The Zombie Takeover by Soter Lucio
Cole held on to his girlfriend for dear life.
“You’re hurting me Cole. Loosen a bit will you?”
“They’re coming Kristen. Can’t you hear them?” His breath coming in short spurts.
“We’re together. Nothing will happen to you.” Kristen tried reassuring him.
Cole looked down and could see the top of her head. How could this short ninety nine pound person be so brave and strong? And him a six foot one ninety five pound man be so coward and weak?
“Stop. Quiet.” Kristen tilted her head to one side while fishing in the front pocket of her loosely fitted pants. Cole slackened his grip on her arm. The dreadful sounds were closing in on them. He folded his arms shivering all the while and almost wet himself when he spotted the green slime on the roadway just ahead of them. Frozen on the spot he could only watch as Kristen adopted the stance that she called Fight or Die. Bent at the knees, shoulders hunched, she slowly twisted and turned her body preparing for the attack that could come from any direction. She swiped before the thing got to them but still managed to get it at the waist and then the two parts were there on the ground. Seeing the both parts moving Cole reflexes jump started and with the rush of adrenaline he was practically flying away from there. Kristen shouted after him to stop but apparently he didn’t hear or he couldn’t put the brakes on because he kept on going. She however kept on slicing the air at the sounds that wouldn’t let up, while still making contact. In the end there were parts, bottom half and top half lying about on the ground. Satisfied that was it for the time being she went after Cole. Finding him leaning against a tree holding his heaving chest and breathing fast, she told him to bend over with his head between his knees. Before he could calm down another group came upon them ready to eat.
“We have to get out of here. Come on. Get up. Make a fist and run.”
“What?” He asked with a frown.
“Make a fist and run. You won’t tire.”
They made a dash for a house partly hidden between some tall trees with a lot of foliage around. Banging on the door together, it fell apart but they still rushed in.
“Let’s find a room where we can hide for a while.”
“One with a good heavy door that won’t fall apart.”
They located one with a good sturdy door and barricaded themselves in, but didn’t cater for the windows that were easily accessible to the roving zombies outside. Too late they realized their mistake and in a hurry to get out the door, Cole broke his leg.
One barely scratched the broken leg that was already in so much pain, he didn’t feel it.
“Come on. We’ll make a stretcher and I’ll drag you across the savannah.”
“We won’t make it Kristen.”
“Oh shut up. Don’t you have faith in me?”
She set him up in another remote location downstairs of the house and locked the wrought iron gates.
“You’ll be safe here. I’ll be back for you.”
“Please hurry.” He said to her back. Something in his voice made her turn around to face him. Shocked at what she saw she covered her mouth to prevent the scream that threatened to burst forth. His eyes had that glassy look already. She examined him from a distance and saw the scratch on the broken leg. The change was coming fast.
Nothing must happen to Cole. He is her soul mate. She hustled back to her first kills and found what she suspected. These weren’t all bona fide zombies.
Making her way to her house, she collected a vial and some notes and presented herself at the offices of Dr Hemel Grogowitz the foremost researcher at the Institute of Hope. The receptionist started to say the doctor was unavailable, but changed her mind at the ferocious expression and the sight of the formidable weapon protruding from her pocket and led her to the doctor’s office.
“I’m busy Melinda. I said no calls and no visitors.” The doctor growled without looking up from his papers.
“I think you’ll want to see this one Doctor Grogowitz.”
He pushed his glasses up on his nose bridge and thinning his lips raised his head. His lips parted ready with a reproach but froze on recognizing Kristen.
“Thank you Melinda. Will you bring Miss Martin some coffee please. You still drink coffee?” He was so pleasant you’d think the sun was shining inside the building.
“Yes I do. But don’t want yours. Not sure what else you’ll have in that.”
“I don’t understand.” He replied.
“Of course you do. You’re responsible for all those imitation zombies out there.”
“Kristen what on earth are you talking about? It was all your fault for getting fired. You don’t have to go about making false accusations like that. It could jeopardize the work we’re doing here.”
“Really? And what work is that?”
“You know the answer to that. The population is dwindling. Fast. We must find a cure for this curse.”
“By infecting the young people? Come on Dr. Grog. You very well know that I know exactly what you’re up to.”
“Please enlighten me.”
“Your daughter drank poison because of unrequited love. You blame all of us for that.”
“Please if you have nothing to offer, go away.”
Kristen took the vial from her pocket and held it up to his face. “Recognize this?”
“Where did you get that?” His voice dropped as he read the label. “And what are you doing with it?”
“You’re not working on a cure. You are destroying our people. Making us pay for what happened with your daughter.”
“That’s preposterous. I’m doing no such thing.” Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. Melinda rushed in. “There’s banging and growling on the front doors Dr. And the Security men have left.”
“The chickens have come home to roost.” Kristen said under her breath, and Dr Grogowitz, all flustered, fumbled with the papers and shouted to Melinda to lock the doors. She left the office and went to the inner room where she pressed some buttons to secure the building. Kristen peeped out the window, and seeing the throng of bona fide zombies ran to the other room, grabbed a terrified Melinda by the arm and dragged her to safety. On the opposite side of the building were the imitation ones.
“Those ones can be killed so here take this gun and use it. You know how to?” She asked her putting the gun in her hand along with some bullets.
“Yes.” Melinda answered accepting the weapon. “Mrs Grogowitz is in the building but I don’t know where exactly.”
“What’s she doing here?”
“She’s the engine Kristen. The Dr. is the wheels that keeps on moving, but it’s the wife that’s responsible for everything. Zoe was her love child. Her husband never knew she wasn’t his.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Only a few people knew that. She hated us all. She told the Dr. to come up with something that would make all of us suffer tremendously.”
“So under the pretext of developing a cure he made imitation zombies.”
“Yes. But he wasn’t all that bad. Zombies carry on even after they are sliced to pieces. The imitation ones do die, as you have seen.”
“So the families don’t suffer as much. I see what you mean.” She was silent a bit as she thought of this new information. Then she let out such a long and hard steups that Melinda involuntarily stepped back crashing into a glass case, shattering it, resulting in multiple lacerations about her arms and legs.
“I’ve got some of what he used. Now I’ll use it on her. I am not a forgiving person Melinda. She has to pay for what she’s done. Get up, dust of yourself and kill those on that side. I’ll take care of these.”
Kristen stealthily moved along the wall till she was at a point where she could fling a Molotov cocktail into the group and cause massive destruction. She threw three of them in quick succession and taking a peek out saw the bodies reeling on the ground. Contented she turned to face Melinda and received the shock of her life. Mrs Grogowitz had a gun to Melinda’s head.
“Pass me that vial. Now.” She said.
“Okay. Here.” She pelted it at her head so swift that Mrs. Grogowitz moved her gun hand just as Kristen slid onto the floor and sliding across kicked her feet from under her, gun flew out of her hand and Melinda was released. Kristen got a hold of the vial before it dropped to the floor.
“Melinda. Get me a syringe.”
“What are you going to do?” Mrs Grogowitz was petrified at the thought of Kristen’s next move. “You aren’t going to use that on me.”
“And why not? You’ve used it on others. And now my Cole is infected too.”
“That’s not my fault. He should have listened to me when I told him to leave town.”
Kristen shot her such a look as to cause her to shrink within herself.
“What? You told him to leave me?”
“You are trouble of the worst kind. You don’t deserve him. It was your cousin who hurt my daughter.”
“You hurt your daughter by raising a spoilt brat. She was disrespectful and impertinent. No use as a wife or mother. Besides you can’t make yourself love someone. You should know that.”
“All that is besides the point. Because of him my daughter is no more.”
“And now you’ll pay.”
She filled the syringe and was about to inject her, when the window shattered and the bona fide zombies were inside. Kristen didn’t see when the other set arrived. She was too busy lambasting Mrs Grogowitz. She noticed Cole was with them and he was a real Zombie now.
“Oh Cole,” was the last thing she said before he was eating her face and Melinda and everyone else gave up their humanness to be the new kind of inhabitants of a very old community.