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Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Fifty Five
Jack handed me a cell phone that looked like something from the early nineties. A real brick - two inches thick with rubberized grips on the sides. The antenna was almost bigger than the phone itself, eight inches long and as thick as my index finger. "Motorola 9505," I said, trying to impress him. "Sweet." Most cell phones would be useless in New York - the towers that dotted the city's rooftops were unpowered now - but this beast could tap into the Iridium satellite network. It would work anywhere on earth as long as it had a charge. The UN used Iridiums but only sparingly, handing them out to field operatives like they were Faberge eggs. In America they were standard issue for military units, and in fact Jack had retrieved them from an abandoned National Guard checkpoint a few blocks away.Two more phones sat in a multi-unit charger which had been built to hold six. The rest had gone out with scavenging parties and had never returned. I made a quick call to Osman, letting him know
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Fifty Six
We followed Jack's flashlight up a never-ending series of stairs and stalled escalators. It got easier to see as we went along. I thought my eyes were adjusting to the darkness but in fact we had merely arrived at Grand Central and light - real sunlight - was streaming through the terminal's high windows. When we emerged into the marble-lined corridors leading to the main concourse I could suddenly see everything again and I blinked rapidly, my eyes watering.Ayaan dropped into a crouch and scanned the empty terminal from behind her rifle. Jack kept close to the walls but I was just so glad to be out of the tunnels that I couldn't maintain that level of healthy paranoia. I lead them past empty newsstands, empty shops selling men's shirts or CDs or flowers, past a deserted shoeshine stand until we entered the big main concourse and I could look up at the green-blue ceiling and the gold diagrams of the Zodiac, at the enormous windows through which streamed visible rays of yellow light.
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Fifty Seven
Eggsy climbed up the side of the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Times Square and steadied himself on the roof. A wandering breeze snatched at his hair and his clothes. He looked up and saw the darkened signs, just as Dekalb had done but for him the dead neon wasn't so much a shocking portent as a monument to what the world, and by extension himself, had become. Dead but still standing. A reflection in a distorted mirror.He let his gaze fall to the street level. To his troops. He had brought hundreds of the undead with him and though they wore no uniform nor carried any weapons they were an army. They awaited his command, still and passionless. He looked across the ranks of their slack faces and their hanging limbs and thought about how to begin.From behind the steel gate of the subway station living faces peered out at the army. A rifle barrel poked through the bars and a shot snapped out. One of Gary's soldiers collapsed backwards onto an abandoned car, rocking it on its tires.
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Fifty Eight
Smoke and acrid fumes swirled across the surface of the scorched platform. The tiles from the walls had cracked and fallen during the inferno and lay in piles of shards that clinked against my shoes. Jack's light stabbed out in a wan cone that couldn't penetrate the dust and soot suspended in the air. Bodies - grey piles of sacking, mostly, but with a telltale hand here or a charred tuft of hair there had been shoved onto the tracks in long untidy heaps."Good girl," Jack said.He ran up a stairwell two steps at a time. We tried to keep up but in the thick air we lacked his urgency and we fell behind until we were abandoned in the near-perfect dark, only our glowsticks illuminating our way. Ayaan tossed hers to me so she could have both hands free for her Kalashnikov. I brandished the two sticks above my head like torches. We came to a place where the bodies were piled up like unliving barricades and I picked my way carefully through, terrified that one of the twice dead would rise up
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Fifty Nine
Two mummies awaited Eggsy when he returned to the broch. They gestured for him to follow them - alone.There would be trouble, of course. Mael already knew what had happened. As they entered the compound the workers on the walls of the big tower had turned to see the procession, their hands dropping to their sides, the bricks they carried put aside to watch as hundreds of living humans marched fearfully into the very midst of undead central. The dead on their own had no curiosity - for all the eyes turned on Gary and his raiding party there was only one intelligence looking through them.Gary could understand Mael's surprise. The dead army was under strict orders not to let a single living thing enter Central Park, much less a crowd of them. Gary was breaking a serious taboo.He commanded his army to guard the prisoners and then stepped inside the shadowed spaces of the construction site. The walls were rising steadily: the dead never rested and Mael had a multitude of them to draw on
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Sixty
We had no trouble getting back to the river. It looked like every dead person in Midtown Manhattan had been drafted into Gary's army. The girls were thrilled to see Ayaan again. They laughed and wiped tears from their eyes and pressed their cheeks against hers. There were plenty of questions for her, of which I only understood "See tahay?" and "Ma nabad baa?", the standard greetings. Her answers met with rapt attention and genuine delight.As for me Osman took one look at my slept-in clothes and my haggard face and shook his head. "At least nobody died this time," he said. He grabbed an old plastic milk jug full of green hydraulic fluid and went back down into the engines of the ship then to get us ready to sail.It wasn't a long voyage to Governors Island, but we took our time. The teardrop-shaped Island lies just south of the Battery at the tip of Manhattan, close to Ellis and Liberty Islands. It was a Coast Guard base for most of my life but in 1997 the government decommissioned it
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Sixty one
One of the mummies brought the pregnant woman to Eggsy. She was tied into a wheelchair after she attempted to beat in the skull of one of her captors with a brick. Eggsy wondered how far she expected to get through a city full of the dead when she couldn't run or do more than waddle quickly. Her swollen belly lay in her lap as if she'd stuffed a bowling ball up her shirt.The mummy pushed the wheelchair over to where Eggsy sat on a pile of bricks and waited patiently for Eggsy’s next command. He took his time issuing it. He'd been in a peaceful mood all morning, just contemplating the sky and the unfinished broch behind him and the new structures he had ordered built on the Great Lawn, not really thinking about anything. After the previous night he supposed he deserved a chance to rest.His body had been rigid with seizures for hours after he snacked on Mael, the dark energy he had liberated from the Druid sloshing back and forth in his belly and his head and his fingers until black l
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Sixty Two
Kreutzer lead us through a tiny development of yellow clapboard houses and down tree-lined avenues - the old officers' quarters back when Governors Island was a military base. The Coast Guard logo was everywhere, on monuments and plaques and chain link fences, even on the street signs.The DHS Agent swore the houses were empty and that he'd checked them out himself. "Honest, there's not even a stick of furniture in there and no goddamned food at all."Unconvinced I sent squads of girls into every building we passed. "There must have been other people here," I said. "Nobody posts a field agent to a place like this if there's nothing for him to do.""There were more," Kreutzer said, clutching at his bandaged hand. "There was a garrison. When the Epidemic broke out we needed a hardened location for emergency management ops. We reactivated the base here and staffed it with Operations Directorate irregulars. People used to flying in and out of air fields with little or no notice. Some usel
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Chapter 130
- (Last Chapter) -Before I realized what was happening, a collar was being snapped around my neck, sharp electrical pulses shooting through me. Suddenly I couldn’t move, could barely breathe. Panic filled me, joining the adrenaline rushing through me, and my body wasn’t sure how to react. Keep fighting, or shut down.“What are you doing?” I heard Kat scream. “Let her go!”She could see me? The collar, maybe...Keep fighting. Definitely keep fighting. I tried to stand, but my legs refused to cooperate.“You want me docile? Leave the girls out of this,” I tried to shout, but only gurgles escaped.“Ethan?” Reeve gasped. “Help us!”“You told me you wouldn’t hurt Reeve,” Ethan shouted.Instant comprehension. He knew the Hazmats, because he was one of them.He was the spy—no doubts about that now—and he had gotten some of his information from Reeve. When I’d lived with her, she’d known my schedule. The rest he must have gotten by watching me.He’d covered his tracks very well. I still felt
Chapter 129
I wasn’t going to get through to her, was I? “Seriously, how did you find me? And who is we?”“I can answer that.” Ethan moved to her side, watching me warily.Ethan? The potential spy?Great. Wonderful. This couldn’t get any worse. “Fill me in before I have a panic attack.”“Well, for starters,” said another female, “I found out about the zombies.”Reeve stepped up to Kat’s other side.Okay. It was officially worse.“My dad doesn’t know that I know,” Reeve said.“When you disappeared, Reeve did some investigating, and told me what she learned,” Ethan said, “and that’s when we discovered the zombies, and your whereabouts, and decided to bring Kat in to help us save you. You’re welcome, by the way. Do you have any idea what we had to do to hack into Mr. Ankh’s computer and get the coordinates to this place?”I hoped that was rhetorical.“In other astonishing news,” Kat said before I could process everything I’d been told, “Frosty and I broke up—of course. He wouldn’t tell me where you
Chapter 128
He loaded a third. “This is a sedative.”I felt a third sting, and whatever the sedative was, it worked quickly. Darkness fell over me, and my knees collapsed. I knew nothing more.My head pounded as I blinked open my eyes. I lay on...my bed? No, the mattress beneath me was too narrow to be mine. Gingerly I sat up. Dizziness struck me, and I moaned.“Hey, Ali-gator.”Cole’s voice. I breathed deep in an effort to clear my head, saw the haunting beauty of his face. I hated to look away, but curiosity got to me. We...were in a small bedroom I didn’t recognize, with log walls and planked floors.“You’re in a secluded home Ankh owns. It’s twenty miles from my house,” he said, “but they aren’t highway miles, so it takes me forty minutes to get here.”I’d been banished.My expression must have fallen to reflect my dismay, even though I knew this was for the best, because he added, “You’re too dangerous to be around others right now, sweetheart.”Acid eroded my throat, and I choked. “I know,
Chapter 127
“O-kay. I should have guessed this was why you both took off so unexpectedly.”Nothing except Frosty.Dang it! I was so sick of interruptions!Cole sprang away from me, assuming a battle-ready position.Frosty rolled his shoulders, hard and intractable, and just as ready. “Don’t bother trying to get rid of me. I’m not leaving without Ali. Nana is worried.”“Fine. But you will turn around,” Cole snapped.Though he looked as if he wanted to protest, Frosty obeyed.My cheeks burned, and my heart pounded as I sat up. Cole helped me right my disheveled clothing before righting his own. Our gazes locked for a long, strained moment, and we both knew there were a million things we needed to say, but couldn’t. Not now.Later, he mouthed, hooking a strand of hair behind my ear.I should tell him no again, that this was it, the end. I might be dangerous to his health, but he was dangerous to my self-control. Instead, I found myself nodding.Cole kept his arm around me while we walked back to the
Chapter 126
“You trusted me,” I said, shocked to my soul, “despite what you saw.” That was absolutely, utterly huge.“Yes,” he said. He fit his hands against my jaw. “I told you I did. I’m in this thing, Ali. All the way.”“But...why did you stop texting me?”I saw the ice frost over his eyes, and I shuddered. “My dad was monitoring my phone feed.”Oh. The ice wasn’t for me, but for his father.I looked away from him, trying to give myself time to think, and caught a glance of my reflection in the glass. I stumbled backward.Zombie Ali was back.Flickers of red burned in her eyes, and the black smudges on her cheeks were thicker. She smiled at me, waved—and then, through the reflection, I watched her step out of my body, away from the glass.With the tick of a clock loud in my ears, I watched Z.A. glide off the porch and into the driveway. She paused to look back at me and crook her finger, a silent command for me to follow. A need to know her purpose consumed me, and I stepped off after her.Unc
Chapter 125
He even dropped me off at work, only to return an hour later and remain inside the coffeehouse for the rest of my shift. My coworkers stared at him, the guys frightened, the girls excited. Everyone whispered, speculating about who he was, and why he was there.I think I blew their minds when I left with him.“Any zombie sightings tonight?” I asked. The moon was high, full.“So far, none.”“Shouldn’t you be out there searching?”“I traded nights with Gavin.” His voice tightened. “He owed me.”“Don’t fight him over me. Over what happened.”“I want to, but I won’t,” he said tightly. “You aren’t mine. Not officially. Technically he didn’t do anything wrong.”He dropped me off at home but didn’t try to kiss me. I couldn’t blame him.I received a text from him the next day. No party tonight, I’m sorry & I’m not ditching U this time, promise. My dad is sending me out of town. Will U miss me?Me: I plead the 5th.Him: I will definitely miss U.Sappy girl. My heart soared.I could have gone to
Chapter 124
“I’m so glad you’re okay. When Cole called and told me you’d been in a car accident, my heart almost stopped.”“I’m sorry,” I said.“Ali, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”“Nana, I...” Didn’t know what to say.“I know you’re fighting for a good cause, but it’s hard on me sometimes. Waiting and worrying.”“I’m sorry,” I repeated, but I couldn’t promise to morph into a normal teenager with normal problems, and we both knew it.“Yes, well, enough about that for now.” As she bustled around the kitchen to make me a sandwich, she changed the subject and said, “Are you and Cole back together? Or are you seeing two hot totties at the same time? Or are you single and just playing the court?”Hot totties? Playing the court? “No, Cole and I aren’t back together, but we are going to a party on Thursday. And Gavin... Well, he and I will only ever be friends.”“I think maybe you need to rethink things with Cole. He’s good for you. You light up when you see him, and he can actually get you to
Chapter 123
He instantly sobered. “Okay. Point taken.”“Tell me her name. I’m going to track her down and knock her teeth down her throat.”“As hot as that is, no. She’s part of a past I’d now like to forget. But...I’m glad you never slept with anyone. I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else, probably would have fed the fuc—uh, the guys more than teeth.”Must resist this possessive, charming side of him. “Do I get another question?”“You get as many as you want.”He sounded determined.I’d probably make him regret that.“Did you sleep with Veronica?”He stiffened, but he didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes. But it was over a year ago, when we were dating.”“Mackenzie?”“Yes. Months ago, for a little while after we’d stopped dating. Then I met you, and that was over.”“Others?”“Yes. You want the exact number?”“No,” I grumbled. Yes. Maybe. “Am I the only girlfriend not to go all the way with you?”“No,” he said. “But I wouldn’t change anything about what we’ve done—and haven’t done. I wanted
Chapter 122
“I’ll tell him.” My pronouncement was quickly met with inquiring glances. “I know what it’s like to lose your family. And I know you guys do, too,” I added in a rush. They’d all lost someone in the war. “But with me, the loss is fresh. Jaclyn was his twin, and he loved her more than he loved himself. I felt the same way about Emma.”Mr. Ankh sighed. “Very well.”Cole made the call.It wasn’t long before Mr. Holland was escorting Justin to my bedside. He sat down opposite Cole, his expression closed off. He had no idea why he was here. My chin trembled as I said, “Justin, I met with a man named Dr. Bendari.”He nodded. “You’ve mentioned him before.”“Yes. He was...he was killed in front of me.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning, leaving track marks, I was sure.Justin softened. “I’m sorry.”“Before he died, he told me that your sister—”With a pained groan, he jumped up, the chair skidding behind him. “I know. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”“You know?” Cole asked.Justin cl
