The Zombie Chronicles - Book 6 - Revelation (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (18 page)

Lucas and Charlie chatted for a while about guns, and Lucas gave him some tips about his new rifle. When Charlie left to go get his weapon, Lucas followed. He loved teaching people how to shoot, and I was happy to help him learn to be a sharpshooter, since I seldom ever missed a shot.

While they were gone, I went downstairs to the kitchen to get some bottled water. Lanterns hung strategically and lit the way. Just as I was about to head upstairs, I thought about the ring that Val had found in the crack in that very corridor. I studied the area, wondering again how it had gotten there, since I’d given it to Jackie and had never seen her take it off. I pictured a scientist stealing the ring off her finger as they put Jackie in the bodybag. Then I imagined her rushing back into the building and hurrying up the stairs and dropping the ring.
Didn’t she know she dropped it? Wouldn’t she have heard it hit the stairs? Did she have a confrontation of some sort and lose it in a fight, or did some guy steal it to give it to his wife or girlfriend or trade it for something?
It suddenly dawned on me that my class ring would be of little value to anyone else, so stealing made even less sense. Nobody there would want my class ring, because it was certainly of no monetary value or sentimental worth to anyone but me and Jackie. Things were all about survival, so even diamonds had lost their worth next to things like knives, guns, food, and water. With that in mind, I could only imagine that the ring had to have fallen off of Jackie’s finger, and that made me wonder if they had, in fact, carried her body up the stairs, possibly for an autopsy.

I headed upstairs and walked to the end of the corridor. I slowly checked every room, scanning every nook and cranny for any evidence. I sneaked past the room where Charlie and Lucas were talking, and they were too immersed in their guns-and-ammo conversation to even notice me. When I found nothing incriminating, I went back to the stairway, where the ring had been found.

Maybe I’m looking at this all wrong,
I thought.
Maybe I should check downstairs.
I grabbed one of the hanging lanterns and walked into the basement. As little Ben had said, it was quite the scary place, and it nearly took my breath away. I had to remind myself more than once that there were no zombies lurking in the building. Even still, I was overcome by a nightmarish vision of a pack of zombies coming out to devour me. I blinked the horrible thought away and took another daring step.

Suddenly, I heard something:
Footsteps, coming down the stairs!
And the voices didn’t sound like Charlie or Lucas either. It was somebody else. I turned off my lantern and bolted behind a stack of towering crates, then whipped out my gun. I peered through the cracks between the wood slats and saw two scientists, one carrying a lantern and the other holding a crate with fluttering wings sticking out of it.
Clucking? What are they doing with…chickens?

They walked to the huge steel door and unlocked the padlock, then walked inside, leaving the door slightly ajar. From the room, a rattling moan whispered in the darkness, followed by a chorus of zombie moans.

I held the lantern up high to see and hoped my heartbeat couldn’t be heard as it pounded behind my ribs. My gut said to run, but my legs seemed to be frozen to the concrete floor. I could hear the sounds, but I couldn’t see the zombies, and that made the whole thing even more unnerving. I desperately wanted to peek into the open door, but I didn’t want to risk being caught snooping around. They were obviously going to great efforts to hide something, and I wasn’t sure what they’d do to me if they found me down there. I decided to remain still and see what I could overhear as they spoke faintly.

“
The fourth one’s gonna die,” one of the scientists said. “I don’t give him a day.”

“
Wanna place a bet?” the other one laughed.

“
Hmm. All right. Ten bucks he makes it till tomorrow.”

“
You’re on.”

They laughed, then exited the room and locked the padlock again.

After they went up the stairs, I waited a few minutes, then hurried up the steps and found Lucas, still talking to Charlie, something about silencers. I debated whether I should say anything. If I mentioned it in front of Charlie and he was in on it, I knew he might ban us from ever visiting the lab again. I had no idea what they were doing down there and why, but I wondered why it had all been kept like some deep, dark secret. It was also odd that Charlie had made it a point to mention that he was there alone, when he clearly wasn’t. I pondered my best course of action and decided it was best to play dumb and check it out later.
I’ll have to bring a lock-cutter,
I thought, making a mental note.

A little while later, we bid Charlie farewell, then left to hole up in the apartment for the evening.

* * *

On the drive back, I confided in Lucas. I told him the entire story, and he agreed that divulging what I saw would have been a dumb move.

“
Worst-case scenario,” I said, “they’re experimenting on zombies.”

Lucas gripped the steering wheel tightly. “With our serum?”

“
They said they used it all up.”

“
Do you believe them?” he retorted, pressing the gas so we flew down the street.

“
No.”

“
If they have our serum, we have to get it back,” Lucas said. “You know how dangerous that stuff is. We already have a zombie and animal epidemic. The last thing we need to add is hybrids to the equation.”

“
We’ll have to involve Max. Maybe he can organize a team to go in and look for it.”

Suddenly, Lucas inhaled sharply as a realization hit.

“
What?” I asked.

“
If they’re creating hybrids—”

“
They’re drawing the herds to the city!” I finished.

“
Right. How long is that magical zombie repellant gonna work in that case?”

“
Yeah,” I said, “but for now, the place seems pretty zombie free.”

Lucas let out a few choice curses. “We have to kill every single one of those hybrids. How could we have been so stupid? Why’d we give them a vial of our serum?”

“
When Jackie died, they needed more test subjects,” I said.

“
Who in their right mind would
want
to call zombies to the city?” he asked.

“
Maybe they figure it’s safe because the explosion has been repelling most of them. My guess is that they wanna get their testing done as quickly as possible and then dispose of the hybrids.”

“
Why don’t the scientists just sedate the subjects they have so the herds will leave and more won’t be called? We kept Jackie sedated.”

“
Yeah, but it wore off,” I said. “It stopped working. That’s why they had to…kill her.”

“
Maybe they’re testing the barrier of the city to see what it can withstand.”

I bit my lip hard. “That’s a dangerous way to find out.”

“
Then again, maybe we’re totally off base,” he said.

“
When Jackie was calling them, dozens and dozens came. How come there aren’t that many now?”

“
Because the ones Jackie called were already in the city,” he said. “Think about it. The zombies she drew to the lab were people who died inside the city. The new ones can’t cross the border after that explosion.”

“
If we barge in there and they’re growing plants in some fancy garden and harvesting eggs for food, we’re gonna tick them off and ruin any relationship we have with them. They won’t tell us anything about the animal epidemic after that, and they’ll probably kick us out.”

“
Yeah, I imagine they’d be pretty pissed.”

I shook my head. “I’m tellin’ you, though, I heard a moan, followed by a bunch more of them, along with that weird hissing noise some of them make. It was real quick, but I know what I heard.”

“
Maybe that’s why they left Jackie’s body alone,” he said. “Because they have other specimens. Jackie was Jonathon’s friend. He probably felt guilty messing with her, especially if there are other hybrids the lab coats can prod and poke.”

“
It’s all starting to make sense…and not necessarily in a good way.”

“
How are we supposed to deal with an animal epidemic and crazy, lunatic scientists, all while fighting the living dead?”

“
I don’t know. What if they wanna create an army of hybrids?” I asked.

Lucas laughed. “Little buddy, you’ve read way too many comic books and played way too many videogames.”

I slugged him. “Whatever.”

Chapter 19

We arrived back at the apartment at around four p.m. and immediately told Max everything. He promised to meet with the others and discuss our recent findings, then gave us a couple cans of grape soda, four cans of tuna, and a bag of chips, along with some hard-boiled eggs from one of the women. It wasn’t exactly the Big Mac and fries I’d been dreaming of, but it stopped my stomach from growling as loud as the zombie bear we’d killed.

On our way into the apartment, we stopped to talk to the guys in the lobby. Lucas told them our bear story and about the squirming, legless zombies and the crazy woman who lived above them.

Then we made our way up the rope ladder to the fourth floor. Inside the apartment, I turned on the lanterns and plopped down on the worn-out couch. With my hands still shaking from all the excitement of the day, I threw a few chips in my mouth and washed them down with the warm soda.

Immediately, Sparkles came over, curled up around my feet, and fell asleep.

A few minutes later, the door clicked open, and Val came in. “Hi, guys,” she said. “Looky here.” She proudly showed off a black leather bracelet, woven with diamonds.

“
Wow, sis. Is it real?” I asked.

“
They said it is.”

“
So…how’d you earn it?” Lucas asked, smirking.

“
Well, it seems I’m some sort of celebrity for kicking Todd in the nuts. The girls can’t stand him, so they rewarded me for doing something they’ve all wanted to do for a long time.”

“
Good for you,” Lucas said. “Wanna share my dinner?”

“
Nah, I’m good,” she said. “Had some nice, juicy Spam downstairs with the other gals. They gave me a bracelet for Claire, too, since they don’t care for the jerks who left you two out to dry. I wanted to give it to her, but she’s been out with Nick all day.”

“
They should be back soon,” Lucas said. “So…what else?” Lucas asked. “I know diamonds are a girl’s best friend and all, but it isn’t like you to get all gushy-mushy over a bracelet.”

Val grinned, then opened the door, stepped outside for a moment, then stepped back inside holding an M-4 assault rifle. “Can you believe this?”

“
Whoa! I want it,” Lucas said.

She handed it to him, then reached around the door and brought a second one in, grinning from ear to ear.

“
I want one!” Lucas begged.

“
Sorry, buddy, but they’re for Claire and me.”

“
Will you let me borrow yours sometime?” Lucas asked.

She winked. “We’ll see.”

“
Good. I’m tired of these wimpy rifles and handguns,” Lucas said.

“
Then talk to Max. It’s not my fault I’ve got kick-butt connections and you don’t.” She plopped down next to me and smiled. “As for you, little brother, I guess congrats are in order. The guys told me all about your safari adventure, Land Rover and all.”

Lucas sipped his drink. “You shoulda seen it. Dean nailed that zombie bear in one shot. He saved our lives, and that makes him a hero.”

I sighed. “It wasn’t really anything. I didn’t even think. I just sorta…acted.”