Mail Horror Bride (One Nation Under Zombies Book 1)

“Hey Jen, didn’t your brother marry one of them Russian mail-order brides?”

Jenny paused long enough in stirring the soup to cringe. She was so tired of hearing about Paul’s mail-order bride. Seriously, why’d he go to that extreme to get a wife? There were hundreds of good women right here in America and he went and shipped in some Russian woman that couldn’t even speak his own language. Made a joke of himself was what he’d done.

“You know he did, Carl,” she hollered back at her husband. “I’m tired of hearing about it. Supper’s almost ready. You just watch your basketball game and hush up til it’s done.”

“It’s football,” he yelled back, “and it was interrupted. Come ‘ere. You might wanna see this. Says them mail-order brides are diseased.”

Diseased? Jenny turned the soup down to a simmer and walked into the living room. Carl sat in his recliner, beer in one hand, remote in the other. On the widescreen TV before him, the president of Russia’s face filled the screen.  The devilish sneer across his face made him uglier than usual.

“What are you talking about?”

“Watch.”

The president’s face was replaced by John Truman, the attractive, blond news anchor.

“That was the video released to American news stations just this morning,” the news anchor stated. “There have already been ten confirmed cases of the outbreak in the local area, over one thousand nationwide. As the president stated in the video, the Z1219 virus was injected into the Russian mail-order brides’ systems before they were given their K-1 visas. The virus, a deadly bomb just waiting to explode, was detonated today. From what we currently know, all mail-order brides directly injected with the virus would now have that virus activated in their system. The president states the disease is highly contagious through blood and sexual contact so the exact numbers we may be facing are as yet unclear.”

Jenny gasped, her hand automatically covering her mouth as the implication set in. Her brother!

“The military is sending soldiers to all known addresses of mail-order brides brought over in the past five years, which is when the Russian president claims the virus injections began. At this time, we ask all citizens to stay inside. If you have been in contact with any Russian mail-order bride, please call the number flashing at the bottom of the screen. A military unit will be dispatched.”

“A military unit? Why are they sending soldiers? Why can’t they just go to the hospital?”

“This ain’t no normal cold or flu,” Carl explained. “That Russian bastard said he sent them women over here to take us all out. No damn way they want those infected people around the rest of the population. You’d best call your brother, if the military hasn’t gotten to him yet.”

Heart threatening to pound right out of her chest, Jenny grabbed the phone from the side table and dialed her brother’s number. It rang five times before Paul picked up.

“Jenny?” He said, obviously recognizing her name on the caller ID. “Jenny, you stay in your house. Don’t come here.”

“Paul, what’s going on? Are you alright? The news said those women are infected. Is Elena infected? Are you?”

“I can’t talk long, Jen. I’m in trouble here.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, noticing Paul’s shortness of breath, as if he’d been running.

“It’s bad, Jen. It’s real bad. I’ve been locked down in the basement for hours, but she’s about to get through that door and when she does …”

“What? Paul, what’s happening?”

“She’s a damn zombie, Jen. I shot her. I shot her three times and she kept coming. It’s in me too. I feel it. Worst fever I ever had, but I’m not one of those things yet. I don’t know when I will be, so don’t come here. Don’t you dare. Stay inside. Let the government handle this.”

“Paul!” Tears streamed freely down Jenny’s face as his words sank in. He was infected. What she’d seen on TV was real. “The military is sending out soldiers. They’ll get to you and they’ll make you better.”

Paul laughed a little, a rough hoarse sound. “Since when does the military do house calls, Jen? I’ve been military long enough to know the drill. They’re not coming to save us. They’re coming to destroy us. To save the uninfected.”

“No, Paul. You’re one of their own. They wouldn’t kill you.”

“My wife just tried to eat me, Jen. When this disease takes over me, I’ll try to eat people too. I
used
to be a soldier. Now, I’m a dead man walking. They’re going to kill me and I’m glad. I need to be destroyed.”

“Don’t talk like that. It’s the sickness. You don’t mean it. You’ll get better.”

“She’s almost through the door. I love you, sis. Stay safe.”

“Paul? Paul!”  The dial tone blared in her ear, the ominous sound reminding her of a heart monitor after the patient flat-lined. 

“Are you one of them? Are you?”

Tears pooled in Janjai’s eyes as her husband led her down the stairs to the basement, her hair tightly knotted in his hand.  Unlike his other outbursts, she had no idea what had caused his sudden anger. She hadn’t burned food, she hadn’t refused him, and she hadn’t caught the attention of another man. She’d been folding the laundry when he’d barged into the bedroom, grabbed her roughly by the hair along the nape of her neck, and started dragging her through the house, cussing and muttering about the
fucking foreign bastards
and
them
. He kept asking if she was one of them, but she had no idea what he meant, and not because of something lost in translation. He had no idea how much she understood. If he did, she’d be good as dead.

“It starts with Russia, then Asia, huh? That how it works?”  He shoved her toward the small room built in to the basement. He’d put her in there before. He thought it was punishment, locking her away in there, but she found being around him a greater punishment.

He unlocked the door and shoved her inside. “You’ll stay here and we’ll see if China’s in on this shit too.”

The door slammed closed, and Janjai was locked inside the room. She pulled the chain to the bare light bulb hanging overhead, illuminating the small room before she sank down to sit on the floor.

“I’m from Thailand, you ignorant son-of-a-bitch,” she said in perfect English as she took stock of the provisions stacked against the wall across from her. She had food, water and shelter, even a nasty camp toilet. Now all she had to do was wait until he came back for her. If he came back for her. Many of the times she’d been locked away in the room, she’d prayed for him not to.

The prepaid cell phone vibrated on the card table. A sick feeling spread through Hallelujah Brown’s gut as he walked the short length of the cabin to get it. Only one person had the number and he knew not to call unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Paul?” Hal asked, holding the cell to his ear as he moved aside the curtain, just enough to see outside. No one stood outside the cabin, no police cars parked there, officers ready to kill him on sight.

“I need a favor, Hal.”

“A favor?” Hal’s voice rose. “I’m hiding out from the police, and you want a favor? Need I remind you I’m a convict on the run?”

“I’m dying.”

“What?” Hal calmed down. Of course Paul wouldn’t chance calling him unless something major was going down.

“You see the news on the TV? About the virus?”

“I haven’t exactly had a chance to unwind in front of the TV, Paul. What are you talking about? What virus?”

“Russia’s killing us. Sent over a virus inside mail-order brides. I got one. And I got the virus.”

Hal sat on the edge of the cot in the corner of the cabin. “What?”

“I killed her. Had to go for the head, just like the movies.” Paul laughed, choked. Made a spitting sound.

Hal didn’t want to know what his friend had just spit out. It sounded bad enough to turn his stomach.

“Slow down, Paul. You’re not making sense.”

“The virus. It turns people into zombies, just like on TV. You have to go for the head. Go for the head, Hal.”

“Alright, alright. I got it. Go for the head. You’re saying you got this? How could you be talking to me if you were some kind of zombie?”

“I’m not yet. I’m turning. I feel it. Not much time left. You’re my last goodbye.”

“Goodbye? I don’t like the sound of this. Get to a hospital.”

“No. I’m ending myself before I can hurt others. The military was supposed to round them all up, but it got too bad too soon. I guess. They never came. I can’t wait.”

“Paul. You sound suicidal. Don’t do it, man. You know it’s a sin.”