Free Clickers vs Zombies by Brian Keene, J.F. Gonzalez Page B

when a swarm of Clickers scrambled over the beach and onto the pier, Gary found out how right he had been.
     

THREE
     
     
     
    San Francisco, California
     
    The oddest thing about the job, Michele McKenzie thought to herself as she walked down the brightly lit corridor, was how normal everything seemed. Anyone wandering in from the street would have encountered just another non-descript office building with an aesthetically pleasing proper lobby and a chipper receptionist. They would have noticed the security cameras on the wall, perhaps, or the curious symbol inlaid on the lobby’s tile floor. But what they wouldn’t have known is that there were safeguards around the building. Indeed, most would have found themselves unable to enter through the building’s sidewalk-level revolving doors—not without saying the proper word or possessing the correct glyph. They would have never guessed that the symbol on the floor was a circle of protection, or that the perky receptionist was a master telepath and fourth level Adept, or that in addition to the security cameras, there were other—invisible—sentries monitoring their every move.
    Ninety-nine percent of the world’s population would have never known these things.
    But ninety-nine percent of the world’s population weren’t working for Black Lodge—an international organization that worked for no one government or entity, and answered only to a higher power, protecting humanity from supernatural threats. Their origins began during World War One, but there were rumors that the organization had existed in another form much earlier. Indeed, some said that such legendary figures as the Three Wise Men of Biblical lore were early predecessors to Black Lodge. Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the group gained autonomy. Now they answered to no worldly authority. They operated in secret, spoken of only in the dark, conspiracy-ridden corners of the internet, or in the halls of power in various nation’s capitals.
    And now Michele was one of them. Granted, she was only a first level adept, and she was still in the midst of her ninety-day probationary period, but just to have made it this far was reason enough to be proud—and she was. They’d recruited her two weeks before she’d graduated from college (she’d been majoring in education). Michele learned that they had been aware of her abilities for years, and had been monitoring her. Once they explained everything, she said goodbye to thoughts of a career teaching elementary school and hadn’t looked back. Now she worked in the Remote Viewing and Astral Projection Department.
    Her shoes echoed on the tile floor. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. A dark-skinned man in a crisp black suit passed by her and nodded. Michele returned the greeting. She turned left and entered the break room. She bought a candy bar and a bottle of water from the vending machines, wolfed them down, and then proceeded back down the hall.
    She passed by two more people—a man and a women—and overheard a snatch of conversation.
    “…Clickers. We intercepted a call from a Doctor Alfred Post to his superiors, and then to the Department of the Interior. More reports are coming in hourly. President Genova has been made aware by now, but on this level, they don’t know what they’re dealing with.”
    “Surely the President has dreamed of them, at the very least? He’s one of the Seven, across all levels. Many of his other selves would most likely have had experience with them.”
    “I don’t know. We should just be grateful that in this reality, the Dark Ones became extinct thousands of years ago. Otherwise, it would be a lot worse. If they…”
    Michele rounded a corner, and the voices faded. She frowned, wondering what they’d been discussing. Clickers? Levels? She hadn’t seen anything about them in her employee manual. And what was all that about President Genova?
    She’d forgotten about it by the time she reached