Zombie Attack! Army of the Dead (Book 3) Read online

  “I can't believe he turned you down,” Felicity stated in disgust.

  “That makes two of us, honey,” John said. I flashed him a glare that he ignored.

  “It just doesn't make sense,” she continued. “Bryan was a very dangerous man, delusional and drunk with power, sure, but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't loyal. If anything, his little sacrifices proved that. I wonder what made him decide to stand behind his followers?”

  “Oh see, that's where you've got it wrong,” John guffawed. “Yeah. I can see your confusion on that one. Bryan started out negotiations by giving us most of the zoms held in his pits. After that, he offered to give us nearly a third of his devotees to stay here, so he could stay in power.”

  “That sounds like the Bryan Crowe I met,” I chimed in.

  “He couldn't see the big picture,” John went on. “I kept trying to tell him that everything was gonna change, that it was out with the old and in with the new, but he just didn't want to hear it. In the end, he declared a holy war on my men and me. Didn't cost us a single soldier. These religious nuts were used to looking scary, flashing their steel for the intimidation factor. Gunning down living people, well that's a different story.”

  “You'd know all about it,” I mumbled.

  “We put down a few of them and they fled like scared kids,” John bragged, looking more than a little pleased with himself. “It was sad really.”

  “That's when you turned him and Rowena?”

  “We had a little fun with him first, as you can see,” John winked at her. “I couldn't help myself. I'd tried to be generous and I even appealed to his greedy nature, but Bryan just kept throwing it in my face.

  Just like I had, I thought as I turned to look at Bryan Crowe again. That could just as easily be Felicity and me. For all I know it's just a matter of time before it is.

  I felt a cold chill race down my spine as I realized that at any moment the sweet tone could drain from John’s speech, and he could start torturing us to death.

  “I'm surprised he didn't try to offer you some of his brides,” I said, trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

  “He went the other way, started saying God would avenge him and that he was the second coming of Christ, whole lot of other rubbish too. We brought his wives in one at a time, and turned them while he watched. It wasn't until we got to this one that he seemed to come unglued. He said he'd never leave no matter what I offered him. I figured if he liked it here so much, the least I could do was honor his dying wish to never leave the Promised Land.”

  The door opened, and one of the armed men walked in with another teen zombie and a small, nervous-looking child.

  “Thanks, Haki,” John said. “How's the plan to get back our hygienically challenged, two-wheeled brethren coming along?”

  “Already working on it, boss,” Haki said.

  “Good. Hold up a minute. I might need you.”

  The kid looked up at me with eyes full of tears. Immediately I recognized him. It was the face that had haunted all my worst nightmares for over a year now.

  “Xander? Is that really you?”

  “Sam,” I said, kneeling down to hug him as he darted into my open arms. “How is this possible?”

  “Oh, I found him,” John said, taking the teen zombie by the chain and walking him over like a subdued pet pit bull. “Well, with a little help of course.”

  “Is that Joel Parker?” I pointed to the teenage zom.

  “What's left of him,” John clarified. “You're getting good at this. I guess after Tank, these two are pretty easy.”

  “I don't understand.”

  “No,” John understood. “How could you? Let me give you the short version so you'll be all caught up to speed.”

  “He came up to Vandenberg and found me,” Sam sputtered.

  “You wanna let me tell it, kid?”

  “Sorry,” Sam said, looking timidly at his feet.

  “How did you turn them all back?” I asked, growing impatient with the whole charade.

  “Let's just say I've got connections on the inside,” John said. “After you left Tank for dead, I went back and found him. Took me five guys to get him back to New Lompoc. We kept him locked up in a tool shed for a while. I didn't know what I was going to do with him, to be honest. I just knew I couldn't leave him out with the rest of the monsters.”

  “How noble of you,” Felicity sneered. He ignored her taunt.

  “Some of my brothers from Special Forces had fought their way through the nightmare of war, only to get back Stateside and find that the whole world had gone to hell in a hand basket. These aren't the kind of guys used to being told what to do. Most of them have more kills under their belts than you've got hairs on your head. Let's just say they didn't plan on sitting back and letting a patchwork of weekend soldiers, and old guys too fat to fight their own battles, just boss them around. They're like me. They're not content to just reclaim the ruins of the world. They're more interested in what comes next.”

  “Why don't I like the sound of that?” Felicity asked.

  “So what does that have to do with how you brought these people back?” I demanded, still staring at the youngster, unable to believe it was really Sam.

  “Let's just say I got friends in high places now,” John claimed. “These friends of mine have access to all sorts of things, including classified military documents on secret biological weapons-grade viruses and their antidotes. Turns out someone was just sitting on a whole load of anti-zombie juice, keeping it all to themselves. Now that's just selfish, if you ask me.”

  “They have a good reason for not letting people know about it yet,” I insisted, but somewhere in the back of my mind my nagging doubts were beginning to return.

  “You keep telling yourself that,” John chided. “You see, you think you're so different from me, but you're not...and neither is your brother. When push comes to shove, you manage to get what you need to survive no matter what the cost to other people around you. I can respect that. But then you walk around like you're better than everyone else, like your moral code somehow puts you above the rest of us. That's just hypocritical.”

  “My brother is nothing like you!”

  “You're right,” John laughed. “He used the antidote to save himself and his kid brother, then actively worked to hide the truth of its existence from the rest of us. Me, on the other hand, I'm more of what you'd call a man of the people. The first thing I did when I saw that the antidote worked on Tank was to track down that Parker kid. The other twin got his eggs scrambled, but this one here did okay.”

  “But I saw them both go down in a hail of bullets,” I protested. “If you brought him back, he'd have bled to death.”

  “His twin brother took most of the heavy fire. Joel here had a shattered femur and a bunch of bites. His right leg never did come all the way back, but other than that I had him looking like a shiny new penny for about a week. He told me a lot about you in that time, about how you'd all met up and what happened along the trek to New Lompoc, even how he blamed you for the death of his brother. He was even the one to find your little friend.”

  “I went back to the house where you found me,” Sam explained. I stayed crouched down by his side and listened to him tell his sad tale. “I made it, Xander! I got all the way there and locked all the doors, but by then I was really sick. The last thing I remember was passing out on the sofa and having this horrible dream. I was so angry, but also terribly hungry. Joel was in my dream. But I didn't know it was Joel. I didn't recognize him until after I bit him.”

  “Oh God,” Felicity moaned, putting her hand on my shoulder. “He turned him back again.”

  “I didn't mean to hurt him,” Sam cried, looking guilty. “I didn't know what was happening. I…”

  “He got a hold of him good, too,” John laughed. “Blood was spurting everywhere. It was disgusting. I blame the bum leg for him getting changed back to a flesh eater. Since then, Joel's been more like a mascot than anythi
ng.”

  “It's okay,” I cooed at Sam. “It's not your fault.”

  “I tried to apologize when I saw him later in the blue world,” Sam sputtered, his little eyes spilling tears out like a leaky faucet. “But by then, I was just a floating cloud and he was an angry wasp made out of bleeding lemons. He was too heavy to follow me up toward the light.”

  “I don't recall seeing a light in my trip,” I said.

  “It was so beautiful,” Sam insisted. “All I wanted was to live inside of it where there was no more pain or suffering.”

  “Yeah,” John said, jumping in. “Truth is, we almost lost him. I think maybe giving him the whole dose was a little too much for a guy his size, but he made it through like a champ.”

  “John said he was going to bring us all back together again,” Sam said, wiping his tears away. “He said he was part of a group of people who were going to fix the world and end the infection. Isn't that wonderful?”

  “I'm glad we get to be together again, buddy,” I began, “but I'm not sure John and I want the same thing.”

  “Why not? Don't you want things to be okay again?”

  “It's a little more complicated than that, Sam,” I sympathized, shaking my head. John had filled the kid’s head full of fantasies that justified him hurting innocent people. Had Sam not seen John's handiwork nailed to the trees around town?

  “Actually,” John interrupted, “it doesn't have to be complicated. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to work with your sworn enemies. I never thought I'd see a truce between us and Unity Gang, but in the end it's worked out better than I ever could have imagined.”

  “You're both murderers and thieves,” I spat. “You both enjoy killing and hurting other people. What's to argue about?”

  “Look,” John said, growing impatient again. “There is an easy way to do this, and a hard way. I'd like to give the easy way a try first, despite your usual ungrateful attitude.”

  “I will never work with you,” I said flatly.

  “Haki, take young Sam back to his room,” John ordered.

  “Yes sir,” Haki said, moving forward swiftly and pulling Sam back by his waist.

  “Wait,” I cried out. “Where are you taking him?”

  “Come to think of it, take Xander’s pretty friend along with the little mister to keep him company,” John instructed. I drew my sword.

  “Not a chance,” I said, stepping between them.

  “Now Xander,” John laughed, “I thought we talked about this.”

  “She's not leaving my side,” I growled.

  “No one will lay a finger on her while we're gone,” John promised. “I give you my word on that. You said you trusted my word, right? Isn't that how you got to keep your shiny toy there?”

  “Xander,” Felicity said, gently touching my arm. “It's okay. I'll be okay.”

  “I'm not leaving you,” I said, turning and staring into her pleading eyes.

  “What other choice do we have right now?” Felicity asked.

  I put my sword away. Tank chuckled. John gave him a smug look of satisfaction.

  “Well now that we've got that settled,” John sang out, back to his usual cheery self. “Let's take a walk. I'll fill you in on the way.”

  He threw his arm around me and began guiding me out the door. I looked over my shoulder to see Haki leading Sam and Felicity off to the same building I'd been locked in during my last stay. Tank didn't follow us back outside, which made me way more nervous for some reason, not knowing where he was. No matter what John promised me, I was certain Tank would stop at nothing to get his revenge against me. One way or another things weren't going to end well between us, and I knew it.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “I find taking a daily walk helps me clear my head,” John said, as we began to march up to where the zombie pits were the last time I was a guest of Bryan Crowe. “I love all this open country out here. Back in New Lompoc, if I wanted to go for a walk I'd have to loop around a bunch of tract homes that all looked the same, plus I'd need an armed escort. Out here all you have to do is let your feet do the walking.”

  “So you brought me out here to experience the joys of nature with you?” I asked sarcastically.

  “Actually I've got big plans,” John said. “The wheels are already turning, in case you didn't notice. That's where you come in.”

  “How's that again? Looks like you've got everything you need here in Ojai to start plenty of trouble,” I said, trying not to picture what terrible fate John had in store for me.

  Maybe he's going to hang me publicly as a warning to others not to rebel, I thought darkly. Or draw and quarter me. Or worse yet, turn me.

  “You're right,” John beamed. “But this is just a small part of a much bigger, more beautiful picture. By the way, your little girlfriend looks awfully familiar. Mind telling me why my men seem to recognize her when she goes past?”

  “She was a child movie star,” I shrugged, not really wanting to give him much, but realizing it was just a matter of time before his men started lining up to gawk at her and ask for autographs.

  “What's her name again?”

  “Felicity Jane,” I mumbled, my mouth going dry at his sudden interest in her.

  “Felicity Jane,” he repeated, scratching his chin. “And how do you know her again?”

  “She's my wife,” my voice now barely above a whisper. The look in his eyes was terrifying. I no longer feared for what he might do to me. All I could think about was protecting her, even if it was already too late.

  “That will do the trick,” John said with a big, evil smile.

  “Look man, whatever you're going to do to me, just leave her out of it,” I said, blood rushing to my face as I fought to control myself once again. “If you want to make an example out of me I get it, but Felicity didn't do anything wrong.”

  “Oh Xander,” John laughed, shaking his head. “You haven't changed a bit. You know that? Still just as eager as ever to be the big martyr, still first in line to sacrifice himself for some lost cause, and worst of all, still so fully self-absorbed that you think everything is about you.”

  “What's that supposed to mean? How is this not about me when you sent people to hunt me down and bring me here?”

  “Sure I was hunting you,” John kept on talking. “But not for something as petty as revenge. You think I went through all this trouble just so I could give you to Tank and let him rip your arms off? Is that it?”

  “So I'm not here as your present to Tank, wrapped up with a big bow on my head,” I taunted him. “I'm not here to show your men what happens to people who cross you? Is that what you're saying?”

  “Yeah, slick,” John said, looking less amused by the second. “That's what I'm saying. And to be clear, Tank owes me a favor for bringing him back from the land of the brain-dead. I don't owe him a damn thing!”

  “So why am I here?”

  “Ibogaine,” John concluded, “in a nutshell.”

  “Why do I know that word, and what does it have to do with me?”

  “Everything and nothing,” John said, walking ahead slowly and making me follow him. “Ibogaine is just one of the ingredients to make the antidote. It's a powerful hallucinogenic given to junkies to help them kick, as part of experimental addiction therapy. Before that, it was used by Shamans and medicine men.”

  “It was what caused me to have those wild dreams while I was in a coma recovering from my bite,” I recalled, realizing at last what John was talking about. “It's what made me see melting clocks in the desert and dead people from my childhood.”

  “I hear it's better than anything synthetic that’s been made up since,” John added. “That's why they use it on the addicts I suppose. It's a trip so hard and heavy you never wanna trip again, a last ride to Psychedelic Town that permanently rewires your consciousness.”

  “What does Ibogaine have to do with me again?” I wasn't trying to upset him. I was just genuinely confused at that point.

&
nbsp; “Nothing per se,” John said. “Except that your brother, Moto, stole the last traces of it from the base and hid it where we can't find it.”

  “That's not possible,” I claimed in disbelief. “He told me there isn't a plant anywhere closer than Tijuana, and that no one can get through the hordes down in Mexico to get it.”

  “Well then, he either lied or didn't trust you,” John sourly replied. “There was a grow house on the base with several plants coming along, that is until Moto and his accomplice broke in one night and stole them.”

  “If that's true, then he's been charged as a criminal,” I interjected.

  “Not exactly,” replied John. “Moto is smart. I'll give him that. He had his partner pull off the robbery, and then claimed he didn't have any knowledge of it. They found him sitting up in uniform, playing cards, waiting for someone to come question him. He also made it clear that he's not sorry the Ibogaine is missing and that he won't help the military locate new sources.”

  “Then he must have a good reason,” I threw out defensively. I didn't like people talking about my brother like he was a criminal.

  “That's what I think as well,” John said, “but the trouble is that he’s misguided. He's only looking at the here and now. My plans go well into the next decade and beyond.”

  “Why does it matter? I mean from what I can see so far it looks like you're building a zombie army, not trying to heal the sick.”

  “I need them, Xander,” John admitted. “It's the only way we can turn things back around and restore some version of society. I know it's hard to understand.”

  “Then why make the antidote at all?”

  “For influence. Think about it. Money is obsolete now. I could pay you a million dollars and you'd trade it for a week's worth of water at the drop of a hat, if push came to shove. Resources, on the other hand, are very valuable, including land and water rights. Ever since Z Day, small kingdoms have been growing across what used to the United States. Mexico already had them in the form of cartels. The rulers of these wild lands all have one thing in common, a whole lot of space and too many zombies. They'd gladly hand over some of it for a way out of this mess.”