Free Zombie Anthology by Anthology

learned a lot during the brief communication. It wasn't the real Freedom Station they were speaking to, at least not the one known to the public. The station identified itself as the Freedom II, a military oriented, prototype based on the original Freedom's design that had still been under construction as the wave hit. Hank, the astronaut they spoke with, explained that the original Freedom had been destroyed by the wave and that only the Freedom II's experimental shielding had kept it functioning enough to save his crew and allow them the time they needed to make repairs. Still only himself and one other member of the station's eight-man crew were left alive though they were quickly running out of supplies and were down to one quarter power. Hank and Toni arranged a time to talk again when the station's orbit brought it back into range and traded downloads of information on what they knew of the post-wave world.
         Sheena was beside herself. Now she could finally get the data she needed first hand to see if the wave's worst damage was over with. Nathanial, Geoff, Wade, and Troy were howling for a celebration. Only Ian seemed reserved.
         "It's a lie,” he informed the crowd gathered in the control room. “There is no Freedom II.” His words cut the air of excitement and joy like a knife.
         "How could you know that?” Sheena demanded as Nathanial clinched his fists and almost started to charge Ian at the sound of the cruel words the C.I.A. man had spoken.
         "Lies and cover-ups used to be how I made a living on a day to day basis my dear or have you forgotten? I know more truth about what America has and hasn't done in the last five years than all of you put together. Trust me. There is no Freedom II nor will there ever be."
         "You'll have to excuse me Ian if I don't take the word of a self-professed liar over what my own ears just heard,” Geoff remarked.
         "I'm inclined to agree with Geoff,” Nathanial raged, “If Hank isn't on the Freedom II, where is he? Who is he? It just doesn't make sense for it not to be true, Ian."
         Ian sighed as if confronting a group of schoolchildren. “He's one of them, the infected."
         "Oh, now that's just bullshit!” Troy roared, “Those creatures up there can't tell their asses from a hole in the ground. Have you ever seen one, just one of them, try to climb the fence? They could you know if they could think to do it."
         "Before we lost D.C., I received a packet of downloaded data on the infected from a doctor named Buchanan. Perhaps you have heard of him. He was the chief science advisor to the president. His reports in the packet disputed his earlier conclusions about the radiation and its effects. Yes, it turns some people into monsters, the majority actually, while some like us for whatever reason or reasons remain sane. Buchanan believed the possibility of a third group to emerge, a thinking, reasoning breed of those snarling killers up there,” Ian pointed at the ceiling.
         "Fuck off, Ian,” Wade warned him. Ian ignored the mechanic and added, “You're all blinded by what you want to have heard just now, not what you actually did. Hope can be a powerful weapon if wielded correctly."
         "Get out of here, Ian. Go back to your damn coffin in the armoury !” Sheena ordered.
         "Just promise me one thing,” Ian said as he walked towards the control room's exit. “Do not give them our location until you've had more time to study the transmission and its origins."
         "You're too late on that one Ian,” Toni called after him. “I already did."
         Ian kept walking without acknowledging what Toni had said. He disappeared around the corner of the corridor.
         "What if he's right?” Jeremy said and suddenly felt everyone's eyes on him. “I mean it. He's damn weird, I'll give you that but he was C.I.A. Toni, can't we trace the source of the transmission? Find out where