Chapter 5

These “living undead” didn't move slowly, like zombies in old movies. Their arms and legs were stiff, but they could move very fast! In no time, the undead had Ant-Man and Banner backed up against a stand of trees.

“Don't let them bite you!” warned Ant-Man, trying to push the undead off him. “You'll get infected, too.”

“What can we do?” asked Banner. “We don't want to hurt them. They're not bad guys, just sick humans. We have to help them!”

But as the undead roared and scratched at him, Banner felt himself getting angry. . . and starting to change.

Ant-Man looked at his friend. Oh, no! If Banner changed into Hulk, Hulk might lash out against his attackers, hurting them—or much worse. Ant-Man had only seconds to figure out how to stop Banner from changing. . .

That was when he spotted something on the ground he could use to solve the problem. To anyone else, this thing wouldn't have seemed like much, but because of Ant-Man's particular skills, it was exactly what was needed.

It was an earthworm.

Ant-Man dodged the grabbing hands of the living undead and snatched up the worm.

Quickly, he tossed it between the undead and Banner, then enlarged it!

The earthworm was suddenly huge, and it became a living wall, with Ant-Man and Banner on one side and the living undead on the other!

“Are you okay, Bruce?” asked Ant-Man, putting an arm around the scientist.

“Yeah . . .yeah.” Banner assured him, calming down. His transformation stopped. “But what do we do now?”

They could hear frustrated howls coming from the other side of the earthworm.

“I'll call Euclid,” Ant-Man said as he released a pheromone scent. “We have something to show the other Avengers now.”

“We do?” asked Banner.

Ant-Man pointed to his wrist, where a small wearable camera was mounted. “I got it all on video!”

Back in Banner's lab aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Scott uploaded the video files to the Avengers' server. Out in the field, the Avengers were able to use their hand-held devices to stream the footage of the living undead attacking Scott and Bruce.

“I'm sorry I didn't take this more seriously,” said Iron Man grimly. He and the other Avengers were still in Battery Park, having finally just stopped the A.I.M. attack.

“How far has it spread?” asked Black Widow.

“We don't know exactly,” Banner said to them over comms. “But S.H.I.E.L.D. is starting to get alarm calls from midtown. That seems to be the epicenter. We're in the lab now, because there's a chance that Scott and I can work up a cure.”

“We've already got most of the materials we need,” said Scott, “but the virus is spreading already. The Avengers can help by trying to find the infected civilians and quarantining them so they can't bite more people!”

“Look, you may have been the first person to find this virus,” said Hawkeye, “but that doesn't mean you get to tell us what we should be doing—”

Captain America cut off Hawkeye's comment before the archer could even finish his thought.

“We understand,” said Captain America directly to Scott. “We Avengers will head to Central Park and try to separate the living undead from people who haven't been infected. We want to stop the spread of this thing.”

“It could already have gone farther than we think,” said Iron Man seriously. “It might explain the behavior of these A.I.M. agents. We can't see their faces, because of the A.I.M. uniform masks. But they were fighting strangely, just like those living undead in Scott's video.”

“If those A.I.M. guys are infected, then be careful that you don't get infected, too,” warned Scott. “It spreads through bites.”

“We'll be fine,” Hawkeye assured Ant-Man. “Like Iron Man said, the A.I.M. guys are wearing masks, so they can't bite us.”

“Yes, but something must have bitten them to infect them in the first place,” Scott pointed out.

“He's right. Everyone, check your skin and clothes. Make sure no ants have gotten on you,” Warned Cap.

“Watch out!” Falcon called, spotting an ant on Iron Man, but it slipped between two metal armor plates before Falcon could reach it.

“Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've had a ‘bug’ in my systems,” Iron Man joked as he quickly pulled off pieces of armor, trying to get to the ant. Despite what he was saying, Iron Man was clearly a little freaked out.

“Uh-oh,” said Iron Man, suddenly stopping. “I'm . . . I'm . . . feeling strange . . .” Then he dropped to the ground!

Falcon rushed to his side and scanned for the ant where Tony had removed part of his armor. “Gotcha,” said Falcon as he crushed the infected ant . . . but it was too late. The ant had already bitten Iron Man!

Iron Man's limbs grew stiff, and he started to moan.

“Tony? Tony? Can you still hear me?” asked Falcon. He got no response, but Iron Man started to aim his repulsors at the others.

“Scatter!” Cap commanded as Iron Man fired at him and the others. All the Avengers dove for cover!

Horrified, Scott and Banner, on the Helicarrier, could only listen as the living undead Iron Man blasted at his teammates!