Chapter 5: Undead Again II
"In a zombie apocalypse, I expect insane things to happen."
Chandler Riggs
"Oh my god, I told you people! That's him, that's the thing!" Ross gasped, a picture in his hands as he was sitting in the holding cell.
"Well," Donoghue started, "We're not exactly sure that-"
"What do ya mean you're not sure!" Ross cut him off, "Do you not see this? What else could he be?" He exclaimed. Donoghue stood still as he was at a loss for words.
"Point is," He said, ignoring Ross's question, "This puts you in the clear, Mr. Nolan," He said, unlocking the holding cell, "We're releasing you," He said.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Ross said, still thinking that he was turing. Donoghue sighed.
"Ross, if you were turning, you would have done it by now," He dead panned. Silence was meet as Ross stared at the picture.
"This thing? Have you caught it?" He asked.
"Not yet, but rest assured, we will," Donoghue replied. With that said, Ross stood up, walking over to Donoghue as he shoved the picture towards the detective and shut the holding cell door.
"I'll just stay here," He said as Donoghue was confused. This had never happened before.
"He won't leave?" JJ said as he turned to face Donoghue.
"He's pretty convinced zombie thing..." Donoghue stated.
"Yeah-but-that's just ridiculous!" The blonde detective said.
"Or is it?" Charlie asked, JJ faced her as he gave the female brunette a look, "Ross has not been wrong yet!" She said, "Maybe out killer is patient zero, out there right now on the streets of Gotham, building an army of the undead..." She concluded.
"Charlie, what we are looking for is not a zombie," JJ said, "But a very smart criminal, who not only killed our victim, but also made our only witness look crazy," He then point to the picture on the whiteboard, "And also dressed up in make-up and costume to conceal his identity."
"Unless that's not costume an make-up..." She dismissed.
"I mean..." Donoghue started as they all gazed at the taller detective, "...He does look like a real zombie..." He said. JJ gave him a look.
"A real zombie?" Rossi questioned, giving his partner a disapproving gaze for believe this story, "I'm embarrassed for you."
"Okay if you're so hung up on this theory, then explain to me why he went after a currency trader at four am, in a parking garage?" JJ asked. Donoghue looked at Charlie who merely smirked.
"This one's easy," She told the other, "The more intelligent the victim," She said facing JJ, "The more delicious the brain is," JJ rolled his eyes and walked away from the board, "Hey! Looks like a zombie, acts like a zombie! I'm gonna go with zombie!" She called after him.
"Okay, so returning to land of reality, what did you find at the crime scene canvas?" JJ asked Rossi.
"Nada, only in Gotham where some guy would go around dressed as a zombie..." He sighed.
"I did find a timeline before the murder!" Donoghue added, a file in his hand.
"What'd ya mean?" JJ asked.
"Well according to the doorman, he left his apartment around 2 am, and he never came courtesy of our zombie..." He said.
"He was killed around 4 am, what was he doing for two hours?"
"Don't know, but he drove there," Donoghue continued, "His credit card showed that he filled up for gas around 2:44 am."
"Okay, alright, let's figure out where he went, maybe he got into some trouble along the way and it followed him to the garage," JJ said.
"Or a zombie did..." Charlie muttered.
"I'll tell you where he went," Rossi interrupted, "Tech found a message sent from Aaron's phone sent to a woman saying that he wanted to hook up with her."
"Oh, scandalous..." Charlie commented, albeit sarcastically.
"Does she have a name?" JJ asked.
"Yeah, Lisa Marks," He said.
"I don't understand, who would do this to Aaron?" A woman asked, pacing around.
"Ms. Marks, did you see him that night?" Donoghue asked, "He did texted you wanting to meet you," He added.
"No, I called him and told him no," She replied, Donoghue and Rossi stared at her, "I split up with him three weeks ago," She continued.
"Why'd you two split up?"
"I'm engaged, to Tom, Tom Louis, " She answered, making Rossi's eyebrows shot up. He then elbowed Donoghue, who merely ignored his partner, "We've been together for three years."
"How did Aaron fit in?" Rossi asked.
"We meet a while back, we had an intense few weeks, then I ran into him again in a coffee shop," She sighed.
"Did your fiancé know about this affair?"
"Yeah, he found out from the emails on my computer last week," She sighed.
"And how did he react?" Rossi asked.
"He was pissed of course, he threatened to leave me and that's when I realized what I was about to lose, so I called it off with Aaron and begged Tom to give me another chance, and he did."
"So where was Tom that night?" Rossi asked again.
"Home," She answered, "We went to bed around 11," The two detectives exchanged one another a knowing look.
"And was he there all night?" Donoghue added. She remained silent and he sighed, "Lisa, where was Tom between 2 to 4 am?"
"Look, I don't know!" She snapped, "I woke up around 2:30 and he wasn't there, I figured he was watching tv in the living room, but when I got up in the morning-"
"He wasn't in the apartment," Donoghue cut her off, "So where was he all night?"
"I see where you're getting at, but Tom had nothing to do with it!" Seeing how she was getting hostile, Donoghue decided to change the subject.
"Did Aaron email you from his office account?" He asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"That means that your fiancé knew where he worked," Rossi said.
"Well, Tom's alibi checks," JJ sighed as he hung up the phone, "He was at the library from 2 to 6," He huffed as he gazed at the whiteboard, "I really thought it was him, I mean, it's not like the vic had any other enemies, we've already confirmed that with his colleagues and co-worker," He said.
"What about recently deceased enemies?" Charlie quipped, but JJ gave her a look which silenced her. For a moment though, "Okay, look whatever or whoever this is," She stood up, "Let us agree that he looks like a zombie, dresses like a zombie, acts like a zombie," She listed.
"And that helps us how?"
"We're looking at standard motives here, but what if the killer isn't driven by revenge, greed, or power, not if he's a zombie," Charlie inquired.
"So by that like of thinking, his motive is the primal urge to kill?" JJ suggested, not entirely on board with her zombie theory, "Regardless of who the victim is, he just kills."
"Yup, precisely!"
"So how do you suggest we randomly find our killer in a city filled with eight thousand people?" JJ asked. That stumped the woman.
"Maybe by starting of on where the victim went for the missing two hours," Donoghue stated as he walked up to the two.
"Do tell," Charlie urged him.
"The lab identified a chemical found on the bottom of his shoes," He continued, JJ took the paper that was in his hand.
"What kind of chemical?"
"Uh, I won't even begin to try to pronounce it, but it is used in three factories in Gotham," He said.
"The night that Aaron was killed, he went to a gas station, which one was close to there?" JJ asked.
"Ugh, here," Donoghue said, pointing to an address, "But that place has been close for over a year."
"Alright, see if you can dig up more information on the vic," He said before turning to his partner, "Let's go."
"Well we do know that this is an abandoned factory..." Charlie muttered as they walked away from the building, "In a desolate, god forsaken, alley," She turned, hearing a cat screech as they continued to walk away from the factory.
"What's wrong, Charlie? Your imagination getting the better of you?" JJ teased his partner.
"No, no, of course not," She denied.
"You know the thing I don't get is, why would a currency trader come down here, it just doesn't make any sense."
"Unless he has a dark side we don't know about," She suggested.
"Like what?"
"Oh, well it's that normal people don't come places like this, at two am in the morning," She dead panned, "In fact, I've seen it now, haven't you?" JJ paused as he heard something, but couldn't quite describe it.
"Wait," He said, turning to her, "Do you hear that?" She paused and shook her head.
"I'm not falling for that," Charlie muttered. JJ stopped from leaving, by grabbing her arm.
"No, no, I'm serious," He said, "Just listen," The two detectives stopped and listened. Sounds grew closer and clearer to them.
"Footsteps."
"Yeah."
"Lots of them..." They gazed around their surrounds. The two both jump at the sound of a woman screaming.
"They coming after us!" She cried, running past the two detectives.
"What?! Who is?!" Charlie called after, her imagination getting the better of her. Usually if this was some killer she would brush the feeling off, but this was different. A zombie killer was involved. More footsteps where coming closer.
"Don't just stand there! Run!" A man yelled out.
"What the hell is going on?" JJ muttered as the both ran towards the direction in front of them. Charlie stopped, hearing grunt and groans.
"JJ! Th-that's a zombie hoard!" She stuttered, both detectives now holding their guns in their hands.
"There's no such things as zombies..." JJ muttered in disbelief.
"You sure about? How about you aim for the head!" She said and turned around only to see more zombies, "JJ! Behind us!" She held her gun out, her back pressed against her partner's back, "We're surrounded! Oh jeez, oh jeez," Charlie muttered, "We don't have enough bullets..."
Hey! Chapter 5 is now up! Sorry I've been gone lately, I have a new DC related fic up for Batman Begins/ Dark Knight trilogy for the amazing Jonathan Crane (God he and Riddler are both tied for my fave all time DC villains in my opinion), you guys should check it out, it would mean so much to me (Even tho it's not the best story). And also, this chapter took a while to write, but don't worry I'm not dead! So I hope you all enjoy this fic! And thanks for those who faved, followed, reviewed this story.
Warning: Grammatical errors and mistakes!