D E A D H E A D

Chapter 19

"Do you see that?" Zora asked.

"I sure do," Violet replied. They were coming up on what looked like a camp. Men in hazard suits were walking from tent to tent. Soldiers were guarding the tents.

"This doesn't look like Keller," Peter said. "This looks like the government." The three geared up and got a closer view of the perimeter. They were hiding behind a thick tree.

"We can't just sit here all night," Zora said.

"If we've learned anything, it's to not dive in head first without knowing pretty damn sure that it's a good idea," Violet said.

"What if my mom or my brothers are in there huh? What if your parents are in there?" Zora asked.

"No one is guarding the main entrance," Peter pointed out.

"Let's go then," Zora said.

"We need to be cautious," Violet said. The trio dashed to the entrance. Once they were in they took off their masks. The picked up the staff jackets that were located right when you walk in and they put them on. They saw a group of survivors in the next room. They saw a family crying about their daughter that they lost. Then they heard a TV and followed where the noise was coming from.

"Federal authorities are categorizing the explosion that left an estimated 20,000 people dead as an act of terrorism," The lady on the TV said. The TV was set to a news channel. "The search of survivors has been complicated by toxic fumes still circulating. The CDC has quarantined the valley and believes that it may be uninhabitable for decades."

"Decades?" Zora questioned. "That means we'll never go home again."

"This could be a lie," Peter said.

"Why would they lie?" Zora asked.

"They're covering it all up," Peter said.

"Peter is right," Violet chimed in. "Notice how they're not bringing anything about the Deadheads up. They're acting like the gas are killing people."

"Or maybe they are believing what Keller is telling them," Zora said.

"I never meant for all of this to happen," Peter said. "I just wanted people to know what Keller was doing."

"This isn't your fault," Violet said.

"In other news," The woman on the news spoke. "Jessica Keller tells a harrowing story of being trapped in Keller high school with a group of survivors. Keller was the only person able to make it out alive. Here is Miss Keller herself to tell more of the story."

"We were all trapped in the school," Jess said. "Three of my friends left the school but shortly after the toxic fumes in the air killed them. One of my really close friends was diabetic and died from a loss of insulin. Also, a group of evil people intruded the school and killed most of my friends." Jess took a long pause. "I'm sorry. I can't continue." Jess started crying.

"Crocodile tears," Peter spoke under her breath.

Violet sat down on the couch behind her. "Oh my god," She said. "The evil people must have been the blue suits."

"I can't believe they actually got the helicopter to work," Peter mumbled.

"We knew the helicopter was going to bring the blue suits and I still left Taylor there," Violet said.

"Well from what Jess said, Taylor died from a loss of insulin," Zora said.

"But, I still left him," Violet said.

"He told you to leave," Zora said. Violet didn't respond. "He wouldn't have come with us anyways."

"If only I showed him the retrieval picture." Violet took a deep breath. "I let him die."

"Do you actually believe her?" Peter asked. "She was clearly fake crying and we all know she didn't care about any of us. Also, she said we died right after we went outside witch clearly isn't true." Violet and Zora thought long and hard about what Peter said.

"I guess we'll never know for sure," Zora said.

"Come on we need to go," Violet said while leaving the room. Peter and Zora followed. They went into a room that had dead bodies laying on beds with blue tarts covering them. Violet uncovered one of the bodies. She took a good look at him.

"He didn't die from a Deadhead nor did he turn," Violet said. She grabbed the man's arm. "He was injected with something."

"Like Madelynn?" Zora asked.

"From the looks of it? Yes," Violet said. Peter picked up a needle from the table beside the bed.

"This is what Collins had," Peter said while holding up the used needle. "They aren't rescuing survivors. Keller and the government are working together to poison witnesses." Violet and Zora didn't respond. "I'm going to keep this for evidence," Peter said while putting the needle in his pocket.

"Like what you said, the government and Keller are working together. Using that needle for evidence isn't going to do anything but get us killed," Violet said.

Zora looked over to the computer in the room. "Maybe we can get a message out," She suggested. Peter ran over to the computer and turned it on.

"It's on an internal network on Keller's server and it has a password," Peter said.

"But, you're smart. You can work around it," Zora said.

"You've done it once before," Violet added.

"So can you crack it?" Zora asked.

Peter nodded his head in response. "It should only take me a minute." Peter started typing away. A minute has passed and he got into the computer.

"I circumvented the main-" Peter was cut off.

"Skip the details," Zora said.

Peter nodded. "Staff lists, project lists, Project Wednesday," He read off from the computer.

"You already have that," Violet said.

"I have the summary, this is all the notes," Peter said.

"Test group one," Zora read. "Overly aggressive, discarded."

"Test group two," Peter read. "Numerous side effects, still operational."

"Test group three," Violet read. "To be retrieved." Violet's heart dropped. "Am I a test subject?"

"Don't jump to conclusions," Zora said.

"They know I logged on. We need pictures of this and then we need to leave," Peter said. Peter took out his phone and took a picture. They started hearing people getting close to the room. They sprinted outside to the car. One of the soldiers shot Violet. She fell to the ground.

"Violet!" Zora screamed.

"Go! Get out of here!" Violet yelled.

"I'm not leaving you behind," Zora said.

"I'll just end up being an experiment! Just go!" Violet yelled before taking her mask off.

"What are you doing?" Zora asked.

"I'm exposed! I'm turning! Run!" Violet yelled.

"Zora!" Peter shouted while motioning for her. Zora looked at Peter then back at Violet.

"GO!" Violet screamed. Zora ran to the car. Peter was already inside. Three soldiers picked Violet up and carried her away.