Created (Book 1 of the Created) (20 page)

Staring at her, I realized the weekend was going to be
incredibly long.

Adjusting my clothing and checking to see if I had missed
any blood during the cleanup, I mumbled, "Liam was right. This night has
been epic, though I hope he was wrong about tomorrow night."

The Running had begun violently as four rather nasty looking
wolves in human form roused me from my bed. It was explained to me what was
happening and that I must do as I was told. I was permitted to dress, but not
allowed to drink any blood. When I was dressed, I was taken outside into the
middle of the street to be alongside Veronica, who was a few steps ahead of me.

She too was escorted by wolves. Arriving at the center of
the street, and without a fight, Veronica turned and allowed herself to be tied
a metal post that had been bolted to the pavement.

The leader of my escort wolves did not speak, but insisted I
take up the same position at another recently erected pole. A wolf bound my
hands behind my back as other GV16s gathered around to watch the spectacle.

A wolf from the group that had bound Veronica read from a
piece of paper. "These two have violated laws that were put in place by
the elders of the many tribes that inhabit the Farm under the protection and
guidance of the United States government. The violations are deemed egregious
and harmful to our existence. Hereby, the two known by the human names of Ethan
Castel and Veronica
Stace
shall remain here without
aid or comfort until selected punishment is dealt with at the severity of the
choosing by the elders of the tribes. Therefore these two are sentenced to The
Running tonight one hour after dusk."

The voice of the GV16 known as Braden
Lynde
shouted, "What about your kind? What about the John that started the
altercation to begin with?"

The other GV16s joined in grumbling loudly about equal
treatment and the definition of justice.

The wolf spoke with fire and conviction about his brethren
in order to silence the growing unrest. "It is not your concern what the
council of elders, and in this case the humans deal as punishment, but I will
nonetheless answer your concerns. At the meeting last night, the leaders
decried that his sentence is executable at once. His punishment was twenty five
lashes with a silver tipped whip.

The answer did not quell the voices.

Avery Archer yelled out, "They could die for their
indiscretions and he gets off easily. That is preposterous!"

Chloe echoed her sentiment as she looked past him and onto
me, "How can we expect to live under rules that are so arbitrary? He
should be here with our friends. The John should be sharing in the
responsibility for what they all have done!"

A round of applause began immediately.

I wasn't sure about what was going to happen tonight, but I
was proud of my Generations.
 

As quickly as the applause began, it ended when a black
Humvee arrived from down the street and it was soon followed by another.

The passenger door opened and out stepped an aged man I had
never seen before. He was human from his heart rate and smell, but he commanded
obedience from all as he approached even though he walked feebly. The man was
casually dressed in a red polo, beige baseball cap and chinos with a pair of
dark, wire sunglasses obscuring his eyes.

Taking up residence between Veronica and me, he spoke,
"Tonight we will be having an event here that has only happened two other
times in base history. This event should not serve as punishment nor as
entertainment, but as a lesson about our true purpose and how we can jeopardize
our intent. Tonight should be a celebration of how far we have strived and how
far our creations have come. Now I understand that Nathaniel was assigned to
read aloud the instructions and secure the participants, and a fine job he has
appeared to have done. So what is the issue for which I was taken away from my
golf match to deal with?

My mouth opened without my knowledge, "How did you know
there was a problem here?"

The man glanced at me then at the others. "Actually, I
was about to depart when the call came about your squabble. I know you and your
friends cannot be naive enough to think Chadron and the U.S., who have so much
time and research, and least we forget money invested, not to constantly be
monitoring the animals in this zoo. We always know."

Everyone was silent as they contemplated the ramifications
of what was said until Darby raised her hand.

The man recognized her, "Yes Darby, what is your
question?"

Darby paused then asked, "Mr. Jericho, sir, we feel the
punishment is two severe to fit the deeds. That is the issue that is causing
the unrest."

Mr. Jericho replied with a gentle yet firm answer,
"Thank you for your honesty, Darby, but by rule, the council and the base
officials have decided this is in the best interest of you all. Now you must
all return to your homes and await tonight."

Noah responded, "We appreciate the discourse, but what
if we don't want to stay in our homes until The Running."

Mr. Jericho shoved his hands in his pockets then said,
"I am afraid you do not get a choice."

Down the street could be heard the moans of the GZs as they
were being lead down the road leading into town behind a Humvee. The GZs were
in three columns. Each chained together and gnashing implanted metal teeth as
the procession neared the city.

Mr. Jericho made a swirling signal and the Humvee he was
riding in started anew. "Get to your homes or suffer the same fate as your
friends, or possibly even something much worse."

The GV16s were discouraged as each made his or her way back
home.

The wolves stayed on location to help the humans oversee the
placement of GZs at each house and lamppost along the street. Soon the sound of
moans and deep, lumbering screams echoed from one end of the street to the other.

Veronica smiled at me. "It is going to be fine. The
best thing we can do in the immediate future is get some rest."

I wanted to believe that was true. Who wouldn't want to
believe everything was going to be alright, but when surrounded by snarling
zombies, the ability to embrace positivity gets excised.

Veronica picked up on my bad vibes. "The sun will get
hotter as it gets later in the day and the longer we are exposed to the sun we
will get weaker. You need to save your strength. Concentrate on going to sleep.
Block out all of the things around us and you will nod off."

Closing my eyes I said, "Thank you."

Surprisingly upbeat she quizzed, "For what?"

Veronica had been right.

I imagined myself with
Sunnie
again as the early tingling sensations of my sleep state started.
"For everything."
  

Veronica awoke me with a shout, "Time to get up. Ethan.
Ethan
wake
up."

My eyes flickered open. Night had come and the Town was
abuzz with GVs lining the street in anticipation of The Running. The GZs were
gone as well as the wolves. Several of the buildings that were normally dark
were filled with light.

The smell gave away the locations of armed human sentries
stationed atop the buildings. More soldiers guarded the entry ways of the Main
Street General Store. I determined it housed the elder council which was made
from different generations and species. The number of individuals inside
included humans. The humans were possibly the leaders of the base.

Humans also manned camera and audio equipment on platforms
at various locations underneath the glare of large lights mounted on back of
Humvees.

This was no mere undertaking.

Gavin and Sophie undid Veronica and I as Walter silenced the
crowd with a few gestures. He then mounted the rear of a Humvee via a ladder.

Standing on top of the vehicle, Walter was handed a
microphone. "The tribes have been alerted to the time of the hour to which
the two before you shall undertake The Running. The rules are simple. Each
tribe will forsake the rules under which we live from the start of this event
until any survivors make it back into the safety of this location."

I whispered to Veronica, "What keeps us from just
hiding for a few hours then returning to town?"

Veronica swallowed hard and pointed toward an Armored Personnel
Carrier sitting past the feeding pens. "Those."

From the opened rear access hatch stepped four very pissed
off sounding human zombies with bright yellow eyes.

"To make things interesting, we are doing prototype
testing of our next generation Z". Walter informed the vampires.

A warning horn sounded on Walter's command. "That is
the two minute warning. When the horn sounds again The Running will
begin."

My partner began jogging away prompting me to start.
"No matter what you do or happens
,
you must stay on
the roadway, specifically in the middle and out of the woods. This is more to
scare everyone to stay in line and not kill us. Think about it. There are
millions invested in research dollars in each GV16. We are too important to the
end game. Chadron is too close to the final testing to be expendable."

We were nearing the houses as she finished talking. "I
have read old documents stating that the tribes are bound not set foot on the
road's surface, but if we are forced off or divert off on our own then we are
fair game."

The second horn sounded.

The zombies were let loose as we ran past. One of the males
with blonde hair cut in a buzz cut issued a blood curling scream as the
monsters started pursuing. The prototypes did not possess anything more than
human speed. The adaptation was never tiring or needing to rest. The pursuit
would not end until the zombie was ordered to stop or was destroyed.

"Veronica, we could just stop and fight the zombies.
When they are destroyed, we have one less thing to worry about as we try to get
back to the Town," I tried.

She did not respond. Bad idea, I guess. We kept running.

As we passed through the zone that I knew belonged to Bayne,
I expected anything to happen except what did which was nothing. Then the next
zone nothing happened. When we passed through the next zone, we received more
of the same.

The sounds of the zombies could be heard echoing against the
trees in zone four as we passed through zone seven.

My partner slowed and then stopped after we sped through
zone eight.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The Running is a huge event, and we are constantly
under surveillance during the duration so that the elders and the humans can
view the proceedings, but we have not seen, smelled or heard a single sound
from any of the zones," Veronica stated tersely.

Walking around in a circle to help me think I replied,
"I've noticed. In my opinion the zombies behind us are a distraction to
keep us focused on constantly moving. There is something more than The Running
happening here, but what I do not know."

We stood still and listened to the night.

Hunger and fatigue was becoming an issue as the day exposed
to the sun had done more than grayed our skin. It had greatly reduced our
endurance and strength. My muscles were fatigued from lack of blood within my
system. I was closer to dead than undead. Veronica wasn't far behind.

Out of character, Veronica did not offer a plan.
 

The previous days had been hectic and the strain showed on
Veronica's face. This twist had been the final nail. She was about to
break.
 

I needed to take the lead. "Let's keep moving and see
what happens. Pushing toward the finishing line was our initial plan, and
nothing had changed except the issues we expected to find had not materialized.
If we are presented with a problem, we will deal with it as best we can."

She agreed by starting to run again. I allowed her to set
the pace which was about half the speed as before our break.

Moans and gurgling grunts of such veracity were becoming
clearer and less muddled though they were still a couple miles behind. The
zombies were too far away to be a threat.

Veronica heard the cries too. "There are twelve zones
total which also include the sub-zones. Once we clear the last zone, there will
be about three miles of forest before the Town. We will need to take the road
to the right before we get to the other town or we will be forced to go through
wolf central. Then another few miles we are home."

I kept running. We both did until our bodies were barely
moving and still the zombies gained ground. The two of us were comparatively
stronger and faster than the newest generation of zombies, though that
advantage shrunk with every step.

More zones fell beneath our feet until zone twelve
disappeared far behind. The gap between us and our attackers was less than a
mile now and the pace had fallen to a fast humanly walk. The shrill shrieks and
calls of the small contingent of hungry zombies pursuing us were incensed as we
were now in their constant view on a long stretch of road.

Talk had stopped two zones prior due to real worry about
survival. I did not know if I was allowed to tire to this extent. There had to
be another cause. Vampires of lore from which we had been created were
fictionalized to have strength, speed and endurance among other attributes. We
were burdened also with several of the weaknesses and weakness meant death. And
death seemed real.

I took appraisal of the flaws in our design and knew there
were limitations. The issues with our design could be witnessed within the
variety of the generations. The flaws had to be the answer. Though our
situation was disintegrating as the zombies relentlessly gained ground, I was
proud of myself. Maybe I was onto a reason.