Tim sat behind the steering wheel. Devyn casually watched the shade of white his knuckles took as he clenched. She knew she shouldn't stare but couldn't help herself. Tim would be her first live, undead being to examine.

Sure, her brother and Paige were in the trunk, acting like they were dead next to the actual dead guy right now. Sort of awkward. But, their discomfort was worth her scientific triumph.

"How long is this going to take?" Tim asked, making Devyn jump and turn straight.She shrugged. "I'm guessing about two hours."

Tim's eyebrows went together as his frown lines deepened. "You sure it can't be done quicker?"

Devyn shook her head. "Ideally, but the dye needs time to activate to get the most out of this. I could say we did two scans if someone sees us bring those two in on surveillance."

She did not see the lines on his face ease, but he nodded anyway.

Joy sighed in the backseat as she looked out of the window. The moon and stars danced across the broken glass of windows as they drove through the old West University neighborhood towards the med center.

"What's my story?" She asked.

"Assisting me?" Devyn shrugged. "It is a lot to get this done. You know the manuals and study materials."

Joy sighed again and nodded. "Makes sense."

Devyn glanced back at her friend in slight concern. She didn't know what to say, so they rode on in silence. They pulled up to a dimly lit building. Devyn directed Tim to take the bodies around to a side entrance where the cameras were broken.

The three walked inside and retrieved gurneys for Paige and Jim. Devyn assured everyone that there would be no cameras in the rooms where the studies occur.

Tim cleared his throat as they pushed Jim and Paige down the hall towards the elevator. "You sure they won't ask about the timing of everything?"

Devyn snorted. "Doubt it."

Joy nodded. "They would be happy she was able to convince you to let us get a sample before you burned the bodies."

Tim pressed his lips together as his eyebrows came together. "But, most of the data is—"

"If you say fabricated, I will punch you in the balls," Devyn cut him off, sending him a side-eyed glare.

Tim shook his head and clucked his tongue atop the roof of his mouth. He thought it best not to respond. The lady did have Palmer blood running through her after all.

Once inside the room, Jim and Paige got up from the gurneys and moved around. The room was simple. It contained the computers used for the study and a small bed on the side with a long metal stand beside it. Joy and Devyn began to prepare Tim for the study.

"What records can I access here?" Jim asked.

Devyn glanced over at him and let a curse loose underneath her breath. "Jim, I can't help you with that right now? Can you just give me one second?"

Paige let her fingers trail over the equipment. She stepped out of Joy's way as the woman moved to hand Tim a drink.

"You will need to drink all of this," Joy smiled. "Sorry, it kind of tastes bad."

Devyn walked out of the room and turned on a large white machine. She walked back into the room and over to her brother. Her shoulder pushed him out of the way, and her fingers ran across the keys. The screen now showed the typical loading message.

"There," Devyn muttered. "You should be able to access most of the medical files. I don't have access to documents from other departments."

Paige walked over to Jim, and the two began to mutter to each other while looking at the screen. The following two hours became a blur of documenting Tim's brain underneath Patient B.236 and fighting with her brother over how to save documents he thought would be necessary for the mission.

"It will show that the documents were saved to a drive," Devyn hissed at him.

"They wouldn't even think to look—"

"What if we just printed them?" Joy asked.

Tim nodded, "yeah, you could say I asked for them."

Devyn nodded while staring at a large screen of brain images, "that could work. You forced me to do it, or I just didn't get what you asked of me. Something like that?" Tim nodded. "Works for me."

"But, what if they get damaged?" Paige asked, leaning against the table with crossed arms. "We won't be able to provide education on how the ZT virus is changing or how effective the vaccine is if we don't have the data."

Joy shrugged. "Be careful, or break-in on another day if you need to?"Paige sighed and stood from the table. "If that's the best we can do, fine."

Joy let out a half-hearted cheer. "I will go get the stuff from the printer. Just send it to—yeah, that one, Lab 23."

The walk to and back from the printer took a few minutes. Joy mainly regretted volunteering to be the one to get so many papers.

She came back into the room a few minutes later. "I got the stupid pages. Now—" She stopped talking and walked over to the small group huddled behind Devyn's chair, staring at the images of Tim's brain on the screen.

"This is from the PET," Devyn said. "You can see that there is still activity in the frontal lobes. I haven't run your blood tests yet, but this brain looks alive. We will have to see what your blood results are."

"So, you don't think I would eat the dog?" Tim asked.

Devyn shrugged. "If you chose to eat it, I think you would. But, this brain looks like it still can make that choice. I hope you don't decide to eat a dog."

Tim nodded with silent tears running down his face. "I won't eat a dog."

"Do you think this evidence will be enough to convince the council to stop hunting?" Paige asked.

Devyn pressed her lips together. "I don't know."

Jim shook his head. "It would take some convincing and maneuvering."

"Political chess," Joy whispered.

"Exactly," Jim nodded. "They will want you to join since I will be gone." Jim placed a hand on Devyn's shoulder, making her sigh.

"Do I have to?" She asked, spinning her chair around to face him. Jim nodded. "Ugh, this sucks! I just want to hide in my lab!"

Jim smirked at his sister. "I know, but maybe if this goes well, I can come back, and you can go back into the lab."

Devyn nodded. "How will we stay in touch?"

Jim glanced at Paige, who smiled and placed her hands on her hips. "Don't worry. We have ways to get messages sent."

"I will send you my initial strategy once we get someplace safe," Jim added. "It should get to you in a few days. Just mourn my loss until then."

Devyn snorted. "Like anyone would believe that."

Jim pulled his sister up from her chair and into a hug. "You can take my townhome community. There is some stuff you might find interesting in House D."

Devyn nodded and watched her brother lay back on the gurney. Joy walked over and pulled the sheet over his head. Paige rustled for a moment under her sheet before settling into a comfortable position.

Joy and Tim pushed the gurneys out to the car, with Devyn following a few steps behind. They loaded them into the car. Neither Joy nor Devyn hugged Tim. They just provided a slight wave to the undead man and wished him the best of luck before he drove away. The two women then set off on the same journey they took a few hours earlier to return to Jim's old house.

"I want to go into the forest," Joy whispered as they walked down the street. "It would be cool to see what they've created there."

Devyn nodded. "Hopefully, we get to go there alive."

***

A phone sat propped on a table.  On the screen is a clearing in a forest with two barrels turned upside down. Jim and Tim appeared in the camera frame, walking over and sitting on the barrels.

"Hello," they said in unison.

"That's Jim," Tim said, motioning to his right.

"That's Tim," Jim said, motioning to his left.

The two sat in silence before Tim coughed and winced.

"Still there?" Jim asked, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder.

Tim nodded. "Yeah, still got kitty litter in the lungs. Funny story, our producer, Paige, is why I am now a member of the undead and have chronic kitty litter lung."

Jim shook his head. "Tim was a member of the Protectors of the Living before becoming undead."

"I was almost an asshole," Tim corrected. "But, on these videos, we will provide information about members and possible targets for the Red Eyed Battalion."

"Did you also want to discuss your recipes?" Jim asked, making Tim nod enthusiastically.

"Yes, we will also be going over different raw recipes to ensure that you still acknowledge your human tastebuds! This is Jim and Tim. We will be back after this quick break!"

The screen transitioned to a weird commercial about squirrel meat.

***

Chapter WC: 1,497

Total WC: 11,596