“Homerun for the T-2000!” says Mr. T.
A camera ball watches Nemesis’ body as it lies still on the ground, blood pooling beneath her. The camera zooms in on one side of her ribcage. The ribs are split open in a messy crevice below her armpit. She isn’t breathing.
On the other side of the camera, miles away from the Red Zone, Dr. Chan watches Nemesis from the Zombie Survival control room.
Wayne “The Wiz” Rizla comes up behind the doctor and pats him on the back.
“Looks like your ultimate soldier wasn’t good enough after all,” Wayne says.
He laughs in the doctor’s face, then takes a bite of a chocolate cruller.
The hospital rumbles as the roof begins to collapse under their feet. Junko falls to her knees, nearly landing on her chainsaw. Scavy holds his balance, continuing to fire his shotgun at the reaching limbs.
Rainbow Cat looks down at the lawn gnome behind them. Then she looks back at the other two contestants. Their attentions are elsewhere. Rainbow decides to take advantage of the opportunity.
As Junko gets to her feet, she doesn’t see it happen. Rainbow grabs the lawn gnome, then charges into the zombie crowd. By the time Junko notices, it’s too late.
“Stop her!” Junko cries.
Scavy fires at Rainbow’s back, but the zombies close in behind her. Without the lawn gnome holding them back, the zombies fill in the gap, staggering toward the two unprotected contestants.
The zombies open up a path for Rainbow as she charges through the horde, the lawn gnome under her arm like a football. Her dreadlocks flop through the air, leaping over crippled zombies that can’t get out of her way fast enough. When she goes through the doors into the hospital, she looks back to see Junko and Scavy aren’t chasing after her. They are back-to-back, shooting and slashing at the undead closing in on them, the ground cracking wider at their feet. Rainbow smiles at the sight.
I did it, she thinks to herself. I’m going to win. I’m going to get to the helicopter, get back to the island, and then the world will finally get to see the great masterpiece of Charles Hudson. The greatest writer of our time. My husband.
Droplets of rain sprinkle over Nemesis’ white naked skin. A thundercloud moves in, drizzling on the horde of zombies. Her eyelids flash open, and she stares into the camera ball with her cold black eyes.
On the other side of the camera, from the control room of Zombie Survival, Dr. Chan shakes his head at Wayne “The Wiz” Rizla.
“It’s going to take more than that to defeat her,” says Dr. Chan.
Wayne shoves the rest of his chocolate cruller into his mouth and goes to the monitor. He sees Nemesis standing up. Her crushed ribcage expands, the split down her side disappears. Then she raises her severed arm, which is growing nerves and tissue. Wayne’s eyes light up as she grows a completely new hand.
“Like a lizard’s tail,” says Dr. Chan, “she can grow new limbs, only a million times as fast. Her regenerative powers surpass all living creatures on this planet.”
“Fuck…” Wayne says, coughing up bits of donut.
“She is nearly invincible,” says Dr. Chan.
Vine sees the helicopter landing on the far side of the parking lot, as raindrops trickle onto his head. He removes his goggles to see more clearly.
“Now’s your chance,” Xiu’s voice tells him. “You can use your wires to get there before the other contestants. But first you need to get the works of art. You must complete the mission.”
Vine cuts away a row of zombies with his wire. Then he scans the edge of the hospital for the paintings.
“There they are,” says Xiu’s voice.
Vine sees them on the ground, next to his Head’s corpse. “Use your wires to get over there.”
Raising his left hand up, he shoots a wire at the roof of the hospital and is pulled up into the air.
As he soars above the shambling corpses, Xiu’s voice tells him, “You don’t have much time. Grab the paintings and get to the helicopter.”
Nemesis throws her double-bladed sword at Vine as he flies toward the building. The blade hits his left arm, cuts it off at the elbow. Vine falls. He watches as his left arm continues on without him, pulled by the wire up to the rooftop.
Before Vine’s body falls, Nemesis races through the undead, catches her sword as it boomerangs back to her, and then slices the merc punk through the midsection just before he hits the ground.
Nemesis turns her attention to Mr. T. She runs through the parking lot, flying at him like a bullet. Mr. T sees her coming. He charges at her.
“Time for round two,” Mr. T yells.
Corpses tumble from their path as they plow toward each other. Mr. T’s feet crush the ground with every step. Nemesis runs so fast her flesh becomes a white blur.
Mr. T throws his punch, with all of his weight behind it. Nemesis catches his punch, thin white claws wrapped around his golden knuckles, then she buries her sword deep into his metal chest. Sparks explode between them, oils and wires spill out of his abdomen.
“Think that’s enough to stop Mr. T?” yells the cyborg.
As his mouth is open, Nemesis spits a green fluid down his throat. She rips out her sword and watches as he falls to his knees, choking, holding his neck in his metal hands.
Her black eyes glare at him as he curls into the mud, beneath the pouring rain.
“You see?” Dr. Chan says to Wayne, from the control room. “She’s invincible. There’s nobody who can stop her now.”
Wayne looks carefully at the cyborg contestant as he writhes on the ground. “What is that she sprayed in his mouth?”
“A concoction I brewed up,” says Dr. Chan. “It is a mixture of snake venom and a hyper-accelerated variety of the zombie virus.”
“Zombie virus?”
“Yes,” the doctor smiles. “Specimen #5 isn’t just part reptile. She is also part leopard, part hammerhead, part spider, and part zombie.”
“Part zombie…” Wayne says, staring at the screen.
“She can only infect a human using her venom,” says the doctor. “But it moves faster through the nervous system and creates a more powerful zombie.”
Wayne turns his head slowly to the doctor. “Why on earth would you give her such an ability?”
“I gave it to her…” The doctor looks back at the producer. “So that in any combat scenario…” He pauses to steal one of Wayne’s chocolate donuts. “She would always win.”
As Junko and Scavy battle the zombies back-to-back, the roof below them finally gives way. It breaks open, dropping half of the undead down to the level below. The ground beneath Scavy goes with it and he falls.
With one arm, Junko catches him by the wrist.
Scavy looks up. “What are you doing?”
“You drew the long straw,” Junko says, holding him with her left arm. With her other arm, she chainsaws the zombies coming in from behind. “You need to get to the helicopter.”
The zombies on the floor below reach up for Scavy’s boots. He kicks the skeleton hands away. Then looks back up at Junko.
Scavy shakes his head. “Fuck the straws. Let me go. You have to catch up to that hippy bitch before she gets away.”
“Not a chance,” Junko says, pulling him up with all of her strength. “I’m going to make sure you’re the one who gets on that helicopter. We had a deal.”