City of the Dead Page 7

lost sight of the bounty hunter as he turned a corner.

  They hurried to catch up, but as they turned the same corner, they found

  themselves at an intersection of two streets. There was no sign of Boba Fett.

  "Which way do you think he went?" Zak wondered.

  "Your guess is as good as mine," Tash answered. "Why don't you take a

  quick look down that road, and I'll look down the other one. Then we'll meet

  back here in a minute."

  Zak hesitated. He had to get back to the hostel. "Tash, I-"

  "Come on, Zak!" Tash interrupted. "We might lose him."

  She hurried down one of the two streets. Zak shook his head. When Tash

  locked onto something, she was as stubborn as a dewback.

  He hurried down the avenue on the left. He hadn't gone far before the

  street divided again. Zak was at a loss until a figure passed beneath a faint

  glowpanel farther down one of the two lanes.

  Quietly Zak hurried after the figure. He wondered if Boba Fett would even

  speak to him, or what the bounty hunter would say if he knew the man he'd

  killed had come back to life.

  The figure ahead of him was moving slowly, and Zak easily closed the

  distance between them. He closed the gap just as the figure passed beneath

  another glowpanel, and Zak got a better look at him.

  It wasn't Boba Fett.

  It was Kairn.

  Meanwhile Tash hurried down her chosen lane for two hundred meters. There

  were no side streets and no sign of Boba Fett. She decided he must not have

  come this way and turned back. She arrived back at the intersection and

  waited, but Zak didn't show up. She waited a little longer, then called

  softly, "Zak? Zak, are you there?"

  "Zak is not here, but I am."

  Tash turned. Boba Fett was behind her, with a blaster in his hand.

  CHAPTER 12

  "What did you do with Zak?" Tash demanded.

  "You were following me," the bounty hunter stated. "Why?"

  Maybe it was his voice, maybe it was the blaster in his hand, or maybe it

  was the fact that his face was hidden beneath his helmet, but Tash found Boba

  Fett unnerving. She stammered, "B-Because I saw you at the hostel the other

  day. T-Talking to my uncle."

  "The Shi'ido," Fett stated flatly.

  "Yes. I know he spoke to you, but he wouldn't tell me why. I wanted to

  find out by following you." Boba Fett said flatly, "You were clumsy. I was on

  to you the minute I left my ship. Your clumsiness saved your life. If you had

  any skill at shadowing people, I might have mistaken you for a professional

  and taken you out immediately." He slowly holstered his blaster. "I expected

  your brother to be with you. I want him."

  Tash tried to overcome her fear. Boba Fett uses his reputation to

  intimidate people, she thought. And he uses that helmet to hide what he's

  thinking.

  "We split up," she said, keeping the nervousness out of her voice. "We

  lost you and separated to find you."

  The cold voice spoke again. "I hear your brother says he saw Evazan

  again. Explain."

  Tash was surprised. "How did you know that?"

  "Explain."

  Tash swallowed. Was Boba Fett angry at Zak? Did he think Zak would hurt

  his reputation? "Leave Zak alone. Whatever he says is our business."

  "I want details. I killed Evazan. How could your brother have seen him?"

  Tash gathered her courage. The bounty hunter had asked her a question,

  and it gave her an advantage. She had information he apparently needed. "Let's

  make a deal. I'll tell you what Zak saw, if you answer a question of mine."

  "No promises. Tell me."

  "Promise," she challenged.

  The bounty hunter said nothing. He waited.

  Tash tried to outwait him, but it was impossible. Boba Fett was like a

  statue. Finally she blurted out, "All right, I'll tell you!"

  Tash quickly told the bounty hunter what Zak had seen aboard the

  starship. When she was finished, Fett simply nodded.

  "Now I get to ask a question," Tash asked.

  "It will be a waste of breath."

  Tash asked anyway. "What does Uncle Hoole want from you? Does he want you

  to kill someone?"

  "Stay out of your uncle's business. You don't want to know about it." The

  killer paused. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my

  business as well."

  Boba Fett pressed a small control on his wrist and the jetpack he wore

  ignited in a burst of flame. With a roar, the bounty hunter shot up into the

  air and was out of sight, leaving Tash alone on the dark street.

  Zak rubbed his eyes and looked again. The person walking down the street

  was definitely the same boy he'd met his first day in Necropolis.

  "Kairn!" Zak yelled happily. "You're alive!"

  Kairn didn't stop moving, so Zak ran to catch up with him. Only when Zak

  stood right in front of him did the young Necropolitan seem to notice. "Kairn,

  it's me. Zak."

  Kairn blinked. His skin was pale, as though he'd been very ill, and his

  eyes looked glassy and lifeless. They reminded Zak of black holes.

  "Zak," Kairn said slowly. "Good to see you."

  "It's good to see you! What happened? Was it all a mistake?"

  Kairn blinked very slowly. "Mistake?"

  Zak laughed. He was so happy to see his friend. "You were dead, or at

  least you looked dead. The other night in the cemetery, remember?"

  "Oh. No. There was no mistake."

  "You mean - - ?"

  Kairn smiled a lifeless smile. "That's right. I died, Zak. I was dead."

  Kairn's body twitched.

  Zak sputtered, "Then, it really is true? The dead can come back? But how?

  "

  "I can answer your questions if you come with me. I must go to the

  graveyard again."

  Kairn started walking down the street.

  Zak didn't know what to do. He knew he should go back and meet Tash. He

  also knew Pylum had expected him to wait at the hostel. But if he left now, he

  might lose Kairn, and he refused to let that happen. If he was going to get

  anyone to believe him, he needed proof-and now his proof was walking away. Zak

  hurried until he was shoulder to shoulder with Kairn. "I'm right with you."

  Kairn said nothing as they walked. Whatever had happened had definitely

  changed him. His skin looked sallow and unhealthy. He walked slowly, like he

  was trudging through mud, and every now and then his body shook with a violent

  twitch. But he didn't look like the zombies Zak had seen in his dreams. He

  looked like he'd been ill, but he did not look like the walking dead.

  Kairn's personality had changed along with his appearance. He didn't

  speak unless Zak asked him a question, and even then Zak had to ask it two or

  three times. It seemed as if Kairn's brain were in a fog as thick as the

  Necropolis night.

  Still, all of those things paled in comparison to the miraculous fact

  that the dead young man was walking the streets of Necropolis!

  When they reached the gates of the cemetery, Zak stopped. "I'm not sure I

  can go in there."

  "I must go," Kairn said. "Inside here is the reason I came back."

  "It's true then, isn't it?" Zak guessed. "There's something about the

  Crypt of the Ancients that brings back the dead."


  "Yes."

  Zak swallowed hard. "Kairn, this power, can it... Can it return anyone?

  From anywhere?"

  Kairn smiled. "Come with me and see for yourself."

  It sounded like another dare. Zak wouldn't have accepted it from anyone

  else, but Kairn was proof that some mystical power surrounded the crypt. He

  thought of his parents and decided it was a risk worth taking.

  Kairn led him back through the graveyard until they reached the massive

  Crypt of the Ancients. It looked the same as it had the other night.

  Zak was impressed when Kairn grabbed the handles of the heavy doors in

  his thin, bony hands. The doors must have weighed several hundred kilos, but

  Kairn pulled them open easily. Beyond, a stairway led down into the dark.

  "This is the way to the secret," Kairn said. "If you follow, you will see

  how the dead can come back to life."

  "Um... okay," Zak said, suddenly feeling chilled.

  He stepped inside behind Kairn, who paused only to slam the doors closed.

  Instantly they were plunged into utter darkness. Zak could not see Kairn, even

  though he was standing right next to him.

  "Wait, it's too dark to go down there," Zak stated nervously.

  "Oh, you need light. I forgot," Kairn replied. "Do you still have the

  glowrod I gave you?"

  Zak fumbled in his pocket until he found the small rod and ignited it. It

  cast a faint light on the stone walls of the crypt.

  Zak's pulse raced as they made their way down the steep, slippery stairs

  that curved into the ground. The stairs were so small that Zak kept one hand

  touching the stone wall beside him to keep his balance. Kairn didn't even have

  any problems getting down the stairs, though he was twitching violently.

  Zak had seen that twitch in the graveyard zombies. He also had the

  feeling that he'd seen it somewhere else. Where had it been?

  They reached the bottom of the spiral stairway and entered a small tomb.

  A great stone coffin lay in the center of the room. There were cobwebs all

  across its top, and a thick layer of dust lay on the floor around it. But next

  to the great coffin a pathway had been cleared of dust. This pathway led to

  another door at the far end of the tomb. Someone had used it often.

  Kairn, still twitching, walked over and grabbed that door by a large

  metal handle. As he pulled the door open, Zak said, "It's the legend of the

  witch's curse, isn't it? All the stories about people coming here to call

  their loved ones back to life-they're true. It can be done."

  "Of course it can be done," replied the voice of Dr. Evazan.

  CHAPTER 13

  Zak didn't think about it. He turned to run. But before he could take a

  step, Kairn grabbed his arm. Kairn's skin was ice-cold, and his grip was

  unbreakable.

  "No, no, no," Dr. Evazan said in a sickly sweet voice. "You can't leave

  just as the fun is about to begin. Bring him here!"

  Obediently Kairn dragged Zak further into the room. Zak struggled every

  step of the way, but Kairn had supernatural strength.

  Evazan waited patiently until Zak stood before him. Kairn stood behind

  Zak, holding him by both shoulders. Zak continued to struggle, but he might as

  well have been fighting a stone.

  "Welcome to my medical facility," Dr. Evazan began.

  The crypt looked more like a chamber of horrors. The walls were lined

  with specimen jars full of squishy objects Zak didn't want to think about.

  Nearby stood a table covered with dull, rusty medical tools. There were

  several small doors along the back wall. Each door had a small barred window

  set in it, and through the window Zak could see pale zombies in the cells. He

  looked at Evazan again and shuddered. "You're supposed to be dead."

  Evazan chuckled. "True. But I'm the doctor, so I get to announce the time

  of death. And my time hasn't come yet. Or I should say, it's come and gone,

  and I'm still here."

  Evazan twitched and Zak remembered-he had seen Evazan twitch onboard the

  starship!

  "What do you mean?" Zak asked.

  Evazan pretended to be surprised. "You mean you haven't figured it out

  yet? Doesn't your friend Kairn here give you any hints at all?" Evazan threw

  his arm back in a sweeping gesture that covered the entire room. "I've had a

  breakthrough in my experiments. I have figured out a way to reanimate dead

  tissue."

  "What does that mean?" Zak asked.

  "It means," Evazan said triumphantly, "I have learned to bring back the

  dead. Like I did with your friend Kairn here. And myself, of course."

  Zak felt fear and relief churn in his stomach. Dr. Evazan was a mad

  scientist, but at least now Zak knew he wasn't insane. "How could you bring

  yourself back if you were dead in the first place?"

  Evazan laughed, and the unscarred side of his face wrinkled into a

  horrific grin. "In my line of work, it's good to think ahead. I heard that

  Boba Fett was in the area, and I knew he'd find me eventually. I injected

  myself with the reanimation serum. Once I died, there was only one step left

  in the process before I came back."

  "And those zombies in the cages back there. They're like the ones I saw

  earlier. They're more of your experiments?"

  "My, my, you ask a lot of questions. But I suppose it's good for me to

  practice my bedside manner. People say it's my weak point." Evazan began to

  fill a syringe with a pale red liquid. "Your timing at the cemetery was

  extraordinary. You got to see some of my undead creatures come alive, so to

  speak. Of course, those are the cruder models. They look more dead than alive.

  "

  "But you and Kairn look..."

  "Alive?" Evazan gloated. "That is due to my genius. I've made

  improvements since my first experiments. My new zombies look a bit healthier,

  and they can talk. My tests indicate they even keep their old memories. Kairn

  is a good example of the next stage and well, frankly, so am I."

  Dr. Death actually looked sad for a moment. "The unfortunate thing is

  that I couldn't use the improved serum on the rest of the corpses in the

  graveyard. I'm afraid I need fresh bodies for it to work properly. Old bodies

  come out clumsy and awkward. For the results to be perfect, I have to be the

  one to kill my patients. That's why I force-fed your friend here the crypt-

  berries. They killed him without doing too much damage."

  Zak was horrified. "You mean you killed him just so you could bring him

  back to life?"

  "Of course." Evazan held up the syringe and looked at Kairn. "Kairn, put

  your friend on the table."

  "Kairn, don't do it! Help me!" Zak said.

  For the slightest moment, Kairn paused.

  "Oh, I'd save what little breath I had left, if I were you," Evazan

  warned. "These zombies listen only to my commands. Put him on the table."

  This time Kairn obeyed immediately. He lifted Zak easily and dropped him

  on the examining table. The undead Necropolitan pinned him down with a

  viselike grip. "But why are you doing this-why are you creating zombies?" Zak

  managed to ask.

  Evazan held up the syringe and squeezed it until one drop of the pale red

  liquid bubbled out and ran down alo
ng the edge of the needle. "Haven't you

  noticed how strong they are? Also, they don't feel any pain at all, and they

  are easily conditioned to take orders. In other words, they'll make perfect

  soldiers. And since people are always dying, there will be a limitless supply.

  " Evazan seemed horribly pleased with himself. "Whoever uses my process will

  have an inexhaustible, invincible army. And I, of course, will become very

  rich."

  "You're insane! Who would buy this serum?"

  "Oh, I already have a buyer. A very, very powerful buyer. He's close to

  the Emperor himself, I believe." Evazan twitched violently. He saw Zak staring

  at him and shrugged through another twitch. "The twitching is a defect in the

  serum. But I think I've fixed it. I'll know as soon as my next subject

  reanimates."

  "Your next subject?"

  Evazan looked surprised. "Why, yes. You, of course."

  He brought the needle close to Zak.

  "No!" Zak struggled against Kairn's impossible grip. "Kairn! We were