Author's note: Wishing you all a great start to this week! You are all awesome, and your reviews continue to make my day! It has been a crazy weekend, as usual, but I'm hoping to have some good writing time this week because I'm super excited about the next chapter!
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ZzZzZzZ
Zed felt a chill go up his back as the group stared up at the decrepit brick structure.
Building Z didn't look inherently creepy. The front section of the structure was a three-story red brick facade, with several arched windows. Some of the windows were busted out or boarded shut. The windows that weren't broken were painted in a mosaic of maroon, green, and deep blue. At the center of the facade, a very faded Seabrook power logo had been mostly obscured by weather and vines. Above it, only a few disjointed rusty letters remained in the metal font that identified the structure.
"SE BR O P ER ADMI RA IV OFF C "
"Seabrook Power Administrative Office." Bree supplied helpfully. "This is the place."
For a moment, everyone was quiet, no one sure quite how to proceed from here. A low wind moaned through the overgrown grass and shrubs that surrounded the property. It seemed so desolate, even though Zed knew that only a few blocks away, the rest of Zombietown was alive and thriving. This place seemed so... dead.
Around them, thunder suddenly rumbled loud and low, gently vibrating the air around them. A few giant, wet raindrops began to patter down onto Zed's head. He looked up, now seeing that the sky was overcast with deep grey clouds, though it had still been sunny when they'd left the school. They should probably get inside. Not that he was particularly looking forward to checking out Building Z. Something about the whole thing was filling him with an uneasiness he couldn't describe.
Reaching out, he grasped the rusty metal doorknob, attempting to open the door. It was locked, of course.
"Maybe we should look at the side of the building?" Aruna suggested. "The room in the drawing is dark, and all of these windows would let in too much light."
That made sense.
Off to the side of the property, the back of the building swung to the right. A large, warehouse-looking structure was attached at the back. It was the same three-story height as the facade, but without the windows. The only source of light would probably come from the few holes that were visible on the roof of the warehouse area. This area looked much more promising. And, if possible, even creepier than the front of the building.
Great.
To the side of the front section of the building, Zed spotted a window on the ground story that was boarded over.
"Hey, Bonzo," Zed stated, "Give me a hand?"
Together, the two men walked over to the window, each grasping one side of the large section of wood. More raindrops were beginning to fall now, increasing their urgency to get inside. With a protesting groan, the plywood splintered, breaking apart as Zed and Bonzo tore it from the window in two separate pieces.
"There!" Zed huffed, feeling satisfied. Bonzo laughed, flinging his section of plywood into the overgrown lot next door as thought it were a frisbee disc. It made it an impressive distance before disappearing into the tall grass.
"I'll go in first," Zed said, clambering through the window without further preamble. However, the floor was a bit further down than he had anticipated, and so he flopped to the ground with an uncomfortable thud that sent a sharp ache running through his injured shoulder.
Dazat zhur, that hurt! He cursed inwardly.
"Zed?" Addison's voice sounded from outside, filled with concern. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" He replied quickly, examining his surroundings.
He seemed to be in a hallway of some kind, and he stood, dusting himself off. Above his head, he could distantly hear the patter of increasing rain on the dilapidated rooftop. There was a light smell of mold and mustiness in the building, along with a strange chemical smell he couldn't identify. On the wall opposite the window, there were arrows, pointing the directions to different sections of the facility. A placard marked "Administrative" pointed towards the front of the structure. Pointing back, towards the large, windowless brick structure, was a second placard labeled "Testing." The hall seemed fairly normal, other than the damage years of neglect had clearly done to it and the rest of the space. But something about the banal hallway made the little hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
The sooner they found the moonstone and got out of here, the happier he'd be.
Zed turned, looking back through the now open window and down at his waiting friends.
"Come on, guys!" He encouraged. "It's all clear."
He reached out his arm to grasp Addison's hands, pulling her up and safely into his arms, before setting her gently on the ground. Truth be told, he could have held her all day, but he didn't think the other's would appreciate it very much.
Zed watched as his unique group of friends clambered in after one another. Bucky landed with a very flamboyant back flip, immediately standing up and smiling out of habit for a crowd that wasn't there. He was followed by Qamar, who entered gracefully enough, landing and balancing on the balls of his feet. Mayar was hefted up to the window on Wyatt's shoulders, as were Aruna and Wynter. Zed was glad that this part of Zombietown was abandoned, because they were not being at all inconspicuous. They looked exactly like a group of teenagers committing a breaking and entering.
Once Willa and Eliza had assisted one another into the window, they all stood quietly for a moment and took in their dingy surroundings. It was now raining properly, a gentle stream of rain trickling into the window they had just entered. A small puddle was developing on the tile floor, water immediately greying with dirt and dust.
"This place gives me the creeps." Zed said bluntly, after a short beat of silence.
The rest of them seemed to agree heartily, nodding their heads as they continued to examine the space.
"Well, then, let's get to searching so that we can get out." Addison replied resolutely.
The group moved forward, sticking together as they followed the signs labeled "Testing." Other than the sound of pattering raindrops throughout the exterior of the building, there was little sound besides the squeaking of wet shoes against the dirty tile floor. Behind them, they left a plethora of muddy footprints. At the end of the hall, they turned left into a short stairway with no windows. It was dim, and had a thick metal door sitting on a small landing at the top.
Addison and Bree turned on the flashlights on their phones, holding them up to examine the large sign that stated "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." They all exchanged looks. Zed reached forward, jiggling the door handle.
"It's locked," he stated. "How're we going to get in?"
"Move over, Zed." Said Eliza with a grin on her face.
They all quickly moved out of Eliza's way, as she made a short sprint for the door. Her boot connected firmly with the handle, denting in the metal around it. With another swift kick, the door buckled and came loose, swinging partially free from the door frame as it hung open. It was dim inside, but not unmanageably so. Eliza turned back to the group, grinning broadly.
"That's my girl." Willa said proudly, shooting her girlfriend a wink as Eliza smiled bak at her.
Pushing back the now concave door, Zed, Addison and the others made their way into the dimness of the space. It looked a little like the control room at the old Power Plant, but smaller. A rounded room, with a curved line of desks rather than a system of control panels. The desks all looked forward towards a large observation window. On several of them, dust-covered composition notebooks sat, some open with writing utensils lying beside them. A mug sat along the windowsill of the observation area, with a dark stain at the bottom that had been coffee, decades before.
It was as though whoever used to work there had simply gotten up from their desks at the end of the workday, and never returned.
Bree approached one of the desks, curiously lifting up one of the old notebooks that lay open. She began to read aloud.
"Z-Band Testing. Batch Number Four." She paused, looking up at the others with wide eyes. "Z-Band testing...Oh." She looked around the room, as the realization spread through the room.
Testing. This had been the facility where they developed and tested Z-Bands. Zed felt a little bit queasy as he turned his head to look out into the darkened observation window.
Bree continued to read.
"October 27th, 1992. Batch Four. Testing Subject 05. Age 18. Male. Subject seems to have been in good health prior to outbreak and infection. Began running tests at 9:30 this morning. Subject has a high tolerance for pain, and was lucid for several minutes during the experiment. Subject 4-05 was able to speak repeatedly, and was even able to recall and state his name in English, rather than in zombie tongue."
Bree was quiet for a moment as she read the next several lines of notes. She gulped, and looked up at Zed. "I don't know if I should read the rest."
The way she looked at him made him feel uneasy.
Zed reached out, gently pulling the notebook from her hands.
"Zed," Addison warned. "You don't want to read that." She looked sick.
The Lunites, who had apparently listened to Bree reading ahead in her mind, all looked horrified.
Mayar looked even paler than normal, and a hand covered her mouth in distress as Wyatt placed a comforting hand in hers. Qamar looked grave, and was glaring out into the darkness of the observation window.
Later, Zed would wish he had listened to Addy, but at the time, the curiosity was too much. He picked up reading where Bree had left off.
"Subject 4-05 stated that his name was Zedekiah Zion. Was also able to recall the name of his younger sister, a child named Zarah. At 3:20 pm, Subject 4-05 was able to ask for a glass of water, in English. Unfortunately, Subject 4-05 had become too weak after testing, and died at approximately 3:30 in this afternoon. Despite this setback, we feel we are becoming closer and closer to creating a band that will restore some level of humanity to these poor creatures, without killing them in the process. Using pulsating shock methods have proved to be far more effective that our original methods, and the test subjects are living longer and providing more information each time. Batch Four has been the most successful batch thus far..."
Zed trailed off and lowered the notebook, letting to drop with a puff of dust onto another desk. He thought he might actually vomit. Addison was suddenly beside him, not speaking but simply hugging him. Her hands combed through his hair as she reached up to stroke his head in a soothing, calming gesture. He felt a strange sort of deep ache in his chest. Like a muted form of the grief he had felt for his mother. This grief was for an uncle he had never known, and grief for all of Zombiekind for the horror that had happened here.
Around him, the others were also examining different notebooks on different desks. Judging for their faces, the other notebooks were filled with similar details about other "testing subjects." Even Bucky looked ill, as he too read through a faded green notebook. How many zombies had died here, to give them the Z-Bands? The band on his wrist felt suddenly too heavy to bear. Zed looked to Eliza, who was staring, horrified, towards the darkened observation window. Following her gaze, he looked into the blackness, not sure he wanted to see what was down there at all.
Wyatt had put down the notebook he had been reading through with Mayar and began to walk along the walls, searching for something.
"What are you looking for? Asked Wynter, who had been examining a purple notebook in the corner.
"This place is... Awful." Wyatt stated with a shudder. "The only good thing that can come out of being here is to find the moonstone. I'm seeing if we can turn on the lights into the experimentation room."
Zed was still for a moment as he considered this. He was disgusted by what had happened here, and wanted to make sure that these zombies would be remembered. And he was sure that he and his friends would ensure that this place would be brought into the light. But for now, the best way to honor his people was to keep Seabrook safe, and find the second moonstone.
He nodded.
He and his friends began to look around, but there were no light switches to be found within the observation room. However, there was a large crank wheel the size of his forearm, with a smaller handle on the side to rotate it forward and backward. It looked almost more like the helm of a ship than it did a device to move or open something.
"Hey, Bonzo?" Zed asked. "Help me out again?"
Bonzo met his eyes gravely, nodding with a mumbled "Jah."
Together, they each grabbed a side of the wheel, and began to rotate it clockwise.
There was a deep groan that sounded eerily through the space, as though the building itself was moaning in protest. Then, muted light from outside suddenly flooded the other side of the observation window. Metal doors which covered several large windows on one side of the space slowly slid down, the sound of rain increasing as heavy drops pelted the still-intact windows.
Down in the experimentation room, rows of cages sat, with a desk and tables of medical and electrical equipment sitting outside of each one. Individual observation desks for each cage, of which there were about two dozen. At one time, this had been quite a bustling operation. He shuddered again.
"There!" Addison gasped, pointing to the back corner of the room.
Suspended from the ceiling, was a large, misshapen lump dangling in the air. It was covered in some sort of tarp or shroud, and was swinging creepily from side to side in an invisible breeze.
The moonstone!
Together, the group of friends rushed to a side door at the back of the observation room, which led down a set of stairs and into the large space before them.