Our Undead (56 page)

Palmer:
The hell?! My fate?! Man, you gotta be kidding me!!! What
type of conspiracy shit is this?!

Palmer lashes out at Doctor
Alyster and grabs him up by the collar. He pulls the little old guy
almost up to his eye level.

Palmer:
What'd you put in me!?

Dr. Alyster:
I would suggest you relax.

Palmer:
Don't tell me to relax!! I just watched you kill Erik…
Erik...

The angry soldier begins to
withdraw and deflate, slowly letting Doctor Alyster's heels come
back into contact with the ground. He backs away from the doctor at
a slow pace, his mouth agape, as well as his eyes. Alyster is
unworried and as nonchalant as usual. At his age, he has no time
for fear.

Dr. Alyster:
Oh, no. It's happening to you too, now. Just try to relax,
huh? Breathe deeply. Stay conscious.

Palmer continues to back
away from Doctor Alyster slowly, and the doctor follows along with
his hands out, ready to catch Palmer just in case he decides to
throw a fit like Erikson did. But that's when the doctor realizes
that Palmer's eyes are not focused on him. They're focused on
something behind him. When that comes to the head of his attention,
he begins to hear the sound of heavy, labored breathing, like an
extended hissing from a collapsing balloon. It too, is coming from
behind him.

Alyster turns around to see
what could possibly be making that noise, and on the bed, he sees
Erikson, lying there on his back with his eyes wide open. They are
blinking, grey, and wandering haphazardly around the lab's ceiling.
His mouth is open too, and his jaw opens and closes, his teeth
occasionally snapping down on themselves, but no noise escapes them
besides the hissing. Erikson's limbs appear like worms, writhing oh
so subtly. It looks like he must be in tremendous amount of pain,
but the doctor knows the story.

Dr. Alyster:
Vhat vas vonce dead has come back to life.
(coughs)

It must be the sound of his
voice that catches the risen patient's attention, because Erikson's
eyes stop wandering the ceiling and find their way to staring
Doctor Alyster directly into his. The doctor sees the distinct grey
pupils, and his own fate becomes undeniable. He waits, while behind
him Palmer watches on, baffled and in a state of shock. The
frightened man chooses to wait out the staring competition going on
between Alyster and his transformed ally, but it ends in the blink
of an eye, when suddenly, Erikson leaps off of the bed and on top
of Doctor Alyster.

Palmer watches the doctor
on the floor trying to fight his friend off, but the old man is no
match for Erikson, who seems to be using more strength and
adrenaline than Palmer has ever seen him display before. Alyster
gets a few good slaps in here and there, but when Erikson's head
snaps down into Alyster's neck like a triggered bear trap, it's
pretty much over for the good doctor. The sight of it makes Palmer
cry out in terror.

Palmer:
Erikson, what the fuck are you doing, man?!

When he calls out to the
newly created zombie, he regrettably gets his attention. The zombie
Erikson lifts his head away from the doctor's neck and looks to
Palmer, who holds his arms up and tries to talk down his
friend.

Palmer:
Erikson… man… We can get you help. We can get help for both
of us.

But instead of listening, Erikson charges at Palmer, diving
head first into him. They fall on to and knock over the bed Palmer
had been lying on, and Erikson makes a meal out of his old friend
who has yet to become like him. Palmer's screams go unheard in that
dark secret corner of the compound.

FAUSTA THE PEOPLE

The sliding doors of
Laboratory D-9 swish open, and General Feleider comes rushing
inside. He sees the rest of the medical team, consisting of Gwen,
Bernard, Keung and Rohan, and one half of The Mav-Elite, all
standing around the middle of the room. Near to where they are
standing is an elevated bed, or metal slab of some kind, standing
vertically. It takes a moment for Feleider to walk around far
enough to see its front side, but when he does, it perplexes him to
find an infected man, strapped down to the table by his wrists,
ankles and neck. He stands there suspended vertically, watching
everyone buzz and murmur to one another. No one had noticed
Feleider entering, and he manages to walk all the way up to the
group gathered around the infected man who hangs in display. They
still may not have noticed him were he to hold his
tongue.

Feleider:
What is going on here?

Gwen:
Why
don't you tell us?

Feleider:
Don't take that insolent tone with me, you- What is this? Who
is this man?

Gwen is unable to control
her bottled up emotions, but Feleider chooses to disregard it for
the time being and figure out who this unfamiliar infected man is.
He stares Abe in the face, and the captured zombie looks calmly
back. The General knows it is unusual for a victim of E-TE12 to be
acting as withdrawn as this man. Actually, he seems more
inquisitive. He seems to be paying attention to everything going on
in the room, and now looking into the beast's eyes, he feels like
the slung up corpse is trying to read his mind. He pushes his way
through the group to stand directly in front of Abe's erect table,
never breaking eye contact with the zombie.

Feleider:
Where did this man come from? He's not one of ours. He's not
wearing a uniform. Where did he come from?

Sharp:
We'd love to answer that for you… Uh, actually we wouldn't,
but before we tell you anything, why don't you tell us more about
this parasite?

Feleider:
I still don't know what you're talking
about.

Feleider continues to
wonderingly study Abe's eyes and face, authentically curious but
also seeking to brush Sharp's subject matter aside. It is to no
avail as the General hears heavy footsteps approaching his rear. He
turns around to see Denver Sharp, moving in on him.

Sharp:
I'm
so sick of your crap. You know damn well you sent us on that fool's
errand to keep us out of your hair. I don't like wasting my time,
General.
Why are we here?!
And don't you dare tell me anything about
assisting in protecting this place. The men here have everything
well under control.

Sharp is right up in the
General's face by the time he finishes his sentence. Each man can
feel the warm breath of the other, but both stand firmly
eye-to-eye.

Feleider:
Let's get something straight here, boy. I tell you what to do
and what errands to fulfill, but it isn't my fault you just so
happen to be a
goddamn fool! I'm your
commanding officer, and you listen to what I goddamn have to
say!
You understand me?
Now, get your face out of mine before I bite it
off.

Sharp:
You
pathetic excuse for a General. You have no control over
me.

Kerrick:
Uh, I don't want you harsh your flow here, D, but he does
have power over us. He can have us put away for a long
time.

Feleider:
You had better listen to your teammate. He looks dumb, but he
makes a very intelligent point.

Kerrick:
Did he just say I look
dumb
? Forget what I said, D.
Kick his ass.

Sharp:
Oh,
I was going to anyway. He can do whatever he wants. Report me to
whoever you like. No prison can hold me, and I'll come find you,
snake.

Kerrick:
Especially when I'm gonna be right there helping bust him
out. No more long talking, D, just beat up that old
man!!

Bernard:
If everyone would just calm down for a minute, we might be
able to figure all this out. Now, maybe it's true that none of us,
not even General Feleider, are sure what is going on here. This
parasite could be news to him as well.

Doctor Bernard's smooth
English accent seems to cool down the confrontational atmosphere,
although, Sharp stays on top of Feleider who remains unflinching,
just the same. He may be older, and Sharp may be stronger, but the
General has been through his fair share of fisticuffs. He has a few
tricks held up his sleeve that Sharp would never dream of. Although
he knows it wouldn't be the smartest thing to take it to that
point, the General would give the super soldier a good scrap if
that were where he decided to take it.

Sharp:
He
knows
exactly
what we're talking about.

Feleider:
I
don't
, but if you would get out of my face, and if someone
would
explain
to me what is happening, maybe I could help you all
out.

Gwen:
We
went through this with you earlier. The cause of this infection is
a parasite, not a blood based virus. Does Doctor Alyster know
anything about this?

Feleider:
Doctor Alyster has already found a cure. He is testing it out
on a couple of subjects as we speak. You and your people are
behind.

Gwen:
Even
if that
were
the truth, you keep us away from his lab like you have
something to hide. You're obviously lying to us,… or telling us
only half of the truth.

Feleider:
Heh, we'll see if I'm lying soon enough… but tell me, where
did this infected man come from?

Feleider finally backs away from
Sharp and turns around to face the undead man that is hanging
awake, but placid, above him.

Feleider:
Why isn't he trying to kill me like the others would be? What
did you give him?

Gwen:
His
name is Abe. He came in last night with the survivors. He isn't
like the rest of them. We found out that these parasites evolve to
varying degrees. The ones inside of Abe are less active than the
others, not dominating the natural human nervous system as much,
and so, he isn't as vicious.

Feleider:
Is that right?

The General has trouble
taking his eyes off of the relaxed creature. This, in front of his
eyes, is actual proof of the possibilities held by The
Conditioning. He may not be the perfect specimen, but his calm
temperament is reasonably comparable to the mindless slave warriors
The Conditioning would and should have produced. He can't stand the
exhilaration of it all. A smile breaks upon his face, and then a
chuckle.

Sharp:
What the hell is so funny?

The General spins around.
The cocky smirk on his face makes Sharp sick. The General says
nothing and grabs the communicator at his side. He clicks a button
and speaks.

Feleider:
Is it ready?

Deeper inside the compound,
Holden wanders through one of the many large, brightly illuminated
hallways. As he walks, an alert sounds from his left hip. He takes
the communicator from it and retrieves the transmission.

Holden:
I'm not in the lab at the moment, but I'm on my way there.
I'll report back when I get there and see how things are
progressing… Okay… Then I'll see you when you get
here.

Their correspondence ends,
and Holden continues walking to Doctor Alyster's lab. Inside of
Laboratory D-9, everybody stands surrounding the General, Sharp and
a trapped Abe. All except the General and Abe wear expressions of
uncertainty, and they all search Feleider's demeanor for any sort
of tell about what might be going on.

Feleider:
Well… I'll be leaving you all to your
business.

Feleider makes his way to
the exit, his stride unbroken even as Gwen calls after
him.

Gwen:
Wait! Where are you going? That was Alyster, wasn't
it?!

Feleider:
Don't you worry your bullish little head over it, professor.
Continue finding the cure. Millions of people are counting on you,
and you're soooo close. Perhaps, we'll need a backup if Alyster's
test fails to be a success. So long.

Gwen:
Don't give me that! Stop him!

Feleider:
You lay one hand on me, Mr. Sharp, and I will have you put
away for a long time.

Feleider's intuition serves
him well. Sharp had already been walking aggressively toward him;
however, he makes the more intelligent decision and stops his
pursuit, letting the General proceed to the exit. He almost makes
it out, but the lab doors slide open, and Erika Blaze walks in with
Billy and Margaret on each side of her.

Feleider:
What are these children doing here?