Zombies! (Episode 4): The Sick and the Dead by Ivan Turner Read Free Book Online Page B

were popping up in other parts of New York and even other parts of the country, Push Ups remained "ground zero", so to speak. Dr. Luco had shut the place down for three days while conducting an in depth forensic analysis of the place, but hadn't turned up anything. According to her, the bacteria didn't survive long outside of anything living. She'd wanted to post a notice to the customers but the owner had flipped out, threatening all sorts of lawsuits. With the mass evacuation and the paranoia spreading, any public connection between the plague and the gym would destroy him. Without any solid evidence to the contrary, they couldn't classify the gym as a breeding ground for the bacteria so the whole thing had been dropped.
     
    Abby's job, though, hung by a tether. Rather than looking at things rationally, the owner blamed her for the connection. After all, if she hadn't taken Karl to the emergency room, there would be no link. But, of course, Heron would still have made the connection. So he kept ties with Abby, asking her to watch the customers for any signs of sickness or irregularity in their patterns. She'd agreed she would and let him know if anything came up. So far, there had been nothing.
     
    At any rate, Abby had become more than a business acquaintance. Heron had met her husband. He was a nice enough guy, if not a bit too aggressive. They had a two year old son, only three years younger than his own daughter. They were far enough apart that the two kids weren't going to be friends, but close enough so that there was plenty for the parents to talk about, although Alicia hadn't yet met either one of the Benjamins.
     
    "And after that?"
     
    He looked up. "Hmmm? What did you say?"
     
    "Where are you going after Push Ups ?"
     
    "Oh. Back to the office, I suppose. We're still trying to lock down a pattern of the infection."
     
    "No calls?"
     
    He gave her the look. His doctor had told him that he still wasn't strong enough to go on calls. In his position as leader of the task force, he didn't really need to go on calls anyway. That was Culph's job.
     
    She hesitated, focusing on maneuvering through some complicated internet links. "What time will you be home?"
     
    He thought it through a moment, ran some numbers. "Around seven I’d say."
     
    "That late?"
     
    "Late start."
     
    "You need to spend more time with Mellie."
     
    "I know."
     
    She looked up at him, appraising him. "Are you all right?"
     
    Heron finished his coffee and put the mug in the dish washer. He didn't bother to answer the question. Good feelings aside, he was battling a lot of stress and didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. At least he'd stopped taking it out on his family. Moving over to her, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips.
     
    "I love you," he said to her and then left.
     
    ***
     
    CULPH was waiting for him at the precinct. Culph worked a lot. In fact, he worked so often that he was always there when Heron arrived and always there when he left. Over the weeks, Heron had been sensing a growing frustration in the young man. At first, he hadn't understood it, but as they came to know each other, the reasons became clear enough. A lack of action was making him restless. When offered the job, Culph had jumped on it, expecting to be in the thick of an exciting development, but none of that had panned out. There had been plenty of looters early on, but then the city had emptied out and their job and become even more dull. Even the calls that had come in hadn't really provided Culph with the necessary satisfaction. From Heron's perspective, Culph wished himself in the middle of the apocalypse, fighting off zombies with a shotgun and a pitchfork. For his part, Heron hoped it would never come to that.
     
    "Good morning, Lieutenant," Culph greeted him, not looking up from his computer screens.
     
    Lieutenant . Why was Heron always the last to know? Three weeks before, when Naughton had put him in charge of the task