The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (13 page)

“
Survival has become routine, and I know it has to be that way if we want to live, but I still want more out of life. One thing I’ve learned through all of this is that we’ve got to enjoy life more deeply.”

I nodded, for I’d learned the same hard-fought lesson. “I’ll never take life for granted again. I can tell you that much. I don’t think anyone will.”

“
Any word when we’re taking off for the island?”

“
Nick said we’ll leave tomorrow morning, no matter what,” I said.

“
But I kind of like it here,” she said. “For the first time in a long time, I feel…safe.”

I stroked her soft hair. “Me too.”

“
I know it won’t last, but it’s nice that we’ve had it for this little while. It’s the perfect getaway.”

“
As long as I’m with you, it doesn’t matter where I am,” I said, and I meant every word. I’d never felt that way about anyone else, and she deserved to hear it.

Her grin widened. “Aw! It’s moments like these I cherish the most.”

We talked for a while and enjoyed the time away from the others. I gazed into her eyes. The darkness seemed to melt away when I was with her. She made me forget the pain and, for once in my life, I could breathe easy. “You’re so beautiful, Jackie,” I said, aghast at how simply amazing she was. I pulled her in close and placed gentle, passionate kisses on her lips, then left a trail of soft, tender kisses down her neck.

“
Dean!” Val yelled. “Are you in here?”

I jumped up, my eyes wide. “Right here.” I sprinted through the greenhouse, back to the door, and onto the roof. I noticed instantly that the men seemed to be in a panic. “Is everything okay?”

“
The guys on the roof told me you’d headed into the greenhouse.”

“
We were just hanging out,” Jackie said.

Val frantically motioned us to go with her. Something was wrong, and I was desperate to find out what it was. A few scenarios crossed my mind, and every single one of them had to do with zombies.

We made it back to the first floor and ran into Nick, Lucas, and Claire.

I looked at Val. “So what’s up?” I said. “What’s with all the freaking out?”

“
Howard’s missing. We’ve looked everywhere, but we can’t find any sign of him.”

“
Did he leave?” I asked. “Are you telling me that idiot breached our security perimeter?”

“
He wouldn’t have gone without telling me,” a woman said with long, reddish-brown hair, sobbing. “We’ve got to find him!”

Claire grabbed Jackie’s arm. “C’mon. Let’s check the wing and his room.”

“
I’ll catch up with you later, Dean,” Jackie said.

I nodded. “We’ll scout out the upstairs.”

She kissed me on the cheek and turned to leave.

Suddenly, the woman looked at Nick and lashed out. “It was you!”

Nick cocked a brow. “What was me? I have no idea what you’re talking about, lady.”

“
What did you do to Howard?” she yelled. “Where is he?”

“
Uh…nothing,” he said, stumped. “I have no idea where he is.”

“
Liar!” she yelled. “Howard told me that he was happily dating the redhead, but then you kept trying to weasel your way in. You killed him out of jealousy, didn’t you? Over her!” she screamed, pointing at Claire.

“
That’s absurd! I didn’t kill anybody in this compound,” Nick said, defending himself.

“
Ma’am, I don’t know who you are or what your relationship is with Howard,” I interjected. “But you’ve got your facts all mixed up. If anything, it was the other way around. Nick and Claire are dating, and Howard wanted to break them up.”

The woman glared at all of us and walked away without another word.

I glared right back at her. I couldn’t believe Nick was being accused of something as ridiculous as fatal jealousy and murder. Nick had done some horrible things in his life, most of them sanctioned by the Army, but he would never kill the competition over a girl.

She glanced at me. “Wanna come with me to hunt for Howard? I told Lucas to go ahead with another group.”

“
Yeah, sure. Let’s go,” Nick said, pulling her down the hall.

Again, he’d answered for me, and that was the exact kind of bullying big brother crap that caused lots of hostility between us. I rolled my eyes and followed Val and a group of people up to the second floor. It was so dark and eerie that it sent chills down my spine.

“
Half should go east and the other half west,” Nick suggested.

“
Hey,” Val said to the group heading to the west side, “just so you know, there’s a mannequin in Room 214 that looks like it ran into Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th. They used it for CPR training. It’s lying on the bed, so don’t get freaked out.”

“
Thanks for the heads-up,” a lady said.

I headed to the first room on the left side of the east hall. With my gun drawn, I opened the door. I held my breath and shined the light but saw nothing. I quickly slid back the divider curtain. Deep shadows danced around, as if grasping, trying to seize me. I observed my surroundings and was on high alert for any trouble I might encounter. If anything jumped out, I’d be ready.

We decided to split up so we could search each room faster and more efficiently, and Val and I darted off to the next room. I heard rustling coming from behind the divider curtain this time, and a cold shudder ran down my spine. I wondered if it was Howard or his attacker. Val met my gaze and held up her fingers for a countdown. When she got to one, I pulled the divider curtain. I gasped when I saw a figure, and a woman screamed.

“
What’s going on?” Val shouted.

It was only a member of our team who’d gotten ahead of us, so I let out a sigh of relief. It was Asia. My hands were trembling something fierce; what terrified me the most was that I might have easily shot her, just as I’d done with the CPR dummy. Fortunately, I remembered the hard-learned lesson not to shoot until I saw the whites of a zombie’s eyes.

“
We could’ve killed you!” Val yelled.

“
I was bitten!” she said hysterically. “That thing…it…I…oh my gosh, it knocked the gun right out of my hand!”

I shined the light on the fresh bite wound on her arm. “Nick!” I shouted. “Come quick.”

Val placed a white towel on it and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. “Did you see what bit you?”

“
It was a zombie,” she said. “What else?”

Nick rushed into the room, and I pointed at Asia’s bite.

“
What the heck?” he said.

“
She says a zombie bit her,” Val said.

Nick’s eyes widened, and he spun around and took off.

Kate burst in. “Asia!”

“
She’s been bitten,” Val said. “She needs to be quarantined in one of the empty rooms immediately. She can’t be in contact with anyone. I’ll come find her and bandage her up later.”

Kate nodded, and Val and I shot out of the room, into the dark corridor. I held my gun and flashlight tightly. The floor creaked as we walked, and my heart raced. Suddenly, my light beam landed on a figure down the hall. This one clearly had glazed-over white eyes that showed no emotion, no life whatsoever. Rotting, putrid flesh hung from its bones as it met my gaze. “Zombie!” I shouted, every nerve in my body on edge.

Without hesitation, Nick bolted down the corridor toward it. I raced behind him, holding my flashlight tightly, the circle of light bouncing in the dark corridor with each racing step.

Nick suddenly stopped.

“
What is it? What’s the matter?” Val said.

“
It stopped right here,” he said, pointing to one of the rooms. “Right here!”

My throat tightened as I bolted inside, my gun drawn, and frantically glanced around the room. Droplets of sweat rolled down my face as I pulled open the divider curtain. My ears strained for any sound, any rustle, any slight movement or noise, but I heard nothing.

“
Check the bathroom!” a woman shouted.

Preparing myself, I opened the creaking door and shined my light around. I saw nothing but a sink and toilet. I let out a breath. “It’s not here.” I rushed into the corridor and shined my light up and down it, looking for the zombified culprit.

Nick came bursting out of one of the rooms. “I’m telling you, I lost the thing right here!”

“
It’s not lost. It’s hiding,” Val said.

Nick froze, disbelief etched on his face. “But it can’t…they don’t know to hide.”

“
Yeah,” I agreed. “They aren’t intellectually capable of that. They’ve got no deductive reasoning skills.”

“
Well, I’m not all studied up on Zombie Psyche 101 like you two, but I’m telling you, that thing is hiding!” Val said. “If it wasn’t, it’d be out here trying to make a meal out of us.”

“
Val’s right,” I said. “The second a zombie spots a human, it tries to move toward the person, not away from them.”

I shot Nick a questioning look. “Do you really believe Asia’s story? That a zombie tried to knock the gun out of her hand and then bit her?”

A frown of concentration perched between his brows. “That’s just not possible. It was probably trying to bite her hand and she lost control of the gun.”

“
Well, I believe her,” Val said. “That girl was scared to death, and I personally saw the bite and the zombie. The thing hid from us, guys! I know it’s peculiar, but maybe this one’s some kind of zombie genius. If it somehow kept some of its brainpower in the transition, maybe it could have knocked a gun out of Asia’s hands, and maybe it’s smart enough to hide.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “Great. Like we really need them to develop high IQs.”

“
What do you think’s going on?” Val asked.

“
Maybe the virus is mutating,” I suggested. “Maybe it’s making them smarter.”

Nick started frantically searching the other rooms. “I pray to God that’s not the case.”

“
How did a zombie even get in here in the first place?” I asked. “We’ve kept this place on lockdown, constantly guarded. All the windows and doors are boarded up.”

“
I don’t know how it got in, how it’s managing to hide or think, but we’ve gotta find that thing now!” Val screamed. “We need to do a room-to-room search. I won’t get any sleep knowing one of those creeps is running around here.”

A woman in the ugliest, gaudiest Christmas sweater I’d ever seen—clearly something she’d pilfered from somebody’s closet—approached. “Maybe we should leave, just cut our losses and pack up and go.”

“
In this downpour?” Nick asked, pulling another privacy curtain. “It’s too dangerous to travel. The wind must be gusting at fifty MPH. Besides, if it’s only one zombie—even the valedictorian of the group—we can take down one zombie.”

“
What if there’re more we don’t know about?” she asked. “And what if it ate Howard?”

“
I’m sure it attacked Howard,” Nick said. “When a person’s missing and a zombie is spotted…well, you can just about put two and two together.”

“
I’m gonna put out a zombie alert,” a short guy said, darting off.

I pondered, “If there are more, surely we’d know it by now, right? How were we able to stay the night without anyone getting attacked? If they’re here, surely they would have come looking for a midnight snack.”

“
Obviously, there’s not a herd in here,” Val said. “If there were, we’d be dead. I think what we have is a straggler, even if I have no idea how it got in.”

I shook my head. “Simple. It’s smarter than the others. The zombie Einstein just found a way in.”

“
Whatever’s going on, we know there’s at least one zombie in here and two possible victims already. We need to regroup and formulate a plan,” the woman said.