Love in the Time of Zombies (23 page)

“We
don’t know.”  Darcy shouted back.  “We think Joseff and Scotlyn got taken by the
guys in white.  My idiot mate went after them and slowed them down so we could
get away.  But, by the time we got out of the stairwell, they were already carting
people out the front doors.  Scotlyn and Joseff aren’t
anywhere
.  I
looked.  So they have to have been…”

“Wait,
who
took her?”

“I
don’t know
who
.  They were humans in protective space suits.”  Darcy
leaned over the abyss, looking strained.  “We need to get out of here and find
them.  I’m in a bad mood and I plan to kill every asshole who’s pissed me off
today.”

Brewer
perked up.  “We’re killing Joseff?”

“No.” 
Darcy snapped.  “Every asshole,
except
him.”

“Oh.” 
Brew frowned in disappointment.

Zeke’s
mind was racing.  “So… you’re telling me you let Scotlyn get
kidnapped?
” 
He turned his body around so he was facing the wall.  Bracing his feet, he
started climbing up as they pulled, trying to speed things along.  “Goddamn it,
Cale.  Every time I close my eyes, you’re losing my mate!”

“It
wasn’t my fault.”  Caleb retorted.  “When I got to that room, she was gone.  It
took me ten minutes to find
you
.  As far as I can tell, she must have
dumped an ass-load of salt into your system and then stashed you under the bed.”

“She
heard the guys in white coming for her.”  Darcy speculated.  “She didn’t want
them to get Zeke, too, so she hid him.”

Of
course she did.

Zeke
jaw clenched.  “I’m going to kill her.”  He was close enough to reach Caleb and
he extended a hand upward.

Caleb
reached down and Zeke saw he still had a pair of handcuffs on.  “Joseff lost
the key.”  Caleb explained, following his gaze.  “At least, that’s his story.” 
He seized hold of Zeke and helped pull him through the door.

Zeke
collapsed on the carpet, breathing hard.  Changing again had wiped out his
reserves of energy, so now he was going on pure determination.  He would find
his mate or die trying.

“We’ll
get Scotlyn back.”  Cale said before Zeke could rally the strength to punch him
for misplacing her again.  “But, first you’d better put on some pants.”  He
tossed a stack of clothes at him.

“Please
do.”  Darcy agreed.  She looked up at the ceiling, averting her eyes.  She had Pucci’s
pet carrier looped around her shoulder.  “We stole that outfit from the dead
zombie, so watch out for blood.”

Swearing
under his breath, Zeke struggled out of the harness and pulled the t-shirt on. 
At least it had
Battlestar Galactica
on the front.  The jeans were too
big and the shoes were too small.  He barely noticed.  “Any idea where the
humans took Scottie?”

“Nope.” 
Caleb shook his head.  “Don’t know
why
they took her, either.”

“Can
we get outta here, now?”  Brewer asked in a long suffering tone.  “I mean, I
lugged Z’s naked ass up a burning building and now I wanna
go
.”  He
looked over at Zeke.  “No offence, but you were a liability and pack rules say it’s
every man for himself.”

“That’s
alright.  I voted to leave you behind earlier, too.”

“What?” 
Brewer yelped in outrage.  “Why is
everybody
trying to ditch me, huh?”

Zeke
ignored him and glanced at Caleb.  “Is the building still on fire?”

“Yep.”

“Jesus,
this just gets better and better.”

“Blame
the humans in white.  Anybody who tries to get out on the stairwells, they
shoot or nab.  That’s why we used the elevator shafts to get up here.  Good
news is, the sun’s low enough that Darcy can go outside without frying, now.”

Zeke
glanced around and saw a door marked “roof access.”  “Helicopter?”  He
surmised.  “Any of you know how to
fly
it?”

Darcy
shrugged.  “No, but it’s gotta be easier than flying
without
it.”

“It’s
our only way down.”  Caleb agreed.  “We have to figure it out.”

Zeke
wasn’t going to argue.  Not when it was the fastest route to Scotlyn.  That
meant they needed to get the chopper…

His
vision suddenly swam, images overlapping in front of his eyes.  Zeke was still
looking at the hallway, but he was also looking at some kind of lab… inside a
carnival.  Fun house mirrors decorated kaleidoscope painted walls.  Machines and
pinball games were blinking, which meant there had to be some kind of generator
running.  There were a lot of stainless steel instruments and computers and…
skee-ball.  A human male was in a white coat stood in front of an air hockey table,
holding a video camera and a long needle.

A
mixture of triumph and panic hit Zeke’s system.  The vision was like a
holographic projection layered on top of reality, but he
knew
it was
really there.  It just wasn’t really
there
.  It was wherever Scotlyn
was.

He
wasn’t seeing it… his mate was.

***

The
guy looked like a mad scientist right down to the lab coat.

Scotlyn
bit back a wince as he jabbed a needle into her skin, filling a vial with her
blood.  “Why are you doing this?”  She probably didn’t want to know, but it
seemed like the thing to ask when you were tied down to a creepy Frankenstein table
being experimented on by a lunatic.

They
were in a makeshift lab set up in the arcade of the Coney Island Casino. 
Scotlyn recognized it, because she’d worked at the resort for eighteen months. 
The whole place was designed to look like a boardwalk midway, with large
stuffed bears for prizes and ring toss games and strings of multicolored lights
blinking overhead.

She
had no clue why they’d brought her here or what they were planning.

The
scientist guy was in his forties, with rimless glasses and yellow blond hair. 
He didn’t seem to hear her.  Instead, he took the vial of blood back towards
his desk, his focus staying on his video camera.  The LCD screen was flipped so
it was pointed at him, capturing his gaunt face as he talked.  “Journal of Dr.
Lars Loud:  Day three.  We’ve entered into the containment phase of Project
Pink.”  He pumped some industrial strength hand sanitizer onto his palms and
ruthlessly scrubbed, as if touching her might have contaminated him.  “Many of the
enemy have been taken.  Some of them are from unknown species.  It’s important
for science that we test them all for answers.”

Yeah…
That didn’t sound good.  “What are you talking about?”  She demanded.

Lars
Loud made a “shhh!” sound, not even glancing her way.  “The idea was simple.” 
He continued, looking earnestly into the lens.  “The supernatural creatures of
this world were stronger than us.  But, humans had the numbers.  So, if we
could just level the playing field by giving humanity some added strength and
speed, they’d be no match for us. 
Anyone
could understand that.”

Scotlyn
frowned as he began transferring her blood to some kind of microscope slide.  This
whole debacle couldn’t possibly get any weirder.  She had to get out of there
and find Zeke and…

Scottie,
are you okay?

“Zeke?” 
She heard his voice as clear as day and she automatically looked around for
him.  It took her a moment to realize it had just been in her mind.

It’s
telepathy, baby.  Are you okay?

“What?”

Lars
the scientist guy flashed her a strange look and then turned back to his
camera.  “Fifteen years of research has brought us to this day.  I’ve saved my
journals on these video files.  With most of the computers gone, this is the
final record of my thoughts.  True, unexpected results have occurred from the
trials, but science presses on.  It
must
.”  He put the slide under the
microscope.  “The pursuit of
true
science cost me my tenure and the
respect of my peers and my wife and boys, but it’s the only
pure truth
in this world.”  He squinted in absent thought.  “I supposed Peggy and the kids
are zombies, by now.”

Scotlyn
felt a chill.  “Zeke?”  She whispered.  “Where are you?”

You
can’t talk out loud.
 
I can only hear you if you think it.

“Since
when?  Shit.”  She tried to “think” the words along whatever channel he was
using. 
Since when?  I swear to God, if you’ve been reading my mind…

It
doesn’t work that way.  It’s a side effect of me Changing you.  We’re
connected.

I
didn’t agree to that! 
Scotlyn had a lot of thoughts she
didn’t want Zeke rooting around in.  Especially, the ones about him.

Shut-up
and tell me you’re alright.

I’m
alright.
  She swallowed and focused on what mattered. 
Are
you
alright?

I’ve
been better.  Not to get all girly on you, but I REALLY don’t like waking up
and finding you gone, Trix.  Explain to me why it keeps happening.

This
time it wasn’t my fault!  What was I supposed to do when they dragged me away? 
I couldn’t exactly fight off a guy with a machine gun.  Speaking of which, I’m
not even sure your making-me-a-shape-shifter plan worked.  I can’t figure out
how to Change.  I tried and nothing happened.

Believe
me, you’re a shifter.  It’s why I can connect to you.  In order to Change you
just sort of visualize the animal, but you’re not going to be able to do it,
yet.  You need a full moon when you’re young.  I’ll teach you how to do it
later.

There
might not
be
a later.

Of
course there will.  I might not have mentioned it before, but shape shifters
live for a really long time.

Scotlyn
didn’t want to know.  She couldn’t handle any more surprises. 
Are Darcy and
Caleb okay?  Did they find you?

Yeah,
I…
 
There was a beat of silence, like he was momentarily distracted.
  Oh for
God’s sake… Trix, have you seen Joseff?  Darcy’s whining about him vanishing.

I’ve
never even
met
Joseff.

Ugly
guy, longish hair, dresses like Dracula’s accountant.  I guarantee he was
either dead, unconscious, or putting up one hell of a fight when they dragged
him out of the casino.

I
saw someone like that when we got here.  He was out cold and I think they took
him downstairs towards the nightclub.

Who’s
they?

I
have no idea.  They don’t seem like supernatural creatures, so I’m thinking
they’re some kind of human supremacy group.  Do those exist?

Zeke
swore. 
Yes, they exist
. 
Goddamn it.  You sure they haven’t hurt
you?

All
they’ve done so far is take my blood.

They’re
trying to figure out what you are.

They
can join the club

He
ignored that.
  We need to get you out of there before they decide you’re not
part of Team Human.  Where are you?

She
made a face, because he was going to love this part.
  The Coney Island.

Sure
enough, Zeke snorted in amusement.
  Trying to get your old job back, huh?

Are
you going to be a jerk or are you going to come get me.

I’m
already on my way.

She
let out a long breath, relief filling her. 
Really?

Really.

Scotlyn
closed her eyes.  Zeke would be there soon.

Lars
was still jabbering at his camera, going on and on about how he was right and
everyone else was wrong.  She had a feeling he talked at it constantly,
repeating the same stories again and again.  Scotlyn tried to tune him out, but
it was hard.  Every moment in the zombageddon, was another level of panic to
experience firsthand.

Be
careful. 
She urged. 
There are all kinds of freaks with
guns here and you probably shouldn’t even be moving around, yet.

I’m
fine.  Thirsty as hell, because you apparently dumped ten pounds of salt down
my throat, but fine.

It
was one shaker full.  And you’re welcome.

Yeah,
well, remember I saved your life first, wiseass.

Scotlyn
almost smiled at that.

Son-of-a-bitch. 
Zeke
“thought” after a moment, but she could tell it wasn’t aimed at her.

What’s
wrong?

Nothing.

Bullshit. 
Tell me.

He
let out a sound of frustration. 
We’re on the roof of Liberty Hall and we
can’t get the fucking helicopter working.  We followed this damn safety
checklist thing taped to the windshield, but it doesn’t say what to do next.  It’s
just buzzing.