Treasure of the Dead

Chapter 43

“What do you mean, Fabi?” Maddock gave Bones a look that said hold off. He kept the gun pressed up against Avila’s head, but refrained from pulling the trigger.

“He injected me with something. He's going to make me into one of those… things. He has to reverse it. I’d rather you kill me first, Bones, than me turn into… into…” She couldn’t complete her morbid thought, and Avila cut in.

“Not going to happen.”

Bones’ eyes oozed hatred as he stared at him. “When I was in the SEALs, Avila, they taught me a few tricks about how to persuade people. It’s been a little while since I had to do something like that, but even so, I doubt you want to be the one I use to brush up on my skills.”

He reached down and grabbed Avila by the base of the neck with the hand not holding the gun, confident that Maddock or Willis would take him down if he somehow did manage to wrest Bones’ gun from him. But Avila’s reaction was simply to laugh.

“Don't waste your time. There is no cure. I lied to her to get her to tell me where the treasure is.”

“That’s a load of horse manure if I ever smelled it.” Bones looked to Maddock, expecting him to concur, but Maddock’s expression bore a trace of uncertainty. He tried to hide it but inside, his heart sank. Something about Avila told him he was telling the truth. Maddock was formulating his next thought when they heard a commotion from a short distance away.

A man Maddock didn’t recognize, wearing a white lab coat, burst into the room. He was quickly followed by a couple of armed men. Avila’s eyes bugged out at the sight of his associates. He called out to his men.

“The big one has a gun on me! All three are armed!” Seeing that Bones’ gaze was averted to the newcomers, Avila launched his body hard against Bones’ legs, knocking him backward and throwing off his aim.

The newly arrived gunmen opened fire with semi-automatic weapons, sending Maddock and Willis diving for cover while returning bursts of rounds loosed from the hip. Computer screens exploded, puffs of drywall dust filled the air and a broken pipe sprayed hot water.

Maddock took position beneath a lab bench and loaded a fresh clip into his weapon. He then proceeded to unleash a more carefully aimed salvo at Avila’s men. Willis did the same from his own cover position a few feet away. To Maddock, it felt like old times, though not in a good way. He’d never liked killing, but it was something he would do if he had to, especially as a SEAL. Yet it saddened him that he’d come here as a peaceful treasure hunter only to be confronted with a kind of savagery worse than that usually encountered in war.

Out of the corner of his eye, Maddock saw a young woman — the same one who’d been been strapped down minutes before — leap onto Avila’s back. Before the surprised doctor could fight back, she sank her teeth into his throat. Avila’s shriek died in a wet gurgle, and was drowned out as one of his men gunned down the crazed attacker.

The firefight lasted only a few more moments. Once Avila’s gunmen were down, Maddock glanced back over to Bones to see how he was doing. The big Cherokee was leaning down over Avila, taking his pulse. He looked up at Maddock and shook his head. “He’s dead, and good riddance.”

Fabi who was now free of her bonds, hurried over and knelt beside the girl. “Cass,” she whispered. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m so sorry.” She looked up at Bones. “I let her go. I just couldn’t stand to see her lying here. I guess I thought she might still be herself, but that stuff…”

“It’s all right.” Bones offered his hand and helped her up.

She stood and squeezed Bones in a tight embrace. “Thank you for saving me.” She turned to look at Maddock and Willis. I want to tell all of you… I love you guys. I just wanted to say it before… before I turn into one of those things. Avila was my last chance.”

“Maybe not.” Maddock strode across the lab floor toward the lone man of the three interlopers who was still standing, the unarmed man in the lab coat. He stood there, shell-shocked, as Maddock grabbed him by the collar.

“What’s your name?”

“P-Peter!”

“Peter, what is the cure for this condition that Dr. Avila gave to her?” He pointed to Fabi.

The man shook his head, a sad look spreading across his face. “There is none. I’m very sorry. If there was I would gladly administer it to her, but there isn’t.”

Maddock shook him. “What is your role here? Are you a scientist or a technician or what?”

“I am but one of the scientists who developed the serum according to Dr. Avila’s specifications.” He nodded to Avila’s dead body before continuing. “We were working on a ‘switch’—a biochemical trigger that would allow the zombification process to be turned on and off at will — but to date that line of development has not been successful.”

“How does the actual serum, without the switch, work?” Maddock demanded.

“You can think of it sort of like a fast-acting cancer that doesn’t usually go to completion, that is, clinical death. It modifies the blood cells at first, and from there it metastasizes to the brain. It takes about an hour for the serum to take effect, and once it does the change is progressive and permanent.” He glanced over at Fabi as if expecting her to transform into a mindless monster at any second.

Maddock followed his gaze. “Fabi, how long ago did Avila inject you with the serum?”

She looked at him over Bones’ shoulder, sniffling. “About forty-five minutes.”

Maddock looked back to Peter, still held in his iron grip. “We have to try something. Let’s inject her with the latest batch of the switch serum that you do have and hope it works.”

But the scientist’s eyes were more downcast than ever. “We used the last batch we had on some monkeys. I’m terribly sorry, but it takes at least forty-eight hours to cook up each batch. We didn’t keep it in production mode, it was just sort of a side project that—”

The sound of Bones’ footsteps slamming the floor caused him to break off while both he and Maddock watched his friend run to the far side of the lab. Maddock released his hold on the scientist, who staggered back a couple of steps, composing himself while he looked around the shambles of his former laboratory in disgust.

“Bones, where are you going?” As Maddock watched, his former partner in war, now partner in business, stopped at a shattered plant growing station. He moved about there for a few minutes, not responding to Maddock, Willis and Fabi asking him if he was all right. Then he came running back across the lab, clutching a syringe full of dark liquid.

He went to Fabi, and before she could say, “What is that?” he injected her with the substance.

“Fingers crossed,” he said.

Then Peter said, “We really need to get out of here. None of us are safe, trust me.”

“Which way?” Maddock looked past him to the nearest lab exit.

“I can lead us out through the house.”

Maddock held his gaze while he hefted his pistol. “If this is some kind of double-cross…”

The researcher shook his head. “Just trying to avoid any more killing and get out of here with what little dignity I have left. Helping you will let me redeem myself, at least a bit.”

Maddock’s internal guide told him that the man was being forthcoming. “Lead the way. Wills, Bones, Fabi — let’s move.” They began moving out as a group, but Fabi looked back at Cassandra.” We can’t leave her.”

“Fabi, she’s gone. If we try to carry her body out, it’ll slow us down. It’s not worth the risk.”

Fabi broke down in a fresh bout of tears while Peter pleaded with his eyes for Bones to get her moving.

“We can’t just leave her here like this!”

Bones gently urged her along. “We’ll send the authorities back for her body after we get out of here safely.”

They set out again but this time it was Maddock who halted after a short distance.

“Now what’s up?” Bones asked.

“Hold on, one minute.” Maddock moved to the bank of cages on the far wall and released the dozens of zombii corralled inside before running back to the group.

“Let them cover our trail.”