Dead Hunger IV: Evolution (37 page)

“Stay inside, and
wait until we pull up to make sure it’s clear.”

Gem looked at Charlie, and she knew what they were going to do was dangerous.  Had Flex been able to hear the transmission, she knew he would head over, but he had not cut in on the conversation.

“We have to be smart about this, Charlie.”

“I already feel stupid.”

“Do we have a choice?”

Charlie shook her head.  “I don’t think so.  When did the girls last take WAT-6?”

“They’re off it.  They need a fresh dose.”

“Okay,” said Charlie.  How about this?  We get them in the car, then we give it to them.  I’d rather them be asleep.”

“Perfect,” said Gem.  “But it’s going to be a tight fit. I want to take Bunsen and Slider.  If we have to leave them in the car, those dogs will fight to protect them.”

“Good plan.  Let’s do it,” said Charlie.

“I’ll
bring
enough WAT-6 for the
big
kids.  In case they’re out.”

“Good idea.”

Fifteen minutes later they
had the
six
Rangemasters stocked in the trunk with plenty of magazines and ammo, the girls laughing in the back seat with
Slider struggling
to find space
between them
, and
Bunsen in the front, smothering Charlie.  The roof-mount
AK-
47
was
loaded
up
with
another ten
full mags
in reserve
, and the GPS screen was set to scope mode
. 

Gem brought her Uzi
named
Queenie, and
Charlie
selected
her Parker Tornado
crossbow along with
a plethora of arrows
and two Glock 9mm pistols.

As Gem threw the Crown Vic into reverse, she looked at Charlie and smiled.  “Did I ever tell you that
you are one hot, crossbow-toting, motherfucking mess?”

“I think so.  So has Flex
, for that matter
.”

Gem’s eyes narrowed
.  “Oh, now you’re pushing me.”

Charlie patted her leg and laughed with her.
  “I love you too,
Gemina
.”

*****

Dave knew the sun would be setting soon.  Somehow Serena had fallen asleep on his lap, and his legs were numb.  He had begun crying an hour ago, and suppressed all but the tears
, which had thoroughly soaked his beard and the front of his shirt
. 

Like a horror movie reel on endless play, he saw his sister being attacked again and again by the undead creatures, and the vision made him want
to scream
at the top of his lungs
and pound on the walls of their prison to
drive it from his mind.

The tears would have to do.  He didn’t need to scare the hell out of Serena.

He looked around the room, and gently patted his pockets.  He needed something, some tool.  If night fell and he hadn’t come up with anything, he dreaded to think how long they might end up trapped in the building.

“Serena,” he said softly, stroking her hair.

She stirred awake and looked up at him.  “You’re crying.”

“Still?” he asked, wiping at his eyes.  His hands came back wet.  “Yeah, I guess I am.”  He wiped his face on his sleeve.

“I’m so sorry, David.”

“You
know, you
’re the only one who calls me David.”

“I know,” she said.  “I like it. It’s from the Bible.  He fought Goliath, you know.”

Dave wasn’t much for Bible stories, but he knew that story.  “He won, right?”

“Hell yes, he won.  And so will we.  What’s going on?”

“We have to figure something out.”  He
said.  “They’re still out there.”

“All of them?”

“I don’t know.  I didn’t want to wake you.  Let’s look.”

Serena got onto her knees and crawled on all fours to Dave.  She leaned forward, pressed her lips to his and kissed him.  “Mmm.  Salty.”

Dave smiled.  “Sorry.”

She stood and held out her hands.  Dave took them in his and she pulled him up.  They went to the window and got on their tiptoes.

Dave began counting.  He lost count at forty-two.

“And that’s all we can see
,
”
said Serena.

“Shit.  We don’t have enough ammo to make a run for it.”

“But we have light,” said Serena.  “Wait.”

She pulled her headlight out and flipped the switch backward.  A flashing red light came on.  She looked at Dave, her eyes wide.

Dave smiled for the first time since Lisa’s death.  He felt instantly guilty and his mouth fell into a straight line again.  “That will be visible from a long way off,” he said.  “They knew we were going to the Costco, so if they find the car and look around –”

“They’ll see it!” said Serena, excited.

“It’s all we got for now,” said Dave.  “If we get to morning, we’re just gonna have to kick the shit out of that door and make a break.”

He took the light from her and put it on the window sill, facing outward. 

Then they checked out the other windows for anything that might help to save their lives.

*****

Hemp, Flex and Kevin Reeves lay silently on the floor, awaiting something.

Something
.

Hemp knew
in his acutely scientific mind that
this was
some sort of
transformational
process, just as a caterpillar in a cocoon, just as a baby in its mother’s womb.  It wa
s instinctual rather than aware; it was developmental, not benign.

And it likely held wicked consequences for mankind
.

Something was changing in the zombies, and it was assisted
either by
this new vapor – that originated from the females – or a blend of the gas and this new component.

From what he had seen in the lab with Red Dress and
Blue Eyes
, it had affected a part of the brain not u
sed in life, and a power that was widely believed to be mythical:

Psychic ability.

Hemp
himself
had never believed in the existence of this phenomenon.  Despite the small portion of the human brain actually used, there was nothing to confirm that higher mastery of the use of the brain would result in this ability.

Thoughts automatically move to hypnosis.  Could this be what they’re capable of?

No.  Lisa had said words that were not her own.  Or she had experienced emotions or thoughts that were not her own, and these thoughts or emotions were translated into her own words through the complex workings of her own brain.

Hemp lay mesmerized, his eyes scanning the wispy vapor.  F
lex and Kev had slid along the floor so that the three men could all see the glowing, red vapor, the top of which licked into the air like tiny waves of fog licking off a lake surface.

On rare occasions, a hand emerged from the mist, then sank back out of sight.  Each time this occurred, the three men tensed.  Hemp felt it, but so far nobody had reacted in a way that would give away their presence.

In a low whisper, Hemp said, “I need a sample of this vapor.”

He had told Lisa that he’d been able to get a sample from her when she was first possessed by Red Dress in his lab, but it wasn’t true.  He did not want her to feel as though it had all been for nothing, for her trauma had been great enough at that point.

Hemp felt a tap on his shoulder.  He turned to look at Kev, who did not look back.  His eyes remained trained on the hovering mist.

“I saw a water bottle on the way in.  Half full.  Can you do anything with that?”

“Sure,” said Hemp.  “I can squeeze it and release it, filling it with the vapor, then cap it.”

“Want me to go get it?”

“If you can do it quietly,” said Hemp.

“I’m already over here,” said Flex.  “I saw it, too.  I’ll be right back.”

Flex left his gun on the concrete floor and crouched low as he ran quietly to the door.  He was back in twenty seconds or so.

“Here,” he said, giving it to Hemp.

Hemp unscrewed the cap and dumped the water slowly onto the floor.  “Damned thing is brittle.”

“Gonna break?” asked Flex.

“No,” said Hemp.  “But it’s going to be louder than I’d prefer.”

“Should you chance it?” asked Reeves.  “Maybe find another way to get some of it?”

“There’s nothing else.  Just be ready.”

Hemp slowly squeezed the bottle.

Two significant pops sounded as the plastic crinkled.

He froze.

No movement.  He looked at Flex and Reeves and smiled.  He felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“Easy, bud.  Take your time,” said Flex.

“Time to fill it,” he said, sliding on his belly to where the crimson mist seemed to glow as it floated above the floor.  Hemp didn’t really know how low the floor was, or where the creatures w
ere beneath their protective layer of gas.  This would be a crapshoot.

Hemp move
d his hand over the mist, still compressing the bottle.  He lowered it until half of it was obscured by the fog.  He felt his hand begin to shake.

The bottle hit something soft.

The soft thing reacted as Hemp released the pressure on the bottle, filling it with gas.  He pulled it back quickly and began to thread the cap back
on
.

“Hemp, watch out!”

But it was too late.  A hand charged out of the mist and clamped firmly around Hemp’s wrist
; a female hand with blue-painted nails, badly chipped and broken, but intact.
.

A split-second later, the owner of the
hand emerged from beneath the cloud of vapor
,
jerking the entire weight of Hemp’s body
up with her.

She’s powerful
, Hemp thought
.

Hemp felt Flex’s arm curl quickly around his waist as he was yanked backward. 

The hand clutched, but ultimately fell away as Flex’s power exceeded hers and Hemp was dragged back two feet.

Even as he was pulled backward, only vaguely aware of
Flex
and Reeves yelling,  Hemp found he could not turn his eyes away from the female; not because he was entranced, but simply because she was entrancing.

Her hair was oddly thick and decidedly different than
all
of the walking dead they’d encountered.  It hung down, not in sparse strands, tangled and knotted, but as straight as corn silk, reflecting in its sheen the red mist
on the floor around her; the mist that
even as Hemp watched in disbelief, began erupting with rising bodies.

“Hemp, damn
it!  Snap the fuck out of it!” shouted Flex.

Hemp tried hard to focus, and looked down at the bottle he still held in his right hand.  He fumbled to tighten the cap more, then jammed it into the pocket of his cargo pants.

Flex held his gun out and
Hemp
grabbed it, but had to leap backward because Corn Silk was moving toward him.

He looked at her stomach.  Swollen. 
Moving
. 

Hemp staggered back against the wall, staring
at the zombie in front of him
.

She had been pregnant when the world changed, too.

The
creatures regenerating beneath the red fog
hadn’t come straight at them.  Instead, they moved
quickly from beneath the vapor
to standing positions, to
stagger-rushing
toward
the outside walls of the building, the red mist now swirling in the air
like flames licking off of a funeral pyre.

“They’re surrounding us!” shouted Reeves.  “Look around.  There’s nowhere to go!”

“Hurry!” shouted Flex.  “Follow me!”

He ran.  Hemp and Reeves followed, as Flex threw his gun on his shoulder and mounted a ladder bolted to the inside wall of the building.  There was a hatch at the top that likely opened to the roof.

Flex was fast.  Hemp scrambled up
behind him, and he saw Flex reach the hatch and push it up and open.

Hemp’s speed  was
driven by
his own
fear and exhilaration, and he felt Reeves at his back.