Chapter 7

Children of the Zombies

I was glad when they left. It had looked like that Tigress had wanted to attack my future mothers of humanity, but luckily that huge black dog and that strange scrawny youth dressed like a goth with the Japanese sword constantly in his hand got her to change her mind, or I would have been forced to send a .50 cal slug downrange from my sniper nest into her brain as she came over the fence.

I like big cats, most likely she was one of those I had freed in my four day tour flying to all the major cities I could reach quickly, just as soon as there weren't many people left to object. There were some, and I hadn't known then when it would be my turn to go brain dead next, but I wanted to keep the animals from starvation- at least, starvation trapped in a locked cage. Perhaps they might starve yet, but in freedom.

I had figured that if I couldn't free them within four days, it would be both too dangerous to me, and probably somewhat too late for most of the animals. I didn't waste time with the creepy-crawlies, but all the mammals were set loose. I flew a fighter jet to the nearest military base, then took an attack chopper to the nearby large zoos. I broke the locks with det-cord, actually I took out bars and walls and viewing windows, not wasting time with small stuff. Two reasons, to do it as quick as I could, and to keep the animals from attacking me. I was gone to the next area before the small explosions let the animals loose.

I finally decided I had done enough after I almost fell asleep at the controls of the fighter jet I was flying, (I never bothered with refueling, just grabbed the next one from the ready flight line.) put down at the next runway I could find, and crashed in the control tower after terminating any hostiles with a silenced semi-automatic. I slept for the next 36 hours straight.

After I woke up, I realized what I had to do, I was assuming that the virus would have run it's course, and the immune response would have it in control, or at least, the future mothers of humanity would provide immunity to their offspring. I was hoping that was the case, anyway. I had to believe that.

Within a week I had the facility set up like I wanted it, it had formerly been intended for "Operation Gardenplot" a "secret" government plan for rounding up undesirables to be named later. The whole government was in on it, left right and center, since they all assumed that they would be the ones naming the undesirables.

I got some strong vet anesthetic and a tranquilizer dart gun, and began selecting my future mothers. I wanted a broad genetic spread, I wanted healthy, I wanted pretty babies. I took them mostly between 14 and 17, as long as they had the hips for popping out humanities future. Some, I had to get older, if they were narrow hipped, like Asians. I might have gotten a few younger as well, I wasn't checking IDs. They were stripped for hygienic reasons, and turned out into pens. It was a warm climate in this area, luckily. I hosed the crap off of them every few days.

I refined my tactics, and used silenced and subsonic munitions to terminate any of the mobs I didn't want to collect, mostly I just tried to avoid them. I also got a handful of males, also trying for diversity. I really scored, and even got a Bantu pigmy and an Inuit (Eskimo).

I kept them separate, so I could get them into the restraining system for milking easier. The females it didn't matter as much if the wrong one got restrained, they were all just fertilized and released into another feeding area, and when they started showing pregnancy, put in a different area. If they didn't start swelling I would try again.

I wondered how I was going to deal with so many babies, but better too many than never any again, and I wasn't sure how long there would be living vegetative humans left alive. I am glad, though, that the freaky trio left. I had to protect the future mothers of humanity, even if I had to kill a beautiful tigress to do it.

I just hoped I lived long enough to have the children old enough to call me 'Mom' though, I was a fifty-eight year old astronaut.