I Dream of Zombies (Book 2): Haven (11 page)

“Thanks. I do feel tired at times and less refreshed than I used to, although I’ve got used to it,” said Ellen.
“But I thought I was in deep sleep.”

“Well,
it is unusual, but we will make sure everything is alright. We don’t want you to be at risk at all. Anyway, please go on, Owen.”

The young man smiled. “REM
should occur about ninety minutes after you fall asleep. The first period usually lasts ten minutes and each recurring stage gets gradually longer, with the final dream state lasting up to an hour. In people with sleep disorders their heart rate and respiration speed up during REM, becoming erratic. Ellen, your results are extreme, but are almost back to normal right before you wake. Marla, yours are less unusual, but still higher than normal. As we discussed earlier, it seems you have both become desensitised to your nightmares, or at least your minds think so. But, Ellen, what is really important is you’re basically dreaming all the time.”

Marla scratched her head. “I’m surprised. I expected our results to be the same, Owen.”

“We did too,” he responded. “I guess this is why your sister feels more tired in general than you do, and you are more active, I’m guessing.”

“T
hat’s true,” said Ellen. “I often feel spaced out.”

Owen nodded. “There you go
. Intense dreaming occurs during REM as a result of heightened brain activity, but at the same time the major voluntary muscle groups are paralysed. So, basically, your brain gets really excited, but your body doesn’t move. You can’t do anything while you dream.”

“
So that’s why we can’t make ourselves wake up and why I saw you, Ellen, sleeping as if you were… I don’t want to say the word again, so I’ll say frozen!” remarked Marla. “The first time I saw her dreaming this, Doctor, it scared the life out of me. There was this awful scream and I went running into my lounge where she was sleeping. Ellen’s mouth was wide open and she was staring up at the ceiling, but she was totally motionless and her breathing was really light. The expression on her face scared me. She looked terrified and felt cold. I couldn’t wake her at all. I threw water on her in the end.”

“Did that work?” asked Doctor
Grice.

“Yes,” Ellen recalled.

“That scares me too – how people might react if they see us sleeping like that. Ellen always sleeps with her eyes open, but, apparently, I don’t. We just explained to the people close to us and they haven’t mentioned anything,” Marla added. “So I hope it didn’t scare them.”

“Except Barney thought I was a weirdo for a while!”

“Barney?” asked Owen.

Ellen smiled. “He’s a boy we met on the way here. He was kinda scared when he first saw me sleeping, but I told him that’s how I dream – that I’m different; that everyone is different. He didn’t ask again.”

“Sweet, but I guess most people are asleep too, and don’t notice,” Owen assured her. “By the way, Marla, did you know you snore?”

Marla grimaced. “No!”
Ellen smirked and she nudged her. “I’m sure I don’t!”

“Well, you do,” Owen corrected, “but
it’s a pretty easy thing to solve and it’s not loud, I can assure you.”

Ellen burst into giggles. “I
tried telling you, but…” And then she cracked up again.

Marla folded her arms. “Okay, okay, sorry if it echoed around the boat!”

“It was fine,” Ellen replied, calming herself.

The sisters looked away from each other to find
Doctor Grice and Owen staring at them patiently. “Sorry,” muttered Marla, “please carry on.”

Owen grinned. “Right,
everyone experiences the highest percentage of REM as children and it declines as we get older. Adults are only meant to spend one-fifth of their sleep in REM, so you can see why Ellen’s case is unusual. REM is important for memory and cognitive development, by the way. Okay, so we also checked your breathing and other things. Ellen, once again we found more irregularities in your results. We would have expected it to cause your body to move while sleeping, but you stay totally still, and that is unusual.”

“
However, you’ll be relieved to know your hearts are fine, even though your heart rhythms become irregular during REM,” added Doctor Grice.

“Do you have any questions?” asked Owen.

Marla sighed. “I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in. I’m surprised our results are so different, but I can see why you think it’s best to focus on testing Ellen as hers are so… erm…” She paused and looked at her sister.

“
Weird, you want to say?” Ellen asked.

Marla shrugged and nodded.

“I can understand your concern, but please try not to worry,” said Doctor Grice. “I know it probably sounds easier said than done, but we will try to improve this, Ellen. Marla, I believe your condition will improve on its own. If you like, we can monitor you as well, but I know it is time consuming and not that enjoyable. Ellen, I would like to run complete blood tests to ensure your lack of deep sleep is not detrimental to your health. My theory is these nightmares are temporary. I understand you have been experiencing them for a while, but I believe that inside this place, where life is calmer and there is no external threat, for want of a nicer expression, they will disappear.”

Ellen looked at her sister and
then smiled at the doctor. “You really think so?”

He
nodded. “I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, girls, but I’ve been doing this for many years and have had few failures.”

“That would be ama
zing, Marla. Doctor, thank you,” said Ellen. “I’d love to sleep normally again.”

“E
ven if you don’t want to carry on with the tests, Marla, when we find what works for your sister, we can treat you too.”

She smiled. “That sounds great. I just want what’s best for Ellen.”

“I’ll do my very best.”

Wednesday, 2 July

“You don’t
give up, do you?” asked Marla, using her towel to wipe the sweat from her face. Ellen was correct: the man was clearly more than a little interested, but surely she couldn’t look remotely attractive whilst virtually dripping on the running machine?

“
Sometimes, but not this time,” Jakob answered. “So will you come?”

Marla
stepped off the apparatus and on to solid ground. He was a foot taller than her and she noticed his shoulders were broader than she’d first thought. For a second she wondered if he worked out, but then she eliminated the thought from her head.
No, you are not going to find this guy attractive. That’s just plain ridiculous.
She sighed and slung the towel over her shoulder. Perhaps the only way to stop him being interested would be to agree to one drink and make it clear she did not reciprocate his feelings.

“O
ne coffee,” she answered. “Then will you stop pestering me? That’s kind of stalker behaviour, you know,” she added, unable to prevent her lips from turning upwards.

J
akob noticed and smiled. “I prefer the phrase interested party or innocent bystander, so how about tonight, seven-thirty?”

Having no plans for later, she
nodded. “Fine.”

“I’ll come by your room,” he offered.

“Sure.”

J
akob smiled, turned and walked away. As Marla wiped her neck with the towel, she noticed him turn once more. The guy was attractive in a sexy scientist kind of way, she had to admit. Instructing herself to neither think nor act like a teenager, she wandered towards the bicycle.

Wednesday evening

Freshly washed, Marla slipped into
fresh cotton underwear and a blood red T-shirt emblazoned with the image of an eagle. Her wardrobe choices were pretty limited to what she had brought with her on the road; not that she would have made much more of an effort otherwise.
Jakob is not my type. We are just going to have a coffee and I will tell him that we can only be friends.

Stepping towards the mirror,
Marla ran her comb through her hair. Next she applied black eyeliner and a smudge of reddish lipstick. Once happy with the results, she sat on her bed and slipped on her jeans and DM boots. Disturbed by a knock on the door, she stood up and peeked one last time at her reflection.
What are you doing?
Living, she told herself.
When people are dying?
Yes.

“Hi,” said J
akob when she opened the door.

For the first time he was not wearing his scientist gear. Instead he was dressed in black jeans and a
matching T-shirt. Marla noticed with a hint of appreciation his well-toned physique before reminding herself of her lack of interest. “You’re on time,” she quipped, giving nothing away.

“Of course.”

Stepping into the corridor beside him, she locked the door. “So where are you taking me?” she asked.

J
akob smiled. “You know, all the posh restaurants are fully booked and it’s too chilly for a horse-drawn carriage, so I figured we could go for a stroll around the facility and head to the cafeteria, seeing as we don’t have a bar.”

“What I wou
ldn’t give for a beer right now,” she sighed.

“I know. I wish alcohol wasn’t banned, but hey...”

“Cafeteria it is then.”

“Do you have any preference regarding
which floor?”

“Maybe
one where we won’t bump into anyone we know,” Marla replied.

“I was thinking the same
thing,” said Jakob, “although privacy is hard to come by here.”

“I’ve noticed. I almost feel that Big Brother is watching me.”

“You’re probably not wrong. Spies everywhere!”

“You think?”

He laughed. “No, I’m joking. I have an idea though – let’s go to level nine, where neither of us live.”

Marla nodded as they stepped
inside the elevator. He pressed a button and the box quivered before moving upwards. She shifted instinctively away towards the wall, placing a larger gap between them. Jakob stared ahead, not saying a word. When the doors opened, Marla strode out first. They headed along the corridor and entered the cafeteria. She did a quick survey of the scene and to her relief there were no familiar faces.

“Let’s head over there,” J
akob suggested, pointing to a far corner where the tables had not been taken.

“Good idea.”

“Do you fancy anything other than a coffee?” he asked as Marla sat down.

“N
ot right now.”

“Nothing sweet?”

She just smiled and shook her head. Jakob headed off towards the food counter. As he walked, Marla took in the rear view appreciatively. As her imagination created a naked version in her head, she gave in and smiled to herself.
Why not enjoy the attention?
What’s the big deal?
Life has been far too difficult lately, so why not have fun… or have I forgotten how?

“Penny for your thoughts?”

A cup of coffee appeared in front of her, along with two small, round pots of powdered milk and sugar. A spoon glinted at the side. “Sorry,” Marla answered. “I was miles away.”

“I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee, so I brought everything.”

“You sure did.”

“C
an I ask what you were thinking about so deeply?” asked Jakob.

Marla grinned
sheepishly. “You honestly want to know?”

“Why not?”

She dropped a spoonful of powdered milk into her cup and stirred it slowly with her spoon. Looking up, she noticed that Jakob was watching it turn in the liquid. Conscious of his obvious attraction to her, she placed the spoon down on the table where she turned it awkwardly. “I was wondering how much I have changed since… ah, everything went to the dogs.”

He
chuckled. “I think we all wonder about that.”

“
Well, I think I’ve changed more than I wish.”

“You were out there
alone for a long time. I didn’t see any of that, being in here since the outbreak. I just heard about it.”

“
But you’ve seen them… the dead-lookers, no?”

“
Not really. I have seen them, but from a distance, not out there where you can get ambushed. You know we do have counsellors here you can speak to?”

“I do
, and I spoke to one,” Marla replied, “but maybe I just don’t want to talk much about it.”

“Perhaps you need to.”

She took a slow sip of her coffee while Jakob poured some sugar into his own. Once she’d counted four spoonfuls worth, she laughed.

“What’s funny?”
he asked, looking lost.

“You like a lot of sugar, yet
you’re a doctor.”

“Scientist!
That’s different. We’re all unhealthy, you know. Work vampire hours, fuel up on coffee and we’re obsessed with the weird side of life.”

“Sounds like me now,” Marla remarked with a grin.

Jakob looked up. “So we do have something in common.”

Recognising
the half lustful, half hopeful look in his eyes, she decided to change the subject to something less personal. “I think everyone is going to become more similar. But, anyway, how are you getting on with finding a cure?”

He sighed
and leaned back in his chair. “We’re a long way off. It’s difficult to understand it, this virus, which it is – we know that much. The infected have limited emotions and intelligence. We know they are very sensitive to daylight. It must hurt them or blind them in some way as they avoid it. I’m not sure of the reason. They cannot do complex tasks or many basic ones. All they are interested in is feeding… killing. They will try to take the quickest, shortest route to their victim, no matter what is in the way. So, say there is an electric fence, they will keep going through it again and again, no matter how many times – they won’t learn to stop and take another route, and…”

“Hey, stop for
a second. How do you know this?” Marla asked, leaning forward. “Are you running tests on the dead-lookers in here?”

“
Look, I’ve said too much. I forget myself… Look, you can’t repeat what I’m telling you, because people might panic.”

“Are they secure?”

“Yes, yes, they were. We were testing on them here in the past – not now,” he insisted. “We worked under strict guidelines and conditions, and most of the time the infected were tranquilised, unless we wanted to watch them doing a task. I assure you it was the only way we could learn how they act and react. How else could we learn anything?”

“I thought you we
re working with tissue samples?” said Marla. “You said…”

“
We do
now
. The samples we have left.”

“
I see.”

“We
don’t risk ourselves.”

Marla took another sip of her coffee. “At one point we were on a barge on
a canal and we were ambushed by one of the dead-lookers. It literally walked through the water to get to us.”

“Jesus!”

“We were okay. No one was injured. The thing is when we moved into deeper water, they kept coming and drowned, so what you’re saying, I’ve seen it.”

“We think
many areas of the brain have shut down in these unfortunate creatures. We’re not sure if the person’s awareness is still there. We don’t even know if they realise they are alive. My theory is they don’t. The infected person is just a hollow thing, acting on instinct. I’m trying to prove it, because if we do find a cure, I don’t think it will be possible to reverse this, even though that’s what the government wants to hear. The infected are lost.”

Marla nodded. “I
think so too. And it’s the only way I can get my head around killing them when I have to. They’re not really alive anymore.”

“Any
idea of a cure would not be an antidote to this illness, but a vaccination against it. But it’s going to take a long time, even though…” He paused.

Marla’s eyes narrowed. “
Even?”

Jakob
fidgeted in his seat. “It isn’t important.”

“
You can tell me, no?”

“I’d be breaking the Secrets Act if I told you.”

“Okay.”

Jakob
finished his coffee. “Want to get some air? I’m thinking we should talk about something else.”

“But i
t’s fascinating,” Marla replied, wondering what on earth he had been about to tell her.

“Yes, it is, but I’m more interested in finding out about you. Death is everywhere and I want to know about something more positive.”

She laughed. “You think I’m positive?”

“Yep
, you are to me,” he replied. “Shall we go?”

Marla
nodded and stood. Jakob tucked in his chair neatly and took her hand as he led her out of the room. She did not resist and went with the flow, having decided he was both trustable and useful. The guy had already told her many things that he probably was not supposed to, and she guessed there was much more to learn. If she showed him a little interest then perhaps he would spill the bigger beans. “I hear the gardens are lovely this time of year,” she remarked.

He
chuckled. “Indeed they are.”