The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (133 page)

She released it and moved away from the gurney.  Kimberly fell into a nearby chair and stared at Hemp and the doctor.

“How do you feel?” asked Rebecca.  “Are you okay?”

“Just spinning a little,” said Kimberly.  “Tingling, too.”

Hemp walked to her and pulled his mask up.  “What’s tingling?”

“My head.  Like all the blood rushed from my brain or something.”

“Sit there a bit,” said Hemp.  He motioned to Rebecca.  “Now you, okay?”

Rebecca looked carefully at Kimberly, and slowly rose from her chair.  She moved to the side of the gurney, glancing back at Hemp, who nodded and provided his best reassuring look.

She stopped and looked down at the thing on the gurney, who had once just been another citizen of Concord, New Hampshire, now a victim of the apocalypse, ravaged, yet more powerful than many of her former neighbors who had suffered the same fate.

“I … I know her,” said Rebecca, her voice so low that Hemp barely made out the words.  “Oh, my God.  That’s Nancy Freeman.”

She turned to look at Hemp.  “She used to babysit me.”

No sooner did the words leave her lips, an eruption of scarlet vapor engulfed her.  The creature was generating more vapor than Hemp had ever seen before.  The room quickly became clouded with it, and Rebecca choked it into her lungs, coughing it out.  She staggered away from the table, and Kimberly jumped from her seat to catch the woman before she hit the wall.

Scofield grabbed a sheet from beneath one of the counters and quickly shook it out, dropping it over the restrained rotter.

He rushed to the chair into which Kimberly had settled Rebecca.

The effect was instantaneous.  Rebecca’s eyes glowed red.

“Open that door, Jim,” said Hemp.  “Crack it first and make sure it’s clear.”

Scofield moved quickly for a man of his years, withdrawing a Ruger from his side holster and making sure a round was in the chamber.  He pushed open the door and stuck his head out.

“Clear,” he said, opening it.

“Fan it,” said Hemp.  “Let’s try to clear some of this stuff out.”

As the doctor opened and closed the door quickly several times, a low hum began, as if from nowhere and everywhere at once.  It became a thrum, then a steady vibration.

Hemp moved cautiously to the gurney and withdrew the sheet.

The creature’s throat convulsed, pulsated.  Its mouth opened and closed, but the sound continued.

“Kill them all,” said Rebecca. 

Hemp looked at her.  She looked at him, her expression one of pure shock.

“I didn’t ... say that,” said Rebecca, her shock turning to confusion.  “Kill the man.”

“Rebecca,” said Hemp.  “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she answered, her eyes desperate.

“Do you feel compelled to do anything?”

“No,” she said.  “I’m just … I’m sorry!”

Hemp went to her and knelt down.  “What do you feel?  Do you hear something?”

She looked at the zombie on the table, who stared at her.  The vapor had ceased, but the creature’s vibration intensified yet again.

“
Kill him now
,” she muttered, but she did not move.

Hemp took Rebecca’s hand in his and squeezed it.  “You’re okay,” he said.  “Relax, Rebecca.”

He looked at Kimberly, a question on his face.

“I don’t hear anything,” she said.  “Just the vibration.”

“Kimberly, how old are you?” asked Hemp.

“I’m forty-seven.”

Hemp’s mind whirled.  The thoughts and questions came faster than he could process them, but one stood out above the others.  “Kimberly, can you still bear children?”

She shook her head.  “No, I had a hysterectomy four years ago.  I had some stuff going on in my uterus that I didn’t want to worry about.”

“Okay,” said Hemp.  “That explains a lot.”

“Kill them now!” shouted Rebecca.  Then: “I’m so sorry!  I’m not saying that!”

Hemp squeezed her hand tighter.

“It’s alright, Rebecca.  We need to move you away from her.  I need to know how far away she can reach you.  Come on, now.”

Hemp stood and the now sobbing Rebecca stood with him.  He put an arm over her shoulder and opened the door into the adjacent hallway that led to the bar.  The people standing near the door in the hall looked horrified, no doubt overhearing the screamed words from within the lab.

As he moved Rebecca through the crowd, they pushed one another to stand away from the woman with the glowing, red eyes.  They had clearly had enough fear for one lifetime.

Once in the main bar, Gem and Charlie rushed up to them.  They looked at Rebecca.

“Is she okay?” asked Charlie.

“I’m not sure yet.”

“I feel better,” she said.  “I’m sorry for saying those things.”

Hemp looked back at the lab.  They were only twenty or so feet away from the room now.  Whatever powers of telepathic control the creatures had over uninfecteds, either male or female, was substantially dependent on proximity.

“Do you hear her now?” asked Hemp, his arm still around her shoulders.

She shook her head, breathing deeply.  “No, not now.  What happened to me?”

“She was issuing commands,” said Hemp.  “Simple commands.  What I might refer to as primordial.”

“She wanted me to kill everyone.”

“Who wanted her to kill everyone?” asked Gem.

“My captive,” said Hemp.  “The new female.”

“Holy shit, Hemp,” said Gem.  “And she said it?”

“Rebecca repeated her commands,” said Hemp.

“Double holy shit.  Your new zombie sounds like a shit disturber.”  Gem leaned close and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “You want I should kill her?”

“No, Gem, but she is a shit disturber, to say the least,” said Hemp.  “But the bright side of this is that Rebecca didn’t attempt to follow her instructions.”

Charlie stood in front of Rebecca and lifted her chin, looking into her gaseous, red eyes.  “The vapor did this?  Like Lisa?”

“Yes, but she was on the new wafers, created partially from that vapor.  I’m not certain, but I believe it allows her to repeat the commands, but doesn’t compel her to act on them.”

“How do you feel?” asked Charlie, stroking Rebecca’s cheek. 

“Better,” she said.  “I don’t want to go back in there.”

“You don’t have to,” said Hemp.  “As long as you can absolutely confirm that you never felt any urge whatsoever to actually obey her.”

Rebecca shook her head.  “No!  I would never hurt anyone!”

The crowd around them, who had already compacted away from them, tried to move even further back.

“Everyone, it’s okay.  Rebecca’s okay.  We just completed an important experiment, and Rebecca has helped us all.”

The murmuring in the room immediately took on a more settled tone.  Some of those who knew the girl moved in to touch her soothingly on the shoulder and arm, thanking her in low tones.

Hemp spoke to Rebecca again.  “Okay, you heard the words and spoke them, but there was never – not even a brief moment – where you felt you didn’t have control of your own actions?”

“No, Hemp,” said Rebecca.  “I just said what came into my head.”

“Get her settled.  I want to produce more of the new wafers, and afterward, I want any women of child-bearing years to take it right away.”

Gem moved in and took Rebecca by the arm.  “Come with me, sweetie.   We’ll get a cot cleared off for you.”

Charlie walked with Hemp into the hallway.  Midway through the crowd of people, she stopped and turned him toward her.

“So what’s the deal?  The creature had the ability to order her to kill everyone?”

Hemp nodded.  “Both Kimberly and Rebecca were exposed to a heavy dose of the new vapor after taking the new wafers.  Kimberly seemed not to be affected at all.  Rebecca repeated the commands, but unlike Lisa, she didn’t act on them, or try to.”

“That’s good, right?  Are you sure it was because of the wafer, or because of something in Rebecca?”

“I suppose there’s a chance it could be an internal, moral code issue, but I doubt it,” said Hemp.  “Lisa knew well enough that opening that car door would result in danger to her mates, and she still opened it.”

“There’s a huge fucking difference between opening a door and killing someone.”

“Not when opening the door could result in the same thing, and Lisa knew it.  She could not resist, in my mind.”

Charlie shook her head.  “I wish I could help.”

“I want you to take the wafer, Charlie.  Gem, too.  The components are very similar to the other wafers, so I believe they’re perfectly safe.”

“When they’re ready, bring us one.”

“When they’re ready, I’ll bring you far more than that.  Every woman in her child-bearing years who has not had a hysterectomy needs to be on them.”

Charlie nodded.  “I looked out the door a few minutes ago.  The fire looks much closer now, and I heard explosions.”

Hemp’s face was grim.  “Flex said they’re coming.  Fleeing the fire, I suspect, but once they get down here, our presence is going to be a powerful draw to them.  They
will
come here, I have no doubt.”

*****

The cars, most of which had some fuel in the tanks, erupted just as Flex had hoped, and the homes they had set aflame had, for the most part, become engulfed by them.

Flex, with Nelson driving and Dave riding shotgun in Gem’s car behind them, sped up
Centre Street, swerving around stalled and crashed cars, looking at the fruits of their labors. 

“I think we have it,” he said into his radio.  “There’s no way through unless they’re wearing fire retardant clothes.”

“Good call, Flex,” said Dave.  “It should slow them down.”

They had created a new fire line, and as they had done the work, the wind had shifted somewhat.  It now blew from the northwest, which would drive the new fires they had set away from Three Sisters Bar.  Any back burning would occur slowly though, which would have helped their cause.  If and when the creatures ran into an impassable area, they would have to retreat from the fire to find another path through; another way to reach those who dreaded their arrival.

Flex hoped it would be enough.   It was all they could do, and it was time to get back to his family.

He threw his arm out the window, pointed his index finger to the sky, and gave the guys behind him the universal signal for “spin it around.”

Once eastbound on Centre again, they put their pedals to the metal.

When Flex reached
Rumford Street, he feathered his brakes, warning Nelson behind him, then cranked the car to the right and hit the brakes hard. 

They were there.  Beyond the flames, heading in their direction, was a massive flood of bodies.  The streets were now almost lit as though by daylight from the massive fires burning all around them, and they could see what appeared to be liquefied, asphalt streets, which were in reality, ratz moving among the assemblage of walking dead.  Some had drawn ahead of the crowd and reached the firestorm, their bodies aflame as they pushed on as far and as fast as they could.

“They’re going to have to backtrack,” said Flex.  “They’ll burn if they try to get through.”

“Let’s hope so,” said
Bell.  “Hit it, Flex.”

Flex punched the gas again and Nelson matched his speed as they burned rubber on the turn from
Centre Street to Main and headed south past the State House.

Two minutes later, they parked the cars in the center of the bar parking lot in an attempt to minimize any damage from the coming flames.

Just before they arrived, West was able to awaken Eddie, who was oblivious to the plan they had just executed.

He could hear about it later.   They helped one another into the bar, and found they could barely get through the door, the crowd of desperate survivors had become so dense.

Flex saw Gem immediately, standing beside a girl lying on a cot.  She waved him over.

“Be still, stupid fucking heart,” she said, hugging him.  He put his arms around her and rested his cheek against her head.

“You smell like fire,” she said.  “God, I’m glad you’re back.”

“I don’t know if we helped, but we tried to block them.  They’re coming, Gem.  It seems like all of them.”

She looked up into his eyes.  “Flex, what about the girls?  What about us?”

Flex shook his head.  “I don’t know.”

“I hate those words.”

“I do, too.”

Gem slid her arms around his waist and squeezed him.  She whispered in his ear:  “Flex, I’ll do anything to save my family.  Can we go?  We can just leave, all of us.  Take the two cars and get out. If we can’t save everyone, we have to worry about us, right?”

What Gem said went against Flex’s nature.  He remembered what they had agreed to when they first left Jamie’s house, right after it all began.  If they saw any children in danger, they would have to remember that the most important child to them was Trina.  She came first.