The Great War (Surviving the Zombie Nightmare Book 5) (6 page)

Eric looked passed her at the great truck that had ammo, armor and all kinds of awesome things but none of those grabbed his attention. The first thing he thought of was something that had nothing to do with weapons at all. “Destiny, that truck is more than just a better set of wheels. We can use that to sneak into the belly of the beast!”

Destiny thought for a moment and Eric could see the realization hit her, “Of course, now we have almost all we need. We should be able to drive that directly into O.A. headquarters quite easily. Well,” she suddenly took on a look of doubt.

“What?” Eric asked.

“It should make it easier but the more I have thought about it the more I remember that there are two checkpoints where they visually identify the driver of the vehicle as being an O.A. member.” Destiny thought for a few seconds before adding, “We’ll need to come up with a way to get through those checkpoints.”

Eric shrugged, “Can’t we just blow the dude away and press the magic button to let ourselves in?”

“No,” Destiny shook her head, “Think of what they have done with me. These people would rather blow up the guards at the gate to make sure they get us than to blink twice. We need an actual O.A. soldier to get through those or we are dead in the water; literally.”

There were no quick answers to the problem that Eric could think of immediately and that was not good if they actually wanted to go through with it. It seemed naturally like a very good plan but if they couldn’t get in, they couldn’t get in. He began walking over to the truck and when he arrived at the back he turned and looked at Destiny, “Maybe we should just take the spoils from this truck and do the best we can with it.”

Following closely behind him, Destiny heaved the large cannon-like weapon into the bed of the truck, onto the little emplacement stand it had the option of resting on and then shook her head, “No way Eric, I want those bastards’ throats in my fingers. Plus, if you like what this little cannon does, we are going to need more ammo for it unless you just want to fire it about,” she looked around the truck quickly, “Four more times and dump it.”

It didn’t take Eric long to figure that one out. He shook his head, “Yeah we’ll need to make a supply run. Too bad we can’t just prop up one of the guys you killed in the driver’s seat and pull through blind.”

After a few seconds Destiny said, “That’s the answer.”

The tone of voice she said seemed odd to Eric and he said, “Usually when someone has an epiphany, they sound a little more excited than that Destiny. What exactly is this exciting answer?”

“Well,” Destiny sighed with a hand placed on her forehead, “I wasn’t excited because I don’t like the answer. Unfortunately it is the only answer.”

“For god’s sake,” Eric said loudly, “What is the fucking answer?”

“We have to spring another trap exactly like this one,” Destiny said calmly, “It’s the only way to make sure we can take an O.A. soldier alive.”

“How in the hell do you plan to do that?”

Destiny rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, “You worry about the zombies and demons pretty boy. I’ll handle the O.A. soldiers.”

What a superstar actor was to a movie set, Dr. Isaiah Neal was to Organic Ascendancy on that particular day. Everyone who was anyone within the organization was standing somewhere in the room while he was completing the preparations for his presentation. Most importantly for his purposes was the presence of the fab-four of O.A. Peyton Terry, Abel Nichols, newcomer Admiral Bullosky and of course Dr. Genesis Cain. All of them were important in different ways but Dr. Cain and Bullosky were the best of the bunch in terms of importance.

While Dr. Cain had done more in terms of believing in him than anyone else he had ever known, Bullosky clearly had the greatest impact on the current project he was working on. The fact that he was a demon or at least that he claimed to be had zero impact on Dr. Isaiah at all. In fact, he was about as steadfast an atheist as one could be during the current time of spiritual and zombie warfare. Sure he saw the special feats that these so-called demons could pull off but he also had seen Destiny to the exact same thing with drugs created in his lab. How Eric Bayne had pulled it off he didn’t know but the guy was human; that Dr. Isaiah knew for sure.

So really, no matter what they called themselves or what they could do, there was nothing that any of them could do to shake him from his atheistic viewpoint. His good friend Abel Nichols was the spiritual guide for O.A. and was as different from Isaiah as anyone on the planet. They were friends because Nichols never tried to change Dr. Isaiah’s beliefs. They had remained friends through some of the roughest times of Organic Ascendancy many years down the road and with a ton of water under the bridge because of that very fact. Dr. Isaiah just knew too much of what was possible with drugs, smoke and mirrors to believe in any god, angel or demon at least any more than he believed in magic tricks on a stage.

Even the greatest magicians and doctors from all of human history would be in awe of what he was doing on this day. It didn’t stop there. Every common man, woman, priest, pope, scientist, actor, professional athlete, steadfast Christian or most stubborn atheist would stand with jaw gaped open at what he was about to prove. If there were actual gods, angels or any other manner of deity, Dr. Isaiah decided that what he was about to do must put him on the same level as any and all of them. No sooner had he stepped back from the table than Dr. Cain stepped forward and started speaking.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Organic Ascendancy soldiers and personnel, what you are about to see is the utmost in top secretive information. I realize that some of you might well be correct to point out that very few humans are left to leak this information to but that is not important. It is the principle of the matter that is important. One day in the coming years and decades we will all turn around and there will be thousands of thriving human beings living in harmony on a higher plane of existence than we now struggle with. Even then, secretive information will be required. Practice now my brothers and sisters keeping this information quiet so that it is only known by the lofty persons in this room. Now, if you will join me in welcoming the work of the greatest doctor and scientist in all of human history; Dr. Isaiah Neal.”

For all of his life or at least since the age of five or six, Dr. Isaiah had dreamed of making some manner of a huge breakthrough. When he did such, there would be a huge crowd of people gathered to sing his praises. When the host or hostess introduced him, there would be thunderous applause. For all of his years he strived to realize that dream and for all of his years he fell short. Standing there listening to the applause of the few people gathered around and unsure of what the powers that be planned to do with his incredible breakthrough, Dr. Isaiah realized that once again he had fallen short of that dream.

Nonetheless he chose to accept the halfhearted cheers and somewhat sarcastic catcalls with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye. He stepped back from his laboratory table, clasped his hands behind his back and bowed his head. For his purposes, he pretended that there was thousands of adoring public thanking him for his legendary breakthrough. Finally he looked up at the room of a handful of people and nodded with thoughtfulness, “Thank you so very much. I cannot tell you how trying this journey has been but I thank you for your support.”

Peyton Terry giggled, “Trying journey? What has it been Isaiah; two weeks you’ve been working on this? Jesus, take a breather if you need one, now.” A few laughs sprang up from the high ranking soldiers in the room but they stopped after Dr. Cain glanced at them.

Dr. Isaiah knew he had been laying it down a little thick so he didn’t mind the jab by Terry. He did spare a glance at him before nodding at Dr. Cain, “Thank you once again. Now, if you will pardon my bluntness and remain silent, I will get to the evidence of the breakthrough you are all here to see.” He directed his gaze towards Terry at the end of his statement. Though Terry didn’t seem all that impressed or worried, he did nod and wink which Isaiah took to mean that he would shut up and listen.

“Direct your attention to the three glass enclosures across the far wall,” Dr. Isaiah instructed. While everyone else started studying the see-through cages he mentioned, he was looking back at them. “You will notice the first enclosure holds a zombie-demon crossbreed. The subject is strapped into a vertical holding cell. By glancing at the next two enclosures you will notice what appears to be the exact same thing; a crossbreed strapped into a vertical holding cell. You were all probably warned at one time or another that appearances can be deceiving. This is just such a case. Allow me to show you what I mean.”

Dr. Isaiah picked up a sleek remote that only had a few buttons and pressed a combination of buttons. Suddenly the holding cell in the first enclosure released and the zombie-demon stumbled out. Isaiah kept his attention on the zombie but spoke loudly to the room. “You will notice, at least some of you might notice that subject one is showing more uncertainty in his movements than the crossbreeds usually do. This is only because of his being strapped into the holding cell for so long. He should regain his bearings fairly quickly.” Even as Isaiah was finishing the statement the zombie crossbreed suddenly squared his shoulders and began looking curiously around his surroundings.

“This is a two-way mirror so the subject cannot see us. He is however; smart enough to realize that he is looking into a mirror. That is a critical point to note. He is trying to figure out what his situation is before he moves. We will now move on to subject two.” Dr. Isaiah pressed another code in and the second zombie crossbreed subject was freed from his enclosed prison.

As soon as the zombie’s feet hit the floor and he started moving, he charged forward wildly and slammed into the wall of the enclosure. Most of the people in Dr. Isaiah’s little audience jumped back at that and he smiled widely. Inside the enclosure the zombie continued to slam his hands against the wall and was moving his head around wildly. When he moved away from the wall he stumbled around aimlessly before seeing himself in another mirrored wall and charging towards his reflection again.

Dr. Isaiah turned towards his crowd of interested people, “The second subject has been so confused by his captivity that his brain, damaged as it clearly is by the zombie virus and the updates to the virus, cannot make sense of his surroundings. Therefore he is simply acting like a base level zombie and will probably do so for a long time. In a battlefield situation, this would clearly make him of no use at all. It is something we have seen a lot of in the zombie-demons. If they are stunned or surprised by some method of attack, their cognitive abilities become lacking with the exception of a very small few who find their way out of the confusion the way subject one has done. So, both of these subjects are acting in a normal zombie-demon manner.”

“Hold on,” a male voice said from behind him, “If they are both behaving in a completely different way, how could they both be acting normally?”

Dr. Isaiah looked around to a high-ranking soldier whose name he could not place. He smiled, “That is a very good question for the more common people in the room, sir, and thank you. I failed to remember that there were those of you in the room who weren’t familiar with the manner in which the mutated virus leads the beings to behave.” A few scowls came his way but he ignored them. If they were too stupid to know what he meant by that and therefore too stupid to avoid being offended, they needed to be offended. Isaiah looked towards Dr. Cain. Both she and Admiral Bullosky seemed to be either calm or bored by the question. Mr. Terry however seemed very interested in the young man getting an answer so Dr. Isaiah decided to give him the chance to answer and prove what he knew all in the same stroke. “Mr. Terry, perhaps you can answer this question in a more layperson kind of way?”

Terry laughed quickly and looked towards him, “Neal, you better be glad you’re brilliant boy. Comments like those are going to get you an ass-kicking one day.” Terry looked towards the man who had asked the question, “Zombies in whatever variety always behave somewhat differently. Let’s say the host mind was brilliant when it became infected by the virus. That zombie would then tend to be more intelligent in his zombie-like mannerisms than one who was hosted by someone as stupid as that guy standing next to you.” Terry looked back to Dr. Isaiah, “For another example, if Dr. Isaiah and I both were given the virus, the zombie he turned into would be a chicken-shit while the zombie I turned into would be a bad-ass. Back to you Neal.”

“Please,” Dr. Isaiah forced himself to take a quick breath, “Refer to me as Dr. Isaiah,
Peyton
.” He looked at the questioning man, “The gist of what Mr. Terry is trying to say,” Isaiah stopped suddenly as the man interrupted.

“Oh, no I understand now,” the man said with a grin, “Zombies tend to be very similar all together but can be as unique as humans in other ways.”

Dr. Isaiah nodded his approval, “Very good sir. I am glad we could put that on terms you could understand.”

“Yeah, sure,” the soldier said with a smile, “The chicken-shit analogy is what did it.”

“Sir,” Isaiah could feel the red on his face. How could this commoner not understand how brilliant this moment was? “If you are too confrontational to stand throughout this unveiling, perhaps we should throw you out of here.”

The man smiled again, “I’m here with ten well-trained soldiers that follow my orders to the letter so you just try it smart boy. You’ll be giving yourself a blow job by the time we finish with you.”

“Enough!” Dr. Cain yelled above everyone, “I welcome banter and playful jabs as well as questions but this is just a waste of time. Dr. Isaiah, stop insulting people and you sir,” she said to the soldier, “Shut your goddamn mouth and keep it shut or you’ll be the next experiment. Understood?”

The man scowled and shifted his shoulders uncomfortably, “Yes, ma’am.”

Dr. Cain looked back to Dr. Isaiah, “Doctor?”

“I understand Dr. Cain,” he said calmly, “Please accept my apology. If I may continue?” Dr. Cain nodded and Isaiah continued, “Now that we all understand why zombies behave somewhat differently in a specifically designed and identical situation, we can move on to the third subject.” He pushed a combination of buttons on the remote and the third subject was released in the same way as the other two subjects had been. Dr. Isaiah smiled as the zombie squatted down to the ground and began waddling around and clucking like a chicken.

Several laughs sounded from the room as they watched the zombie crossbreed behave as if he were a chicken. One man said, “Now that shit is funny! Ha! I bet that is the one they experimented on!”

Someone else said, “Might want to go back to the drawing board doc!”

They continued in like manner for a while before Dr. Cain settled everyone with a hand held into the air and a snap of her fingers. She smiled towards Dr. Isaiah, “This is remarkable Dr. Isaiah. I commend you for showing us the progress of your experiments. Is there anything further you need to show us?”

Isaiah was shocked. Dr. Cain actually believed that his progress was stalled so severely that his subject was acting like a chicken as some kind of an accident. The look on his face must have shown clearly the frustration that he felt. He never expected Admiral Bullosky to come to his defense but the demonic human figure did just that.

“Apologies Dr. Cain,” his low voice rumbled, “Perhaps we should hear Dr. Isaiah out. I suspect everything in his presentation is not as it seems.”

Dr. Cain looked between the two and nodded towards him, “Very well Dr. Isaiah, please finish your presentation if indeed there is more we need to see.”

A somewhat hurtful frown turned into a smirk of pride as Dr. Isaiah spoke to the room while looking directly at Dr. Cain and Admiral Bullosky, “We have seen subject one behave intelligently as a zombie-demon crossbreed should and subject two behave in an acceptable manner as well. Subject three we see truly believes that he is a chicken. I assure you that there is more here than meets the eye and I thank you for your faith in me Admiral.”

Looking around the room he asked, “What you have seen here today is the result of the first ever reanimating of a bipedal human species.” Several gasps sounded around the room but Isaiah spoke up louder, “That is correct. This subject was dead with his head severed from his shoulders. His body was found to be a victim of the one they called Bayne. From what would have been dust and bones,” his voice began to rise to a higher and louder tone, “Is now flesh and blood again! What was dead is now alive again! Ladies and gentlemen, I have given life to the dead! Here before you we, I as a human being have attained godhood. The very beings that you might have once worshiped are shaking at the progress shown inside this room on this day before you!”