Ascension

'I shot you.'

'Yes, very observant. I survived and you did too, in a fashion. I need you and I will have you. How would you like to kill the man responsible for all of this? Isn't that better than just taking out a couple of his leaders?' Aubrey asked.

Katie shook her head, 'You killed Randy. I'll kill you, I swear I will, if it's the last thing I do.'

'I've killed a lot of people; it wasn't personal, but you almost got me, it if that is any consolation.'

Katie remembered struggling, pitting her will against that of Aubrey, she was like a kitten fighting against and elephant.

'I see we'll have to do this the hard way. Well, that is what I've been practicing for. Now I've learned that what is taken away can never be restored, but I've also been trying some things to work around that problem. You might think I am just shaping you to be a tool that I never think about again, and truth be told if you accomplish what I need, the end would justify the means. However, my tests have proven that I am more of a mechanic than a surgeon. I lack the finesse of wiping out vast swaths of your memory and replacing them with my directions and I need your skills and abilities as intact as I can have them.'

'I will kill you.' Katie ground out between clenched jaws.

'Yes, yes, we'll get to that later. First things first. You're alive. You never died. You will forget all of this until I tell you otherwise.' Aubrey said the words and Katie felt the changes in her head. The woman was inside her head, moving things around. She wasn't removing things, she was putting instruction in Katie's brain of what to remember. Katie screamed, raising her head to glare up at the shattered windows of the office building on one side of the street. That was when she saw Randy.

He looked serene, a link to her past and, thankfully, he was not a zombie. Katie was sure of this. 'Shoot me! Kill me Randy! Shoot me!' Katie begged.

Aubrey paused in her work, 'Randy?' the woman looked closer into Katie's head, 'Ah, your partner. You're lover. Naughty-naughty, you know the rules against what you did! You were a cold, standoffish bitch to him weren't you? Just a friend with benefits?' Aubrey snorted, 'Well I think you did a pretty good job of deluding yourself there, didn't you?' She turned back to her work.

Randy stepped out of the building and approached Katie's side, holding out a hand and shaking his head quietly, finger held to his lips, his voice, a bare whisper said, 'Don't speak. I don't know everything, but I can keep part of you, for a little while. I can come with you. I can help.'

Katie screamed again and yelled, 'Yes! Yes!'

Aubrey, misunderstood Katie's outburst, she nodded her approval, 'It is better if you just accept it. After this we'll work on hiding yourself from our kind. I think you will be the best pupil yet. I have a whole slew of mission objectives for you, don't worry; we'll get through this.'

The memories faded again to the present where Randy's arms encircled her in the restaurant, holding her tightly. She quickly composed herself and tried to pull away. He held onto to her.

'All done?' he asked.

Katie relaxed and leaned back. Randy wasn't real, she had nothing to pull away from. 'I'm missing large chunks of memory.'

'I was too. Whatever Aubrey did to you almost affected me. I've been a little off ever since you started heading south. I knew something was wrong, I knew I had to provoke you to figure it out, but I couldn't do it on my own.'

'You're dead.'

Randy's soft laughter echoed in the deserted shop. 'So are you.'

'But you're not a zombie.'

'No. I guess I just wasn't finished here yet.'

'So, you're a ghost?'

'Listen, Katie, I don't know what to think. I suppose 'ghost' covers it, well enough, but I think we have to make a decision about some things and we have to act fast. Do you remember the old guy who was just here?'

'I remember.'

'Good. I don't think he is alone. I think the man who started this mess is across the street and we might have a chance at taking him out.' Randy said.

'Why bother?' Katie asked bitterly, 'I'm on his team now.'

'He killed me. He killed you. He killed the entire world. I'd like a little payback.'

'Again, what's the point?'

'Where the hell is the old Katie? We hate these things we want to send them back to the grave. Nothing has changed.'

Katie snorted and wiped her arm across her eyes, 'Except we're dead. I find this whole thing pretty goddamned pointless now. God I just want to throw up. But I know I can't. If you want this guy so much, you go after him.'

'I doubt my ability to press keys on a laptop will impress him much. But a bullet in his brain would be nice.'

'If he doesn't stop us first.' Katie said, 'Aubrey controlled me like a puppet on a string. And this dude was her boss.'

'I don't think he knows you're here.'

'How can that be?'

'I…well if he knew you were sitting outside his evil lair, I think you'd be dead by now. Dead again, I mean. I think Aubrey did something to you to keep you below his radar.'

'If she could make me go below his radar, that means she could do the same thing. So…she might be there too. I could kill her.'

'After killing him.'

'Whose side are you on?'

'I think there are two revenges to get here, one for humanity, one for you. Which is more important?'

'Damn it, Randy! You'll always be a soldier, won't you?'

'This we'll defend.' Randy answered, quoting the Army service motto.

'Fuck you.'

'I hope you like it cold.'

Katie laughed, 'Okay. You win, again. But I am saving a bullet for when I run into that bitch Aubrey.'

Katie rolled over onto her hands and knees, the memories still spinning in her head made her pause for a moment.

'You okay? I thought you said you were okay?'

'Gimme a minute.'

'You might not have it.' Randy said, he was staring out the window.

'What? What do you see?'

'Your good friend Aubrey has arrived, and she brought help, it looks like.'

Katie pulled herself up to the low window, no longer too concerned about avoiding the eyes of the zombies across the street. What she saw was amazing. Randy was right, Aubrey was there and she hadn't come alone. The dark cloud hanging over the clinic continued to pour rain down on the street and it made the fighting all that much more interesting to watch.

The zombies stationed outside the building across the street didn't seem to notice anything going on at first. Then, as one, they turned towards the attack. One of the people outside the yacht restoration place turned too late to avoid being axed in the head by another zombie, but he did convulsively pull the trigger of his assault rifle and sent a trail of bullets right at Katie, the window shattered inward with the rain and wind.

'Fuck me! That was close!' Katie said, pointing at the bullet holes in the wall behind her.

'Look! The second stringers are all down! Looks like the royal guard is coming out now.' Randy said.

'How can you see anything in this shit?' Katie asked picking up her rifle and hoping that the scope would help her see things more clearly. Putting the rifle to her eye Katie saw the zombies moving so quickly that they looked like a special effects stunt from a movie. Two of the attackers went down under the onslaught, none of the defenders who were left were using guns now, instead they all had clubs or blades of some kind. In a moment