Derek Goodman - The Reanimation of Edward Schuett

“I’m not sure I completely understand what you mean,” Rae said. She glanced at Johnny. He was staring at the floor, fidgeting. “Johnny, what’s going on?” He still wouldn’t look at her. “Johnny, answer me.”

Finally he looked up. “I’m sorry, Rae. But they say this is very dangerous stuff. That zed is supposed to be…” He paused as he stared at her hands. “Rae, where’s Spanky?”

Rae debated whether or not she should continue lying at this point. There was obviously more going on here than she had anticipated. Maybe Edward was dangerous. Maybe there had been something about him that he hadn’t been telling, or something he hadn’t realized was wrong. But it wouldn’t feel right to just turn on him because she didn’t know what was going on. She hadn’t really known what was going on to begin with, after all.

“I think I left him in the gatehouse,” Rae said.

“No, you would have gone back for him,” Johnny said. “You never just leave Spanky anywhere. For God’s sake, you take him to bed with us.”

Rae blushed, looking at the three other people in the room. Aquilar looked like she was trying not to laugh, but DuFresne and Patal looked alarmed.

“Did you leave your weapon in the truck, ma’am?”

Rae stopped breathing for several second. “How… uh… what truck?”

“The truck that dropped you off,” DuFresne said. “The one with the zombie in the back.”

“No, wait,” Rae said. “How did you…”

“We were watching you, ma’am,” Patal said, his voice sounding panicked. “We had people watching the truck when it pulled up. Now answer the Goddamned question! Is your weapon in the truck?”

Rae looked at everyone as her heart beat faster, then shrugged. “Yes. I left it in the back.”

“Shit!” DuFresne reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a cell. He hit two buttons then put it to his ear and shouted into it. “The Z7 is armed! Do you hear me? If it looks like it’s about to fight back, you have official permission to blow its head off!”

Edward slumped further in the truck as it pulled away from Rae’s building. The woman had done many things so far that would lead him to trust her, but there was still a fear in the back of his mind that she would turn him in. He couldn’t help it. His nerves were too frayed from everything that had happened so far. Earlier he had been able to maintain something resembling calm, but now he felt the shakes coming on. All of this was too much for one man to deal with. He wanted to curl up in the cage and go to sleep in hopes that he would wake up and none of this had happened. But he had already been to sleep once and woke to find the whole world was still a nightmare. He didn’t think it would work a second time, either.

He looked up as the truck came to the end of the block and saw Rae staring after him, and again he doubted for a moment her intentions. Maybe she was staring because she thought she wasn’t going to see him again. Maybe Ringo was taking him in to whoever was in charge and she had known all along. That didn’t make any sense at all, especially with the door unlocked and only held shut by a metal latch, but he still dwelled on it.

Then he saw her rifle on the floor of the cage near the door and smiled. Right, that made much more sense. She hadn’t been staring at him, she’d been staring at “Spanky.” He sat up a little and leaned over to pick up the gun. Before the Uprising and his reawakening he’d known as much about guns as most men in Wisconsin. He’d gone deer hunting every November and had kept a locked cabinet full of hunting rifles in his den. He would have thought he would recognize the make and model of Rae’s rifle, but he didn’t. It looked similar to the rifles he had used during his brief time in the Army, but besides the obvious customization there were other differences. It was lighter, for one thing, and didn’t appear to have any wood or metal in its composition. He wasn’t quite sure where to load the bullets, either.

Edward nodded, admiring it. He supposed all the differences made sense. This was fifty years from the time he knew, after all. From what Rae had said, the world had gone through a short dark age and then came out of it to rediscover all the ways and technology of before, but one thing that had continued to evolve through that whole time would have been weapons. Weapons manufacturers would have developed guns specifically for use against zombies. Technology had probably temporarily gone back to the Middle Ages, but mankind hadn’t been willing to go back to axes and arrows. Humanity hadn’t been able to afford that sort of leap backward.

He set the rifle back down. He really did want to sleep, but he supposed he should concentrate right now on what he should be doing next. Rae had been able to fill in some gaps in history, but he knew none of the information that was important to him. If this Merton Security company was so intent on getting a hold of him, and admittedly he wasn’t sure yet why or even if they really were, then that would make it difficult for him to find someone that might give him answers about why he was different than other zombies. As much as that weighed on his mind, though, the question he wanted answered most was about Dana. Rae had given him a place in time to start looking for her, but his gut filled with fear at what he might find. If she was alive still she would be fifty-six or seven by now. She likely wouldn’t even recognize him. And what if she wasn’t alive anymore? Neither of Rae’s parents were still alive, and they had both survived long after the Uprising. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, it might be easier for him in the long run if Dana’s fate remained a mystery.

There was Julia too, and although he hadn’t allowed himself to hope before, it suddenly occurred to him that she might still be out there as well. She had become a zombie before he did, he realized that, but whatever it was that made him special could have made her different, too. Even if it hadn’t, she could still be wandering around out there somewhere, and if he could come back from being undead then he could find a way for her to come back, too.

He closed his eyes and put his hands to his forehead. No, he couldn’t allow himself to think like that. He couldn’t allow himself to get his hopes up over something that was so ridiculously implausible. His wife was gone, and probably so was his daughter. They were probably both dead, or undead, or undead and then dead again if someone had killed or destroyed them after they had come back. There was no chance he could ever have them back. Everything he had ever wanted and worked for in his entire life was more than likely gone.

Tears began rolling down his cheek, but Edward didn’t have the time to cry properly before the truck’s brakes screeched and he slammed against the side of the cage from the momentum.

“Ow! Shit, Ringo, what the hell?” Edward said as he banged on the back window. But unlike when Rae had knocked, Ringo didn’t answer.

“Ringo?” Edward said, poking up his head to look through the window. Ringo was staring straight ahead, his hands tight and white on the wheel. Edward was about to ask what he was looking at, then looked through the front window.

Two cars had pulled across the street in front of them, blocking the way forward. They were newer, unidentified models, just like the ones Edward had seen in front of Rae’s apartment.

Edward turned around to see two more cars pull up behind the truck. They stopped about fifty feet behind, and for several seconds no one in any of the vehicles moved.

Edward’s first thought was that Rae had set him up after all. She had known this was going to happen, right? But that was stupid. There was the cage door, and also if she had set him up she wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave the rifle behind where he could grab it. Or maybe she just hadn’t thought a zombie would ever be smart enough to operate a rifle. Or maybe…