Flip This Zombie - Jesse Petersen [78]
“Then why did you need us?” I asked with a shake of my head. “Why call us here and ask us to catch you zombies if you were capable of creating and testing on them on your own?”
He shrugged. “I have created them and tested on fresh and actively turning specimens, yes. But what I told you when we first met was also true. I needed more zombies of differing kinds and rot levels.”
“Why not get them yourself?” I pressed. “You’re clearly more than capable.”
He sniffed like the idea was beneath him. “I wasn’t about to go out myself and try to capture them. So you truly were doing me a service by helping me run my tests and increase my… what did you call it, David? My Undead Army.”
I winced because let’s face it, this was my fault. Dave never would have gone along with Barnes’s request if not for me and my insistence that we try to save the world.
“How many were there down here to start with?” Dave asked. “Alive before the outbreak.”
“Ten,” Barnes admitted without hesitation.
“So you killed eight people?” Dave breathed.
“Well, seven,” Barnes said, unapologetic and even bored. “The first one was infected before we were locked down.”
I paced to the corner of the room. “And Robbie saw all this? He knows you murdered his mother, that you slaughtered these people?”
“He’s eleven, Sarah, I know better than to expose him to such things. That’s how people become serial killers.” Barnes shook his head. “No, I protected him from all of that, kept him safe from what was happening around us. And the fact that only the two of us survived the lockdown actually brought us closer together. He needs me and loves me just as a good son should. A fact I think you saw demonstrated today.”
Dave swiped a hand over his face. “And what if we tell him what you did?”
There was a moment’s hesitation. “Why would he believe you over me, his father?” Barnes asked.
“He’s a smart kid—” I began.
He turned his attention on me immediately. “Oh no, Sarah. Robbie tested in the top one percent on all the standard I.Q. tests. He’s a genius, not smart. But he’s a boy. And I doubt you’ll sway him to turn on the one remaining parent he possesses.”
Dave turned toward me, catching my arm so that we faced away from the speakers and the window. “He’s probably right. We have to focus on ourselves now. If we can get to The Kid, fine. If not, well, I’d like to live and stuff.”
“I doubt that will be an option,” Barnes’s voice came from behind us.
“God, I’m really starting to hate that guy,” I said through clenched teeth before I faced the window. “Okay, jerk-off. So you have us, you don’t want us to let anyone else know about your little mad scientist lab, we have no recourse, what’s the plan?”
Before he could answer, the door behind him opened and suddenly The Kid reappeared at his dad’s shoulder. For a brief second, he looked at us through the glass, then he turned away. He whispered something to his father.
Barnes nodded. “Very good.”
I kept my gaze on Robbie. Although Barnes was right that it would be almost impossible to turn The Kid on his only surviving parent, Robbie didn’t look very happy at the moment. The fact that he couldn’t even bring himself to look at us gave me a little hope.
And maybe it was time for him to grow up and know exactly what his dad did to people who didn’t fall in line behind him. Whether that got us out of this or not, it might save The Kid down the line.
“So you’re going to kill us?” I pressed, moving up to the glass so Robbie would be sure to see me. And I could see him. He flinched. “How? Gas us? Shoot us?”
Barnes’s face jerked to me. “Nothing so barbaric. Now Robbie, you may return to your chamber if you’d like.”
“No, why not let The Kid know what you’re going to do to his friends?” I leaned against the glass. “If it isn’t going to be barbaric, then tell me what humane means you’re going to use to get rid of us and keep us from going against your desires, Dr. Barnes?”
He stared at me through the glass. Our faces were less than a foot apart. He