The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (22 page)

Jackie gripped my hands, her eyes sad and empty. “If you care about me even one tiny bit, you’ll do it for me when the time comes.”

I cupped her cheek. “I just can’t, Jackie. Don’t ask me to—”

“
You can, and you will. Please?” she begged. “I want to be at peace, not figuring out how to scam humans so I can devour their flesh. What kind of existence will that be?”

“
We shouldn’t have used the cure on anyone until it was tested,” I said regretfully, guilt flooding through me. The whole thing was my fault. I was the one who’d hijacked it out of the lab. While my intentions had been good, I couldn’t believe what I’d unknowingly done.
Have I spawned yet another epidemic, only worse, with zombies who can think and masterfully create ruses to kill their victims? Did I singlehandedly unleash hell?

Jackie pushed a few strands of hair away from her face. “I hope you don’t go pouring out all those vials, because we can’t give up on this vaccine. It heals people. I’m living proof.”

“
We found the cure,” I said. “It just needs to be perfected.”

“
We’ll get there,” she said. “Meanwhile, do you think I’m going to turn into a hybrid?” she asked, her voice quivering. “Are all the people who took the cure slowly turning into these…things?”

“
I’m not sure, Jackie. We need to find scientists and a lab,” I said. “We need to find someone who can tell us more about the serum—what it is and how it works.”

Chapter 17

On our way back to the lounge, we ran into Nick, Lucas, and Val and told them all of our findings, including the possessed voice coming from the zombie. They had noticed Val’s strange eyes, too, but never in a million years would they have concluded that the zombie Nick had seen was Howard. As we compared notes and put two and two together, it all began to make sense, and we came up with a common conclusion that was at least mostly believable.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair. “This is incredible. It’s like we brought our enemy with us.”

“
They’re
victims
,” Jackie reminded him. “I know Claire would never act like that.”

Nick and Val looked at each other in complete confusion.

“
So all those smart zombies we encountered were people who turned into hybrids from the serum?” Val pondered. “The missing people weren’t being picked off one by one by zombies like we previously thought. They
were
the zombies all along. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it, but that would explain why the zombie knocked the gun out of Asia’s hand and hid from us. Howard must’ve turned and realized he needed to get out or else we’d kill him.”

“
Why didn’t they feed the second they turned?” Nick asked.

“
Maybe their hunger is suppressed,” Val said, “but they sure were hungry later.” She tapped her chin and then said, “Wait. I bet their human emotions won’t let them kill their family and friends. At least at first. It’s the reason why they leave. So one, we won’t kill them, and two, they won’t hurt loved ones.”

“
That’s bizarre,” Lucas said. “I wonder if the other hybrids call out to them. There might be a telepathic link or something.”

I spun toward Nick. “While you were out, thinking I was safe and sound here, I was being attacked.”

“
I’m sorry,” Nick said. “I should’ve been there for you.”

“
Don’t be sorry. You had to do what you had to do without me. As for me, I’m a survivor. I always will be, so quit treating me like a kid and let me come with you next time.” I shot him a hard stare. “Any kind of real man wouldn’t sneak out like a coward to avoid his little brother, then send his star-struck minions to tell me I’m not allowed to leave. That was pathetic, Nick, and so far beneath you.”

Nick glared. “Lucas and I have been properly trained. Val’s a police officer. What’s your experience, huh? The last little while on this road trip with me?”

“
Road trip!?” I moved to shove him, but Lucas and Val held me back.

“
Dean, this hostility between you two needs to stop,” Val said. “Just man up. We left you because we love you. Deal with it, ‘cause we have bigger problems to face right now than your bruised ego.”

“
Fine,” I said sharply. “What did you find?” I asked, yanking away from her.

“
For starters,” she said, “this town is completely flooded. Zombies are everywhere. We’re gonna have to make our way out on foot. Waiting for the waters to die down isn’t an option in light of recent revelations.”

“
Should we tell the others, Nick?” Lucas asked. “What if they panic?”

“
They have every right to know so they can play on a level playing field against the hybrids.”

“
I agree. They need to know!” Jackie said.

Lucas sighed. “In that case, we’d best head to the lounge and get this little unpleasant rendezvous over with. It’s town meetin’ time, folks!”

“
Sounds like a plan,” I said.

Val touched Lucas’s hand. “Tell Dean what else we found. He can handle it.”

Lucas looked at Nick, as if asking for permission. He didn’t continue until Nick nodded, as if he was some kind of mafia godfather or something. “We found their lair,” Lucas said.

“
What!? Then what are we doing here? We should go attack it,” Jackie said.

“
Kill them before they kill us,” I agreed.

Val patted my back. “That’s the plan, but I want to talk to everyone first. We can’t just leave without telling these people what’s going on. At the very least, we owe them that.”

“
And we need their help to knock those nasty hornets out of their even nastier nest,” Lucas said.

“
So after we explain everything, we’re leaving?” I asked.

Val nodded, then wrapped an arm around Jackie. “Claire is one of those hybrids.”

She sucked in a deep breath. “I know, but she wouldn’t want to be like this.”

“
I know this is hard,” Val said.

“
When we’re safe, I want to hold a memorial for her.” Jackie’s voice quivered, and a tear ran down her face. “I miss her so much.”

Val wrapped her arms around her. “I miss her too. You’re so brave, Jackie. You’ve been through so much.”

“
We gotta get going,” Nick said.

Once we were in the lounge, it didn’t take long for us to get everyone’s attention. Everyone stared blankly at us, wondering what the heck was going on. For the first time since we’d arrived at that nursing home, we finally had answers to give them, even if they weren’t the answers any of us had been hoping to hear.

“
We’ve come across some information and have some possible theories on what’s going on,” Val began.

Nick stepped forward. “We feel you have the right to know what you’re up against, so we will share with you everything we know. Feel free to disagree with us and come to your own conclusions.”

“
Please don’t panic about this, people,” Lucas said. “We need everyone to remain calm until we figure out a plan.”

“
Well? What’s going on?” a woman asked. “Just tell us.”

“
Everyone who has taken the serum, please move to the left side of the room. Those who have not taken it, please move to the right,” Lucas directed.

“
What’s this all about?” a man asked. “You brought us in here to play hokey pokey or what?”

“
Please humor us, sir,” Val said. “I promise we’ll explain everything.”

Murmurs and whispers spread through the group, but they divided as they were asked to.

“
We believe the serum has some side effects,” I said. “Some of you may have noticed them. Your eye color will change, from your natural color to a fluorescent green when in complete darkness. In addition, you will have night vision. You will not be infected if you are bitten or scratched, as the serum seems to act as a vaccine, of sorts, creating immunity against the typical zombie virus. As far as we know, you’ll be protected for the rest of your life.”

“
This is great news!” somebody shouted.

“
I wouldn’t mind seeing in the dark,” a woman said.

“
Well, I don’t wanna be no radioactive green-eyed freak,” a man next to her complained.

A woman with short blonde hair stepped forward. “How do you know about this? What makes you so sure?”

Asia walked to the front of the room. “Most of you know me, though some of you don’t. My name is Asia. I took the serum. I was attacked by a zombie upstairs and bitten. I was quarantined, and when the bite didn’t fester and fill with pus, the others were sure I’d been bitten by a human.” She shot Lucas a glance. “It was no human, folks. What bit me was a zombie, and several witnesses even saw the thing leaving the scene of the attack.” She held out her arm, and the mark was barely visible. “The bite is healed, and I wasn’t infected. Just like the other three who survived the baby doll attack by the hybrids. This proves that we all heal quickly and are immune to the zombie virus. Pretty cool, huh?”

The group erupted in a chorus of excited murmurs and whispers. For the first time in a long time, their eyes sparkled with genuine hope.

“
We’re going to turn off the lights,” Jackie said, “so you can see my green eyes firsthand. Also, we’d like to get a count of how many others are experiencing this unique side effect.” She nodded, and I turned off all the lights.

We had no idea how many sets of green, glowing eyes to expect, and we were all quite shocked when everyone who had taken the serum had them. Shouts, laughs, cries, and shocked gasps echoed across the room.

“
I can see everything!” a man yelled. “This isn’t bad at all! I feel like Superman!”

“
What’s going on?” a woman screamed.

Val turned the lights back on. “It appears everyone who has taken the serum has the side effect.”

“
It’s not so bad,” somebody shouted in the group in front of us.

“
The heck it’s not,” a woman said. “I don’t wanna be a freak. I just want to be back to normal.”

Nick continued, “Unfortunately, there is a less pleasant side effect to the serum,” he said.

The room grew instantly quiet.

“
We do not believe the missing people were killed by zombies.”

“
Then what happened to them? And what’s this about another side effect?” somebody asked, sounding skeptical.

“
They
are
the zombies,” Jackie said.

“
For some unknown reason, the serum has changed the missing people back into zombies,” I announced sadly.

More gasps erupted.

“
The body goes back to the original zombie form,” Nick said, “but the person maintains their brainpower and even a bit of their emotional makeup in the beginning. Because they don’t want to attack their friends and loved ones, they try to escape as fast as they can. I think they try to fight it at first, but in the end, they can’t escape the urge to feed.”

“
These people are half-zombie, half-human,” Jackie said. “We call them hybrids.”

“
Nick’s right. No matter how hard they try not to hurt people, the hybrids finally succumb. They are also very intelligent and conniving, driven by a hunger for flesh. They tricked us into going into an ambush by luring us inside a house with a crying baby doll,” I said. “They attacked and devoured most of the people in that search party.”

“
Our own people did that?” somebody yelled. “That’s sick!”

A woman inched forward, her eyes wide. “I thought the city was already infested with smart zombies when we got here, but are you saying we brought this on ourselves? That the missing people are actually turning into the intelligent zombies?”