The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel (42 page)

With the lantern held out in front of him, Prometheus tried to envision what lay ahead in the darkness. Echoes of the human groans bounced off the brick from distant battles with re-ans. He carefully placed each step because he did not want to deliver their prize back to the military. As they drew closer to the underground battle, Brown placed his hand on the Athenian's shoulder to stop him. The General motioned his head to the right towards the partially caved-in entrance to a side passageway. Traveling down the smaller corridor, the sounds of the battle faded.

From the shadows of the tunnel, the ruined remains of an electronics store emerged in the dim light. As they carefully stepped over the debris, Prometheus asked, "This appears to be what is left of a modern day merchant. Why would such a business be underground?"

Brown helped the others carry the kidnap victim over a fallen steel I-beam. He explained, "In the early days of the war, an ordinance caused the store to fall into this tunnel. As the rest of the building collapsed, this store remained buried and hidden all these years."

Next to a cracked computer monitor, Prometheus saw a box with a picture of a video camera on the cover. He picked it up, studied it in the light, and said, "I remember this. The good teacher Jennifer felt we should have one. She even fought bravely and sacrificed herself so we could keep one of these."

Brown walked away from the human and grabbed the package. "A video cam." He opened the box and took out the glistening white camera. "I haven't seen one of these in years." Checking the contents of the box he continued, "It even has batteries. I wonder if they're still good."

He took the batteries out of the plastic bag and inserted them into the unit. The screen on the back lit up and displayed their dimly lit feet. He tilted up at Prometheus. "Why did this Jennifer chick say we needed this? Did it have something to do with that prophecy?"

The Greek man glanced at the camera and turned toward the passageway. "I don't remember. It did seem to be
important
to her and I gave my word we would keep one of these protected."

Brown placed the camera in his pocket and pointed into the dark tunnel. "I'll hang on to it for a while." He jerked his head toward the prisoner. "Let's get this guy back to our lair."

Lit with handmade candles, a wide section of the tunnel served as the safe house for the night. Brown held the human in front of him and called out to the re-ans who emerged from the shadows to see what the night's scavenging brought to them. "Where is she?"

Prometheus saw
a figure come forth
from a dark notch in the tunnel wall. Salsa in her long coat, top hat, and leather corset and pants walked with smooth grace through the crowd and stopped in front of the human. She placed the tip of her finger on the prisoner's lower
lip, ran it down his face through his chest,
and let it fall off his body. "Is he clean?"

Midnight stepped through the crowd and scanned the man who focused his evil sounds at her. She grabbed his lower jaw and
stared
into his eyes. "He looks clean. I don't see any trace of the fire."

Salsa glanced at a dead solder next to her and motioned her head toward the human. The re-an grabbed the man's arm and took a bite out of his bicep. The prisoner screamed out in pain as the zombie chewed up
and
swallowed the bloody flesh. Brown and his men struggled to keep him still
with him fighting
against his ropes.

All eyes focused on
the
undead soldier as he waited for the vaccine to take effect. With no reaction, he said, "He's clean."

Salsa took another step closer to the man. She grabbed the back of his head and pressed her lips against his
,
only she ended the long kiss by biting off his lower lip. Pulling her face back, blood poured out of his mouth, over his chin and down his chest. His evil moans of pain bounced off the brick walls of the tunnel. She ripped open the front of his shirt, exposed his skin and quickly bit into his shoulder
,
pulling off a large chunk of muscle with her teeth like a lion feasting on a kill
. The human passed out from the loss of blood and fell to the ground.

With blood streaming down from her mouth onto her chest, Salsa swallowed the last of her meal. She glanced at the crowd around her and they all went silent. Prometheus said to her, "My good sister, your eyes have turned blue. We can now speak to the humans and end this war."

* * *

Flashlight beams pierced through the dust inside the ruins of what used to be Daniel's laboratory. Surrounded by soldiers, the scientist eyed his workplace with the same nostalgic feel
h
e
would have if it
were the remains of his boyhood home. Gazing at his old filing cabinet, he listened to a soldier report to the squad leader. "Sir, all of our
i
ntel
said they would move their Queen to this location on this night"

The squad leader replied, "It looks like our
i
ntel
was wrong. We'll regroup and try again tomorrow night. Where are they expected to move her tomorrow?"

"Their pattern indicates she will be in the old high school."

A light glowed from beneath a pile of crumbled drywall and ceiling tiles. Two soldiers cleared the debris as Daniel walked toward them. Underneath the rubble, he saw his old specimen refrigerator still operating. A soldier turned to him and asked, "How is this thing still running?"

The scientist spotted the heavy electrical cord running into the unit. "It's connected to a live line. There's some hot lines running underground which are still connected to the grid." The soldier replied, "But there are no operating power plants left in the state."

"There's a plant in
Arizona
that has remained up and running through the uprising. As long as it stays connected to the grid, there will be live wires. The trick is finding the hot ones out of the thousands of dead lines."

Daniel pointed to the side of the room where the ceiling had collapsed. "Behind those beams
,
there's a walk-in
freezer,
which is still probably still working. Think about how much ice will go for on the black market during the summer."

He noticed some of his old Petri dishes sitting
on
the bottom of cooler. The dish with re-an scribble had spilled into another dish with a neon green gel. Where the two contents mixed, the colored gel turned clear. He opened the door and grabbed both dishes holding them in the light from a flashlight. The squad leader asked, "Hey
,
Doc, what's that?"

"The green indicates the presence of cancer cells. The clear area is where the two dishes contaminated each other
,
but killed the cancer cells."

"What's in the other dish?"

Daniel glanced at the label one more time. It still had the scribble when it had been placed there by the re-an. "It's zombie saliva."

"Are you saying saliva from a meat bag can cure cancer?"

The scientist stared at the soldier with hazed over expression. "It has that appearance."

Salsa sat in the center of the stage on a throne,
once
used as a prop for school plays
,
inside
the remains of the old North High School theatre and watched over the crowd of some one hundred living dead as they staggered and
wandered
through the auditorium. Several gray skins stood nearby waiting for her instructions. Their decayed bodies had been reinforced scrap parts scavenged from the city. Metal hinges placed on their joints,
and
brass gears and rods to aid their movement
,
made them look part like part dead human and part machine.

On the side stage, Cathy taught several
of the
undead the finer skills of using a leather
bullwhip
.

Salsa still wore the long coat, top hat and leather corset. She now bore a knee brace with additional gears connected to small door dampeners which helped her to move her leg
mechanically
. Candles placed throughout the large room cast a yellow light reflecting off the high ceiling with pockets of dark shadows along the wall. A commotion came from the hallway outside the heavy wooden doors. Salsa lowered her dark green welding goggles to see across the auditorium
better
.
As the doors burst open,
Prometheus turned toward the noise.

Patricia and her crew stormed into the theatre covered in fresh blood spray and black burn marks from their recent battle. As she walked down the isle toward the stage
,
she announced, "We got one."

Sitting on her throne, with the tone of royalty, Salsa asked, "Is she important? Will the living listen to her?"

Stepping onto the stage the lady pirate answered, "We caught her leaving one of the military camps. The way they fought to get her back, she must be of some value to the army. Even if she's not, the fact we captured her has certainly brought the interest of the livings."

Her crew carried their kidnap victim onto the stage. She had her feet and hands tied with heavy rope and a burlap bag covering her head. Fresh blood splatter covered the front of her olive green military issued clothes. Patricia continued, "Her
e
she is. We don't have much time. General Brown and his men are stationed at the front of the building to fend off the soldiers who chased us here. It appears as though they have sent an entire legion and will soon break through our outer defenses."

Listening to the sounds emanating from the human under the bag, Salsa stood from her throne and approached the woman. "She's real mad at us…something about
she is
going
to
torch this place to the ground and watch us burn."

She yanked the bag off and the human stopped her rant with a startled expression on her face. The zombie queen asked, "What's your name?"

The human scanned the room and slowly
reverted
to her threats. Salsa glanced at Patricia and said to her, "I can understand her, but this will not work unless she can understand me. I have to transfer some DNA into her body."

She grabbed the woman by the back of her head and pressed her mouth against the human's
lips
. Silenced, the hostage struggled and squirmed to get her face away
,
but the former dancer held them close in a wet kiss. Pulling away, the hostage returned to her rant with undead saliva dripping from her lips. Salsa stepped back and said, "We'll let that settle in for a moment and see if it works."

The woman's tirade came to a sudden stop as her eyes opened wide and she glanced at the all re-ans around her. Patricia commented, "I think we have her attention."

Salsa translated the woman's groans. "She wants to know why she can suddenly understand us."

The lady pirated requested, "I would like to understand her language. Perhaps you should share your stings of life with some of us."