J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

Stepping over the bodies of the zombies that had been killed at the entrance, Zoe looked down and grimaced, and she spat, "Ew!" as she came across one whose head had virtually exploded. Black red blood had splattered everywhere, and some gray and yellow matter that had once been brains. She walked over the bodies carefully, and once clear of them she paused to look around.

The main hallway went on to another hall that crossed it about eighty feet away, and there was another doorway directly in front of them at the end of that hall. The sides of the hall had emergency lighting illuminating doorways that were evenly spaced, and a window was beside each door. The walls were painted a sterile white and seemed a bit dirty in places and the floor was some kind of industrial tile that could be found in office buildings and schools all over.

She took only scant notice of her surroundings, instead looking about for movement or anything that might resemble a zombie. Slowly, she lowered her arm and allowed the M-4's strap to slide from her shoulder, and she held it ready and directed in front of her as her gaze tried to bore into the darkness of the open doors beyond. When this thing had begun, she had learned that she could smell other zombies, could tell them apart from the living, and she inhaled deeply and slowly through her nose as she walked.

Reaching the door, she paused and peered in, her eyes sweeping the darkness inside.

One of the other soldiers reached around her, to the flashlight that was mounted on the bottom of her weapon, and turned it on. She looked back at him, and when he nodded to her, she smiled and nodded back.

They all went in slowly, and as quietly as they could manage. Lights on weapons lanced through the darkness to illuminate what needed to be seen.

Zoe proceeded slowly, her wide eyes panning back and forth in the darkness. They were crossing into the mechanical workings of the power plant, and in time they had negotiated a dark and horrifying labyrinth and arrived in a concrete structure where one of the turbines was, and the huge generator that it turned. Everything was quiet and the whole area smelled of char and sulfur, grease and some kind of natural gas. It was more spacious here and flashlight beams disappeared down the cavernous darkness beyond the generator.

Panning her light around, she focused it on the floor near the generator, then she barked a scream and backed away.

All weapons and lights focused on that point, revealing a cockroach that had paused on the floor nearby. All of those lights slowly moved and refocused on Zoe.

Looking around her, she shrugged and said, "I can't help it. They're icky!"

One of the men shook his head and slung his weapon, and he withdrew a handheld flashlight from his belt, shining it on a control panel on a back wall. He and one of the other men strode that way and the others watched them for a few seconds before following. As they reached the panel, Zoe quickly lost interest in what they were doing and turned the other way, toward and then beyond the huge generator.

Her foot bumped something and she stopped, shining her light down. Her eyes widened as her light illuminated a big combat boot, and as she shined her light up it, she saw torn trousers, blood, and white bone. Drawing a loud gasp, she backed away, her gaze fixed on the horror before her.

The other soldiers with her rushed forward, focusing their beams on what she stared at and illuminating it completely and this only compounded the horror she already felt.

The body had been torn apart and eaten almost completely, down to the skeleton. The clothing he had worn was shredded, ripped apart by teeth and claw-like hands.

Zoe drew in breaths that shrieked and she backed away a few more steps, shaking her head as she tried to reason out what it was she saw. Slowly shaking her head, she nearly lost her grip on her weapon, and when she backed into someone, she stopped and finally turned away, burying her face in his chest.

Slowly, Zachary slipped his free arm around her, his eyes still on the horror that lay before them.

"Okay, people," one of the soldiers announced. "We knew we were going to see this. Come on. We've still got a job to do and we have a lot of people counting on us." He grasped Zoe's shoulder and asked, "You still with us, Princess?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

The woman had crouched down near the body, and slowly she stood with something in her hand, and she breathed, "Oh my God!"

Zoe slowly pulled away from Zachary and turned around.

The woman, the only female soldier, was staring down at the hat she held. Slowly, she looked to the other three, her mouth ajar and horror in her eyes as she offered the other soldier the hat.

He took the hat with a hesitant hand and looked down at it, then inside it, and his face went ashen as he slowly drew his head back. Venting a shallow breath through his mouth, he looked to Zoe with hollow, haunted eyes.

Her mouth curled downward and tears filled her eyes as she slowly shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Princess," he offered in a slight voice.

She turned her gaze down to the hat and her hand shook as she reached to it and grasped it tightly. Inside the hat there was a label sewn in at the back with the owner's name hand written in permanent marker: W. Morris.

Tears streamed from her eyes as she just stared at the name, and all she could muster was a whisper. "It isn't fair."

"They aren't going to get away with this," Zachary snarled.

"Come on, guys," the soldier behind them ordered. "Let's finish our sweep and see if we can find survivors." He looked over to the panel. "Private Higgins. Cover the engineer and make sure they can restore power, and give a shout if you see any moaners."

Higgins patted her M-4 and assured, "You'll hear this shout for me."

Zoe's expression went blank as she stared down at the hat, then her jaw clenched, her brow tensed and her lip curled up. Absently, she handed her rifle back to Zachary, and when he took it from her, she took the brim of the hat in her other hand, and slowly raised it to her head. Settling it over her hair, she pulled it down, settled it into place, then she turned and took her rifle, fixing her eyes on it.

Zachary stared down at her for long seconds, and he finally asked, "You okay, Zoe?"

She did not respond at first, but finally she nodded, not taking her eyes from the M-4 she held. Finally, she looked up at him, and it was clear that she was barely able to maintain her composure. It was also clear that something had changed in her disposition, and what it was silently spoke volumes.

It was payback time.

They continued their sweep of the generator room, but this time Zoe did not walk so carefully. Her steps were heavier and more deliberate, her eyes more focused.

Shining her light ahead of her, she saw a steel door that looked like it led into an office or a store room. It was painted tan and it appeared to have been clawed at by many hands, and much of the paint had been scraped away in the middle.

A familiar shuffle drew her attention and she looked left in response to it, focusing her light that way, and her eyes narrowed as she saw the zombie in the blue mechanic's shirt staring back at her from only about ten feet away. The front of his shirt was stained black and dark red, as were the sides of his mouth, his chin and throat. This one had fed on someone, and with much of the blood still glossy, it was still wet. He had fed recently.

Zoe's brow lowered further, her lip curling up as she stared back. Seeing the zombie and knowing what had happened to Sergeant Morris enraged her beyond her medication's ability to control her anger. Her mouth swung open and she yelled—and pulled the trigger on her weapon. Bullets ripped through the zombie's body, chest, shoulders… He staggered backward and as three rounds drove through his face and exploded out the back of his head he fell straight to his back. She did not stop firing until her magazine was empty, and for long seconds just stared down at the riddled body before her.