Michael Ford - Z

That means two of us will get a bonus z, Josh thought. He hoped he got one. He also hoped Stash didn’t.

The tunnel they were in suddenly curved to the left and opened up into a small room filled with machinery. Freya turned to Josh. “Do you know where we are?”

Josh pulled an image of the map from his memory, trying to recall all the different sites. “The merry-go-round,” he said. “We’re underneath it.”

“Good job,” Freya said. “And ahead of us through the door on the other side?”

Stash made a spitting sound. “What is this, kindergarten?” he said. “It’s the bumper cars, then the Tilt-A-Whirl, then the flying swings.”

“Actually, it’s the Tilt-A-Whirl, then the bumper cars,” Josh said without thinking.

“Josh is right,” Freya said.

Stash grunted and spat on the floor. Josh avoided looking at him, but he knew what the other boy was probably thinking. He chided himself, You should have just kept your mouth shut.

A crackling sound filled Josh’s ear, followed by Clatter’s voice. “Team one has located and neutralized one target,” he said.

“Damn!” Stash said, slamming his hand against a piece of machinery. “They get the first-kill bonus.”

“Calm down,” Charlie said.

“We could have had it if we weren’t standing around here chatting like a bunch of girls,” Stash said angrily.

“We need to make up some time,” Freya said, ignoring him. “Split up. Charlie, you come with me. Stash, you and Josh check out what’s going on topside.”

“Topside?” Stash groaned. “Why do I have to go topside?”

“Because I said so. Now shut up and go!”

Charlie and Freya headed off to the other side of the room, while Stash started climbing a ladder that ran up the side of one wall. He didn’t say a word to Josh, who followed him, wishing he were with anyone else.

At the top of the ladder Stash pushed against a hatch that swung up and over. Then he put his head through the hole, looked around, and climbed out. Josh emerged after him into a gloomy tent that covered a large merry-go-round. Rain pounded on the roof and dripped through holes in the rotting canvas. In the semidarkness Josh saw the animals of the carousel sitting silently, their painted eyes staring straight ahead.

Stash still said nothing as he walked around the edge of the merry-go-round. Josh decided to walk in the other direction. The carousel was large enough that after a few steps he could no longer see Stash. Instead he focused on the merry-go-round itself. A meatbag could easily hide among the carved horses, tigers, and rabbits.

A second later he heard a whooshing sound and the clatter of broken glass. Then he heard Stash yell in frustration. As Josh started toward the other side, a figure emerged from the carousel and hobbled toward the side of the tent, where a slit in the canvas created a kind of doorway.

Josh aimed his flamethrower at the zombie. “Target in sight!” he shouted, and pulled the trigger. Just as he did, a second figure came flying out from between two horses. Startled, Josh jerked to the side so the stream of fire from his thrower missed the zombie and narrowly avoided catching the second figure, which fell to the ground bellowing in pain. Josh realized, too late, that it was Stash.

“Torcher down!” he yelled, kneeling down beside Stash.

“Get the hell away from me!” Stash shouted, shoving Josh. “You fouled my kill, you stupid noob.” He stood up and ran after the zombie, who had managed to leave the tent.

Josh got up, retrieved his flamethrower from where it had fallen, and looked around. He knew he should follow Stash, but he really didn’t want to be anywhere near him right now. It would be better for him if he returned to the hallway and tried to find Freya and Charlie. But he knew it was foolish to leave a Torcher alone chasing a z, especially one that might be wounded. Besides, he thought, maybe this is another test.

He heard a crackling in his earpiece, then Freya’s voice came through. “Josh, what’s the situation?”

Josh hesitated. He wanted to say that Stash was injured, but since Stash had run off he wasn’t sure that was true. And he didn’t want Freya to think he was panicking.

“We sighted a z,” he said. “Stash is in pursuit.”

“Good,” Freya said. “Then you know what to do.”

The communicator went silent. Before he could talk himself out of it, Josh pushed through the opening in the tent and found himself outside. It was raining even harder now, and he could barely see anything. But off to his right he saw a black figure entering one of the attractions. It had to be Stash.

He made his way along the arcade until he came to the spot where Stash had disappeared. “Great,” he said, looking at the ride. “The Tunnel of Love.”

Sighing, he ran up the ramp to the start of the ride, where a bunch of little boats that carried riders through the tunnel were gathered. The water in the imitation stream had long ago dried up, but the rain had filled it halfway. As Josh made his way to the heart-shaped opening of the ride, the water sloshed around his feet.

Josh walked carefully down the track and through the entrance. The inside of the ride was a mess. Overturned boats blocked his path, and pieces of fallen timber lay across the floor, crushing whatever they’d fallen on. Holes in the roof let in even more rain, and it was almost impossible to see anything. Josh tried using the light on his flamethrower, but it did little to help. Fortunately the flamethrower itself remained lit even in the rain.

He saw no sign of Stash or the zombie. How could they have disappeared so quickly? As far as Josh could tell, he was alone.

“Stash,” he whispered. “Stash, do you copy?”

There was a hissing in his communicator, but no answer from Stash or anyone else. All he heard was static. He tapped his ear. “Stash? Freya? Charlie?”

There was no answer. Either something was blocking transmissions between the communicators or his was malfunctioning. Again he wondered if perhaps he was being tested. Maybe they’d turned off his communicator on purpose to see what he would do without it.

He worked his way deeper into the tunnel, becoming more and more certain that he had made a mistake. Stash had probably looked inside, seen no sign of the z, and left. Most likely he was looking for Josh right now and getting madder and madder. What a great first game, Josh thought miserably.

Then a loud creaking broke the silence, and a boat came rolling backward out of the rainy darkness toward Josh. He had to scramble sideways to avoid being hit, and just barely managed to get on the narrow walkway beside the track before the boat slid by him. It crashed into the stationary boat behind it, and Josh saw that it wasn’t empty. Stash was in it, and he was being pushed over the edge by a zombie.

The zombie was a clown. Its face was painted white, with blue stars around its eyes and a big red mouth that grinned stupidly. It was wearing a red and white polka-dot suit with giant pom-pom buttons down the front, and its bushy pink hair stuck out like a cloud around its head. It had its hands around Stash’s throat, and its face was hanging over his. Stash struggled, but he couldn’t scream because he was being choked. Instead he writhed like a bug stuck on the end of a pin.

Josh readied his flamethrower but quickly realized there was no way he could use it without hitting Stash. Thinking quickly, he dropped the weapon on the walkway and rushed the boat. Jumping into it, he grabbed the zombie around the chest and wrenched it off Stash. The z hissed angrily and clawed at Josh’s hands.

“Stash! Run!” Josh yelled.

Josh twisted to the side, still clutching the clown, and fell out of the boat. The zombie hit the floor first, with Josh on top of it. Scurrying back, Josh grabbed the barrel of the flamethrower and swung it up to firing position. He found the trigger and pulled, and the z burst into flame. To Josh’s surprise, the zombie rolled over and over, trying to put the fire out. He’d never seen a meatbag do that before. Usually they just beat at the flames uselessly. This one seemed to be trying to save itself. But it was doomed.