Part Two

Scott stood up at the sound of the office door opening and turned around to nod at the doctor who walked in. “Hello.”

Staring with obvious surprise, the doctor took a step back out of the room. “Who are you?”

“My name is Scott Mason, and I apologize for sneaking into your office. May I ask if you are aware of the situation in Houston and San Antonio?”

“Yes, I am. What are you here to see me about?”

“I’m not here to see you specifically. I just needed to talk to any doctor to explain what I and my friends need.” Scott sat back down in the seat and gestured toward the doctor’s chair. “You may want to sit down for this.”

“Young man, I have to watch over a lot of patients, and I don’t have time for games.”

“Fair enough.” Scott took a breath. “I have a live but very badly wounded zombie in the trunk of my car. I’m bringing it here because I want you to run every conceivable test you can; x-rays, cat scans, biopsies, whatever. If you can think of something, you should try it.”

“Shouldn’t you turn the creature over to the authorities?”

“You will after you’ve completed the tests. You’ll also send a copy of every result to the local branch of the FBI with instructions to forward all of the information directly to Washington.” Scott waited for the doctor to sit down. “The only test you can’t run is an MRI, because it would probably destroy the implants the zombie has in its neck and head. I can explain more about them, but first, I need to tell you about my friends. They need to have blood work done, and that information will also need to be sent to the FBI.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re both dead.”

***

The doctor’s face paled quickly when Robin got out of the car. Scott put a hand on his shoulder to steady him and smiled. “Doctor Bailey, this is Robin Thomas.” He gestured to Frank getting out of the driver side door. “He’s Frank Kemp, and as you can see, they’re both vitally challenged.” Claire got out of the back seat. “And that would be Claire. She’s just along for the ride.”

Doctor Bailey’s eyes moved back and forth between Robin and the doll in Claire’s hands. Though the doll was clothed in a long black dress, its face and arms were just as white as Robin’s, and the auburn color of her hair was almost a perfect match for the doll’s. “Okay, that’s just creepy.”

Robin frowned at Scott. “You did warn him first, didn’t you?”

Doctor Bailey nodded his head. “He did. He was very detailed and thorough, but… even with what I’ve seen on the news, I didn’t expect to really see a walking corpse.”

Frank walked to the back and popped the trunk. “Well this one won’t be walking, but it is still wiggling. Move that wheelchair over here, please.”

“Will you be having the same tests done on yourselves?” Doctor Bailey asked.

“No. For now, we just want blood work done. We’ve got to be other places today, so we’re dropping this off with you.” Frank settled the zombie into the chair and stood up. “You understand that we’ll need one copy of the reports sent to-”

“Yes, Scott explained everything in my office,” doctor Bailey cut him off. “If you don’t mind my saying so, I think it would be a good idea for me to go inside and get the equipment to take blood samples for you out here. You could start a panic if the two of you walk inside.”

***

Gordon knocked lightly on the doorframe, smiling politely at the older man seated behind the desk in the tiny office. “Excuse me, are you professor Allen Garfield?”

“I am.” The professor stood up and offered his hand. “I don’t believe I know you.”

“No, my name is Gordon Reed. I was a detective with the Dallas police department.”

“I see.” Professor Garfield waved to an empty seat in front of his desk. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ve been asking around the campus for an expert on software engineering. Although I realize this may sound crazy, I have a possible idea about creating a program to hack into the zombies which have been invading the cities.”

“How do you propose to hack into the undead?”

“I’ve been in both Dallas and Houston, and the people I’m traveling with have begun to notice how cellular traffic is slowly  taken down as the population of zombies grows. We believe that the zombies are somehow hijacking the cell phone numbers, allowing them to communicate back and forth with their leaders.

“I realize it may be a stretch, but I believe we could to hack into a zombie’s implants and send some kind of kill command out to the rest of the zombies. The command would be something like a virus. Before executing themselves, the implants would receive an instruction to broadcast the same command to every zombie within their range.”

“I don’t know that it’s a far fetched idea if the zombies are dependent upon these implants to keep them moving,” professor Garfield said. “However, I do see two potential problems with your idea. The first is that we would need to know the communications protocol the zombies are using. The second is that we must have some way of understanding the coding language which the implant software relies upon. In both cases, I would think you’d need a live zombie to get that information. So far as I know, nobody has sighted a zombie in Austin yet.”

“Yes, and that’s why I’m consulting with you. You see, we’ve brought a live zombie to the city. It’s currently at a hospital now, where they will be running tests on it for us. They’ll be handling the medical side, and I’d like to have you come with me to the hospital to look at the zombie.”

“Me?” Professor Garfield shook his head. “No, before you can have me work on anything, you need an electrical engineer to be studying the zombie’s implants first. I may be able to help you code a virus, but you’ll still need an interface to upload it through.”

“Would you be able to recommend anyone?”

The professor smirked. “Sir, this is Austin. You can’t swing a computer cable without hitting an engineer of some sort.”

***

Janice turned her attention from the TV as the door of the motel room opened, and Scott walked in followed by Claire. “How did the delivery go?”

“Pretty good. I think the doctor was more stunned by Frank and Robin than he was by the zombie.” Scott moved to sit down on the bed. “He said it would be a few hours before they would have anything even if they rushed the labs, so we decided to come back here and wait for him to call.”

“Where are Frank and Robin?”

“They’re hiding out in the other room. The doctor made a comment about how they look, and they got all angst ridden.”

Janice sighed. “Well it’s not exactly an easy life ahead for either of them, is it? Even if we win, they’re still dead.”

“Yeah, I know. Their dietary problems are bad enough as it is.”

“Speaking of which, you and I are going to have to think about feeding them soon.” Janice grimaced. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter, but I’ll go see what they’re in the mood for.” She got up from the chair and left the room to walk to the next door. Opening it, she saw Robin leaning on Frank’s side. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty lousy,” Robin said.

“This may not cheer you up any, but I was coming over to ask what the two of you wanted to try eating this time.”

There was a long silence before Frank looked at Robin. “Burgers and fries?”

“Yeah, but don’t drink soda or anything sweet.”

“Ooh, good idea,” Frank agreed.

Robin turned to regard Janice with a thoughtful expression. “Just drink a little bit of water with it, and go easy on the ketchup with the fries.”

Janice smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” Frank said. “Hold the onions.”

***

Gordon arrived to find the hospital in near pandemonium. Police were everywhere, and the paranoid looks of the officers and detectives only made Gordon’s stomach tighten further. He found a nurse who could direct him to doctor Bailey’s office, but it was empty. Gordon turned to professor Garfield and Peter Blake, the only electrical engineering student he could find willing to get anywhere near a zombie. “I’m sorry, but I have a very bad feeling we don’t have a zombie to show you.”

Peter wandered across the office to lean against the desk. “I had something of a hunch when we passed though the line of cops at the entrance. It’s none of my business of course, but perhaps you shouldn’t be hanging around. This doctor might not be too happy with you.”

“I haven’t met him yet,” Gordon admitted. “I’m not really sure how that zombie could have escaped, though. It was too badly wounded to heal. We had it in a trunk for several hours, and its wounds weren’t healing.”

“Perhaps it needed more time to generate a fresh supply of-” Professor Garfield stopped as the door opened.

“Doctor Bailey?” Gordon asked.

“Are you friends of Scott?”

“I am, yes. Something happened to the zombie.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.” Doctor Bailey went to his desk to sit down.

“How was it able to heal from its wounds?”

“I’m really not sure. There was very little of the zombie’s fluids to collect for testing, and Scott had given me the impression it wouldn’t be possible for the zombie to heal.”

“It certainly wasn’t healing before. Were you able to run any tests of it?”

“We’ve collected a number of tissues and fluid samples, and we were putting the creature through a full series of x-rays when the technician noticed the zombie was beginning to become more and more agitated. He also noted that after several exposures, the zombie’s skin started to turn grey.”

“How many slides did your technician complete before noticing the change?”

“Four. He’d done a cranial from the front and side, and he’d completed a chest from the front. The side exposure was blurry because the zombie moved partway through the procedure. It started to convulse, and when the technician tried to hold it down, the zombie bit him.”

Gordon cringed. “How badly?”

“He’s missing a chunk from his forearm, but that not nearly as bad as one of the police suffered. The nurse working with the technician called them, and they cleared the section before trying to use a smoke grenade to flush it out.”

“That was a waste of time, of course.”

Doctor Bailey looked at him curiously. “Why would you say that?”

“Zombies don’t breathe,” Gordon said.

“Yours did.”

Gordon shook his head. “I’m sorry, try that again?”

“Your zombie had one functional lung, and it had a normal pulse rate despite having a lethal blood… er, fluid pressure.”

“What do you mean fluid? The zombies don’t have blood?”

“Well it may be in the loosest sense of the concept, but the fluids we found in the zombie weren’t organic. Your friends’ fluid sample are also giving the lab staff fits, because it’s only partially organic. I’m going to have a chance sometime later tonight to look at the samples myself, but with the frenzy this place has been in for the last few hours, nothing could be done.” Doctor Bailey shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’ve not even had a chance to look at the few x-rays we have. For now, I’ve got nothing for you.”

“What happened to the police?” Peter asked.

Doctor Bailey winced. “The police felt they needed to try taking the zombie down using tasers. They wanted to avoid using handguns inside the hospital. The zombie didn’t react to the smoke grenade, and some of the officers went inside. The zombie attacked one of the officers, and it… it ate half of his face off.”

“Good god,” professor Garfield muttered.

“Then what happened?” Gordon asked.

“It leapt out the door and plowed through a line of cops. I don’t think the tasers had much effect, other than to drive it away. It ran down a hallway and into a room before it leapt through the window. I’m sure if you wait, you’ll find all of this on the evening news.”

“Doctor, did you mention anything about-”

“No, I did not mention anything about mister Kemp or miss Thomas to the police. It’s only a theory, I realize, but I recommend they both avoid exposure to radiation.”

***

Everyone had gathered into the same room to watch the news. As soon as the broadcast began, they all leaned closer, almost expecting the reporter to lead off with a story about the escaped zombie. “Tonight, our top story concerns a number of bizarre attacks on the south side of the city. Police can confirm that these attacks do not appear to be related to the alleged zombie attacks which have occurred in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Waco.”

“Waco?” Scott asked sharply.

“Hush,” Janice said.

“But my mom and dad live in-”

“Not now.”

“… described semi human creatures which varied in size and approximate shape with each attack. However, most were able to consistently describe a creature with a bulbous head, swollen limbs, and dark grey skin,” the reporter continued. “A creature with a similar description was also allegedly responsible for the death of one police officer at the hospital. A nurse called police after the creature was brought in by an anonymous source to be tested. Doctors familiar with the case said that the anonymous source had included directions that all information on the creature was to be sent to the FBI for further study. Representatives from the FBI were not able to provide further information at this time.

“Returning to the unfolding event surrounding Jamal Barnett and his army of zombies, Waco reported a staggering two thousand missing persons reports by mid afternoon. This confirms Jamal’s threat to attack another city.”

The screen changed to the clip of video of Jamal. “I have created three leaders, and tonight a fourth city in Texas will begin to notice a spike in the number of people who are missing. Tomorrow night, another city will also be attacked.”

The video clip ended and the screen returned to the reporter’s face. “Speculation is high that Austin will be the next target, and local police have stated they would order an immediate evacuation of the city should there be a spike in missing person’s reports.”

The camera shifted to the co-anchor. “In related news, police are reporting a number of small riots around town, and city authorities have released warnings that they may have to declare martial law if the riots continue to spread. While no injuries or major damage have been reported yet, groups of people are staging mass shoplifting runs on local stores to pick up-”

Gordon turned off the TV. “We should all get some rest and get ready to go on patrol.”

“Someone will have to stay here with Claire and Fred,” Robin said.

“I want to go with you guys,” Fred said.

Gordon shook his head. “No, for now, you should stay here.” He held up his hand when the boy went to object. “Just be patient, Fred. Tonight, we’re going out in pairs. While we look for the zombies, you can man the TV and the phones.”

“Like we’re expecting a call,” Fred grumbled.

“We are, actually.” Robin patted his arm. “The zombies might just show up in another city tonight, and you’ll be bored riding around and looking at nothing. I’ll let you handle channel surfing while I man the phones and watch over Claire.”

“So what do I do?” Claire asked.

Robin smiled at her. “You can guard the kittens.”