Waking The Zed (18 page)

When Pam thought about Captain Crawford, she immediately assumed he could be a killer.
Hero
was the word that came to mind when she thought of Corporal Gordon.

So far Pam had not been able to protect anybody, and had been barely able to save herself. She had no reas
on to mistrust the young man. He had, after all, chased her down to save her life. In her scientist’s mind results still mattered. She glanced back at Captain Crawford. He hadn’t been able to really save anybody either, and she still had no reason to totally trust him.
He will do what is expedient, even if it is morally questionable. But maybe right now that is exactly what I need.

“I
was
pretty angry about the car theft, but Captain Crawford explained it later. I’ve got a sister back in Omaha, and I guess she would’ve done the same thing. That is, I’d like to think I would’ve helped you if you explained the situation, but looking back, I probably wouldn’t have. I probably would’ve hauled you and your friend back to the infirmary, and that would’ve been a big mistake. In fact, drawing me away from the base could’ve saved my life. So, let’s call it even.”

He shook his head and displayed a flash of white teeth and a pleasant grin.
His grin seemed much more natural than Captain Crawford’s pained smile. The he frowned just as suddenly. The whole situation must be as confusing to him as it was to her. He gestured towards the bedroom window.

“
Did you see the mess out there?” he asked. “You’ve got some kind of nerve, and it looks like you’re going to need it.”

Pam thought about the awful lurching things below.
They seemed fairly indolent and purposeless now, but she remembered how they had turned into rabid beasts when presented with the possibility of feasting on her live flesh.
Somehow I faced it yesterday. But I feel like a frightened fawn today
.
I just can’t turn into one of those things.

“I’ll try to help as well as I can, but you have to promise me something.”

“Were not in the position to make promises,” Captain Crawford said. “I’ve already told you we want to get you back to Future Faith. That’s what you insisted on yesterday. We’re prepared to listen to you, but I can’t promise to always take your advice. You can be part of the team, and I’ll make allowances because you’re a civilian, but I’m in charge.”

“Fine, you be in charge.” Her voice was level but determined.
She took turns making eye contact with each of the men to make sure they paid attention. Captain Crawford stood stiffly and Corporal Gordon stood relaxed and at ease.

“If I start to be symptomatic, I want you to promise to put me down like a rabid dog. I don’t want to die today any more than I wanted to
die yesterday, but I surely don’t want to become one of those things. I want you to do everything you can to protect me so I don’t get bitten. But if I do develop symptoms, I would like to kill me as humanely as you can, just like you’d do for a pet that got sick. Can you promise that, at least?”

Corpora
l Gordon nodded. “I surely wouldn’t like to do that, but I think I can promise. None of us wants to become one of those.” He paused for a moment, his young face wrinkled up in thought. “Now I know what they mean when they say somebody’s better off dead. It never made sense to me before. I always figured I’d do anything to fight to stay alive.” Then he stood up straighter and nodded. “I guess I’d like you to do the same for me.” With that, he exited to room.

Captain Crawford nodded. “I agree. We do everything we can to protect each other, but when it’s over, it’s over.”
In spite of everything, his harsh face broke into a mirthless grin. “I’m sort of surprised you don’t ask for one more thing, Ms. Stone.” He turned to open a dresser drawer. From there, he drew out a key which he used to unlock a metal chest on top of the dresser.

“What’s that?”

Both Captain Crawford and Corporal Gordon already wore side arms. Pam had noticed an assortment of larger weapons leaned against the wall when she had gone to the window. He extracted a compact 9MM pistol and a box of ammunition. He stepped over to the closet and pulled out a shoulder holster. Then he stepped over to the bed where Pam still sat.

With
the slow but efficient movements of an instructor, he loaded the small pistol in Pam’s view. Then he showed her the weapon’s safety switch which he flipped on and then back off.

“Can you do it yourself?”

She nodded, “I’ve loaded a pistol before, though I’m more familiar with hunting rifles.”

T
hen he holstered the gun. He attached the extra ammunition to a clip on the strap of the shoulder holster. Finally he handed it to Pam. “The little gun holds ten rounds. You’ve got two more reloads in the strap. If you need more than that, you’d probably be well advised to save a shot for yourself.”

Pam nodded slowly and accepted the light holster. She started to adjust it to fit her smaller frame.

“Can you shoot?”

“I’ve hunted,
and a couple of times I had the unpleasant job of putting down sick or injured animals. I believe I can use a rifle as well as most farm kids can. But I’ve only used a pistol a few times at a shooting range,” Pam said. “It’d sure be nice to have a chance to practice.”

“
I don’t want to make any noise right now. The things down there seem to follow noises. Just be sure to remember the safety. Normally I’d tell a novice shooter to aim at the chest, but that won’t work here. You need to shoot something, you aim at the head. You understand?”

Pam nodded.
He took a moment to demonstrate a good shooter’s stance with his own sidearm. Pam took out the weapon and copied him. He corrected her. It was as much practice as they could really do without actually shooting at a target.

She nodded and looked into the captain’s rough
-hewn face. She still wasn’t certain if he gave her the gun to protect her own life or to end it if she needed to. Either way, it meant she was part of the team. He had, at least, trusted her with a weapon. Finally, she nodded grimly. “I’m the first one who told the military that only a head shot would take those things down. They wouldn’t listen at first. So of course I understand. Thanks.”

Just then, Corporal Gordon returned with her coffee and breakfast on a small tray.
He also delivered a bottle of aspirin. After he set the tray on the small table by the bed, Pam thanked him.

The coffee was strong, and the food was
basic but well prepared. Last night she had stolen his vehicle, but this morning he seemed happy to serve her. As she ate she wondered about the poor man who must be trapped across the street. All over the city there must be thousands more. In fact they had no way to know if the living even still outnumbered the dead. She imagined they still might, but how long would that last? The virus seemed to spread with impossible speed. This was only a chance to catch her breath before the nightmare continued. This was only the first morning of the Zed Dawn.

The story continues in
The Twice Dead
.

Dear readers, thanks for riding along with Pam as she witnesses the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse. Many books and movies have suggested that the plague originated from military experiments, asteroid strikes, a natural pandemic, or simple bad karma, but we know the truth now! It was all crazy Dr. Ada Klein and her cryonics company.

If you want to read more, look for
THE TWICE DEAD
on Amazon.

I appreciate you more than you know! If you have any questions or comments, you can find me at :
http://mlkatz.blogspot.com/
- my author website. I also have a Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ML-Katz/271025419694831
.

About Feedback:

You are also free to leave fee
dback and comments on the website where you found this book. I understand that reviews on these websites are for readers, and not for authors, but I still appreciate your feedback.

Please remember that Hemingway said that it was easy to write a novel –
All you have to do is sit at a typewriter and bleed
– of course, now we have computers.

I added two more
chapters to Waking the Zed in response to reader feedback and questions. I created The Twice Dead because readers told me they wanted more.

Will there be more
Waking the Zed
stories?

Of course,
The Twice Dead
continues this story. You can find The Twice Dead by ML Katz on Amazon.

I hope to continue this adventure as, like real life, it hardly seems concluded.
For the moment, the fate of Pam Stone and the world only exist in our imaginations. I left some clues about the group’s future, and I’d love the chance to see if our friends will have any luck following them. To Luck!

Did I write any other books?

Thanks for asking. I am the author of
Raft People
and
The Information Thieves
. You can find them both an Amazon by following the links in the front of this book.
Raft People is currently in redevelopment by Permuted Press – so expect some changes. It’s only fair to warn you.

The easiest way to learn more is to visit the
ML Katz author page on Amazon
.

My current blog sits here:
http://mlkatz.blogspot.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ML-Katz/271025419694831

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MLKatz2

Goodreads
:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6523643.M_L_Katz

Please stop by and chat.

One more thing……

Stay Safe
,

Be Prepared,

Be Cool,

Enjoy Yourself!

ML Katz