by Gayle Katz
“Thank you everyone for joining us today. I also thank my assistant and fellow city council member, Clara Stokes, for filling in for Mars Simms, may he rest in peace.”
The guests and council members murmured the words after her.
“As some of you know, this meeting has been held to address the issue of Portland’s second zombie infestation.”
Voices called out in the room, with many conversations breaking out.
She used her gavel to bring order back to the room.
“Please, there will be time for questions later.” She waited for the room to settle down. Some members of the press snapped some photos. She glared at them until they stopped.
“Yes, in the past, we have not formally acknowledged a zombie infestation in the city. But almost one year ago, we had a new zombie leader, made in Dallas, Texas, make her way up to our city. She then proceeded to bite and create many zombies. Fortunately, our police force, along with a group of teens, managed to get them under control. Unfortunately, back in the spring, a scientist, that we now know as Dr. Patricia Arora, had collected some of the blood from the original zombies, and used it to create a new zombie virus. She tested on unsuspecting individuals with the help of her zombie gang.” Jane took a breather. This was a lot to get out. “Dr. Arora was killed, but there are still members of her zombie gang running around, infecting the innocent. With the help of my team, we have kept the infestation down to a minimal level. Later, when the team arrives,” she stopped, gazing around the room, puzzled why they hadn’t shown yet, “I’ll be presenting them with a special award.” She paused.
Jane looked up at Clara, who had gotten up from her seat. Clara walked to the back of the room. Confused, Jane followed her every move, just like much of the press and other guests did.
Clara opened up the door. Out strode Dr. Arora.
“Dead? Why, I’m not dead,” she said.
Then right behind her marched about a hundred zombies.
zzz
“What?! How can she still be alive?” cried Charlie.
“Dammit! That’s a lot of zombies,” said Owen. “Should we open the doors? What do we do?”
“Get ready,” said Charlie, pulling out her dagger.
zzz
“Shit!” exclaimed Jane. She watched as the other council members raced for the door, with some of the guests right behind. But Dr. Arora was right there by her chair, with a dagger in her hand. The mayor hadn’t thought to bring a weapon to the meeting. She shoved the chair at Dr. Arora, before flinging herself under the table. Dr. Arora sidestepped the chair and led her zombies out.
By now, Charlie and Owen were in the room. Owen had already texted Stewart.
“We have to trap them inside,” yelled out Charlie.
“Sure thing. I’ll try to get the humans out,” cried Owen in response. He helped to guide some of the older council members out the door. “Hey! Leave your camera,” he called to one of the people in the press. The guy dropped his video camera and raced for the door.
“Oh no you don’t,” yelled Owen, using his dagger to take down one of the zombies who’d already made it to the door. There were two more behind him. He ran up and stabbed each in the head. They dropped to the floor.
zzz
Charlie was having her own troubles. She was trying to kill the zombies, without harming the humans who were within reach. She had to rudely push some of the humans down to the ground. “Crawl!” she yelled at them, so she could have room to kill a zombie or two.
zzz
“Where the hell are you?” Jane texted to Jay from under the table.
“On my way!” he texted back.
Jane peered out from under the table. So far, no zombies had followed her. She saw the feet of Clara. She knew it was Clara as she had complimented her on her shiny red heels earlier that day. She reached out both hands and put them on her ankles. She pulled.
“Ahhh!” cried out Clara as the hands pulled her under the table.
Jane punched Clara in the head, before frantically patting her down. “How did you do it?” she yelled at her.
“What the hell?” yelled Clara. “Get your hands off me!”
zzz
Owen took a swipe at the next zombie. His dagger struck its skull, but then it slid right through. The zombie vanished. “Charlie! Some of the zombies are fake,” he cried out.
Charlie was still on the other side of the room. She ran up to the next two and slashed with her dagger. “You’re right! Look for the zombies wearing black! They’re real!”
“Got it!” he said, ignoring the zombies dressed in blue. He ran right through them. “Hey, cool! I wonder if we can make some ghost ayers?”
zzz
The mayor patted down Clara. Finally, she felt something in her jacket pocket. “There!” she said, pulling it out. “Wow, Clara, what a nice contraption.”
Clara struggled with her to grab it back.
“You lose,” said Jane. She grabbed a dagger out of Clara’s pocket and rammed it hard into her knee.
“Ahhhhh!” screamed Clara.
Jane held up the small device. She pressed the button. The lights on it turned off.
zzz
Charlie and Owen watched as about ninety zombies just vanished into thin air.
“Wow,” said Owen. “That’s some tech!”
“I don’t know how she made holographic zombies, but that’s incredible!” She heard a noise behind her, then the screaming. “What the?” She peered under the table.
The mayor came out from under the table, clutching Clara’s arm.
Jane stood up, leaving Clara to drop to the ground in pain. Then Jane threw something onto the carpet and she stomped down hard. The small device shattered.
“Nooo!” cried out Clara. “All my hard work.”
Owen rushed forward and put a hankie on Clara’s wound.
“Oh, Stewart! There you are!” said Charlie.
“I killed the zombies that got out of the room,” he said. “Good job, everyone, whatever just happened.”
“The meeting shall reconvene. Whoever remains, please have a seat,” said Jane.
“Jane! Oh my god! Are you OK?” Sergeant Bourne rushed into the room and ran up to her. They hugged.
“Of course. We don’t need you. I have my own fine team here.”
Charlie laughed. “I think Jane did most of it.”
Jay looked around the room. The chairs were in disarray. Papers and smartphones were lying on the floor. There were several dead zombies, with some gruesome spills on the rug. He grabbed Clara and put handcuffs on her. He had to drag her out of the room.
“I don’t think any humans were hurt,” said Stewart. No one corrected his error.
“I’ll fill everyone in soon,” said Jane.
zzz
The people who hadn’t fled City Hall were seated around the boardroom table, or in one of the chairs at the back. The back door where the real and fake zombies had been kept was firmly closed, with a police DO NOT CROSS banner on it.
“Thank you for staying with us,” said the mayor. By now, she’d abandoned her official robes and sash, and was wearing a pale rose gold dress. “I’m so sorry. I knew my assistant was up to something, but I had no idea what she had planned for today.”
Some of the press people shouted out questions.
Charlie, Owen, Stewart, and Sergeant Bourne sat in the chairs at the back watching the proceedings.
“Sorry, questions in a bit. Apparently, Clara Stokes had been working with Mars Simms, along with the zombie gang. They have been attempting to take control of the city through the zombies, and instilling fear. It’s my belief that they have a limited supply of the zombie virus and that they have been using it to inject innocent people to make them turn. For the rest, they were merely zombie ghosts or zombie holographic projections. My best guess is that they’re running out of zombie virus.”
“Was that a ghost of Dr. Arora?” called out one of the female reporters
.
“Yes, it appears so. Because Dr. Arora is really dead.”
Charlie and Owen looked at each other.
“How could there be holographic zombies ghosts?” called out another reporter.
“Clara has a degree in IT infrastructure. Holograms are real, but the tech to make them is expensive. She must have been working on this project for years. Once I found and destroyed the device in her pocket, and found the magical projector in the room, the ghost zombies disappeared.”
“Was a zombie finger the projector?” called out Owen.
“Yes, it was a combination of tech and magic,” the mayor answered.
“Is the zombie uprising done?” called out another person.
“Hey, where is Ray?” whispered Charlie to Jay.
He shrugged. “Unless you’ve seen him today, he must still be out there.”
“Now, if you don’t mind, we’re all exhausted. We’ll hold a second press conference for later. Oh, and before I forget, I’d like to recognize a few members of my team. Sergeant Jay Bourne, Charlie Warner, Zan Goldberg, Owen Nakkonde, and Stewart George. Please step up here, please.”
The team looked at each other and smiled. Stewart shrugged and stood up with them. The four of them walked to the front of the room where the mayor stood. She walked up to Charlie first and draped a large ribbon over her head with a shiny circular medal on the end. They each got one.
“Zan isn’t here today, so we’ll present to her another time. In the meantime, I’d like to award our Portland City Medal of Bravery to these five outstanding citizens. Without them, Portland would be a far more dangerous place.”
She stepped back and clapped. The room clapped with them.
Charlie and Jay beamed, while Owen and Stewart looked a bit uncomfortable with all the attention.
Epilogue
________________________________________
Everyone was heading out after the refreshments had been served. Sergeant Bourne ran up to Stewart’s car and pounded on the window.
Stewart rolled down the window. “What’s up?”
“I just remembered something. The police chief forbade me to tell anyone, but I have to tell you. Dr. Arora’s body was stolen last week from the mortuary. They had been keeping it in cold storage, as the funeral wasn’t set until September, to give time for her family to arrive from Canada.”
“Oh, crap,” said Stewart, remembering that she’d been seen at City Hall, but it had been assumed she’d been a ghost zombie too. He thought she had vanished into thin air after Jane had destroyed the device.
“OK, Charlie and Owen, you know what to do next.” He waved at Jay and drove off.
Owen and Charlie smiled at each other. They knew exactly what to do.
Prologue
________________________________________
“Goodnight, Owen,” called out Mom.
“Thanks, you too,” he said.
“Oh, and don’t forget, we are having a family dinner tomorrow night, just the three of us.”
“OK. I’ll be there.” He pulled off his sweatshirt and grabbed his pajamas. He frowned as he looked in the mirror. There was a long, jagged scar on his arm that marred his skin. Then he shook his head and smiled. No, he was going to be proud he had this scar.
As he slipped his top over his arms, he smiled. Zan was back home tomorrow. He’d get to see her early in the afternoon, before that Labor Day dinner with his family. Then, it was back to school.
It had been a long, tiring summer. He and his friends had fought many zombies, and in a few instances, some humans, too. Zan had a nervous breakdown after the zombie-related death of her mother, and had gone to Florida to spend time with her brother.
Owen fell asleep quickly. He had learned that practice many years ago, even when surrounded by dozens of noisy people.
Owen smiled in his sleep as he dreamt of Zan. She wasn’t perfect, but she could be the perfect woman for him. He couldn’t wait until their prom date in May of the following year, but first, they had to get through an entire year of 12th grade.
Owen’s smile changed to a frown in his sleep. Zan appeared to be surrounded by a bunch of teenage girls against the backdrop of a river, but something didn’t seem right. She seemed happy and was joking with them.
For a moment, he wondered where the zombies were. But then he relaxed as he watched several zombies lurking behind the shrubs, awaiting their chance to attack.
Chapter 1
________________________________________
ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO
Zan laughed with her friends as they hung out near the river. They sat around a picnic bench. The bench was strewn with wine bottles, paper cups, purses, and smart devices.
“Zan, I think that you should plan our end-of-year party,” said Alicia, one of her closest friends.
Zan frowned. “Well, I could, but I need help. Don’t forget that I was supposed to get help for that last party, but had none.”
The other girls giggled.
“Of course, we’ll help out. Right, girls?” Alicia said, looking around at the group. They giggled again.
“OK, but if I don’t get any help, I’m going to have a superhero party and you’re all going to shut up and enjoy it,” said Zan.
Alicia’s eyes widened. “Say, no way! I was thinking, like, a royalty theme.”
“I love royalty!” said Marjorie, laughing. “We could have a throne, and crowns, and capes, and lots of booze.”
Brooke tapped her on the arm. “Hey, I don’t drink, but we could have a special room for the throne, for like, boy time!”
Zan frowned, but the girls just laughed and thought how great that was.
“OK. Tomorrow night. My place,” said Zan. “If you don’t bring shit, then you’ll have to wear my superhero costumes and sit on the bathroom throne.”
Alicia smiled at her, but the others paid no attention.
Zan peered around at the girls, wondering if any of them were really her friends.
zzz
Zan needn’t have worried, as this time around, her friends came through. Alicia and Marjorie brought in a large vintage wooden chair, complete with red velvet cushion. Brooke carried in a long velvet cape and toy scepter and crown. These were set up in front of Zan’s fireplace.
“Last chance to partay,” said Alicia. “I heard high school is tough.”
“I’m certain it is,” said Zan. “Please place the wine and snacks on the dining room table.”
“You’d better have soft drinks for me,” said Brooke.
“Yeah, the world isn’t going to end just because you drink a glass of wine,” said Marjorie.
Brooke glared at her.
Zan rushed up. “Yes, we have ten different kinds of soft drinks in the fridge.” She pointed in that direction while her friends looked amused.
Marjorie strolled around the house. “Very fancy,” she said.
“It’s just a rental. I think we’re moving to Portland in a month or so,” said Zan.
Alicia dropped the bowl she had been holding. “What? When did you plan on telling me?” She stood up and ran over to where Zan was standing.
“Soon,” said Zan. “My parents are looking to buy a house there. It’s not official yet. It’s not a big deal.” Zan shrugged.
“Not a big deal?” yelled Alicia. “My best friend might as well be going halfway across the country! Portland is like a whole state away!”
Zan shrugged again. “There’s supposed to be a good music program at Portland University.”
“Really?” said Alicia. “You don’t even like playing the piano! Didn’t you get like, what, a C minus in music class this year?”
“Yep.” She smiled proudly. “I’d actually like to get into science, or even medicine.”
“Yeah right, good luck dealing with your parents over that.” She stomped off to grab the bowl from the floor and fill it up with chips.
“So, why don’t you have a drink?” asked Marjorie, tryin
g to annoy Brooke.
“Why don’t you?” she said, walking away.
Zan just shook her head. “Let’s hope this stupid party is over soon,” she muttered under her breath.
zzz
Zan was quite surprised. She was actually enjoying the party. Marjorie was actually being nicer to Brooke, and helping to serve drinks and snacks.
“So, when are your parents back?” asked Alicia.
“They get off shift from the hospital at about 6 am,” said Zan. “Why?”
Alicia shrugged. “Just wondering if it’s enough time to party.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine. Besides, they know I’m having a few friends over.”
Alicia looked around the living room and dining room regions of Zan’s house. It was a pretty big house, and right now, about fifty people were crammed in, having fun. The hallway was a designated dance floor, with several couples dancing quickly to EDM.
Zan was dancing in the hallway with the girls when she heard something tapping on the window. Then she distinctly heard the sounds of the doorbell. She moved the curtain aside. “Just come in!” she yelled out.
The door soon popped open and in walked an adult.
“Hey! Who’s that?” yelled Marjorie above the music.
“Don’t know,” replied Alicia. “Maybe an irate neighbor?”
“It’s not even ten o’clock yet. We have a right to make noise until then,” said Marjorie.
