"Me?" Sharon said, unbelieving.

"Yes, you mom. Do you think little Mary would be alive right now if it wasn't for you? I know Dad's death was hard for you, but when it counted most, you pulled it together and did what you had to do."

"I miss him so much." Sharon said, her body shaking with gentle sobs. "I still can't believe he's gone."

"We all miss him." Susan said, holding her mother tighter. "But we're alive, and that means he didn't die in vain..."

The day passed without event, all the daylight hours consumed with hauling, and burning dead bodies. Not content to sit up stairs and do nothing, Mac hobbled down and operated the forklift. Susan stayed inside, assisting Norris with the wounded and keeping watch on the balcony. Thankfully, no more live zombies appeared out of the forest, allowing them to work unmolested. By nightfall, the house and back deck had been cleared of bodies, but the yard was still littered with hundreds more, most of them pulverized to pieces by the tanks heavy treads.

"We're never going to clean up that mess." Sgt. Turner muttered. The work crew was standing out on the back deck, drinking beer from a case that had been cooling in the fridge all day, and the last rays of sunlight cast the back yard in a sublime light, seeming to highlight the carnage.

"We'll have to do a controlled burn." Cpl. Philips said.

"What do you mean?" asked Commander King.

"We need to go around and burn that back lawn in sections until the whole thing is scoured clean."

"We don't want to catch the goddamned forest on fire." Sgt. Turner said.

"That's why I said a controlled burn...in sections." Philips said with mock annoyance. If need be we can dig small breaker ditches around the edges. I'm sure there's some landscaping equipment to be found around here somewhere."

"And there's plenty of fuel out in the boathouse." Matt added. They fell silent with their thoughts and their beers.

"This beer ain't doing shit for my pain." Mac muttered and drained his can, crushed in his fist and tossed it aside before turning toward the house. "I'm going inside to see Norris and get a shot of morphine..."

The clean up crew burned the clothes they had been wearing that day and each of them took a long, hot shower, scrubbing clean. They rotated a watch of two all night, and come morning they set about implementing Cpl. Philips controlled burn plan. Starting with a 50'x50' section of lawn nearest the back deck, they used wide bladed snow shovels to push as much of the chewed and mangled body parts and gore slicked lawn to the center then doused the whole section with gasoline and tossed a lit match. The stench was stomach churning, and any appetite anyone may have had was lost quickly. It took the better part of the day, but an hour before nightfall they lit the last patch of the controlled burn. The back lawn was a giant, blackened patch of smoking earth, but there were no more bodies to be seen. Any worry of a spark picked up by the wind and catching the house or surrounding forest on fire was put to rest as thick clouds filled the sky and a heavy summer rain began falling just as the last patch burned out.

Before they could file into the house, Norris met them at the back deck with a large plastic garbage bag.

"Ok, you all know the drill. Strip naked and put your clothes in here. We'll burn them tomorrow. After you shower I'm going to give each of you a cholera booster shot, a penicillin shot, a tetanus booster and a shot of B-vitamin complex to boost your immune system."

"Is all that really necessary?" asked Pvt. Jimenez.

"You've been swimming in dead bodies, blood, guts and decay for two days, not to mention breathing the smoke from the burning corpses. Trust me, it's necessary."

"Breathing the smoke from those burning bodies can't be healthy." Muttered Cpl. Philips.

"It may not be healthy but it won't turn you into a zombie." Jenkins said. "Two days ago Major Farrell and I breathed a heavy dose of that shit in a tightly enclosed space. We tested negative for the infection." His story of what had become of Ron filled them all with a chilling sense of dread.

After they had stripped down in the rain Sharon and Susan stood in the kitchen just inside the shattered patio doors, handing out clean towels for the men to cover themselves. Seeing the blushed, uncomfortable look on some of their faces brought a smile to both women's faces.

"Don't be modest boys. You don't have anything we haven't seen before." Sharon chided.

"Well now that you've seen ours, when do we get to see yours?" Sgt. Turner joked back, smiling when he saw Sharon's cheeks blush red.

While the clean up crew had spent the day burning body parts in the yard, Sharon and Susan had spent the day scrubbing, disinfecting and deodorizing the ground floor of the house.

"It smells good in here." Matt said, trying to kiss his wife, but she held him at arms length.

"I love you too baby, but I just got out of the shower and you're covered with gore and stink like rotting meat. See me after you clean up." Matt feigned hurt by her words, but it quickly turned to smile as he headed for the shower in the master bedroom...

Chapter 63.

Saturday, June 30, 2001 Rainbow Lake, UT 8:20 AM.

On the third morning after the assault, David felt well enough to leave his bed for a short walk. His left arm was in a sling and his left leg encased in an inflatable cast but his spirits were high.

Even Cpl. Carey was up and out of bed, his right shoulder heavily bandaged and the arm held in a sling. His frog face looked sour as ever, underlined with a wince of pain and a heavy dose of morphine.

That morning at sunup Matt, Susan, Jenkins, Sgt. Turner and Cmdr. King took Scotty's dead body and Pvt. Irving's shattered remains, both of which had been stored in the barn instead of burned with the rest of the corpses, loaded them into the boat, and went across the lake to Adam and Kelly's old cabin. Graves were dug in the meadow next to Adam and Kelly's, and their bodies laid to rest. All they had recovered of Pvt. Cordoba was his dog tags, and those were hung in a small memorial inside the Main House.

They had been home less than an hour when the dogs took up their wailing once again, setting everyone into a semi-panic as they scrambled for their weapons and took up their defensive positions. A low, throbbing hum filled the air, causing the windows to rattle in their panes and everyone's eardrums to ache.

Matt took up his position at the rear second floor balcony just as the throbbing vibration reached its crescendo, but the large, black, flying craft that glided over the forest to the south and settled into a hover one hundred feet over the center of the charred back lawn caused him to forget the pain in his ears. The multi-faceted object was half the size of the barn, and for all intents and purposes looked like a black, tear shaped gem. It held its position for nearly a minute before the hum dramatically decreased in intensity and the craft slowly lowered to the ground, settling gently on three landing pods that appeared out of the underbelly. A few moments later, the hum ceased altogether. The dogs had also fallen silent, disappearing into the forest.

"It's them." Sgt. Turner muttered beside him.

"Who?" Matt asked.

"The aliens. One of those craft attacked Ft. Douglas. Blasted the perimeter defenses all to hell."

"One also attacked Park City." Jenkins added from Matt's opposite side. "It destroyed half of downtown before one of the Apache's blew it out of the sky."

"I'm going to blast the fucker." Cmdr. King's voice crackled over the radio. He and Cpl. Philips had climbed inside the tank when everybody was taking defensive positions, and even as he spoke the turret was spinning to target the main gun on the craft.

"Hold your fire!" Jenkins snapped into his radio. "If they wanted us dead they could have wiped us out with ease. No need to provoke them."

"My fingers on the trigger just looking for an excuse." King answered back, but the tank held its fire.

"What do you think they want?" Matt asked, his voice betraying the fear he felt.

"It's definitely not Reese's Pieces." Jenkins muttered.

Several tense minutes passed before a crack appeared in the front of the craft and what appeared to be an exit ramp lowered to the ground.

'Matt.' The whisper in Matt's skull was accompanied by an uncomfortable tickle behind his eyes. He blinked several times and shook his head. 'Matt.' The whisper repeated inside his head, and this time he rubbed his eyes and shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Jenkins asked.

"I don't know. My head feels funny."

'Matt, do not be alarmed. It's me, Zack.' The tickle behind his eyes became a dull throb.

"What the hell?" Matt exclaimed, wobbling with dizziness.

'Do not be alarmed; it is me, Zack. I am going to exit the craft. Do not shoot.' It did sound like Zack. Not the thick, bubbling monster's voice he had spoken with three days ago, but his normal, human voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jenkins asked.

"It's Zack in that ship." Matt said, the throbbing and dizziness receding to a tickle before fading completely.

"What?"

"Zack is aboard the ship. He's going to be coming out."

"How the hell do you know?" Sgt. Turner asked.

"I can hear his voice in my head." Jenkins and Sgt. Turner gave Matt a quizzical stare, but said no more. Instead they turned their eyes to the alien craft and watched as a single figure made it's way down the exit ramp.

"That's Zack?" David's voice came over the radio. He was in the computer den, observing everything on the security monitors.

"I'm going down to talk to him." Matt said.

"We'll all go down." Jenkins replied...

Everyone save Samantha and the children went downstairs and met Zack on the back patio deck. For nearly a minute nobody spoke, they just stood there, staring. They had become conditioned to rotten, shambling zombies, but Zack's mutated form was even more grotesque than they had expected. He was naked, completely hairless and bore no visible genitalia; his groin rounded and smooth. His muscles were cut with leonine strength, rippling beneath his blotchy, greenish black skin, which glistened amphibian smooth with a thin coat of slime. His fingers were long and dexterous, tipped with black, razor sharp claws. His face was set in what could have been either a snarl or a smile, revealing needle-like, feline teeth and a thick, black tongue. His eyes were set deep in their sockets, hooded with a ridge of bone, rimmed blood red and tinted yellow. He moved with a liquid, snakelike gate that was simply too inhuman to keep the revulsion from their faces. Only Jenkins face remained passive, seemingly set in stone, while Matt, Susan, David's eyes held sorrow and pity.

"I was wondering when you would return." Matt said, finally breaking the silence.

"I was injured in the fighting. My body needed time to repair itself." They were all taken aback by his thick, bubbling voice.

"What happened to you?" Susan asked, her voice tight with emotion.

"As I already explained to Matt, and he undoubtedly explained to you, I was implanted with an alien embryo when we camped in Summittown. Almost immediately it began meshing with my DNA. When I was hospitalized in Park City, the embryo was already beginning to mutate my body at a genetic level, taking control of my physiology and adjusting my metabolism. That is why I healed so quickly."

"That's why you were in such a hurray to get out of there as well." Jenkins said.

"Exactly. Although I wasn't sure what was happening at the time. I suspected as soon as my blood test was analyzed at the lab they would detect the infection."

"The Park City militia showed up at the hotel looking for you just minutes after you left." Matt said.

"Had I not fled the city when I did, I would have been captured and possibly killed."

"No offense friend, but from where I stand, that don't seem like such a bad idea." Jenkins said, cold and impassive as ever.

"I would not wish this curse upon anyone." Zack said softly. "But fortunately, the genetic compatibility for the embryo to bond in this fashion is extremely rare. Most who receive an embryo would be killed almost instantly, their bodies transforming into a Sentinel."

"A Sentinel?" Mac asked.

"A superzombie." Zack clarified.

"They called them Alphas down in Park City." Jenkins added. "Fucking aliens."

"This sounds like something out of a really bad sci-fi movie." Muttered Cmdr. King.

"Unfortunately, it is very real." Zack said.

"Why don't you fill us in completely?" Jenkins demanded.

"Of course." Zack paused and looked each of them in the eyes before continuing. "The alien creatures that invaded the planet and caused the plague of walking dead are called Krylok. They have very highly developed ESP, and can communicate telepathically over vast distances. Cruel and evil in the extreme, they have existed for tens of thousands of years, traveling throughout the galaxy from world to world, invading and feeding upon the native life forms. When they have bled it out, they move onto the next world, which they have scouted out hundreds of years in advance. They have had Earth targeted for invasion for centuries, sending the occasional scout ship to observe and make note of her defenses."

"Where did they come from?" David asked.

"Not even the Krylok themselves know their true origin. They have no sense of racial history or culture. Conquering and feeding is all that drives them. In the past seventy-five thousand years, they have decimated over one hundred worlds. As for where they were before coming to earth, it was a planet in the Sirius star system, very similar to earth. It was inhabited by a technologically advanced race of humanoid creatures called Lupen. The Krylok had inhabited the planet and fed upon the Lupen for over one hundred years, driving them to near extinction. But the Lupen were a strong, tenacious race, much like humans, and they managed to resist and drive the Krylok from their Homeworld. The Krylok simply followed their plan and came to Earth, the next planet targeted for invasion."

"If they feed upon humans, who do they cause the dead to return to life and eat humans?" Cpl. Norris asked.

"I can answer that question." Jenkins said. All eyes, including Zack's, turned to him. "It's how they soften us up. Cause worldwide chaos before they sweep in for the kill."

"Exactly." Zack said. "That was the plan, only this time, the plan went awry."

"Went awry?" Cpl. Philips exclaimed. "This whole planet has gone to hell in a hand basket. I wouldn't call that awry."

"It could have, and should have, been much worse." Zack said. "The plan called for an atmospheric seeding of the plague, followed by massive, worldwide orbital bombardment of most major cities and military bases. Global wide collapse of defense and communication would have been achieved in a matter of hours. That did not happen. If you recall, the plague first appeared in Africa and Europe. And there were no orbital bombardments."

"Why?" several of them asked in unison.

"As the Lupen drove the Krylok from their world, they managed to inflict severe damage on the Krylok mothership just as it was jumping into hyperspace. The navigational system malfunctioned, and it came out of spacefold practically on top of Earth's moon, where it crashed on the dark side. The majority of the Krylok were killed in the crash, and the mothership damaged beyond repair. Since it was the mothership that carried the massive, orbital bombardment weapons and the huge quantities of the biological agent needed for atmospheric seeding, the plan was changed. They now only had the smaller shuttlecraft with which to deliver the agent, and a limited number of craft at that. Still, they attempted a worldwide seeding, but with disastrous results. Apparently several United States military satellites, armed with nuclear warheads, destroyed most of the attack shuttles carrying the biological agent. Only two were able to release their payloads, and only a small portion at that. Africa and Eastern Europe were the targets. But that was enough. The plague was 100% contagious. It took almost a year, but eventually nearly every single human being on the planet was infected. It is passed from host to host much like the flu, or the common cold, but in a benign form. The agent does not become active until death, triggered by a body temperature of just over 80 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Room temperature." Cpl. Carey said acidly.

"Is anyone immune?" Norris asked.

"Like I said, the disease is 100% contagious."

"I'm still confused," Sgt. Turner said. "If these...Krylok feed on humans, why would they create a weapon that feeds on the same thing they do? That would be like stealing food from their own plate."

"It is a side effect of the reanimation. The drones function on base instinct. The most basic instinct in any organism is to feed. But the drones themselves actually take no nourishment from the act of feeding. They are merely following an instinctive impulse. Besides, the Krylok are relatively few in number. Even with hundreds of millions of drones, there are still plenty of living humans for the Krylok to feed upon."

"When we went on a supply raid down into Salt Lake City, we found some bodies whose brains were sucked out of their head. There was also a bunch of slime tracks. Did the Krylok do that?" Matt asked.

"Yes. The Krylok do not eat the flesh. They feed upon the brains and blood of their victims."

"What about those goddamned Alphas? What do they feed on?" Jenkins asked.

"They do not feed. Their sole purpose is to assist their Krylok masters."

"When did they start appearing? I was stationed at the U for months, and I fought deadfucks the whole time. But I never saw an Alpha until that raid."

"Same here." Sgt. Turner added. "We didn't encounter them until the U and Ft. Douglas fell."

"The Sentinels didn't appear until the Krylok themselves landed on the planet. They waited several months, until the plague was a worldwide epidemic, before sending shuttlecraft from the moon to earth. It has only been in the past few weeks that they came planet side. Once here they began implanting their embryos into human hosts, creating the Sentinels."