“Zoe, we need to get him home fast! Zombies are turning faster now. We need to get him the cure before it’s too late!”
We left our kill at the tree and loaded Zeke up into the trailer. It only took us a minute to get home and mom was waiting for us at the door.
“Mom, get a syringe quick!”
Mom came running out a minute later with the syringe in her hand. She ran over to Zeke and stabbed it into his heart.
Zeke shook hard. His entire body quivered. He began to vomit blood.
“Mom! What can we do?”
“Nothing, honey. John just said to let it run it’s course. We do need to get him somewhere by himself. He can still infect us until the cure is in his system. That is a little over 24 hours.”
Chang grabbed him by his arms and I grabbed him by his ankles and we ran him up to his room. Brian put a lock on the outside of the door so that he could not exit. It was an added precaution so that we would not get infected.
It was a long 24 hours. We heard him thrash around, kicking and screaming. He was obviously in pain. We could not be around him.
Deciding there was nothing that we could do that Brian couldn’t handle; Chang and I went back to our spot to gather our kills.
Chang did the delivery by himself since Zeke wouldn’t be there to accompany him.
I waited in the hall by his bedroom, counting down the time. I couldn’t handle it anymore and went to my room to get some sleep.
I woke up to scratching at my door. When I opened the door Zeke lunged at me. I wasn’t sure exactly how he had escaped but he had.
Chang was home and heard the commotion and tackled him. I pulled Zeke’s arms behind his back and helped escort him back to his room. Brian then put a stronger lock on his door. We just needed to make it through the next few hours.
I couldn’t sleep after that and neither could Chang. We sat outside his door with a gun, waiting for him to try to get out.
He didn’t though. But we decided that didn’t mean anything. He could still be dangerous.
We had a live zombie locked up in the house waiting for the cure to kick in. How would we know when enough time had passed?
“Chang, when it’s time, let’s put on the hazmat suits. That way he can’t hurt us and we can check on him without taking a risk. We only have about 20 minutes and we have reached our 24 hours.”
“That works.”
So we dressed in our hazmat suits. We unlocked the deadbolt from his door and entered.
Zeke lay there, bloody, on his bed with an open wound on his leg and on his shoulder.
He was out like a light. Chang reached down to wake him and Zeke startled us by jumping straight out of bed.
“Dude, I just had the worst dream!”
“Huh?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, I dreamt I was attacked by a zombie cat and then I had to take the cure.”
“Yeah, that really happened dude,” Chang responded.
“Am I ok now? I know the cure doesn’t work on everybody.”
“I think you are. John told us how to tell if it worked. We need to see your eyes.”
I studied his eyes with intensity. His eyes were clear and his pupils were the right size and shape. Zeke was in the clear. That was a close call.
CHAPTER 38
BREANNE
I was glad Zeke was ok. I was also glad John brought us the cure. I was glad we caught that scumbag Governor on tape. Things were falling into place quickly. Now we just needed more feed from the office and we could blast him on the internet.
We were all worried about the repercussions of what we were doing but at the same time we didn’t care. I think that we were more worried about Aunt Brooke and what would become of her. She would forever be a fugitive and there was nothing we could do about it.
She didn’t seem to care though. Her new life’s mission was to take down the dirtballs that hurt her and hunted her. She wanted the public to be aware of the scandal that had taken so many lives. She was a true heroin in my book. She risked her life for others and didn’t think twice about herself. She was truly selfless and had dedicated her life to the cause.
Although we continued to stay glued to the screen, we didn’t get much information. The news was more interesting at this point. The reward for turning in Aunt Brooke was now doubled. They wanted her and they wanted her bad. But that didn’t shake her in the least bit. I think Zoe and Chris were more worried about her than she was for herself. She kept reminding her kids that she did everything for them and their future. She didn’t want anyone to have to be under a government system that killed its people instead of helped them. She said the U.S. government was worse than Hitler as the United States had killed at least over 50% of its population, not counting the count from around the world. She said she was doing everyone a favor.
And she was. She was my hero. I would always admire her tenacity. I’ve always admired her in a way. She could be responsible, yet let go if she needed to. Stress didn’t affect her in ways that it affected the rest of us. She had no problem putting on her Soul Asylum CD and dancing around to Runaway train or Tom Petty’s Mary Jane, just to name a few of her favorites. She had no problem letting her hair down. She knew how to diffuse herself well. I wished I was more like her in that sense.
She was a little more serious these days though. She was just waiting for the one last piece of dynamite information and then she was going to drop the bomb on the world. She would be everyone’s heroine, not just mine.
Chris admired his mother as well. He loved her bravery and imitated it on many occasions. He was the permanent lookout of the manor. His 18th birthday would be coming up in a few days and we would have to throw him a small party. I knew we still had tons of birthday candles and balloons from our raid at the dollar store.
Zoe and I sat in the garage and blew up at least 30 balloons. We had to get things done in secret so he wouldn’t know what was going on. It was hot and stuffy in there but it was worth it to see his face. A person only turns 18 once and this was the best way we could celebrate it under our current circumstances.
Aunt Brooke distracted Chris for us so we could decorate the gazebo. We filled it with our black and blue balloons and matching decorations. Mom had secretly made him a cake. She was skilled with cake decorating also and made him a cake that looked like it was bought at a boutique bakery. He would be thrilled.
We finished our task and gathered everyone outside. Zoe went inside and got Aunt Brooke and Chris. As Chris walked through the door a look of confusion passed over his face. He didn’t realize that tomorrow is his birthday.
The crowd yelled, “SURPRISE!” In unison and Chris’ face turned flush. He was genuinely surprised and embarrassed. Mom exited the house with his cake, adorned with 18 lit candles.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU,” The crowd broke out in song.
His face turned another shade of red and he sat down to blow out his candles. It was time for him to make a wish.
“I know making your wish out loud ruins the magic behind it but I can’t help but tell all of you. I wish that next year we will all be standing here together, and alive.”
He blew out his candles and we all cheered. I hoped he would get his wish.
CHAPTER 39
ZOE
After cleaning up the mess left behind from the party I went up to the security room with mom to look over the day’s recordings. The tape revealed a bunch of nonsense for the first half. I wondered to myself how this man got paid so much to do so little. He sat around eating donuts and drinking coffee or brandy. Sometimes he would pour some brandy in his coffee. He was obviously an alcoholic.
The sight of him sickened me. He was a cold blooded killer. He had no remorse or he would not be sitting there drinking and having donuts so casually. I couldn??
?t wait for mom to take him down.
We played the tape a little longer and just as I was about to lose my concentration his secretary came into his office and announced that the president was on line 2 for him.
Governor Owen wasted no time to get on the phone.
“Good afternoon Mr. President. How do you do?”
We were in luck. He put the phone on speaker!!!
“I’m well Jean. Listen there is a matter I need to discuss with you. I need to know what you plan on doing about your little problem.”
Governor Owen’s first name was Jean? No wonder he went by last name only.
“I am at a standstill sir. I don’t know where to move next. She is impossible to find.”
“If she keeps getting information like this she will take the whole government system down! Brooke knows we unleashed the virus. Do you understand what this will do to us if she gets proof? She will take us all down!!!” The president was losing his cool.
“It is impossible for her to get more information. We have things locked up tight. Brooke will not be a problem for us. She has no way to get any more information.”
“You had better hope you are right. I would hate to see something horrible become of you. If she takes me down, I am taking you down with me. Do you understand me? You will go down as well.”
“Understood, Mr. President.”
The phone went dead and Governor Owen grabbed a hanky out of his jacket pocket to swipe off the sweat from his brow. He was in a panic. He walked over to his brandy and took a long swig right out of the container. He announced to this secretary that he didn’t feel well and would be going home for the day.
And that was the end of today’s feed. We had exactly what we needed. Mom sat next to me with her jaw wide open and a happy tear trickled down her cheek.
“Do you know what just happened?” Mom said in shock.
“Yeah, we got the President to admit to unleashing the virus.”
“You’re darn straight! We just got the PRESIDENT to admit to unleashing the virus. They are going down! I have enough information now. Go get Brian. We need to start working on the next web show.”
I called all of the adults into the room and played the feed for them. There was cheering and high fiving all over the room. There was a buzz about the place now as emotions ran high with happiness.
Today Brian would start editing the info into two different segments and tomorrow we would tape our final webisodes.
CHAPTER 40
BREANNE
Brian stayed up all night editing the feed into two webisodes. The first webisode was the first information we got, ending with the nose picking scene. My honey loved me enough to throw that in there. The second was the one that would ultimately destroy the United States government.
There was a lot of hustle and bustle around the manor today. Selena worked on Aunt Brooke’s hair and makeup while the rest of us got the cameras set up. We made sure to take away from the scene any items that would let our location be known.
Aunt Brooke wore a flowing blue sun dress that accentuated her curves. Selena had put her hair in a French twist that let her blonde curls lie on the top of her head. Her eyes were smoky and accentuated both the blue in the dress and in her eyes. She was absolutely radiant.
Nerves didn’t hold her back although she allowed her excitement to show through. She sat in the chair under the bright lights twiddling her thumbs and waiting for the OK to speak. Only because I knew her so well, I knew she didn’t sleep a wink last night.
“We’re ready whenever you are,” Brian stated.
“Let’s do this!”
“And, action!” Sang Seth.
Aunt Brooke started her web show with a bright and calming smile.
“Hello fellow humans. I am brought to you today by some very wonderful news. I wanted to start off saying thank you to everyone who took the time to email me and for all of the wonderful comments you have left on my web page.
“My team and I have been undergoing a very dangerous operation. We were able to get a bug into California’s Governor Owen’s office. We wanted the public to hear the information first hand as to what is going on. I had a sneaking suspicion that they were behind everything and I am here to tell you today that it was not just a suspicion. Everything I thought was correct. Not only was I correct, the whole conspiracy went higher than I even thought. Today I am going to play for you the first clip of two.
“The first clip is a conversation between Governor Owen and Nevada’s Governor Glenn. I am an important topic in this clip but it also proves that they are behind everything. Here, see for yourself.”
“And Cut!”
Aunt Brooke sat there with a proud smirk on her face. She was ready to face the world. Brian stated that she should tape another segment to give some after video commentary. Aunt Brooke agreed and they were filming again.
“I find it pretty interesting that they pretty much admitted to being behind the whole thing. I also find it interesting that they are willing to do pretty much anything to get their hands on me. I am just here to tell you the truth and they want my head for it. Everything you see on the news about me is all lies and there is your proof. I would like to see how the government responds to this information.”
She paused and then chuckled, “My niece thought that you all would love the part where the Governor picks his nose and then shakes Governor Glenn’s hand. I couldn’t resist showing you that part. It made my day. Back to the topic at hand, you have proof now my fellow people! You now have enough information to take the law into your own hands. I have another segment for you that I will air tomorrow. That one you will find even more interesting. Please stay tuned and don’t miss it!”
“And Cut!”
I was so proud of Aunt Brooke. She was a natural at leading people and I knew it was because she loved people. I knew that if she made it out of this alive that she would do something great with her life.
We rested for lunch and would go back to taping shortly after. This segment would be very important and would need to be especially detailed.
Selena gave mom a touch up and we were back at filming.
“You ready Aunt Brooke?”
“More now than ever. Let’s do this!” She was excited to give her final blow to the government.
“And, action!”
“Fellow citizens, This is Brooke. Many of you watched yesterday’s web show. I am sure many of you found the information to be very interesting. It was juicy but not as juicy as what I am to bring to you today. Today is our second clip of the bugging of Governor Owen’s office. I am sure by now they are as angry as ever since they don’t know exactly how much information I’ve gotten. If they weren’t angry at yesterday’s show, they will be at today’s show. When I watched the first set of information, I had no idea how high this went. When I saw the second segment I knew exactly how high it had gotten. I have proof that will tear down the government. Watch this.”
“And, cut. Let me know when you are ready to tape part two.”
“Let’s do it now. I am on a roll.”
“And, action!”
“Well, wasn’t that interesting? What you have seen before your eyes was a taped conversation between Governor Owen and President Mann, both admitting that the release of the Z virus came from the top of the United States government. They are both worried about being exposed and now they have had just that. You saw it for yourself. They have lied to you all. They are the ones that killed your family members. They are the ones that have kept you from being safe in your own home. They are the ones that unleashed these demons on the world. It’s no wonder they don’t want to let out the cure. The virus must not have killed enough people.
“The government has conspired against me for letting you all know the truth. I am sure the search for me will go into overdrive now and I will pro
bably be dead soon. If I am dead, you will all know why. It will only give you more reason to believe what you have heard from me.
“The government has not just conspired against me though, friends. They have conspired against you and your loved ones. If any of you have lost someone you love, do something about it! It’s time to establish a new government; one that truly cares for its people. We don’t need one that is worse than Hitler. Do your part people! Take a stand! Begin to start demanding that the cure be released. You deserve so much more than they are giving you. You the people need to stand!
“I am sure that there will be much damage by what I have just aired. Other governments and countries will be angry at our system. The system will go down. Please try and not blame me as I am only the messenger. We will all be better off with them being out of office. My only hope and prayer would be that the United Nations would step in and make some sense out of the madness. Maybe the U.N. will give us the cure so that we can salvage what we have left of our loved ones.
“Begin to demand fair treatment fellow citizens. I hope that I was able to do you all a service. I hope that I was able to make things right with these videos. I hope that I was able to free our people. Peace and blessings to you all.”
“And, cut!”
Cheering erupted in the small room. We had finished. Brian and Zeke would work hard at putting together the videos so they could be aired in just a few hours.
The men worked hard through the afternoon. Just before dinner they finished and were uploading the video to the website. Today would be the day the public would be informed. Today was a day of victory for us all!
Selena had taken it upon herself to make some cupcakes in celebration. It was nice to know that soon we would not have to suffer. Soon we would not have to stay in hiding. Soon we would not have to fear for our lives. I would be able to bring a baby into this world and there would be some sort of normalcy left to it. We wouldn’t have to worry about demons eating my child. Brian and I could have a normal life together and be happy. Someday soon, things would be normal again.