A Zombie Survival Series (Book 1): Infestation Iowa (7 page)

              “Get outside!” He yelled causing a large growl from the creature as it turned toward him. It roared loudly as Holiday continued. “Come and get me you ugly piece of shit!” David couldn’t believe his ears. Holiday was standing up to the beast; he was laying in the back room after having slid all the way across the main room.

              The creature walked quickly toward Holiday, the doorway too small for it. “That’s it! Come on beautiful!” Holiday continued his taunts. As the creature grew closer, Eric bolted out the hole in the side wall where the beast had come through. Destiny and David followed quickly. “David! Make sure you get Viv!” Holiday yelled.

David, Destiny, and Eric rushed outside to the front of the building. They gasped heavily and bent over out of breath. Adrenaline and fear surged through them; they were in slight disbelief at what they had just seen.

              Inside, Holiday laughed loudly as the creature ripped open the doorway to get into the room. Holiday slid back into a corner and reached into the open box lying on the ground. He pulled out a massive firework and grunted slightly. He would have arrested Bartley had he known about these earlier. Now he was glad he hadn’t.

He pulled out his lighter with an enormous grin and flipped the top open. He struck his Zippo three times, finally lighting it. The beast emerged into the room looking around wildly. Holiday licked his lips and lit the fuse on the firework. The fizzing sound drew the beast’s attention and he threw the firework into a group of boxes at the other end of the room. The beast followed it, roaring loudly. The room erupted in colorful lights and flames engulfing everything inside it. Outside David, Destiny and Eric watched as the building erupted in flames. Small explosions rattled through it as fireworks and ammunition exploded violently.

              “We have to move!” David hollered pointing towards the trees.

Chapter 6 – Trinity

They sat down inside a group of bushes at the edge of the park breathing heavily as the sun fully set. Soon they would have to rush across the park and head out of town, needing all of their strength.  David had not slept the night prior and was feeling very tired but he intended to continue on and ignore how he felt. They would make a quick stop on the other side of the park at Vivian’s house. If she was anywhere now it would be there. Afterward, he planned on heading anywhere they could be safe.

              “What’s the plan now?” Eric asked catching his breath.

              “Head across the park, get Viv, get out of town and somewhere safe.” David replied checking his gun for ammunition. “How are you guys for ammo?” He continued, “I got three clips.”

Destiny replied holding up a small black pouch with three ammo clips inside. She fastened it to her arm and asked, “What about you Eric?”

              “Why are we going for this Viv?” Eric asked looking at them confused, than he held up his hammer. “I got this….” He continued.

              “I promised Holiday we would get her,” David said looking sadly at the ground. “Her place is on the way out of town and if she is in trouble we should help.” David looked towards Eric and continued “That hammer will still help if they get too close,” David said trying to be encouraging and at the same time change the subject. “Don’t lose it.”

              “Let’s get going.” Destiny said standing up and adjusting her skirt. The three of them stood up and prepared to walk into the park. The clearing on the other side could hold anything, and they knew they had to be prepared. Anything was better than the street. All at once, with guns and the hammer ready, they rushed forward stepping into the open field of the park. It was a massive field; the size of three city blocks and it was surrounded by trees. To their surprise they couldn’t see a single zombie. Eric had his hammer raised above his head and didn’t relax it even for a moment. David and Destiny both lowered their guns. The park was very dark but they could see well enough to know nothing but a field was there. “What’s that?” Destiny asked pointing toward the center of the field. The three of them peered into the dark but couldn’t make out much. A large building seemed to sit in the center of the park but David and Eric knew that was impossible. They have both lived here for years and knew this park very well.

              “Let’s go,” David said moving forward slowly. The building in the park got slowly clearer as they moved into the park. It was a very large tent surrounded by some sandbags. They approached the tent, David in the lead, watching the tree line all around them for any sign of movement. After a few minutes they reached the tent. It was the size of the first floor of the gun store they were just in. A slight buzzing sound came from inside the tent and then a voice could be faintly heard. They stood outside the tent flap and David leaned over to whisper at Destiny.

“You stay out here; Eric and I are going to check inside.” Destiny nodded as David quietly explained what he was going to do. Eric stood to one side of the flap and David on the other. Then David rushed inside with his gun drawn. An incredibly bright light blinded him for a moment but his eyes soon adjusted. Nobody was there. The inside of the tent was lit fairly well and he was amazed they could not see it from outside. Eric quickly came in swinging his hammer with his eyes closed. “Eric!” David said loudly, “It’s alright!”

“You guys O.K.?” Destiny asked from outside.

“Ya, come on in.” David said searching the ground. The ground was littered with papers and books. A row of hospital beds lined the wall of the tent. In the corner there was a small blue lantern that illuminated the entire tent. Destiny walked inside covering her eyes with her arm as the light hit her face.

“What is this place?” Destiny asked

“Never seen it before,” Eric replied looking around at the room. “It wasn’t here a few days ago.” They walked around looking at all the papers. There were a bunch of medical tubes and I.V. bags lying on some beds, by the lantern there was a computer desk. Then they heard it again: the voice from earlier and then some buzzing. It was louder now but they could see no one. David walked over to the computer desk and looked at the paper on top of it.

“These say Trinity.” David said holding up a few pages. “Think they were trying to help?” Eric walked up to David and grabbed a paper from off the desk.

“$10 bucks says these mother-fuckers are behind this shit!” Eric said throwing the paper on the ground. David rolled his eyes and bent down to pick up the paper. There were two kinds of people in the world when it came to Trinity, people who thought they were evil and people who thought they were the greatest thing ever. David heard a lot of stories about Trinity Corp but nothing ever bad, so he thought they were great. Eric on the other hand was one of the ones who thought they were evil. Eric grabbed the lantern and walked into the center of the room, the light illuminated the tent even more. A shadowy spot beside the computer desk lit up, showing a dead body sitting in front of the paper David was picking up. David backed away and held his gun toward the body. The body didn’t move; it was a man none of them had ever seen before. He wore a long white coat with a name badge and had glasses on his face. Above his glasses, blood oozed from a hole in the top of his head. He held a gun in one hand very loosely and a paper in the other. David lowered his weapon and got closer to the man. He grabbed the paper the man was holding and checked his name tag. It was covered with dried blood. He couldn’t make out what it said. The paper he took had some blood on it too but he could read most of it.

“Request to help unknown infection.” David said as he read the paper out loud. “The unknown infection seems to work more like a parasite then a disease,” Destiny sat down on a bed as David continued to read out loud. “It mutates quickly by itself but seems to mutate more quickly when an infected patient ingests any amount of blood. The more blood it ingests the worse the mutation.” David paused and looked at the others.

“That’s why some are faster than others.” Destiny said.

“Let’s not forget Hulk on steroids out there.” Eric said, sitting down beside her. David continued reading,

“The actual cause of the infection is unknown and spreads to new patients by saliva and blood contact. Antibiotics only increase the aggression in patients and it is recommended to quarantine and terminate any who are infected.” David dropped the page and walked to a nearby bed. He sat down and set his gun down beside him. With no adrenaline pumping massively through him he started feeling more and more tired. He knew he had to rest but he also knew he didn’t have time to.

“We should get moving,” Destiny said standing up. No sooner had she finished talking, they once again heard buzzing and the voice from earlier.

“Come in fourteen!” A woman’s voice echoed with static. The dead man sitting beside the computer desk had a two way radio beside his foot. That was the sound they had been hearing. David reached out and picked it up; with a shrug to the others he pressed the button on the side.

“Hello?” David said curiously.

“Hello! Fourteen it’s good to hear your voice. Any news of-” her voice faded off and was replaced with static.

“Didn’t catch that last part,” David said hearing only static as a reply. “This is David; we found this radio and heard your voice.” Still static was all they heard. Then after a few seconds of waiting the woman’s voice came back over the radio.

“David?” the woman asked, “The Gregors kid?”  David’s face turned to confusion.

“How…how do you know that?” He asked, anxiously waiting for a reply.

“I knew your parents …. If you’re at field tent fourteen, then that means you’re in Lone Tree. Only David I know there is the Gregors boy.” Static seemed to follow every word she said. “This line is about to go out David, can you get to your parents’ old place?” Static grew louder as she finished

“Yes, I live there!” He shouted into the radio.

“Get – there…We will – someone to– you.” The static interrupted a lot of what she tried to say and David could only make out a few of the words.

“Wait!” David yelled into the radio, “How did you know my parents? What’s going on!?” He waited for a response but soon there wasn’t even static. The line was completely dead.

“Great!” Eric yelled enthusiastically, “We are gonna get out of here!” He jumped with joy raising his hand to Destiny for a high five but got only a cold stare. He lowered his hand and turned to David “So where do you live? How far away?”

“Gregors.” David said looking towards him with a solemn look. Eric’s smile slowly faded as he remembered the name.

“Great …” He said with a monotone depressed voice.

“What?!” Destiny yelled. She was not from around there and had no idea what was going on.

In Lone Tree everyone knows everyone. Gregors were known as the hermits who lived on the farm outside of town. His parents never got into town unless it was with or for David. After they passed away, David made sure he was not seen the same way and frequented town on a daily basis. Slowly, the stigma of his last name dimmed down and he would have to remind people of who his parents were, although he didn’t like to do that.

“His place is a little bit outside of town,” Eric said softly gesturing toward David. “We would need a car to get there anytime soon.”

“Oh.” Destiny said pausing and looking at the ground they all seemed to enjoy looking at so much. “Great.”

“Viv might have one in her garage.” David said. “If it meant us getting out of here she would take us to my place.”

“Then let’s get going!” Destiny said jumping off the bed.

“We should hurry; rescue could be arriving there any minute.” Eric said heading toward the tent flap.

“Watch as you go outside.” David said quietly, “We have been making a lot of noise, anything can be out there.” Eric rushed out of the tent ignoring David’s advice.

“It’s clear!” Eric shouted. Destiny and David walked quickly outside, their eyes adjusting to the dark and quickly revealing Eric and an empty park field. “Viv lives over there right?” Eric asked, pointing his hammer toward a group of trees.

“Yup, hopefully she is there. I know Holiday cared a lot about her,” David checked the magazine of his gun once more and readied his weapon. “Too many losses and we need a win right now.” He said with great enthusiasm as he started jogging across the field, ignoring the exhaustion which was nearly crippling him. The others followed, ready for anything.

Just then, two figures emerged from the tree line ahead of them. David dove to the ground to hide in the dark. Destiny and Eric crouched just behind him as Destiny aimed her guns toward the figures. They moved toward the three of them slowly but silently. David began thinking about who they could be. ‘If they were people they might not have seen them, but if they were zombies, why weren’t they moaning?’ David’s mind raced with thoughts as the figures grew closer and closer. Finally, they heard it: a horrific moan as one of the figures fell to the ground. It slid up to its feet and walked forward. Now David’s mind had other questions which he could not answer. ‘Could they see in the dark? Are they just wandering aimlessly or driven by the flesh on his body?’ David aimed his gun carefully and was about to fire. Just then Eric whistled slightly. David looked back to see Eric creeping past him pointing at his hammer. He whispered

“I got this.” Eric walked swiftly around to the side of the zombies. They didn’t turn to him and continued shuffling toward David. He looked back at Destiny who was still pointing her guns toward them. He looked forward and watched as Eric crept up behind one of the zombies and bashed it in the head. It fell quickly with the sound of bones cracking. The other zombie turned toward Eric and shuffled closer. Eric kicked it back, causing it to fall to the ground. He stood over it and repeatedly bashed at its head with his hammer. David and Destiny walked towards him as he continued to bash the zombie. Finally, he stopped and threw his hands up holding the hammer and yelling “WOO!” The second he yelled it, he lowered his hands realizing what he had done. Figures from the tree line emerged from all around them. Eric’s celebration had drawn some attention. Destiny dropped her head in disappointment,