Determined To Live (28 page)

Jake stares out the
window for a few very long minutes before he walks across the room
and pushes a couple chairs near the window. He motions for me to sit
and I do. He sits in the chair next to me, leans forward putting his
arms on the wide ledge of the window, and presses his forehead
against the glass. Finally he speaks.

"My parents
were great parents. They gave me and Greg everything we wanted and
needed. Of course Dad never beat us." He stops and just watches
the remains of his parents as they stumble around.

"They didn't
know what I was up to. They thought I had started working with the
military on my own, by my own choice. But they had no idea of the
experiments, the zombies, I had made. Then I went to visit them about
a year ago. I needed their help. I wanted new subjects to work on
right here, mine not the military's. So I went and picked them up
late one night after all their nosy old neighbors had gone to sleep.
No one knew about this place. Just me and my employees.

"Greg had
gotten cancer and we were told he wouldn't make it. I had already
experimented on other terminally ill cancer patients by injecting
them with the zombie formula. The cancer would disappear. But if they
didn't get the antidote regularly, they would become zombies too
and―"

"Antidote!
There's an antidote? As in, you stop being a zombie?"

"If you would
let me finish I'll tell you, damn it!" I lean back and do my
best to wait patiently, but he skips around so much I want to scream
and beat the information out of him.
As
if that could happen.

"The military
- before they got stupid and stole my formula and then blocked me
from my own experiments - had sent me to several of the armories so
that I could deliver the antidote to protect the men who work there.
That's how I knew where the armories were. I left vials with green
liquid at the armories, but it wasn't the antidote. I'm not going to
waste my precious antidote on anyone else. I also collected keys for
each armory and made note of where all the weapons were stored, and
as much as the layout of the building I could get access to, I
memorized.

"Now...the
antidote doesn't help you if you're already a zombie, it only helps
to prevent you from becoming one if you're injected or bit. I'm still
working on that. But you have to have the injection weekly. Greg's
week is up. His week was up yesterday. He'll soon be a full zombie if
he isn't already, which means your family is, or soon will be, just
like him."

Jake stares at me
with his stupid grin. The panic becomes overwhelming; the terror and
fear I feel is painful.

I gasp out, "Call
them." Knowing he won't, but that doesn't stop me from begging.
I only want my family safe.
Alive.

Jake shakes his
head slowly while he looks at me with a serious expression, his eyes
intently on my own.

"I don't think
I will. They'll kill my brother, if they're still alive anyway. No
point in all that shit is there?"

Then Jake reaches
over to a nearby desk, opens one of the side drawers and pulls out a
vial and a syringe. The vial matches the ones he had hidden in his
backpack. He slides the syringe into the top of the vial and pulls up
on the plunger and dark green liquid fills the glass tube. I'm
terrified that he might inject me with the stuff, but he inserts the
needle into his own arm and presses down on the plunger.

I watch in sick
fascination as the vial empties and Jake's appearance almost
immediately becomes healthier looking. Gone are the dark circles
around his eyes and the pure white tone to his skin where it wasn't
flushed with red transforms into the healthy glow from before he
started getting sick. Even his hair looks healthier.

"Jake?"

"Yeah, I was
bit. My lovely mama bit me." Then he turns his body and raises
his shirt. Right on the meaty side of his back, just above his hip,
is a scarred bite mark that I have never noticed before.

He turns back
around and my eyes flash up to his.
Oh
my god! He's a zombie! I've been
raped
by a freaking zombie!

"Jake,
you're...you're a
zombie
?"
My voice is shrill with fear, disgust, and shock.

"I'm not a
zombie, you idiot. Do I look or act like one? No! If I don't take
this stuff,
then
I'll become one. But I'm
not
a damn zombie."

To me, he's a
zombie. I always thought an antidote completely cured a person. Maybe
I'm wrong, god knows I'm not an expert on this shit, but it doesn't
really matter because as far as I'm concerned, he's a damn zombie.

"Now, watch
this. Jake presses a button on the wall beside the window. A loud
buzzer sounds and a portion of the metal opens in the arena wall
downstairs. A woman comes racing out. But she's not alive - she's a
runner.

"That's
Brianna, a friend of Jordan's. Isn't she beautiful?"

Um, maybe if it
weren't for the whole rotting corpse thing!

"She was my
first zombie. The very first. I believe the longer they're zombies
the faster they become. My parents just won't speed up, so I'm
thinking the age when they die may have something to do with it too."

"So when you
saw all the Runners before, your terrified reaction was all an act?
You already knew?"

"Well, sort
of. I thought Brie was the only fast one. I thought there was just
something about her that enabled her to do it. I had no idea there
were more, but like I explained before, the military had been doing
their own experiments - and from the amount coming from Nebraska, I
think I can safely say that that is where they started the turnings."

I watch as Brianna
runs, stops, runs, stops.
Do
they know how to walk anymore?
Can
they walk anymore?

"I think
that's enough information for now. Let's go back in the house."
He grabs my arms and pulls me up. It's dark outside and I hear
moaning from undead mouths which I assume belong to the captured
zombies in the open arena. But when Jake steps in front of me and
watches the wooded area to our right, I realize this mountain may not
be as safe and zombie-free as I had thought. Sure enough, an undead
man walks out and Jake shoots him. More moans get closer and Jake
rushes us up the porch stairs and inside the enclosed porch.

We sit in patio
chairs and watch as several zombies emerge from the woods. Suddenly I
hear Jake gasp and his chair crashes against the wooden floor as he
stands and rushes out of the porch and back toward the building,
dodging undead as he goes. He goes past the building instead of
inside. I stand and move where I can see better and I'm shocked when
I see Vicki just strolling along from the back woods toward Jake's
house. She's listening to music and has her ears covered by the
headphones. A huge male zombie is coming right up behind her, gaining
on her because she's spending more time dancing than walking.

I can hear Jake
scream her name but she can't. Finally, she looks up and sees Jake
running toward her, waving his arms. Her face breaks out in a big
grin and she walks a little faster. Then she either turns off her
music or realizes Jake isn't playing, because she turns around just
as the zombie reaches for her.

He grabs her by the
throat and picks her tiny body up, her feet high off the ground. He
brings her toward his wide-open mouth and her face is mere inches
when Jake arrives at the side of him, and shoots him in his head.
Vicki slams to the ground, screaming even though her throat has got
to be killing her. Jake gathers her up in his arms and runs as hard
and fast as he can back to the porch. He makes it halfway up the
stairs before the bottom is full of zombies.

I open the porch
door for them and wait for him to set her in a chair. Then I pull a
chair close to her and check her throat. She cries hysterically the
entire time, and I wince at how much it has got to hurt her already
raw throat. Jake goes inside and gets her a glass of cold water. I
hold her and try to calm her down.

After a good
fifteen minutes or so, her cries turn into hiccups and she relaxes
more into my arms. I ask Jake to help me get her inside, away from
the sounds of the zombies. He carries her to the living room sofa and
I follow. She doesn't say a single word the entire time.

But Jake sits in
one of the chairs across from us, and in a gentle but firm tone, asks
her why she was out in the dark by herself? Why wasn't she paying
attention, knowing full-well of the danger?

It takes her
awhile, but she finally answers that she had been looking for Nick,
but couldn't tell us why she was listening to music instead of
listening and watching for zombies.

"Nick? Where
the hell
is
Nick? You were all supposed to be at home, safe and locked up tight.
Where
is Nick, Vicki?" Jake's tone has become harsh and angry.

"He said he
was coming here to talk to you. Haven't you seen him?" Vicki's
eyes widen as she realizes Nick must have run into the zombies too.

Jake swears and
leaves the room abruptly. Vicki turns her terror-filled eyes to me
and asks me if
I
had seen Nick.

"No Vicki, I
haven't." I tell her as I shake my head.

She gasps just
before she bursts into tears again. I hold her until Jake comes back
in...without Nick, and Jake is pissed.

He paces back and
forth, stomping and seething. He runs his hand roughly over his head
several times. When he kicks a small log table across the room, Vicki
and I both jump and she lets out a squeal. I squeeze her tighter to
me, afraid of what Jake might do.

He's been mumbling
to himself, but the words are too low to make out. Once he really
gets into it, the words get louder. "Stupid kids! All of them!
Stupid! I never should have let them come here. First Kris, now Nick,
and almost Vicki. Just stupid! Should have just saved us the trouble
and turned them into zombies in the beginning instead of waiting."

My mouth drops in
shock and Vicki gasps again.

"Jake! You
wouldn't do that," I say to bring his attention to the fact that
Vicki had heard and needs reassurance that he's just mad and not
thinking straight. But his slap across my face, which slams my head
into Vicki's own face and bloodies her nose, makes it clear to both
of us that he's absolutely serious.

Vicki screams in
pain and holds her nose, her eyes wide with fear. Jake doesn't
apologize to her, and you already know he won't to me either. He
bends down in front of Vicki and grabs a handful of her hair, jerks
her head back, and gets right in her face.

With spit flying
and spraying us both, he says in a low growl, "Yes, that's
right. The whole plan was that you would all be turned into zombies,
but it wasn't
my
idea.
I
didn't want you here! If it hadn't been for Jordan's begging and
pleading til it drove me fucking nuts, you wouldn't be. Speaking of
Kris, do you know how she became a zombie, Vicki?"

"She...she was
bit," Vicki answers in a terrified weak voice.

Jake grins an evil
grin and shakes his head slowly. "Sorry, Sunshine. Kris never
got bit. Kris was injected. Your big sister was the one who wanted
you all turned into zombies. She couldn't wait to get to you, but she
wanted to save you for last, kind of like desert. You know, save the
best for last?"

Vicki's eyes grow
even wider and she shakes her head from side to side as much as she
can with Jake still holding tight to her hair. "Jordan wouldn't
do that. She wouldn't!"

A voice from behind
us speaks up, startling all but Jake. "Oh yes I would. You loved
Nick, he loved Kris, and Kris loved Jake. No one was happy. And of
course, we needed zombies. Simple solution for everyone. You three
are put out of your love-miseries and we get our zombies. Perfect!"

Jake's grin gets
even bigger at Vicki's increased shock and fear.
I'm
not doing much better.
Jordan moves in front of us and her grin matches Jake's almost
perfectly. She rests her hand on his right shoulder, then glares at
me.

"Jake, your
"
wife
"
needs to go. Her and Vicki would make excellent zombies for your
collection."

"No,"
Vicki whispers to her older sister. "Jordan, I love you. I'm
your little sister, why would you do this?"

Jordan laughs, but
says nothing. Jake looks at me and Vicki for a long time before he
says anything.

"As much as I
hate to say it, you're right, Jordan. Canada will never be happy with
me, and Vicki's going to be a problem now."

"Jake! I
thought you loved me," Vicki sobs.

"Vicki, I'm
not sure I love anyone. Only Jordan understands that, and doesn't
expect anything from me."