J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

"The brain," the lieutenant concluded.

"Exactly," Doctor Caswell confirmed. "It's so fast that any effort to inoculate an infected person is futile. Vaccines to build the body's immune system could take decades to develop."

"We don't have that kind of time," the Colonel grumbled. "We're facing the extinction of the human race within six months if we don't find some way to stop it."

The Sergeant raised his chin and grimly informed, "It seems the best way to stop it is to kill every zombie out there, and that ain't looking too promising. We can machine gun the hell out of one, but unless we score a critical head shot they just keep coming."

"And their bodies heal in a matter of hours," Doctor Kavorski informed, "sometimes minutes if the wound isn't too severe. They seem to quit healing if they haven't fed well, but otherwise we're looking at creatures we have a hard time killing."

The Colonel's eyes slid to Kavorski. "And then there's the one you have downstairs. You said they lose all cognitive ability in the first few hours after they're infected. Why hasn't that one?"

Rachel folded her hands on the table and leaned forward, answering, "We have a working theory on that and we're going to test her more tomorrow to see how true it is."

"And what's your theory?" the Colonel growled.

"Colonel," she began, "are you familiar with Asperger's Syndrome?" When he shook his head, she continued, "Asperger's is a high functioning form of autism. In autistic people, the brain works differently, and we think that the virus was unable to effectively rewrite her brain because of it. In Zoe's case, we know that the virus got into her brain and did what it could, but that initial virus spawns others that have different tasks in the body, and then it dies off. Its lifespan only seems to be a few hours, so it rewrote what it could, but then it had to move on to the next phase. Her body did succumb to the zombosis, but after that her brain continued to try and recover. While she's still fundamentally a zombie, she is also still an autistic seventeen year old girl who is subject to all that comes with it."

"Like?" the Colonel asked with some suspicion in his voice.

Rachel answered, "Well, those with autism follow certain routines, and they follow them rather aggressively. If those routines are disrupted then they… Well, they are subject to emotional meltdowns. Zoe is on medication to help control these outbursts of anger and frustration as most others are and we can't be sure if it is the medication or the autism that stopped the virus from rewriting her brain, so at this point we are keeping her on it."

"All of the scientific mumbo jumbo aside," the Colonel growled, "what kind of threat does she pose to us here? And why is she not restrained like the others in the lab are?"

"She's asleep," Doctor Caswell replied.

Kavorski added, "We know that zombies don't sleep. They will go inactive after they've fed and sometimes if they are unable to find food, but actual sleep is not something we have observed in them. Zoe drifted off into full REM sleep in about twenty minutes, just like anyone else would."

"And asked us to leave a light on," Sergeant Tex said. "I haven't seen anything beyond her appearance that even hints at her being a moaner."

"Yet, Sergeant Morris," the Colonel added. "What I need to know is will she suddenly become like the rest of them and try to eat someone without warning?"

Kavorski shrugged and admitted, "There's no way to know for sure. It's been almost five days and she's still mentally and emotionally normal, normal for an autistic girl, anyway."

A slight smile curled Rachel's mouth as she stared down at her papers and added, "I think she even has a little crush on Sergeant Morris."

This did not bring a welcome expression from the Sergeant, but others in the room laughed under their breath.

Doctor Caswell continued, "She wants to go to her house tomorrow and see if her parents are all right. I think we could find some vital clues there to help us fight this thing."

The lieutenant added, "There's also been quite a bit of zombie activity there, so it might be a good opportunity to take a platoon in and wipe some of them out before they discover us holed up in the hospital."

"We don't need another Chicago or Vegas," the Colonel grumbled.

"What if there are still people out there expecting help from us?" Doctor Caswell asked.

Sergeant Morris nodded and agreed, "I think it might be a good idea to send patrols out and look for strongholds where people might be trying to defend themselves."

"I'll bet that's where we're seeing the most activity," the Lieutenant suggested. "We go to those areas and I'll bet we'll find some people who are hanging on. We might even be able to take out a good number of moaners all at once."

"We'll work on it," the Colonel assured. "First thing we'll need to do is visit the armory over at the base again and get more weapons and munitions, then we can think about arming others who have good defensible positions and try to get more of a network established. Lieutenant, start working up a battle plan to retake the base, get us some more firepower and build this resistance network. If we play our cards right we may even be able to take the whole damn city back." He stood and ordered, "Okay, people. Let's get some shut eye and get back to work in the morning." An ominous look was on his face as he scanned the people who were just standing. "I want this city under control and back in the hands of the living by the end of the month. That means we have a hell of a lot of work to do."

"And Zoe?" Rachel asked.

His eyes slid to her and he nodded. "We'll find some way to use her to our advantage."

CHAPTER 3

Zoe automatically woke at about the same time every morning and at just after six, as she lay curled up on her side beneath the sheet and thin blanket of the hospital bed. Facing the window, she slowly opened her eyes, looking to the early morning glow that was outside. Without looking at the clock, she knew it was time to get up.

She drew a deep breath and pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes as she swung her feet to the floor. In a moment she was fully awake and alert and she looked around her. The routine she was used to following was still something she could look forward to and she slipped out of bed and walked to the bathroom to wash her face, brush her teeth and take care of the other business she needed to in the morning. When she emerged, she saw her shorts and pink tee shirt lying on a chair across the room and stripped off the scrubs she wore to put them on.

Once she was dressed, she padded to the door and gingerly pulled it open, finding two soldiers right outside who trained their weapons on her as soon as they could see her.

Her eyes shifted from one to the next and she cringed slightly, drawing her shoulders up as she asked in a meek voice, "Is Tex or Rachel up yet?"

They took her to the hospital lobby, which was now a staging area for the Zombie Response Team. A dozen soldiers were preparing to go out, checking gear, loading weapons and assembling the equipment they would take with them. A few comfortable chairs remained, but most of the furnishings in the middle of the room had been moved out and replaced with three rows of tables with folding legs, and this is where most of the equipment was laid out. The front of the information desk had weapons lined up across it with the butt stocks on the floor and the barrels held six inches apart by some keepers that had been screwed in place there. It was a strange mix of welcoming comfort and military readiness.

As they stepped off of the elevator and into the lobby, all activity stopped and everyone's attention found them. Zoe was oblivious as she saw the one she was looking for, and she hurried over to him as he picked up an empty magazine to start filling with bullets. Reaching him, she lowered her eyes and shrugged her shoulders up slightly, grasping a lock of hair with one hand that she began twisting in her fingers.