Waking the Zed - By ML Katz Page 0,35
the hooded creature showed little more inclination to move than Dr. Klein did. Paul snored, seemed to mumble something, and then grew quiet again. Amazingly, Pam started to grow bored as the anxiety seeped from her body.
Now she felt hunger pangs again and wished she had taken another sandwich off the cart. She thought about asking for something else to eat but the soldiers looked very stern and the medical personal were all consumed with other tasks.
She had been about to plead with Dr. Lincoln for permission to leave this place and return home when Captain Crawford rushed back into the infirmary room. He glanced around quickly, and then approached the doctor. “We have a new situation,” he said.
“What is it?” Dr. Lincoln said. He looked alarmed by the expression on the officer’s face. In the few hours that Pam had known him, he had always carefully arranged his features in an expression of calm authority. He had simply appeared stern and professional when Dr. Klein had unexpectedly crashed. Now he looked frightened.
“About a half dozen of those Zed things must have walked out of Future Faith,” he said. “We got the place sealed off pretty quickly, but they could have even left before we arrived. The side door by the parking garage wasn’t locked and could be opened by leaning into it.”
“Where’d they go?”
“We know that some of them stopped traffic on the road, just wandering aimlessly about. A couple of drivers, and then a couple of state police troopers left their vehicles and got ambushed. There’s holy hell out there, and it happened fast.”
“Is it contained?” the doctor asked. Some alarm tinged his normally mild voice.
“Hell, no,” Captain Crawford said. “An injured trooper managed to pull his dead partner back into their car. We might be able to track them down, but observers told us that a handful of other injured civilians got back into their cars and drove off. Nobody got license plates. I’ve got men trying to track them down, but they could be anywhere.”
Pamela lost her urge to leave the secure building. This place, at least seemed safe from outside threats. Getting back to her car and just driving back to her apartment to resume already seemed like a distant fantasy now.
The grim soldiers appeared able to contain the threats they had allowed inside this place at least. She felt lucky now that she had no close friends or family nearby. Her parents and siblings were hundreds of miles away. At this point in her life she did not even have a pet to worry about.
Hopefully, by tomorrow I can call my folks and explain what’s going on. There’s no use bothering them this time of night. Then Pam froze. Even if I could call my parents, how am I going to explain this? They’ll think I’ve lost it and Dad will probably hop on the first plane out here. The last thing I want is for them to leave Iowa for this place.
Captain Crawford told an orderly to turn on the small TV mounted high on one wall. A news flash informed the public about the virus without giving specifics.
If this news goes national, Mom and Dad will find out anyway.
The announcement said that any injured people should immediately report to the nearest hospital for treatment. Of course, Pamela knew that the only current treatments were either containment or destroying the host’s brains. She wished she could get back to Future Faith and find Dr. Klein’s papers. There had to be clues on her computer or among her papers.
Things would only get much worse, very quickly, if the contaminated were allowed to wonder around freely. They could transform into these creatures at any time.
Distracted by the news, nobody noticed Dr. Klein’s eyes pop open. Broken capillaries gave her eyes a reddish tint, and her skin appeared pale and somewhat greenish. She had always been fairly thin, but dehydration made her appear almost skeletal.
She jerked suddenly, and the cuff slid down her hand. The soldier must not have tightened the cuff much because he didn’t want to hurt Dr. Klein. Who thought that frail looking woman could be such a threat? Another jerk freed her hand and she tumbled out of bed. Pam felt frozen with horror as she watched her old boss’s reanimated body land clumsily, but somehow find footing. The small woman rose and then practically fell into Dr. Lincoln. Without thinking, he put up his hands to catch her as if she