Zombologist Book 1 Zombie Hunters (Zomboligist Series) (9 page)

The grandfather was bit… while out in the field. Saw a cow
down, thought someone was butchering in the field, times are tough. Two rouges
eating his cow. Shot one several times as it lunged at him. Never phased it. Bit
him on the face.

No zombies registered in the area. Could be rouge, throw
away or a digger. Not enough information yet. Be there to pick you up in half
hour. Helicopter. The round-up rig is already on the way. Shortage of people in
that area, we need you to supervise. I’ll send you the link on Google maps and
fill you in when I land.”

Jana galloped the rest of the way to the house. She quickly
corralled her horse without unsaddling her, knowing that Buck would take care of
her when he came back. With a sense of urgency, she ran into the house, grabbed
an overnight bag
, just in case
, and another backpack buried deep in her
closet.
She might need this one too
.

Inside the backpack were night vision goggles, a top of the
line thermal eye camera, 2 semi-automatic pistols, her favorite push knife, and
several other knives and hand axes ready to do the job. Jana dressed quickly in
her gear outfit; black leather boots, coat, and placed her stainless steel
gloves – the type that butchers sometimes wear - inside the leather backpack.

Jana ran down the stairs throwing her gear by the back door
and hit the hidden button beside the fireplace. The door swung in soundlessly
and Jana stepped inside the hallway. Poking the B button the elevator door slide
open. Jana stepped inside and the door closed behind her, descending with a
lurch. When Jana stepped into the underground hallway the lights came on
automatically. She walked a short way and pressed her thumb into the lock. The
door to her research room swung open.

Jana could hear the moans coming from behind the steel
doors that separated her laboratory and the cages beyond. They knew she had
entered. They sensed her as well as smelled her. The ones with olfactory glands
still intact that is. Her captures have an extraordinary sense of community,
seeming to sense her at the same time. She still couldn’t medically pinpoint how
it worked. She had been working on that last week before leaving for California.
It was as if some sort of telepathy worked among the dead.

“
Down
you bunch of dead stinking creatures;
I’m just making a pit stop.” Jana called out before sliding a cooler door open.
Finding what she wanted she closed the door behind her and headed back up to the
ground floor just as she heard the helicopter landing on the garage roof.

She grabbed her overnight gear before heading down the
enclosed walkway towards the garage. Dillon was waiting for her just inside also
dressed in his round up gear.

Tall and dark, well sculptured and sexy as hell, Dillon
could have been anything he wanted. He owned the bad boy look. He kept his head
shaved, owned a sensual mouth that curved slightly in one corner giving him a
lopsided grin that could melt any woman’s heart with just a look. His
honey-caramel skin glowed with health and his dark eyes never gave anything
away.

 “My, my now don’t you look sexy Ms. Jones.” Dillon said
when he got a look at her. He always liked the way she looked at zombie round
ups.

“Any casualties besides the farmer?” Jana ignored his sexy
comment as usual. Dillon was half her age, more suitable for a younger woman
than herself. She knew he was attracted to her, just as she was attracted to
him, but not sure if it was the whole package or her skill with a sword.

“Jamal Mahoney and his team are already on the ground. He
has briefed the family and has the farmer locked in the bedroom, resting. He is
already showing signs of fever according to Jamal.”

Jana nodded. Jamal was an early retiree from the CDC who
lived in Maryland. He had gotten tired of the government’s constant red tape and
joined
the society
when he met Jana at one of her Vodum conferences.
Jamal’s own grandmother was a Vodum practitioner, the Queen mother in Louisiana,
though she used the term VooDoo. As a boy he witnessed many rituals and
ceremonies preformed in the damp basement of his grandmother’s home. Even though
she had died when he was ten he had always been spellbound by the things he saw
and never forgot the strange language. After a lengthy discussion Jana invited
him to her home in Pa and let him tour her laboratory. He immediately resigned
his position with the CDC and ventured into West Africa, Nigeria and then Haiti
to study the Vodum rituals. Since then he has become a world authority on the
religion and a regular in the round ups.

“Have they spotted the walkers yet?”

“Negative.”

“Got the serum, let’s see if we can slow this thing down.”
Jana said as she slid into the back seat beside Dillon. “Hey Oscar, how’s it
hanging buddy?” she asked of the pilot.

Oscar broke into his deep hearty laugh before he broke into
a fit of hacking cough. “Damn got to give those cigarettes up before they kill
me, but doing great Ms. Jones, just dandy. Buckle up back there. Let’s get this
show on the road as they say.”

Oscar lifted the Dauphin effortlessly into the air. The
beautiful Alleghany Mountains grew smaller below. Dillon filled Jana in briefly,
much as he had told her earlier on the cell. They rode the rest of the way in
silence lost in their own thoughts.

“Be there in about 5 minutes guys.” Oscars deep grovel
broke the silence. “I’ll take a sweep of the farm; maybe we can see something
from the air.”

Most of the family’s farm land was heavily wooded. There
was nothing to see from the air except the cow that had been attacked. From the
air they could see the bull lying on its side already stiff; its soft underbelly
ripped open. Long tentacles of sticky entrails lay about scattered like greasy
strands of hair.

Seeing nothing of the walkers, Oscar landed the chopper
with hardly a bump. Within seconds Jana and Dillon were headed toward the farm
house.

Jamal met them at the door his smooth southern drawl warned
them. “I thought she understood what we were up against but she insisted on
seeing her son. I’m sorry; she’s barricaded the door and won’t let me in. I
didn’t think the use of force would be good considering the situation.”

“It’s okay Jamal, you did what you could.” Jana said before
stepping into the entry way. Just inside the living room she could make out
several children, shock registering on their faces. One young boy of around
eight caught her eye and gave her thumbs up. Jana smiled in response.

Outside she heard the low rumbling of a semi.
Good, the
round up rig is here
.

Jana excused herself and stepped outside to meet them. 

The semi that pulled in was not the 1979 pea green classic
that she was accustomed to seeing. What pulled in was a custom made Peterbilt,
phantom-black, and dripping with character. The grill sparkled above a boxed end
bumper surrounded by running lights and aluminum steps. Directly behind the
curved straight stack and mounted onto the roof was an oblong chrome satellite
box.

Jana’s mouth dropped at the sight.

Adam Wilcox smiled at Jana’s expression, threw it in park
and with one smooth motion, hopped out of the cab.

“Looks like you have an admirer Jana.” Adam said smiling.
“This beauty is courtesy of one Mr. Dye of the Diamond Dyes. He was doing some
upgrading, thought we could use this ‘ole clunker’ as he called it. Come on; let
me show you inside the cargo area.”

Inside was more outstanding than the outside. The cargo
area was split into two main sections. The front section was for the living and
the back section was for the dead. On the left side of the front cargo area ran
a long that ended just before a solid black divider wall.

The counter area housed a state of the art satellite
system; several stainless steel laptops were attached to the counter and all
connected to one large computer system. On the opposite side of the cargo area
was more counter space, a small kitchen area and directly behind that, a modern
bathroom.

“We now have our own satellite floating out there in space.
In case of a world collapse we can still stay in touch and get the word out to
survivors. We will have our own internet address as well. Dot zomb. Get it, dot
com, dot zomb?” Adam said cheerfully looking over her shoulder into the cage
area.

“So, Mr. Dye wants to be part of the team? Can he spy on
us?”

“Well I think that was his intention. Our top tech girl,
Paula, found his spyware and turned the tables on him. While he thinks he’s
spying on us, we are actually able to spy on him or send him false readings if
need be. About the same thing that we do with the NSA, FBI, CIA, NASA and
CovertMissionUSA, hell, even homeland security can’t crack us.” Adam beamed with
pride at that revelation. Adam was another rescue that Jana undertook back in
1982.

“Mr. Dye could prove to be a valuable asset in all of this,
or a blundering fool. Have Paula keep a good eye on his whereabouts.”

“You betcha Boss! Will do.”

“So what all do we have in here?” Jana asked as she
strolled along the aisle inspecting the countertop and cupboards above as well
as underneath. Hmmm, a microwave, built in fridge…” Jana trailed off as she
lifted a ring on the counter. The whole counter flipped revealing a microscope
and several drop-in test tube containers. Pushing a small button, a piece of 8
by 6 inch countertop slid to the left and a set of 8 test tubes rose from the
subzero temperature, vapor rising as the frozen test tubes hit the warm air.
“Amazing.”

The counter on the other side where the computers sat she
found more test tubes within a miniaturized lab. There was a holding area for
dozens of slides and every kind of chemical compound you could think of. The rig
was also fully stocked with hospital emergency equipment. There were bandages,
sutures, anti-bacterial medications and creams. There were even slots for
vitamins. Willis Dye had supplied everything from aspirin to zinc.

Near the middle of the rig and before the divider that
housed the cages were small nooks containing a bathroom complete with shower and
dressing area. A ladder led to a bunker above that held several cots, small
tables and several operational lights embedded into the wall for the longer
trips.

Behind the divider was a horizontally laid area set aside
for extra cargo. Along the walls were storage units that housed plenty of
protective suits, mesh nets, ropes, strait jackets, taser guns, Night Vision
Scopes, dozens of assorted rifles, guns and boxes of ammunition. There were also
several cases of batteries and food supplies.

This area was separated by a sliding door that led to the
holding area. The holding area held eight 5X8 cages for specimens or the
infected which might survive any outbreaks. The cages were constructed from bars
of stainless steel set close enough together that hands couldn’t penetrate into
the walk way. There was enough room to walk freely between the cages without the
threat of being attacked.

Very nice.

Jana was amazed at the insight that went into the layout.
On closer inspection Jana noted the divider was actually soundproof panels.

Keep the moans at bay. Clever.

****

“Whoa Dude!” the three boys nearly whispered in unison as
they stared in utter disbelief.

She was lying at an elevated angle on her side, facing
them. The right side of her head, shoulder and arm were frozen to rock in a
rough cluster of ice, just covering her arm, eye and cheek. It looked as though
she had lain down resting her head on her arm. From just below her neck and
downward, the body was encased in a thin swathe of ice. Her left shoulder was
exposed and her left arm was draped, frozen, over her stomach. The neck, chin
area and the left side of her face was the only clearly visible area.

Water slowly dripped just inches below her left shoulder,
freezing as it dribbled across her chest. Her left eye that was not covered in
ice was closed, her skin was clammy looking and grey. Her mouth was slightly
open.

“What is happening? What do you see?” it was Joe’s voice,
breaking the silence. “Is it a bear?”

“It’s a body Joe.” Kyle whispered back.

“A freaking body.” Alfonzo said as he shined the feeble
light on her again, sucking in his breath. Taking a step back, his feet slide
out from under him and he went down.

Alfonzo quickly gets up stammering “holy fuck.”

Are you okay? Joe whispered from inside the tunnel.

“Yea, I’m fine. Don’t you dare tell anyone about that slip,
okay Joey?” Alfonzo said.

“Didn’t see a thing.” Joe whispered. “What do you mean a
body? A dead body? Talk to me guys.” Joe started slithering through the hole. He
just had to see what was going on.

“No Joey, a live body. Geeezz Joey, seriously?” Kyle said,
trying to be sarcastic but his voice only trembled, given away his shock.

Joey made it through the icy tunnel and gladly accepted
Kyle’s offer of help as he got to his feet and placed his crutch inside his
armpit. Joe stood looking toward the area the boys were facing, waiting
impatiently as his eyes adjusted.