White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel (26 page)

“Do you really have one of those things here?” Brandon asked.

“One of our fourth year med-students brought it in with those military transports that landed up at the airport.  Her name is Mazie Harrison, and she will be assisting with today’s procedures.  Mazie has been with the subject since it expired and monitored the patient while she was alive.  The other three people are here to minimize the risk of the subject spreading the infection.”

Brandon grabbed the rubberized suit from the rack and placed her first leg into the suit.  “What do I need to know?” Brandon said.

“Don’t get bit,” said one of the figures in a bio-hazard suits.

Brandon noticed that the guy had placed a square of silver duct tape over his left breast.  The name “Rex” was written in green marker on the silver surface.  The woman beside him had a similar name badge, but it read “Alison” in much neater hand writing.

Brandon finished climbing into the suit and sealed himself in.  He followed Doctor Sally Perkins and the rest of the group through heavy steel doors marked, “Anatomy Lab.”

Eleven silver dissection tables sat empty.  The twelfth table sat in the middle of the room.  A young woman’s body struggled against a series of makeshift restraints holding the girl down.

He noticed that along the far wall stood a framed picture of Willie Stargell.  A brown Louisville Slugger sat on a display shelf below the picture.

“Student Doctor Harrison,” Brandon said, “please fill us in on the history.”

The three medical professionals surrounded the subject while the others hung back.  “The girl’s name was Kimberly,” Mazie said. “She was in her early 20’s and volunteered at the hospital in Butler County.  The patient’s history was that of a healthy young girl.  She did indicate that she broke her left arm in a biking accident when she was eleven.  The patient complained of extreme fatigue, trouble breathing and a cold sweat before expiration.  She died of an unknown cause, mostly likely heart failure. Shortly after, she reanimated."

"Time of death?" requested Brandon.

"Yesterday," Mazie said, "at 8:16 in the evening."  Kimberly's body continued to struggle under its bonds as it locked eyes with Doctor Brandon.

"Let's recheck vitals," Brandon ordered.  "Sally, can you check for blood pressure."

Sally Perkins slid the blood pressure cuff around the zombie’s right arm and inflated the bag.  She put her stethoscope to the arm and listened.  "Negative blood pressure and no pulse," Perkins said.

Brandon reached down and probed the zombie's neck.  The creature strained to lower its head, but its forehead remained strapped to the table.  The duct tape on Kimberly's mouth turned red and the jaw moved open and closed.

"Look at that," Perkins said, "I think she's biting through her lips."

Brandon removed his hands, "The neck is supple, no masses," he said.  "The skin is also cool to the touch."

Perkins moved her stethoscope to the subject's chest and listened.  She then moved the scope over each side of the zombie's chest in turn, "Negative heart or lung sound."

Brandon massaged at Kimberly's stomach, "Abdomen is stiff, and non-distended.  Neurologically, she appears to be tracking our movements fairly easy."

"We ran an EEG before you got here," said Doctor Perkins.  "There was diminished activity in the central parietal, temporal and occipital lobes.  No frontal lobe activity present."

Behind the head of the patient, Rex pulled the Louisville Slugger off the display on the wall and turned the bat over in his hands.  He was trying to avoid watching the autopsy.  "I bet this autograph is a knockoff," Rex mumbled to himself.

"We took more than a dozen blood samples," Doctor Perkins said. "We had them sent off to the hospital and will be waiting for whatever work ups we decide."

"I don’t think we would gain anything by dissection, but we might as well go through with it while we are all dressed up," said Brandon.  "Tissue samples from several regions might be in order as well as a sample of brain tissue."

Brandon picked up a scalpel from a tray of instruments and paused holding the blade in the air.  "We are going to risk injury if we operate on patient that is capable of minor movement.  Anyone got any ideas on how to expire the patient?"

Alison reached out and took hold of the White Ash lumber from Pennsylvania out of Rex's hands.  She turned the wood over in her hands until Brandon could read the black lettering that had been burned into the wood.

"I have an idea," Alison said as she raised the bat into the air.  The lumber fell through the air and ended its journey with the crack of White Ash on bone.

END

Thank you for reading my novel.
I am currently in the process of writing the sequel.
I anticipate its release in early 2013.

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