When the dark had fallen and the red light was shining out of her eye in a full blaze of hunger for flesh, and the intelligence was gone, I took out the ten foot pole we used to coral zombies and slipped the leather loop on the end around her neck. Pushing and pulling, we managed to get the zombie to the flatbed trailer hitched to my Jeep. We roped her down, careful to avoid the snapping jaws, and drove into the night, crossing over the river and into the hills on the west side. After a few miles, we stopped and all climbed out. Ziv, Red, Hart, Brit, and myself. What was left of our team. We unhitched the trailer, and Red poured a slight acid solution on the ropes. In a few hours, the acid would eat through them, weakening them enough that the reanimated corpse of Doctor Morano could break free. From there, as far as I was concerned, it could wander the earth for all eternity, her evil soul trapped in the hell of her own making. Hopefully, somewhere inside, the thing that was Doctor Morano lived on and knew what had happened to her.
We drove back to the farm in silence, until Red switched on the radio for the 23:00 BBC news broadcast.
“…Scientists in America released the news that a vaccination against the so called zombie parasite had been successful in clinical trials using United State Army volunteers. Production of the serum will proceed at full capacity, and World Health Organization officials say that enough can be produced to vaccinate the remaining world population by this time next year. Spontaneous celebrations have broken out in Seattle, London, Auckland, Tel Aviv, and other remaining cities around the globe.
In other news from the Americas, riots continued for a third day in Portland, started by protests against the continued emergency suspension of the United States Constitution. The office of interim President Clinton downplayed the riots, saying the suspension would be necessary as long as the zombie threat existed.
European Union troops have secured the island of Sicily, in preparation for a major clearing effort on the Italian peninsula. A United States Marine Amphibious Unit is assisting with operations, the first time a major US combat unit has been available to work with”
Red turned the radio off, and Ziv turned it back on. Red turned it off again, and Ziv reached over and punched him in the shoulder as hard as he could. The two started cursing each other, one in Navajo and the other in Serbian. Brit laughed at both of them.
Outside the Jeep, the ghosts of Ahmed, Doc, Esposito, Mya, Killeen and Jonesy laughed silently. Even Zombie Killers can die; but like all our brothers and sister we learned to love in the fires of combat, they will also live forever.
Epilogue
“Lost Boys, Lost Boys, this is Liberty Main, Over.”
I sat up in bed. The radio sparked to life again. “Task Force Liberty Main calling Lost Boys, Over.”
I glanced at my watch, 02:36 in the morning. I reached out and turned the radio off. Then I rolled over and put my arm around Brit, where she lay cuddled up with our month old son, little Nate.
“What was it, Nick?” she asked, drowsily.
“Nothing, Brit. Somebody else’s problem now. Go back to sleep. We have fields to plow tomorrow, and corn to plant.” She muttered a sleepy “OK” and pulled the baby closer to her. He squirmed a bit but stayed asleep.
Somewhere, far off in the distance, on the other side of the river, a zombie howled, faint in the wind.