Zombified (Book 1): The Head Hunter Read online

The floors weren’t going to be that clean for much longer. If not ruined by the muck on his shoes, he had a sinking feeling that blood would flow across the white shining surface soon.

  Chapter 18

  Near the Kentucky Dam

  July 2027

  Station 4 – Officer Xavier Jackson’s Office

  Xavier was no longer certain what he could do to stop the Government of Defense from slaying Misty after seeing her just moments before. She had been terrified, plastering herself against the wall and covering her ears to protect her senses from unseen ghosts. Phantoms of her mother from what he could tell. They didn’t know anything about Misty’s past other than she had lost her mother just after the meteorite strike. Lost her to the crimson fog that had spread over the planet and taken so many that the meteorites hadn’t killed or the Sycs hadn’t infected. And now here she was, fighting against something he couldn’t see or hear.

  They had missed something in her medical history, which most people no longer had since the fall of civilization as they knew it. All medical records had been lost, so they did their best to rebuild them, but not everyone was willing to give up their family’s secrets.

  At least Misty hadn’t. She had hidden something from them, but what? And why? So they could find out someone in her family was schizophrenic when she finally succumbed to her genetic predisposition for the condition? He had no idea.

  He scrubbed his hand over his jaw, which was becoming scratchy with stubble. He was tired, but couldn’t look away from his computer screen as he flipped through the few records they had on the girl, looking for anything of use. Nothing in her records that she had given G.O.D. when she first came to Station One jumped out at him. Screamed at him. Nothing.

  But he knew the signs. He had studied plenty, even earned his Ph.D. in Abnormal Psychology before the end of the world. It was the reason the Government of Defense had appointed him the Officer of Conduct for Station Four three years ago. So when she began to hallucinate, he was confident it wasn’t just because of the change. The transformation into a Revenant, an undead thing, triggered what had previously lain dormant within her her entire life. Now it would rule her until the day she suffered a true death, however much longer that would wait for her.

  Staring at her image on the screen, he looked into those sky-blue eyes now gray with infection. Her copper hair had stopped at her shoulders back then but was now resting at the middle of her back in elegantly natural curls. Her skin had been sun kissed and slightly pink from exposure to the sun for over a year until the Stations were erected to save what was left of humanity. Now it was graying, and the blue tinge of the network of veins started to spread underneath her graying flesh.

  Xavier was only happy her mother couldn’t see her now. To know that the affliction she had most likely passed down to her daughter had come to fruition in the girl. He couldn’t be one hundred percent certain her mother was the one, but he had a gut instinct about it, and his gut instincts were usually correct.

  “Misty,” he muttered as he tapped her image on the screen, “why didn’t you tell us?”

  With a sigh, he looked down at the surface of his desk and then closed his eyes. He pinched the bridge of his nose in hopes of staving off a headache he felt coming, the pressure within his skull only growing to a pulsing ache. He had barely slept since the girl had been infected and Miss Meldano was taken by the Revenants.

  He was wracked with guilt although no one could help the circumstances. He felt he could have done something to stop what happened even though he was only human and the Revenants possessed speed, strength, and aggression that no human being did. Or ever could unless they were infected with the parasite that would ultimately change them.

  There were only so many things G.O.D. would find a Revenant useful for, none of those things favorable to the young girl in the isolation room who had been changed against her will.

  ***

  Great Smoky Mountains

  July 2027

  Area 51 – Underground Bunker

  Caesar took one step out of the elevator and knew he still couldn’t trust the two behind him. It was better to get rid of them than to ask questions and risk the possibility that the two would kill him. That they had been ordered to do so. He couldn’t be so sure, but years alone had turned him into a cynic when it came to other people, and he wasn’t about to start trusting too easily. He placed his hands on his hips as he took another step, his fingers grazing the sidearms holstered around his waist.

  “Wow, what is this place?” Joshua asked, his voice hitching with surprise.

  In one motion, Caesar pulled his firearms from their homes, turned off the safety on each, and spun to face the two young men. He pointed the barrels at them, aiming for the spot just between their eyes that would ensure death, even for someone like him.

  Joshua and Mark raised their hands in the air, eyes wide with shock. They hadn’t expected this, which was what he planned for. Yes, he had brought them to his home and what was left of the former Area 51, but it was better to get rid of them here if they would betray him. This day and age, you never knew and could never be too safe.

  “Hey, what the—” Mark started.

  “Wait, I thought we were cool, Head Hunter,” Joshua interjected, anger causing his brow to furrow as he stood beside Mark.

  Rage moved through the boy’s muscles. Caesar could see it coiled just under the surface, but he knew he wouldn’t lash out. Not yet.

  “Here’s the deal. I need the truth,” Caesar said as he stared them down past the barrels of his pistols.

  “We told ya. The Revs have—” Joshua blurted out.

  “I heard that. There is only one thing I’m not understanding about this entire thing,” he admitted to them.

  Both pairs of eyes narrowed at him then, confusion plain on both of their faces.

  “And that is?” Mark probed as the silence stretched between the three of them.

  “What I don’t get is why they would think that taking one of your friends and holding them for ransom would get to me.”

  “I believe, because of who she is, that he believes you’d come for him after you figure out who she is. Well, after we told you about her, that is,” Mark explained.

  Caesar shook his head, knowing Jenkins well enough.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Colonel Jenkins and his band of bloodsuckers have made numerous attempts to catch me and failed. Why would he send a group of humans to fetch me? Especially out and through the Dead Zone where your chances of survival are slim to none. Who is this girl he has that he thinks I’ll even come close to where he’s shacking up?” This didn’t make any sense to Caesar at all. Everything and everyone he had loved had gone with those first meteorite strikes, leaving no one for him to care about in this new world.

  “Her name is Jennifer Meldano. At least, that’s what both Jenkins and her said her name is,” Joshua admitted as he stared pointedly past the gun at Caesar.

  Shock flooded Caesar’s system, causing the guns to rattle slightly as his hands shook at the sound of her name. His daughter’s name he thought he had lost long ago. But it couldn’t be her. She had been in the SUV when the meteorite crashed down and killed his wife, her mother, and the crimson fog spread from within it and threatened to take him. He had fled as quickly as he could but never thought to even attempt to check the vehicle.

  “Look, please lower the guns. We’re telling you the truth,” Mark said with earnest. “I believe we’ve all had enough excitement for one day, huh?”

  Caesar decided he was right and lowered the guns, placing them back into the holsters on his hips.

  “You two are pawns. He knew I’d come out to investigate and he’s trying to zero in on my location,” he assumed as he turned on his heel and took a left turn to move down a hallway toward his computer control room within the bunker.

  He crossed the threshold within seconds, the footfalls of the two men from Station Four following him swiftly as he moved wi
th nearly supernatural speed. The ‘Faith’ serum had made him faster as well as stronger, but he hadn’t figured out if it was a gift or a curse just yet, even seven years later. The main computer at the front of the room lit up, the lights flickering to life as they detected him within the room.

  “Genesis, boot up the Carbon Monoxide Scanner and scan a ten-mile radius,” Caesar ordered as he sat down in front of the screen.

  “Carbon Monoxide? Why not the Infrared?” Mark asked as he watched with fascination.

  Joshua stared at Caesar’s reflection on the screen, seemingly skeptical of anything that the Head Hunter could say to explain.

  “It’s called the Dead Zone, guys. Everything is dead, so Infrared is useless. Those suffering from the Syc infection exhale carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide. The reason they eat human beings is to help to produce ATP, which the body recycles every hour, so they can produce the phosphorous needed for the energy to move to find food and infect others.” He paused. “Just felt you needed a little biology lesson. It’s a lot the same for the Revs and Barbarians, which I’m sure they never taught you at the Stations.”

  Red eyes scanned the screen as the spots of carbon monoxide emissions moved along the screen, detecting only a few Crankers that were far enough away not to be a bother, but there was one mildly troubling sight. Because of the rate of exhaled carbon monoxide, he could tell that there were two Revs standing at the base of the mountain.

  “Don’t worry,” he assured the human soldiers as he felt them hovering over his shoulder. “They can’t reach us. No one even knows we’re here.”

  “How sure can you be of that? They’ve taken down three of the four Stations and have created more of them with just one bite,” Mark explained.

  With a sigh, Caesar stood and replied, “Yes, I’m sure. Now, if you two don’t mind, I have work to do. Genesis?”

  In an instant, a holographic image of a sparkling white marble ball illuminated in blue light formed in the air between them.

  “Yes, Caesar?” the electric female voice echoed through the room.

  “Please give them the tour. We will discuss all of this in the morning. Get some rest, boys.” Caesar slapped Joshua and then Mark on the shoulder with a grin. “We’re going to be busy for a while, it seems.”

  “Follow me, gentlemen. I will guide you to your sleeping quarters,” Genesis echoed, gliding between them toward the door of the computer control room that led to the hallway.

  Both men turned warily away from Caesar, following the glowing holographic orb that would take them where they needed to be at that moment. They followed Genesis’s image slowly and, as soon as they were out the door, Caesar turned to look at the computer screen again. Watching the two Revenants at the base of the mountain in which he lived, his mind went to his daughter, the one who had been dead to him for seven years, or he thought she was.

  How had she survived the meteorite? The SUV she had been in with her mother was a large piece of burning and crumpled black metal when he ran away to save himself from certain death. And now he had heard her name and Joshua said it with such certainty he had to be telling the truth. He stated she had told him her name.

  Jennifer Meldano, his daughter, his prodigy, was alive.

  ***

  Abandoned Memphis State Penitentiary

  July 2027

  Isolation Chamber 4

  Jenny stared at the wall at least ten feet in front of her. It was all she could do while tied to the chair in a room in a place she had never been to before. She still had no idea where she was, but that wasn’t the most disturbing part of the entire situation. It was that she had been kidnapped by a Revenant who claimed to know her father and was using her as a pawn to bring the father she had believed deceased for seven years out of hiding.

  How much could she trust information from the undead Colonel Jenkins? Kidnappers and law breakers weren’t likely to tell the truth and, if he weren't already infected, he would’ve been turned out with the outlaws in the Dead Zone from the start. There was no doubt about it.

  After what felt like an eternity of silence, the large metal door on the other side of the room groaned in protest as the metal handle turned down from the up position. It swung wide open, revealing a young Revenant who looked to have been turned as recently as the last month. He looked tired and worn down. Possibly hadn’t fed in a day or two, but why? Why would they not feed their newly infected? She knew that their first feeding and those during the first few weeks were supremely important to how they would develop. Everyone knew that from the classes in the Stations.

  Her mind went to Misty then, most likely locked in a room within Station Four without a single drop of blood to keep her satiated during her transition. And then Jenny’s eyes met the gray ones of the Rev, noticing she had almost completely tuned him out as her thoughts ran away with her to her sick friend at home.

  She gasped and nearly choked on a glob of saliva that attempted to sneak its way down her throat. She swallowed hard and tried not to scream even though the young Revenant looked so unassuming. Even a little terrified.

  “Hello, Miss Meldano. I was instructed to bring you some sustenance. That is,” he looked down at the floor and back up at her, “if you are hungry.”

  That was the moment she finally noticed the items in his hands hugged against his chest. A bottle of water as well as a box of some sort of crackers and what she could only assume was summer sausage. She used to eat it all the time while she was studying for school and began to wonder how they had come to find it anywhere.

  “Um—y—yes,” she stammered as she looked into those steel gray orbs, shocked by the seemingly gentle nature of the young man. “Yes, actually, I am. Thank you.”

  He walked across the room and set the items down on the floor, coming back toward her. Coming to stand behind her, she felt his cold fingers graze her wrists as he undid her bindings. The rope slid away and made a soft slap on the floor, releasing her from her highly uncomfortable confines. The metal chair had caused most of the lower half of her body to fall asleep, producing the sensation of pins and needles that slowly began to dissipate as she adjusted on the chair. Jenny rubbed her raw wrists with a pained hiss, skin red from her attempts to free herself in the absence of her captors.

  “Don’t thank me, Miss Meldano. Just following orders,” he said with his back to her as he moved back to the other side of the room.

  The Revenant gathered the meager meal he had brought her and came back to her, handing everything to her. He seemed to be making an effort not to touch her, and his pupils were extremely dilated, his thirst obviously more than he could handle as he eyed the pulse in her wrists and throat. She saw his eyes flicker back and forth and then meet hers to make it seem like it wasn’t a problem, but she knew better. And it was at that moment a plan began to take shape. A plan that she knew she would need to enact within minutes now that she was no longer bound to the chair. Who knew when she would have another chance?

  She sat down on the floor and crossed her legs. Opening the bottle of water, she took a long swallow of the lukewarm liquid, nearly drinking half of it before she realized it. She moved in on the summer sausage and crackers next, stuffing as much as she could down her gullet while the plan of escape formed in her mind. She had no idea when she would eat again once she was able to get out of her prison. If she could at all. She had no clue how many Revs were housed in that place or how she would get out, to begin with. How far into the Dead Zone were they? If she could break free would she be able to find the Station? Her father? Could she find anyone who could help her before the Revs got ahold of her again? She wasn’t even certain if it were day or night.

  She barely tasted the food she gulped down. The Rev watched her with wide, fascinated eyes as he sat down in front of her in the same position. She thought about how she could incapacitate him long enough to run from the room. She had learned so much from her father as well as from her time in the Dead Zone and could take down an
y human, but what about a Revenant? It was possible she could hurt him and use those precious seconds to at least get out of the room. It wouldn’t get her far, she believed.

  “How is it? I haven’t eaten human food in about a month, and it just seems like a distant memory,” he asked her as he watched her eat.

  She swallowed a dry cracker and made her best attempt at a weak smile. Her estimate about how long he had been infected with the Syc parasite was correct, shocking her.

  “It’s good. Nothing like the world before, but still okay,” she replied. “How old are you?”

  Deciding quickly, she knew what she had to do, or what could help her circumstances. All she needed was to seem innocent, shy, and harmless as possible to fool him just long enough.

  “Good,” he said with a curt nod. “I was twenty-four when I was infected. It hasn’t been easy adjusting, but I’ve managed.”

  He was too nice, and she almost felt horrible about what she would do next, but she would do whatever it took to be with her friends again. With her father again after all this time. It didn’t matter to her who she had to hurt and the man before her was a minor player in the grand scheme of things. Something much larger than any of them had happened to the world, would continue to happen far into the future as long as the Government of Defense was around. It was just a gut feeling.

  Jenny’s muscles tensed, and she set the food down in between them on the floor, turning her gaze up to the Revenant who had shown her nothing but kindness in the last few moments.

  Licking her dry lips, she whispered, “I’m so sorry I have to do this.”

  His brows furrowed in confusion as light bounced off his bald head. “Do what?”

  Before Jenny had a chance to second guess herself, she lashed out and did the first thing that came to mind. The heel of her palm met the underside of his nose. The bones underneath his grayed flesh shattered and pushed upward with a sick crunching sound. He cried out and jerked back from her, holding his face as he backed away. Shooting to her feet, she bolted toward the door without looking back at the man she had injured. There was no time for that.