Free Flip This Zombie by Jesse Petersen Page A

transformed. That may be a way to stave off brain damage, but I’m not sure.”
    I nodded. I could see there were many variables to consider.
    “Now, please,” Barnes whispered, his gaze never leaving mine. “Will you help me? Will you save us all?”
    “All right, all right,” Dave said as he sat back down. “Let’s not get overly dramatic.”
    “I don’t think it’s dramatic to—” the doctor began.
    I could see this was going to get us nowhere except for the two idiots in the room with the penises acting like morons and bumping chests some more. So to nip that in the bud, I raised my hands.
    “What’s in it for us?”
    Dave looked up at me in surprise and even Barnes stopped talking.
    “I—well, you’d possibly be saving the world. I thought that might be enough compensation,” Barnes said.
    I snorted. “Oh, that’s cute. How precious. Listen, Dr. Barnes—”
    “Please, I’d like us to be friends. Call me Kevin.”
    I hesitated because his eyes were sparkling at me from behind his glasses and the Luke Wilson thing and the clean thing were a little mesmerizing.
    “Kevin,” I finally said. “The thing is,
Kevin
, you’ve been paying our little friends for what… a few weeks for work my husband and I have done. Saving the world is noble and all, but I’m with him.” I jerked my thumb toward David. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then, what’s the deal?”
    He nodded. “I do have military-grade weapons, as well as high-powered ammo that I’d be willing to exchange for your risk. In addition…” He trailed off and once again smiled at me. In fact, he hadn’t looked at David for a few minutes. “Well, come with me and I’ll show you something.”
    “His favorite thing to say,” Dave said as he got up and motioned to the door. “Go ahead, Doc, lead. I can’t wait to see what else you have besides infected guinea pigs and promises of a brave new world without zombies.”
    I gave him a look as the doctor led us to the door. We swooped down the hallways past more windows that looked into additional lab rooms. Many contained more guinea pigs, one had rows of heads in jars, apparently the fruits of our labor, but there were more than a few that had the shades drawn. Maybe they were sleeping quarters, I didn’t know.
    Barnes stopped at another door. This one wasn’t locked like the others and it swung open when he pushed it. He smiled.
    “Go ahead.
This
is what I offer to sweeten the deal for you, Sarah.”
    I wrinkled my brow as I passed into the darkened room. It was still and quiet, but then I noticed something. A steady sound I didn’t recognize. At least, not at first.
    Plink, plink, plink
…
    “Wait,” I breathed as my mind adjusted to what it was processing. “Is that… is that…”
    Behind me, Barnes…
Kevin
… flipped a light switch and the room was flooded with brightness. It was a bathroom. A clean, gloriously fresh bathroom. And the dripping was coming from a shower stall not three feet away from me.
    I spun around and faced the two men at the door. My heart was racing and my mind spinning as I squealed, “Okay, we’ll do it! We’ll catch the zombies for you.”



Expand. Why stick to just killing zombies? Or killing them just one way.

    W e’re equal partners, Dave,” Dave said in the falsely high voice he always used to mimic me as he drove the van down the long, lonely highway. “We’re in this together, Dave.”
    I blinked and tried to focus on his voice. It was hard to overcome the gloriousness of the fact that I was clean.
Really
clean. I smelled like soap and some kind of coconut shampoo and I kind of wanted to lick myself.
    “Oh, come on,” I said, dreamy as I pictured how the black sooty water had rinsed from my body and swirled around and around into the drain like it could wash away my sins and experiences over the past few months. “You
know
we were going to say yes to him in the end.”
    Dave glanced at me and muttered, “Well, maybe.