Chapter 6 – Answers

-

Captain Logan looked on as the hordes of zombies wandered through Katina's abandoned cities.

"I'm impressed, doctor." he said, "Katina has been completely infested. Although most of the population have managed to escape to Corneria."

"No matter." Dr. Taylor replied, "The Cornerians will be unprepared for our next attack. Once Corneria has been infested, the rest of the Lylatian military will fall in no time. Then with the military out of the way, we will easily take over the Lylat system."

"Yes. Brilliant. But when will we make our move on Star Fox?"

"Patience, my friend. We will deal with them soon. Now, you said you wanted revenge on Wolf O'Donnell, correct?"

"Yes!" Logan replied, "He is the one responsible for ruining my boss' plans and causing me to fail in my attack on the Star Fox team!"

"Well, I have been watching him lately and it seems that he now has a beautiful wife along with an infant son. Be a shame if something unpleasant were to happen to them, wouldn't it?"

Logan grinned and chuckled.

"It certainly would."

-

Fox, Krystal, and Kyle walked into the command post, only to be greeted by an eruption of cheers and applause from Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Wolf, and Bill.

"Peppy told us the news." Bill said, holding out his hand, "Congratulations, buddy."

"Thanks." Fox said, shaking his hand.

"You know if it's gonna be a boy or girl?" Falco asked.

"No," Krystal said, "and I think I'd rather wait and see."

As the Great Fox headed back to Corneria, Bill regaled the team with tales of his exploits during the Lylat war.

"…and just as he was about to get out of my range,…"

"Incoming transmission from General Pepper." said ROB.

"Hold that thought." Fox told Bill, as General Pepper appeared on the screen.

"Good work, Star Fox." he said, "Sorry I didn't tell you about the situation earlier, but I didn't think you would believe me."

"Well, we certainly believe you now." Fox replied.

"At any rate," Pepper continued, "Stukhov sends his gratitude. Unfortunately, we still don't know how this started or how to stop it. All we know is that the zombies were created by some kind of virus."

"Virus, eh?" Fox said, "Kyle, you wouldn't happen to know of any virus that creates zombies, do you?"

"Just one." Kyle said, "Solanum. I read about it in medical school, but I was told that it was just an urban legend. Supposedly, it works by traveling through the bloodstream, from the initial point of entry to the brain. Then it uses the cells of the frontal lobe for replication, destroying them in the process. While that's going on, all bodily functions cease, but the brain remains alive."

"Do you know any way that it can be stopped?" asked Pepper.

"Not a clue. Since it's a virus and not a bacteria, antibiotics would have no effect. Immunization would be equally useless, because even the smallest dosage would lead to a full-blown infection."

"Hmm… interesting." Pepper replied, "Not very helpful, but interesting."

"What I'm more concerned about is stopping those zombies." said Bill.

"Our bombs did okay against them." said Slippy.

"Yes, but they also threw body parts everywhere." Fox said, "Besides, I don't think the General would want us to start bombarding an entire city just to get rid of the zombies."

"Certainly not." Pepper said firmly, "However, we may have one way of stopping them. Some of Stukhov's snipers did report a few successful kills and all of them were head shots."

"So that means we gotta shoot 'em in the head, right?" asked Falco.

"What do you think, Kyle?" Fox asked.

Pepper paused for a moment, as if he was distracted.

"Sounds logical." Kyle said, "If the brain is the only organ that's still functioning, then destroying it would probably…"

"Star Fox, I have terrible news." Pepper interrupted, "Zombies have just been sighted on Corneria!"

"What!" everyone shouted.

"I've just been informed that there is a horde of them advancing on Maple Street."

"Did you say Maple Street?" Wolf asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"That's where my house is… Oh, my God, Sarah!"

Wolf jumped out of his chair and ran towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Fox asked.

"I'm going down there!"

"Are you crazy!" cried Falco, "That's suicide!"

"My wife and son are down there! I have to save them!"

Fox jumped in front of him.

"Wolf, wait." he said, "We don't know for sure if…"

"Fox," Wolf interrupted, "if Krystal was down there, would you leave her?"

Krystal looked over at Fox, who silently shook his head after realizing Wolf had a point.

"Kyle, go with him." he said, as he stepped out of the way.

Kyle nodded and followed Wolf to the docking bay.

"Good luck." Fox called to them.