DEAD FACTIONS - the Zombie War Narratives - a Novella (11 page)

Patrick is confused, but he is more certain now than ever…the doc is nuts!

Patrick moves further away from the Doctor as Tonya and Corey return to the jeep. They climb inside and make their way back to camp. On the way back, Tonya realizes her fondness for Corey has grown. She has never felt love for another, not in the way one feels for a boyfriend. Sadly, as a child Tonya only held Arnie (her stuffed toy cat) for emotional support since adult hugs were rare. Arnie was a small symbol of normalcy for Tonya…no matter how dysfunctional normalcy was for her before the infection.

Tonya's thoughts rapidly disappear to the sound of gunfire. The four return to the battle between the survivors and the attacking zombie pack. “Let’s show them how it's done! Drop me off here! Since I eliminated their sneak attack, we will do one of our own. Andrew’s group has them from the front; we will hit them from the sides. Tonya, circle around the back of the city and park on the other side of this street across from me. Once there I will signal you when to move.”

Tonya, with a blank stare, “Corey!  Gas…!”

Not waiting for the jeep to stop completely, Corey jumps out yelling, “GO! GO! GO!”

“DAMN IT!” Tonya immediately heads around the back of the city as Corey directed, eyes plastered to the fuel gauge. 

She reaches her post on fumes and the gas needle well below “E”…“MEN! They NEVER listen!” She jumps from the jeep grabbing her handguns, “Patrick you know the drill...stay here and watch this one.”

Patrick grows tired of being the Doctor’s baby sitter, “Why don't YOU stay here with him?  He's a freaking whack job!”

Tonya looks across to Corey and gets the signal to move. “You are 17 Patrick...Deal with it!”

She immediately lowers herself and takes cover behind a newspaper stand. Left of the zombies, Corey ducts behind a tree that has some remnants of landscaped shrubbery around it. He looks to determine which of his enemies have the better weapon. Those are the ones to be taken out first. His eye catches movement across the way where Tonya is. He cannot totally see what is happening; the stand she is behind obscures the view. He initially wants to fire a nail at the jeep to get Patrick's attention since he is closer to Tonya, but Patrick is also just out of sight. Besides, even if he could be seen...the jeep is way out of range of the nail gun. So Corey decides to detour the attention away from him so he can get over to her. As he stays low, dodging friendly fire, he shoots at the zombies closest to him.  The zombies respond and move left, away from Tonya's position. Corey stops halfway just behind a food truck. He looks toward Tonya’s direction and while he cannot see her, he hears her cry out. He panics and cannot wait any longer. He runs, fearing he will find a zombie fighting Tonya. Once there, he finds a body crouched over a wiggling Tonya, trying to break free. Corey aims and pulls the trigger on his altered drill assuming it will fire one of the nails from the strip dangling in front, but it doesn't…the battery is dead. Tonya's attacker notices Corey and quickly delivers a blow to the side of his head. Corey drops to the ground stunned and tries to crawl away, but is picked up and tossed in the air, landing on his back. He tries to focus to see his attacker but his vision is temporarily blurred. Now Corey wishes Patrick was not such a follower, but the kid is just doing what he is told.

"Hey! Asshole! What?  Don't remember me?” The bleared figure is unrecognizable.

Corey desperately feels around for something he can use as a weapon.

“Yeah, I'm kinda surprised you came to help your girlfriend out...when you left ME behind! How did you so eloquently put it? Oh, that's right. He's done, we gotta keep moving.”

Corey does not have to see him now...he knows, “Aaron, look man there was nothing we could do. You were covered with them. Shit, if you would have just kept running and not stopped to fight them, we wouldn't be having this discussion.”

Aaron kicks Corey in his side. “Shut up! I'M talking, you arrogant asshole. Karma’s a bitch! THIS time I do the infecting and you can’t run away!” Aaron walks toward Tonya.

The firing continues between humans and zombies.  Corey thinks quickly,
“Andrew’s group is going to have to do the work.”

He gathers himself and staggers over to Aaron to push him away from a battered Tonya lying on the ground.  Corey catapults Aaron into the open, away from the protection of the large newspaper stand. Aaron is shocked by Corey’s power.  He moves to retaliate and his head jerks abruptly to the right...following the blood trail that explodes from the side of his head. Andrew and his gang did their job!

Corey rushes over to check on Tonya. He looks her over to see if she has been bitten...Tonya is somewhat cognizant and gathers what Corey is doing, “I’m not bitten, just beaten.” She begins to laugh hysterically, “It sounds like a country song doesn't it? (singing)
I'm not bitten…I’m just beaten
.” she begins to laugh.

“You have got to stay quiet, we are so close...”

Tonya searches Corey’s face, “Close? Close to…what?

Corey looks down at her still lying on the ground, “Close to the Zombies...but the firing has stopped. Let’s get back to the jeep.”

Tonya’s heart sinks. She was afraid that was what he meant.

Patrick sits up and is concerned when he sees Corey helping Tonya back to the jeep. Corey makes sure she gets in on the passenger side.

“What happened?” Patrick checks Tonya out from the backseat.

“The same shit that happens everyday...we take risks hoping to better our situation. It's not better but it's definitely not our time to die.” Corey gets behind the wheel and turns the key…nothing.  Tonya clears her throat. Corey, refusing to look at her, rests his head on the steering wheel, “Don’t say it!”

Patrick looks over at Richards and says, “Hey Doc! How’s your genius look now?”

Patrick directs his attention to Corey, “What’s the plan?”

Corey, with his head on the wheel, “We stay here until the firing stops.  There aren’t many zombies left…and then we walk.”

The sun begins to set and an hour has passed since the last gunfire. Andrew sees the four returning to camp on foot; Tonya appears injured. Running to meet them, he calls out, “Hey! Is she ok? She’s not bitten is she?”

Corey carrying a closed-eyed Tonya, “No, just banged up a bit. Can we borrow a tent or something? She needs to rest.”

Andrew points in an area behind the weapons where a small group of tents is setup. Corey walks looking for an unoccupied tent.

Andrew says, “I guess I owe you a thank you. Whatever you guys did behind the zombies definitely spooked them. They came out of their positions and we took them out one by one. Pop-Pop-Pop! It was beautiful!

Corey continues towards the tents. Andrew tries to catch him, “Hey, we need to talk about these weapons man.”

Corey with Tonya still in his arms, just does not care, “They are yours.  They are more trouble than they are worth. Trust me!” Patrick nods in agreement as he shoves the Doctor to follow Corey.

Corey lays Tonya down on a cot. He sits and takes in a moment to do absolutely nothing. It was nice to have a moment of silence, a moment of not having to make an instant decision.  He feels his body give into the ache. The soreness of several hard days is now making its presence known. He removes his weapon bag so that he can lay back and rest.  The weight of the drill reminds him that it is out of power.  He rummages around in the bag to find more batteries. He slowly switches the batteries out and wonders how much juice is left in these spares.

“Corey?” Tonya asks in a raspy voice.

“Yeah?” Corey expects more nonsense.

“Who's Tara?”

Corey becomes aggravated…Tonya has invaded his privacy.  His resentment is numbed. He thinks back and begins to relive the moment, the moment he found her lying in the bed. It was just before the infection was detected...about a year ago. He came home from school and walked into her room.

“She was my mother.”

Tonya sits up with her hand over her heart, “Corey, I'm so sorry. I should have never...”

He interrupts her, “It's OK. Let's just forget about it. There is enough in this overturned world to keep my mind off it. But I have to admit, some days I wake up wondering if she was right. Maybe that is the only way out. That is why I hold on to the letter.”

Tonya shakes her head, concerned, “No, no, no...Come here, trust me it is not.”

Corey turns and embraces Tonya but he is unable to cry. They then look at each other, for her it was a moment of feeling something new...feeling close. She senses something new in him, his closeness to his mother, hanging on to his mother’s last words.  This endeared him to her even more.  For Corey, he wanted to care more, but was unable to at this moment. His head was still a complex place. 

Still holding each other, they find themselves coming close, Tonya’s eyes close. A loud commotion is heard outside. Corey gets up reluctantly, thinking it is probably Patrick and the Doctor having another disagreement. Tonya sits up, eyes blinking in disbelief,
“We almost had a moment, why does he feel compelled to get involved in everything?”

“Where are you, you breather?!?” is heard from outside.

A Zly rummages through idle stacks of gathered supplies. Corey stands to hear more. “Show yourself!  I know you are here.” Others come out to see what is going on.

“What do you want FREAK?!” Corey says with annoyance.

The Zly turns towards Corey. “You!” Corey again sees the insignia; the Zly is etched with the Amity tattoo.

“Shit Thomas!” Corey twists his head from side to side incredulous at the realization. It
was
Thomas they watched attack the government troops and it was Thomas the Zlys called out to as “Master”.

Since their last meeting, there had been incidents that echoed “Thomas!” in Corey’s head.  He fought the thought and hoped that something along the way had finally stopped Thomas. Corey should have listened…it was only natural for Thomas to become so evil…after all he had finally become the supreme warrior that he admired.  Corey’s two failures at killing Thomas would make the feat harder than ever.  He would need all the strength he had been gaining…their next clash might be epic.    

Thomas leaps and lands shoving Corey backwards. The two slide against the loose rubble for several yards. Thomas quickly jumps up lifting an unarmed Corey, smacking him across the face with his large claw. He then jumps and completes a roundhouse kick to Corey's chest knocking him down a hill. Thomas moves to the edge to watch Corey tumble down until he stops...then looks further and takes a step back. Corey on his knees looks at his armband, asking himself is this the time? He then looks up to Thomas standing at the top of the hill. However, Thomas is focused on what is just beyond Corey and retreats.

Corey is pissed, “Come back Thomas!  When did you ever retreat before? You've turned into an infected pussy! Get back here,
damn it
!”

Corey stands and thinks to himself,
“When will it ever end?”
  Then he senses it...he does not want to turn around. He just does not want to know, but he has few options. He cannot scale the hill; the ground is too loose. He looks over his shoulder and sees a spaceship fighter with three Swarm warriors standing in front of it, waiting for Corey to acknowledge them.

“I'm guessing you guys probably don't speak English? Heh?! Comprende? No?” Corey frowns, mockingly. As the Swarm spreads and begins to encircle him, Corey remembers he has a pocketknife. He pulls it out, flips it open and breaks the vial. Corey looks down to feel the sizzle in his veins and drops the knife. The Swarm has him surrounded and connects their staffs with the electric charge as seen before. Corey looks up and his eyes are fully dilated...dark as night. He immediately attacks the Swarm warrior in front of him. Grabbing the staff with one hand and snapping its neck with his other hand. He turns suddenly with the dead Swarm hand still on the trigger. He squeezes its hand to fire the staff at the other two aliens before they can react. He shatters their bio-organic armor with multiple detonations from the foreign weapon. All three aliens lie dead.

Corey drops to his knees and with his hands in front, palms up. His first experience under the evolving chemical experiment going on inside him is draining. Dr. Richards slides down the hill making his way to Corey with a syringe in one had and a small case in the other. Tonya and Patrick quickly follow. “It’s normal for you to feel exhaustion the first several times when you are exposed to the transformed infection.” The Doctor holds up the shot flicking it.

“What do you mean transformed?” Corey's speech is a bit slurred.

“I have exposed you to a drug that works with the infection to aid in heightened strength, instinct and response time…some of which you have experienced anyway without being under complete exposure to the mutation.”  Richards attaches replacement vials on Corey’s armband as he continues to explain, “This drug also helps to minimize the negative effects of the bite…well, not completely, but it does slow them down.”

Corey tries to wrap his head around what he has just been told. “In English?”

The Doctor smiles as he injects Corey with about half of the drug in the syringe. “OK, well, think of it as the administration of insulin to a diabetic.  What I am giving you now is just a booster. The longer you go without the vial...the closer you are to transforming mentally and physically into what you now know as Thomas, but you will be indestructible my good man.” Corey does not like what he hears. He pushes the Doctor away and walks past him.

Corey still staggering a bit, goes over to one of the dead Swarm warriors. He picks up the staff and begins to cut its hand off at mid arm. Once done he grabs it and makes his way to the ship carrying the hand and the battle staff. He does not even try to turn around...simply asks as he briskly walks away, “Are you guys coming?” The three grab their belongings and hurry to the ship.  The Doctor makes use of the left over drug.  He quickly thumps his own vein and injects himself.  Patrick and Tonya observe the injection with dissatisfaction.