The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (21 page)

“
We found the freak who’s been killing our good people,” a man said.

“
You kids get out of here,” another man said. “We got this.”

Jackie and I left the kitchen and went back to her room. She carried the lantern into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. “Dean, I don’t know what you were talking about back there. My eyes are brown, just like they’ve always been.”

I was so confused, because I could have sworn they were green and glowing, like some kind of neon ooze from a nuclear power plant. I recalled that I’d seen the phenomenon in total darkness, so the idea struck me to turn off the lantern and every light in the room. As soon as I did, she looked into the mirror and saw her glowing green eyes.

She gasped. “Wh-what’s happening to me, Dean?”

“
I don’t know what’s happening to anyone, Jackie. I don’t even know what’s happening in the whole freaking world.”

Chapter 16

Guilt flooded through me. I’d almost mistaken my girlfriend for a zombie and shot her. I couldn’t explain what was going on with her eyes, and she had no idea either. I turned the lantern back on and focused my attention on her.

She gripped my shirt. “What’s happening to me?”

“
I have no idea,” I whispered, “but we’re gonna figure it out together.”

“
What could cause this? I’m some kind of freak of nature!”

“
I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head, but then it occurred to me. “What if it’s a side effect from the serum?”

She let out a long, trembling breath. “Am I going to die? Can this be fixed? Has this happened to anyone else? I don’t want to ask anyone if they’ve got glowing eyes.”

“
Why don’t we talk to Asia and see if she’s had the same problem? She’s in quarantine, so no one will hear us asking her. Plus, I think she likes me. She’ll tell me anything.”

“
Really?” Jackie said, smirking. “Well, I suppose I can’t blame her. You are quite adorable. But anyway, that’s a great place to start,” Jackie said.

We rushed to the room where Asia was still being held in quarantine.

Jackie smiled at the men now guarding the room. “Mind if I talk to Asia for a few minutes?”

The man smiled back. “Sure, you pretty thing you.”

I gripped Jackie’s hand and walked in. “Hi, Asia,” I said.

“
Hey! I was hoping you’d stop back.” Her face beamed. “I’ve got great news!”

I inched closer. “What?”

She peeled back the bandage on her arm. “Look at this.”

My eyebrows shot up in disbelief. There was no pus or redness, and the wound had almost completely healed. “It’s just like the other bite victims. It’s healing really fast.”

“
That’s fantastic,” Jackie said.

“
Were you one of the lucky ones who previously took the cure?” I asked.

She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, why?”

I wondered if Asia’s eyes would glow, and instead of asking her, I thought it best to perform the same experiment I’d done with Jackie. “Do you mind if I turn off the lights for a minute?” I asked.

“
Listen, I don’t know what kind of freaky stuff you’re into but—”

Jackie touched her hand. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. You need to know. My eyes are glowing in the dark. We think it’s a side effect of the serum. We need to see if yours are doing the same thing.”

Her mouth gaped. She got up and walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Within seconds, she screamed, and I immediately knew the answer.

Suddenly, the two men burst through the door. “Is everything okay?” one asked.

“
My eyes! They glow in the dark just like those toys I used to get out of cereal boxes when I was a kid,” Asia said, exiting the dark bathroom.

I turned off the lights in the room and we all stared in disbelief at four glowing eyes looking back at us.

“
I don’t get this!” Asia shouted.

“
I think you were bitten by a zombie earlier,” I said. “The serum is in your blood and gave you immunity to the zombie virus. That’s why the bite didn’t fester. The green eyes must just be a side effect.”

“
I could see everything perfect in the dark,” Jackie said. “It was like I had night-vision goggles on.”

The deep furrows between Asia’s eyebrows smoothed, and her shoulders relaxed as she drew a deep breath. “We’re immune from zombie bites and scratches? And we’ve got, like, Superman X-ray vision or something?”

“
Night vision,” Jackie corrected, “but it’s still pretty cool!”

“
I believe you’re right,” I said.

“
Then I don’t ever have to worry about a zombie bite or a night light again!” she said. She grabbed my arm. “Do you know what this means?”

“
What?” I asked.

“
We
are
literally the
living dead
.”

I thought about her statement, and it kind of creeped me out. I gripped Jackie’s hand. “C’mon. Let’s go find the others. We’ve gotta fill them in on this news.”

We raced down the corridor and passed the men who were dragging the dead zombie out.

“
Wait,” I said. A tattoo of a skull caught my attention. “This guy looks familiar. Wasn’t he with that redhead with the short hair?”

One of the guys looked down. “Yeah, it’s Ed.”

“
I’m so sorry. Do you know if he took the cure?”

“
I’m certain of it.”

Jackie gripped my arm and pulled me away. “They both took the cure. Tom turned back into a zombie, but Asia and I didn’t. How can one person have immunity while the other doesn’t?”

I went back to her room so we could talk and try to figure things out. After I shut the door, I paced the room. My lips pressed in a grim line. “So the cure has side effects.”

Jackie nodded.

“
I think I know what happened.”

“
I’m beginning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together too.”

“
Let’s take it from the beginning,” I said. “All these people took the serum, and we know there are some strange side effects. For one, it changes the pigment in the eye when there is no light, and the person is equipped with night vision.”

“
When we arrived, every door and window was boarded up securely, and we were careful to board up the window we came through. When we swept this nursing home, it was clear. No one saw any zombies.” Jackie wrung her hands as she pondered. “Then Howard suddenly went missing, and we all hunted for him. Then we saw a zombie, and there was
no way
it should have been in here—not after the security sweep we did. We assumed it had killed Howard, but it showed intellect by knocking the gun out of Asia’s hands, then hiding and escaping through the open window.”

“
Remember the wood?” I asked. “It was as if somebody was breaking
out,
not
in
.”

“
The zombie had intellect, just like the ones in that house with the crying baby doll. It ate Howard, then wanted a quick escape route.”

“
But how did it ever get in?” I asked.

“
You know how smart they are,” she said. “Come on! They lured us to a house to ambush us. I’m sure a smart one could figure a way in.”

“
I don’t think so. I think it was here before we came.”

“
But there’ve been other zombies spotted. You think there’s a group hanging around somewhere. And if there is, why haven’t they devoured us already?”

“
Okay, don’t laugh, but I’m gonna throw this out here. An idea just struck me. What if the very first zombie we saw on the second floor
was
Howard?”

“
But he couldn’t have turned into a zombie unless one had bitten or scratched him.”

“
Try and think outside the box. What if the serum somehow turned him back into a zombie? Maybe his body couldn’t handle the serum or there was something that didn’t mix. It changed him back into a zombie, but he kept his brain. He still has the need to feed on human flesh, but he also has his mind—what little the jerk had of one in the first place.”

Jackie clapped her hand over her mouth. “What if that’s going to happen to all of us who took the serum? Are we going to slowly turn into thinking zombies? Dean, that’s horrible!”

I tried to hold her in my arms, but she pushed me away, devastated by the news. I was just as stunned and shocked and appalled as she was. The thought of losing Jackie and Val all over again sent shudders through my body. I wondered if they’d turn into those intellectual but horrible creatures. Anger overwhelmed me. I’d gone through so much to get them back.
They deserve better than this.

She let out a long breath. “So Howard was the first to change, and while we we’re looking for him, we saw a zombie and assumed it had killed him, but in reality, it
was
him.”

I nodded. “Yeah, when he saw us, he hid somewhere, then found the axe and chopped his way out. I can’t believe the zombie we thought hurt Howard was actually Howard. This is so bizarre. Like Nick told me, Stephen King couldn’t write this crap.”

Jackie paced back and forth. “Then more people from our group turned into—”

“
Hybrids,” I said. “They’re hybrids, half-zombie, half-human. That’s a dangerous combination.”

“
They’ve reverted back to zombies, but they held on to some intellect during the change, remembering our names, talking, and strategizing. Do you think they have any emotions at all?”

“
I don’t think so. The zombie in the kitchen said you’d taste divine. I don’t think we can reason with them either.”

“
They’re joining forces. As each person changes into one and breaks free from here, they somehow find each other.” She shook her head. “That town wasn’t already populated with smart zombies.
We
populated it! It was all us. We thought all the missing people had been killed, but they were the zombies we were seeing. It was them all along.” She gasped as realization struck. “Oh my gosh,” she said, her voice wavering. “Claire! She wasn’t attacked or eaten by a zombie. She became one. My cousin is a hybrid, and she’s out there somewhere!”

“
Jackie…” I said softly.

“
I can’t lose Claire like this—not like this.” She fell to her knees, weeping. “How could something so horrible happen to my cousin?”

“
I’m so sorry.” I knelt down with her, and she curled her arms around my neck as she sobbed into my shoulder.

“
I loved her so much,” Jackie said between gasps. “I thought zombies were the worst thing I’d ever face, but I was wrong. Losing Claire is so much worse. She wasn’t just family. She was also my best friend. And now, she’s one of those things running around out there. I can’t picture her stalking humans with the others, murdering and eating people.” She looked up at me with those beautiful eyes. “How long, Dean? How much longer do I have until I join the others?”

Her words tore at my heart, but all I could do was wipe her tears.

She looked into my eyes. “Claire wouldn’t want to be like that, and I don’t either. If I turn, I want you to shoot me.”

“
No! Don’t make me promise that.” It felt like the situation with Val all over again, for she’d forced me to make the same grim promise. I was tired of being asked to kill the people I loved. All I wanted to do was rush Jackie and Val to a lab before they turned. I needed to find Nick, Lucas, and Val immediately, and I wondered when—and if—they were ever coming back.