Zombies! (Episode 9): The Changing of the Guard (9 page)

The results were in. Cancer beats zombie plague.

Luco didn't know why. Perhaps it had something to do with the way the bacteria reprogrammed the body. The cancer was an enemy it couldn't allow to exist but fighting weakened it so much that his own immune system was able to kill it off. Or, perhaps, the effect the cancer had had on his immune system had made it stronger. She took more samples from him. She took so many samples that he felt he would be leaving the hospital with less than he'd come in with.

By the time Alicia showed up, everyone was finished pulling a pound of flesh. Heron had been checked into a regular room and was sitting in bed, playing with the television. His phone was charging on the nightstand. When his wife walked into the room, she had a look that he had seen on countless battered women's faces in his early days as a police officer. Though he would never lay a hand on her (she'd kick his ass), he could tell that he had abused her severely over the past several months. This was just the last kick in the head.

"I was thinking about you," she told him after a guarded hello. "I was thinking about who you are and what this cancer and this job have done to you?"

He didn't know how to respond so he just didn’t.

"I know you, Anthony. You may think all of this has changed you but it hasn't. When I thought about all of the things you've done, all of the mistakes you've made, I realized that you could never have done it any differently."

When he still didn't know what to say, he told her didn't understand.

"You don't know how to lose," she said to him. "And this just keeps beating you down. You try to protect people but they keep dying. You do your best to fight cancer and it comes back. You try not to bring your pain home and you end up hurting us. And the more you lose, the more desperate you become. The more desperate you become, the more destructive your choices become."

"I do my best," he said, frustrated with her analysis.

Shaking her head, she responded, "No. You only think you're doing your best."

"That's not fair, Alicia. I…"

She took a deep breath, cutting him off in mid sentence. "Did you get bitten on purpose?"

"What?" he blurted. "What kind of a question is that?"

She nodded to herself, knowing now. "I'm surprised Lance didn't see it. It's just another desperate act to beat the unbeatable."

"Well," he said, looking away, not bothering to deny it. "Didn't I?"

"No!" she shouted. "You're still sick!"

He nodded. "Alicia, I can't do anything about that. But at least we finally found something that's stronger than the zombie infection."

"Cancer? Big deal. Talk about the cure being worse than the disease. Even
you
chose the plague over the cancer."

He couldn't argue with that.

"And how much cancer does it take?" she asked him. "You're dying, Anthony. How many people are out there right now whose cancer isn't strong enough to kill them or the plague? Exactly what do you think you've discovered?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Don't tell me," she snapped at him. "I understand you better than anyone. You did it because of that thing you had locked up at work. I don't know what you saw in her that wasn't dead, but you thought you could grab hold of it, too. You weren't looking to die sooner. You were looking to beat the cancer."

She sat beside him and took his hand. "Anthony, you've made some really bad choices in the last few months."

He looked at her. All of his charm was gone. All of his spirit was gone. He was ugly.

"Do you know what the worst decision has been?"

He laughed a little. "I'm sure you'll tell me."

"I'll tell you," she confirmed, not at all accepting of his attitude. "You keep trying. You seem to think that you're better than everything that's happening to you. But you keep on losing."

"That's enough!" he cried. "How can you sit there are keep…just…attacking me again and again. Everything I've done, all my bad decisions have been for someone else."

"Really?" Alicia was not to be cowed by volume. "You smoked for years and years when you knew it was going to kill you. Who did you do that for? You picked a psychopath as your second in command. Who was that for? You made
friends
with one of those things and went to spend Christmas with it. Who was that for, Anthony? Who was it all for?"

He didn't say anything. He could justify his selection of Frank Culph as his second in command. He could justify bringing the Linda zombie back to headquarters instead of having her carted there to
Arthur Conroy
. But the smoking…there was no excuse for that and there never would be. He had smoked because he was addicted but he had grown addicted because he'd liked it. And she was right. He'd known all along that it would kill him. After all, it had killed his father and his aunt and plenty of others in his family alone.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled

"Don't be sorry. Be smarter. Do you really want to face this alone?"

Only Alicia Heron could threaten a dying man. Only she could discount all of his maladies and treat him like the criminal instead of the victim. It was why he loved her. He knew she didn't want to leave him. Even at the very worst of their time together, she had stayed true to him and told Mellie about what a hero he was. But the road ahead was going to be hard. If he chose to walk it alone, she would no longer follow behind, trying to catch up. For the first time since receiving his diagnosis, he was afraid. He was afraid of being alone, afraid of the worlds that so often tried to infringe upon and take over his life. So, in answer to her question, he shook his head and reached out for her. She allowed him to take her in his arms, but pulled away quickly.

"You'd better mean it," she said.

"I do," he said. "I really do."

***

Luco was still upstairs in the hospital waiting for some of the results of Heron's tests when the 911 page came through her phone. She checked the number quickly and dialed it. The news chilled her. Something had happened in the
Zoo
. One of the guards had been killed. One of the zombies had escaped.

Naughton had left shortly before. His next few days would be busy as he helped transition control of the NYPD Undead Unit to the government. Now she desperately wished that he was there with her. It was a feeling that both warmed and disgusted her. It was nice to have someone to depend on. It was terrible to be dependent. She rushed out of the labs and down flight after flight of stairs. Reaching the ground floor, she burst out of the stairwell and charged across the lobby to the corridor where she would find the entrance to the zombie installation. Her identification granted her access, which meant that they hadn't locked the place down.

There were two guards posted at the bottom of the stairwell. They tensed when they saw her. Their orders were to let no one inside. She didn't give a goddamn about their orders. The debate was short. She headed straight for the
Zoo
, which was deep inside the installation. As she went, she took small moments to observe the looks on the faces of the people who hadn't gone home for the night, and now wouldn't until someone authorized an all clear. There were guards everywhere and Luco had trouble getting past them. She showed her ID and shouted her name so many times that she would be hearing it in her sleep for days. Finally through, she burst into the area and got her first look at the scene.

The security chief was not there. No doubt, he was analyzing the video records to see what had happened. A man lay dead on the floor. He was partially eaten, apparently a hasty meal for the escaped zombie. He was also naked. Luco didn't recognize him. One of the doctors, Albert something, was inspecting the body very carefully. A few paces away, Ludlow sat on the floor hugging his knees to his chest. Two more guards were standing over the scene while a third was carefully checking out the rest of the cells.

"Does anyone know what happened?"

"He probably does," Albert said, indicating Ludlow.

Luco knelt in front of him and took his hands in her own. He was clean of blood and seemed unwounded. His hands were cold. "Rudy? Are you all right?"

He looked at her momentarily, blinking once and then twice.

"Who's missing?" she asked Albert.

"Mayfield," he answered.

"How?" she asked. "How did he get out?"

Albert shrugged.

One of the guards informed that the door was open. There was no sign of forced exit. By all indications, it appeared as if someone had let him out.

Something inside of her shriveled. Of all of the zombies in the
Zoo
, Todd was the most dangerous. Luco had seen him feed hundreds of times and each time left her cold. He didn't just blindly attack the animals. He stalked them, cornered them, and took them with minimal force. She looked over at the dead guard.

Albert, seeming to read her mind, said, "The cause of death is a broken neck. The other injuries all seem to be post mortem."

Of course. Otherwise, he would have turned.

"Did you see this, Rudy?" Luco asked. "Were you here?"

He nodded.

"Are you hurt? Did Todd bite you?"

He shook his head.

More mystery. Why would Todd attack the guard and not Ludlow? She had never seen a zombie discriminate between victims before. In fact, zombies tended to take bites out of multiple sources if they were available. None of this made sense. Then something else occurred to her.

"Why is he naked?" she asked, indicating the guard.

Albert shrugged.

"He needed the clothes," Ludlow said.

She looked at him. "Who? Todd?"

He nodded.

"Rudy, are you telling me that Todd broke that man's neck, stripped him, fed off of him, then dressed in his clothes, and walked out the door?"

Ludlow nodded.

"How, Rudy? How could he do that? How did he even get out?"

Ludlow looked at her directly, pain in his eyes. "It must have been me…I must have let him out."

She was about to ask why he would do such a thing when there came a cry from down the corridor. Every guard in the vicinity raised his or her rifle. But there was no trouble. The woman who'd gone down to investigate was calling for Dr. Luco. She got off of her knees and jogged to the end of the hallway.

"What is it?" she asked.

The guard pointed into a cell. It was one of the very last cells in the
Zoo
and still resembled its original design. It also housed their oldest tenant.

Luco looked inside. Zoe Koplowitz was standing close to the glass but not pushing up against it. Her hands were at her sides and her chin was up. But it was the eyes that had really caught the guard's attention. Instead of staring blankly at nothing, they looked directly at her. Her mouth moved once, but they couldn't hear anything through the glass. Luco looked once at the guard who looked right back at her.

Reaching forward, Luco thumbed the intercom. "Zoe?"

The zombie's head turned and the eyes focused on Luco.

"Can you hear me?"

It opened its mouth and a small choking sound issued forth.

"What's she doing?" the guard asked. "Is she trying to talk?"

"Zoe?" Luco repeated.

The little girl zombie made the choking sound again and then again. Finally, it seemed as if her throat cleared and she drew in breath.

Luco took a step back in shock. "Zoe," she whispered.

"Mommy?" came the zombie's reply. "Are you my mommy?"

***

So ends the penultimate chapter of Series 1 of Zombies! For all of you hardcore zombies fans out there, have no fear. Next month's final episode is chocked full of moaning, stumbling, George Romero zombies. For Abby and Martin Benjamin, Shawn Rudd, and Denise Luco and Lance Naughton, the nightmare hits a crescendo as the invisible army of zombies is unleashed upon the city of New York.

For Anthony Heron, it's just a quiet evening at home with the family.

Please join me for
State of Emergency
, the final episode of Zombies! Series 1.

***

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***

Be sure to check out what happens when the Jury starts punishing people for their crimes in past lives and sets their sites on a rabbi who is believed to have been Adolf Hitler in
The Book of Revelations
, available for all your reading devices from all of your ebook stores.

For an epic (and involuntary) journey through time at a breakneck pace, join Mathew Cristian as he narrates his adventures as a Forty Leaper.
Forty Leap
is available for all your reading devices from all of your ebook stores. Read the first half for free.