Viral

  Viral: After Zombie

  Book 3

  S. K. Gregory

  Copyright © 2019 S. K. Gregory

  All Rights Reserved

  1

  Jenna

  I stepped out of the farmhouse, my mind racing. It can’t be true. There has to be a mistake.

  The message on the phone was clear though – Is Genesis secure? Confirm CHAOS. It was under Mom’s bed, it had to belong to her. Was she working for them? Would she hand me over? Why wait all this time? No, no, no, that’s insane.

  Crossing the yard, I tried to decide what to do next. Mom couldn’t be part of Chaos, that was insane, but something was definitely going on. Whatever it was, the farm was no longer safe. I paused, taking a shaky breath. It was hot out here in the August, late afternoon sun. I wiped sweat from my brow.

  Glancing back at the house, I could see Mom at the window, washing the dishes. She waved at me, a smile on her face. She looked relaxed and happy. It must be a mistake. That was my mother, not some terrorist. Chaos were insane, they kidnapped me, forced me to fight zombies so they could test my abilities. Mom wasn’t part of that. I still had nightmares about my time there, they would never go away.

  I forced a smile back at her, but it was anything but sincere. Inside I felt like I was going to explode. Everything had been going so well, we were safe, happy. Why did this have to happen now?

  Opposite the house was the barn, where Wesley was still shovelling hay. I’ll tell him what I found. Then we can work it out together.

  That would mean facing him after my little bombshell, when I accidentally told him that I loved him, but right now I had bigger things to worry about. Like the fact that my mother might not be who she says she is.

  This is all Dad’s fault. He’s the reason I have trust issues. Of course I’m paranoid. I took a breath. I’ll speak to Wesley; we’ll figure this out and we’ll all be laughing about it by dinner.

  A loud, droning sound drew my attention to the sky and a moment later, a large black helicopter flew over the barn, dangerously low.

  I froze. Was it Gene-Pharm? Chaos? It looked similar to the one Breton had when he kidnapped me.

  The helicopter manoeuvred itself so that it was facing the barn and then the pilot opened fire on it. I saw Wesley throw himself to the ground inside.

  “NO!” I screamed. The bullets were cutting through the old wood, they would kill him. I have to do something.

  Waving my arms, I started yelling, “Here! I’m here.”

  The helicopter started to turn in my direction, I needed to get it away from Mom and Wesley. I took off running, heading for the field that lay beyond the farm. Hopefully I could buy them enough time to get out, but if one of the bullets found their mark…

  Arms pumping, I tried to weave as I ran, hoping to dodge any projectiles. I stumbled a few times but managed to stay on my feet. I need to find somewhere to hide. I didn’t dare look back. I can’t become a zombie again.

  Wesley was barely able to bring me back the last time, I couldn’t spend the rest of my days as some monster. I’d rather get taken out quickly, as awful as that sounded.

  Suddenly, something exploded to my left and my feet left the ground. I was thrown into the air, arms pinwheeling, before hitting the ground hard. My head thumped against a rock and I blacked out.

  When I opened my eyes, I was lying on my face, almost buried in soil. I turned my head slowly, checking to see if anything was broken. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears, the pain was almost unbearable, but I could still think and feel, so at the very least I was still human.

  Groaning, I pushed myself up, my head was spinning, and my vision was blurred. I forced myself to sit up, fighting the urge to throw up.

  The helicopter was still here, now positioned back at the house. I watched in horror as a missile was fired at the house. It struck the center of the house and exploded. Brick, glass and wood flew in every direction, the kitchen was consumed in a blaze of fire.

  “NO! Mom!” I screamed.

  I tried to stand up, but my legs wouldn’t support me. Putting a hand to my head, I found my forehead sticky with blood. I have to help them. They can’t die because of me.

  The helicopter turned right, to face the barn. A second missile was fired, and the barn was obliterated.

  “No, please, no,” I whispered. Not Wesley too.

  Crawling forward, I reached out a hand toward our home. The pain in my head became unbearable, my vision swam, and I passed out.

  2

  Jenna

  I opened my eyes against the glare of the light, feeling as though every nerve in my body was on fire. My head was the worst. Where am I?

  Everything around me was white. Am I in Heaven? The thought made me laugh, but that caused pain to shoot through my head again. Groaning, I tried to cover my eyes with my hand.

  “Ssh, try not to move,” someone whispered.

  I turned my head slowly dropping my hand to find a familiar face. “Dad?”

  He was sitting beside the bed I was in. He wore a baseball cap over his dark hair and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. I hadn’t seen him in months, where the hell was he?

  This appeared to be a hospital, or at least some kind of medical building. I could see a man in a white coat on the other side of the room. There were at least a dozen other patients here too. Most of them were alone.

  “Where am I?” I croaked.

  “About twenty miles from the farmhouse. I found you unconscious in a field and brought you here,” Dad said.

  The farmhouse? Mom! Wesley!

  “Oh God. The helicopter. Tell me they’re okay,” I said, trying to sit up.

  Dad moved to help me. “I arrived shortly after the attack. I saw them check the house and barn, there were bodies.”

  I turned away. “No, they can’t be gone.” I started to cry. I’ve lost everything.

  Dad squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry, Jenna. I only had time to get you out of there.”

  “Where were you? You were supposed to be coming back in a few weeks,” I said, letting the tears fall.

  “I lied.”

  Yanking my hand away, I snorted, “What a surprise!” He always had an agenda, more secrets that he didn’t want to share with anyone. Why should I be surprised? He did fake his own death after all, abandoning me and Mom.

  “I didn’t want to put you and your mother in anymore danger. I stayed close by, but far enough away so that if I was tracked, I could keep them away from you.” So noble. There was more to it than that. There had to be.

  “Well that worked out well, didn’t it?” I snapped.

  That drew the attention of the doctor and some of the patients. I didn’t care what they thought. I wanted to hit him, if he had been there, maybe things would have been different.

  “Please keep your voice down,” Dad said quietly. “I have you here under a fake name. We can’t risk Gene-Pharm finding us.”

  “Was it them? Did they attack us?” Or was it Chaos?

  Dad sighed. “I don’t know. I picked up some chatter, but it wasn’t clear.”

  I remembered the phone. It must have been Chaos. They came to get me, but why fire on me? They probably weren’t too happy when I escaped. Maybe they would rather kill me than let the other side have me.

  “Mom…” I started, but I didn’t know how to continue. How could I tell him that Mom might be working for Chaos?

  “I’m sorry about your mother. I never meant for her to get hurt.” I could hear the pain in his voice, she was his wife, even if they were estranged. In the last few years, they always seemed to be arguing, but I could still remember what they were like when I was a kid. They loved each other. Like I loved Wesley.

  “What about Wesley? Or did you forget about him? Again.”<
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  “I know you were…close with Wesley,” he said. I could tell he was choosing his words carefully.

  “I loved him,” I said.

  Dad was silent for a moment. “Oh.”

  “Just leave me alone,” I said, rolling onto my side so that my back was to him. I didn’t want to talk to him, I just wanted to be alone. Or at least as alone as I could be in a hospital.

  After a few minutes, he got up, telling me he would be back tomorrow. I didn’t bother saying goodbye. Instead, I curled up under the scratchy sheets and cried. It was my fault that they were dead. I should have gone off on my own, left them to it. They would have been safe.

  I just hope it was quick, that they didn’t suffer. It killed me that we couldn’t even bury them. Dad said he saw bodies; did Chaos take them? Or just dump them somewhere like garbage?

  I should have been in there with them. Then this would all be over.

  Chaos didn’t seem too concerned with keeping me alive if they opened fire on me. I ran my finger over the scar on my forehead that was already starting to heal. The X01 must have kicked in, but it was working slower than usual, probably because Wesley gave me the neutralizer. Wesley.

  Feeling the pain rise inside me again, I dug my nails into the cut, drawing blood. I let it run down my face. Physical pain I could handle, but the rest of it?

  “What are you doing?” the doctor snapped, rushing over to pull my hand away.

  “Leave me alone,” I said.

  “Nurse, bring me a sedative.”

  “No,” I said, trying to yank my hand away. Then I realized that maybe being unconscious was a good thing.

  The nurse arrived with a needle and I stopped fighting her. I felt my body start to relax as it took effect.

  As the doctor started cleaning my wound, I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

  3

  Jenna

  A few days later, Dad took me home. Or at least to a home. It was a small two-bedroom apartment in the city. It took half a day to get here but I was just glad to get out of that hospital. The staff were cold and the doctor looked at me with suspicion after what I did to my head. Probably wanted to slap me in a straitjacket.

  As I stepped inside the apartment, I took in the ageing décor. There was kitchenette to my right, a battered green couch directly ahead and two doors on opposite sides of the room, which I assumed were the bedrooms.

  “What do you think?” Dad asked.

  I shrugged. “Its fine. Which one is my room?”

  He pointed to the door on the right side of the room. “Why don’t you go lie down for a while and I can make us some dinner,” he suggested.

  “I’m not hungry,” I said, moving to the window beside the couch. It opened onto the fire escape. The city stretched out ahead of me and I could see Gene-Pharm HQ if I stood on my tiptoes. No matter what happens, they are always there, ruling over us pathetic humans.

  “We’re kind of close to the enemy, don’t you think?” I said.

  “That’s the idea. Hiding in plain sight. I have new identities for us and we’ll have to be careful when we leave the apartment. You’ll have to hide that hair.”

  I ran a hand through my long red hair. It really needed a wash, especially after we were on the road so long. There weren’t many options in the hospital, and I wasn’t up for a bed bath. “Sounds like you have this all planned out,” I muttered.

  “We’re still in danger, Jenna. Breton isn’t going to rest until he captures us.” Breton had been replaced by his son, Matthew. He was just as ruthless and money hungry as his father. No doubt he wanted revenge on us since his dad ended up as zombie chow, He shouldn’t have kidnapped and had me killed then.

  “And Chaos?”

  “They’ve been quiet lately. Which probably means they are gearing up for something.”

  He started pulling out pots and pans to make dinner.

  “Did you…do you think that…Mom could have been involved with Chaos?” I asked.

  Dad raised an eyebrow and laughed. “What? Why would you say that?”

  “When we were at the farmhouse, right before the helicopter showed up, I found a phone hidden under her bed. Chaos sent a message, asking if Genesis was secure.”

  “I don’t…that’s impossible,” he said, brow furrowing. “You must have read it wrong.”

  “I didn’t, Dad. Mom was Chaos.” She had to be, there was no other explanation.

  He set the pan he was holding down on the counter. “No, if the phone was at the house then someone else must have put it there…” His eyes met mine.

  “No! Don’t you dare accuse him.” When all else failed, blame Wesley.

  “Why not? You’re accusing your mother!”

  “It was under her bed!”

  “It could have been planted there. You’re wrong, Jenna.”

  “Fine, believe what you want. But I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. You were the top scientist at Gene-Pharm, Chaos would have known that. She could have been sent to keep an eye on you.”

  Dad’s face contorted in rage. “Enough. I won’t have you talking about your mother that way. Go to your room.”

  I laughed. “Go to my room? Are you serious? You ran off and abandoned me, you have no right to tell me what to do. Also, not that you remembered, my birthday was yesterday. I’m eighteen now.” It was just another thing on the long list of reasons that I hated him for. If I had literally anywhere else to go right now, I would be out that door.

  He placed his hands on the counter and sighed. “I did forget. I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with you Jenna. We’ve both lost so much. We might never know the truth, so please, can we just try to make the best of things?”

  Crossing my arms, I turned back to the window. “Why are we here? What exactly is your plan for me?” I asked, because he always had a plan. He just never let me know what it was in advance.

  “My plan is to bring Gene-Pharm down so that you will be safe. I’m not the only one, as you know. We won’t be alone in this fight.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to fight anymore,” I said. Not too long ago he was telling me to stay out of it, to leave the city. If I had listened, where would I be right now?

  “I know you don’t, but we don’t have a choice. Don’t you want to stop Breton? And Chaos?”

  I thought of everything that had happened. I hated every single one of them. They deserved to hurt, to have their lives ripped apart too. If it wasn’t for them, Wesley and Mom would still be here. My life wouldn’t have been destroyed and I might be happy.

  “When you say bring them down – what do you have in mind? They can’t be given the chance to come back. I want all of them gone for good.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. I have people working on infiltrating Chaos, trying to locate their headquarters. As for Gene-Pharm, everyone thinks they are saviors. That they got rid of the zombies. What if we showed the country that they are wrong? Expose them and they’ll lose everything.”

  I nodded. “Good, that’ll work.” Gene-Pharm had been hiding the truth for far too long. Playing at being the good guys when they would happily murder us all.

  “We’ll talk about it later, you look exhausted.”

  I was exhausted, how could I not be after everything that had happened over the last few days.

  I trudged into my room to see what it looked like. It was decorated with gray wallpaper and held a twin bed and a dresser. All I needed was the bed. I flopped down onto it and closed my eyes. My head still throbbed. The doctor had to add a couple of stitches to it. While I hadn’t repeated my earlier stunt, I had taken to jabbing my thumb into the bandage covering the wound when I felt like things were getting too much. What I really wanted to do was find the assholes who attacked us and rip them apart.

  I curled up on the bed wishing I had another sedative to knock me out. Without it, I just lay awake, replaying what happened over and over in my mind. Maybe I could convince Dad to get me something to help me sleep.
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  I swung between feeling numb to feeling everything. I honestly don’t know which one was worse. When I felt numb it felt like I was betraying them somehow, but when I felt the grief it overwhelmed me to the point where I could barely function.

  Is it always going to be like this?

  ***

  Jenna

  The smell of bacon woke me. Despite my anger at Dad, my hunger won out. I sloped into the kitchen to find him dishing out bacon and scrambled eggs. My favorite. Surprised he still remembers.

  “Morning. Would you like some orange juice with this?” he asked.

  “I’d prefer a…”

  “Coke,” he finished. “Not a great choice, but I think we can make an exception.”

  He grabbed one from the fridge and set it in front of me. He was trying too hard. Especially since he hadn’t made me breakfast since I was seven. He was always too busy, some days he was out the door before dawn and home long after I went to sleep. Most of the time it was just me and Mom.

  “Oh, and I got you this too,” he said. He moved to the pantry, removed something from inside and placed it on the table in front of me. It was a cupcake, with blue frosting and a candle in it. He flicked a lighter and lit the candle.

  “It’s not much and I’m sorry that I forgot, but happy birthday.”

  I stared at the flame, currently in my numb state, I really didn’t care about his gesture. There was nothing to celebrate.

  I was excited before this. I dreamed of a life of my own, away from all of this. Wesley was a part of that future and now any one I had, I would have to face alone.

  “Blow it out then,” he said.

  I did as he asked, then returned to my breakfast, without saying a word. No wishes for me. They never come true anyway.

  “It will get better, Jenna,” he said.

  I ignored him and continued eating, barely tasting the food. Things would never be better again, he was dreaming if he thought otherwise.

  4