Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,40
significant. Like maybe that Dr. Sellars has improved on the original experiment. I know for certain the zombie in that basement didn’t go down as quickly or quietly as he was supposed to. I’ve ended them before. That took way longer than I’ve ever seen.”
“So what can we do?”
Xavier breathed a heavy sigh. “Just keep doing what we’re doing, for now. The toxin did work, it just took longer than expected. The zombie tried to talk. Okay. So next time we’ll see if the others do the same. If so, we deal with the situation as it presents itself. We’ll have to think on our feet. Improvise, if necessary. Don’t worry. I do it all the time.”
She tried to be as confident as he appeared, but she wasn’t feeling it. Not yet, at any rate. Oh, she was certain of Xavier’s abilities and skills. It was her own that she worried about.
“I’ve been making a lot of other calls this morning. One of my guys already checked out Sellars. We’ve got his file, which includes most of his employment history as well as his current place of employment. Seems he was recently hired by the university medical center in their microbiology department. He even got his own private lab out of the deal. I had Sam swing by there on recon, but it looks like Sellars cleared out. Still, we can go by there today and see if there’s anything we can learn.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She finished her coffee and put the dirty cup in the sink. “I’ll just get my stuff.”
He caught her arm as she turned to leave the kitchen, forestalling her departure. “I’d like to take your patrol car today. It’s a little less obvious than the Humvee.”
“Good idea.” She had to grin. She’d liked riding around in the big military vehicle, but it was really impractical for suburban streets, not to mention parking lots. “We can drop the Hummer at the station and pick up a patrol car. I’m sure the chief won’t mind. I would have been on patrol today, anyway, and they haven’t changed the schedule, so my unit should be free.”
Sarah felt a lot more comfortable once they were ensconced in the patrol car. She wondered if maybe Xavier had realized how out of her element she’d felt before and had made this concession to help her readjust to “life after the attack,” as she was coming to think of it. It felt like everything she’d done before was the prelude to what she was experiencing now.
Apparently, she now had superhuman healing powers and was one of the rare few who were immune to the contagion that killed everyone else it infected. Her life had changed permanently. She feared this mission with Xavier was just the tip of the iceberg. The officers she served with looked at her strangely now. They didn’t know exactly what had happened to her, but they sure knew she’d been singled out to work with the military on something top secret.
It marked her as different from the rest of the cops she worked with. That might fade in time, but she’d never be able to talk about her recent experiences with anyone other than the few men on Xavier’s elite team.
The university medical center was located on a sprawling campus. It took some time and maneuvering to find the right building and parking lot but being in an official vehicle helped considerably. Sarah parked her cruiser in an official spot, notifying Dispatch of her location and intent to leave the vehicle. Now that she was back in her official role, she had to do things by the book. She wasn’t on patrol, but she had to follow police procedure. If there was an emergency, they had to know where to find her.
Xavier watched everything she did, saying nothing. She liked the fact that he hadn’t tried to interfere in any way. He hadn’t tried to give her directions, suggestions, or any other kind of pointers now that he had been relegated to the passenger seat. He also truly didn’t seem to mind that she was driving instead of him.
Having grown up in a family of men who rarely let their female relatives behind the wheel, she had half-expected some sort of commentary. Lord knew, she’d heard it often enough from her father and four brothers whenever they couldn’t avoid letting her drive.
“You’re quiet today,” Xavier observed as they headed from the car toward the entrance to the