Discovery

“Alright doc, how long will it take to see if he is playing for the other team.”

“I can tell with about ninety five percent certainty in less than a minute in the lab. Do you want to wait here?”

The sheriff nodded and the doctor took the vials out of the room with him.

“So if I am clean, then what? You let me go?”

“No. No way. You see I checked this morning and your kids were evacuated, but no one had told you anything. There is no way you could have known. So there is something wrong with you.”

“Wrong good?”

“Not in my book. How many zombies have you killed Max? You and your friends?”

“A dozen, I don't know, how many have you killed?”

“None. I've seen the soldiers shoot a few at the checkpoints, but other than that I haven't seen anything. I have been reading the dispatches the military gets and I get faxed information on my own too, through the law enforcement network.”

“So the military hasn't taken over local law enforcement yet?”

“They have, but we are operating as an independent task force, charged with keeping the civilian population in line and out of the military's way.”

“You know, sheriff, me and my group were traveling further south of here.”

“No Max, I don't really know anything about you, other than you are disrupting my holding cell, and somehow managed to know we were moving other civilians out of town today and most importantly you smashed your way though some safety glass with your bare hands without even a bruise to show for it.”

“The glass was weak. Maybe it was a bad batch?”

“And maybe it wasn't. I've read reports of people like you, people who get too close to too many zombies, we are supposed to be on the lookout for them.”

“What do you do with us when you find us?”

“You'll love this, we send you to Des Moines, there is a group there that wants to study you.”

“So you will separate me from my family?”

“Yes. Things are not going well for the country. You might hold a key to stop this.”

“What if…” Max was interrupted by the Doctor's return.

“He is probably not dead. Ninety five percent anyway.”

“So it looks like you are going to Des Moines then.”

“What about my friends?”

“They will be tested too. Don't you worry about that.” Then to the doctor, “Document what we have on him, that he seems to be able to sense his family and that he doesn't get hurt when he pounds through safety glass, then let's get him on a truck east.”

“Not south?”

“No sir, we are sending people south to board a train, that way we can re-use the buses. You will go by car straight east through Iowa City, then cut down to Des Moines. You should be there tonight.”

Max glared sullenly at the sheriff, “I told you I came from the south, there are a million zombies down there. The people on the buses won't ever make it to the train, you've sentenced my kids to death you son of a bitch.”

The sheriff looked at Max, but didn't say anything as he and the doctor stepped out into the hallway to continue their discussion. When Max yelled louder one of them reached back and shut off the lights before pulling the door shut, leaving him alone with what little light poured into the office from a small window near the ceiling.

Chapter 22

Red was perplexed, he could see that Max was in the county courthouse near the center of town, on the third floor in a room that looked to him like it was part of the county jail. Why was Max in jail? For that matter, he recognized the life patterns of the woman cop. And a few of the others looked familiar too. It was just after dawn, around seven in the morning and Red was standing on the street outside of a small diner sipping a coffee he had bought a few minutes before. Getting into town had been easy, he had circled the place and come in through a field that butted up against the city park. With his ability to sense where the humans were it had been a piece of cake.

'And if I can do it, so can other zombies. Zombies without my good intentions'. He thought to himself. 'Humanity doesn't stand much of a chance without making some allies among the dead'.

He took another sip of his coffee and nodded at a man wearing a police uniform that was heading into the diner. 'I am hidden in plain sight.' The coffee had a peculiar taste to it, it wasn't horrible, but it was not like Red remembered it either. 'I wonder if it will do anything for me?'

Red looked at the building and where Max was within it. He walked around the place seemingly focused on his coffee, but using his mind to scour the building for people and entrances. Red set his coffee cup down on one of the benches that were spread around the courthouse and continued walking. There were armed guards at the main doors and at a smaller set of doors in the back near a large parking lot. The ends of the building had unguarded glass doors, but they were locked. Red had watched an older man try to go through one of the side doors, then move around to the front.

This was okay for the simple plan Red had come up with, which consisted of going through the window to see what Max was doing. As he circled the monolithic structure he chose a moment to veer in when he sensed no one was around. He dashed up to the building and launched himself to the second story with a leap from the ground that left two foot sized depressions six inches deep in the sod. His hands found easy purchase on the decorative crenelations on the wall and he pulled himself onto a lower rooftop that didn't match the other parts of the building.

'Probably a newer remodel of the place. Like so many other government buildings over the years'.

From there Red moved into a rectangular alcove that went up the side of the building to just under the roof on the fifth story. There were four small widows set in the walls, one for each level. Climbing up was just a matter of pressing his legs against one side while his back was against another. All the windows were frosted, but Red wasn't depending on eyesight to verify which room Max was in. There were two people close by Max, but as far as Red could tell they were not in the room with him. This window had bars on the outside. Bracing his body with his legs Red reached out and grabbed one, he didn't pull or push, he just twisted. The ends of the bar came out of the concrete with barely a whisper of sound. After he had taken all five bars out he examined the window. It looked like it was set in metal and would be difficult to removed without breaking it. Pulling the bars out of the concrete had worked, maybe he could pull the entire window out in one piece too. Red had not dropped the bars, he was afraid the sound of them hitting the roof would expose him, he had wrapped the ends into hooks and loops and connected them into a chain. Removing one he straightened it out and dug into the wall with it. It was like pushing a fork into cake, moving it side to side he was able to gouge out a good section of concrete all around the window frame. Flaking off the pieces of concrete was making some noise and he could not stop the numerous pieces of stone from dropping onto the roof below, where they rolled and bounced until they hit the gutter with a clanging sound.

Finally he had the window loose enough that he could just grab it on the sides and pull it out, frame and all. Max was looking at him from a table in the center of the room.

“I am glad to see you.”

“C'mon, let's go!” Red said in a loud whisper.

Max raised his hands up off of the table enough so that Red could see the handcuffs.