The Apoc-Fur-Lypse, Group 5, The Apocalypse, Part A
The Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse
Group 5, The Apocalypse, Part A
copyright 2010 comidacomida
Ty started with checking the peripheral shelves, cabinets, and drawers around the office. Cadence, onthe other hand, went straight to the desks. She inhaled deeply and let out another breath, taking comfortin the action even as she reminded herself that it was little more than futile. Glancing up at the lab lightsoverhead, she marveled at the sound they made... a sound that, until recently, she had never known.
* * * * * *
Cadence opened her eyes. She was on her back, gazing up at a bright white light. She scowledimmediately; the monkey didn't believe in heaven; if she did, she knew she wouldn't be going; she alsorealized that heaven wouldn't have artificial LEDs operating lamps. "Now what?" she asked. Her voicecame out even raspier than normal.
"Welcome back, Dr. VanHousen." came a recognizable voice to her right. Cadence turned where she layto glance at the black lab standing beside the table where she lay.
"Dr. Reynolds." she acknowledged.
"The security cameras captured the entire altercation." the labrador noted, resting a cloth over themetallic instrument table at his side, "Security came as soon as they could."
"Heinrich?" she questioned, clenching then unclenching one hand before doing the same with the other.
"The security team secured him in a locked room until the police could be notified..." the dog explained,unbuttoning a sterile apron and tossing it casually over the instrument table as well.
"Ah..." she acknowledged with disinterest, "... it's for the best, I'm sure."
Dr Reynolds nodded, abruptly changing the subject, "Congratulations." he noted, taking off a pair ofplastic gloves.
"For what?" she questioned, slowly sitting up. Her head spun, and the incessant buzzing of the lab light irritated her quickly-developing headache. She paused, and glanced back to the light, then to the dog,then to the light again. She looked back to Dr Reynolds, who was smirking.
"The project is a success." the labrador announced.
"You mean--" Cadence paused, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. She was surprised, but she wasconfused when she felt that her heartbeat hadn't increased with the response. Startled further, themacaque put her hand over her chest, eyes widening.
"A mild set back... you understand." Dr Reynolds shrugged, "But we haven't lost you-- that's theimportant thing."
"Right..." she murmured, glancing back up at the lab light, "...the important thing." Cadence scowled atthe light; she never noticed the humming buzz before... why was it suddenly so loud?
* * * * * *
"So tell me more about this project..." Ty's question pulled Cadence's attention away from the lab light atwhich she stared. The wolf was searching through a section of drawers at the side of the lab, shufflingthrough papers as he haphazardly sorted them on top of the counter.
"There is not much to say, Tyler." Cadence shrugged, "A collection of scientists deciding to try and alterthe ebb and flow of life. They realized they couldn't stop people from dying but, if everything wentaccording to plan, people wouldn't have to stay dead."
"That's insane." the wolf looked up from the papers, glancing toward the monkey.
"Probably more than a little." she noted casually, "Like something out of Frankenstein... only a little lesssubtle."
"Yea... no shite." Ty acknowledged, "at least with Frankenstein they only had to deal with one monster."
"Mmm..." Cadence nodded, "Frankenstein the monster."
"Actually, Frankenstein was the doctor..." Ty corrected, "a lot of people call the monster Frankenstein,but Frankenstein was actually the doctor that made it."
The monkey continued sifting through Dr Leibowitz' desk, "No... I think that Dr Frankenstein was amonster all by himself. If anything, his creation was a victim."
"Hm." Ty noted, glancing at the monkey, "I wouldn't have figured you for a philosopher."
"I'm not a philosopher... I'm a realist." she noted, taking a folder out of one of the drawers. Beneath thefolder she saw a lab-issued taser, which she slid into one of her lab coat pockets. Looking back to thefolder, Cadence placed it on the desk and began flipping through the papers.
"I guess it makes sense, in a way..." Ty contemplated aloud, "considering how you were working on thisproject, I assume your viewpoint didn't change until you became the experiment."
Cadence paused in her review of the papers and, one still in hand, turned around to face the wolf, "Whywould you say that? Is it impossible to believe that I volunteered as a test subject?"
Ty crossed his arms, "Yes."
Cadence snorted and turned back around to the paperwork. She stopped after flipping to the next page when she saw what it was she was seeking.
* * * * * *
"This is the algorithm that Dr. Leibowitz had completed before the... altercation." Dr Reynolds chose thefinal word carefully, "From what I can gather, it appears to be a repeating frequency, only there isn't a pattern to it." he tapped the paper with the tip if his capped pen.
Cadence took the paper from the retriever and looked at it. She ignored his further comments, forcingherself to pay attention to the curve of the line and the repetition of any reoccurring peak over a certainterahertz she had just managed to blot out the other doctor's heartbeat from her ears when she paused.
"Terrance... come closer, please." she requested. The labrador, confused, did as was requested.
Cadence placed her hand on his chest and strained her ears. She focused in on the beating of his heart while, at the same time, willfully paying close attention to the incessant buzzing of the light overhead. The macaque looked down at the paper and followed several sequences of the graphed chart.
"Terrance... you're a medical doctor..." she took her hand back, "What is the periodic cycle of a heartbeat?"
"The what?" the dog asked.
"How many hertz to a heartbeat." she scowled at the confused expression on his muzzle, "How manydamned heartbeats to a second?" she demanded scornfully.
"72 per minute..." he explained, "which is--"
"1.2 hertz." she spoke over him, and looked back to the papers, "Planck constant." she murmured to herself.
"The what?" the labrador questioned.
"Shut up." she ordered him, and grabbed a piece of graph paper. She quickly scrawled out, "H over two pi..." the monkey mumbled, "E equals HV...", she continued, and began pulling numbers from the graph.
The dog grabbed her wrist, "Dr. VanHousen... what are you going off about?"
Cadence looked up at him and let go of her pencil with her free hand. She reached over and took hold of the dog's forearm and squeezed. Dr. Reynolds yelped and let go of her wrist.
"This chart, Doctor," noted Cadence to the dog, releasing him, "is a visual representation of the mathematical solution to combining mechanically created electricity with biologically created electricity."
"You mean...?"
"Exactly." Cadence acknowledged, "Dr Lebowitz uncovered the key for us to reanimate a dead body."
* * * * * *
"What's that?" Ty questioned, looking over Cadence's shoulder. She snapped immediately out of her reverie.
"Math... physics... nothing you'd have excessive familiarity with" she explained, closing the folder.
"So we haven't found what we're looking for..." the question was more of a comment.
"On the contrary," Cadence countered, tapping the folder, "This is it."
"Math?" Ty questioned.
"Math." Cadence confirmed.
"How is math going to help us?" the wolf inquired.
"Math helps us in every day life, but most people never realize it." the monkey explained casually, heading for the door to the lab.
"Caden--" Ty paused when the macaque shot him a dirty look, "Dr VanHousen..." he corrected himself, "How is MATH going to help us against zombies?"
Cadence chuckled, "Easily, silly boy: math is what helped create them." and she opened the door, only to find herself staring face to face with a lion.
"Hello, Doctor VanHousen." the lion spoke purposefully and slowly, having a hard time working his half-torn jaw. Ty took a step back when he saw a section of ribcage showing through a torn lab coat.
"Dr. Lebowitz." Cadence replied, nonchalantly.
"You're looking well." he noted.
"You've looked better." she countered, and she was hurtled across the room as he backhanded her.
"CADENCE!" Ty shouted, and he took a step toward her until the lion's faintly green-glowing eyes leveled on him, "Ofuk." he quickly backpedaled.
"Who's this, Cadence?" the lion questioned, "A new understudy?" the undead lion stalked forward toward the wolf.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're in this condition, Heinrich..." Cadence spoke, ignoring his question. She slid down off of the file cabinet that had broken her fall... and her arm. She ignored her limp-hanging appendage as she stepped between the lion and the wolf.
"Sometimes the only way to stop a monster is to become one, Cadence" the lion spat.
"What's going on?" Ty questioned, slowly pressing his back against the office wall, paws fumbling against the counter behind him.
"You're acting like you aren't the cause of this... if it weren't for your stunt--" Cadence began, but the other doctor spoke over her.
"I said I wanted to end this! You're the one that refused to walk away!" he roared.
"YOU KILLED ME!" she countered, standing scarcely a foot from the imposing, gray muzzled lion.
"And apparently I didn't do it well enough the first time." he scowled, "But that can be fixed." he reached out and grabbed hold of her neck. He growled, throttling her as he pushed her back up against the wall. He snarled, gnashing his teeth, but paused when he failed to get any reaction from her.
Cadence scowled back at him. His ears went up, arms loosening just a little as she calmly blinked, and a faint smirk appeared at the edge of her lips. She slid her good arm into a pocket within her lab coat, and pulled a trigger.
The lion's body went rigid as energy coursed through it. Cadence forced his paws open and disengaged, letting him fall to the ground, electrodes still discharging a current through his body. She turned to look at Ty, who was pushed as far into a corner as he could go.
"What.... is... was.... he...." the wolf couldn't generate a full sentence.
"A situation similar to mine, obviously." she explained, taking off her lab coat and setting it, along with the taser on the floor, "Now come." and she headed for the door.
"Where?" Ty questioned.
"Too many questions... you'll see soon enough." she paused at the doorway, picking something up off of the counter beside it. The monkey turned, holding something out to Ty, "Here.". The wolf took it, gazing down at what appeared to be a bone saw. "What's this for?" he asked.
"For Dr Lebowitz..." she responded calmly, "we need his head."
<THE END>
We are nearing the end of the road for group 5.
Sadly, Group 5 tied for last place on the Half Time Plot Point Bid, thus they are now suffering through a Harrowing Event. To make matters worse, they were already scheduled to suffer one... thus it becomes... well... the end.
Each survivor now loses 2 plot points for entering The Apocalypse, and will lose another plot point for each passing scene. They will not survive. It is readily apparent that neither of the survivors of Group 5 are going to make it... we'll just have to see what they can accomplish before the end. Wish your favored character luck... things are about to get very deadly.