Zombologist Book 1 Zombie Hunters (Zomboligist Series) (14 page)

He laid his head on her chest.

Listening.

Thump.

Ka-Thud.

He jumped back. Not only had he heard that but he had felt
a very faint movement in her chest.

Could there be a rat in her chest?

Impossible. No entry wounds.

Her mouth.

Maybe something crawled in her mouth.

Maybe she was frozen solid and her muscles were thawing and
the tissue was cracking.

That sounded as reasonable as anything.

But he was only guessing.

Still, it made no sense.

He peered at her face. Dark damp hair had fallen and stuck
to her checks across her face. He absently swiped it away.

She opened her eyes and looked at him.  She blinked. Her
face slid into a grin. Davis froze in place.

Her eyes were yellow pools of murk covering black lined
whites. Fear began to rise from deep inside his chest and crawl up into his
brain. He backed up hit the wall, could not move any further, fear paralyzing
him.

She began to move, arms extending, reaching for him,
swinging her legs off the table and barely lifting her feet from the floor she
began coming for him.

“What the hell… no” He screamed.  It was a loud hideous,
girly scream that shocked even him, before she lunged at him and with jaws as
solid as a vise bit into his throat. With one sideways yank of her head the
woman ripped his vocal cords out of his neck and began to feast.

She was ravenous, lying partially frozen and weak in the
darkness all these years. She ate with a hunger that grew …. Until the body she
gorged on died and the blood began to cool.

With a snarl she stood, wiped her mouth and licked the
blood off her fingers. She bent her head as in prayer then raised her head and
hands to the ceiling and ripped out a victorious roar. She was free, finally
free. The cell tissue that had been her flesh had been empty for so long. It had
quickly absorbed the blood and flesh that she consumed; feeding the virus that
possessed her. She felt stronger, more complete.

And oh, so hungry.

She turns and walked into the hallway. Her legs were
becoming more flexible, stronger, the blood and flesh she consumed was being
digested by the virus inside of her. She was growing plumper; her skin was
becoming supple, more lustrous. Her once dry mouth was filling with saliva, her
lips grew full.

She kept moving until she found a way out. The virus was
propelling her forward, found the exit through her rancid yellow eyes, and
willed her body to open the door. 

She didn’t bother to shut the door behind her as she ran
into the moonlight.

****

“Dad was gone a few hours, or at least I believed it to be
a few hours. I may have fallen asleep. I searched for her every year, on
Mother’s Day. Each year I would hike out and search the entire area within a 1
to 2 hour radius of the road. I figured a half hour to three quarters hour
there, half an hour to bury her…. I didn’t even know if she was alive or dead
when dad entered the woods with her. I wondered through the years if he had
finished her off before disposing of her body.

“Of course now I know that she had to still be alive or had
just died. Dad would have never buried her alive. But, he
would
have put
her in the cave. And he
would
have gone back for her, except, he had to
take care of me. She would have turned in the cave Dillon. He HAD to have gone
back at some time. Dad knew she was stuck down there, but he never told me. That
was why he insisted that I study biochemistry and find a cure.

“When the society did the body counts and censes Dad never
told them about Mama. He acted like she died or ran off or something. He wanted
to keep her a secret. It all makes sense now.

“Even after all those years Dad would never talk about that
night. I’d try to get him to open up, but he never would. Sure, he would talk
about Sarah and Mom, but, never a peep about what happened afterword.

 “I borrowed Gina Thompson’s cadaver dogs several times but
found nothing. I’d camp out too frightened to sleep for fear that mama was
walking the forest. ”

“So that’s where you always disappeared to in May. Why
didn’t you tell me Jana? For God’s sake why didn’t you tell
the society
what you suspected? We could have helped you.”

Dillon spoke more softly now, “We would have found her
Jana.”

Jana buried her head in her hands. “I know. I know. I
didn’t know if I was dreaming. It was so long ago, the trip while the town was
burning, my mother bitten, my sister and Uncle Joe dead. I just couldn’t decide
if I had dreamed it or if it was real. I was only eight years old. So much
happened that night, I just couldn’t… “ she trialed off.

“We need to get her out of the morgue or destroy her.
Either way it won’t be easy.” Dillon said impatiently.

A few minutes passed before she spoke again, very quietly,
“Mom would be Type N.”

“What? Type N? Jana, I can’t fucking believe you! You’ve
keep this to yourself all these years. For God sake, if this woman
is
your mother and if she’s thawed by now … Good Lord Jana, she could already be on
the move.” Dillon pulled out his cell and hit speed dial.

 After he hung up he stared at the road ahead his knuckles
white on the wheel and pushed the needle up to 75.

****

And on the move she was. This was so much better than the
cave where she had been a prisoner for over half a century. She remembered
several things that happened just moments inside the cave before death finally
took her. She remembered seeing her husband’s feet as they disappeared through
the tiny hole. She tried to call after him to let him know she was alright, but
couldn’t.

She was burning up, she couldn’t breathe. That was the last
thing she remembered, except for a brief moment that was buried in her
subconscious of waking and feeling trapped.

And the hunger, oh the hunger.

She had a memory of howling and clawing at the stone
willing it to crumble and set her free. She had a dim memory of sitting, waiting
for someone to come. But, not to save her, oh no, she only needed someone to
show her the way out and satisfy her hunger.

She remembered waking, finding that she couldn’t move. She
was frozen into the rock. The hunger never forgotten.

The woman shakes her head, violently willing the memories
to fade. There is only one thing she wants to focus on now. The hunger was
intensifying and she must satisfy the hunger aching inside her, consuming her,
devouring her and controlling her.

The brief feast she had strengthened her slightly, she was
ravenous but her hunger has not been quenched. The virus was demanding
satisfaction. She could have fed longer, earlier, but she had been careless, and
killed him too quickly in her haste. The blood and tissue were still thickening
on her lips. She licked her fingers at the thought.

She suddenly smiles as she sees one lone man running toward
her on the path she walks.

She must have him. She quickly lies across the path and
begins to whimper. She listens as his pounding feet slow, she smiles slightly.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” the man says as he slows and
bends over her.

It is over in a minute as she goes straight for his throat.
Oh so sweet and delicious. She moves down to his thigh and buttocks savoring the
sweet meat, juicy fats and running blood before his heart stops completely.

He is still convulsing when she stops and rises.

Her senses are awakening now and there is more food just a
few yards away. An old woman and man are walking slowly through the night. She
can smell them as age and deterioration break their bodies down.

She moves toward the smell of decay.

She is the hunter.

****

Nurse Bentley was trying to finish her shift in the ICU.
She had a hot late date with Dr. Hottie Pottatie, tonight, at midnight. He
reserved a table at Pelerines’ for a late night cap. She knew tonight would be
the night.

Though they had been dating for four months now, they had
not yet taken it to the next level, S. E. X.

It had started flirtatious enough, eye contact, a
smoldering smile. He was the type of man who
did
want it all. He had
worked all his life toward his goal, to be a brain surgeon, and now he wanted to
find a wife. And that tickled her to the core. And more importantly, he was
sensitive to the fact that her husband had died just over a year ago. He was the
complete package and she knew she would be a fool to let him slip away.

Mr. Hottie Pottatie would have to wait though. Right now,
she had to make her rounds and make sure everyone was sleeping comfortably. She
also had to give her patients their meds. She was getting impatient. There was
too much to do before she could run to the locker room and change into something
a little ‘less comfortable’. She giggled at the thought.

She could hardly contain her excitement as she headed down
the hall. That excitement quickly died when she saw that one of her patients was
not in his bed. That was odd; he was suffering from some strange illness from
some sort of bite-infected wound, was heavily restrained and sedated. 

But, he wasn’t in the bed. In fact he wasn’t in the room at
all.

The IV was lying on the floor; the restraints were gone,
yanked right from the bed rail.

Rolling her eyes and cursing her luck nurse Bentley went
searching for her patient.

****

Jana and Dillon ran in the coroners building. The officer
on duty, Bill had his nose buried deep in the newspaper. As they rushed in, Bill
looked up. “Dr. Jones? Uh, Dr. Davis said for you to go right down, Autopsy room
16. Take the stairs, then down the hall, door should be open.” They were given
directions and ran downstairs to the coroners’ room that held the body.

As they were heading down the darkened hall they saw light
spilling from the opened door.

Cautiously Dillon approached the door first. He pushed it
slightly and peered inside. His hand went out to hold Jana back when he saw the
blood splatter on the walls, the bed and the pool on the floor. They were too
late.

Dillon drew his weapon and Jana did the same. Slowly Dillon
entered the autopsy room and in full Seal stance quickly sighted the room. There
was no one else in the room save for the coroner.

Dr. Dave Davis was lying on the floor drenched in blood;
his throat had been ripped out viciously as evident by the blood splatter. He
was clearly dead as his sightless eyes stared into oblivion. Dillon holstered
his pistol and drew his long knife. He felt the coroner’s forehead, it was still
warm.

“I’d say he’s been dead no more than 20 minutes. She’s on
the move Jana.”

“We don’t have much time then. We can’t wait for him to
re-animate, we have to do it now.”

Jana pulled her dagger from its sheath on her thigh and
knelt just above his head. She raised it high in the air and plunged it into his
eye. “No automation for you Dr. Davis.”

They moved through the coroner’s office searching for notes
that he may have left behind.  Finding nothing but the cassette tape, Dillon
pocketed it and they headed back into the hallway. They searched the lower floor
and found the exit door propped open, the sides covered in bloody handprints.
They went outside and found nothing but a path that led through 1 city block of
walking trails. They exited 1 block over and seeing nothing ran back to the
morgue to get their vehicle.

Once again inside Dillon shut the exit door and they took
the stairs back to the first floor. Before they headed out Jana stopped at the
front desk, “Did anyone leave here through the front door in the last half
hour?”

She watched as the night watchman shook his head ‘no’ and
said, “Lock the building down. Are you armed? Don’t let anyone in except for
police. No dead people, no one from the hospital. Understand?”

Jana waited until he nodded in understanding.

“You have family?” Another nod, “go home then, don’t let
anyone in. There is a very contagious virus and it is spreading rapidly. It is
very deadly, understand?”

Just then the scanner squeaked to life, ‘All units, all
units, delusional woman attacking elderly couple on 5
^th
and 12
^th
.
And get this guys, she’s ripping the flesh off their bodies. Crazy night in
junk-town. All available units to the area. We got a live one.”

And with that Jana was gone.

Bob the security officer folded his paper and stood up,
shaking his head in utter confusion. ‘A very contagious virus? What the hell
does that mean, and where is Dr. Davis?” Bob said out loud to the empty
reception area.