’s okay…” He didn’t know how to comfort her. It was obvious they were all hiding secrets. He knew all too well that everyone has them, a part of them no one would ever know about.
“Why did you become a flight attendant?” Harrison blurted out, hating himself for it. “Uh… I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Emily looked away from the two men. “I wanted to get away from Aaron,” she said sadly. “I left Birmingham to be with him, and he ended up cheating on me. So, I applied to be a flight attendant, and it worked out. I haven’t looked back really.”
“I was like that, I suppose.” Barry hung his head as he spoke. “I left my parents at the Glasgow airport because I had a good scholarship to go to London, and they wanted me to go to an Ivy league school.”
Harrison licked his lips. In comparison to the others, his life had been straightforward. “Wow,” he said quietly.
“Why did you leave them?” Emily asked Barry curiously.
“I was tired of being the smart-ass kid. I wanted to be an actor. I loved movies so much that I wanted to be in one. Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman inspired me, and I was so ready to be like that.” His voice trailed off into the cold air. “I guess they were right, though. I didn’t get anywhere with acting, so I went back to university and became a video game designer.”
Harrison shuffled on his feet. He felt awkward. “I’m sorry, mate.”
Barry nodded. “Thanks,” he sadly said. The conversation dropped into an uncomfortable silence. He hadn’t told anyone about his past in a long time. He missed his parents dearly, but he was proud of the life he’d made for himself.
“Well—” Emily peered over her shoulder to the exit of the parkade “—that was a surprisingly deep talk.” She took a few steps towards the exit. “I’ll go check on uh… Lena. Yeah.” She cleared her throat nervously, nodding at the two other men before heading out of the parking garage.
Sergeant Turner felt the cold night air attack his fresh, naked body. He opened the rear door of the Land Rover, waiting for the other freshly shifted men to join him.
“Good job, men,” he told the naked crowd. “You did this country proud.”
One of the men shifted quickly from foot to foot in the chilling cold breeze. “That’s really great, sir, but can we get a congrats speech after we get dressed?” he asked, covering his gentlemen’s part with his hands.
Ser
geant Turner nodded. “Of course.” His voice trailed as he pulled the bag of clothes from the Land Rover seat. “I must warn you, though—these aren’t the riot gear you came here in.”
The men nodded solemnly, and Sergeant Turner handed each man enough clothes and told them to deal with it until they could get home. Each of them dressed quickly, hoping the clothes would replace some of the warmth they’d lost after shifting back into their human form.
Sergeant Turner turned to face the Land Rover. The fight with the zombies had tired him out a lot more than he’d previously thought.
“DAD!” Lena raced towards him, circling around the newly-dressed men. “You did great!” she told her father, panting as she reached him beside the Land Rover.
“Thank you,” he said, pulling her close to his chest. “You did your duty protecting those civilians,” he added, nodding towards the parkade.
Lena bit her lip and turned her head away. “Dad, I’ve been thinking…” she nervously stuttered out the words, afraid to admit what was going on.
Sergeant Turner looked seriously at his daughter. “What’s going on?” he asked her, worried about what she was going to say.
Lena breathed in deeply and looked into her father’s uniquely green eyes. “I wasn’t going to take the W-Virus,” she said firmly, biting her lip nervously.
Her father slowly hung his head. “It is your decision,” he said, resting his hand on her shoulder.
Lena reached up to rest her hand on his. The hair was thicker on the top of his hand, and the werewolf virus had side effects on his human form, too. His beard was longer and thicker than it had been before. His eyebrows hung heavier over his eyes, and his head hair was thicker than Lena had ever remembered it. The sergeant looked much younger than he had before taking the werewolf virus. He seemed stronger, hairier, and fitter.
“I saw you fight, and you did a good job,” she told him, smiling. “I wasn’t going to take the virus, but I changed my mind.” Her voice dropped off into the night.
“You don’t have to do this,” Sargent Turner advised. “You really don’t.”
“I want to,” she said firmly, nodding as she spoke. She always nodded when she was certain of something. “I want to do it to help this country beat the enemy.”
Sergeant Turner beamed at his daughter with pride. She was strong and dedicated to protecting her people from danger. “I am proud of you Lena, and I know your mother would be, too,” he said quietly, removing his hand from her shoulder.
The sergeant reached under the Land Rover seat and pulled a silver briefcase from the vehicle. The case was sealed tightly and had a warning sign plastered on the top. Sergeant Turner pressed his thumbprint against the screen, and the case clicked. The lid flipped open, revealing a small vial and a fine syringe.
“Is that it?” she said, laughing. She’d expected it to be much larger.
Sergeant Turner acted surprised. “What do you mean, ‘is that it?’ This is about to turn you into a goddamn werewolf, woman!” he joked.
Lena rolled up her sleeve, showing her upper arm. She’d received hundreds of shots before. Different vaccines for countless diseases, but nothing scared her quite like the werewolf virus. The translucent brown liquid stared back at her, enticing her to take the injection. Sergeant Turner looked deeply at Lena. She was taking a huge step by accepting the werewolf virus.
“Are you sure?” he asked her a final time.
She nodded, gulping as she felt the needle pierce her skin. Sergeant Turner inhaled deeply before pushing the plunger, injecting the werewolf virus into Lena.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her whole body felt warm and powerful. She smiled at her father, proud of what she had done. She had to know one final thing from him. One vitally important question that sped around her tingling mind.
It was a worry she’d had since Sergeant Turner had told her that he’d taken the powerful W Virus. She plucked up her courage, facing her father nobly.
“Dad,” she asked, breathing slowly, “do I have a beard?”
Authors Notes
Hi, Guys Hayley here,
Work has been crazy at the moment, just like the world! My family loves to travel and not being able to sucks. We are planning to make up for it in 2021!
Writing is helping me find a balance between everything going on.
I’ve had a lot of fun getting back into launching my stories, I hope you enjoy Pandemic Z.
It was fun working on a series based in the UK, my home country. I best go and wrap up book three before I get lost in repeats of The Office again!
Happy read Hayley.
PS Check out www.lawsonbookstore.com I’ve got loads of Free books there!
Other books by Hayley Lawson:
Live Free or Die Series
Madness Unleashed - Live Free or Die Book One > Amazon
Madness Rising - Live Free or Die Book Two > Amazon
Escaping Madness - Live Free or Die Book Three > Amazon
13 Covens Magical Adventure
Prodigy - Book One > Amazon
Intern - Book Two > Amazon
Testing - Book Three > Amazon
Invasion Survivor Series
Contamination - Invasion Survivor Book One > Amazon
Inhabitable - Invasion Survivor Book Two > Amazon
Stowaway - Invasion Survivor Book Three > Amazon
Mothership - Invasion Survivor Book Four > Amazon
They Are Zillions
Zapacolypse - They are Zillions Book One > Amazon
Zurrounded - They Are Zillions Book Two > Amazon
The Fog
The Fog Omnibus - Book One > Amazon
The Fog - Book One > Amazon
Beer Run - Book Two > Amazon
Lock In - Book Three > Amazon
Hangover - Book Four > Amazon
Undead Salesman - Book Five > Coming Soon
Townsend
Townsend - Book One > Amazon
School of Magic
The Principal is Missing - Book One > Amazon
Principal for a Week - Book Two > Amazon
Spooktastic - Book Three > Amazon
Cuba Hunt - Book Four > Coming soon
Pandemic Z | Book 2 | Pandemic Z 2 Page 16
