"All done?" he asked.
Katie relaxed and leaned back. Randy wasn't real, she had nothing to pull away from. "I'm missing large chunks of memory."
"I was too. Whatever Aubrey did to you almost affected me. I've been a little off ever since you started heading south. I knew something was wrong, I knew I had to provoke you to figure it out, but I couldn't do it on my own."
"You're dead."
Randy's soft laughter echoed in the deserted shop. "So are you."
"But you're not a zombie."
"No. I guess I just wasn't finished here yet."
"So, you're a ghost?"
"Listen, Katie, I don't know what to think. I suppose 'ghost' covers it, well enough, but I think we have to make a decision about some things and we have to act fast. Do you remember the old guy who was just here?"
"I remember."
"Good. I don't think he is alone. I think the man who started this mess is across the street and we might have a chance at taking him out." Randy said.
"Why bother?" Katie asked bitterly, "I'm on his team now."
"He killed me. He killed you. He killed the entire world. I'd like a little payback."
"Again, what's the point?"
"Where the hell is the old Katie? We hate these things we want to send them back to the grave. Nothing has changed."
Katie snorted and wiped her arm across her eyes, "Except we're dead. I find this whole thing pretty goddamned pointless now. God I just want to throw up. But I know I can't. If you want this guy so much, you go after him."
"I doubt my ability to press keys on a laptop will impress him much. But a bullet in his brain would be nice."
"If he doesn't stop us first." Katie said, "Aubrey controlled me like a puppet on a string. And this dude was her boss."
"I don't think he knows you're here."
"How can that be?"
"I…well if he knew you were sitting outside his evil lair, I think you'd be dead by now. Dead again, I mean. I think Aubrey did something to you to keep you below his radar."
"If she could make me go below his radar, that means she could do the same thing. So…she might be there too. I could kill her."
"After killing him."
"Whose side are you on?"
"I think there are two revenges to get here, one for humanity, one for you. Which is more important?"
"Damn it, Randy! You'll always be a soldier, won't you?"
"This we'll defend." Randy answered, quoting the Army service motto.
"Fuck you."
"I hope you like it cold."
Katie laughed, "Okay. You win, again. But I am saving a bullet for when I run into that bitch Aubrey."
Katie rolled over onto her hands and knees, the memories still spinning in her head made her pause for a moment.
"You okay? I thought you said you were okay?"
"Gimme a minute."
"You might not have it." Randy said, he was staring out the window.
"What? What do you see?"
"Your good friend Aubrey has arrived, and she brought help, it looks like."
Katie pulled herself up to the low window, no longer too concerned about avoiding the eyes of the zombies across the street. What she saw was amazing. Randy was right, Aubrey was there and she hadn't come alone. The dark cloud hanging over the clinic continued to pour rain down on the street and it made the fighting all that much more interesting to watch.
The zombies stationed outside the building across the street didn't seem to notice anything going on at first. Then, as one, they turned towards the attack. One of the people outside the yacht restoration place turned too late to avoid being axed in the head by another zombie, but he did convulsively pull the trigger of his assault rifle and sent a trail of bullets right at Katie, the window shattered inward with the rain and wind.
"Fuck me! That was close!" Katie said, pointing at the bullet holes in the wall behind her.
"Look! The second stringers are all down! Looks like the royal guard is coming out now." Randy said.
"How can you see anything in this shit?" Katie asked picking up her rifle and hoping that the scope would help her see things more clearly. Putting the rifle to her eye Katie saw the zombies moving so quickly that they looked like a special effects stunt from a movie. Two of the attackers went down under the onslaught, none of the defenders who were left were using guns now, instead they all had clubs or blades of some kind. In a moment Katie knew why, Aubrey's troops tried to shoot them and they simply stepped out of the way.
The defenders outnumbered the attackers and moved faster and more fluidly than their opponents, the sole exception was Aubrey, she more than matched them for speed and agility. Katie rested her sight on Aubrey's head, tracking it as best she could. 'Can she dodge it, if she can't see it coming?' Katie wondered.
"Don't." Randy cautioned.
"Don't what?" Katie asked innocently.
"I know you. If you have to shoot, kill one of the ones she is fighting. I think Aubrey could use the help."
"So you can see what I am doing now? If you ask me there are too goddamned many people in my head."
Randy shook his head, "No. I just know you. If you're going to help her you better do it soon, she's down to three guys against about twenty."
Katie signed and changed her sight to the men fighting across the street. "I ain't got shit for a shot here." She switched her aim away from the men fighting Aubrey to those fighting the most competent of her supporters. When a head popped into view, Katie stroked her trigger. The shot went wide and stuck another defender in the throat.
"Nice," Randy commented, "Aim for the head. That won't keep him down long."
Katie grunted, too embarrassed to tell him she had missed her intended target. She aimed again and her second shot caught the man trying to clobber Aubrey's boy full in the face. His brains sprayed out onto Aubrey, who Katie swore was smiling. "Yeah, laugh it up bitch. I'll get you too."
The fight continued with Katie taking pot shots that slowly turned the tide of the battle. At least until the group of defenders fell back into the building. A zombie shoved one of the wide door closed and obscured the fight from Katie's sight.
"I'm gonna have to move. I can't see any targets from here. I thought being dead came with the ability to see through walls?"
"Maybe Aubrey blocked it, so you wouldn't get suspicious?"
"Her fucking loss then. I'm going across the street and getting under one of those vehicles." Katie said, pointing at a row of cars that would let her see into the building.
"That'll only help until they close the other door."
"I am not going in there." Katie fished around in her duffel bag for more ammunition to reload the rifle's magazine, then picked it up and headed out into the rain to cross the street.
Chapter 41 — Max
Doctor Sentry popped into the doorway to his room less than ten minutes after leaving and gestured for the two handlers to push Max out into the hallway on the gurney he was now strapped to.
"I am sorry Max, but things are very fluid right now."
Max thought he heard the sound of gunfire from outside the building.
Sentry had his assistants push Max into a longer room with four beds in it. One bed was empty, the two others were occupied by Bill and Stewart. Bill's bed was lying flat, but Max could see the rise and fall of his friend's chest as he struggled to get free of his bonds. Stewart had one arm strapped to the rail on the side of the bed, much as Max did. Her arm was bruised and bloody, also just like Max's. Though she was gagged with an orange colored ball strapped into her mouth, Max saw the short nod of approval as she looked him over.
Max was not gagged; apparently he had not been fiery enough with his speech to warrant one. Keeping his vision on what Sentry was doing Max waited to seize his chance, for once the doctor appeared to be focused wholly on what he was doing. The doctor was busy preparing a syringe he had taken from a small glass refrigerator built into the counter. Sweat mingled with the blood from one of the bruises on Max's forehead and trickled down into his eye.