Read Zombies! (Episode 5): Sinners and Saints for Free Online Page A

benches in the middle of the back and rows of computer terminals and monitors. It looked exactly like the FBI vans that are seen in the movies. Smaller ones were used for stakeouts. This one was state of the art. There were ten screens, five on each side. There were listening devices of all kinds stored in briefcases that were secured beneath the benches. There were also ten shoulder cameras. The technician inside the van looked up as Heron entered, not surprised in the least.
     
     
    “The cameras are ready to go,” he said, indicating each screen and the row of cameras hanging on hooks mounted to the side of the van.
     
     
    Heron went screen by screen, making sure he understood how the cameras worked, well aware that every second he spent in preparation was another second that someone inside might be dying and turning. He was almost done when Culph poked his nose inside.
     
     
    “You're not going to make us wear those, are you?”
     
     
    Heron nodded. “Each squad leader and one other team member.”
     
     
    Culph sighed but went to get the assignees. It took another six minutes to get everything set up and the squads situated for entry.
     
     
    Culph's squad was, of course, the first to go in. As always, he took point himself, rifle aimed forward, face set in a grim expression. They entered the main sanctuary through the large front doors. Culph went in with Harrison at his side. The others held back five paces so as not get bunched up. It was dark inside. The sunlight filtered in through stained glass. That and the low watt yellow lights of candle bulbs were not quite enough for a search and rescue mission. They stood at the back of three rows of pews, between the holy water fonts. At the front of the church, the stage rose slightly off of the ground, the pulpit standing empty and alone as if in waiting.
     
     
    “Clear,” he said into his microphone.
     
     
    In the van, Heron sat and watched. If the light was bad for Culph, it was worse for Heron. He watched as they moved forward, looked into each row and under pews. Behind, he knew the others were coming in. Lorenzo, with the other shoulder cam, was part of the last pair. Heron glanced briefly at his screen as he entered but didn't see anything he hadn't seen on Culph's.
     
     
    “Check the confession booths,” he ordered.
     
     
    Through Lorenzo's camera, he saw Culph make a motion with his hand. Two men detached themselves from the formation and moved off to the sides.
     
     
    “You've got movement, Frank,” Heron said suddenly into the mike. “Left side, behind the stage.”
     
     
    The camera moved and Culph was looking at it dead on. Though unidentifiable, it was definitely a human shape. It moved slowly, but not in the shuffling gait of the zombies they had seen. With their masks, they wouldn't have been able to smell it and in the poor light they couldn't make out any details.
     
     
    Culph leveled his rifle. “Police! Identify yourself!”
     
     
    There was no answer.
     
     
    Heron glanced at the camera and saw that the others were all fixed on the newcomer. “Keep those men alert!” he shouted into the microphone.
     
     
    “Last warning!” Culph cried, motioning with his hand to break the concentration of his men. “Identify yourself!”
     
     
    Then she came into the better light and they could see that half of her face had been chewed upon. One eye was ruined, the remains dribbling out of the socket like a gummy candy cane. The fingernails on her left hand were gone, just gone. They would never know that each one of them had come off as she had clawed at her attackers. All in vain.
     
     
    For a moment, there was silence as she approached.
     
     
    “Put her down,” Heron whispered into the mike. He heard the shot an instant later, both through the input and out in the street. The body fell and he took a moment to close his eyes and remember happier times.
     
     
    Outside, in front of the church, on a cold Saturday