Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (26 page)
Read Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) Online
Authors: G.E. Swanson
The last three miles were taken at a slower pace and was zombie free. The only one they saw was where Jet had ran into the bear on her way up. This one was already dead and a good portion of it had been eaten by the bear. When they got to the cabin, Mark asked Jet for the key. When she reached into her pocket, a horrified look crossed her face. “I don’t understand,” she said. “I put it in my pocket, but now it’s not there.”
“Crap! We can’t get in without that key.” Everyone looked at Jet. Then Mark said with a smile as he held it up, “You dropped it on the trail down by the camp. Good thing I found it, huh?”
She sighed in relief as he opened the door. Lisa checked out the rooms. She stood inside one with a nice king-sized bed in it and looked at Mark. “This one is ours.”
Sheryl said, “This one has two beds. Tami and I can take this one.”
Dedee found another with two beds. “Jet and I can take this one.”
Jet took a pink bag out of her pack, grabbed Jeff’s hand, and pulled him toward his room as she said, “If you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to Jeff... in private.” As she closed the door, she looked at Lisa and lipped the words, “Jeff and I will take this one.” She smiled.
Lisa asked, “What about all our stuff in the RV?”
Mark said, “It’ll be okay. Let’s take a couple of zombie-free days to relax and enjoy the scenery before we go back down for it.”
She looked around and asked, “Where’s all the food?”
Mark opened the green door and she looked in. Lisa saw all the guns and ammunition and shook her head. “Okay, I still don’t see it,”
He pointed to a set of steps that went down and said, “It’s all in the shelter downstairs, behind the rest of the guns and ammo.”
Dedee flicked a switch in her room and a light came on. She said with a big smile, “We have electricity!”
Mark smiled. “Solar panels and batteries. The pump, water heater, stove, and refrigerator—everything in here runs on solar power.”
Epilogue
After taking a couple of days to relax and rest up, they went through the logging camp and sawmill, killing every zombie in sight. The following two weeks, they completely cleared the town, making it a large zombie-free zone. After that, Mark checked the local propane distribution center and snagged the parts he needed to convert the RV to run on propane.
Two months after they arrived, Mitch and Joe showed up. Joe stayed in the RV they came in while Mitch converted one of the bunkhouses in the camp into a two room cabin. Not finding what they had been looking for in Canada, Gary and Sharon arrived and are currently living in a small house in town.
There are a now total of twenty people living in the old camp, and another fifty-two in the town. A few people found their way there, but most came back with them from some of the supply runs they made. So far, Mark has built a little over three dozen solar generators; some have been used to get the sawmill going again while others are used in the camp or for homes in the town.
Even though there haven’t been any zombies in the area for the last eight years, they’re still out there. Mark, Lisa, Jeff, and Jet patrol around the cabin and the camp four times a week. The people in town have organized a neighborhood zombie watch that patrols the streets for any that might wander in.
When Lisa is not out hunting game with Mark or on a patrol, she spends part of her time searching the internet trying to find updates on the zombie status, but most of it with their three-year-old son, Steven. She still has the little bag that Amy kept her acorns in, and plants one out front every time a child is born in the cabin.
The bullet fragments that were in Mark’s leg eventually worked their way to the surface and Sheryl has removed them. He’s still is not as fast as he used to be, but he can now run a couple of miles without any trouble. He spends most of his time at the cabin working on projects and with Lisa and Steven.
Janet and Jeff have a two-year-old daughter, Rachel, and a one-year-old son, Michael— they both have their mother’s eyes. Only part of Jeff’s memory has returned and he still does not remember his parents or the accident that took them. He spends part of his time installing the solar generators that Mark builds, and the rest with Janet and their children.
Janet dedicates most of her time to her two children. She is trying to convince Jeff into having a third. She has become proficient with firearms, but still prefers her katana. Her eyes freak some of the new people out at first, so when she leaves the cabin, she makes sure she has her shades with her.
Tami has since moved from the cabin and into a newly built three-room cabin in the camp. She reads every medical book that is brought back and is usually called upon when someone in town is sick or hurt. She is currently pursuing a personal relationship with one of the men that came back with Lisa and Mark after one of their supply runs to Seattle.
Sheryl still lives in the cabin where she feels the safest. She adores Lisa and Janet’s children and spends as much time with them as she can. They know her as their Aunt Sheryl. Although a few men in town have shown an interest in her, she has chosen not to pursue a personal relationship at this time.
Three years after Mitch arrived, Dedee moved out of the cabin and in with him. They currently have no children, but they do plan on having one in the near future. She no longer looks at it as surviving just to exist, but as having a second chance and playing an important role in mankind’s new beginning.
Thank you for purchasing this book. I hope you’ve had as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Please visit my Facebook Author Page for updates & information on upcoming books or special promotions.
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Greg Swanson currently lives in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley where he grew up. He has a wife and two grown children. While serving in the U.S. Army, he has lived in Virginia, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Japan. From a very young age he was fascinated with the paranormal and science fiction, and now writes about it. His loves anything that has zombies and is on a constant hunt for it.
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