The Zombie Chronicles - Book 6 - Revelation (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (15 page)

We headed upstairs to the lab, and Charlie asked us dozens of questions and wrote everything down. He collected fur, tissue, and blood samples from the smelly animal corpse. After pulling on gloves that went up to his elbows, he used a syringe to pull some yellowish fluid from the animal’s spine and dropped a sample on a slide. He squinted as he examined it under his microscope.

“
Well?” Val asked impatiently. Clearly, she wanted out of there as badly as I did.

“
Hmm. Well, it’s definitely a strain of the virus.”

“
I knew it!” I said.

“
But it doesn’t make sense. How did this animal contract the virus?” he asked, as if we were going to be able to answer him. “We’ll have to run more tests. It’ll take me about a week, but I’ll also get a second and third opinion on everything I find.”

As my sister and the scientist discussed all sorts of theories and hypotheses and medical mysteries, speaking in jargon I couldn’t possibly interpret, I excused myself from the overwhelming conversation and stench and walked out to the lobby to wait. A few minutes later, I heard a ball bouncing and looked up. “Hey, little guy!” I said to Ben.

“
Hi, Dean.”

“
Did you come to work with your daddy today?”

“
Yep. He’s upstairs. He must be pretty busy, ‘cause when I knocked on the door earlier, nobody answered.”

“
Well, I’m glad I got to see you again,” I said. “I’ve missed you, kiddo.”

He hugged me. “Me too. We moved.”

“
I heard. Do you like your new house?”

“
I love it! I can even play outside without the slimy monsters eating me!”

“
That’s…wonderful,” I said sadly, angry that children were having to grow up in such a world.

“
Do you still live here?” little Ben asked.

“
No, not anymore.”

“
Will you come and visit more often? I like you.”

“
I like you too. I’ll try to visit more.”

“
Hey, can you take me up to the roof like you did before?” he asked. “I like to bounce my ball up there.”

“
I’m sorry, buddy, but I can’t right now.”

“
But the roof is fun. This basement is creepy.”

“
Yeah, basements can be scary.”

“
I know, but this one is just…well, really, really scary,” he said, pointing. “Monsters live down there.”

“
I’m sure that’s just your imagination,” I said, trying to reassure him.

His eyes grew wide. “Uh-uh! I’ve seen them. They’re scary and ugly, and they smell like rotten feet. I hate them, and I can’t sleep when they’re around.”

I walked over to the desk and picked up a can of air freshener. “If you see monsters, just spray them with this. It’s…monster repellant.”

He hugged me. “Thanks, Dean. You’re so brave and smart. I bet your mommy’s proud of you.”

The thought of my mother brought a tear to my eye, but I quickly hid it from the boy.

We ended up staying a few hours, waiting for preliminary results. The men who’d escorted us there were growing impatient, getting antsy and pretty fed up. After a while, we realized we’d have to chalk it up as a loss and come back; as Charlie had told us, the results could take days, maybe a whole week.

We left the lab and jumped back in the Land Rover. Our driver took off with a jerk, heading back toward the apartment complex. We were making good time, speeding down the bumpy road, when suddenly the truck slowed down to a halt.

“
Did you see that?” the driver asked.

I glanced around. “What?”

“
Over there, down the alley. It’s one of those rabid animals!” He backed the truck up and took a left.

I anxiously scanned the deserted street, looking for what he was talking about.

“
There!” he said, turning to the right and turning on his high-beams.

The German shepherd was limping, as if it was hurt.

“
We’ve got it trapped,” the man shouted.

The dog turned its head and looked at us with milky, white eyes and snarling teeth. Clearly, it was infected with the zombie virus, and we needed to put it out of its misery.

The driver whipped out his gun and shot it right between the eyes.

The canine fell to the ground, and white foam began to gush out of its mouth like soap suds from an overfilled washing machine.

“
We need to pick it up,” Val said.

“
What!? Are you crazy, lady?” the driver argued. “I’m not touching that thing.”

“
The scientists need more specimens,” Val said. “This one is fresh. It might tell them more than the raccoon.”

“
Look, I’m not gonna go around picking up road-kill every time we shoot one of these things. Like I told you, this ain’t no hearse—animal or otherwise,” the driver said.

“
Naw, she’s right, man,” his buddy said. “The geeks need all the data they can get if they’re gonna figure out what’s goin’ on.”

Val grabbed a blanket from under one of the seats, got out, and carefully wrapped the dog up. “This isn’t good,” she said. “We’ve gotta figure out how to stop it.”

The driver laughed. “I just say we keep blowin’ ‘em all to smithereens.”

“
That’s just a Band-aid. We need to get to the root of the problem, the source,” Val said. “Otherwise, they’ll just keep coming. We also need to know if anybody else has run into these infected animals. We need to pinpoint when it started.”

“
Well, Agent Scully, feel free to head up the investigation, ‘cause I want no part of it,” the driver said.

“
Dean,” she said, ignoring the driver’s sarcasm this time, “We need to start talking to the locals. Maybe if we canvass the neighborhood, go door to door, we can figure out when it started.”

“
Good idea. If we split into teams, we’ll cover more ground,” I said.

“
Right. We also need to send teams out to check on the status of the herd,” Val added. “They should be moving on by now.”

* * *

When we finally got back, we reported our findings, scant as they were.

Max went straight to work and ordered us to kill any infected animal we came across, in an attempt to keep the virus from spreading any more rapidly than it already was.

Lucas and I were assigned to the east side of the city, which had been deemed safe for the time being, and we would be leaving first thing in the morning.

I walked through the apartment door, glad to be home. I ate some kidney beans right out of the can, then sat in the recliner and put my feet up.

A little bell rang from Sparkles’s collar as she ran in my direction. The playful miniature pincher hopped in my lap and began assaulting my face with licks from her little pink tongue, much to my chagrin.

“
She likes you,” Val said.

“
She just wants my beans.”

“
Highly unlikely.”

Sparkles curled up on my lap and looked up at me with her big brown eyes, an irresistible silent plea for me to pet her head.

Val chuckled and sat on the couch next to me. “I’ve got something for you,” she said.

“
Please tell me it’s a steak and a loaded mashed potato.”

“
You wish.”

“
Hey, a guy and a dog can dream, can’t we?”

She chuckled again, and then her face grew serious. She reached for my hand and put a ring in it.

When I examined it closer, I gasped. It was my class ring, the one I’d given to Jackie on the football field when I thought she was dead the first time. “But how…where did you get this?” I asked, completely stunned.

“
I found it in the stairwell at the lab, lodged in a crack in the wall.”

“
But Charlie said she was never taken inside the building, that as soon as she was shot, she was placed in a bodybag and carried to a pickup so they could transport her to the cemetery.”

“
You’re right!” Val said, as if everything just clicked. “Then how did the ring get in the lab? That’s just…odd.”

“
They’d have had no reason to bring her body inside,” I said. “You know how paranoid they are about contamination.”

Val frowned. “Unless…”

“
An autopsy?” I shouted before she could finish her thought.

“
Maybe,” she said sadly, shaking her head.

Desperate for the truth to be less disgusting, I tried to think of another logical explanation. “Maybe one of the women stole the ring from her body and dropped it by accident.”

“
That makes me sick,” Val said. “Grave-robbing is so…disrespectful”

My stomach clenched. “Yeah. It’s sad to know that everyone’s stuff is up for grabs as soon as they die now.”

“
Tell me about it.”

I shot Val a look. “I really want to put her in a better place, Val.”

“
We all do. She deserves it.”

I sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “Plus, I need to know if she’s there. I know it all sounds so morbid, digging her up and everything, but—”

“
No, what’s morbid are scientists experimenting on her without any sort of permission or authorization from the people who cared about her.” She shuddered. “I can hardly stand to even think of it. If they were going to do that to me, I’d want you to dig me up too.”

“
We have to get to her, the sooner the better. I want to put her where she can rest in peace, like she deserves—someplace where nobody will touch her or excavate her for an autopsy.”

“
Just give it a few more days,” she said. “The herd should move on by then. It isn’t smart to walk into a zombie-infested graveyard armed with shovels and flashlights. When you do go, though, I’ll go with you. I won’t let you go through that alone.”

“
You gotta promise not to tell Nick. You know he won’t be okay with it.”

“
I know. It’ll be our little secret.”

Chapter 16

When morning came, Claire was all in a tizzy, worried about Sparkles. The little dog liked all of us, but she had really bonded with Claire; she even slept with her and was constantly on her heels. “We can’t just let her roam around out there,” Claire said. “We have no idea how the animals are getting infected. For all we know, it could be airborne.”

“
You can’t just keep her locked up inside,” I said. “She needs fresh air sometimes. Besides, if you never let her go out to take a dump, we’re gonna need fresh air too. I have enough on my mind without having to deal with walking through a poop minefield half-awake on my way to the bathroom.”

“
What if she gets the virus and attacks us when we’re sleeping?” she asked.

“
She doesn’t sleep by me, so I’m safe.”

“
Funny, Dean.”

“
Listen, it’s not airborne. I’m pretty sure they have to be bitten. Just keep her on a leash and make sure she doesn’t run off, and she’ll be fine.”

“
I can’t believe Max gave you permission to go out on a mission while I’m stuck here. I’ve more than proved that I can handle myself out there. Sure, I’m grieving, but that only makes me fight harder.”

“
He just thinks you need a little bit more time, that’s all.”

“
He’s not my babysitter, and I’m a big girl. Will you talk to him for me? If I see him, I might feel the urge to pound him into next week, and I don’t wanna get us kicked out.”