"The machine KonG.o.d seems to be functioning appropriately as far as the Americas are concerned. Things for the most part are going as we antic.i.p.ated. I don't think the technicians need to change anything this time around."

"Yes, they do seem to be getting back on their feet quite quickly. No other country has ever recovered so fast from a war as they have. Of course, they did have help. Monitoring their culture and developing KonG.o.d was nothing less than a stroke for genius for our people."

"It was a gamble that luckily paid off. No one ever antic.i.p.ated the Americas surviving this plague of zombies. They were supposed to have been wiped out years ago. Quarantining them till they all perished would have been the simpler solution. We could have just recolonized the countries in a few decades."

"Agreed, yes, but this is far more interesting, wouldn't you say? Much more like a game of chess than a game of nuclear war. Nuclear war is just so one-sided and obvious. I like the challenge of this one. Plus, the potential for profit is huge. We have an entire continent where the slaves outnumber the rest of the population by almost ten to one. No one cares about the injustice of slavery."

"The Freeze revolutionaries would disagree. They take issue with the way zombies are treated with Pacize."

"KonG.o.d is working through the scenarios. The predicted probabilities look good, and it will be just a matter of time before the regent is given the appropriate choices."

"Choices ... humph, yes. All mathematically planned to tilt in our favor."

"There is one other matter of concern. The one KonG.o.d never predicted."

"Ah yes, the old war hero. Wasn't he scheduled to expire?"

"He was supposed to, but it appears he's awoken from his coma. That's not a scenario that showed on any of KonG.o.d's possible outcomes. Maybe the techs should have a look at that."

"There's no need. It can handle unforeseen outcomes. Just give it time to work through the permeations. I'm quite sure that things will come back around in our favor. Keep extra monitors on him if that makes you feel better."

"Yes, I will, and yes, I do feel better about it."

Looking off into the distance the first man remarked, "Things look a little stirred up over there on the horizon."

"Yes, it looks like another sandstorm is working itself across the dunes. No need to worry, we'll be protected here in the city."

"I wasn't worried. Remember, from this height up everything below is insignificant."

"Agreed."

All Ash.o.r.e.

Captain Willie's body was eviscerated and his vital organs lay sprawled across the deck. His limbs were at unnatural angles, and his head barely remained attached to his shoulders. The stench was vile. Even worse than usual for a ship that had transported thousands of zombie corpses for the past five years. There's something about the inside of a real human body that reeks more than a zombie corpse. Zombies may not be as pretty as humans on the outside, but at least on the inside there wasn't much left to stink up the place.

Christa sat at the edge of the hold on the verge of tears. This is not what I wanted. This is not the way it should have happened. How did I not see the captain approaching? I should have sensed him. I'm responsible for this. I caused this. My stupid overexcitement at finally getting through to Andreas caused this. This won't be easily covered up. Sure, we can get rid of the body, but what about Andreas? He can't go back amongst humans. Look what he did.

Christa looked for Andreas and found him not far from the remains of Captain Willie. He was crouched in a fetal position, rocking back and forth, babbling to himself. Christa got up and walked cautiously towards him. Andreas kept rocking and babbling. He barely noticed her when she stood right next to him. Christa looked down at Andreas and shook her head.

"I had so much hope for you. You were the strongest mind I've come across in the past six years. You were going to be the one to fix it all. I had such high hopes. But, look what you've done. You're an animal. Just like those freaks the colonel hated. Just like all of them hated. Why would you do that? You could have stopped him without killing him. You're stronger and faster. What happened?"

Andreas looked up at her like a small child that knows he's done something wrong and is about to be punished, but doesn't know why.

"It was something inside of me ... Christa? Your name's Christa, right? I don't know how I know that."

She answered slowly, "Yes, I'm Christa. I'm the one that talked with you before. Before you did that." She motioned to the deck covered in blood and entrails. "What do you remember? Anything?"

"I don't remember doing that." Andreas indicated the captain's mutilated body. "I'm covered in blood. I must have, why would I do that?"

"You don't remember being a zombie? A freak?"

"No, I wasn't. I couldn't have been."

Christa crossed her arms. "What do you remember? What's the last thing you remember doing before you were here?"

"I remember being at a party with my buddies. We'd all been laid off that week from the plant, and we were partying hard. It was great. Not having to get up every morning and go into that s.h.i.tty factory. We all hated it, but we needed the money. We blew a ton of dough on prost.i.tutes the night before, and they ripped us off. They waited till we pa.s.sed out, then emptied our wallets. Stupid b.i.t.c.hes!"

Christa just shook her head. "You're a real piece of work, aren't you? And I had such high hopes."

Andreas sneered. "High hopes. For me? That's a laugh. You'd be the first person in my life to have high hopes for me."

"You ... you were the only zombie I've been able to reach in six years of trying. Do you realize how many I tried to connect with? Hundreds. The first time I finally succeed, and this is what you do. You're the kind of jerk that gets drunk and hires prost.i.tutes. Then, the first chance you get to make your own choice, you decide to rip a person apart."

Andreas stood up quickly and staggered back. "Why did you call me a zombie? I'm not one of those d.a.m.n freaks. My brother died fighting in the war against those freaks. I'm not one of them."

"Yes, as a matter of fact you were. Not now though. You've changed. I know, because I've been there. I went through what you're going through."

"You. No d.a.m.n way you were a freak. Look at you, you're too hot to have been one of them."

Christa glared back at him. "Shut the h.e.l.l up. Don't ever talk about me like that. You don't ever get to talk about me like that. Never again."

"Sorry. Jeez, I meant it as a compliment."

Christa pointed a finger at him. "Never again."

Christa started pacing around the deck while Andreas watched her. For the first time, she noticed Leekasha. Leekasha hadn't moved from her spot since the captain's untimely demise. She just stood there and stared back and forth at the two of them. Andreas noticed Christa staring at Leekasha as well, and asked, "What's she doing? Why does she keep looking at us?"

Christa answered, "She's looking for direction. She doesn't know what to do next. The captain was her controller and now he's gone. She's waiting for one of us to tell her what to do."

"She'll do whatever someone tells her to do?"

"Yes, that's what the drug does to them. It makes them mindless pa.s.sive robots. Well, not really mindless. Their minds ... your mind until just a few minutes ago ... are disconnected from their bodies." Andreas looked confused. "It's complicated. I'll explain things later. Right now, we have a huge d.a.m.n mess on our hands. Thanks to you, the first human has died at the hands of a zombie in six years. For six whole years the war has been over, and in a single instant you and I have started it up again. They can't find out what happened here. There's no way I'm going to be responsible for the deaths of millions of zombie slaves. That's what they'll do. They'll kill every single one of them out of fear and desperation."

Andreas looked even more confused than ever. "Who will? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the genocide of an entire species. I'm talking about every zombie being murdered by those that control them. Every human in the Americas will act on instinct. They remember what the war was like. If they believe even for an instant that their zombie slaves can turn on them, they'll murder every last one of them."

Now Andreas looked scared. "So, now what do we do? We need to get out of here before they find us."

Christa thought for a moment. "We need to scuttle the boat. This boat can never reach sh.o.r.e. There'll be no way to explain all of this away."

Together Again.

Chaz couldn't remember the last time he was this excited and nervous all at the same time. One of the deals he had the regent agree to was a sit-down session with his family. Before he put himself into another potentially life-threatening situation, he wanted to know that his family would be there for him. They didn't trust him alone yet, so he had a military escort drive him to the prison. He initially asked for Alex to be his escort, but of course that idea got shot down. No big surprise there.

As Chaz went through prison security, he was surprised how empty the facilities were. He still remembered during wartime how popular it was to be incarcerated. Prison was actually one of the safest places to be. Not only were you ineligible for military duty, but prisons were almost as hard to break into as they were to get out of. There had been some political controversy over the spending of money to build new prisons during wartime, but nothing that couldn't be overcome with spin doctors and great speech writers. Politicians were actually selling the public on the angle that the old prisons would be great for herding the growing zombie population into. Humans would of course be kept separate in the new prison facilities. In reality, the government at the time was really building state-of-the-art facilities for themselves and their families in the event of a total catastrophic breakdown. The wanted to be sure that they had a place to go while the rest of the country went to h.e.l.l and burned around them.

They must have been busted at some point, thought Chaz. Probably one of the excuses they used to justify this whole new regent governing system.

Chaz waited in a very nice room with a comfortable sofa and a coffee table. Pictures of sailboats and sunsets were arranged tastefully on the walls. Initially the prison official had him in a basic interrogation room, until Chaz reminded the official he was here at the special request of the regent. Sure she may not be royalty, but a little name dropping seemed to get me what I wanted pretty quick. Maybe I should have let them tell Abby who was requesting some time with her. She probably would have outright refused. That's not a risk I'm willing to take at this point. If I'm doing this, I need to know I'm doing it for all the right reasons. Reconciliation is likely out of the question, but at least a chance to talk with Abby and the kids makes it worthwhile.

Chaz was sitting down when he heard the door open, but quickly got to his feet. The look on Abby's face when she saw him across the room was almost enough to convince Chaz to do the mission. The initial look of confusion led to tears and eventually laughter after a hug that seemed to go on forever.

"If you're going to hug me like that, I'll have to remember to go into a coma more often."

They both had a good laugh over that before Abby replied, "It's my turn to go into the next coma, then you can see how it feels. There's no d.a.m.n way I'd go through that again. I'd never make it. I barely survived this one. Look at me. I'm a celebrity criminal in prison and my kids hate me. I could use a good long break in a coma for a change."

"Alright, alright. You get dibs on the next coma," Chaz answered. "Speaking of the kids, where are they? I specifically asked for them to be here."

"If we're going to talk about the kids, you should sit down." Abby released him from her hug, but held on to Chaz's hand as they sat down next to each other on the couch. "I don't know why the kids aren't here, but I would a.s.sume it's because they want nothing to do with either of us. If they even suspected that this would be a family get-together, they would have downright refused to come."

"I don't understand. You guys were always so close, it was me that was the outsider all these years. I was the one that never really fit in."

"Things change, Chaz. We've been through a h.e.l.l of a lot the last few years. Hiding out on the run was no treat, but it was a picnic compared to being dragged through a public trial. Through most of it, the kids were teenagers. Being teenagers was tough enough, but teenagers from a broken home trying to survive a zombie apocalypse and then being branded cowards in front of the entire country was more than they could take. Sure, we were close when we left, but not anymore."

"Maybe I can get them in here. Let me explain to them what happened and why. That it wasn't your fault. I don't mind taking the fall for this. I know I deserve it. At least you three could be together again."

Abby sat back on the couch and put both hands on her knees. "Wow, we're not the only ones that changed a lot. You're willing to take responsibility for all this? That's not the same man I remember walking out the door on his way to war with hardly a goodbye for any of us."

Chaz paused for a moment and looked up. "That's not a moment I'm particularly proud of. Over the years I've learned that there was a better way of handling that. If I can get you all to give me another chance, I won't walk out on this family ever again. I know that's a lot to ask, but I really mean it.

"I don't know if that's even possible anymore, Chaz. The kids seem so far gone, and Caius keeps pushing me further and further away. He won't even make the time to talk with Shax and she was the one person I'd always thought he'd stand by. I'm really worried about him. He's not making the best of choices. He's a.s.sociating with that revolutionary faction, the Freeze."

"I've never heard of them, but I'm still catching up on things. You'd be surprised what you miss in six years."

"I'm serious, Chaz. I'm really worried about him. Someone needs to reach him. Maybe you could. There's a lot of anger to get through, but so much of that is because he didn't have a real father growing up. If you're willing to be patient with his hatred and listen to him, he might just let you in. That would be so great."

"Yeah, I could do that. Taking abuse is not really my strong suit, but I owe you all at least that much."

"Wow, this is great. Maybe we do have a chance, and now that you're not in the military anymore you'll truly have time for this. The kids hate the military. They don't know it like we did when we were young. They just blame it for all our problems, and for taking their father away. I can't say I was too fond of it in the end."

Chaz sat back and stared at the wall. "OK, um, that might be difficult. I do have one more thing to do, and it's kind of military related. There's this one mission they ..."

Abby just gave him a blank stare. "You're kidding, right? You left the military years ago. The last time we talked, you said you were done. Why would you be doing anything with them?"

"They didn't tell you how I ended up in a coma? After we talked, there was this friend I had to help out, and it kind of ended up being a military sort of thing."

"Kind of military? If there's one thing I learned during my stint in the army, it's that it either is or it isn't. There's no in between. There's no 'kind of.'"

"You're right, it was. But, that doesn't matter now. They told me I could keep you guys out of prison and they'd drop the charges against me if I did this for them."

"Charges against you? For what?"

"Desertion, mainly. It doesn't matter now. What's important is we could have a chance together. All of us."

"There's always something with you. I don't know, Chaz. Maybe this is a bad idea. Some things just aren't meant to be. It never dawned on me that we wouldn't be doing prison time. It just didn't seem possible. Now, with this group showing an interest in Caius, it might be better if he just stayed locked up. At least in here you know who you're dealing with. Those revolutionaries are scary. If they have their way, we could all be back to war again. Then what?"

Chaz tried to make eye contact with Abby. "It doesn't have to be that way. If I can just spend some time and talk with him ..."

"And how exactly are you going to do that when you're chasing this one last mission? How do you know they'll even hold up their part of the bargain? How do you know there won't be another mission after this one? They could drag this out forever."

Chaz pleaded, "Abby, they won't. This comes from high up. I can't say much, but trust me, they'll do their part."

Abby stood up and crossed the room. "Honestly, Chaz, this doesn't sound right. This is all starting to bring back bad memories. You tried fixing us before and look how that turned out. You do what you think you have to do, and we'll do what we have to do."

Abby walked to the door and knocked for the guard.

Chaz asked, "Abby, what does that mean? Don't leave it like this. We can figure this out."

The guard opened the door, and Abby rushed out without even looking back.

No Doubt.

Chaz was lost in his thoughts on the car ride back to the fort. I really wish this guy would let me do the driving back to the fort. At least I'd have something to take my mind off things. It was great to see Abby again, at least for the first few minutes. Our conversations always seem to start off great, but then turn to s.h.i.t at the least little problem. It's just one more mission, then we can be done with all this and get back together again. Why doesn't she see it that way? Is it really that difficult? The kids never make anything easy. It's always some sort of added problem. We've always had a hard enough time just working out our issues. Once you throw the kids into the mix, it becomes impossible. I suppose they're not really kids anymore. They're practically adults. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that. Maybe once I spend some time with them I'll be able to look at them that way. Right now, it just seems too strange.

Chaz looked out the window. They were just pa.s.sing through some farm fields and coming up to a town. He'd missed the name, but he figured they were about halfway there.

"How much further to go?" he asked the driver.

"We've got about an hour, but I have to pick up someone else first."

"Someone else? What are we, the local transit authority? Who are we picking up?"

"No idea, sir. I just have orders to stop at the Hills Motel on the outskirts of town and wait. It's just up ahead."

"This ride just keeps getting stranger and stranger."

They pulled into the parking lot of the motel and waited. No one approached the car right away. They were parked facing the main road, but not much traffic pa.s.sed by. Five minutes later, a man in dark pants and a golf shirt approached the car. Before he got too close, the driver rolled down his window and said, "Is there something I can help you with, sir?"

The man kept walking closer and answered in a gravelly voice, "I've got a message for Colonel Chaz Sheperd. Any idea where I can find him?"

"Yes, sir," the driver said as he got out of the car and opened the rear door for the man, motioning him inside.

The man took a seat and told the driver to wait outside as he closed the door. As Chaz and the man shook hands, he said, "My name's Rabban. I'm the cultural grievances adviser to the regent, but it looks like today I'm just a messenger."

Chaz smiled and remarked, "I thought the regent got all her advice from a fancy computer. Why would she need you?"

"My position is somewhat unofficial in nature, but quite necessary. Let's just say computers are great at a lot of things, but when it comes down to people problems they need a little extra help."

"I see, so you're a people person."

"Something like that." Rabban smiled back.

"So what's the message, Rabban? What's so important that you need to meet me in a motel parking lot in the middle of nowhere?"