Zom-B Underground (Zom-B 2)

Chapter Nineteen

We hang around like a bunch of muppets, jaws open, senses reeling, until Tiberius finally stirs. "We've gotta get out of here."

"What about Danny?" Mark asks.

"Do you have any idea where his cell is?" Tiberius replies.

"No."

"Then forget about him."

"Wait a moment." I can't believe what I'm thinking as I stare at the remains of Dr. Cerveris.

"You want to tuck into his brain?" Cathy sneers. "Good luck - I doubt Rage left much."

"It's not that - although now that you mention it..."

Scraps of brain dot the interior of the dead doctor's head. Ignoring my feelings of disgust, I run my fingers around it, then suck them, drawing a small burst of strength from the meager blobs. When the rest of the zom heads see that, they push in and copy me. They all come away with flecks of brain on their fingers, though I got the lion's share of what was left.

When we've scraped Dr. Cerveris's skull completely clean, I return to it, stick a hand into the hole in the doctor's head, then feel around until I find the back of the eye that Rage didn't puncture. I push softly while cutting around the flesh at the front of the socket with my other hand.

"What's she doing?" Cathy squeals. "Has she gone mad?"

"I don't think so," Tiberius mutters. "The sensors... If we want to get out of here, we'll have to get through doors that require fingerprints and a retinal scan."

Dr. Cerveris's eye oozes from its socket. I wipe the goo away, cup it gently in my palm and step back. "I did the eye. Who's gonna cut off one of his hands?"

There's a pause. Then Gokhan bends and starts slicing.

"This is so gross," Cathy moans, but her lips are twitching and I can tell she's trying hard not to smile. I feel like chuckling too. It shouldn't be funny, but it is. I'm sure I'll feel awful later when I look back on this, but right now I'm on an unnatural high.

"Nice of him to lend us a hand," Tiberius deadpans, and I almost explode with laughter. I'm not the only one.

"Come on," Mark snaps. He doesn't find this in any way entertaining. "If we're to escape, we'll need to be quick, before they find us."

"Who are they, Worm?" Peder snorts.

"The soldiers or the people who attacked." Mark shrugs. "One's as bad as the other, right?"

"What if they're here to free us?" Cathy says. "Maybe it's an army of zom heads come to break us out."

I remember Mr. Dowling and the spiders. "No," I sigh. "I don't know who or what they are, but they haven't come to help us. Mark's right. We need to split ASAP, before we end up like Dr. Cerveris."

I start off in the direction that Rage sent us, not wanting to risk a run-in with him, and after a moment of hesitation the rest of them fall in behind me.

I think about the butchered Dr. Cerveris as we progress, worrying about what happened. It wasn't the fact that Rage killed him that bugs me. It's how I reacted. I was on the verge of losing control. The sight of the brain triggered something inside me, and I almost switched off and went into full-on zombie mode.

I would have eaten anybody's brain right then. If I hadn't recovered my wits by chance, I'd have gone after Reilly. If I'd killed him and feasted, that would have been the end of me. I know that fresh brains are essential for revitalizeds, that I need to eat to hold on to my senses. But if I'd given in to my baser instincts and fed in such a grisly, inhuman fashion, I think I would have regressed anyway, and gladly, all too happy to leave my conscious self behind.

I'm clinging onto my semi-humanity, but only just. It won't be long now. Soon I'll hit a critical point and then it's bye-bye, Becky Smith, hellooooo, zom-B!

***