Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,89

was strapped down to a hard surface. Probably a gurney or operating table, knowing who had her.

Those last frightening moments came back to her. She’d been struggling with three zombies. Two had her legs and one had her torso in a bear hug from behind. She couldn’t move. The bastard who’d grabbed her from behind effectively pinned her arms, and the other two made sure she couldn’t kick her way out of their grasp.

Xavier had plugged the creatures full of toxin in a display of incredible marksmanship, but they’d taken so long to dissolve. The moment the two at her feet turned to mush, she felt a needle pierce her throat. She’d been injected in the jugular, and none too gently. Whatever they’d hit her with acted fast. She remembered being lifted by human arms as the zombie behind her disintegrated and dropped on the cold metal floor of the waiting van. Bumpy motion as they drove fast out of the grassy field, and then…nothing.

Nothing until a few minutes ago when she woke up here. Wherever here was.

She found she could make out faint outlines of things if she used her peripheral vision. There was a line of light around the seam of a door, and she could see a tray at eye level to her right. Yeah, she was in trouble all right. Those were medical instruments on that tray.

All sorts of scary ideas entered her head. Would Sellars dissect her while she was still alive? Would he torture her? Or did he have something else in mind?

Her blouse had been unbuttoned, and she could feel the coldness of gel, plastic and metal. Some kind of sensors had been attached to her skin. Probably a heart monitor and some others. She could feel them on her legs, too. Her shoes and socks had been removed, and it felt like her uniform pants had been either cut or ripped up the sides to give them access for their sensors. She’d been hooked up to all kinds of machines and she hadn’t even known it.

The door opened and an overhead light switched on. Brightness flooded the room, assaulting her eyes. She shut them quickly, trying not to scrunch them up against the sudden glare. If she could play possum for a bit, maybe they’d talk amongst themselves and she could learn something about where she was being held.

“Come now, Sarah.” A tsking sound reached her ears. “I know full well you’re awake. I saw it on the monitors.”

“The light hurts my eyes,” she groused. No way was she going to be a good little prisoner for this son of a bitch.

“Ah, yes. I suppose that would be true. No matter.”

She felt him fussing at her side, and she was almost afraid to open her eyes and see what he was up to. A moment later, she felt him swab her inner elbow with something cold. Her eyes popped open.

Sure enough, he had a needle in his hand. It was Sellars, but not. He’d changed his appearance from the last time she’d seen him, as he’d said on his video. His hair had been cut short and dyed an unlikely shade of auburn. He had colored contacts that turned his dark brown eyes to hazel, and it looked like he’d had a spray tan treatment or two. The changes weren’t anything earth shattering, but taken all together, he certainly didn’t look like the man in his personnel photo.

“I see you’ve decided to take an interest in your own welfare. How nice.”

The sadistic bastard smiled at her.

“I’m just hooking you up so I can tap your veins at will. I can foresee I’ll need a number of blood samples from you as my testing proceeds.”

“Testing?”

“Of course. Why else do you think I’d go through the trouble of capturing you? I need to know what makes you immune, Sarah. With that final piece of the puzzle, I can finally sell this technology and retire a rich man. Filthy rich, in fact.”

He grinned like a fool, making her stomach turn. Sellars was clearly a greedy bastard. He stuck an IV in her arm with no regard to delicacy. She tried not to flinch at the pain.

“You’d let someone unleash that horror on an unsuspecting world?” He met her gaze and she saw no remorse, no conscience there. “And here I thought the zombies were the monsters.”

“Touché, Sarah. I’m wounded by your wit.” His insulting tone told her he was anything but. “Personally, I don’t care