The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1) (14 page)

“Good idea. But what should I tell Gunner?”

“He’ll be too busy dealing with his daughter, assuming the poor girl survives her fever.”

I rushed over to the first floor bathroom and saw Gunner wiping down his daughter with the cold cloth and splashing water over her face. Emily looked weak and exhausted, but she appeared to be conscious and holding on.

“Seems to be working, Gunner. Good job. It looks like the medicine and the cold water are doing the trick. Keep at it.”

“Thank God,” Gunner said. “Can you get me some more ice?”

“There’s none left. I need to set the machine up and make some more.”

“There has to be more. That goddamn tray was half-filled the last time I looked inside.”

I wondered whether I should tell him or not. I remained silent for a second while he continued to splash cold water along Emily’s body and wipe her down with the towel.

“Where’d the damned ice go? My goddamn daughter is sick here!”

“Take it easy, Gunner. Your wife fell ill while you were taking care of Emily. I had to use some of the ice in order to help get her temperature down.”

He looked up at me. “How’s she doing?”

I shook my head.

“Shit!” he punched his hand in the water, causing it to splash up in his face. “Goddamnit!”

“You okay, Daddy?” Emily whimpered.

“Yeah, baby, Daddy’s fine.”

“We did the best we could, Gunner,” I whispered.

“I know, man, I know.” He covered his reddened eyes and sobbed. “I ain’t mad at you guys. It’s this shit we’re dealing with. This crazy situation.”

“Take care of Emily, Gunner. We’ll talk about it later.”

Tears streamed from his eyes.

I turned to leave but stopped when I heard him call out my name.

“Do me a favor, Thom. Don’t let her become one of them things. Take her out back and do her right, with dignity and shit. Set the torch to her. I couldn’t bear to see her end up like Swiftley’s wife.”

“Sure, Gunner.” I patted his shoulder, assuring him that we would respectfully dispose of his wife’s body.

I walked back into the dining room and contemplated my next move. I looked up and saw Dar coming down the stairs, the strip of cloth still wrapped around her forehead. She’d cut chunks out of her hair so that it stuck up at all angles, exposing patches of her scalp. Her black T-shirt came halfway up her stomach and exposed her navel, and she’d scrawled various symbols on her abdomen with red and black markers. Tucked inside her waistband was a gun. She’d darkened her eyes with black mascara and now looked like some impoverished urchin out of a Dickens novel.

“Is that gun loaded?”

“Locked too. No sense taking a chance with all these fuckers stumbling around.”

“Nice hairdo, Dar. Not exactly the style you used to get at that fancy Newbury salon.”

“Can’t believe you paid that drag queen two bills to cut it,” she said, stopping near the bottom.

“Why don’t you go back upstairs and change into something less revealing.”

“Why don’t you for once stop telling me how to live my life? I’m nearly eighteen years old and can do as I want.”

“Fine. Can you at least watch Amber for a few minutes while I go downstairs?”

“Where’s Gunner and the rest of his hillbilly clan?”

“Delia passed away from the fever,” I whispered. “And Emily is sick too. Gunner’s got her in the bathtub and is trying to get her temperature down.”

“Delia turn into one of those things yet?”

“Rick took her body downstairs into the basement. He’s going to take care of the matter before it reaches that stage.”

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye on the little rug rat.”

Dar looked possessed, but I had other things to worry about now. I went downstairs and knocked on Rick’s lab door, and after a few moments he let me in. What I saw inside his lab shocked me. He’d placed a cot inside the lab and had strapped Delia’s body to it. Delia lay on her back, deathly still, her hands resting down by her sides. The color in her face had begun to drain, and she looked as white as a sheet of paper.

Upon noticing my uneasiness, he said, “Look, Thom, she’s dying and not coming back. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

“Opportunity for what?”

“Advancement, study.”

“But I thought you said she was already dead?”

“I lied. She’s still breathing—barely, but it’s only a matter of time before she passes away.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? This is completely unethical.”

“There is no saving her, do you understand me? Her brain has shut down, and her body temperature is up to 106 degrees. Look, Thom, I know you’re upset, but by studying her I might be able to get a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of this phenomenon. This way, I’ll be able to track the physiological changes in her body and learn what’s causing this thing, maybe even discover how to reverse the process.”

“What you’re doing is wrong and inhumane. It defies every ethical and moral fiber in my being.”

“That’s why you’re a novelist and I’m a scientist. You have any qualms, then go write a goddamn novel about it.”

I tried to get my head around the idea of him studying one of these dead things.

“I just promised Gunner that we would dispose of her body with dignity and respect. He made me swear that we would not let her turn into one of those creatures.”

“I’m sorry, Thom, but you misspoke. She’s gone and has more value to society dead than alive,” he said. “I have a responsibility to help other potential victims and protect the rest of us from this contagion. If I can learn something from her and save other lives in the process, don’t you think that’s the responsible thing to do?”

“I suppose,” I said, confused. “But a voice inside me is screaming that there are certain lines you should never cross, and this is one of them.”

“You shouldn’t listen to that voice, Thom, unless you’re sitting at your desk and narrating one of your highbrow novels. This is real life, pal, not fiction.”

“Okay, Rick, I get your point. Your work is way more important than mine. It always has been, right?”

“Look, I understand your objections, and they are completely valid, just not relevant in this case. I only ask that you don’t tell Gunner what I’m doing, and that way he’ll never even know the difference.”

“You mean you’re going to let her turn into one of those things right here in this room?”

“That’s the plan. She’s all tied up with nowhere to go. These things are weak and appear to have the brains of a two-year-old. This way I can take as many tissue samples as I want, and I can monitor her vitals and brain activity the entire time.”

“How long before she succumbs to the illness?”

“Within the hour, I’m guessing. Hell, I’m as knowledgeable about this outbreak as you are. But with all her organs shutting down, it shouldn’t take long.”

I walked over to the dying woman and stared at her. It amazed me how much everything had changed in the short time since Dar and I had taken our leisurely drive up to my brother’s farm. We were now embroiled in an epidemic of global proportions. The world economies were failing at a crucial time in the planet’s history. Worse, my daughter had morphed into a deranged, crazed person I didn’t even know. My mind reeled, and suddenly I became dizzy. The only silver lining, if it could be called that, was that Dar had emerged from this crisis stronger than expected. Of anyone here, I thought she’d be the first to suffer an emotional breakdown. Instead, she seemed to have gone completely in the opposite direction.

I stared numbly at the corpse, praying to God for the redemption of her soul. I felt exhausted, sore and thirsty. We sat for maybe fifteen minutes before Delia gasped and inhaled deeply. Her eyes opened, and her hands tightened into fists before relaxing again. She took one last deep breath, looked helplessly at us, and that was it. Rick felt for a pulse. He glanced at me and shook his head. Delia had passed to the next realm.

I stared down at her. The last thing I wanted to do was watch another one of these monsters being born. After about five minutes passed, I saw her fingers start to wriggle and the tendons in her neck begin to twitch like guitar strings. I knelt down by her side and stared at her expression. It radiated such warmth and beauty in repose that it completely floored me. Suddenly her eyelids shot open, and she stared up at the ceiling, smiling. It was like staring down at an angel.

“Delia, is that you?” I whispered.

“Why can’t I move?” she whispered.

“It’s for your own safety,” I told her. “Rick, come over here.”

Rick opened his sleepy eyes and ran over to me. The first thing he did was yank me back by the collar.

“Not too close now. You don’t want to get infected.”

“Look at her. She’s beautiful. Look at that smile, it’s the smile of an angel.”

She stared up at us and beamed radiantly, looking nothing like the worried mother who had come here for help.

“Please release me. I want to give each of you a warm embrace.”

“I’m sorry, Delia,” Rick said, “but we just can’t do that right now.”

“I’m not Delia anymore. I’ve transcended the physical state and entered into the spiritual realm.”

“The spiritual realm? Who are you, and why are you back from the dead?”

“Tell Gunner, Emily and Amber that I love them and always have. Tell them that there’s more to all this than what we’ve come to know and experience and love. I am fully embraced by everything now, one with it all, and I look forward to sharing it in the near future.” She glanced at us. “You’ve been so kind to my family. How can I ever thank you?”

“What’s it like on the other side?” I asked.

“It’s beautiful. A force magnified beyond human perception. We were brought back to send a message and to inform everyone that the world you inhabit is heading down the wrong path.”

“So life exists after death?” I asked.

“Of course, silly. Release me, and I will tell you more.”

“We just can’t do that,” Rick repeated.

“Tell me more,” I urged.

“Hold me. Be one with me.”

“Don’t do it, Thom. Look the other way. It’s a trick.”

“Immense beauty, which shall be all yours.”

“Shut up, Rick. It’s no trick. This woman has experienced a deep spiritual transcendence.”

“Bullshit! She’s a decomposing Venus flytrap.”

She smiled at me, her pink lips soft and translucent. I leaned in to kiss her, and as I did I noticed a perceptible thickening of her features beginning to occur. Rick grabbed me by the collar and yanked me back again. Her lips, ears and nose began to distend. Her nostrils widened, and she began to softly whimper. The skin over my face felt the angry heat of her changing. A terrible stink began to permeate the room. Her breasts shriveled up, and her skin turned coarse like sandpaper. Thin hairs spouted on her exposed areas of skin. Her stomach swelled as if pregnant, and she began to resist the restraints holding her body to the cot. Her mouth opened and rectangular yellow teeth gnashed the air.

“Holy Christ!” I said, falling back on my ass.

“She’s changing. The brain is in its transitional phase, reenergizing and reforming.”

“She looks like Susan did when she changed.”

“That’s because she inherited half of Susan’s mutated DNA, including the cow that bit her.”

I watched in horror as her face went from radiant to something evil and demonic. Once the changes were complete, she began to struggle fiercely against the straps securing her to the cot. The grunting noises she made sounded horrible. Pinkish spittle sprayed into the air. Her thick fingers, the nails black and blunted, tapped against her thigh, clawing, scraping and prying. And yet despite the malevolent beast she had turned into, I felt optimistic that what she’d experienced was real. She had gone over to the other side and confirmed what mankind had always wondered about; that there is life after death. Maybe this transformation was the price one had to pay to witness such truths.

“What are you smiling about?” Rick said, staring down at me.

“You heard her. She’s seen the afterlife. It’s not too late for the rest of us to change.”

“Are you fucking delusional?” he said, shaking me by the arms. “Get a grip on yourself, Thom. This is an evolutionary trick. I can’t believe you don’t see it. Their behavior is designed to ensnare victims and ensure that the contagion lives on in another host. It’s like the Venus flytrap, only it traps humans instead of flies. There
is
no afterlife, Thom. Get it through that thick head of yours.”

“You’re wrong, Rick. I believe what she said is true.”

“That’s because you don’t want to believe the truth. You’re blinded by this mythology called heaven and hell. There is only evolution and nothing else.”

“No, she was telling us something different, despite what happened to her. She said it freely and without dogma.”

He laughed and stared over at the raging beast in the cot, struggling to free itself.