INFECTED (Click Your Poison) (107 page)

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“Supermarket. Hospitals scare me; especially when the sick try to eat you.”

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

W
ho doesn’t like a booze cruise? It’s even better when it’s on a floating multi-million-dollar luxury home. There’re no party crashers; everyone here is special—and in an effort to stay that way, most suck up to you pretty hard.

You’re in your private room, which you’ve been in while the guests arrived. It’s been six hours since you took the
Gilgazyme
 ® and soon it’ll be time for your grand entrance. People will toast in your honor, and when they say, “May you live a thousand years!” it will actually be possible.

Still, despite your floating castle filled by people specifically here to make you feel good, you experience no joy. In fact, you don’t feel anything. You’re not excited by this party, but you’re not dreading it. You’re not happy to be immortal, but you’re not regretful either. You’re in the perfect doldrums of emotion. It’s almost like you’ve found some sort of Zen enlightenment where you’ve transcended all human feeling. There is nothing in the world that you want.

Then Stacy quietly opens the door, so as not to disturb your meditations. But she brings with her something sweet and potent: you can feel
life
flowing through the doorway with her. Now you know what you want, and now that you know it, you’ll never be able to find enough of it.

“We’re ready for you,” she says.

You turn toward her and she must see the hunger in your eyes—you can see it inversely reflected by the concern in her own. But ever your loyal assistant, she ignores her instincts as you move in toward her.

“Is everything okay?” she asks, her voice quivering.

It is now. You lunge the final step toward her, biting down firmly on her neck, your teeth sinking into the softest part of her flesh and freeing that life blood you so desperately crave. She gives you one final act of assistance, and screams out. Thus bringing the other guests right to you.

When they arrive, you drop Stacy. You want more, and you want it fresh. Brad, never able to hold an opinion of his own, now has no opinion over whether he should run or fight. So you give him a piece of your mind by taking a piece of his.

As for Stacy, she’s down but not for good. Your
Gilgazyme
 ® works within her now, and in only a matter of hours, she’ll rise again. Don’t let it be said you never gave her anything.

Word spreads across your yacht that you’ve lost your mind. You walk calmly through your domain, playing the best game of hide-‘n’-seek ever conceived. Olly-olly-oxen-feed! You couldn’t ask for better rules: as soon as you find someone, you bite them, they scream, someone comes to defend them, and then you bite that person too.

Tony smashes a bottle of your finest champagne over your head, as if christening you, and you latch onto him for his trouble. You continue on, having the time of your afterlife, and soon make it above-decks. People flee and jump over the sides, which you think is a grand idea, and you follow them right overboard.

Unfortunately, you can no longer swim; so you sink. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter, since you no longer breathe. So you walk along the bottom, looking up and following the kicking legs toward shore. As the seabed rises to become beach, you’ll meet again.

In only a couple of hours, those you shared the gift of immortality with will rise from home base, and switch from hide-‘n’-seek to join your team in a worldwide game of tag. But why wait? No need to cover your eyes and count; the other team is already running and hiding.

Land’s up ahead.

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Better get walking.

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

“T
his dolly might help,” the engineer says, indicating a wheeled cart, large and flat. Lucas nods his thanks and clears the sound equipment off it.

With a fresh clip loaded in your shotgun—what is that, number three?—you prepare to head out. Lucas agreed to go for the water jugs while Rosie escorts the engineer. You take the lead, while Lucas trails in the rear with the dolly.

There are a few undead already in the hall, but nothing a depress of the trigger on your AA-12 can’t handle. You teleport their faces down the hall with a loud
boom
. It’s quick work, and you make it to the entrance with ease.

Lucas peels off to get the water jugs, but Rosie and the engineer tuck in tight behind you for cover. You rush out, blasting away at the crowd that’s gathered, and run toward the jeep. Eastwood remotely controls the CROWS system, systematically destroying any zombie that comes within its range. Using the machine gun as cover, you reload your shotgun.

Then you take the rope and run.

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Meet up with everybody by the tower.

MAKE YOUR CHOICE