Deadrise (28 page)

He felt the energy building in the center of his head again and winced, waiting for the explosion of synaptic electricity. And it came, though not so painful as before and with it this time came a psychic awareness of the three zombies. Where the crowd of the city had been a warm, light giving aura those of the zombies were cold black vacuums that echoed with the spark of life. These black holes pulled at Zack’s psyche, and his burning light filled them, over powered them… And he could senses that their mindless will was his to command.

'Back!'

He gave a sharp mental command and the zombies staggered a few paces back. Amazing! Yet at the same time it was horrifying. What was happening to him? That he had been infected with something was for sure, but what? He was not turning into a normal zombie. Not with the abilities he was manifesting. And by the description Matt had given him of a superzombie he wasn’t becoming one of them either. Zack closed his eyes as another nightmare image of that slimy, reptilian face wrapped in a black cloak leering over him as he drifted between life and death at Summittown.

Whatever he was becoming he knew he would never be accepted among normal humankind again. Now that he was developing the senses of a monster how soon before he developed the appetite of one as well? It wouldn’t take long for the results of his blood tests to come back and the hospital sent out the alarm. Hunting parties would be organized. He was surprised at how little emotion he felt over his situation. He would simply continue ahead to Rainbow Lake and try and explain everything to Matt and the others. But whom did Zack think he was kidding? They would kill him on sight. And they would be right. He was no longer the Zack Thomas they knew but some horrible monster to be destroyed.

Another synaptic seizure caused him to spasm momentarily and he suddenly became aware of the
Other’s.
Their psychic aura’s pulled at him like electro-magnets, causing him to gaze to the northeast. He could feel their presence perhaps ten miles away. He felt the electric fire building inside him once again, fueling him with bursting energy. He was helpless against its call…

Chapter 26

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Park City, UT

1:31 PM

When Ron returned from the tariff station he had went straight to his room and taken a hot shower. The rash he’d developed while out on the raid was getting pretty bad and he’d been eager to clean it. The hot water and soap soothed the rash, cooling the pain and the need to scratch. But after the shower, looking at it in the mirror, he saw that it had spread from his throat down his chest and under one arm. The flesh in the inflicted area was red and inflamed with small green boils no bigger than pimples. While the shower may have soothed the pain he saw that it had also caused many of the boils to swell and burst. Putrid yellow pus oozed from the wounds. His mind reeled with horror and fright.

The rash had developed where the superzombie had grabbed him during the battle returning from the raid. It had clutched him around the throat from behind, nearly choking him into unconsciousness. He didn’t remember much after that, only coming too from a haze back inside the walls of Ft. Douglas. And the skin of his throat had already begun to itch and burn.

As he looked into the mirror his own reflection of fear, shock, and utter hopelessness looked back at him. He knew right then and there that he had been infected with the zombie plague. The zombie hadn’t bitten him, but as Ron looked closer he saw several scratch marks along the underside of his chin.

Scratch marks.

He had come out of the shower in a daze to find a message on his bedside phone. It was from Jenkins. He said to meet him down in the bar. Ron was in no hurry to get down stairs. If Jenkins knew that he was infected he would most assuredly shoot him right between the eyes. Jenkins might be his partner but he was also a cold, calculating son of a bitch who wouldn’t think twice about shooting his partner to stop the spread of the plague. So would anyone who valued life over the walking dead. Ron knew he was going to die, but he wasn't ready to go just yet.

Ron lay back on the soft bed. The softest bed he had ever laid on. Within seconds he was asleep… But he snapped wide-awake several minutes later, his stomach grumbling with hunger. The rash was itching like hell, and his whole chest felt hot and sticky. He raced to the bathroom and looked in the mirror; the rash had now spread under both arms to the elbow and all the way around his chest to his back. Several more of the boils had burst as well, leaking their fetid liquid. He used half a roll of toilet paper to clean the pus from his chest before he painfully pulled on a t-shirt. The rash burned like severe sunburn and itched like a fresh mosquito bites. He finished dressing with fresh clothes taken from his suitcase and went down stairs. Better they all hear it from his mouth.

It took most of his concentration to keep from scratching his chest and arms but as soon as he entered the bar he realized something was going on. Everybody had left their seats and was huddled around the door and large pane windows to see what was going on outside. Ron made his way through the crowd, cringing in pain as someone bumped into him causing the rash to flare with hot pain. But he found a spot by the window and peered out. Several soldiers were in the process of arresting some people. Ron peered closer…Two soldiers, a dark haired man and a blond haired woman. It took him several more seconds for his mind to register that he recognized the people being arrested. The two soldiers were Jenkins and Mac. The man was Matt and the woman was Susan. Ron moved away from the window and made his way outside just as the truck drove away.

Ron’s head spun as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

His first thought was that the Park City Militia was double crossing them. They knew the size of the load they had brought in and they weren’t satisfied with 50%. They wanted the whole thing. A wave of paranoia washed through him but it quickly faded as reason set in. If Park City made a habit of robbing every big score that rolled in they would be cutting their own throats. They depended on independent operators going down into Salt Lake and bringing back the big score. While they had been at the tariff station one of the workers had told him about several rival raider gangs that competed with each other for the biggest score’s. Sometimes their competition got deadly.

But if they weren’t here to steal their load then what other reason was there to arrest them? The discomfort of the rash suddenly made him think they were after him. But that too couldn’t be possible. No one else knew he had developed the rash. Ron turned to a sour faced, spike and leather clad biker walking back into the bar.

"What happened?"

"They were infected."

His words hit Ron like a brick wall. Infected? When did that happen? None of them had said anything about being touched by a superzombie. Was one of them bit out on the raid? Was Mac bit while helping rescue Zack from the base hospital?

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"I heard the doctor and one of the soldiers talking. He said one of them was infected."

"Did he say which one?" They had been looking for him. Maybe one of the soldier’s at the tariff station had spotted the rash and reported it? Maybe they had seen other cases of it and recognized it for what it was?

"I didn’t hear the whole conversation. Just that one of them was infected so they all had to be checked."

"How did they make it into the city?" asked a heavily made up young prostitute standing nearby.

"How the fuck would I know?" the biker said gruffly and walked away. Ron and the prostitute looked at each other and she smiled provocatively.

"You need a date?" she asked.

"No thanks." Ron said, turning back into the bar. What the fuck was he going to do? Did he dare contact the military to find out what was happening? They would undoubtedly uncover his secret. It was all he could to now to walk around with his shirt chaffing the rash until he wanted to scream and scratch and scratch until he bled. Dazed and confused, Ron made his way back upstairs, went to his brother’s door and knocked.

"Rick! Open up! We got an emergency on our hands!" The door opened seconds later and Rick and stepped out into the hallway. He was fully clothed but his hair was still wet from the shower.

"Keep it down. The girls are finally asleep. If I wake them up Jen will kill me." His mood was cheery and jovial.

"Rick we have a serious situation on our hands." Ron could barely contain his anxiety.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rick had just begun to feel safe and relaxed. Ron’s mod disturbed him.

"I went down stairs to meet Jenkins but he was being arrested by the military."

"Arrested?" Rick nearly screamed himself.

"Not just him; Matt and Susan and Mac as well. All four of them were handcuffed and put into a jeep."

"What for?"

"One man told me they were infected."

"But when?" Rick asked. "How?" Rick was as taken aback as he had been.

"I don’t know? Maybe while we were out on the raid?"

"Nobody got bit out on the raid." Rick said. "Nobody… They checked us when we first made it back to the base. Nobody was bit."

"You don’t have to be bit." Ron said absently.

"What?" Rick was confused by his brother’s strange behavior.

"They’ll come and arrest us next."

"Let them take us. I’m clean. So are you. We all are." Rick looked into Ron’s eyes as he said this, and something there chilled him. "We are all clean, aren’t we bro?"

"I got scratched on the throat by that superzombie. Scratched! Can you fucking believe that?"

"Ron, what the hell are you talking about?" There was growing fear in Rick’s voice.

"I’ve been infected little brother." Ron pulled down the front of his shirt to showed Rick the festering rash. Rick winced as the stench hit his nostrils. "That fucking deadfuck scratched me on the throat and now I’m going to turn into a fucking zombie." Ron’s spoke with little emotion.

"You’ve been infected?" David’s voice startled them both. He had come up behind Ron silent as a cat. "How did you get infected?" David asked, taking a step back from Ron. Ron looked around the hallway of the hotel but it was empty. Ron quickly told David about the four being arrested as well as the development of his rash.

"Maybe the soldiers were talking about Zack." David said. Ron and Rick looked at him oddly. "He’s up at the hospital now. Maybe they said he was infected and they wanted to check his friends too."

"The slime at the motel!" Ron blurted, slapping himself in the forehead as the light bulb went on inside.

"What are you talking about?" Rick asked.

"It makes perfect sense. Back at Summittown a superzombie went into Zack’s room. We know because we found slime trails

"That’s right." Rick said. "The same kind of slime we found near those brain sucked corpses out on the raid."

"Do you think Zack was infected by a superzombie? Just like me." Ron asked.

"Do you think you’ll turn into a normal zombie? Or a superzombie?" David asked.

"What the hell kind of a question is that?" Rick snapped angrily.

"It’s the right question." Ron said blankly. "What kind of zombie will I become? A fast, thinking, mean ass son of a bitch or a staggering deadfuck? For all your sake I hope it’s a staggering deadfuck so you can deal with me easily. The same goes for Zack. Hopefully those bastards at the hospital will put him out of his misery before he turns."

David felt his emotions stretch thin as he thought about Ron’s last statement. He was still in shock over his Fathers death, yet to come to terms with the traumatic events just a few days ago. David couldn’t even remember for sure how many days ago it happened. Now Ron was infected with the zombie plague and Zack probably was too. And maybe even his sister and Matt? David felt like screaming at the top of his lungs! Cursing God and the Devil and everything in between for destroying his life! Destroying the world’s life. He wanted to scream and scream until he was raw in the throat and could scream no more. But instead he laughed…

Chapter 27

Sunday, June 24, 2001

Park City, UT

1:50 PM

They arrived at the Park City hospital and the jeep lead them around the back of the building. As it came to a halt near one of the ambulance entrances Matt realized just how scared he was.

"This is so fucked." He grumbled.

"Relax." Jenkins said. Matt was amazed at how calm Jenkins remained. Susan looked as afraid as he was and a nervous sweat had broken out on Mac’s brow but Jenkins still had that cocky smile of his, as if to say he didn’t have a care in the world. "None of us are infected. It will only take a few minutes to confirm then they will let us go."

"How can you be sure of that?" Susan quipped. She didn’t like Jenkins and it showed.