A Plague on All Houses (28 page)

I did my best to keep enough space between me and the approaching zoms to have enough time to aim, but it didn’t take long before I had to resort to my katana or be overwhelmed. Promising my arms and shoulders massage and icepacks if they stuck with me, I drew from a reserve of strength I didn’t know I had, drew my weapons, and had at it.

Three zombies came at me at once, one of them getting through my guard to grasp at my left arm even as I hacked the heads off first one, then the other of its friends. I tried to shake it off, but the thing’s grip was like steel and I couldn’t dislodge it. “Motherfucker, let
go
of me!” It was too close for me to use my katana; I would just as likely whack my own arm off as the zombie’s. I made a split second decision as it moved in, teeth angled towards my neck. Stabbing my katana blade first into one of the fallen zombies, I grabbed the tanto from my left hand and shoved the point into the zombie’s eye before it could sink its teeth into me. Its grip on my arm loosened as it fell to its knees and collapsed onto the ground. Bracing one foot next to its head, I pulled out the tanto and retrieved my katana with one quick movement.

I heard a holler to my left. I turned in time to see Lil, a few hundred feet away, stumble and go down, her pickaxe flying to one side. A half dozen zoms immediately converged on her before she could get to her feet.

“Lil!” My frantic cry probably carried across campus as I raced across the zombie-strewn ground to reach Lil before the zombies tore her to pieces. I could hear her yelling in anger, but then those yells turned into high-pitched shrieks of pain as the bastards tore into her.

Oh God, please no…

I leapt over several fallen corpses, covering the remaining distance between me and Lil, and brought my sword down on the zoms attacking her. A head went flying, then an arm. My ears rang and blood filled my vision as a total berserker rage swept through me, the fury of a mother lion defending her cub. Body parts fell as I hacked and slashed those six zombies, shrieking like a banshee the entire time, until all of them lay in pieces on or around Lil’s prone body. One of the zombies lay unmoving on top of her, a big, meaty thing that had to weigh twice as much as Lil, a slice through the back of its skull having dispatched it.

Dropping to my knees and totally uncaring of anything else around me, I pulled the dead weight off of Lil, muttering an undefined prayer to the universe that she not be dead.

Shoving the zombie off to one side, I stared at Lil, heart sinking as I took in her still face, torn clothes, and the bite marks in her arms and legs. They’d managed to get their teeth in between the armor. She was still breathing, and her limbs were still intact, nothing torn off, but she looked bad. Nathan appeared next to me and immediately knelt by Lil’s side. “We need to get her back to Big Red.”

“Is she going to be okay?” I knew other zombies were closing in, but I had to know.

Nathan nodded. “I think so. But she’s not going to be able to fight so we have to get her out of here.”

Lil’s eyes fluttered open. “I can so fight,” she mumbled. “I’m good.”

We both ignored her. Nathan put a hand on my shoulder. “I can carry her back. You gonna be able to keep this up?”

“Just get Lil out of here. I’ll be fine.”

Nathan didn’t waste any more words or time; he scooped Lil up and ran back towards Big Red like some sort of superhero. Which I guess he kind of was.

I got to my feet, trying to summon up the fire of righteous fury that had carried me over to Lil in time to save her. Zombies still staggered towards me, their unholy moans filling the air, no longer white noise but an almost unbearable din. I resented the fact I would never be able to truly enjoy a zombie movie again.

I moved through a fog, both figurative and literal. I found my cuts getting weaker and sloppier with each kill and knew it was only a matter of time before I collapsed from exhaustion or made a stupid mistake. I had no idea where any of my fellow Wild Cards were or if they still lived. The world was reduced to a tunnel vision of zombies within the reach of my blades; if I wasn’t killing it, it didn’t exist.

Then suddenly I reached my breaking point. Nothing special preceded or prompted it. I decapitated a zombie and then—my arms just refused to do any more. They fell by my sides, blades hanging limp in my hands, and I stared blankly at the corpses littering the ground around me and the fresh ones still moving towards me.

I sank down to my knees, exhausted. I knew I should run, at least try to make it back to the barricades, but I just didn’t care any more.

I heard someone yell my name, but I was too tired to respond or even look to see who it was, although I thought it was Gabriel. He’d just want me to get up and keep fighting anyway. I closed my eyes and waited for death.

“Ashley!” Gabriel seized me under my arms and hauled me to my feet.

“Just let me sleep,” I protested, eyes still shut. “Okay?”

“Not okay.” He shook me hard. “Snap out of it, Ashley!” He shook me again and my sore body screamed in outrage.

My eyes snapped open and I glared at him.

He kissed me on the tip of my nose, probably the only clean spot on my body. “That’s better. We’re falling back. There’re just too many of them. Can you make it back to Big Red?”

“I’m just pissed enough at you to do it, yeah.”

“Better than an energy bar.”

Gabriel slung an arm around my shoulder and we turned towards Big Red, only to find our way blocked by zombies who’d decided we were easier pickings than the meat behind the barricade. There wasn’t enough space to dodge between them and I didn’t know if I had another sword cut left in me.

“Do you have any darts left?” Gabriel asked, voice carefully neutral.

“No. Do you?”

He shook his head. “Totally out. Nearly out of ammo, too.”

“Any chance of the cavalry coming to get us?”

“Everyone else fell back already. I stayed out to find you.”

“So, no cavalry.”

He shook his head again and shouldered his M4. “Let’s make every shot count.”

And we did. Zombie after zombie fell to Gabriel’s deadly accuracy and a good number fell to my marksmanship as well. But for every one that fell, another took its place and now they were coming from all directions. I slapped my last clip into my M4 and made it count, realizing I wasn’t ready to die no matter how bone weary I might be.

When I’d fired my last round, I dropped the M4 to the ground and retrieved my blades from where I’d thrust them into the another fallen zombie. Time to find out if I had another cut in me or not.

A low rumble filled the air, drowning out the moans. The rumble became a roar as a large vehicle approached us through the fog from the road leading into the parking lot. A huge yellow snowplow rumbled into view, plowing through zombies and scattering their pieces off either side of the angled blades in front. The plow slowed to a stop a few feet from us. I thought I’d never seen a more beautiful sight until I saw who sat behind the wheel.

Mack, grinning from ear to ear, waved at us. “Want a ride?”

Gabriel and I scrambled up onto the plow and into the cab out of reach of grasping hands and gnashing teeth, frustrating a bunch of hungry zombies. I gave Mack a bone-crushing hug and a kiss on the cheek before settling in between him and Gabriel. Mack accelerated the engine and started crushing zombies again.

“How did you make it out alive?” I asked over the roar of the engine.

“I managed to make it through the woods to the back of that church we saw. Got in through a second-story window they hadn’t barricaded. Zombies can’t climb, you know.”

“‘They?’“

“Yup, a bunch of survivors holed up there. They’re waiting for me to come back and get them. I figured I’d better get some help first. Man, I’m glad to see you guys!”

“Kaitlyn?” Gabriel asked.

Mack’s smile dimmed as he shook his head. “She’d lost too much blood. I buried her.”

I reached over and patted his shoulder. “You tried your best, Mack.” I paused, then added, “I’m just so glad to see you … and Lil is gonna be over the moon.”

Mack’s grin reappeared.

“You saved our asses, Mack,” said Gabriel. “But where the hell did you find a snowplow?”

“I saw it parked behind a house when I was making my way to the church.” Mack veered to the left to avoid a car. Zombies tried to clutch at the sides of the plow, but couldn’t get any purchase. “We don’t get a lot of snow up here, but now and again it piles up.”

“But what made you take it instead of a car?” I asked. “I mean, it’s sheer genius!”

“Saw the swarm headed your way and thought it might come in handy,” he said with a self-deprecating shrug. “I guess it did.”

I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Yeah, I guess it did.”

“Well, you just rest,” said Mack, giving me an avuncular pat on one arm. “It’ll be a while before we’re done here.”

Settling myself against Gabriel, I closed my eyes and let the comforting sound of zombies hitting the snowplow with dull fleshy thuds lull me to sleep.

“Mint Dream?” I wiggled a cookie in front of Gabriel's nose. Gabriel sniffed as he caught the irresistible scent of chocolate, mint and preservatives.

I sat on a bench across from the Drama building and Gabriel lay with his head on my lap, dozing lightly after a little impromptu picnic, just the two of us. We'd earned it after a morning on final search, destroy, and cleanup duty.

“Mmmm…” Opening his eyes, he smiled at me and suddenly chomped the cookie with his teeth and bit down.

“Hey, now.” I smacked his nose lightly. “Watch the fingers.”

Grabbing my hand, he sat up and pulled me in for a chocolate mint-flavored kiss. I smiled against his lips and enjoyed the rush of desire through my body, all the appropriate nerve endings reacting to his taste and touch.

I couldn't believe how goofy and relaxed he'd been since we'd won the battle. He still pulled together the military discipline in front of Colonel Paxton, but when we were alone? Kind of like he'd had the mother of all massages combined with a bottle of tequila. Then again, everyone had the same giddy air of people who'd gotten a last-minute pardon from the governor seconds before the switch was pulled.

It'd only been three days since we destroyed the swarm thanks to Mack's snowplow cavalry charge, but already things felt like they were slowly going back to some semblance of normality—if you could ignore the pervading odor of burning corpses from the mobile crematoriums working overtime as crews gathered up the bodies of the fallen zombies and disposed of them.

The Wild Cards and a select number of the remaining Alpha team went on wide sweeps starting with the outer perimeter of the quarantine zone to gather up any zombies that had joined the swarm. There were surprisingly few of them, which made Simone speculate as to the possibility of a hive mind. Nathan's response to that had been a derisive snort and “They're just following the dinner bell.” I won't bother mentioning Simone's retort, but the Wild Cards were now placing bets as to how soon they'd fall into bed just to work out their mutual frustrations. Bets ranged between an hour and a month. Mine was a week. Jamie would have another layer of unattainable added to her hopeless crush and life would continue.

Today was a red-letter day in that outside military personnel were entering the quarantine zone for the first time since the outbreak began, and limited outside communications were allowed. I might even be able to contact my parents in the next day or so. The thought of my parents turned my mind to Lil (healing nicely from her wounds, thanks to her Wild Card physiology) and her mother. I sighed heavily.

“What's wrong?” Gabriel brushed a hand over my hair, a soothing gesture I loved.

“Lil still hasn't found her mother.” I rubbed my head against his hand like a cat. “She wasn't with the survivors Mack found at the church and I think Lil's personally inspected every zombie before it's tossed into the crematorium.”

Gabriel shook his head. “Lil may never know what happened to her mother. She could have been totally devoured before reanimation. She may have been blown up in the swarm. Lil can't inspect every body part littering the area. It sucks, I know. But those are the cold, hard facts.”

I sighed again. “At least Mack is back. That's helped. And at least she has Binkey and Doodle.”

Gabriel surprised me with a hug. “Thanks to you. You're crazy, Ash, but you've got one of the most generous, empathetic souls I've ever met.”

I looked up into those gorgeous denim blue eyes of his and pushed back a lock of minted gold hair that had fallen over his forehead. “You're not so bad yourself, once you get over the whole self-righteous Vegan T.A. deal.”

“I really was an ass that day, wasn't I?”

I nodded in agreement. “You really were.”

We slowly wandered back to DBP Hall, hands intertwined the whole way. We'd earned the relaxation. I wondered idly if he would continue teaching at Big Red once things returned to normal, or if he and Simone would be off in search of another zombie outbreak—and if so, would the Wild Cards be called to go with them? But those were questions for another day. I didn't want to harsh our mellow about now.

As we neared DBP Hall, I noticed a flurry of activity and a tension in the air that had been missing over the last three days. People ran back and forth, soldiers shouting orders and loading things into trucks.

So much for mellow.

Gabriel and I looked at each other, then ran up the stairs into DBP where we saw Simone, Nathan, Colonel Paxton, and Dr. Albert deep in conversation, their expressions grim. Dr. Albert looked ill, his skin a pasty white as if he'd received the shock of his life.

Simone looked up at us and Gabriel inhaled sharply. I saw why. Simone's eyes were sunk into the sockets. I saw what she'd look like when she was dying.

“Gabriel, Ashley…” Simone took a step towards us and swayed on her feet. Nathan reached out and caught her by one arm to steady her.

“Are you okay?” I hurried over to her, Gabriel right beside me. “Are you ill?

“No…” Simone swallowed as if it hurt. “I wish that were the case. It's … it's much more serious than that.”

“This is my fault.” Gabriel and I looked over at Dr. Albert, who stared straight ahead as if looking into the gates of hell. “I did this. My fault.”

Colonel Paxton shook his head. “Nonsense. You didn't know.”

“It doesn't matter.” Dr. Albert smiled, a death's head rictus. “I spread it. And now it's out.”

“Spread what?” Gabriel snapped. “What's out?

“The Walker's vaccine.” Dr. Albert looked at us, still smiling that awful smile. “It's out. And it's my fault.”

Simone shook herself like a dog shaking off water. “It seems,” she said in a voice at least resembling her normal self-assured tone, “that the Walker's vaccine Dr. Albert developed is the cause of the rapidly spreading pathogen within Redwood Grove and the surrounding area.”

“My fault…”

Simone shut her eyes, then opened them again. “Someone, whether before or after the formula was sent to the labs in the U.K., tinkered with the original formula. The new vaccine reacts to a normally dormant variant of a retro-virus in about ten percent of the population, activating and mutating the virus into the zombie plague.”

“All those flu shots … I thought I was doing the right thing…” Colonel Paxton put an arm around Dr. Albert and led him off into a corner, talking to him quietly.

Nathan joined us as Simone continued, “This is why the military personnel outside of the infected zone remained disease free. They haven't had flu shots.”

“So Dr. Albert blames himself for the outbreak?”

Simone nodded. “He couldn't have known.”

Talk about a lifetime's worth of guilt. “But we've contained it, right?”

One look at Simone and Nathan's expressions made my heart sink through the floor, a rapidly growing knot taking its place in my chest.

“It was a new vaccine. Redwood Grove was one of the first communities to participate in a clinical trial to test its efficacy.”

“One of the first?”

Simone nodded, but Nathan answered this time. “Clinical trials have been conducted in a number of other small communities worldwide that have been hard hit by Walker's flu. All of them are relatively isolated, which in and by itself is suspicious.”

“Yes.” Simone massaged her forehead. “One must ask oneself the odds of this being a coincidence and, given that those odds are very small, what, in actuality, is being tested.” She paused, took a deep breath, and continued. “There's no way of knowing how many, of those batches of vaccine were tinkered with … until the dead start to walk. But I think we need to assume the worst.”

I shivered and Gabriel put his arm around me. I huddled against him for warmth and comfort. “So it's not over.”

Simone shook her head. “No. I don't think it is.”

THE END