Part XI

          The shooting lights were turning people into Zombies. Orlando didn’t think such a thing was possible. It couldn’t be.

          Fernie remained quiet as they tracked the two remaining Zombies. Most of the Zombies had fled the scene looking for prey elsewhere. Orlando, Ruben and Fernie had tracked and killed all but two. They were easy to locate. Just listen for the screams of their victims.

          Orlando looked back at Ruben who was bringing up the rear. He looked troubled.

          “What’s wrong?” Orlando asked coming to a stop.

          “Keep quiet,” Fernie answered. He looked irritated. “Keep moving. We have a lot to do tonight.”

          Fernie took the lead, Orlando held back waiting for Ruben. “What’s wrong?”

          Keeping his voice low he answered, “Fernie’s injured. He’s favoring his right side.”

          Orlando looked over to where Fernie was waiting for them to catch up. He stood there tall and straight. It didn’t look like Fernie was suffering from any ill effects.

          “It’s subtle but it's there.” Ruben said before looking back over his shoulder in the direction they had come. Something caught and held his gaze.

          “He’s dying; Maxwell injected him with Zombie blood.” Orlando noticed the look on Ruben’s face. His eyes followed to see what had created the change.

          There was something very small coming up along the street. It was rolling. It came to a sudden halt.

          To Orlando, it looked like an old fashioned cannon ball. It began to move again. It rolled out towards the left of them and came around as if it were creating a circle. It began to move faster and faster. The size of the circle was growing wider.

          “What is that?” Orlando asked.

          The cannon ball suddenly halted. It now lay at Orlando’s feet.

          “MOVE!” Fernie shouted from behind them.

          Orlando could hear Fernie running towards him, but he could not move. The cannon ball held him transfixed.

          It shot up at Orlando, hitting the center of his chest and knocking him backwards. He began to fall, although he did not touch the ground beneath him. Darkness overtook him drawing him in until there was nothing more.

         
            When Orlando woke, he found himself in some sort of lab. There was strange equipment and even stranger noises. It took him several moments to clear his head from the darkness.

          He was strapped to a wall. The bindings were tight and he could not move an inch. His eyes darted, trying to look for some sort of escape. The room was very dark. The only source of light emerged from the machines. He did not want to find out what they were for.

          Orlando caught sight of his sword lying on the floor several feet away. Above it rested several knives of different lengths affixed to the wall.

          The door to the lab slowly creaked open. Orlando’s grandfather entered the room. “Why would you come here?” he carefully asked his grandson.

          “Grandpa! Get me down.”

          The door pushed open further and Elodie came rushing into the room. “We have to hurry! I hear them coming!”

          “Elodie!” Orlando nearly growled her name. ‘What where they both doing here?’

          She stopped as she saw Orlando strapped to the wall. She pushed past Orlando’s grandfather and began to release the buckles.

          Orlando watched as his grandfather went back to the door. He was looking out, waiting. Orlando didn’t know what to make of it. He was confused.  “How did you find me here?” He asked the question yet he was afraid of the answer.

          Elodie was quick to answer, “I didn’t trust you guys to come out here on your own. I told your grandfather what I knew and he agreed to help me track you guys.”

          There was noise coming from the other side of the door. Orlando was freed from the restraints.

          His grandfather backed away from the door, waiting.

          The door began to vibrate shooting open and slamming up against the wall.

          “Maxwell!” Orlando’s grandfather shouted.

          Maxwell entered the room. He did not look afraid, instead he looked smug. His hands were concealed in his pockets. A wide smile began to form across his face. Looking at his old friend he said, “You sneak into my home like criminals, Ethan?”

          “What have you done here?” Orlando’s grandfather looked about the room. His eyes filled with such sadness the more they took in. Settling firmly on Maxwell he asked, “What did you have planed for my grandson?”

          Maxwell removed his hands from his pockets, yet Orlando could see he kept something concealed in his right hand.

          Orlando moved closer to his grandfather. He wasn’t sure what Maxwell was going to do.

          “How did you know how to find me?” Maxwell asked Ethan.

          “I know about your old haunts…I know what this place means to you…what your father did here.”

          “Your father turned into a Zombie,” Orlando said his hands at his sides, waiting for Maxwell to play his cards. “You’ve been turning hunters into Zombies.”

          “My father was a scientist. He was a pioneer. He started with an idea and I took his ideas and made them greater.”

          “The shooting lights in the streets were your ideas?” Orlando asked.

          “The lights are one of my creations.”  He moved further into the room. “There is much that I wanted to show you, Orlando. You and Ruben were going to help me achieve so much more.”

          Orlando noticed that Elodie had moved and that she now stood to Maxwell’s side. She was moving in.

          He had to keep Maxwell distracted from her.

          “How could you involve my grandson?” Ethan charged at Maxwell grabbing him by the shoulders.

          Maxwell revealed what he had kept hidden in his right hand. It was a syringe which he stabbed into Ethan’s chest and injected the fluids into his body.

          Ethan fell to the ground and began to convulse. Orlando dropped down beside him and Elodie jumped onto Maxwell’s back.

          Maxwell tried to toss her off, but she clung on. There was a flash of light. It created orange smoke. As it cleared, Orlando could see that both Maxwell and Elodie were gone.

          Orlando could hear footsteps from the outer chamber. Ruben and Fernie rushed into the room. Orlando rose with his fist clenched. Looking at Fernie he said, “I think my grandfather was injected with Zombie blood.”

          Fernie knelt down to check him. “You’re right. He has been.”

          “How did he get here? Was he working with Maxwell?” Ruben asked furiously.

          “Elodie brought him.”

          “Elodie?” A look of fear in his eyes as he asked, “Where is she then?”

          “Maxwell took her.”