Z Day +34

  JAMES

  The next time I woke, Shae was shaking me.

  “Come on, time to hit the road,” she said.

  I sat up too quickly, the room spinning. As I waited for the room to come to a full and complete stop, I noticed Travis was sitting out in the main room, several pelican cases stacked up.

  “It’s about time,” he called out to me.

  I used my middle finger to dig sleep out of my eye as I entered the room.

  “I was afraid I would have to start making small talk with Miss Bittie here,” he grinned at her, and to my surprise, she grinned back. I had missed something while I slept.

  “OK,” he continued. “I got everything you asked for, plus a few things you might want.” Travis lifted the lid on the top case, revealing a small Toughbook-type computer. “I’ve loaded the last intel updates for the entire state onto this laptop. It’s charged, but you’re on your own for power once it runs out. I don’t have any solar cells.”

  Next to it in the case was a phone the size of a small brick. “GPS phone. We don’t have a lot of satellite coverage anymore, but this will still work better than any commercial cell phone. I’ve pre-programmed it with our primary numbers.

  By giving you comms, you’re still under orders.” He glanced at me. “Which means if you choose to lose it, then you’re not. Understand?” He continued when I nodded, “Good, now I can say I tried IF anyone ever gets the program back up and running.

  “Last,” he handed me a rolled map. “I’ve highlighted the routes I know are least congested with vehicular traffic between here and Austin as of two hours ago.”

  “Thanks,” I said with genuine gratitude. It was all much more than I was expecting.

  “Well, I didn’t have much else to do than go through sat data while you two snored away all day.” He looked at Shae, “And I do mean you TWO snored.”

  Shae rolled her eyes.

  “Wait, how did—” I started.

  “You need to learn that when you seal a room, you must also turn on the internal air system. The alarm tripped, and I had to crack y’all’s air seal,” Travis said.

  “Oh. Well, thanks.” I looked at the crates. “We clear to move out?”

  “Sun went down ten minutes ago. The idiots upstairs finally went quiet, and the parking lot appears clear, for the moment,” Travis said.

  “It’s now or never.” Shae lifted the two largest cases.

  I picked up two, and Travis grabbed the last two as we headed out the door. Travis turned left, down the hall we’d not explored; a large set of elevator doors was set into the far wall.

  “Shouldn’t we take the stairs?” I said as he stopped and waved a card at the doors.

  “No. You’d have to go through that ward again. This dumps straight into the loading docks where I’m parked.”

  The doors opened, and something slammed into me, sending me reeling back. I hit the ground hard, the air getting knocked out of me.

  One of the cases had landed on my chest, helping the air vacate from my lungs. A naked rotting corpse landed on top of the case. The case saved my life as it kept the zombie just far enough out of biting range that I had time to get my arms up to protect myself.

  I saw Shae swinging the cases she had at more shambling figures spilling out from the elevator. Each swing sent a group of zombies flying one way, then the other. Travis had dropped his cases and was clawing for his sidearm as he backed down the hall on the other side of the mob.

  I finally managed to roll to the side, freeing myself and staggering to my feet just in time to catch another zombie coming at me, arms outstretched. Instincts took over as I slapped the arms away and kicked out, contacting the kneecap I was aiming for. With a sickening crunch, the zombie’s knee gave way, and it fell to the floor.

  “Shae!” I yelled, sidestepping the first zombie who’d been reaching for me from the ground. Shae was still in the middle of the hallway, nearly surrounded now. The wide arcs of the cases kept the horde at bay, but it was only a matter of time.

  A loud crack interrupted my thoughts as the handle on one of the cases she was swinging snapped off.

  Without thinking, my pistol was in my hand, and I fired—no suppressor on this weapon. The roar of the pistol was deafening in these close quarters as I struck one of the zombies surrounding Shae. The gun barked again, the shot going wide and hitting another zombie in the chest that I hadn’t been aiming at. I’d been trained to aim center mass my whole career. “Two to the chest, one to the head” was the mantra. My third shot tore into the back of my intended target’s skull and dropped.

  A tug at my pants caused me to jump back as my first attacker tried again to sink its teeth into me. I fired the gun into the thing's head at point-blank range, sending gore and bone fragments exploding outward. I felt some of it brush my pants. Wondering how I’d ever get that stain out, I turned and fired again at the crowd around Shae.

  By this time, my wits had returned. Several shots later, and my weapon locked open, empty. Four more zombies lay on the floor in an arc as I sidestepped to keep Shae out of the line of fire.

  Now, I heard gunfire coming from down the hall. Apparently, Travis had retreated around the corner and was beginning to dispatch his assailants.

  Shae threw the remaining case at one of the zombies between us and ducked under the arm of a second to escape the zombie huddle. She stood next to me, her shoulder touching mine as I reloaded, and she fired.

  It was all a matter of time then. Her carefully placed shots fell every zombie she aimed at without fail. We slowly retreated down the hall as the remaining zombies followed, stumbling over their fallen brethren. I still had two bullets left when she dropped the last one in the hall. When I glanced at her face, it was stone, with zero emotion, just a cold, calculating killing machine. It sent a chill down my spine.

  The shooting had already stopped from the far hallway.

  “Hallways secure, Travis report,” I called out.

  “Friendly!” he called as he stepped around the corner. “Wasn’t about to come out into that shooting gallery.”

  “What the hell was that?” Shae barked, causing Travis to stop, his hands up.

  I looked over and Shae’s gun was still up, now leveled at Travis.

  “Hey, same side,” I said, leaning over to touch her arm. It was a rock, and it wouldn’t lower.

  “I said, what was that?” Shae repeated.

  “How should I know? That’s never happened before.” He was at the elevator now and glanced inside. With his hands still up, he looked around the car.

  “I saw you swipe the card. It’s a secured elevator. How could they have gotten into a secured elevator?” At her words, I paused and turned to look at Travis.

  “You think I did this on purpose? Seriously?” His surprised expression appeared genuine. “Why? For what reason would I do this?”

  “I don’t know,” Shae seemed to hesitate.

  “If he’d wanted us dead, he could have done it while we slept,” I added. This time, Shae’s arm lowered at my touch.

  Travis waited until the gun was lowered all the way before he dropped his hands. He stuck his head back into the elevator and examined the control panel.

  We started towards him when a stinging on my leg made me hiss in pain.

  “What?” Shae turned.

  “Don’t know.” I looked down at the outside of my leg and saw the bloody mess.

  “Are you bit?” Shae spun on me and knelt.

  Travis stuck his head out of the elevator. “Who’s bit?”

  Shae yanked up my pants, revealing several oozing scrape marks but no bite wound. She hissed at the sight. “Travis, get that door back open.”

  The world span as Shae yanked me off my feet and ran back down the hall towards the control room. Travis was right behind and had the door open in seconds. With one arm, she swept the remains of our bed off the operating table and laid me down on it.

  “Where’s your PMEX kit?” Shae ordered.

  “Here,” Travis reached out, pulled a sizeable sealed tub from one of the cabinets, and handed it to her as she ripped the top off.

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  “Hold still, eejit,” she said as she cut the bottom portion of my pants off. She threw the scissors down and reached into the tub. “Hold his leg still.” She demanded as she ripped the top off a bottle and poured it across the wound, causing it to sting even more. “Give me a probe and forceps.”

  “What is it?” Travis asked, but Shae didn’t reply.

  Shae grabbed a small light off her belt, turned it on and stuck it in her mouth.

  Travis peeled the two instruments from their packaging and handed them to her. “Forget that,” he said, reaching up and pulling the large four-lighted mechanical arm down. I saw spots when he flipped the lights on before angling them toward my leg.

  “Thanks,” Shae spat the light out and focused on my leg again. “Don’t move, James,” her voice was grave. “Hold him.”

  Two vice-like hands locked on me, one around my ankle and the other just below my knee. I couldn’t move if I wanted to. I felt something, and then a burning hot razor shot up my leg, causing me to gasp. “Holy shit, what was that?”

  “Skull fragment, from the looks of it,” Shae said tightly.

  I heard it when it hit the table; it sounded large. I hadn’t seen the wound, so my imagination was working overtime with possibilities.

  “Irrigate it again,” she said as Travis took one hand off my leg and reached for the bottle. It felt like he was pouring liquid fire onto my leg.

  I felt her touch me again, and fresh fire shot through me.

  Shae mumbled words in another language I didn’t understand as she jabbed deep into my leg, this time saying, “Get back here.”

  I locked my teeth to keep from biting my tongue. My body had broken out in a sweat, and my stomach started churning. An eternity later, I heard another thump as a second piece of bone hit the table.

  “Irrigate.” She glanced at me and saw my green expression. “Oh, come on now. This isn’t nearly as bad as when you were digging rocks out of my shoulder that time after playing that silly boffer game,” she forced a grin, “and you didn’t see me throwing up on you.”

  “No,” I managed through clenched teeth as the liquid fire came on again. “But I was green that time, too.” I tried to force a smile that twisted with the pain. “Wait, you remember that?”

  Shae shrugged, not looking up, “Must have seen it in your head.”

  “Yeah…I guess,” I said before pain pushed everything else from my mind.

  “Hang in there, almost done,” she said.

  “That’s...” I choked out as I felt the probe slide inside my leg. “What. She. Said,” I managed through gritted teeth.

  Travis laughed, but Shae’s expression was sober as she focused on my wound.

  “OK, where are you?” Shae growled.

  I could feel everything she was doing, and it wasn’t good. My stomach started a fresh round of complaining.

  “I know I saw one more. Irrigate.” Shae ordered.

  “That was the last of it,” Travis said.

  “Then grab another bottle!” she barked.

  He span back to the cabinet and started opening doors.

  I swore I heard her say something that sounded like “fuck it,” but that couldn’t be right. I’d never heard her cuss once in all the years I’d known her. Suddenly, the universe stopped. The pain, my body, and the whole room were gone. All I could see was white. I was floating; it was surreal.

  Then it was night. The stars were bright, and I was lying on the hood of a car. The sound of crickets floated on a warm Texas breeze through the night. I knew it was Texas because I knew where I was. The scene was still as serene as the night it had happened. Only this time, I didn’t have teenage butterflies in my stomach.

  I rolled off the car and stood up, looking around. I was alone.

  “I come here when I want to escape,” a voice behind me said.

  I turned and found Shae lying on her side atop the hood. She was propped up on one elbow, watching me. She wore the same outfit she had the night this memory was made.

  “Peaceful, isn’t it?” she sighed. “I’m always happy here. No matter what’s wrong with me, I come here, and it all washes away. Wish I knew where it was.”

  “You don’t recognize this place?” I asked.

  “No. And with it being so dark, I can’t make out any landmarks. Probably better off not knowing; it might ruin the moment,” she said.

  “It’s Georgetown,” I said.

  “What?” she sat up, startled.

  For a moment, I could hear someone saying, “What the fuck are you doing?” But it was far off and unimportant.

  “It’s my father’s place. We’re in the driveway leading up to the big garage. See?” I pointed at a large shadow straight ahead, blocking out part of the skyline. “And behind us is my father’s house over there.”

  When she turned, a dark house was in the shadows behind us.

  “How have I never seen those before?” she said.

  “You’re not turning him!” One of the distant voices interrupted and then started to fade. I felt that voice was important, but it was already slipping away from my mind.

  “How do you know all of this?” Shae asked, turning back to me. She was sitting on the hood now, her feet hanging over the side.

  “Because,” I said slowly, as if in a daze. My mind was groggy and slow. I don’t know how, but suddenly, we were both on the hood, leaning against the windshield and looking at each other. “This is the night I first told you I loved you.”

  I watched her eyes flicker in confusion. She couldn’t believe what I said. It didn’t make sense to her.

  Suddenly, the side of my leg felt like it was on fire, and I screamed in pain.

  “Sorry,” she said, and the pain was gone. “You distracted me.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Nothing to worry about; it will be over soon,” she said.

  “What will?” I asked.

  She said nothing for a long minute. “You really said you loved me? Here?” When I nodded, she shook her head. “I just don’t remember it. I mean, I can see it; we’re here. I just don’t remember it.”

  Before I could repeat it, the night disappeared, and reality reappeared. My leg was throbbing, but the burning seemed to have slacked off. I waited a moment for the room to stop spinning, then rolled my head to the side to see what was happening.

  The first thing I saw was blood. A lot of blood. The second was a crushed pistol lying on the floor beside all the blood. At first, I thought someone had been shot, but when I looked, Travis was holding my leg still, and Shae was leaning back against a wall, blood smeared across her face and shirt. She seemed to be trying to breathe and having a hard time of it.

  “Shae?” My voice came out as a croak, but a worried croak.

  Her eyes snapped to me, and she seemed to regain some composure. She sat up and leaned forward. She spat bright red on the floor as she spoke. “It’s OK, we got the last fragment. It’s over now. Just need to bandage you up.”

  Travis grunted, but I was suddenly exhausted and couldn’t move my head to try and see what was left of my leg as the world swirled down to darkness again.

  Needless to say, we didn’t leave that night after all.

  Later, I found out what had happened. The last skull fragment had worked its way deep into my leg, and Shae had started sucking on the wound hard. She’d sent me to that memory via bloodtouch to keep me occupied while she sucked down mouthful after mouthful of my blood, trying to get the fragment. She’d spat out as much as she could to try and ensure my blood didn’t poison her body again.

  Travis thought she was trying to convert me into a full vampire and had drawn his gun when she wouldn’t stop. He’d been one step too close to her when he drew, allowing her to reach over and crush the gun.

  She’d found the fragment on the next mouthful and sealed up the wound as best she could.

  The next few days passed as we waited and watched my wound, worried about infection, but nothing happened. By the third night, I was recovered enough to head back home.

  Our second attempt at exodus had no surprises. Travis still had no idea how the zombies had gotten in the elevator. He figured they must have somehow followed him from his last trip out as they didn’t seem to be from the hospital. There had been some weird power spikes lately that could have opened the elevator up top. He was grateful we’d been here; otherwise, he might have gotten overwhelmed.

  Since we’d stayed the extra time, I’d taken a minute and snagged a computer while Shae wasn’t looking. It took me a few tries as I didn’t know how to spell it properly, but eventually, Google gave me an answer.

  “What the hell is Gaeilge Chlasaiceach?” Travis asked over my shoulder, making a mess of the pronunciation.

  “Apparently, it’s classical Gaelic, used until about the 17th century.” *Wow,* I thought, remembering back to when Shae mentioned trying to speak Gaeilge Chlasaiceach nowadays. I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about at the time, but seeing the Wiki page describing it, I had to wonder just how old she was and where exactly she was from. A long time ago, she’d told me she was from Ireland but wouldn’t elaborate further.

  Travis handed us two brand-new military ID cards as a final parting gift. Shae’s picture had been lifted from a surveillance photo on file.

  “Major General?” I looked from my ID card’s rank to Travis.

  “Field promotion. Lots of vacancies up top,” he smiled. “I figured if you run into any actual military types, it might be nice to have the clout. It’s all legit; I updated it in everything, even DEERS.”

  “What’s SA?” Shae asked.

  “Special Agent. OSI doesn’t have rank on their ID cards, just SA. This means you could be any rank, and no one would know,” Travis said.

  “OSI?” she asked.

  “Office of Special Investigations.” I looked at her blank expression. “Like being FBI for the military.” When she nodded, I turned back to Travis. “Thanks, boss; hopefully, we won’t need these, but thanks.”

  Travis only smiled in response.

  Thankfully, the trip home was just as uneventful as the trip down. The bike and sidecar Travis gave me were just big enough to handle all the boxes he’d given us. The only close calls were the two times we’d had to push the thing through some mud I hadn’t noticed. That and Shae’s constant complaining about how slow I was going.

  When we returned, everyone was still intact, only having had one scare when a shambler appeared at the back of the property. Mark and Richard had taken care of it quick and quiet. I’d been impressed and let them know as much.

  As I related our tale, they were surprised to hear how Fort Sam had fallen and how the hospital was “infested” with undead. I skimmed over details on who and what I found in the sub-basement, trying to give just enough detail to make them uninterested.

  When the bandages came off my leg, there were only red scratches where large wounds had been only a few days before. It appeared Shae’s emergency medical attention had paid off. I had no fever, chills or any of the other signs of early zombiehood.

  It took a bit of planning to establish enough privacy to brief everyone about our new “advantage” without Shae hearing it. She’d volunteered to go out on patrol, but I vetoed that, not wanting her off the property. Instead, she settled for guard duty on the roof, and I prepared several pieces of paper to explain.

  I gathered everyone into one of the side rooms and closed all the curtains. I held my finger to my lips and made eye contact with everyone there so I knew they understood. I popped open the first case to reveal several black metal boxes. I opened the first one and pulled out the long 5.56mm rifle cartridge. It was completely silver in color from bullet to primer. The bullet jacket had several small openings in a spiral pattern. Looking closely, you could make out an amber-colored core beneath the jacket.

  Miria held up a card. Everyone had pencil and paper in front of them. I’d felt silly setting up a written briefing in flashcard format, but it was the only way I could think of to get around Shae’s supernatural hearing.

  Miria’s card said:

  Silver?

  I shook my head and held up a prepared card.

  These are anti-vampire rounds. Inside is a suspended compound that once it makes contact with vampire blood explodes violently.

  I flipped to the next card.

  These are not perfect. They are based on how much blood a vampire has in their system at the point of impact. If they have recently fed, there will be more blood in the body and a stronger reaction. If they haven’t fed in a while; there’s not a lot of blood, so not much reaction.

  I flipped the final card.

  If you hit a vampire in the arm and there’s enough blood, the arm will explode. Leg, same thing. Chest or head, and you’re looking at an instant kill. Very messy, instant kills. These rounds are coated, so do not touch them with bare hands, hence why I’m wearing gloves. If you do touch, immediately wash your hands. It shouldn’t affect you, but don’t take any chances. All of you have been “tainted” by either Shae or myself, so be careful. Questions?

  Richard scribbled something and held it up.

  When we finally do this, can we sneak into the place? Try and blend into the rest of the people there?

  I shook my head and replied.

  Believe it or not, he’s got everyone LoJacked in there.

  Richard quickly wrote something else.

  They’re tagged like cattle? Sounds like a really great guy!

  I nodded as I put the ammo back up and sealed the case. There would be many more questions as we started training; I was prepared for that. I just hoped this advantage would be enough to tip the scales in our favor.