Bitten (26 page)

BLAM!

Rachael and Alyssa looked down and watched as her arm instantly mended itself. The two women turned to continue onward but suddenly heard a voice call out to them like a bolt from the blue.

“Going so soon?”

Rachael spun back around to see Jennifer Hurley bending over the dead husk of what used to be General Greer. She picked up her misplaced knife. “I was wondering where this went. Where did you find it?”

Rachael raised the gun and pointed it at
Hurley. “Where do you think I found it? I found it stuck through Jesse Zanato’s cold, dead heart.”

“Oh yeah,” laughed Jennifer. “I’d forgotten
all about that.” She took a step toward Rachael and Alyssa.

Rachael steadied the gun, and warned, “Come any closer and, I swear, I will end you
, you crazy cunt.”

Jennifer shrugged her shoul
ders, as if to say no big deal. “But I was so hoping you’d stay and play. After all, the
real
fun is just beginning.”

“Loo
k around you, Jen!” Rachael said, waving her hand across the floor of dead monsters. “Does this look like a game to you?”

Without warning Hurley threw the knife. It spun through the air like a tomahawk and lodged itself squarely in Rachael’s sternum.
Alyssa screamed as she saw Rachael sink to her knees. The lights flickered.

Handing the gun to Alyssa, Rachael said with short breaths, “Take this and get the hell out of here.”

“I won’t leave you!”

“Yes, run along little thing. Leave your friend to die.”

Alyssa took the gun and smiled at Hurley, as if she knew something Hurley didn’t.

“W
hy are you smiling like that?”

Alyssa
hopped over to the railing, and then slowly backed away from the confrontation. As she retreated, she called out to Rachael. “I’ll see you later.” With that she turned and limped up the corridor toward the exit.

Slowly Rachael rose up onto her feet. Jennifer staggered back in shock and awe, as if a bombshell had just been dropped on her.

“I believe you were saying the fun was just beginning?”

Rachael reached down and tore the knife out of her chest. Almost instantly the wound sealed itself shut. Bewildered, Hurley’s eyes grew wide as she st
ared apprehensively at Rachael. “W-what are you?” she asked in astonishment.

“I’m your worst goddamn nightmare. I’m your judge, jury, and your executioner.
Comprende?”

“Impossible!” Jennifer
screamed.

Rachael held the knife
at her side and walked fearlessly toward Jennifer. “You have two options. You can either stay here and die, or you can take your chances and run. It’s your choice.”

Standing face to face with
her adversary Jennifer smiled. “I was wrong all along. I thought I was destined to rule this ruined empire from a throne of skull and bone. But I see the truth now. It is you. You, Rachael Ramirez, who is destined to rule this world of rot and ruin!”

Jennifer reached up and gently pulled Rachael’s face to hers.
Their lips met and Rachael’s eyes lit up with realization. She finally understood the language of Jennifer Hurley. She grabbed Hurley around the hips, pulled her in tight and kissed her back.

Giving into the moment, Hurley moaned with Rabelaisian ecstasy.
In that instant Rachael knew she had her. With a ferocious shout, Rachael shoved Hurley so hard she stumbled over backward and tumbled to the ground. Rachael threw down the knife onto the floor.

“Now leave my sight
… before I change my mind.”

Slowly reaching over, Jennifer Hurley picked up her knife and smiled at Rachael. Then she crawled to her feet and slowly backed away, disappea
ring into the dancing shadows cast by flickering light.

Piles of maimed and mutilated
bodies littered the grounds between Barnes and Noble and the impossibly large metal doors which were closing in on them fast. In the middle of the grounds they saw Alyssa limping her way toward them.

“Over there!” Noble shouted. Barnes looked over and saw Alyssa hobbling on one
good foot. Running up to her Barnes scooped her up in his arms. “Don’t worry, I got’cha.”

“You need to know
that I—”

“You’re cutting it damn close,” Barnes interrupte
d. “The doors are nearly closed.”

As Barnes carried her toward the Humvee a fat maintenance man with a yellow safety helmet jumped into their way growing and hissing up a storm. Out of nowhere Noble body checked the
portly creature and knocked it out of the way. The impact was so hard that the monster’s yellow helmet flew off its head. Clearing the way, Noble made it safe for Barnes to carry Alyssa the rest of the way back to the Humvee.

She looked up at him as he set her into the passenger seat. Tears dampened here cheeks.
As he fastened her in securely, Barnes noticed her wounds.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you.”

“You’ve been bitten.”

“Yeah
,” Alyssa said, her voice faltering.

“Well, shit. That bites.
”

Alyssa tried to laugh
at his pun, but tears were already seeping out of her eyes. “So what now?”

“W
e’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we have to get out of here and regroup with the others up top.”

“
Thanks,” Alyssa said, trying to smile.

“No worries,” Barnes said. Looking back
over his shoulder, he asked, “Where’s Rachael? Shouldn’t she be right behind you?”

Alyssa turned her head
and bit her lip, a worried look grew across her face. “She’s still inside.”

Mitchell Reinhart sat in the control room staring at the red button and
trying to summon up the courage needed to press it. Even with the pounding on the glass from the walkers that were trying to get in from the hall, he still didn’t have the nerve. Bending under the control board, he smashed the bottom of his fist against one of the panels and the loose plate fell to the floor with a clamor. Reaching into the dark opening Mitch retrieved a hidden away bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label that was inside. It was his secret emergency stash. Precisely what he needed.

Twisting off
the lid, he brought the bottle’s head to his lips and smiled. “This ought to do the trick,” he said with a nervous chuckle. If anything, it would help him ignore the relentless pawing at the glass windows just behind him.

Looking over his shoulder he eyed t
he monsters. Every last one of them was mulish in its insatiable hunger. A hunger that kept them coming no matter what obstacle was in their way. Never ceasing to tire, they smashed their numb limbs into the glass repeatedly. Not feeling pain, they banged their deadened bodies against the wall of glass again and again. Mitch knew the glass wouldn’t hold them back forever. It was already starting to cobweb with stress fractures, and soon enough, it would crumble into crystalline dust and there would be nothing left to protect him.

Holding up the bottle he said
, “Well, I really hate to have to say goodbye, but…” and before he finished his sentence he kicked his head back and downed the whole thing.

Shattering behind him, the wall of glass gave way as it shattered beneath the weight of the unruly mob.
Zombies stumbled into the room, more glass shattering around them as a flood of undead broke through the jagged opening and made their way toward where Mitchel Reinhart sat.

Swallowing the last drop, with
a flood of undead bearing down on him, Mitch closed his eyes he took one deep, final breath and then slammed his fist down onto the red button.

Barnes looked into the rearview mirror in time to see flames leap out of the mouth of the cave’s portal. Huge explosions
plumed out and grew bigger and bigger. In a daisy chain of massive fireballs, an inferno of fiery bubbles quickly expanded, consuming everything in their wake. Dark lumbering figures got swallowed up by the bright orange blaze and were instantly burnt up. Their bodies quickly evaporated into ash like paper licked by a flame.

“Noooo!” Alyssa screamed. “
Rachael!
”

“It’s too late now,” Barnes said. “There’s no turning back.”

Ulysses Noble slid down into the car and shut the hatch behind him. “Hey man, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have the mother fucking Death Star exploding back here.”

“I’m on it,” Barnes answered.

Slamming his foot down on the accelerator as hard as he could, the Humvee’s engine roared and its tires screamed up the tunnel as they barely stayed on the cusp of the rising balls of flame.

Alyssa reached into her pocket and pulled out the purple diary with flo
wer stenciling on the cover, and looked over at Barnes. “This is our story. This is the story of how it begins and how it ends. It may be the only thing of us that survives, I don’t know. Please, find Rachael and give it to her. She needs to know…” Alyssa’s voice trailed off and she slouched over in her seat.

“No! Goddammit,” Barnes cursed as Alyssa fainted.
Barnes leaned over and shook her shoulder, but it didn’t do any good. He screamed, “Hang in there, kid! Don’t leave us yet.”

The hot sting of Jared’s slap roused her.
Alyssa’s eyes cracked open and she looked around, half in shock. Although she came into the world with a scream, and the rattle of infant lungs, she would go out with a whimper. It wasn’t fair, but the fates were rarely ever fair. They were cruel-hearted bitches.

Nodding off a second time, s
he could feel darkness flood into every recess of her mind. As her thoughts fell apart in the blackness she prayed that Barnes would put a bullet between her eyes and just put her out of her misery.

Gradually, the blackness
would nibble away at her consciousness until there was nothing left. She’d awaken to an entirely new kind of horror. Her mind’s eye would be taken over by the ruby lipped mouth of madness. A monster so horrible it wouldn’t even let death defeat it. All sense of herself would vanish and she’d become something soulless—something black. She’d be destined to suffer in an infinite purgatory—of living death.

OPENING HER EYES, RADIANT WHITE light flooded her vision. Alyssa sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. It didn’t do much good. Everything around her remained hot white. She would have mistaken it for heaven if it wasn’t for the horrendous headache sending excruciating pain down through her entire nervous system to act as a constant reminder that she was most definitely alive.

“Pain,” she laughed to herself. Glorious, horrible, pain! She was never so happy to feel so miserable in her life. It was
her first sign that she hadn’t become a mindless monster. She had thoughts. Her mind was intact. She was still human.

“Hello?” Alyssa
called out. “Is anybody there?” Alyssa sat up in bed. She had tubes hooked up to her arms and legs. Another one looped up through her nostrils. Wires were attached to various regions of her head. She scratched an itch on her head and to her shock found her head was completely shaved.

“Hello? Anyone?” Still
, no answer greeted her.

Slowly her eyes adjusted to the
intense lighting. She was hooked up to a life support machine. Alyssa grunted as she tore out the tubes and ripped off the censors from her temple. Then slowly she slid her heavy legs off the side of the bed and the balls of her feet slapped against the cold floor. Knees wobbling she struggled to stand up straight.

“Shit,” Alyssa cursed as her legs gave out
and she crumpled to the floor. Using the wall for support, Alyssa slowly pushed herself back up and hobbled over to the window. Opening the blinds she looked out to see an amazing series of crystal clear green and blue waterfalls. Mists came up from the spray of the rushing water and it looked like the Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Except that it wasn’t.

Alyssa reached out and touched the window.
It wasn’t even real. Just a digital high definition image on a video screen meant to simulate the outside world.

“What is this place?”
Alyssa asked the empty room. Gaining some feeling back in her legs, she staggered to the door and stepped out into the hall. A cool breeze swept down the passageway and shot up her backside. Shivering, she realized that all she had on was a flimsy medical gown.

Straddling the railing, she helped herself along until she came to a reception desk. The lights above it flickered as a disarray of papers littered the countertops and floors. The light breeze kicked up little whirlwinds and caused random leaflets of paper to dance dizzily about.

Alyssa conveniently found a white lab coat hanging over the back of a chair behind the reception desk. She put it on and tied the white sash around her waist. Curious about where the breeze was coming from, she followed the direction of the wind.

Walking to the end of a large corridor she saw daylight.
Approaching closer still, she saw that the light seeped in through a large gaping hole at the end of what used to be an entire wing of the hospital. Half of the hospital was missing—torn clean off.

Cautiously,
Alyssa tiptoed up to the edge of the severed floor and looked down to see a vast thirty story drop span out across the devastated ruins of an urban landscape. Desolate buildings, much of them reduced to rubble, littered the valley below. Many of them were charred black, and coated with the gray crystallized dust of a nuclear fallout. Ash and sand swirled about in the gusts of wind which painted the sky monochromatic and bleak.

“Oh my God,” said Alyssa in disbelief.

“I’m afraid God had nothin’ to do with it,” a masculine voice rang out behind her.

Alyssa spun around
in startled fright, but tripped over her own two feet and almost toppled over the ledge. With lighting quick speed a leather gloved hand grabbed her and snatched her back from the brink of certain death.

Looking up with surprised eyes, Alyssa instantly recognized
the figure standing before her. “You?”

Tipping back the brim of his cowboy hat,
the tall, dark, handsome cowboy said, “Welcome to the end of the world, Mrs. Briggs.”

“
How do you know my name? And what do you mean by the end of the world?”

Pointing his gloved finger out across the barren landscape, he
spoke in a grim tone of voice, “Just take another gander at them there ruins.”

Alyssa turned and looked back out across the copper tones smeared with black s
oot and sprinkled with white ash. “A last stand?”

“A desperate gamble
played by fools, if you ask me. The prevailing nuclear winter has darn near wiped out half of the human race. On the other hand, the Decrepits, or zombies as you probably called them, aren’t even fazed by the radiation. Makes sense, considering they’ve already got both feet in the coffin.” Reaching into his duster jacket the cowboy took out a tray of tobacco and a square patch of aged paper and began rolling his own cigarette.

“
Please, tell me. What happened?”

“
Well, ma’am, it’s like this, see. Once the scourge spread across the whole godforsaken planet, the remaining world powers tried one last desperate attempt to eradicate the monsters once and for all. But in the end, their plan failed. The scorched earth policy only left humanity bent and broken and trying to fend of starvation in the wake of a nuclear fallout.”

He looked out over the bleak landscape with an immeasurable sadness in his eyes.
“I know it’s hard, but please … I need to know.” Alyssa stood beside him and listened to the rest of his story.

“I’ll never forget the day the bombs fell. They filled the sky so thick that they blotted out the sun. Their shade blanketed the Earth, and all at once they ignited with flashes of white light so hot that if you dare looked at it your eyeballs would melt inside your own skull. The
n the winds came—winds of fire and death. Anything downwind of the fallout was set ablaze. Most of the forests are gone now. Not much in the way of agriculture remains. Not ‘round these parts anyway.”

Alyssa turned back toward the cowboy who pulled out a match, struck it against the stubble of h
is chin, and lit his cigarette. “What year is it?” she asked.

“It’s 2016
according to the old calendar. To those of us still kickin’ it’s three Z.E., ma’am.”

“
Z.E.?”

“The third year of the Zombie Era.”

“You mean to tell me that I’ve been asleep for over three years? How is that possible? How am I even alive? And why are
you
here?”

“
Ya’see, Miss Briggs, I made a promise to a friend of yours, Ms. Ramirez. I’m supposed to check up on you every so often to make sure the machines are running and to keep the generators going as long as I possibly can.”

Alyssa’s eyes lit up.
“Rachael is alive? But how? Do you know where she is?”

“Apologies, ma’am
. I do not. She’ll contact me when the time is right. But I wouldn’t worry, since as you well know, she tends to have a bit of difficulty dying.”

“Yeah, that would be Rachael,” Alyssa
answered with a grin. “So how on earth did I get to be in a coma? How am I even alive, for that matter? I’m afraid I don’t remember anything since getting bit. I mean, I remember that I was infected and then...
Oh my God
,” Alyssa put her hands over her mouth and looked at the cowboy in fearful recollection. “I was infected!”

Resting his cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, he tapped it with his middle finger and flicked the growing train of ash away.
“It will take a bit of tellin’, but it’s like this. I followed you folks out to Lake Eerie. I was setting up my campsite when suddenly the whole earth below my feet shook with a tremendous tremor. At first I thought it was a quake, but then bubbles boiled to the surface of the lake. An underground explosion, I reckon. A while later a burnt body washed up on shore. I fished it out to see who or what it was and discover that beneath the charcoal was a beautiful woman. At first she wasn’t breathing, but then she was. Back from the very brink of death.”

“That’d be Rachael then?”

“You reckon correctly. That evening, as we sat by the campfire, she told me everything that had occurred. At first daylight we set out to find you. Rachael held out hope that it wasn’t too late to save you. Well, ma’am, it looks like her instincts were right on the money.” The cowboy took a long drag on his cigarette then exhaled through his nostrils.

“But how? How come the infection didn’t consume me like the others? Why didn’t I turn?”

“The military boys had the sense to have you frozen in a meat locker once you got above ground. By the time we’d caught up to them they’d already fished up a doc. We had you thawed out and then you went under the knife for a long hard day. Something about a bone marrow transplant, if I recall.”

“You mean like the Berlin patient?”

“I’m sorry, but I do not know who that is.”

“It was the first person to
effectively be cured of the AIDs virus. They gave him a complete bone marrow transplant from an HIV resistant donor, and he fully recovered.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said blowing out a smoke ring.
“That sounds about right to me. But whatever they did to you, it took you to the brink of death and left you there.”

Tears boiled from Alyssa’s bloodshot eyes as she looked out over the monochromatic desolation. Rachael saved her life. A
nd she was out there somewhere. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she turned to the cowboy and asked, “Will you help me find her?”

“Ah reckon so,” the cowboy said with a demure grin. “But I’ll have to water my plants first.”

“Plants?” Alyssa inquired.

“I grow tomato plants and—”

Ravenous moans echoed up from the depths of the hallway. Both of them spun back around in time to see the shadows crawling along the hospital walls as a horde of undead shambled up the corridor toward them. Crooked arms and rigor-mortised-fingers reached and clawed desperately to seize fresh meat.

“Damn Decrepits must have
caught my scent and followed me up here.” The cowboy whipped out a handgun, spun it around on his finger with pizzazz, and handed it off to Alyssa. “Here, I reckon you’re gonna need this.”

“Thanks,” Alyssa said as she checked the clip. She slapped it back in and pulled back the slide, loading a round into the chamber.
She could almost remember a time when she didn't know the first thing about shooting guns. Now it seemed second nature to her.

Down the hall a host of snarling zombies
shambled toward them. Their gray rotting skin looked worse than Alyssa remembered. Many of them have boils and blisters which oozed a creamy white puss that smelled something terrible. Alyssa started to cough and gag at the repugnant stench, and quickly covered her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her jacket.

The cowboy slid out a
self-reloading shotgun out of the gun sheath on his long duster jacket, cocked it, and brushed the rim of his hat back with his thumb so he could get a better eye on the monsters. “You ready for this?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

With the short end of the cigarette hanging from his lips, the cowboy mumbled, “Don’t fergit, aim for their heads.”

Alyssa took
aim and raised her gun. Just then a current of air swept under them and kicked up their coat tails, causing them to flap nimbly in the breeze.

Alyssa Briggs squeezed down on the trigger
of her gun until the hammer was cocked all the way back. She never thought her life would end with something as inconsequential as a bite. But, whether fortune or fate, the universe had something else in store for her. Up from the ashes of ruin, like the legendary phoenix, she was reborn. Her new life started here and now. Not with a hollow scream fading into the listless night, but with a bang and a flash of light.