Into the Void (The Godhunter, Book 10) (18 page)

“
It's the Zombie Apocalypse!”

“
What the-?” I rolled out of bed and scrambled into my silk robe while someone who sounded like Aidan, pounded on my bedroom door.

“
I'm going to kill you, lion!” Trevor growled, going to the door fully naked and pulling it open without a thought to his nudity. It's funny how many of my men were like that.

Aidan stood in the doorway, fist lifted for another round of knocking, and gaped at Trevor.

“I... uh,” Aidan sputtered before whining, “but it really is the Zombie Apocalypse.”

“
Tima,” Fallon came up behind Aidan, cast a dismissive glance over Trevor's nudity, and looked over to me. “I take no joy from speaking these words but... Aidan is right. There seems to be a bit of a situation involving people who should be dead but aren't.”

“
No way,” I walked over to him. “I mean, the Aidan being right thing, not the undead situation. Undead are more likely.”

“
Hey,” Aidan gaped at me.

“
Vervain,” Azrael swept past the two Intare, his wings out in their full dark glory.

“
Az,” I went over to give him a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“
I brought the news,” he nodded to Fallon.

“
If I may?” Fallon indicated the sitting area with a wave of his hand and I nodded. He went over to the TV, turned it on, and then fiddled with the stations until he found the one he wanted. It was a news report.

I stared in horrified fascination as the scene switched from men behind a desk to show only a reporter on site. He was frantically waving behind him at a row of military vehicles, including several tanks that were blocking all the lanes of a bridge. To either side of the barricaded bridge, on the far bank of the river the bridge crossed, you could see homes, really nice homes.

“As you can see,” the reporter said with morbid glee, his eyes shining with barely suppressed excitement. “They have completely barricaded the entrance to the Hamptons.”

“
The Hamptons?” I gaped. “As in the Hamptons in New York?”

“
What other Hamptons are there?” Trevor looked at me briefly before returning his gaze back to the screen.

“
Yeah okay,” I sat down heavily on the couch positioned in front of the TV and continued to watch. The fireplace was at my back and although it helped to warm me, I was beginning to feel a chill.

“
All roads in and out of the Hamptons have been barricaded, the train service has been shut down, and the military has secured the shoreline all along the canal as well as posting ships all around this fork of Long Island. Government officials are tight-lipped about the situation but there are CDC vans pulling up even now so it's assumed to be some sort of an outbreak.”

The camera panned out to show CDC vans navigating the clog of traffic on the bridge. When it panned back again, there were more military vehicles running along the shoreline opposite of the barricaded area. They were making sure no one got out. In the background the tribal sound of helicopters pounded through the air.

“This is not good,” I mumbled.

“
Oh, here we go,” The reporter turned to a woman coming out of a tent which was set up near the line of military vehicles. “It looks like we're about to get another statement.”

The camera focused on a woman who appeared to be a civilian. She was dressed primly in a dark gray skirt suit, with her brown hair pulled back into a bun so tightly that her eyes behind their wire rimmed glasses looked a little angled. She stood before a rush of reporters with well-practiced ease.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” she blinked a little under the sudden brightness of camera lights. “I am Wendy McMahan from the CDC. As you can see, the CDC has just arrived to assess the situation. The contagion that has attacked the Hamptons spreads quickly, which is why we've determined that a quarantine is necessary but I assure you, the people in the Hamptons are under the best care and will soon be on their way to recovery. The quarantine is purely a precautionary measure, there is no reason to panic or concern yourselves about a further outbreak. The CDC will have a treatment plan worked out very shortly and then we will be reopening the roads once more. Yes, go ahead,” she pointed to one of the reporters.

“
Why is it limited to the Hamptons?”

“
We haven't discovered the source of the virus yet,” she replied calmly, “but as with any disease, there is always a ground zero, a location in which it originated. We were lucky here and found the origin quickly. This alone gives me confidence that we shall have the treatment for this disease shortly.”

“
How long until you expect to have a cure?”

“
I can't give you an estimate, as we haven't analyzed anything yet,” she waved to the still incoming vehicles. “At least give us a chance to unpack first,” a little smile and the reporters rewarded her with nervous laughter. “The main thing to focus on is that we've caught it in time, there's no cause to worry over it spreading. We will have everyone on their way to recovery soon, just bear with us in the meantime.”

“
They're covering it up, trying to prevent a panic,” Azrael turned off the TV.

“
So what's really going on?” I watched him as he sat in the chair beside me, his wings shimmering out of sight.

“
It appears to be a virus,” he frowned. “One I've never seen the likes of. I was called in to harvest a few souls and while I was there, the number grew and grew. I hurried about collecting them but then, after I'd already taken their souls, the bodies got up and started attacking everyone else around them. I've no idea how this could happen. They have no souls to animate them, there's nothing in those shells. No virus can do this. It's impossible.”

“
Not even a mutated one?” Torrent had a furrow in his perfect brow. “This could be the creation of a bio-punk or even a bio-terrorist.”

“
A what?” I gaped at him.

“
There are labs popping up all over the country where people can go to experiment with pathogens, viruses, whatever scientific things they want to play with. They call them bio-punks or citizen scientists.”

“
What about the terrorism?” Trevor prompted.

“
Well, terrorists don't have to sneak bombs on planes anymore,” Torrent shrugged. “They can simply infect themselves with a horrible and contagious disease, and then walk around the people they want to kill. There's been talk that people have gotten close to creating a zombie type disease, a mix of rabies and something else perhaps. Once-”

“
Wait, what?” I was on the verge of hysterics. I had to call my mom, my grandmother, my everyone. “
Rabies
? We just dealt with rabies and rabies can't do that. It can't make the dead rise.”

“
You're not listening to me,” Azrael interrupted. “
Nothing
can make the dead rise. No virus, no matter how strong, can bring the dead back to life. At least not beyond a few muscle twitches and that's not life, it's a simple nerve response. This is not a normal virus. This is god magic.”

“
No,” I whispered and rubbed at my head. “No, we already have that sonar thing to deal with. I can't add zombies right now, my plate is full. Maybe after Christmas.”

“
Vervain,” Azrael knelt before me and I suddenly realized that his wings were out again, spread behind him in all their dark glory. I stared at them, utterly fascinated. “Vervain!” He shook me. “We need you. Don't check out on us now.”

“
Right,” I gave myself a mental shake to go along with the physical one Az just gave me. “Okay, I'm fine. What should we do?”

“
Tima?” Darius was at the door with a whole lot of Intare behind him. “Is it going to be okay? Should we warn our girlfriends? Maybe bring them here?”

I frowned in thought. Some of the Intare had asked to bring their human girlfriends to Pride Palace and after much consideration, I'd said no. If they wanted to tell them about our secret world, that was on them but I was responsible for everyone at Pride Palace and I couldn't allow random humans in without getting to know them first. However, if there was a zombie apocalypse, I'd let the Intare bring whomever they wanted to safety. It's not like we didn't have the room.

“If it isn't contained,” I finally said, “I'll allow you to bring your loved ones here but for now, let's not panic. We need to see if we can deal with this first.”

“
So it's going to be okay?” Dare looked all of five-years-old for a second.

“
Yes,” I stood up and gave my lions a level stare. “It's going to be okay. No matter what, we have this, this sanctuary we can retreat to. But right now, I've got to go investigate a zombie apocalypse.”

The Zombie Apocalypse revealed another of Azrael's talents. It turned out that he had a unique type of invisibility magic. Like a chameleon, Azrael's invisibility just went on automatically when he was working but it only worked on humans, other gods could see him and sometimes those who were magically inclined could as well. If he wanted to be completely unseen, he had to use the same spell we all did. The benefit to his type of invisibility was that he could extend it out to include anyone he wished. So we'd be able to go undercover and still see each other. A huge plus if you ask me. No more hand holding and walking in a row.

He had made the offer to shield us all before we left and after he explained the difference between his shielding and ours, I may have snapped something along the lines of “What the hell, Az? You could have mentioned this awhile ago.” But with all the fuss of getting ready to investigate a possible undead outbreak, who could be certain of what was said?

Anyway, we ended up on the banks of the canal that conveniently separated the Hamptons from the rest of Long Island. There were military command tents that looked very promising, set up along the side of the bridge, and I wanted to investigate them first. So we all started toward them, Azrael behind us with wings outspread. You'd think that would be a hindrance but he assured me that the wings wouldn't be a problem, no matter how cramped the space got. When he was in work mode, he could go anywhere.

Most everyone had wanted to come along but we'd decided to limit our team to Azrael(obviously), Trevor, Kirill, Fallon, Darius, Torrent, and myself. I hadn't even spoken to the rest of the God Squad yet, let them have a little peace before they had more worries heaped on their plates.

“Who's Daryl?” Torrent asked, out of the blue.

“
What?” I asked distractedly.

“
Your shirt, it says
If Daryl dies, we riot,
” Torr pointed out. “So who's Daryl?”

“
You wore a
Walking Dead
T
-
shirt to the Zombie Apocalypse?” Trevor stopped to look back at me.

“
It seemed appropriate,” I shrugged.

“
Oh, Tima,” Kirill shook his head and we all started walking again.

“
But who's Daryl?” Torrent huffed.

“
Remember the guy Vali came to the Halloween party dressed as?” Azrael took pity on him and explained.

“
Oh yeah,” Torr's face cleared. “Oh from that zombie show you love.”

“
Yes, Torrent,” I muffled my laughter.

“
Like I said,” Trevor rolled his eyes. “
The Walking Dead
.”

“
Heh,” Torrent started to laugh. “That's funny cause we're investigating zombies.”

“
Torrent!”

“
Sorry,” he kept laughing though. “It'd be really funny if that guy lived out here.”

“
No it wouldn't,” I made a horrified sound. “That would be awful. He's my favorite character.”

I stopped at the entrance to the biggest tent, waiting for the bustle of scared looking men to subside. It looked like getting into the tent without bumping into someone was going to be a problem.

“Just go straight through the wall,” Azrael indicated the side of the tent with his hand.

“
No way,” I gaped at him. “You can walk through walls? What the hell, Azrael?”

“
Carus,” he smiled and shook his head. “When I'm working, I must be able to enter anywhere and remain unnoticed. When in this state I'm almost insubstantial, like a ghost. I try not to walk through people though, just because it can make them feel uncomfortable but we could potentially stand in the middle of a solid item and not be damaged. It's a spiritual form.”

“
And you've made us all spirits?” Torrent asked in a loud voice and everyone shushed him. Everyone except Azrael.

“
No one can hear us either,” Az laughed.

“
Are there any other hidden talents I should know about, 007?” I gave him the hairy eyeball. And what a horrible saying by the way. Who wants their eyeball to be hairy?

“
Well how am I supposed to know what you should know about?” Azrael lifted a brow at me.

“
You know, he has a point,” Torrent agreed.

“
Ugh, fine but we are having a talk later,” I promised Az with a pointed finger in his face to emphasize my words.

“
This is fascinating,” Torrent commented as he trailed his hand through the tent wall. “It's like being in the Inter Realm but not. I like it, it makes me feel very comfortable.”

“
That's wonderful, Torr,” I sighed. “Can we all go in now?”

“
Just waiting on you, Minn Elska,” Trevor gave me a sassy look.

“
Really?” I said as I walked into the tent. “Et tu, Brute?”

In the tent there were several tense men standing around a table with a map on it. Around them, consoles were set up with monitors showing several scenes of the shoreline. Pictures of gross looking people who could possibly be called zombies were spread out next to the map on the table. The men were arguing with expressive gestures.

“We can't just bomb the Hamptons,” one of them said. “Do you know who's in there? Jerry Seinfeld, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Spielberg are all confirmed in residence and that's just the beginning of the list. At least it's not summer, then it would have been full to overflowing with celebrities but we still have those that have confirmed that they're in residence. They've all called in and reported that they've barricaded themselves in their homes and are not infected. We can't just kill all these innocent people.”

“
Look, we go in and air-vac out those that are secured in their homes,” another man in a white doctors coat added. “We can quarantine them until we're sure they're not infected.”

“
Then what?” Another interrupted. “You think all those rich folks are gonna sit back and do nothing while we bomb their homes? Better to do it now and secure the scene.”

“
If this gets off the island, the whole world could be at risk,” an older man with gray balding hair said softly. “We have to eliminate the threat.”

“
Okay, so we air-vac out the survivors and go in with tanks,” the doctor tried again. “Clear out only the infected.”

“
Doc, you should be arguing against this. We don't know how this is transmitted. Is it air-borne, blood-borne? We don't know.”

“
We need a body to study,” the doctor again. “Once we determine what this is, we can proceed.”

“
And how long will that take?”

“
Depends, maybe forty-eight hours,” the doctor seemed to deflate.

“
By then this could have spread.”

“
Spread where? We've got this quarantined.”

“
Sir,” a man rushed into the tent. “An email has just been received from a group taking responsibility.”

“
Several groups have already claimed responsibility,” the older man rolled his eyes.

“
This one has particulars,” the newcomer explained. “Of where exactly it was released and the stages of the viral infection. They also claim to have a cure.”

“
A what?” The doctor's attention focused on the messenger.

“
Sir,” he handed a piece of paper to the gray-haired man.

“
Thank you, lieutenant,” the man said as he looked over the paper. “You're dismissed.” The messenger nodded and left. “It says that they want one-hundred million dollars in exchange for the antidote. If they don't receive the deposit by two o'clock tomorrow, they'll release the virus in New York City and I quote,
you'll be caught in the cross fire
end quote. They give instructions for the deposit to be made into a numbered Swiss bank account.”

“
You're telling me this was bio-terrorism?” The doctor was looking pale.

“
What group is it?” One of the other men asked.

“
I've already told you with that damn quote. Those ego-maniacs put their name within the message. It's Cross Fire.”

“
Which one is that?” The doctor again.

“
You know, the one that wants to destroy all human life and start over.”

“
Isn't that all of them?”

“
So what do we do?”

“
Get the President on the phone,” the older man said and checked his watch. “Quickly”

I wandered over and perused the copy of the email, taking down the information in a little notebook I'd brought with me. It was helpful and made me feel like a detective, okay? I also noted the marks on the map which seemed to be locations of the first occurrences of infection.

“Alright, let's get out of here,” I motioned the men out but Azrael lingered. “Az?”

“
This is worse than the Black Plague,” he was staring at the scattered photos of the victims. Obviously taken with a telephoto lens from a helicopter, they showed bodies lying everywhere while bloody corpses attacked other victims.

“
Yes. It looks that way,” I ran a hand down his arm. “We're going to do whatever it takes to stop this.”

“
Yes,” he looked up at me, “we are.”