ya?”
Rainbow keeps quiet as Mr. T raises his voice. Her face becomes flushed. Junko pulls the second longest piece of hair and thinks nothing of it.
When Scavy is left with the longest piece of hair, his face lights up.
“What?” he says. “I got the longest! No shit!”
“We’ve got your back,” Mr. T says.
“But I don’t deserve this,” Scavy says. “I think Junko should take it. I’m just a fucking scumbag loser.”
“You’re not a loser to me,” says Mr. T. “I saw you take out that nazi fool all by yourself. In my opinion, you’re a first class hero.”
Mr. T smiles bright white teeth at Scavy.
“I’ll trade you,” Rainbow says. “You said you don’t deserve to go, so give me the long straw. You can have the short one.”
Scavy doesn’t want to give her his straw.
“Fine,” she says. “Junko can take the long straw and I’ll take the second longest. How about that?”
Scavy thinks about it. Though he likes the idea of giving Junko the long straw, he would rather not give Rainbow the second longest.
“No trades,” Mr. T says. “We all agreed before we drew. This is the lineup. No matter what, we got to stick with that, or else none of us will get home.”
“I agree,” Junko says.
Scavy puts the lock of hair in his pocket and nods his head. After an intimidating stare from Mr. T, Rainbow nods her head as well.
Vine stands on a rooftop overlooking the hospital. He sees Nemesis, standing on the roof of the hospital as still as a statue. She is naked, her cold white skin glimmering in the sunlight as the sun peeks out from a sheet of gray clouds, her long black hair flowing in the breeze.
His hands shake as he stares at her. Vine doesn’t know exactly what he’s going to do. He’s lost without Xiu and Zippo. He knows Xiu would want him to finish the mission. He has to kill the woman with the paper-white skin, reclaim the artwork, and wait for the helicopter to arrive. But he’s not sure he can fight without Xiu telling him what to do.
There was only one time in his life that Vine was in a similar situation. In his early twenties, Vine had become separated from Xiu and Zippo in a city along the Mexican coast. He was all alone and had to make it back to the ship by himself.
At first, he couldn’t even walk on his own. He was just a dead severed limb. Then zombies started to come for him.
“Cerebros!” they said.
He still couldn’t move. If he had Xiu he could have cut them all down with his wire in less than a second, but operating his wires was difficult for him. It was always as if she was the one operating his wires for him. But then something happened. When the zombies got too close, his survival instincts clicked in and without thinking about it he cut down every last zombie on the street.
He looked at his hands. He was able to move them. He tried his feet. He was able to move them, too. That’s when he realized it was possible for him to move on his own, without the commands of his Head.
But as he crept through the city, he still had problems using his own thoughts. That is, until he channeled Xiu’s voice. He found that if he pretended his thoughts were really Xiu’s thoughts, he could move on his own. Perhaps he wasn’t as efficient of a soldier without his Head, but he was still capable of defending himself.
Zombies ran at him from left and right. His wires darted out of his wrist, cut off their heads, then came back. He shot a wire at a zombie pig, hooked onto its snout, spun around, and tossed the pig face-first into a wall.
Although he did not feel at all whole, he was still a competent zombie-killing machine. He cut his way through the streets, down to the beach, and was picked up by the closest ship. When he met with Xiu again, she rested her forehead against his chest. His thoughts emptied from his head, her thoughts filled it up. From that moment on, he had no need to think on his own. Until now.
Vine focuses his thoughts, attempts to bring back the method he used years ago. He tries to imagine his thoughts are really Xiu’s commands. If he focuses hard enough, envisioning Xiu by his side just out of view, he will be able to complete his mission.
Just as Vine launches his wire at the next building and swings toward the ground, he sees a black vehicle barreling across the weed-coated parking lot, heading straight for the hospital.
“There it is,” Junko says, as they drive across the parking lot to the hospital. “We need to get onto the roof.”
As they race toward the hospital, the vehicle shows no signs of slowing down.
“So how do we stop this thing?” Scavy asks.
Junko looks at him. “I was hoping you had some ideas.”
“I didn’t think that far ahead,” Scavy says.
The wall of the hospital closes in on them.
“Jump!” Mr. T cries, opening his door and rolling out into the street.
“Oh, fuck,” Rainbow says.
Scavy grabs the hippy and they roll out of the car across the fractured asphalt, scraping up her elbows and knees.
When it’s Junko’s turn, she waits for the last minute. When she moves to the side of the vehicle with the lawn gnome, the car swerves. This slows it down enough for her to jump out safely. The car slams through the wall of the building, causing an avalanche of bricks. The entire front of the hospital collapses onto the smart-car, nearly knocking Junko off her feet as she retreats.
Mr. T is helping up Scavy and Rainbow when Junko arrives to them. They are engulfed by a cloud of dust from the building, filling their lungs with grit, blinding them. Junko waves the dust away from her face and tries to focus.
“We need to move,” Junko says, hacking up bits of rubble. “That crash is going to attract a lot of zombies.”
“But aren’t we safe from them with the gnome?” Rainbow asks.
“Not if the battery runs out,” says Mr. T.
The sound of screaming zombies echoes in the distance. Coming from every block surrounding the hospital, the undead are on the run, forming together into the largest horde of the undead they have yet faced. Beyond the parking lot, a tidal wave of zombies flows in their direction.
“Here they come,” Junko says, holding the gnome tightly to her chest.
As the dust settles, they see a lone figure standing on top of the rubble: A nude woman with a double-bladed sword.
“Who’s the bitch?” Scavy asks.
“Is she another contestant?” Rainbow asks.
Junko squints her eyes, then shakes her head.
“I don’t think so,” she says. “If she was a contestant she would have taken the helicopter and gotten out of here already.”
Nemesis stares at the four contestants, determining which target she should take down first. The large man with the metal body is obviously the strongest. If he is eliminated the others will have little chance of survival.
Mr. T jumps between the woman and his friends, as Nemesis tosses her curved double-bladed sword at them. He reaches out to grab the weapon on the air, but it cuts off the little finger on his left hand. The blade continues spinning through the air, curving across the parking lot, and returns to Nemesis’ hand. Mr. T looks down at the sparks fizzling from the remains of his finger. He clenches a fist.
He looks up at her. She leans on one leg, her head cocking to the side.
