Kira sat on my lap and clung to me fiercely as the printer rattled and banged while kicking out color prints of the baby monster, its mother, and the rest of the room.
Shane, John and Ed walked through the office to enter the adjoining small meeting room. They were curious as to what the emergency meeting was about. I put them off by promising to show them something new and frightening after everyone arrived.
Kira and I entered the meeting room almost at the appointed time. Andrea, Ira, Frances, and Morgan had entered through the primary entrance. Everyone was there. We'd separated the photos into eight stacks of thirty-two and Kira passed them around as I took my place at the head of the table. All our members appeared curious and apprehensive as they took the photos. I pulled a digital recorder from my shirt pocket, laid it on the table and depressed the record button.
That curiosity caused everyone to flip through the pictures one by one, some faster than others. I heard, "Oh, my God!" "Holy shit." "What the hell?" and several bolder expletives voiced as total surprise and disbelief gave way to the gravity of what they saw.
Side conversations broke out as several members went through the photos a second time. After a few more minutes, I raised my voice above the side conversations.
"Okay, folks, you've all had time to grasp the enormity of what Frances and I experienced today. Before we discuss the situation, take a moment to mourn the loss of Jeff Tanka. He and a new member to Deliverance stumbled into what we took photos of. The funeral service will be tomorrow afternoon at two.”
A few seconds passed before I started on the meeting's agenda, "As you can see, these new zombies almost look human. The bloodshot red eyes and general grubbiness are the main features that set them apart from us. The close-up shots of the baby indicate it was born a few hours preceding the photos being taken. The photos of the female zombie clearly indicate, without doubt in my opinion, that she was the birth mother.
"Doc, is it possible the female was pregnant at the time she was attacked and became a zombie and that could have caused a normal human baby to transition with her?"
Doc's head cocked to the side and his eyebrows arched. He squirmed as he contemplated the question for half a minute. "There is so much about the zombies that is unknown; but I seriously doubt a human baby would be affected without direct contamination. However, I can't rule that out because it shares the mother's blood stream. I'm afraid I can't give you a definite yes or no with any authority."
Several members spoke until I cut them off. "There's more you need to know before a discussion begins. Frances, will you give your opinion on the growth of the infant we found? Remember everyone, the photos of the birth mother indicate the birth was very recent, a matter of hours." I looked to Ira. "Do you agree Ira?" He nodded and absently mumbled his agreement as he continued to stare at photos; he seemed distracted. I nodded to Frances.
"In my opinion, Tom is correct in everything he's said, and I agree with him completely. While the baby was newly borne, it showed signs of being nine months to a year old. As the pictures show, it was crawling and had a full set of upper and lower teeth, and a full head of hair that needed to be cut. I didn't touch it because it was slimy and dirty. The thing looked healthy, and I guessed it weighed eighteen to twenty pounds." She looked at the individuals for questions.
When none were forthcoming, I added, "There also was no stench like we've encountered with the stumbling slow zombies, because these hadn't rotted. Up close, they had an odor I associated with a homeless person who hadn't bathed in a year or more. Also, the wounds that killed them were dry; they appeared to have healed some time ago."
Ira glanced around the table. "I believe I can speak for all of us when I say I'm in shock. I suppose I shouldn't be amazed at this latest development because the very idea of the living dead zombies is absurd, to say the least. Medical science dictates it can't happen, but we all know it has. To acknowledge these monsters are having intercourse and babies are being born boggles the mind. As unthinkable as it sounds, we also must accept what Frances and Tom are telling us about the growth rate of the offspring. For a child several hours old to crawl and have the physical development described and documented in these photos, indicates an abnormal metabolism that leads to phenomenal growth. If that compresses the aging process it may also shorten the life cycle and cause them to age and die earlier than would be expected. That is the only hope I can offer. But don't take that as fact. I'm only guessing something like that could occur based on what I've heard here today." Ira leaned back in his chair and squinted, clearly in deep thought. Quickly he leaned forward again. "I'm not second guessing what the two of you did with that baby thing, but if the situation presents itself again it would be of enormous benefit to have that infant here in a cage for several months for us to observe and
