Deadrise (27 page)

"But what did they do to him?" Susan asked.

"Maybe we should go find him." Jenkins said.

"Good idea." Matt answered. All four of them stood up and exited the bar…

They walked out of the resort lobby onto a narrow, bustling street. Men dressed in various stages of battle gear; flak vests, riot helmets, a hodgepodge of pads from half a dozen sports intermixed with black leather, spikes and chains. And almost every one of them was armed with a weapon of some kind whether it be a pistol, machete, hammer, pickaxe or any other small hand held weapon suitable for cracking open a zombie’s skull. These freebooters intermingled with regular park City citizens who were easily distinguished by their casual dress and quiet, almost polite demeanor. A pair of motorcycles driven by longhaired, leather clad raiders rolled slowly down the street. Two men and a woman dressed in camouflaged hunters clothing and riding on horseback trotted by in the opposite direction. The stripped down shell of a pickup truck converted into a wagon and pulled by a team of horses came around the corner. At first Matt found this surreal but he realized that unlike Salt Lake, Park City had kept order, and their economic infrastructure had survived and now operated on a barter system. Most of the businesses that operated in Park City catered to the raiders who frequented the city and stayed at the resort; Food, clothing, sex, drugs, alcohol, fuel for their vehicles, ammo for their weapons and a thousand other goods and services. Most of these shops were located near the resort in the downtown sector of old Park City.

Matt scanned the surrounding area, but there was no sign of Zack. An open top military jeep carrying four soldiers dressed in the brown and green of the Park City Militia came to a halt in the street beside them.

"Halt!" barked the officer sitting in the passenger seat. Matt recognized the two parallel bars of his insignia as Captain. The four soldiers exited the vehicle as two more jeeps came up from the other direction. One carried nothing but soldiers, but the other had two white-coated doctors in the back seat.

"What's going on here?" Jenkins barked and reached for his pistol.

"Don’t!" the Captain screamed. Jenkins hand froze on the grip of his weapon.

"What the fuck is going on?" Jenkins repeated. "We were admitted into the city legally. We paid the tariff."

"I don’t see him." One of the doctors said. Matt recognized him as the doctor who had treated Zack in the hospital. He moved through the ring of rifle aiming soldiers and walked up to Matt. "Where is your friend Zack? The one who you took from the hospital? Where is he?"

"I don’t know?" Matt said.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!" Jenkins screamed at the top of his lungs, getting everyone’s attention.

The Captain walked over to him and the two men looked one another over. The Captain was much larger than Jenkins, at least 6’3", and topping 250 pounds. His clean-shaven face and blood shot blue eyes were as hard as any Matt had seen. Matt sensed a moment of absolute intensity pass between Jenkins and the Captain, and he was certain both men were going to draw a weapon and try to shoot the other…and then the electricity faded as quickly as it had begun.

"Name and rank soldier!" The Captain barked at Jenkins.

"Jenkins." He gave him no more.

"Rank and unit soldier." the Captain said.

"I was stationed down at Fort Douglas. But I got out just before the place fell."

"Deserters!" It was an accusation, not a question.

"Survivors." Jenkins said. Another moment of silent intensity passed between the two old war dogs before the Captain finally smiled.

"At ease…" The Captain said. He looked around to his own men. "That goes for all of you." They eight soldier lowered their M-16’s.

"Where is your friend?" the doctor asked Matt again. "It is urgent that he be found and quarantined." The doctor’s words held a frantic tone to them. His eyes were wide with fear.

"Quarantined?" Matt gasped in surprise. "What’s wrong with him?"

"He’s been infected with the plague." The doctor’s words were a shock to them all. But it also confirmed their worst fears.

"We thought something was wrong with him." Matt said, cursing himself the moment he did.

"What?" the Captain said in amazement. "You suspected infection yet you told no one?"

"Worse yet they helped him escape the hospital." The doctor added for good measure.

"You’ve got it wrong." Matt said. "We didn’t help him escape. YOU released him from the hospital." Matt pointed at the doctor. "And we didn’t think he was infected until just a few minutes ago."

"We were going to look for him when you arrived." Susan said.

"Why would an infected man be released from the hospital and not terminated immediately?" the Captain now turned his glare to the doctor who swallowed hard and looked over at the other doctor who had accompanied him.

"We didn’t know the man was infected." The doctor said meekly. "He bore no bite marks. No scratches. It wasn’t until we got the blood results back from the lab that the infection was detected."

"Why did it take so long to get the results from his blood work?" the Captain asked even more scornfully. The doctor swallowed again before continuing.

"The hospital is understaffed when it comes to qualified lab technicians and therefore there is a tremendous back log of work. The subject’s blood sample sat in cold storage for several hours before the lab work was finally done. If we had some of the newer, portable units they use downstairs, the infection would have been detected immediately. Once the results were back they were acted upon swiftly. Unfortunately by that time his companions had arrived and took him from the hospital."

"You released him to us." Matt said again.

"He must be found. Quickly!" the doctor seemed on the verge of panic.

"Relax doctor." The Captain said. "He is just one man. Should he turn before he can be found he will certainly be killed by anyone who spots him."

"You don’t understand." The doctor said. "The subject does not carry the Beta strain of the virus. He has been infected with a pure Alpha strain." For a moment the Captain's eyes seemed almost as afraid as the doctors, and then they became cold as ice once again.

"That would explain infection without being bitten."

"Precisely, Captain. Now you understand my urgency. Based upon the growth stage of the virus in the subjects blood culture, it will have completed its cycle in less that 24 hours."

"Would you please tell us what the hell you are talking about?" Jenkins asked. The Captain snapped his stare back at Jenkins.

"No I will not. This is classified information. You have heard too much already. Sergeant!" One of the soldiers behind the captain snapped to attention. "Place all four of these people under arrest!"

"Yes Sir!" the soldier barked. The entire squads M-16’s raised in unison. "Place your hands on top of your head."

With a bellyful of icy fear Matt complied. They were quickly disarmed and handcuffed.

"Why are you arresting us?" Mac asked.

"You traveled with him. You took him out of the hospital. For all I know all of you could be infected as well."

"That’s ridiculous." Jenkins said. "None of us are bitten. How could we be infected?"

"Your friend wasn’t bitten either. But he is infected. I am quarantining all of you until your blood is screened for infection."

"And when we come back clean? What happens to us then?" Matt asked.

"Pray that you come back clean." The Captain looked at each of them coldly. "Sergeant! Call in a truck to transport them back to the hospital."

"Yes Sir."

Matt’s head spun with shock. In a matter of seconds their plans had been shattered. Zack was infected with some new strain of the zombie plague. And now they were being taken prisoner by the Army.

"What will happen to us when we come back clean?" Jenkins repeated Matt’s question.

"You will be debriefed once you are safely secured at the hospital." The Captain turned away without another word and walked towards his jeep. The two doctors fell into step on either side of him, talking frantically.

"Keep calm." Jenkins said. His eyes were bright and clear. He was enjoying this. Just like when Matt had first gone out on perimeter patrol with Jenkins squad a few days ago. It was all a big game of life and death to him. "None of us are infected. If so we would know it."

"Zack certainly did." Susan said.

"It’s not the blood test I’m worried about. It’s the debriefing." Matt envisioned several brutal tortures in his head.

"Relax." Jenkins said. "These people aren’t barbarians. They will talk to us. Ask us questions. We have nothing to hide."

Matt wished he shared Jenkins confidence. He kept thinking of the firefight in the city, and Frank choking to death on his own blood. They all remained quiet and stewed in their own thoughts for several minutes until a small army transport truck arrived. The street had mostly cleared of passer-bys but the sidewalks and doorways were packed with onlookers as a pair of soldiers hoisted them to back of the truck one at a time. The soldiers climbed up after them and sat at the back of the truck, their M-16 rifles trained in their prisoner’s general direction. The truck started down the road followed by the two jeeps. Almost instantly the crowd of people came alive, going back about their business as if nothing had happened…

Chapter 25

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Park City, UT

12:50 PM

Zack hurried down the alley, sensing the psychic presence of all the people in town pressing upon his mind with a tightening pressure until his head felt like it would explode. Whatever was happening to him, it was accelerating. He needed to be alone so he could think. He quickly leapt over the next fence he came to, dropping down into the loading docks for the Park City Resort. There were three docking bays. One was occupied by a forty-foot tractor-trailer. As he walked past the nose of the rig he couldn’t see anyone in the cab. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder, half expecting to see those burning red eyes of the nightmare creature. But he was alone.

Zack turned north, across the parking lot where another five-foot chain link fence marked the boundary. He felt a burning surge of strength and energy sizzle outward from the center of his brain and down his spinal cord. All of his pain and exhaustion disappeared in less than a second and was replaced by raw seething power! It seemed as if everything slowed down just a little bit and at the same time took on a sharper, more defined look. He was no longer walking but gliding… Gliding on liquid adrenaline. The fence that was rapidly closing before him wasn’t so tall after all and he simply jumped over it without missing a step and ran towards the thick forest that covered the base of the mountain. Without turning his head to look back he looked back
psychically
and saw that he was still alone.

The thick forest enveloped Zack, and within the span of a single breath Zack’s other five senses came alive, even sharper than they had in the hospital. He could smell things with greater sensitivity, discerning new scents where none had been before. And for every scent smelled there was the faintest taste of it as well. His hearing became so acute that he could detect birds in three different nests in three different trees as he moved through the forest. He could hear the mice and the moles burrowing in the earth beneath his feet. Zack’s vision sharpened even more. Details lost in the shadows of the forest became clearly visible. And his newfound ESP also provided him with psychic rearview mirrors so that he could see nearly 360 degrees. And as he glided along he could actually feel the presence of the trees and other obstacles ahead of him; a faint mental push, like radar, that helped him to guide along.

The ground began to slope sharply upward but Zack continued up the mountainside, not stopping until he was halfway up the forested slope. He turned and looked back the way he had come. His heart was a liquid thunder in his ears; each hammering beat filling him with fresh vigor. He cocked his head to one side, sniffing the air and listening past his pounding heart for sounds of pursuit… Faint cries, far below at the resort. But no one had followed him. Zack slowly felt the fire drain from his veins and his senses return to almost normal, though they still kept that razors edge that would alert him to any danger and allow him to react accordingly.

As he slowly came down from his heightened awareness the stark reality of what was happening to him settled in and his stomach cramped. Zack collapsed to his knees, grunting in pain as his stomach cramped even further. Molten pain exploded from behind his eyes and his vision went white! For what seemed an endless time he floated in that white-hot agony, oblivious to anything else, but eventually something other than that white void of suffering crept into his awareness and ever so slowly the pain receded.

Zack opened his eyes. The bright afternoon sun glared back at him. He was lying on his back. He clenched his teeth and sat up, surprised when the expected pain did not come. The forest around him was quiet. Not even a bird was chirping. Zack breathed deeply. There was a scent of rot on the wind. The fetid stench of decay was thick as fog. He looked around him to see three zombies standing motionless twenty feet away. They all faced different directions in the forest and none of them paid him any attention. Perhaps they had not seen him? Zack slowly rose to his feet. All three zombies slowly turned to look…but made no move towards him.