White Trash Zombie Unchained (White Trash Zombie 6)

Marcus paced the length of the north conference room while Brian pulled up the surveillance video. Dr. Nikas sat at the table across from me, and I silently counted to a thousand to keep any hint of guilt off my face. Not that I felt the slightest bit of remorse about helping Kang escape, but no sense being obvious about it.

Brian clicked a button. “Here’s Kang’s room right before he makes his move.” The wall screen lit up with a view of the gauze-wrapped Kang lying motionless on the bed, the closed door visible beyond him.

For nearly half a minute nothing happened. Then, moving almost too fast to follow, Kang leaped from the bed and to the door, punched a code in, and slipped out.

“How did he have a code?” Marcus demanded.

I shrugged. “If he was really awake the whole time, he could’ve watched any of us put it in.”

Marcus scowled, but appeared to accept my hypothesis. It was a darn good hypothesis, too, especially considering I wasn’t stupid. I’d given Kang Pierce’s code—which I knew because I’d watched him use it more times than I could count.

Brian played it again

at half speed, giving a nod of appreciation at Kang’s economy of movement. When it finished, he switched to the feed from the hallway outside Kang’s room, side by side with the view of the corridor that intersected it. He glanced at us and winked. “Pierce would kill me if he heard me say it, but I could watch this next part a million times.”

He hit play. On the left, Kang exited his room and broke into a sprint toward the main corridor. On the right, Pierce strode with grim purpose down said corridor toward the intersection.

Marcus groaned as he realized what was coming. I bit the inside of my cheek to hold back a laugh.

As Pierce rounded the corner, Kang—without breaking stride, and with timing so precise it would put the space program to shame—leaped at him, somehow twisting in midair to seize Pierce in a chokehold from behind.

Kang sank his teeth into Pierce’s trapezius. Pierce shuddered and let out a low moan then went quiet.

Marcus stepped forward. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Kang did a control bite,” I said in awe. I’d instinctively done the same thing to Philip a year ago to keep him calm, but with nowhere near the pizzazz Kang had shown.

Dr. Nikas gave a reluctant nod. “He did indeed.” On the screen, a glassy-eyed Pierce walked to the far end of the hallway with Kang on his back like a gauze-wrapped tick.

Brian stopped the video. “Pierce walked him all the way to the garage and out—after first giving him a cooler of brains and a set of scrubs.”

“Pierce could not have hoped to resist,” Dr. Nikas said. “Not against Kang.”

“Because Kang is his zombie daddy,” I added sagely.

“So that’s it then?” Marcus asked, frowning. “Kang has escaped, and we’re not going after him?”

“How could he escape if he wasn’t a prisoner?” I asked sweetly, earning myself an exasperated look.

“What do you hope to gain from his recapture?” Dr. Nikas asked.

Marcus opened his mouth then closed it again. “Fuck if I know. Pierce never saw fit to tell me what he wanted from Kang.” He threw up his hands. “Fine. Kang is gone. More power to him. Now we can focus on the Kristi Charish shitstorm. Brian, will you catch me up on the latest intel?”

Brian and Marcus retreated to the far side of the room. I took the seat beside Dr. Nikas, wishing I knew how to erase the lines of stress on his face. “You want Kristi’s help.”

A sad smile touched Dr. Nikas’s mouth. “I cannot deny that her insight would be exceedingly valuable. And her point about having a personal stake in this is compelling. She wouldn’t want to risk the contagion spreading such that she herself might become infected, nor do I see her as genocidal via inaction.” At my blank expression, he clarified. “Not helping when she could unlock the answers.”

“I totally hate her, and I don’t trust her, but this is too important. I’ll support whatever you decide.” I tapped my nose. “You and Pierce can tell if she’s lying, right?”

“Alas, it’s quite difficult with her, unless she is caught off guard. She is comfortable in her lies, meaning there’s little change in her body chemistry through guilt or fear or anxiety, thus rendering our senses unreliable.”

The door banged open, and Pierce stepped in with Kyle right behind him. Pierce looked even grumpier than usual, which was no surprise considering Kang had made him into a Pierce-puppet.

His untamed eyebrows drew together in a glower. “There’ve been three new cases, according to my contact at the hospital.” He and Dr. Nikas exchanged a long look that practically shouted, We may not have a choice about accepting Kristi’s offer.

Kyle cleared his throat softly. “My contact in Chicago has informed me that Dr. Charish asked her assistant to ensure the Saberton private jet would be available this evening.”

I frowned. “She sure is confident we’ll welcome her with open arms.”