Killer Z (14 page)

Doug slings the rifle on his
shoulder and walks to Rebecca with handcuffs. Pixel takes on a defensive posture.
Heart pounding, Michael looks for a way to escape.

“Shut that dog up,” Mack says.

Pop
. A bullet ricochets off the
cement and strikes the canine’s leg. Pixel yips in pain and limps off.

“We don’t want any trouble,” Fred
says.

“Where’s the other girl?” Sammy
questions Michael.

Michael remembers the zombie in
the tent and says, “What other girl?”

Sammy jambs the gun at Michael’s
temple as Doug grabs Rebecca.

“You’re not touching her,” Michael
says.

“What are you going to do about
it?” Sammy asks.

Rebecca’s too terrified to fight
as Doug shoves her against the car. His dirty hands disappear into her blouse
and tears at her bra.

“She’s into Victoria’s Secret
boys!”

Doug slobbers into Rebecca’s ear.
Michael clutches his fists when everything goes bright as Kyle fire the flare
gun into Sammy’s chest. The thug stumbles into the burning tires as the flare
sends out white and orange sparks.

Michael shuts his eyes as the
flare blossoms and then reopens them. Mack stares at the light with a drugged
expression of disbelief. Sammy howls in pain turning this way and that in the
fire. Doug blindly lets go of Rebecca and reaches for his handgun. Pixel
emerges from underneath a car and sinks her teeth into Doug’s tattooed wrist
and he drops the gun. Sammy carelessly swings the hunting rifle as he thrashes
in the fire and shoots the youngest thug in the back with a
crack
.

Mack blindly shoots the Ak47.
Tat
tat tat tat.

Pixel and Doug are showered with
bullets. The dog yelps and runs. Harry swings the crowbar at Mack which caves
in the man’s head. The group looks at each in stunned silence as the fallen
thugs begin to shudder.

“Oh Jesus and Virgin Mary,” Fred
gasps as Sammy lurches to his feet.

The fire illuminates Sammy the
zombie in a soft yellowish hue. Michael gapes, not wanting to believe the
threat isn’t over.

“Game over,” Juliet yells from the
car.

“Now that’s a zombie!” Rebecca
shrills at Sammy.

The smoldering Sammy jumps on the
car Juliet is hiding in and smashes both fists into the window. Doug and the
young thug both rise to their feet.

“Here boy,” Fred yells at Sammy
and picks up the shotgun. “Come to daddy.”

Swoosh swoosh swoosh
, the vet pounds at Doug with the
crowbar until the thug falls back to the ground.  The sixteen year old
zombie groans and charges at Rebecca.

Fred whirls, dodges Sammy’s
advance, and shoves the barrel of the shotgun into the zombie’s back.
Boom
.
Sammy no longer has a spine.

Fred opens the car door.
Boom.

Juliet gasps as the driver’s head
becomes a bloody smear.

“I’m fed up with zombies,” Fred
says.

Michael wrestles with the sixteen
year old on the wet cement. Harry hurries over and slams the crowbar into the
back of the zombie’s head. Mack lifts his body from the street and flings
himself at Kyle.

Kyle dodges the zombie and picks
up the discarded AK47.
Tat tat tat’s
and the gun clicks empty.
Mack staggers and groans, half his face is missing. Kyle picks up the pistol.
The small handgun makes a soft
pop
and the zombie is no more.

“Take their guns,” Harry says.

Only the rifle and .22 have
bullets. There are enough flashlights for everyone.

“I’m keeping the pistol,” Kyle
says.

Michael comforts Rebecca who
clutches the shredded remains of a torn blouse.

“It’s time to go,” Harry says.

32

M
ark focuses the lenses of the binoculars on the red
tourist bus on the steps of the Old Post Office.

“There’s movement in the bus,”
Mark says.

“Shit, my binoculars keep
blurring,” Angela says.

“It’s called double vision. Let me
see them again.”

Mark adjusts the optics of her
binoculars. “Try this.”

“Oh, that’s better.”

Mark zooms to another location.

“Five groups of zombies on Independence Avenue. Where’s the search and rescue crew Becket wanted us to watch for?”
Angela asks.

“I don’t know.”

“There’s no one left but looters
and the undead,” Angela says, lowering the binoculars. “I want to thank you
again for rescuing me and letting me come to the roof.”

“No problem. I swear the earth is
sinking. You notice how the remaining buildings angle to the left? DC was
originally built over a canal system.”

“Mark, recheck the west lawn of
the White House.”

On the lawn looters drop paintings
and silverware as a mob of zombies in security uniforms catch them by surprise.
The pops of the gunshots reach the roof as the looters try to defend themselves
and are quickly overtaken. Within minutes the looters rise and join the horde.

“Angela, have you ever seen
anything like it?”

“No I haven’t. Should we report
downstairs?”

“Not yet. Check out the Lincoln
Memorial.”

A military hovercraft swerves to
the roof of the submerged Lincoln Memorial and stops. Suddenly soldiers are
yanked into the water. A few escape to the rooftop.

“I see it. I didn’t know zombies
could swim. I should’ve stayed in the clock tower.”

The infected emerge from the sea
around the memorial and swarm the remaining soldiers.

“These zombies are like
cockroaches,” Mark says. His hands tremble around the binoculars.

“I don’t see them going for
brains. Mark, are we going to die and become one of them?”

Mark places the binoculars in the
backpack. “Not if we can get out of the city.”

Angela hands him hers and says,
“Becket’s men aren’t coming back.”

“Or the marines,” he replies and
opens the door to the stairwell. “We’re on our own.”

As they walk down the stairs she
asks, “What made you choose the L.O.C.?”

“Have you ever heard of the
Library of Alexandria?”

“No.”

“It was the greatest library of
the ancient world. Even then they knew that the record of human thought was
more valuable then anything else. People’s lives are so short, but their ideas
can live forever.

“You’re really books, huh?”

“Yeah,” he says with a light
laugh. “C’mon, let’s hurry and get to the lobby. I’m dying for coffee.”

They enter the plaza as Red Cross
personnel stumble through the entrance. Becket talks to a beast of a man
wearing tattered suit pants and a stained dress shirt.

“Louie, what happened?” Becket
asks.

“The injured went crazy. Started
eating people like cannibals,” Louie answers, his gnarled face looking
exhausted.

“What happened?”

“A ten year old boy went into a
coma and woke up a zombie. The kid bit his dad and then his sister. Within
minutes it was a bloodbath and we lost the entire facility.”

“How did you escape?”

“Through the tunnel system under
the city but the marines cut us down.”

“The soldiers are blocking the
evacuation routes,” Mark says grimly.

Red Cross workers bearing national
treasures deposit the burdensome objects in a pile near Louie and Becket.

“Is that the Gutenberg Bible and
the Declaration of Independence?” Mark asks.

“It is. We also rescued a bunch of
paintings from the White House before the tsunami hit.”

“Librarian,” Becket says to Mark.
“This is Louie DeWitt, Director of the Red Cross. This is Mark.”

Mark shakes hands with Louie.

“Did you spot anything on the
roof?” Becket asks.

“There’s no way anyone is
surviving the streets. Anyone out there is being torn to pieces.”

“We should barricade the doors
until morning,” Becket says.

“And there’s some gang of thugs
taking advantage of the disaster. Very violent,” Louie says.

“Gang? Ha, more like drug induced
zombies,” Lin interrupts from a nearby table.

“Do you know anything, sir?”
Beckett demands.

“It’s just Lin. And yeah, I could
say a thing or two about the zombies. I helped make them after all.”

Lin tosses his CDC badge on the
table.

“You’re a scientist with the CDC?
Our people are to blame?” Louie asks, stunned.

“Yes and yes. The zombies are
coming from a street drug called Killer Z.”

“Why?” Mark blurts angrily.

“Are you guys responsible for the
earthquake and tsunami too?” Angela asks.

“The natural disasters are an
unfortunate coincidence. A researcher, a man named Seth, altered the drug and
sold it on the street. He copied an old formula found in CDC’s archives.”

Lin nods to himself, deep in
thought, and continues, “But Seth’s done too many Zs and his cheese slid from
the cracker.”

“Does Seth work with Al-Qaida?”
Mark asks.

“It wasn’t the CDC but you and
Seth?” Louie asks.

“No, no. Not me. Just Seth,” Lin
lies. “The drug alters enzymes in the protein sheaths of our cells, thus the
zombies are created, similar to Mad Cows Disease.”

“How does it spread?” Mark asks.

“Once you absorb the drug or are
bitten, you’re fucked.”

“How many followers does Seth
have?” Becket asks.

“Thirty to forty armed men.
They’re hiding in the People’s Gallery.”

“Great, forty armed terrorists,”
Louie exclaims.

“Don’t worry. Without these Zs
they will die. I bailed with the drugs.”

“Let me get this right. Addicts
taking Killer Z become zombies?” Becket asks.

“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

“And why did you leave your
people?”

“I told you, they were turning,”
Lin says as he throws a duffle bag to the guard standing near Becket.

“What’s in that?” Becket asks.

The security guard opens the bag
and reveals thousands of pills and cash.

“I’ve heard enough. Please escort
this man to a secure room,” Becket says.

“What the hell? You can’t do
this!” Lin bellows.

“Lin is it? You’re responsible for
the zombies and I’m placing you under citizen’s arrest,” Becket says.

“I told you the truth! You can’t
do this.”

A guard handcuffs Lin and drags
him away kicking and screaming.

“He isn’t any better than a
terrorist,” Louie spits.

“We need to destroy the pills,”
Beckett says and turns to a police officer. “I need you to find anyone in the
building who has been taking these.”

“Maybe we can use the pills as
leverage against Seth?” Mark asks.

“What do you want us to do with
the people we find?” a guard asks.

“Shoot anyone who gets violent and
quarantine the rest in one of the conference rooms with Lin.”

Stunned by the news, Mark follows
Angela into a conference room. In the room are many beds assembled from
exercise mats and things scavenged from the courtyard stores. Out of the corner
of his eye Mark recognizes a familiar couple.

“Michael? Rebecca?”

“Mark!” Michael exclaims and sits
up from a mat.

Mark takes in the filthy and
bruised couple and asks, “What happened to you? When did you get here?”

“About five minutes ago. The
hospital was a nightmare. Did you go home?”

“Yeah, my parents died with the
tsunami.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Michael
says as he stands.

“This is Angela. Angela, this is
Michael and Rebecca.”

“Nice to meet you,” Angela says.

Rebecca doesn’t acknowledge Mark
but sits with a glazed expression and a white pill in her palm.

“What’s that Rebecca?” Mark asks.

“It’s my medication.”

“What is it called?”

“Z something.”

“Killer Z?” Angela blurts.

“Yes,” Rebecca’s voice trembles.
Her gaze turns guiltily towards Michael whose face goes red.

Angela looks at Mark, worry
knitting her brow.

“Michael, did you take any of
those?” Mark asks.

Michael doesn’t answer but stares
venomously at his wife.

“Those pills turn people into
zombies,” Mark says.

“We need to tell Becket,” Angela
interrupts.

Rebecca stumbles to her feet and
yells, “I’m not a zombie!”

“How long have you been on them?”
Michael asks. He takes her by the shoulders and shouts, “What did you do to
us?”

“Let me go, Michael! You’re
hurting me.”

“Did you suck some guys cock for
them?”

Rebecca pushes him away and storms
across the room. Survivors watch warily. A few slip out of the room.

“Rebecca, those pills are making
people go crazy,” Mark says.

“I don’t care,” Rebecca says
numbly.

“Security is coming,” Angela says.

“You need to leave. The guards are
locking people up for taking those,” Mark says.

“Shit,” Michael says and grabs
Rebecca’s hand.

“Michael, I’ll distract the guards
in the lobby and you two sneak out.”