The First 30 Days: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel

by Powell, Lora

  The pile of cooked meat grew. When Rex came to investigate, Sara told me to go ahead and give him some. The dog took the strip of venison carefully, impressing me with his self-control. I knew he was still too hungry, we all were more days than not. Despite my best efforts to put weight back on him, there just wasn’t enough food a dog could eat most of the time.

  “Bri?”

  I turned around when I heard Maggie’s voice.

  “They’re almost finished digging. We’re going to take Devon outside now. It’s better if we don’t wait.”

  I nodded my understanding and stood, handing the giant plate of meat to Sara before following Maggie.

  I wasn’t ready to see the body again, and I exhaled with relief when I turned into the room. Someone had wrapped Devon in a sheet, sparing me that at least. Bill, Maya, and Alex were all standing quietly there. Fallon was missing.

  Maya noticed me looking around and correctly guessed who I was looking for. “She said she needed some air, and she’ll meet us on the hill. I think she wants to be left alone for now.”

  That wasn’t surprising, really. Of all of us, Fallon had been closest with Devon.

  Alex flat out forbade Bill to help us, so he joined Maya, Maggie, and me when we carefully picked the body up. As we walked through the building, heading towards the back, we gathered a small group who trailed along behind us. By the time Bill held open the door leading outside, nearly a dozen others were with us.

  The sun was high in the sky, and I squinted at the brightness after days spent inside the dark stores. When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw the gradual incline of the grassy hill just ahead. Near the top, the group of gravediggers had a mound of freshly dug earth piled waist high.

  The physical burden of carrying Devon was nothing compared to the emotional one. Every step was harder than the last. By the time we passed his body over to Shawn and Mark, standing in the grave, I was glad to let someone else take over the burden.

  They carefully laid him at the bottom of the grave and climbed back out to stand with the rest of us. Shawn was muddy, the sweat and dirt mixing on his skin, but I didn’t care. When he moved to stand next to me, I grabbed his hand again. He must have needed the contact too because he held on tighter than usual.

  Fallon swished through the tall grass as she joined us. She had stopped crying, but she avoided looking at anyone as she paused near the hole. I watched as she looked down at the shrouded body for a few seconds before dropping a wildflower onto the body. Looking around, she met my gaze for a second, before slowly walking away back down the hill.

  After Fallon left, there wasn’t a reason to delay any longer. Maggie and Mark each picked up a shovel and began to slowly fill the hole back in. They were halfway done when the walkie talkie that Maggie always had nearby crackled to life.

  I recognized the scratchy voice as Colton’s. “Maggie?” Even through the tiny device, I could hear that he sounded like something was wrong.

  She immediately grabbed the radio. “Yeah, Colton. What is it?”

  “I don’t know what I’m looking at exactly. I’m up in the stand, and I started to hear a strange noise. It’s coming from the highway.”

  “Colton, what’s going on?” When he hesitated, Maggie prompted him.

  “This is going to sound crazy, but there’s a pickup driving along real slow. And there are a lot of zombies behind it. Maggie, it’s a whole lot of zombies.”

  Maggie took a second before she responded. I could see her thinking, trying to figure out what was going on. “Does it seem like it’s people who need help?”

  “No, I don’t think so. They speed up if the zombies get too close, but slow back down when they are clear. It’s like they are leading them.”

  My heart started to pound. Somehow, I just knew that it was finally happening. The disaster that I had felt was coming, was here.

  “Maggie.” I choked out her name. “Maggie, it’s them.”

  She frowned at me before pressing the button to talk again, “Colton, stay in the stand and keep an eye on them. But stay hidden. Don’t let them know you are up there. Keep me informed.”

  “Ok.”

  She turned to look at us with wide eyes. “I think it’s time we all go inside.”

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  DAY 28

  The waiting was the worst.

  Anyone who wasn’t currently on duty outside was gathered in the central space in the main store. With a few dozen people there, it was crowded. Low murmurs could be heard here and there, but everyone mostly kept quiet. No one wanted to miss the radio updates that Colton was sending every few minutes.

  The strip of venison that I was attempting to get down my throat felt like it was going to choke me. I wasn’t the only one. Sara had passed out the meat to everyone, but more than a few of them looked too sick to eat.

  Sitting in the corner leaning up against the wall, Shawn and I watched the people around us. They all looked worried, and they had a good reason to be. Colton’s last update had given us the news that we were dreading.

  The pickup had started to slowly roll down the exit, leading the horde of zombies our way. He estimated that there was at least a hundred of the undead stumbling along behind the truck.

  I was worried about Colton. He had stayed to be our eyes, but now that the danger was coming down the ramp, he was trapped. At least he was up high enough that he would be beyond the reach of even the tallest zombie, which was the whole point of that tree stand. None of the lookouts were on the ground.

  I caught the occasional glimpse of familiar faces in the crowd. Here, Bill and Maya were talking with another couple. There, Mark and Charlie were standing with Maggie, listening for the next update. Over by the fire pits, Luna was sneaking a piece of meat to Rex. All around us, the people were waiting tensely to find out just how bad things were going to get.

  The horde of zombies was shuffling along at their slow speed. Colton had reported that there were a few runners in the group. They banged and screamed at the sides of the truck, but the two men in the cab just ignored them. But even at a zombie shuffle, they had covered ground in the hour since we came inside. If they were down the off-ramp now, they would be able to be at our door in less than half an hour.

  I was starting to wonder if we should have run instead of trying to stay here. I wasn’t the first to think that way, but Maggie had convinced the crowd that it was safer to stay. If we stayed quiet, the zombies would move on. The men in the truck would have to keep going themselves, or risk becoming trapped by the horde. The potential for something like this was exactly the reason they had covered the windows. If we didn’t give them a reason to stick around, the zombies should keep following that truck.

  From our position on the floor, we watched the group mill around nervously. Most of the lanterns had been turned down until they barely cast any light at all. The shadows blanketed our corner, giving me the illusion of some much-needed privacy. It felt like everyone in the group was looking our way more often than usual. The feeling was probably just my frazzled nerves and lack of sleep talking, but it was making me jumpy either way.

  Time passed by tediously slowly. I wished for a way to tell time because I was sure that my inner clock was off. It seemed like it was too long since we’d last heard an update from Colton.

  Then again, maybe I wasn’t crazy, because Charlie spoke up, “Maggie, how long has it been since we heard from Colton?”

  I honed in on the conversation.

  Maggie frowned at the radio in her hand. “It’s been too long.” She looked around herself a little helplessly.

  I wanted to be sure I didn’t miss anything they were saying. Glancing at Shawn, I climbed to my feet and wove through the crowd towards them. “What can we do?”

  “I don’t know. We need to stay quiet in here. And I don’t want to radio Colton first, just in case.”

  It was my turn to frown. I didn’t like that thought. If Colton wasn’t able to talk without giving himself
away, that meant the danger was too close to him for comfort.

  Others around us had picked up on the new tension from their leader. The quiet talk died down as more and more people crowded around, trying to hear what was going on. For her part, Maggie looked torn, like she wasn’t sure what she should do.

  When the radio crackled to life, I think just about every person in the room held their breath.

  “Hello in the store. I’d like to speak to the person in charge.”

  My blood ran cold at the voice. As long as I lived, I doubted I’d ever be able to forget that voice.

  Warily, Maggie raised her radio and pushed the button. “How did you get this radio?”

  A chuckle came through the static. “Sweetheart, I think you can probably guess.”

  “Where’s Colton?” Maggie sounded furious.

  “Is that his name? I didn’t ask, and now he’s not talking.”

  Chatter started up around me as everyone started talking at once. My stomach dropped at the thought of something bad happening to Colton.

  Keeping it together, somehow, Maggie asked, “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “Right to business, then. I like it.” His voice sounded mocking. “A couple of my men tell me that you have some people in there that I’ve been looking for. Here’s how this is going to work. You send them out to my guys in the lead truck, and they will keep on going and lead the zombies right on by your place. They don’t come out, and things are going to get real messy real fast.”

  Maggie looked over at Shawn and me. “How do I know who you want? I can’t send my people outside, it’s too dangerous.”

  “You have a lot of murderers in there? Because I’m looking for the POS who killed my brother and his friends. One of them owes me an arm. You have two minutes. After that, we go to plan b.”

  Wide-eyed, I stared at Shawn. I’d wondered about the damage we’d caused that night. If Mack was to be believed, Shawn had killed his brother after he yanked him off of me. He stared back at me, clearly anxious, worried how the knowledge would affect me.

  In that second, I realized that I didn’t care. The old me would have been horrified. The new me was just glad that the other guy was the one who ended up dead. I wasn’t innocent, either. I’d hacked a guy with a machete. I reached for his hand to show him that we were ok.

  I turned back to Maggie. She already knew most of the story of our encounter with Mack. I’d told her everything, trying to make her understand how bad those people were. “You are not going anywhere.” She raised her voice to be heard by the people at the back of the group. “We will not negotiate with people who would terrorize us. We will not send some of our own to their deaths. That’s not who we are.”

  I exhaled. A small part of me had worried that Maggie would send us outside to save the rest of her people.

  Distracted as we had been, it wasn’t until then that I noticed the sounds coming from outside. A zombie screamed. Another one answered, and a chorus of groans and growls was audible.

  The radio crackled. “Thirty seconds.”

  “What do you think they are going to do?”

  “We should run out the back!”

  “Maggie, what do we do now?”

  Everyone started panicking. No one knew what was coming exactly, but we knew that it was going to be bad.

  FIFTY-NINE

  DAY 28

  Tires squealed as a vehicle came to a hard stop right out front. There was a second of silence, then the pair of guys standing watch from the roof started to fire. Maggie had instructed everyone not to make any noise unless they had no other choice, so I immediately knew that whatever was going on out front was very bad.

  The rifles rang out a few more times, and then the world exploded around us.

  Automatic gunfire shattered the large windows on the front of the store. People started screaming as they ran for cover from the few bullets that made it that far into the store. Some of them didn’t move fast enough. Sasha, the woman I’d just spent the afternoon with cooking, fell to the ground at my feet. My arm was nearly yanked from its socket as Shawn dragged me behind a heavy shelf.

  The hail of bullets stopped, but barely a second later, a small explosion rocked the front of the store. Thick smoke immediately started to cloud the air, and I could see the orange flicker of flames.

  “We have to get out of here!” Tires squealed again as the truck sped away.

  “Stay close!” Keeping his head down, Shawn started to lead the way through the chaos.

  It was already dark in the store, but the rapidly growing smoke made it worse. Someone slammed into me in their panic, sending me careening into a shelf. By the time I got back to my feet, I’d lost sight of Shawn.

  He could have been nearby, but it was impossible to tell. Bodies ran in and out of my sight, obscured by smoke. Coughing, I pulled my shirt up to cover my mouth and nose. It didn’t really help.

  A zombie shrieked from somewhere inside the store.

  Breathing was getting harder, and my eyes started to water. I had to find my friends, and we had to get out of the store. Making it into the maze of the sleeping area, I tried to avoid being run over again. People dashed blindly from their rooms with hastily gathered belongings. They gave me an idea. Maya and Bill had a habit of always keeping bags packed and ready to go, just in case. They would probably try to get to their things before they left the building.

  Someone started screaming, a terrified sound that caused the hair on the back of my neck to rise. It sounded like a little girl.

  Abandoning my first course of action, I tried to find the source of the screams. If it was Luna who was in trouble, I couldn’t just leave her alone.

  Turning a corner, movement ahead swirled in the smoke. I was very glad that I had my machete in hand when I drew close enough to see what it was.

  Crouched in a corner, Luna held her hands over her head as she shrieked again. Standing in front of her with teeth bared, Rex snarled warningly at a zombie. The zombie hissed back at him as it weaved back and forth, looking for an opening to attack.

  My heart plummeted. This zombie was very fresh.

  I had become adept at killing the older ones, but I had not faced one that could still think by myself before. The time for doubts was over, however. A harsh cough tore its way up my burning throat, alerting the zombie to my presence. The creature spun around and bared its teeth at me. Calculation flickered in its dead eyes as the zombie decided to set its sights on easier prey.

  It lunged my way. Hacking with the machete, partially blinded by my tearing eyes, I managed to hit the zombie’s arm before it could get a hold of me. The deadly machete severed the limb almost completely, leaving its hand dangling by a strip of flesh. The zombie hissed and reeled back.

  I’d become familiar with the damage that Rex could inflict upon flesh with his own sharp teeth. Now that the zombie was closer, I could see that its remaining arm had come out the loser already in a fight with the dog. With one arm now useless, and the other shredded, the zombie changed its tactic.

  It shrieked as it began trying to circle behind me. An answering shriek came from somewhere in the smoke-filled store. I had to kill the creature and get Luna out of there before another fast zombie found us. I knew that there was zero chance of me fighting off multiple of them without someone getting bit or worse.

  As the zombie circled, it moved away from its original target. I took the opportunity to move closer to the little girl. Keeping my eyes locked on the zombie, ready for its next move, I tried to talk to her, “Luna. Luna, it’s Bri. I’m going to get you out of here.”

  The zombie reacted to my words, and with a snarl, it flung itself at me a second time. Aiming to kill, I swung the machete with all of my strength. The tip of the machete caught the zombie in the face. The smoke had made me miscalculate, swinging too soon, but luck was on my side anyhow. The machete sliced through the zombie’s brow before lodging into its eye.

  There was no time to stop a
nd think. The world was on fire around us. Fire crawled across the ceiling, the heat stinging my bare skin. The moans of the zombies and the shouts of horror from the survivors were dying down. By now, most of the people had fled this part of the store.

  Coughing harshly again, I reached for the little girl still hiding in the corner. “Luna! We have to go now!” Grabbing her by the arm, I hauled her along behind me as I bolted for the back of the store. Seeming to snap out of her stupor, she began running along behind me.

  I couldn’t see. The smoke was too thick. The light appeared in the darkness, approaching from my right. I almost didn’t have time to register the flaming zombie as it stumbled toward us. Running on pure adrenaline, I shouldered the zombie, dashing past it still dragging Luna behind me.

  Part of the ceiling crashed down somewhere behind us. Looking around desperately, I tried to figure out where the door that led into that long back hallway was.

  “That way.” Her voice squeaked out between coughs, Luna pointed into the darkness. I tripped over Rex, I couldn’t even see my own feet anymore, but took off in the direction she had pointed.

  The back wall loomed suddenly through the smoke. Just to our left, I thought I saw the blurry outline of the door. Dashing towards it, I couldn’t stop the shriek that left me when the door suddenly flew open.

  A large figure loomed in the doorway for a second. My already hammering heart beat harder with the terrible possibilities of who, or what, it could be before a voice soothed those fears.

  “Bri! Jesus, I’ve been looking all over for you. Come on!” Shawn said.

  The flood of relief made me want to sob, but I clamped down hard on the emotions. Moving again, I swept into the hall with the others close on my heels.

  The darkness back here was complete, but the air felt just a little easier to breathe. I jumped when a large hand found my arm in the dark and started pulling me rapidly down the hall. Within seconds, the crackle and roar of the flames died down, and I started to hear voices and shuffling feet just ahead.