The Zombie Chronicles - Book 5 - Undead Nightmare (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (21 page)

“What are you kids doin’ down here anyway?” he said in a gruff. “You oughtn’t play your hide-n-seek down here, boys. They’re too many of them hungry critters creepin’ around.”

“We’re trying to get to the town square to rescue Rachel,” Steven said urgently. “We’ve gotta go now!”

“What about it, Jim? Seen any zombies on the way to the town square?” Ed asked.

“At the moment, it’s all clear, but you know the tide can shift in a heartbeat.”

“Thanks, Jim. See ya later,” Ed said. “Enjoy that pot-roast.”

“Wait!” Crazy Jim said, looking me up and down. “Can this new kid fight? Killin’ zombies ain’t for the skittish.”

I met his gaze. “We fight or we die,” I said sternly.

He let out a loud chuckle. “That’s the spirit, kid! You’ll fit right in down here.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Crazy Jim looked at Steven and shook his head. “I admire your courage, young fella, but why bother riskin’ your own butt to save hers? There ain’t no such thing as happily ever after anymore. You try to snatch up your princess and ride off into the sunset, you’re gonna have zombies right on white stallion’s tail anyway.”

“I love her,” Steven said.

“Heh. Like a knight in shining armor?” He snickered.

“I have to save her, Jim!” Steven shouted.

“I don’t doubt you will, and she’ll give you a big fat kiss, and just as your fairytale comes to an end, fifty of those bone-crunchers will spring out of nowhere and rip you to shreds.”

“That’s enough,” I said. “We’re leaving.”

“Love will get you killed these days!” Crazy Jim shouted at the top of his lungs. “If you don’t believe me, ask my wife!” He then turned and splashed back through the tunnel.

Ed pulled my arm. “Let’s go.”

“He’s wrong,” Steven said sadly. “Tell me he’s wrong, Dean. You have a girlfriend. Tell me love can still exist in this world. I need to know that.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I had met the most beautiful person in the world, inside and out, but the circumstances around us had literally ripped her out of my life, claiming yet another victim. My sister’s fiancé had been taken from her, and my brother’s childhood girlfriend was now dead. The awful truth was that we’d all lost the loves of our lives in one way or another, and I was sure it was highly unlikely that even love could survive the zombie apocalypse. Still, I’d never stop trying, stop hoping.

Suddenly we came to a big slab of concrete that almost completely blocked the tunnel, but there was a big enough gap at the top that we could easily crawl over it. “What’s up with this?” I asked.

“It’s a smart blockade,” Ed said. “They’re strategically placed throughout the tunnels. Zombies are too dumb to climb over ‘em, but we’re not. C’mon.”

As we made our way over the slab, I said, “Yeah, zombies would have a very hard time maneuvering past this thing, but it musta been hard to put these down here.”

“It was, but we worked together. Everybody wants to make these tunnels safer, to give us a better chance of getting around town when we need to. Just yesterday, my dad got the blueprints to the sewer system, and next week, we’re gonna seal off all the openings so zombies can’t get in.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I kept moving forward, my voice ringing from the walls.

Ed grabbed my arm and pointed down. “Watch out. Another zombie trap.”

I stepped over a wooden railroad beam on the ground, careful not to catch my feet on any of the spikes pointing out of it.

“Those things are sharp. Be careful,” Steven said. “Last week, a rat got impaled on one.”

“Speaking of rats, why aren’t there any down here?” I asked, the thought suddenly occurring to me as we walked through the slimy tunnels. I was really quite freaked out by it, afraid that zombies were somewhere down there, feasting on a rat buffet and looking for bigger entrées to go with their ratpetizers.

“They’re down here,” Ed assured me. “Trust me.”

Another piece of graffiti artwork caught my attention. There, in green, blue, and red 3D letters, someone had painted “HOPE” on the walls, reminding me of the driving factor that helped me stay on course in that new life I was faced with.
There’s always hope
, I thought as Jackie’s gleaming smile flashed across my mind.

As I walked, I noticed a giant, brilliant butterfly spray-painted in layers. Underneath it read: “Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp. Nathaniel Hawthorne.” I contemplated those words, which seemed like the story of my life.

Ed grabbed my arm. “Four zombies, straight ahead. No gunfire if you can help it, guys. We don’t wanna make the natives more restless.”

Steven nodded, holding his bat tightly. “I’ll take the ones to the left.”

I charged at the zombie on the right and swung at its rotting knees with a fierce blow. It fell sideways into the puddle of water, where I finished it off in one swift blow. I spun around to face the next one that was coming right at me. I stared into its white eyes as I hammer-kicked it in the chest. It staggered back and dropped, and Steven stomped its head over and over again. I yanked Steven’s arm. “C’mon! It’s dead. Let’s go.”

He let out a frustrated breath and kicked the zombie one last time.

We followed Ed in complete silence as he led us through the subterranean network. I was surprised at how well the kid knew his way around. The entire tunnel was coated in a gross layer of slime that hung from the ceiling in disgusting formations.

“Snotsicles,” Ed said.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

After walking for what seemed like forever and crossing a few more smart blockades, Ed finally stopped and pointed up. “This is the way out.”

I glanced up at the metal rungs embedded in the wall, leading up to the surface. Light glared through the round openings.

“Are you sure?” Steven asked.

Ed shot him a confident look. “Positive.”

I clambered up the rungs two at a time, with the others right on my tail. At the top, I heaved the manhole cover with all my might, and it finally slipped loose. Fresh air greeted me, and I sucked in a lungful. I glanced around until I caught sight of the girl in the distance. She had long, curly hair and was petrified, clinging to a bronze rendition of a decorated officer sitting on a horse. The statue was situated atop a huge pillar, and a pack of hungry zombies prowled around it.

Chapter 16

I wondered how long Steven’s girlfriend had been forced to sit on the bronze horse with zombies prancing below her. The one thing I knew for sure was that we had to get her out of there as quickly as possible. The sun was setting, and darkness would not be our friend. “I see her,” I said.

“I knew Rachel was still alive,” he whispered.

I slowly climbed out, hid behind a white car, and peered ahead. The zombies were still completely fixated on Rachel, shuffling aimlessly around the statue, bumping into each other, and snarling like wild animals.

“Time for me to do my magic, guys,” Ed said, then took off like lightning.

I stared ahead at a bald zombie that was chomping away at something. When I peered closer, I about gagged. I could see fingers; it was eating a human hand. “We need a better hiding place,” I whispered to Steven as my stomach churned. They hadn’t caught sight of us, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before some of them would spot us and alert the others that there was fresh meat lurking about.

Swallowing hard as beads of sweat rolled down his face, he nodded.

I stared at the undead army of hideous creatures all around me, then darted my eyes in other directions. Off to the right, there was a row of unkempt bushes that we could sneak into. I motioned toward the new hiding spot just as a small group of zombies began lumbering straight in our direction. The leader had wide, gaping gashes on its cheek and chin, and the skin around its eyes was black and sunken. I thought maybe we could make a run for the bushes, but a dozen zombies were now coming from that exact direction.
Crap!
“Under the car,” I whispered. I crawled underneath the vehicle and pressed myself as close to the ground as I could get.

Steven flattened himself on the hard cement, his eyes wide as the group stumbled past the exact spot where we’d just been seconds ago.

I wiped my brow and tried to still my racing heart. Little did the flesh-eaters know that a meal lay right at their decrepit feet.

A few long, lonely minutes passed. I didn’t like that the zombies were hanging out by the car, and I wondered if they had captured our scent.

Steven suddenly let out a yelp as something dragged him back a few inches. “They got me!” he said, trying to hit their fingers with the bat.

“Kick!” I frantically said.

A look of pure terror spread across his face as he fought to get his leg free.

The flesh-eaters started making their feeding frenzy noises, and the whole group seemed excited. More clumsy, rotting hands began to grab and reach under the car. Dirty fingernails clawed dangerously close to my sweaty face. When the next swipe came, I inched back. A zombie with a torn, sliced face reached for me. It looked like it was demon possessed, and the deep growl it let out sent shivers up my spine.

We were drawing too much attention, and I knew we needed to get away. Firing a gun would draw even more attention, but Steven was in a dangerous situation, and I knew if I didn’t act fast, zombies would bite into his thigh like it was the colonel’s original recipe any second. Grabbing my gun, I aimed and fired at the zombie that had a tight grip on his boot. When the thing let go, Steven moved a few inches closer to me.

I watched their shuffling feet as they walked around.
I stared at torn pants in various styles and colors, covered in complete filth, mud, and dried blood. Some of the foot-draggers wore ripped shoes, while others had only one shoe or no shoes at all. There were dead, rotting feet pounding the pavement as the creatures tried to quench their bloodthirsty appetites.

“What now?” Steven asked.

“Stay put.”

“But they know we’re here,” he said in a panic. “They’ll never go away. If more come, they’ll overturn this car to get to us.”

“Going out there would be worse.” And I highly doubt they can turn this car over, I thought. Worst case scenario, they’d drag us out and…

“At least then we can make a run for it,” he said.

“There’re already dozens surrounding the car,” I breathed out.

“I know, but we can’t stay here,” he said.

My hands began to tremble in fear. “I know. Just give me a minute to think.”

“Think fast, man!”

Recalling that zombies didn’t have great motor skills or hand-eye coordination, a thought struck me. “Follow me!”

He nodded.

I army-crawled toward the next car in line. The infected weren’t trained bloodhounds, and they were too dumb to realize we could move from car to car, down the line of all the automobiles parked around the curb. As we moved along, time became a blur. I didn’t know what was taking Ed so long, since his only job was to drop off a boom box and start blasting music.
If something happened to that kid, I’ll never forgive myself,
I thought. I don’t know how many cars I crawled under, but it was at least ten, and not one zombie followed us. They might have outnumbered us, but they could never outsmart us.

“There she is,” Steven said, peering out from under the last car. “We need to get her attention.” He tried to flag her down, but she couldn’t see him under the car.

“Let’s just wait for Ed,” I whispered. “We’re safe down here.”

“No,” he said. “We can hide in that dump truck. They’ll never see us. Rachel needs to know I’m here.” Without waiting for any response from me, he took off and headed toward his girlfriend.

I didn’t want to leave my hiding spot, but I didn’t want to leave the idiot with no backup either. With my gun drawn, I hurried over and jumped inside the dump truck next to Steven. The front end was completely totaled. I wasn’t sure what had caused the accident, but the heavy-duty vehicle was crushed up against a tree, and it provided us with some much-needed cover. I peeked out and scanned the area. There were so many of them out there, getting ever closer, and I held my breath as more sweat ran down my face. Never in my life would I have thought I’d miss a sewer, but in that moment, I would have given anything to be back underground in that smelly labyrinth.

Steven tried to jump out, but I pulled him back.

“Don’t play hero,” I whispered. “Just stick to the plan.” I knew if he went out there in a blaze of glory and started shooting, he’d ruin everything. I let out a trembling breath as a cool breeze swept over my sweaty face. “You lure those things over here, and you’d better hope they rip you to shreds before I have a chance to,” I said firmly. “You won’t do Rachel any good by letting her watch you die.”

“Right,” he said, calming down a bit. “You’re right.”

I contemplated going back under the car and staying as far away as I could from Steven, who wasn’t thinking clearly. His panic and grief for his girlfriend made him somewhat of a loose cannon, but he needed me. I didn’t have the same emotional ties to the girl, and I could think straight. I knew what it was like to insanely put it all on the line to save a loved one, but I didn’t want Steven to get himself or any of us killed by acting foolishly just to save the one he cherished the most.