Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (2 page)

Mark shrugged and said, “I lost count after forty.”

Jeff said, “Just a guess? I would say about ninety all together.”

Mark and Jeff looked at each other, smiled, then bumped fists. Steve couldn’t help smiling too. When it came down to it, no one panicked and they all worked well as a team. Joan shrieked as she hit the brakes hard and the truck went into a skid. Everyone looked up and saw something blue to the right. They heard the sound of crumpling metal and breaking glass as their world spun out of control, and then everything went black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dedee and Jet ran along the shelves in the store, searching for canned food, and sticking it in their bags. Lisa stood watch just inside the glass doors with her shotgun. She turned to them and asked, “Are you two done yet?”

Jet looked up. “Not yet, a lot of this stuff has already expired.”

They all stopped when they heard gunshots off in the distance. Lisa knelt down and raised her shotgun. “Hurry up, that might be the goon squad and those shots aren’t that far away.”

Dedee looked at Jet before saying, “But they’ve already made their patrol through this area a few hours ago.”

They all stopped and listened. The shots soon became longer sustained bursts and Jet said, “That isn’t them, they don’t have guns like that. Hey! Maybe it’s the Army?”

Lisa shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen them here in almost a week. Even if it was, you know how they operate. They figure everyone’s already a rot-bag or infected, and they only shoot to kill—no rescues.”

After a few minutes, the shots tapered off to a few sporadic bursts, and then it was silent again. Lisa waved them over. “Let’s get out of here.”

Jet and Dedee grabbed their bags and headed for the door. Once outside, they slowly started making their way down the sidewalk back to their apartment, using the abandoned cars to keep out of sight. They traveled a block when they heard the screeching of tires and a loud bang, followed by the sounds of metal bouncing across asphalt.

They looked at each other and listened for a minute before Lisa broke the silence. “That didn’t sound good at all.”

Jet tapped Lisa on the shoulder. “Maybe we should go check it out? Someone might need help.”

“She’s right, Lisa. Somebody might still be alive and we can’t just leave them as zombie bait. That’s something only the goon squad would do.”

They both stared at Lisa and waited for her reply. She looked at them and sighed. “Oh, alright! We’ll make it quick and move on.”

Lisa led the way as they quickly headed in that direction, grabbing cover occasionally to avoid being seen by any wandering zombies. They worked their way to a corner and Lisa cautiously peeked around. In the road, she saw the crumpled body of a man not far from a blue pickup lying on its side. Beyond it was a black SUV in a smoldering heap. Slowly, they rounded the corner and approached the wrecked SUV. Lisa stood watch as Dedee and Jet check checked the passengers.

Dedee checked the man and woman in the front for any signs of life. The woman behind the wheel was crumpled in a very unnatural position and was not breathing. The man in the passenger seat had blood coming out of his ears and nose. She checked and he wasn’t breathing, either. She told Lisa, “These two are dead, probably killed on impact.”

Jet looked into the back seat through the broken window. On the floor, she noticed the two rifles and she opened the door. Jeff moaned, but he didn’t move around. He looked like he was about her age and she thought to herself,
he’s really cute
.  She saw the other one in the back with him was breathing, but he didn’t move, either. Jet called out with panic in her voice, “These two are hurt, but they’re still alive.” She stepped back and held up one of the rifles. “I think these were the people we heard shooting a little while ago.”

Lisa smelled the odor of gasoline and saw a small trail running from under the vehicle. “Okay, let’s get them out and back to the apartment before this thing blows.”

They had just gotten them and their bags out when a small fire started to burn under the hood. Within a few minutes, the vehicle was engulfed in flames and the fuel tanks exploded. A large fireball and black smoke shot high into the air.

II

Mark slowly opened his eyes and saw a girl looking down at him. She had straight black shoulder-length hair with dark red streaks running through it. He squinted as he tried to focus and get up. She put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t try to move yet.”

“Who are…”

She put her finger over his lips. “Shhhhh. We have to be quiet or they might find us.” She looked around, then back down at him. “My name is Jet. We found you and brought you back here. But don’t worry. You’re safe for now.”

Mark started to get up, but quickly pulled the sheet back over himself as he realized that’s all that was covering him. “Where are my clothes?”

“Hold on. I’ll go get them for you.”

Mark watched as Jet left the room. After a few minutes, another girl came in. She looked like she was a few years older than Jet. She had long sandy-blond hair that hung down past her shoulders and blue eyes. Mark was caught off guard momentary; he never expected to see someone like her walk into the room. Handing him his clothes, she said, “Sorry about that. We had to make sure you hadn’t been bitten.”

Mark blushed and felt a little uncomfortable as he looked toward the door. “We?”

“Well, actually I did. My name’s Lisa by the way. Like I said, I needed to make sure I wasn’t bringing someone in that had been infected. You also had some nasty cuts we had to clean up, but don’t worry, you were covered while they were in here.”

He looked around the room. “I’m Mark… Where am I and why am I here?”

Lisa went over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. “Don’t you remember?”

He thought, but drew a blank. “Remember what?”

“You were in an accident yesterday. We found you and brought you back to our apartment.”

Mark started to feel a little anxious. “Where are my parents and my brother?”

“Was that your brother in the back seat with you?

Mark was becoming impatient and said, “Yes, his name is Jeff. Where are they?”

She held her finger to her lips. “Shhhh, we have to keep the noise down so the rot-bags don’t find us.” A look of dread came over her face. “Your brother is in the other room with Jet and Dedee.” She paused before breaking the news. “I’m very sorry about your parents.”

Mark had a lost look on his face. He was hoping she didn’t mean what he thought she did. His jaw tightened as he spoke. “What do you mean by sorry?”

She set her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, but they didn’t make it. They were already…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “when we found you and your brother.”

Mark fought to be strong. Tears filled his eyes and he tried to keep his jaw firm. Lisa sat next to him and tried to comfort him. Finally, it became too much and he buried his face in his hands. She whispered, “It’s alright. Just let it all out.”

Jet came back into the room and stood there. She looked at Lisa and lipped the words, “You told him?”

Lisa nodded and lipped, “Give us a few minutes.” Jet nodded and looked down as she left the room.

Lisa stayed with him until he regained his composure. Mark looked up with red eyes and he cleared this throat. “I need to see my brother.”

Lisa stood up and said, “Go ahead and get dressed. I’ll be waiting outside in the hallway.”

After she went out and closed the door, Marked picked up his clothes. He noticed they had been cleaned and neatly folded. When he stood up to get dressed, his muscles felt a little sore and his body ached, he saw his right side had several cuts and bruises. When he was dressed, he stepped out into the hallway where Lisa waited for him. He ran his hand over his shirt. “I want to say thanks. I appreciate the clean clothes and what you did for us.”

She nodded. “You’re welcome. We’ve been trying to keep up with everything while we still have electricity.” She paused and her expression became serious. “Before you go in, I need to tell you something else. He’s having trouble remembering things.”

“Okay, but I didn’t remember the accident either.”

She was silent as she tried to figure just how to word it. “It’s not just that, he doesn’t remember where he is or what’s going on. He remembers his name and who he is, but other than that, he has little to no personal memories at all.”

This was very difficult for him to hear. All he had left was his brother, now he might not even have that. “Does he have a head injury?”

“Nothing we could see. It just might be from stress and his mind has locked some of his memories up. I knew of someone years ago that had it happen to them. It took time, but everything came back.”

Lisa opened another door and walked down the hallway. When he looked in, he saw Jeff inside sitting on the bed talking to Jet and Dedee. Dedee had long sandy-blond hair and he though she looked a lot like Lisa, just younger. They were smiling and seemed to be having a good time. Mark closed the door and found his way to the kitchen. On the floor next to the table was all of their gear and duffle bags. He knelt down and opened them.

Lisa came up behind him. “Did you talk to your brother already?

Mark glanced at her and shook his head. “It looked like they were having a good time. I figured it would best if I let him enjoy it.”

Lisa brought in another bag and set it down. “Here are all your weapons. I was just curious, I was going to go out with Jet and see what we could scrounge up for food. And… well… would you like to come with us?”

“Sure, but why not let them have fun? You and I could go out a grab some things. Just let me get my gear together.

Lisa hesitated, she usually didn’t trust someone she just met, but for some reason her gut had already told her he wasn’t a danger. She went over and started to put some shells into her shotgun.

Mark came over and looked at it before asking, “Have you ever fired a pistol before?”

“Yes, once a long time ago.”

“Come over here.” He reached into the bag and brought out an auto pistol. “This is a Glock 17, it fires 9mm rounds.” He dropped the magazine, cleared it, then handed it to her, “Let me show you how it works.” He stood behind her and started to reach around, but stopped. Feeling a little nervous, he asked, “Is this okay?”

She nodded. “Yes, but only to show me how to use it.”

As he reached around her, his arms touched hers and she felt a tingle. It was like static electricity dancing just above her skin. It caught her by surprise and she became distracted for a moment.

“Here is the safety. Just pull it back flush with the trigger like this, then continue to pull the trigger back. Remember; never rest your finger on the trigger. The only time you touch it is if you’re going to shoot. Hold it just like this. This hand goes here and the other goes here, just like that. These are your sites. Just line them up and pull back on the trigger, never jerk your finger back. Make sure your hands are out of the way of the slide. Take slow breaths and exhale as you take your shot. This is the slide lock and this button here is the magazine release.” He stepped back and looked at her. “Okay, think you got it?”

“Umm… I think so. You might need to show me one more time just to make sure.”

“Okay, let’s do this one more time.”

He stood behind her and went through it again. This time he noticed her palms started to sweat. After the lesson, Mark got into one of the bags and took out a gear belt, a magazine pouch, gloves, and a tactical holster.

He handed her the gloves. “Put these on. I noticed your hands were sweating a little and these will help you keep a better grip.”

She noticed it too and didn’t understand why it had happened. She put the gloves on and said, “Yeah, that usually doesn’t happen.”

When he had everything all put together, he knelt down in front of her. He put the belt around her waist and started adjusting the size so it would be snug. While he was working on this, he heard someone behind him say, “Oh my gawd! Get a room!” He turned and saw a girl, about thirteen-years-old, with dark brown, shoulder-length hair standing in the kitchen doorway with her hand over her mouth.

He stopped and turned. “No! It’s not what you think.”

The girl turned away and ran back into the living room. Lisa chuckled. “That was Amy. She lived down the street from us. Her younger brother, Todd, is here too.”

“Are there any more people here I haven’t met?”

“No, that’s all of us.”

“No parents or other family?”

Lisa got quiet. With sadness in her eyes, she said, “Dedee is my sister, but our parents disappeared when all this started. Jet’s parents were bitten and infected, but before they turned, they dropped her off and asked if she could stay with us. One night Amy and Todd knocked on our door. They said their parents hadn’t come home yet and wanted to wait here with us until they did, but they never came home.”

He lowered his eyes. “Oh.”

He went back to work and adjusted the belt so it was snug, and secured the holster strap around her leg. He reached back into the bag and pulled out three magazines. He put two in her pouch and one in the pistol. Before they left, he showed her how to draw it from the holster.

Lisa went back to the room, said she and Mark were going on a food run, and gave Dedee the shotgun. As they entered the streets, Lisa took the lead. She was more familiar with the area and knew the best routes to take. Lisa cautioned Mark, “Not only do we need to watch for rot-bags, but we have to watch out for the goon squad as well.”

Mark was a little puzzled. “What is the goon squad?”

“They’re a bunch of armed criminals that run the streets. They’ll patrol in groups of five or more, looking for survivors. If they catch you, they’ll rob you and use you as zombie bait.”

Mark shook his head. “That sounds pretty sick.”

“Follow me. I’ll show you one of their victims.”

Mark followed her for five blocks. When they came upon the scene, Lisa pointed to a tree next to the street in a city park. When he saw the carnage, he froze in shock. There was a naked body hanging from one of the limbs. It had been slit open from the throat all the way down to the groin.