Dead Hunger II: The Gem Cardoza Chronicle (31 page)

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“Do you think they’ll mind this one?”  She ran into the office and came back holding another one she’d done that morning.  She put it on the picnic table.

In it was a man, clearly with a goatee, a woman with straight, long dark hair, and a little blonde girl.  They were surrounded by hearts and yellow flowers.  The hearts were flying all around them, and the flowers grew all around their feet as though they stood in a field of wildflowers.

“This is Uncle Flexy, you and me,” she said.  “The hearts are love flying off us.”

I couldn’t speak.   I looked at the picture and tears came to my eyes. 

“Gemmy, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, sweetheart.  It’s beautiful.  Why would you worry that your mommy and daddy and Jesse would mind?”

“This is you, Gemmy.  You’re my new mommy.  And Uncle Flexy is my new daddy.  And I love you both so much I don’t want them to think I don’t love them, too.”

That was it.  I pulled that sweet child into my arms and held her so tight I was afraid I’d break her in two.  She wrapped her little arms around me and put her cheek against mine.

“I love you so much, Gemmy.”

“I love you back, Trini.”

“Are you my mommy now?”

“Yes, baby.  You were exactly right about that, and no, your mommy wouldn’t mind.  None of them would.  They only want us to take care of you.”

“You are, I knew it!” she said.  She kissed my lips and said right into my face.  “I love you, mommy.”

“Oh, baby,” I said, my tears coming faster.

“Why are you crying?” she asked me, wiping my face with her little hands.

“Because I love you so much I can’t stand it.  And your pictures – both of them – have made me so happy.”

She leaned forward to whisper in my ear.  “Mommy, can we shoot today?  Me and Taylor?  With my little gun?”

“I know
you
can,” I said.  “I’ll check with
Taylor
’s mommy.”

“Everyone has a mommy,” said Trina, her eyes and her mouth both involved in her beautiful smile. 

“Even the puppies,” I said.  “They’ve got Bunsen.”

“They love her, too,” said Trina.  “Can we hang these up?”

“I’d like the one of the three of us in my room.  Is that okay?”

“Really?”

“Yes.  Really.”

Her smile said it all to me.  I couldn’t have felt more protective over a child if she were my own.  I’d never felt such a feeling in my life, and my heart swelled.

Trina leaned close to me, her little mouth beside my ear again.  “Do you think Uncle Flexy will care if I call him daddy?”

Okay.  My heart just swelled a bit more.  “No, Trini.  I’m sure it’s going to make him as happy as you’ve made me.  Try him.”

I rested the palm of my hand on my stomach.  I hadn’t gotten my period yet, and I was beginning to believe that there might be life inside of me.  If it went on another couple of days, I’d have to tell the others.

I hoped it was life. 
God, let it be life
.  If there was a baby growing inside of me, please let it be immune.

And suddenly my joy was tinged with fear, and I felt sure it was a good thing that I hadn’t gotten gassed by the dead bitch in the lab.  That could have frightening unknown effects on a fetus, and a mystery to which I’d just as soon never have the answer.

*****

Hemp headed inside the permanent lab the moment he finished eating.  Charlie joined him.  They wore their masks in, and it was a good thing.  The female test subject on the gurney, which nobody had attended to since our encounter, was still up against the wall where Flex had pushed her.

Hemp checked the digital recording that had run all night, and that was still transmitting to the monitor outside, where Flex, Cyn and I watched.  Hemp stopped the recording and restarted it to create a new digital video file.

We understood immediately; no sense in having to search hours of video for a particular point.  Clearly, Hemp wanted to keep a video record of all his tests from this point on.

The rotter’s body and head were still strapped down, so she was unable to see Hemp and Charlie across the room, but as they approached the gurney and came into her line of sight, the vapor started again, in spades.  It billowed pinkish-red, and they spread a sheet over her as you might cover a parrot’s cage to keep it from squawking.

It worked, but not completely.  The moment she lost visual sight of them, the strange gas dwindled to an amount that wouldn’t be a threat unless you were right over her.

“She can’t see us anymore, but without the BSNs on she can still smell us,” said Hemp.  “So the vapor continues.”

His voice was very muffled through the mask, but we understood his point. 

Flex yelled, “Why don’t you work in the mobile lab until that stuff dissipates?”

“Good idea,” said Hemp.  “Charlie?”

She nodded, and they gathered their supplies, as well as the video gear, and brought it out, removing their masks.

Once out, Hemp put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder.  “I need to go back in for a moment, but please don’t worry.  I’ve been voluntarily vapored for the last time.  I need a sample.”

“What –” Charlie began.

“It’s safe,” said Hemp.  “Hold on one second.

He lowered his mask and went back into the lab without closing the door.  He walked to a drawer, withdrew a plastic cylinder with a lid, and a scalpel from inside.  Lifting only a corner of the sheet to expose the thing’s arm, he cut a clean chunk of meat from it.

The mutant didn’t react at all.  Hemp dropped the chunk of dead flesh into his sample bottle, then poked his patient in several locations with the tip of the scalpel.

No response.  He nodded his head, then came back out.  He pulled off his mask.

“I don’t know why, but I never really tried testing pain thresholds.  It makes perfect sense.  All the pain nerves are dead.  When we shoot them, they only stop momentarily because of the velocity of the rounds.  As for pain, there is none.”

“What about the head shots?” asked Flex.

“I don’t believe there’s any pain associated with that, either.  But I do believe . . .”  His mind had gone somewhere else, and I think we all saw it. 

“What, Hemp?” I asked.

“I need her brain.”

“No way,” said Charlie.  “Hemp.”

“I’m sorry, but I do.  I’ll wait until I analyze this,” he said, holding up the bottle containing the zombie meat.  “But I’m pretty certain I need to find out what happens inside the brain.  Aside from the EEG readout I’ve got.  I know what they fear and desire, and even what they’re self-aware of, but I don’t know how the brain has changed chemically.”

“You’re the genius,” said Flex.  “Just nothing stupid, Hemp.  You’re going to need stupid move approval from us before you pull any bullshit again.”

“Understood.”

“You’d better understand,” said Charlie, giving him a very solid punch in the arm.  Hemp rubbed it, half-smiling at her.

Since they’d be working in the mobile lab, if we wanted to come in and watch, there’d be no concern with the vapor from our resident zombie.  That was just fine with me.  I didn’t want to have anything more to do with those fucks unless I was putting lead into their brains, or watching them get decapitated by saw blades.

I have to explain that statement – I don’t enjoy watching things die and I don’t enjoy killing things.  But since these particular things are essentially dead already, it’s easy to justify.  To me it’s no different than hitting road kill with my car after the fact.  They’re already dead, so I can remain guilt-free.

Cyn, Flex and I followed Hemp and Charlie inside the converted motor home and sat
on
the comfortable sofas and the captain’s chairs watching them work.

“I’ve got a lot of questions yet to answer,” said Hemp.  “The first is the reanimation capability of the gas emitting from the Earth.  I’ve still got more of it, and if we can find a small rodent, I’d like to test it to see what effect the gas has on them.  It’s my immediate opinion, based on what we’ve seen heretofore, that this only affects humans.”

“Why?” asked Flex.  “Why us and no other mammals?”

“We have no idea about sea life,” said Hemp.  “Except that the gas may deplete oxygen in the water, accounting for all the dead fish we saw in the freshwater pond.  I didn’t observe any reanimated fish or any live ones in the water at all, so oxygen depletion is likely what killed them.”

“Could the fish in the ocean be affected in the same way?” asked Charlie.

“I sincerely hope not,” said Hemp.  “Sea life will be a major source of food for survivors.  Without man interfering and killing land animals, they should flourish.  The same can be assumed for fish and other sea creatures, so long as the oxygen isn’t depleted, killing them all. 
In theory, s
e
a
mammals
should
be fine with regard to breathing, but they feed on the fish, so they’d die, too.”

“I never really gave much thought to all the details of continuing to live,” I said.  “The food on the shelves isn’t going to last forever.”

“No, you’re eventually going to have to grow vegetables, fruit.  Learn how to process them to make other things.  Even if this thing were to go away tomorrow, there would be many steps to take in order to rebuild a functioning society.”

“Yeah,” said Flex.  “And a lot of the skills to do those things aren’t among the talents the average person out there has.”

“Anyway,” said Hemp.  “The first thing I want to do is use a high-powered video microscope to analyze the flesh from our friend in there.  It’s one of the pieces of equipment Max thought to bring.”

“What do you gain?” asked Flex.

“The abnormals are dead,” said Hemp.  “No blood flow, no pain nerves, nothing.  In living humans it works like this, and you may already know some of it.  The blood carries within it oxygen and nutritive substances, including metabolites, to all parts of the body.  Not only does it supply the tissue and organs with all they need to flourish, it also removes waste products from body to the kidneys and other organs of excretion.  Blood is life.”

“So absent blood – or circulating blood – how on earth could these things move around?” I asked.

“It should be impossible,” said Hemp.  “But clearly it’s not.  And the reason it’s not is either not from this earth or formed so deeply within the planet that we’ve never seen it before.  The more I think about it, the more I reach the conclusion that a fissure in the planet’s core is the only possible origination point of this gas.”

“And the brain?” asked Charlie.  “How could it be involved without the ability to send signals to the extremities telling them what to do through the blood?”

Hemp looked perplexed for a moment.  “I learned early on that there is no liquid blood running through the abnormals’ bodies.  There is clearly fluid in the cranial cavity, because when we shoot them we can see it spraying out.  But it’s not blood, even though it’s got the red color we associate with blood.  It’s more red-black, which means it’s a mix of various fluids.  I already have a sample of it from Jamie.”

“Did you learn anything from that?” I asked.

“Yes and no.  Nothing conclusive.  I didn’t have this microscope when I withdrew it from Jamie, and I still haven’t run it.  But now that I’m going to be testing your blood, which should contain some elements of the vapor that knocked you out, I can analyze samples of all of them at once.  So I don’t have many answers for you yet.  It’s going to take a bit.”

“It’s early,” I said.  “Hey, Cyn.  Trina wants to do some shooting today.  Can
Taylor
start her training?”

Cynthia’s face hid nothing.  I’m thinking she was anti-gun
in her former life
.  That shit would have to change
, and not just where she was concerned, but for
Taylor
, too
.  She wouldn’t have to worry about who to vote for
in the next presidential election
, but she would have to know how to kill things, and her daughter better have some idea, too.  This could literally be going on forevermore, and starting early would possibly ensure her long-term survival.

“Gem, she’s only 8.”

“Yes, and Trina’s only just turned 7 now,” I said.  “She needs to learn.  It can’t start too early.  Tiger Woods would not have become the golfer he was had his father not gotten him out on the course as soon as the kid could walk.”

“It’s for her protection, Cyn,” said Flex.  “Seriously.  She needs to become confident and proficient with at least a rifle.”

Cyn sighed.  “I’d prefer a small rifle,” she said.  “She’s less likely to be able to shoot herself with a rifle, right?”

“We’re going to teach them proper use of firearms, safety measures, A to Z.  She’ll never hold one unattended unless all of us – you, Gem, Hemp, everyone – feels she’s capable.  Fair enough?”  Flex smiled.

Cyn returned his smile, but it was less convincing.  “Okay,” she said.  “I’ll get in on it, too.  I know I need more practice.”