Die Zombie Die (I Zombie Book 3) Read online

  Die Zombie Die

  Jack Wallen

  Copyright 2011 by Jack Wallen

  PUBLISHED BY: AUTUMNAL PRESS

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously (unless otherwise noted). Any resemblance to actual locales, events or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic format without express permission from the author. Please do not participate or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  To the continued support, love, and encouragement of my rabid fans (living and undead), I dedicated this book to you. Without you I would be just another zombie in the war against ‘The Man’. Thank you. I love you all.

  Chapter 1

  New York City, Unknown Location

  November 15, 2015

  “Countdown to detonation T-Minus ten…”

  The disembodied voice offered up the heartless time-stamp to the end of mankind. My breath was in a holding pattern, even though I knew the reinforced walls and sealed vents of the building would protect us from the effects of Dr. Godwin’s Quantum Fission Generator. We were safe… for now.

  “…nine…”

  I couldn’t help but feel the hammer of guilt crushing my heart, blow by rhythmic blow.

  “…eight…”

  What had we done? Were we condemning the human race to a fate it couldn’t survive? When I came on board with the Zero Day Collective, I knew exactly what I was doing. I had a very specific plan. That plan didn’t, however, include the gut-wrenching fear brought about by an absolutely unknown entity which Dr. Lindsay Godwin had been coerced into creating: Coerced by a collective driven by desires man should never know.

  “…seven… Building containment protocol initiated.”

  Lindsay and I had salvation in the palms of our hands. We had been moments away from the greatest cure of all time – the cure for cancer. Nothing could have stopped us… until Lindsay was yanked away from me. Now, I stood waiting for a device to ignite and bring about the next evolution of the human race. What would that evolutionary step bring about?

  Metal blinds dropped down to block the windows of the building…further sealing my heart from my soul. A bitter-cold river flowed through my veins, making me want to run and hide. But more than anything, I wanted to rip the blinds from the window so I could bear witness to the Hell that was about to be loosed upon the planet.

  “…six… All staff return to quarters until further notice.”

  My feet wouldn’t budge. My stomach lurched. I was about to fold inside out.

  “…five…”

  A scream threatened to break through my lips. That scream had to remain silent. No matter how much my heart protested, it could not be known where my true motives lay. I had to walk among the Zero Day Collective as nothing more than one of the drones… a high-ranking drone, granted, with the singular, scientific purpose of ensuring nothing get in the way of bringing Bethany Nitshimi to term.

  “…four…”

  Her baby was the final key to what the Collective had termed “The Great Cleansing.” It was hard enough knowing this whole machine of hatred already had ties to Nazi Germany, but being a part of such a despicable endeavor made me want to cock a pistol and scramble the meat in my skull. A permanent, blissful slumber might well be the only route to peace now.

  “…three…”

  But, as I said, I had a plan. That plan would take some time to realize, but I would do everything I could to make sure the human race survived.

  “…two…”

  I only hoped the human race could forgive me.

  “…one…”

  A breath jerked into my lungs. I hoped it wasn’t my last.

  A pressure built up around the building, but not so much so that the walls threatened to cave in. A low hum seemed to emanate from every possible direction until my bowels threatened to release. And then, with an audible ‘pop’, everything was back to normal. A quiet peace washed over the room. Hope filled my heart, a hope that this whole disaster had been averted by an epic failure on the part of the device and the Collective. I breathed what I hoped was a sigh of much-needed relief.

  Chapter 2

  New York City, United Nations Building

  December 17, 2015

  “You fucking bitch! Why are you doing this? Help! Somebody please help me!”

  We couldn’t keep her quiet. The second she woke from sedation the incessant yelling began. I knew everyone in the lab wanted me to put a bullet through her head and yank the fetus from her womb. We certainly had the technology. But that woman and fetus were my soul purpose; I would do nothing to endanger their lives.

  “Do you think Bethany knows she’s been our experiment this whole time?” Markus’s thick Russian accent pounded the room with heavy consonants and too much spit.

  Poor, dear, unintelligent Markus Dimitri. The man worked by my side not because of his mind, but because he had yet to meet a man he couldn’t snap in half. The Russian made for a great bodyguard. Conversationalist? Nyet.

  “Markus, that woman is completely unaware of the truth. Had she known what was happening, she wouldn’t be alive.” I smiled up at the man from my desk. The quizzical look he returned hinted at an ignorance so deep, I feared he would never comprehend just how profoundly the world had changed. I hadn’t the time or patience to explain everything again.

  “I am going to have a chat with our guest. Will you please remain in here and watch over us? Make sure nothing happens. Should something go wrong, you know what to do, right?”

  Markus nodded his head like the good pit bull of a man I trained him to be. Yes, the man was good to have around.

  This would only be the second time I had attempted to communicate with Bethany. The first time the girl had been in total hysteria. She wanted to know all of the same things: Why she was here? Why she was tied up? Where were her friends?

  All in good time, my pet. That was all the answer I could get in before the hysterics had her nearly ripping the flesh from her wrists and ankles trying to break free from her bonds.

  I only hoped the conversation turned out differently this time around.

  “What are you doing to me? Let me go!” Bethany’s voice was cracking as if it were under the weight of possession.

  “You are here because you attacked us.” A calming, soothing tone came from my mouth. “And you are tied up to prevent you from hurting yourself – or your baby.” A smile slid across my lips at the calming reaction to the word baby. The intensity instantly washed away from the girl as her hands tried desperately to reach out and caress her belly. So predictable, we humans. It was almost shameless how easily the human mind and conscience were manipulated.

  “You can’t do this to me. Please, let me go and I’ll disappear. I won’t tell anyone what’s going on.”

  Bethany’s voice was starting to break. Tears would follow shortly. I wasn’t certain I wanted to bear witness to the young woman crying. Should even a flash of empathy cross my face, she would spot it and my secret would spread through The Collective like the virus did mankind. Even though I so wanted to attempt some emotional connection, let the girl know everything would eventually fall in her favor, I had to remain in a position of cold, disconnected power. It was the only way to guarantee my success.

  “You need to calm down, Bethany.” I started to place my hand on her arm and she spat in the direction of my face.

  “Don’t fucking touch me. And don’t tell me to calm down. You
have to let me out of here.”

  The subject’s pulse and heart rate were spiking. I was going to have to sedate her once again.

  “I hate to do this…” I turned away and grabbed a pre-filled hypo. Just enough of the drug to lull her to sleep and ease her rage.

  “No. Please don’t. God, please… you have to let me go.” Bethany’s voice grew weak. Tears streamed down her ruddy cheeks. Those tears were fat with loss and sorrow. I truly wanted to tell her how hard this was for me as well.

  “I can’t do that. You see, everything has been set in motion now, so there is no turning back. Trust me, Bethany, you are better off this way.” I pitched my voice into that motherly register, hoping to ease her into rest.

  The clear liquid easily traversed the hollow metal bridge between hypodermic and human. Within a matter of seconds Bethany began the familiar drifting away. She would be out for a few hours and no more.

  “Get your rest Bethany. We have a lot of work to do with you before you’re ready.” A soft pat on the arm and I was out the door, pulling it shut and locking from the outside. Sedated and locked in, Bethany Nitshimi was going nowhere.

  Chapter 3

  Boston University

  May 2013

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I have both the honor and privilege of introducing the single most authoritative voice in the field of biological evolution on the planet. Her work has shifted the very foundation of the subject and finally given the field of biology a confirmed rock star. In these circles she needs no introduction, but it thrills me to say her very name. Fellow researchers, biologists, chemists…I give you, Professor Danielle Joy Michaels.”

  Thunderous applause rang out inside the thousand-plus seat lecture hall as the graceful, powerful woman took the stage.

  “As I stand here tonight, I do so among colleagues and peers who deserve more than generalities and glad-handing. We are biologists. Our single goal is to understand how the world works at a cellular level. After over a century of study, we had only gleaned a fraction of the knowledge we needed to progress mankind to the levels we know our species is capable of reaching.. I am here to tell you that this has all changed. My partner, Dr. Lindsay Godwin, and I have uncovered the Holy Grail of cellular biology. What we have discovered has led us to a creation that will save the human race from certain extinction.

  “Imagine, if you will, a single cure for every known virus, disease, or ailment that has ever plagued mankind. A single cure. That is what we are on the brink of bringing to Man. Scientists, chemists, fellow-biologists… I reveal to you, our meta-cure that Dr. Godwin and I have dubbed ‘Awakening.’”

  With a click of a remote, a curtain separated to reveal a twenty-foot wide video screen which displayed a single, highly complex molecule the likes of which no one in the room had ever laid eyes upon. Faint sounds of incredulity could be heard throughout the audience. The synapse-firing of jealousy was almost palpable. But most of all, the room was filled with astonishment and awe. Greatness was standing at the dais of the lecture hall, and every breathing human in attendance knew it.

  “What you cannot see of this molecule is that it has the ability to intelligently morph into nearly any form necessary to combat infected or malicious cells within the body. Once the molecule is within detection range of a target cell, it awakens the morphogenetic encoding which determines what is needed for the molecule to neutralize its target.”

  Professor Michaels paused, and the hall erupted into a cacophony of applause. Students stood in their chairs to snap pictures with their smart phones, so they could load them to their favorite social networking sites and gain some nerd-cred among their peers. Whistles and catcalls echoed from the acoustic tiling suspended from the ceiling and molded into the walls.

  When the ovation died down, the professor continued.

  “Dr. Godwin could not be with me tonight, as he was pulled into an emergency meeting, but he wanted to impart one piece of wisdom to this fine class of current and future biologists. One of Dr. Godwin’s most famous quotes is: ‘To achieve greatness, one must be willing to set aside every rule they have ever learned. But when those rules are accompanied by one’s objective and personal ethics, disaster will soon follow.’ Thank you so much. Goodnight.”

  The woman elegantly walked off the stage and into the Green Room where her agent was anxiously awaiting.

  “Danielle, it’s urgent. We must get you to Munich right away.”

  Chapter 4

  New York City, Unknown location

  December 17, 2015

  “Professor Michaels, you’re due for a meeting with the board in ten minutes.” My assistant’s too-perky voice chimed into the lab. With the world plagued by the walking dead, it’s beyond me how someone could be so full of life.

  I hated these board meetings. A bunch of puffed-up, sweaty suits sitting around a table trying to see whose prick was the biggest. The only thrill I got was seeing how they all shrank away knowing the only one in the meeting with a pair of balls was the woman. All these men cared about was how The Zero Day Collective was going to turn this disaster into profit. They’d already worked into their plan profiting from the cure, relocation, security, and food. You name it and the vultures had hovered over it. The big picture had seriously eluded each and every one of them. That picture? There is no profit to be made. Nearly ninety-percent of the population was either dead or the walking dead, and unless the zombie population had managed to somehow cash in their 401K plans, there will be no one with money enough to make these greedy pigs rich.

  The very idea was preposterous…getting rich off tragedy. The irony was that it had been going on for decades. Tragedy always seemed to bring out the worst in some people. Racketeers would swoop in and pick clean the remaining hopes and dreams from the weak offering them the promise of salvation in one form or another. Those promises were rarely, if ever, fulfilled, and the victims always left with less than enough to survive.

  The Cleansing proved to bring out the worst of the worst, and I was about to stand among them, about to catch them up on my progress. I wanted to empty my stomach of its contents to prevent me from doing so in front of the board. Those purveyors of pestilence must not ever see a singular moment of weakness from me, else they make my body and soul their next playground.

  But I do play along. How else could I manage to have such a lush facility offering me everything I needed to not only survive and thrive, but to push forward my own, hidden, agenda. My only obstacle was that the board wanted results, results which were counterpoint to my own needs. And being pure businessmen, these people had no idea that science often moved at a very different pace. The laws that govern commerce have zero bearing on my realm. Biology simply cannot be rushed. Evolution happens at its own rate. Mother Nature cannot be fucked with, or she will fuck back.

  Or so we all thought. Truth be told, under the right circumstances, the idea that ‘evolution would happen at its own rate’ was now actually quite false. How did I know that? I proved it false. With the Mengele Virus I managed to not only speed up evolution, I managed to force evolution’s own hand. Granted, that tampering seriously backfired on me… but for the briefest of moments, I did succeed.

  That serious backfire cost the world its soul. And now I survive with a guilt almost too heavy to bear. My only hope is to right the wrong. That is my hidden agenda… to reverse (or at least stop) the Mengele Virus from continuing its affront on mankind.

  *

  “Professor Michaels, so glad you could join us.” John Burgess, the head bastard, broke out into a sweat every time he addressed me. I wasn’t sure if it was the contents of my bra he feared or my intelligence. Either way, I would take him down a notch or two if he dared cross me.

  “Can we cut the bullshit? I am a very busy woman.” It gave me endless pleasure knowing I was the only one in the room that could get away with speaking so out of order, and survive.

  The men around the table just stared at me, slack-jawed, like a school of
bottom-feeding carp.

  “Why yes, we can cut the bullshit…as you say.” Burgess’ forehead had become a steady stream of perspiration. He continued. “Funny you should want to cut so directly to the chase, since the chase is actually you. We need a performance report.”

  I laughed. It was the only natural reaction to such a ridiculous question. “Progress report? Are you serious?” I slammed my notebook on the table and glared. I was met with the glazed look of fear across the room, giving the green light for full steam ahead.

  “Here’s your progress report. I have a floor full of experiments that have mostly failed. Those failures, however, were just the opening act for the real show that has raised its curtain. She’s here, I have her, and she’s safe and still pregnant. That is all you need to know and, quite frankly, all you would be able to comprehend about my progress.”

  “Professor, you are out of line.” Burgess hefted his full weight up to stand. Sweat splashed all around him. Not a soul flinched when they became collateral damage.

  “And exactly what are you going to do, Mr. Burgess? Fire me? Kill me? Who would serve as my replacement? There was only one other person capable of doing what I do, and he’s dead. You get rid of me and you damn-well better figure out how to resurrect Dr. Godwin. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.”

  “Professor Michaels, are you aware your subject did manage to publish the formula for the cure, as well as the schematics for the device she called The Obliterator?” Burgess shot a snide tone my way. I wanted to slice a pound or two of his flesh off, fry it up, and feed it to him. Instead, I removed my hand from the door and turned to address the over-stuffed, stiff-necked bastard.

  “I read every word Bethany published. Have you bothered tracking down the server housing the files? Maybe you could, I don’t know, shut it down!” I was more than happy to speak to the blowhard as if he were nothing more than a child. “Colleague or no, I will not repeat this a second time; Regardless of what you think or believe, you work for me. If you wish to contradict that edict you may, but I wouldn’t advise doing so.”