"I'm not going to call you that," you say. "It is too long."
"Yes, eez long." says Sven. "Ezz long and vide and—"
"Enough already," Damien says as he punches Sven in the shoulder. "I'm sure Jen doesn't want your breath gagging her for the next hour."
"Oh, that's okay, I can chaperone the Viking for a little bit. Make sure he doesn't pillage or burn anything," you say with a wink. "Come on, you big oaf," you say as you motion for Sven to follow.
The two of you enter your physics class. Mr. Brinkley the instructor gives Sven a long look and nods. "Sven Johnson, right?"
"Ya," says Sven.
Evidently, instructors know Kid As even from other schools.
"You're shadowing Ms. Valentine?" asks Mr. Brinkley.
Sven confirms this and the two of you take desks next to one another.
Immediately, girls start to converge on you—well, on Sven. Two royalty girls, a bagger who is showing some well-defined midriff, and even an ehrlich girl with a tight bun on the top of her head.
The bagger starts the conversation. "So, you're the Kid A from Alpha, huh?"
Sven nods and smiles his gap-tooth smile, turning to show all the girls that he has noticed them.
They begin bombarding him with questions about Alpha sector and what he's doing here, ignoring you. It strikes you as sort of rude to pretend you're not there and just move in on Sven like a pack of hyenas, and in the process, blabbing in your ear. Of course, the bell will ring soon enough, and that will be the end of it.
'He's the new boy. Best to leave the hyenas to their meal,' you think. 'Sven seems to be enjoying it, anyway.'
One of the girls reaches over you and squeezes Sven's bulging forearm as a complimernt. You find this mildly irritating, yet also funny. You let it slide and smile to yourself.
After about thirty seconds of questions, compliments, and thinly veiled pawing, Sven's phone rings.
"Sorry, I should take zees," he says apologetically as he walks off to a corner, his phone to his ear.
With Sven off having a conversation, the girls disperse and you turn your attention elsewhere.
"I can't believe you got with Sarah, she is too fine," says a boy nearby. You look over to see a bagger giving another bagger named Josh a high-five. You don't know Josh too well, but you've chatted with him a few times in this class. He's pretty quiet, a good student by bagger standards. At the moment, he seems to be standing in a different way. Perhaps standing taller than he normally does.
"Don't act so surprised. I can be charming sometimes," says Josh.
"Word is that Sarah has been receiving a lot of charm behind the bleachers lately..." The bagger looks like he's going to say something else, but instead leans forward and squints at Josh. "Dude, is that makeup?!"
"No!" Josh says, putting his hand over his face. "It's, it's just for zits, that's all."
You take a careful look at Josh's face. He's got more than zit cream going; he's got some heavy foundation—and not very expertly applied. Makeup is very expensive in the sector system. Only the most wealthy royalty girls cake on makeup like that.
"Man, one session under the bleachers with Sarah and you're overhauling your whole look. I gotta tell ya, though, this ain't the right strategy," teases the bagger.
"l better check... something," Josh stammers, and then he hurries out the door.
"Uh, Mr. Schmidt?" Mr. Brinkley says as Josh leaves. "You need a pass."
But Josh ignores him and leaves. That strikes you as strange. Without a pass, Josh is taking a risk of getting a serious interrogation from a hall monitor. You think Val might be on duty right now, and she loves nothing more than hazing kids she catches in the hall without a pass. She always threatens to "Stick the eye scanner in places that void the warranty." And at the very least, he is bound to get a penalty from Mr. Brinkley.
You get up and leave the room.
Mr. Brinkley mumbles something about a silent fire alarm, but he doesn't challenge you. As a Kid A, you don't need a pass. You can go wherever you want whenever you want, although you personally try to not overdo it.
The hall is quiet, as you would expect between classes. You just manage a glimpse of Josh before he disappears around a corner. You jog after him on your toes in an attempt to not make too much noise.
As you turn the corner, you see him entering the boys' restroom.
'Well, I'm not going in after him,' you decide.
What are you going to do, hunt down this poor kid on the toilet...? Oh, they use urinals, don't they? Anyway, are you going to hunt him down just because he wears some makeup and is acting a little strange? Maybe he's going through a phase? As far as you know, makeup wearing tends to inversely correlate to violence, well, with the exception of a few horror clown movies you've seen. On the other hand, there is that whole issue around HFVMs. They use makeup to cover up their fectoness, and there was a big red dot over this school on the map you got from the fecto Toxifarians.
Texting Val to get down here and scan him is a logical and safe move, but it seems... Seems lame. Val has gotten a bit overbearing on the 'I'm the ultimate female bagger.' attitude. If you call her down here for something that's probably nothing, there will be a lot of smirking and sarcasm.
Thinking of Val reminds you of the eye scanner she lent you that's still in your backpack. Just to rule out the HFVM possibility.
'If he's a fecto and I pull an eye scanner on him, he'll attack,' you think.
You wait for Josh to come out. After a minute, a girl you don't know personally, but who you've seen talk to Chase a few times, clomps down the stairs with her large black boots. She sneers at you and waves her hall pass as she goes by as though you were a hall monitor. You give her a half smile in greeting—friendly, but not too much. You've seen rats get downright abusive if they get the idea they're being mocked in any way.
Finally, Josh comes out and you do your best nonchalant walk down the hall.
"Oh, hey Josh!" you say a bit too enthusiastically.
He stops for a second. "Hey, Jane, what are you doing out here?"
"Oh, you know... Just.."
"Taking a leak?" he offers.
"Ha, yes, you know us humans... Err, that's what we have to do sometimes," you say.
'Did I just say 'humans' when I suspect him of being fecto!? Ridiculous!' you chastise yourself. 'Keep it together; you've got this, Jen.'
"Yeah." Josh shrugs.
"Well, bagger, I'll let you escort me back to class," you say with what you hope is a charming smile rather than a fearful grimace.
You keep the pace slow and leisurely to allow time to talk.
'What do I say?' you wonder. Just ask 'Have you eaten anyone lately?'
"So I heard the guys teasing you about your makeup," you say. "Um, I think it's cool when guys try to look good."
'Oh my God that sounded stupid!' you think.
"Really?! Because I would think most girls would think that's kinda... you know.."
"Girly?" you offer. "Oh no, it can be very appealing. A lot of great men, musicians mostly, wear makeup." You take this opportunity to look closely at his face. Is there some undead skin peeking out from underneath all that?
"Oh, well, I don't play any instruments. Unlike you," he says.
You wonder if he's referring to you and your pals pretending to be Toxifarian. No one else was supposed to know about that. Looks like secrets just can't be kept in high school!
"Anyway, there's still time for you to learn an instrument and join a band, or maybe become a different kind of performance artist or something," you say.
"Performance artist, like a mime or a clown?!" Josh doesn't look happy with this suggestion.
'Hmm, maybe if I could scratch a little of that white gunk off I could see if there's fecto skin underneath?' you wonder.
"No, I was thinking of an actor. Like an action star," you say as you reach up to his neck, right below his ear.
'Either l'm going to learn he's a fecto, or learn he's a human who now thinks I'm making a pass at him,' you think.
You barely touch him when he flinches away, although, surprisingly, he then turns his body toward you and inhales deeply. "By the way, Jen, you smell great. Is that perfume?"
"Uh, no, umm, just soap... probably," you say as you wonder if it's really the smell of your flesh that he's admiring.
"Oh, well, it mixes really well with your body chemistry," he says.
"Thanks," you smile weakly.
"Look, Jen, it's cool that I ran into you out here. There's something I need to tell you about Damien. I don't want to talk about it here." He motions to go with him down another corridor.
"Sorry, you can tell me later. I really need to get back to class," you say as you begin to walk.
"lt will just take a second," he says as he puts one hand on your shoulder and another on your waist and pulls you toward the side corridor.
You're not going to be forced down some dark corridor!
"Okay, okay, I didn't realize it was so important," you say as you relax as though going with the flow. His hands are still on you, but his grip loosens. After a few steps, you lurch and twist out of his grasp with all your strength.
His lip curls up and he snarls as he swipes his hand to catch you. You feel a slight burning as his nails rake across your neck.
You draw Opal.
With amazing speed, Josh lunges forward and swats your hand down just as you pull the trigger, sending your bullet into his chest instead of his head. As you feared, this body shot does nothing to him, and he presses in closer. You try to maneuver for a headshot, but he gets a grip on your wrist.
He is so strong! He puts his other arm around you and hugs in tight. He tries to bite your neck, but you thrash to the side, and he bites your shoulder. Your jacket and shirt protect you, but his jaws are so powerful that you feel the sting of his canines.
Josh is pressed against you, and your right hand, the one clutching Opal, is pinned against your side so you cannot use your weapon.
Everyone nearby must have heard the shot, and so screaming and thrashing would be of little added value now. And this guy is way stronger and faster than you. The only way to even the odds is with Opal.
You lurch back as you push your left hand between you and Josh. He bites and scratches you. He has your right hand by the wrist, so you grab Opal with your left.
Josh must know what you're doing, because he lets go of your back and goes for your left hand, which now has the gun. You're holding Opal funny, not by the handle, but you're able to evade his groping hand long enough to adjust, and you feel the reassurirng grip. You pull the trigger over and over. He's fumbling for your gun as you evade, and it's your off-hand, so it's not your best shooting. The bullets hit low—his arm, his stomach.
Although getting shot doesn't stop Josh, it does distract him enough for you to get room to aim higher.
BOOM! You shoot him in the face, and he takes a step back.
Now, with a moment of time available, you're able to aim more carefully, and you shoot him in the forehead. Josh falls on his back. You try to put another round in his head just to make sure, but your magazine is empty. It doesn't matter. Josh twitches once and is then still.
A few seconds later, Val sprints up to you. Val kicks the body over to see his face.
"Uh... We need to get him out of sight," Val says. "That's gotta be an HFVM, and we don't want everyone freakin'."
Just then, you see several students running down the hall toward you.
You put your gun away.
"Okay, let's say he was just another meatbag. None of the HFVM stuff until we sort this out," says Val.
You're surprised and relieved that Val so quickly understands the situation. You suppose she knows a meatbag, even a high functioning one, when she sees it.
"Maybe we should let the secret out. I mean, now that there's one of these gifted meatbags in our school trying to eat—"
You let the sentence drop as several baggers from your physics class arrive. Their mouths drop when they see the corpse on the ground.
"Jen! You smoked Josh?!" says one of them.
"I did him," says Val as she pulls out her scanner and scans the corpse. By now the rest of your physics class, including Mr. Brinkley and Sven, are gathered around, in addition to a steady stream of students from other classes.
You're pleased that Val is taking credit for the kill. You're not supposed to have a gun, just a crowbar like all the other non-monitor students.
Val shows everyone the scanner results.
"How is that even possible?!" says one of the baggers. "I was just talkin' to that dude!"
"There's gotta be a rabid fecto around here!" says another.
"Yeah.. That's right," Val says, hefting her rifle. "Let's fan out, teams of two. Mitch and Brent—you take the west hall. Brenda and Felix, you've got the east."
Val forms several other teams and puts you on her team. As everyone disperses to look for fectos, Val leads you to a stairway out of sight of the others.
Even a few steps behind, you can smell strong mint.
"Wow, Val, for a girl with a gun, you've got some fresh breath." You turn and smile. "So.. Have you seen Chase around lately?"
"Save it, Valentine. Funny how you and Damien have the same theory. Maybe I'm just a late bloomer on the princess stuff? Plus, I've got some extra bullets nowadays, thanks to your heartthrob's stunt with the surface video. I mean, what else am I gonna spend it on?"
"We should go shopping this weekend. What's the point of being SurvivorNet moguls if we cant go spend our ill-gotten gains?" you say.
"Maybe. Okay, I see you got injured. I've got a serum here.." she briefly rifles through her backpack and produces a syringe with some nasty red liquid in it.
"What kind of serum is that? It doesn't look like the stuff normally get," you say.
"Look, it's not exactly military grade, but it's good stuff. The faster you get an injection, the better," she says.
"Oh no," you say. "I'm going to a pro for this one. I've seen what that serum does, and I'm not losing control of my... bodily functions in the middle of the hall."
"Come on, don't be a baby," Val says.
"Nope, it's Nurse G. for me, and I'm going to give her an extra couple of bullets to be especially careful. You begin running up the stairs. "And I better hurry if I want to get it in time."
"Woman-up! Let's do this!" calls Val.
You run, half because you know time is of the essence, and half because Val looks like she's about to chase you down with that needle.
Thankfully. Nurse G doesn't ask too many questions, particulary after you pay her from your big box of bullets (although you're careful not to flash your weath).
The infection treatment is typical, which is to say it's horrible. Not long after the needle bites you in the buttocks, you're convulsing and drooling on the table.
Later, with the ordeal over, you prepare to leave. Just then, two baggers, Darla and Jaime, carry the corpse of Josh into the room.
"Over there." Nurse G points to a surgical table.
"Terminated VMs stop over here before disposal," she explains to you.
You all gather around the body.
Darla says a few words from The Survivor's Guide, a sort of extension of The Bible that sprang up since the zombie apocalypse. No one is exactly sure who wrote it, but it's the most popular book in the sector system.
"He looks pretty good for a meatbag," says Jaime.
"Do we really need to talk about him that way?" asks Darla.
"I just mean he's not all ripped up or missing parts or anything," says Jaime, waving his hand over the corpse. "Usually the VMs go to town on the body more before the dude turns."
He does look good, but not quite as good as before. Someone has wiped all the makeup off his face, neck, and hands.
"Hmm, what's this?" you ask as you point to a bulge under
his shoulder blade. You pull up the corpse's shirt to see a large bandage. You rip it off to reveal a big chunk of flesh is missing, a few mouthfuls-worth, you estimate.
"Uh, that's some major damage," says Darla. "Nurse G, did you see Josh about this?"
Nurse G shakes her head. "That's from a VM, I'm sure of it. I've seen enough bites to know."
"Weird," says Darla. "Did Josh have someone bandage that up before he got turned?"
"Dude would have turned quick with that kind of chunk out of him," says Jaime. "And yeah, someone must have helped him. He couldn't have dressed the wound on his back himself."
That means someone else knew Josh got bit. I mean, I think it's safe to say the meatbag that bit him didn't bandage him up," says Darla.
'I bet that's exactly who did the job,' you think. These others don't know about HFVMs like the Toxifarians or Benji, and you're not sure you should tell them. They might think you were crazy. After all, you wouldn't believe it if it were not for your adventures in Alpha. It might even be worse if they did believe you because that could cause a panic and maybe even a witch hunt.
'There's at least one other HFVM on the loose in this school,' you think. You could use some help finding out who.
"Yup, this is pretty disturbing," you say with a grimace. "If you'll excuse me, I think Ill go ahead and leave now."
You text Val, Damien, and Chase to meet you at your regular meet-up location—the supply closet. When you arrive, everyone is there, including Sven.
As a high ranking hall monitor, Val has a key to the closet, and she lets you all in for some privacy.
"Hey, you can talk freely around Sven," says Damien. "He's part of our Scooby gang and knows all the HFVM stuff, anyway, says Damien.
"Ya, I hacked zee Department of Security's servers a long time ago, so I know about zee HFVMs." Sven grins proudly. "Although.. Zey have since taken security measures and locked me out." His grin fades.
The five of you speak in hushed voices among the mops, buckets, and soap canisters.
You tell everyone about the bandage you found on Josh's back and how you think he must have been working with one or more other HFVMs.
"Bah! Maybe zey are slowly converting your school over to zee side of zee brain eaters?" says Sven.
"Well, if that's true, then things are going to get messy soon," you say. "We need to get to the bottom of this quick."
"So someone must have infected Josh. Who?" asks Chase.
"You know..." you tap your head in concentration. "Some baggers were teasing Josh about some girl named Sarah. Something about the bleachers."
"Sarah Fletcher, yeah.. I've heard that she has made herself rather, err, available to the boys at school lately" says Damien.
Everyone looks over at Damien.
"I mean, that's just what I heard. You know, bagger guys.. They talk." He blushes and steals a sheepish glance at you.
"Maybe she's getting them alone and biting them?" says Chase.
"Word is that she's umm... Making appointments. Like for making out. I think it's at the bleachers," Damien says. "Not that l'd know first-hand," he adds.
Val steps toward the closet door. "l can go scan Sarah now. What class is she in next?"
"I don't think we want to make a big scene," says Damien, putting a hand on Val's shoulder. "Remember, no one else knows about HFVMs. And we don't know who is who."
"Yeah, if we go bustin' people out in the open, any other HFVMs around will get tipped off," you say.
"And zen zey vill make zer move! Biting and ripping in zee classes!" says Sven.
"We could bait her. One of us could arrange an appointment with Sarah." Chase is grinning slightly. "Then see where it goes."
Val chuckles. "Are you volunteering to seduce Sarah? Meatbag or not, she's gotta have higher standards than that."
Chase gives you an expectant look.
"Well, I'm not going to do it, if that's what you're thinking," you say.
Val laughs. "Jen, I think Chase wants you to judge a beauty contest between the boys. Who's the best Sarah bait?" Val adopts a look of mock indignation. "And why am I not invited to judge?"
Others pipe in and it is agreed that someone should attempt to get Sarah alone so that she can be confronted privately. For whatever reason, there seems to be some expectation that you will suggest who of the boys will do it.
"What do you think, Sven? Does this sound interesting?" you ask.
"Oh, I vill do it! You do funny stuff at zis school. I vish to seduce zee American girl for sport!" exclaims Sven.
"This is not a seduction, and it certainly is not for sport," you say.
"Vell, I vill do it for a bullet. You are rich, yes?" Sven gives you a big smile.
Some of the others are giving him dubious looks.
"Sven might not be a bagger, but he's a big guy, so if Sarah tries to eat him, he will be better able to keep her at bay," you say. You then lower your eyes. "And some of the girls around here have... shown an interest in him, so I'm guessing Sarah won't say no."
Sven shrugs as one reluctantly accepting an award. "Eez true. Jen eez observant."
Everyone else seems pretty onboard with this idea.
Between classes, you find Sarah and send Sven off to talk to her by her locker. After a minute, he comes back frowning.
"She vants a bullet," Sven holds out his hand expectantly.
"Seriously?! She wants to get paid to make out?" Damien asks.
"How do I feel?" Sven pouts. "My charm is not enough for zees girl." He flexes his open hand. "For my expenses."
"First the hookers at the Toxifarian apartment and now Sarah," Val says with disgust. "We deal with more prostitutes than any high school student should!"
"Yeah, either that or clever Sven is looking for a bonus," Damien says as he drops a bullet in Sven's hand. "He really has no pride." Damien shakes his head at his old friend.
"Speaking of bullets, Jen, this is supposed to be a private party, so don't be popping off your pistol unless you absolutely have to," says Val.
You nod. "The rest of us will be hiding in wait with the scanner," you say. "We'll try to get a distance reading on her. If she's a meatbag, we all come out and confront her. If she's human.." you smile mischievously. "Then what happens is up to Sven."
The next day, a few minutes before lunch hour and the appointment time for Sven and Sarah, you all scout out the bleachers in the gym. Once behind the bleachers, there's really not much to hide behind.
"Let's move those garbage bins around the side and back beneath the bleachers. We can hide behind them," suggests Damien.