"This is bullshit Captain. We passed the test. You told us yourself that we're clean."

"You'd be wise to keep your mouth shut." The Captain looked at Matt with eyes as cold as steel.

"Ask your god damned questions then." Jenkins snapped.

"Where did Zack Thomas first get injured?"

"He was shot a few days ago by soldiers down in Salt lake City." Matt said.

"Why did they shoot him?"

"We were trying to get some gas for our vehicle. The soldiers came up in a jeep."

"So you just started shooting at them?"

"They were trying to rape me!" Susan jumped in. "They killed my father! Zack was just trying to defend us."

"All I care about is when your friend became infected. Luckily he didn't infect any of you. But he may have infected others. When was his last contact with a zombie?"

"Last night. In Summittown." Matt said.

"We don't know what the hell that was." Mac said. "I'm the only one who saw it, and I'm not sure what I saw." Mac closed his eyes and retold the story, trying to pull the details from his memory.

"Are you sure it was a zombie and not some kind of animal?" The twitchy doctor finally spoke.

"What did it look like?" The Captain asked.

"It wasn't one of those superzombies. I fought one of those back at the base. They were big ugly bastards wearing body armor and packing serious heat. The creature I saw was short, but it moved quickly. I only got a couple of shots off before it was gone."

"I think Mac saw our brainsucker." Jenkins said.

"Brainsucker? What brainsucker?" The twitchy doctor moved very close to Jenkins, leaning down until his be-speckled face was only a few inches away. Jenkins fought the urge to kick him on the balls. "Tell me more."

"We were out on a raid yesterday when we found some bodies tied up in a back room. Holes had been punched into their skulls and their brains had been sucked out leaving an empty shell. The bodies and the surrounding area were also covered with a sour smelling slime. The same kind of slime that was found in Zack's room after Mac chased the creature away."

"A new creature all together..." The doctor said with amazement.

"Now you are telling me there may be another kind of zombie we don't know about?" The Captain asked.

"This is as new to me as it is to you Captain." The doctor said curtly. He looked at the four prisoners. "We don't get many zombies up here. We had our fair share with the initial outbreak but they were dealt with quickly. Not many salvagers are willing to bring back zombies, even for scientific study. What specimens we do have we kept from the outbreak and those are all Beta Stage zombies."

"What's that?" Matt asked.

The doctor looked over at the Captain and waited for his nod of approval before continuing.

"Beta Stage is the classification we give the multitudes of zombies walking around right now. Until recently we believed that there was only one stage of zombification. The stumbling reanimated corpses. But a specimen was found while on a raid that changed that. It was merely a hand. A severed hand composed of leathery flesh and congealed, black blood... And it was still alive. With a Beta Stage Zombie once a limb was severed it was dead. No sign of animation. But this one was different. It would clench and open and when placed palm down it would scuttle around like a spider.

"That sounds like a superzombie." Jenkins said. "Rotted, leathery flesh, almost impossible to kill."

"We've been told that bullets are ineffective against them?" the doctor sounded as if he couldn't believe it.

"You got that right." Jenkins said. "We had to use grenades on the ones we faced and even those weren't enough to kill them. They were just too mangled to attack anymore."

The doctor and the Captain gave each other an odd look before the doctor continued.

"After careful examination the specimen proved to be a completely new strain of the plague. The flesh and blood is literally the virus. Organized as a mobile, autonomous creature. We called it the Alpha Strain."

"So it is a disease?" Susan asked.

"Most certainly... It was first diagnosed as a virus shortly after the initial African outbreak ten months ago. It was easy to detect once they knew what they were looking for..." He paused, staring out into space for several long seconds. "When they knew what they were looking for..." He repeated it with a bitter laugh. "If they had just released the information to civilian doctors this madness may have been avoided. Steps could have been taken to keep it from all falling apart...but it was all kept top secret. It wasn't released to stateside civilian doctors until after the west coast was overrun. But admitting it was a virus was only the half of it. They didn't say anything about the Alpha strain. No mention of your superzombies.

Further research proved that we all carry the virus." Everyone gave the doctor a frightened look. "It's true. Every human being on earth carries the virus in a dormant stage. Only after death does the virus become active and causes reanimation as a Beta Stage Zombie, and then only if the corpse has an intact brain."

"Where did this virus come from?" Mac asked.

"Nobody knows." The doctor said. "One day the dead just started walking."

"This virus had to originate someplace." Matt said.

"Yes but where? Was it hatched in a secret government laboratory? A new bio-weapon gone awry? Or maybe massive deforestation of the African jungles unleashed some new plague that had been cooking in the jungle for centuries? Perhaps it is a natural mutation of the human DNA caused by radiation leaking in through a thinning atmosphere? Or maybe Mother Nature got tired of us fucking with her environment so badly and decided to fuck with us back? Maybe it's aliens from another world? Who knows? Trying to solve that mystery is like trying to figure out who built the pyramids. It just IS. We can't worry about how; we've got to worry about NOW." The twitchy doctor looked even crazier as he finished speaking, his eyes bulging behind his glasses.

"Is there any way to keep the virus from becoming active?" Susan asked.

"Yes. Don't die." The doctor got a good laugh out of that one.

"Will you let us out of these cuffs now?" Jenkins asked.

"Even as we speak hunting parties are being dispatched to retrieve your friend." The Captain said, ignoring Jenkins question.

"Why don't they kill him?" Matt asked. He was torn by the fact that Zack was infected but at the same time he knew that Zack would never want to become one of those deadfucks, wandering around in search of warm human flesh. Matt would shoot Zack himself if only to spare him that fate.

"If he is infected with the Alpha Strain, and they are as tough as you say, disabling him may be the only option." The Captain said.

"Besides, we do not have an intact Alpha specimen to study." the Doctor interjected. "We need him to be brought back as intact and alive as possible." The doctor was looking forward to carving him up.

"You can't be serious?" Susan gasped.

"Of course we're serious." The doctor said. "You've got to understand that your friend Zack Thomas is dead. He died the second he was infected with the Alpha Strain. He is a zombie now. If given the chance, he will kill you and eat you."

"He was drinking a beer with us just an hour ago." Matt said. "He was a bit tense but he didn't look sick. In fact he looked as healthy as he did before he got shot."

"And his wounds were almost completely healed." Susan pitched in. "When I said something to him about that he got really defensive so I just let it go."

"If he was turning into a zombie why would his wounds heal?" Mac asked. For once the doctor didn't have an answer.

But the Captain did. "Because he is infected with the Alpha Strain." He barked. "He may be turning into a superzombie. He may be turning into one of those brain suckers you were talking about."

The doctor turned to look at the Captain. "We don't know that for certain. That's why he must be captured and brought back to the hospital for us to study. It could be vital to the survival of the human race." He looked at them all sharply, daring them to argue with him.

"He's right." Jenkins said. "Zack is no longer human. He's a deadfuck now, maybe even a superzombie or worse. Matt? Susan? Did you two forget how tough those bastards were? I sure as hell didn't. He needs to be stopped. If for no other reason than he knows where we were going." Jenkins saw the effect of his words on his companions. "Do you want him leading an army of deadfucks up there?"

"I can't believe this." Matt said, lowering his chin to his chest. His head was swimming with the insanity of the past week.

"I agree that he should be killed." Susan said. "But not carved up like some sort of lab monkey. He was our friend. Show him mercy and kill him!"

"You can burn him to death!" Matt pleaded. "Even a superzombie will burn. That will surely kill him."

"You must detach your emotions from this." The doctor told them coldly. "Your friend is dead. He will be captured and returned to the hospital for vivisection and scientific study." There was viciousness to his voice as he spoke.

"Doctor, please?" The Captain finally interjected. "I think you have made your point."

"My apologies..." The doctor said with a sly little smile. "Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do." The doctor left the room without as much as a backward glance.

"The cuffs?" Jenkins said again.

"The report from the tariff station says a bus load of people came in with you; thirteen adults, two toddlers, one infant and a dog to be exact." The Captain said.

"Check them. You'll find them as clean as we are."

"Oh we are going to check them. A platoon of men is on their way to gather them as we speak. Chances are they are clean as well. But better not to take chances don't you think?"

"You don't have to keep us chained like criminals!" Jenkins snapped. "We are clean. Let us go. If anyone I brought in is infected, I'll shoot 'em myself."

"I'm sure you would." The Captain said. "Relax. I'll have someone in to free you in a moment." The Captain turned and left the room...

Chapter 28.

Sunday, June 24, 2001 Uintah National Forest, UT 2:55 PM.

Zack came to a halt somewhere in the heavy forest several miles northeast of Park City. He closed his eyes and took a psychic sweep of the surrounding area. He could feel the presence of hundreds of zombies scattered throughout the forest. He opened his eyes and looked around. The zombies weren't easy to spot but after a few moments he could see them standing perfectly still, spread out through the thick forest. Many of them were looking directly at him yet they made no move toward him.

He felt the powerful presence of the Other's, deeper in the forest, washing over him with an icy wave of darkness. Unable to resist the calling, he moved deeper into the forest. He passed hundreds of zombies just milling about, staring blankly into the sky. After about two hundred yards the forest opened into a clearing. The perimeter of the clearing was filled with deadfucks, and they stumbled aside to let him pass. He was beyond fearing the zombies. He was one of them now...

In the center of the clearing there was a large black craft, twice the size of an F-16 fighter jet. It was vaguely shaped like a multi-faceted teardrop, its angles sharp and defined, and it was resting on a trio of landing legs. A wide walkway had been lowered to the ground from the center of the craft. Standing around the perimeter of the craft were a dozen creatures that could only be superzombies. They were tall and skeletal, wearing green army battle gear and helmets. Their faces looked like leathered skulls with lidless eyes. In their hands were clutched M-16's with M203 grenade launchers attached to the underside. Where the regular zombies radiated a cold, hollow psychic emanation these superzombies were like red-hot coals in Zack's mind, burning with a single minded evil.

But strong as their aura was, they were not the Other's that had drawn him here. He sensed their white-hot presence before he saw them standing there beneath the craft. There were three of them. They stood no more that four feet tall and were covered by thick black cloaks. Again he flashed back to Summittown and the slimy, reptilian face gazing down at him with burning red eyes. Those same burning red eyes that peered back at him from all three of the dark cloaked figures. One of the three raised an arm and Zack felt something slither behind his eyes accompanied by another synaptic flash.

'Come...'

He heard the voice telepathically. Cold and inhuman, it bounced around the inside of his skull like a trapped animal trying to escape. The pain made Zack go weak in the knees but he managed to stay on his feet.

'COME! 'The voice was forceful this time and before he knew it Zack found himself staggering towards the trio of black-cloaked monsters. As he came to within a few feet of them he could see their snake like snout through the shadows of their cloaks. Their auras grew in intensity, burning through his mind like a blanket of pain. Zack gave a small cry and collapsed to his knees.

"What is happening to me?" Zack asked weakly.

One of the creatures spoke, its voice a guttural, inhuman hiss. Once again Zack felt something move behind his eyes with a stab of pain and amazingly he could understand its alien language. The voice was the same whispering hiss as before.

"No longer are you human."

Zack wanted to scream as the creature's word's echoed through his head.

No longer are you human...

"What did you do to me?" another bolt of pain shot through his head, bringing tears to his eyes and causing to press his face to the ground.

"You have been implanted with a Krylok embryo. The first stage of growth is very painful as your body's natural defenses try to resist the supplication. You must feed."

Zack pounded the ground with his fist as he cried silently.

Two of the superzombies walked up the ramp of the black craft and several moments later came out leading four humans dazed with shock. They were cuffed at the wrists and ankles.

"Watch..." The voice in his head again, and despite his best effort to resist Zack raised his head.

The superzombies had pushed all four humans to their knees. Zack noted with horror that three of the four were women and the last was a teenaged boy. All had the glazed eye look of cattle. One of the black robed creatures walked over and stood behind one of the women. On her knees she was about even height with the monster. Scaly, three clawed hands emerged from the folds of the robe to pull the hood back, revealing a snake like head with mottled green and black skin covered with a thin layer of slime. The creature took the woman's head in its talon tipped hands and opened its mouth wide, revealing blackened gums and a few rotted stumps of teeth. It opened its mouth wider and out came a bloated black tongue dripping with foul, foamy pus. The tongue was tipped with a hard green, bone-like substance that came to a sharp point which it used to lightly probe the back of the woman's head before plunging into her skull with a liquid crunch and a spray of blood. The woman gave single cry of pain and began to convulse. She would have fallen to the ground had the creature not held her up. The monster opened its mouth wider and the tongue flexed before sliding deeper into the skull. A loud slurping sound could be heard and continued for several seconds before the evil little creature pulled its head back, retracting the tongue from the woman's skull. Several strings of brain matter were coiled around the tongue and the monster quickly gobbled them down once its tongue was back in its mouth.

"You must feed or die."

The monster let the woman's corpse fall to the ground. It gave forth a loud hiss and half a dozen zombies broke from the milling pack and advanced towards the body, raising their arms and moaning in hunger. They fell upon the corpse, biting huge chunks of flesh from the face, chest and stomach. Zack felt his stomach churn with pain. But the pain was not from disgust, but hunger. He watched the zombies tear the woman's stomach open and pull out her intestines and his mouth began to salivate and a fresh wave of hunger flooded his whole body. The other two alien creatures converged on the remaining women, feeding just as the first one had. The slurping sounds of their feeding and the scent of fresh blood consumed Zack. It was beyond hunger. It was a physical need. If he didn't satisfy this hunger soon it might turn inward upon itself, devouring him from the inside out.

One of the superzombies produced a small hand axe from its belt and casually walked up behind the teenaged boy and split his skull with one downward stroke. He collapsed face first, his legs twitching lightly. It then looked to Zack with its rotted, eyeless sockets. He felt a psychic wave of submission from the superzombie, an acknowledgement that he was its master.

"You must feed!" One of the creatures hissed. The command from the black robed creature was over powering, and Zack began to crawl towards the downed boy.

No! No! Come to your senses Zack! Stop this madness!

But he had no will power of his own. He came to a halt beside the downed boy. His head had been split like a coconut, exposing the pink, blood covered brain.

"FEEEEEDDD!" The voice was like a sledgehammer blow to his head, overwhelming his mind. Unable to control his actions, Zack scooped a handful of the warm, moist brains from the boy's skull and shoveled them into his mouth...

Chapter 29.

Sunday, June 24, 2001 Park City, UT 3:30 PM.

Ron stood naked in front of the mirror, looking at the stranger staring back at him, soon to be a walking dead-man. The rash was spreading by the minute, growing down his arms toward his wrist and down both legs to the knees. Where it had just spread was red and swollen but any part that had been infected for more that an hour had festered into cracked, pus filled flesh and greenish black boils. But the really strange thing was that aside from the discomfort of the rash he felt great. In fact, he felt full of energy. He had seen people die from a zombie bite. Within hours they had fallen ill then over the next 48-72 hours the infection spread until the victim died a pus-filled bag of shit. They didn't grow the jungle rot over their entire body and die full of vitality.

Ron walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom. He looked at the clock. Nearly an hour since he had returned to his room. No doubt they would be here for him any time now. And he decided that he wasn't going to let them take him. He knew what kind of experiments had been conducted on deadfucks back at the U. Things that would have made the old Nazi doctors proud. He didn't want to be a deadfuck. Let alone a deadfuck on some butchers operating table. If taken into custody they would not terminate him but instead let him reanimate so they could carve him up.