Free War of the Undead (Day One): The Apocalypse Crusade (A Zombie Tale) by Peter Meredith Page B

in nearly half of the subjects. A rabid opossum wasn’t a pretty sight.
    He was aching to be given the chance to figure out what had gone wrong, instead he was playing lab assistant to Dr. Lee. Riggs shook his head, watching her glance at her notes and then at her watch. She could’ve begun speaking already but she was always exact even when exactness wasn't needed. She’d called the meeting for three and Riggs knew it wouldn’t start until three precisely. Thuy bent to pick something out of her briefcase that sat at the foot of the podium. Her tight skirt grew even tighter.
    “Yowza,” Riggs said, under his breath.
    “What is yowza?” Eng asked. “Is this engrish?”
    Riggs tried to keep the annoyance off his face. In the last few days, Eng had kept closer to him than his own shadow. Eng was scientifically curious to a fault. A very annoying fault. “It’s nothing to do with the project. Why don’t you read your handout?”
    Eng had already read it once, but to satisfy Riggs he read it again. He was halfway through when Thuy’s watch beeped at her. As usual she didn’t bother with pleasantries or a warm up joke. She went right in with her opening statement concerning the funding status of the project and didn’t pause until she noticed Riggs sitting with his hand in the air.
    “Dr. Riggs, do you have a question on the current state of our funding?”
    They’d worked together for the last six years so the skepticism in her voice was well warranted. “You know I don’t,” he answered. He only cared about funding when a project was his and his alone. “I want to know how you did it.”
    She glanced to Deckard, the security man, who was standing behind her. As far as Riggs knew the security man hadn’t done much around the facility besides adding an aura of suspicion. He remained motionless save the raising of a single eyebrow, suggesting the decision was on her.
    “Come on, Thuy,” Riggs said. “The trial starts in thirteen days. You have us flying blind here and it sort of feels like we’re about to fly into the side of a mountain.”
    "Yeah," Milner agreed; a rare occurrence.
    Thuy knew she’d have to give up her secrets eventually, however the very idea that one of the people in front of her was a corporate spy galled her. It made her feel violated.
    And yet the others deserved to know what it was they were working so hard on. “Fine,” Thuy said and then sighed down at her notes. When she glanced up again she was a little shocked to find she had the room’s full attention—they had all been drowsing through the funding report, but now every one of them was listening eagerly. “Ok, I like your enthusiasm. For those non-scientists, to understand the Com-cell, you must understand its parts. I'll start with what we call the receptor cell. We are using the 27Q proteasome because of the high affinity and specificity..."
    Deckard cleared his throat, lightly and leaned in. "Maybe a little less with the specifics, Dr. Lee. There is still the leak to worry about and any little thing puts your competition that much closer."
    "Of course. You’re absolutely correct," Thuy acknowledged with a nod. She turned back to her teams. "All of you understand the concept behind the receptor cell: just like every other naturally occurring molecule, carcinomas have catalytic sites...docking stations if you will, where they receive nutrients and where they expel waste. Some of these sites are very specific to that particular form of cancer. This specificity allows our Com-cell to travel throughout the entire body and yet only latch onto the tumor."
    "Mine didn't," Riggs stated in a loud voice. "And I was using the same proteasome as you. For some reason they built up along the ménages of my opossums with unfortunate side effects."
    Thuy was unruffled by the outburst. "It is my theory that your mycotoxins were too powerful. Yes, they destroyed carcinomas, but I believe they also modified the Com-cells causing them to