February 20, 2012 by Mark Lidstone

Zombies II – Chapter 10

This is the tenth and final chapter in my Vote Your Own Adventure series. You are in control. Read chapter nine here.

THE DOCTOR

No. Warning her won’t be enough. The rifleman already has Elizabeth in his sight and there’s nowhere for her to hide. If Victoria doesn’t stop him, Elizabeth will die.

It was barely a day ago when Victoria had put the barrel of a gun in her mouth. She had been ready to give up, to take the easy way out. Elizabeth had been given a second chance and accepted it with a smile. Victoria isn’t going to give up and watch as that’s taken away from her.

She takes a deep breath and struggles wildly against the arms wrapped around her chest, holding her in place. The soldier’s hold on her doesn’t break but he curses as he struggles to keep her from escaping. Once again, her hand touches the cold steel of the gun. This time, she grabs it and wraps her finger around the trigger.

Her arms still held tightly, Victoria shoots a round into the ground near the soldier’s feet. The noise catches him off guard and his grip loosens for a moment. Victoria breaks free of him and quickly points the gun at his chest.

“Lower your gun,” she says to the rifleman. “If you shoot her, I shoot him.” She keeps her eyes fixed on the soldier in front of her. She sees the name tag on his chest for the first time. It reads “S. Montano.”

Victoria catches sight of Elizabeth close by. She’s noticed what’s happening and has stopped a few feet away. She’s staring at the crowd with a surprised expression. The rifleman keeps his gun on her and doesn’t move.

“Sir?” he asks.

“Take the shot,” says Montano. He takes a step towards Victoria and she takes one away from him. Her heart is beating rapidly in her chest and she struggles to hold the gun steady.

“Don’t do it,” she says. “I swear to God I’ll shoot him.”

The older man, with the injured arm, stares intently at Elizabeth.

“She’s stopped moving,” he says. “She’s acknowledging what’s happening.”

“I’m telling you she isn’t a runner,” Victoria says. “She’s my friend.”

“She’s sentient,” the man says. There’s a mixture of surprise and joy in his voice. “Lower your weapon, soldier.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Montano says. He keeps his eyes fixed on Victoria as he speaks to the man with the rifle. “You don’t take orders from doctors, Gale, you take orders from me.”

Gale doesn’t move. His breathing is heavier and he adjusts the placement of his finger on the trigger.

“Son, we can use her,” the doctor says. “We need her alive. I need her alive.”

Elizabeth takes a few steps backwards and looks around, trying to find a place to run. Somewhere she can hide. There’s nowhere. She turns to look at Victoria with a look of pleading terror on her face.

Victoria takes another deep breath. She won’t let her die.

“Take the shot, soldier,” Montano says. “That’s a goddamned order!”

“Yes, sir.”

Victoria’s heart skips a beat and she stops breathing. She swings her arm through the air until the gun is pointed at Gale. She pulls the trigger.

The shot is loud and echoes through the field. The bullet pierces the side of Gale’s throat and blood soaks the doctor next to him. Just as Gale’s body drops, Victoria is tackled to the ground and something hard pushes into her back. It’s Montano’s knee.

“You bitch,” he says.

Victoria realizes the gun is no longer in her hand. She searches the ground as Montano presses her into the grass with his weight. She stops when something hard and hot presses against the back of her head: the barrel of the recently fired pistol.

“Victoria!” Elizabeth shouts.

“Steven, stop,” The Doctor says. “Let her go, son.”

Victoria can hear the clicking of the guns hammer as Montano pulls it back and it locks into place. Unable to escape, she closes her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Doctor,” the man says.

The sound of the gun shot rings out. It doesn’t sound like the rounds Victoria had shot off. This one is louder and its source is further away. Victoria opens her eyes as a weight is removed from her back. Steven Montano falls to the ground next to her.

Victoria opens her eyes and turns her head. The Doctor is holding the rifle in his hand with the butt of it placed against his wounded shoulder. He drops it to the ground with a pained look on his face and puts his arm back into the sling with a groan.

Elizabeth rushes past him and to Victoria. She helps her to her feet and hugs her tightly.

“He was going to shoot me,” Elizabeth says.

“He was.”

“How rude.” Elizabeth flashes her a smile.

“Come on,” the Doctor says. “We have to get out of here.”

Victoria’s eyes dart to the dark sky and she struggles to find the moving light that is Project Gerra. She can barely make it out in the distance. It won’t be long until it hits the dormitories.

The Doctor grabs the handle on the side of the helicopter and slides the door open. “Start it up,” he yells. The propeller blades start to spin.

The Doctor steps aside and let’s Elizabeth enter first. She pokes her head inside and crawls towards the seat at the far end. A man sits in the pilot’s seat wearing aviators and a headset.

“Oh, hello,” she says.

“Jesus Christ,” the man shouts when he sees her. He leans back and around the chair beside him so he can see the Doctor outside. “Doc, I’m not sure if I can have that thing in my baby.”

“I most certainly am not a thing,” Elizabeth says in a huff. She folds her arms.

“She’s fine,” the Doctor says. He turns to Victoria. “Right?”

“She’s saved my life at least three times today,” Victoria says. She crawls in and sits next to her friend.

The Doctor glances at the pilot and shrugs before climbing in with the two girls. He slides the door shut behind him.

“You’re the boss,” the pilot mutters. “Oh, and nice shot out there, Doc.”

“Oh yeah, thanks for your help, by the way,” the Doctor says with a grin.

“Hey, I told you. I don’t get my hands dirty. I’m just here to fly the chopper.” He turns around with a smile and flips a few switches. “To the base?”

“Not anymore,” the Doctor says. He smiles at both Elizabeth and Victoria. “There’s been a change of plans. Let’s go to sector eight.”

“Roger,” says the pilot.

Everyone is silent as the helicopter lifts off the ground and into the air. Victoria sighs and stares at the back of the seat in front of her. She made it. She’s alive. But what happens now? Where does she go from here? She has no family, no home.

She feels something gently squeeze her hand and looks down to see Elizabeth’s wrapped around hers. Her fingers are covered in dirt and brown, dried, blood is built up under her fingernails. Victoria looks up at Elizabeth’s smiling face. Her pupil-less, white eyes stare into hers.

Victoria relaxes. Maybe the nightmare is over for now.

The Doctor kneels on the floor next to the two women. He has a small, metal case in his hand. He clears his throat.

“My name’s Daniels,” he says “Jordan Daniels.” He struggles to open the case with his one good arm.

“I’m Victoria,” she says. “This is Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth flashes him her signature smile.

“Well, Victoria and Elizabeth,” he says. He opens the case and reveals a syringe filled with a light blue liquid. “How would you like to help save the world?”

ONE YEAR AGO

Jordan Daniels leaves the office of his superior with his head hanging low. The meeting had not gone the way he’d hoped. He sighs deeply and stares down the long hallway that leads to the lab where his partner waits.

The hallways is silent with only the sound of his black, polished shoes clicking against the floor as he walks. Heel, toe, heel, toe. He counts every door in the hallway as he passes them, even though he already knows how many there are. It was a routine that he’d only broken once. Even then he’d only done it to prove to his partner that he could. Secretly, though, he’d gone back on his coffee break and counted them twice for good measure.

Fourteen doors in total. Eleven offices, one storage closet, and two bathrooms. The plastic sign on the ladies’ room door was faded more than the men’s and had a small chip in its corner. Jordan can remember the exact day (eight months and sixteen days ago) that the chip had appeared though he’s not completely sure where it came from. He suspects it was struck by the janitor’s mop during his morning rounds. The same mop he’d seen in the hallway later that evening with a small, white smudge on the tip of its handle. The mop has since been replaced three times.

Jordan reaches the end of the hallway and hesitates in front of the large, double doors. The entrance to his laboratory. He pulls his security card from the front pocket of his white lab coat but pauses when he catches his reflection in the door’s glass.

He looks haggard and over worked. His hair is far too gray for his age and there are heavy bags under his eyes. He sighs again. At least now he’ll be able to find some time for himself. Maybe actually sleep once in a while.

He taps his card against the card reader three times before swiping it through the scanner. Another one of his routines that he can never seem to break. The light turns green and the door clicks. Jordan pushes it open and steps inside.

The lab’s floor is squeaky clean and the color of baby vomit. He imagines the walls looked the same but he’s never seen them. Since the day he arrived, they’ve been covered by small cages filled with rats. The savage squeaks in the room would be overwhelming to a visitor, but to Jordan, it is part of the territory. White noise.

He glances at a few of the cages, resisting the urge to count every one of them. There is one rat per cage and, as per Jordan’s last count, there are two hundred and thirty-eight cages. One of the rats is wildly gnawing on the bars of its cage. It’s eyes are completely white like the others: a side effect of the drug they were experimenting with. They’d yet to figure out why it caused that.

Jordan pulls his eyes from the rat and focuses on the back of his partner. He’s hunched over a desk at the far side of the room. Jordan walks over to him. He’s barely aware of how quiet it is on this side. Not a single rat is squeaking.

“Jesse,” Jordan says. “I’ve got…”

“It works,” Jesse Alexander says. He spins around and grabs Jordan by the shoulders. “It. Works.”

Jordan stares back at him with a confused look. He shakes his head.

“Listen, I just came from…”

Jesse cuts him off by dragging him over to the desk. On it is a small cage with a white label that reads “Zoe.” Inside is a small, gray rat. She sits very still and stares out through the bars of her cage. Jordan finally understands what Jesse is saying.

“It works?” Jordan asks. “She’s responsive?”

“Responsive?” Jesse laughs. “She’s more than responsive.”

He steps aside, giving Jordan a clear view of the cages surrounding them. Every rat nearby is sitting deathly still and staring silently at Zoe. Jordan’s attention whips back to Jesse’s grinning face.

“She’s communicating with them,” Jordan says. “It…works.”

Jesse nods his head enthusiastically. “We did it,” he says.

Jordan watches Jesse as he rushes to his desk. He grabs a folder and waves it in the air.

“Just a few more weeks,” Jesse says. “That’s all we need and it’ll be fully functional and ready for use. Jordan, we’re going to change the world.”

Jordan’s face pales as he remembers the meeting. His heart sinks in his chest.

“No,” he says. “They’re shutting us down.”

Zombies III
Find out how it began and decide how it ends
Coming Early April