The Last Bastion of the Living: A Futuristic Zombie Novel (44 page)

A touch on Maria
’
s arm drew her attention to Denman.
From the concerned
look
his face, she discerned he had come to the same conclusion that she had. This was one of the original
Inferi Boon
.

“
How do we know you won
’
t attack?
”
Chief Defender
Omondi
called out.

“
We have more in common than you realize.
We
’
re
your future. What you will become.
Do you think you will be allowed back into the city?
We weren
’
t.
Do you think if there was a cure
for
us, they wouldn
’
t have administered it?
Instead, they cowered behind their wall hoping we wouldn
’
t find a way back in. They betrayed us and they will betray you.
”

The restless shuffling of feet and shifting of bodies indicated that the squad found the stranger
’
s words just as disconcerting as Maria did.

“
Come out. Speak to us. See your future.
We have to work together to get into the city and force them to cure us,
”
the voice continued.
“
Come out and see what you
’
ll become.
”

Omondi
crawled over to Maria.
“
Keep the squad back and ready to respond if they attack.
”

“
Are you sure you want to do this?
”

Rubbing his lips together,
Omondi
nodded.
“
I cut the feed with command. I want to know what the fuck is going on out here.
”

Maria bobbed her head in agreement.
“
Understood, sir.
”

Omondi
stood and cautiously approached the window. Maria and the others sh
adowed him, careful to keep
under cover.
The Chief Defender
’
s imposing form neared the window and he peered out at the stranger standing in the rain.

“
Come out, brother,
”
the man said.

The Chief Defender obeyed.

* * *

Watching the vids, Dwayne slowly rubbed his chin, concentrating on the feed from Maria
’
s helmet.
She had muted her feed, and
Omondi
’
s had gone dark unexpectedly.
Something was going on and he didn
’
t like it.

“
Vanguard Martinez, what is the status of the Chief Defender?
I have lost his feed,
”
Dwayne said curtly.

Her feed reopened, and she answered,
“
He has advanced in front of the squad. There appears to be an An
omaly outside the main entrance.”

She wasn
’
t answering his question directly.

“
He cut it off on his end,
”
Lindsey said, answering his earlier question.

Dr. Curran drew closer to Dwayne
’
s
station again. Concern and fear played over her features, deepening the furrow between her eyebrows and the lines around her mouth.

“
Vanguard Martinez, I need for you to advance so I can see the Chief Defender,
”
Dwayne instructed.

“
Yes, sir,
”
came the answer.

The camera on Maria
’
s helmet continued to transmit a clear signal as she appeared to crawl toward an open window.
He could hear her breathing and he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
The virus was definitely altering her
,
and he wondered what secrets the SWD was keeping about the virus from the Constabulary.

Gradually
, the image of Chief Defender
Omondi
came into view.
He stood just outside of one of the broken windows.
Standing before him was a soldier in Constabulary armor that was dripping with blood and rain.
The man
’
s close
-
cropped wiry, curly hair glistened with
droplets of water
as the sun crept out
from
behind the
dissipating
storm clouds.

“
Find out who that is,
”
Dwayne ordered and the young man at the work station nearby immediately began scanning the databases.

“
I know who
it is
,
”
Maria
’
s
trembling voice said
.
“
It
’
s my father.
”

Her feed went dark.

* * *

Maria could barely believe what her eyes were telling her, but she knew the face of her father too well to deny the truth. Vanguard Mariano Martinez stood face to face with Chief Defender
Omondi
. He looked exactly how she remembered him. Dark curly hair, wide shoulders, tall frame, and skin a shade or two darker than her own. But his dark eyes were gone.
In their place were gleaming red eyes and the warmth of his smile was replaced with cold cruelty.

“
Who are you?
”
the Chief Defender asked.

“
Vanguard Mariano Martinez of the Constabulary,
”
he answered.

Out of the gray, misty rain appeared more figures.
Two more people in Constabulary uniforms stepped into view. They, too, had the disturbing red eyes. One was a woman, the other a man. Both were smeared in blood.
What was keenly unsettling about them was
that,
unlike the Infer
i
Scourge
and the Anomalies
, their faces were not vacant of thought. Their disturbing red eyes were obviously appraising
Omondi
.

“
Special
Sergeant
Amber Alkan, Special Constable Gareth Reese and I are the only survivors of the fourth
Inferi Boon
mission,
”
Mariano said.

“
What happened to the first three
mission
s
?
”
Omondi
asked, his demeanor calm, but his voice
demanding
.

Mariano smirked and glanced at his two companions.
“
Should I tell him?
”

“
He
’
s on his way to joining us,
”
the woman responded.

Her pale skin looked ghastly beneath the layer of blood and
bits of
flesh that was
bit by bit
sluicing away with the rain.
Her brown hair was tucked away from her
blood-smeared
face
. She wore
a beret with a Constabulary emblem on it.
The man standing behind her was
as
dark as night, tall, and leanly built.

“
The first mission was a failure.
The
Inferi Boon
turned Scourge within forty-eight hours. The SWD barely contained them from starting a new outbreak. The second mission was more successful.
The squad went through training and were sent into the sewers to clear out some of the
Scrags
that had
found
their way into the system through a faulty hatch.
They never returned.
They turned into Scourge and were destroyed later by the third mission. They cleared out the sewe
rs and exited through the hydro
electric plant.
That mission cleared out a good portion of this area before turning Scourge. The fourth mission
—us—we
were the most successful. We never turned Scourge. But we became something
much
more dangerous.
”

“
You
’
re Anomalies. Cannibals. Feeding off of the dead and living.
”
Omondi
’
s words were tight and hard.

“
Anomalies?
”
Mariano laughed.
“
I like that.
We call the ones we turned
Aberrations
.
”

As Maria watched,
more
mutated
Scourge
crept out from hiding places.
These
Aberrations, as her father called them,
also wore Constabulary uniforms
,
and Maria recognized a few among them
, i
ncluding her former commanding officer, Ren Stillson.
They looked closer to the
Scourge
with their murky eyes and swift, jerky motions, but there was something intelligent and desperate in their gaze. There were over fifty of them.

“
You created these others?
”
Omondi
scrutinized the bloodied creatures standing at a distance.
Though the
Aberrations
didn
’
t
make any hostile movements, Maria was unnerved by their presence. They were obviously of the same ilk as the
mutated
Scourge
they had fought in the basement.

“
We hunger.
The hunger is madness. It drives us. At first we tried to assuage it with the food we salvaged from the farms, but it was never enough. Then we...
”
Mariano faltered, a spark of his humanity showing for a moment.
It made Maria
’
s heart ache for him.
“
One of us went mad a
nd
bit one of the
Scrags
.
The flesh...it...helped with the pain of the hunger.
For
a while
.
When the Constabulary tried to expand the perimeter, a few of us were close enough to attack, bite, and feed.
Our victims rose as
A
berrations
.
They a
re
simple-minded creatures, but they do as we tell them.
They know if they help us, we can get back into the city and feed.
”

“
We will not help you,
”
Omondi
said in a dangerous voice.
“
We came out here to save the city, not destroy it.
”

“
You
’
re
going to be what
we a
re
!
Soon the hunger will be so great, the pain of it so overwhelming, you will do anything to placate it!
”

The madness in his eyes and voice were terrifying.
Mariano
wouldn
’
t
be reasoned with. That was painfully obvious.
The loving fat
her she once adored was gone
.
He
had been
replaced with a cold, calculating creature.

Maria shifted her weight, moving into a better position to fire if
required
.
Against
Omondi
’
s orders, she signaled the squad to move into an offensive position.

“
So you
’
re going to invade the city you swore to protect and kill its people?
”
Omondi
asked
incredulously
.

“
We will make the SWD cure us!
We will kill until they realize that to survive they
must
cure us!
”
Mariano shouted.
“
We gave our lives to save the city and it abandoned us!
”