The Last Bastion of the Living: A Futuristic Zombie Novel (12 page)

“I
’
m not one of you!”

The
Scourge
tilted its head in her direction, its white eyes rolling around in its sockets as it sought out the source of the voice.

“I
’
m not one of you!”
s
he screamed again, her emotions surging through her like a tidal wave.

With a grunt, the
Scourge
swiveled about
,
surveying the room.

“Do you hear me, fucker!”
Enraged
, she rushed forward and shoved the
Scourge
into the wall.

It fell back, lost its balance and crashed to the floor. With a screech, it bared its teeth as its eyes darted around the room.

There was no fear now. Only rage. Maria grabbed it by its matted, filthy hair and heaved it to its feet. Its eyes kept swiveling, seeking, searching, for the source of the human voice. With a scream of despair, Maria hurled it across the room. It flailed, then fell again. Running after it, Maria grabbed it by the arm and wrenched it upwards. The creature howled in confusion. Pivoting on her heel, she shoved the
Scourge
headfirst into the table. Its forehead cracked against the corner, blood oozing from the wound and filling its eyes.

Standing over it, Maria could see its confusion as it clawed on the floor, its eyes searching frantically for a human. It never acknowledged her even when looking directly at her.

Maria pulled in a deep breath of air and screamed.

It joined its howl with her cry.

The
Scourge
always answered the call of their own.

Infuriated
, she grabbed the
Scourge
again by the hair and hoisted it upright. It bayed again, calling out. Her
wrath
reducing her to a wordless state, she
smashed
its head against the table over and over again, decimating its face
,
then crushing its skull.

Anguish filled her as she finished killing the
Scourge
. It slipped from her grasp, the bloody remains of its head flopping with a wet sound onto the floor. Blood, brains, and bits of bone littered the table and chairs.

Looking down, she saw that thick, blackish blood covered her hands and arms. Numb and overwhelmed, she fell into a chair, resting her hands on her thighs. There was neither heart to calm, nor breath to still. She was empty inside.

“I
’
m not one of you,” she muttered to the dead creature at her feet.

In silence, she waited for Dr. Curran to return.

Chapter 9

Awareness sliced into her mind like a rapier. Reality assaulted her senses
,
consuming
Maria. Her brain struggled to process her surroundings as fear filled her. Blinking her eyes, she twisted about in the chair she was seated upon and discovered her feet were secured to the floor and her wrists were fastened to the armrests.

Before her rose a bank of screens. She was no longer in the room with the dead
Scourge
.

“What are you doing to me?” she demanded, her voice sounding raw and fragile.

“A few tests, Maria,” Dr.
Beverly
Curran answered as she stepped into view. The room was dimly lit and the walls were plain and gray. The blond woman looked tired and a bit strained, but her smile held a hint of genuine warmth. “I know you
’
re still adjusting to all of this-”

“You have no idea what I am going through,” Maria snarled. “No idea! You locked me in a room with
a Scrag
, for god
’
s sake!”

Sitting on a stool near Maria, Beverly nodded her head. “Yes, I did. And I know
it i
s
no reassurance for me to say that I knew it
wouldn
’
t
attack you, but it proved to you and to us that the procedure was a success.
You
’
re
a walking, talking, thinking
Inferi
Boon that
Inferi Scourge
will see as
one of
their own. You have now become the most important weapon against the
Inferi Scourge
humanity has ever had. Do you understand that?”

Averting her eyes from the doctor, Maria stared down at her lap. Her chest was still and her lungs empty, yet she was alive. Alive enough to want to cry and to miss Dwayne.

“You lied to me.”

“We twisted the truth.”

Maria fastened her gaze on the doctor and glowered. “You took away my life.”

“To give life to others.”

Maria rubbed her dry lips together and wished she could clear her throat. Her mouth and esophagus felt horribly dry. “Tell me again that there
’
s an antidote. Swear to me that you can bring me back.” Leaning as far
forward
as she could, Maria stared into the eyes of the other woman, seeking out the truth.

“We can bring you back,” Beverly stated in a firm, calm voice. She met Maria
’
s gaze without wavering.

Sagging in her restraints, Maria closed her eyes. “I just wish you had given me a choice.”

“I understand that. I didn
’
t want to deceive you, but I
’
m not the only one making decisions around here. Protocols were decided upon and adhered to.”

Beverly did appear remorseful, which helped calm Maria
’
s nerves just a tad. Glancing toward the monitors, she asked, “What are those for?”

“More tests. We need to check on your responses to various stimuli.”

“Trying to see how human I am?” Maria asked wryly.

“Honestly, yes. The virus reanimates a human brain and body at a base level. We altered the virus in order for our test subjects to retain their cognitive skills and personality.”

“Test subject,” Maria echoed
tersely.

Beverly pursed her lips slightly then said in a rather tired tone, “A wrong choice of words.”

“But that
’
s
what I am. A test subject. You said I am the first one that has received this virus. So all these tests are to see if it
’
s safe to give to other soldiers. Am I right?”

“Yes,
you ar
e
.”

Beverly
’
s admittance of the truth was not any sort of comfort to Maria, yet she was satisfied to some degree to be conversing with the scientist openly.

“Will the others have a choice?” Maria asked.

“A choice as to whether or not to take the serum?”

Maria laughed darkly. “No, no. Let me rephrase my question so that I am very clear and you can
’
t twist my words around. Are you going to tell the other people who volunteered for this mission that
you
’
re
going to kill them and revive them as a thinking, talking
Scrag
?”

Beverly sank back in her chair and regarded Maria thoughtfully.

“I take it by your silence that you weren
’
t considering that as an option.”

“You
’
re a soldier. You take orders.”

“That
’
s true. I did vow to give my life to
The Bastion
, but that life has been given. You
took
it from me. I think it
’
s only fair that if you
’
re going to be taking our lives, you let us know what
you
’
re
giving us in return. I want to help defend
The Bastion
and its people, but your actions have fucking pissed me off!” Maria wished she could pound her fist on the table, but instead strained at the end of her restraints and glared. “If you want me to cooperate with you with all your tests, I want to know that the others will know what you
’
re doing to them before you kill them, too!”

The scientist remained impassive. She set her stylus down and stared directly into Maria
’
s eyes. “Is that what it will take for you to cooperate?”

“Yes. And I want to hear it from Mr. Petersen. Not you. I know he
’
s the higher ups
’
lackey and I want to hear it from him.”

A slight smile quirked onto Beverly
’
s lips. “Very well.” Collecting her things, she strode out of the room.

Maria found the resulting silence in the room unnerving. She
studied
the room, wondering where the observation window was located,
and settled on an area apart from
some blinking equipment. She glared at the empty spot on the wall, hoping the weight of her gaze would have some impact on the men and women who controlled her fate. Maybe she had overplayed her hand. Maybe she had assumed too much when it came to her worth in the program. But she had to believe if she was their first test subject she had to possess some physical or mental attribute that had made her a perfect candidate. Flexing her fingers, she stared at the blank wall
,
hoping that the powers that be would heed her words and do the right thing.

In silence, she waited.

* * *

Consciousness snapped her back into reality with a disorienting overload of sensory information. Maria shook her head, trying to focus her thoughts. She didn
’
t remember falling asleep. Her last memory was of staring at the wall, hoping that the leaders of the SWD project would see reason in her words.

“I see you
’
r
e
back with us,” Mr. Petersen
’
s voice said pleasantly.

Maria lifted her eyes and saw Mr. Petersen sitting across the table from her. Beverly stood behind him clutching her pad. Her expression was stoic and Maria couldn
’
t discern if her situation had worsened or not.

“Why does that keep happening?”

“Care to explain, Dr. Curran?”

Beverly sighed and set her pad down on the table. Using her stylus, she pulled up several blocks of information, including a vid of Maria staring at the wall. “Watch.”

Maria leaned forward and recognized that one bit of information was showing her brain activity while another was measuring the stimuli in the room around her
.
Light, sound, and movement were all being recorded. Maria watched as her image on the screen slumped
in
her chair just as
her
brain activity dropped to a startling low. The vid sped forward
,
then showed Dr. Curran and Mr. Petersen entering the room. Mr. Petersen
took out a small electroshock device and pressed it against Maria
’
s chest.
Maria
’
s brain activity spiked and she came back into consciousness.

“What does it mean?” Maria asked. The vid was disconcerting to say the least. She had looked like a corpse sitting in her chair.

“The
Inferi Scourge
have one basic need
:
t
o spread the
Inferi Scourge
Plague Virus,” Dr. Curran said. “
It
’
s
their sole purpose for existence. We removed that need when we modified the virus. Therefore,
you
’
re
not spurred on by the desire to spread the virus like
they
a
re
. You don
’
t have their aggression, their need. In the historical vids there is footage of millions of
Inferi Scourge
standing perfectly in place once the entire city was infected by the virus. They only began to move once they sensed that there was an uninfected human nearby. In other words, the
Inferi Scourge
become dormant when there are no humans nearby to infect. At first our predecessors thought this would enable us to wipe them out. They left infected cities alon
e
, quarantining them, hoping the
Inferi Scourge
would remain in their dormant stage. They even attempted to bomb the inert creatures a few times only to rouse the
Inferi Scourge
and send them on a march in the direction the bombers took on their return flights. That tendency to fall dormant is one of the drawbacks we have discovered in giving you the modified virus.”

“What good am I going to be if I keep blacking out?” Maria stared at th
em
curiously. “How did you not see this happening?”

Mr. Petersen smiled
, but it held no warmth. “
Actually i
t will be easily remedied with
a new program in your wristlet
. Once your testing is done, we will install a program that will
stimulate your nervous system and
rouse you whenever you fall dormant for too long.”

“
If
I do the testing,” Maria said tersely.

Mr. Petersen regarded her like she was an insolent child
,
then let out a sigh that indicated how insufferable he thought she was. “Yes, that is why I am here. It has been decided by my superiors that your request makes sense in light of your...reaction to your condition.”

“How did you think we would react?” Maria stared at him incredulously. “How did you think we would feel when we woke up to find out that we
’
re not even alive anymore, but
Scrags
?
”

“
Inferi Boon
,” Beverly corrected automatically.

Maria almost cursed at the scientist, but thought better of it and held her tongue. Pressing her lips together, she carefully considered each word before she said it. “I might be a thinking
Scrag
, but that does
n
’
t make what you did to me any easier to process emotionally. And let me be very clear on this matter. I am fully committed to fulfilling my duties and ridding the valley of the
Scrags
, but what you did to me was wrong.”

Mr. Petersen and Beverly regarded her in silence for a few seconds before exchanging looks. At last, Mr. Petersen returned his attention to Maria and said, “Our superiors will have you record a message for the volunteers to our program once you have finished your testing. It has been decided that will make the transition for the rest of the team a much smoother process.”

“
You
’
re
the first, Maria. What you say and do will greatly help the others when they transition. You will be their guide.” Beverly gave her a wan smile. “Is that agreeable?”

Maria nodded. “Yes.
It i
s
.”

“Now, let
’
s begin our tests, okay?” Beverly motioned to Mr. Petersen, who promptly vacated his chair. Beverly sat down and motioned to the bank of monitors. “Are you ready to begin?”